Cambridge IELTS 8 · Academic · Test 3 · Passage 1
Striking Back At Lightning With Lasers — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Striking Back At Lightning With Lasers, Cambridge IELTS 8 Academic Reading Test 3 Passage 1, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Striking Back At Lightning With Lasers answer key at a glance
Questions 1–13. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with One Choice (Q1–3), Sentence Completion (Q4–6), Summary Completion (Q7–10), Yes / No / Not Given (Q11–13). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 1–3: One Choice
Strategy: Read the question stem and predict the answer before looking at the options. Wrong options often repeat passage words while the correct one paraphrases them.
The main topic discussed in the text is
- Athe damage caused to US golf courses and golf players by lightning strikes.
- Bthe effect of lightning on power supplies in the US and in Japan.
- Ca variety of methods used in trying to control lightning strikes.
- Da laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.correct
“Striking Back at Lightning With Lasers”
The passage centres on Diels's project 'to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely', so option D, a laser technique for controlling strikes, is the topic.
According to the text, every year lightning
- Adoes considerable damage to buildings during thunderstorms.correct
- Bkills or injures mainly golfers in the United States.
- Ckills or injures around 500 people throughout the world.
- Ddamages more than 100 American power companies.
“And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year”
The text notes 'damage to property too', with costs over $100 million a year to power companies, supporting option A's considerable damage.
Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New Mexico
- Areceive funds from the same source.correct
- Bare using the same techniques.
- Care employed by commercial companies.
- Dare in opposition to each other.
“The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico.”
Both the Florida site and Diels's project are supported by EPRI, so they receive funds from the same source — option A.
Questions 4–6: 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.
“EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States' power grid from lightning strikes”
The gap needs EPRI's funders: 'EPRI, which is funded by power companies'.
“Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely – and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk”
Diels's aim is 'to discharge lightning safely', the adverb the sentence requires before the safety explanation.
“However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size”
The laser's drawback is its bulk, and 'Diels is trying to cut down the size', so 'size' fills the gap.
Questions 7–10: 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.
Options for Questions 7–10
- Acloud-zappers
- Batoms
- Cstorm clouds
- Dmirrors
- Etechnique
- Fions
- Grockets
- Hconductors
- Ithunder
“The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions”
High-powered lasers 'extract electrons out of atoms', so the gap after 'electrons from' takes 'atoms' (B).
“If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge”
The ionisation path must reach 'a storm cloud', so 'storm clouds' (C) completes the sentence.
“And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? ‘What goes up must come down,’ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico.”
The text questions firing 'streams of rockets' in populated areas, so 'rockets' (G) is the earlier method described.
“To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky”
To avoid being struck, the laser is aimed at 'a mirror' and reflected skyward, so 'mirrors' (D) fits.
Questions 11–13: Yes / No / Not Given
Strategy: These test the writer's opinions, not facts. Look for evaluative language, and treat 'may' or 'could' as weaker than the question's claim.
Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.
“But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. ‘I cannot say I have money yet, but I’m working on it,’ says Bernstein”
'They have not yet come up with the $5 million' and 'I cannot say I have money yet' contradict the claim that funding is sufficient. NO.
Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.
“But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. ‘I cannot say I have money yet, but I’m working on it,’ says Bernstein.”
Bernstein reckons 'the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point', tying further funding to real-storm trials. YES.
Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels's system.
“Bernstein says that Diels’s system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning ‘switch’ at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter”
Interest comes from 'the power companies' and materials scientists; forecasters are never mentioned, so their interest is not given.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Striking Back At Lightning With Lasers passage come from?
It is Passage 1 of Cambridge IELTS 8 Academic Reading Test 3, and it covers Questions 1–13.
What question types appear in Striking Back At Lightning With Lasers?
The passage is tested with One Choice, Sentence Completion, Summary Completion, Yes / No / Not Given. 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.