Cambridge IELTS Academic 16 Reading Test 2 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: The White Horse of Uffington , I contain multitudes , How to make wise decisions

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1.

The White Horse of Uffington

Question Number	Answer	Key Words	Location in Passage	Text Associated with Answer
1	TRUE	geoglyphs, located, area	First paragraph, second line	"There are 56 hill figures scattered around England, with the vast majority on the chalk downlands of the country’s southern counties."
2	NOT GIVEN	geoglyphs, shape of a horse	N/A	N/A
3	TRUE	Uffington White Horse, recent dating, mistaken about its age	Second paragraph, second line	"The White Horse has recently been re-dated and shown to be even older than its previously assigned ancient pre-Roman Iron Age date."
4	FALSE	historians, origins, Long Man of Wilmington	Second paragraph, third line	"More controversial is the date of the enigmatic Long Man of Wilmington is Sussex. While many historians are convinced the figure is prehistoric, others believe that it was the work of an artistic monk from a nearby priory and was created between the 11th and 15th centuries."
5	FALSE	geoglyphs, created, white chalk	Third paragraph, first line	"The method of cutting these huge figures was simply to remove the overlying grass to reveal the gleaming white chalk below."
6	TRUE	geoglyphs, no longer visible	Third paragraph, fourth line to 6th line	"One reason that the vast majority of hill figures have disappeared is that………."
7	TRUE	geoglyphs, shape altered over time	Third paragraph, 6th line	"Furthermore, Over hundreds of years the outline the outlines would sometimes change…."
8	NOT GIVEN	fame, Uffington White Horse, size	N/A	N/A
9	Ridgeway	Uffington White Horse, ancient road	Fourth paragraph, third line	"The horse is situated 2.5 km from Uffington village on a steep slope close to the Late Bronze Age (c. 7th century BCE) hillfort of Uffington Castle and below the Ridgeway, a long-distance Neolithic track."
10	documents	Uffington White Horse, first reference, White Horse Hill	Sixth paragraph, first line	"The earliest evidence of a horse at Uffington is from the 1070s CE when ‘White Horse Hill’ is mentioned in documents from the nearby…."
11	soil	Uffington White Horse, analysis, surrounding	Seventh paragraph, first line	"However,… testing was carried out…..on soil from two of the lower layers of the horse’s body, and from another cut near the base. The result was a date for the horse’s construction…….. a Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age origin."
12	fertility	Uffington White Horse, representation, goddess Epona	Eighth paragraph, fourth line	"Some researchers see the horse as representing the Celtic horse goddess Epona, who was worshipped as a protector of horses, and her associations with fertility."
13	Rhiannon	Uffington White Horse, representation, Welsh goddess	Eighth paragraph, ninth line	"It is possible that the carving represents a goddess in native mythology, such as Rhiannon, described in later Welsh mythology as a beautiful woman dressed in gold and riding a white horse."

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 .

I contain multitudes

Question Number	Answer	Key Words	Location in Passage	Text Associated with Answer
14	D	writer, microbes, existence longer than human race	First paragraph, first line	"Microbes, most of them bacteria, have populated this planet since long before animal life developed and they will outlive us."
15	C	second paragraph, writer impressed, average individual, more microbial cells than human ones	Second paragraph, third line	"What is amazing is that while the number of human cells in the average person is about 30 trillion, the number of microbial ones is higher – about 39 trillion."
16	A	fifth paragraph, writer doing, explaining how a discovery was made	Fifth paragraph, third line	"Using microscopes of his own design that could magnify up to 270 times, he examined a drop of water from a nearby lake and found it teeming with tiny creatures he called ‘animalcules’."
17	G	summary, beneficial effect, small number, lead to	Sixth paragraph, first line	"Yong’s book is in many ways a plea for microbial tolerance, pointing out that while fewer than one hundred species of bacteria bring disease, many thousands more play a vital role in maintaining our health."
18	B	summary, accept, relationship with microbes, based on	Sixth paragraph, sixth line	"Instead we should realize we have a symbiotic relationship, that can be mutually beneficial or mutually destructive."
19	H	summary, poor, overuse of antibiotics	Seventh paragraph, fifth line	"Our obsession with hygiene, our overuse of antibiotics and our unhealthy, low-fibre diets are disrupting the bacterial balance….."
20	E	summary, excessive focus, upsetting the bacterial balance	Seventh paragraph, fifth line	"Our obsession with hygiene, our overuse of antibiotics and our unhealthy, low-fibre diets are disrupting the bacterial balance….."
21	YES	antibacterial products in the home, fails to have desired effect	Eighth paragraph, first line	"There are studies indicating that the excessive use of household detergents and antibacterial products actually destroys the microbes that normally keep the more dangerous germs at bay."
22	NO	ensure children come into contact with few bacteria as possible	Eighth paragraph, third line	"Other studies show that keeping a dog as a pet gives children early exposure to a diverse range of bacteria, which may help protect them against allergies later."
23	Not Given	Yong's book, case studies	N/A	N/A
24	YES	case study, bacteria prevent squid from being attacked, limited appeal	Last paragraph, first line to 4th line	"Among the less appealing case studies……..Another is about squid that carry luminescent bacteria …."
25	NOT GIVEN	efforts to control dengue fever, surprisingly successful	N/A	N/A
26	NO	microbes put inside walls of hospital wards, reduce risk of infection	Last paragraph, eighth line	"In the future, our ability to manipulate microbes means we could construct buildings with useful microbes built into their wall to fight off infections."

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 .

How to make wise decisions

Question Number	Answer	Key Words	Location in Passage	Text Associated with Answer
27	B	writer, first paragraph, assumption about wisdom	First paragraph, first line from end	"Although the truly wise may seem few ……, given the right context"
28	C	second paragraph, Igor Grossmann, ability to make wise decisions, importance of influences	Second paragraph, first line	"It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously imagined," says Associate Professor Igor Grossmann…"
29	B	third paragraph, Grossmann, level of wisdom, different circumstances	Third paragraph, fifth line	"Some situations are more likely to promote wisdom than others."
30	D	fifth paragraph, described, recommended strategy, help people reason wisely	Fifth paragraph, 3rd line to the end of the paragraph	"Research suggests that when……….related to wise decisions."
31	D	summary, important, degree, knowledge	Fourth paragraph, second line	"One is intellectual humility or recognition of the limits of our knowledge…"
32	A	summary, take into account, not the same as our own	Fourth paragraph, last line	"along with compromise or integration of different attitudes and beliefs"
33	C	summary, take a broad, situation	Fifth paragraph, 3rd line	"and another is appreciation of perspectives wider than the issue at hand."
34	F	summary, regard scenarios, objectivity	Fifth paragraph, first line to 3rd line	"Grossmann and his colleagues have also found……giving advice to a friend."
35	G	summary, avoiding first-person perspective, focus more on, moral ideals	Fifth paragraph, 4th line	"when we adopt a third person, 'Observer' viewpoint we reason more broadly and focus more on interpersonal and moral ideals such as justice and impartiality."
36	FALSE	job prospects experiment, participants choose perspectives	Seventh paragraph, 4th line	"Participants in the group assigned………. in the control group."
37	NOT GIVEN	couples experiment, participants aware of study topic	N/A	N/A
38	NOT GIVEN	couples experiment, length of relationships impact results	N/A	N/A
39	TRUE	both experiments, participants with detached viewpoint make wiser decisions	Seventh and eighth paragraphs, fourth line	"Participants in the group assigned to the 'distant observer' role displayed more wisdom-related reasoning …." and "Couples in the 'other's eyes' condition were significantly more likely to rely on wise reasoning …"
40	TRUE	Grossmann, person's wisdom, determined by intelligence to a limited extent	Last paragraph, first line	"We might associate wisdom with intelligence or particular personality traits, but research shows only a small positive relationship between wise thinking and crystallized intelligence …."