THE IELTS BRIDGE

IELTS Cambridge 17 Test 2: ACADEMIC READING MODULE

Reading Passage 1:The Dead Sea Scrolls

1- heard noise of breaking when one teenager threw a ……

The answer is rock.

In paragraph one,  one of these young shepherds tossed a rock into an opening on the side of a cliff and was surprised to hear a shattering sound.

2:3- teenagers went into the …….. and found a number of containers made of …….

The answer is cave.

The answer is clay.

In paragraph one, he and his companions later entered the cave and stumbled across a collection of large clay jars.

The Scrolls

4- thought to have been written by group of people known as the …..

The answer is Essenes.

In paragraph two, the area was known as Judea at that time, and the people are thought to have belonged to a group called the Essenes.

5- written mainly in the …….. language

The answer is Hebrew.

In paragraph three, the majority of the texts on the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew.

6- The Bedouin teenagers who found the scrolls were disappointed by how little money they received for them.

The answer is NOT GIVEN.

In paragraph one, the teenagers took the seven scrolls to a nearby town where they were sold for a small sum to a local antiquities dealer.

7- There is agreement among academics about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The answer is FALSE.

In paragraph two, the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written 2000 years ago between 150 BCE and 70 CE, is still the subject of scholarly debate even today.

8- Most of the books of the Bible written on the scrolls are incomplete.

The answer is TRUE.

In paragraph four, the Dead Sea Scrolls include fragments from every book of the Old Testament of the Bible except for the Book of Esther. 

9- The information on the Copper Scroll is written in an unusual way.

The answer is TRUE.

In paragraph five, the exception is the scroll numbered 3Q15, which was created out of a combination of copper and tin. Known as the Copper Scroll, this curious document features letters chiseled onto metal – perhaps, as some have theorized, to be better withstand the passage of time.

10- Mar Samuel was given some of the scrolls as a gift.

The answer is FALSE.

In paragraph six, some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been on interesting journeys. In 1948, a Syrian Orthodox archbishop known as Mar Samuel acquired four of the original seven scrolls from a Jerusalem shoemaker and part-time antiquity dealer, paying less than $100 for them.

11- In the early 1950, a number of educational establishments in the US were keen to buy scrolls from Mar Samuel.

The answer is FALSE.

In paragraph six, fortunately, Israeli archeologist and statesman Yigael Ladin negotiated their purchase and brought the scrolls back to Jerusalem, where they remain to this day.

12- The scroll that was pieced together in 2017 contains information about annual occasions in the Qumran area 2000 years ago.

The answer is TRUE.

In paragraph seven, tdeciphered from a band of coded text on parchment, the find provides insight into the community of people who wrote it and the 364-day calendar they would have used.

13- Academics at the university of Haifa are currently researching how to decipher the final scroll.

The answer is NOT GIVEN.

Reading Passage 2:A Second Attempt at Domesticating Tomato

14- a reference to a type of tomato that resist a dangerous infection 

The answer is C.

In paragraph C, in this way they managed to create a strain 

resistant to a common disease called bacterial spot race, which can devastate yields.

15- an explanation of how problems can arise from focusing only on a certain type of tomato plant

The answer is B.

In paragraph B, but every time a single mutation is taken from a larger population breeding, much genetic diversity is lost. And sometimes the desirable mutations come with less desirable traits.

16- a number of examples of plants that are not cultivated at present but could be useful as food sources

The answer is E.

In paragraph E, the three teams already have their eyes on other plants that could be ‘catapulted into the mainstream’, including foxtail, oat-grass and cowpea. By choosing wild plants that are drought or heat tolerant, says Gas, we could create crops that will thrive even as the planet warms.

17- a comparison between the early domestication of the tomato and more recent research

The answer is A.

In paragraph A, and they have down it better in some ways, as the re-domesticated tomatoes are more nutritious than the ones we eat at present.

18- a personal reaction to the flavor of a tomato that has been genetically edited 

The answer is C.

In paragraph C, ‘they are quite tasty,’ says Kudla. ‘A little bit strong. And very aromatic.’

Look at the following statements (Questions 19–23) and the list of researchers below.
Write the correct letter, A–D, in boxes 19–23 on your answer sheet.

List of researchers
A Jorg Kudla
B Caixia Gao
C Joyce Van Eck
D Jonathan Jones

19- Domestication of certain plants could allow them to adapt to future environmental challenges.

The answer is B.

In paragraph E, the three teams already have their eye on other plants that could be ‘catapulted into the mainstream’, including foxtail, oat-grass and cowpea. By choosing wild plants that are drought or heat tolerant, says Gas, we could create crops that will thrive even as the plant warms.

20- The idea of growing and eating unusual plants may be accepted on a large scale.

The answer is D.

In paragraph E, this approach could boost the use of many obscure plants, says Jonathan Jones of the Sainsbury Lab in the UK. 

21- It is not advisable for the future direction of certain research to be made public.

The answer is A.

In paragraph E, but Kudla didn’t want to reveal which species were in his team’s sights, because CRISPR has made the process easy. ‘Any one with the right skills could go to their lab and do this.’

22- Present efforts to domesticate one wild fruit are limited by the costs involved.

The answer is C.

In paragraph D, but she adds that taking the work further would be expensive because of the need to pay for a license for the CRISPR technology and get regulatory approval.

23- Humans only make use of a small proportion of the plant food available on Earth.

The answer is A.

In paragraph A, ‘there are 50,000 edible plants in the world, but 90% of our energy comes from just 15 props.’

Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

24- An undesirable trait such as loss of ….. may be caused by a mutation in a tomato gene.

 The answer is flavor/flavour.

In paragraph B, but every time a single plant with a mutation is taken from a larger population for breeding, much genetic diversity is lost. And sometimes the desirable mutations come with less desirable traits. For instance, the tomato strains grown for supermarkets have lost much of their flavor.

25- By modifying one gene in a tomato plant, researchers made the tomato three times its original ….

 The answer is size.

In paragraph C, Kuala’s team made six changes altogether. For instance, they tripled the size of fruit by editing a gene called FRUIT WEIGHT, and increased the number of tomatoes per truss by editing another called MULTIFLORA.

26- A type of tomato which was not badly affected by ……, and was rich in vitamin C, was produced by a team of researchers in China.

 The answer is salt.

In paragraph C, the team in China re-domesticated several strains of wild tomatoes with desirable traits lost in domesticated tomatoes. In this way they managed to create a strain resistant to a common disease called bacterial spot race, which can devastate yields. They also created another strain that is more salt tolerant – and has higher levels of vitamin C.

Reading Passage 3:Insight or evolution?

Choose the correct letter in boxes, A, B, C or D.

27- The purpose of the first paragraph is to 

The answer is D.

In paragraph one, scientific discovery id popularly believed to result from the sheer genius of such intellectual stars as naturalist Charles Darwin and theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. Our view of such unique contributions to science often discards the person’s prior experience and the efforts of their lesser-known predecessors. 

28- What are the writers doing in the second paragraph?

The answer is A. >> outline a common assumption

In paragraph two, there may be limited truth to this view.

29- In the third paragraph, what do the writers suggest about Darwin and Einstein?

The answer is A. >>  they represent an exception to a general rule.

In paragraph three, setting aside such greats as Darwin and Einstein, we suggest that innovation is more of a process of trial and error, where two steps forward may sometimes come with one step back, as well as more steps to the right or to the left.

30- John Nicholson is an example of a person whose idea 

The answer is C. >> laid the foundations for someone else’s breakthrough

In paragraph four, Niels Bohr, the Nobel prize-winning father of modern atomic theory, jumped off from this interesting idea to conceive his now-famous model of the atom. 

31- What is the key point of interest about the ‘ace-deucy’ stirrup placement?

The answer is A. >> the simple reason why it was invented 

In paragraph six, had he foreseen the speed advantage that would be conferred by riding ace-deucy? No. He suffered a leg injury, which left him unable to fully bend his left knee. His modification just happened to coincide with enhanced left-hand turning performance. 

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
Write True, False or Not Given

32- Acknowledging people such as Plato da Vinci as geniuses will help us understand the process by which great minds create new ideas.

 The answer is NO.

In paragraph eight, the notion of insight, creativity and genius are often invoked, but they remain vague and of doubtful scientific utility, especially when one considers the diverse and enduring contributions individuals such as Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Galileo, Newton, Kleper, Curie, Pasteur and Edison. These notions merely label rather than explain the evolution of human innovations. We need another approach, and there is a promising candidate.

33- The Law of Effect was discovered at a time when psychologists were seeking a scientific reason why creativity occurs.

 The answer is NOT GIVEN.

In paragraph nine, the Law of Effect was advanced by psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1898, some 40 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work on biological evolution, On the Origin of Species.

34- The Law of Effect states that no planning is involved in the behavior of organisms.

 The answer is YES.

In paragraph nine, just like Darwin’s Law of Natural Selection, the Law of Effect involves an entirely mechanical process of variation and selection, without any end objective in sight. 

35- The Law of Effect sets out clear explanations about the sources of new ideas and behaviors.

 The answer is NO.

In paragraph ten, the generation of novel ideas and behaviors may not be entirely random, but constrained by prior successes and failures – of current individual (such as Bohr) or of predecessors (such as Nicholson)

36- Many scientists are now turning away from the notion of intelligent design and genius.

 The answer is NOT GIVEN.

In paragraph eleven, this time seems right for abandoning the naive of intelligent design and genius, and for scientifically exploring the true origins of creative behavior. 

Complete the summary using the list of words, A–G, below.

The origins of creative behavior 

37- The traditional view of scientific discovery is that breakthroughs happens when a single great mind has sudden ……..

 The answer is F. >> inspiration

In paragraph one, conventional wisdom also places great weight on insight in promoting breakthrough scientific achievements, as if ideas spontaneously pop into someone’s head – fully formed and functional. 

38- In some cases, this process involves …., such as Nicholdos’s theory about proto-elements.

 The answer is D. >> mistakes

In paragraph four, these successes are all the more noteworthy given the fact that Nicholson was wrong about the presence of porto-elements. 

39- There is also often an element of ……, for example, the coincidence of ideas that led to the invention of the Post-It note.

 The answer is E. >> luck

In paragraph seven, plenty of other stories show that fresh advances can arise from error, misadventure, and also pure serendipity. 

40- With both the Law of Natural Selection and the Law of Effect, there may be no clear  ….. involved, but merely a process of variation and selection.

The answer is B. >> goals

In paragraph nine, just like Darwin’s Law of Natural Selection, the Law of Effect involves an entirely mechanical process of variation and selection, without any end objective in sight. 

THE IELTS BRIDGE

BEST IELTS INSTITUTE IN DEHRADUN

Let's Start a Conversation

Point of Contact:

Call us at:

+91-7302390901

Email us at:

theieltsbridge@gmail.com

Address:

46 D Pathribagh, Doon Sarla Academy,
SGRR PG College Rd, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand - 248001

RECENT POSTS

CATEGORIES

IELTS STUDY MATERIAL