Practice Test
Questions 31–35: READING Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Sound Waves Outer space is silent. Whether you shout loudly or you smash a glass there you will not hear a sound in outer space. Why is that? We hear a sound when something vibrates. We can’t always see the vibration but if you can hear a sound, you can be sure that something is vibrating. When you open your mouth and talk, for example, your vocal chords (flaps of skin in your throat) are vibrating. The vibration makes the air around it vibrate, creating sound waves which move through the air to get to your ears where you hear them as sounds. Sound waves can travel
through many materials. Sounds are heard through solids, such as a wall made of wood or stone. They are heard through liquids, such as water, and through gases, such as air. But sound cannot travel through
sound waves
a vacuum – a completely empty space in which there is no air. So that is the answer. There is no air in space so sound cannot travel. Therefore, outer space is silent.
34 Outer space is silent because: (A) there is nobody living there. (B) nothing vibrates there. (C) there is no air. (D) there is no liquid. 35 You cannot survive in a vacuum. Why do you think that is? (A) There is no sound. (B) There is no air to breathe. (C) There are no people. (D) You would not be able to talk.
31 Which of these statements is true? (A) When there is a sound you can always see something vibrating. (B) Sound waves cannot travel through wood. (C) Sound waves travel through liquid. (D) You cannot smash a glass in outer space.
32 What vibrates when you speak? (A) your mouth (B) your throat (C) your tongue (D) your vocal chords
33 What is a vacuum? (A) a pocket of air (B) an empty box (C) an empty room
(D) a space without air
160
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog