Could urban engineers learn from dance?: reading answers and analysis
Transport engineers design cities from models and screens that ignore how movement feels, and the results backfire: Atlanta's Peachtree Center, and British guard rails that were meant to keep pedestrians safe but divide communities and push people into risky crossings. The writer suggests engineers learn from choreographers, who test movement with their bodies and design for emotion as well as function.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 2 question blocks
Where the answers sit
Paragraph matching (1-6) uses six different letters from A to F, and G is left over. The summary (7-13) is entirely in E, the guard-rail paragraph, in order.
Questions 1-6
Each item fits one paragraph. A says transport affects health, social life and access to work. B says the writer isn't suggesting people dance to work. C contrasts medieval builders with modern designers. D has cafés that couldn't work in the hot sun. E explains why guard rails are being removed. F names the aim dance and engineering share.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | — |
| 2 | C | — |
| 3 | F | — |
| 4 | D | — |
| 5 | E | — |
| 6 | A | — |
Questions 7-13
The summary follows E line by line. Watch the word class: two nouns for what guard rails protect and prioritise, a noun for the half of the road crossed at a time, then adjectives for who is most affected and how people cross, a plural noun for what the rails divide, and an adjective for the transport they discourage.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | safety | — |
| 8 | traffic | — |
| 9 | carriageway | — |
| 10 | mobile | — |
| 11 | dangerous | — |
| 12 | communities | — |
| 13 | healthy | — |
The questions most people get wrong
B. The writer makes clear he isn't suggesting everyone should dance their way to work, even if it would make them healthier and happier.
D. The Peachtree cafés couldn't cope with the hot sun without awnings, a climate problem the computer models missed.
Crossings are split into two, 'one for each carriageway', so pedestrians cross one carriageway at a time.
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The full Cambridge 15 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 15, Test 2, Reading Passage 1. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.