Cambridge 7 Reading Test 2 - Answers With Explanation

1. The writer states "records show that only two have collapsed during the past 1400 years" — matching the statement exactly, so YES.

2. The 1995 earthquake actually "left the magnificent five-storey pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed" — the opposite of destroying it, so NO.

3. The passage says the quake "levelled a number of buildings in the neighbourhood" but never mentions when those buildings were constructed, so NOT GIVEN.

4. The writer credits carpenters with "allowing a building to sway and settle itself rather than fight nature's forces" — absorbing rather than resisting force, so YES.

5. Only Chinese pagodas had "inner staircases", which the Japanese version dispensed with — B.

6. Both traditions used tiled eaves, though Japanese pagodas used "much heavier earthenware tiles" instead of the Chinese "porcelain tiles" — A.

7. The Chinese "used them in later centuries mainly as watchtowers", a purpose not shared by Japanese pagodas — B.

8. Japanese roofs "can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more" of its width, a feature unique to Japan — C.

9. Pagodas in both countries "were first introduced with Buddhism and were attached to important temples" — A.

10. Only in Japan are storeys "simply stacked one on top of another like a pile of hats" rather than fixed together — C.

11. The shinbashira "constrained individual storeys from moving too far because... they banged into it" — D.

12. Ishida "built a series of models and tested them on a 'shake-table'" specifically to understand how pagodas behave — C.

13. Storeys are "simply stacked one on top of another like a pile of hats", i.e. fitted loosely — C.

14. Paragraph E includes "£23m for the removal of the bug cryptosporidium from drinking water" among the itemised costs — E.

15. Paragraph B traces "first mechanisation, then mass use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, then monocultures... and now genetic engineering" — the industry's development stages — B.

16. Paragraph C explains such hidden costs are what "economists refer to as externalities" — C.

17. Paragraph B notes "the growth of algae is increasing in lakes because of the fertiliser run-off" — an effect of chemicals on water — B.

18. Paragraph B lists farmland birds that "have vanished from huge stretches of countryside" — declining wildlife, so YES.

19. The passage never discusses how food tastes, so NOT GIVEN.

20. Paragraph C says consumers "rarely make the connection" between food and its hidden costs, and ask "they... certainly aren't paying for it, are they?" — the opposite of wide recognition, so NO.

21. Paragraph E lists "£169m from food poisoning" among Pretty's calculated externalities — an illness caused by food, so YES.

22. Pretty concludes "our food bills are actually threefold" — matching the first blank.

23. Britain is described as a country "where the immediate need to supply food is less urgent", making it feasible to move away from intensive farming.

24. Pretty feels "organic farming would be too big a jump in thinking and in practices for many farmers."

25. He instead recommends "the immediate introduction of a 'Greener Food Standard'."

26. Such a standard could go "a long way... to shifting consumers as well as farmers towards a more sustainable system."

27. Section B explains that before solutions were proposed, researchers first had to understand transport demands, since "little was known about the transport demands of the rural households" — heading ii.

28. Section C describes how, during Phase II, "a number of approaches were implemented in an effort to improve mobility and access to transport" — heading v.

29. Section E notes it "was necessary to start the process from the level of the governmental authorities of the district" — heading x, co-operation of officials.

30. Section F states "Makete District will act as a reference for future work" — heading i, MIRTP as a future model.

31. The project actually ran in three stages — "Phase I", "Phase II" and "Phase III" — not five, so NO.

32. Section B confirms "Makete District was virtually totally isolated during the rainy season" before the project began — YES.

33. Phase I's survey measured time, finding a household "spent, on average, seven hours a day" on transport, not expenditure of money — NO.

34. The survey found that "80% was within the locality", meaning roughly one-fifth of transport needs lay outside it — YES.

35. The passage mentions improving "import and export of goods to the district" but never mentions the capital city specifically — NOT GIVEN.

36. The project made sense of "improving the paths by building steps, handrails and footbridges" used as short-cuts up and down hillsides — D.

37. Efforts to improve transport services failed largely because "most of the motorised vehicles in the district broke down" — I.

38. Paths and secondary roads "were improved only at the request of communities who were willing to participate" — G.

39. Once complete, road improvements "had helped make the district centre accessible throughout the year", ending its seasonal isolation — E.

40. The passage as a whole recounts each phase of the project and evaluates its outcomes — describing how MIRTP was implemented and how successful it was — B.