Questions –13 The correct answer is false

‘Timber’ is incorrect: 
This refers to the hulls of enemy ships.
8 The correct answer is ‘levels’: 
In the fourth paragraph, the text refers to the ‘trireme’ and 
then says, ‘It had rowers in the top, middle and lower levels’. 
9 The correct answer is ‘hull’: 
In the fifth paragraph, the text says that merchant ships ‘had a 
wider hull, double planking and a solid interior for added stability’. The word broad has the same 
meaning as ‘wide’. 
‘Interior’ is incorrect:
the text says that the interior was ‘solid’, not that it 
was wide.
@cambridgematerials

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IELTS 16 Academic, Test 3 answer key with extra explanations, Reading
© Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment 2021
10 The correct answer is ‘triangular’: 
In the fifth paragraph, the text says that merchant ships 
had ‘one to three masts with large square sails and a small triangular sail at the bow’. 
‘Large’
is 
incorrect:
the gap requires a word describing the shape of the sails, contrasting with ‘square’ 
and referring to the other type of sail (‘small triangular’).
11 The correct answer is ‘music’: 
In the fifth paragraph, the text says that ‘coordinating the 
hundreds of rowers … was not an easy task’ and then says, ‘In order to assist them, music 
would be played on an instrument, and oars would keep time with this.’ 
12 The correct answer is ‘grain’: 
In the sixth paragraph, the text says, ‘The cargo on merchant 
ships included raw materials, (e.g. iron bars, copper, marble and granite), and agricultural 
products, (e.g. grain from Egypt’s Nile valley).’
13 The correct answer is ‘towboats’: 
In the sixth paragraph, the text says, ‘Large merchant 
ships would approach the destination port and, just like today, be intercepted by a number of 
towboats that would drag them to the quay.’ The phrase ‘drag them to the quay’ means that 
these small boats pulled the merchant ships to the shore.

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IELTS 16 Academic, Test 3 answer key with extra explanations, Reading
© Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment 2021
Reading Passage 2