Thе Canals оf De Lesseps – IELTS Reading Answers

1 Answer: B

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph B, Last 2 lines

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes “He believed that if a sea level canal worked when constructing the Suez Canal, it must work for the Panama Canal. Finally the Panama Canal was constructed in two stages.” It is mentioned that the sea level is equal to the surface of the Suez Canal.

2 Answer: C

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph C, Lines 2

Answer explanation: A line in the paragraph denotes “the French company ran out of money and an attempt was unsuccessful to raise funds by applying to the French government to issue lottery bonds which had been successful during the construction of the Suez Canal when that project was at the point of failure through lack of money.” There was a financial problem during suez canal construction which was solved. A similar problem arose during construction of Panama canal also. So financial problems arose during construction of both the canals. Hence the answer is “C”.

3 Answer: A

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph D, Last line

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes “when construction was finally finished, the canal ran through various locks, four dams and ran the lengths of two naturally occurring lakes, the 32 mile Gatun Lake and the 5 mile Miraflores Lake.”  In order to construct the Panama Canal, various locks and 4 dams had to be built.

4 Answer: A

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation:  A line in the paragraph denotes “Panama was to be compensated by an initial payment of $10 million and an annuity of $250,000, beginning in 1913. On December 31st 1999 United States transferred the 51 mile Panama Canal, the surrounding Panama Canal Area and the income back to the Panamanian government.” Here, we can observe that Panama Canal generated an initial payment of $10 million for the country it passed through. Also, Panama was compensated with the amount from the surrounding Panama Canal Area.

5 Answer: B

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph H, line 1

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, information is paraphrased from the line, “In 1859, Egyptian workers started working on the construction of the canal in conditions described by historians as slave labor, and the project was completed around 1867. The canal is 163 km long, and has a width of a minimum of 60 metres.” In the previous paragraph, it is provided that Napolean revived the trade route to India via Suez Canal. Hence, here we can observe that historians discovered that in the year 1859 Egyptian workers started working on the same canal (Suez), and laborers who worked on it were treated as slaves.

6 Answer: D

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: No references to the war can be observed in the passage. Hence, the canal’s construction was held up by war statement refers to neither the Panama Canal nor the Suez Canal.

7 Answer: B

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph I, Last lines

Answer explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “Since then the Egyptians have controlled the canal. Today, approximately 50 ships cross the canal daily and the cities and beaches along the Great Bitter Lake and the canal serve as a summer resort for tourists.” From the earlier information, we can infer that this passage is referring to Suez Canal as in the year 1859 Egyptians worked on it and this canal also serves as a summer resort for tourists, as a holiday destination.

8 Answer: A

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph D, Last 2 lines

Answer explanation: In paragraph D, the author mentions that “the Americans proposed that a tidal lock should be constructed at Panama which solved the problem and reduced excavation by an enormous amount. When construction was finally finished, the canal ran through various locks, four dams and ran the lengths of two naturally occurring lakes, the 32 mile Gatun Lake and the 5 mile Miraflores Lake.” Here, the Americans proposed to construct the Panama Canal, which would run through various locks, four dams, and run the lengths of two naturally occurring lakes, the 32 mile Gatun Lake and the 5 mile Miraflores Lake. Since it is running through a 32 mile Gatun lake, we can state that the Panama canal over half the canal is running through a single lake.

9 Answer: FALSE

Question Type: True/False/Not Given Question

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 2

Answer explanation: If you observe, in the said paragraph the author said, “the Americans proposed that a tidal lock should be constructed at Panama which solved the problem and reduced excavation by an enormous amount. When construction was finally finished, the canal ran through various locks, four dams and ran the lengths of two naturally occurring lakes, the 32 mile Gatun Lake and the 5 mile Miraflores Lake.” During the construction of the Panama Canal, when that project was at the point of failure through lack of money, Americans took charge to complete the work of the canal. Hence, De Lesseps Suez Canal construction theories did not work well with the building of the Panama Canal. Therefore, when the American company took charge, they proposed to complete the project with some alternations in the original construction theory of Lesseps.

10 Answer: TRUE

Question Type: True/False/Not Given Question

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 2

Answer explanation: Few lines in the said paragraph convey that “the Americans proposed that a tidal lock should be constructed at Panama which solved the problem and reduced excavation by an enormous amount.” Since Americans proposed a tidal lock, they made a decision to use them in the Panama Canal which ultimately solved the problem and reduced/saved time doing other activities.

11 Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question Type: True/False/Not Given Question

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that the US were not happy about returning the control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

12 Answer: TRUE

Question Type: True/False/Not Given Question

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 1

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “the idea of a canal linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea also dates back to ancient times. Unlike the modern canal, earlier ones linked the Red Sea to the Nile, therefore forcing the ships to sail along the River on their journey from Europe to India.” From the term unlike the earlier one ( linked the Red Sea to the Nile), we can state that the current Suez Canal is the second canal that has joined the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

13 Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question Type: True/False/Not Given Question

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that the British government refused to give assistance in constructing the Suez Canal.