Cambridge IELTS 18 Test 2 Reading Passage 1 là một bài tập không quá khó nhưng vẫn đủ thử thách để luyện tập cho phần thi IELTS Reading. Để cùng vận dụng hết những từ vựng mà bài có thì hãy cùng ISE giải đề và phân tích đáp án nhé!

1. Phần thi Cambridge IELTS 18 Test 2 Reading Passage 1 là gì?

 1.1. Thông tin bộ sách Cambridge IELTS 18

Cambridge IELTS là một bộ sách được xuất bản bởi Cambridge với mục đích luyện đề thi IELTS và được ra mắt vào tháng 5 hàng năm.

Các đề từ Cambridge IELTS nhìn chung bám khá sát với đề thi thực tế và đã được thí sinh trên toàn thế giới thêm vào danh sách các bộ đề luyện thi IELTS uy tín.

Nội dung sách bao gồm các phần thi của cả 4 kỹ năng trong bài thi IELTS Academic bao gồm: Reading, Listening, Speaking và Writing.

1.2. Tổng quan Cambridge IELTS 18 Test 2 Reading Passage 1

Bài đọc Cambridge IELTS 18 Test 1 Reading Passage 1 nói về Stonehenge, một địa điểm nổi tiếng với một kiến trúc sắp xếp đá tảng đặc sắc. Bài viết cho biết thời điểm mà Stonehenge được tạo nên, cũng như những câu hỏi xoay quanh vấn đề ai đã xây dựng, và họ đã di chuyển những tảng đá lớn bằng cách nào.

Phần Passage 1 sẽ bao gồm 13 câu hỏi từ câu 1 – 13 của phần Reading Test 2.

2. Bài đọc Cambridge IELTS 18 Test 2 Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 – 13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Stonehenge

For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the many mysteries of Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument that took an estimated 1,500 years to erect.

Located on Salisbury Plain in southern England, it is comprised of roughly 100 massive upright stones placed in a circular layout.

Archaeologists believe England’s most iconic prehistoric ruin was built in several stages, with the earliest constructed 5,000 or more years ago. (Q1) First, Neolithic Britons used primitive tools, which may have been fashioned out of deer antlers, to dig a massive circular ditch and bank, or henge. (Q2) Deep pits dating back to that era and located within the circle may have once held a ring of timber posts, according to some scholars.

Several hundred years later, it is thought, Stonehenge’s builders hoisted an estimated 80 bluestones, 43 of which remain today, into standing positions and placed them in either a horseshoe or circular formation. These stones have been traced all the way to the Preseli Hills in Wales, some 300 kilometres from Stonehenge. How, then, did prehistoric builders without sophisticated tools or engineering haul these boulders, which weigh up to four tons, over such a great distance?

(Q3) According to one long-standing theory among archaeologists, Stonehenge’s builders fashioned sledges and rollers out of tree trunks to lug the bluestones from the Preseli Hills. They then transferred the boulders onto rafts and floated them first along the Welsh coast and then up the River Avon toward Salisbury Plain; alternatively, they may have towed each stone with a fleet of vessels. (Q4) More recent archaeological hypotheses have them transporting the bluestones with supersized wicker baskets on a combination of ball bearings and long grooved planks, hauled by oxen.

As early as the 1970s, geologists have been adding their voices to the debate over how Stonehenge came into being. Challenging the classic image of industrious builders pushing, carting, rolling or hauling giant stones from faraway Wales, (Q5) some scientists have suggested that it was glaciers, not humans, that carried the bluestones to Salisbury Plain. Most archaeologists have remained sceptical about this theory, however, wondering how the forces of nature could possibly have delivered the exact number of stones needed to complete the circle.

The third phase of construction took place around 2000 BCE. (Q9) At this point, sandstone slabs — known as ‘sarsens’ — were arranged into an outer crescent or ring; some were assembled into the iconic three-pieced structures called trilithons that stand tall in the centre of Stonehenge. Some 50 of these stones are now visible on the site, which may once have contained many more. (Q10) Radiocarbon dating has revealed that work continued at Stonehenge until roughly 1600 BCE, with the bluestones in particular being repositioned multiple times.

But who were the builders of Stonehenge?  (Q6) In the 17th century, archaeologist John Aubrey made the claim that Stonehenge was the work of druids, who had important religious, judicial and political roles in Celtic society. This theory was widely popularized by the antiquarian William Stukeley, who had unearthed primitive graves at the site. Even today, people who identify as modern druids continue to gather at Stonehenge for the summer solstice. (Q11) However, in the mid-20th century, radiocarbon dating demonstrated that Stonehenge stood more than 1,000 years before the Celts inhabited the region.

(Q12) Many modern historians and archaeologists now agree that several distinct tribes of people contributed to Stonehenge, each undertaking a different phase of its construction. Bones, tools and other artefacts found on the site seem to support this hypothesis. The first stage was achieved by Neolithic agrarians who were likely to have been indigenous to the British Isles. Later, it is believed, groups with advanced tools and a more communal way of life left their mark on the site. Some believe that they were immigrants from the European continent, while others maintain that they were probably native Britons, descended from the original builders.

If the facts surrounding the architects and construction of Stonehenge remain shadowy at best, the purpose of the striking monument is even more of a mystery. (Q7) While there is consensus among the majority of modern scholars that Stonehenge once served the function of burial ground, they have yet to determine what other purposes it had.

(Q8) In the 1960s, the astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the cluster of megalithic stones operated as a form of calendar, with different points corresponding to astrological phenomena such as solstices, equinoxes and eclipses occurring at different times of the year. (Q13) While his theory has received a considerable amount of attention over the decades, critics maintain that Stonehenge’s builders probably lacked the knowledge necessary to predict such events or that England’s dense cloud cover would have obscured their view of the skies.

More recently, signs of illness and injury in the human remains unearthed at Stonehenge led a group of British archaeologists to speculate that it was considered a place of healing, perhaps because bluestones were thought to have curative powers.

Questions 1—8

Complete the notes below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer

Write your answers in boxes 1—8 on your answer sheet.

Questions 9—13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 9—13 on your answer sheet, wrlte                                              

            TRUE              if the statement agrees with the information

            FALSE             If the statement contradlcts the information

            NOT GIVEN    if there is no information on this

9. During the third phase of construction, sandstone slabs were placed in both the outer areas and the middle of the Stonehenge site.

10. There is scientific proof that the bluestones stood in the same spot until approximately 1600 BCE.

11. John Aubrey’s claim about Stonehenge was supported by 20th-century findings.

12. Objects discovered at Stonehenge seem to indicate that it was constructed by a number of different groups of people.

13. Criticism of Gerald Hawkins’ theory about Stonehenge has come mainly from other astronomers.

3. Đáp án và giải thích chi tiết

3.1. Câu 1 – 8 – Notes Completion.

Trong câu 1 – 8, thí sinh cần nắm được đoạn thông tin phù hợp trong bài tóm tắt, cần để ý các keywords trong bài, sau khi đã tìm được đoạn chứa thông tin thì ứng dụng kỹ năng scanning để tìm từ phù hợp.

3.2. Câu 9 – 13 – TRUE/FALES/NOT GIVEN.

Trong câu 7 – 13, thí sinh cần nắm được thông tin và đoạn thông tin theo keywords của câu hỏi, đối chiếu thông tin đúng sai, tránh suy nghĩ theo hướng cá nhân.

TỔNG KẾT VỀ CAMBRIDGE IELTS 18 TEST 2 READING PASSAGE 1

Vậy là chúng ta đã cùng nhau đi qua những câu hỏi tuy không quá khó nhưng cũng có thể dễ dàng đánh lừa thí sinh. Bài đọc này được ISE đánh giá là vừa sức với các bạn thi IELTS do chủ đề không quá hàn lâm và từ vựng cũng không quá cao cấp. Vì vậy, việc đạt được điểm tối đa ở bài đọc Cambridge IELTS 18 Test 2 Reading Passage 1 là hoàn toàn có thể nếu bạn có một chiến thuật làm bài hợp lý. Các thí sinh cũng có thể mua sách Cambridge IELTS 18 để tham khảo và tự thực hành các bài tại nhà nhé.

Bạn có thể liên hệ ISE để đăng ký tư vấn lộ trình học IELTS phù hợp tại:

Chi nhánh 1: 02 Nguyễn Huy Lượng, Phường 14, Quận Bình Thạnh, TP.HCM

Chi nhánh 2: 393 Điện Biên Phủ, Phường 4, Quận 3, TP.HCM

Chi Nhánh 3: 15 Hoàng Trọng Mậu, Phường Tân Hưng, quận 7, TP.HCM

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