Cambridge 14 Reading Test 2 - Answers With Explanation

1. "Alexander spent much of his childhood in the area, playing on the beach near Eyemouth or fishing in the streams nearby" and "returned to Press at weekends" — he visited often, not rarely — FALSE.

2. "Although he never liked the prospect of a business career, he stayed with it to please his family" — TRUE.

3. The passage describes the 1865 magnesium flare experiment but never mentions either man's reaction to the results — NOT GIVEN.

4. "While Notman's landscapes were noted for their bold realism, Henderson... produced romantic images" — their styles were "quite different," not similar — FALSE.

5. The passage says he opened the studio in 1866 but gives no detail about its location relative to his home — NOT GIVEN.

6. "From about 1870 he dropped portraiture to specialise in landscape photography" — TRUE.

7. The commission came in 1875 to record structures "along the almost-completed line" — not yet finished — FALSE.

8. "He continued in this post until 1897, when he retired completely from photography" — his CPR role was his last work — TRUE.

9. "The son of a successful merchant."

10. Amateur photography was limited by "the time-consuming techniques involved and the weight of the equipment."

11. "People wanted to buy photographs as souvenirs of a trip or as gifts."

12. "He often travelled by canoe on the Blanche, du Lièvre, and other noted eastern rivers."

13. At Rogers Pass "he took photographs of the mountains and the progress of construction."

14. Section F: "The prosperous steered clear of hospitals" out of fear of foul air and disease.

15. Section C: "Short regards glass, steel and air-conditioned skyscrapers as symbols of status, rather than practical ways of meeting our requirements."

16. Section E: 19th-century wards could reach "24 air changes an hour — that's similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre."

17. Section D: "We spent three years digitally modelling Billings' final designs... We put pathogens in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards."

18. Section B: air conditioning units were "relentlessly and aggressively marketed by their inventors."

19. Billings influenced "a developing and sophisticated art and science of ventilating buildings" — architectural design.

20. "We put pathogens in the airstreams" during the modelling.

21. They "modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards."

22. "19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour."

23. "Communal wards appropriate for certain patients... would work just as well in today's hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost."

24. The ingenuity was "driven by a panicked public clamouring for buildings that could protect against" toxic air.

25. That toxic air was "known as" miasmas — "toxic air that spread disease."

26. Miasma theory explained "the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during the 1850s."

27. Section A describes seminars telling "a paying public that they ought to structure their lives" to become more productive — what people are increasingly expected to do.

28. Section B lists the fallout of the organisation trend: rising business failure, stress and dissatisfaction — complaints about its impact.

29. Section C introduces Frederick Taylor, "one of the forefathers of scientific management," and his early efficiency principles.

30. Section D argues "this obsession with efficiency is misguided" because the underlying assumption that order drives productivity is wrong.

31. Section E: order "has diminishing returns," and past a point "any further increase in order reduces productivity" — a downside outweighing the benefit.

32. Section F: unstructured environments "can lead to new solutions that, under conventionally structured environments... would never be reached."

33. Section G gives real examples: Oticon's 'spaghetti' structure and General Electric's 'boundaryless' organisation.

34. Section H warns disorder "also seems to have diminishing utility" just like order — neither approach keeps improving things indefinitely.

35. Seminars and workshops push people "to structure their lives" "as a means to becoming more productive" — the implied worry is not being productive enough.

36. The organisation trend appeals "to the delight of self-proclaimed perfectionists with the need to get everything right."

37. "A large proportion of workers... claim to be dissatisfied with the way their work is structured."

38. "Businesses and people spend time and money organising themselves for the sake of organising, rather than actually looking at the end goal" — TRUE.

39. The best innovation approach "enable[s] everyone involved to engage as one organic group," not through distinct roles — FALSE.

40. The passage describes both Google's flexible structures and GE's 'boundaryless' idea but never says one inspired the other — NOT GIVEN.