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ECAT English QUESTION #80
Question 1

Read each of the passage below, and then answer the questions that follow the passage. The correct response may be stated outright or merely suggested in the passage.

The following passage is taken from a classic study of tarantulas published in scientific America in 1952.

A fertilized female tarantula lays from 200 to 400

eggs at a time, thus it is possible for a single

tarantula to produce several thousand young. She

takes no care of them beyond (5) weaving a cocoon

of silk to enclose the eggs. After they hatch, the

young walk away, find convenient places in which

to dig their bur-rows and spend the rest of their

lives in sole-tude. Tarantulas feed mostly on insects

and (10) millipeds. Once their appetite is appeased,

they digest the food for several days before eating

again. Their sight is poor, being limited to sensing a

change in the intensity of light and to the perception

of moving objects. They (15) apparently have little

or no sense of hearing, for a hungry tarantula will

pay no attention to a loudly chirping cricket placed

in its cage unless the insect happens to touch one of

its legs. (20) but all spiders, and especially hairy

ones, have an extremely delicate sense of touch.

Laboratory experiments prove that tarantulas can

distinguish three types of touch: pressure against

the body wall, stroking of the body (25) hari and

riffling of certain very fine hairs on the legs called

trichobothria. Pressure against the body, by a finger

or the end of a pencil, causes the tarantula to move

off slowly for a short distance. The touch (30)

response unless the approach is from above, where

the spider can see the motion, in which cases it rises

on its hind legs, lifts its front legs, opens its fangs

and holds this threatening pos-ture as long as the

object continues to move. (35) when the motion

stops, the spider drops back to the ground, remains

quiet for a few sec- onds, and then moves slowly

away.

The entire body of a tarantula, especially its legs, is

thickly clothed with hair. Some of it (40) is short

and woolly, some long and stiff. Touching this

body hair produces one of two distinct reactions.

When the spider is hungry, it responds with an

immediate and swift attack. At the touch of a

cricket’s antennae the (45) tarantula seizes the

insect so swiftly that a motion picture taken at the

rate of 64 frames per second shows only the result

and not the process of capture. But when the spider

in not hungry, the stimulation of its hairs merely

(50) causes it to shake the touched lim. An insect

can walk under its hairy belly unharmed the

trichobothria, very fine hairs growing from disk like

membranes on the legs, were once thought to be the

spider’s hearing organs, (55) but we now know that

they have nothing to do with soon they are sensitive

only to air movement. A light breeze makes them

vibrate slowly without disturbing the common hair.

When one blows gently on the trichobothria, (60)

the tarantula reacts with a quick jerk of its four

front legs. If the front and hind legs are stimu-lated

at the same time, the spider makes a sud-den jump.

This reaction is quite independent of the state of its

appetite. (65) these three tactile responses – to

pressure on the body wall, to moving of the

common hair, and to flexing of the trichobothria-are

so different from one another that there is no

possibility of confusing them. They serve the (70)

tarantula adequately for most of its needs and

enable it to avoid most annoyances and dangers.

But they fail the spider completely when it meets its

deadly enemy, the digger wasp Pepsis.

    Sub-Questions

    Question 1
    According to the author, which of the following attributes is (are) characteristic of female tarantulas? i. maternal instincts ii. Visual acuity iii. Fertility
    • I only
    • II only
    • III only✔️
    • I and II only
    Question 2
    Lines 6-9 primarily suggest that the female tarantula
    • Is reclusive by nature✔️
    • Is better able to discern pressure than stroking
    • Is better able to discern pressure than stroking
    • Becomes apprehensive at sudden noises
    Question 3
    The word “excites” in line 29 most nearly means
    • Exhilarates
    • Stimulates✔️
    • Delights
    • Irritates
    Question 4
    The author’s attitude toward tarantulas would best be described as
    • Objective✔️
    • Approving
    • Sentimental
    • Fearful
    Correct Answer Explanation

    The passage details the life cycle, feeding habits, and sensory capabilities of tarantulas, noting their high fertility but minimal maternal care. It explains how tarantulas rely heavily on a sensitive sense of touch—distinguishing pressure, body hair stimulation, and air movement via specialized hairs—to interact with their environment and capture prey. Despite these effective adaptations for survival, the passage concludes that tarantulas are defenseless against their natural predator, the digger wasp Pepsis.