Read the following passage.
A. Late in the summer of 1909, almost at the end of his field season, the American geologist Charles Walcott was riding alone on a trail between Wapta Mountain and Mount Field, a few kilometres north of Field, British Columbia, when he came across a number of unusual fossils. The next day he went back with his wife Helena and his son Stuart, and together they found several more, which Walcott sketched at once in his field notebook. The animals were of types that no one had seen before. That year the family spent five days collecting, mostly from loose slabs of rock near the trail and on the slopes.
B. The rocks he found are between 505 and 510 million years old, from the middle of the Cambrian period. Most of the animals lived in deep water at the base of an undersea cliff, the Cathedral Escarpment, which was about 200 metres high. From time to time, flows of mud at the foot of the cliff buried and preserved the animals living there. Usually only bones and shells become fossils, but here soft bodies survived as well. Without that unusual preservation, about 86 percent of the genera in this community would have left no trace.
C. Walcott came back with his family in 1910 and opened a quarry on the slope, now called the Walcott Quarry. He worked there in many summers until 1924, sliding blocks of shale down the mountain and moving them by horse to camp. In all he collected some 65,000 fossils, which went to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. After his death in 1927 they were largely ignored for nearly 40 years, until the Geological Survey of Canada reopened the site in 1966 with Harry Whittington, and the Royal Ontario Museum began its own expeditions in 1975.
D. Today the fossil beds lie inside Yoho National Park, within a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They can be reached only by guided hike or special permit, and collecting fossils anywhere in the park is forbidden. How the animals should be read, however, has long been disputed. In his 1989 book Wonderful Life, Stephen Jay Gould argued that many belonged to entirely new groups, which he called weird wonders, and that chance alone wiped most of them out. Many of his readings have since been challenged, and several of these animals are now placed within living animal groups, but how some of them are related is still hotly debated.
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: E
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, Walcott was riding near the end of his field season when he came across the fossils. It never says why he was there. So the idea that he came to search for soft-bodied creatures is not given.
Passage Reference: Late in the summer of 1909, almost at the end of his field season, the American geologist Charles Walcott was riding alone on a trail between Wapta Mountain and Mount Field, a few kilometres north of Field, British Columbia, when he came across a number of unusual fossils.
Tips: Soft bodies are mentioned, but not as Walcott's goal. Look for a stated reason for his trip.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A tells when and where Walcott made his find, but it gives no reason for his trip that summer.
- B: The second paragraph explains that soft bodies were preserved here, but it says nothing about what Walcott hoped to find.
- C: His later visits from 1910 are in paragraph C, not the plan behind his first trip in 1909.
- D: In paragraph D, the topics are access today and the debate over the animals, not Walcott's aims.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: After his death in 1927 they were largely ignored for nearly 40 years, until the Geological Survey of Canada reopened the site in 1966 with Harry Whittington, and the Royal Ontario Museum began its own expeditions in 1975.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: after Walcott's death in 1927, his fossils were largely ignored for nearly 40 years. Forty years is several decades, and being ignored means little interest from scientists.
Tips: Find when the collector died. Then check for a long period when nobody paid attention to his finds.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph shows Walcott at the start of his work in 1909, long before his death.
- B: Paragraph B explains how old the rocks are and how the animals were preserved, not how scientists treated the collection.
- D: A long dispute about the animals is reported in paragraph D. That shows strong interest rather than neglect.
- E: Paragraph C reports Walcott's death in 1927 and the nearly 40 years of neglect that followed.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: They can be reached only by guided hike or special permit, and collecting fossils anywhere in the park is forbidden.
Why this is correct: In paragraph D, the fossil beds can be reached only by guided hike or special permit. A guide is an escort and a permit is official approval. So visitors cannot go there freely.
Tips: Escort and approval are paraphrases. Find the paragraph with rules for the present day.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Walcott rides freely on the trail in paragraph A, in 1909, long before any rules about access.
- B: The second paragraph describes the ancient sea floor, not how people may reach the site today.
- C: Paragraph C lists scientific teams that worked at the site, not the rules for ordinary visitors.
- E: The guided hike and the special permit are named in the second sentence of paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Late in the summer of 1909, almost at the end of his field season, the American geologist Charles Walcott was riding alone on a trail between Wapta Mountain and Mount Field, a few kilometres north of Field, British Columbia, when he came across a number of unusual fossils.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: Walcott was riding alone on a trail when he came across the first unusual fossils. Riding alone means travelling without companions. His family joined him only the next day.
Tips: Two paragraphs show Walcott with family. Find the moment he was on his own.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: In paragraph B, the rocks are dated and we learn how the animals died, not who first saw the fossils.
- C: The third paragraph describes Walcott working with his family and later teams, not on his own.
- D: Paragraph D names Stephen Jay Gould, who wrote about the animals decades later, not the person who first found them.
- E: Walcott riding alone and coming across the fossils form the opening sentence of paragraph A.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: The next day he went back with his wife Helena and his son Stuart, and together they found several more, which Walcott sketched at once in his field notebook.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says Walcott went back the next day with his wife Helena and his son Stuart. Together they found several more fossils. His wife and son are relatives who helped the day after his first find.
Tips: Family members appear in more than one place. Check the timing: is it a single day later, or a year later?
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph is about the ancient sea and the preserved bodies, with no people in it at all.
- C: His family appears in paragraph C too, but they came back in 1910, a whole year later, not the following day.
- D: Paragraph D is about the park today and the debate over the animals, not Walcott's family.
- E: Helena and Stuart joining him the next day is the second sentence of paragraph A.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: That year the family spent five days collecting, mostly from loose slabs of rock near the trail and on the slopes.
Why this is correct: The end of paragraph A says the family spent five days collecting in 1909. They took fossils mostly from loose slabs of rock near the trail and on the slopes. Loose slabs lie on the surface, so they did not need digging.
Tips: A quarry means digging. Ask which paragraph describes collecting before the quarry existed.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: In paragraph B, rocks come up only to give their age, not how anyone collected fossils from them.
- C: Paragraph C describes digging, since Walcott opened a quarry. But that was in 1910 and later, not the first season.
- D: The fourth paragraph says collecting is now forbidden. That is a modern rule, not how the first fossils were gathered.
- E: The loose slabs and the five days of collecting close paragraph A.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: From time to time, flows of mud at the foot of the cliff buried and preserved the animals living there.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, flows of mud at the foot of the undersea cliff buried the animals living there from time to time. From time to time means now and then, and flowing mud is moving sediment.
Tips: Find where the creatures' ancient home is described. Check what sometimes happened to them there, and why it matters for fossils.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A describes the fossils Walcott found, not how the animals were buried millions of years ago.
- C: Blocks of shale are moved by horse in paragraph C. That concerns collecting, not how the animals were covered long ago.
- D: In paragraph D, living animal groups means groups alive today, not what happened at the foot of the cliff.
- E: Look at the third sentence of paragraph B. From time to time, flows of mud buried the animals living at the foot of the cliff.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Without that unusual preservation, about 86 percent of the genera in this community would have left no trace.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: without the unusual preservation, about 86 percent of the genera in this community would have left no trace. Eighty-six percent is most of the kinds of animals.
Tips: Match most to a percentage, not to a count of fossils.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says the animals were of new types, but it does not say how many would normally disappear.
- C: The third paragraph counts the 65,000 fossils Walcott collected, not the share of animals that usually leave nothing behind.
- D: How the animals are grouped is the topic in paragraph D, not how many kinds would normally be lost.
- E: The 86 percent figure comes at the end of paragraph B.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: After his death in 1927 they were largely ignored for nearly 40 years, until the Geological Survey of Canada reopened the site in 1966 with Harry Whittington, and the Royal Ontario Museum began its own expeditions in 1975.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, Walcott collected some 65,000 fossils, and the Royal Ontario Museum began its own expeditions in 1975. No total is given for the museum. So the comparison is not given.
Tips: One number is not a comparison. Check whether the museum's total is ever given.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph covers only the first five days of collecting in 1909, with no museum involved.
- B: Paragraph B explains how the fossils formed, not how many any group collected.
- C: Paragraph C gives Walcott's total and the start of the museum's expeditions, but no figure for what the museum collected.
- D: In paragraph D, the topics are access and the scientific debate, with no numbers of fossils.
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