Read the following passage.
A. The town of Frank was founded in 1901 at the base of Turtle Mountain, in the Crowsnest Pass, beside a new coal mine. It was named after Henry Frank, a businessman from Butte, Montana, who saw a chance to profit from the coal deposits of the pass. The grand opening on September 10, 1901, was an all-day event with sporting contests, tours of the mine, a banquet and a dance. Special train cars brought in the guests and fine food, including a large amount of ice cream. By the spring of 1903, about 600 people lived in Frank.
B. At 4:10 in the morning on April 29, 1903, the east face of Turtle Mountain broke away. A block of limestone about one kilometre wide fell into the valley in roughly 100 seconds, with rocks moving at up to 120 kilometres an hour. People for many kilometres around heard the roar. The rock buried three square kilometres of the valley floor, in places as deep as 45 metres. It covered seven miners' cottages at the edge of town, the surface buildings of the coal mine and two kilometres of the Canadian Pacific Railway line.
C. Some people in the path of the slide lived. Seventeen miners trapped inside the mountain had to rescue themselves by tunnelling up to the surface, and twenty-three people in the cottages survived, among them three young girls. Even so, false stories spread around the world about a single baby girl, called "Frankie Slide", who was said to be the only survivor. The number of dead is still not certain. The Frank Sentinel newspaper reported seventy deaths at the time, while later estimates give more than 90. Only 12 bodies were pulled from the rubble in the first days, and six more were found in 1922.
D. At first, coal mining was blamed for the disaster. Scientists later decided that the main cause was the unstable structure of the mountain, and that mining was only a secondary factor. In 1911 a Royal Commission found the north peak unstable, and the provincial government ordered the buildings of the old townsite moved; the Imperial Hotel went as far as Vulcan. Today the Alberta Geological Survey watches the mountain with radar that measures movements of a few millimetres. Scientists believe another major rockslide will happen one day. If the slow movement continues, it is unlikely soon, but no one can say exactly when it will come.
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 grand opening in paragraph A lasted all day, with sporting contests, mine tours, a banquet and a dance. Games, food and dancing are the same things in simpler words.
Passage Reference: The grand opening on September 10, 1901, was an all-day event with sporting contests, tours of the mine, a banquet and a dance.
Tips: Look for how the new town began. Check that the same sentence lists games, food and dancing.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Notice that paragraph B opens on the night the mountain broke away, two years after the town began. No party is described.
- C: Survivors, a false story about a baby and the uncertain death count make up Paragraph C, not a celebration.
- D: Paragraph D deals with the cause of the slide and the later move of the old buildings, not the town's first day.
- E: Sporting contests, a banquet and a dance at the grand opening are listed in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: It covered seven miners' cottages at the edge of town, the surface buildings of the coal mine and two kilometres of the Canadian Pacific Railway line.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says the rock covered two kilometres of the Canadian Pacific Railway line. It says nothing about repairs, and it gives no time for getting trains running again.
Tips: Notice that paragraph B tells you what was buried. Check whether any paragraph says how long the line took to fix.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Train cars bringing guests to the opening appear in Paragraph A, but no damage or repair work.
- B: The buried stretch of railway is in Paragraph B, the nearest match, yet the paragraph stops before any repair work.
- C: Paragraph C counts survivors and the dead. The railway is not part of it.
- D: Moving buildings and watching the mountain are covered in Paragraph D, while fixing the track is not.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In 1911 a Royal Commission found the north peak unstable, and the provincial government ordered the buildings of the old townsite moved; the Imperial Hotel went as far as Vulcan.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says a Royal Commission in 1911 found the north peak unstable. The provincial government then ordered the buildings of the old townsite moved, so the study's warning led to relocation.
Tips: Buildings come up more than once. Ask where they are moved away after a warning, not buried by rock.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph shows the town being set up beside the mine. No building is moved away.
- B: Buildings are buried by rock in Paragraph B, which is not the same as being moved after a warning.
- C: Notice that paragraph C is about who survived and how many died, with no inquiry and no relocation.
- E: The 1911 Royal Commission and the order to move the old buildings both appear in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: People for many kilometres around heard the roar.
Why this is correct: People for many kilometres around heard the roar, as paragraph B tells us. Many kilometres is a long way, and the roar is the noise of the falling rock.
Tips: Find the moment the slide happens. Check how far the noise travelled.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, the writer describes a noisy celebration, but only in the town itself, years before the slide.
- C: Stories that spread around the world are in Paragraph C, but those were false tales, not the sound itself.
- D: Paragraph D is about the cause, the Royal Commission and radar on the mountain. It says nothing about sound.
- E: The second paragraph reports that people many kilometres away heard the roar of the slide.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Even so, false stories spread around the world about a single baby girl, called "Frankie Slide", who was said to be the only survivor.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C tells of false stories that spread around the world. They were about a single baby girl, called Frankie Slide, who was said to be the only survivor. In fact, the same paragraph says many others lived.
Tips: Find the 'reports' that were wrong. Check who they claimed was 'the only person left alive', and compare that with what really happened.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The town's population before the slide is given in paragraph A. Nobody is reported as a survivor.
- B: The damage in Paragraph B includes seven cottages, yet no one there is named as the last one alive.
- D: Paragraph D talks about blame for the slide and future danger, not about any mistaken report.
- E: The false story of Frankie Slide as the only survivor is told in Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: It was named after Henry Frank, a businessman from Butte, Montana, who saw a chance to profit from the coal deposits of the pass.
Why this is correct: Where did the name come from? Paragraph A explains that the town was named after Henry Frank, a businessman from Butte, Montana. So the man behind the name came from Montana.
Tips: Scan for Montana. Check that the same sentence explains where the town's name came from.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph uses the town's name, but it never says where the name came from.
- C: The Frank Sentinel newspaper appears in Paragraph C, yet Henry Frank and Montana do not.
- D: Notice that paragraph D names the Imperial Hotel and Vulcan, not the founder of the town.
- E: Henry Frank, the businessman from Butte, Montana, is named in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Seventeen miners trapped inside the mountain had to rescue themselves by tunnelling up to the surface, and twenty-three people in the cottages survived, among them three young girls.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: it says seventeen miners trapped inside the mountain had to rescue themselves by tunnelling up to the surface. Tunnelling up is digging their way upward.
Tips: Several places mention underground work. Ask which one tells how workers got out by digging.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, the writer mentions tours of the mine at the opening, but no one is trapped or escapes.
- B: Paragraph B describes the mine buildings being buried, not the men who got out from inside.
- D: Coal mining is blamed and then cleared in Paragraph D, which says nothing about miners escaping.
- E: The seventeen miners who tunnelled to the surface are described in Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: In 1911 a Royal Commission found the north peak unstable, and the provincial government ordered the buildings of the old townsite moved; the Imperial Hotel went as far as Vulcan.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says the provincial government ordered the old buildings moved after the 1911 Royal Commission. It never says that families chose to leave, or that fear was their reason.
Tips: Notice that paragraph D gives a government order. Check whether it ever gives a family's own reason for leaving.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, the writer tells how people came to Frank and how many lived there, not why any of them left.
- B: Paragraph B shows homes buried in the slide, but no one decides to move away.
- C: Those who lived through the slide are counted in Paragraph C, yet their later choices are not given.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it is the nearest because buildings are moved. But that was a government order, and fear is not mentioned.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: A block of limestone about one kilometre wide fell into the valley in roughly 100 seconds, with rocks moving at up to 120 kilometres an hour.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says the block of limestone fell into the valley in roughly 100 seconds. Two minutes is 120 seconds, so 100 seconds is a little less than two minutes.
Tips: Find how long the rock took to come down. Then work out whether that time is a little less than two minutes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A is set before the slide, with the founding of Frank and its opening day.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it gives numbers of survivors and bodies, but no time for the fall.
- D: In paragraph D, the writer mentions slow movements today, measured in millimetres, not how long the fall of 1903 lasted.
- E: Paragraph B gives the length of the fall: roughly 100 seconds.
The rest of this explanation is for members. Sign in free to read why the other options are wrong, key words and tips.
Sign in to read the full explanation