Cambridge IELTS Academic 9 Reading Test 1 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: William Henry Perkin , There Anybody Out There , The History of the Tortoise

READING PASSAGE 1

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

William Henry Perkin

1. FALSE	Michael Faraday, Perkin‟s ability	paragraph 2; line 3	His talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by his teacher Thomas Hall. “So Thomas Hall was the  first person to recognise  Perkin‟s  ability”
2. NOT GIVEN	should enroll	paragraph 2; last sentence	………..he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry,  which  he  succeeded  in  entering  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  15. “Nothing given about who encouraged Henry to join the college”
3. FALSE	August Wilhelm Hofmann	paragraph  3; line 3	At  the  time  of  ………………………  German  chemist  August  Wilhelm  Hofmann.  Perkin‟s  scientific gifts  soon  caught  Hofmann‟s  attention  and,  within  two  years,  he  became  Hofmann‟s  youngest assistant. ” meaning Hofmann employed Perkin as his assistant”
4. True	young, discovery, rich and famous.	paragraph  3; line 7	Not long after that,…………….. him both fame and fortune. “meaning that when making the scientific discovery, Perkin was still young, (fame=famous), (fortune= rich), (breakthrough= discovery)”
5. Not Given	quinine, derived, only in South America	paragraph 4; line 1	At the time, quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria. The drug is  derived  from  the  bark  of  the  cinchona  tree,  native  to  South  America. “although trees are native to South America, whether they grow only in South America is not mentioned”
6. TRUE	drug, coal tar waste product.	paragraph 5; line 3	He was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline, an inexpensive and readily available coal tar waste product. ”attempting to manufacture= hoping to manufacture”
7. NOT GIVEN	inspired, Louis Pasteur	paragraph 5; line 15	And, proving the truth of the famous scientist Louis  Pasteur‟s  words  „chances  favours  only  the  prepared  mind‟,  Perkin  saw  the  potential  of  his unexpected  find. ”whether he was inspired by Louis Pasteur’s discoveries or not is not given”
8. the rich	group, purple	paragraph 6; line 6	Indeed, the purple colour extracted from a snail was once so costly that in society at the time, only the rich could afford it. ” historically, the colour purple was associated with the rich”
9. commercial (possibilities)	potential, new dye	paragraph  7; last sentence	But  perhaps  the  most  fascinating  of  all  Perkin‟s reactions   to   his   find   was   his   nearly   instant   recognition   that   the   new   dye   had   commercial possibilities. “immediately understand= instant recognition”
10. mauve	finally, name, first colour	paragraph  8, 1st sentence	Perkin originally named ………………………..known as mauve. ” initaially the dye was named Tyrian which finally became popular as Mauve”
11. Robert Pullar	name, person	paragraph  8, line 6	He  (Perkin)  asked  advice  of  Scottish  dye  works  owner  Robert  Pullar,  ……………….. relatively  low. ”This  means  that  Perkin  consulted  Robert  Pullar (consulted=asked advice)”
12. France	country, fashionable	paragraph 9; line 10	The  company  received  a  commercial  boost  from  the  Empress  Eugénie  of France, …………………… Very soon, mauve was the necessary shade for  all  the  fashionable  ladies  in  that  country . “that country = France”
13. Malaria	disease, researchers, using synthetic dyes	paragraph  10; last sentence	And,  in  what  would  have ………………………..research for a vaccine against malaria. ” means that malaria is now being targeted by researchers using sy

 

 

READING PASSAGE 2

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

There Anybody Out There

			Answers for “Is There Anybody Out There” with explanations
Answers	Keywords	Location	Explanation
18. several billion years	life expectancy	paragraph A; line 12	Since the lifetime of a planet ………….. from zero to several billion years. “life expectancy=lifetime”
17. ii		paragraph A	Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately. “response= reply, should not = degree of appropriateness”
16. i		paragraph D	An alien civilisation could choose many different ways of sending information across the galaxy. It turns out that, for a given amount of transmitted power, radio waves in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz travel the greatest distance. “looking for radio waves= seeking radio signals”
15.vii		paragraph C	it seems inconceivable that at least one of these planets does not have a life form on it; in fact, the best educated guess we can make,…, leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet orbiting it “likelihood=best guess”
14. iv		Paragraph B	There are two assumptions(ground rules) for the search of the ETI
19. radio waves	signals, scientists looking for	paragraph D; 1st and 2nd sentence	An alien civilisation could choose many different ways of sending information across the galaxy. It turns out that, for a given amount of transmitted power, radio waves in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz travel the greatest distance, and so all searches to date have concentrated onlooking for radio waves. “alien civilization = intelligent civilization, searching for = looking for”
20.	searching, radio telescopes	paragraph D; line 13 and 14	One part is a targeted search using the world‟s largest radio telescopes…. This ………… is searching the nearest 1000 likely stars “
21. YES	alien, help overcome problems	paragraph A; last sentence	It it even possible that the older civilisation may pass on the benefits of their experience in dealing with threats to survival such as nuclear war and global pollution, and other threats that we haven‟t yet discovered. “Pass on the benefits = able to help”
22. YES	a life form, resemble humans	paragraph B,	Second, we make a very conservative assumption that we are looking for a life form that is pretty well like us…………………. “trying to find= looking for, resembles= pretty well like us”
23. NOT GIVEN	Americans and Australians, co-operated	Paragraph D	The Americans and Australians………”whether they have co-operated on joint research projects or not is not mentioned”
24. NO	several stars, picked up signals	paragraph D; line 8	Until now, there have not been any detection from the few hundred stars which have been searched. “have not been any detection= have not picked up”
25. NOT GIVEN	criticism, congress	paragraph D; line 10	No information is given about the NASA project’s attracting criticism from members of Congress.
26. NO	outer space, respond promptly	last paragraph; line 1	There is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an alien civilisation. Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately. “respond=reply, promptly=immediately”

READING PASSAGE 3

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

The History of the Tortoise

ANSWERS	KEYWORDS	LOCATION	EXPLANATION
27. plants	transfer, animals migrate	Paragraph 1; last sentence	And we mustn’t forget the plants, without whose prior invasion of the land none of the other migrations could happen. “for the other migration to happen plants have to migrate first, before=prior”
28.	two processes, big changes	paragraph 2; 1st sentence	Moving from water to land involved a major redesign of every aspect of life, including breathing and reproduction. “major redesign= big changes”
29. gills	physical feature, whales lack	paragraph 2; line 18	They do, however, still breathe air, having never developed anything equivalent to the gills of their earlier marine incarnation. ” (earlier marine incarnation= ancestor), (lack=never developed)”
30. dolphins	ichthyosaurs, resembled	paragraph 3; line 15	The fossils look likedolphins and they surely lived like dolphins, in the water. “the fossils= fossils of ichthyosaurs, look alike = resemble”
31. Not Given	turtles, first animals, back, sea	paragraph 2; last sentence	However, they are…………their eggs on beaches. ” Whether turtles were among the first group of animals to migrate back to the sea or not is NOT mentioned”
32. FALSE	always difficult, animal lived, remains, incomplete	paragraph 3; line 9	You might wonder how we can tell whether fossil animals lived on land or in water, especially if only fragments are found. Sometimes it‟s obvious. “incomplete= fragments, obvious= not difficult to determine”
33. TRUE	ichthyosaurs, habitat,	paragraph 3, line 13 and 14	Ichthyosaurs were reptilian contemporaries of the dinosaurs, with fins and streamlined bodies. The fossilslook like dolphins and they surely lived like dolphins, in the water.”So, it is true that the habitat of ichthyosaurs can be determined by the appearance of their fossilised remains (surely= can be determined, habitat = live in water)”
34. measurements/three measurements	71 species, bones, forelimbs	paragraph 4; 1st sentence	Walter Joyce and Jacques Gauthier, at Yale University, obtained three measurements in these particular bones of 71 species of living turtles and tortoises.
35. (triangular) graph	recorded on a	paragraph 4; line 5	They used a kind of triangular graph paper to plot the three measurements against one another. “comparing the information= plot the three measurements against one another, recorded=plot”
36. cluster	land tortoises, represented, dense	paragraph 4; line 7	All the land tortoise species formed a tight cluster of points in the upper part of the triangle. ” dense=tight, towards the top= upper part of the triangle”
37. amphibious	same data, other results	paragraph 4;	There was no overlap, except when they added some species that spend time both in water and on land. “spend time both in water and on land= amphibious, because the word limit is only two”
38. halfway	positioned about, up the triangle	paragraph 4; line 10	Sure enough, these amphibious species show up on the triangular graph approximately half way between the „wet cluster‟ of sea turtles and the „dry cluster‟ of land tortoises.
39. dry-land tortoises	position, creatures	paragraph 4; 2nd last sentence	The bones of P.quenstedti and P.talampayensis leave us in no doubt. Their points on the graph are right in the thick of the dry cluster. Both these fossils were dry-land tortoises
40. D		Last paragraph; 1st line	Tortoises therefore represent a remarkable double return. “therefore = most significant/ final, more than once= double”