Cambridge 16 Reading Test 4 - Answers With Explanation

1. The Persians placed "posts over a hill in a straight line" to keep the tunnel on its route.

2. The finished tunnel "allowed water to flow from the top of a hillside down towards a canal."

3. The shafts "also provided ventilation during the work."

4. Each shaft "were covered with a wooden or stone lid."

5. Romans made sure "the weight at the end of it hung in the center of the shaft."

6. Shafts had "handholds and footholds to help those climbing in and out of them."

7. The qanat method was still "usually faster" and continued to be used alongside the newer method — it was not completely replaced — FALSE.

8. The passage says counter-excavation "required greater planning and advanced knowledge," but never specifies that only experienced builders were used — NOT GIVEN.

9. The problem is described in "an inscription written on the side of a 428-meter tunnel," not a book — FALSE.

10. The inscription "describes how the two teams of builders missed each other in the mountain" — the two ends failed to meet — TRUE.

11. "Traces of such tunnels used to mine gold can still be found at the Dolaucothi mines in Wales."

12. "Most tunnels had inscriptions showing the names of patrons who ordered construction and sometimes the name of the architect."

13. The Cevlik tunnel was built to divert "floodwater threatening the harbor of the ancient city of Seleuceia Pieria."

14. "An invisible, game-changing transformation links everyone in this picture: the neuronal circuit that underlies the brain's ability to read is subtly, rapidly changing" — a hidden effect of technology.

15. "We do not err as a society when we innovate but when we ignore what we disrupt or diminish while innovating" — Turkle's core point.

16. "It will adapt to that environment's requirements — from different writing systems to the characteristics of whatever medium is used" — the circuit adjusts to whatever it's given.

17. Students "actively avoid the classic literature... in favour of something simpler" — their attitude shapes what they choose to read.

18. The studies reveal "a variety of troubling downstream effects on reading comprehension" — worrying trends.

19. Mangen's team used questions to measure how well, or thoroughly, each group understood the plot.

20. Print readers were "superior in their comprehension... particularly in their ability to sequence detail" — screen readers found the order of events harder to recall.

21. Liu's research describes reading as "word-spotting and browsing through the text" — picking out isolated words rather than reading continuously.

22. This kind of skimming matches the digital medium's bias toward content that is "fast, multi-task oriented" rather than deeply processed.

23. "It changes not only what we read, but also the purposes for which we read" — the medium shapes content choice — YES.

24. "Nor is it only about the young. The subtle atrophy of critical analysis and empathy affects us all equally" — not more for some ages than others — NO.

25. The passage says digital reading "[leaves] us susceptible to false information," but doesn't claim false information itself has grown more widespread — NOT GIVEN.

26. "We possess both the science and the technology to identify and redress the changes in how we read before they become entrenched" — YES.

27. Section A: "AI is almost always better at forecasting than we are" — AI's predictions outperform human ones.

28. Section B: Watson for Oncology's rollout to doctors "was a PR disaster" — a clear case of an AI tool being distrusted.

29. Section C explains that trust in people comes from understanding how they think, while AI "is still fairly new and unfamiliar" — why we default to trusting humans instead.

30. Section D: after watching sci-fi films about AI, "optimists became more extreme in their enthusiasm... and sceptics became even more guarded" — opinions pulled further apart.

31. Section E proposes that AI companies "release transparency reports" so people understand "the way algorithmic decisions are made."

32. Section F: letting people "slightly modify an algorithm" made them "more satisfied... and more likely to use it in the future" — benefits of user control.

33. Section A closes by stating people "deeply lack confidence in AI predictions" and that we "need to find a way to get people to trust it" — flagging the trust problem.

34. "AI's decision-making process is usually too difficult for most people to comprehend... [this] can cause anxiety and give us a sense that we're losing control."

35. "Embarrassing AI failures receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, emphasising the message that we cannot rely on technology."

36. Regardless of the film's tone, viewers' existing attitudes simply hardened — "optimists became more extreme... sceptics became even more guarded" — their opinions didn't change, they intensified — NO.

37. The passage predicts AI will appear more in media but never says the portrayals will trend more positive — NOT GIVEN.

38. "Refusing to accept the advantages offered by AI could place a large group of people at a serious disadvantage" — YES.

39. "Simply having previous experience with AI can significantly improve people's opinions about the technology" — a significant, not negligible, effect — NO.

40. Letting users modify an algorithm made them "more likely to believe it was superior and more likely to use it in the future" — YES.