CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 3
TEST 1
PASSAGE 1
READING PASSAGE 1
You
should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 which are based on Reading
Passage 1 on the following pages.
Questions
1-4
Reading
passage 11 has six paragraphs labelled A-F.
Choose
the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-E from the list of headings below.
Write
the appropriate numbers (i-ix) in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
List of
Headings
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|
i
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How
the reaction principle works
The
impact of the reaction principle
Writer's
theories of the reaction principle
Undeveloped
for centuries
The
first rockets
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ii
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iii
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iv
|
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v
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vi
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The
first use of steam
Rockets
for military use
Developments
of fire
What's
next?
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vii
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vii
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|
ix
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Example
|
Paragraph
A
|
Answer
ii
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1
|
Paragraph
B
Paragraph
C
Paragraph
D
Paragraph
E
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2
|
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3
|
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4
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THE ROCKET- FROM THE EAST TO WEST
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A
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The concept of the rocket, or rather
the mechanism behind the idea of propelling an object into the air, has been
around for well over two thousand years. However, it wasn’t until the
discovery of the reaction principle, which was the key to space travel and so
represents one of the great milestones in the history of scientific thought,
that rocket technology was able to develop. Not only did it solve a problem
that had intrigued man for ages, but, more importantly, it literally opened
the door to the exploration of the universe.
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B
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An intellectual breakthrough, brilliant
though it may be, does not automatically ensure that the transition is made
from theory to practice. Despite the fact that rockets had been used
sporadically for several hundred years, they remained a relatively minor
artefact of civilization until the twentieth century. Prodigious efforts,
accelerated during two world wars, were required before the technology of
primitive rocketry could be translated into the reality of sophisticated
astronauts. It is strange that the rocket was generally ignored by writers of
fiction to transport their heroes to mysterious realms beyond the Earth, even
though it had been commonly used in fireworks displays in China since the
thirteenth century. The reason is that nobody associated the reaction
principle with the idea of traveling through space to a neighbouring world.
|
C
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A simple analogy can help us to
understand how a rocket operates. It is much like a machine gun mounted on
the rear of a boat. In reaction to the backward discharge of bullets, the
gun, and hence the boat, move forwards. A rocket motor’s ‘bullets’ are
minute, high-speed particles produced by burning propellants in a suitable
chamber. The reaction to the ejection of these small particles causes the
rocket to move forwards. There is evidence that the reaction principle was
applied practically well before the rocket was invented. In his Noctes
Atticae or Greek Nights, Aulus Gellius describes ‘the pigeon of Archytas’, an
invention dating back to about 360 BC. Cylindrical in shape, made of wood,
and hanging from string, it was moved to and fro by steam blowing out from
small exhaust ports at either end. The reaction to the discharging steam
provided the bird with motive power.
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D
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The invention of rockets is linked
inextricably with the invention of ‘black powder’. Most historians of
technology credit the Chinese with its discovery. They base their belief on
studies of Chinese writings or on the notebooks of early Europeans who
settled in or made long visits to China to study its history and
civilisation. It is probable that, sometime in the tenth century, black
powder was first compounded from its basic ingredients of saltpetre, charcoal
and sulphur. But this does not mean that it was immediately used to propel
rockets. By the thirteenth century, powder propelled fire arrows had become
rather common. The Chinese relied on this type of technological development
to produce incendiary projectiles of many sorts, explosive grenades and
possibly cannons to repel their enemies. One such weapon was the ‘basket of
fire’ or, as directly translated from Chinese, the ‘arrows like flying
leopards’. The 0.7 metre-long arrows, each with a long tube of gunpowder
attached near the point of each arrow, could be fired from a long,
octagonal-shaped basket at the same time and had a range of 400 paces.
Another weapon was the ‘arrow as am flying sabre’, which could be fired from
crossbows. The rocket, placed in a similar position to other rocket-propelled
arrows, was designed to increase the range. A small iron weight was attached
to the 1.5m bamboo shaft, just below the feathers, to increase the arrow’s
stability by moving the centre of gravity to a position below the rocket. At
a similar time, the Arabs had developed the ‘egg which moves and burns’. This
‘egg’ was apparently full of gunpowder and stabilised by a 1.5m tail. It was
fired using two rockets attached to either side of this tail.
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E
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It was not until the eighteenth century
that Europe became seriously interested in the possibilities of using the
rocket itself as a weapon of war and not just to propel other weapons. Prior
to this, rockets were used only in pyrotechnic displays. The incentive for
the more aggressive use of rockets came not from within the European continent
but from far-away India, whose leaders had built up a corps of rocketeers and
used rockets successfully against the British in the late eighteenth century.
The Indian rockets used against the British were described by a British
Captain serving in India as ‘an iron envelope about 200 millimetres long and
40 millimetres in diameter with sharp points at the top and a 3m-long bamboo
guiding stick’. In the early nineteenth century, the British began to
experiment with incendiary barrage rockets. The British rocket differed from
the Indian version in that it was completely encased in a stout, iron
cylinder, terminating in a conical head, measuring one metre in diameter and
having a stick almost five metres long and constructed in such a way that it
could be firmly attached to the body of the rocket. The Americans developed a
rocket, complete with its own launcher, to use against the Mexicans in the
mid-nineteenth century. A long cylindrical tube was propped up by two sticks
and fastened to the top of the launcher, thereby allowing the rockets to be
inserted and lit from the other end. However, the results were sometimes not
that impressive as the behaviour of the rockets in flight was less than
predictable.
|
F
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Since then, there have been huge
developments in rocket technology, often with devastating results in the
forum of war. Nevertheless, the modern day space programs owe their success
to the humble beginnings of those in previous centuries who developed the
foundations of the reaction principle. Who knows what it will be like in the
future?
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Questions
5 and 6
Choose
the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 5 and 6 on your answer
sheet.
5
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The
greatest outcome of the discovery of the reaction principle was that
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A
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rockets
could be propelled into the air.
space
travel became a reality.
a
major problem had been solved.
bigger
rockets were able to be built.
|
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B
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||
C
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D
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6
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According
to the text, the greatest progress in rocket technology was made
|
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A
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from
the tenth to the thirteenth centuries.
from
the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
from
the early nineteenth to the late nineteenth century.
from
the late nineteenth century to the present day.
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B
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C
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D
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Questions
7-10
From
the information in the text, indicate who FIRST invented or used the items in
the list below.
Write
the appropriate letters A-E in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.
NB
You may use any letter more than once.
Example
rockets
for displays
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Answer
A
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7
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black
powder
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8
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rocket-propelled
arrows for fighting
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9
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rockets
as war weapons
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10
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the
rocket launcher
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FIRST invented
or used by
|
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A
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the
Chinese
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B
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the
Indians
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C
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the
British
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D
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the
Arabs
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E
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the
Americans
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Questions
11-14
Look
at the drawings of different projectiles below, A-H, and the names of types of
projectiles given in the passage, Questions 11-14. Match each name with one
drawing.
Write
the appropriate letters A-H in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.
Example
The
Greek ‘Pigeon of Archytas’
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Answer
C
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11
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The Chinese ‘basket of fire’
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12
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The
Arab ‘egg which moves and burns’
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13
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The
Indian rocket
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14
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The
British barrage rocket
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ANSWER
KEY
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