Pulling Strings To Build Pyramids — IELTS Reading Answers

It is generally believed that large numbers of people were needed to build the pyramids.

“The conventional picture is that tens of thousands of slaves dragged stones on sledges”

'The conventional picture is that tens of thousands of slaves' built the pyramids, confirming the general belief in large numbers.

Clemmons found a strange hieroglyph on the wall of an Egyptian monument.

“While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures”

She saw the hieroglyph while 'perusing a book', not on the wall of a monument, so the claim is false.

Gharib had previously done experiments on bird flight.

“Clemmons contacted Morteza Gharib, aeronautics professor at the California Institute of Technology. He was fascinated by the idea. 'Coming from Iran, I have a keen interest in Middle Eastern science,' he says”

Gharib is an aeronautics professor 'fascinated by the idea', but the passage never says he had already experimented on bird flight.

Gharib and Graff tested their theory before applying it.

“Their initial calculations and scale-model wind-tunnel experiments convinced them they wouldn't need a strong wind to lift the 33.5-tonne column”

Calculations and 'scale-model wind-tunnel experiments' came before the full-size trial, so the theory was tested first. TRUE.

The success of the actual experiment was due to the high speed of the wind.

“The wind was blowing at a gentle 16 to 20 kilometres an hour, little more than half what they thought would be needed. What they had failed to reckon with was what happened when the kite was opened. 'There was a huge initial force — five times larger than the steady state force,' Gharib says”

The wind was 'gentle', less than half the expected requirement; success came from the 'huge initial force' when the kite opened, not speed.

They found that, as the kite flew higher, the wind force got stronger.

“—”

The passage never describes how wind force changed with the kite's height, so this observation is not reported.

The team decided that it was possible to use kites to raise very heavy stones.

“This jerk meant that kites could lift huge weights, Gharib realised. Even a 300-tonne column could have been lifted to the vertical with 40 or so men and four or five sails. So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place”

'This jerk meant that kites could lift huge weights', even a 300-tonne column, confirming the team's conclusion. TRUE.

“And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone”

The Egyptians 'are known to have used wooden pulleys', the noun phrase the summary needs.

“And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone”

The pulleys could bear 'the weight of massive blocks of stone', so the gap takes 'stone'.

“Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians”

Harnessing wind posed no problem for 'accomplished sailors like the Egyptians', the phrase the gap requires.

“A wooden artefact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider”

The Saqqara artefact 'looks uncannily like a modern glider', so that compound noun fills the gap.

“A wooden artefact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider. Although it dates from several hundred years after the building of the pyramids, its sophistication suggests that the Egyptians might have been developing ideas of flight for a long time”

The artefact suggests Egyptians were developing 'ideas of flight', so 'flight' is the noun needed.

“And other ancient civilisations certainly knew about kites; as early as 1250 BC, the Chinese were using them to deliver messages and dump flaming debris on their foes”

Chinese kites were used 'to deliver messages', the noun the summary needs for what was carried.