After plague killed half of Milan, Leonardo da Vinci designed an 'ideal city' on the Ticino River. It was never built, but it was centuries ahead of its time: several levels linked by outdoor staircases, services underneath, canals worked by clocks and basins, and street widths matched to house heights. Haussmann's Paris echoed it, and planners today see it as a model for compact, sustainable cities.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN (27-33) runs from A to E. The summary (34-40) takes over from E and runs to the end, I.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
Questions 27-33
How to attack this block: Three are NOT GIVEN, and each uses a real detail to tempt you: 'genius' and '500 years' are both in A but aren't linked, deaths from plague and climate are both mentioned but never compared, and Pienza and Ferrara were redesigned with no mention of protests. The FALSEs are the plan never being built and Leonardo's disordered notes.
Question 27
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph A
Did people start calling Leonardo a genius 500 years ago?
The word 'genius' is universally associated with the name of Leonardo da Vinci… Five hundred years have passed since Leonardo died
Question says → Passage says
referred to Leonardo da Vinci as a geniusThe word 'genius' is universally associated with the name of Leonardo da Vinci
500 years agoFive hundred years have passed since Leonardo died
Why: Both parts of the statement are in A, but separately. 'Genius' is linked with his name today, and 500 years is the time since his death. Nothing says when people first called him a genius, so it's NOT GIVEN.
The trap: The statement glues two real details together. Because both are in the paragraph, people answer TRUE without checking that the passage actually connects them.
Question 28
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph B, first two sentences
Will the climate crisis kill more people than the plague did?
which caused a global crisis resulting in some 200 million deaths across Europe and Asia. Today, the world is on the cusp of a climate crisis, which is predicted to cause widespread displacement, extinctions and death
Question says → Passage says
the plaguethe spread of the plague in the 14th century
The current climate crisis is predicted to causea climate crisis, which is predicted to cause
Why: The plague figure is 200 million deaths, and the climate crisis is predicted to cause 'widespread… death'. But no number is given for climate deaths, and the two are never compared. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'Predicted to cause… death' matches half the statement word for word. What's missing is the comparison 'more than the plague', and that's what decides the answer.
Question 29
Answer: TRUEParagraph B, last sentence
Can today's problems be compared with problems from the past?
Then, as now, radical solutions were called for to revolutionise the way people lived and safeguard humanity against catastrophe.
Question says → Passage says
can be compared to those of earlier timesThen, as now
Some of the challenges we face todaythe world is on the cusp of a climate crisis
Why: The whole of B sets the 14th-century plague beside today's climate crisis, and 'Then, as now' makes the comparison directly: both times needed radical solutions. TRUE.
The trap: Students who answered NOT GIVEN to 28 sometimes carry the doubt over. Question 28 is about which crisis kills more; this one only asks whether they're compared, and they are.
Question 30
Answer: FALSEParagraph C, second sentence
Was Leonardo's ideal city built in the 15th century?
he began to work on an 'ideal city' project, which - due to its excessive costs - would remain unfulfilled
Question says → Passage says
was constructedwould remain unfulfilled
in the 15th centuryAround 1486
Why: 'Unfulfilled' means it never happened. The project was too expensive and was never built, in the 15th century or later. FALSE.
The trap: 1486 is in the 15th century, and the passage talks a lot about the plan's features as if they existed. But 'remain unfulfilled' rules out construction.
Question 31
Answer: TRUEParagraph C, last sentence
Is bad urban planning a major cause of climate change?
given that unsustainable urban models are a key cause of global climate change today
Question says → Passage says
Poor town planningunsustainable urban models
a major contributor toa key cause of
Why: 'Unsustainable urban models' is poor town planning, and 'a key cause' is 'a major contributor'. The statement is a straight paraphrase, so TRUE.
The trap: 'Given that' makes the claim sound like background, so some students treat it as an assumption and answer NOT GIVEN. It's stated as a fact.
Question 32
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph D, second sentence
Did local people protest against the changes to Pienza and Ferrara?
prominent Renaissance men pushed forward large-scale urban projects in Italy, such as the reconfiguration of the town of Pienza and the expansion of the city of Ferrara
Question says → Passage says
the changes to Pienza and Ferrarathe reconfiguration of the town of Pienza and the expansion of the city of Ferrara
Why: The passage says these projects happened and that they inspired Leonardo. It never mentions how local people reacted, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'Pushed forward' can sound like the projects were forced through against opposition. It only means the men drove the projects on; nothing is said about resistance.
Question 33
Answer: FALSEParagraph E, first sentence
Did Leonardo keep tidy, organised records of his designs?
It is not easy to identify a coordinated vision of Leonardo's ideal city because of his disordered way of working with notes and sketches.
Question says → Passage says
a neat, organised recorddisordered way of working
his designsnotes and sketches
Why: 'Disordered' is the opposite of 'neat, organised', and it's the reason his vision is hard to piece together. FALSE.
The trap: 'The largest collection of Leonardo's papers ever assembled' sounds organised, but that collection was assembled by others later, and it says nothing about how he kept them.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 34-40
How to attack this block: The summary follows E to I. Watch the word forms: the field of expertise shown by the canals, the word for the street-width principle (a 'rule' still followed), and the adjective for the ancient cities. The last gap is the direction modern cities should stop building in.
Question 34
Answer: transportParagraph E, third sentence
What was the new city designed to make easier for goods?
He designed the city for the easy transport of goods and clean urban spaces
Question says → Passage says
better ___ for tradethe easy transport of goods
a less polluted environmentclean urban spaces
Why: The summary's two aims match the sentence in order: easy transport of goods, then clean spaces. 'Trade' replaces 'goods', so the gap is the noun before it: transport.
The trap: 'Streets' or 'architecture' come next in the paragraph, but those are about comfort and order, not trade.
Question 35
Answer: staircasesParagraph F, third and fourth sentences
Which outside feature of the design can be seen on some tower blocks today?
Leonardo wanted the city to be built on several levels, linked with vertical outdoor staircases. This design can be seen in some of today's high-rise buildings but was unconventional at the time.
Question says → Passage says
some tower blocks todaysome of today's high-rise buildings
on the exterior of a buildingoutdoor
unconventionalunconventional at the time
Why: 'Tower blocks' = 'high-rise buildings', and 'on the exterior' replaces 'outdoor'. The feature itself is the staircases. The gap is followed by 'on the exterior', so you need the plural noun only.
The trap: 'Levels' is in the same sentence, but levels aren't on the outside of a building. Don't write 'outdoor staircases' either: the limit is one word.
Question 36
Answer: engineeringParagraph G, second and third sentences
Which field of expertise do the canal plans show?
But the true originality of Leonardo's vision was its fusion of architecture and engineering. Leonardo designed extensive hydraulic plants to create artificial canals throughout the city.
Question says → Passage says
wasn't only an architectfusion of architecture and
plans for artificial canalsdesigned extensive hydraulic plants to create artificial canals
Why: The summary says he wasn't only an architect, and the passage pairs architecture with engineering. The canal plans that follow are the evidence of his engineering. 'Expertise in ___' needs a noun.
The trap: 'Hydraulic' is the obvious word near the canals, but it's an adjective, and 'expertise in hydraulic' isn't English. 'Architecture' is already ruled out by 'wasn't only an architect'.
Question 37
Answer: ruleParagraph G, last sentence
What word describes the street-width idea that many Italian cities still follow?
the width of the streets ought to match the average height of the adjacent houses: a rule still followed in many contemporary cities across Italy
Question says → Passage says
height of houses… width of streetsthe width of the streets ought to match the average height of the adjacent houses
The design of many cities in Italy today followsstill followed in many contemporary cities across Italy
Why: The colon introduces what the idea is called: 'a rule still followed'. The summary turns the verb round ('follows this ___'), so the gap takes the noun: rule.
The trap: Students often write 'principle' or 'idea', which are fine in meaning but aren't in the passage. Use the passage's own word.
Question 38
Answer: RomanParagraph H, first sentence
Cities from which period already had some of Leonardo's features?
Although some of these features existed in Roman cities, before Leonardo's drawings there had never been a multi-level, compact modern city
Question says → Passage says
some cities from ___ times have aspectssome of these features existed in
can also be found in Leonardo's designsthese features
Why: 'Some of these features existed in Roman cities' is the summary's 'some cities from ___ times have aspects'. Write 'Roman' with a capital letter.
The trap: 'Renaissance' and 'medieval' also describe times in the passage. But medieval cities were what Leonardo wanted to replace, and the Renaissance was his own time.
Question 39
Answer: ParisParagraph H, last sentence
Which city was redesigned in the 19th century in a Leonardo-like way?
is an idea that can be found in Georges-Eugène Haussmann's renovation of Paris under Emperor Napoleon III between 1853 and 1870
Question says → Passage says
redesigned in the 19th centuryrenovation of… between 1853 and 1870
in the way that Leonardo had envisagedthe subdivision of the city by function
Why: The gap needs a city, and the one renovated between 1853 and 1870 is Paris. Those dates are in the 19th century, which matches 'it wasn't until the 19th century' just before.
The trap: 'Haussmann' is right there, but he's a person, and the summary asks for 'a city'. Milan was where the plague struck, and the ideal city was planned for the Ticino, not redesigned.
Question 40
Answer: outwardsParagraph I, second sentence
Which way of building no longer seems best for cities?
Many scholars think that the compact city, built upwards instead of outwards
Question says → Passage says
no longer seems to be the best approachinstead of
buildingbuilt
Why: Scholars prefer cities 'built upwards instead of outwards'. The approach being replaced is the one after 'instead of', so the summary's 'building ___ no longer seems best' needs 'outwards'.
The trap: 'Upwards' is the word you see first and the one that's praised. The summary asks for the approach that's no longer best, which is the opposite.
NOT GIVEN. The plague killed some 200 million, and the climate crisis is predicted to cause widespread death, but the passage never says which is worse.
'Built upwards instead of outwards': the approach to move away from is building outwards.
Words from this passage worth keeping
embodied(A)
showed a quality clearly in himself
on the cusp of(B)
just about to experience
safeguard(B)
protect from harm
pestilence(C)
a deadly disease that spreads widely
renowned(D)
famous and admired
rigour(D)
great care and accuracy
fusion(G)
a joining together of different things into one
adjacent(G)
next to or beside
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The full Cambridge 18 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 18, Test 2, Reading Passage 3. 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.
