Bodie: America’s Most Famous Ghost Town Reading Answers

Bodie: America’s Most Famous Ghost Town Reading Answers

If you’re preparing for the IELTS General Training Reading test, it’s essential to practice with real-world topics that improve both vocabulary and comprehension skills. One fascinating topic that often appears in IELTS reading passages is historical locations, like ghost towns. In this article, we focus on Bodie – America’s most famous ghost town – to help you practice IELTS-style reading.

You’ll read about Bodie’s mysterious past, rise and fall, and its present-day status. This reading passage is followed by IELTS-style questions and answers to help you test your understanding and improve your reading band score.

Real IELTS Exam Question, Reported On:

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Question 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Bodie: America’s Most Famous Ghost Town

If you peek inside one of the broken-down buildings in Bodie, California, you might spot dust-covered furniture, an old muffin pan, rusty tins, broken kerosene lamps, or even a fully stocked general store with original wooden boxes and tin cans. Situated in a sagebrush-covered valley in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Bodie was once a thriving gold-mining town that began in the 1870s. Thousands of hopeful miners came in search of gold and prosperity.

At its peak, Bodie had up to 8,000 residents and over 30 active mines. One of the most prominent operations, the Standard Company, was among the first in America to use electricity for gold extraction. Their process involved washing crushed ore over mercury-coated copper sheets to collect gold, which was later heated to release mercury and mold the gold into bars. A second step involved soaking the remaining ore in potassium cyanide to extract traces of gold and silver, which were then collected using zinc trays. This mining activity continued for about 70 years until the gold ran out and the final mine shut down in the 1940s.

In 1962, the California State Parks Department took over Bodie and began a program called “arrested decay,” which involved preserving the town in the condition it was found, rather than restoring it completely. Charley Spiller, a maintenance worker at Bodie, explained that strong winds and heavy snow pose the biggest threats to the town’s survival. Snow, which averages 13 feet annually, often seeps into buildings, causing wood floors to rot.A small team of workers now spends half the year reinforcing structures, replacing broken windows, and repairing roofs using materials that match the original wood to prevent the town from collapsing. Many similar towns in the area have vanished simply because they were not preserved in time.

Though Bodie may appear lifeless, it is full of natural activity. Ground squirrels tunnel through the earth, feeding on bitterbrush and grasses. Coyotes, deer, snakes, lizards, and occasionally mountain lions or bears roam the area. Even the soil is alive, filled with trillions of microbes—some capable of breaking down the toxic mercury and cyanide left from mining. Interestingly, research has shown that desert soils like those in Bodie host nearly twice the number of microbial species as rainforests.

What fascinates most visitors, however, is the ghost town’s eerie silence and historical authenticity. Cultural geographer Dydia DeLyser notes that people are drawn to places like Bodie because they appear to be preserved exactly as they were left. Visitors often question whether the objects they see-such as dishes on the table or cans on the shelf-were truly abandoned or arranged to enhance the ghost town look.

According to DeLyser, assuming everything was left behind in a rush is a misconception. Many of the items were carefully curated to give an authentic glimpse into the past, making Bodie not just a ghost town, but a powerful connection to a chapter of American history.

Questions 1–7
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Bodie’s Past

About Bodie
1. Located in a __________ in the Sierra Nevada.
2. In the 1870s, attracted people who wanted to be __________ to get rich.
3. Now has about __________ of the original buildings.

Gold Mining and Milling
4. Extraction of smaller amounts of gold required __________.
5. Ore was rinsed over mercury-covered sheets of __________.
6. Ore with a texture like __________ was immersed in potassium cyanide.
7. Metals were caught in containers filled with __________.

Questions 8–13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?Write:

TRUE     if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE   if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN   if there is no information on this

8. Wind and snow are the most difficult factors Bodie preservationists have to deal with.
9. The maintenance team in Bodie was unable to locate the Jeffrey pine the settlers used.
10. Lack of funding has caused other towns like Bodie to disappear.
11. Many people left Bodie when wild animals started living in their homes.
12. Acidic rainforest soils tend to contain more microbes than the soil found in places like
Bodie.
13. Some tourists doubt that items in Bodie were really used by people who lived there.

Bodie: America’s Most Famous Ghost Town Reading Answers

1 Valley
2 Miners
3 20 Percent
4 Electricity
5 Copper
6 Sand
7 Zinc
8 True
9 Not Given
10 Not Given
11 False
12 False
13 True

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