Research using twins: reading answers and analysis
Comparing identical and fraternal twins helps scientists separate the effects of genes and environment. Galton suggested the method in 1875, and Bouchard's study of twins raised apart measured heritability. Now epigenetics, chemical reactions that switch genes up or down, is seen as a third factor, which Danielle Reed thinks explains many twin differences.
The TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN (1-4) jumps from paragraph 1 to paragraph 7. The researcher matching (5-9) uses paragraphs 4, 5 and the last one, with Galton and Bouchard used twice each. The summary (10-13) is in paragraphs 7 and 9.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Two NOT GIVENs here: one compares twins with non-twins (the passage only compares two kinds of twin), and one asks how Bouchard found his twins. The FALSE hangs on 'must be due to environmental factors'.
Question 1
Answer: FALSEParagraph 1, last two sentences
Could genes explain why one identical twin's skin looks younger than the other's?
they share virtually the same genetic code. Any differences between them - one twin having younger looking skin, for example - must be due to environmental factors
Question says → Passage says
differences in how young the skin… looksone twin having younger looking skin
There may be genetic causesmust be due to environmental factors
Why: Identical twins share almost the same genes, so the passage says any difference 'must be' environmental, such as time in the sun. Genetic causes are ruled out. FALSE.
The trap: 'Virtually' (almost) makes some people think a tiny genetic cause is still possible, so they choose NOT GIVEN. But 'must be due to environmental factors' is a firm contradiction.
Question 2
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 2, last sentence
Are twins more likely than non-twins to get certain diseases?
If identical twins are more similar to each other with respect to an ailment than fraternal twins are, then vulnerability to the disease must be rooted at least in part in heredity.
Question says → Passage says
at greater risk of developing certain illnessesvulnerability to the disease
Why: The passage compares identical twins with fraternal twins to measure how much disease risk is inherited. It never compares twins with non-twins. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'Vulnerability to disease' and 'more similar' sound like a higher risk for twins. The comparison is between two kinds of twin, not twins and everyone else.
Question 3
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 4, second half
Did Bouchard put adverts in newspapers to find separated twins?
Over two decades 137 sets of twins eventually visited Thomas Bouchard's lab in what became known as the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart.
Question says → Passage says
twins who had been separated at birthidentical twins who had been separated at birth and reunited as adults
Why: You learn how many twins came and how many questions they answered, but not how Bouchard found them. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: If you know the real story of the Minnesota study, you might answer TRUE. Only the passage counts, and it says nothing about adverts.
Question 4
Answer: TRUEParagraph 7, first sentence
Are epigenetic processes separate from both genes and environment?
Epigenetic processes are chemical reactions tied to neither nature nor nurture but representing what researchers have called a 'third component'.
Question says → Passage says
different from both genetic and environmental processestied to neither nature nor nurture
differenta 'third component' / a third factor also in play
Why: Nature = genes and nurture = environment, as paragraph 1 sets up. 'Tied to neither' and 'third component' mean epigenetics is distinct from both. TRUE.
The trap: Paragraph 6 says epigenetics can act 'as a bridge between the environment and our genes', which makes some people think it isn't separate. A bridge between two things is still a third thing.
Matching features (researchers A-C)
Questions 5-9
How to attack this block: Galton and Bouchard each answer twice, so expect repeats. Separate who suggested the twin method (1875) from who carried out the big study of separated twins. Reed is the one who looks ahead to epigenetics.
Question 5
Answer: AParagraph 4, first sentence
Who created a phrase that separates two influences on our characteristics?
when the English scientist Francis Galton first suggested the approach (and coined the phrase 'nature and nurture')
Question says → Passage says
invented a termcoined the phrase
two factors affecting human characteristics'nature and nurture'
Why: 'Coined' means invented a new word or phrase. 'Nature and nurture' names the two factors, genes and environment. A.
The trap: Reed uses the pencil-and-pen image, which also contrasts two things, but she didn't invent a term.
Question 6
Answer: CLast paragraph, first sentence
Who says epigenetics will help us understand more?
Reed adds, the latest work in epigenetics promises to take our understanding even further
Question says → Passage says
expressed the viewReed adds
will increase our knowledgepromises to take our understanding even further / it's sort of a whole new world
Why: 'Take our understanding even further' = 'increase our knowledge'. Reed says it, so C.
The trap: Bouchard's work led to today's interest in twins, but the passage never links him to epigenetics.
Question 7
Answer: BParagraph 5, first two sentences
Who is linked to a statistical way of measuring genetic influence?
Bouchard and his colleagues used this mountain of data to identify how far twins were affected by their genetic makeup. The key to their approach was a statistical concept called heritability.
Question says → Passage says
a mathematical methoda statistical concept called heritability
measuring genetic influencesidentify how far twins were affected by their genetic makeup
Why: 'Mathematical method' paraphrases 'statistical concept', and heritability measures how far genes explain differences. That approach belongs to Bouchard's team, so B.
The trap: Galton (A) suggested using twins to 'measure the influence of heredity', which sounds like the same thing. He proposed the idea; the statistical method is Bouchard's.
Question 8
Answer: AParagraph 4, first sentence
Who first did genetic research with twins?
The idea of using twins to measure the influence of heredity dates back to 1875, when the English scientist Francis Galton first suggested the approach
Question says → Passage says
pioneeredfirst suggested / dates back to 1875
research into genetics using twinsusing twins to measure the influence of heredity
Why: Galton was the first to propose twin studies, back in 1875. Being first = pioneering. A.
The trap: Reed calls Bouchard 'the trailblazer', which means pioneer. But she means he triggered today's surge in twin studies, not that he started them. Galton came over a century earlier.
Question 9
Answer: BParagraph 4, second half
Who studied twins who grew up separately?
the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart
Question says → Passage says
twins who had lived apartTwins Reared Apart / separated at birth and reunited as adults
carried out researchvisited Thomas Bouchard's lab
Why: The separated twins visited Bouchard's lab for the Minnesota study. 'Reared apart' = 'lived apart'. B, which is allowed to repeat.
The trap: Reed has worked with many twins too, but nothing says hers were raised apart.
Summary completion (word list A-F)
Questions 10-13
How to attack this block: The box words are close paraphrases of the passage: chemical reactions, body parts, the environment, behavioural problems. 'Nurture' and 'code' are the decoys, because both appear nearby in the passage with a different role.
Question 10
Answer: DParagraph 7
What, in epigenetic processes, affects how our genes work?
Epigenetic processes are chemical reactions… These reactions influence how our genetic code is expressed
Question says → Passage says
influence the activity of our genesinfluence how our genetic code is expressed
chemicalschemical reactions
Why: The processes are 'chemical reactions' that influence how genes are expressed. 'Chemicals' (D) is the box word for them.
The trap: 'Code' (C) is from 'genetic code', but that's what gets influenced, not what does the influencing. The verb 'influence' needs a plural subject, and 'code' is singular.
Question 11
Answer: BParagraph 7, last sentence
What internal parts of the body are built through gene activity?
to build our bones, brains and all the other parts of our bodies
Question says → Passage says
creatingto build
our internal organsbones, brains and all the other parts of our bodies / heart, brain, or liver cells
Why: Bones, brains and other body parts are things inside us. 'Internal organs' is the natural phrase, so B.
The trap: 'Code' (C) also follows 'our' nicely ('our internal code'), but the passage's example is about building physical body parts, not a code.
Question 12
Answer: EParagraph 9, first sentence
What can affect our genes, according to new epigenetic research?
revealing a mechanism by which the environment directly impacts on genes
Question says → Passage says
uncovering a wayrevealing a mechanism
our genes can be affected bydirectly impacts on genes
Why: 'Uncovering a way' = 'revealing a mechanism', and the thing that impacts the genes is the environment. E.
The trap: 'Nurture' (A) means much the same as environment, which makes it a strong distractor. But the passage says 'environment' in this sentence, and 'nurture' would also clash with paragraph 7, where epigenetics is 'tied to neither nature nor nurture'.
Question 13
Answer: FParagraph 9, second sentence
What can go wrong as a rat grows up if its mother was stressed in pregnancy?
when a rat experiences stress during pregnancy, it can cause epigenetic changes in a fetus that lead to behavioral problems as the rodent grows up
Question says → Passage says
if a pregnant rat suffers stresswhen a rat experiences stress during pregnancy
may later show problems in itslead to behavioral problems as the rodent grows up
Why: 'Behavioral problems' becomes 'problems in its behaviour'. F.
The trap: 'Organs' (B) might seem possible for a developing fetus, but the passage only names behaviour.
'Environment' (E), not 'nurture' (A). The passage says the environment directly affects genes, and calls epigenetics separate from nurture.
Words from this passage worth keeping
untangle(Paragraph 1)
separate out things that are mixed together
quantify(Paragraph 2)
measure as an amount
heredity(Paragraph 2)
passing of traits from parents to children through genes
pinpoint(Paragraph 3)
identify exactly
interplay(Paragraph 3)
the way two things affect each other
coined(Paragraph 4)
invented a new word or phrase
hardwired(Paragraph 10)
fixed from birth and not able to change
trailblazer(Paragraph 11)
the first person to do something new
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The full Cambridge 11 Test 4 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 11, Test 4, Reading Passage 1. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
The rest of Cambridge 11 Test 4
Passage 1 · Questions 1-13 · You're hereResearch using twins
