Academic Test 2 – Passage 03: What is Port City reading answers and pdf summary. This reading paragraph has been taken from our huge collection of Academic & General Training (GT) Reading practice test PDF’s.
Check out What is Port City reading answers with explanation and location given in the text:
- ii
- i
- v
- vi
- D
- C
- F
- G
- NO
- YES
- NO
- YES
- NOT GIVEN
- YES
IELTS reading module focuses on evaluating a candidate’s comprehension skills and ability to understand English. This is done by testing the reading proficiency through questions based on different structures and paragraphs (500-950 words each). There are 40 questions in total and hence it becomes extremely important to practice each and every question structure before actually sitting for the exam.
This reading passage mainly consists of following types of questions:
- Match the following
- Yes/No/Not Given
We are going to read about ports and the port cities has gained importance over a period of time. You must read the passage carefully and try to answer all questions correctly.
What is Port City
The port city provides a fascinating and rich understanding of the movement of people and goods around the world. We understand a port as a centre of land-sea exchange, and as a major source of livelihood and a major force for cultural mixing. But do ports all produce a range of common urban characteristics which justify classifying port cities together under a single generic label? Do they have enough in common to warrant distinguishing them from other kinds of cities?
A
A port must be distinguished from a harbour. They are two very different things. Most ports have poor harbours, and many fine harbours see few ships. Harbour is a physical concept, a shelter for ships; port is an economic concept, a centre of land-sea exchange which requires good access to a hinterland even more than a sea-linked foreland. It is landward access, which is productive of goods for export and which demands imports, that is critical. Poor harbours can be improved with breakwaters and dredging if there is a demand for a port. Madras and Colombo are examples of harbours expensively improved by enlarging, dredging and building breakwaters.
B
Port cities become industrial, financial and service centres and political capitals because of their water connections and the urban concentration which arises there and later draws to it railways, highways and air routes. Water transport means cheap access, the chief basis of all port cities. Many of the world’s biggest cities, for example, London, New York, Shanghai, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Jakarta, Calcutta, Philadelphia and San Francisco began as ports – that is, with land-sea exchange as their major function – but they have since grown disproportionately in other respects so that their port functions are no longer dominant. They remain different kinds of places from non-port cities and their port functions account for that difference.
C
Port functions, more than anything else, make a city cosmopolitan. A port city is open to the world. In it races, cultures, and ideas, as well as goods from a variety of places, jostle, mix and enrich each other and the life of the city. The smell of the sea and the harbour, the sound of boat whistles or the moving tides are symbols of their multiple links with a wide world, samples of which are present in microcosm within their own urban areas.
D
Sea ports have been transformed by the advent of powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased. Many formerly important ports have become economically and physically less accessible as a result. By-passed by most of their former enriching flow of exchange, they have become cultural and economic backwaters or have acquired the character of museums of the past. Examples of these are Charleston, Salem, Bristol, Plymouth, Surat, Galle, Melaka, Soochow, and a long list of earlier prominent port cities in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
E
Much domestic port trade has not been recorded. What evidence we have suggests that domestic trade was greater at all periods than external trade. Shanghai, for example, did most of its trade with other Chinese ports and inland cities. Calcutta traded mainly with other parts of India and so on. Most of any city’s population is engaged in providing goods and services for the city itself. Trade outside the city is its basic function. But each basic worker requires food, housing, clothing and other such services. Estimates of the ratio of basic to service workers range from 1:4 to 1:8.
F
No city can be simply a port but must be involved in a variety of other activities. The port function of the city draws to it raw materials and distributes them in many other forms. Ports take advantage of the need for breaking up the bulk material where water and land transport meet and where loading and unloading costs can be minimised by refining raw materials or turning them into finished goods. The major examples here are oil refining and ore refining, which are commonly located at ports. It is not easy to draw a line around what is and is not a port function. All ports handle, unload, sort, alter, process, repack, and reship most of what they receive. A city may still be regarded as a port city when it becomes involved in a great range of functions not immediately involved with ships or docks.
G
Cities which began as ports retain the chief commercial and administrative centre of the city close to the waterfront. The centre of New York is in lower Manhattan between two river mouths, the City of London is on the Thames, Shanghai along the Bund. This proximity to water is also true of Boston, Philadelphia, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Yokohama, where the commercial, financial, and administrative centres are still grouped around their harbours even though each city has expanded into a metropolis. Even a casual visitor cannot mistake them as anything but port cities.
Questions 27-30
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs A-G.
From the list of headings below choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-E.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-viii) in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.
Questions 31-34
Match the pairs of cities (A-H) listed below; with the descriptions. Match the appropriate letters A-H in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more pairs of port cities than descriptions, so you will not use them all.
31. required considerable harbour development
32. began as ports but other facilities later dominated
33. lost their prominence when large ships could not be accommodated
34. maintain their business centres near the port waterfront
A – Bombay and Buenos B – Aires Hong Kong and Salem C – Istanbul and Jakarta D – Madras and Colombo E – New York and Bristol F – Plymouth and Melaka G – Singapore and Yokohama H – Surat and London |
Questions 35-40
Do the fallowing statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet write:
YES – if the statement agrees with the information
NO – if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this in the passage
35. Cities cease to be port cities when other functions dominate.
36. In the past, many port cities did more trade within their own country than with overseas ports.
37. Most people in a port city are engaged in international trade and finance.
38. Ports attract many subsidiary and independent industries.
39. Ports have to establish a common language of trade.
40. Ports often have river connections.
Answers with Explanation
For in-depth understanding on how answers are chosen, carefully look at What is Port City reading answers explained below:
MATCH THE HEADINGS
| Question | Answer Explanation |
|---|---|
| 27. Paragraph B | In the paragraph B, look at the ending lines, “_____ They remain different kinds of places from non-port cities and their port functions account for that difference.” In this text, the lines points to an idea that port cities remain different from non-port cities owing to their features as port cities. This suggests that a port city always remains a port city. Hence, the answer is going to be: ii |
| 28. Paragraph C | Read the beginning of paragraph C, “Port functions, more than anything else, make a city cosmopolitan_____.” In this text, cosmopolitan means that ➙ international environment, Hence, the answer is going to be: i |
| 29. Paragraph D | In paragraph D, in lines 1-3, the author says, “Sea ports have been transformed by the advent of powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased. Many formerly important ports have become economically and physically less accessible as a result____.” In this text, economically and physically less accessible means that ➙ decline of ports The lines points to an idea that many important ports do not operate as ports now owing to the development of powered vessels. Hence, the answer is going to be: v |
| 30. Paragraph E | Read the Paragraph E, in lines 1-2, the author describes, “____ What evidence we have suggests that domestic trade was greater at all periods than external trade____.” Now, look at lines 6-7, “ ____ But each basic worker requires food, housing, clothing and other such services. Estimates of the ratio of basic to service workers range from 1:4 to 1:8.” Hence, the answer is going to be: vi |
MATCH THE FOLLOWING
| Question | Answer Explanation |
|---|---|
| 31. required considerable harbour development | Underline keywords: considerable harbour development Look at the ending lines of paragraph A, “ ____Madras and Colombo are examples of harbours expensively improved by enlarging, dredging and building breakwaters.” In this text, expensively improved by enlarging, dredging and building breakwaters means that ➙ required considerable harbour development Hence, the answer is going to be: D |
| 32. began as ports but other facilities later dominated | Underline keywords: began as ports, other facilities, later, dominated Now look at paragraph B, in lines 4-8, “_____Many of the world’s biggest cities, for example, London, New York, Shanghai, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Jakarta, Calcutta, Philadelphia and San Francisco began as ports – that is, with land-sea exchange as their major function – but they have since grown disproportionately in other respects so that their port functions are no longer dominant. _____.” In this text, grown disproportionately in other respects ____ their port functions are no longer dominant means that ➙ other facilities later dominated Hence, the answer is going to be: C |
| 33. lost their prominence when large ships could not be accommodated | Underline keywords: lost, prominence, large ships, could not, be accommodated Look at paragraph D, it says, “Sea ports have been transformed by the advent of powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased. Many formerly important ports have become economically and physically less accessible as a result._________ Examples of these are Charleston, Salem, Bristol, Plymouth, Surat, Galle, Melaka, Soochow, and a long list of earlier prominent port cities in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.” In this text, powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased means that ➙ large ships & physically less accessible means that ➙ could not be accommodated Hence, the answer is going to be: F |
| 34. maintain their business centres near the port waterfront | Underline keywords: maintain, business centres, near, port waterfront Look at the paragraph F, in lines 1-5, “Cities which began as ports retain the chief commercial and administrative centre of the city close to the waterfront. The centre of New York is in lower Manhattan between two river mouths, the City of London is on the Thames, Shanghai along the Bund. This proximity to water is also true of Boston, Philadelphia, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Yokohama,____.” In this text, chief commercial and administrative centre of the city close to the waterfront maintain their business centres near the port waterfront Hence, the answer is going to be: G |
YES/NO/NOT GIVEN
| Question | Answer Explanation |
|---|---|
| 35. Cities cease to be port cities when other functions dominate. | Underline keywords: Cities, cease to be, port cities, other functions, dominate Read paragraph B, look at lines 4-8, “ ____Many of the world’s biggest cities, for example, London, New York, Shanghai, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Jakarta, Calcutta, Philadelphia and San Francisco began as ports – that is, with land-sea exchange as their major function – but they have since grown disproportionately in other respects so that their port functions are no longer dominant____.” Reading this text makes it clear that cities don’t cease to be port cities when other functions dominate. Hence, the answer is going to be: NO |
| 36. In the past, many port cities did more trade within their own country than with overseas ports. | Underline keywords: past, many port cities, more trade, within, own country, than, overseas ports Look at the paragraph E, specifically in lines 2-4, “___ domestic trade was greater at all periods than external trade. Shanghai, for example, did most of its trade with other Chinese ports and inland cities. Calcutta traded mainly with other parts of India and so on___.” Here, domestic trade was greater means that ➙ many port cities did more trade within their own country & external trade means that ➙ trade with overseas ports, Hence, the answer is going to be: YES |
| 37. Most people in a port city are engaged in international trade and finance. | Underline keywords: most people, port city, engaged in, international trade and finance Look at the paragraph E, in lines 4-5, the author explains, “____Most of any city’s population is engaged in providing goods and services for the city itself.” In this text, Most of any city’s population means that ➙ most people in a port city & providing goods and services for the city itself means that ➙ local trade and finance Hence, the answer is going to be: NO |
| 38. Ports attract many subsidiary and independent industries. | Underline keywords: ports, attract, subsidiary and independent industries Read the paragraph F, in lines 3-6, look at, “____ Ports take advantage of the need for breaking up the bulk material where water and land transport meet and where loading and unloading costs can be minimised by refining raw materials or turning them into finished goods. The major examples here are oil refining and ore refining, which are commonly located at ports_____.” In this text, Ports take advantage of the need means that ➙ ports attract & oil refining and ore refining means that ➙ subsidiary and independent industries Hence, the answer is going to be: YES |
| 39. Ports have to establish a common language of trade. | Underline keywords: ports, have to establish, common language of trade There is nothing mentioned about establishing a common language of trade in the whole passage. Hence, the answer is going to be: NOT GIVEN |
| 40. Ports often have river connections. | Underline keywords: often, river connections In the paragraph G, look at the the starting lines, “Cities which began as ports retain the chief commercial and administrative centre of the city close to the waterfront. The centre of New York is in lower Manhattan between two river mouths, the City of London is on the Thames, Shanghai along the Bund.____.” Reading this text, it is crystal clear that ports often have river connections. Hence, the answer is going to be: YES |
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