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Les Ecoles de l’Association des Projets de Bienfaisance Islamique

Name: Date: …. / …. / ………

Grade: 8 Section: …… Duration:120 min
It might be said :

Second Term Exam in

English
Carnivorous Plants: Producers or Consumers?
On a balmy summer Sunday morning in Carolina Beach State Park in North
Carolina, assistant park ranger A.J. Loomis leads a guided hike on the half-mile-
long Flytrap Trail. On the trail, Loomis and park visitors uncover one of nature’s
most interesting oddities: carnivorous (meat-eating) plants.

What are Carnivorous Plants?

 In school, we tend to teach things in a very linear, structured way. There are
producers, and there are consumers. They are two separate categories. In reality,
very few things in nature fit in one nice, neat compartment. Carnivorous plants are
plants made up of plant cells, so they have all of those organelles that you learned
about plant cells having back in elementary school - including chloroplast; and,
like other plants, they make their own energy through the process of
photosynthesis; so, they are producers. However, these plants live in an
environment where the soil contains very little nutrient
content.
Sundews
About the size of a quarter, the red sundews have sticky
droplets that attract insects to their leaves, where hairs fold
over the prey and begin the digestion process.

Pitcher Plant
Just a few feet away, the larger pitcher plant has a long,
trumpet-like tube that rises from the ground. The
plant secretes a sweet smell that entices insects to travel
down into the plant’s tube, where they are unable to
escape.
Aggressive Adaptation

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 The soil is the reason the Venus flytrap is a
carnivorous plant. The flytrap digests insects
to supplement the low amount
of nitrogen and phosphorus it receives from the
region’s sandy, acidic soil.

The plant’s trap is a single large leaf with trigger hairs. When a fly or ant brushes
against one of the leaf’s trigger hairs two times, the plant folds its leaf quickly,
trapping the prey inside. Then, the Venus flytrap secretes a digestive fluid that
helps the plant absorb nutrients from the trapped insect. It takes three to five days
for the plant to digest the organism. Only then will it open its leaf again.

“It can go months without catching anything,” Loomis says.

Each leaf-trap can open and close three times before dying and falling off the plant.
The old trap is replaced by a new one from the Venus flytrap’s underground stems.

Loomis points to a red coloring on the inside of some of the plant’s traps. “It’s a
sign that it’s healthy,” he says. “It can also lure insects into them.”

Venus fly traps, pitcher plants, and sundews all consume insects, but that’s not
how they get their energy. They still get their energy from the sun and transform it
into food (such as sugars) using photosynthesis. They use the dead insects for their
nutrients. We find the carnivorous plants in environments where there are very low
levels of nutrients in the soil.

A. Answer the following questions:

1. Why are carnivorous plants considered producers? (2 pts.)
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2. How do pitcher plants attract insects? (1 pt.)
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3. Why do carnivorous plants eat meat? (1.5 pts.)
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 4. How does a Venus Flytrap digest insects? How much time does it
need to digest its prey? (2pts.)
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B. What do the following pronouns refer to? The pronouns are underlined
in the text. (2 pts; 0.5 e)
1. they (par. 2): _____________ 2. their (par. 3): ______________
3. it (par. 5): _______________ 4. he (par. 9): ____________
C. The following statements are FALSE. Rewrite them correctly. (4 pts.; 1 e)
1. Carnivorous plants make their own energy only through hunting on insects.
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2. The weather is the reason the Venus flytrap is a carnivorous plant.
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3. Carnivorous plants eat insects for energy.
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4. Venus flytrap’s leaf-trap can open and close dozen times before dying and
falling off the plant.
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D. 1. Refer to paragraph 1 to find the author’s point of view about carnivorous
plants. (1 pi.)
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2. What is the author’s purpose in the passage? (1 pt,)
a. to entertain
b. to inform
c. to persuade
E. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate word from the text. (2.5 pts.)
compartment oddities entices secretes supplement
1. The advertisement ________________ young people to buy the product.
2. This glands _____________ a weak poison which may kill some predators.
3. Despite her ____________, she drew him with her large eyes and skilled
hand.
4. They had to get a job to ___________________ the family income.

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 5. Businessmen sit in a first class __________________.

Writing:
Sports is an essential part of human’s life. People should exercise daily for many
reasons. After all, sports improve health and it’s a good way to eliminate stress.
What are the effects of practicing sports on health and stress?
Write a four–paragraph cause and effect essay to explain the above question. In
your essay, provide a thesis statement to the introduction, a topic sentence in each
body paragraph, and support the main idea with relevant, specific and adequate
details. Give examples drawn from your experience or observation. Revise and
proofread your essay.
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