IELTSPractice Jai

A Spark, a Flint: How Fire Leapt to Life — Reading Answers

Cambridge IELTS 1 · Test 1 · Passage 1 · Questions 1–15

Answer key
QAnswerQAnswer
1preserve9F
2unaware10D
3chance11E
4friction12C
5rotating13G
6percussion14A
7Eskimos15C
8despite
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Answer explanations (optional)

  1. Question 1: preserve

    Keeping fire alive. Early people maintained burning wood or transported charcoal. The summary needs a verb meaning to keep something available: preserve.

  2. Question 2: unaware

    Knowledge of making fire. The opening paragraph describes people who could keep an existing fire but did not know how to produce a new one. Unaware fits that lack of knowledge.

  3. Question 3: chance

    An accidental discovery. The writer suggests that fire-making may have emerged while people were working with tools. An accidental event happens by chance.

  4. Question 4: friction

    The earliest method. The discussion of primitive societies identifies rubbing as the earliest fire-making technique. Friction is the process, rather than the resulting heat.

  5. Question 5: rotating

    Movement of a wooden drill. A stick turns quickly inside a hole. Rotating describes this circular action and fits the summary after the adverb rapidly.

  6. Question 6: percussion

    Striking instead of rubbing. Chipping or striking hard materials produces sparks. Percussion is the method associated with these repeated impacts.

  7. Question 7: Eskimos

    An Arctic example. The passage names the Arctic North American people who struck quartz against iron pyrites. Use the term Eskimos as it appears in this historical exercise.

  8. Question 8: despite

    A contrast in the timeline. An older striking method remained in use after phosphorus was discovered. Despite expresses the contrast between the discovery and the continued older practice.

  9. Question 9: F

    F — Lundstrom’s safety match. This match used red phosphorus, a safer alternative to the toxic white form. The clue is the change in the kind of phosphorus, not simply the match’s name.

  10. Question 10: D

    D — Lucifers. Samuel Jones copied Walker’s earlier match and sold it under a different name. This makes Lucifers the match described as identical to a previous design.

  11. Question 11: E

    E — First strike-anywhere match. White phosphorus in this design exposed workers to a severe jaw disease. Follow the connection between the chemical and its health consequences.

  12. Question 12: C

    C — Congreves. Walker’s design is identified as the first resembling the matches familiar today. Match the claim about appearance to this design.

  13. Question 13: G

    G — Book matches. The advertising clue concerns match books used by a brewery. This refers to book matches, rather than an earlier chemical invention.

  14. Question 14: A

    A — The Ethereal Match. This design kept phosphorus inside a sealed glass tube. Breaking the tube allowed air in, so the airtight container is the decisive clue.

  15. Question 15: C

    C — Congreves. Walker adapted a formula associated with the military rocket-maker Congreve. That military connection points to Congreves again; a letter may be reused.

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