Read the following passage.
A. In 1956, during the Suez Crisis, the United Kingdom, France and Israel invaded Egyptian territory. Lester B. Pearson, then Canada's secretary of state for external affairs, proposed and sponsored the United Nations resolution that created a United Nations Emergency Force to police the area. The force made it possible for the invading countries to withdraw with a minimum loss of face. The next year, Pearson received the Nobel Peace Prize for his crucial contribution to sending that force.
B. Pearson was born in Toronto on April 23, 1897, the son of a Methodist minister. In 1913, at only sixteen, he enrolled at Victoria College at the University of Toronto. During the First World War he served with a hospital unit and later moved to the Royal Flying Corps, where a flying instructor gave him the nickname Mike. Injuries from two accidents, one of them a plane crash, sent him home. After studying history at Oxford, he taught the subject at the University of Toronto and then joined the Department of External Affairs in 1928.
C. When the Liberals lost the 1957 election, Pearson gave up his cabinet post, became leader of the Opposition and began to rebuild the party. Before the 1963 election, after a careful review of his views on national defence, he said he was willing to accept nuclear warheads from the United States. The Conservative government had lost the confidence of voters, and the Liberals won enough seats to form a government with Pearson as prime minister. Still, his party could not win a majority, and he led two minority parliaments, formed after the elections of 1963 and 1965.
D. In five years as prime minister, before he retired as party leader in 1968, Pearson brought in programs that had long been discussed, including old age pensions, medical care and federal help for higher education. The most bitter debate was over a new national flag. The Conservatives wanted the design to keep symbols of the past, but the red maple leaf flag was raised on February 15, 1965. Not every step went well, even in the eyes of his own team. His senior adviser Tom Kent called the 1963 budget a blunder. Kent also wrote that the government clung too long to a first version of the Canada Pension Plan that had become impracticable.
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: The first paragraph tells us that Pearson proposed and sponsored the resolution that created the emergency force. It never says whether anyone from another country helped him prepare it, so the text does not give this information.
Passage Reference: Lester B. Pearson, then Canada's secretary of state for external affairs, proposed and sponsored the United Nations resolution that created a United Nations Emergency Force to police the area.
Tips: Ask who wrote the plan: the text credits Pearson and names nobody else.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph names Pearson as the one who proposed and sponsored the resolution. Helpers from other countries are not mentioned at all.
- B: His birth, his studies and his war injuries fill paragraph B. No diplomats or United Nations plans appear there.
- C: The third paragraph is about elections and his change of view on nuclear warheads. It has no link to writing a United Nations plan.
- D: The fourth paragraph reviews his record at home: new programs, the flag and his adviser's criticism. Diplomats from other countries play no part.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: The force made it possible for the invading countries to withdraw with a minimum loss of face.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says the force made it possible for the invading countries to withdraw with a minimum loss of face. 'Withdraw' means pull back, and 'loss of face' means embarrassment, so the meaning is the same.
Tips: Find the story of the attack on Egypt. Check what the new force helped the attackers do, and whether they kept their pride.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph tells of his own injuries in the First World War, not another country's retreat.
- C: Notice that paragraph C has a different kind of loss: the Liberals losing an election and the Conservatives losing voters' trust.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it admits some mistakes by his own government, which is a different matter from Egypt's invaders.
- E: Notice that paragraph A gives this directly, in the sentence about withdrawing with a minimum loss of face.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: After studying history at Oxford, he taught the subject at the University of Toronto and then joined the Department of External Affairs in 1928.
Why this is correct: He studied history at Oxford and then taught the subject in Toronto, as paragraph B tells us. It gives the order of events but no reason for his choice. So the motive in the statement is not in the text.
Tips: Watch for 'because': a reason must be stated, not guessed from what happened next.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is set in 1956 at the United Nations. His university years are not part of it.
- B: The second paragraph links Oxford and his teaching job only in time. Nothing there explains why he picked history.
- C: His years as Opposition leader and his election wins are the subject of paragraph C, not his studies.
- D: Paragraph D mentions help for higher education as a government program, which says nothing about his own reasons for studying.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: The most bitter debate was over a new national flag.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says the most bitter debate of his time in office was over a new national flag. The maple leaf flag was raised in 1965. A national emblem is the flag, and 'fierce argument' matches 'most bitter debate'.
Tips: Find the time when he 'led the government'. Then check which change caused a 'fierce argument', and whether it was about a national emblem.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A is about an international crisis and a peace prize. No national symbol is chosen there.
- B: The second paragraph follows his early life up to 1928, long before he led the government.
- C: The third paragraph explains how he came to power and led two minority parliaments, but the flag argument is not there.
- E: The quarrel over a new flag and the raising of the maple leaf design both appear in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Injuries from two accidents, one of them a plane crash, sent him home.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says injuries from two accidents, one of them a plane crash, sent him home during the First World War. 'Forced him to return home' is another way of saying the injuries sent him home.
Tips: Find his wartime flying service first. Then check what the 'accidents' did to his time there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A speaks of invading forces withdrawing from Egypt in 1956, not of Pearson being hurt.
- C: Paragraph C covers his return to office in the 1960s. No accident or war service appears.
- D: The fourth paragraph lists programs and a flag debate from his years as prime minister, far from the First World War.
- E: His two accidents, including a plane crash, and his return home are reported in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Before the 1963 election, after a careful review of his views on national defence, he said he was willing to accept nuclear warheads from the United States.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, before the 1963 election, he made a careful review of his views on national defence. Then he accepted nuclear warheads from the United States. The Liberals then formed a government, so the change came before his party returned to power.
Tips: Look for a change of mind about the army or weapons. Then check it came before his party returned to power.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph mentions a military force. But it is a United Nations force in 1956, not a shift in his own thinking.
- B: Paragraph B covers his war service with a hospital unit and the flying corps. He was not changing a policy view then.
- D: Paragraph D is about what his government did once in office, and its mistakes, not his views before taking power.
- E: His careful review of his defence views, followed by the Liberal win, sits in the second and third sentences of Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Kent also wrote that the government clung too long to a first version of the Canada Pension Plan that had become impracticable.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph quotes his senior adviser, Tom Kent. He wrote that the government clung too long to a first version of the Canada Pension Plan. An adviser is someone who worked closely with him, and this is a criticism.
Tips: Find where people judge his time as leader. Check which person worked with him, and what they said about the pension plan.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A has only praise, a peace prize for the force. Nobody criticizes him there.
- B: The second paragraph tells of his early life and first job. No adviser or pension plan is named.
- C: The third paragraph says voters lost confidence in the Conservative government. That is a criticism of his opponents, not of his own team.
- E: Tom Kent's comment about the pension plan is the final sentence of Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: The next year, Pearson received the Nobel Peace Prize for his crucial contribution to sending that force.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says that the next year Pearson received the Nobel Peace Prize. It was for his crucial contribution to sending the emergency force. That prize is international, and the force was sent to keep the peace.
Tips: Track the word 'prize' and check what the prize was given for.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B gives a nickname from a flying instructor, which is not a prize or an honour for peace work.
- C: Paragraph C is about the election results in 1957, 1963 and 1965. No prize is mentioned.
- D: Notice that paragraph D ends with criticism from his adviser, and it names no prize of any kind.
- E: The Nobel Peace Prize, and the reason he received it, are reported in the last sentence of Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Still, his party could not win a majority, and he led two minority parliaments, formed after the elections of 1963 and 1965.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says he led two minority parliaments after the elections of 1963 and 1965. It does not give seat numbers for either vote, so we cannot tell whether his party did better the second time.
Tips: A comparison needs a number of seats for both years. Check whether the passage gives those numbers.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is about the Suez Crisis of 1956. No election results appear there.
- B: Look at paragraph B: it stops in 1928, before he entered politics, so it has no seat counts.
- C: Paragraph C names both elections but compares nothing. It says only that neither gave a majority.
- D: Notice that paragraph D gives a 1965 flag date, not a 1965 vote result or any seat totals.
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