Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers?

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19-09-2025

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Below, in a tabular style, are the Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers for your convenience.

Solutions for Why Pagodas Don’t Fall Down

1. Yes 2. No 3. Not Given 4. Yes
5. B 6. A 7. B 8. C
9. A 10. C 11. D 12. C
13. C      

By referring to the Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers, you can get a better understanding of how to approach the reading tests on the IELTS.

To perform well in the IELTS reading, you must plan effective strategies. The test has a 60-minute time limit. As a result, you must actively read the passage and try to trace its solutions. Before going through the Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers, refer to our analyzed article for the answer strategy to improve your band score.

Moreover, the Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers include three main IELTS Reading question types that are,

  • IELTS Reading Yes/ No/ Not Given
  • IELTS Reading Matching Features
  • IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions

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Strategies of solving “Why pagodas don’t fall down”

Before solving the reading test, refer to the strategies provided following the question types to improve your IELTS band score.

  • Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers with locations is devised from Cambridge 7 Test 2 and consists of information, particularly the history of particular infrastructures named pagodas.
  • Slow down while reading the passage. Also, don’t take more time to read the whole passage. Remember that you are reading the passage only to get the author’s opinion.
  • With the use of that word, try to find the text in the passage to know the author’s point of view on that particular information.
  • Underline the keywords in the question, so that you can know what to look for in the passage.
  • After reading the question, look at the options you can choose. Then read the passage, to find the correct option. 
  • You will see some choices with keywords, that do not match the information. Some options may be true or contradictory. Avoid such options.

After reviewing the Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers with explanations please refer to the IELTS reading tips.

IELTS reading passage - Why pagodas don’t fall down?

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 based on Reading Passage 1 given below. After you've attempted all of the questions, review your answers using the provided Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers with locations.

Why Pagodas Don’t Fall Down?

  1. How have Japan's tallest and seemingly flimsiest historic buildings, some 500 or so wooden pagodas, weathered decades of typhoons and earthquakes? Since records began being kept, only a couple of them has collapsed in 1400 years. Those that no longer exist were probably lost in fires caused by lightning or a civil conflict. The Hanshin earthquake of 1995 was a catastrophic event that killed 6,400 people, destroyed elevated roads and office buildings, and leveled the port district of Kobe. Despite destroying many neighboring structures, it spared the majestic five-story pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto.
  2. Japanese scholars have long been perplexed by these tall, slender towers. After decades of careful planning, office buildings of more than a dozen floors were not built until the 1980s. In 1968, the 36-story Kasumigaseki skyscraper in central Tokyo was recognized as a technological wonder for its ingenious suspension mechanisms to prevent seismic damage. In 826, Kobodaishi used only pegs and wedges to secure his timber building when he shot his Toji pagoda 55 meters into the sky, about half as high as the Kasumigaseki skyscraper, which was completed 11 centuries later. Instead of fighting nature, traditional Japanese carpenters let buildings swing and settle on their own. But what kind of shenanigans?
  3. In the sixth century, the multi-story pagoda was brought to Japan from China. They were initially brought with Buddhism and associated with significant temples, just like in China. In the following centuries, the Chinese mostly employed their pagodas as watchtowers and constructed them out of stone or brick with inside stairs. However, when the pagoda arrived in Japan, its architecture was freely altered to fit the country's needs. They were typically built with five rather than nine storeys, were mostly made of wood, and did not have staircases because the Japanese pagoda was more of an artwork than a functional structure. Typhoons that hit Japan in the summer forced Japanese architects and builders to discover how to extend building eaves further than the walls. This stops rainwater from pouring over the walls. The overhang found on Japanese pagodas is not present in pagodas in China or Korea.
  4. The roof of a Japanese temple can be designed to extend out over the walls by half or more of the structure's width. Also, unlike many Chinese pagodas, which are covered in lightweight porcelain tiles, Japanese pagodas have considerably heavier earthenware tiles covering their long eaves. This does not, however, explain the incredible lifespan of Japan's pagodas. The great central pillar of a Japanese pagoda, known as a shinbashira, is supposed to bend and sway like a pine tree trunk during a typhoon or earthquake, prompting some to question whether or not this is true. Decades of consensus have existed between specialists in this regard. The surprising fact that the shinbashira does not support any weight indicates that the answer is more intricate. Instead of being tied to the ground, some pagoda designs suspend it from the pagoda's pinnacle, enabling it to dangle freely in the structure's center. Twelve outside columns and four inside columns support the whole structure.
  5. The easiest way to comprehend what the shinbashira performs is to watch a video that Kyoto Institute of Technology structural engineer Shuzo Ishida developed. Because of his intense curiosity about pagodas, Mr. Ishida is affectionately referred to by his pupils as "Professor Pagoda." He constructed many models and put them to the test on a "shaketable" in his lab. To put it briefly, the shinbashira was swinging back and forth like a massive pendulum that was still. The ancient architects appeared to comprehend the same ideas that were utilized to construct Japan's first skyscraper more than a thousand years later, despite the fact that they lacked access to highly sophisticated math. Early constructors discovered via trial and error that pressure applied to a pagoda's loose stack of floors might cause them to rise and fall independently. The pagoda appeared to be doing a snake dance from the side, with each level rotating anticlockwise to the ones above and below it. Through a gap in the center of the structure, the shinbashira climbed to the top. It prevented the floors from shifting too much because as they moved past it, energy was sent down the column.
  6. One further peculiarity of the Japanese pagoda is that the vertical pillars that support the structure are not joined to the pillars above them. This is due to the fact that as you move down the building, the floor plans get increasingly cramped. A five-story pagoda, on the other hand, does not rely on a central support pillar to bear the structure's weight from its upper to lower levels. More baffling is the fact that a Japanese pagoda's levels are not connected, in contrast to pagodas in other nations. The hats are simply stacked atop one another. Interestingly, current Japanese building regulations prohibit this type of design.
  7. The best way to see them is as the balancing poles used by tightrope walkers. It's significantly easier for the tightrope walker to maintain their balance when there's more mass at each end of the pole. A pagoda can be seen in a similar light. Mr. Ishida claims that the building responds gracefully to even the most intense earthquake shock by swaying rather than suddenly shaking because of the way its eaves extend out in all directions "like balancing poles." With the eaves projecting outward like balance pillars, Mr. Here again, ideas from modern structural engineering were anticipated by Japanese master builders a thousand years ago.

Why Pagodas Don’t Fall Down IELTS Reading Questions

Questions 1-6

Classify the following as typical of

    A. both Chinese and Japanese pagodas
    B. only Chinese pagodas
    C. only Japanese pagodas

Write the correct letter, A, B, or C, in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.

1. simple internal access to the top

2. tiles on eaves

3. usage as a watchtower

4. eave heights can be up to one-half the width of the structure.

5. fundamental religious intention

6. sagging floors that are above one another

More questions for the practice is available on IELTS Reading Matching Features

Questions 7-9

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet. 

7.  The levels of a Japanese pagoda called storey are

A. joined by special weights
B. linked only by wood
C. fitted loosely on top of each other
D. fastened only to the central pillar

8.  Experiments are being conducted by Shuzo Ishida in an attempt to

A. understand ancient mathematics
B. improve skyscraper design
C. be able to build new pagodas
D. learn about the dynamics of pagodas

9.  The shinbashira is a characteristic feature of Japanese pagodas.

A. bear the full weight of the building
B. bends under pressure like a tree
C. connects the floors with the foundations
D. stops the floors from moving too far

Click to know more about IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions 

Questions 10-13

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet, write
YES               if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN  if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
10.  In the past 1400 years, only two Japanese pagodas have fallen.
11.  The Toji temple pagoda was demolished in the 1995 Hanshin earthquake.
12. The other structures in the area of the Toji pagoda had been built in the past 30 years.
13. The architects of pagodas figured out how to store some of the energy created by natural disasters.

Visit more IELTS Reading Yes/No/Not Given questions for practice.

Why pagodas don’t fall down Reading Answers With Explanations

Why pagodas don’t fall down reading answers with explanations are provided here and will aid you in grasping techniques useful in reading and in tracing the answers. 

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. B

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 3

Explanation: In the following centuries, the Chinese mostly employed their pagodas as watchtowers and constructed them out of stone or brick with inside stairs.

2. A

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, Line 3

Explanation: Japanese pagodas have considerably heavier earthenware tiles covering their long eaves. 

3. B

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 5

Explanation: They were typically built with five rather than nine storeys, were mostly made of wood, and did not have staircases because the Japanese pagoda was more of an artwork than a functional structure.

4. C

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 8

Explanation: Typhoons that hit Japan in the summer forced Japanese architects and builders to discover how to extend building eaves further than the walls.

5. A 

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 1

Explanation: In the sixth century, the multi-story pagoda was brought to Japan from China. They were initially brought with Buddhism and associated with significant temples, just like in China. 

6. C

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Line 5

Explanation: More baffling is the fact that a Japanese pagoda's levels are not connected, in contrast to pagodas in other nations.

7. C

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Line 5

Explanation: More baffling is the fact that a Japanese pagoda's levels are not connected, in contrast to pagodas in other nations.

8. C

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Line 2

Explanation: Because of his intense curiosity about pagodas, Mr. Ishida is affectionately referred to by his pupils as "Professor Pagoda." He constructed many models and put them to the test on a "shaketable" in his lab.

9. D 

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Line 12

Explanation: Through a gap in the center of the structure, the shinbashira climbed to the top. It prevented the floors from shifting too much because as they moved past it, energy was sent down the column.

10. Yes 

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Line 2

Explanation: Since records began being kept, only a couple of them have collapsed in 1400 years. 

11. No

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Line 5

Explanation: The Hanshin earthquake of 1995 was a catastrophic event that killed 6,400 people, destroyed elevated roads and office buildings, and leveled the port district of Kobe.

12. Not Given

Explanation: The explanation is not offered since the paragraph provides no context for the statement.

13. Yes

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, Line 8

Explanation: The surprising fact that the shinbashira does not support any weight indicates that the answer is more intricate. Instead of being tied to the ground, some pagoda designs suspend it from the pagoda's pinnacle, enabling it to dangle freely in the structure's center.

Check the other reading passages

Conclusion 

The "Why pagodas don’t fall down answers" and locations will assist you in locating the correct answers and formulating a plan. Also, to help you practice, we've given you links to several sections where you can read more. Clicking on these links will help you improve your reading skills. Your ability to manage your time well will get better in general.

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About Author Roshan Sunthar

Roshan Sunthar is a study abroad expert as well as a renowned writer and author in international education. His academic excellence and 5+ years of work experience give him in-depth knowledge of international standardised exams and test preparation in IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, PTE, SAT, etc. The study materials he prepares incorporate exam-like questions. He’s also an expert in writing Statement of Purposes (SOPs) and Letter of Recommendations (LORs) for college admissions. He usually spends his leisure time watching English classics and documentaries, travelling, etc.

More Articles Post by Roshan Sunthar

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