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CAMBRIDGE IELTS 9
TEST 1
READING PASSAGE 1
T he man who invented synthetic dyes Synthetic = artificial, man-made…

Curiosity = the desire to know about
William Henry Perkin was born on March 12,1838, in something.
Prompt = to make someone decide to do
London, England.
something.
As a boy, Perkin’s curiosity prompted early interests Stumble on/across/upon something =
in the arts, sciences, photography, and engineering. come across = to find or discover
something by chance and unexpectedly.
But it was a chance stumbling upon a run-down, yet Run-down = in bad condition, badly
functional, laboratory in his late grandfather’s home maintained…
Solidify = strengthen, to make an
that solidified the young man’s enthusiasm for
agreement, plan, attitude etc more definite
chemistry. and less likely to change.
Enthusiasm = interest.
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As a student at the City of London School, Perkin Become immersed in = become

became immersed in the study of chemistry. His completely involved in an activity
talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by
Devotion= commitment = adherence
his teacher, Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to dedication = the strong love that you show
attend a series of lectures given by the eminent when you pay a lot of attention to
scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. someone or something.
Those speeches fired the young chemist’s enthusiasm
Perceive= recognize, see, indentify…
further, and he later went on to attend the Royal
College of Chemistry, which he succeeded in entering
in 1853, at the age of 15.
At the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College Enrolment= the

process of arranging to join a school,
of Chemistry was headed by the noted German university, course etc.
chemist August Wilhelm Hofmann. Perkin’s scientific
Gift= talent, knack, ability…
gifts soon caught Hofmann’s attention and, within two
Breakthrough= advance, innovation,
years, he became Hofmann’s youngest assistant. Not
revolution, new idea, invention…
long after that, Perkin made the scientific
Fame= reputation.
breakthrough that would bring him both fame and
fortune. Fortune= wealth, riches…
At the time, quinine was the only viable medical

Derive= to develop or come from
treatment for malaria. The drug is derived from the something else.
bark of the cinchona tree, native to South America,
and by 1856 demand for the drug was surpassing the Substitute= alternate, replacement…
available supply. Thus, when Hofmann made some
passing comments about the desirability of a synthetic
substitute for quinine, it was unsurprising that his star
pupil was moved to take up the challenge.
During his vacation in 1856, Perkin spent his time in
the laboratory on the top floor of his family’s house. He
was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline, Manufacture= produce, make, create…
an inexpensive and readily available coal tar waste
product. Despite his best efforts, however, he did not Mysterious= strange.
end up with quinine. Instead, he produced a
mysterious dark sludge. Luckily, Perkin’s scientific
training and nature prompted him to investigate the
substance further. Incorporating potassium dichromate
and alcohol into the aniline at various stages of the
experimental process, he finally produced a deep

purple solution. And, proving the truth of the famous Excretion= the waste material that people
or animals get rid of from their bodies.
scientist Louis Pasteur’s words ‘chance favours only
the prepared mind’, Perkin saw the potential of his Obtain = get, gain, attain…
unexpected find.
Extract something from something= to
carefully remove a substance from
Historically, textile dyes were made from such natural something which contains it, using a
sources as plants and animal excretions. Some of machine, chemical process etc.
these, such as the glandular mucus of snails, were
difficult to obtain and outrageously expensive. Indeed, Afford= pay for, manage to pay for, have
enough money…
the purple colour extracted from a snail was once so
costly that in society at the time only the rich could Backdrop= the conditions or situation in
afford it. Further, natural dyes tended to be muddy in which something happens.
hue and fade quickly. It was against this backdrop
that Perkin’s discovery was made.
Grasp= understand, comprehend, see the
Perkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could point of= to completely understand a fact
or an idea, especially a complicated one.
be used to colour fabric, thus making it the world’s first Fabric= material= cloth used for making
synthetic dye. Realising the importance of this clothes, curtains etc.
Patent= to obtain a special document
breakthrough, he lost no time in patenting it. But giving you the right to make or sell a new
perhaps the most fascinating of all Perkin’s reactions invention or product.
Instant= immediate.
to his find was his nearly instant recognition that the
Recognition= detection.
new dye had commercial possibilities. Commercial= money-making, profitable,
for profit, trade…
Perkin originally named his dye Tyrian Purple, but it
Assure= ensure, promise, confirm,
later became commonly known as mauve (from the guarantee.
French for the plant used to make the colour violet).
He asked advice of Scottish dye works owner Robert Fierce= strong.
Pullar, who assured him that manufacturing the dye
Objection= opposition, doubt…
would be well worth it if the colour remained fast (i.e.
would not fade) and the cost was relatively low. So, Mentor= adviser.
over the fierce objections of his mentor Hofmann, he
left college to give birth to the modern chemical
industry.
With the help of his father and brother, Perkin set up a
factory not far from London. Utilising the cheap and Utilise= make use of.
plentiful coal tar that was an almost unlimited by
product of London’s gas street lighting, the dye works
began producing the world’s first synthetically dyed

material in 1857. The company received a commercial Boost= increase, improvement,
enhancement…
boost from the Empress Eugenie of France, when she Flatter= to make someone look as
decided the new colour flattered her. Very soon, attractive as they can.
mauve was the necessary shade for all the Shade= something you use to reduce or
fashionable ladies in that country. block light.
Not to be outdone, England’s Queen Victoria also not to be outdone = in order not to let
appeared in public wearing a mauve gown, thus someone else do better or seem better
making it all the rage in England as well. The dye was
than you
bold and fast, and the public clamoured for more.
Be all the rage= to be very popular or
Perkin went back to the drawing board.
Although Perkin’s fame was achieved and fortune fashionable.
assured by his first discovery, the chemist continued Clamour for= to demand something
his research. Among other dyes he developed and loudly.
introduced were aniline red (1859) and aniline black
Go back to the drawing board= if you go
(1863) and, in the late 1860s, Perkin’s green. It is
back to the drawing board, you start again
important to note that Perkin’s synthetic dye
discoveries had outcomes far beyond the merely with a completely new plan or idea, after
decorative. The dyes also became vital to medical the one you tried before has failed.
research in many ways. For instance, they were used Merely= only, just, simply…
to stain previously invisible microbes and bacteria,
Vital= very important, crucial, necessary,
allowing researchers to identify such bacilli as
central…
tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. Artificial dyes
continue to play a crucial role today. And, in what Crucial= vital, very important, central…
would have been particularly pleasing to Perkin, their
current use is in the search for a vaccine against
malaria.
READING PASSAGE 2
T he Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence

Extra-terrestrial= relating to things that
exist outside the Earth.
The question of whether we are alone in the Universe Haunt= to cause problems for someone
has haunted humanity for centuries, but we may now over a long period of time
stand poised on the brink of the answer to that Poised on the brink/edge of something
question, as we search for radio signals from other = completely ready to do something or for
something to happen, when it is likely to
intelligent civilisations. This search, often known by the
happen soon.
acronym SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence],
Intermittently= Sporadically= stopping
is a difficult one. Although groups around the world
and starting often and for short periods.
have been searching intermittently for three decades,
Determined= having a strong desire to do
it is only now that we have reached the level of something, so that you will not let anyone
technology where we can make a determined stop you.
attempt to search all nearby stars for any sign of life. Make an attempt to do something= to try
to do something, especially something
difficult.
A
The primary reason for the search is basic curiosity - Primary= main, most important…
the same curiosity about the natural world that drives Curiosity= the desire to know about
all pure science. We want to know whether we are something.
alone in the Universe. We want to know whether life
evolves naturally if given the right conditions, or Drive= force, make…
whether there is something very special about the Evolve= develop, change…
Earth to have fostered the variety of life forms that we
see around us on the planet. The simple detection of Foster= promote, encourage…
a radio signal will be sufficient to answer this most
Detection= discovery, finding…
basic of all questions. In this sense, SETI is another
cog in the machinery of pure science which is Sufficient= enough, plenty…
continually pushing out the horizon of our knowledge.
However, there are other reasons for being interested A cog in the machine/wheel= someone
who only has a small unimportant job in a
in whether life exists elsewhere. For example, we have large organization.
had civilisation on Earth for perhaps only a few
thousand years, and the threats of nuclear war and Tenuous= uncertain, weak, likely to
pollution over the last few decades have told us that change…
our survival may be tenuous. Will we last another two Wipe something out= to destroy, remove,
thousand years or will we wipe ourselves out? Since or get rid of something completely.
the lifetime of a planet like ours is several billion years,
we can expect that, if other civilisations do survive in Optimism= a feeling or belief that things
will get better or be more successful in the
our galaxy, their ages will range from zero to several future.
billion years. Thus any other civilisation that we hear
from is likely to be far older, on average, than
ourselves. The mere existence of such a civilisation
will tell us that long-term survival is possible, and gives
us some cause for optimism. It is even possible that
the older civilisation may pass on the benefits of their
experience in dealing with threats to survival such as
nuclear war and global pollution, and other threats that Adopt= to start to deal with or think about
we haven’t yet discovered. something in a particular way
Ground rules= the basic rules or
B
principles on which future actions or
In discussing whether we are alone, most SETI
behaviour should be based.
scientists adopt two ground rules. First, UFQs Evidence= proof.
(Unidentified Flying Objects) are generally ignored An open mind= if you have an open mind,
since most scientists don’t consider the evidence for you deliberately do not make a decision or
them to be strong enough to bear serious form a definite opinion about something.
consideration (although it is also important to keep an Convincing= persuasive, believable,
open mind in case any really convincing evidence compelling, forceful, strong…
emerges in the future). Second, we make a very Conservative = traditional, old…

conservative assumption that we are looking for a Assumption= supposition, guess,
life form that is pretty well like us, since if it differs hypothesis…
radically from us we may well not recognise it as a life
Radically= very, completely, totally…
form, quite apart from whether we are able to
communicate with it. In other words, the life form we Resemble= look like, be similar to…
are looking for may well have two green heads and
seven fingers, but it will nevertheless resemble us in Somebody’s fellows= people that you
work with, study with, or who are in the
that it should communicate with its fellows, be
same situation as you.
interested in the Universe, live on a planet orbiting a
star like our Sun, and perhaps most restrictively, have Orbit= to travel in a curved path around a
a chemistry, like us, based on carbon and water. much larger object such as the Earth, the
Sun etc.
C
Even when we make these assumptions, our Inconceivable= unthinkable,
understanding of other life forms is still severely unimaginable, unbelievable…
limited. We do not even know, for example, how many Estimate= calculate approximately.
stars have planets, and we certainly do not know how
likely it is that life will arise naturally, given the right Astronomical= relating to the scientific
conditions. However, when we look at the 100 billion study of the stars.
stars in our galaxy (the Milky Way), and 100 billion
galaxies in the observable Universe, it seems
inconceivable that at least one of these planets does
not have a life form on it; in fact, the best educated
guess we can make, using the little that we do know
about the conditions for carbon-based life, leads us to
estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might
have a life-bearing planet orbiting it. That means that
our nearest neighbours are perhaps 100 light years
away, which is almost next door in astronomical
terms.
D Severely= harshly, strictly…

An alien civilisation could choose many different ways Attenuate= to make something weaker or
of sending information across the galaxy, but many of less.
these either require too much energy, or else are Traverse= pass through= to move across,
severely attenuated while traversing the vast over, or through something, especially an
distances across the galaxy. It turns out that, for a area of land or water.
given amount of transmitted power, radio waves in the Frequency= the number of radio waves,
frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz travel the greatest sound waves etc that pass any point per
second.
distance, and so all searches to date have To date= up to now.

concentrated on looking for radio waves in this Concentrate on= focus on.
frequency range. So far there have been a number of Various= numerous, many, countless…
searches by various groups around the world, Radio telescope= a piece of equipment
including Australian searches using the radio that collects radio waves from space and
telescope at Parkes, New South Wales. Until now is used to find stars and other objects in
there have not been any detections from the few space.
hundred stars which have been searched. The scale of Scale= size.
the searches has been increased dramatically since
1992, when the US Congress voted NASA $10 million Dramatically= radically, noticeably,
per year for ten years to conduct a thorough search considerably, significantly…
for extra-terrestrial life. Much of the money in this Conduct = carry out…
project is being spent on developing the special
hardware needed to search many frequencies at Hardware= the machinery and equipment
once. The project has two parts. One part is a targeted that is needed to do something.
search using the world’s largest radio telescopes, the Sensitivity= the possibility of the fact that
American-operated telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico something is affected by very small
and the French telescope in Nancy in France. This part changes in light, heat, movement etc
of the project is searching the nearest 1000 likely stars
Monitor= to carefully watch and check a
with high sensitivity for signals in the frequency range situation in order to see how it changes
1000 to 3000 MHz. The other part of the project is an over a period of time.
undirected search which is monitoring all of space
with a lower sensitivity, using the smaller antennas of
NASA’s Deep Space Network.
E
There is considerable debate over how we should
react if we detect a signal from an alien civilisation. Considerable= substantial, large…
Everybody agrees that we should not reply
immediately. Quite apart from the impracticality of Debate= argument, discussion…
sending a reply over such large distances at short
notice, it raises a host of ethical questions that would Immediately= right away, without delay,
have to be addressed by the global community before Ethical= moral= relating to principles of
any reply could be sent. Would the human race face what is right and wrong.
the culture shock if faced with a superior and much
older civilisation? Luckily, there is no urgency about Address= tackle, deal with…
this. The stars being searched are hundreds of light
years away, so it takes hundreds of years for their Superior= better, greater…
signal to reach us, and a further few hundred years for
our reply to reach them. It’s not important, then, if Urgency= the need to deal with something
there’s a delay of a few years, or decades, while the immediately because it is very important.
human race debates the question of whether to reply,
and perhaps carefully drafts a reply.
READING PASSAGE 3
If you go back far enough, everything lived in the Evolutionary= relating to the way in which
plants and animals develop and change
sea. At various points in evolutionary history, gradually over a long period of time.
enterprising individuals within many different animal
Parched= dry, burnt, waterless…
groups moved out onto the land, sometimes even to
the most parched deserts, taking their own private Reptile= a type of animal, such as a
seawater with them in blood and cellular fluids. In snake or lizard, whose body temperature
addition to the reptiles, birds, mammals and insects changes according to the temperature
around it, and that usually lays eggs to
which we see all around us, other groups that have have babies.
succeeded out of water include scorpions, snails,
crustaceans such as woodlice and land crabs, Mammal= a type of animal that drinks milk
millipedes and centipedes, spiders and various worms. from its mother’s body when it is young.
Humans, dogs, and whales are mammals.
And we mustn’t forget the plants, without whose prior
invasion of the land none of the other migrations could Prior = previous, past, earlier…
have happened.
Moving from water to land involved a major redesign Involve= include, contain, comprise…
of every aspect of life, including breathing and Thoroughgoing= complete. Here it

reproduction. Nevertheless, a good number of means the process of moving from water
thoroughgoing land animals later turned around, to land is complete
abandoned their hard-earned terrestrial re-tooling, Abandon= throw away, dispose of…
Terrestrial= living on or relating to land
and returned to the water again. Seals have only gone
rather than water.
part way back. They show us what the intermediates
Cease= stop.
might have been like, on the way to extreme cases Revert to somebody/something= go
such as whales and dugongs. Whales (including the back to= to change back to a situation that
small whales we call dolphins) and dugongs, with their existed in the past.
close cousins the manatees, ceased to be land Remote= distant=far away in time.
creatures altogether and reverted to the full marine Ancestor= an animal that lived in the past,
habits of their remote ancestors. They don’t even that modern animals have developed from.
come ashore to breed. They do, however, still breathe Ashore= on or towards the shore of a
air, having never developed anything equivalent to lake, river, sea etc.
the gills of their earlier marine incarnation. Turtles Breed= reproduce= if animals breed, they
mate in order to have babies.
went back to the sea a very long time ago and, like all
Equivalent to = having the same value,
vertebrate returnees to the water, they breathe air.
purpose, job etc as a person or thing of a
However, they are, in one respect, less fully given different kind.
back to the water than whales or dugongs, for turtles Incarnation= the state of living in the form
still lay their eggs on beaches. of a particular person or animal. According
to some religions, people have several
There is evidence that all modem turtles are different incarnations.
descended from a terrestrial ancestor which lived
before most of the dinosaurs. There are two key fossils
called Proganochelys quenstedti and Palaeochersis
talampayensis dating from early dinosaur times, which Fragment= a small piece of something
that has broken off or that comes from
appear to be close to the ancestry of all modem turtles
something larger.
and tortoises. You might wonder how we can tell
Contemporary= someone who lived or
whether fossil animals lived on land or in water, was in a particular place at the same time
especially if only fragments are found. Sometimes it’s as someone else.
obvious. Ichthyosaurs were reptilian contemporaries Forelimb = one of the two front legs of an
of the dinosaurs, with fins and streamlined bodies. The animal with four legs.
fossils look like dolphins and they surely lived like
dolphins, in the water. With turtles it is a little less
obvious. One way to tell is by measuring the bones of
their forelimbs. Obtain= get, gain, attain, acquire...
Walter Joyce and Jacques Gauthier, at Yale
University, obtained three measurements in these
particular bones of 71 species of living turtles and
tortoises. They used a kind of triangular graph paper to
plot the three measurements against one another. All Plot= to draw marks or a line to represent
the land tortoise species formed a tight cluster of facts, numbers etc.
points in the upper part of the triangle; all the water Form= develop.
turtles cluster in the lower part of the triangular graph.
There was no overlap, except when they added some Cluster of something= a group of things
species that spend time both in water and on land. of the same kind that are very close
together.
Sure enough, these amphibious species show up on
the triangular graph approximately half way between Overlap=(n) the amount by which two
the ‘wet cluster’ of sea turtles and the ‘dry cluster’ of activities, ideas, things etc overlap.
land tortoises. The next step was to determine where (v) if two or more things overlap, part of
one thing covers part of another thing.
the fossils fell. The bones of P quenstedti and JR
talampayensis leave us in no doubt. Their points on Amphibious= able to live both on land
the graph are right in the thick of the dry cluster. Both and in water.
these fossils were dry-land tortoises. They come from
Approximately= about, around, roughly,
the era before our turtles returned to the water. almost, nearly…
You might think, therefore, that modem land tortoises
have probably stayed on land ever since those early Determine= decide, find out...
terrestrial times, as most mammals did after a few of
Era= period.
them went back to the sea. But apparently not. If you
draw out the family tree of all modem turtles and Apparently= seemingly= according to the
tortoises, nearly all the branches are aquatic. Today’s way someone looks or a situation appears,
land tortoises constitute a single branch, deeply although you cannot be sure.
nested among branches consisting of aquatic turtles. Aquatic= living or growing in water.
This suggests that modem land tortoises have not
stayed on land continuously since the time of P. Constitute = form = represent = comprise
quenstedti and P talampayensis. Rather, their = if several people or things constitute
something, they are the parts that form it.
ancestors were among those who went back to the
water, and they then re-emerged back onto the land in
(relatively) more recent times.
Tortoises therefore represent a remarkable double
Remarkable= extraordinary, amazing,
return. In common with all mammals, reptiles and incredible…
birds, their remote ancestors were marine fish and
before that various more or less worm-like creatures Generation= age group.
stretching back, still in the sea, to the primeval
bacteria. Later ancestors lived on land and stayed
there for a very large number of generations. Later
ancestors still evolved back into the water and became
sea turtles. And finally they returned yet again to the
land as tortoises, some of which now live in the driest
of deserts.

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BOOST YOUR VOCABULARY 4

T he man who invented synthetic dyes Synthetic = artificial, man-made…

As a student at the City of London School, Perkin Become immersed in = become

At the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College Enrolment= the

At the time, quinine was the only viable medical

experimental process, he finally produced a deep

began producing the world’s first synthetically dyed

T he Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence

emerges in the future). Second, we make a very Conservative = traditional, old…

D Severely= harshly, strictly…

distance, and so all searches to date have To date= up to now.

of every aspect of life, including breathing and Thoroughgoing= complete. Here it

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