The Decline of Angkor Wat Reading Answers

Mar 15, 2024

The Decline of Angkor Wat Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. The Decline of Angkor Wat Reading Answers have a total of 14 IELTS questions in total. This topic has 6 questions in which we have to fill up the black choosing appropriate paragraphs. The next 4 questions we have to say which statement is true for the given line. The next 4 questions are true or false.

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Section 1

The Decline of Angkor Wat

Angkor is the epicentre of one of the greatest vanishing acts of all times. The ancient Khmer kingdom in modern Cambodia lasted from the 9th to 5th century, and at its height dominated a huge area of South-East Asia from today's Myanmar in the west to Vietnam in the east. As many as 7,50,000 people lived in Angkor(capital city), making it the most extensive urban complex of the pre-industrial era by the late 16th century. When Portuguese missionaries came across the lotus-shaped towers of Angkor Wat (world's largest religious monument), the empire was in its final phase
Exactly what caused the decline is unknown; invaders, a change of religion, a shift to maritime trade that degraded an inland city are all guesswork. The people of Angkor never spoke a single word explaining their kingdoms collapse. Recent excavations are suggesting a new answer. Angkor was doomed by the very ingenuity that originally gave rise to it - control of water, slipped away.
To ensure a steady water supply, stabilise rice production and control flooding, Khmer engineers had built a full network of canals, moats, reservoirs and ponds. Massive infrastructure slowed the wet-season deluge flowing from the Kulen Hills, moving it into canals that fed the barays (artificial bodies of water). Spreading across the gently sloping land, the water gets finally drained into the Tonle Sap (the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia). This system ensured a water supply that did not rely on the monsoon. But this reliability required massive skills of engineering, including a reservoir called the West Baray, which is 8 kilometres long and almost three wide. To build this most sophisticated of Angkor's large reservoirs a 1000 years ago, as many as 2,00,000 Khmer workers were needed to stock nearly 16 million cubic yards of soil in embankments 300 feet wide and three stories tall. Till today, the rectangular reservoir is fed by water diverted from the Siem river.
Today's researchers have been amazed by the ambition of Angkors early engineers. "The entire landscape is artificial says people. Over several centuries and hundreds of miles of canals that relied or subtle differences in the land's natural inclination were constructed to divert water from three different rivers to the barays. During the summer monsoons overflow channels bled off excess water and after the rains petered out in October/November, irrigation channels dispensed the stored water. The barays helped renew soil moisture by allowing water to soak into the earth. In neighbourhood fields surface evaporation would have drawn up the groundwater to supply crops.
The clever water system may have made all the difference between mediocrity and greatness. Most of the kingdom's rice was grown in fields with embankments that would otherwise have relied on monsoons or the seasonal flow of water on the floodplain. Irrigation may have boosted harvests. The system could also have helped in providing rations during a poor monsoon season. The ability to divert and hold water flow have afforded a measure of protection from floods Angkor's waterworks would have been an extremely valuable asset for the struggling South-East Asian kingdoms
There is a strong evidence that says the system was destroyed by Angkor's own engineers; one of the huge spillways was destroyed that was used to remove excess water. However, why this was done is a mystery. The ruins are a vital clue to an epic struggle as Khmer engineers coped with even more complex and unruly water system. Logically, the dam was failed; the river could have chewed into the dam, weakening it gradually. Perhaps, it was washed away by a heavy flood. The Khmer then ripped apart most of their stonework, salvaging the blocks for other things.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Question 1-6

Which paragraph contain the following information?

Write the letter, A-F.

a mention of growing food production -

Answer: E
Supporting statement: “......... Irrigation may have boosted harvests. The system could also have helped in providing rations during a poor monsoon season. .......”
Keywords: rations, monsoon
Keyword Location: para E, line 5
Explanation: It is given that the embankment and farming was far better than the seasonal farming. Hence the food production increased.

possible causes of destruction of an irrigation feature -

Answer: F
Supporting statement: “.......There is a strong evidence that says the system was destroyed by Angkor's own engineers; one of the huge spillways was destroyed that was used to remove excess water.........”
Keywords: destroyed, remove
Keyword Location: para F, line 3
Explanation: It is given that the water system was destroyed by Angkor’s engineers. A huge spillways was destroyed due to excess water.

a brief portrayal of a civilisation at its peak -

Answer: A
Supporting statement: “.......As many as 7,50,000 people lived in Angkor(capital city), making it the most extensive urban complex of the pre-industrial era by the late 16th century. .........”
Keywords: making, century
Keyword Location: para A, line 4
Explanation: It is given that the capital of Angkor had more than 7,50,000 people. It was the most extensive complex industrial age.

a labour force estimation took part in construction of the water system -

Answer: C
Supporting statement: “........To ensure a steady water supply, stabilise rice production and control flooding, Khmer engineers had built a full network of canals, moats, reservoirs and ponds. ........”
Keywords: production. reservoir
Keyword Location: para C, line 1
Explanation: It is given that to start the steady water supply, the khmer engineers had built a network of canals and lot of water bodies.

modern-day reactions to a complex, man-made water system -

Answer: D
Supporting statement: “........Today's researchers have been amazed by the ambition of Angkors early engineers. "The entire landscape is artificial says people. Over several centuries and hundreds of miles of canals that
relied or subtl........”
Keywords: ambition, miles
Keyword Location: para D, line 3
Explanation: It is given that the researchers in current time were amazed by the ambition of Angkor’s early engineers.

speculation about the decline of an empire -

Answer: B
Supporting statement: “....... Exactly what caused the decline is unknown; invaders, a change of religion, a shift to maritime trade that degraded an inland city are all guesswork..........”
Keywords: change, guesswork
Keyword Location: para B, line 1
Explanation: It is given that decline of the empire was unknown. All of the reason for the decline is a guesswork.

Question 7-10

Write the correct letter, i-vi.

the water system was able to compensate
the stone blocks had disappeared
it outpaced neighbouring systems
a change was made that still lasts today
the system could use all of the supplied water
the kingdom was in its final stages

When visitors from the West parts arrived -

Answer: VI
Supporting statement: “........South-East Asia from today's Myanmar in the west to Vietnam in the east. As many as 7,50,000 people lived in Angkor(capital city)........”
Keywords: vietnam, east
Keyword Location: para A, line 3
Explanation: It is given that the visitors from the west arrived at the time when the kingdom was the biggest economic capital at that time.

When Angkor's irrigation system worked well -

Answer: III
Supporting statement: “........Over several centuries and hundreds of miles of canals that relied or subtle differences in the land's natural inclination were constructed to divert water from three different rivers to the
barays........”
Keywords: canals, divert
Keyword Location: para D, line 3
Explanation: It is given that over the time of several centuries people were astonished by the design of the irrigation system.

When the third reservoir was built -

Answer: IV
Supporting statement: “.......Angkor's large reservoirs a 1000 years ago, as many as 2,00,000 Khmer workers were needed to stock nearly 16 million cubic yards of soil in embankments 300 feet wide and three stories tall. Till today, the rectangular reservoir is fed by water diverted from the Siem river..........”
Keywords: workers, rectangular
Keyword Location: para C, line 9
Explanation: It is given that the third reservoir was build 1000 years ago. It was made in such a way that the reservoir is still fed by water from Siem river.

When the monsoon failed -

Answer: I
Supporting statement: “........The system could also have helped in providing rations during a poor monsoon season. The ability to divert and hold water flow have afforded a measure of protection from floods Angkor's
waterworks would have been an extremely valuable asset for the strugglin........”
Keywords: afforded, asset
Keyword Location: para E, line 4
Explanation: It is given that the system was able to provide rations during the poor monsoon season.

Questions 11-14

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

Passage 1 ?

TRUE - if the statement agrees
FALSE - if the statement contradicts
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information

Missionaries accidentally destroyed some structures at Angkor Wat -

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: It is not given that missionaries accidentally destroyed some structures at Angkor Wat.

Angkor's inhabitants left manuscripts providing information about the collapse of their society

Answer: FALSE
Supporting statement: “........Exactly what caused the decline is unknown; invaders, a change of religion, a shift to maritime trade that degraded an inland city are all guesswork........”
Keywords: religion, guesswork
Keyword Location: para B, line 2
Explanation: It is given that the decline of the kingdom has been unknown till date. All the reason given are guesswork.

The water system took a few 100 years to construct -

Answer: TRUE
Supporting statement: “.......To build this most sophisticated of Angkor's large reservoirs a 1000 years ago, as many as 2,00,000 Khmer workers were needed to stock nearly 16 million......”
Keywords: reservoir, stock
Keyword Location: para C, line 9
Explanation: It is given that the water system took around 1000 years.

The irrigation system became harder to control over the years -

Answer: TRUE
Supporting statement: “.......The ruins are a vital clue to an epic struggle as Khmer engineers coped with even more complex and unruly water system.........”
Keywords: engineer, coped
Keyword Location: para F, line 3
Explanation: It is given that the irrigation system was such built that they were as robust even after a lot of years.

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