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

[jENNY]

1. A
2. A

[Kanan]

1 C
2 A

[Thanhthanh]

1.C
2.D

[TGHarry]

1.A (support to life = life-supporting climate and water
2.A ( increasing the probability of it being habitable )

[Jant]

1. C
2. D

[Kevin Jang]

C
A

[Hoan Luong]

1. C
2. D

[Nzr]

C
A

[Lucy]

A
A

[Thuan Nguyen]

1. C
Reason:
"...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."

Sustain life = support life in the question.

2. D.
Reason:
"...this planet or indeed any moons that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable."

"A" answer is wrong because Goldilocks is a zone of a star, not a region of a planet.

[D]

1.C (...lies at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquid surface water.)
2.D (...this planet or indeed any moons that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable.)

[Bikram]

C
D

[Ronie Siddiky]

C
A

[Hana]

A
D

[ruby]

1. C
2.D

[doena]

C, D

[susan]

A D

[pink]

C

A

[Shu]

A
d

[Ripon Kumar Saha]

A
A

[Stephanie Tsai]

A
A

[Aftab Ashraf]

C
A

[Chaiane]

C
A

[Oanh]

1.C
2.D

[Cyril]

C
A

[Nora]

1.C
2.D

[Fazilatun]

1.C < 2. D

[teru]

AA

[Kien]

1.A
2.C

[Nguyen Phuc]

My answer:
1. A
the planet maybe able to support life = The planet,...to allow liquid surface water.
2. D.
the “Goldilocks” zone = this planet or indeed any moons that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable

[hibk]

1.A
2.A
By the way, can anyone help me to analyze grammar of the sentence: "this planet or indeed any moons that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth".especially, I don't understand "is has lie". Thank in advance.

[Nam Anh]

1.C
"lies at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquid surface water"

The planet has water, but if it were too close or too far from the star, its water would turn cold to ice or something, therefore, human couldn't use it and the planet would be uninhabitable even though it has water.
Because of the perfect distance to the star, its water can be in LIQUID form, not SOLID or something else, therefore, huan can use it

2. D
It orbits well within the star's “habitable” or “Goldilocks” zone
It means that this planet spin within “Goldilocks” zone
=> “Goldilocks” zone is the orbit of the planet (1)
"this planet has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth"
It means that the orbit of the planet is similar (= comparable) to that of the Earth. (2)
(1), (2) => “Goldilocks” zone is an orbit region which is similar to the Earth's

By the way, “Goldilocks” is not a region of the planet, it's a star's region

[Chi]

1. A
2. A

[Jackee Mazumdar]

1.C
2.D

[Bahar.Hajili]

1.C
2.A
Waiting for the correct answers.tnx Simon

[Klaus]

1 C
- lies exactly the right distance from it stars = orbits its own stars at the perfect distance
- allow liquid surface water => this is what thought to be able to support life

2 A
- neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life = habitable climate

[ady]

1. C
lies at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquid surface water.

2. A
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.

[suzy]

B
A

[Thu Ha]

1. C
2. D

[Mr fisher]

my answers are : 1, A. 2, D

[Ser Bronn of Blackwater Bay]

1. C
2. A

[sally]

1.C
2.A

[Cuong Pham]

1. C
2. D

[Muhammad Imran Asif]

1.A
2.A

[Shubhada]

1. A
2. A

[Sonia]

1 C
2.AD

[Katherina]

1. C
2. D

[Zac]

1. A
2. D

[Tri]

C
A

[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.

[Nam Anh]

Thank you very much, Teacher Simon! This lesson takes me to another informative, educational, useful newspaper from the UK. Thanks a lot. I look forward to your today's lesson. <3

[Firdavs]

1. C
2. A

[jonsb05]

thanks simon.
even until now i would still insist the correct answer is C/A!
if this is a tricky question, i hope they wouldn't put this kind of question in the next exam!

[Chris]

C
A

[zain]

A
A

[zain]

C
A

[lulu]

C
D

[Denise]

A
A

[Philip YANG]

Hi Simon,

sorry to bother you. please help me on the Y/N/NG question. I still cannot catch up with the examiner's idea.

here is an example.

question No.4 on the 3rd passage on the www.ielts.com, the title of the article is 'the risk of cigarette smoke'. here is the link of the passage:

https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/115014_academic_reading_sample_task_-_identifying_writer_s_views__2_.ashx?la=en

extract from passage:

Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.

question:

Thirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by smoking-related diseases.

let's assume the total death is 1 million and 400k are cancer death and 600k are non-cancer death. From the passage we can see that 400k x 30%=120k death are related to smoke. IF 30% of the non-cancer death are also related to smoke, the statement of the question would be YES. BUT this information is not given by the author. So I think the answer should be NOT GIVEN.

but the correct answer is NO.

please help me on this headache point.

Thanks in advance!

[sujit kumar biswas]

yes C, D

Thanks simon

[Zakarya]

Hi Simon,
Thanks a lot you are brilliant
Firstly,I am facing a problem ,which is in (Cambridge 10- reading-test 1 - Q40)

All teachers say that it is suggested to put the word as it is written in the passage and the answer is COMMUNICATING whereas I could not find it like the same form I only found the verb form or ending with (tion)

Secondly, should I write (the) before some words in the listening test ,because I always write the word but without (the)

[Simon]

Philip and Zakarya,

I'll check those questions and I'll try to answer in a blog lesson over the next week.

[Philip YANG]

Dear Simon,

thanks a lot for your prompt response.

Looking forward to see your answer next week.

[Muhammad Reza Shahroody Zadeh]

Dear Simon,

My name is Reza and I run IELTS courses in Mashhad- Iran. I have watched your videos on reading; they are wonderful.

Today, I checked and analysed Cambridge English IELTS books 9, 10 and 11 and I ranked different reading test question types based on their frequency in the 12 tests in the above-mentioed books.

I would like to know your opinion.

1. GAP-FILL Completion

1.1 summary

2.1 notes

3.1 sentence

4.1 diagram

5.1 table

6.1 flow-chart

2. True/false/ not given & yes/no/ not given

3. Multiple choice question

Global questions (are rare)

4. Which paragraph contains

5 & 6. Matching paragraph headings and matching names

7. Matching sentence endings

8. Short answer questions

9. Pick from a list

Thanks in advance

Muhammad Reza Shahroody Zadeh

IELTS teacher

Mashhad - Iran

[Thomas]

1.A.
2.A.

[tuan]

1.C
2.A

[Yummytree]

1c
2d

[Muriel]

1. C
2. a

[vicky vaghela]

1)C and 2)A

[Mohit Rajput]

1.A 2.A

[Kaan]

1)C
2)A

[Goben]

1 C
2 D

[duongnguyen]

1. A
2. A

[Cao xuefeng]

1.C
2.A

[Ayn]

C
A

[Niki]

A
A
BOTH WRONG
C
D

[Valid Mammadli]

This is C and A. C is clear, that is ok. But i see a lot of people tying to explain why the second answer is not A, but D. Read the sentence carefully; "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". So, this zone is a part of a STAR. Star is a PLANET, doesn't matter.
Moreover, it doesn't say anything about similarity of Earth in this sentence.

[Sam]

1 A
2 D

[Derek]

1. C (lies at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquid surface water)
2. D (that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth)

[brava sempre]

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.

Dear Simon,
when I check the definition of region on the freedictionary-
ref : (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/region)

region definition: the extended spatial location of something; "the farming regions of France"; "religions in all parts of the world"; "regions of outer space"

Can you reconsider your answer at the question No 2, whether D is the right choice?

[Xuân Đức]

Thank you a lot.