What destroyed the civilisation of Easter Island?: reading answers and analysis
Easter Island's giant moai were built by Polynesian settlers, but who destroyed the island's forests is disputed. Jared Diamond says the islanders ruined their own environment, partly by moving ever bigger statues. Hunt and Lipo argue the islanders were careful farmers who walked the statues upright, and blame rats, European disease and slave traders.
Headings (14-20) cover every paragraph from A to G. The summary of Diamond's view (21-24) comes from B and C only. The choose-two question (25-26) needs you to compare C with E.
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: There are nine headings for seven paragraphs, and the two 'future' headings are decoys. Several paragraphs open with one idea and then develop another, so read to the end before you decide. Watch for D, whose first line disagrees with Diamond but whose main content is farming evidence.
Question 14
Answer: iiParagraph A, second half
Which heading fits paragraph A?
Modern science - linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence - has definitively proved the moai builders were Polynesians
Question says → Passage says
undisputed answerdefinitively proved
a question about the moaiThe identity of the moai builders was in doubt
Why: A sets up a mystery (who built the moai?), runs through the wrong guesses, then settles it: science has 'definitively proved' they were Polynesian. That's heading ii, an undisputed answer to a moai question.
The trap: Heading iv (a theory supporting a local belief) is tempting because A ends with folklore about walking statues. A only mentions the belief; E is where a theory backs it up.
Question 15
Answer: ixParagraph B, second half
Which heading fits paragraph B?
As trees became scarce and they could no longer construct wooden canoes for fishing, they ate birds. Soil erosion decreased their crop yields.
Question says → Passage says
Diminishingbecame scarce / decreased
food resourcescanoes for fishing… ate birds… crop yields
Why: B traces how the islanders' food ran out: no canoes meant no fishing, so they turned to birds, and eroded soil gave smaller harvests. Heading ix.
The trap: Heading v (the future of Easter Island) catches people because Diamond's last line mentions 'our own future'. That's a warning about the world, not about the island's future.
Question 16
Answer: viiiParagraph C, first sentence
Which heading fits paragraph C?
The moai, he thinks, accelerated the self-destruction.
Question says → Passage says
made a situation worseaccelerated the self-destruction
How the statuesThey competed by building ever bigger figures
Why: C explains how the statues sped up the collapse: rival chiefs built bigger moai, moving them took wood and people, and feeding those people meant clearing more land. Heading viii.
The trap: Heading iii (the future of the moai) might seem to fit the toppled statues at the end, but that's what happened to them, not their future.
Question 17
Answer: iParagraph D, last three sentences
Which heading fits paragraph D?
They built thousands of circular stone windbreaks and gardened inside them, and used broken volcanic rocks to keep the soil moist.
Question says → Passage says
innovativepioneers
environment management practicessustainable farming / protect the resources of their wind-lashed, infertile fields
Why: D's evidence is archaeological: windbreaks and rock mulch to protect poor soil. The paragraph ends by calling the Rapanui 'pioneers of sustainable farming'. Heading i.
The trap: Heading vi (two opposing views) fits D's first sentence, where Hunt and Lipo disagree with Diamond. But most of D is the evidence for their farming skill, not the disagreement.
Question 18
Answer: ivParagraph E, second and third sentences
Which heading fits paragraph E?
because they were walked upright. On that issue, Hunt and Lipo say, archaeological evidence backs up Rapanui folklore.
Question says → Passage says
A theoryHunt and Lipo contend / They also believe
supportsbacks up
a local beliefRapanui folklore / Local folklore maintains that the statues walked
Why: Hunt and Lipo's theory that the moai were 'walked' agrees with the islanders' own folklore. 'Backs up' = 'supports'. Heading iv.
The trap: Heading ii looks possible because E describes an experiment. But the walking theory isn't 'undisputed': Diamond still believes in sledges and logs.
Question 19
Answer: viiParagraph F
Which heading fits paragraph F?
Hunt and Lipo are convinced that the settlers were not wholly responsible for the loss of the island's trees.
Question says → Passage says
Destruction outside the inhabitants' controlmade by the teeth of Polynesian rats / Europeans, who introduced deadly diseases / slave traders decimated the population
Why: F blames forces the islanders couldn't stop: rats eating palm nuts, European diseases and slave traders. That's destruction outside their control, heading vii.
The trap: Heading ix (diminishing food) is tempting because the rats ate nuts and eggs. But F's point is who caused the damage, not the islanders' food supply.
Question 20
Answer: viParagraph G, first sentence
Which heading fits paragraph G?
an island populated by peaceful and ingenious moai builders and careful stewards of the land, rather than by reckless destroyers ruining their own environment and society
Question says → Passage says
Two opposing viewsrather than
about the Rapanui peoplepeaceful and ingenious moai builders… reckless destroyers
Why: G sums up the debate as two pictures of the islanders: careful stewards (Hunt and Lipo) versus reckless destroyers (Diamond). Heading vi.
The trap: Heading v (the future of Easter Island) catches people because G ends with lessons the world can learn. Those lessons are for us, not the island.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 21-24
How to attack this block: The summary follows Diamond's argument in B and C in order. Each gap is one noun, and the words around it (fuel, fishing, food source, a great number of people) point to the exact sentence.
Question 21
Answer: farmingParagraph B, middle
Besides fuel, why did the settlers clear land?
When the islanders cleared the forests for firewood and farming, the forests didn't grow back.
Question says → Passage says
cutting down its trees for fuelcleared the forests for firewood
clearing land forand farming
Why: The summary splits the sentence into two: firewood becomes 'fuel', and the second reason is farming. One word only.
The trap: 'Fishing' is in the next sentence, but that's what the canoes were for, not a reason to clear land.
Question 22
Answer: canoesParagraph B, middle
What could the islanders no longer build for fishing?
As trees became scarce and they could no longer construct wooden canoes for fishing
Question says → Passage says
no longer able to buildcould no longer construct
they needed to go fishingfor fishing
Why: 'Build' = 'construct', and what they couldn't build was canoes. 'The ___ they needed' wants a plural noun.
The trap: 'Wooden canoes' breaks the ONE WORD limit, and 'boats' isn't the passage's word.
Question 23
Answer: birdsParagraph B, middle
What did the islanders start eating instead?
they could no longer construct wooden canoes for fishing, they ate birds
Question says → Passage says
using… as a food sourceate
Why: With no canoes, they ate birds. 'The island's ___' needs a plural noun, and 'birds' is the only food named here.
The trap: 'Crops' appear in the next sentence, but those were always food. The switch the summary describes is to birds.
Question 24
Answer: woodParagraph C, fourth sentence
Besides lots of people, what else did moving the statues need a lot of?
Diamond thinks they laid the moai on wooden sledges, hauled over log rails, but that required both a lot of wood and a lot of people.
Question says → Passage says
methods of transporting the statueslaid the moai on wooden sledges, hauled over log rails
not only a great number of people, but also a great deal ofboth a lot of wood and a lot of people
Why: 'A great deal of' needs an uncountable noun, and 'a lot of wood' gives it. The order of people and wood is swapped, but the meaning matches.
The trap: 'Land' also fits grammatically, and the next sentence says land was cleared. But that was to feed the people, not to move the statues.
Multiple choice (choose TWO)
Questions 25-26
How to attack this block: Line up what Diamond says in C against what Hunt and Lipo say in E. Disagreements need both sides to give a view. The origin of the builders was settled in A, so it isn't a disagreement.
Question 25-26
Answer: B and C (in either order)Paragraphs C and E
Which two things do Hunt and Lipo see differently from Diamond?
The moai, he thinks, accelerated the self-destruction… moai-building was an activity that helped keep the peace between islanders… moving the moai required few people and no wood, because they were walked upright
Question says → Passage says
how the moai were transportedlaid the moai on wooden sledges, hauled over log rails / they were walked upright
the impact of the moai on Rapanui societyaccelerated the self-destruction / helped keep the peace between islanders
Why: B: Diamond says the moai were dragged on sledges and logs; Hunt and Lipo say they were walked upright with ropes. C: Diamond says the statues sped up the island's collapse; Hunt and Lipo say building them kept the peace.
The trap: E (the origins of the builders) is the tempting one, because paragraph A discusses who built the moai. That question is settled: everyone accepts they were Polynesian. Nobody compares carving methods (D) or dates (A).
The origin of the moai builders (E) is the strong distractor. Science has proved they were Polynesian, so Diamond and Hunt and Lipo don't disagree on it.
Words from this passage worth keeping
definitively(A)
in a final way that can't be questioned
scrawny(B)
thin and weak-looking
lush(B)
thick, green and growing well
accelerated(C)
made something happen faster
asserting their dominance(C)
showing that they had the most power
contend(E)
argue that something is true
decimated(F)
killed a large part of
stewards(G)
people who look after something responsibly
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The full Cambridge 11 Test 2 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 2, Reading Passage 2. 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.
