Read the following passage.
A. In the 1960s, a construction boom filled downtown Toronto with tall new buildings. The existing transmission towers were no longer high enough, because the new buildings bounced radio and television signals away from the people meant to receive them. A much taller tower was needed to improve broadcasting. The Canadian National Railway Company (CN) went ahead with the project, and planners chose the Railway Lands between Front Street and Lake Ontario as the site. CN owned this land, which had been reclaimed from the lake during the previous century, and had used it for decades as its main railyard in the downtown.
B. Construction began on 6 February 1973, with CN employing 1,537 workers. Crews first removed earth and shale for the foundation and then started on the hexagonal concrete shaft with its three curved support arms. They poured concrete into a huge mould called a slipform, which climbed slowly upward on hydraulic jacks as the concrete hardened. By February 1974 the structure was already the tallest in Canada. In March 1975 a giant Sikorsky helicopter named Olga flew in to lift the 39 pieces of the antenna into place, and the tower was finished on 2 April 1975.
C. The CN Tower opened to the public on 26 June 1976. More than 2,000 people visited on the opening day, and over 500 had lined up at midnight to get in. At 553.33 metres, it was the world's tallest free-standing structure until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai passed it. In 1995 CN sold the tower to Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation. Lightning strikes the tower about 75 times a year, and copper strips that run its full length lead down to grounding rods below the surface, which helps prevent damage.
D. Visitors ride high-speed elevators to the Main Observation Level, 346 metres above the ground, in 58 seconds. One floor below, the Lower Observation Level has a Glass Floor that looks 342 metres straight down. The Top, 447 metres up, is the highest observation platform in the Western Hemisphere, and from there visitors can feel the tower sway in the wind. Since 2011, the EdgeWalk has let people walk around the outside of the main pod, 356 metres above the ground, with a harness attached to a rail. The walk itself lasts about 30 minutes, and the tower welcomes about two million visitors every year.
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.
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Correct Answer: B
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph B. In March 1975, a giant helicopter named Olga lifted the 39 pieces of the antenna into place. A helicopter is an aircraft, and the antenna is the top part of the tower.
Passage Reference: In March 1975 a giant Sikorsky helicopter named Olga flew in to lift the 39 pieces of the antenna into place, and the tower was finished on 2 April 1975.
Tips: Work out how the top sections got up there. Check who or what did the carrying.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A explains why a taller tower was needed and where it would stand. Nothing is lifted or flown there.
- C: Paragraph C begins with the opening day in 1976, after the building work was done. It says nothing about the antenna.
- D: Paragraph D mentions the Top, but only as a place visitors reach today. Nothing is carried up by air.
- E: The helicopter and the antenna pieces both appear in Paragraph B, so the text covers this.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: More than 2,000 people visited on the opening day, and over 500 had lined up at midnight to get in.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C gives the answer. Over 500 people had lined up at midnight to get in on the opening day. Five hundred people is hundreds of people.
Tips: Think about the tower's first opening to visitors. Check when the people arrived and whether their number is in the hundreds.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is set in the 1960s, when the tower was only an idea. There were no crowds yet.
- B: Paragraph B describes the 1,537 workers who built the tower. They were not visitors waiting to go in.
- D: Paragraph D talks about visitors today and the yearly total. It says nothing about a line on the first night.
- E: Paragraph C counts the people in line at midnight, so the text answers this.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: One floor below, the Lower Observation Level has a Glass Floor that looks 342 metres straight down.
Why this is correct: Read Paragraph D closely. The Lower Observation Level has a Glass Floor that looks 342 metres straight down. Through that floor, people see what is right below them.
Tips: Look for a level where the floor is special. Ask yourself what you can see when you stand on it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about radio signals and the choice of land. It has no viewing levels.
- B: Paragraph B describes the foundation and the concrete shaft. It mentions no floors for visitors.
- C: Paragraph C gives the full height of the tower. It does not describe a floor that people look through.
- E: The Glass Floor is named in Paragraph D, so you can find this in the reading.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: In 1995 CN sold the tower to Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation.
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph C. In 1995 CN sold the tower to Canada Lands Company. When you sell something, the ownership passes to someone else.
Tips: More than one part of the passage names the railway company. Find where the tower changes owner, and check who took it over.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says CN owned the land and went ahead with the project. It does not say CN gave the tower up.
- B: Paragraph B shows CN hiring 1,537 workers to build the tower. That is the start of the story, not a sale.
- D: Paragraph D is about what visitors can do today. It does not name any owner.
- E: Paragraph C gives the year of the sale, 1995, so this is supported.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: The existing transmission towers were no longer high enough, because the new buildings bounced radio and television signals away from the people meant to receive them.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A explains the problem. The old transmission towers were no longer high enough. New buildings bounced radio and television signals away from the people meant to receive them.
Tips: This is about why the older towers stopped working well. Check what the high-rises did to TV and radio.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B is about how the tower was built. It mentions the antenna but no problem with signals.
- C: Paragraph C compares the tower's height with the Burj Khalifa. It says nothing about buildings that blocked signals.
- D: Paragraph D describes viewing levels for visitors. Radio and television are never mentioned.
- E: Paragraph A spells out what the new buildings did to the signals, so the reading does cover it.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Construction began on 6 February 1973, with CN employing 1,537 workers.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B gives the start date and the number of workers, 1,537. It never says how much the tower cost. No other paragraph gives a price either.
Tips: Paragraph B has many numbers. Check whether any of them is money.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says a taller tower was needed and names the site. It gives no price for the project.
- B: Paragraph B is full of numbers about the building work, so it looks likely. None of those numbers is an amount of money.
- C: Paragraph C reports a sale in 1995. It gives no price for the sale or for the building work.
- D: Paragraph D gives heights and times for visitors. It has no dollar amounts at all.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Lightning strikes the tower about 75 times a year, and copper strips that run its full length lead down to grounding rods below the surface, which helps prevent damage.
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph C. Lightning strikes the tower about 75 times a year. Lightning is the electric flash in a storm, and 75 is several dozen.
Tips: Think about storms and the tower. Check how often the flashes hit, and whether that number is in the dozens.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A talks about radio and television signals. Those are not lightning.
- B: Paragraph B describes building the shaft and the antenna. Storms do not come up.
- D: Paragraph D mentions the wind at the Top, where visitors feel the tower sway. It says nothing about lightning.
- E: Paragraph C gives the number of strikes, about 75, so the text supports this.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Visitors ride high-speed elevators to the Main Observation Level, 346 metres above the ground, in 58 seconds.
Why this is correct: The clue is in Paragraph D. High-speed elevators take visitors to the Main Observation Level in 58 seconds. That is less than one minute.
Tips: Find how people get up to the main viewing area. Is the time given shorter than one minute?
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A explains why the tower was needed in the 1960s. Nobody rides up in it yet.
- B: Paragraph B gives dates for the building work, which took years. It does not time a single ride.
- C: Paragraph C tells about the crowd on opening day. It does not say how long the ride up takes.
- E: Paragraph D gives the ride time, 58 seconds, so this one is in the text.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: CN owned this land, which had been reclaimed from the lake during the previous century, and had used it for decades as its main railyard in the downtown.
Why this is correct: Check the first paragraph, Paragraph A. The land had been reclaimed from the lake during the previous century. Reclaimed land was taken back from the water, so it was once part of the lake.
Tips: Look at where the tower was built. Check what that ground was, many years earlier.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B mentions earth and shale removed for the foundation. It says nothing about the land's past.
- C: Paragraph C is about the tower after it opened. It does not describe the land under it.
- D: Paragraph D gives heights above the ground for visitors. It does not tell the history of the ground.
- E: Paragraph A tells you the land was reclaimed from the lake, so the text covers this.
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