Cambridge IELTS 13, Test 3, Reading Passage 3: Whatever Happened to the Harappan Civilisation, Solution With Answer Key

Whatever Happened to the Harappan Civilisation? Passage Solution with Answer Key – Cambridge IELTS 13, Test 3: Reading Passage 1. Here we will discuss detailed explanation of all the questions of the passage. Here is step by step Solution with Tips and Strategies. This post is for educational purpose only. If you find difficulties in reading passage to find the right answer in the exam, just read the post carefully. Tips and strategies will help you find the right answer.

 

Whatever Happened to the Harappan Civilisation?

IELTS Reading Passage Solution

 

IELTS Cambridge 13, Test 3, Academic Reading Module, Reading Passage 3

 

PASSAGE 3: Whatever Happened to the Harappan Civilisation?

QUESTIONS 27-31: READING PASSAGE 3 HAS EIGHT PARAGRAPHS, A-H.

** Tips (link details): How To Solve Information Matching or Locating Paragraph In IELTS Reading Module?

Question 27. PROPOSED EXPLANATIONS FOR THE DECLINE OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION

Keywords: explanations, decline
Now, causes for the decline of the Harappan civilisation are found in paragraph C. There are different suggestions or explanations: changes affecting water supply and agriculture, population growth, a breakdown of trade, invasion and even environmental changes related to climate.
“It is unlikely that there was a single cause for the decline of the civilisation”.

Here, explanation = cause.

Answer:  C.

Question 28. REFERENCE TO A PRESENT-DAY APPLICATION OF SOME ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH FINDINGS

Keywords: present-day application, archaeological, findings
Now, the final paragraph relates what we can learn from the archaeological research into the Harappan civilisation to tackle some issues today.
“By investigating responses to environmental pressures and threats, we can learn from the past to engage with the public, and the relevant governmental and administrative bodies, to be more proactive in issues such as the management and administration of water supply, the balance of urban and rural development, and the importance of preserving cultural heritage in the future”.

Answer: H.

Question 29. A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION AND ANOTHER CULTURE OF THE SAME PERIOD

Keywords: difference, another culture, same period
The question asks us to look for a comparison between the Harappan civilisation and another particular culture at that same time. The answer is in paragraph A. The people of the Harappan culture did not leave pictures of themselves, “But their lack of self-imagery – at at time when the Eyptians were carving and painting representations of themselves all over their temples – is only part of the mystery”.
Thus, a contrast is made between the Harappan civilisation and Egyptian culture at the same period.
Answer:  A.

Question 30. A DESCRIPTION OF SOME FEATURES OF HARAPPAN URBAN DESIGN

Keywords: features, urban design
Now, in paragraph B, Dr Cameron Petrie describes Harappan cities. They had: “…great baths, craft workshops, palaces and halls laid out in distinct sectors. Houses were arranged in blocks, with wide main streets and narrow alleyways, and many had their own wells and drainage systems”. All of these are features of urban design – things that we find in the sites of Harappan cities.

Answer:  B.

Question 31. REFERENCE TO THE DISCOVERY OF ERRORS MADE BY PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Keywords: errors, previous archaeologists
Now, in paragraph D, we find several references to the mistakes made by previous archaeologists: “…many of the archaeological sites were not where they were supposed to be, completely altering understanding of the way that this region was inhabited in the past. The new research team “…found inaccuracies in the published geographic locations of ancient settlements ranging from several hundred metres to many kilometres”. The result was that “…any attempts to use the existing data were likely to be fundamentally flawed”.
All of these are errors of previous archaeologists, discovered by the research team of Dr Petrie and Dr Singh.
Answer:  D.

QUESTIONS 32-36: COMPLETE THE SUMMARY BELOW.

** Tips (link details): How To Solve Completing Summaries with and without a Wordlist in IELTS Reading Module?

Question 32. BY COLLECTING THE …………… OF SNAILS AND ANALYSING THEM, THEY DISCOVERED…..

Key words: collecting, snails, analysing
In paragraph E, we find a reference to the research of Yama Dixit and David Hodell. “The researchers gathered shells of Melanoides tuberculata snails from the sediment of an ancient lake and used geochemical analysis as a means of tracing the climate history of the region”. Therefore, the researchers collected and analysed the shells of snails.

Here, collect = gather

Answer: shells.

Question 33. THEY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE OF A CHANGE IN WATER LEVELS IN A ………….. IN THE REGION

Keywords: change, water levels
Now, in paragraph E, the author continues: “As today, the major source of water into the lake is likely to have been the summer monsoon’, says Dixit. ‘But we have observed that there was an abrupt change about 4,100 years ago, when the amount of evaporation from the lake exceeded the rainfall – indicative of a drought”.
About 4,100 years ago, there was a sudden change, when the water level in the lake fell.
Answer: lake.

Question 34. THIS OCCURRED WHEN THERE WAS LESS ……………. THAN EVAPORATION, AND SUGGESTS THAT THERE WAS AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF DROUGHT

Key words: less, evaporation, drought
Now, in the same sentence in paragraph E, we find the answer. This is the same period “…when the amount of evaporation exceeded the rainfall – indicative of a drought”.

If the evaporation exceeded the rainfall, leading to a drought, this means that there was less rainfall than evaporation.
Answer:  rainfall.

Question 35.PETRIE AND SINGH’S TEAM ARE USING ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS TO LOOK AT ………….. FROM FIVE MILLENNIA AGO, IN ORDER TO KNOW WHETHER PEOPLE HAD ADAPTED THEIR AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES TO CHANGING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.

Keywords: Petrie, Singh, records, five millenia ago

Now, at the beginning of paragraph G. “Petrie and Singh’s team is now examining archaeological records and trying to understand details of how people led their lives in the region five millennia ago. They are analysing grains cultivated at the time and trying to work out whether they were grown under extreme conditions of water stress, and whether they were adjusting the combinations of crops they were growing for different weather systems”.

Here, look at = analyse;  adapt = adjust; agricultural practices = combinations of crops;  changing climatic conditions = different weather systems.

Answer: grains.

Question 36. THEY ARE ALSO EXAMINING OBJECTS INCLUDING ……………. , SO AS TO FIND OUT ABOUT LINKS BETWEEN INHABITANTS OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE REGION AND WHETHER THESE CHANGED OVER TIME. 

Keywords: examining objects, links, inhabitants, changed
Now, in paragraph G. The researchers “…are also looking at whether the types of pottery used, and other aspects of their material culture, were distinctive to specific regions or were more similar across larger areas. This gives us insight into the types of interactive networks that the population was involved in, and whether those changed”.

Here, look at = examine; links = interactive networks; inhabitants = population.

Answer: pottery.

QUESTIONS 37-40: LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS AND THE LIST OF RESEARCHERS BELOW.

** Tips (link details): How To Solve Matching Statements With Correct Theory In IELTS Reading?

Question 37. FINDING FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT CHANGES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN THE REGION IS VITAL

Keywords: changes, environmental conditions, vital
Now, at the end of paragraph F: “Considering the vast area of the Harappan Civilisation with its variable weather systems’, explains Singh, ‘it is essential that we obtain more climate data from areas close to the two great cities at Mohenjodaro and Harappa and also from the Indian Punjab”.

Ravindanath Singh is saying that we must find more climate data about the variable weather systems in the area.

Here, information = data; changes to environmental conditions = variable weather systems; vital = essential.

Answer: B.

Question 38. EXAMINING PREVIOUS PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOUR MAY HAVE LONG-TERM BENEFITS

Keywords: previous, behaviour, long-term benefits
Now in the last paragraph, Cameron Petrie’s ideas relate the work of archaeologists to possible benefits today from studying such work. Petrie says that: “By investigating responses to environmental pressures and threats, we can learn from the past to engage with the public, and the relevant governmental and administrative bodies, to be more proactive in issues such as…..” Petrie believes that the work of archaeologists in investigating how past civilisations responded to environmental challenges, can help us to tackle such problems today. These are the potential long-term benefits.

Here, examining = investigating; patterns of behaviour = responses.

Answer:  A.

Question 39. ROUGH CALCULATIONS INDICATE THE APPROXIMATE LENGTH OF A PERIOD OF WATER SHORTAGE

Keywords: calculations, length, water shortage
Now in paragraph E, Yama Dixit comments on the effects of drought on the drying of a great lake. However, it is David Hodell who comments on the possible length/duration of this drought: “Hodell adds: ‘We estimate that the weakening of the Indian summer monsoon climate lasted about 200 years before recovering to the previous conditions…”

Here, rough calculations = estimate; approximate = about; a period of water shortage = weakening of the Indian summer monsoon climate.

Therefore, it was David Hodell who made this rough calculation.

Answer: D.

Question 40. INFORMATION ABOUT THE DECLINE OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION HAS BEEN LACKING

Keywords: decline
Now, in paragraph B, Cameron Petrie says: “There is plenty of archaeological evidence to tell us about the rise of the Harappan Civilisation, but relatively little about its fall’, explains archaeologist Dr Cameron Petrie…”

Here, information = evidence; decline = fall.

As there is not much evidence about the fall/decline of the Harappan Civilisation, we know that this information is lacking.
Answer: A.

 

 

 

 

Answer Key – Whatever Happened to the Harappan Civilisation?

Cambridge IELTS 13 Test 3 Answer Key, Reading Passage 3

 

Whatever Happened to the Harappan Civilisation? Reading Answers

Passage 3

 

 

 

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