Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 262
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST
READING PASSAGE – 2
The monster ships that changed how we travel
When the world’s then-largest ocean liner embarked on its first transatlantic voyage in September 1907, thousands of spectators gathered at the docks of Liverpool to watch. Cunard’s RMS Lusitania had been outfitted with a new type of engine that differed from that of its rivals – and it would go on to break the speed record for the fastest ocean crossing not once, but twice.
Between 1850 and 1900, three British passenger lines – Cunard, Inman and White Star -dominated transatlantic travel. Toward the end of the century, as increasing numbers of emigrants sought passage to the US and a growing class of Gilded Age travellers demanded speed and luxury, corporate rivalry intensified. Pressure from other European lines forced the British companies to add amenities like swimming pools and restaurants.
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Not unlike today’s rivalries between, say, aircraft manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing, each raced to make its ocean liners the largest, fastest and most opulent. In the process, they launched the modern age of leisure cruising – and developed innovations and technologies that continue to be used on cruise ships today.
In the mid-19th Century, there were two main players. Inman’s inaugural steamship, launched in 1850, made it the first major British line to replace traditional side-mounted paddlewheels with a screw propeller – an apparatus with fixed blades turning on a central axis. With the added speed and fuel efficiency this brought, plus a sleek iron hull that was more durable than wood, Inman established itself as a company unafraid to try new technology for faster crossings.
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Inman’s main rival, Cunard, focused on safety instead. The Cunard way was to let competitors introduce new-fangled technology and let them deal with the setbacks, once that technology had proved itself, only then would Cunard consider using it.
But Cunard risked being left behind both by Inman and by a new rival which burst onto the scene in 1870 – the White Star line’s splashy debut included five huge ocean liners, dubbed floating hotels. Their flagship, RMS Oceanic, launched in 1871 and the contrast with Cunard was stark, for example where Oceanic had bathtubs, Cunard offered a sink.
In 1888, Inman introduced ships which no longer required auxiliary sails, giving ocean liners a similar look to the one they have today.
Cunard, meanwhile, ventured into the new world of telecommunications by installing the first Marconi wireless stations, which allowed radio operators to transmit messages at sea, on its sister ships RMS Lucania and RMS Campania. First-class passengers could even book European hotels by wireless before reaching port.
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In 1897, Germany entered the fray with the SS Amerika, wowed its well-heeled guests by introducing the first à la carte restaurant at sea: the Ritz-Carlton, brainchild of Paris hotelier Cesar Ritz and renowned chef Auguste Escoffier. It allowed guests to order meals at their leisure and dine with their friends rather than attend rigidly scheduled seatings – a forerunner of the kind of freestyle dining seen on today’s cruise ships.
To complicate matters, American banking tycoon JP Morgan was buying up smaller companies to create a US-based shipping-and-railroad monopoly. In 1901, White Star became his biggest acquisition. Suddenly, the battles weren’t only in the boardrooms: building the world’s top ocean liners was now a point of national pride.
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With the help of a £2.6 million government loan (equivalent to more than £261 million today), Britain’s Cunard line launched the massive twins RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania. Both had the first steam turbine engines of any superliner.
White Star fought back with RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic that would feature double hulls and watertight bulkheads. With standard reciprocating engines, they were slower than the Cunarders, but surpassed them in size and elegance, even debuted the first indoor swimming pools at sea.
History changed course when Titanic hit an iceberg on 14 April 1912 and sank on her first transatlantic voyage. As a result of the tragedy, safety regulations were updated to require lifeboat berths for every passenger and 24-hour radio surveillance (rules which are still in place).
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But there were more challenges to come. World War One broke out in 1914 and European governments requisitioned liners for war service. Despite a post-war liner-building boom, US anti-immigration laws reduced the number of transatlantic emigrants – the liners’ bread and butter – in the 1920s.
In 1957, more people crossed the Atlantic by ship than ever before, but by the following year, jet passengers outnumbered them. Cunard said flying was a just fad, and that it was not a genuine concern.
Despite Cunard’s best efforts, by the late 1950s more people were flying than taking ships to their destinations. Air travel and high operating costs doomed most transatlantic liners by the 1970s – only Cunard’s RMS Queen Mary 2 makes regular transatlantic crossings now.
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Questions 13-18
Label as true, false, or not given (T / F / NG)
Do the following statements agree with the information given in passage 2?
Write your answers in the boxes for questions 13-18 as:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
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13 The competition between modern day airline manufacturers is very much like the early days of ship construction.
14 Inman was fearful of using the latest available materials alongside progressive construction methods to cut crossing times.
15 Following the invention of the radio, second class guests could reserve rooms to stay in the cities they were heading to from the ship they were on.
16 By borrowing a substantial amount of money, a leading British company built a couple of huge identical ships with the very first steam engine propulsion.
17 Crossing the Atlantic is done by the one remaining cruise ship these days on a scheduled timetable.
18 A German company introduced fixed and tightly controlled set-seating meal times on their newest ships.
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Questions 19–23
Match letters A-C, to the statements numbered below 19-23
Which company does each of the following statements refer to?
19 Being acquired by a high-powered financier meant that the proud thoughts of a nation were at stake.
20 Claiming air travel was a short-term temporary fashionable form of travel not to be overly worried about.
21 Using alternate newer technologies rendered older wind powered systems obsolete giving them the modern-day look.
22 Patiently waiting for their rivals to prove that new technologies and systems worked before implementing them themselves.
23 Producing massive ocean going vessels that gained them the nickname ‘hotels that float’.
A Cunard
B Inman
C White Star
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Questions 24–27
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO TO THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
It was a couple of times in the early 1900s that the newest ship of the day broke the 24……………………
As European firms excelled, it forced the U.K.-based companies to improve their ships and in particular to 25……………………
Due to a terrible disaster, new rules were put in place after that we can see today are 26…………………….
It was often whole families in the early part of the 20th Century, moving from Europe to America that was known to the industry as their 27…………………….
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ANSWERS ARE BELOW
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ANSWERS
13. TRUE
14. FALSE
15. NOT GIVEN
16. TRUE
17. TRUE
18. FALSE
19. C
20. A
21. B
22. A
23. C
24. speed record
25. add amenities
26. still in place
27. bread and butter
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