You will hear a recording. Type the missing words in each blank.

Barred owls can be found in dense forests right across North America. They feed on small ______, fish, birds and small reptiles – pretty much anything that comes their way. The barred owl grows up to half a metre tall and has emerged as a very ______ nocturnal predator. Whereas they have been long-thought to live in old-growth forests, they are now building up quite an _______ population. In Charlotte, North Carolina, barred owls tend to nest in the cavities of the numerous willow oak trees that line the city’s streets. Far  from being endangered, the owls have expanded their range; and now, in some places, conservationists are worried about the effects they might have on other _______ species.

You will hear a recording. Type the missing words in each blank.

Before the beginning of the 1900s, the only way to obtain pearls was by collecting very large numbers of pearl oysters from the ocean floor by hand. The oysters – or sometimes mussels – were brought to the surface, opened, and _______. More than a ton of these had to be checked in order to find just three or four quality pearls. Divers often descended to depths of over 100 feet on just one single breath. Now, of course this exposed them to _______ creatures and dangerous waves, not to mention drowning. In some areas, divers put grease on their bodies to conserve heat and they held a large _______, like a rock, to descend so they didn’t have to exert effort going down. Today, pearl diving has pretty much been supplanted by cultured pearl _______. Particles are implanted in the oyster to encourage the formation of pearls, and this allows for more predictable production. The divers who still work, do so mainly for the ________ industry.