# Lighthouses and the Age of Sail: answers and explanations

Testmigo Practice Test 5, Reading Passage 1

Source: Written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | lantern | the lantern, the glass-walled room at the top of the tower |
| 2 | prisms | he divided his lens into rings of glass prisms |
| 3 | gallery | cleaned from the gallery, an open platform running round the tower |
| 4 | clockwork | wind the clockwork that turned them |
| 5 | granite | The foundations and outer walls were built of local Cornish granite |
| 6 | FALSE | although this claim is disputed |
| 7 | TRUE | the top of its lantern caught fire and the building burned |
| 8 | TRUE | Smeaton modelled its shape on an oak tree |
| 9 | NOT GIVEN | much thinner and lighter than an ordinary lens of the same size |
| 10 | FALSE | four weeks at the lighthouse followed by four weeks on land |
| 11 | characteristic | give each light its own characteristic |
| 12 | light lists | printed on nautical charts and in light lists |
| 13 | Harwich | Trinity House's Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex |

## Why these answers are right

**1. lantern.** The fifth paragraph says the keepers cleaned the windows of the lantern, which it defines as the glass-walled room at the top of the tower that held the lamp and lens. The label's glazed chamber paraphrases glass-walled room, so lantern is the one word needed.

**2. prisms.** The fourth paragraph explains that Fresnel divided his lens into rings of glass prisms arranged around a single lamp, and that the prisms bent the light into one beam. The label marks the rings inside the lens, so prisms is the answer.

**3. gallery.** According to the fifth paragraph, the outside of the lantern windows was cleaned from the gallery, an open platform running round the tower. The label's railed walkway outside the top of the tower matches that platform, so gallery completes the label.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/lighthouses-and-the-age-of-sail/answers).

[Practice Lighthouses and the Age of Sail](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/lighthouses-and-the-age-of-sail)