Read the following passage.
A. David Thompson was born in London on April 30, 1770, and received basic training in navigation at the Grey Coat mathematical school. In May 1784 he began a seven-year apprenticeship with the Hudson's Bay Company. In December 1788 he seriously fractured his right leg in a sled accident. During the slow recovery that followed, he spent a winter studying mathematics, surveying and astronomy with the company surveyor Philip Turnor. By the next spring, however, he had lost the sight in his right eye, and for that reason Turnor did not consider him for the expedition to Lake Athabasca.
B. Thompson built his maps on a series of fixed points, usually trading posts. He located each point by astronomical observations, which gave him its latitude and longitude. Between those points he took direction from a compass and judged distance by the time a journey had taken, and these distance figures are often inconsistent. In 1814 he completed a large map of the northwest, reaching from Lake Superior to the Pacific. He sent it to the North West Company, and for many years it hung in the great hall at Fort William, as the post at Kaministiquia had been renamed in 1807.
C. On May 23, 1797, Thompson left the Hudson's Bay Company to join its rival, the North West Company, without giving the year's notice that his contract required. In 1799 he married Charlotte Small, who was 13 at the time and had Scottish and Cree parents, and they later had 13 children. On June 25, 1807, he crossed the Rockies through the pass later named for the trader Joseph Howse. In 1811 he travelled down the Columbia River, but when he reached Fort Astoria on July 15, he found that the Pacific Fur Company was already there.
D. In 1817 Thompson became astronomer and surveyor for a commission fixing the border with the United States. His fortunes began to fall in 1825, when McGillivrays, Thain and Company, the agent of the North West Company, went bankrupt and he lost a large part of his life savings. Later efforts to farm his land also failed. In Montreal he more than once pawned his instruments, and once even his coat. In August 1840, at the age of 70, he applied without success to be a clerk with the Hudson's Bay Company. In his last years he wrote an account of his travels, but by 1851 he was completely blind, and the manuscript was never finished.
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: C
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says he left the Hudson's Bay Company for its rival without giving the year's notice his contract required. Leaving without that notice means he did not warn his employer in the way the agreement demanded.
Passage Reference: On May 23, 1797, Thompson left the Hudson's Bay Company to join its rival, the North West Company, without giving the year's notice that his contract required.
Tips: The Hudson's Bay Company comes up several times. Look for the moment he walks away from it and what he failed to do.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A also mentions an agreement with the Hudson's Bay Company. But it is his seven-year apprenticeship, and he is not leaving it.
- B: The second paragraph names the North West Company only as the place his 1814 map was sent. It is not a company he moved to.
- D: Paragraph D brings back the Hudson's Bay Company only when, at 70, he asked it for a clerk's job. That is not a move away from it.
- E: Paragraph C contains this: he joined the rival company without the notice his contract required.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: During the slow recovery that followed, he spent a winter studying mathematics, surveying and astronomy with the company surveyor Philip Turnor.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A says he broke his leg in a sled accident in 1788. During the slow recovery, he studied surveying and astronomy with Philip Turnor. The time off after the injury is when he learned the skill.
Tips: Find the accident first. Then read on to see what he did while he could not work.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B explains how he used surveying to make maps, but it does not say how or when he learned it.
- C: The third paragraph follows his travels for the North West Company and his marriage. There is no accident in it.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it calls him a surveyor for the boundary commission. That job came long after he had learned the skill.
- E: The link between the injury and his training sits in Paragraph A, which says he studied surveying during his recovery.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: In 1811 he travelled down the Columbia River, but when he reached Fort Astoria on July 15, he found that the Pacific Fur Company was already there.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says he came down the Columbia River to Fort Astoria in July 1811. When he got there, the Pacific Fur Company was already there. So another business had arrived before him.
Tips: Several of his journeys are listed. Find the one down the Columbia, then check who was waiting at the fort.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, the writer covers his youth and training in the 1780s, long before any trip on the Columbia River.
- B: The second paragraph says his 1814 map reached the Pacific, but it does not say who got to the coast first.
- D: The fourth paragraph describes the boundary survey and his later poverty, not the Pacific coast.
- E: Fort Astoria and the Pacific Fur Company both appear in Paragraph C, which says the company was there when he arrived.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: He located each point by astronomical observations, which gave him its latitude and longitude.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says his maps rested on fixed points, usually trading posts, and that he located each point by astronomical observations. Watching the sky is how he fixed where each post stood.
Tips: He studies the sky in more than one part of his life. Ask where the sky is used to fix each 'company station', not just studied.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A says he studied astronomy with Turnor. But it does not say how he later used it on trading posts.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer lists posts and forts he travelled to, such as Fort Astoria, not how he measured their position.
- D: Notice that paragraph D names his job as astronomer on the boundary commission, but gives no method for locating posts.
- E: The method appears in Paragraph B: fixed points, usually trading posts, found by astronomical observations.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: On May 23, 1797, Thompson left the Hudson's Bay Company to join its rival, the North West Company, without giving the year's notice that his contract required.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C tells us when he left the Hudson's Bay Company, which company he joined, and that he gave no notice. It never gives his reason for leaving, and pay is not mentioned anywhere in the text.
Tips: When a statement gives a reason, check that the text gives the same reason. A date and a move are not a motive.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A covers his start as an apprentice with the Hudson's Bay Company. It gives no reason for any later move.
- B: The second paragraph shows his map going to the North West Company, but it says nothing about what he was paid.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it reports the move and the missing notice, yet it stays silent on why he made the change.
- D: Notice that paragraph D mentions money, but only his losses after 1825 and a clerk's job he failed to get.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Between those points he took direction from a compass and judged distance by the time a journey had taken, and these distance figures are often inconsistent.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says he judged distance by how long a journey had taken, and that these distance figures are often inconsistent. Figures that do not agree are guesses that are not reliable.
Tips: Find how he worked out 'how far he had gone'. Then check what the writer says about how well those guesses agree.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: His early training and the loss of sight in one eye fill paragraph A. It gives no view of his measurements.
- C: Notice that paragraph C gives dates and places on his journeys, but it does not judge how well he measured them.
- D: Notice that paragraph D covers the boundary job and his later money troubles, not any weakness in his maps.
- E: A weakness in his method is admitted in Paragraph B, where his distance figures are called inconsistent.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: During the slow recovery that followed, he spent a winter studying mathematics, surveying and astronomy with the company surveyor Philip Turnor.
Why this is correct: During one winter, paragraph A tells us, he studied mathematics, surveying and astronomy with Philip Turnor. It names his teacher but does not mention any other learner in those lessons.
Tips: Count the people in the lessons sentence: a teacher and one learner. A second student would need to be written there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it names Turnor as the teacher and Thompson as the learner. No second student is named.
- B: The second paragraph uses what he learned to build maps, but it mentions no fellow worker.
- C: Notice that paragraph C names his wife and a trader called Joseph Howse, but no one who shared his lessons.
- D: Paragraph D follows his years of work and loss after 1817. His early lessons do not appear there.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In Montreal he more than once pawned his instruments, and once even his coat.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says that in Montreal he more than once pawned his instruments, and once even his coat. To pawn something is to leave it with a lender for money, so he gave up his tools for cash.
Tips: Find where his money troubles are described. Ask what he gave up to get cash, and whether it was only his tools.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: School, apprenticeship and injury are the topics of paragraph A. Money is not a problem there.
- B: Notice that paragraph B describes the compass and other methods he used, not a time he lost his instruments.
- C: The third paragraph covers his move, marriage and journeys west. There is no shortage of money.
- E: Look at paragraph D: it reports that he pawned his instruments, which matches leaving tools for cash.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: By the next spring, however, he had lost the sight in his right eye, and for that reason Turnor did not consider him for the expedition to Lake Athabasca.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, the writer says that by the next spring he had lost the sight in his right eye. For that reason, Turnor did not consider him for the Lake Athabasca expedition. The damaged eye kept him off the trip.
Tips: His eyes come up more than once. Check which mention leads to him being left out of a trip.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph says his distance figures were uneven, but it links this to no journey he missed.
- C: The third paragraph lists journeys he did make, over the Rockies and down the Columbia, not one he lost.
- D: Paragraph D does say he was completely blind by 1851, but that stopped his writing, not a trip.
- E: His damaged eye and the trip he missed are both in Paragraph A, joined by 'for that reason'.
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