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IELTS Reading: Can you think of the synonyms?

Photo: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona via AP
Photo: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona via AP

As you know, IELTS questions often use synonyms, antonyms (the opposite), or short definitions of high-level words.

Here’s an article from one of my favorite free IELTS reading sites, Newsela, with some of the words in bold. 

Read the passage and answer the questions below:

“Bennu is shaped like a ball, with a fat middle. Scientists believe the equatorial girth is loose rubble or gravel, the ideal size for collecting a sample. The asteroid rotates every four hours — yes, a day is just over four hours at Bennu. This rotation is slow enough for a spacecraft to reach out and suck in samples, using nitrogen gas to stir up the surface. “We are basically a space vacuum cleaner,” Lauretta said Wednesday. Also think hummingbird, as the spacecraft hovers over Bennu during the big grab. Bennu is believed to be 1,600 feet across. Asteroids smaller than 650 feet in diameter were eliminated as candidates; they spin so fast that their surface material can be hurled out into space.”

Q: What are the synonyms (or definitions) for these words?

  1. rubble/gravel
  2. ideal
  3. to stir up
  4. diameter
  5. to hurl

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. solace

    September 12, 2016 at 9:37 pm

    rubble: small fragments
    ideal: perfect
    to stir up: incite
    diameter: dimension of circle
    to hurl: throw

    Reply
  2. richa

    September 14, 2016 at 4:01 am

    rubble — attraction
    ideal –perfect
    stir up–shake
    diameter– maximum the full length from one edge to other edge
    to hurl–spread

    Reply
  3. Golden Win

    September 19, 2016 at 1:32 am

    1. broken stones or bricks from buildings and walls that destroyed
    2. perfect
    3. mix
    4.length of a straight line passing through the centre of circle
    5. throw away

    Reply
  4. Clifford

    September 19, 2016 at 5:24 pm

    1.) Stones
    2.) Standard
    3.) Blend
    4.) Circumferential
    5.) Toss out

    Reply

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