Prehistoric Cave Paintings Took up to 20,000 Years to Complete, Children Tested to Destruction?, Three ways to Levitate a Magic Carpet – IELTS Reading Answers

Courtney Miller

10 min read

Updated On Dec 13, 2022

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
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.

Reading Passage 1

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

Prehistoric Cave Paintings Took up to 20,000 Years to Complete

Three ways to Levitate a Magic Carpet

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Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? Write

TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

1 Cave paintings inspired Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

2 It now seems that cave paintings were painted in one go and then left untouched.

3 Dr Pike is focusing on dating artefacts found on the ground in the caves.

4 There are a number of disadvantages to using carbon dating to date paintings and carvings.

5 The Altamira cave contains more cave paintings than any other cave in Europe.

Question 6-8

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D and write them next to 6-8 on your answer sheet.

6 Dr. Pike believes that

A most caves remained undiscovered for thousands of years.

B archaeologists should not have excavated the caves at all.

C the caves were uninhabited but were treated as important.

D the paintings were painted by the people living in the caves.

7 Uranium-series dating

A was previously used for other purposes.

B is a technique that was invented by Dr Pike.

C relies on the presence of stalactites in the caves.

D only works with caves that are underwater.

8 Professor Pablo Arias

A is sceptical about the benefits of the new dating technique.

B is enthusiastic about what the new technique will achieve.

C used the technique to successfully date Creswell Crags.

D believes it is necessary only to study the symbols in the art.

Questions 9-14

Choose your answers from the box and write the letters A-H next to Questions 9-14.

What is said about each of these things found in the caves?

A When this is removed, it damages the painting.

B This can damage the stalactites and stalagmites in the caves.

C Over time, this turns into a different element.

D We could determine when it was made, but not when it was used.

E This is produced as a result of radioactive decay.

F Scientists used to think that this was a mineral.

G This contains no carbon-based elements at all.

H This can act as a firm coating over something.

9 charcoal

10 pigment

11 carving

12 uranium

13 calcium carbonate

14 thorium

Also check:

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Children Tested to Destruction?

English primary school pupils subjected to more tests than in any other country.

Children Tested to Destruction

Questions 15-19

Complete the sentences.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

15 According to the inquiry, the amount of testing puts a lot of _______________ on young children.

16 The education report describes testing in England as_________________________ testing.

17 Parents often select their childrens schools after studying test results in _________________ .

18 Kathy Hall and Kamil Ozark believe testing in England is also used to evaluate ______________ in schools.

19 The major political parties have promised to make Britain _______________ in view of the UNICEF report.

Question 20-23

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? Write

TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

20 Steve Sinnott says what is taught at school should be more tightly controlled.

21 According to John Dunford, children would make more progress with much shorter and easier tests.

22 Mick Brookes wants to see earlier student preparation for SATs.

23 David Laws agree with the opinions of Mick Brookes.

Questions 24-27

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D and write them next to 24-27 on your answer sheet.

24 What does the government argue?

A There is not enough testing at present.

B Tests at primary school are too easy.

C Tests are not given too frequently.

D Teachers should take more tests.

25 The government spokesman

A is extremely critical of the way exams are written.

B accepts many of the points made by the teachers’ leaders.

C thinks education is what the government is most interested in.

D argues it is the teacher’s fault that students are tested so much.

26 According to UNICEF, children in the UK

A often spend too much time in the worst kind of places.

B are not so well behaved as in other countries.

C are not as rich as children in 21 other countries.

D could be having much more fulfilling childhoods.

27 What is the point Kevin Brennan makes?

A Children use too many electrical devices.

B Children would learn by being outside more.

C It’s too risky for children to be outside on their own.

D The most important thing is the children’s safety.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Three ways to Levitate a Magic Carpet

Questions 28-32

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? Write

YES, if the statement agrees with the writer’s claims

NO, if the statement contradicts the writer’s claims

NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

28 A mini flying carpet is a possibility according to some scientists.

29 Cloaking devices can be used for levitation.

30 Scientists now know all about levitation.

31 Things can be transported from place to place using empty space technology.

32 The most recent research into levitation has made use of large magnets.

Question 33-37

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D and write them next to 33-37 on your answer sheet.

33 Ulf Leonhardt and John Pendry

A worked together on a project in 2006.

B both came up with the same idea.

C invented the microwave oven.

D used only basic objects in their research.

34 Metamaterials are

A similar to light, but with a smaller wavelength.

B a combination of simple metals and wires.

C able to change where electromagnetic waves go.

D engineered when light waves travel around them.

35 The importance of the Casimir effect is that it

A doesn’t require a vacuum in order to work.

B increases the number of plates that can be used.

C creates large and frequent fluctuations.

D creates a pressure difference and stickiness.

36 Leonhardt and Philbin think that putting a metamaterial between two plates will

A cause the top plate to rise above the bottom plate.

B stop electromagnetic light waves bending.

C stop the Casimir force from working.

D not affect electromagnetic fluctuations.

37 Why is it important to change the strength of the Casimir force?

A to reflect the plates.

B to help reverse the force.

C to see virtual particles better.

D to enable other scientists to progress.

Questions 38-40

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-F below.

38 Capasso is unconvinced that ________________________________

39 Capasso has calculated that _________________________________

40 Capasso has admitted that __________________________________

A gold can be used to produce levitation.

B a particular type of ethanol has to be used.

C the levitation will last for only a few seconds.

D using metamaterials will help lead to levitation in the short term.

E his experiment will be extremely costly to perform.

F his idea is still only a theory.

Answers

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Prehistoric Cave Paintings Took up to 20,000 Years to Complete Reading Answers (Passage 1)

1.	NOT GIVEN
2.	FALSE because it says in paragraph 1: ‘Rather than being created in one session, as archaeologists previously thought, many of the works discovered across Europe were produced over hundreds of generations, who added to, refreshed and painted over the original pieces of art.’
3.	FALSE because it says in paragraph 3: ‘If we can date the art then we can relate that to the artefacts we find in the ground’.
4.	TRUE because it says in paragraph 5: ‘this can be inaccurate’; ‘Taking samples for carbon dating also means destroying a bit of these precious paintings because you need to take away a bit of the pigment.’; ‘For carvings, it is virtually impossible to date as there is no organic pigment containing carbon at all’.
5.	NOT GIVEN
6.	C because it says in paragraph 6: ‘It is probably the case that people did not live in the caves they painted. It seems the caves they lived in were elsewhere and there was something special about the painted caves’
7.	A because it says in paragraph 7: ‘uranium-series dating, which was originally developed by geologists to date rock formations’.
8.	B because it says in paragraph 8: ‘this new technique developed by Bristol allows that date to be accurately bracketed’.
9.	D because it says in paragraph 5: ‘it only gives the date the charcoal was created not when the work was crafted .’
10.	A because it says in paragraph 5: ‘destroying a bit of these precious paintings because you need to take away a bit of the pigment’.
11.	G because it says in paragraph 5: ‘For carvings, it is virtually impossible to date them as there is no organic pigment containing carbon at all.’
12.	C because it says in paragraph 7: ‘uranium slowly decays to become another element known as thorium’.
13.	H because it says in paragraph 7: ‘small amounts of calcium carbonate are deposited to form a hard layer over the paintings’.
14.	E because it says in paragraph 7: ‘the uranium slowly decays to become another element known as thorium’

Children Tested to Destruction Reading Answers (Passage 2)

15.	pressure
16.	high stakes
17.	League tables
18.	teaching standards
19.	more child-friendly
20.	FALSE because he says in paragraph 4: “England is a country where testing is used to police schools and control what is taught’ and he says that this is ‘devastating’, suggesting he thinks there should be less control over what is taught, not more.
21.	NOT GIVEN
22.	FALSE because in paragraph 6 he opposes early preparation: ‘There are schools that start rehearsing for key stage two SATs [Standard Assessment Tests] from the moment the children arrive in September. That’s just utterly ridiculous’ he said.
23.	TRUE because in paragraph 7 he says: ‘many primary schools have become too exam-focused’. This is the same point Mick Brookes makes in paragraph 6: ‘They should be having the time of their lives at school not just worrying about tests.’
24.	C because in paragraph 7 it says: ‘The idea that children are over-tested is not a view that the government accepts.’
25.	C because it says in paragraph 7: ‘Seeing that children leave school up to the right standard in the basics is the highest priority of the government.’
26.	D because it says in paragraph 8: ‘a report by Unicef which ranked the UK the worst place to be a child out of 21 rich nations’.
27.	B because in paragraph 8 it says: he ‘warned that children would not learn to cope with risks if they were never allowed to play outdoors’.

Three ways to Levitate a Magic Carpet Reading Answers (Passage 3)

28.	YES, because in paragraph 1 it says: ‘So say physicists who believe the same exotic materials … could also be used to levitate tiny objects’
29.	NO, because in paragraph 1 it says: ‘the same exotic materials used to make cloaking devices’ It is the materials that are used, rather than the cloaking devices themselves.
30.	NO, because in paragraph 1 it says: ‘two other research groups have come to a step closer to cracking the mysteries of levitation, suggesting there is still much to learn.
31.	NOT GIVEN, The reference to empty space’ in paragraph 2 is concerned with levitation – raising and keeping an object up – rather than transporting things from place to place.
32.	NO, because in paragraph 2 it says: ‘In contrast’ – this is in contrast to ‘using powerful magnets’; ‘the latest theories exploit the natural amounts of energy produced by the quantum fluctuations of empty space.’
33.	B because it says in paragraph 3 that they ‘independently proposed’ the idea.
34.	C because in paragraph 4 it says: ‘They can transform space, tricking electromagnetic waves into moving along directions they otherwise wouldn’t.’
35.	D because it says in paragraph 5: ‘this causes a pressure difference on either side of the plates, forcing the plates to stick together, in a phenomenon called the Casimir effect.’
36.	A because it says in paragraph 6: ‘forcing the upper plate to levitate’.
37.	B because it says in paragraph 8: ‘Modifying the strength of the Casimir force is the first step towards reversing it.’
38.	D because it says in paragraph 7: ‘he points out that because metamaterials are difficult to engineer, it’s unlikely that they could be used to levitate objects in the near future.’
39.	A because it says in paragraph 9: ‘when you combine the materials, you should see the gold sphere levitate.’
40.	F because it says in paragraph 10: ‘It’s very early work, and we still need to make certain this is really happening’