Barron's IELTS 1 Academic Reading Test 3
3 passages · 40 questions · 60 minutes
The CT Scanner
[A] The computed tomography scanner, better known as the CT scanner, was originally designed to provide cross-sectional images of the brain. The word tomography comes from the Greek word tomos, meaning “section,” and graphia, meaning “picture.” Godfrey Hounsfield developed the technique in 1972 and was later knighted and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the medical field. Within four years of this development, CT scans, also called CAT scans (computed axial tomography), were restructured, allowing technicians to scan the entire body for evidence of tumors, injuries, and other abnormalities. Rather than taking a single picture as in an X ray, a CT scanner sends several beams into an area and takes photographs from many different angles.
[B] While the original CT scans took Hounsfield several hours to reconstruct into a useful image, today’s machines can produce an in-depth image in a fraction of a second. Creating a scanner that could produce images at a faster rate was crucial in the development of tomography, as it reduced the degree of distortion in an image caused when patients breathed and moved. As well as providing images with better resolution, today’s scanners also provide more comfort for the patient.
[C] During a CT scan, a patient must lie still on a special table while the radiology technician locates the specific area that needs to be photographed. The table slides into a round tunnel (gantry), where it can be rotated or moved forward and backward in order to obtain the necessary view. Inside the donut-shaped machine, a number of X rays are taken, each producing a small slice of the image that doctors require. When passing through dense tissue such as a bone, the X-ray beams are weak and appear white in the CT images. Tissues such as those found in the brain are less dense and appear gray. Images that appear black denote organs such as lungs or others that can fill with air.
[D] The CT scanner is made up of several computer systems, including the host computer, which organizes the entire process. One of the computers converts the raw data into an image, while another allows the technician to control the rotation of the gantry. After the information is processed, it is displayed on a monitor for radiologists and physicians to analyze. The information is also saved and printed to keep in a doctor’s records and to share and discuss with patients and their family members.
[E] Physicians order CT scans for a number of different reasons, including searching for and assessing tumors, cysts, kidney stones, and bone injuries. Without this technology, surgeons would have to perform many needless and costly operations. Brain, chest, and abdominal CT scans are the most common, though physicians also rely on the CT scanner to guide their needles while draining an abscess or performing a biopsy. Most emergency or shock-treatment centers contain a CT scanner in order to assess trauma victims. CT scans can pinpoint internal bleeding both in the brain and throughout the body.
[F] In many cases, a patient must be given a contrast material before undergoing a CT scan. During “dynamic CT scanning,” iodine dye is either injected into the blood or added to a drink that the patient must ingest approximately forty-five minutes before entering the scanner. The liquid X-ray dye makes it easier to see the organs and blood vessels when the pictures are developed. The intravenous contrast material is typically used for chest or pelvic scans, while oral-contrast material is used for abdominal scans. In some cases, physicians request that pictures be taken both before and after the contrast material enters the patient’s body. Patients who receive contrast material in the arm often report feeling a warm sensation, and in rare cases an allergic reaction occurs. Contrast material causes water loss and is avoided when scanning patients who suffer from kidney failure.
[G] The danger of radiation exposure caused by X-ray beams is generally considered minimal compared to the benefits that a CT scan can provide. In many cases, especially in the detection of tumors and internal bleeding, CT scans provide information that can save a person’s life. Full-body scanning, which is saved for serious conditions such as coronary artery disease, remains a controversial procedure as prolonged exposure to radiation is linked to cancer. Pregnant women are excluded from receiving CT scans, as the X rays can be harmful to the fetus. When pregnant woman require an evaluation, most physicians favor using other procedures such as an ultrasound or an MRI.
Questions 1–7
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
List of Headings:
i. Scanning the Brain and Chest
ii. The Role of Computers
iii. The CT Scan Is Invented
iv. The High Cost of CT Scans
v. Risks Associated with CT Scans
vi. Emergency Room Care
vii. Faster and More Comfortable
viii. How Doctors Use CT Scans
ix. The Patient Is Photographed
x. Enhancing Scan Images with Dyes
1. Section A:
2. Section B:
3. Section C:
4. Section D:
5. Section E:
6. Section F:
7. Section G:
Questions 8–10
Which of the following are facts about the original CT scanner mentioned in the passage? Choose THREE answers from the list below and write the correct letters, A–F.
8. Which of the following are facts about the original CT scanner mentioned in the passage?
A It made it difficult for patients to breathe.
B It was created to take pictures of the brain.
C It was much bigger than current CT scanners.
D It was developed in 1972.
E It took several hours to produce a completed image.
F It produced images in color.
9. Which of the following are facts about the original CT scanner mentioned in the passage?
A It made it difficult for patients to breathe.
B It was created to take pictures of the brain.
C It was much bigger than current CT scanners.
D It was developed in 1972.
E It took several hours to produce a completed image.
F It produced images in color.
10. Which of the following are facts about the original CT scanner mentioned in the passage?
A It made it difficult for patients to breathe.
B It was created to take pictures of the brain.
C It was much bigger than current CT scanners.
D It was developed in 1972.
E It took several hours to produce a completed image.
F It produced images in color.
Questions 11–13
Which of the following are facts about contrast materials used for CT scans mentioned in the passage? Choose THREE answers from the list below and write the correct letters, A–F.
11. Which of the following are facts about contrast materials used for CT scans mentioned in the passage?
A They are bright in color.
B They can be given by injection.
C They have a bitter taste.
D They might cause a feeling of warmth in the arm.
E They are administered only by a specially trained technician.
F They may cause allergies in a few patients.
12. Which of the following are facts about contrast materials used for CT scans mentioned in the passage?
A They are bright in color.
B They can be given by injection.
C They have a bitter taste.
D They might cause a feeling of warmth in the arm.
E They are administered only by a specially trained technician.
F They may cause allergies in a few patients.
13. Which of the following are facts about contrast materials used for CT scans mentioned in the passage?
A They are bright in color.
B They can be given by injection.
C They have a bitter taste.
D They might cause a feeling of warmth in the arm.
E They are administered only by a specially trained technician.
F They may cause allergies in a few patients.
Nineteenth-Century Paperback Literature
A publishing craze that hit both America and England from the mid- to late nineteenth century attracted the readership of the semiliterate working class. In America, dime novels typically centered on tales of the American Revolution and the Wild West, while British penny bloods (later called penny dreadfuls) told serial tales of horror or fictionalized versions of true crimes. These paperback novels were sold at newsstands and dry goods stores and succeeded in opening up the publishing market for both writers and readers. The industrial revolution facilitated the growth of literacy, making it easier to print and transport publications in large quantities, thus providing inexpensive entertainment for the masses.
Though Johann Gutenberg’s printing press was designed in the fifteenth century, it was not until after the first newspapers began circulating in the eighteenth century that it became a profitable invention. Throughout the nineteenth century, commoners in England were becoming educated through normal schools, church schools, and mutual instruction classes, and by the 1830s, approximately 75 percent of the working class had learned to read. In 1870, the Forster Education Act made elementary education mandatory for all children. Though few children’s books were available, penny dreadfuls were highly accessible, especially to male youths who created clubs in order to pool their money and start their own libraries. Similar to reading a newspaper, dime novels and penny dreadfuls were meant to be read quickly and discarded, unlike the hardbound high literature that was written in volumes and published for the elite. Struggling authors, many of whom had limited writing and storytelling skills, suddenly found an audience desperate to read their work. When the first typewriter became available in the 1870s, authors were able to maximize their output. Successful authors, some of whom wrote over 50,000 words a month, were able to earn a decent living at a penny per word.
From the 1830s to 1850s, penny bloods featured tales of gore that often depicted the upper class as corrupt. One of the most beloved characters from the penny blood serials was Sweeney Todd. In the original story, String of Pearls: A Romance, published in 1846, Sweeney Todd was a demon barber who used his razor to torture his victims before turning them into meat pies. In 1847, hack playwright George Dibdin Pitt adapted Thomas Prest’s story for the stage, renaming it The String of Pearls: The Fiend of Fleet Street. With no copyright laws, authors were always at risk of having their ideas pilfered. Pitt’s play was released again one year later at one of London’s “bloodbath” theaters under the name Founded on Fact. The Sweeney Todd story also made its way into musicals and comedies. Controversy still exists over whether Thomas Prest’s character was based on a real person. No records of a barber shop on Fleet Street, or a barber named Sweeney Todd have been found, though Thomas Prest was known for getting his inspiration from “The Old Bailey” of the London Times, a section devoted to real-life horror stories.
Despite the warning from Lord Shaftsbury that the paperback literature was seducing middle-class society into an unproductive life of evil, the penny bloods grew in popularity. They provided a literary voice for commoners at an affordable price. Eventually, penny bloods became known as penny dreadfuls and began to focus more on adventure than horror.
In 1860, Beadle and Adams was the first firm in the United States to publish a title that would be categorized as a dime novel. Malaeska: The Indian Wife of the White Hunter, by Anne Stephens, had originally been published twenty years earlier as a series in a magazine. In novel form, approximately 300,000 copies of the story were sold in the first year, paving the way for the new fad in America. Many dime novels were written as serials with recurring characters, such as Deadwood Dick, Commander Cody, and Wild Bill. Originally, the paperbacks were intended for railroad travelers; however, during the Civil War, soldiers quickly became the most avid dime novel readers. Beadle dime novels became so popular that the company had to build a factory of hack writers to mass produce them. As urbanization spread, stories of the Wild West were in less demand, and tales of urban outlaws became popular. At that time, dime novels were chosen for their illustrated covers rather than their sensational stories and characters. Despite their popularity, by the late 1880s dry goods stores were so full of unsold books that prices dropped to less than five cents per copy. Many titles that could still not sell were given away or destroyed. The International Copyright Law, passed by Congress in 1890, required publishers to pay royalties to foreign authors. Selling at less than five cents a copy, the paperback industry was doomed until the arrival of pulp paper.
Questions 14–19
Which of the characteristics below belongs to which type of literature? Write the correct letter, A–C.
Types of Literature
A if it is characteristic of penny bloods
B if it is characteristic of dime novels
C if it is characteristic of both penny bloods and dime novels
14. They were popular in America.
15. They were popular in Britain.
16. They showed members of the upper class as corrupt.
17. They were inexpensive.
18. They featured tales of the Wild West.
19. They were popular among members of the working class.
Questions 20–23
Match each year with the event that occurred during that year. Choose the correct event, A–F, from the box below and write the correct letter. There are more events than years, so you will not use them all.
List of Events
A The first dime novel was published in the United States.
B Lord Shaftsbury warned people about the dangers of penny bloods.
C A law was passed requiring children to attend school.
D Malaeska was first published as a magazine series.
E A law about copyrights was passed.
F The first Sweeney Todd story was published.
20. 1870
21. 1846
22. 1860
23. 1890
Questions 24–27
Do the following statements agree with the information in the reading passage?
YESif the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NOif the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVENif it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
24. Write YES if the statement agrees with the information, NO if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage. The literacy rate in England rose in the nineteenth century.
25. Write YES if the statement agrees with the information, NO if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage. Children’s books were popular in the nineteenth century.
26. Write YES if the statement agrees with the information, NO if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage. Most people agree that Sweeney Todd was based on a real person.
27. Write YES if the statement agrees with the information, NO if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage. Dime novels were popular among Civil War soldiers.
Cosmic Black Holes
In 1687, the English scientist Isaac Newton published his monumental work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), containing his theory of gravitation and the mathematics to support it. In essence, Newton’s law of gravitation stated that the gravitational force between two objects, for example, two astronomical bodies, is directly proportional to their masses. Astronomers found that it accurately predicted all the observable data that science at that time was able to collect, with one exception—a very slight variation in the orbit of the planet Mercury around the sun.
It was 228 years before anyone was able to offer a refinement of Newton’s law that accounted for the shape of Mercury’s orbit. In 1915, Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity was published. Using the equations of general relativity, he calculated the shape of Mercury’s orbit. The results predicted astronomical observations exactly and provided the first proof of his theory. Expressing it very simplistically, the general theory of relativity presumes that both matter and energy can distort space—time and cause it to curve. What we commonly call gravity is in fact the effect of that curvature.
Among other phenomena, Einstein’s theory predicted the existence of black holes, although initially he had doubts about their existence. Black holes are areas in space where the gravitational field is so strong that nothing can escape them. Because of the immense gravitational pull, they consume all the light that comes near them, and thus they are “black.” In fact, neither emitting nor reflecting light, they are invisible. Due to this, they can be studied only by inference based on observations of their effect on the matter—both stars and gases—around them and by computer simulation. In particular, when gases are being pulled into a black hole, they can reach temperatures up to 1,000 times the heat of the sun and become an intensely glowing source of X rays.
Surrounding each black hole is an “event horizon,” which defines the area over which the gravitational force of the black hole operates. Anything passing over the lip of the event horizon is pulled into the black hole. Because observations of event horizons are difficult due to their relatively small size, even less is known about them than about black holes themselves.
Black holes exist in three sizes. Compact ones, called star-mass black holes and which have been known to exist for some time, are believed to be the result of the death of a single star. When a star has consumed itself to the point that it no longer has the energy to support its mass, the core collapses and forms a black hole. Shock waves then bounce out, causing the shell of the star to explode. In a way that is not yet understood, the black hole may then reenergize and create multiple explosions within the first few minutes of its existence. So-called super-massive black holes, also well documented, contain the mass of millions or even billions of stars. And just recently one intermediate black hole, with about 500 times the mass of the sun, has been discovered. Scientists have postulated that the intermediate black hole may provide a “missing link” in understanding the evolution of black holes.
Current scientific data suggest that black holes are fairly common and lie at the center of most galaxies. Based on indirect evidence gained using X-ray telescopes, thousands of black holes have been located in our galaxy and beyond. The black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”), is a supermassive one, containing roughly four million times the mass of our sun. Astronomers suggest that orbiting around Sagittarius A*, 26,000 light years from Earth, may be as many as tens of thousands of smaller black holes. One possible theory to explain this is that a process called “dynamical friction” is causing stellar black holes to sink toward the center of the galaxy.
It is thought that the first black holes came into existence not long after the big bang. Newly created clouds of gases slowly coalesced into the first stars. As these early stars collapsed, they gave rise to the first black holes. A number of theories proposed that the first black holes were essentially “seeds,” which then gravitationally attracted and consumed enormous quantities of matter found in adjacent gas clouds and dust. This allowed them to grow into the super-massive black holes that now sit in the centers of galaxies. However, a new computer simulation proposes that such growth was minimal. When the simulated star collapsed and formed a black hole, there was very little matter anywhere near the black hole’s event horizon. Being in essence “starved,” it grew by less than 1 percent over the course of its first hundred million years. The new simulations do not definitively invalidate the seed theory, but they make it far less likely. On the other hand, it is known that black holes a billion times more massive than our sun did exist in the early universe. Researchers have yet to discover how these super-massive black holes were formed in such a short time, and the origin of these giants poses one of the most fundamental questions in astrophysics.
It has become practically a hallmark of the research on black holes that with each new study, more is known, more theories are generated, and yet more questions are raised than answered.
Questions 28–34
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–N, below.
28. Newton’s law of gravitation
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
29. Einstein’s theory of relativity
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
30. We define black holes as areas that have
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
31. Scientists study black holes
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
32. Gases that are pulled into a black hole
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
33. Event horizons are
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
34. Compact black holes occur
A by observing the matter around them.
B suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
C when a single star collapses.
D difficult to study.
E barely visible light.
F an inescapable gravitational pull.
G did not apply to most astronomical bodies.
H by direct observation.
I could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
J caused doubt about the existence of black holes.
K lose visibility.
L become very hot.
M with large event horizons.
N at the center of each black hole.
Questions 35–36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C.
35. Black holes can be found
A only in the Milky Way.
B in most galaxies.
C close to the sun.
36. Sagittarius A* is
A a black hole located 26,000 light years from Earth.
B one of thousands of black holes orbiting Earth.
C a well-known compact black hole.
Questions 37–40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
TRUEif the statement agrees with the information
FALSEif the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVENif there is no information on this
37. Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this. It is not certain when the big bang occurred.
38. Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this. According to the “seed” theory, the first black holes eventually became super-massive black holes.
39. Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this. The “seed” theory has been proven true by computer simulation.
40. Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this. The black holes that existed in the early universe were all compact black holes.
Answers
1. iii
2. vii
3. ix
4. ii
5. viii
6. x
7. v
8. It was created to take pictures of the brain.
9. It was developed in 1972.
10. It took several hours to produce a completed image.
11. They can be given by injection.
12. They might cause a feeling of warmth in the arm.
13. They may cause allergies in a few patients.
14. B
15. A
16. A
17. C
18. B
19. C
20. C
21. F
22. A
23. E
24. Yes
25. No
26. No
27. Yes
28. could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
29. suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
30. an inescapable gravitational pull.
31. by observing the matter around them.
32. become very hot.
33. difficult to study.
34. when a single star collapses.
35. in most galaxies.
36. a black hole located 26,000 light years from Earth.
37. Not Given
38. True
39. False
40. False
Explanations
- 1. iii
- Section A is the only one that tells the story of the scanner’s invention: it names Godfrey Hounsfield, dates the technique to 1972 and describes what the machine was originally designed to do. “The CT Scan Is Invented” matches “developed the technique in 1972” and “originally designed to provide cross-sectional images of the brain”.Common trap: Heading i (‘Scanning the Brain and Chest’) is tempting because the brain is mentioned, but the brain appears here only as the scanner’s original purpose, not as a survey of body parts scanned.
- 2. vii
- Section B contrasts the original hours-long reconstruction with today’s fraction-of-a-second imaging, then closes by saying modern scanners ‘provide more comfort for the patient’. Speed plus comfort is exactly ‘Faster and More Comfortable’ — ‘faster’ paraphrases ‘produce images at a faster rate’ and ‘more comfortable’ restates ‘more comfort’.Common trap: Paraphrase recognition — the two ideas of the heading are split across the opening and closing sentences of the section.
- 3. ix
- Section C walks through what happens to the patient during the procedure: lying still on the table, sliding into the gantry, and the X rays being taken. ‘The Patient Is Photographed’ paraphrases ‘the specific area that needs to be photographed’ and ‘a number of X rays are taken’.Common trap: Distractor from an adjacent paragraph — the mention of brain tissue here can pull readers toward heading i.
- 4. ii
- Section D lists the scanner’s computer systems — the host computer, the one that converts raw data into an image, and the one controlling the gantry — so ‘The Role of Computers’ is the summarising heading. ‘Role’ generalises the specific jobs each computer performs.Common trap: Paraphrase recognition — the heading generalises a list of specific machine functions.
- 5. viii
- Section E is a catalogue of the medical reasons physicians order a scan: tumors, cysts, kidney stones, bone injuries, biopsies and trauma assessment. ‘How Doctors Use CT Scans’ restates ‘Physicians order CT scans for a number of different reasons’.Common trap: Heading vi (‘Emergency Room Care’) matches only one sentence of the section, not its overall purpose — a partial-match trap.
- 6. x
- Section F is entirely about contrast material — iodine dye injected or drunk before the scan — and why it is used: the dye ‘makes it easier to see the organs and blood vessels’. ‘Enhancing Scan Images with Dyes’ paraphrases that benefit directly.Common trap: Paraphrase recognition — ‘enhancing’ restates ‘makes it easier to see’.
- 7. v
- Section G weighs radiation exposure, the cancer link from prolonged exposure, and the exclusion of pregnant women — all dangers, so ‘Risks Associated with CT Scans’ fits. ‘Risks’ generalises ‘the danger of radiation exposure’ and ‘harmful to the fetus’.Common trap: The section says the risk is ‘generally considered minimal’, which can wrongly steer readers away from a risk-focused heading.
- 8. It was created to take pictures of the brain.
- The three facts stated about the *original* scanner are all in Sections A and B: it was built to image the brain, Hounsfield developed it in 1972, and its scans took him several hours to reconstruct. ‘Created to take pictures of the brain’ paraphrases ‘originally designed to provide cross-sectional images of the brain’, and ‘took several hours to produce a completed image’ restates ‘took Hounsfield several hours to reconstruct into a useful image’. The other three options are either reversed (A) or never mentioned (C, F).Common trap: Reversal trap — option A inverts the passage’s statement that patients’ breathing distorted the image; options C and F are simply not given.
- 9. It was developed in 1972.
- The three facts stated about the *original* scanner are all in Sections A and B: it was built to image the brain, Hounsfield developed it in 1972, and its scans took him several hours to reconstruct. ‘Created to take pictures of the brain’ paraphrases ‘originally designed to provide cross-sectional images of the brain’, and ‘took several hours to produce a completed image’ restates ‘took Hounsfield several hours to reconstruct into a useful image’. The other three options are either reversed (A) or never mentioned (C, F).Common trap: Reversal trap — option A inverts the passage’s statement that patients’ breathing distorted the image; options C and F are simply not given.
- 10. It took several hours to produce a completed image.
- The three facts stated about the *original* scanner are all in Sections A and B: it was built to image the brain, Hounsfield developed it in 1972, and its scans took him several hours to reconstruct. ‘Created to take pictures of the brain’ paraphrases ‘originally designed to provide cross-sectional images of the brain’, and ‘took several hours to produce a completed image’ restates ‘took Hounsfield several hours to reconstruct into a useful image’. The other three options are either reversed (A) or never mentioned (C, F).Common trap: Reversal trap — option A inverts the passage’s statement that patients’ breathing distorted the image; options C and F are simply not given.
- 11. They can be given by injection.
- Section F gives exactly three testable facts about contrast material: it can be injected into the blood, patients receiving it in the arm often feel warmth, and it occasionally triggers an allergic reaction. ‘Given by injection’ restates ‘injected into the blood’, ‘a feeling of warmth in the arm’ paraphrases ‘feeling a warm sensation’, and ‘may cause allergies in a few patients’ paraphrases ‘in rare cases an allergic reaction occurs’. Colour, taste and who administers it are never mentioned.Common trap: Plausible-but-unstated detail — colour, taste and who may administer the dye all sound reasonable but appear nowhere in the passage.
- 12. They might cause a feeling of warmth in the arm.
- Section F gives exactly three testable facts about contrast material: it can be injected into the blood, patients receiving it in the arm often feel warmth, and it occasionally triggers an allergic reaction. ‘Given by injection’ restates ‘injected into the blood’, ‘a feeling of warmth in the arm’ paraphrases ‘feeling a warm sensation’, and ‘may cause allergies in a few patients’ paraphrases ‘in rare cases an allergic reaction occurs’. Colour, taste and who administers it are never mentioned.Common trap: Plausible-but-unstated detail — colour, taste and who may administer the dye all sound reasonable but appear nowhere in the passage.
- 13. They may cause allergies in a few patients.
- Section F gives exactly three testable facts about contrast material: it can be injected into the blood, patients receiving it in the arm often feel warmth, and it occasionally triggers an allergic reaction. ‘Given by injection’ restates ‘injected into the blood’, ‘a feeling of warmth in the arm’ paraphrases ‘feeling a warm sensation’, and ‘may cause allergies in a few patients’ paraphrases ‘in rare cases an allergic reaction occurs’. Colour, taste and who administers it are never mentioned.Common trap: Plausible-but-unstated detail — colour, taste and who may administer the dye all sound reasonable but appear nowhere in the passage.
- 14. B
- The opening paragraph splits the craze geographically: dime novels belong to America, penny bloods to Britain. ‘Popular in America’ therefore matches dime novels only, since the passage says ‘In America, dime novels typically centered on tales of the American Revolution and the Wild West’ while penny bloods are labelled ‘British’.Common trap: The sentence names both forms at once — readers who skim may choose C without noticing the America/Britain split.
- 15. A
- The same sentence assigns penny bloods to Britain — they are explicitly called ‘British penny bloods’ — so the British characteristic belongs to A alone. Dime novels are located in America in the same clause.Common trap: Mirror-image trap with Q14 — the two halves of one sentence must be kept apart.
- 16. A
- The corrupt-upper-class detail is attached only to penny bloods: ‘From the 1830s to 1850s, penny bloods featured tales of gore that often depicted the upper class as corrupt.’ ‘Showed members of the upper class as corrupt’ is a near-literal restatement of ‘depicted the upper class as corrupt’. Nothing similar is said about dime novels.Common trap: Assuming a shared characteristic — the trait is stated for one form only, so C is wrong.
- 17. C
- Cheapness is claimed for the whole publishing craze, not one side of it: the first paragraph says these paperback novels provided ‘inexpensive entertainment for the masses’, and the passage later prices penny bloods ‘at an affordable price’ and dime novels at under five cents. Since both are covered, the answer is C.Common trap: Scope of reference — ‘these paperback novels’ covers both types, not just the one named last.
- 18. B
- The Wild West is listed as dime-novel subject matter (‘tales of the American Revolution and the Wild West’), and later the passage notes that as urbanisation spread ‘stories of the Wild West were in less demand’ in the American dime-novel market. Penny bloods are assigned horror and true crime instead.Common trap: Subject-matter swap — horror/true crime belongs to penny bloods, Wild West to dime novels.
- 19. C
- The very first sentence describes a craze that ‘hit both America and England’ and ‘attracted the readership of the semiliterate working class’ — the word ‘both’ makes this a shared characteristic. Since the craze covers dime novels and penny bloods alike, C is correct.Common trap: Scope of reference — the claim is made about the craze as a whole before either form is named.
- 20. C
- The passage dates the Forster Education Act to 1870 and says it ‘made elementary education mandatory for all children’. ‘A law was passed requiring children to attend school’ paraphrases that: ‘mandatory’ becomes ‘requiring’ and ‘elementary education’ becomes ‘attend school’.Common trap: 1870s decoy — the typewriter also ‘became available in the 1870s’ in a nearby sentence, but that is a decade, not the year 1870.
- 21. F
- String of Pearls: A Romance, the original Sweeney Todd story, is dated 1846 in the passage. The option’s ‘first Sweeney Todd story’ matches the passage’s ‘the original story…published in 1846’.Common trap: Nearby date confusion — 1847 (Pitt’s stage adaptation) sits in the next sentence.
- 22. A
- The passage states that in 1860 Beadle and Adams became ‘the first firm in the United States to publish a title that would be categorized as a dime novel’, which is exactly the option’s ‘first dime novel was published in the United States’.Common trap: Distractor from an adjacent sentence — Malaeska had appeared as a magazine serial twenty years earlier, which is a different event.
- 23. E
- The International Copyright Law was ‘passed by Congress in 1890’, matching the option ‘A law about copyrights was passed’. ‘A law about copyrights’ is simply a generalisation of the named statute.Common trap: Two options are laws — the copyright law (1890) must not be confused with the education law (1870).
- 24. Yes
- The passage supports this directly: throughout the nineteenth century English commoners were being educated in various kinds of schools and ‘by the 1830s, approximately 75 percent of the working class had learned to read’. A rising proportion able to read is precisely a rising literacy rate, so the statement agrees with the passage.Common trap: Statistic-to-claim paraphrase — the passage gives a percentage rather than the phrase ‘literacy rate’.
- 25. No
- This is a contradiction, not a silence: the passage says ‘Though few children’s books were available, penny dreadfuls were highly accessible’. If few were even available, they cannot have been popular, and the sentence deliberately contrasts their scarcity with the accessibility of penny dreadfuls. Because the passage states the opposite rather than saying nothing, the answer is NO, not NOT GIVEN.Common trap: No vs Not Given — the passage addresses children’s books explicitly and denies their availability.
- 26. No
- The passage says ‘Controversy still exists over whether Thomas Prest’s character was based on a real person’ and adds that no records of such a barber have been found. Ongoing controversy contradicts the claim that ‘most people agree’, so this is NO rather than NOT GIVEN.Common trap: No vs Not Given — the topic is discussed, and ‘controversy’ directly opposes ‘most people agree’.
- 27. Yes
- The final paragraph says the paperbacks were originally aimed at railroad travellers, ‘however, during the Civil War, soldiers quickly became the most avid dime novel readers’. ‘Most avid readers’ restates ‘popular among’, so the statement agrees with the passage.Common trap: Contrast marker — the sentence begins with the intended audience, so hasty readers may match ‘railroad travelers’ instead.
- 28. could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun.
- Newton’s law predicted everything astronomers could observe ‘with one exception—a very slight variation in the orbit of the planet Mercury around the sun’. ‘Could not explain Mercury’s path around the sun’ restates that exception, with ‘path’ paraphrasing ‘orbit’.Common trap: Ending G (‘did not apply to most astronomical bodies’) overstates the exception — the law failed for one planet, not most bodies.
- 29. suggested the presence of black holes in outer space.
- The passage says ‘Einstein’s theory predicted the existence of black holes’. ‘Suggested the presence of black holes in outer space’ paraphrases ‘predicted the existence of’. The clause about his own doubts belongs to Einstein personally, not to what the theory did.Common trap: Ending J (‘caused doubt about the existence of black holes’) picks up the same sentence’s subordinate clause — it was Einstein who had doubts, not the theory that caused them.
- 30. an inescapable gravitational pull.
- The definition given is ‘areas in space where the gravitational field is so strong that nothing can escape them’. ‘An inescapable gravitational pull’ compresses that whole clause: ‘inescapable’ restates ‘nothing can escape’ and ‘gravitational pull’ restates ‘gravitational field is so strong’.Common trap: Grammatical fit — only a noun phrase can follow ‘areas that have’, which rules out several endings immediately.
- 31. by observing the matter around them.
- Because black holes are invisible, ‘they can be studied only by inference based on observations of their effect on the matter…around them’. ‘By observing the matter around them’ is a direct condensation of that clause.Common trap: Ending H (‘by direct observation’) is the exact opposite — the passage stresses that only indirect inference is possible.
- 32. become very hot.
- The passage says such gases ‘can reach temperatures up to 1,000 times the heat of the sun’. ‘Become very hot’ is the generalised restatement of that specific temperature claim.Common trap: Ending K (‘lose visibility’) contradicts the same sentence, which says the gases become ‘an intensely glowing source of X rays’.
- 33. difficult to study.
- The passage states that ‘observations of event horizons are difficult due to their relatively small size’ and that less is known about them than about black holes. ‘Difficult to study’ restates ‘observations…are difficult’.Common trap: Ending M (‘with large event horizons’) recycles the key term while the passage actually stresses their relatively small size.
- 34. when a single star collapses.
- Compact (star-mass) black holes ‘are believed to be the result of the death of a single star’, and the next sentence describes the core collapsing. ‘When a single star collapses’ combines ‘the death of a single star’ with ‘the core collapses and forms a black hole’.Common trap: Ending N (‘at the center of each black hole’) confuses the location of black holes in galaxies with how compact ones form.
- 35. in most galaxies.
- The passage states that black holes ‘are fairly common and lie at the center of most galaxies’, and adds that thousands have been located ‘in our galaxy and beyond’. Option B reproduces that claim almost word for word.Common trap: Repeated key term — ‘Milky Way’ and ‘sun’ both appear nearby but in unrelated roles.
- 36. a black hole located 26,000 light years from Earth.
- Sagittarius A* is described as the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and the following sentence places it ‘26,000 light years from Earth’. Option A combines those two facts accurately.Common trap: Reversed relationship — the smaller black holes orbit Sagittarius A*, not Earth.
- 37. Not Given
- The passage mentions the big bang only as a time reference — ‘the first black holes came into existence not long after the big bang’ — and never discusses when it happened or how confident scientists are about its date. Because the passage is silent on the certainty of that date rather than affirming or denying it, the answer is NOT GIVEN, not FALSE.Common trap: False vs Not Given — the hedge ‘It is thought’ refers to when black holes formed, not to the date of the big bang itself.
- 38. True
- The seed theory is described exactly this way: the first black holes were ‘seeds’ that consumed enormous quantities of matter, and ‘This allowed them to grow into the super-massive black holes that now sit in the centers of galaxies.’ The statement restates that growth path, so it agrees with the passage.Common trap: Attribution — the statement is true *of the theory*, even though the passage goes on to cast doubt on the theory itself.
- 39. False
- The passage says the opposite: the new simulation shows the black hole was ‘starved’ and grew by less than 1 percent, and ‘The new simulations do not definitively invalidate the seed theory, but they make it far less likely.’ Making a theory less likely contradicts proving it true, so this is FALSE rather than NOT GIVEN.Common trap: False vs Not Given — simulations are discussed, and their effect on the theory is the reverse of ‘proven true’.
- 40. False
- The passage states that ‘black holes a billion times more massive than our sun did exist in the early universe’ — those are super-massive, not compact (star-mass) ones. The word ‘all’ in the statement is therefore contradicted directly, making the answer FALSE.Common trap: Absolute qualifier — ‘all’ is disproved by a single counter-example stated in the passage.
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