Cambridge IELTS Academic 5 Reading Test 1 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading -Johnson's Dictionary , Nature or Nurture ,The Truth about the Environment

READING PASSAGE 1

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

Johnson's Dictionary

ANSWERS	KEYWORDS	LOCATION	EXPLANATIONS
1. D	focused, contemporary texts	paragraph 6, 7th and 8th line	Johnson wrote the definition of over 40,000 words………, from the Elizabethans to his own time.‟ contemporary = belonging to the same period of time/ current = to his own time
2. E	time limit, completion	paragraph 6; 9th line	Working to a deadline, he had to draw…..” deadline=time limit
3. G	subtleties, meaning	paragraph 6; 15th line	Unlike his predecessors…….., with many different shades of meaning. “subtleties of meaning = different shades of meaning”
4. Copying clerks/ clerks	garret, central desk	paragraph 5; 1st line	James Boswell, his biographer, ……….garret where…….. long desk running down the middle at which the copying clerks would work standing up.”Who(either person or profession) would work standing up?= copying clerks”
5. library	definitions, 40,000 words	Paragraph 6; 1st line	….and without a library to hand), Johnson wrote the definitions of over 40,000 words…. “without= did not have”
6. stability	James Boswell, principal achievement	paragraph 8; 13th line	It is the ……….., an achievement which, in James Boswell‟s words, “conferred stability on the language of his country. “conferred= bring”
7. pension	reward, the king	Last paragraph; 1st sentence	The Dictionary, together with his other ………….. upon King George III to offer him a pension. “granted= offered”
8. TRUE	middle classes	paragraph 3, 1st sentence	… the rise of dictionaries is associated with the rise of the English middle class… “growing importance of middle class caused the growth in the demand of dictionary”
9. FALSE	well known, his death	3rd Paragraph 9th line	It is highly …………., as famous in his own time as in ours. “famous= well known” “in his own time = when he was alive/ before death”
10. NOT GIVEN	Planning, several years		There is nothing mentioned of how many years Johnson had been planning this task.
11. FALSE	academy	paragraph 4; 11th line	Johnson decided he did not need an academy to settle arguments about language: ………..and he would do it single-handed. “single-handed=alone/ without an academy”
12. FALSE	payment, completion	Paragraph 4; last sentence	He was to be paid $1575 in installments, and from this he took money to rent 17 Gough Square, in which he set up his dictionary workshop. “installments= partial but regular payment, not a single-time payment after the task is completed”
13. TRUE	assistants, survived,	paragraph 5; last sentence	He was also helped by six assistants, two of whom died whilst the Dictionary was still in preparation. “two died= not all survived”

 

READING PASSAGE 2

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

Nature or Nurture

ANSWERS	KEYWORDS	LOCATION	EXPLANATIONS
14. F	biological, teacher-subjects’ behavior	paragraph F	One‟s first inclination might be to argue that there must be some sort of built-in animal aggression instinct that was activated by the experiment, and that Milgram‟s teacher-subjects were just following a genetic need …..” – might be to argue = to explain – “animal instinct(a type of behavior), genetic need = biological factors”
15. A	explanation, experiment, teacher subject	paragraph A; 5th line	Specifically, Milgram told each volunteer „teacher-subject‟ that the experiment was in the noble cause of education, and was designed to test whether or not punishing pupils for their mistakes would have a positive effect on the pupils‟ ability to learn. “purpose of the experiment is explained to the teacher subject”
16. B	identity, pupils	paragraph B, 6th line	The supposed pupil was in reality an actor hired by Milgram to simulate receiving the shocks….” identity=information about who the pupils were
17. C	expected, outcome	paragraph D	Prior to carrying out the experiment, Milgram explained his idea to a group of 39 psychiatrists and asked them to predict the average percentage of people who would be willing to administer the highest shock level…. The overwhelming consensus was that virtually all the teacher-subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter” – expected=predicted Thus, the predicted/expected result or outcome was that almost all the teacher-subjects would refuse to obey.
18. I	general aim, sociobiological	paragraph I	This, in essence, is the problem of modern sociobiology – -to discover the degree to which………., that is, their behaviour. “Sociobiology, therefore, aims to find the answer to this question”
19. C	continue, persuaded	paragraph C, 7th line	If the subject was reluctant to proceed, ……………………… followed through to the end. “to proceed= to continue”
20. B	teacher-subjects, testing	paragraph A; 6th line	Specifically, Milgram told each volunteer ” teacher-subject” that the experiment was in the noble cause of education, and was designed to test whether or not punishing pupils for their mistakes would have a positive effect on the pupils‟ ability to learn”. “help=Positive effect, Learning= ability to learn”
21. D	teacher-subjects, instructed	paragraph B; 10th line	Milgram told the teacher subjects to ignore the reaction……….., as per the rule governing the experimental situation of the moment. “instructed=told, give=administer, as per the rule=according to the rule”
22. C	before, psychiatrists	paragraph D: last sentence and E: First two sentences	Furthermore, they thought………….about one in 1000 would give the highest shock of 450 volts” In paragraph E, the actual result is: ” over 60 percent of the teacher-subjects continued to obey Milgram up to the 450 volts limit”. –“So, the estimate of the psychiatrists was too low – they underestimated how many teacher-subjects would continue to follow the rules/the procedure”
23. Not Given	psychology students, Yale University	paragraph A; 2nd line	“A few years ago,…, Stanley Milgram from Yale University tested 40 subjects from all walks of life for …to perform. –” From all walks of life : from different types of jobs, we are not told if any of these were students or -if they were – from what university, not to be confused with yale university because Milgram is from yale university but no information is provided about those 40 different subjects”
24. True	behaviour, positive survival mechanism	paragraph F; 4th line	A modern hard-core sociobiologist …………. instinct evolved as an advantageous trait, having been of survival value to our ancestors ………. “instinct=behavior, advantageous= positive, survival value= survival mechanism”
25. False	sociological, personal values, authority	paragraph H	……………..surrendering individual properties like loyalty, self-sarcrifice and discipline to the service of malevolent systems of authortity. “meaning that systems of authority are more powerful that individual personal and moral values, surrender (to sth) = admit defeat/ stop trying to control something, because you are weaker/less powerful, personal values= individual properties/personal and moral code”
26. False	solves, important, sociobiology	paragraph I, 1st and 2nd sentence	Here we have two radically different explanations …………….. The problem for biologist, psychologist…………………….is more plausible. “There are two possible explanations for such behavior of teacher subject and the one which seems to be more plausible is still to be found, hence Milgrams experiment does not give any solution”

READING PASSAGE 3

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

The Truth about the Environment

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
27. Yes	environmentalists, pessimistic view	1st paragraph;1st line	For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. “pessimistic view =seems to be getting worse”
28. Not Given	1972	paragraph 2; 3rd line	First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so, since the book “The Limits to Growth” was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. “1972 – date when a book about natural resources was published, no information about the date on which data collection was made”
29. No	starving people, increased, recent years	paragraph 2, line 4	Fewer people are starving “fewer= decreased”
30. Not Given	Extinct species, being replaced	Paragraph 2; line 5	Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 20-25%, as has so often been predicted. ” Their replacement by new species is not mentioned”
31. Yes	pollution problems, correctly linked	paragraph 2, line 7	And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been exaggerated, or are transient – associated with the early phases of industrialisation.” So, in the early period of industrialisation, some pollution problems were linked with this new development at the time. “associated with = linked to”
32. No	slow down, economic growth	paragraph 2; line 9	….therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but accelerating it. ”accelerating = increasing the speed/ not slowing down the speed of economic growth”
33. C	scientific research, concern about	paragraph 4	One is the lopsidedness built into scientific research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case. ” writer gives his concern about the selected areas for study”
34. D	Worldwide Fund for Nature	paragraph 5	Understandably, perhaps, they sometimes overstate their arguments. A press release by the Worldwide Fund for Nature in 1997 is given as an example to show/illustrate this. “Overstate = exaggerate”
35. C	lobby groups	paragraph 6	That would matter less if people applied the same degree of skepticism to environmental lobbying as they do to lobby groups in other fields. “people tend to believe the claims of environmental lobby groups more than the claims of other lobby groups hence other lobby groups are criticized more than the environmental”
36. B	newspapers, intended to	paragraph 7; line 2	Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. “provide what public want = meet readers expectations”
37. B	America‟s waste problem	paragraph 8;	People worry that …………………….to dispose of waste(this is what people believe). Yet, even if America’s trash output continues …………………..12000 of the area of the entire United States(this is the actual reality). “it proves that the worry of insufficient places for waste disposal is not as important as some people believe”
38. E	global warming, impact, deal with it	paragraph 2; line 11	One form of pollution – the release of greenhouse gases that cause global warming – does appears to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future. “long-term = lasting/extending over a long time = extend well into our future – catastrophic=devastating – inappropriate =unsuitable, wrong”
39. right	Catastrophic , Future	Paragraph 2; last sentence	A bigger problem may well turn out to be an inappropriate response to it. “Means that if we deal it in appropriate way it may not be a big problem, appropriate= right”
40. I	health problems	paragraph 11; line 3	Yet the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions…will be higher than the cost of solving the world‟s single, most pressing health problem: providing universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation. “pressing=urgent”