Read the following passage.
A. On 12 December 1901, a strong gale was blowing across Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland. The first kite sent up by Guglielmo Marconi's team was carried away, but a second one, trailing 500 feet of antenna wire, stayed in the air long enough. Through a telephone earpiece attached to his receiver, Marconi listened for a signal sent across the Atlantic from his station at Poldhu, Cornwall. He and his assistant, George Kemp, heard faint clicks: the Morse code for the letter "s". Marconi's diary for that day records signals at 12:30, 1:10 and 2:20.
B. Marconi, born in Bologna, Italy, in 1874, had begun experimenting with wireless telegraphy in 1894. At the time, no one could say how far a radio wave might travel. Many scientists doubted that radio waves could bend around the curve of the earth, but Marconi believed they would follow it. A message across the Atlantic would test his idea and win worldwide publicity for his company. He built a powerful station at Poldhu and another at Cape Cod in Massachusetts. After a gale wrecked the Poldhu antenna in September 1901, its smaller replacement seemed too weak to reach Cape Cod, so he chose St. John's, which was much closer.
C. Marconi landed at St. John's on 6 December, and Poldhu's operators were told to send the letter "s" each afternoon from 11 December. On the 11th his team tried a balloon but heard nothing. Marconi had hidden his real purpose from the press, claiming he was testing communication with ships at sea, because the Anglo-American Telegraph Company held a 50-year monopoly on telegraphic communication in Newfoundland. Within days of the first signal, the company's lawyers threatened to sue. Marconi promised to stop his experiments and left the island. The Canadian government then offered him a site, and he built a station at Glace Bay on Cape Breton Island.
D. Marconi's announcement was greeted with enthusiasm, but also with some doubt. The only witness had been Kemp, who was hardly an impartial observer, and the signals had been too weak to operate an automatic recorder. Two months later, Marconi received signals from Poldhu strong enough to work a Morse inker in the presence of witnesses. The question of what was heard on Signal Hill did not go away. Later knowledge of how radio waves travel suggests that conditions that day were poor for reception, although some recent historians have argued that his untuned receiver picked up a high-frequency harmonic.
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: A
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says the first kite was carried away by the gale. But a second one, trailing the antenna wire, stayed in the air long enough. The kite is the flying device, and the wire is the aerial.
Passage Reference: The first kite sent up by Guglielmo Marconi's team was carried away, but a second one, trailing 500 feet of antenna wire, stayed in the air long enough.
Tips: More than one flying device goes up in the passage. Find where one is lost to the wind and the next one stays up.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph mentions a gale that wrecked the Poldhu antenna in Cornwall, but no kite or flying device appears there.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it says a balloon was tried on the 11th and nothing was heard. It does not say a second attempt stayed up.
- D: Notice that paragraph D is about doubts over the result and a later test with a Morse inker, not about kites.
- E: The lost first kite and the second one that stayed in the air are both described in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: The Canadian government then offered him a site, and he built a station at Glace Bay on Cape Breton Island.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says the Canadian government offered Marconi a site and that he built a station at Glace Bay. Offering land is not the same as paying for the building, and the passage never says who paid.
Tips: Find what the Canadian officials gave Marconi. Ask whether money for the building is part of it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A takes place on Signal Hill on 12 December. Glace Bay is not mentioned.
- B: The second paragraph names the stations at Poldhu and Cape Cod, but nothing about Glace Bay or its cost.
- C: Notice that paragraph C is the closest: the Canadian government offers a site, yet nothing is said about money for the building.
- D: Witnesses and doubts are the subject of paragraph D. No government appears there, and no station cost either.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Marconi had hidden his real purpose from the press, claiming he was testing communication with ships at sea, because the Anglo-American Telegraph Company held a 50-year monopoly on telegraphic communication in Newfoundland.
Why this is correct: The third paragraph says Marconi had hidden his real purpose from the press, claiming he was testing communication with ships at sea. Telling reporters a cover story is giving them a false reason.
Tips: Marconi speaks to the public more than once. Ask which time he did not tell the truth about his work, and why he did that.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A captures the moment the clicks were heard. There is no contact with the press.
- B: The second paragraph gives his true aim, to test whether waves followed the earth, but says nothing about misleading anyone.
- D: Doubt about Marconi's claim fills Paragraph D, but that doubt concerns the signals, not a cover story told to reporters.
- E: The cover story about ships at sea, told to the press, is explained in Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Many scientists doubted that radio waves could bend around the curve of the earth, but Marconi believed they would follow it.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says many scientists doubted that radio waves could bend around the curve of the earth. A signal that cannot follow the curve cannot reach past the horizon.
Tips: There are two kinds of doubt. This one is about the science before the test.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A shows the test working on Signal Hill. The earlier views of scientists are not given.
- C: The third paragraph covers his arrival, the balloon and the legal threat, not scientific opinion.
- D: The fourth paragraph reports doubts after the test about whether Marconi heard the signal. It does not report earlier doubts about whether waves could follow the earth.
- E: The doubts of many scientists about waves bending around the earth are set out in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Two months later, Marconi received signals from Poldhu strong enough to work a Morse inker in the presence of witnesses.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: two months later Marconi received signals from Poldhu strong enough to work a Morse inker. This happened in the presence of witnesses. The inker is the machine, and the witnesses are the onlookers.
Tips: Find where people doubt the first signals. Then check what happened a little later, and who was there to see it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph also has signals from Poldhu. But they were faint clicks heard through an earpiece, with no machine and no outside observers.
- B: Paragraph B tells why the test was planned and why St. John's was chosen. No signals are received there.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it says a balloon test on the 11th heard nothing. It mentions no machine or observers.
- E: A Morse inker working in front of witnesses, two months after Signal Hill, is reported in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Within days of the first signal, the company's lawyers threatened to sue.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says that within days the company's lawyers threatened to sue. Marconi then promised to stop his experiments and left the island.
Tips: Find the telegraph business and its warning. Then check what Marconi did straight after it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A ends with the diary times of the signals. Nobody warns Marconi or tells him to stop.
- B: The second paragraph mentions his own company and its publicity, not a rival business or a threat.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it shows people doubting his claim, but no one takes legal steps against him there.
- E: The threat by the company's lawyers, followed by Marconi leaving the island, is in Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: He built a powerful station at Poldhu and another at Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B says he built a powerful station at Poldhu. It does not compare Poldhu with other stations. So the claim that it was the most powerful in the world is not made.
Tips: Be careful with 'the most'. The passage describes Poldhu but never ranks it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A has Marconi listening for a signal from his station at Poldhu, but it ranks that station against no other.
- B: Paragraph B comes closest, since it calls Poldhu powerful. But powerful is not the same as the most powerful in the world.
- C: The third paragraph mentions Poldhu's operators and their orders, not the strength of the station.
- D: Paragraph D refers to later signals from Poldhu, with no ranking of stations.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: The only witness had been Kemp, who was hardly an impartial observer, and the signals had been too weak to operate an automatic recorder.
Why this is correct: Kemp was his assistant. In paragraph D we learn that the only witness had been Kemp, who was hardly an impartial observer. So he was not a neutral judge.
Tips: Kemp appears more than once. Find where the claim is doubted, and check why he could not judge it fairly.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Kemp is in Paragraph A, listening with Marconi, but that paragraph does not call him the only witness or question his fairness.
- B: Notice that paragraph B covers Marconi's early work and plans. No witness is discussed.
- C: Paragraph C involves the press and the company's lawyers, but no one who could confirm the signals.
- E: Kemp as the sole witness, and not an impartial one, is discussed in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Marconi's diary for that day records signals at 12:30, 1:10 and 2:20.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says Marconi's diary for that day records signals at 12:30, 1:10 and 2:20. Writing them in his diary is how Marconi noted the three times.
Tips: Find the day of the first signals. Then check where Marconi noted them, and count the times listed.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Look at paragraph B: it gives years and a month, 1874, 1894 and September 1901, but no times of day for signals.
- C: Paragraph C says the letter was sent each afternoon from 11 December. It lists no times when signals arrived.
- D: Notice that paragraph D mentions an automatic recorder that did not work, not any notes Marconi wrote.
- E: His diary, with three times on 12 December, is quoted in Paragraph A.
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