Alfred Wegener: Science, Exploration And The Theory Of Continental Drift — IELTS Reading Answers

Wegener’s ideas about continental drift were widely disputed while he was alive.

“the focus of an international controversy in his lifetime”

The passage calls continental drift 'the focus of an international controversy in his lifetime', which is exactly the wide dispute the statement describes, so YES.

The idea that the continents remained fixed in place was defended in a number of respected scientific publications.

“they remained fixed in place.”

The text only reports the belief that continents 'remained fixed in place'; it never says respected scientific publications defended that view, so the claim is not given.

Wegener relied on a limited range of scientific fields to support his theory of continental drift

“using evidence from a large number of sciences including geology, geophysics, paleontology, and climatology.”

The statement claims a 'limited range' of fields, but the text lists 'a large number of sciences' - geology, geophysics, palaeontology and climatology - so the opposite is true.

The similarities between Wegener’s theory of continental drift and modern-day plate tectonics are enormous.

“in the same way that modern evolutionary theory is very different from the ideas Charles Darwin proposed in the 1850s about biological evolution. Yet plate tectonics is a descendant of Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift,”

The text calls plate tectonics a descendant of Wegener's theory yet 'very different', just as modern evolution differs from Darwin's ideas, so the similarities are not enormous.

“When I started writing about Wegener’s life and work,”

This first-person sentence supplies the gap's point about the writer's own starting point: he began writing about Wegener's life and work, so option I fits.

“He trained as an astronomer and pursued a career in atmospheric physics.”

The gap needs Wegener's early professional background; 'trained as an astronomer and pursued a career in atmospheric physics' provides exactly that, so F.

“However, he was not an ‘unknown’.”

The gap needs the claim that Wegener was already known; the short line 'he was not an unknown' delivers that meaning, so A.

“In 1906 he had set a world record (with his brother Kurt) for time aloft in a hot-air balloon: 52 hours.”

The gap requires an achievement involving a balloon; the 1906 world record of '52 hours' aloft in a hot-air balloon matches C.

“Between 1906 and 1908 he had taken part in a highly publicized and extremely dangerous expedition to the coast of northeast Greenland.”

The gap needs an expedition detail; the 'highly publicized and extremely dangerous expedition to the coast of northeast Greenland' between 1906 and 1908 fits H.

“He had also made a name for himself amongst a small circle of meteorologists and atmospheric physicists in Germany as the author of a textbook, Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere (1911), and of a number of interesting scientific papers.”

The gap needs recognition from specialists; authorship of 'a textbook, Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere' among meteorologists and atmospheric physicists supplies it, so E.

What is Mott T Greene doing in the fifth paragraph?

1. Adescribing what motivated him to write the book
2. Bexplaining why it is desirable to read the whole bookcorrect
3. Csuggesting why Wegener pursued so many different careers
4. Dindicating what aspects of Wegener’s life interested him most

“My own feeling, however, is that the parts do not make as much sense on their own as do all of his activities taken together. In this respect I urge readers to try to experience Wegener’s life as he lived it, with all the interruptions, changes of mind, and renewed efforts this entailed.”

Greene says the parts 'do not make as much sense on their own as do all of his activities taken together' and urges reading the whole life, so B.

What is said about Wegener in the sixth paragraph?

1. AHe was not a particularly ambitious person.correct
2. BHe kept a record of all his scientific observations.
3. CHe did not adopt many of the scientific practices of the time.
4. DHe enjoyed discussing new discoveries with other scientists.

“He was not active (with a few exceptions) in scientific societies, and did not seek to find influence or advance his ideas through professional contacts and politics, spending most of his time at home in his study reading and writing, or in the field collecting observations.”

The sixth paragraph says he did not seek influence through professional contacts and politics, spending his time reading and writing, evidence that he lacked driving ambition, so A.

What does Greene say about some other famous scientists?

1. ATheir published works had a greater impact than Wegener’s did.
2. BThey had fewer doubts about their scientific ideas than Wegener did.
3. CTheir scientific ideas were more controversial than Wegener’s.
4. DThey are easier subjects to write about than Wegener.correct

“The more such material a scientist leaves behind, the better chance a biographer has of forming an accurate picture of how a scientist’s ideas took shape and evolved.”

Greene notes that the more material a scientist leaves, the easier a biographer's task; famous scientists left more, making them easier subjects than Wegener, so D.

What is Greene’s main point in the final paragraph?

1. AIt is not enough in life to have good intentions.
2. BPeople need to plan carefully if they want to succeed.
3. CPeople have little control over many aspects of their lives.correct
4. DIt is important that people ensure they have the freedom to act.

“We plan, think, and act, often with apparent freedom, but most of the time our lives ‘happen to us’, and we only retrospectively turn this happenstance into a coherent narrative of fulfilled intentions.”

The final paragraph says 'most of the time our lives happen to us', which is the claim that people control little of what happens, matching C.