Cambridge IELTS Academic 16 Reading Test 3 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: Roman shipbuilding and navigation , Climate change reveals ancient artefacts, Plant ‘thermometer’ trigger

READING PASSAGE 1

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

Roman shipbuilding and navigation

Question Number	Answer	Key Words	Location in Passage	Text Associated with Answer
1	FALSE	Romans, shipbuilding skills, Greeks, Egyptians	First paragraph, third line	"The Romans were not traditionally sailors but mostly land-based people, who learned to build ships from the people that they conquered, namely the Greeks and the Egyptians."
2	NOT GIVEN	skilled craftsmen, mortise and tenon method of fixing planks	N/A	N/A
3	FALSE	later practice, Mediterranean shipbuilders, building hull before frame	Second paragraph, seventh line	"Mediterranean shipbuilders shifted to another shipbuilding method, still in use today, which consisted of building the frame first and then proceeding with the hull …."
4	TRUE	Romans, Mediterranean Sea, Mare Nostrum, dominated its use	Third paragraph, second-last line	"Eventually, Rome’s navy became the largest and most powerful in the Mediterranean, and the Romans had control over what they therefore called Mare Nostrum meaning ‘our sea’."
5	TRUE	rowers, Roman army	Fourth paragraph, fourth line from end	"It is worth noting that contrary to popular perception, rowers were not slaves but mostly Roman citizens enrolled in the military."
6	Lightweight	summary, warships, designed, moved quickly	Third paragraph, first line	"Warships were built to be lightweight and very speedy."
7	Bronze	summary, battering ram, attacking, damaging, timber, oars, enemy ships	Third paragraph, fourth line	"They had a bronze battering ram, which was used to pierce the timber hulls or break the oars of enemy vessels."
8	Levels	summary, warships, 'trireme', rowers, three different	Fourth paragraph, first line	"The 'trireme' was the dominant warship from the 7th to 4th century BCE. It had rowers in the top, middle and lower levels,…"
9	Hull	summary, merchant ships, broad, lay far below surface of sea	Fifth paragraph, second line	"They had a wider hull, …… Unlike warships, their V-shaped hull was deep underwater, ….."
10	Triangular	summary, both square and sails	Fifth paragraph, fifth line	"They had from one to three masts with large square sails and a small triangular sail at the bow."
11	Music	summary, merchant ships, warships, ensure rowers moved oars at same time	Fifth paragraph, second-last line	"In order to assist them, music would be played on an instrument, and oars would then keep time with this."
12	Grain	summary, agricultural goods, transported, merchant ships, two main ports in Italy	Sixth paragraph, first line	"The cargo on merchant ships included raw materials …… and agricultural products (e.g. grain from Egypt’s Nile valley)."
13	Towboats	summary, ships pulled to shore	Sixth paragraph, third-last line	"Large merchant ships would approach the destination port and just like today, be intercepted by a number of towboats that would drag them to the quay."

READING PASSAGE 2

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

Climate change reveals ancient artefacts in Norway’s glaciers

Question Number	Answer	Key Words	Location in Passage	Text Associated with Answer
14	D	explanation, weapons, left behind, mountains	D paragraph, third line	"Hunters would have easily misplaced arrows and they often discarded broken bows rather than take them all the way home."
15	C	reference, physical difficulties, archaeological expedition	C paragraph's 2nd part's first line, C paragraph's 3rd part's first line	"The slow but steady movement of glaciers tends to destroy anything at their bases, so the team focused on stationary patches of ice, mostly above 1,400 metres. Fieldwork is hard work- hiking with all our equipment, often camping on permafrost."
16	F	explanation, less food, available	F paragraph's 2nd part's last three lines	"A colder turn in the Scandinavian climate would likely have meant widespread crop failures, …"
17	H	reference, possibility, future archaeological discoveries	H paragraph, second-last line	"That means archaeologists could be extracting some of those artefacts from retreating ice in years to come."
18	G	examples, items traded	G paragraph, from fifth line	"And growing Norwegian …… would have created a booming demand for hides to fight off the cold, as well as antlers to make useful things like combs."
19	B	reference, pressure, archaeologists, work quickly	B paragraph's 2nd part's first 2 lines	"With climate change shrinking ice cover around the world, glacial archaeologists need to race the clock to find newly revealed artefacts, preserve them and study them."
20	Microorganisms/micro-organisms	summary, little protection, decay quickly	B paragraph, second line	"This is because unless they’re protected from the microorganisms that cause decay, they tend not to last long."
21	Reindeer	summary, trade routes, mountains, gathered, summer months	C paragraph, fourth line	"Reindeer once congregated on these icy patches in the later summer months …….. In addition, trade routes threaded through the mountain passes …."
22	Insects	summary, gathered, summer months, avoid being attacked, lower grounds	C paragraph, fourth line	"Reindeer once congregated on these icy patches in the later summer months to escape biting insects, …."
23	B	discoveries, Barrett's team, hunters, mountains, extreme cold	F paragraph, sixth line	"But it turned out that hunters kept regularly venturing into the mountains even when the climate turned cold, …"
24	C	discoveries, Barrett's team, number of artefacts, certain time periods, relatively low	E paragraph, forth line	"They found that some periods had produced lots of artefacts, which indicates that people had been pretty active in the mountains during those times. But there were few or no signs of activity during other periods."
25	A	Viking Age, hunters, increased demand, goods	G paragraph, fifth line	"And growing Norwegian towns, along with export markets, would have created a booming demand for hides to fight off the cold, as well as antlers to make useful things like combs. Business must have been good for hunters."
26	C	Viking Age, Vikings, ships, transport goods	G paragraph, third line |	"Although we usually think of ships when we think of Scandinavian expansion, these recent discoveries show that plenty of goods traveled on overland routes, .."

READING PASSAGE 3

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

Plant ‘thermometer’ triggers springtime growth by measuring night-time heat

Question	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text
27	NOT GIVEN	thermometer molecule, surprise	Not Given	N/A
28	TRUE	agricultural production, 2050, missed	D paragraph, fourth line	"It is estimated that agricultural yields will need to double by 2050, but climate change is a major threat to achieving this."
29	TRUE	wheat, rice, rise in temperatures	D paragraph, fifth line	"Key crops such as wheat and rice are sensitive to high temperatures. Thermal stress reduces crop yields by around 10% of every one degree increase in temperature."
30	NOT GIVEN	crops, less water	Not Given	N/A
31	FALSE	plants, sunlight, shade, grow faster	E paragraph, second line	"During the day, sunlight activates the molecules, slowing down growth. If a plant finds itself in shade, phytochromes are quickly inactivated – enabling it to grow faster to find sunlight again."
32	FALSE	phytochromes, change state, day, night	E paragraph's 1st part, second-last line	"’Light-driven changes to phytochrome activity occur very fast, in less than a second,’ says Wigge. At night, however, it’s a different story. Instead of a rapid deactivation following sundown, the molecules gradually change from their active to inactive state."
33	H	specialists, research findings	H paragraph, seventh line	"’Cambridge is uniquely well-positioned...... Into the field"
34	D	potential benefit, research findings	D paragraph, 8th line	"’Discovering the molecules that allow plants to sense temperature has the potential to accelerate the breeding of crops resilient to thermal stress and climate change."
35	G	scientific support, traditional saying	G paragraph, third line	"In fact, the discovery of the dual role of phytochromes provides the science behind a well-known rhyme long used to predict the coming season: oak before ash we’ll have a splash, ash before oak we’re in for a soak."
36	C	people, plans, plant behavior	C paragraph, first line	"Farmers and gardeners have known for hundreds of years how responsive plants are to temperature: warm winters cause many trees and flowers to bud early, something humans have long used to predict weather and harvest times for the coming year."
37	A	research reported	A paragraph's 2nd part, first line	"The new findings, published in the journal Science, show that phytochromes ...."
38	Warm (winter)	daffodils, flower early, response	G paragraph, first line	"Other species, such as daffodils, have considerable temperature sensitivity, and can flower months in advance during a warm winter."
39	Summer	ash trees, come into leaf before oak trees, weather	G paragraph, eighth line	"A warmer spring, and consequently a higher likeliness of a hot summer will result in oak leafing before ash. …….. a colder summer is likely to be a rain-soaked one."
40	Mustard plant(s) / mustard	research carried out, species	H paragraph, second line	"The work was done in a model system, using a mustard plant called Arabidopsis, ..."