Read the following passage.
A. Roberta Bondar was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on December 4, 1945. Before she became an astronaut, she spent many years studying science and medicine. She earned a degree in zoology and agriculture at the University of Guelph in 1968, the same year she received her private pilot's licence. She went on to complete a PhD in neurobiology at the University of Toronto in 1974 and a medical degree at McMaster University in 1977. In 1981 she became a certified neurologist, a doctor who works with the brain and nervous system, and she then trained further in neuro-ophthalmology in Boston and Toronto.
B. In 1983, Bondar was chosen for the first group of Canadian astronauts. About 4,300 people applied, and she was the only woman among the final six. She did not fly for another nine years. About six years before her launch, the Challenger disaster killed seven astronauts, and the shuttle fleet was grounded for three years. Bondar was then selected and trained as a payload specialist for the first International Microgravity Laboratory, known as IML-1, which was planned as a science mission on the Space Shuttle.
C. Bondar finally flew in January 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. She was the first Canadian woman in space and the first neurologist in space. The crew worked in a pressurized laboratory module called Spacelab. They studied how the human nervous system adapts to low gravity, and how weightlessness affects shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. They also grew crystals from substances such as enzymes and a virus. On the sixth day, mission managers found that enough supplies remained, so they added one more day to allow the experiments to continue.
D. After the flight, Bondar led an international research team that worked with NASA for several years. The team studied how microgravity affects astronauts returning from space, and how those changes are similar to human diseases on Earth. She also turned to photography. She studied nature photography in California in 1996, then spent two years photographing all of Canada's national parks. Since 2016 her main project has been Space for Birds, which follows the flyways of bird species that are endangered or declining. Today she curates a travelling exhibition from this project, and she continues her research on migratory birds through the Roberta Bondar Foundation.
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: A
Why this is correct: The first paragraph opens her story with school and training. Before she became an astronaut, she spent many years studying science and medicine. It lists her medical degree from 1977.
Passage Reference: Before she became an astronaut, she spent many years studying science and medicine.
Tips: Find where her study years are listed. Check that they came 'before' she joined the space program.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph starts in 1983, when she was picked for the astronaut group. Her medical studies were already finished by then.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it calls her the first neurologist in space, but it gives no dates or schools for her training.
- D: The fourth paragraph covers research with NASA after the flight and her later bird project, not her time as a medical student.
- E: Her degrees and their years are listed in Paragraph A, so the passage does tell us that medicine came first.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: She did not fly for another nine years.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B tells us she waited nine years to fly and then trained for a science mission. It never says what medical work, if any, she did in those years.
Tips: The wait is in Paragraph B. Ask whether it names any job she held during those years.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes her training as a neurologist before 1983, not her job during the long wait.
- B: The second paragraph talks about the wait, the Challenger disaster and her IML-1 training. A hospital job is not part of it.
- C: Notice that paragraph C is set in January 1992, when the wait had ended and she was finally in orbit.
- D: Look at paragraph D. It moves to the years after her flight: research with NASA, photography and birds.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: She earned a degree in zoology and agriculture at the University of Guelph in 1968, the same year she received her private pilot's licence.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says that in 1968 she received her private pilot's licence. A licence is permission, and her space flight came in 1992, so she could fly planes many years earlier.
Tips: Permission to fly planes is an official paper. Look for when she got it, then compare that date with her trip into orbit.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B uses the word 'fly' for her shuttle trip, which was delayed for years. It says nothing about flying a plane herself.
- C: The third paragraph describes her trip on Discovery, where she worked as a scientist in the laboratory, not as a pilot.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it mentions travel to national parks for photos, but no pilot training.
- E: The first paragraph names the year of her pilot's licence, 1968, so this fact is in the passage.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: About six years before her launch, the Challenger disaster killed seven astronauts, and the shuttle fleet was grounded for three years.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says the Challenger disaster killed seven astronauts and the shuttle fleet was grounded for three years. 'Grounded' means the shuttles were not allowed to fly.
Tips: Look for a deadly accident. Then check how long all shuttle flights stopped afterwards.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph ends in the early 1980s with her neurology training. No accident happens in it.
- C: Notice that paragraph C reports a change to her own mission, one extra day, not a stop to every flight.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it covers her life after 1993 and never mentions Challenger.
- E: Notice that paragraph B explains the Challenger disaster and the three years without shuttle flights.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: On the sixth day, mission managers found that enough supplies remained, so they added one more day to allow the experiments to continue.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: on the sixth day, managers saw there were enough supplies. So they added one more day to allow the experiments to continue. The mission became longer for research.
Tips: Two kinds of time change appear: a long wait before a flight, and a change during one. Ask which idea the statement needs.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is about her education and says nothing about how long any mission lasted.
- B: The second paragraph describes a long delay before her flight, which is not the same as a flight that runs longer.
- D: Paragraph D describes research on returning astronauts after the flight, not a change made during it.
- E: Notice that paragraph C tells how managers added one more day for the experiments, so the extension is stated.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: About 4,300 people applied, and she was the only woman among the final six.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says she was chosen in 1983 for the first group of Canadian astronauts. She was the only woman among the final six. 'Sole' means the same as 'only'.
Tips: Notice that paragraph C has another fact about her as a woman. This one is about the group picked in 1983.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph lists her degrees and her work as a neurologist, all before she applied.
- C: Paragraph C says she was the first Canadian woman in space. That is about the flight, not the group chosen in 1983.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it names her NASA research team, which is a different group from the six astronauts.
- E: The final six and her place among them appear in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: She studied nature photography in California in 1996, then spent two years photographing all of Canada's national parks.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says that after studying nature photography she spent two years photographing all of Canada's national parks. 'Taking pictures' means photographing, and 'all' means each one.
Tips: Look for 'national parks' in the paragraph about her life after space.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph names universities where she studied, not parks she visited with a camera.
- B: Her selection and the long wait to fly take up paragraph B. Cameras are not mentioned.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it describes experiments in Spacelab and has nothing about parks or pictures.
- E: Her two years in Canada's national parks are described in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: They studied how the human nervous system adapts to low gravity, and how weightlessness affects shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says the crew studied how weightlessness affects shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. Seedlings are young plants, and fruit fly eggs are an early stage of an insect.
Tips: Birds in Paragraph D are living things too. Keep to the paragraph set during the flight.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph says she studied zoology and agriculture, but at university on Earth, not on the shuttle.
- B: The second paragraph calls IML-1 a planned science mission but does not list what would be tested.
- D: Birds and astronauts after they return are the topics of the fourth paragraph, not plants tested during the flight.
- E: Seedlings and fruit fly eggs are named in the list of experiments in Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Since 2016 her main project has been Space for Birds, which follows the flyways of bird species that are endangered or declining.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says that since 2016 her main project has been Space for Birds. It follows the flyways of birds that are endangered or declining. Flyways are the routes birds travel.
Tips: This statement is about her present work. Find her work on birds at risk, and check it tracks their routes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A mentions her early degree in zoology, the study of animals, but no work on birds.
- B: Paragraph B goes back to her selection in 1983 and the Challenger disaster, not her work today.
- C: The third paragraph lists animals studied in space, such as shrimp, but birds are not among them.
- E: The Space for Birds project, her main work since 2016, is described in Paragraph D.
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