Robert Louis Stevenson Reading Answers
The IELTS Reading section focuses on analyzing the students’ proficiency in reading skills. The IELTS exam is for testing students' abilities in reading, writing, speaking and listening to the language. The IELTS Reading section is based on reading the given passage and answering the questions appropriately from the passage. The IELTS academic reading section includes a passage on a given topic which students need to complete within a time frame of 60 minutes for responding to 40 questions for 3-4 passages. In order to ace this section students need to be prepared from the IELTS Reading Sample Papers effectively. Robert Louis Stevenson Reading Answers is the passage which students can find useful as part of their development of the reading skills. The following questions included within the given passage are:
- Choose the correct answer
- True/False/Not Given
- Complete the notes
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Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
Robert Louis Stevenson Reading Answers
A
A Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer, Robert Louis Stevenson was born at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, on 13 November 1850. It has been more than 100 years since his death. Stevenson was a writer who caused conflicting opinions about his works. On one hand, he was often highly praised for his expert prose and style by many English-language critics. On the other hand, others criticised the religious themes in his works, often misunderstanding Stevenson’s own religious beliefs. Since his death a century before, critics and biographers have disagreed on the legacy of Stevenson’s writing. Two biographers, KF and CP , wrote a biography about Stevenson with a clear focus. They chose not to criticise aspects of Stevenson’s personal life. Instead, they focused on his writing, and gave high praise to his writing style and skill.
B
The literary pendulum has swung these days. Different critics have different opinions towards Robert Louis Stevenson’s works. Though today, Stevenson is one of the most translated authors in the world, his works have sustained a wide variety of negative criticism throughout his life. It was like a complete reversal of polarity—from highly positive to slightly less positive to clearly negative; after being highly praised as a great writer, he became an example of an author with corrupt ethics and lack of moral. Many literary critics passed his works off as children’s stories or horror stories, and thought to have little social value in an educational setting. Stevenson’s works were often excluded from literature curriculum because of its controversial nature. These debates remain, and many critics still assert that despite his skill, his literary works still lack moral value.
C
One of the main reasons why Stevenson’s literary works attracted so much criticism was due to the genre of his writing. Stevenson mainly wrote adventure stories, which was part of a popular and entertaining writing fad at the time. Many of us believe adventure stories are exciting, offers engaging characters, action, and mystery but ultimately can’t teach moral principles. The plot points are one-dimensional and rarely offer a deeper moral meaning, instead focusing on exciting and shocking plot twists and thrilling events. His works were even criticised by fellow authors. Though Stevenson’s works have deeply influenced Oscar Wilde, Wilde often joked that Stevenson would have written better works if he wasn’t born in Scotland. Other authors came to Stevenson’s defence, including Galsworthy who claimed that Stevenson is a greater writer than Thomas Hardy.
D
Despite Wilde’s criticism, Stevenson’s Scottish identity was an integral part of his written works. Although Stevenson’s works were not popular in Scotland when he was alive, many modern Scottish literary critics claim that Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson are the most influential writers in the history of Scotland. While many critics exalt Sir Walter Scott as a literary genius because of his technical ability, others argue that Stevenson deserves the same recognition for his natural ability to capture stories and characters in words. Many of Scott’s works were taken more seriously as literature for their depth due to their tragic themes, but fans of Stevenson praise his unique style of story-telling and capture of human nature. Stevenson’s works, unlike other British authors, captured the unique day to day life of average Scottish people. Many literary critics point to this as a flaw of his works. According to the critics, truly important literature should transcend local culture and stories. However, many critics praise the local taste of his literature. To this day, Stevenson’s works provide valuable insight to life in Scotland during the 19th century.
E
Despite much debate of Stevenson’s writing topics, his writing was not the only source of attention for critics. Stevenson’s personal life often attracted a lot of attention from his fans and critics alike. Some even argue that his personal life eventually outshone his writing. Stevenson had been plagued with health problems his whole life, and often had to live in much warmer climates than the cold, dreary weather of Scotland in order to recover. So he took his family to a south pacific island Samoa, which was a controversial decision at that time. However, Stevenson did not regret the decision. The sea air and thrill of adventure complimented the themes of his writing, and for a time restored his health. From there, Stevenson gained a love of traveling, and for nearly three years he wandered the eastern and central Pacific. Much of his works reflected this love of travel and adventure that Stevenson experienced in the Pacific islands. It was as a result of this biographical attention that the feeling grew that interest in Stevenson’s life had taken the place of interest in his works. Whether critics focus on his writing subjects, his religious beliefs, or his eccentric lifestyle of travel and adventure, people from the past and present have different opinions about Stevenson as an author. Today, he remains a controversial yet widely popular figure in Western literature.
Section 2
Solution and Explanation
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
Question 27. Stevenson’s biographers KF and CP
- Underestimated the role of family played in Stevenson’s life.
- Overestimated the writer’s works in literature history.
- Exaggerated Stevenson’s religious belief in his works.
- Elevated Stevenson’s role as a writer.
Answer: D
Supporting sentence: chose not to criticize aspects of Stevenson’s personal life and focused on his writing by giving high praise to his writing style and skill.
Keywords: Stevenson’s personal life, high praise
Keyword Location: Last 2 lines Paragraph A
Explanation: These lines suggest that the biographers decided not to judge or interfere in Stevenson’s personal life but instead focused on his skill as a writer by praising his writing style.
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Question 28: The main point of the second paragraph is
- The public gives a more fair criticism of Stevenson’s works.
- Recent criticism has been justified.
- The style of Stevenson’s works overweighs the faults in his life.
- Stevenson’s works’ drawback is lack of ethical nature.
Answer: D
Supporting sentence: after being highly praised as a great writer, Stevenson became an example of an author with corrupt ethics and a lack of morals.
Keywords: author, corrupt ethics, lack of morals
Keyword Location: Lines 5-6 Paragraph B
Explanation: These lines suggest Stevenson's reputation from being positive to slightly positive and then to negative, denoting that he went from a highly praised writer to an author with a lack of moral values and ethics.
Question 29: According to the author, adventure stories
- Do not provide plot twists well.
- Cannot be used by writers to show moral values.
- Are more fashionable art forms.
- Can be found in others’ works but not in Stevenson’s.
Answer: B
Supporting sentence: many of us believe that adventure stories are exciting, offer engaging characters, action and mystery but they cannot teach moral principles.
Keywords: adventure stories, engaging characters, mystery
Keyword Location: Lines 3-4 Paragraph C
Explanation: These lines denote that even though adventure stories are believed to offer excitement, charming characters, action and mystery, they cannot teach the readers moral principles.
Question 30: What does the author say about Stevenson’s works?
- They describe the life of people in Scotland.
- They are commonly regarded as real literature.
- They were popular during Stevenson’s life.
- They transcend the local culture and stories.
Answer: A
Supporting sentence: Stevenson’s works, unlike other British authors, capture the day-to-day life of average Scottish people.
Keywords: British authors, day-to-day life, Scottish people
Keyword Location: Lines 8-10 Paragraph D
Explanation: These lines highlight that, unlike other British authors, Stevenson’s works summarizes the daily life of normal Scottish persons.
Question 31: The lifestyle of Stevenson
- Made his family envy him so much.
- Should be responsible for his death.
- Gained more attention from the public than his works.
- Didn’t prepare well for his life in Samoa.
Answer: C
Supporting sentence: Stevenson’s personal life often attracted a lot of attention from his fans and critics alike.
Keywords: personal life, attention, fans and critics
Keyword Location: Line 3 Paragraph E
Explanation: In The fifth paragraph, the author mentions that Stevenson’s personal life often attracted a lot of attention from his fans and critics alike. This indicates that his personal life often gained more attention than his work.
Questions 32-35:
ask the candidates to answer TRUE if the statement agrees with the given information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the given information, and NOT GIVEN if there is no information given.
Question 32: Although Oscar Wilde admired Robert Louis Stevenson very much, he believed Stevenson could have written greater works.
Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: though Stevenson’s works have deeply influenced Oscar Wilde, Wilde often joked that Stevenson would have written better works if he wasn’t born in Scotland.
Keywords: Oscar Wilde, admired, written greater works
Keyword Location: Lines 7-8 Paragraph C
Explanation: Based on the consideration of Stevenson’s works these lines suggest that even though Oscar Wilde admired Stevenson, he believed that he could have written better had he not been born in Scotland.
Question 33: Robert Louis Stevenson encouraged Oscar Wilde to start writing at first.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question 34: Galsworthy thought Hardy is greater than Stevenson is.
Answer: FALSE
Supporting sentence: other authors came to Stevenson’s defense, including Galsworthy who claimed that Stevenson is a greater writer than Thomas Hardy.
Keywords: Galsworthy, Hardy, greater than
Keyword Location: Last two lines Paragraph C
Explanation: In the last two lines of the third paragraph, the author mentions that other authors came to Stevenson’s defense, including Galsworthy who claimed that Stevenson is a greater writer than Thomas Hardy. These lines indicate that Galsworthy thinks that Stevenson is greater than Hardy.
Question 35: Critics only paid attention to Robert Louis Stevenson’s writing topics.
Answer: FALSE
Supporting sentence: whether critics focused on Stevenson's writing subjects, his religious beliefs or his eccentric lifestyle of travel and adventure, individuals from the past and present all have distinctive opinions about him as an author.
Keywords: Critics, religious beliefs, eccentric lifestyle
Keyword Location: Lines 12-13 Paragraph E
Explanation: The author, in the mentioned lines, has focused on Stevenson's writing subjects, his religious beliefs or his eccentric lifestyle of travel and adventure, and these lines denote that those critics do not only focus on his writing topics but his life as a whole.
Questions 36-40 ask the candidates to complete the notes using the list of words A-I below.
- Natural ability
- Romance
- Colorful language
- Critical acclaim
- Humor
- Technical control
- Storytelling
- Depth
- Human nature
Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson
A lot of people believe that Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson are the most influential writers in the history of Scotland, but Sir Walter Scott is more proficient in 36………………………., while Stevenson has better 37……………………….. Scott’s books illustrate 38………………………. especially in terms of tragedy, but a lot of readers prefer Stevenson’s 39………………………. What’s more, Stevenson’s understanding of 40………………………. made his works have the most unique expression of Scottish people.
Question 36
Answer: F (Technical Control)
Supporting Sentence: While many critics exalt Sir Walter Scott as a literary genius because of his technical ability, others argue that Stevenson deserves the same recognition for his natural ability to capture stories and characters in words.
Keywords: A lot of, influential writers, history of Scotland
Keyword Location: Lines 5-6 Paragraph D
Explanation: In the mentioned paragraph, the author mentions that many critics exalt Sir Walter Scott as a literary genius because of his technical ability. This suggests that Sir Walter Scott was proficient in technical ability and technical control.
Question 37
Answer: A (Natural Ability)
Supporting Sentence: Many of Scott’s works were taken more seriously as literature for their depth due to their tragic themes, but fans of Stevenson praise his unique style of story-telling and capture of human nature.
Keywords:
Keyword Location: Lines 6-7 Paragraph D
Explanation: In the fourth paragraph, the author writes that others argue that Stevenson deserves the same recognition for his natural ability to capture stories and characters in words.
Question 38
Answer: H (Depth)
Supporting sentence: Many of Scott’s works were taken more seriously as literature for their depth due to their tragic themes, but fans of Stevenson praise his unique style of story-telling and capture of human nature.
Keywords: Illustrate, terms of tragedy
Location: 7-8 Paragraph D
Explanation: this sentence explains how Stevenson has the ability to consider and include depth in his characters and themes.
Question 39
Answer: G (Storytelling)
Supporting Sentence: Stevenson’s works, unlike other British authors, captured the unique day to day life of average Scottish people.
Keywords: Readers prefer
Location: Lines 9-10 Paragraph D
Explanation: In the fourth paragraph, the author says that fans of Stevenson praise his unique style of story-telling and capture of human nature. This suggests that Stevenson was proficient at storytelling.
Question 40
Answer: I (Human Nature)
Supporting Sentence: Although Stevenson’s works were not popular in Scotland when he was alive, many modern Scottish literary critics claim that Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson are the most influential writers in the history of Scotland.
Keywords: Scottish literary critics,
Location: Last 2 lines Paragraph D
Explanation: The author writes that Stevenson’s works provide valuable insight into life in Scotland during the 19th Century. This suggests that Stevenson has an understanding of human nature that makes his work the most unique daily life of Scottish people.
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