IELTS Reading 練習 4 古羅馬建築（含題目+詳解）

Ancient Roman Architecture

The Romans are often remembered as pragmatic builders rather than original thinkers, yet their engineering achievements transformed the architectural possibilities of the ancient world. Their signature contribution was not a single building but a combination of three innovations: concrete, the arch, and the vault. Applied together, these allowed the Romans to roof interior spaces of a scale that Greek post-and-lintel construction could not match.

Roman concrete, known as opus caementicium, was a mixture of volcanic ash, lime, seawater and broken stone. It set hard, resisted fire and, remarkably, grew stronger when exposed to seawater — a property that modern researchers have only recently begun to understand in chemical detail. Unlike modern Portland cement, which slowly degrades, samples of Roman harbour concrete taken from breakwaters off the Italian coast remain intact after more than two thousand years.

The round arch, inherited from the Etruscans but refined by Roman builders, allowed weight to be channelled down through wedge-shaped stones called voussoirs. When extended linearly, arches became barrel vaults; rotated around a central point, they became domes. The Pantheon in Rome, completed around 126 CE under the emperor Hadrian, contains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome — a span of 43.3 metres that no builder matched until the Renaissance.

Aqueducts carried this engineering logic across the empire. At their peak, eleven aqueducts supplied the city of Rome alone, delivering an estimated one million cubic metres of water daily. The Pont du Gard in southern France, built without mortar from precisely cut stone, still stands almost intact after nineteen centuries.

Roman builders were not, however, indifferent to aesthetics. They imported Greek decorative vocabulary — Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns — and applied it as surface ornament to concrete structures. This synthesis of Greek form with Roman engineering produced a distinctive style that shaped European architecture for two millennia, visible from Renaissance palaces to nineteenth-century parliament buildings.

1. Roman builders invented the round arch.
2. Roman concrete becomes weaker over time in seawater.
3. The dome of the Pantheon was not surpassed in size for more than a thousand years.
4. The Pont du Gard was built by Emperor Hadrian.

Match each description 5-7 with the Roman element A-D it describes.

• A. voussoirs
• B. opus caementicium
• C. Pantheon dome
• D. Corinthian columns

1. a decorative element borrowed from Greek architecture
2. wedge-shaped stones that transfer weight downwards
3. a structure whose scale remained unmatched for over a thousand years

Complete the summary using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

Roman architectural genius combined three key elements. The first was a concrete made partly from (8) ______, which paradoxically strengthened when exposed to seawater. The second was the arch, which could be rotated to form (9) ______ such as the one at the Pantheon. The third was large-scale water infrastructure; by the imperial peak, the city of Rome was served by (10) ______ aqueducts.

1. FALSE Supporting sentence: "The round arch, inherited from the Etruscans but refined by Roman builders". The Romans refined it — they did not invent it. This is a direct contradiction, not a "not given".

2. FALSE Supporting sentence: "grew stronger when exposed to seawater". The opposite of "becomes weaker". Explicit contradiction.

3. TRUE Supporting sentence: "a span of 43.3 metres that no builder matched until the Renaissance". The Renaissance is over 1,300 years after 126 CE. "More than a thousand years" is supported.

4. NOT GIVEN The passage says Hadrian built the Pantheon, and separately mentions the Pont du Gard. It does NOT say who built the Pont du Gard. Don't assume — choose NOT GIVEN.

5. D — Corinthian columns Supporting sentence: "They imported Greek decorative vocabulary — Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns — and applied it as surface ornament". Corinthian columns are the Greek-borrowed decoration.

6. A — voussoirs Supporting sentence: "allowed weight to be channelled down through wedge-shaped stones called voussoirs". Exact match of description to term.

7. C — Pantheon dome Supporting sentence: "the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome — a span of 43.3 metres that no builder matched until the Renaissance". This is the only structure in the passage with an unmatched-for-1000+-years claim.

8. volcanic ash Supporting sentence: "a mixture of volcanic ash, lime, seawater and broken stone". Two words; the summary asks for an ingredient, and "volcanic ash" fits the grammar.

9. domes Supporting sentence: "rotated around a central point, they became domes". Single word. The Pantheon example confirms this is the correct shape.

10. eleven Supporting sentence: "eleven aqueducts supplied the city of Rome alone". Single word (number written out).