Read the following passage.
A. The Empress of Ireland was built in Govan, Scotland, for the Canadian Pacific Railway and made its first voyage to Canada in June 1906. It was not designed to be the largest or the fastest liner on the North Atlantic, but it offered a comfortable weekly service and could carry 1,580 passengers in three classes. In summer it sailed between Quebec City and Liverpool. Between 1906 and 1914 the ship brought more than 100,000 immigrants to Canada, and thousands of them travelled on to homestead in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
B. On May 28, 1914, the Empress left Quebec City for Liverpool. On board were 161 Salvation Army members and their families, bound for an international congress in London. Early the next morning, after the pilot had left the ship near Rimouski, thick fog rolled in. The Norwegian collier Storstad, fully loaded with coal, came out of the fog and struck the liner's starboard side. Water poured in, the power soon failed, and passengers, most of them asleep, were left in darkness. Since the ship was leaning to starboard, the crew could not launch the boats on the port side, and the Empress sank in 14 minutes.
C. Of the 1,477 people aboard, 1,012 died and 465 survived. The Salvation Army lost almost 150 members, among them 29 of the 41 players in its Canadian Staff Band, and of the 138 children on board only four lived. The crew of the Storstad lowered their own boats and pulled hundreds of people from the water. An inquiry in Quebec City, led by Lord Mersey, who had also examined the Titanic disaster, found the Storstad at fault. However, a Norwegian inquiry in Montreal cleared the collier and its captain, and the two findings have never been reconciled.
D. The wreck lies 45 metres down in the St. Lawrence River. After it was found again in 1964, it became a famous dive site, and divers stripped away many of its fittings before it was protected; taking artifacts is now forbidden. Many victims were buried in Rimouski, where a memorial was raised. In 2009 the wreck was declared a national historic site, and the Empress of Ireland Museum shows objects from the ship alongside the testimony of passengers and their descendants. For the 100th anniversary, the Canadian Museum of History opened an exhibition about the ship. Today close to one million Canadians can trace their family history to the ship.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: C
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: the inquiry led by Lord Mersey found the Storstad at fault. Then a Norwegian inquiry cleared the collier and its captain. The two findings have never been reconciled. So the two investigations disagreed.
Passage Reference: However, a Norwegian inquiry in Montreal cleared the collier and its captain, and the two findings have never been reconciled.
Tips: Find where 'two official investigations' reach different results. Check which vessel each one blames.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes how the ship was built and whom it carried. No investigation takes place.
- B: The Storstad strikes the Empress in paragraph B, but the paragraph tells what happened, not who was judged responsible.
- D: The fourth paragraph deals with the wreck, the museum and the exhibition, and it never mentions blame.
- E: Paragraph C sets the Quebec City inquiry, which blamed the Storstad, against the Norwegian one, which cleared it.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: After it was found again in 1964, it became a famous dive site, and divers stripped away many of its fittings before it was protected; taking artifacts is now forbidden.
Why this is correct: In paragraph D, the wreck became a famous dive site, and taking artifacts is now forbidden. So divers may visit, but they have to leave the objects where they are.
Tips: The statement is about a rule for anyone visiting the sunken vessel today. Check what visitors may not do, and why that rule was needed.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The ship's working life from 1906 is the subject of paragraph A, long before anyone dived to it.
- B: The second paragraph ends with the ship going down. It says nothing about what later happened to the wreck.
- C: The dead, the rescue and the two inquiries fill paragraph C, not rules for visitors to the wreck.
- E: Paragraph D makes it clear that divers may no longer take artifacts from the wreck.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Since the ship was leaning to starboard, the crew could not launch the boats on the port side, and the Empress sank in 14 minutes.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: the ship was leaning to starboard, so the crew could not launch the boats on the port side. A ship leaning to one side is tilted, and launching a lifeboat means putting it into the water.
Tips: Boats are lowered by more than one ship. Ask which ship's boats could not be used, and look for the reason.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A gives the number of passengers and the classes, with no mention of lifeboats.
- C: Boats are lowered in paragraph C, but they belong to the Storstad, and nothing stops them.
- D: The wreck in paragraph D lies on the river bed. Its lifeboats are not discussed.
- E: The lean to starboard, which kept the crew from launching the port boats, is explained in paragraph B.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: An inquiry in Quebec City, led by Lord Mersey, who had also examined the Titanic disaster, found the Storstad at fault.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C mentions the Titanic only to say that Lord Mersey had also examined that disaster. It gives the Empress death toll and no figure for the Titanic. So no comparison is made.
Tips: A name can appear without a comparison. Check whether the passage gives numbers for both ships.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The Empress was not the largest liner, as paragraph A tells us. But it is not weighed against any other shipwreck.
- B: In paragraph B, the Empress goes down, with no other disaster set beside it.
- C: Paragraph C is the closest because it names the Titanic, yet only as another case Lord Mersey had studied.
- D: The anniversary exhibition in paragraph D is about the Empress alone. No other shipwreck is measured against it.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: The Salvation Army lost almost 150 members, among them 29 of the 41 players in its Canadian Staff Band, and of the 138 children on board only four lived.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, only four of the 138 children on board lived. Four is only a handful, and youngsters are children.
Tips: Several groups of people are counted in this passage. Scan the numbers and pick the group that matches youngsters.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Families heading west to homestead are in paragraph A, but no children are counted there.
- B: In paragraph B, passengers are left in darkness, but no figure for children is given.
- D: Descendants of passengers appear in paragraph D, not the children who were aboard in 1914.
- E: Paragraph C gives the figure: four of the 138 children on board survived.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Today close to one million Canadians can trace their family history to the ship.
Why this is correct: The last sentence of paragraph D says that today close to one million Canadians can trace their family history to the ship. Tracing family history means linking your ancestors to it.
Tips: Big numbers of people appear more than once. Ask whether each number is about people then or people now.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A counts the immigrants the ship carried, more than 100,000, not the people living today who descend from them.
- B: The last voyage in 1914 is told in paragraph B, and it says nothing about families today.
- C: In paragraph C, you get the number who survived and died, not the number of living descendants.
- E: The figure of close to one million Canadians with family ties to the ship is in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: It was not designed to be the largest or the fastest liner on the North Atlantic, but it offered a comfortable weekly service and could carry 1,580 passengers in three classes.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, the ship could carry 1,580 passengers in three classes. Classes on a ship are grades of accommodation.
Tips: Find where the ship itself is described, before its last trip. Ask how many people it could take, and how they were split into groups.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph names groups on the last voyage, such as Salvation Army members, but not the classes of travel.
- C: The survivors and the dead are counted in paragraph C. How passengers were divided on board is not described.
- D: Objects from the ship are shown in the museum in paragraph D, but the classes of travel are not mentioned.
- E: Paragraph A says the liner carried its passengers in three classes.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: On board were 161 Salvation Army members and their families, bound for an international congress in London.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: 161 Salvation Army members and their families were on board. They were bound for an international congress in London. A congress is a large gathering.
Tips: The Salvation Army is mentioned twice. Only one mention says why they were travelling.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Liverpool is the ship's usual port in paragraph A, but no group travelling to London appears.
- C: The Salvation Army's losses are counted in paragraph C, but the reason for the trip is given earlier.
- D: Paragraph D is about the wreck and how the ship is remembered, not about the Salvation Army's journey.
- E: Paragraph B explains that the Salvation Army members were going to a congress in London.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Early the next morning, after the pilot had left the ship near Rimouski, thick fog rolled in.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, the collision came early the next morning, after the pilot had left the ship near Rimouski. No clock time is given. So the exact hour is never stated.
Tips: The statement gives an exact clock time. Scan for an hour, and do not accept a general time of day.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes the ship's normal service, not the night of the collision.
- B: Paragraph B is the nearest: the collision is set early in the morning, but no hour is given.
- C: In paragraph C, the story follows the losses and the inquiries and never returns to the time of the crash.
- D: The years 1964 and 2009 appear in paragraph D, but not the time of night the ship was hit.
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