Listening to the Ocean
Read Listening to the Ocean and check the IELTS Reading answers. The oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the planet’s surface, yet until quite recently we knew less about their depths than about the surface of the Moon. The Moon has been far more accessible to study because astronomers have long…
Passage preview
The oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the planet’s surface, yet until quite recently we knew less about their depths than about the surface of the Moon. The Moon has been far more accessible to study because astronomers have long been able to look at its surface, first with the naked eye and then with the telescope, both instruments that focus light. Until the twentieth century, however, no instruments were available for the study of Earth’s oceans: light, which can travel trillions of kilometres through the vast vacuum of space, cannot penetrate very far in seawater.
Vocabulary from this passage
8 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- accessible to adjective phrase
Easy to reach, use or understand for a particular group of people.
In the passage:
Q1 says "easier for scientists to study the Moon"; the passage says the Moon was "far more accessible to study" (paragraph A).
Synonyms: easy to reach, open to
Opposites: out of reach
- a function of noun phrase
Something that changes according to another thing, depending on it.
In the passage:
"Speed is largely a function of temperature" (paragraph F): it means depends on, not a job or a function.
Synonyms: dependent on, determined by
- a sensitive indicator of noun phrase
A sign that reacts quickly to small changes in something.
In the passage:
Travel time of sound "is a sensitive indicator of the average temperature along its path" (paragraph F).
Synonyms: a reliable sign of, a clear measure of
- be vulnerable to verb phrase
To be easily harmed, affected or damaged by something.
In the passage:
Low-frequency waves are "less vulnerable than higher frequencies to scattering and absorption" (paragraph C), the reason they travel far.
Synonyms: be exposed to, be susceptible to
Opposites: be resistant to
- elusive adjective
Hard to find, catch or define, because it keeps escaping notice.
In the passage:
Whales are "remarkably elusive", yet SOSUS lets scientists track them (paragraph E).
Synonyms: hard to find, evasive
Opposites: easy to spot
- instrumental in adjective phrase
Playing an important part in making something happen.
In the passage:
SOSUS "has also proved instrumental in obtaining information crucial to our understanding of climate" (paragraph F).
Synonyms: crucial to, pivotal in
- piece together verb phrase
To build a full picture by joining separate parts of information.
In the passage:
"Thousands of sound paths in the ocean can be pieced together into a map of global ocean temperatures" (paragraph F).
Synonyms: assemble, reconstruct
- with minimal loss of adverb phrase
With the smallest possible amount of something being lost or wasted.
In the passage:
Sound in the deep channel "could travel thousands of kilometres with minimal loss of signal" (paragraph C).
Synonyms: with very little loss of, with the least loss of
Opposites: with heavy loss of
Answers with explanations
- 1. TRUE
Match **in the past** with **until quite recently**, and **easier … to study** with **far more accessible to study**. The text says we knew less about the oceans' depths than about the Moon's surface, so the statement agrees with it.
- 2. FALSE
The deciding word is **same**. Moon study depends on light, but light **cannot penetrate very far in seawater**, so oceans needed another tool: **sound**. Different instruments contradict "the same techniques", so the statement is FALSE.
- 2-3: overlooked
2: The deciding word is **same**. Moon study depends on light, but light **cannot penetrate very far in seawater**, so oceans needed another tool: **sound**. Different instruments contradict "the same techniques", so the statement is FALSE.
3: The deciding phrase is **more time-consuming than other methods**. The paragraph explains how sound measures ocean temperature over **vast areas**, but it never compares the time this takes with any other method. For TRUE or FALSE it would have to.
- 3. NOT GIVEN
The deciding phrase is **more time-consuming than other methods**. The paragraph explains how sound measures ocean temperature over **vast areas**, but it never compares the time this takes with any other method. For TRUE or FALSE it would have to.
- 3-4: D
3: The deciding phrase is **more time-consuming than other methods**. The paragraph explains how sound measures ocean temperature over **vast areas**, but it never compares the time this takes with any other method. For TRUE or FALSE it would have to.
4: Look for **hydrophones** near the end of the passage. Nystuen uses them to measure the **rainfall type, ranging from drizzle to thunderstorms**. Telling drizzle from thunderstorms is **distinguishing different kinds of rain**.
- 4. TRUE
Look for **hydrophones** near the end of the passage. Nystuen uses them to measure the **rainfall type, ranging from drizzle to thunderstorms**. Telling drizzle from thunderstorms is **distinguishing different kinds of rain**.
- 5. C
**Examples of things that affect** becomes **factors influence**, and **the distance sound can travel** becomes **how far sound travels**. This sentence lists four examples: particles, salinity, temperature and pressure.
- 6. F
Look for **ocean temperature** and **climate** together. Paragraph F gives the **details of the connection**: measurements are **key to understanding heat transfer** between ocean and atmosphere, and the ocean's heat capacity matches the **entire atmosphere**. Paragraph G is also about climate, but it deals with rainfall.
- 7. C
Look for a sentence that puts light and sound side by side. **Just as** signals the similarity: sound and light are both **reflected, scattered and absorbed** by particles. Paragraph A mentions light too, but only to show it fails in seawater.
- 8. G
**Since 1985** shows a study that has run for years, and **rainfall type, ranging from drizzle to thunderstorms** gives the **different types of weather**. Nystuen's rain research is the only long-running study in the passage that fits.
- 9. B
**The rate at which sound travels** is the passage's **speed of sound in water**, and **conducted research** becomes **accurately measured**. Da Vinci only noticed that a tube helps you hear ships, and Ewing and Worzel tested how far sound travels, not how fast.
- 10. C
This time the topic is **distances**, and **certain types of sound waves** becomes **low-frequency waves**. Ewing and Worzel tested whether they **travel great distances**. Christopher Clark also deals with a distance (whales 1,770 kilometres away), but he used SOSUS to listen to whales and did not research wave types.
- 11. A
**Follow a number of whales at the same time** paraphrases **track … many creatures simultaneously**. The text says SOSUS lets scientists track and map whales and tell their calls apart, but not protect them, copy their calls or change their route.
- 12. B
Search for **finback whales**, a name that is not paraphrased. Their calls change **as the seasons change**, which is **at different times of year**. Different calls in different regions belong to blue whales, and nothing links the changes to other species or to surfacing.
- 13. D
Paragraph F covers what SOSUS does for climate. **Measure variations in temperature** matches **track changes in temperature over months or years**. The maps it builds show ocean temperatures, not the sea floor, and the text mentions neither water level nor currents.