Cambridge IELTS 17 Reading Test 2

Part 1 Questions

Questions 1-5

Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Discovery
Qumran, 1946/7

  • three Bedouin shepherds in their teens were near an opening on side of cliff
  • heard a noise of breaking when one teenager threw a 1
  • teenagers went into the 2 and found a number of containers made of 3

The scrolls

  • date from between 150 BCE and 70 CE
  • thought to have been written by group of people known as the 4
  • written mainly in the 5 language
  • most are on religious topics, written using ink on parchment or papyrus

Questions 6-13

Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text, choose FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or choose NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

6. The Bedouin teenagers who found the scrolls were disappointed by how little money they received for them.

7. There is agreement among academics about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

8. Most of the books of the Bible written on the scrolls are incomplete.

9. The information on the Copper Scroll is written in an unusual way.

10. Mar Samuel was given some of the scrolls as a gift.

11. In the early 1950s, a number of educational establishments in the US were keen to buy scrolls from Mar Samuel.

12. The scroll that was pieced together in 2017 contains information about annual occasions in the Qumran area 2,000 years ago.

13. Academics at the University of Haifa are currently researching how to decipher the final scroll.

Part 2 Questions

Questions 14-18

Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs, A-E.
Which section contains the following information?

Choose the correct letter.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

A B C D E
14. a reference to a type of tomato that can resist a dangerous infection.
15. an explanation of how problems can arise from focusing only on a certain type of tomato plant.
16. a number of examples of plants that are not cultivated at present but could be useful as food sources.
17. a comparison between the early domestication of the tomato and more recent research
18. a personal reaction to the flavour of a tomato that has been genetically edited
Questions 19-23

Look at the following statements (Questions 19-23) and the list of researchers below.
Match each statement with the correct researcher, A-D.

Choose the correct letter, A-D.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

List of Researchers
A Jorg Kudla
B Caixia Gao
C Joyce Van Eck
D Jonathan Jones

A B C D
19. Domestication of certain plants could allow them to adapt to future environmental challenges.
20. The idea of growing and eating unusual plants may not be accepted on a large scale.
21. It is not advisable for the future direction of certain research to be made public.
22. Present efforts to domesticate one wild fruit are limited by the costs involved.
23. Humans only make use of a small proportion of the plant food available on Earth.
Questions 24-26

Complete the sentences below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

24.
An undesirable trait such as loss of may be caused by a mutation in a tomato gene.

25.

By modifying one gene in a tomato plant, researchers made the tomato three times its original

26.

A type of tomato which was not badly affected by , and was rich in vitamin C, was produced by a team of researchers in China.

Part 3 Questions

Questions 27-31

Choose the correct letter.

27. The purpose of the first paragraph is to

28. What are the writers doing in the second paragraph?

29. In the third paragraph, what do the writers suggest about Darwin and Einstein?

30. John Nicholson is an example of a person whose idea

31. What is the key point of interest about the ‘acey-deucy’ stirrup placement?

Questions 32-36

Choose YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer, choose NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer, or choose NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

32. Acknowledging people such as Plato or da Vinci as geniuses will help us understand the process by which great minds create new ideas.

33. The Law of Effect was discovered at a time when psychologists were seeking a scientific reason why creativity occurs.

34. The Law of Effect states that no planning is involved in the behaviour of organisms.

35. The Law of Effect sets out clear explanations about the sources of new ideas and behaviours.

36. Many scientists are now turning away from the notion of intelligent design and genius.

Questions 37-40

Complete the summary below using the list of words, A-G.
Write the correct letter A-G in the blanks.

List of words
A invention      B goals                C compromise      D mistakes       
E luck                F inspiration      G experiments

The origins of creative behaviour

The traditional view of scientific discovery is that breakthroughs happen when a single great mind has sudden 37 . Although this can occur, it is not often the case. Advances are more likely to be the result of a longer process. In some cases, this process involves 38 , such as Nicholson’s theory about proto-elements. In others, simple necessity may provoke innovation, as with Westrope’s decision to modify the position of his riding stirrups. There is also often an element of 39 , for example, the coincidence of ideas that led to the invention of the Post-It note. With both the Law of Natural Selection and the Law of Effect, there may be no clear 40 involved, but merely a process of variation and selection.