Cambridge 19 Reading Test 1 - Answers With Explanation

1. "Five years previously, he had been regarded as a talented outsider who entered but never won the major tournaments." That's the opposite of being expected to top the rankings — FALSE.

2. "Another change was so subtle as to pass more or less unnoticed." Unnoticed is the opposite of attracting attention — FALSE.

3. Triplow describes touring pros customising their rackets, but the passage never says most players travel with their own stringer — NOT GIVEN.

4. "The rackets they use now weigh more than the average model." Heavier, not lighter — FALSE.

5. The passage says Fischer "started playing with" the spaghetti-strung racket, but never says he invented it himself — NOT GIVEN.

6. Players "continually change it depending on various factors including the court surface, climatic conditions, and game styles" — TRUE.

7. "Much of the serving power of US professional player Pete Sampras was attributed to the addition of four to five lead weights onto his rackets" — TRUE.

8. "They explain how they have adjusted not only racket length, but even experimented with different kinds of paint."

9. The spaghetti-strung racket "created a string bed that generated so much topspin that it was quickly banned."

10. Racket modification is now "an aspect of the game that is equal in significance to nutrition or training."

11. "All tennis rackets were strung with natural gut made from the outer layer of sheep or cow intestines."

12. Sampras's power came from "the addition of four to five lead weights onto his rackets."

13. Oliveira "replaced the original grips of his rackets with something thinner because they had previously felt uncomfortable to hold."

14. Paragraph D: "the king of Alashiya... rejected Akhenaten's claims of a connection with the Lukka" — a denial of involvement.

15. Paragraph G lays out Pompey's campaign step by step: 13 districts, a fleet and commander for each, cleared one at a time.

16. Paragraph C: it "was not unknown... for governments to resort to pirates' services, especially during wartime."

17. Paragraph A opens with "an image springs to most people's minds of a crew of misfits, daredevils and adventurers" — today's popular view.

18. Paragraph G: "many more were offered land in fertile areas located far from the sea" instead of returning to piracy.

19. Paragraph B: "ships could not easily cross long distances over open water. Thus... most were restricted to a few well-known navigable routes that followed the coastline."

20–21. Paragraph B: "knowledge of the local area helped the pirates to avoid retaliation once a state fleet arrived" (escaped capture) and coastal inhabitants "relied heavily on marine resources" rather than farming (depended more on the sea).

22–23. Paragraph E: Athenian ambassadors "made a detour... to capture a ship... taking the wealth found onboard for themselves" (officials taking part), and Homer "not only condones, but praises the lifestyle and actions of pirates" (a favourable view in ancient texts).

24. "Pirate attacks on grain ships, which were essential to Roman citizens."

25. Those attacks "led to angry voices in the Senate, demanding punishment of the culprits."

26. "Emboldened pirates kidnapped prominent Roman dignitaries, asking for a large ransom to be paid."

27. The writer lists several motives at once: "strategic advantage," "to motivate others to action," or "to protect interpersonal bonds" — a number of reasons, not one.

28. "The means to correct misinformation might, over time, be found in those same patterns of mass communication" — technology as a future fix.

29. The paragraph opens with "at least three observations related to misinformation in the contemporary mass-media environment warrant the attention" — flagging what matters right now.

30. US regulators "tend to focus on post hoc detection" and their programs "do not keep false advertising off the airwaves" — regulation reacts, it doesn't prevent.

31. "It is fairly routine for individuals to come across information that is false" — frequent exposure.

32. Descartes and Spinoza offered "conflicting predictions" about how people process information — different ideas.

33. Spinoza argued people "verify or reject it through a separate cognitive process" — a distinct mental operation.

34. "Empirical evidence... has supported Spinoza's account" — additional evidence backing his theory.

35. People encode information as true "even if only momentarily" — a short period.

36. Skepticism resources "physically reside in a different part of the brain" from encoding resources — different locations.

37. "For corrective campaigns to be persuasive, audiences need to be able to comprehend them" — comprehension is a requirement for success — YES.

38. Media literacy "as early as elementary school" is suggested, but the passage never mentions opposition to it — NOT GIVEN.

39. "The journey forward undoubtedly will be a long and arduous one" and the fix requires "coordinated efforts over time, rather than any singular one-time panacea" — not a quick process — NO.

40. The passage discusses the need to keep up with information but never says this need is exaggerated — NOT GIVEN.