IELTS Reading: multiple choice

Read the passage and choose the correct answers to the questions below.

A new ‘super-Earth’ has been discovered that could have a life-supporting climate and water. The planet, given the catchy name HD 40307g, was discovered in a multi-world solar system 42 light years from the Sun and lies at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquid surface water. It orbits well within the star's “habitable” or “Goldilocks” zone - the region where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life.

Professor Hugh Jones, from the University of Hertfordshire said: “The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life. Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet or indeed any moons that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable.” The ‘super earth’ is one of six planets believed to circle the dwarf star HD 40307 in the constellation Pictor. All the others are located outside the habitable zone, too close to their parent star to support liquid water.

(Taken from this article in The Independent)

1. Why is it thought that the planet may be able to support life?

A) It has been shown to have water.
B) It is 42 light years from the Sun.
C) It orbits its own star at the perfect distance.
D) It has several moons.

2. Which statement is true of the “Goldilocks” zone?

A) It is the region of a planet which has a habitable climate.
B) It refers to a zone which is too close to the parent star.
C) It refers to a planet with several moons and a long orbit.
D) It is an orbit region which is comparable to the Earth’s.

PS. If you don't know who Goldilocks is, click here!

Comments

[Sakina]

C
A

[ahmed]

c and d

[deniz]

1-c
2-a

[General]

C and A

[Samah]

1.c
2.d

[Tural]

1.c
2.a

[Oyamazakura]

1. C
2. A

[tenzin]

1.c
2.d

[Aleksandra Bucholc]

1-C
2-A

[Tereza]

1.C
2.A

[Neha Kaur]

Here Is my Answers:
1) C
2) A

[Rrr]

C, A

[kofo]

1- C
2- A

[M.Salamat]

1-C
2-D ( the option A says region of a PLANET while the text talks about orbit not the region of a PLANET)

[mohammed]

hi simon
my answer is
1- c
2-a

[Rashida Perveen]

1-C
2-A

[tariq]

1-C
2-A

[ferymath]

1-C
2-a

[Stella]

1-C
2-D

[Duong]

1.C
2.D

[Duong]

1.C
2.A

[Hien]

1. D
2. A
:)

[semenchu]

1. C
2. A

[gözde]

1.C, 2.A

[Nhuan]

C and A

[Ninh]

C and A

[Sammy G]

The answer is
C) and D)

[thuybean]

1.c
2.D

[TrungKien]

C
D

[harry]

1.C
2.D

[mona]

1.c
2.a

[MH]

My Answers are
1) A
2) B

[fie]

my answers are :

1) C
2) D

tq

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. C
2. D

In question 2, the answer "A" was a trick - the Goldilocks zone is not a region (on the surface) of a planet, it's a habitable region for the whole planet within a solar system.

Check again if you made any mistakes.

[Lilly]

Hi Simon,
My answers are
1.C ( the planet,..., lies at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquip surface water)
2.A ( star's habitable or Goldilock zone- the region where temperatures are neither too hot or too cold)

Another point is that can you please explain the answers of the questions from 23 to 26 in Cambridge IELTS 6- test 1? I think the way to find the answers of the completing paragraphs is matching similar words. But it's still difficult to me.
Thank you so much for your great help.

[Apurv]

I actually wrote A as the answer for question 2. Surely, I made the mistake.

[Surrayya]

1-C
2-D
Hi dear Simon,kindly specify the correct answer.
Thanks
Sur

[SImon]

That's correct Surrayya. My answer is in a comment further up this page.

[ZIAUL HUDA]

Here is a text about ancient weapons. Answer the following questions.
Some pieces of ancient weapons may illuminate modern man’s evolution
THE shards of stone pictured, which have an average length of about 30mm, or 1.2 inches, may provide an insight into the evolution of the human psyche. They were discovered at Pinnacle Point, on South Africa’s southern coast, by Kyle Brown of the University of Cape Town and Curtis
Marean of Arizona State University, and they are estimated to be 71,000 years old.
Such shards are known as microliths. They are made by heating a suitable lump of rock in a fire, and then bashing it, in order to flake pieces off its surface. They are believed to have been employed mainly as arrow heads—and were so used in Scandinavia as recently as 9,000 years ago.
From about 40,000 years ago microliths are common. Before that date, only one set of examples, from about 60,000 years ago, had been found. This fact has been used for support by those who think the human psyche evolved separately from, and more recently than, the physique of Homo sapiens.
Both fossil evidence and DNA analysis using molecular clocks (estimates of historical mutation rates) agree that Homo sapiens is 150,000-200,000 years old. It is only in the past 50,000-60,000 years, however, that it has really taken off. Some ascribe that late take-off to chance. Others think the human mind crossed a threshold at that time, and the flourishing of humanity is the consequence. The battleground for this debate is the handful of artefacts that predate 60,000 years ago—which is also the moment when Homo sapiens left Africa and started the rise that has now established the species on every continent.
The discovery of these particular microliths, which Dr Brown and Dr Marean report in this week’s Nature, shows that people 71,000 years ago were able to conceive of making them, to act on that conception and to use the result. That suggests they had bows and arrows, a sophisticated form of weapon. This finding thus adds weight to the argument of those who believe that members of Homo sapiens alive at that time were not, psychologically, very different from those alive today. That their culture was simpler was because there were fewer of them, and inventions needed time to accumulate, not because they were less clever.
The existence of these ancient microliths may also have a bearing on a related argument, over why human psychology is different from that of other species. One manifestation of that difference, in the view of some, is extreme altruism—extreme in the sense that people will occasionally lay down their own lives for the sake of others.
Such self-sacrifice is most often seen in war, and a controversial hypothesis proposed by a few evolutionary biologists is that it did indeed evolve in the context of warfare, at the time when the invention of weapons such as bows and arrows first made it possible for one group of humans to annihilate another. In those circumstances, heroic self-sacrifice to preserve a band of relatives might make evolutionary sense, since an individual’s genes could still be passed on collaterally, through surviving members of the band. That impulse, the theory goes, is still felt today, even though comrades-in-arms are not always blood relations.
Such thoughts are a heavy burden for a handful of stones to bear, but that is often the fate of fossil signs of human activity. Each discovery, though, does bring the truth a little closer.

1-Who invented the Microliths?
2-Whatis ment by Arrow heads?
3-An study conducted by scientists on microliths suggests what kind of weapons?

[Sarah]

Hi Simon
am alittle worried on how to write true,false,not given,yes and no in the answer sheet.My question;Shall we write it all in capitl(TRUE)or doesn not matter.

thanks in advance

[Lilly]

Hi Simon
Should I read questions first, then read the passage to answer the questions? Or are there different techniques to approach the questions?
I have found your lessons fastastic, but i havent seen you mention about it before. I think it can be an idea for your next lesson to help some students like me get rid of this concern.

Thank you so much for your great help.

[Lilly]

hi Simon
I found the answer for my questions.
Thank you so much for everything!!!

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/05/ielts-reading-paragraph-headings.html

[Angie]

1.c
2d

[Kanika]

my question is same as Sarah (Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 20:16) ..
Simon, please also let me know

[Ibrahim]

1 A
2 D

[Arm]

C
A

[Umair Zafar]

C
A

[pej]

Hi Simon
Thanks for your great website.
what is the strategy in multiple choice questions? read just question or read all choices (A,B..)?

thanks

[maryam]

hi Simon my answer are c and a