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Cambridge 18 Academic Reading Test Four Passage Three
Alfred Wenger: Science, Exploration and the Theory of Continental Drift
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
Write YES, NO, or NOT GIVEN.
27. Wegener’s ideas about continental drift were widely disputed while he was alive.
The answer is YES.
In paragraph one, his book on the subject, The Origin of Continents and Oceans, went through four editions and was the focus of an international controversy in his lifetime and for some years after his death.
28. The idea that the continents remained fixed in place was defended in a number of respected scientific publications.
The answer is NOT GIVEN.
In paragraph two, Wegener’s basic idea was that many mysteries about the Earth’s history could be solved if one supposed that the continents moved laterally, rather than supposing that they remained fixed in place.
29. Wegener relied on a limited range of scientific fields to support his theory of continental drift.
The answer is NO.
In paragraph two, Wegener showed in great detail how such continental movements were plausible and how they worked, using evidence from a large number of sciences including geology, geophysics, paleontology, and climatology.
30. The similarities between Wegener’s theory of continental drift and modern-day plate tectonics are enormous.
The answer is NO.
In paragraph two, plate tectonics is in many respects quite different from Wegener’s proposal, in the same way that modern evolutionary theory is very different from the ideas Charles Darwin proposed in the 1850s about biological evolution.
Complete the summary using the list of phrases, A-J.
31. One of the remarkable things about Wegener from a ….. is that although he proposed a theory of continental drift, he was not a geologist.
The answer is I. > biographer’s perspective
In paragraph three, when I started writing about Wegener’s life and work, one of the most intriguing things about him for me was that, although he came up with a theory on continental drift, he was not a geologist.
32. However, at the time he proposed his theory of continental drift in 1912, he was already a person of ……
The answer is F. > professional interests
In paragraph three, when he proposed the theory of continental displacements in 1912, he was a lecturer in physics and astronomy at the University of Marburg, in southern Germany.
34 and 35. Six years previously, there had been his …… of 52 hours in a hot-air balloon, followed by his well-publicized but …… of Greenland’s coast.
34. The answer is C. > record-breaking achievement
35. The answer is H. > hazardous exploration
34. In paragraph three, in 1906 he had set a world record (with his brother Kurt) for time aloft in a hot-air balloon: 52 hours.
35. In paragraph three, between 1906 and 1908 he had taken part in a highly publicized and extremely dangerous expedition to the coast of northeast Greenland.
36. With the publication of his textbook on thermodynamics, he had also come to the attention of a ….. of German scientists.
The answer is E. > select group
In paragraph three, he had also made a name for himself amongst a small circle of meteorologists and atmospheric physicists in Germany as the author of a textbook, Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere (1911), and of a number of interesting scientific papers.
Choose the correct letters, A, B, C, or D.
37. What is Mott T Greene doing in the fifth paragraph?
The answer is B. > explaining why it is desirable to read the whole book
In paragraph five, in this respect, I urge readers to try to experience Wegener’s life as he lived it, with all the interruptions, changes of mind, and renewed efforts this entailed.
38. What is said about Wegener in the sixth paragraph?
The answer is A. > He was not a particularly ambitious person.
In paragraph six, he was not active (with a few exceptions) in scientific societies, and did not seek to find influence or advance his ideas through professional contacts and politics, spending most of his time at home in his study reading and writing, or in the field collecting observations.
39. What does Greene say about some other famous scientists?
The answer is D. > They are easier subjects to write about than Wegener.
In paragraph seven, the more such material a scientist leaves behind, the better chance a biographer has of forming an accurate picture of how a scientist’s ideas took shape and evolved.
40. What is Greene’s main point in the final paragraph?
The answer is C. > People have little control over many aspects of their lives.
In paragraph eight, we plan, think, and act, often with apparent freedom, but most of the time our lives ‘happen to us’, and we only retrospectively turn this happenstance into a coherent narrative of fulfilled intentions.