Glaciers- IELTS Reading Answers
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The Reading Module of the IELTS can be the top-scoring category, with diligent practice. To achieve the best results in this section, you must understand how to approach and answer the different Question types in the Reading Module. By solving and reviewing Sample Reading Questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your Reading skills are up to the mark.
The Academic passage ‘Glaciers’ is a reading passage that appeared in an IELTS Test.
It contains some of the IELTS reading question types. If you are interested in familiarising yourself with all the question types, don’t hesitate to take an IELTS reading practice test.
Matching Headings
In Matching Headings question, a list of headings will be given and you are asked to match these headings with a paragraph in the passage. You should read the headings before you begin reading the text. To get the correct answer, you have to read the complete paragraph and not just stop with the first few lines of the paragraph. There will also be many other headings that are not related to any of the paragraphs given in the passage, in such cases, try to identify those types of headings too.
True/False/Not Given Questions
True/False/Not Given questions are very tricky. This question consists of several statements – If the statement is present in the article as it is then you need to mark it as true. If the statement is found to be the opposite of the sentence which is there then it should be marked as false. If the statement given in the question is not at all present in the article then it should be marked as not given. Do not spend a lot of time finding the sentence which is not there.
Matching Information Questions
In Matching Information question, a list which contains information taken from the paragraphs. You are asked to find out the paragraph from which the information is taken. Sometimes the question may be tricky because the information given might not be in exact words as given in the paragraph instead it will be paraphrased so you need to read the paragraph to understand the meaning/idea behind it to answer these questions.
Read the passage below and answer questions 1 – 15. Beyond the questions, you will find the answers along with the location of the answers in the passage and the keywords that help you find out the answers.
Glaciers
Answers
1 Answer: vi
Question type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 4
Answer explanation: Few lines in the said paragraph indicate that “heavily glaciated regions such as Greenland and Antarctica are called continental glaciers. Smaller glaciers that occur at higher elevations are called alpine or valley glaciers. Also, in temperate glaciers, the ice within the glacier is near its melting point. Polar glaciers, in contrast, always maintain temperatures far below melting.” Hence, from this information, we can deduce that a comprehensive description of various glaciers is given.
Question type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 2
Answer explanation: Paragraph B brings forth the information that, “the reason glaciers are generally formed in high alpine regions is that they require cold temperatures throughout the year. In these areas where there is little opportunity for summer ablation (loss of mass), snow changes to compacted fim and then crystallized ice. Additionally, “while glaciers rely heavily on snowfall, other climatic conditions including freezing rain, avalanches, and wind, contribute to their growth.” Here, the formation and growth of glaciers are described in detail.
Question type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 6
Answer explanation: If you read through, a line provides the information that “the middle of a glacier moves faster than the sides and bottom because there is no rock to cause friction. The upper part of a glacier rides on the ice below. As a glacier moves it carves out a U-shaped valley similar to a riverbed, but with much steeper walls and a flatter bottom.” Hence, from this information, we can conclude that this paragraph gives an in-depth view of how glaciers move.
Question type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph D, line 1
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “besides the extraordinary rivers of ice, glacial erosion creates other unique physical features in the landscape such as horns, fjords, hanging valleys, and cirques.” Here, it is suggested that glaciers have a huge impact on the landscape they affect.
Question type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2
Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph suggests that “while presently about 10 percent of the earth’s land is covered with glaciers, it is believed that during the last Ice Age glaciers covered approximately 32 percent of the earth’s surface. Also, by studying glacier movement, and comparing climate and agricultural profiles over hundreds of years, glaciologists can begin to understand environmental issues such as global warming.” Hence, we can deduce that this paragraph gives us an idea about glaciers in various periods of time, not just the Ice Age.
Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 1
Answer explanation: If you read through, there is a line in the said paragraph that suggests, “the majority of the earth’s glaciers are located near the poles, though glaciers exist on all continents, including Africa and Oceania. The reason glaciers are generally formed in high alpine regions is that they require cold temperatures throughout the year.” Since it’s mentioned that the ‘majority of the glaciers are located near the poles’ we can infer that not all glaciers are located near the poles. Hence, it is opposite to the claim made in the question.
Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 2
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph it is mentioned that “the reason glaciers are generally formed in high alpine regions is that they require cold temperatures throughout the year. In these areas where there is little opportunity for summer ablation (loss of mass), snow changes to compacted finm and then crystallized ice.” Hence, from this line, we can learn that the process of glacier formation requires favorable weather conditions and snow.
8 Answer: TRUE
Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: We can confirm that Glaciers move about 5 t0 10 inches a day from the information where the author says that “with the rare exception of surging glaciers, a common glacier flows about 10 inches per day in the summer and 5 inches per day in the winter.”
9 Answer: FALSE
Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 4
Answer explanation: According to a line “the middle of a glacier moves faster than the sides and bottom because there is no rock to cause friction.” From this information, we can learn that all the parts of the glaciers do not move at the same speed because it is mentioned that the middle part of a glacier travels faster than the other parts.
10 Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2
Answer explanation: If you read through, a line claims that “while presently about 10 percent of the earth’s land is covered with glaciers, it is believed that during the last Ice Age glaciers covered approximately 32 percent of the earth’s surface.” Here, it is mentioned that during the Last Ice Age glaciers used to cover larger territories. However, it does not state that the temperatures were lower.
11 Answer: B
Question type: Matching Information Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 7
Answer explanation: If you observe clearly, you can point out that a line infers that “smaller glaciers that occur at higher elevations are called alpine or valley glaciers.” Hence, a glacier formed at the higher elevations (mountains) is known as an alpine glacier.
12 Answer: D
Question type: Matching Information Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to “polar glaciers, in contrast, always maintain temperatures far below melting.” The term freezing point means the temperature at which a liquid turns into a solid when cooled whereas the term melting point means the temperature at which a given solid will melt. Theoretically, their temperatures are one and the same. Hence, “far below melting” has been paraphrased to “well below freezing”. Hence, we can deduce that polar glaciers have temperatures well below freezing.
13 Answer: H
Question type: Matching Information Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: A-line states that “with the rare exception of surging glaciers, a common glacier flows about 10 inches per day in the summer and 5 inches per day in the winter. The fastest glacial surge on record occurred in 1953 when the Kutiah Glacier in Pakistan grew more than 12 kilometers in three months.” Since surging glaciers move fast, we can deduce that it is the fastest moving glacier.
14 Answer: A
Question type: Matching Information Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, line 5
Answer explanation: Paragraph D puts forward the information that “Fjords, which are very common in Norway, are coastal valleys that fill with ocean water during a glacial retreat.” This line suggests that it is the Fjord glacier that is formed near the ocean.
15 Answer: G
Question type: Matching Information Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, last line
Answer explanation: If you observe, a line claims that “a cirque is a large bowl-shaped valley that forms at the front of a glacier. Cirques often have a lip on their downslope that is deep enough to hold small lakes when the ice melts away.” Here, the answer is given where it is said that a cirque is a large bowl-shaped valley.
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