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What are some examples of past societies that collapsed?
The Anasazi, Cahokia, Maya cities, Moche, Tiwanaku, Norse Greenland, Mycenean Greece, Great Zimbabwe, and Angkor Wat are notable examples of collapsed societies.
What were the main reasons behind the collapse of ancient societies?
Environmental issues such as deforestation, soil problems, overhunting, overfishing, and population growth were key factors.
How does the passage compare modern and past societies regarding environmental challenges?
Modern societies face similar environmental problems as past ones but also deal with new issues like climate change and toxic chemicals.
Why are people fascinated by ancient ruins?
Ancient ruins reflect the wealth and power of past societies, showcasing their architectural and engineering skills.
Can modern societies learn from the collapse of ancient civilizations?
Yes, modern societies can learn valuable lessons, but these need to be interpreted carefully and adapted to current challenges.
Learning Lessons From the Past Reading Answers, IELTS Passage
Learning Lessons From the Past Reading Answers passage explores the causes behind the collapse of ancient civilizations and discovers key insights for modern societies. Find sample questions, detailed answers, and strategies to improve your IELTS Reading score.
Porishmita .11 Mar, 2025
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Learning Lessons From the Past: The IELTS Reading passage "Learning Lessons From the Past" explores the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, examining the environmental, social, and political factors that contributed to their collapse. This passage tests comprehension through various question types, including multiple-choice, matching sentence endings, and Yes/No/Not Given. Practicing these questions will strengthen your reading skills and boost your IELTS Reading test score.
Learning Lessons From the Past Passage
You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-14, which are based on the Reading Passage below.
Learning About The Past
A. Many past societies collapsed or vanished, leaving behind monumental ruins such as those that the poet Shelley imagined in his sonnet, Ozymandias. By collapse, I mean a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time. By those standards, most people would consider the following past societies to have been famous victims of full-fledged collapses rather than of just minor declines: the Anasazi and Cahokia within the boundaries of the modern US, the Maya cities in Central America, Moche and Tiwanaku societies in South America, Norse Greenland, Mycenean Greece and Minoan Crete in Europe, Great Zimbabwe in Africa, Angkor Wat and the Harappan Indus Valley cities in Asia, and Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.
B. The monumental ruins left behind by those past societies hold a fascination for all of us. We marvel at them when as children we first learn of them through pictures. When we grow up, many of us plan vacations in order to experience them first hand. We feel drawn to their often spectacular and haunting beauty, and also to the mysteries that they pose. The scales of the ruins testify to the former wealth and power of their builders. Yet these builders vanished, abandoning the great structures that they had created at such effort. How could a society that was once so mighty end up collapsing?
C. It has long been suspected that many of those mysterious abandonments were at least partly triggered by ecological problems: people inadvertently destroying the environmental resources on which their societies depended. This suspicion of unintended ecological suicide (ecocide) has been confirmed by discoveries made in recent decades by archaeologists, climatologists, historians, palaeontologists, and palynologists (pollen scientists). The processes through which past societies have undermined themselves by damaging their environments fall into eight categories, whose relative importance differs from case to case: deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems, water management problems, overhunting, overfishing, effects of introduced species on native species, human population growth, and increased impact of people.
D. Those past collapses tended to follow somewhat similar courses constituting variations on a theme. Writers find it tempting to draw analogies between the course of human societies and the course of individual human lives – to talk of a society’s birth, growth, peak, old age and eventual death. But that metaphor proves erroneous for many past societies: they declined rapidly after reaching peak numbers and power, and those rapid declines must have come as a surprise and shock to their citizens. Obviously, too, this trajectory is not one that all past societies followed unvaryingly to completion: different societies collapsed to different degrees and in somewhat different ways, while many societies did not collapse at all.
E. Today many people feel that environmental problems overshadow all the other threats to global civilisation. These environmental problems include the same eight that undermined past societies, plus four new ones: human-caused climate change, build up of toxic chemicals in the environment, energy shortages, and full human utilisation of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity. But the seriousness of these current environmental problems is vigorously debated. Are the risks greatly exaggerated, or conversely are they underestimated? Will modern technology solve our problems, or is it creating new problems faster than it solves old ones? When we deplete one resource (e.g. wood, oil, or ocean fish), can we count on being able to substitute some new resource (e.g. plastics, wind and solar energy, or farmed fish)? Isn’t the rate of human population growth declining, such that we’re already on course for the world’s population to level off at some manageable number of people?
F. Questions like this illustrate why those famous collapses of past civilisations have taken on more meaning than just that of a romantic mystery. Perhaps there are some practical lessons that we could learn from all those past collapses. But there are also differences between the modern world and its problems, and those past societies and their problems. We shouldn’t be so naive as to think that study of the past will yield simple solutions, directly transferable to our societies today. We differ from past societies in some respects that put us at lower risk than them; some of those respects often mentioned include our powerful technology (i.e. its beneficial effects), globalisation, modern medicine, and greater knowledge of past societies and of distant modern societies. We also differ from past societies in some respects that put us at greater risk than them: again, our potent technology (i.e., its unintended destructive effects), globalisation (such that now a problem in one part of the world affects all the rest), the dependence of millions of us on modern medicine for our survival, and our much larger human population. Perhaps we can still learn from the past, but only if we think carefully about its lessons.
Multiple Choice Questions Q1. According to the passage, which factor is considered a major cause of past societal collapses? A. Economic mismanagement B. Military conflict C. Environmental degradation D. Political corruption
Q2. Why do people find the ruins of past societies fascinating? A. They are reminders of modern architectural techniques. B. They highlight the artistic skills of ancient builders. C. They reflect the wealth and power of past societies. D. They show the political influence of ancient rulers.
Q3. What is suggested about the decline of past societies? A. It was always gradual and predictable. B. It happened more slowly than anticipated. C. It was often rapid and unexpected. D. It followed a pattern similar to human life stages.
Yes/No/Not Given Q4. Environmental issues were the sole reason behind the collapse of past societies. Q5. Modern technology has reduced the risk of societal collapse today. Q6. Human population growth was a factor in the collapse of past societies. Q7. All past societies followed the same pattern of rise and fall. Q8. Modern societies have more resources to combat environmental challenges than ancient societies.
Matching Sentence Endings Q9. The collapse of ancient societies can be linked to… A. overpopulation and environmental destruction. B. poor architectural skills. C. conflicts with neighbouring societies. D. lack of modern technology.
Q10. People are drawn to ancient ruins because they… A. serve as reminders of human weakness. B. reflect the strength and wealth of ancient builders. C. highlight the scientific knowledge of ancient societies. D. offer solutions to modern environmental issues.
Q11. Environmental problems faced by modern societies… A. are entirely different from those of past societies. B. are exaggerated by media and environmentalists. C. share similarities with problems faced by past societies. D. are less serious due to technological advancements.
Q12. The idea that societies follow a life cycle similar to human life is… A. widely supported by historians. B. proven through archaeological discoveries. C. incorrect for many past societies. D. applicable to modern societies only.
Q13. Lessons from past societal collapses… A. offer direct solutions to modern problems. B. are irrelevant to the modern world. C. can be useful if carefully interpreted. D. have been ignored by modern policymakers.
Multiple Choice Questions
Q14. How does the passage describe the modern world’s relationship with environmental problems? A. Modern technology will eliminate environmental problems. B. Globalisation has reduced the impact of environmental issues. C. Environmental problems are similar to those faced by past societies. D. Environmental issues today are less severe than in the past.
Q1. According to the passage, which factor is considered a major cause of past societal collapses?
Answer: C. Environmental degradation
Location: Paragraph C
Reference: “It has long been suspected that many of those mysterious abandonments were at least partly triggered by ecological problems: people inadvertently destroying the environmental resources on which their societies depended.”
Explanation: The passage highlights that environmental problems such as deforestation, soil erosion, and overhunting were significant causes of past societal collapses.
Q2. Why do people find the ruins of past societies fascinating?
Answer: C. They reflect the wealth and power of past societies.
Location: Paragraph B
Reference: “The scales of the ruins testify to the former wealth and power of their builders.”
Explanation: The passage explains that the size and grandeur of ancient ruins indicate the strength and prosperity of the societies that built them, which fascinates people.
Q3. What is suggested about the decline of past societies?
Answer: C. It was often rapid and unexpected.
Location: Paragraph D
Reference: “They declined rapidly after reaching peak numbers and power, and those rapid declines must have come as a surprise and shock to their citizens.”
Explanation: The passage states that the collapse of past societies often happened suddenly and unexpectedly, surprising the people of those societies.
Q4. Environmental issues were the sole reason behind the collapse of past societies.
Answer: No
Location: Paragraph C
Reference: “It has long been suspected that many of those mysterious abandonments were at least partly triggered by ecological problems.”
Explanation: The passage mentions that environmental issues were a major factor but not the sole reason for societal collapse.
Q5. Modern technology has reduced the risk of societal collapse today.
Answer: Not Given
Location: Paragraph F
Reference: The passage mentions modern technology’s role in addressing environmental issues but does not state that it has reduced the risk of collapse.
Explanation: The passage discusses modern technology’s impact but does not confirm that it reduces the risk of societal collapse.
Q6. Human population growth was a factor in the collapse of past societies.
Answer: Yes
Location: Paragraph C
Reference: “Human population growth and increased impact of people” are listed among the factors contributing to the collapse of past societies.
Explanation: The passage explicitly mentions human population growth as a reason for societal collapse.
Q7. All past societies followed the same pattern of rise and fall.
Answer: No
Location: Paragraph D
Reference: “Different societies collapsed to different degrees and in somewhat different ways.”
Explanation: The passage states that societal collapse did not follow a uniform pattern across all societies.
Q8. Modern societies have more resources to combat environmental challenges than ancient societies.
Answer: Yes
Location: Paragraph F
Reference: “We differ from past societies in some respects that put us at lower risk than them; some of those respects often mentioned include our powerful technology… and greater knowledge of past societies.”
Explanation: The passage mentions that modern societies have technological and informational advantages over ancient societies.
Q9. The collapse of ancient societies can be linked to…
Answer: A. overpopulation and environmental destruction.
Location: Paragraph C
Reference: The passage lists human population growth and environmental degradation as causes of collapse.
Explanation: The passage mentions that overpopulation and environmental destruction were major causes of societal collapse.
Q10. People are drawn to ancient ruins because they…
Answer: B. reflect the strength and wealth of ancient builders.
Location: Paragraph B
Reference: “The scales of the ruins testify to the former wealth and power of their builders.”
Explanation: The passage explains that ancient ruins reflect the wealth and power of the societies that built them, which fascinates people.
Q11. Environmental problems faced by modern societies…
Answer: C. share similarities with problems faced by past societies.
Location: Paragraph E
Reference: “These environmental problems include the same eight that undermined past societies, plus four new ones.”
Explanation: The passage mentions that modern societies face environmental issues similar to those of ancient societies.
Q12. The idea that societies follow a life cycle similar to human life is…
Answer: C. incorrect for many past societies.
Location: Paragraph D
Reference: “That metaphor proves erroneous for many past societies.”
Explanation: The passage states that the life cycle metaphor does not accurately describe the rise and fall of most societies.
Q13. Lessons from past societal collapses…
Answer: C. can be useful if carefully interpreted.
Location: Paragraph F
Reference: “Perhaps we can still learn from the past, but only if we think carefully about its lessons.”
Explanation: The passage suggests that lessons from past societal collapses are valuable but need to be applied thoughtfully.
Q14. How does the passage describe the modern world’s relationship with environmental problems?
Answer: C. Environmental problems are similar to those faced by past societies.
Location: Paragraph E
Reference: “These environmental problems include the same eight that undermined past societies, plus four new ones…”
Explanation: The passage explains that modern societies face similar environmental challenges as ancient societies but with additional modern issues like climate change and toxic chemicals.
