What is it that Draws us to these Creatures Reading Answers

Feb 4, 2023

What is it that Draws us to these Creatures Reading Answers is a passage about Kraken-the sea monster. There are 16 questions in this IELTS reading passage. There are three types of questions. They are: True False Not give, select the correct option and no more than three words. This IELTS reading passage What is it that Draws us to these Creatures Reading Answers has been taken from the book: Practice Tests for IELTS 2 - Volume 2.

The candidates should read thoroughly the IELTS reading passage in order to recognize the synonyms and identify the keywords and for answering the questions below. Similar kinds of topics like What is it that Draws us to these Creatures Reading Answers are included in the IELTS reading practice papers, which the candidates can take into their consideration for performing a good score in this section.

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Section 1

Read the passage to answer the following questions

What is it that Draws us to these Creatures Reading Answers

Sea monsters are the stuff of legend - lurking not just in the depths of the oceans, but also the darker corners of our minds. What is it that draws us to these creatures?

"This inhuman place makes human monsters," wrote Stephen King in his novel The Shining. Many academics agree that monsters lurk in the deepest recesses, they prowl through our ancestral minds appearing in the half-light, under the bed - or at the bottom of the sea.

"They don't really exist, but they play a huge role in our mindscapes, in our dreams, stories, nightmares, myths and so on," says Matthias Classen, assistant professor of literature and media at Aarhus University in Denmark, who studies monsters in literature. "Monsters say something about human psychology, not the world."

One Norse legend talks of the Kraken, a deep sea creature that was the curse of fishermen. If sailors found a place with many fish, most likely it was the monster that was driving them to the surface. If it saw the ship it would pluck the hapless sailors from the boat and drag them to a watery grave.

This terrifying legend occupied the mind and pen of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson too. In his short 1830 poem The Kraken he wrote: "Below the thunders of the upper deep, / Far far beneath in the abysmal sea, / His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep / The Kraken sleepeth."

The deeper we travel into the ocean, the deeper we delve into our own psyche. And when we can go no further - there lurks the Kraken.

Most likely the Kraken is based on a real creature - the giant squid. The huge mollusc takes pride of place as the personification of the terrors of the deep sea. Sailors would have encountered it at the surface, dying, and probably thrashing about. It would have made a weird sight, "about the most alien thing you can imagine," says Edith Widder, CEO at the Ocean Research and Conservation Association.

"It has eight lashing arms and two slashing tentacles growing straight out of its head and it's got serrated suckers that can latch on to the slimiest of prey and it's got a parrot beak that can rip flesh. It's got an eye the size of your head, it's got a jet propulsion system and three hearts that pump blue blood."

The giant squid continued to dominate stories of sea monsters with the famous 1870 novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. Verne's submarine fantasy is a classic story of puny man against a gigantic squid.

The monster needed no embellishment - this creature was scary enough, and Verne incorporated as much fact as possible into the story, says Emily Alder from Edinburgh Napier University. "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and another contemporaneous book, Victor Hugo's Toilers of the Sea, both tried to represent the giant squid as they might have been actual zoological animals, much more taking the squid as a biological creature than a mythical creature." It was a given that the squid was vicious and would readily attack humans given the chance.

That myth wasn't busted until 2012, when Edith Widder and her colleagues were the first people to successfully film giant squid under water and see first-hand the true character of the monster of the deep. They realised previous attempts to film squid had failed because the bright lights and noisy thrusters on submersibles had frightened them away.

By quietening down the engines and using bioluminescence to attract it, they managed to see this most extraordinary animal in its natural habitat. It serenely glided into view, its body rippled with metallic colours of bronze and silver. Its huge, intelligent eye watched the submarine warily as it delicately picked at the bait with its beak. It was balletic and mesmeric. It could not have been further from the gnashing, human-destroying creature of myth and literature. In reality this is a gentle giant that is easily scared and pecks at its food.

Another giant squid lies peacefully in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Spirit Room, where it is preserved in a huge glass case. In 2004 it was caught in a fishing net off the Falkland Islands and died at the surface. The crew immediately froze its body and it was sent to be preserved in the museum by the Curator of Molluscs, Jon Ablett. It is called Archie, an affectionate short version of its Latin name Architeuthis dux. It is the longest preserved specimen of a giant squid in the world.

"It really has brought science to life for many people," says Ablett. "Sometimes I feel a bit overshadowed by Archie, most of my work is on slugs and snails but unfortunately most people don't want to talk about that!"

And so today we can watch Archie's graceful relative on film and stare Archie herself (she is a female) eye-to-eye in a museum. But have we finally slain the monster of the deep? Now we know there is nothing to be afraid of, can the Kraken finally be laid to rest? Probably not says Classen. "We humans are afraid of the strangest things. They don't need to be realistic. There's no indication that enlightenment and scientific progress has banished the monsters from the shadows of our imaginations. We will continue to be afraid of very strange things, including probably sea monsters."

Indeed we are. The Kraken made a fearsome appearance in the blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean. It forced Captain Jack Sparrow to face his demons in a terrifying face-to-face encounter. Pirates needed the monstrous Kraken, nothing else would do. Or, as the German film director Werner Herzog put it, "What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams."

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1–7:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 1–7 on your answer sheet, write

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

Matthias Classen is unsure about the possibility of monster's existence.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: "They don't really exist, but they play a huge role in our mindscapes, in our dreams, stories, nightmares, myths and so on," says Matthias Classen, assistant professor of literature and media at Aarhus University in Denmark, who studies monsters in literature.
Keyword: Matthias Classen, exist
Keyword location: 2nd paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: As per Matthias Classen, monsters don't exist. This states that he is sure about their absence. The question says that he is unsure which is False.

Kraken is probably based on an imaginary animal.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: Most likely the Kraken is based on a real creature - the giant squid.
Keyword: real, creature
Keyword location: 6th paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: As per the author, the Kraken is based on giant squid which is not imaginary. So Kraken is probably not based on an imaginary animal. This makes False the correct answer.

Previous attempts on filming the squid had failed due to the fact that the creature was scared.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: They realised previous attempts to film squid had failed because the bright lights and noisy thrusters on submersibles had frightened them away.
Keyword: attempts, film, frightened
Keyword location: Paragraph 10, last sentence
Explanation: The author states that previous attempts to film the squid have failed. This is because they were frightened of the bright lights. Hence, the creature was scared. This makes the statement True.

Giant squid was caught alive in 2004 and brought to the museum.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: In 2004 it was caught in a fishing net off the Falkland Islands and died at the surface.
Keyword: 2004, giant squid, museum
Keyword location: 12th paragraph, 2nd sentence
Explanation: The passage states that a giant squid lies peacefully in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Spirit Room, where it is preserved in a huge glass case. It was caught in 2004 but died at the surface. Its corpse is preserved. Hence, it was caught alive.

Jon Ablett admits that he likes Archie.

Answer: Not Given
Explanation: There is no information if Jon Ablett likes Archie in the passage.

According to Classen, people can be scared both by imaginary and real monsters.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: We humans are afraid of the strangest things.
Keyword: strangest, things
Keyword location:Paragraph , 5th sentence
Explanation: The author says that humans are afraid of the strangest things. They need not to be real. This proves that humans are afraid of the real and imaginary things.

Werner Herzog suggests that Kraken is essential to the ocean.

Answer: Not Given
Explanation: There is no information if Kraken is essential to the ocean or not.

Questions 8–12:
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 8–12 on your answer sheet.

Who wrote a novel about a giant squid?

Emily Alder
Stephen King
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Jules Verne

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: The giant squid continued to dominate stories of sea monsters with the famous 1870 novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne.
Keyword: giant squid, novel
Keyword location: 8th paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: As per the passage, the giant squid dominated stories in the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea written by Jules verne. Hence, Jules Verne is the correct answer.

What, of the featuring body parts, mollusc DOESN'T have?

two tentacles
serrated suckers
beak
smooth suckers

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: It has eight lashing arms and two slashing tentacles growing straight out of its head and it's got serrated suckers that can latch on to the slimiest of prey and it's got a parrot beak that can rip flesh.
Keyword: suckers,
Keyword location: 7th paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: The author talks about mollusc in the 6th paragraph. He states that they have eight arms and serrated suckers. So the suckers are not smooth. Hence, the molluscs does not have smooth suckers.

Which of the following applies to the bookish Kraken?

notorious
scary
weird
Harmless

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: The Kraken made a fearsome appearance in the blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean.
Keyword: fearsome, blockbuster, series
Keyword location: Last paragraph, 2nd sentence
Explanation: The author states that Kraken has more fearsome appearances in books and movies. This means that they are scary. Hence, scary is the correct answer.

Where can we see a giant squid?

at the museum
at a seaside
on TV
in supermarkets

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Another giant squid lies peacefully in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Spirit Room, where it is preserved in a huge glass case.
Keyword: squid, lies, preserved
Keyword location: 12th paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: As per the author, a giant squid was caught and preserved in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Spirit Room. It is preserved in a huge glass case so that everyone can see. This makes the museum the correct answer.

The main purpose of the text is to:

help us to understand more about both mythical and biological creatures of the deep
illustrate the difference between Kraken and squid
shed the light on the mythical creatures of the ocean
compare Kraken to its real relative

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and another contemporaneous book, Victor Hugo's Toilers of the Sea, both tried to represent the giant squid as they might have been actual zoological animals, much more taking the squid as a biological creature than a mythical creature."
Keyword: mythical, biological
Keyword location: 9th paragraph, 2nd last sentence
Explanation: The author mentions that the books written by various authors tried to represent giant squid as a biological creature rather than mythical creature. So they helped understand the mythical and biological creatures of the deep.

Questions 13–16:
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 13–16 on your answer sheet.

According to the Victor Hugo's novel, the squid would _________ if he had such opportunity.

Answer: readily attack humans
Supporting Sentence: It was a given that the squid was vicious and would readily attack humans given the chance.
Keyword: attack, humans, chance
Keyword location: Paragraph 9, last sentence
Explanation: The passage directly states that if the squid was given a chance, it would attack humans. Hence, readily attacking humans is the correct answer.

The real squid appeared to be _________ and _________ .

Answer: balletic, mesmeric
Supporting Sentence: It was balletic and mesmeric.
Keyword: balletic, mesmeric
Keyword location: paragraph 11, 4th sentence
Explanation: The author in the 11th paragraph describes the giant squid. He states that they were ballectic and mesmeric in the 4th statement of the paragraph. Hence, balletic and mesmeric is the correct answer.

Archie must be the _________ of its kind on Earth.

Answer: longest preserved specimen
Supporting Sentence: It is the longest preserved specimen of a giant squid in the world.
Keyword: Archie, world
Keyword location: 12th paragraph, last sentence
Explanation: the author directly mentions that Archie is the longest preserved specimen of a giant squid in the world. Hence, the longest preserved specimen is the correct answer.

We are able to encounter the Kraken's ___________ in a movie franchise.

Answer: fearsome appearance
Supporting Sentence: The Kraken made a fearsome appearance in the blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean.
Keyword: fearsome, blockbuster, series
Keyword location: Last paragraph, 2nd sentence
Explanation: The author states that Kraken has more fearsome appearances in books and movies. This means that they are scary and fearsome. Hence, fearsome appearance is the correct answer.

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