IELTS Academic Reading Sample 32 - A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life



A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life





Percussion methods of fire-lighting date back to Paleolithic times, when some Stone Age toolmakers discovered that chipping flints produced sparks. The technique became more efficient after the discovery of iron, about 5000 years ago In Arctic North America, the Eskimos produced a slow-burning spark by striking quartz against iron pyrites, a compound that contains sulphur. The Chinese lit their fires by striking porcelain with bamboo. In Europe, the combination of steel, flint and tinder remained the main method of fire lighting until the mid 19th century.

Fire-lighting was revolutionized by the discovery of phosphorus, isolated in 1669 by a German alchemist trying to transmute silver into gold. Impressed by the element’s combustibility, several 17th-century chemists used it to manufacture fire-lighting devices, but the results were dangerously inflammable. With phosphorus costing the equivalent of several hundred pounds per ounce, the first matches were expensive.

The quest for a practical match really began after 1781 when a group of French chemists came up with the Phosphoric Candle or Ethereal Match, a sealed glass tube containing a twist of paper tipped with phosphorus. When the tube was broken, air rushed in, causing the phosphorus self-combust. An even more hazardous device, popular in America, was the Instantaneous Light Box — a bottle filled with sulphuric acid into which splints treated with chemicals were dipped.







Questions 1-8
Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page and write them in boxes 1 8 on your answer sheet.

NB There are more words than spaces so you will not use them all You may use any of the words more than once.


Primitive Societies  saw fire as a ….….(Example)…..… gift.      Answer:  heavenly

They tried to ...... (1) ...... burning logs or charcoal ...... (2) ...... that they could create fire themselves. It is suspected that the first man-made flames were produced by ...... (3) ......

The very first fire-lighting methods involved the creation of ...... (4) ...... by, for example, rapidly ...... (5) ...... a wooden stick in a round hole. The use of ...... (6) ...... or persistent chipping was also widespread in Europe and among other peoples such as the Chinese and ...... (7) ........ European practice of this method continued until the 1850s ....... (8) ....... the discovery of phosphorus some years earlier.

                         List of Words

Mexicans          random           rotating

despite             preserve         realising

sunlight            lacking            heavenly

percussion       Chance           friction

unaware           without            make

heating             Eskimos          surprised

until                  smoke


Questions 9-15
Look at the following notes that have been made about the matches described in Reading Passage 32. Decide which type of match (A-H) corresponds with each description and write your answers in boxes 9-15 on your answer sheet.

NB There are more matches than descriptions so you will not use them all. You may use any match more than once.

          Example                                                                           Answer

could be lit after soaking in water                                                   H

9 made using a less poisonous type of phosphorus
10 identical to a previous type of match
11 caused a deadly illness
12 first to look like modern matches
13 first matches used for advertising
14 relied on an airtight glass container
15 made with the help of an army design

Types of Matches

A   the Ethereal Match
B   the Instantaneous Light box
C   Congreves
D   Lucifers
E   the first strike-anywhere match
F   Lundstrom’s safety match
G  book matches
H  waterproof matches

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1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 3.01 (37 Votes)
10. A
Hi, I need your help. Please, the answers are for real on this page?
Mine is 12 out of 15; time 23 minutes.
Hi, guys, I need help with the word "leap" in the title... Could you please explain me the exact meaning of it?
Send me the explanation of questions 1 to 8.
Cut or break from the surface of the hard material.
Amit Kumar
How no. 1 -8 answers are different? These are already given but it's wrong. Could you please explain it?
Can you please send me to my email?
I want to know the answer to question no. 8. Can you explain please?
Tell the meaning of chipping in the text? Please.
Why #3 is not friction?
Van Le
'By chance' is a synonym of random and random can't go after by.
Van Le
It is a synonym.
In this sentence treated means subjected to or added with. So the meaning will be like chemically prepared splints were dipped into a bottle full of sulfuric acid.
Why #2 is "unaware", it is not given.
Could anyone please explain to me why the answer to question no. 3 can not be - 'random'?
Great post. Nice tips on how to prepare for your exams in college. One has to find out what ways work for him/her.
Rahgozar E
Hi, guys. I need help with this sentence too. What does "treated" mean in, "a bottle filled with sulfuric acid into which splints treated with chemicals were dipped".
Rahgozar E
Thank you, Stuart.
The word percussion means 'the striking of one solid object with or against another one with some degree of force.' So when percussion is used to make fire, like the ancient people did, is known as ' percussion methods of fire lighting.'
Rahgozar E
Hi there, I don't understand the meaning of "percussion methods of fire lighting" I will appreciate if you help me.
Omais Chauhan
Gracie said :
Why the answer to the question 11 is 'E'? Strike-anywhere matches based on the passage used potassium something instead of lethal white phosphorus.
Its because phosphorus causes deadly illness as they wrote in the passage that was the cause of jaw bones problem and its got banned in 1906.

Why no. 8 (despite)?
I like the helpful information you provided in your IELTS Website. My IELTS preparation would be greatly benefited from this IELTS Mentor Website. The 'sample question and answer part' is awesome.