Back to the future of skyscraper design: reading answers and analysis
Architect Alan Short argues that sealed, air-conditioned buildings waste huge amounts of energy. He looks back to 19th-century hospitals, built to fight feared miasmas, whose natural ventilation worked remarkably well, and says modern buildings can learn from them.
Section matching (14-18) is out of order and spread from B to F. The summary (19-26) runs in order from D to F: the first paragraph covers D and E, the second covers F.
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.
Q
Your answer
Answer
Questions 14-18 · Matching information (sections A-I)
How to attack this block: Each item is a single idea, often a paraphrase of one sentence. 'Prestige' is status symbols, 'advertising' is aggressive marketing, and 'tested' is digital modelling. D and E both discuss the hospital research, so separate the test itself from the comparison with today.
Question 14
Answer: FSection F
Which section explains why some people stayed away from 19th-century hospitals?
Foul air, rather than germs, was believed to be the main driver of 'hospital fever', leading to disease and frequent death. The prosperous steered clear of hospitals.
Question says → Passage says
some peopleThe prosperous
avoided hospitalssteered clear of hospitals
whyFoul air… was believed to be the main driver of 'hospital fever'
Why: 'Steered clear of' means 'avoided', and the wealthy did it because they believed foul air in hospitals caused fever and death. The reason comes in the sentence before.
The trap: E mentions single rooms and communal wards, but that's about modern hospital design, not people avoiding hospitals.
Question 15
Answer: CSection C, last sentence
Which section links tall buildings to status?
Short regards glass, steel and air-conditioned skyscrapers as symbols of status, rather than practical ways of meeting our requirements.
Question says → Passage says
tall buildingsglass, steel and air-conditioned skyscrapers
linked to prestigesymbols of status
Why: 'Prestige' is 'status', and 'tall buildings' is 'skyscrapers'. Short says people build them for show, not because they meet practical needs.
The trap: I also discusses glass skyscrapers, but there they become a future liability. Nothing about status.
Question 16
Answer: ESection E, first sentence
Which section compares airflow in an old building with modern standards?
We discovered that 19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour - that's similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre.
Question says → Passage says
the circulation of air in a 19th-century building19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour
a comparison… modern standardssimilar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre
Why: The comparison is explicit: 24 air changes an hour, 'similar to' a modern operating theatre. That's old airflow measured against a modern standard.
The trap: D is about the same hospitals and the same research, but it describes how they tested the airflow, not how it compares with today.
Question 17
Answer: DSection D, end
Which section describes how Short tested airflow in a 19th-century building?
We spent three years digitally modelling Billings' final designs,' says Short. 'We put pathogens in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards
Question says → Passage says
how Short testeddigitally modelling / We put pathogens in the airstreams
a 19th-century buildingthe first Johns Hopkins Hospital in the US city of Baltimore (1873-1889)
Why: D gives the method step by step: three years of digital modelling, adding pathogens to the airflow, simulating a coughing TB patient. That's 'how he tested'.
The trap: H describes a building of Short's that is naturally ventilated, but it's a modern university building, and there's no testing method.
Question 18
Answer: BSection B, last sentence
Which section suggests advertising drove the spread of air conditioning?
before the widespread introduction of air conditioning systems, which were 'relentlessly and aggressively marketed' by their inventors
Question says → Passage says
advertisingrelentlessly and aggressively marketed
the large increase in the use of air conditioningthe widespread introduction of air conditioning systems
Why: Air conditioning became widespread, and the passage adds that it was 'relentlessly and aggressively marketed'. Putting those side by side implies that the marketing helped spread it.
The trap: G says a lot of a building's cost goes on air conditioning, but it doesn't say why it became popular.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 19-26
How to attack this block: Go through D, E and F in order. Most gaps are nouns, and one is an adjective describing a type of ward. Gaps 24 and 25 come from the same sentence about panic over bad air, and 26 is the disease named with London and Paris.
Question 19
Answer: designSection D, first two sentences
Also accepted: designs
What aspect of hospitals did Billings influence?
including the design of ingeniously ventilated hospitals. Of particular interest were those built to the designs of John Shaw Billings
Question says → Passage says
the architectural ___ of hospitalsthe design of ingeniously ventilated hospitals
influencedthose built to the designs of John Shaw Billings
Why: Hospitals were built to Billings' designs, so he shaped their design. The gap follows 'architectural' and needs a noun; the key accepts 'design' or 'designs'.
The trap: 'Ventilation' fits the topic but not the summary: the sentence already ends with 'good ventilation'.
Question 20
Answer: pathogensSection D, last sentence
What did Short's team put in the air from patients?
We put pathogens in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm.
Question says → Passage says
in the air coming from patientsin the airstreams… coughing
would not have harmed other patientswould have kept other patients safe from harm
Why: The thing in the air that might have harmed others is the 'pathogens' they added to the airstreams. It's plural, which matches 'would not have harmed' with no 'a' before the gap.
The trap: 'Airstreams' is next to it, but airstreams don't harm anyone; they carry what does.
Question 21
Answer: tuberculosisSection D, last sentence
Also accepted: TB
What illness were the modelled patients suffering from?
modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards
Question says → Passage says
patients suffering fromsomeone with
Why: 'Suffering from' is 'with', and the illness is tuberculosis. The key also accepts 'TB'. Check the spelling if you write the full word.
The trap: Don't write 'pathogens' twice. The gap needs a named disease.
Question 22
Answer: wardsSection E, first sentence
Where in hospitals could the air change as often as in an operating theatre?
19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour
Question says → Passage says
the air in ___ in hospitals could changehospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour
as often as in a modern operating theatresimilar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre
Why: The air changes happen in hospital 'wards'. The gap has no article before it, so it needs a plural noun.
The trap: 'Rooms' appears in D, but the 24 air changes figure is about wards.
Question 23
Answer: communalSection E
What kind of areas could patients be put in to save energy?
Communal wards appropriate for certain patients - older people with dementia, for example - would work just as well in today's hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost.
Question says → Passage says
energy use could be reducedat a fraction of the energy cost
locating more patients in ___ areasCommunal wards appropriate for certain patients
Why: The gap comes before 'areas', so it needs an adjective. Short suggests 'communal' wards, which would use a fraction of the energy.
The trap: 'Single' appears in the sentence before, but Short says single rooms aren't right for everyone. Putting more patients in single areas wouldn't save energy.
Question 24
Answer: publicSection F, first sentence
Who demanded protection from bad air?
driven by a panicked public clamouring for buildings that could protect against what was thought to be the lethal threat of miasmas
Question says → Passage says
A major reason for improving ventilationMuch of the ingenuity present in 19th-century hospital and building design was driven by
the demand from thea panicked… clamouring for
Why: 'Clamouring for' means loudly demanding, and the group doing it is the public. The gap follows 'the', so 'public' fits as a noun.
The trap: 'The prosperous' appears at the end of F, but they avoided hospitals rather than demanding better ones.
Question 25
Answer: miasmasSection F, first sentence
What was bad air called?
the lethal threat of miasmas - toxic air that spread disease
Question says → Passage says
bad airtoxic air that spread disease
known asmiasmas
Why: The passage defines 'miasmas' as toxic air, and the summary turns that round: bad air, known as miasmas. Use the plural, because the next sentence says 'These were blamed'.
The trap: 'Germs' is in the same paragraph, but the passage contrasts germs with foul air, so it's the wrong concept.
Question 26
Answer: choleraSection F, second sentence
Which epidemics hit London and Paris in the mid-1800s?
from the Middle Ages right through to the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during the 1850s
Question says → Passage says
for hundreds of yearsfor centuries / from the Middle Ages right through to
epidemics of ___ in London and Paristhe cholera outbreaks in London and Paris
the middle of the 19th centuryduring the 1850s
Why: 'Outbreaks' becomes 'epidemics', and 'the 1850s' becomes 'the middle of the 19th century'. The disease named is cholera.
The trap: 'Hospital fever' is mentioned straight after, but it isn't tied to London and Paris, and it's two words.
B. The marketing point is a short phrase in quotation marks at the end of the paragraph and is easy to skim past.
Words from this passage worth keeping
culmination(A)
the final result of a long process
squander(A)
waste something valuable
habitable(C)
fit to live or work in
ingeniously(D)
in a clever, original way
lament(E)
express sadness or regret about something
clamouring for(F)
loudly demanding something
steer clear of(F)
deliberately avoid
liability(I)
something that causes problems or costs
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The full Cambridge 14 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 14, 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.
