Even if emissions stopped today, warming would continue for decades, so places are adapting. The passage visits five projects: Miami Beach raising its roads and pumping out water, bamboo dams that help Java's mangroves regrow, floating houses in the Mekong Delta, salt-tolerant vegetables in Bangladesh, and heat-reflecting streets and trees in Los Angeles.
Each paragraph from B to F is one place and one person. The paragraph matching (14-17) uses A, C, D and F. The sentence completions (18-22) take one answer from each of B to F in order. The people matching (23-26) returns to B, C, D and F.
Matching information (paragraphs A-F)
Questions 14-17
How to attack this block: The 40-year warming forecast is in A. How mangroves protect coastlines (trapping sediment, calming waves) is in C. Cost-effectiveness is the floating houses in D, at about a third of the cost of new foundations. The data-mapping tool that found streets with little shade is in F.
Question 14
Answer: CParagraph C, second sentence
Which paragraph explains how a plant protects coasts naturally?
ecosystems of trees and shrubs that help defend coastal areas by trapping sediment in their net-like root systems, elevating the sea bed and dampening the energy of waves
Question says → Passage says
a type of plantcoastal mangroves: ecosystems of trees and shrubs
functions as a natural protection for coastlineshelp defend coastal areas
howby trapping sediment… elevating the sea bed and dampening the energy of waves
Why: 'How' needs a method, and C gives three: mangrove roots trap sediment, raise the sea bed and calm the waves. That's a natural defence for the coast. C.
The trap: Paragraph E is also about plants (salt-tolerant crops), but they're food, not protection for coastlines.
Question 15
Answer: AParagraph A, second sentence
Which paragraph predicts how long climate change effects will go on?
Even if we stopped all CO2 emissions tomorrow… with scientists forecasting that global warming would continue for around 40 years.
Question says → Passage says
a predictionscientists forecasting
how long it could take to stop noticing the effectswould continue for around 40 years / we would continue to see the impact
Why: If warming continues for about 40 years even after emissions stop, that's how long before we stop seeing the effects. 'Forecasting' = 'prediction'. A.
The trap: Pineda in B mentions '20, 30, 40 years', which also sounds like a time prediction. She's saying when Miami Beach will need more work, not when the effects of climate change will stop.
Question 16
Answer: DParagraph D, middle
Which paragraph says a solution is especially good value?
It's much cheaper than permanently elevating houses, English explains - about a third of what it would cost to completely replace a building's foundations.
Question says → Passage says
particularly cost-effectivemuch cheaper / about a third of what it would cost
a solutionthis technology
Why: Making houses float costs about a third of replacing the foundations. 'Much cheaper' is the cost-effective point. D.
The trap: B describes Miami Beach's programme as 'ambitious', and big pumps and raised roads suggest cost, but no paragraph except D actually compares prices.
Question 17
Answer: FParagraph F, fourth sentence
Which paragraph mentions technology used to find the places that most need help?
Using a Geographic Information System data mapping tool, the programme identified streets with low tree canopy cover
Question says → Passage says
a technologya Geographic Information System data mapping tool
locate areas most in need of interventionidentified streets with low tree canopy cover
Why: The mapping tool found streets with little tree shade, which were the ones that needed cooling most. 'Identified' = 'locate'. F.
The trap: F also mentions the International Space Station's thermal image. That shows the result afterwards; it wasn't used to find the streets.
Sentence completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 18-22
How to attack this block: One sentence per case study, in passage order, so once you find the place name the answer is close by. Question 20 needs a verb (what the houses can do), and question 21 needs a plural noun for what the farmers grow.
Question 18
Answer: pumpsParagraph B, fourth sentence
What efficient equipment was installed in Miami Beach's stormwater programme?
the city has set up new pumps that can remove up to 75,000 litres of water per minute
Question says → Passage says
installationset up
efficientcan remove up to 75,000 litres of water per minute
Why: 'Set up' = 'installation', and 75,000 litres a minute shows how efficient they are. The gap needs a plural noun: 'pumps'.
The trap: 'Roads' were also part of the programme, but they were raised, not installed, and the passage gives the efficiency figure for the pumps.
Question 19
Answer: damsParagraph C, fourth sentence
What was built first to help mangroves succeed in Indonesia?
Wetlands International started out with a different approach, building semi-permeable dams, made from bamboo poles and brushwood
Question says → Passage says
the first stagestarted out with
The construction ofbuilding
ensure the success of mangrovescreate favourable conditions for mangroves to grow back naturally
Why: 'Started out with' tells you it was the first step, and what they built was 'dams'. One word only, so leave out 'semi-permeable'.
The trap: 'Seawalls' are built on the same coast, but they're the approach that keeps collapsing, not Wetlands International's project.
Question 20
Answer: floatParagraph D, second sentence
What can the organisation's houses in the Mekong Delta do?
Homes in this part of Vietnam are traditionally built on stilts but these ones had been built to float.
Question says → Passage says
As a response to rising floodwatersAs the floodwaters rose… four small houses rose with them
houses that canhad been built to
Why: After 'can' you need a base verb, and the houses were built 'to float'. Write 'float', not 'floating'.
The trap: 'Rise' also works with 'can', and the houses did rise with the water. But the passage's word for what they were built to do is 'float', and the organisation's name, Buoyant, backs it up.
Question 21
Answer: cropsParagraph E, fifth sentence
What has been introduced in Bangladesh that suits salty land?
ICCO Cooperation has been working with 10,000 farmers in Bangladesh to start cultivating naturally salt-tolerant crops in the region.
Question says → Passage says
introduce variousstart cultivating
suitable for areas of high salt contentnaturally salt-tolerant / better suited to salty soil
Why: The gap needs a plural noun after 'various', and the salt-tolerant things introduced are 'crops'. The next sentence lists the varieties: carrot, potato, cabbage and more.
The trap: 'Vegetables' fits the meaning, but the passage only uses it in a quotation about a garden. The direct match for 'salt-tolerant' is 'crops'.
Question 22
Answer: treesParagraph F, second sentence
What has the LA project added more of on city streets?
a series of pilot projects, which include the planting of trees and the installation of a 'cool pavement' system
Question says → Passage says
A project in LAthe Cool Streets LA programme
increased the number ofthe planting of
Why: Planting trees increases the number of trees. 'Number of' needs a countable plural, so 'trees' fits; you can't count 'pavement'.
The trap: 'Pavement' or 'coating' is the other half of the project, but neither is countable after 'number of', and the coating changes streets that are already there.
Matching statements to people
Questions 23-26
How to attack this block: Toi wants approaches that involve local communities. Spotts calls urban cooling a matter of life and death. Pineda expects to go back and adjust in 20-40 years. English says the technology is now needed in places that didn't need it before. Chowdhury isn't used.
Question 23
Answer: BParagraph C, last sentence
Who says we must use approaches that involve and benefit local people?
it's critical that we transition towards multifunctional approaches that embed natural processes and that engage and benefit communities and local decision-makers
Question says → Passage says
It is essentialit's critical
adopt strategiestransition towards multifunctional approaches
involve and help residents of the regionengage and benefit communities and local decision-makers
Why: Critical = essential, approaches = strategies, engage and benefit = involve and help, communities = residents. Every part matches Toi. B.
The trap: Chowdhury (D) works with local farmers, which is involving residents. But he describes what his project does; he never says it's essential to adopt this kind of strategy.
Question 24
Answer: EParagraph F, third sentence
Who says cooling the heat is vital for survival in their city?
'Urban cooling is literally a matter of life and death for our future in LA,' says Spotts.
Question says → Passage says
Interventions which reduce heatUrban cooling
absolutely vital for our survivalliterally a matter of life and death
in this locationin LA
Why: 'A matter of life and death' is the idiom for vital to survival, and 'urban cooling' is reducing heat. E.
Question 25
Answer: AParagraph B, last sentence
Who says more work will be needed in the coming decades because of rising water?
'We know that in 20, 30, 40 years, we'll need to go back in there and adjust to the changing environment,' she says.
Question says → Passage says
More work will need to be donewe'll need to go back in there and adjust
in future decadesin 20, 30, 40 years
the impact of rising water levelsthe changing environment / seawater… seeping up through the ground
Why: Pineda says Miami Beach will have to go back and adjust again in 20 to 40 years, and the job 'is far from over'. That's future work against rising water. A.
The trap: Paragraph A also gives a 40-year figure, but it's an unnamed scientists' forecast, not one of the people on the list.
Question 26
Answer: CParagraph D, fourth sentence
Who says more places now need to adapt to flooding than before?
this technology is becoming necessary in places that didn't previously need it
Question says → Passage says
The number of locations… has grownbecoming necessary in places that didn't previously need it
in recent yearsWhen I started this… climate change was not on the tip of everybody's tongue
Why: If places that didn't need floating houses before need them now, the number of places needing flood action has grown. English compares now with when she started in 2006. C.
The trap: Pineda (A) talks about future flood work, but only for one city, Miami Beach. The idea of more and more locations is English's.
Wetlands International's first step was building semi-permeable dams from bamboo and brushwood. 'Seawalls' is wrong, because those are the approach that kept collapsing.
A. The claim that warming would continue for around 40 years even if emissions stopped is the prediction about how long the effects will last.
Words from this passage worth keeping
breach(B)
break through a barrier
seep(B)
flow slowly through small openings
exacerbate(C)
make a problem worse
sediment(C)
sand, mud and stones carried by water
subsidence(C)
the gradual sinking of land
retrofit(D)
add new features to an existing building
salinity(E)
the amount of salt in soil or water
barren(E)
unable to produce plants or crops
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The full Cambridge 20 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 20, Test 4, 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.
