The Risks of Cigarette Smoke: reading answers and analysis
Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals and causes most lung cancers and many other deaths. Passive smoking is dangerous too: the EPA put second-hand smoke in its highest cancer-risk category, and a UCSF study argues it harms non-smokers more than smokers, whose bodies partly adapt. Carbon monoxide starves the heart of oxygen, and nicotine promotes clots.
Questions 15-28 · 14 marks · 4 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The multiple choice (15-17) uses the second and seventh paragraphs. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (18-21) covers the second to sixth. The phrase matching (22-24) and the source classification (25-28) need the UCSF and EPA paragraphs.
Questions 15-17
Leukaemia and pneumonia both appear in the list of smoking-related illnesses. Carbon monoxide competes with oxygen and blocks its delivery to the heart. Nicotine activates platelets, making clots more likely. It doesn't increase the number of platelets.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | B | — |
| 16 | A | — |
| 17 | C | — |
Questions 18-21
The 30% figure is for cancer deaths, not all deaths, so the first statement is NO. Exposure in childhood and adolescence accounts for 17% of lung cancers (YES). The passage never says a spouse starts smoking, or who paid for the UCSF study.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | NO | — |
| 19 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 20 | YES | — |
| 21 | NOT GIVEN | — |
Questions 22-24
Passive smoking harms non-smokers more than smokers. A smoker faces higher risk of various cancers. The AMA opposes smoking and publishes research. Several phrases twist real facts (the two most preventable causes, just as harmful to both), so check each against the text.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | E | — |
| 23 | G | — |
| 24 | H | — |
Questions 25-28
Separate finding from opinion. The cardiovascular adaptation is a UCSF finding. The philosophical question and smoke-free public places are UCSF opinions. Side-stream smoke being more harmful is from the EPA report. The tobacco consultants' assumption isn't used.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | A | — |
| 26 | B | — |
| 27 | B | — |
| 28 | C | — |
The questions most people get wrong
NO. Smoking is responsible for 30% of all deaths from cancer, not 30% of all US deaths.
B (an opinion of UCSF). The report sets aside 'the philosophical question' of breathing others' smoke, a view rather than a measured finding.
C. Nicotine activates platelets, which increases the chance of clots. D tempts, but nothing says the number of platelets rises.
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Cambridge IELTS 3, 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.