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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Information ID: #63134 Medium Banff hot springs and mountain tourism

Read the following passage.

A. People knew the hot springs on Sulphur Mountain long before the railway came. Archaeological evidence shows that people lived in the Bow Valley 10,000 years ago, and First Nations tell stories about the cave and its warm waters. In the fall of 1883, three Canadian Pacific Railway workers, the brothers William and Tom McCardell and their partner Frank McCabe, came upon a mist-filled cave there. Seeing a chance to profit from the mineral water, they put a fence around it, built a log cabin near the entrance and wrote to the government to claim the springs.

B. The government turned the claim down. It needed money to finish the railway line west, and it saw that the healing waters could draw tourists. After a legal battle over who owned the springs, it set aside 26 square kilometres around the Cave and Basin in 1885. In 1886 a tunnel was cut into the cave so that visitors could walk in rather than enter through a hole in its roof. Two years after it was created, the reserve was enlarged and became the core of Canada's first national park, which took the name Banff National Park in 1930.

C. The water begins as rain and snow on Sulphur Mountain. Some of it seeps through cracks in the rock to a depth of about 3 kilometres, where it is heated and pushed back up. How hot a spring is depends on how fast its water rises and how much cold groundwater it meets on the way, so the Upper Hot Springs are hot while the Cave and Basin is only warm. Bacteria that break down minerals dissolved in the water, such as pyrite and gypsum, cause the smell of rotten eggs. Today the Banff Upper Hot Springs are the only springs open for bathing.

D. The springs are also the only home of the Banff Springs snail, which is about the size of a popcorn kernel. By 1996 it survived in just five springs, and soaking, swimming and dipping hands or feet into the water all disturb it. It was listed as endangered in 2002, and in 2007 it received the first recovery strategy and action plan approved under the Species at Risk Act. Snails were returned to two springs in 2002 and 2003, and fences, cameras and alarms now guard closed springs. Even so, springs dry up more often, and a 2018 review found annual minimum counts below 10,000 snails in six of the ten years from 2007 to 2016.

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.

- 1.
One reason officials refused to hand the springs over was that they needed funds to complete a railway.

- 2.
There are signs that humans lived in the area thousands of years before the railway crew arrived.

- 3.
The speed at which water climbs back to the surface helps decide the temperature of a spring.

- 4.
A passage was made so that the public could walk inside instead of coming down from above.

- 5.
The three railway workers were led to the site by a guide from a nearby First Nation.

- 6.
The land kept for the springs was later made bigger and formed the centre of a national park.

- 7.
Park staff count the snails in each spring once a week throughout the year.

- 8.
People getting into the water, even just with their hands or feet, can cause trouble for the small creature.

- 9.
The three men who claimed the springs in writing were employees of a railway company.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.

Correct Answer: B

Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph B. The government turned the claim down. One reason was that it needed money to finish the railway line west. Funds are money, so the statement matches.

Passage Reference: It needed money to finish the railway line west, and it saw that the healing waters could draw tourists.

Tips: Paragraph A has the claim. The decision about it, and the reasons, come later.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A tells you the workers wrote to the government to claim the springs. It does not say what the government decided or why.
  • C: Paragraph C explains how the water gets hot. The claim and the railway budget are not part of it.
  • D: Paragraph D is about protecting a small snail. It does not mention money for a railway.
  • E: The refusal and its reasons are in Paragraph B, including the need for money to finish the railway.

Correct Answer: A

Passage Reference: Archaeological evidence shows that people lived in the Bow Valley 10,000 years ago, and First Nations tell stories about the cave and its warm waters.

Why this is correct: The clue is in Paragraph A. Archaeological evidence shows people lived in the Bow Valley 10,000 years ago. The railway workers only came in 1883. So people were there thousands of years earlier.

Tips: The statement is about humans in the area before the railway crew. Check how many years earlier they lived there.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • B: Paragraph B starts after the workers made their claim. It says nothing about people who lived there long ago.
  • C: Paragraph C describes rain, rock and hot water. It does not talk about any people from the past.
  • D: Paragraph D is about the snail and its numbers. Early human life in the valley is not mentioned.
  • E: Paragraph A gives this. It mentions evidence of people in the Bow Valley 10,000 years ago.

Correct Answer: C

Passage Reference: How hot a spring is depends on how fast its water rises and how much cold groundwater it meets on the way, so the Upper Hot Springs are hot while the Cave and Basin is only warm.

Why this is correct: Paragraph C explains why springs differ. How hot a spring is depends on how fast its water rises. It also depends on how much cold groundwater the water meets. Speed is one part of the answer.

Tips: Here the idea is what makes one spring warmer than another. Does the speed of the water play a part?

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A mentions warm waters and a mist-filled cave. It does not explain why one spring is hotter than another.
  • B: Paragraph B covers how the reserve and the park began. It has nothing about water temperature.
  • D: Paragraph D says springs dry up more often. It does not link heat to how fast water rises.
  • E: The link between speed and heat is in Paragraph C, where it explains why springs are hot or only warm.

Correct Answer: B

Passage Reference: In 1886 a tunnel was cut into the cave so that visitors could walk in rather than enter through a hole in its roof.

Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph B. A tunnel was cut into the cave in 1886. After that, visitors could walk in. Before, they had to enter through a hole in the roof, which is from above.

Tips: Focus on a new way into the cave. Check why it was made and how the public got in before.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A says the workers built a cabin near the entrance. It says nothing about a new way into the cave.
  • C: Paragraph C talks about cracks in the rock, but water moves through them, not people.
  • D: Paragraph D mentions fences that keep people out of closed springs. It does not describe a way in.
  • E: The tunnel appears in Paragraph B. It let visitors walk in instead of entering through the roof.

Correct Answer: E

Passage Reference: In the fall of 1883, three Canadian Pacific Railway workers, the brothers William and Tom McCardell and their partner Frank McCabe, came upon a mist-filled cave there.

Why this is correct: Paragraph A names the three workers and says they came upon a mist-filled cave in 1883. It also says First Nations tell stories about the cave. It never says anyone guided the workers there.

Tips: Both First Nations and the workers appear in Paragraph A. Ask whether the text links them.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A mentions First Nations stories and the three workers. It does not connect them or say who showed the way.
  • B: Paragraph B is about the government's answer to the claim. It does not say how the cave was found.
  • C: Paragraph C explains where the water comes from. Guides and workers are not in it.
  • D: Paragraph D deals with the snail. It says nothing about the first visit to the cave.

Correct Answer: B

Passage Reference: Two years after it was created, the reserve was enlarged and became the core of Canada's first national park, which took the name Banff National Park in 1930.

Why this is correct: The answer is in Paragraph B. Two years after it was created, the reserve was enlarged. It became the core of Canada's first national park. Enlarged means made bigger, and the core is the centre.

Tips: Two changes must come together: the land grows larger and becomes the centre of a park. Check both.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A describes a fence the workers put around the cave. That is not the land set aside by the government.
  • C: Paragraph C covers the water and its minerals. It does not mention any park land.
  • D: Paragraph D talks about closed springs, but it does not say the protected area grew.
  • E: Paragraph B tells you the reserve was enlarged and became the core of the first national park.

Correct Answer: E

Passage Reference: Even so, springs dry up more often, and a 2018 review found annual minimum counts below 10,000 snails in six of the ten years from 2007 to 2016.

Why this is correct: Paragraph D gives yearly snail counts. The lowest count was below 10,000 in six of ten years. The text does not say how often the counting happens or who does it.

Tips: A number from a count does not tell you how often people count. Look for a time word like 'week'.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A is about the first people and the workers. There are no snails there.
  • B: Paragraph B tells how the park began. It does not mention any counting.
  • C: Paragraph C describes the water and the bacteria in it. It does not talk about counting any animal.
  • D: Paragraph D gives the snail counts. It leaves out how often they are made.

Correct Answer: D

Passage Reference: By 1996 it survived in just five springs, and soaking, swimming and dipping hands or feet into the water all disturb it.

Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph D. Soaking, swimming and dipping hands or feet into the water all disturb the snail. So even putting your hands in the water causes it trouble.

Tips: Think about the small creature and what people do in the water. Can even hands or feet harm it?

Why the other options are wrong:

  • A: Paragraph A mentions warm waters, but no animal is disturbed there.
  • B: Paragraph B says visitors could walk into the cave. It does not say visitors bother any animal.
  • C: Paragraph C says the Upper Hot Springs are open for bathing. It does not say bathing troubles any creature.
  • E: Paragraph D has this. It lists soaking, swimming and dipping hands or feet as things that disturb the snail.

Correct Answer: A

Passage Reference: In the fall of 1883, three Canadian Pacific Railway workers, the brothers William and Tom McCardell and their partner Frank McCabe, came upon a mist-filled cave there.

Why this is correct: Paragraph A tells you about three Canadian Pacific Railway workers. Later in the paragraph, they write to the government to claim the springs. Workers of a railway are its employees.

Tips: Find who wrote to the government and check where they worked.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • B: Paragraph B tells what the government did with the claim. It does not say who the people making it worked for.
  • C: Paragraph C is about the water underground. No one claims anything there.
  • D: Paragraph D talks about protecting the snail. Ownership of the springs is not discussed.
  • E: The railway workers who claimed the springs appear in Paragraph A.

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