Cambridge IELTS Academic 7 Reading Test 4 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: Cambridge 7 Test 4 Answer / Cambridge IELTS 7 Reading Test 4 Answers with Explanation

READING PASSAGE 1

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

Pulling strings to build Pyramids

 

Question Number	Answer	Keywords	Location in Passage (Paragraph and Line Numbers)	Text/Explanation
1	TRUE	generally believed, large numbers of people, needed, build the pyramids	Paragraph 1, Lines 2-3	"The pyramids of Egypt were built more than three thousand years ago, and no one knows how. The conventional picture is that tens of thousands of slaves dragged stones on sledges."
2	FALSE	Clemmons, found, strange hieroglyph, wall, Egyptian monument	Paragraph 1, Lines 7-9	"While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures."
3	NOT GIVEN	Gharib, previously, experiments, bird flight	N/A	No information about whether Gharib previously did experiments on bird flight is mentioned in the passage.
4	TRUE	Gharib and Graff, tested, theory, before, applying	Paragraph 3, Lines 2-4	"Their initial calculations and scale-model wind-tunnel experiments convinced them they wouldn’t need a strong wind to lift the 33.5-tonne column."
5	FALSE	success, actual experiment, due to, high speed, wind	Paragraph 5, Lines 1-2	"The wind was blowing at a gentle 16 to 20 kilometres an hour, little more than half what they thought would be needed."
6	NOT GIVEN	kite, flew, higher, wind force, got stronger	N/A	No information about the effect of the kite flying higher or lower on the wind force is provided in the passage.
7	TRUE	team, decided, was possible, use kites, to raise, very heavy stones	Paragraph 5, Line 1	"So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place."
8	(Wooden) pulleys	Egyptians, had, could lift, large pieces of	Paragraph 7, Lines 1-4	"Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone."
9	Stone	Egyptians, had, could lift, large pieces of	Paragraph 7, Lines 1-4	"Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone."
10	(Accomplished) sailors	Egyptians, had, could lift, large pieces of	Paragraph 7, Lines 1-4	"Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone."
11	(Modern) glider	discovery, one pyramid, object, resembled, suggests, may have, experimented with	Paragraph 7, Lines 5

Question Number	Answer	Keywords	Location in Passage (Paragraph and Line Numbers)	Text/Explanation
11	(Modern) glider	discovery, one pyramid, object, resembled, suggests, may have, experimented with	Paragraph 7, Lines 5-8	"A wooden artefact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider. Although it dates from several hundred years after the building of the pyramids, its sophistication suggests that the Egyptians might have been developing ideas of flight for a long time."
12	Flight	discovery, one pyramid, object, resembled, suggests, may have, experimented with	Paragraph 7, Lines 5-8	"A wooden artefact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider. Although it dates from several hundred years after the building of the pyramids, its sophistication suggests that the Egyptians might have been developing ideas of flight for a long time."
13	Messages	over two thousand years ago, kites, used, China, weapons, as well as, sending	Paragraph 7, Last lines	"And other ancient civilizations certainly knew about kites; as early as 1250 BC, the Chinese were using them to deliver messages and dump flaming debris on their foes."

 

READING PASSAGE 2

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

Endless Harvest

Question Number	Answer	Keywords	Location in Passage (Paragraph and Line Numbers)	Text/Explanation
14	FALSE	inhabitants, Aleutian islands, renamed, Aleyska	Paragraph 1, Lines 4-8	"The islands' native inhabitants called this land mass Aleyska, the 'Great Land'; today, we know it as Alaska."
15	NOT GIVEN	Alaska's fisheries, owned by, world's largest companies	Paragraph 2, Last lines	"Taking advantage of this rich bounty, Alaska's commercial fisheries have developed into some of the largest in the world."
16	TRUE	life, Alaska, dependent on, salmon	Paragraph 3, Lines 3-6	"The true cultural heart and soul of Alaska's fisheries, however, is salmon. 'Salmon,' notes writer Susan Ewing in The Great Alaska Nature Factbook, 'pump through Alaska like blood through a heart, bringing rhythmic, circulating nourishment to land, animals, and people.'"
17	NOT GIVEN	Ninety percent, all Pacific salmon caught, sockeye, pink salmon	Paragraph 3, Lines 8-10	"All five species of Pacific salmon – chinook, or king; chum, or dog; coho, or silver; sockeye, or red; and pink, or humpback – spawn in Alaskan waters, and 90% of all Pacific salmon commercially caught in North America are produced there."
18	TRUE	More than, 320,000 tonnes of salmon, caught, Alaska, 2000	Paragraph 3, Last lines	"During 2000, commercial catches of Pacific salmon in Alaska exceeded 320,000 tonnes, with an ex-vessel value of over $US 260 million."
19	TRUE	between 1940 and 1959, sharp decrease, Alaska's, salmon population	Paragraph 4, First lines	"Between 1940 and 1959, overfishing led to crashes in salmon populations so severe that in 1953 Alaska was declared a federal disaster area."
20	FALSE	During, 1990s, average number of salmon, caught each year, 100 million	Paragraph 4, Last lines	"Until, during the 1990s, annual harvests were well in excess of 100 million, and on several occasions over 200 million fish."
21	G	Alaska, biologists, check on, adult fish	Paragraph 5, Lines 2-5	"There are biologists throughout the state constantly monitoring adult fish as they show up to spawn. The biologists sit in streamside counting towers, study sonar, watch from aeroplanes, and talk to fishermen. The salmon season in Alaska is not pre-set. The fishermen know the approximate time of year when they will be allowed to fish, but on any given day, one or more field biologists in a particular area can put a halt to fishing. Even sport fishing can be brought to a halt. It is this management mechanism that has allowed Alaska salmon stocks – and, accordingly, Alaska salmon fisheries — to prosper." Answer: G (to ensure that fish numbers are sufficient to permit fishing.)

Question Number	Answer	Keywords	Location in Passage (Paragraph and Line Numbers)	Text/Explanation
22	E	Biologists, authority	Paragraph 5, Lines 5-7	"But on any given day, one or more field biologists in a particular area can put a halt to fishing. Even sport fishing can be brought to a halt."
23	B	In-Season Abundance-Based Management, allowed, Alaska salmon fisheries	Paragraph 5, Lines 7-8	"It is this management mechanism that has allowed Alaska salmon stocks – and, accordingly, Alaska salmon fisheries — to prosper."
24	A	Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), established	Paragraph 6, Lines 1-3	"In 1999, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) commissioned a review of the Alaska salmon fishery. The Council, which was founded in 1996, certifies fisheries that meet high environmental standards, enabling them to use a label that recognises their environmental responsibility."
25	K	As a result of, collapse, salmon runs, 1999, state decided	Paragraph 7, Last lines	"However, the state reacted quickly, closing down all fisheries, even those necessary for subsistence purposes."
26	F	September 2000, MSC, allowed, seven Alaska salmon companies	Last Paragraph, Lines 1-3	"In September 2000, MSC announced that the Alaska salmon fisheries qualified for certification. Seven companies producing Alaska salmon were immediately granted permission to display the MSC logo on their products."

READING PASSAGE 3

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

Effects of noise

Question	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text/Explanation
27	D	difficulty sleeping, mountains	Paragraph 2-4, Lines 1-4	"And yet most of us have had the experience of having to adjust to sleeping in the mountains or the countryside because it was initially 'too quiet', an experience that suggests that humans are capable of adapting to a wide range of noise levels." The passage suggests that people may have difficulty sleeping in the mountains because they may have adapted to a higher noise level in the city.
28	C	noise experiments, Glass and Singer	Paragraph 1, Lines 7-8	"The noise was quite disruptive at first, but after about four minutes the subjects were doing just as well on their tasks as control subjects who were not exposed to noise." The noise experiments conducted by Glass and Singer found that bursts of noise do not seriously disrupt problem-solving in the long run.
29	A	Researchers, high noise levels	Paragraph 2, Lines 1-2	"But there are limits to adaptation and loud noise becomes more troublesome if the person is required to concentrate on more than one task." Researchers discovered that high noise levels are not likely to interfere with the successful performance of a single task.
30	B	Glass and Singer (1972), intense noise, less effect	Paragraph 3, Lines 2-4	"We are much more able to 'tune out' chronic background noise, even if it is quite loud, than to work under circumstances with unexpected intrusions of noise." Glass and Singer showed that situations with intense noise have less effect on performance than circumstances with unexpected noise.
31	D	subjects, loud bursts of noise, predictable, occurrence was random	Paragraph 3, Lines 6-8	"For some subjects, the bursts were spaced exactly one minute apart (predictable noise); others heard the same amount of noise overall, but the bursts occurred at random intervals (unpredictable noise)." All groups were exposed to the same amount of noise.
32	F	predictable noise group, unpredictable noise group	Paragraph 3, Lines 8-10	"Subjects reported finding the predictable and unpredictable noise equally annoying, and all subjects performed at about the same level during the noise portion of the experiment." The predictable noise group performed at about the same level as the unpredictable noise group on the task.
33	I	second part of the experiment, proofreading task, exposed to, unpredictable noise, predictable noise	Paragraph 3, Lines 10-14	"As shown in Table 1, the unpredictable noise produced more errors in the later proofreading task than predictable noise." The group exposed to unpredictable noise made more mistakes than the group exposed to predictable noise.
34	B	group exposed to loud predictable noise, soft, unpredictable bursts, results suggest	Paragraph 4	"Apparently, unpredictable noise produces more fatigue than predictable noise, but it takes a while for this fatigue to take its toll on performance." The results suggest that unexpected noise produces fatigue but that this fatigue manifests itself later.
35	A	subjects exposed to noise, difficult, concentrate, problem-solving tasks	Paragraph 1, Lines 5-7	"For example, Glass and Singer (1972) exposed people to short bursts of very loud noise and then measured their ability to work out problems and their physiological reactions to the noise. The noise was quite disruptive at first." Subjects exposed to noise find it difficult at first to concentrate on problem-solving tasks.
36	D	long-term exposure to noise, changes in behavior, observed a year later	Last Paragraph	"A follow-up study showed that children who were moved to less noisy classrooms still

Question	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text/Explanation
36	D	long-term exposure to noise, changes in behavior, observed a year later	Last Paragraph	"A follow-up study showed that children who were moved to less noisy classrooms still showed greater distractibility one year later than students who had always been in the quiet schools (Cohen et al, 1981)." Long-term exposure to noise can produce changes in behavior that can still be observed a year later.
37	A	problems, exposure to noise, do not arise, subject knows, can make it stop	Paragraph 5	"If the individual knows that he or she can control the noise, this seems to eliminate both its negative effect at the time and its after-effects. This is true even if the individual never actually exercises his or her option to turn the noise off (Glass and Singer, 1972)." The problems associated with exposure to noise do not arise if the subject knows they can make it stop.
38	E	exposure to high-pitched noise, more errors, than, low-pitched noise	Not found	The passage does not provide information about the effects of exposure to high-pitched noise on error rates compared to low-pitched noise.
39	B	subjects, difficult to perform, three tasks, same time, exposed to noise	Paragraph 2, Lines 2-4	"For example, high noise levels interfered with the performance of subjects who were required to monitor three dials at a time, a task not unlike that of an aeroplane pilot or an air-traffic controller (Broadbent, 1957)." Subjects find it difficult to perform three tasks at the same time when exposed to noise.
40	C	noise affects, subject's capacity, repeat numbers, another task	Paragraph 2, Lines 5-7	"Similarly, noise did not affect a subject's ability to track a moving line with a steering wheel, but it did interfere with the subject's ability to repeat numbers while tracking (Finkelman and Glass, 1970)." Noise affects a subject's capacity to repeat numbers while carrying out another task.