Cambridge 11 Reading Test 3 - Answers With Explanation

1. "While she was sipping some tea, one of the cocoons that she had collected landed in the hot tea and started to unravel into a fine thread."

2. "She also devised a special reel to draw the fibres from the cocoon into a single thread."

3. "Originally, silkworm farming was solely restricted to women, and it was they who were responsible for the growing, harvesting and weaving."

4. "Originally, only royalty were entitled to have clothes made of silk."

5. "Sometime during the Han Dynasty... silk was so prized that it was also used as a unit of currency."

6. "The earliest indication of silk paper being used was discovered in the tomb of a noble who is estimated to have died around 168 AD."

7. The Silk Road took "silk westward and bringing gold, silver and wool to the East."

8. "Monks working for the Byzantine emperor Justinian smuggled silkworm eggs to Constantinople... concealed inside hollow bamboo walking canes."

9. "New manmade fibres, such as nylon, started to be used in what had traditionally been silk products, such as stockings and parachutes."

10. "It was named the Silk Road after its most precious commodity, which was considered to be worth more than gold" — silk, not gold, was the most valuable — FALSE.

11. "Few merchants travelled the entire route; goods were handled mostly by a series of middlemen" — TRUE.

12. "The Byzantines were as secretive as the Chinese" and kept silk production "a strict imperial monopoly"; it was the Arabs, after conquering Persia, who caused "silk production... to spread through Africa, Sicily and Spain" — FALSE.

13. The passage says China produces "raw silk and silk yarn" and exports "around... two thirds" of world production, but never breaks down what share of exports is yarn specifically — NOT GIVEN.

14. "While local gulls will dive voraciously for such handouts, the tern flies on" — different behaviour, not the same — FALSE.

15. Berger prefers a "simple, practical definition suited to his beasts," while Dingle's is "more intricate" for insects — definitions vary by the animals studied — TRUE.

16. The passage says vertical zooplankton movement and aphid dispersal "can also be considered migration," but doesn't say how many experts dispute this — NOT GIVEN.

17. "Aphids will become sensitive to blue light (from the sky) when it's time for takeoff... and sensitive to yellow light... when it's appropriate to land" — TRUE.

18. Dingle's aim, the passage says, is to show "what the phenomenon of wildebeest migration shares with the phenomenon of the aphids" — finding similarities, not distinguishing differences — FALSE.

19. "They tend to be linear, not zigzaggy" — migratory routes follow a straight line.

20. Preparation for migration involves "special behaviours concerning preparation (such as overfeeding)" — eating more than needed.

21. Migrating animals stay "undeterred by challenges that would turn other animals aside" — not discouraged by difficulties.

22. The arctic tern "will take no notice of a nice smelly herring offered from a bird-watcher's boat along the way" — ignoring distractions.

23. "Pronghorn, dependent on distance vision and speed to keep safe from predators, traverse high, open shoulders of land."

24. In winter they "wait out the frozen months, feeding mainly on sagebrush blown clear of snow" down on "the plains."

25. "These pronghorn are notable for... the severity of its constriction at three bottlenecks."

26. One bottleneck leaves "a corridor of open ground only about 150 metres wide, filled with private homes."

27. "Other scientists have written books to explain their fields to non-scientists, but have necessarily had to omit the mathematics" — books written on the assumption that readers lack mathematical knowledge.

28. "This book differs from most books on mathematics written for the general public. Some present the lives of colourful mathematicians. Others describe important applications..." — setting this book apart.

29. A physician and a lawyer both testify how studying mathematics "prepared me extremely well" for their careers — personal examples of being helped.

30. "I cite a structural engineer who is an artist, an electrical engineer who is an opera singer, an opera singer who published mathematical research, and a mathematician who publishes short stories" — seemingly incompatible skill combinations.

31. The same paragraph distinguishes books on mathematicians' lives, applications of maths, and procedures assuming algebra — different focuses of maths books for the public.

32. "You will turn these pages much more slowly than when reading a novel or a newspaper" — contrasting this book with other reading.

33. "Anyone can understand every step in the reasoning" — a claim of total accessibility.

34. "I kept in mind two types of readers: those who enjoyed mathematics until they were turned off... and mathematics aficionados" — distinct categories of intended reader.

35. "There are beautiful, but easy parts — parts so simple a beginner could play them" (of music, applied to maths too).

36. "They may involve, at most, a little arithmetic, such as 'the sum of two odd numbers is even'."

37. "Intuition plays a significant role" alongside "the right brain (intuitive)" way of thinking.

38. "Other scientists have written books to explain their fields to non-scientists, but have necessarily had to omit the mathematics."

39. "It may help to have a pencil and paper ready to check claims and carry out experiments."

40. The lawyer credits "the study of mathematics, and, in particular, theorems" with teaching him to analyse complicated legal principles.