The Return of Artificial Intelligence: reading answers and analysis
The term 'artificial intelligence' is coming back after years out of favour. AI was named in 1956, peaked in the mid-1980s, then suffered when hopes proved unrealistic and its successes stopped being counted as AI. New approaches, investors' interest in clever technology, and information overload may now revive it.
The paragraph matching (27-31) uses E, B, A, F and B again. The TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN block (32-37) runs from B to G in order. The multiple choice (38-40) goes back to C, D and F.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
Q
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Answer
Questions 27-31 · Matching information (paragraphs A-G)
How to attack this block: Letters can repeat, and B is used twice: once for AI combining separate fields and once for where the name was first used. Look for paraphrases like 'battlefield' for military and 'disparate' for separate.
Question 27
Answer: EParagraph E, third sentence
Which paragraph shows a possible military use for AI?
HNC claim that their system, based on a cluster of 30 processors, could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield
Question says → Passage says
military impactspot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield
Why: A battlefield and camouflaged vehicles are military, and 'could be used' matches 'might have'. The system is backed by a government agency too.
The trap: Paragraph G mentions HAL, a film computer, which some people link to defence or space. Nothing there is military.
Question 28
Answer: BParagraph B, second sentence
Which paragraph says AI combines several separate research fields?
a research programme that encompassed such previously disparate fields as operations research, cybernetics, logic and computer science
Question says → Passage says
brings togetherencompassed / unified the field
a range of separate research areaspreviously disparate fields
Why: 'Disparate' means separate and different, and 'encompassed' means brought them under one name. B even says AI 'unified the field in name only'.
The trap: Paragraph C lists sub-disciplines like neural networks and agent technology, but there researchers are splitting away from AI, the opposite of coming together.
Question 29
Answer: AParagraph A, third and fourth sentences
Which paragraph explains why people are talking about AI again?
It re-entered public consciousness with the release of AI, a movie about a robot boy. This has ignited public debate about AI
Question says → Passage says
become a common topic of conversation againre-entered public consciousness / ignited public debate
the reason whywith the release of AI, a movie about a robot boy
Why: The film's release is the reason AI came back into public discussion. 'Public debate' is the common topic of conversation.
The trap: Paragraph F gives reasons AI's prospects may improve (investors, information overload), but that's about business, not public conversation.
Question 30
Answer: FParagraph F, second sentence
Which paragraph says AI could help with too much electronic information?
the problem of information overload, exacerbated by the growth of e-mail and the explosion in the number of web pages
Question says → Passage says
the amount of information available electronicallyinformation overload… e-mail… web pages
help deal with difficultieshelp filter and categorise information
Why: Information overload from e-mail and web pages is the problem, and filtering and categorising it are 'classic AI problems'. That's AI helping with electronic information.
Question 31
Answer: BParagraph B, first sentence
Which paragraph says where the term AI was first used?
The field was launched, and the term 'artificial intelligence' coined, at a conference in 1956
Question says → Passage says
where the expression AI was first usedthe term 'artificial intelligence' coined, at a conference
Why: 'Coined' means invented and first used, and the place is 'a conference in 1956'. B is used a second time here, which the instructions allow.
The trap: Paragraph A talks about the term being 'used once more', which is its return, not its first use.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
Questions 32-37
How to attack this block: Two NOT GIVENs take names from the passage (the founders, agent technology) and add a claim it never makes. Question 36 depends on the 'moving the goal-posts' idea in D, and 37 depends on reading 'contemporary' as meaning 'at that time'.
Question 32
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph B, first sentence
Had the founders of AI worked together before?
by a group of researchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell, all of whom went on to become leading figures
Question says → Passage says
The researchers who launched the fielda group of researchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell
Why: NOT GIVEN. You learn what the group did afterwards ('went on to become leading figures'), but nothing about their earlier projects.
The trap: 'Previously disparate fields' in the next sentence is about the research areas, not the people. It doesn't tell you whether they had collaborated.
Question 33
Answer: FALSEParagraph C, first sentence
Was AI at its lowest in 1985?
Most researchers agree that AI peaked around 1985.
Question says → Passage says
at its lowest pointpeaked
Why: FALSE. 'Peaked' means reached its highest point, the opposite of lowest.
The trap: The rest of C is about disappointment and backlash, so you might expect a low point. That came after 1985, by the late 1980s.
Question 34
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph C, last sentence
Was agent technology research more expensive than neural network research?
align themselves with specific sub-disciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning
Why: NOT GIVEN. Both are named only as examples in a list of sub-disciplines. Costs are never mentioned.
The trap: Both terms appear side by side, so the statement looks checkable. A list is not a comparison.
Question 35
Answer: TRUEParagraph D, second half
Have AI applications already had some success?
the technologies that made it onto the market, such as speech recognition, language translation and decision-support software, were no longer regarded as AI. Yet all three once fell well within the umbrella of AI research.
Question says → Passage says
Applications of AItechnologies… within the umbrella of AI research
a degree of successmade it onto the market / AI was a victim of its own success
Why: TRUE. D says AI was 'a victim of its own success': AI-born technologies reached the market and solved problems like landing aircraft. Paragraph A adds that real products depend on AI technology.
The trap: Paragraph G says there's still no HAL-like computer and no general theory, which can push you to FALSE. The statement only claims 'a degree of' success, not complete success.
Question 36
Answer: FALSEParagraph D, first half
Are the problems AI needs to solve the same as in 1967?
Whenever an apparently mundane problem was solved… the problem was deemed not to have been AI in the first place… The effect of repeatedly moving the goal-posts
Question says → Passage says
have not changedrepeatedly moving the goal-posts
Why: FALSE. Each time a problem was solved, it stopped counting as AI, so what AI had left to solve kept changing. 'Moving the goal-posts' means the target kept shifting.
The trap: 1967 is Minsky's prediction year in C, so people look there and find nothing about change, then write NOT GIVEN. The answer is in D's goal-posts idea.
Question 37
Answer: TRUEParagraph G, third sentence
Did 2001: A Space Odyssey reflect the 1960s view of what AI could do?
HAL thus encapsulated the optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread by 2001.
Question says → Passage says
reflectedencapsulated
contemporary ideas about the potential of AI computersthe optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread
Why: TRUE. The film is from 1969, and HAL 'encapsulated' the optimism of that decade. 'Contemporary' here means of that time.
The trap: 'Contemporary' can mean 'modern today', which makes people think of current views and answer FALSE. In this statement it means ideas at the time the film was made.
Multiple choice
Questions 38-40
How to attack this block: Each question has one distractor that reverses the passage, such as new business models when investors want more than a clever business model. Look for the paraphrase: undue optimism, changing perceptions, investment priorities.
Question 38
Answer: BParagraph C, second half
What feeling about AI did researchers have in the late 1980s?
There was undue optimism in the early 1980s,' says David Leake… 'Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment.'
Question says → Passage says
original expectations… may not have been justifiedundue optimism / It proved to be a false dawn
Why: B. 'Undue optimism' means hopes that weren't justified, and by the late 1980s researchers had realised these were hard problems and were avoiding the term.
The trap: A, no general theory ever, is the strongest distractor. Paragraph G says a general theory 'remains elusive', but that's about today, and 'elusive' isn't 'never'. C is the opposite of the late-80s mood.
Question 39
Answer: AParagraph D, first half
According to Dr Leake, what damaged AI's reputation?
the problem was deemed not to have been AI in the first place. 'If it works, it can't be AI,' as Dr Leake characterises it.
Question says → Passage says
changing perceptionsdeemed not to have been AI / no longer regarded as AI / moving the goal-posts
Why: A. Successful AI stopped being seen as AI, so AI came to mean only unfinished 'blue-sky' research. The way people perceived AI kept changing, and that hurt its name.
The trap: B, premature implementation, borrows the joke that AI stood for 'almost implemented'. That joke is about research not reaching the market, not about releasing things too early.
Question 40
Answer: DParagraph F, first sentence
What might help AI's prospects?
investors are now looking for firms using clever technology, rather than just a clever business model, to differentiate themselves
Question says → Passage says
new investment prioritiesinvestors are now looking for firms using clever technology
benefitboost the prospects for AI
Why: D. Investors now favour clever technology. A change in what investors look for is a change in investment priorities.
The trap: B, new business models, is the reverse: investors want more than 'just a clever business model'. C, internet-only companies, is never mentioned.
A, changing perceptions. 'Almost implemented' tempts people to choose premature implementation, but it's a joke about research not reaching the market.
FALSE. AI 'peaked' around 1985, its highest point, not its lowest.
Words from this passage worth keeping
poised(A)
ready and about to do something
rehabilitation(A)
restoring something's good reputation
disparate(B)
very different and separate
backlash(C)
a strong negative reaction
retrenchment(C)
cutting back after overreaching
mundane(D)
ordinary and unexciting
exacerbated(F)
made worse
elusive(G)
hard to achieve or find
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The full Cambridge 5 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 5, Test 3, 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.
