# Moles happy as homes go underground: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 1, Test 3, Reading Passage 2

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 1, Test 3, Reading Passage 2. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 13 | xi | The foundations had yet to be dug, but customers queued up to buy the unusual part-submerged houses |
| 14 | ix | Growing numbers of Europeans are burrowing below ground to create houses, offices, discos and shopping malls. ... citizens can escape the cold in an underground complex complete with shops and even health clinics |
| 15 | viii | have no need to be on the surface since they do not need windows. |
| 16 | v | A development of 194 houses which would take up 14 hectares of land above ground would occupy 2.7 hectares below it ... Carpenter has never paid a heating bill, thanks to solar panels and natural insulation. |
| 17 | i | "They are not so much below the earth as in it," he says. |
| 18 | vii | In the US, where energy-efficient homes became popular after the oil crisis of 1973, 10,000 underground houses have been built. |
| 19 | iii | "space creation" systems which mix light, sounds, breezes and scents to stimulate people who spend long periods below ground |
| 20 | iv | Their home evolved when he dug a cool room for his bakery business in a hill he had created. ... "Gradually I began adding to the rooms. |
| 21 | sell quickly | developers who prefer to ensure quick sales with conventional mass produced housing. |
| 22 | planners | greeted with undisguised relief by South Limburg planners |
| 23 | embankments | who hit on the idea of making use of noise embankments on main roads. ... cosseted away inside a high earth-covered noise embankment |
| 24 | Olivetti employees | forms a house/hotel for Olivetti employees. |
| 25 | adapt to | Not everyone adapts so well, and in Japan scientists at the Shimizu Corporation have developed |
| 26 | his bakery business | Their home evolved when he dug a cool room for his bakery business in a hill he had created. |

## Why these answers are right

**13. xi.** Paragraph B says seven luxury underground homes beside the Tilburg road went on the market and that, although the foundations had yet to be dug, customers queued up to buy them. Buying homes that do not exist yet is heading xi, homes sold before completion.

**14. ix.** Paragraph C moves beyond the Netherlands to Europe, Montreal, Tokyo and the rest of Japan, describing underground offices, discos, shopping malls, shops and health clinics. These are services being built below ground in many countries, so heading ix fits better than vii, which is about homes.

**15. viii.** Paragraph D argues that land-hungry buildings such as cinemas, supermarkets, theaters, warehouses and libraries can go underground because they do not need windows. A building that needs no windows does not need daylight, so the paragraph matches heading viii, some buildings do not require natural light.

The why and the trap for questions 16 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/moles-happy-as-homes-go-underground/answers).

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