Cambridge IELTS 9 · Academic · Test 4 · Passage 1
The Life And Work Of Marie Curie — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for The Life And Work Of Marie Curie, Cambridge IELTS 9 Academic Reading Test 4 Passage 1, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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The Life And Work Of Marie Curie answer key at a glance
Questions 1–13. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with True / False / Not Given (Q1–6), Note Completion (Q7–13). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 1–6: True / False / Not Given
Strategy: Judge the whole statement against the text. FALSE contradicts the passage; NOT GIVEN means the passage never addresses that specific claim.
Marie Curie's husband was a joint winner of both Marie's Nobel Prizes.
“With her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics, and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry”
Pierre shared the 1903 Physics prize, but Marie was 'sole winner' of the 1911 Chemistry prize, so he did not share both. FALSE.
Marie became interested in science when she was a child.
“From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education”
The passage mentions her 'prodigious memory' and a school gold medal, but never says she became interested in science as a child.
Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister's financial contribution.
“From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia's medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris)”
Marie funded Bronia on the promise of help in return, and 'this promise was fulfilled' before she entered the Sorbonne. TRUE.
Marie stopped doing research for several years when her children were born.
“The births of Marie's two daughters, Irène and Eve, in 1897 and 1904 failed to interrupt her scientific work”
'Failed to interrupt her scientific work' directly contradicts the claim that she stopped researching for years. FALSE.
Marie took over the teaching position her husband had held.
“On May 13, 1906, she was appointed to the professorship that had been left vacant on her husband's death, becoming the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne”
She took 'the professorship that had been left vacant on her husband's death', the post he had held. TRUE.
Marie's sister Bronia studied the medical uses of radioactivity.
“From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia's medical studies in Paris the inauguration in 1932 in Warsaw of the Radium Institute, where her sister Bronia became director”
Bronia did 'medical studies' and later directed the Radium Institute, but the passage never says she studied radioactivity's medical uses.
Questions 7–13: Note Completion
Strategy: Predict the word class from the note, find the paraphrase of the note's keyword in the passage, then copy the answer exactly within the word limit.
“Marie Curie decided to find out if the radioactivity discovered in uranium was to be found in other elements. She discovered that this was true for thorium”
Marie found the radioactivity seen in uranium was also present in 'thorium', the element the note needs.
“Turning her attention to minerals, she found her interest drawn to pitchblende, a mineral whose radioactivity, superior to that of pure uranium, could be explained only by the presence in the ore of small quantities of an unknown substance of very high activity.”
The mineral with radioactivity higher than pure uranium is 'pitchblende', the ore she investigated.
“In 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the isolation of a pure form of radium”
The 1911 Chemistry prize came 'for the isolation of a pure form of radium', so the note takes 'radium'.
“During World War I, Marie Curie, with the help of her daughter Irène, devoted herself to the development of the use of X-radiography, including the mobile units which came to be known as 'Little Curies', used for the treatment of wounded soldiers”
The mobile X-ray units, 'Little Curies', treated 'wounded soldiers', the group the note names.
“One of Marie Curie's outstanding achievements was to have understood the need to accumulate intense radioactive sources, not only to treat illness but also to maintain an abundant supply for research”
Intense radioactive sources were needed 'to treat illness' as well as for research, so 'illness' fills the gap.
“This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by Sir James Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in 1934 by Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie of artificial radioactivity”
Her work led to 'the discovery of the neutron by Sir James Chadwick', the particle named in the note.
“A few months after this discovery, Marie Curie died as a result of leukaemia caused by exposure to radiation”
Marie Curie died of 'leukaemia caused by exposure to radiation', so the cause of death is leukaemia.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the The Life And Work Of Marie Curie passage come from?
It is Passage 1 of Cambridge IELTS 9 Academic Reading Test 4, and it covers Questions 1–13.
What question types appear in The Life And Work Of Marie Curie?
The passage is tested with True / False / Not Given, Note 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.