The Cloud Messenger Reading Answers

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18-09-2025

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We have provided The Cloud Messenger reading answers in this article. It contains 14 questions which are based on frequently asked question types like Matching Features, Diagram Completion and Matching headings.

Table of contents:

Solution for The Cloud Messenger

The following table comprises The Cloud Messenger reading answers. You may cross-check your answers.

Answer Table

27. E 31. A 35. Oxygen 39. A

28. H

32. J 36. 6.5° CELSIUS, 1000 METERS 40. F
29. C 33. Dizzy Heights 37. E  
30. I 34. Major Cumulus Cloud 38. F  

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The applicants must attempt all the questions in the The Cloud Messenger Reading Answers. Candidates must thoroughly read the IELTS Reading passage, comprehend its main points, and then choose the portion which relates to the questions.

Passage 

We have provided a The Cloud Messenger reading passage below, read it carefully and answer the questions 27-40.

The Cloud Messenger

Luke Howard had been speaking for nearly an hour, during which time his audience had found itself in a state of gradually mounting excitement. By the time that he reached the concluding words of his address, the Plough Court laboratory was in an uproar. Everyone in the audience had recognized the importance of what they had just heard, and all were in a mood to have it confirmed aloud by their friends and neighbours in the room. Over the course of the past hour, they had been introduced not only to new explanations of the formation and lifespan of clouds, but also to a poetic new terminology: ‘Cirrus’, ‘Stratus’, ‘Cumulus’, ‘Nimbus’, and the other names, too, the names of intermediate compounds and modified forms, whose differences were based on altitude, air temperature and the shaping powers of upward radiation. There was much that needed to be taken on board.

Clouds, as everyone in the room would already have known, were staging posts in the rise and fall of water as it made its way on endless compensating journeys between the earth and the fruitful sky. Yet the nature of the means of their exact construction remained a mystery to most observers who, on the whole, were still in thrall to the vesicular or ‘bubble’ theory that had dominated meteorological thinking for the better part of a century. The earlier speculations, in all their strangeness, had mostly been forgotten or were treated as historical curiosities to be glanced at, derided and then abandoned. Howard, however, was adamant that clouds were formed from actual solid drops of water and ice, condensed from their vaporous forms by the fall in temperature which they encountered as they ascended through the rapidly cooling lower atmosphere. Balloon pioneers during the 1780s had continued just how cold it could get up in the realm of the clouds: the temperature fell some 6.5″C for every thousand meters they ascended. By the time the middle of a major cumulus cloud had been reached, the temperature would have dropped to below freezing, while the oxygen concentration of the air would be starting to thin choir dangerously. That was what the balloonists meant by ‘dizzy heights’.

Howard was not, of course, the first to insist that clouds were best understood as entities with physical properties of their own, obeying the same essential laws which governed the rest of the natural world (with one or two interesting anomalies: water, after all, is a very strange material). It had long been accepted by many of the more scientifically minded that clouds, despite their distance and their seeming intangibility, should be studied and apprehended like any other objects in creation.

There was more, however, and better. Luke Howard also claimed that there was a fixed and constant number of basic cloud types, and this number was not (as the audience might have anticipated) in the hundreds or the thousands, like the teeming clouds themselves, with each as individual as a thumbprint. Had this been the case, it would render them both unclassifiable and unaccountable; just so many stains upon the sky. Howard’s claim, on the contrary, was that there were just three basic families of cloud, into which every one of the thousands of ambiguous forms could be categorized with certainty. The clouds obeyed a system and, once recognized in outline, their basic forms would be ‘as distinguishable from each other as a tree from a hill, or the latter from a lake’, for each displayed the simplest possible visual characteristics.

The names which Howard devised or they were designed to convey a descriptive sense of each cloud type’s outward characteristics (a practice derived from the usual procedures of natural history classification) and were taken from the Latin, for ease of adoption by the learned of different nations’: Cirrus (from the Latin for fibre or hair), Cumulus (from the Latin for heap or pile) and Stratus (from the Latin for layer or sheet). Clouds were thus divided into tendrils, heaps and layers: the three formations at the heart of their design. Howard then went on to name four other cloud types, all of which were either modifications or aggregates of the three major families of formation. Clouds continually unite, pass into one another and disperse, but always in recognizable stages. The rain cloud Nimbus, for example (from the Latin for cloud), was, according to Howard, a rainy combination of all three types, although Nimbus was reclassified as nimbostratus by meteorologists in 1932, by which time the science of rain had developed beyond all recognition.

The modification of clouds was a major new idea, and what struck the audience most vividly about it was its elegant and powerful fittingness. All of what they had just heard seemed so clear and so self-evident. Some must have wondered how it was that no one – not even in antiquity – had named or graded the clouds before, or if they had, why their efforts had left no trace in the language. How could it be that the task had been waiting for Howard, who had succeeded in wringing a kind of exactitude from out of the vaporous clouds? Their forms, though shapeless and unresolved, had, at last, it seemed, been securely grasped. Howard had given a set of names to a radical fluidity and impermanence that seemed every bit as magical, to that first audience, as the Eskimo’s fabled vocabulary of snow.

Questions

Questions 27-32

You need to choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings bellow.

Write the correct number i-x in the boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

The lists of headings are as follows

i. An easily understood system
ii. Doubts dismissed
iii. Not a totally unconventional view
iv. Theories compared
v. A momentous occasion
vi. A controversial use of terminology
vii. Initial confusion
viii. Previous beliefs replaced
ix. More straightforward than expected
x. An obvious thing to do

Questions 33-36

Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your sheet.

Questions 37-40

Reading Passage has 3 has six paragraphs.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

NB: You may use any letter more than once.

37. An example of modification made to work done by Howard.
38. A comparison between Howard's work and another classification system.
39. A reference to the fact that Howard presented a very large amount of information.
40. An assumption is that the audience asked themselves a question.

Answers for The Cloud Messenger with Explanations

The Cloud Messenger reading answers with Explanations are given below. It will assist you in understanding the format of the reading test and will allow you to correct your errors.

27. Answer: E

Explanation: By the time Luke Howard finished his remarks, the Plough Court laboratory was in a tumult, as stated in line 2 of paragraph A.The impact of Luke Howard's presentation at the lab on the audience, who realized how significant what they were hearing was. As a result, choice e is the best one.

28. Answer: H

Explanation: According to line 3 of paragraph B, the majority of the prior ideas had either been forgotten or were thought of as historical anomalies to be marveled at, made fun of, and ultimately abandoned due to their oddity. Option h will thus be a suitable response.

29. Answer: C

Explanation: According to paragraph C, Howard was not the first to argue that clouds should be thought of as physical things with their own set of rules that naturally govern the rest of the natural world (with a few fascinating exceptions: after all, water is a rather unusual substance). Despite their remoteness and seeming intangibility, many of the more scientifically minded individuals have long thought that clouds should be studied and understood in the same way as other objects in creation. In this case, option c is the best one.

30. Answer: I

Explanation: Luke Howard further said, in accordance with point D, that there were a predetermined number of basic cloud kinds and that this number was not (as the audience would have imagined) in the hundreds or thousands, like the teeming clouds themselves, with each one being as distinct as a fingerprint. If this were the case, they would be difficult to classify, mysterious, and would be nothing more than a mark on the sky. Howard, on the other hand, claimed that there were just three basic families of clouds, into which each of the tens of thousands of perplexing shapes could be confidently categorized.As a result, option i is the best decision.

31. Answer: A

Explanation: According to paragraph E, Howard's names were either created by him or were intended to convey a sense of each cloud type's external characteristics (a practice derived from the conventions of natural history classification), and they were then translated into Latin for ease of use by learned people from other countries. As a result, option an is the best one.

32. Answer: J

Explanation: The audience was presented with a substantial new idea—the alteration of clouds—and was most powerfully affected by its beautiful and effective execution, according to paragraph F. Everything they had just heard seemed so self-evident and apparent. In this case, option j is the best choice.

33. Answer: DIZZY HEIGHTS

Explanation: By the time the center of a huge cumulus cloud had been reached, according to the last lines of paragraph B, the temperature would have dropped below freezing and the air's oxygen content would have started to dangerously decrease. When the balloonists said it, they meant it.

34. Answer: MAJOR CUMULUS CLOUD

Explanation: The air would have gotten dangerously low in oxygen by the time a massive cumulus cloud's center had been reached, and the temperature would have dropped below freezing, according to line 6 of paragraph B.

35. Answer: OXYGEN

Explanation: According to paragraph B, because the temperature had dropped below freezing, the amount of oxygen in the air would be dangerously beginning to decline.

36. Answer: 6.5° CELSIUS, 1000 METERS

Explanation: The temperature decreased by around 6.5′′C for every thousand meters balloon pioneers ascended in the 1780s, as stated in line 5 of paragraph B, illustrating exactly how cold it might get up in the cloud world.

37. Answer: E 

Explanation: According to paragraph E, Howard may have defined the cloud of precipitation, called Nimbus (from the Latin for cloud), as a rainy amalgam of all three types. However, as the study of rain had gone beyond all recognition by that point, meteorologists categorized Nimbus as nimbostratus in 1932.

38. Answer: F

Explanation: As mentioned in paragraph F, Howard's designation of a radical fluidity and impermanence struck that initial audience as being equally wonderful as the famous Eskimo lexicon of snow.

39. Answer: A

Explanation: The lines 5 and 6 of paragraph A incorporate every sort of detail Howard offered. The phrase "much that needed to be taken on board" in the previous sentence indicates that there was a lot of information for the listener to understand and evaluate.

40. Answer: F

Explanation: Lines 2 and 3 of paragraph F imply that some individuals were undoubtedly inquisitive. The narrator claims to be aware of the audience members' questions regarding the lack of a prior system for classifying and grading clouds.

Other Reading Tests

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About Author Dinesh Pandiyan

Dinesh is a highly experienced content writer who specializes in language proficiency tests like IELTS, GRE, PTE, TOEFL, and study abroad. He provides valuable insights and tips to students on various modules of these tests, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. His articles are well-researched, informative, and engaging, offering practical guidance to students looking to succeed in their academic pursuits. Additionally, Dinesh has coordinated with IELTS trainers to prepare test preparation materials, guides, practice tests, and mock tests, and worked closely with counsellors for study abroad consultancy, providing guidance on choosing the right institution, preparing for interviews, and writing effective statements of purpose (SOP) and letters of recommendation (LOR). Students can benefit from Dinesh's comprehensive knowledge and experience by checking out his articles.

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