Read the following passage.
A. Under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, France gave up Acadia and Newfoundland but kept Isle Royale, which is now Cape Breton Island. The French founded Louisbourg there that year, and in 1719 work began on a fortified town. Military engineers used designs by Vauban, chief engineer of King Louis XIV. The fortress took more than 24 years to build. Its walls rose nine metres above a deep ditch and had places for 148 cannon, although the full set of guns was never installed. On the landward side, however, a series of low hills stood close to the walls, and they offered excellent positions for siege guns.
B. Louisbourg was also a substantial town and seaport. The cod fishery was the main economic activity, and the fish was salted and laid out to dry on stages along the beaches. The town became a hub of trade, with goods and materials arriving from France, Quebec, the West Indies and New England. Its settler population grew to roughly 2,000 by 1740 and doubled in the 1750s. It is believed that around 381 enslaved people lived there during the 18th century. Governors and officers disliked being posted there, and drunkenness among the soldiers was a constant problem.
C. The first attack came in 1745, when New Englanders captured the fortress within 46 days. Only three years later, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave the town back to the French. In 1758 Louisbourg was besieged a second time. Lacking a strong navy to guard the waters outside its walls, the town could not be defended. A British army of 13,100 troops, supported by 150 ships, took the fortress in seven weeks. Determined that Louisbourg would never again be a fortified French base, the British destroyed its walls. The modern town of Louisbourg, a small fishing port, grew up at the opposite end of the harbour.
D. The ruins were named a national historic site in 1928. In 1961 the government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker agreed to fund a reconstruction. A commission on coal had concluded that mining could no longer be the backbone of the Cape Breton economy, and the project would give work to unemployed coal miners and present the fortress as a living history museum. The miners were trained in 18th-century wood and stone working techniques. Part of the town now looks as it would have around 1744, and costumed guides show visitors around. A fortress built to guard the gateway to New France has become a major part of the tourist economy of Cape Breton.
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: D
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: the project gave work to unemployed coal miners. The miners were trained in 18th-century wood and stone working techniques. Unemployed means they had lost their jobs, and 18th-century techniques are old building methods.
Passage Reference: The miners were trained in 18th-century wood and stone working techniques.
Tips: Find the 'rebuilding work'. Ask who was given it, why they needed it, and what they had to learn first.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, the writer says military engineers built the first fortress from Vauban's designs. Nobody is being taught old skills there.
- B: Paragraph B describes fishing, trade and soldiers in the 1700s. Mining and training are not mentioned.
- C: The third paragraph ends with the British destroying the walls, not with anyone learning to build them again.
- E: Notice that paragraph D describes both the jobless miners and the training they were given, in two sentences next to each other.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Part of the town now looks as it would have around 1744, and costumed guides show visitors around.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says part of the town now looks as it would have around 1744. The year 1744 falls in the middle of the 1700s, and 'part of the town' matches 'some of the old town'.
Tips: Paragraph B also has dates from the middle of the 1700s. Ask which paragraph talks about the present.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it describes how the town and walls were first built from 1719. It says nothing about how the place looks today.
- B: The second paragraph gives the population in 1740 and the 1750s, which is close in time. But it describes life then, not the town now.
- C: Notice that paragraph C mentions the modern town of Louisbourg. But that is a fishing port at the other end of the harbour.
- E: The year 1744 is in paragraph D, which says part of the town looks that way now.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: It is believed that around 381 enslaved people lived there during the 18th century.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says it is believed that around 381 enslaved people lived there during the 18th century. About 381 is several hundred, and enslaved people are people held in slavery.
Tips: Numbers appear in every paragraph, so check who each number is counting.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A gives numbers for the walls and cannon, not for the people who lived in the town.
- C: The third paragraph gives the size of the British army in 1758. It does not mention people held in slavery.
- D: The rebuilding in the 20th century, and the miners who did it, are the subject of paragraph D. The paragraph mentions 18th-century skills, but it says nothing about enslaved people living in the town.
- E: In paragraph B, the writer gives the number, about 381, and says they lived in Louisbourg in the 18th century.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Only three years later, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave the town back to the French.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says New Englanders captured the fortress in 1745. Only three years later, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave the town back to the French. Three years is a few years, and giving it back means returning it.
Tips: Two treaties appear in the passage. Pick the one that follows a capture.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: A treaty appears in paragraph A too, the Treaty of Utrecht, but that one let France keep the island. Nothing is returned after an attack.
- B: The second paragraph describes daily life, trade and the population. No attack or treaty appears in it.
- D: Notice that paragraph D tells of the rebuilding in the 20th century. Who held the fortress in the 1740s is not discussed.
- E: Both steps sit in paragraph C: the capture in 1745 and the return three years later under a named treaty.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: The fortress took more than 24 years to build.
Why this is correct: The fortress took more than 24 years to build, as paragraph A tells us. Twenty-four years is well over two decades, and building the fortress means constructing its defences.
Tips: Find the work on the defences. Check how many years it went on, and whether that is well over two decades.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B mentions how the population grew over time, but not how long the walls took to build.
- C: The third paragraph gives short periods, 46 days and seven weeks, for the sieges. Those are about capture, not construction.
- D: Notice that paragraph D is about rebuilding in modern times and does not say how long it took.
- E: The building time, more than 24 years, is given in paragraph A in a short sentence of its own.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Determined that Louisbourg would never again be a fortified French base, the British destroyed its walls.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C tells us the British took the fortress in 1758 and destroyed its walls. It does not say what happened to the people who lived there, so their return to France is not in the passage.
Tips: The passage follows the walls after 1758. Check whether it also follows the people.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The founding and building of the fortress fill paragraph A, long before any siege.
- B: The second paragraph describes the people who lived in the town, but not what became of them after 1758.
- C: Notice that paragraph C covers the second siege and the destroyed walls. The fate of the residents is left out.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it jumps to the 20th century and the reconstruction. The people of 1758 are not mentioned.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: On the landward side, however, a series of low hills stood close to the walls, and they offered excellent positions for siege guns.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, the writer says a series of low hills stood close to the walls on the landward side. They offered excellent positions for siege guns. Hills are high ground, and good positions for an enemy's guns are a weakness.
Tips: Paragraph C also gives a weakness. Decide whether the statement is about the land or the sea.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph names problems such as drunkenness among the soldiers, but not the shape of the land.
- C: Notice that paragraph C gives a different weakness: without a strong navy, the town could not be defended from the sea.
- D: Here, paragraph D says the fortress was built to guard New France. But it gives no weak points in its design.
- E: Paragraph A ends with the low hills beside the walls and says they were good places for siege guns.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: A British army of 13,100 troops, supported by 150 ships, took the fortress in seven weeks.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: a British army of 13,100 troops, supported by 150 ships, took the fortress in seven weeks. The number 13,100 is over thirteen thousand, and seven weeks is less than two months.
Tips: Find where 'British soldiers took Louisbourg'. Check two numbers: whether the force was over thirteen thousand, and whether the time was under two months.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph mentions 148 cannon on the walls, which is about the defence, not the size of an army.
- B: Notice that paragraph B mentions soldiers and officers, but those were the French soldiers living in the town.
- D: The rebuilding is the topic of paragraph D. British soldiers and the capture have no place in it.
- E: Paragraph C gives the number of troops and the time they needed in the same sentence.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: The miners were trained in 18th-century wood and stone working techniques.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says the miners were trained in 18th-century wood and stone working techniques. It never says who did the training, and Parks Canada does not appear anywhere in the passage.
Tips: When a statement names who did something, check that the passage names the same people.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph names the people behind the first design, Vauban and the military engineers. Parks Canada is not one of them.
- B: Notice that paragraph B describes governors and officers of the 1700s. It has nothing about miners or training.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer names British engineers who destroyed the walls, not anyone who taught skills.
- D: The training of the miners is described in paragraph D, but the teachers are never named.
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