Why we need silence: reading answers and analysis
Noise does real damage to health, and cities from London to New York are starting to turn the volume down. The second half follows the research: flotation tanks, what silence does to the brain, and why a few quiet minutes a day may beat a long silent retreat.
Questions 14-26 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
Questions 14-17 jump around sections A to G. The summary (18-21) sits entirely in sections D and E, in order. For 22-26 each expert owns a block of text: Antonio in B-C, Feinstein in D-E, Ben-Soussan in F, Pfeifer in G.
Questions 14-17
These are not in order and three sections go unused. Leave this block until last. By then you have read every section for the other two blocks, and each statement matches one kind of content: body changes, statistics, city policies, a comparison of two settings.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | C | — |
| 15 | B | — |
| 16 | A | — |
| 17 | G | — |
Questions 18-21
Every gap is a single word lifted straight from D and E, in order. Watch the grammar around each gap: 18 needs something you can focus on, 19 something you complete, 21 a condition.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | breath | — |
| 19 | questionnaire | — |
| 20 | wellbeing | — |
| 21 | depression | — |
Questions 22-26
Draw a box around each expert's section before you start. The statements paraphrase hard, so match the claim, not a keyword. One expert is used twice and one statement sits close to two people. Check who says what, not who talks about the topic.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | C | — |
| 23 | A | — |
| 24 | B | — |
| 25 | D | — |
| 26 | C | — |
The questions most people get wrong
Two experts say silence doesn't suit everyone. Only Ben-Soussan (F) says it's distressing when people don't want it, and 'against their will' is exactly that. Pfeifer's point in G is about people already under heavy stress.
The garden study in G compares a quiet garden with a completely silent room. That comparison is the whole statement, so G is the answer, not D with its soundproof tank.
The brain network is 'commonly linked with depression'. The gap wants the condition, so 'depression', not 'stress' from earlier in the paragraph.
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The full Cambridge 21 Test 1 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 21, Test 1, Reading Passage 2. 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.