Effect and Cause
Read Effect and Cause and check the IELTS Reading answers. In the sixth century Gregory of Tours, a chronicler* of the Germanic people known as the Franks, told of an extraordinary event in what is now Switzerland, where the Rhone River spills into Lake Geneva. He wrote of a big rockfall in the yea…
Passage preview
In the sixth century Gregory of Tours, a chronicler* of the Germanic people known as the Franks, told of an extraordinary event in what is now Switzerland, where the Rhone River spills into Lake Geneva. He wrote of a big rockfall in the year 563 AD in the vicinity of a place called Tauredunum. The debris plunged into the river, and a great mass of water 'overwhelmed with a sudden and violent flood all that was on the banks as far as the city of Geneva,' more than 64 kilometres across the lake. The Geneva bridge was demolished, and several people inside the city walls of Geneva were killed. Historians and scientists have long believed that Gregory and another chronicler, Marius of Avenches, who told a similar tale, were describing a tsunami that raced across the lake. But there has not been any direct evidence of it until now.
Vocabulary from this passage
9 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- cite evidence verb phrase
To mention a fact or example as proof for an argument.
In the passage:
Q5 says Schweickert "has published studies"; the passage only says "He cites evidence", which is not the same thing.
Synonyms: point to evidence, refer to evidence
- corroborate verb
To give extra evidence that supports or confirms a claim or finding.
In the passage:
"the findings could be corroborated by careful mapping of the shoreline": further evidence would confirm them.
Synonyms: confirm, back up
Opposites: contradict
- direct evidence noun phrase
Proof that clearly shows something is true, without any guesswork.
In the passage:
"there has not been any direct evidence of it until now": historians believed the story, but nothing proved it.
Synonyms: firm proof, concrete evidence
Opposites: circumstantial evidence
- immune to adjective phrase
Not affected by something, such as criticism, pressure or danger.
In the passage:
"even a landlocked nation like Switzerland is not immune to catastrophic waves": not safe from them.
Synonyms: unaffected by, protected from
Opposites: vulnerable to
- in the vicinity of adverb phrase
In the area close to a place or thing; near.
In the passage:
Q1 says "near Tauredunum"; the passage says "in the vicinity of a place called Tauredunum" (paragraph 1).
Synonyms: near, close to
Opposites: far from
- narrow the range verb phrase
To make the possible limits or choices smaller and more exact.
In the passage:
"This narrowed the range to a period between the late fourth century and the early seventh century" gives Q10 its answer.
Synonyms: limit the options, reduce the possibilities
- not unknown adjective phrase
Rare, but known to happen; not completely unusual.
In the passage:
"Lake tsunamis, although unusual, are not unknown": the writer concedes they are rare but real.
Synonyms: not unheard of, known to happen
Opposites: unheard of
- propel verb
To push or drive something forward with great force.
In the passage:
"would have been propelled towards the lake's centre": the sediments were pushed with force.
Synonyms: drive, thrust
- set off verb phrase
To make something sudden or violent begin to happen.
In the passage:
Q13 asks for "a likely cause of the rockfall"; the passage says it "may have been set off by a major earthquake".
Synonyms: trigger, cause
Answers with explanations
- 1. TRUE
Look for the name **Tauredunum**. Gregory places the rockfall **in the vicinity of** that place, which is the statement's **near**, and the landslide in the statement is that rockfall. The statement agrees with the text, so it is TRUE.
- 2. FALSE
The deciding word is **undamaged**. The text says the **Geneva bridge was demolished** and several people inside the city walls **were killed**, so the city did suffer damage. That clashes with undamaged, so the statement is FALSE.
- 2-3: aphids
2: The deciding word is **undamaged**. The text says the **Geneva bridge was demolished** and several people inside the city walls **were killed**, so the city did suffer damage. That clashes with undamaged, so the statement is FALSE.
3: Find **Marius of Avenches** in the first paragraph. He **told a similar tale** to Gregory's, and historians believe both men were **describing a tsunami**. His account therefore supports the tsunami idea, so the statement is TRUE.
- 3. TRUE
Find **Marius of Avenches** in the first paragraph. He **told a similar tale** to Gregory's, and historians believe both men were **describing a tsunami**. His account therefore supports the tsunami idea, so the statement is TRUE.
- 3-4: C
3: Find **Marius of Avenches** in the first paragraph. He **told a similar tale** to Gregory's, and historians believe both men were **describing a tsunami**. His account therefore supports the tsunami idea, so the statement is TRUE.
4: Look at the boulders in the second paragraph. The text says large **boulders crashed down onto soft sediments**, but it never calls the rocks **hard** or **dense**; only the sediments are described, as soft. The text gives no information about the rocks' hardness, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
- 4. NOT GIVEN
Look at the boulders in the second paragraph. The text says large **boulders crashed down onto soft sediments**, but it never calls the rocks **hard** or **dense**; only the sediments are described, as soft. The text gives no information about the rocks' hardness, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
- 5. NOT GIVEN
The deciding words are **has published studies**. Schweickert is a professor who **cites evidence** about Lake Tahoe, but the text never says he published studies, and Lake Tahoe is the only lake it gives. Citing evidence is not the same as publishing research, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
- 6. FALSE
The deciding word is **unchanged**. Schweickert says part of the Lake Tahoe shoreline **collapsed** within the past 20,000 years and caused a tsunami. A collapse is a change, so the statement is FALSE.
- 7. TRUE
Look for the contrast word **whereas**. In the sixth century Geneva was **mostly behind walls on a hill**; today **many** people live in **low-lying areas near the water**. So part of the population now lives closer to the lake, and the statement is TRUE.
- 8. floods
Find **Katrina Kremer** and her seismic soundings. She was **searching for** thin sediment layers that might be **evidence of** major **floods** in pre-historic times, long before the sixth-century event. The gap needs a plural noun, so write **floods**.
- 9. leaves
Find the samples in the next paragraph. The researchers dated **remains of leaves and other organic matter**, and the chart's **organic material such as** asks for the example named first. So the gap needs **leaves**.
- 10. seventh
Look for **carbon-dating** again. The deposit formed in a period ending in **the early seventh century**, so it was in the lake by the start of the **seventh** century. Fourth is also in the sentence, but that is only the earliest date of the range.
- 11. ["estimated","calculated"]
The chart's **volume** matches the **248 million cubic metres** in the next paragraph. That figure comes from a sentence that starts with **The researchers estimated that the deposit...**, which fits **was then ... by the scientists**. So the missing word is **estimated**.
- 12. height
The chart says the researchers established the approximate ... **and speed** of the tsunami. The computer simulations gave a tsunami with an **estimated height** of 7.9 metres that would arrive in **about 70 minutes**, which gives its speed. So the missing noun is **height**.
- 13. earthquake
The chart's **likely cause of the rockfall** matches the text's **may have been set off by**. The cause named is **a major earthquake**, and the gap after **significant** needs the noun: **earthquake**.