Assessing The Risks Reading Answers

Dec 7, 2022

Assessing The Risks Reading Answers has 14 questions that need to be answered in 20 minutes. Assessing The Risks Reading Answers comprises three types of questions, namely- True/False/Not given, complete the summary and pick the correct letter. For true/false/not given questions, candidates must read the IELTS reading passage and understand the statement provided and state whether the given statement is true or false or not given in the passage. Candidates must read the IELTS Reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to complete the summary. Candidates are supposed to pick the correct letter from the given multiple options to answer the question. To practise on more varied topics, check IELTS Reading practice papers.

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Reading Passage Questions

As a title for a supposedly unprejudiced debate on scientific progress, “Panic attack: interrogating our obsession with risk” did not bode well. Held last week at the Royal Institution in London, the event brought together scientists from across the world to ask why society is so obsessed risk and to call for a “more rational” approach, seem to be organising society around the grandmotherly maxim of better safe than sorry’，” exclaimed Spiked, the online publication that organised the event. “What are the consequences of this overbearing concern with risks?”
The debate was preceded by a survey of 40 scientists who were invited to describe how awful our lives would be if the “precautionary principle” had been allowed to prevail in the past Their response was: no heart surgery or antibiotics, and hardly any drugs at all; no aeroplanes, bicycles or high-voltage power grids; no pasteurization, pesticides or biotechnology; no quantum mechanics; no wheel; no “discovery” of America. In short, their message was: no risk, no gain.
They have missed the point. The precautionary principle is a subtle idea. It has various forms, but all of them generally include some notion of cost-effectiveness. Thus the point is not simply to ban things that are not known to be safe. Rather, it says: “Of course you can make no progress without risk. But if there is no obvious gain from taking the risk, then don’t take it.”
Clearly, all the technologies listed by the 40 well-chosen savants were innately risky at their inception, as all technologies are. But all of them would have received the green light under the precautionary principle because they all had the potential to offer tremendous benefits _ the solutions to very big problems – if only the snags could be overcome.
If the precautionary principle had been in place, the scientists tell us, we would not have antibiotics. But of course, we would – if the version of the principle that sensible people now understand had been applied. When penicillin was discovered in the 1920s, infective bacteria were laying waste to the world. Children died from diphtheria and whooping cough, every open-drain brought the threat of typhoid, and any wound could lead to septicemia and even gangrene.
Penicillin was turned into a practical drug during the Second World War when the many pestilences that result from war threatened to kill more people than the bombs. Of course, antibiotics were a priority. Of course, the risks, such as they could be perceived, were worth taking.
And so with the other items on the scientists, list: electric light bulbs, blood transfusions, CAT scans, knives, the measles vaccine —the precautionary principle would have prevented all of them, they tell us. But this is just plain wrong. If the precautionary principle had been applied properly, all these creations would have passed muster, because all offered incomparable advantages compared to the risks perceived at the time.
Another issue is at stake here. Statistics are not the only concept people use when weighing up risk. Human beings, subtle and evolved creatures that we are, do not survive to three-score years and ten simply by thinking like pocket calculators. A crucial issue is the consumer’s choice. In deciding whether to pursue the development of new technology, the consumer’s right to choose should be considered alongside considerations of risk and benefit Clearly, skiing is more dangerous than genetically modified tomatoes. But people who ski choose to do so; they do not have skiing thrust upon them by portentous experts of the kind who now feel they have the right to reconstruct our crops. Even with skiing, there is the matter of cost-effectiveness to consider: skiing, I am told, is exhilarating. Where is the exhilaration in GM soya?
Indeed, in contrast to all the other items on Spiked’s list, GM crops stand out as an example of a technology whose benefits are far from clear. Some of the risks can at least be defined. But in the present economic climate, the benefits that might accrue from them seem dubious. Promoters of GM crops believe that the future population of the world cannot be fed without them. That is untrue. The crops that really matter are wheat and rice, and there is no GM research in the pipeline that will seriously affect the yield of either. GM is used to make production cheaper and hence more profitable, which is an extremely questionable ambition.
If it had been in place in the past it might, for example, have prevented insouciant miners from polluting major rivers with mercury. We have come to a sorry pass when scientists, who should above all be dispassionate scholars, feel they should misrepresent such a principle for commercial and political propaganda. People at large continue to mistrust science and the high technologies it produces partly because they doubt the wisdom of scientists. On such evidence as this, these doubts are fully justified.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1 to 6:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage ?

TRUE	if the statement is true
FALSE	if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN	if the information is not given in the passage

The title of the debate is not unbiased.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: As a title for a supposedly unprejudiced debate on scientific progress, “Panic attack: interrogating our obsession with risk” did not bode well.
Keyword: unprejudiced debate
Keyword Location: Paragraph A
Explanation: The supporting statement makes it clear that the stated statement is accurate. The statement refers to the "unbiased debate" or "conversation on scientific development" that was about "Panic attack: Interrogating our fixation with risk."

All the scientists invited to the debate were from the field of medicine.

Answer: Not Given
Supporting Sentence: The debate was preceded by a survey of 40 scientists who were invited to describe how awful our lives would be if the “precautionary principle” had been allowed to prevail in the past.
Keyword: debate, invited
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, 1st line
Explanation: The paragraph does not provide any information that is relevant to this question.

The message those scientists who conducted the survey were sending was people shouldn’t take risks.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: In short, their message was: no risk, no gain.
Keyword: Risk, gain
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: The purpose of the supporting clause is to give the perspective of the forty scientists who were there. They claimed that a person cannot earn anything without taking any risks. As a result, the assertion is accurate.

All the 40 listed technologies are riskier than other technologies.

Answer: Not Given
Supporting Sentence: Clearly, all the technologies listed by the 40 well-chosen savants were innately risky at their inception, as all technologies are.
Keyword: 40, technologies
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, 1st line
Explanation: The paragraph does not provide any information that is relevant to this question.

It was worth taking the risks to invent antibiotics.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: Of course, antibiotics were a priority. Of course, the risks, such as they could be perceived, were worth taking.
Keyword: worth taking, priority
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: The supporting statement discusses penicillin and its advantages during World War II. Penicillin is responsible for saving individuals from bacterial illnesses. Therefore, the risk was worthwhile in order to obtain antibiotics. As a result, the assertion is accurate.

All the other inventions on the list were also judged by the precautionary principle.

Answer: Not Given
Supporting Sentence: If the precautionary principle had been in place, the scientists tell us, we would not have antibiotics.
Keyword: precautionary, inventions
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, 1st line
Explanation: The paragraph does not provide any information that is relevant to this question.

Questions 7-13:
Summary

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage， using no more than three words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-39 on your answer sheet.

When applying the precautionary principle to decide whether to invent a new technology, people should also consideration of the……………. 33…………….. ，along with the usual consideration of…………………… 34……………….. For example, though risky and dangerous enough, people still enjoy …………………… 35…………….. for the excitement it provides. On the other hand, experts believe that future population desperately needs………………… 36……………… in spite of their undefined risks. However, the researches conducted so far have not been directed towards increasing the yield of…………………… 37…………….. ，but to reduce the cost of ………………. 38…………… and to bring more profit out of it. In the end, such selfish use of the precautionary principle for business and political gain has often led people to ………………….. 39…………….. science for they believe scientists are not to be trusted.

(Guide: Candidates need to properly study the passage and fill the summary with not more than three words)

Question 7:

Answer: consumer’s right
Supporting Sentence: A crucial issue is the consumer’s choice. In deciding whether to pursue the development of new technology, the consumer’s right to choose should be considered alongside considerations of risk and benefit Clearly, skiing is more dangerous than genetically modified tomatoes.
Keyword: consumer’s right
Keyword Location: Paragraph H
Explanation: When assessing the risk, more than just statistics are taken into account. Customer choice, or the right of the consumer to select, should also be taken into account in addition to statistics. As a result, the chosen response option, "Consumer choice," is correct.

Question 8:

Answer: risk and benefit
Supporting Sentence: In deciding whether to pursue the development of new technology, the consumer’s right to choose should be considered alongside considerations of risk and benefit
Keyword: risk and benefit
Keyword Location: Paragraph H
Explanation: The supporting clause from paragraph H talks about the variables to take into account while evaluating a risk. The other factor to be taken into account, besides statistics and consumer choice or consumer decision to pick, is risk and benefit. Before making a decision, both the risk and the benefit must be weighed.

Question 9:

Answer: skiing
Supporting Sentence: Clearly, skiing is more dangerous than genetically modified tomatoes. But people who ski choose to do so; they do not have skiing thrust upon them by portentous experts of the kind who now feel they have the right to reconstruct our crops.
Keyword: skiing
Keyword Location: Paragraph H
Explanation: The concluding phrase from paragraph H talks about how people still go skiing even though it's risky and deadly. In fact, skiing is a thrilling sport. The supporting language proves that the chosen response, "skiing," is the right one.

Question 10:

Answer: GM crops
Supporting Sentence: Indeed, in contrast to all the other items on Spiked’s list, GM crops stand out as an example of a technology whose benefits are far from clear.
Keyword: GM crops
Keyword Location: Paragraph I
Explanation: As stated in paragraph I, GM crops stand out from the rest of the items on the Spiked list due to their very ambiguous technology. Only some of the threats are comprehensible. However, given the current economic climate, the majority of the benefits seem to be "dubious."

Question 11:

Answer: wheat and rice
Supporting Sentence: The crops that really matter are wheat and rice, and there is no GM research in the pipeline that will seriously affect the yield of either.
Keyword: wheat and rice
Keyword Location: Paragraph I
Explanation: In paragraph I, it is stated that rice and wheat are the only two crops that matter. Additionally, there are no GM studies planned that will change the "yield of either." Rice and wheat are the proper response, which was chosen.

Question 12:

Answer: production
Supporting Sentence: GM is used to make production cheaper and hence more profitable, which is an extremely questionable ambition.
Keyword: production
Keyword Location: Paragraph I
Explanation: The information about GM and how it is used to provide cheaper production is given in paragraph I. This low-cost manufacturing technique would be profitable. This is a "very questionable ambition" in its entirety.

Question 13:

Answer: mistrust
Supporting Sentence: People at large continue to mistrust science and the high technologies it produces partly because they doubt the wisdom of scientists.
Keyword: mistrust
Keyword Location: Paragraph J
Explanation: The general public continues to have doubts about science's ability to generate advanced technologies, according to the statement in paragraph J. So, mistrust is the answer.

Choose the correct letter, A，B，C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 40 on your answer sheet.
(Guide: Candidates need to answer question 40 by selecting the right answer from A to D)

Question: 14. What is the main theme of the passage?

people have the right to doubt science and technologies
the precautionary principle could have prevented the development of science and technology
there are not enough people who truly understand the precautionary principle
the precautionary principle bids us take risks at all costs

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Whole passage
Keyword: Whole passage
Keyword Location: whole passage
Explanation: Throughout the entire passage, it is discussed how science can be questioned and how people have the freedom to do so.