What vocabulary does this B1 reading exercise teach?

It teaches vocabulary about science and humour in context — genuine, peer-reviewed, prestigious, inflation, and ceremony — through the real story of the Ig Nobel Prize, awarded every year at Harvard University.

Is this reading suitable for B1 English learners?

Yes. The passage uses clear, everyday vocabulary and simple-to-compound sentences matched to the B1 level. It practises scanning for facts, inferring meaning, and identifying a writer's overall point — core B1 and IELTS reading skills.

Is the Ig Nobel Prize a real award?

Yes. Since 1991, it has honoured genuine, peer-reviewed scientific research at a Harvard University ceremony, with real Nobel Prize winners presenting the awards to studies that are funny first and thought-provoking second.

What is the Ig Nobel Prize's stated purpose?

According to its organisers, the prize honours research that "first makes people laugh, and then makes them think" — genuine science delivered with a sense of humour.

What happens if a winner's speech goes on too long?

A young girl nicknamed "Miss Sweetie Poo" walks onto the stage and repeats "Please stop, I'm bored" until the winner leaves, enforcing the sixty-second time limit.

What is the purpose of an odd-one-out exercise?

It tests whether you understood the passage well enough to spot which word, animal, or fact does not belong with a group taken directly from the text — a check on close reading, not just vocabulary.

Do I need to reread the passage to answer these questions?

Yes — each answer depends on a specific detail from the Ig Nobel passage, so scanning back to check the exact wording is the fastest way to answer correctly.

The Ig Nobel Prizes: Science That Makes You Laugh (B1)

Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question.

The Ig Nobel Prizes: B1 Reading Comprehension — with Answers

In 2019, a team of scientists won a prestigious prize for proving that wombats produce cube-shaped droppings. The audience gave them a standing ovation. The prize was an Ig Nobel, an award given every year at Harvard University for scientific research that, in the organisers' words, "first makes people laugh, and then makes them think."

Since 1991, the ceremony has honoured hundreds of genuine, peer-reviewed studies. The questions they investigate are wonderfully strange. Why do woodpeckers not get headaches? Why does buttered toast usually land butter-side down? Is a cat a solid or a liquid? Real Nobel Prize winners hand out the awards on stage, treating the research with the same respect as any serious science.

The ceremony has its own strange traditions. Winners once received a prize worth ten trillion Zimbabwean dollars. It was a real banknote, though almost worthless in everyday currency because of the country's past inflation. Acceptance speeches are limited to sixty seconds. If a winner talks too long, a young girl nicknamed "Miss Sweetie Poo" walks onto the stage. She repeats, "Please stop, I'm bored," until they leave. Behind the jokes is a serious goal: showing the public that science can be funny, curious, and completely worth paying attention to.

What did the scientists in the passage's opening example win a prize for?

About this reading

This B1 English reading introduces the Ig Nobel Prize, a real Harvard University award for genuine scientific research that is both funny and thought-provoking. It's a fun way to build vocabulary around science, humour, and ceremony while practising serious reading skills.

Look out for the writer's use of specific, surprising details (a wombat's droppings, a ten-trillion-dollar banknote, a bored child on stage) to support a bigger idea about science and public engagement. Using details as evidence for a main idea is exactly what B1 and IELTS reading questions test.

Reading Comprehension Questions & Answers

All B1 reading questions for “The Ig Nobel Prizes: B1 Reading Comprehension — with Answers”, each with the correct answer and a short explanation. Read the passage above, try the interactive exercises, then check your answers here.

Exercise 1: Reading Comprehension

1. What did the scientists in the passage's opening example win a prize for?
- A. Inventing a new kind of toaster
- B. Proving that wombats produce cube-shaped droppings ✓
- C. Discovering a new species of woodpecker
- D. Building a robot that classifies cats
Answer: Proving that wombats produce cube-shaped droppings
Correct. The text opens with exactly this example. The other options are inventions from later in the passage's list of past winning topics, not the opening example.
2. What is the Ig Nobel Prize's stated goal, according to the text?
- A. To find the most expensive scientific research
- B. To make people laugh first, and then make them think ✓
- C. To replace the real Nobel Prize
- D. To fund university science departments
Answer: To make people laugh first, and then make them think
Correct. This is a direct quote from the organisers in paragraph 1. The prize does not replace or compete with the real Nobel Prize — real Nobel winners present it.
3. Since what year has the Ig Nobel ceremony been honouring unusual research?
- A. 1901
- B. 1991 ✓
- C. 2001
- D. 2019
Answer: 1991
Correct. The text states "Since 1991, the ceremony has honoured hundreds of genuine, peer-reviewed studies." 2019 is only the year of the opening wombat example, not the ceremony's founding.
4. Who hands out the Ig Nobel awards on stage?
- A. Famous comedians
- B. Real Nobel Prize winners ✓
- C. University students
- D. Government officials
Answer: Real Nobel Prize winners
Correct. The text states "Real Nobel Prize winners hand out the awards on stage." No comedians, students, or officials are mentioned.
5. Why was the ten-trillion-dollar prize almost worthless, according to the text?
- A. It could only be spent at Harvard University
- B. It was a fake banknote created for the ceremony
- C. Zimbabwe's currency had suffered serious inflation in its past ✓
- D. It expired after one calendar year
Answer: Zimbabwe's currency had suffered serious inflation in its past
Correct. The text says it was "a real banknote, though almost worthless in everyday currency because of the country's past inflation." It was real, not fake, so that distractor is directly contradicted.
6. What happens if an Ig Nobel winner's acceptance speech goes on too long?
- A. The microphone is turned off automatically
- B. A young girl nicknamed "Miss Sweetie Poo" repeats a phrase until they stop ✓
- C. Security removes them from the stage
- D. The audience begins booing loudly
Answer: A young girl nicknamed "Miss Sweetie Poo" repeats a phrase until they stop
Correct. The text names this exact tradition and quotes her repeated line, "Please stop, I'm bored." No microphone shutoff or security removal is mentioned.
7. What is the writer's overall point about the purpose of the Ig Nobel Prize?
- A. It exists purely to embarrass scientists publicly
- B. Behind its jokes, it seriously aims to show the public that science can be funny and worth attention ✓
- C. It replaces peer review for unusual studies
- D. It only rewards research that has no real scientific value
Answer: Behind its jokes, it seriously aims to show the public that science can be funny and worth attention
Correct. The final sentence states this directly: "Behind the jokes is a serious goal: showing the public that science can be funny, curious, and completely worth paying attention to." The studies are explicitly called "genuine, peer-reviewed," so the last two distractors are contradicted by the text.

Exercise 2: Odd One Out

1. Which option does not belong?
- A. woodpeckers
- B. toast
- C. wombats
- D. dolphins ✓
Answer: dolphins
The passage names woodpeckers (headaches), toast (falling butter-side down), and wombats (cube-shaped droppings) as real Ig Nobel research topics. Dolphins are never mentioned.
2. Which option does not belong?
- A. funny
- B. serious peer-reviewed
- C. made-up ✓
- D. genuine
Answer: made-up
The text stresses that the studies are "genuine, peer-reviewed" and treated with real scientific respect, even though they are also funny. "Made-up" is the opposite of how the passage describes them.
3. Which option does not belong?
- A. a sixty-second speech limit
- B. real Nobel Prize winners presenting awards
- C. a formal black-tie dinner afterwards ✓
- D. a child telling long-winded speakers to stop
Answer:

The Ig Nobel Prizes: B1 Reading Comprehension — with Answers

What did the scientists in the passage's opening example win a prize for?

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Reading Comprehension Questions & Answers

Exercise 1: Reading Comprehension

Exercise 2: Odd One Out

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