The garden designed by smoke

The revised chronology for a roof garden above a former power station was then tested against planting lists. Several agreements disappeared when urban ecologist Marcus Li restored each record’s original purpose, leaving the sequence narrower but more dependable.

Fieldwork on a roof garden above a former power station shifted attention from documents to physical fabric. The discovery of ash-rich pockets beneath later compost did not settle the interpretation, but it ruled out the most convenient account of a roof garden above a former power station.

A methodological problem in a roof garden above a former power station then became explicit. Categories organising pollution records had also guided later collecting, so archival abundance could not be neutral evidence of the subject’s historical importance.

The team next compared the physical evidence with insect surveys. Differences once treated as mistakes formed a pattern, although one interval in the roof garden above a former power station sequence remained unsupported.

That interval in a roof garden above a former power station became clearer after an interview with a gardener who remembered keeping spontaneous species after a fire. The recollection did not replace material evidence; for urban ecologist Marcus Li, it supplied a claim testable against dates and locations.

An independent source provided the final a roof garden above a former power station cross-check. It confirmed part of the witness account yet contradicted another detail, forcing urban ecologist Marcus Li to keep two explanations open.

In the finished work, an ecological history showing how contamination and care jointly shaped biodiversity did not present a perfectly continuous story. Instead, it marked which claims were observed, which were inferred and which remained undecided, so later researchers could challenge one link without discarding the whole reconstruction.

The garden designed by smoke — Part 6

"The garden designed by smoke" is a Cambridge C2 Proficiency Reading Part 6 practice exam (Gapped Text). This paper rewards close reading, inference and awareness of text organisation. Work under timed conditions when possible — the combined Reading and Use of English paper allows 90 minutes across Parts 1–7. After completing the exercise, use review mode to understand why each answer is correct and note any vocabulary or discourse patterns you missed.

Gapped text

When urban ecologist Marcus Li began investigating a roof garden above a former power station, the assignment appeared straightforward. Pollution records, planting lists and insect surveys seemed likely to confirm one another, and the expected result was an ecological history showing how contamination and care jointly shaped biodiversity. [GAP] The revised chronology for a roof garden above a former power station was then tested against planting lists. Several agreements disappeared when urban ecologist Marcus Li restored each record’s original purpose, leaving the sequence narrower but more dependable. [GAP] Fieldwork on a roof garden above a former power station shifted attention from documents to physical fabric. The discovery of ash-rich pockets beneath later compost did not settle the interpretation, but it ruled out the most convenient account of a roof garden above a former power station. [GAP] A methodological problem in a roof garden above a former power station then became explicit. Categories organising pollution records had also guided later collecting, so archival abundance could not be neutral evidence of the subject’s historical importance. [GAP] The team next compared the physical evidence with insect surveys. Differences once treated as mistakes formed a pattern, although one interval in the roof garden above a former power station sequence remained unsupported. [GAP] That interval in a roof garden above a former power station became clearer after an interview with a gardener who remembered keeping spontaneous species after a fire. The recollection did not replace material evidence; for urban ecologist Marcus Li, it supplied a claim testable against dates and locations. [GAP] An independent source provided the final a roof garden above a former power station cross-check. It confirmed part of the witness account yet contradicted another detail, forcing urban ecologist Marcus Li to keep two explanations open. [GAP] In the finished work, an ecological history showing how contamination and care jointly shaped biodiversity did not present a perfectly continuous story. Instead, it marked which claims were observed, which were inferred and which remained undecided, so later researchers could challenge one link without discarding the whole reconstruction.

Questions summary

Paragraph A

The interview changed one detail’s status, not the whole argument. A remembered action matched the material sequence, while its date remained uncertain and required a separate test by urban ecologist Marcus Li.

Paragraph B

The design history therefore presented the roof garden as a coherent original scheme, excluding evidence of later adaptations to smoke and wind.

Paragraph C

The chronological change altered the predicted location of a roof garden above a former power station. Because the old account no longer matched the evidence, urban ecologist Marcus Li designed a limited field test capable of distinguishing the two surviving possibilities.

Paragraph D

The first difficulty in a roof garden above a former power station was metal-tolerant plants thriving where imported soil was supposedly deepest. Instead of dismissing it, urban ecologist Marcus Li traced the item’s dating and cataloguing; the accepted a roof garden above a former power station chronology depended on a later description rather than the object itself.

Paragraph E

To address circularity in a roof garden above a former power station, urban ecologist Marcus Li sampled material outside established categories. The less tidy evidence showed which apparent regularities had been produced by the archive’s own routines.

Paragraph F

The field result explained the unusual consistency of one record group. Those records had copied an earlier summary’s assumption, so their agreement could not independently confirm a roof garden above a former power station.

Paragraph G

That test distinguished the historical event from its later record. Once urban ecologist Marcus Li separated them, the remaining evidence could be ordered without pretending every discrepancy in a roof garden above a former power station had disappeared.

Paragraph H

At this stage of a roof garden above a former power station, the missing interval invited a plausible story. Instead, urban ecologist Marcus Li listed what a credible witness or an unexamined source would need to establish before narrowing the gap.

The garden designed by smoke

The garden designed by smoke — Part 6

Gapped text

Questions summary

Paragraph A

Paragraph B

The design history therefore presented the roof garden as a coherent original scheme, excluding evidence of later adaptations to smoke and wind.

The garden designed by smoke