Roman Shipbuilding and Navigation – IELTS Reading Answers

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 ‘Roman shipbuilding and Navigation’ is a reading passage that appeared in an IELTS Test. Try to find the answers to get an idea of the difficulty level of the passages in the actual reading test. If you want more passages to solve, try taking one of our IELTS reading practice tests.

The types of questions found in this passage are:

True/False/Not Given

In this type of question, you need to provide an answer using ‘True’, ‘False’ or ‘Not Given’ with respect to the statements made. If you believe that the given statement is mentioned in the text and is correct, write ‘True’. If you think the statement is wrong, write ‘False’. And, in case you do not find any piece of information regarding the given statement, write ‘Not Given’.

Summary  Completion: 

In these types of questions, you are required to complete the summary of the given passage  by going through the given text and identifying the relevant context that is mentioned in the summary. Then, fill in the blanks with the missing words or phrases and complete the summary.. It should be meaningful in relation to the passage. You might/might not get the exact phrases/words from the passage; hence, pay close attention to the passage.

Roman shipbuilding and navigation

Answers

1 Answer: False

Question Type: True/False/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 1, Lines 4-6

Answer explanation: “The Romans were not traditionally sailors but mostly land-based people, who learned to build ships from the people that they conquered, namely the Greeks and the Egyptians.” This suggests that Romans did not pass on the shipbuilding skills to Greeks and Egyptians, rather they learnt from them.

2 Answer: Not Given

Question Type: True/False/Not Given

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: There is no such reference of the need of skilled craftsmen for mortise and tenon method of fixing planks.

3 Answer: False

Question Type: True/False/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 2, Lines 9-12

Answer explanation: “Then in the first centuries of the current era, Mediterranean shipbuilders shifted to another shipbuilding method, still in use today, which consisted of building the frame first and then proceeding with the hull and the other components of the ship.” This suggests that frames were built first and then the hulls. Hence, it is a wrong statement.

4 Answer: True

Question Type: True/False/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 3, Lines 7-9

Answer explanation: “Eventually, Rome’s navy became the largest and most powerful in the Mediterranean, and the Romans had control over what they therefore called Mare Nostrum meaning ‘our sea’.” This sentence shows that Roman’s navy became the mightiest of all. Due to that, they had control over (dominated) the Mediterranean and called it Mare Nostrum.

5 Answer: True

Question Type: True/False/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 4, Lines 5-7

Answer explanation: “It is worth noting that contrary to popular perception, rowers were not slaves but mostly Roman citizens enrolled in the military.” This shows that most of the rowers employed in the ship were Romans who were part of the Roman military (from the Roman army).

6 Answer: lightweight

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 3, Line 1

Answer explanation: “Warships were built to be lightweight and very speedy.” This line suggests that the warships were designed in such a way that they were lightweight and speedy (moved quickly).

7 Answer: bronze

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 3, Lines 4-6

Answer explanation: “They had a bronze battering ram, which was used to pierce the timber hulls or break the oars of enemy vessels.” This suggests that the battering ram was made of bronze and it was used to attack and damage (‘pierce’ and ‘break’) the timber and oars of enemy ships (vessel).

8 Answer: levels

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 4, Lines 1-3

Answer explanation: “The ‘trireme’ was the dominant warship from the 7th to 4th century BCE. It had rowers in the top, middle and lower levels, and approximately 50 rowers in each bank.” This suggests that warships had rowers on three different levels.

9 Answer: Hull

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 5, Lines 3-4

Answer explanation: “Unlike warships, their V-shaped hull was deep underwater, meaning that they could not sail too close to the coast.” With reference to the merchant ships in the first sentence of the mentioned paragraph, the writer states that the hulls of the merchant ships were underwater (below the surface of the sea).

10 Answer: triangular

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 5, Lines 6-7

Answer explanation: “They had from one to three masts with large square sails and a small triangular sail at the bow.” This shows that the masts of the merchant ships had both the square as well as the triangular sails.

11 Answer: music

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 5, Lines 8-11

Answer explanation: “Just like warships, merchant ships used oarsmen, but coordinating the hundreds of rowers in both types of ship was not an easy task. In order to assist them, music would be played on an instrument, and oars would then keep time with this.” This shows that the music used to be played on the ships to synchronize the movement of oars at the same time for both merchant ships as well as warships.

12 Answer: grain

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location:  Paragraph 6, Lines 1-7

Answer explanation: “The cargo on merchant ships included raw materials (e.g. iron bars, copper, marble and granite), and agricultural products (e.g. grain from Egypt’s Nile valley). During the Empire, Rome was a huge city by ancient standards of about one million inhabitants. Goods from all over the world would come to the city through the port of Pozzuoli situated west of the bay of Naples in Italy and through the gigantic port of Ostia situated at the mouth of the Tiber River.” This shows that agricultural goods like grains were transported by merchant ships to Pozzuoli and Ostia, two main ports in Italy.

13 Answer: towboats

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 6, Lines 7-9

Answer explanation: “Large merchant ships would approach the destination port and, just like today, be intercepted by a number of towboats that would drag them to the quay.” This line informs us that tow boats were used to pull (drag) the ship towards the shore (quay).

Check More IELTS Reading Answers