Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS Reading Answers

Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS Reading Answers is from an academic reading passage that consists of 16 questions which have to be answered in 20 minutes. The Reading section of the IELTS exam can be your highest-scoring section, but only if you practise diligently. To get the best results, you need to understand how to approach and answer the different types of questions.

To prepare for the IELTS reading test, it is helpful to solve and review sample reading questions from past IELTS papers. This will help you become familiar with the different question formats and test your reading skills.

Let’s try to see how easy you find the academic passage “Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend” and if you can complete it in 20 minutes. If not, you can try more IELTS reading practice tests from IELTSMaterial.com.

The question types found in Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS reading answers passage are as follows:

• True/False/Not Given (Q. 1-7)
• Multiple Choice Questions (Q. 8 – 12)
• Sentence Completion (Q. 13 – 16)

Reading Passage

Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend 

Sea monsters are the stuff of legend – lurking not just in the depths of the oceans, but also the darker corners of our minds. What is it that draws us to these creatures?

“This inhuman place makes human monsters,” wrote Stephen King in his novel The Shining. Many academics agree that monsters lurk in the deepest recesses, they prowl through our ancestral minds appearing in the half-light, under the bed – or at the bottom of the sea.

“They don’t really exist, but they play a huge role in our mindscapes, in our dreams, stories, nightmares, myths and so on,” says Matthias Classen, assistant professor of literature and media at Aarhus University in Denmark, who studies monsters in literature. “Monsters say something about human psychology, not the world.”

One Norse legend talks of the Kraken, a deep sea creature that was the curse of fishermen. If sailors found a place with many fish, most likely it was the monster that was driving them to the surface. If it saw the ship it would pluck the hapless sailors from the boat and drag them to a watery grave.

This terrifying legend occupied the mind and pen of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson too. In his short 1830 poem The Kraken he wrote: “Below the thunders of the upper deep, / Far far beneath in the abysmal sea, / His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep / The Kraken sleepeth.”

The deeper we travel into the ocean, the deeper we delve into our own psyche. And when we can go no further – there lurks the Kraken. Most likely the Kraken is based on a real creature – the giant squid. The huge mollusc takes pride of place as the personification of the terrors of the deep sea. Sailors would have encountered it at the surface, dying, and probably thrashing about. It would have made a weird sight, “about the most alien thing you can imagine,” says Edith Widder, CEO at the Ocean Research and Conservation Association.

“It has eight lashing arms and two slashing tentacles growing straight out of its head and it’s got serrated suckers that can latch on to the slimiest of prey and it’s got a parrot beak that can rip flesh. It’s got an eye the size of your head, it’s got a jet propulsion system and three hearts that pump blue blood.”

The giant squid continued to dominate stories of sea monsters with the famous 1870 novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. Verne’s submarine fantasy is a classic story of a puny man against a gigantic squid. The monster needed no embellishment – this creature was scary enough, and Verne incorporated as much fact as possible into the story, says Emily Alder from Edinburgh Napier University. “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and another contemporaneous book, Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea, both tried to represent the giant squid as they might have been actual zoological animals, much more taking the squid as a biological creature than a mythical creature.” It was a given that the squid was vicious and would readily attack humans given the chance.

That myth wasn’t busted until 2012, when Edith Widder and her colleagues were the first people to successfully film giant squid underwater and see first-hand the true character of the monster of the deep. They realised previous attempts to film squid had failed because the bright lights and noisy thrusters on submersibles had frightened them away.

By quietening down the engines and using bioluminescence to attract it, they managed to see this most extraordinary animal in its natural habitat. It serenely glided into view, its body rippled with metallic colours of bronze and silver. Its huge, intelligent eye watched the submarine warily as it delicately picked at the bait with its beak. It was balletic and mesmeric. It could not have been further from the gnashing, human-destroying creature of myth and literature. In reality this is a gentle giant that is easily scared and pecks at its food.

Another giant squid lies peacefully in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Spirit Room, where it is preserved in a huge glass case. In 2004 it was caught in a fishing net off the Falkland Islands and died at the surface. The crew immediately froze its body and it was sent to be preserved in the museum by the Curator of Molluscs, Jon Ablett. It is called Archie, an affectionate short version of its Latin name Architeuthis dux. It is the longest preserved specimen of a giant squid in the world.

“It really has brought science to life for many people,” says Ablett. “Sometimes I feel a bit overshadowed by Archie, most of my work is on slugs and snails but unfortunately most people don’t want to talk about that!”

And so today we can watch Archie’s graceful relative on film and stare Archie herself (she is a female) eye-to-eye in a museum. But have we finally slain the monster of the deep? Now we know there is nothing to be afraid of, can the Kraken finally be laid to rest? Probably not says Classen. “We humans are afraid of the strangest things. They don’t need to be realistic. There’s no indication that enlightenment and scientific progress has banished the monsters from the shadows of our imaginations. We will continue to be afraid of very strange things, including probably sea monsters.”

Indeed we are. The Kraken made a fearsome appearance in the blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean. It forced Captain Jack Sparrow to face his demons in a terrifying face-to-face encounter. Pirates needed the monstrous Kraken, nothing else would do. Or, as the German film director Werner Herzog put it, “What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleeping without dreams.”

Questions 1-7

1 Matthias Classen is unsure about the possibility of monster’s existence.

2 Kraken is probably based on an imaginary animal.

3 Previous attempts on filming the squid had failed due to the fact that the creature was scared.

4 Giant squid was caught alive in 2004 and brought to the museum.

5 Jon Ablett admits that he likes Archie.

6 According to Classen, people can be scared both by imaginary and real monsters.

7 Werner Herzog suggests that Kraken is essential to the ocean.

Questions 8 – 12

8 Who wrote a novel about a giant squid?

A Emily Alder

B Stephen King

C Alfred Lord Tennyson

D Jules Verne

9 What, of the featuring body parts, mollusc DOESN’T have?

A two tentacles

B serrated suckers

C Beak

D smooth suckers

10 Which of the following applies to the bookish Kraken?

A Notorious

B Scary

C  Weird

D harmless

11 Where can we see a giant squid?

A at the museum

B at a seaside

C on TV

D in supermarkets

12 The main purpose of the text is to:

A help us to understand more about both mythical and biological creatures of the deep

B illustrate the difference between Kraken and squid

C shed the light on the mythical creatures of the ocean

D compare Kraken to its real relative

Questions 13–16

13 According to the Victor Hugo’s novel, the squid would________ if he had such an opportunity.

14 The real squid appeared to be ______________ and ______________.

15 Archie must be the __________________ of its kind on Earth.

16 We are able to encounter the Kraken’s__________________ in a movie franchise.

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Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS Reading Answers with Location and Explanations 

1 Answer: False

Question type: True/ False/ Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 3

Answer Explanation: Paragraph 3 states, “They don’t really exist, but they play a huge role in our mindscapes, in our dreams, stories, nightmares, myths and so on,” says Matthias Classen. Monsters say something about human psychology, not the world.” Based on these lines, it can be understood that Matthias Classen suggests that even though monsters may not be real, they still have a significant impact and can provide insights into human psychology. Therefore, these lines contradict the question, leading to the answer being False.

2 Answer: False

Question type: True/ False/ Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 4

Answer explanation: Paragraph 4 reveals, “One Norse legend talks of the Kraken, a deep sea creature that was the curse of fishermen.” According to these lines, the Kraken was portrayed as a sea monster that haunted fishermen. Consequently, this statement contradicts the question, leading to the answer being False.

3 Answer: True

Question type: True/ False/ Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 9

Answer explanation: Paragraph 9 states, “That myth wasn’t busted until 2012, when Edith Widder and her colleagues were the first people to successfully film giant squid underwater and see first-hand the true character of the monster of the deep. They realised previous attempts to film squid had failed because the bright lights and noisy thrusters on submersibles had frightened them away.” We can infer from these lines that the previous attempts on filming the squid had failed due to the fact that the creature was scared. Hence, the answer is True.

4 Answer: False

Question type: True/ False/ Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 11

Answer explanation: We can find the answer in paragraph 11 where the writer states, “In 2004 it was caught in a fishing net off the Falkland Islands and died at the surface. The crew immediately froze its body and it was sent to be preserved in the museum by the Curator of Molluscs, Jon Ablett.” According to these lines, the Giant squid was captured in 2004, perishing on the water’s surface before being eventually transported to the museum. Therefore, this statement conflicts with the provided information. Thus, the answer is False.

5 Answer: Not Given

Question type: True/ False/ Not Given

Answer location: NA

Answer explanation: While details about the Curator of Molluscs, Jon Ablett, and the giant squid, Archie, are presented, there is no indication that Ablett acknowledges his fondness for Archie. Therefore, the answer is Not Given.

Tips for Answering the Question Types in the Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS Reading Answers 

Now that you know the ‘Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS Reading Answers with its explanation, let us check out some quick tips to answer the 3 question types in the  Sea Monsters are the Stuff of Legend – IELTS Reading Answers.

True/False/Not Given

True/False/Not Given questions in the IELTS Reading test require you to decide whether a statement is true, false, or not given according to the information in the passage. Here are some tips to ace this type of question:

• Before answering a question, take the time to understand it fully. Don’t make assumptions about the facts given. If you know something about the topic, put it aside and focus on the text. Your assumptions may be wrong and cost you marks.
• Don’t rely only on keywords. Read the text and question carefully. The text may contain many paraphrased versions of the facts given, so you need to be careful and look for them. This means having a good vocabulary and knowing synonyms and antonyms.
• Some words, such as “some,” “never,” “always,” “believe,” and “claim,” can completely change the meaning of a sentence. That’s why it’s important to read the sentence carefully to avoid mistakes.
• The answer is not always based on keywords. Sometimes the keywords are the same, but the meaning of the sentence is completely different.
• At least one answer to each question will be True, False, or Not Given. The answer is False when the text states one meaning and the fact given states another.

Multiple-Choice Questions 

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are one of the most common question types in the IELTS Reading test. They test your ability to understand the main ideas and details of a passage, as well as your ability to identify synonyms and paraphrases. Here are some tips for answering MCQs in the IELTS Reading test:

• Read the question carefully. Make sure you understand what the question is asking.
• Scan the passage for the relevant information. Don’t try to read the whole passage again. Instead, scan it for the part that is relevant to the question.
• Identify the key words in the question. These are the words that are most likely to be repeated in the passage.
• Look for synonyms and paraphrases of the key words in the passage. The answer may not be worded exactly the same as the question.
• Eliminate the incorrect answers. If you can eliminate two or more of the answers, you will have a better chance of choosing the correct answer.

Sentence Completion

Sentence completion questions in the IELTS reading section often require you to fill in the missing words in a given text. Here are some tips to help you tackle this type of question effectively:

• Carefully read the instructions before answering. Skipping them is not recommended.
• Fill in the blanks with the right answers for the sentence completion.
• Read the question twice, find the keyword, and match it with the passage.
• Ensure you change the word form to match the passage.
• Reread the question and try to recall the passage to fill the gap.
• Keep your chosen word within the word limit.
• Identify the type of words you need (verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.).
• Questions are in order, so look for the next answer below the previous one.

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