Free ILAC Academic Reading Questions and Answers

Question 1

Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes.

Accepted Answer

False

Answer

Explanation:
"Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes" is False. While Pierre Curie shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Marie Curie and Henri Becquerel in 1903, he was not a joint winner of Marie's Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.

Question 2

Marie became interested in science when she was a child.

Accepted Answer

Not Given

Answer

Explanation:
The passage does not explicitly state whether Marie became interested in science when she was a child or not.

Question 3

Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial contribution.

Accepted Answer

True

Answer

Explanation:
The passage mentions that Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne (the University of Paris) and begin her studies there because of her sister Bronia's financial support. It states, "From her earnings, she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education." Therefore, it can be inferred that Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne due to her sister's financial contribution.

Question 4

The Physics of Traffic Behavior

Some years ago, when several theoretical physicists, principally Dirk Helbing and Boris Kerner of Stuttgart, Germany, began publishing papers on traffic flow in publications normally read by traffic engineers, they were clearly working outside their usual sphere of investigation. They had noticed that if they simulated the movement of vehicles on a highway, using the equations that describe how the molecules of a gas move, some very strange results emerged. Of course, vehicles do not behave exactly like gas molecules: for example, drivers try to avoid collisions by slowing down when they get too near another vehicle, whereas gas molecules have no such concern. However, the physicists modified the equations to take the differences into account, and the overall description of traffic as a flowing gas has proved to be a very good one; the moving-gas model of traffic reproduces many phenomena seen in real-world traffic.

The strangest thing that came out of these equations, however, was the implication that congestion can arise completely spontaneously; no external causes are necessary. Vehicles can be flowing freely along, at a density still well below what the road can handle, and then suddenly gel into a slow-moving ooze. Under the right conditions, a brief and local fluctuation in the speed or the distance between vehicles is all it takes to trigger a system-wide breakdown that persists for hours. In fact, the physicists’ analysis suggested such spontaneous breakdowns in traffic flow probably occur quite frequently on highways.

Reading the passage then choose the correct heading from the list of headings below:

Accepted Answer

How a concept from one field of study was applied in another

Answer

Explanation:
The passage describes how theoretical physicists applied concepts from the study of gas molecules to understand traffic flow behavior.

Question 5

The Physics of Traffic Behavior

The physicists have challenged proposals to set a maximum capacity for vehicles on highways. They argue that it may not be enough simply to limit the rate at which vehicles are allowed to enter a highway, rather, it may be necessary to time each vehicle’s entry onto a highway precisely to coincide with a temporary drop in the density of vehicles along the road. The aim of doing this would be to smooth out any possible fluctuations in the road conditions that can trigger a change in traffic behavior and result in congestion. They further suggest that preventing breakdowns in the flow of traffic could ultimately require implementing the radical idea that has been suggested from time to time: directly regulating the speed and spacing of individual cars along a highway with central computers and sensors that communicate with each car’s engine and brake controls.

Reading the passage then choose the correct heading from the list of headings below:

Accepted Answer

A proposal to take control away from the driver

Answer

Explanation:
The passage discusses a proposal to potentially regulate traffic flow by directly controlling the speed and spacing of individual cars using central computers and sensors. This proposal suggests implementing a system where vehicles' entry onto a highway is timed precisely to coincide with fluctuations in road conditions, aiming to prevent congestion. The idea entails taking control away from individual drivers and relying on centralized control systems to manage traffic flow.

ILAC - International Language Academy of Canada Practice Test

ILAC - International Language Academy of Canada Practice Test

Free ILAC Academic Reading Questions and Answers