Cambridge IELTS 2 · Academic · Test 4 · Passage 3
In Search of the Holy Grail — IELTS Reading Answers
All 14 answers for In Search of the Holy Grail, Cambridge IELTS 2 Academic Reading Test 4 Passage 3, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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In Search of the Holy Grail answer key at a glance
Questions 27–40. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with Sentence Completion (Q27–32), Matching Features (Q33–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 27–32: Sentence Completion
Strategy: Find the stem's keyword in the passage, then complete the sentence with the exact words the grammar requires, within the word limit.
“Costing more than £2 billion, it is the most ambitious scientific project since the Apollo programme that landed a man on the moon”
The gap needs a comparable earlier project; the text calls this the most ambitious scientific project since the Apollo programme that landed a man on the moon.
“And it will take longer to accomplish than the lunar missions, for it will not be complete until early next century”
The gap needs a completion date; the text says the project will not be complete until early next century.
“On the printed page it would fill about 7,000 volumes”
The gap needs a number of volumes; the text says the information would fill about 7,000 volumes on the printed page.
“None of the single-gene disorders is a disease in the conventional sense, for which it would be possible to administer a curative drug: the defect is pre-programmed into every cell of the sufferer's body”
The gap needs the category single-gene disorders do not fit; the text says none of them is a disease in the conventional sense.
“In 1986, American researchers identified the genetic defect underlying one type of muscular dystrophy”
The gap needs the condition whose genetic defect American researchers identified in 1986: one type of muscular dystrophy.
“In 1986, American researchers identified the genetic defect underlying one type of muscular dystrophy. In 1989, a team of American and Canadian biologists announced that they had found the site of the gene which, when defective, gives rise to cystic fibrosis”
The gap needs the disorder tied to the gene site found in 1989; American and Canadian biologists linked it to cystic fibrosis.
Questions 33–40: Matching Features
Strategy: Match the statement to the named person or thing. Names can repeat, so check each option against what that person actually says.
Options for Questions 33–40
- Athe writer's fears about the Human Genome Project
- Bother people's fears about the Project reported by the writer
- Cthe writer's reporting of facts about the Project
- Dthe writer's reporting of the long-term hopes for the Project
The Project will provide a new understanding of major diseases.
“Even before it is finished, according to those involved, this project should open up new understanding of, and new treatments for, many of the ailments that afflict humanity”
The text reports the project should open up new understanding and new treatments for many ailments, a long-term hope rather than an established fact.
All the components which make up DNA are to be recorded and studied.
“Yet, within little more than a decade, the position of every letter and its relation to its neighbours will have been tracked down, analysed and recorded”
The passage records as fact that every letter's position and its relation to neighbours will be tracked, analysed and recorded.
Genetic monsters may be created.
“But others see the future through a darker glass, and fear that the project may open the door to a world peopled by Frankenstein's monsters and disfigured by a new eugenics”
Others fear the project may open the door to a world peopled by Frankenstein's monsters and a new eugenics, so these are other people's reported fears.
The correct order and inter-relation of all genetic data in all DNA will be mapped.
“Yet, within little more than a decade, the position of every letter and its relation to its neighbours will have been tracked down, analysed and recorded”
Again the writer reports as fact that the position of every letter and its relation to its neighbours will be tracked down, analysed and recorded.
Parents will no longer worry about giving birth to defective offspring.
“Foetuses can be tested while in the womb, and if found free of the genetic defect, the parents will be relieved of worry and stress, knowing that they will be delivered of a baby free from the disorder”
Foetuses can be tested in the womb and parents relieved of worry and stress when the defect is absent, a long-term hope.
Being 'human' may be defined solely in terms of describable physical data.
“Yet many people are concerned that such an emphasis on humanity's genetic constitution may distort our sense of values, and lead us to forget that human life is more than just the expression of a genetic program written in the chemistry of DNA”
Many people worry that emphasis on humanity's genetic constitution may distort values and make us forget human life is more than a genetic program.
People may be discriminated against in new ways.
“But if the new knowledge is not used wisely, it also holds the threat of creating new forms of discrimination and new methods of oppression”
The writer himself warns that if the new knowledge is not used wisely it holds the threat of new forms of discrimination and oppression.
From past experience humans may not use this new knowledge wisely.
“Once before in this century, the relentless curiosity of scientific researchers brought to light forces of nature in the power of the atom, the mastery of which has shaped the destiny of nations and overshadowed all our lives.”
The writer recalls the discovery of atomic power and says we need only look at the past to understand the danger, his own fear.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the In Search of the Holy Grail passage come from?
It is Passage 3 of Cambridge IELTS 2 Academic Reading Test 4, and it covers Questions 27–40.
What question types appear in In Search of the Holy Grail?
The passage is tested with Sentence Completion, Matching Features. 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.