A history of keeping food cold: freeze-dried Andean potatoes, Arctic ice towed across the Atlantic, Australian 'mechanical ice' for beer and then meat exports, and Clarence Birdseye's quick-freezing, learned from Inuit fishermen. Wartime tin rationing, affordable fridges and Swanson's TV Dinner turned frozen food into a huge industry.
The notes (1-7) are organised by date and follow the passage from A to I, so the dates are your signposts. The TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN statements (8-13) go back through B, D, E and J, then finish with today's figures in K.
Note completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 1-7
How to attack this block: Scan for each date, then read the sentence around it. Question 3 asks what two kinds of food were shipped, so the answer is the general word covering beef and mutton. Question 5 is the packaging material that let shoppers see the food. Question 6 is the metal that was rationed for the war.
Question 1
Answer: potatoesParagraph A, second half
What food did people in the Andes preserve 2,000 years ago?
the inhabitants of South America's Andean mountains had a unique means of conserving potatoes for later consumption
Question says → Passage says
2,000 years ago, South AmericaTwo thousand years ago, the inhabitants of South America's Andean mountains
conserved the nutritional valueThis preserved their nutritional value
a method of freezing then dryingThey froze them overnight… then dried them in the sun
Why: The date and place lead you straight to the Andes, and the food they froze and dried was 'potatoes'. Keep the plural and the spelling (-oes).
The trap: 'Moisture' is in the same passage step ('squeeze out the moisture'), but that's what they removed, not what they preserved.
Question 2
Answer: butterParagraph B, last sentence
What was kept cold with ice on trains in 1851?
In 1851, railroads first began putting blocks of ice in insulated rail cars to send butter from Ogdensburg, New York, to Boston.
Question says → Passage says
specially adapted trainsinsulated rail cars
during transportationto send… from Ogdensburg, New York, to Boston
Why: Scan for 1851. The thing sent in the insulated rail cars was 'butter'. The note's verb is 'was', so one uncountable noun fits.
The trap: 'Ice' is the word right next to the date, but the note already says 'kept cool by ice'. The gap is what the ice was cooling.
Question 3
Answer: meatParagraph D, second and third sentences
What type of food made up the first frozen shipment to England?
they could export meat across the oceans. In 1880, a shipment of Australian beef and mutton was sent, frozen, to England.
Question says → Passage says
Two kinds ofbeef and mutton
shipped to Englanda shipment… was sent, frozen, to England
Why: 'Two kinds of ___' needs the general category that covers both items. Beef and mutton are two kinds of 'meat', and the sentence before uses that exact word.
The trap: 'Beef' or 'mutton' on its own covers only one kind. And 'beer' (the first use of mechanical ice) wasn't shipped to England.
Question 4
Answer: crystalsParagraph G, second sentence
What did Birdseye's quick-freezing stop from ruining the food?
He developed quick-freezing techniques that reduced the damage that crystals caused
Question says → Passage says
quick-freezing methodsquick-freezing techniques
did not spoil the foodreduced the damage that… caused
Why: The damage came from 'crystals', which paragraph D explains: they formed in the cells and burst them, spoiling flavour and texture. Plural noun, matching 'did not'.
The trap: 'Ice' is a tempting near-synonym from paragraph D, but the passage's word for the thing quick-freezing reduced is 'crystals'.
Question 5
Answer: cellophaneParagraph G, third sentence
What material did Birdseye use so shoppers could see the product?
He also introduced the use of cellophane, the first transparent material for food packaging, which allowed consumers to see the quality of the product.
Question says → Passage says
packaging products withthe first transparent material for food packaging
the product was visibleallowed consumers to see the quality of the product
Why: 'Visible' links to 'transparent' and 'see', and the material named is 'cellophane'. Check the spelling: two Ls.
The trap: 'Package' appears in the sentence before (freezing the product in its package), but that's about when it was frozen, not what made it visible.
Question 6
Answer: tinParagraph I, first two sentences
What was in short supply in the early 1940s?
because tin was being used for munitions. Canned foods were rationed to save tin for the war effort
Question says → Passage says
Early 1940sin the early 1940s
became popularSales increased
a shortage ofwas being used for munitions / rationed to save
Why: Tin went to the war, so canned food was rationed, and frozen food filled the gap. The shortage was of 'tin'.
The trap: 'Canned foods' were also limited, but the note needs one word, and the root shortage was the metal. 'Munitions' is what the tin was used for, not what was missing.
Question 7
Answer: refrigeratorParagraph I, last sentence
What did many US homes own by the 1950s?
By 1953, 33 million US families owned a refrigerator
Question says → Passage says
A large number of homes33 million US families
now hadowned
Why: '33 million' is the 'large number', 'families' are the homes, and they 'owned a refrigerator'. The gap follows 'a', so it's a singular noun. Spell it carefully.
The trap: 'Freezer' is the word many people write, because the passage is about frozen food. But the passage says families owned refrigerators, with freezer compartments inside them.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
Questions 8-13
How to attack this block: Both FALSEs are about motives and originality. Birdseye went to Labrador to trade furs after running out of money, not to study freezing. Swanson reused the airlines' aluminium tray rather than designing a new one. The NOT GIVENs ask about wealth and a world ranking that the passage never mentions.
Question 8
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph B, second sentence
Did the ice business make some Boston ship owners rich?
ship owners from Boston, USA, had enormous blocks of Arctic ice towed all over the Atlantic for the purpose of food preservation
Question says → Passage says
The ice transportation businesshad enormous blocks of Arctic ice towed all over the Atlantic
some Boston ship ownersship owners from Boston
Why: You learn what the ship owners did and why, but nothing about profits or wealth. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'Enormous blocks' and 'all over the Atlantic' suggest a big business, and you may assume it paid well. Size of operation isn't wealth, and the passage never mentions money.
Question 9
Answer: TRUEParagraph D, last two sentences
Did the Australian freezing method change how the food tasted?
While the food frozen this way was still palatable, there was some deterioration… this spoilt the flavor and texture of the food.
Question says → Passage says
A disadvantagethere was some deterioration
affected the tastespoilt the flavor
Why: The ice crystals burst the cells and 'spoilt the flavor', which is the taste. That's a disadvantage of the process. TRUE.
The trap: 'Still palatable' (still pleasant to eat) makes some people pick FALSE. But 'still palatable' and 'some deterioration' are both true: the taste was affected, just not ruined.
Question 10
Answer: FALSEParagraph E, second and third sentences
Did Birdseye go to Labrador to study how the Inuit froze fish?
ran out of money and went to Labrador in Canada to trap and trade furs. While he was there, he became fascinated
Question says → Passage says
travelled to Labrador in order towent to Labrador in Canada to
learn how the Inuit people froze fishtrap and trade furs
Why: The purpose of the trip is stated: to trap and trade furs because he had run out of money. His interest in freezing only began 'while he was there'. Different reason, so FALSE.
The trap: He did learn about Inuit freezing in Labrador, so the facts look right. The word 'in order to' asks about his reason for going, and that's what the passage contradicts.
Question 11
Answer: TRUEParagraph J, third sentence
Did Swanson spend a lot on advertising the TV Dinner?
with the help of a clever name and a huge advertising budget, it launched the first 'TV Dinner'
Question says → Passage says
invested a great deal of moneya huge advertising budget
promotionadvertising
Why: A 'huge advertising budget' is a lot of money spent on promotion. TRUE.
Question 12
Answer: FALSEParagraph J, fourth sentence
Did Swanson design a new kind of container for the TV Dinner?
served in the same segmented aluminium tray that was used by airlines
Question says → Passage says
a new style of containerthe same segmented aluminium tray
developedthat was used by airlines
Why: 'The same… tray that was used by airlines' means the container already existed. Swanson reused it, so it wasn't new. FALSE.
The trap: The TV Dinner was new and the name was 'clever', so it's easy to assume everything about it was original. The new parts were the name and the advertising, not the tray.
Question 13
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph K
Is the US frozen food industry the biggest in the world today?
Today, the US frozen food industry has a turnover of over $67 billion annually
Question says → Passage says
currentlyToday
The US frozen food industrythe US frozen food industry
Why: You get the US industry's size, but no other country is mentioned, so there's no ranking. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: $67 billion sounds enormous, which tempts TRUE. A big number on its own doesn't tell you how it compares with other countries.
FALSE. The tray was the same segmented aluminium tray airlines already used. The new things were the name and the advertising.
Words from this passage worth keeping
trample(A)
press down hard with the feet
aesthetic appeal(A)
how attractive something looks
insulated(B)
protected so heat can't get in or out
palatable(D)
pleasant or acceptable to eat
deterioration(D)
the process of becoming worse
lease(H)
let someone use something in return for regular payments
ration(I)
limit the amount of something each person can have
turnover(K)
the total value of sales in a period
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The full Cambridge 20 Test 3 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 3, Reading Passage 1. 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.
