Cambridge IELTS 14 · Academic · Test 2 · Passage 2
Back To The Future Of Skyscraper Design — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Back To The Future Of Skyscraper Design, Cambridge IELTS 14 Academic Reading Test 2 Passage 2, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Back To The Future Of Skyscraper Design answer key at a glance
Questions 14–26. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with Matching Information (Q14–18), Summary Completion (Q19–26). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 14–18: Matching Information
Strategy: Scan for the idea, not the exact words. The answer is a paragraph letter, and one paragraph may be used more than once unless the instructions say otherwise.
why some people avoided hospitals in the 19th century
“Foul air, rather than germs, was believed to be the main driver of ‘hospital fever’, leading to disease and frequent death. The prosperous steered clear of hospitals.”
F: in paragraph F, 'foul air, rather than germs, was believed to be the main driver of hospital fever', so the prosperous avoided hospitals.
a suggestion that the popularity of tall buildings is linked to prestige
“Short regards glass, steel and air-conditioned skyscrapers as symbols of status, rather than practical ways of meeting our requirements.”
C: Short sees glass, steel and air-conditioned skyscrapers as 'symbols of status, rather than practical ways' of meeting needs.
a comparison between the circulation of air in a 19th-century building and modern standards
“We discovered that 19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour – that’s similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre”
E: paragraph E compares 19th-century wards generating 'up to 24 air changes an hour' with a modern computer-controlled operating theatre.
how Short tested the circulation of air in a 19th-century building
“‘We put pathogens* in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm.”
D: Short's team 'put pathogens in the airstreams' and modelled a coughing TB patient to test the ventilation, as described in D.
an implication that advertising led to the large increase in the use of air conditioning
“the widespread introduction of air conditioning systems, which were ‘relentlessly and aggressively marketed’ by their inventors”
B: air conditioning spread because systems were 'relentlessly and aggressively marketed' by their inventors, implying advertising drove uptake.
Questions 19–26: Summary Completion
Strategy: Read the summary as a paragraph first to establish the logic, then locate the missing idea in the passage. With a lettered list, confirm the grammar fits.
“Short’s book highlights a developing and sophisticated art and science of ventilating buildings through the 19th and earlier-20th centuries, including the design of ingeniously ventilated hospitals. Of particular interest were those built to the designs of John Shaw Billings”
The book covers 'the design of ingeniously ventilated hospitals', so design is the noun the summary needs.
“We put pathogens* in the airstreams”
Researchers 'put pathogens in the airstreams' to test the wards, so pathogens were introduced deliberately.
“modelled for someone with tuberculosis”
They modelled 'someone with tuberculosis coughing in the wards', so tuberculosis is the disease involved.
“19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour”
The comparison uses '19th-century hospital wards', which generated up to 24 air changes an hour.
“Communal wards appropriate for certain patients – older people with dementia, for example – would work just as well in today’s hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost”
'Communal wards appropriate for certain patients' would still work in modern hospitals, the type the summary names.
“Much of the ingenuity present in 19th-century hospital and building design was driven by a panicked public”
Nineteenth-century ingenuity was 'driven by a panicked public', the group the summary identifies.
“protect against what was thought to be the lethal threat of miasmas”
Designers aimed to 'protect against what was thought to be the lethal threat of miasmas', the supposed danger.
“the spread of infection from the Middle Ages right through to the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during the 1850s”
The passage cites 'the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during the 1850s', so cholera is the disease named.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Back To The Future Of Skyscraper Design passage come from?
It is Passage 2 of Cambridge IELTS 14 Academic Reading Test 2, and it covers Questions 14–26.
What question types appear in Back To The Future Of Skyscraper Design?
The passage is tested with Matching Information, Summary Completion. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.