Exam tip: In the IELTS Listening Part 3 you often need to
understand if the speakers
agree or disagree w ith each other. Past m odals can be used to distract you from the
correct answ er because they are
often about possibility, belief and expectation.
2
Complete the spaces in the following text using the options in the box.
didn’t have to
shouldn’t have
could
might have
had to
couldn’t have
LIFE DURING THE ICE AGE
During
the Ice Age in Europe, approxim ately 15,000 years ago, the w in te r w eather was
bleak. However, modern hum ans found ingenious methods fo r
managing this extreme
cold. In fact, these humans (1 )________ been the firs t to develop a range of s k ills and
technological advances that are s till w ith us today! Due to the freezing
tem peratures,
these hum ans (2 )________ create things that could protect them from the environm ent.
Early Europeans used the skin and bones from w ild anim als to make clothing and shelter.
Thankfully, they (3)________ w orry so much about th e ir food. They (4)_________ k ill th e ir
food effectively as they had developed sophisticated tools. When food was abundant, they
buried supplies in the perm afrost; an ancient form of deep-freezing. The
unfortunate thing
about th e ir hunting and survival s kills was that they slaughtered many of the anim als to
extinction. A ll we now have to rem em ber them by is the cave paintings. Perhaps it could be
argued that they (5)________ killed
these animals, but we cannot say what we would have
done in the same situation.
Although life (6)________ been
easy fo r these people, they managed to survive and
introduce art, language and behaviours that
characterize people today; we owe a lot to
th e ir developments.
