IELTS Reading by Liza Simon

IELTS
READING
PRACTICE
MATERIALS
(PART: I)
WITH
ANSWER KEY
LIZA SIMON
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PREFACE
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CONTENTS
EASE OF ACCESS
3R ANSWERING METHOD
IELTS READING TEST - I
Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - II

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - III

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - IV

Reading Passage 1
ReadingPassage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - V

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
lELTS READING TEST - VI

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - VII
ReadingPassage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - VIII

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - IX

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
IELTS READING TEST - X

Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 2
Reading Passage 3
ANSWER KEY.
3R ANSWERING METHOD
STEP 1.
FLASH READING
Flash reading refers to high-speed reading of the whole reading
passage in few minutes, without thinking anything in your head (not
even trying to guess meaning of the unfamiliar words/phrases). It
helps to provide a vague idea about the matters that are discussed in
the reading passage. It also forms a clear map in mind showing the
order of statements as they appear in the passage, which eases locating
the extract/paragraph referred in questions while answering.
STEP 2.
FOCUSED READING
After finishing flash reading, start answering the questions. Find a
quick fix on location of the extract/paragraph referred in the
questions and read the extract/paragraph quickly (strictly not more
than twice, if it is a paragraph and not more than thrice if it is a short
extract) with complete focus. Eliminate all the irrelevant and
impossible options from the multiple choices. Write the answer you
had found only if you are sure enough.
If the answer is confusing (if you find more than one possible answer
for the question), write the answer you think to have more possibility
to be correct on your answer sheet, along noting the question and two
or three other possible answer for later reference. This will avoid
wastage of time due to fixating over confusing questions.
If the question is so tough that you fail to find a proper answer to it,
then leave it blank and note the question number for later reference.
Focused reading helps to answer all easy question in the reading test
correctly, instead of losing marks on them in the last minute rush.
STEP 3.
THOROUGH READING
After finishing all the questions in the test, you can start answering the
tough questions by reading thoroughly the referred extract/paragraph
by reading. Thorough reading refers to slow reading with maximum
concentration to find all possible meanings between the lines, so that
you arrive at a possible answer. Don’t read more than twice.
After finishing tough questions, start answering questions with
confusing answers in the same manner. If you follow these three steps
you can spend time wisely, while attending a reading test. Avoid
wasting time by going after tips for reading, when you are not getting
desired results.
There are only two things that can improve your IELTS reading band
score:
1. Efficient management of time.
2. Practicing more and more reading sample tests.
WORK HARD, SCORE MORE!
MORE
IELTS
READING
BOOKS
BY
LISA SIMON
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 below.
Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 below has 5 paragraphs (A—E).
Which paragraph focuses on the information below?
Write the appropriate letters (A-E) in Boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB: Write only ONE letter for each answer.
1. The way parameters in the mind help people to be creative
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.”
2. The need to learn rules in order to break them.
3. How habits restrict us and limit creativity
4. How to train the mind to be creative
5. How the mind is trapped by the desire for order
The creation myth
A.
It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents: gifts from God
or nature. Creative genius is, in fact, latent within many of us, without our
realising. But how far do we need to travel to find the path to creativity?
For many people, a long way. In our everyday lives, we have to perform
many acts out-of habit lo survive, like opening the door, shaving, getting
dressed, walking to work, and so on.If this, were not the case, we would, in
all probability, become mentally hinged. So strongly ingrained are our
habits, though this varies from person to person, that, sometimes, when a
conscious effort is made to be creative, automatic response takes over. We
may try, for example, to walk to work following a different route, but end
up on our usual path. By then it is too late to go back and change our
minds. Another day, perhaps. The same applies to all other areas of our
lives. When we are solving problems, for example, we may seek different
answers, but, often as not, find ourselves walking along the same well-
trodden paths.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
B.
So, for many people, their actions and behaviour are set in immovable
blocks, their minds clogged with the cholesterol of habitual actions,
preventing them from operating freely, and thereby stifling creation.
Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggle for survival has become a tyranny
– the obsessive desire to give order to the world is a case in point. Witness
people’s attitude to time, social customs and the panoply of rules and
regulations by which the human mind is now circumscribed.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
C.
The groundwork for keeping creative ability in check begins at school.
School, later university and then work teach us to regulate our lives,
imposing a continuous process of restrictions, which is increasing
exponentially with the advancement of technology. Is it surprising then
that creative ability appears to be so rare? It is trapped in the prison that we
have erected. Yet, even here in this hostile environment, the foundations
for creativity are being laid; because setting off on the creative path is also
partly about using rules and regulations. Such limitations are needed so
that once they are learnt, they can be broken.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
D.
The truly creative mind is often seen as totally free and unfettered. But a
better image is of a mind, which can be free when it wants, and one that
recognises that rules and regulations are parameters, or barriers, to be
raised and dropped again at will. An example of how the human mind can
be trained to be creative might help here. People’s minds are just like tense
muscles that need to be freed up and the potential unlocked. One strategy
is to erect artificial barriers of hurdles in solving a problem. As a form of
stimulation, the participants in the task can be forbidden to use particular
solutions or to follow certain lines of thought to solve a problem. In this
way they are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory, which may lead to
some startling discoveries. Unfortunately, the difficulty in this exercise,
and with creation itself, is convincing people that creation is possible,
shrouded as it is in so much myth and legend. There is also an element of
fear involved, however subliminal, as deviating from the safety of one’s
own thought patterns is very much akin to madness. But, open Pandora‘s
box, and a whole new world unfolds before your very eyes.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
E.
Lifting barriers into place also plays a major part in helping the mind to
control ideas rather than letting them collide at random. Parameters act as
containers for ideas, and thus help the mind to fix on them. When the mind
is thinking laterally, and two ideas from different areas of the brain come
or are brought together, they form a new idea, just like atoms floating
around and then farming a molecule. Once the idea has been formed, it
needs to be contained or it will fly away, so fleeting is its passage. The
mind needs to hold it in place for a time so that it can recognise it or call
on it again. And then the parameters can act as channels along which the
ideas can flow, developing and expanding. When the mind has brought the
idea to fruition by thinking it through to its final conclusion, the
parameters can be brought down and the idea is allowed to float off and
come in contact with other ideas.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Questions 6-10
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in Boxes 6-10 on your
answer sheet.
6. According to the writer, creative people
A. are usually born with their talents
B. are born with their talents holds creativity in check improves creativity
C enhances creativity
C. are not born with their talents
D. are geniuses D is a tyranny
7. According to the writer, creativity is....
A. a gift from God or nature
B. an automatic response
C. Difficult for many people to achieve
D. a well-trodden path
8. According to the writer, .........
A. the human race’s fight to live is becoming a tyranny
B. the human brain is blocked with cholesterol
C. the human race is now circumscribed by talents
D. the human race’s fight to survive stifles creative ability
9. Advancing technology.....
A. Holds creativity in check
B. Improves creativity
C. enhances creativity
D. Is a tyranny
10. According to the author, creativity.........
A. is common
B. is increasingly common
C. is becoming rarer and rarer
D. is a rare commodity
Questions 11 - 15
Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage
1?
In boxes 11-15, write:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about the statement in the passage
11. Rules and regulations are examples of parameters.

12. The truly creative mind is associated with the need for free speech and
a totally free society.
13. One problem with creativity is that people think it is impossible.
14. The act of creation is linked to madness.
15. Parameters help the mind by holding ideas and helping them to
develop.
Answer Key
“Reading Passage 1”
Reading Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 16-30, which are based
on Reading Passage 2 below,
LOCKED DOORS, OPEN ACCESS
A.
The word, “security”, has both positive and negative connotations. Most of
us would say that we crave security for all its positive virtues, both
physical and psychological – it s evocation of the safety of home, of
undying love, or of freedom from need. More negatively, the word
nowadays conjures up images of that huge industry which has developed
to protect individuals and property from invasion by “outsiders”,
ostensibly malicious and intent on theft or wilful damage. Increasingly,
because they are situated in urban areas of escalating crime, those
buildings which used to allow free access to employees and other users
(buildings such as offices, schools, colleges or hospitals) now do not.
Entry areas which in another age were called “Reception” are now manned
by security staff. Receptionists, whose task it was to receive visitors and to
make them welcome before passing them on to the person they had come
to see, have been replaced by those whose task it is to bar entry to the
unauthorized, the unwanted or the plain unappealing.
Questions 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
B.
Inside, these buildings are divided into “secure zones” which often have all
the trappings of combination locks and burglar alarms. These devices bar
entry to the uninitiated, hinder circulation, and create parameters of time
and space for user access. Within the spaces created by these zones,
individual rooms are themselves under lock and key, which is a particular
problem when it means that working space becomes compartmentalized.
To combat the consequent difficulty of access to people at a physical level,
we have now developed technological access. Computers sit on every desk
and are linked to one another, and in many cases to an external universe of
other computers, so that messages can be passed to and fro. Here too
security plays a part, since we must not be allowed access to messages
destined for others. And so the password was invented. Now
correspondence between individuals goes from desk to desk and cannot be
accessed by colleagues. Library catalogues can be searched from one’s
desk. Papers can be delivered to, and received from, other people at the
press of a button.
Questions 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
C.
And yet it seems that, just as work is isolating individuals more and more,
organizations are recognizing the advantages of “teamwork”; perhaps in
order to encourage employees to talk to one another again. Yet, how can
groups work in teams if the possibilities for communication are reduced?
How can they work together if e-mail providing a convenient electronic
shield behind which the binning of public and private can be exploited by
the less scrupulous? If voice-mail walls up messages behind a password?
If I can’t leave a message on my colleagues desk because his office is
locked? Team-work conceals the fact that another kind of security, “job
security”, is almost always not on offer. Just as organizations now
recognize three kinds of physical resources: those they buy, those they
lease long-term and those they rent short-term-so it is with their human
resources. Some employees have permanent contracts, some have short-
term contracts, and some are regarded simply as casual labour.
Questions 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
D.
Telecommunication systems offer us the direct line, which means that
individuals can be contacted without the caller having to talk to anyone
else. Voice-mail and the answer-phone mean that individuals can
communicate without ever actually talking to one another. If we are
unfortunate enough to contact an organization with a sophisticated touch-
tone dialling system, we can buy things and pay for them without ever
speaking to a human being. To combat this closing in on ourselves we
have the Internet, which opens out communication channels more widely
than anyone could possibly want or need. An individual’s electronic
presence on the internet is known as the “Home Page”»suggesting the
safety and security of an electronic hearth. An“; elaborate system of 3-
dimensional graphics distinguishes this very 2-dimensional medium of
“web sites”. The nomenclature itself creates the illusion of a geographical
entity that the person sitting before the computer is travelling, when in fact
the “site” is coming to him. “Addresses” of one kind or another move to
the individual, rather than the individual moving between them, now that
location is no longer geographical.
Questions 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
E.
An example of this is the mobile phone. I am now not available either at
home or at work, but wherever I take my mobile phone. Yet, even now, we
cannot escape the security of wanting to ‘locate’ the person at the other
end. It is no coincidence almost everyone we see answering or initiating a
mobile phone-call in public begins by saying where he or she is.
Questions 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Questions 16-19
answer sheets.
16. According to the author, one thing we long for is......
A. the safety of the home
B. Security
C. open access
D. positive virtues
17. Access to many buildings......
A. is unauthorised
B. is becoming more difficult
C. is a cause of crime in many urban areas
D. used to be called ‘Reception’
18. Buildings used to permit access to any users,.............
A. but now they do not
B. and still do now
C. especially offices and schools
D. especially in urban areas
19. Secure zones...........
A. don’t allow access to the user
B. compartmentalise the user
C. are often like traps
D. are not accessible to everybody
Questions 20-27
Complete the text below, which is a summary.
Choose your answers from the Word List below and write them in Boxes
20-27 on your answer sheet.
There are more Words and phrases than spaces, so you will not be able to
use them all.
You may use any word or phrase more than once.
The problem of physical access to buildings has now
been.............20..............by technology. Messages sent between
.............21........... , with passwords not allowing .............22................. to
read someone else’s messages. But, while individuals are becoming
increasingly............23...........socially by the way they do their job, at the
same time more value is being put on..............24............. However, e-mail
and voice-mail have led to a ...................25............... opportunities for
person-to-person communication. And the fact that job-security is
generally not available nowadays is hidden by the very concept of
...........26.......... Human resources are now regarded in ..............27..............
physical ones.
Word List
1.just the same way as 9.computers
2.computer 10.overcame
3.cut-off 11.decrease in
4.reducing of 12.combat
5.isolating 13.similar
6.team-work 14.other people
7.developed 15.no different from
8.physical 16.solved
Questions 28-30
Complete the sentences below.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each
answers.
Write your answers in Boxes 28 - 30 on your answer sheet.
28. The writer does not like ................................
29. An individual’s Home Page indicates their ................................ on the
Internet.
30. Devices like mobile phones mean that location is ............................
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
on Reading Passage 3 below.
National Cuisine and Tourism
A.
To an extent, agriculture dictates that every country should have a set of
specific foods which are native to that country. They may even be unique.
However, even allowing for the power of agricultural science, advances in
food distribution and changes in food economics to alter the ethnocentric
properties of food, it is still possible for a country ‘to be famous for’
particular food even if it is widely available elsewhere.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
The degree to which cuisine is embedded in national culture
Within the sociology of food literature two themes suggest that food is
linked to social culture. The first relates food and eating to social
relationships, (Finkelstein, Vissor, Wood), and the second establishes food
as a reflection of the distribution of power within social structures,
(Mennell). However, establishing a role for food in personal relationships
and social structures is not a sufficient argument to place food at the centre
of national culture. To do that it is necessary to prove a degree of
embeddedness. It would be appropriate at this point to consider the nature
of culture.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
The distinction made by Pierce between it behavioural contingency and a
cultural contingency is crucial to our understanding of culture. Whilst a
piece of behaviour may take place very often, involve a network of people
and be reproducible by other networks who do not know each other, the
meaning of the behaviour does not go beyond the activity itself. A cultural
practice, however, contains and represents ‘meta contingencies’ that is,
behavioural practices that have a social meaning greater than the activity
itself and which, by their nature reinforce the culture which houses them.
Celebrating birthdays is a cultural practice not because everybody does it
but because it has a religious meaning. Contrast this with the practice in
Britain of celebrating ‘Guy Fawkes Night’. It is essentially an excuse for a
good time but if fireworks were banned, the occasion would gradually die
away altogether or end up as a cult to California. A smaller scale example
might be more useful. In the British context, compare drinking in pubs
with eating fish and chips. Both are common practices, yet the former
reflects something of the social fabric of the country, particularly family,
gender, class and age relationships whilst the latter is just a national habit.
In other words, a constant, well populated pattern of behaviour is not
necessarily cultural. However, it is also clear that a cultural practice needs
behavioural reinforcement. Social culture is not immortal.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
Finkelstein argues that ‘dining out’ is simply ‘action which supports a
surface life’. For him it is the word ‘out’ that disconnects food from
culture. This view of culture food places the ‘home’ as the cultural centre.
Continental European eating habits may contradict this notion by their
general acceptance of eating out as part: of family life. Following the
principle that culture needs behavioural reinforcement, if everyone ‘eats’
out’ on a regular basis, irrespective of social and economic differentiation,
then this might constitute behavioural support for cuisine being part of
social culture. That aside, the significance of a behavioural practice being
embedded in culture is that it naturally maintains an approved and
accepted way of life and therefore has a tendency to resist change.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
The thrust of the argument is that countries differ in the degree to which
their food and eating habits have a social and cultural meaning beyond the
behaviour itself. This argument, however, could be interpreted to imply
that the country with the greatest proportion of meals taken outside the
home would be the one in which the national cuisine is more embedded in
social culture. This is a difficult position to maintain because it would
bring America, with its fast-food culture to the fore. The fast-food culture
of America raises the issue of whether there are qualitative criteria for the
concept of cuisine. The key issue is not the extent of the common
behaviour but whether or not it has a function in maintaining social
cohesion and is appreciated and valued through social norms. French
cuisine and ‘going down the pub’ are strange bedfellows but bedfellows
nevertheless.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
How homogenous is national cuisine?
Like language, cuisine is not a static entity and whilst it’s fundamental
character is unlikely to change in the short run it may evolve in different
directions. Just as in a language there are dialects so in a cuisine there are
variations. The two principal sources of diversity are the physical
geography of the country and its social diversity. The geographical
dimensions work through agriculture to particularise and to limit locally
produced ingredients. Ethnic diversity in the population works through the
role of cuisine in social identity to create ethnically distinct cuisines which
may not converge into a national cuisine. This raises the question of how
far a national cuisine is related to national borders. To an ethnic group
their cuisine is national. The greater the division of a society into classes,
castes and status groups with their attendant ethnocentric properties, of
which cuisine is a part, then the greater will be the diversity of the
cuisines.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
However, there is a case for convergence. Both these principal sources of
diversity are, to an extent, influenced by the strength of their boundaries
and the willingness of society to erode them. It is a question of isolation
and integration. Efficient transport and the application of chemistry can
alter agricultural boundaries to make a wider range of foods available to a
cuisine. Similarly, political and social integration can erode ethnic
boundaries However, all these arguments mean nothing if the cuisine is not
embedded in social culture. Riley argues that when a cuisine is not
embedded in social culture it is susceptible to novelty and invasion by
other cuisines.
Questions 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 31-36
Choose one phrase (A-K) from the List of phrases to complete each Key
point below.
Write the appropriate letters (A—K) in Boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet.
The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate
summary of the points made by the writer.
NB: There are more phrases (A-K) than sentences, so you will not
need to use them all. You may use each phrase once only.
Key points
31. The native foods of a country.........
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.”
32. The ethnocentric properties of food.............
33. Celebrating birthdays..................
34. Cultural practice................
35. Drinking in pubs in Britain....................
36. The link between language and cuisine...............
List of phrases
A. is a behavioural practice, not a cultural practice
B. are unique
C. varies
D. is that both are diverse
E. is a reflection of the social fabric
F. is a cultural practice
G. can be changed by economic and distribution factors
H. is fundamental
I. are not as common as behaviour
J. needs to be reinforced by behaviour
K. are, to a certain extent, dictated by agriculture
Questions 37-40
Use the information in the text to match the Authors (A—D) with the
Findings (37-40) below.
Write the appropriate letters (A-D) in Boxes 37- 40 on your answer sheet.
Authors
A. Finkelstein
B. Pierce
C. Mennell
D. Riley
Findings
37. There is a difference between behaviour and cultural practice.
38. The connection between social culture and food must be strong if
national cuisine is to survive intact.
39. Distribution of power in society is reflected in food.
40. The link between culture and eating outside the home is not strong.
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - I”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on
Reading Passage I below.
AMBERGRIS
A.
The name ambergris is derived from the Spanish ‘ambar gris,’ ambar
meaning amber and gris meaning grey, thus the name signifies grey amber.
The use of ambergris in Europe is now entirely confined to perfumery—as
a material of perfumery. Its high price varies from $15 to $25 an ounce,
though it formerly occupied on inconsiderable place in medicine.
Ambergris was also decorated and worn as jewellery, particularly during
the Renaissance. It occupies a very important place in the perfumery of the
East, and there it is also used in pharmacy, and as a flavouring material in
cookery. Amber, however, is quite a different substance from ambergris
and this discrepancy l has puzzled some people. Amber is the fossilized
resin from trees that was quite familiar to Europeans long before the
discovery of the New World, and prized for jewellery. Although
considered a gem, amber is a hard, transparent, wholly organic material
derived from the resin of extinct species of trees. In the dense forests of the
Middle Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, between 10 and 100 million years
ago, these resin-bearing trees fell and were carried by rivers to coastal
regions. There, the trees and their resins became covered with sediment,
and over millions of years the resin hardened into amber.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
B.
Ambergris and amber are related by the fact that both wash up on beaches.
Ambergris is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish
colour, with the shades being variegated like marble. It possesses a
peculiar sweet, earthy odour not unlike isopropyl alcohol. It is now known
to be a morbid secretion formed in the intestines of the sperm whale, found
in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Being a very lightweight material,
ambergris is found floating upon the sea, on the sea-coast, or in the sand
near the sea-coast. It is met with in the Atlantic Ocean, on the coasts of
Brazil and Madagascar; also on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies.
China, Japan, and the Moluoca Islands; but most of the ambergris which is
brought to England comes from the Bahama Islands. It is also sometimes
found in the abdomen of whales, always in lumps in various shapes and
sizes, weighing from 1/2 oz. to 100 or more lb. A piece which the Dutch
East India Company bought from the King of Tydore weighed 182 lb. An
American fisherman from Antigua found, inside a whale, about 52 leagues
south- east from the Windward Islands, a piece of ambergris which
weighed about 130 lb, and sold for 500 sterling.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
C.
Like many other substances regarding the origin of which there existed
some obscurity or mystery, ambergris in former times possessed a value,
and had properties attributed to it, more on account of the source from
which it was drawn than from its inherent qualities. Many ridiculous
hypotheses were started to account for its origin, and among others it was
conjectured to be the solidified foam of the sea, a fungous growth in the
ocean similar to the fungi which form on trees. The true source and
character of ambergris was first satisfactorily established by Dr. Swediaur
in a communication to the Royal Society. It was found by Dr. Swediaur
that ambergris very frequently contained the horny mandibles or beaks of
the squid, on which the sperm whales are known to feed. That observation,
in connection with the fact of ambergris being frequently taken from the
intestines of the sperm whale, sufficiently proved that the substance is
produced by the whale’s intestine as a means of facilitating the passage of
undigested hard, sharp beaks of squid that the whale has eaten.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
D.
It was further observed that the whales in which ambergris was found were
either dead or much wasted and evidently in a sickly condition. From this
it was inferred that ambergris is in some way connected with a morbid
condition of the sperm whale. Often expelled by vomiting, ambergris
floats in chunks on the water and is of a deep grey colour, soft consistence,
and an offensive, disagreeable smell. Following months to years of photo-
degradation and oxidation in the ocean, this precursor gradually hardens,
developing a dark grey or black colour, a crusty and waxy texture, and a
peculiar odour that is at once sweet, earthy, marine, and animalist. Its
smell has been described by many as a vastly richer and smoother version
of isopropanol without its stinging harshness.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
E.
In that condition its specific gravity ranges from 0.780 to 0. 926. It melts at
a temperature of about 145F into a fatty yellow resin-like liquid. It is
soluble in ether, volatile and fixed oils, but only feebly acted on by acids.
By digesting in hot alcohol, a peculiar substance termed ambrein is
obtained. In chemical constitution ambrein very closely resembles
cholesterin, a principle found abundantly in biliary calculi. It is therefore
more than probable that ambergris, from the position in which it is found
and its chemical constitution, is a biliary concretion analogous to what is
formed in other mammals. The industries founded on ambergris resulted in
the slaughter of sperm whales almost to extinction. Sperm whales were
killed in two massive hunts, the Moby Dick whalers who worked mainly
between 1740-1880, and the modern whalers whose operations peaked in
1964, when 29,255 were killed. Most recent estimates suggest a global
population of about 360,000 animals down from about 1,100,000 before
whaling. In the 20th century, 90% of ambergris was derived in the
processing of killing sperm whales. To this day, ambergris is still the most
expensive product in the whole body of sperm whale. Depending on its
quality, raw ambergris fetches approximately 20 USD per gram. In the
United States, possession of any part of an endangered species- including
ambergris that has washed ashore—is a violation of the Endangered
Species Act of 1978.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
F.
Historically, the primary commercial use of ambergris has been in
fragrance chemistry. However, it is difficult to get a consistent and reliable
supply of high quality ambergris. Due to demand for ambergris and its
high price, replacement compounds have been sought out by the fragrance
industry and chemically synthesized. The most important of these is
Ambrox, which has taken its place as the most widely used amber odorant
in perfume manufacture. Procedures for the microbial production of
Ambrox have also been devised.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Questions 1 -5
Classify the following statements as applying to
A – Ambergris only
B – Amber only
C – Both amber and ambergris
D – Neither amber nor ambergris
1. very costly
2. used in medicine
3. used as currency
4. wash up on beaches
5. could be seen through
Questions 6 -9
Complete the summary of how ambergris forms.
Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
According to Dr. Swediaur, ambergris is produced by the whale’s
............6................ to help the sperm whale digest ...............7.............. of
squid. Often by ...............8........... , the sick sperm whale expels ambergris.
Ambergris then floats on the sea. When exposed in the air, ambergris
...............9............... gradually. And it has washed ashore finally.
Questions 10- 13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage.
10. Ambergris is now used in perfumery and medicine in Europe.
11. In the 20th century most ambergris was obtained in the process of
killing sperm whales.
12. In the US, it is illegal for a person to collect ambergris even though it
has washed on the beach.
13. As a substitute for ambergris, Ambrox boasts the same properties as
ambergris.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based
Questions 14- 18
Reading Passage 2 has 9 paragraphs A-I.
From the list of headings below choose the 5 most suitable headings for
paragraphs A, B, E, G and H.
Write the appropriate numbers (i—x).
NB: There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use
them all.
List of Headings
i. Seasonal Economies
ii. Illness can change the age structure
iii. Two factors in wealth brought by a famous economist
iv. Temperate represents wealthy
v. Post World War II performance
vi. The moderate climate leads to more innovation
vii. Political institutions affect economies
viii. Physical geography and climate count
ix. Revamping Aid Programs
x. Free-market economy the key
14. Paragraph A
Paragraph “A.”
15. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
16. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
17. Paragraph G
Paragraph “G.”
18. Paragraph H
Paragraph “H.”
Climate and Country Wealth
A.
Why are some countries stupendously rich and others horrendously poor?
Social ‘theorists have been captivated by this question since the late 18th
century, when Scottish economist Adam Smith argued in his magisterial
work – ‘The Wealth of Nations’ that the best prescription for prosperity is
a free-market economy in which the government allows businesses
substantial freedom to pursue profits. Smith, however, made a second
notable hypothesis; that the physical geography of a region can influence
its economic performance. He contended that the economies of coastal
regions, with their easy access to sea trade, usually outperform the
economies of inland areas.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
B.
Coastal regions and those near navigable waterways are indeed far richer
and more densely settled than interior regions, just as Smith predicted.
Moreover, an area’s climate can also affect its economic development.
Nations in tropical climate zones generally lace higher rates of infectious
disease and lower agricultural productivity (especially for staple foods)
than do nations in temperate zones. Similar burdens apply to the desert
zones. The very poorest regions in the world are those saddled with both
handicaps; distance from sea trade and a tropical or desert ecology. The
basic lessons of geography are worth repeating, because most economists
have ignored them. In the past decade the vast majority of papers on
economic development have neglected even the most obvious
geographical realities.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
C.
The best single indicator of prosperity is gross national product (GNP) per
capita- the total value of a country’s economic output, divided by its
population. A map showing the world distribution of GNP per capita
immediately reveals the vast gap between rich and poor nations. The great
majority of the poorest countries lie in the geographical tropics. In
contrast, most of the richest countries lie in the temperate zones. Among
the 28 economies categorized as high income by the World Bank, only
Hong Kong, Singapore and part of Taiwan are ‘in the tropical zone,
representing a mere 2 percent of the combined population of the high-
income regions. Almost all the temperate-zone countries have either high-
income economies (as in the cases of North America, Western Europe,
Korea and Japan) or middle-income economies (as in the cases of Eastern
Europe, the former Soviet Union and China). In addition, there is a strong
temperate-tropical divide within countries that straddle both types of
climates. Most of Brazil, for example, lays within the tropical zone, but the
richest part of the nation—the southernmost states—is in the temperate
zone.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
D.
There are two major ways in which a region’s climate affects economic
development. First, it affects the prevalence of disease. Many kinds of
infectious diseases are endemic to the in tropical and subtropical zones.
This tends to be true of diseases in which the pathogen spends part of its
life cycle outside the human host; for instance, malaria (carried by
mosquitoes) and helminthic infections (caused by parasitic worms).
Although epidemics of malaria have occurred sporadically as far north as
Boston in the past century, the disease has never gained a lasting foothold
in the temperate zones, because the cold winters naturally control the
mosquito- based transmission of the disease. Winter could thus be
considered the world’s most effective public health intervention. It is much
more difficult to control malaria in tropical regions, where transmission
takes place year-round and affects a large part of the population.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
E.
According to the World Health Organization, 300 million to 500 million
new cases of malaria occur every year, almost entirely concentrated in the
tropics. Widespread illness and early deaths obviously hold back a nation’s
economic performance by significantly reducing worker productivity. But
there are also long-term effects that may be amplified over time through
various social feedbacks. A high incidence of disease can alter the age
structure of a country’s population. Societies with high levels of child
mortality tend to have high levels of fertility; mothers bear many children
to guarantee that at least some will survive to adulthood. Young children
will therefore constitute a large proportion of that country’s population.
With so many children, poor families cannot invest much ‘in each child’s
education. High fertility ‘also constrains the role of women in society,
because child rearing takes up so much of their adult lives.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
F.
Moreover, temperature affects agricultural , productivity. Of the major
food grains— wheat, maize and rice—wheat grows only in temperate
climates, and maize and rice crops are generally more productive in
temperate and subtropical climates than in tropical zones. On average, a
hectare of land in the tropics yields 2.3 metric tons of maize, whereas a
hectare in the temperate zone yields 6.4 tons. Farming in tropical rainforest
environments is hampered by the fragility of the soil; high temperatures
mineralize the organic materials, and the intense rainfall teaches them out
of the soil, in tropical environments that have wet and dry seasons—such
as the African savannah-farmers must contend with the rapid loss of soil
moisture resulting from high temperatures, the great variability of
precipitation, and the ever present risk of drought. Moreover, tropical
environments tare plagued with diverse infestations of pests and parasites
that can devastate both crops and livestock.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
G.
Moderate advantages or disadvantages in geography can lead to big
differences in l long-term economic performance. Favourable agricultural
or health conditions may boost per capita income in temperate-zone
nations and hence increase the size of their economies. The resulting
inventions further raise economic output, spurring yet more inventive
activity. The moderate geographical advantage is thus amplified through
innovation. In contrast, the low food output per farm women in tropical
regions tends to diminish the size of cities. With a smaller proportion of
the population in urban areas, the rate of technological advance is usually
slower. The tropical regions therefore remain more rural than the
temperate regions, with most of their economic activity concentrated in
low- technology agriculture rather than in high- technology manufacturing
and services.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
H.
Geographical factors, however, are only part of the story. Social and
economic institutions are critical to long-term economic performance. It is
particularly instructive to compare the post World War II performance of
socialist and free-market economies in neighbouring countries that share
the same geographical characteristics; North and South Korea, East and
West Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, and Estonia and Finland.
In each case we find that free- market institutions vastly outperformed
their counterparts. If these findings are true, the policy implications are
significant. Aid programs for developing countries will have to be
revamped to specifically address the problems imposed by climate and
geography. In particular, new strategies have to be formulated that would
help nations in tropical zones raise their agricultural productivity and
reduce the prevalence of diseases such as malaria.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Questions 19-23
Match together the following sentence halves.
Write the appropriate letter A—M in boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet.
A. because pathogen of diseases spends part of its life cycle outside the
human host.
B. because high fertility affects a woman’s role in society by focusing on
her responsibilities for child rearing.
C. because mothers bear many children to assure that some will survive
to adulthood.
D. because high levels of child mortality tends to baffle mothers’
investments.
E. because low food output results in diminished city sizes, thus
decreasing the rate of technological advance.
F. because they straddle both types of climates.
G. because malaria is carried by mosquitoes and helminthic infections is
caused by parasitic worms.
H. because they lie in the temperate zone.
I. because intense rainfall and high temperature leach the organic material
from the soil.
J. because tropical environments are plagued with diverse infestations of
pests and parasites that can devastate livestock.
K. because temperate zones are more likely to boost individual incomes.
L. because winters control the mosquito-based transmission of the
disease.
M. because people living in the moderate climate are more willing to try
new technology.
19. The southernmost states of Brazil are the riches part of the nation
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.” “G.” “H.”
20. Many kinds of infectious diseases are less prevalent in the temperate
zones
21. In a tropical country with a high incidence of disease, poor families
cannot afford each child’ s education.
22. The agricultural productivity is considerably low in tropical rainforest
environments
23. The tropical regions remain more rural than the temperate regions .
Questions 24 -26
Complete the sentence below (Questions 24-26) with words taken from
Reading Passage 2.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each blank.
Write your answers in boxes 24 -26 on your answer sheet.
24. Name three regions that are in the tropic zone but wealthy.
........................, .............................. and .............................
25. Name two major ways in which a region’s climate affects economic
development.
...................... and ................................
26. In the cases of Estonia and Finland, which country economically
performed better after World War Two? ...................................
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
RFID
A.
What is RFID
An emerging technology could usurp the ubiquitous bar code‘s quarter-
century of quiet domination. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags,
which consist of silicon chips and an antenna that can transmit data to a
wireless receiver, could one day be used to track everything from soda
cans to cereal boxes. Unlike bar codes, which need to be scanned manually
and read individually (you have to actually see a bar code in order to read
it), radio ID tags do not require line-of-sight for reading. Within the field
of a wireless reading device, it is possible to automatically read hundreds
of tags a second. This is the basis of the next 50 years of computing,” said
Kevin Ashton executive director of MIT ‘s Auto-ID Center. “The impact
will be staggering.”
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
How It Works
An RFID system may consist of several components, tags/transponders,
tag readers. antenna, and interface. in a typical RFID system, individual
objects are equipped with a small, inexpensive tag. The tag contains a
transponder with a digital memory chip that is given a unique electronic
product code. The interrogator, an antenna packaged with a transceiver and
decoder, emits a signal activating the RFID tag so it can read and write
data to it. When an RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it
detects the reader’s activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded
in the tag’s integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the
host computer. The application software on the host processes the data,
and may perform various filtering operations to reduce the numerous often
redundant reads of the same tag to a smaller and more useful data set.
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
Passive and Active Tags
Transmitting in the kilohertz, megahertz and gigahertz ranges, tags may
battery-powered or derive their power from the RF waves coming from the
reader. “Passive” tags have no power source but use the electromagnetic
waves from the reader to energize the chip and transmit back, or
backscatter, their data. Passive tags can cost less than a quarter and be read
up to approximately 10 feet from the reader’s antenna. “Active” tags have
a battery that can transmit up to 300 feet indoors and more than a thousand
feet outdoors. Used for tracking trailers in yards and containers on the
loading dock, active tags cost several dollars and may periodically transmit
a signal for readers to pick up or may lie dormant until they sense the
reader’s signal.
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
Reusable Vs. One-Time
RFID tags for applications such as highway toll collection and container
tracking are in continuous use for several years. Like regular electronic
components, the tags are adhered to rigid substrates and packaged in
plastic enclosures. In contrast, tags on shipping cartons are used for a
much short time and are then destroyed. Disposable tags are adhered to
printed, flexible labels pasted onto the carton, and these “smart labels”
contain an RFID chip and antenna on the back. A thermal printer/encoder
prints alphanumeric and bar code data on the labels while encoding the
chip at the same time.
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
Originated in the 1940s, when the U. S. government used transponders to
distinguish friendly aircraft from enemy aircraft, RFID systems now can
tell how many beers you had while watching an NBA match, what library
books you’ve checked out from the public library, and where and when
you purchased your Michelin tires. In the near future, they may be used to
prescription drugs and embedded into patients to tell doctors about their
medical conditions. The Department of Defence is using RFID to track
supplies and troops, and the State Department is planning to implant RFlD
chips into new and renewed passports. More than a dozen retail companies
have gone public with plans to use RFID in their operations. “There’s a
general acknowledgment that this technology is here to stay. It’s not just a
science experiment,” said Christine Overby, senior analyst at Forrester
Research.
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
Next Technology Wave
RFID technology has existed for decades, but retailer and government
dates are pushing it forward. If it can overcome substantial technical and
social challenges, it has the potential to transform business and sow the
seed f the next technology wave. MlT’s Auto-ID Center is developing
ways to use the tags in consumer product packages with blue chip
companies such as Procter &Gamble, Wal-Mart, Gillette, Unilever, Target,
Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Retailing behemoths such as Wal-Mart and Home
Depot are investing heavily in Auto-lD’s technology to improve supply-
chain efficiency and track products from the warehouse to the consumer’s
doorstep. “The supply chain today is a black box.” Ashton said. “There is
very little accurate data about where thing what they are, and how much
there is.” “This technology won’t just improve the supply chain—it will
revolutionize it in ways we are only just beginning to understand,” Ashton
said. “Computers are basically blind today. The technology we are
developing will enable them to see, for the first time ever’.
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
RFID and the Internet
The success of RFID in the mass market ultimately depends upon tying
technology to an open standard network like the Internet, according to
researchers. Companies will also be able to use smart tags to connect
everyday objects to the Internet, potentially saving billions of dollars in
lost, stolen or wasted products. For example, a smart-shelf could tell when
a carton of milk r a box of medicine has expired, alerting a store to restock
in real time. This type of system could prevent out-of-stock merchandise
and reduce obsolete or out-of-date products. “The Internet is absolutely
crucial for all this,” Ashton said. “The Internet enables us to put all the
data on the network, not the tag, and that makes tags cheaper, better, faster
Questions 27-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 27-29
The diagram below shows how RFID works.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each
answer.
Write your answers in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.
Questions 30-33
Passage 3?
30. The RFID tags and their predecessor are essentially tracking devices.
31. Although RFID tags communicate a variety of information, this
information requires processing and analysis, thus making the computer
indispensable.
32. The RFID gained its early funding sources in the Department of
Defence.
33. More than six retail companies have gone public with RFID tags.
Questions 34-36
Choose the appropriate letters A-—D and write them in boxes 34-36 on
your answer sheet.
34. The greatest difference between bar codes and RFID is
A. price.
B. transmission technology
C. commercial use.
D. size.
35. In what areas have the tags already been implemented?
A. Supermarkets and grocers.
B. Passports and ID cards.
C. Medicines and prescriptions.
D. Highway toll collection.
36. The term “black box” in the current supply chain refers to a unit that
A. stores information.
B. scrambles information.
C. organizes information.
D. produces information.
Questions 37-40
Complete the sentences below with words taken from the reading passage.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
37. The RDIF technology is now in a position to
______________________ 25 years of old technology.
38. Transponders were used to ______________________ incoming and
outgoing aircraft in military applications.
39. The general consensus at Forrester Research is that this technology is
_________________
40. Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Gillette, Unilever, and Target are large
multi-national corporations known as ______________________
companies.
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - II”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1.
The Causes of Poverty
A.
Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two
dollars a day. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48
nations (i.e. a quarter of the world‘s countries) is less than the wealth of
the world’s three richest people combined. Nearly a billion people entered
the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. Less than one
per cent of what the world spends every year on weapons could put every
child in school. All over the world, disparities between rich and poor, even
in the wealthiest of nations is rising sharply. Fewer people are becoming
increasingly successful and wealthy while a disproportionately larger
population is also becoming even poorer.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
B.
There are many issues involved when looking at global poverty and
inequality. It is not simply enough (or correct) to say that the poor are poor
due to their own (or their government’s) bad governance and management.
In fact, you could quite easily conclude that the poor countries are poor
because the rich countries are rich and have the power to enforce unequal
trade agreements that favour their interests more than the poorer nations.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
C.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank prescribed structural
adjustment policies mean that nations that are lent money get it on
condition that they cut social expenditure (which is vital for economic
growth and development) in order to repay the loans. Many are tied to
opening up their economies and being primarily commodity exporters,
which, for poorer nations leads to a spiralling race to the bottom as each
nation must compete against others to provide lower standards, reduced
wages and cheaper resources to corporations and richer nations. This
further increases poverty and dependency for most people.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
D.
People are hungry not because of lack of availability of food, or
overpopulation, but because they are too poor to afford the food. Politics
and economic conditions that have led to poverty and dependency around
the world would not be alleviated if food production is further increased
and provided to more people. Even non-emergency food aid, which seems
a noble cause, is destructive, as it under sells local farmers and can
ultimately affect the entire economy of a poor nation. If the poorer nations
are not given the means to produce their own food, if they are not allowed
to use the tools of production for themselves, then poverty and dependency
will continue.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
E.
The United Nations is one of the largest bodies involved in development
issues around the world. However, it has many political issues and
problems to contend with. But, despite this, it is also performing some
much needed tasks around the world, through its many satellite
organizations and entities, providing a means to realize the Declaration of
Human Rights. Unfortunately though, it is not perfect and is negatively
affected by the politics of powerful nations that wish to further their own
interests. What does an ever- increasing number of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) mean? NGOs are non- profit organizations which
fill the gap where governments will not, or cannot function. In the past
however, some NGOs from the wealthy nations have received a bad
reputation in some developing nations because of things like arrogance,
imposition of their views, being a foreign policy arm or tool of the original
country and so on. Even in recent years some of these criticisms still hold.
However, recently some new and old NGOs alike, have started to become
more participatory and grassroots-oriented to help empower the people
they are trying to help, to help themselves. This is in general a positive
turn. Yet, the fact that there are so many NGOs popping up everywhere
perhaps points to failures of international systems of politics, economics,
market rights.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
F.
While the world is globalizing and the mainstream media in the developed
nations point out that the world economy is booming (or, in periods of
downturns, that the current forms of development and economic policies
are the only ways for people to prosper), there are an increasing number of
poor people who are missing out on this apparent boom, while increasingly
fewer people are becoming far more wealthy.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Questions 1-7
Choose which of the answers (A-D) best completes the sentence according
to the information in the reading passage.
Write the appropriate letter (A -D) in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
1. What do you think is the purpose of the reading passage?
A. to warn about the dangers of globalization.
B. to urge a change in international anti-poverty efforts.
C. to highlight the role of the IMF and World Bank.
D. to suggest that rich countries offer more aid to poor ones.
2. The world’s three richest people
A. have become rich since entering the 21st century.
B. live on less than two dollars a day.
C. are better off than nearly one billion people.
D. together have more wealth than the GDP of 48 nations.
3. The poor countries are poor because
A. the rich countries can enforce unequal trade agreements.
B. their governments are corrupt.
C. their governments are incompetent.
D. of unfavourable geographical factors.
4. Competition between poor nations
A. brings them more IMF and World Bank loans.
B. is vital for economic growth and development.
C. makes them primarily commodity exporters.
D. leads to increases in poverty and dependency.
5. The United Nations
A. channels its aid to poor countries through their governments.
B. is hampered by the politics of the rich countries.
C. furthers the interests of the rich countries.
D. is composed of satellite organizations and entities.
6. NGOs
A. are becoming more responsive to poor people‘s needs.
B. are foreign policy tools of powerful countries.
C. are essential to the anti-poverty effort.
D. strive to realize the Declaration of Human Rights.
7. The mainstream media in the developed nations
A. are paying attention to the increase in poverty.
B. are warning against economic downturns.
C. are complacent about the global economy.
D. ignore the role of non-governmental assistance.
Questions 8-13
Complete the following summary by writing NO MORE THAN THREE
WORDS taken from the passage for each number, to complete spaces 8-
13.
Write the words in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
Summary: The Causes of Poverty
Among the many causes of the increase in poverty worldwide are the . . . 8
. . . of the IMF and World Bank, which will only lend money to poor
countries on condition that the latter . . . 9 . . . Providing food is not the
answer to the problem of hunger; allowing poor people to use the . . . 10 . .
. is the answer. The United Nations is a major player in . . . 11 . . .
worldwide, but the policies of . . . 12 . . . hinder its efforts. Where
governments cannot or will not help, NGOS . . . 13 . . . . which indicates
shortcomings in international political and economic systems.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
on the Reading Passage 2 below.
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs (A-F).
Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate number (i-ix) in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet
Paragraph D has been done for you as an example.
NB: There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all
of them. You may use any heading more than once.
List of Headings
i. The psychology of volunteer vacationers
ii. Paying to work
iii. Benefits for volunteers
iv. Helping poor countries
v. Environmental tourism
vi. Vacations to learn
vii. The cost of volunteering
viii. The attraction of non-profit bodies
ix. Holidays with a difference
Example Answer
Paragraph D iv
14. Paragraph A
Paragraph “A.”
15. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
16. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
17. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
18. Paragraph F
Paragraph “F.”
Volunteer Vacationers
A.
A growing number of Americans are using their holiday time not to laze
on the beach or to frequent casinos but to restore old railways, snorkel for
science and band rare birds. They are a group of individuals known as
“volunteer vacationers,” and many of them are professional people.
“We‘ve seen a huge increase in interest from professionals as well as
others who want short-term meaningful vacations,” said Christine
Victorino of the International Volunteer Programs Association. Her group
was formed to organize the non-profit bodies which arrange working
vacations.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
B.
And these organizations want money as well as time: volunteers’
contributions typically top US$ 1,500 for one week, and the air fare is
extra. Altruism doesn’t come cheap, but these vacations are partially tax-
deductible, provided the volunteers put in five eight-hour days.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
C.
“If someone had told me a few years ago that I‘d pay to pick weeds on a
tropical island, I would have told them they were crazy,” said Leonard
Stone, a retired dentist from Chicago. Yet Stone and his wife each paid to
go on a-week-long Oceanic Society expedition to Midway Island in the
Pacific Ocean. They worked on a tiny island helping ornithologists look
after albatross nesting areas and counting chicks. Like most sites where
volunteers work, the conditions were Spartan; the volunteers lived in an
army barracks dating from World War ll. But Stone, who is an enthusiastic
bird watcher, found it a worthwhile experience. He thoroughly enjoyed his
daily access to the rare birds, and the lectures and films about wildlife
arranged by the Society.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
D.
Some volunteers are motivated by a desire to lend a helping hand to the
developing world. In the 16 years it’s been in business, Global Volunteers
has sent thousands of people all over the world on projects ranging from
constructing a children’s home in India to looking after orphans in
Romania. Like other such organizations, Global Volunteers has trimmed
the longer trips to accommodate professionals’ busy schedules, and added
less-strenuous options for retirees, who now make up one-third of its
clients. Steve Rosenthal of Cross- cultural Solutions places vacationers on
21-day projects. Volunteers help women in India start small businesses or
teach English to children in Ghana.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
E.
Rosenthal said that the number of students, professionals and retirees
signing up for his trips has consistently doubled over the past five years.
Many people agree that this seems to indicate a rising tide of
disillusionment among Americans with their materialistic way of life.
Once he explains that most of program fee funds community—based
organizations in the host countries, the volunteers are quite happy to pay
for a working holiday. “I’d rather be paying my vacation money to a non-
profit company which is helping poor people than to a hotel corporation,”
said Ron Cooke, who is a veteran volunteer vacationer. He and his wife
have counted birds in Costa Rica and trapped ocelots in Mexico. Cooke’s
last trip was an eight-day vacation helping the environmental group
Earthwatch in the Caribbean. “We spent part of each day snorkelling and
counting shellfish”. They also interviewed fishermen and made a survey of
seashells, while camping on a Dominican Republic beach.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
F.
Not all the vacationers consider the vacations work; some of the programs
are designed for hobbyists, or for people who want to learn a new skill.
For example, each summer railway enthusiasts join in the ongoing
restoration of a historic narrow-gauge railway in the southwest US. A
special group of volunteer vacationers work on organic farms. In return,
they learn about organic farming and get to eat a lot of healthy food.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Questions 19-22
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading
Passage 2?
In boxes 19-22, write
YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Example Answer
Many professional people are attracted to volunteer vacations. YES
19. All volunteers enjoy their vacations.
20. There is a trend to keep volunteer vacations short.
21. The only attraction of volunteering is the chance to help others.
22. Non-profit associations are undermining regular tourism companies.
Questions 23-26
Choose one phrase (A—H) from the list of phrases to complete each key
point below.
Write the appropriate letter (A-H) in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate
summary of points made by the writer.
NB: There are more phrases A—H than sentences so you will not use
them all. You may use any phrase more than once.
23. Spending one’s vacation helping others
24. Volunteers do not expect
25. Volunteers are looking for
26. Volunteer vacations are a sign of
List of Phrases
A. doesn’t come cheap to eat
B. a lot of healthy food
C. luxury conditions
D. growing awareness of the importance of the environment
E. to learn new skills
F. growing disillusion with America’s material culture
G. to restore old railways
H. short but meaningful vacations
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
on Reading Passage 3.
Is There Water on Mars?
A.
A large number of photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor
spacecraft suggest that even today water may be flowing up from the
interior of Mars, and streaming onto the surface—dramatically increasing
the likelihood that at least part of the planet is biologically alive. “If this
proves to be the case,” said Ed Weiler, of NASA’s Office of Space
science, “it has profound implications for the possibility of life on Mars.”
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
Finding liquid water on Mars’ surface has never been easy—mostly
because it simply can’t exist there. The modern Martian atmosphere has
barely 1% the density of the Earth’s, and the planet‘s average temperature
hovers around -55 degrees C. In an environment as harsh as this, any water
that did appear would either vaporize into space or freeze solid. What
scientists who studying Mars have always been looking for instead are
clues that there was water in the planet’s distant past: In fact, they admit
that there may have been oceans at one time on Mars.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
The 65,000 images, which the Surveyor has beamed home since it was
launched in 1998, show plenty of channels and terraces on the surface of
Mars. But a handful of the pictures took the scientists by surprise. Besides
looking fairly new, the channels are mainly located near the poles of Mars,
where the temperature is coldest. Scientists have long assumed that if
underground water was going to bubble up on Mars, it would have to do so
somewhere in the comparatively balmy equatorial zones, where
temperatures at high noon in midsummer may approach 20 degrees C.
Moreover, the channels are all carved into the cold, shaded sides of slopes.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
Paradoxically, this finding may increase the chances that the gullies are
water-related. Any water that appeared on the sunny sides of hills would
be likely to evaporate almost instantly. Moisture that seeped out in the
shade would form a temporary crust of ice that would last only until the
pressure of upwelling water behind it caused it to burst. When it did, there
would be a sudden downward gush that would leave precisely the kind of
clear-cut channel Surveyor spotted. If such features were discovered on
Earth, said Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Surveyor’s
camera system, “there would be no question that water would be
associated with them.”
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
However, there are alternative explanations for these channels and ridges.
One school of thought maintains that they could have been caused by
“rivers” of silicon dust. The theory goes that millions of years ago, when
the molten mass of Mars cooled down, the fast cooling of the surface lava
produced extremely small silicon particles. It has been proved that Martian
soils contain a large amount of silicon. These particles would then have
bonded with the methane gas which was also produced by the cooling
process due to the action of ultraviolet light. The silicon combined with
methane would then have flowed in much the same way as rivers—from
high to low areas. Over a long period of time, the flow would disintegrate
rock and form channels or gullies, like those photographed by the
Surveyor.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
Another theory is that the features which seem to be evidence of the action
of water —whether oceans or rivers—are more likely linked to the planet’s
volcanoes. Paul Withers of the University of Arizona and Gregory
Neumann of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, think that there is
a closer correlation between the sizes of the terraces and seismic activity
than the formation of ocean shore lines. They explained that the surface
crust of Mars is not formed of a network of plates, like the Earth’s, which
move over time. So, Martian volcanoes grew much higher than those on
Earth, putting tremendous stress on the crust, and generating the ridges and
channels seen in the Surveyor photographs. “In our future work,” said
Withers and Neumann, “we intend to study the terraces further in order to
ascertain what the Martian crust and lithosphere were like at the time the
seismic activity led to the formation of the volcanoes.”
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
G.
For NASA, the new findings couldn’t have come at a better time. After the
recent spectacular failures of two unmanned Mars probes, the agency’s
entire planetary exploration program came under fire. The possibility of a
wet Mars, however, suggests that not only might the planet be home to
indigenous life, it could also more easily support human life. Visiting
astronauts would need water for a variety of purposes, including
manufacturing air and perhaps even rocket fuel. Pumping up water
available on Mars rather than hauling supplies from earth could
dramatically slash the cost of a mission. All this, NASA hopes, will
encourage the reluctant Congress to give the green light to future Mars
missions, both manned and unmanned.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 27-29
Choose the appropriate letter A—D and write it in boxes 27-29 on your
answer sheet.
27. Scientists studying Mars have always looked for
A. evidence of the presence of water on the planet’s surface.
B. signs that water was once present on the planet’s surface.
C. indications of intelligent life.
D. gullies carved out by rivers of silicon.
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.” “G.”
28. The formations discovered by the Mars Global Survey were surprising
because
A. they were carved out by flows of silicon.
B. they have profound implications for the possibility of life.
C. they are located near the equator of Mars.
D. they appear in the coldest parts of the planet.
29. The new findings may benefit NASA by
A. providing water for astronauts landing on Mars.
B. disproving the “rivers of silicon” theory.
C. persuading Congress to allow more Mars missions.
D. making people forget about the previous failed Mars missions.
Questions 30-32
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.
30. How long has the Mars Global Surveyor been gathering data?
31. According to the “silicon rivers” theory, what destabilized the silicon?
32. What distinguishes the Earth’s crust from that of Mars?
Questions 33-40
Using the information in the passage, identify the following.
In boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet, write
LW if the statement refers to liquid water
VW if the statement refers to vaporised water
O if the statement refers to oceans
S if the statement refers to silicon
V if the statement refers to volcanoes
T if the statement refers to terraces
Note: Each letter may be used more than once.
Example Answer
Martian soils contain a lot of this. S
33. These could have existed a long time ago on Mars.
34. This would be found on the sunny side of Martian hills.
35. This cannot exist on the surface of Mars.
36. Paul Withers and Gregory Neumann intend to study these further.
37. These are much bigger on Mars than on Earth.
38. If channels like the Martian ones were discovered on Earth, they would
indicate the presence of this.
39. This probably resulted from fast cooling of surface lava.
40. The forms of these indicate a seismic origin.
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - III”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 which are based on
Reading Passage 1 on the following pages.
Questions 1 - 6
Reading Passage 1 has seven sections A-G.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections A-G from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-xii in boxes I-6 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i. The cost to our quality of life
ii. The cost of hybrids
iii. Stars with hybrids
iv. How hybrids worked in the past
v. How hybrids help
vi. The rise and fall of hybrids
vii. Rising oil prices and hybrids
viii. Differentiating hybrids
ix. A car that makes a difference
x. The benefits of hybrids for consumers
xi. The pros and cons of hybrids US traffic conditions
Example Answer
Section G iii
1. Section A
Paragraph “A.”
2. Section B
Paragraph “B.”
3. Section C
Paragraph “C.”
4. Section D
Paragraph “D.”
5. Section E
Paragraph “E.”
6. Section F
Paragraph “F.”
Streets Ahead
A.
Car companies are well aware of the fact that the 700 million vehicles on
roads across the globe are causing destruction - to the ecosystem on a
massive scale. The demand for private transport is on a constant increase;
only 5% of the US population uses public transport, despite of having to
collectively spend 8 billion hours stuck in traffic and the adverse effect it
has on our bodies. However, the automobile industry is beginning to listen
to its more environmentally conscious consumers. Around the turn of the
century, the popularity of hybrid cars, which arc dramatically less harmful
to our health and the environment, began to take off.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
B.
Contrary to popular belief, hybrids are not new technology; they have been
around for well over a century, in 1900, gas, steam and electric cars were
manufactured in equal numbers. However, in 1913 with the advent of the
self-starting engine and the gas powered Ford Model T coming off the
production line in mass numbers, steam and electric cars disappeared for a
good 50 years and environmental devastation ensued.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
C.
The amount of damage is alarming. Driving a car is a citizen’s most air-
polluting activity as vehicles are the most considerable contributor of CO,
emissions. In the US, 8.2 million barrels of oil are consumed each day,
which equates to 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The health care
costs that are accrued by people developing such conditions as acute
respiratory problems, asthma and cancer— related illnesses amount to US$
60 billion every year. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of oil, fluids and
chemicals enter our waterways every year. Noise pollution from traffic,
stereos and alarms is at an all-time high, resulting in sleep deprivation and
stress, among other things. 800 million tyres are stockpiled each year,
while tyres in use lose one pound of rubber per year on average, which
flies in minute quantifies into the air and enters our lungs or rivers. 120
Americans die every day in accidents, 1 million animals are run over every
year and 10 million cars are scrapped per year. Crops lose their yield as a
result of the pollution and the government allocates huge amounts of
financial resources to build and maintain roads.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
D.
These environmental concerns and ever increasing oil prices have brought
the idea of hybrids back to the forefront in the past few years. Although
hybrids cannot provide the silver bullet to overcome all these problems,
they are a step in the right direction. A hybrid by definition is a form of
transport that combines more than one energy source. There are a number
of different models on the market. A full hybrid is a vehicle which can
move forward without any gasoline, unlike a mild hybrid which needs gas
to start up. One characteristic they have in common is that they both
require gas for travelling at high speeds. A parallel hybrid basically has the
best of both worlds; it has a fuel tank to propel the engine and batteries for
the electric motor. A series hybrid uses gas to turn a generator which
powers either the batteries or an electric motor. Finally, a plug-in hybrid
functions like the other hybrids, but also has the option of charging the
battery at night to maximise driving range.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
E.
As previously mentioned, a hybrid’s gas engine is only used when turning
on the ignition and when travelling at higher speeds. The rest of the time,
the engine remains dormant as it runs on electric or battery power. This
minimal reliance on gas, along with the hybrid’s light weight and
aerodynamic design means there is a major boost in fuel efficiency and a
massive reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. And without the
drone or roar of gas engines they also lend themselves to scaling down
noise pollution, unless of course you are blasting some tunes out of your
speakers.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
F.
Even though hybrids lack a heavy dependence on fuel, that doesn’t mean
the cars rely a great deal on battery power. Most manufacturers’ warranty
on this energy source is 80-100,000 miles, with one taxi driver having
reported that the batteries in his hybrid cab remained strong even after
driving over 200,000 miles in 25 months. Other advantages include lower
maintenance costs, tax incentives, and higher resale values. On the other
hand, some drivers have complained that the vehicles are not spacious
enough, but these days there are even hybrid SUVs on the market.
Typically there is a waiting list of at least a couple of months to purchase a
hybrid vehicle, so you have to be patient. Also, there is no immediate
return on investment, contrary to what many believe, unless oil prices rise
even higher.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
G.
Hybrid cars have been rather popular with celebrities, mainly due to their
environmental friendliness and obviously not their financial incentives.
Leonardo Di Caprio rolled up to the Oscars in his Toyota Prius, and it’s
likely that his actions will have a positive effect on our fragile
environment. Other hybrid owners include Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, Tom
Hanks, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson, to mention but
a few. This doesn’t mean these cars are only affordable to the rich and
famous; there are hybrids on the market to suit all purse sizes. Smart
consumers who are looking at the road ahead agree that it’s time to get this
hybrid show on the road.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-12 13-14
Questions 7-12
Complete the diagram by writing what the arrows refer to or if there is
more than one arrow, what effect they have on each other.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1 for
each Write your answers in boxes 7-12 an your answer sheet.

Questions 13-14
Choose the appropriate letters A-H and write them in boxes 13-14 on your
answer sheet.
How is a hybrid different from a gas-powered car?
A. A hybrid burns less rubber.
B. A hybrid is readily available.
C. A hybrid is only for the rich.
D. A hybrid is quieter.
E. A hybrid leaks fewer car fluids.
F. A hybrid is less fuel efficient.
G. A hybrid is worth more as a second hand car.
H. A hybrid’s repairs are costly.
Answer Key
ReadingPassage 2
Entrepreneurs
A.
In the past, innovative new ideas came from the depths of large
corporations R&D talent pools. These days, the new concepts that are
taking the world by storm are usually an entrepreneur’s stroke of genius.
More and more young business-minded people are turning their backs on
the corporate world and the safer path of climbing the corporate ladder and
setting their eyes on the riskier but more creative and lucrative challenge
of being an entrepreneur. Janus Friis, the co-founder of Skype, a provider
of PC to PC calling, sold his company to ebay in October 2005 for US$ 26
billion when he was only 29 years old. Ally Svenson, two years Janus’
senior, set up the Seattle Coffee Company in 1995 and 3 years later sold it
to the Starbucks chain for £49 million. Joshua Schachter, the 31-year old
founder of delicious, sold his start-up company, a website that combined
social networking and media, to Yahoo for US$ 27 million. His advice for
budding entrepreneurs is to get to the market as quickly as possible and
develop a successful product, as this speaks louder than a business plan,
and remember that happy customers are better at marketing than you are.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
B.
Entrepreneurs, however, do not typically follow in the footsteps of other
entrepreneurs. So how does one go about becoming one-can it be learned
or are you born with it? Research conducted by the Royal Bank of
Scotland suggests that the average male entrepreneur is more likely to be
the youngest child of a family, while female entrepreneurs are more
commonly the eldest child. Both left school at 16 and did not meet
academic qualifications. Those polled believed that energy and
determination were the most important traits for business success. Books
are a popular way to discover the secrets of success. A search on any of the
major online bookstores lists thousands of results under a keyword search
for ‘entrepreneur! With books on the market titled ‘Anyone can do it‘,
‘The beer mat entrepreneur and ‘Start your business week by week’, it
seems becoming an entrepreneur is idiot-proof.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
C.
Schools are getting in on the act. A one-week entrepreneurialism course is
now part of the British high school curriculum. Universities place even
greater importance on developing the business ideas of their students by
offering financial support and scholarships to them. 28 year-old Carl
Dietrich won a US$ 30,000 prize from MIT for his idea to develop a road-
worthy aircraft which can fly 10,000 ft in the air at 125 mph and drive on
the road at 65 mph. Ramos Mays and Mark Pydynowski won US$ 50,000
from Washington University for their idea to develop a smart tattoo which
works like a radio frequency identification to track and tag cattle.
Geography also seems to play a part in the likelihood of an entrepreneur
making it big on his or her own. Americans have no problems embracing
the concept that ‘failures are the Stepping stones to success, and it is this
mentality that has resulted in them leading the way in breeding
entrepreneurs. China, which holds a similar philosophy to the US in terms
of ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, has seen its number of
entrepreneurs rise up at a phenomenal rate. One such man is Jack Ma,
founder of alibaba.com, a business-to-business website for which Yahoo
recently purchased a 40% stake for around US$ 1 billion.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
D.
Business culture in the UK, however, takes more of a ‘but what if you
fail?’ attitude, with many of the opinion that you should get some
experience under your belt first, get some money behind you and then
consider the venture when you are a bit older. But if it is risk that you are
afraid of, remember that there are two kinds of risk that need to be
distinguished if one is to be successful: foolish and calculated risk. The
industry you are in also contributes to your chances of cashing in on your
bright idea. The information technology sector has been the hottest place
to work since the end of the 20th century and has shown some of the
highest returns on investment. That doesn’t mean you have to move to
Silicon Valley though; these days, many companies are shifting a lot of
their operations to places like India, China, online communities or
university labs. Venture capital flow is one indication of which industry to
be in, and in the second quarter of 2004 in the US, 38% of venture funding
went to companies in Silicon Valley, which was double that of its nearest
rival, Boston.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
E.
Not only is IT a hot sector to be in right now, but its applications are wide
and varied. As a result, hybrid companies focusing on biotechnology and
nanotechnology are also popping up. Venture capital in biotechnology is
increasingly high due to the demand for biomedical research software. Dr
Chris Evans is Britain’s leading biotechnology entrepreneur and has made
himself a tidy £1 billion from his ventures.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Question 15
Choose a suitable title for the whole of Reading Passage 2.
Write the appropriate letter A-D in box 15 on your answer sheet.
A. The hard road to becoming an entrepreneur.
B. Entrepreneurs in the IT industry.
C. Advice from entrepreneurs on how they did it.
D. How you could be an entrepreneur.
Questions 16-19
Look at the following descriptions mentioned in Reading Passage 2.
Match the names (A-G) listed below with the descriptions.
Write the appropriate letters A-G in boxes 16-19 on your answer sheet.
A. Janus Friis
B. Ally Svenson
C. Joshua Schachter
D. Carl Dietrich
E. Ramos Mays and Mark Pydynnwski
F. Jack Ma
G. Dr Chris Evans
16. An entrepreneur(s) that combined nature and technology to make a
fortune.
17. An entrepreneur(s) that combined making friends and sharing
information as an investment.
18. An entrepreneur(s) that invented a way to trace the whereabouts of
livestock.
19. An entrepreneur(s) that is sponsored by an academic institution.
Questions 20-23
Complete the summary below using information from Reading Passage 2.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 20-23 on your answer sheet.
These days a greater number of ...20... are giving up the chance to work for
large companies and opting to do it on their own. According to studies,
...21... for entrepreneurs is not of high importance while ...22... rate more
highly. There are countless numbers of ...23... on how simple it is to be an
entrepreneur.
Questions 24-27
Passage 2? In boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet 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
24. British high schools are offering scholarships during their one-week
course on entrepreneurship.
25. Americans and Chinese are more willing to take the risk of starting
their own business.
26. Silicon Valley is the best place to be for budding entrepreneurs.
27. Biotech companies are as profitable as IT companies.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
on the Reading Passage 3 below.
FORENSICS
A.
The police force has come a long way since the medieval days when
suspected criminals were thrown into rivers to determine whether they
were guilty or not; if they floated, they were innocent; if they sank, they
were guilty. These days, high—rating TV programmes such as CSI show
exactly how sophisticated the tools police use have become, as well as
showcase the rise of forensic scientists as part of the police force. A
forensic team assists in criminal investigation procedures by drawing on
the knowledge of a number of sciences. One of the most acclaimed
forensic experts is Dr Henry Lee, who has been awarded 5 honorary
doctorates and has worked on over 6,000 cases, including war crimes in
Bosnia and Croatia, the assassination of former US president John F.
Kennedy and the suicide of former US President Clinton’s White House
attorney. The resources he draws on are wide and varied.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
Forensic anthropologists are employed for their skill in recovering and
examining skeletal remains. These experts apply the methods and
techniques developed in skeletal biology and osteology to determine the
type of injury sustained, the time of death and the sex, age, height, stature,
ancestry and medical history of the victim. For example, the cranium or
mandible is often used to ascertain sex and ancestry, the hands and fingers
can be used to establish stature and the sacrum confirms age, pregnancy
and childbirth in females. Unlike forensic anthropologists, forensic
document examiners cannot determine the age or gender of a writer.
However, they can determine the source of a letter and when it was written
or printed. These professionals analyse handwriting, typewriting, printing,
photocopying, ink and paper, and are most commonly employed to closely
examine wills, ransom notes, extortion notes, cheques and letters. They are
so skilful that they can decipher obliterated or erased writing, burned or
charred documents, and even detect alterations.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
Entomology, the study of the life cycles of insects, is used in forensic
science to determine the amount of time that has elapsed after someone has
died. This is a valid method as insects behave predictably. They lay eggs
on the exposed surface of a body and the amount of infestation follows
certain patterns and time intervals. This method has been applied to child
abuse and neglect cases as well as lack of care for wounds existing on the
elderly under private or public care. Fingerprints, like DNA, are used to
identify a person. Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints despite
having the same DNA. DNA does not change whereas fingerprints may do
so due to scarring, skin disease or skin growth. Forensic fingerprinting
involves making the prints visible, saving them for further investigation
and matching them to existing ones on a huge database of billions of prints
from around the world.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
Unlike fingerprints, which can easily be washed away, teeth are very
resilient and can stay in good shape even after being submerged in water
for long periods. As a result, forensic odontology is used to help police
identify victims. Ante mortem dental records are compared with those of
the deceased. lf no dental records exist before death, then these dentists
can also narrow down the search by providing authorities with the victim’s
age, ancestry, sex, socio~ economic status and in some instances
occupation, diet, habits and diseases. Forensic serologists examine blood
and bodily fluids to determine the nature of stain found at a crime scene,
including determining which species the stain belongs to and matching the
blood groups, isoenzymes, and DNA patterns to a known sample. To be
accurate, it employs techniques and methods applied in immunology,
biochemistry, serology, haematology and molecular biology. Blood can
determine the sex, age and race of a suspect and wet blood can also be
tested for alcohol and drug content. By analysing the antibody profile in
blood, we can distinguish between identical twins.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
Blood splatter analysis provides vital clues to the police. The height and
angle from which the blood fell can be determined by analysing how it
splatters. The surface also plays a part in how blood splatters. For instance,
blood that hits a smooth, hard surface has very little distortion around the
edge. Blood which lands on linoleum flooring distorts somewhat more,
while blood that strikes wood or concrete distorts to a much larger extent.
The force and direction of a blow can also be ascertained by examining
blood smeared on walls or floors. Forensic chemistry and toxicology
analyses unknown chemicals and toxins and attempts to trace them to
known substances or identify specific origins. These practices help to
identify the cause of death by analysing residues or powders to determine
that a gun was fired or explosives were ignited.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
Forensic artists put together a composite sketch to help identify a victim or
to track down a suspect. This is a complicated profession, as a forensic
artist isn’t simply an artist. He or she also needs to know about
anthropology if reconstructing a face from skeletal remains. If the sketch
includes teeth, they also need to know about odontology and if they want
to show the effects of ageing, they will need to know about psychology.
This science can produce remarkable results. A classic case was that of
John Emil List who was caught as a direct result of using a composite
photo almost 20 years after killing his family.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 28-33
Complete the table below using information from Reading Passage 3.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Forensic Related Analysis Criminal
Science Sciences Implications
Anthropology 28. Skeletal remains Determine
.................. the victim’s
and................ age, sex, race,
height,
stature.
Document n/a Printed matter Determine
Examiners origin and time
of
printed
matter.
Entomology n/a Insects Confirm time
since death
& prove the
mistreatment
of 29......
and........
Fingerprinting n/a Fingerprints Verify the
identity with a
known
sample.
Odontology n/a 30.................. Verify identity
or age, sex
race.
Serology Immunology, Blood and bodily Determine
biochemistry, fluids source of
haematology blood & if it
& molecular contains 31
biology .........................
Chemistry/ n./a. Chemicals Determine
Toxicology and toxins types of
chemicals and
32.............. by
examining
substances
left at crime
scene.
Artists 33.................. Facial A useful tool
, characteristics to help
....................... apprehend
suspects.

Questions 34-39
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS
from the passage for each answer.
34. Which detective series reveals how advanced today’s police are?
35. Which president did not make it through a plot to assassinate him?
36. The study of which bone can identify an expectant mother?
37. Why is the study of insects in forensics considered accurate?
38. Which two forensic sciences can differentiate between identical twins?
39. Which two forensic sciences are needed to make a composite of a
suspect who committed a crime many years ago?
Question 40
Choose the appropriate diagram A-C and write it in box 40 on your
answer sheet .
Which diagram shows the splatter pattern of blood that has fallen on
glass?

Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - IV”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions I-14, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 on the following pages.
Questions 1-4
Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B—E from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate number, i—ix, in boxes J – 4 on your answer sheet.
NB: There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use
them all.
List of Headings
i. Newton’s third law of motion
ii. The basic engine of the jet age
iii. Bernoulli’s principle
iv. A generation above
v. Mechanically simple but impractical
vi. A modern derivative
vii. Thrust and the reaction principle
viii. The theory behind the turbojet
ix. How a jet engine works
Example Answer
Paragraph A i
1. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
2. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
3. Paragraph D
Paragraph “D.”
4. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES AND MECHANICS OF
MODERN FLIGHT
A.
The third law of motion formulated by English physicist Isaac Newton
states that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. It is this
principle of physics that causes an airplane to rise in the air and fly
forward. Have you ever noticed that when an airplane is level, the front
edges of its wings are higher than the rear ones? As the wings move
through the air, the angle puts a downward push on the air flowing under
them. The equal and opposite reaction pushes the airplane’s wings upward.
This upward force is known as lift. Lift is often explained using
Bernoulli’s principle, which states that, in some circumstances, a faster
moving fluid (or gas) will create a lower pressure than a slower moving
fluid. In fact, the air flowing across the top of an airplane wing is at a
lower pressure than the air underneath. However, this is an effect of lift,
not its cause.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
B.
Newton’s reaction principle is also the basis for thrust. Thrust is the force
that moves an airplane forward through the air. In smaller airplanes, like
ones that carry 4 — 6 passengers, a conventional gas-powered piston
engine is used to turn a propeller which forces air rearward. In larger
airplanes, a jet engine either turns a propeller through a gearbox, or uses its
jet thrust to create a rearward force. This powerful rearward force is
balanced with an equal reactive force that pushes the airplane forward.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
C.
Nearly all commercial passenger airplanes use jet engines for propulsion.
Modern versions of these engines are able to produce a relatively quiet,
smooth and fuel efficient ride. Generally speaking, a jet engine works by
sucking air into the front, compressing the air and mixing it with fuel.
When the mixture is ignited, it explodes rearward with great force, out
through the exhaust nozzle at the back of the engine. A rocket engine
operates on the same principle, except that, in order to operate in the
airless vacuum of space, the rocket must carry along its own air for
combustion.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
D.
There are several different types of jet engines. The simplest is the ramjet.
A ramjet has no moving parts and achieves compression of intake air by
the forward speed of the air vehicle. It is mechanically simple, but vastly
more aerodynamically complex than a modern turbine jet engine. How
exactly does it work? Air entering the intake of the aircraft is slowed and
compressed by aerodynamic diffusion created by the inlet and diffuser.
The expansion of hot gases after fuel injection and combustion accelerates
the exhaust air to a velocity higher than that at the inlet and creates
positive push. Due in part to its simplicity, the ramjet engine is still used in
certain special military aircraft, like the SR-71 high altitude surveillance
aircraft. However, in commercial aviation, there are no practical uses for
it. Its elegant simplicity is offset by the need to boost a ramjet to several
hundred miles an hour before ram-air compression is sufficient to operate
the engine.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
E.
The development of the turbojet engine represented the greatest advance in
commercial propulsion technology. It is based on the jet-propulsion system
of the ramjet, but with the addition of a compressor section, a combustion
chamber, a turbine to take some power out of the exhaust and power the
compressor, and an exhaust nozzle. Air is drawn into the engine through
the front intake. The compressor squeezes the air to many times normal
atmospheric pressure and forces it into the combustor. Here, fuel is
sprayed into the compressed air, is ignited and burned continuously like a
blowtorch. The burning gases expand rapidly rearward and pass through
the turbine. The turbine extracts energy from the expanding gases to drive
the compressor, which intakes more air. After leaving the turbine, the hot
gases exit at the rear of the engine, giving the aircraft its forward push ...
action, reaction! For additional thrust or power, an afterburner or
augmenter can be added. An augmenter introduces additional fuel into the
hot exhaust and burns it with a resultant increase of up to 50 percent in
engine thrust by way of even higher velocity and more push.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
F.
A modem derivative of the turbojet engine is the turbofan or fan-jet. It
adds a large fan in front of the compressor section. This fan pulls an
enormous amount of air into the engine case, only a relatively small
fraction of which is sent through the core for combustion. The rest runs
along the outside of the core case and inside the engine casing. This fan
flow is mixed with the hot jet exhaust at the rear of the engine, where it
cools and quiets the exhaust noise. In addition, this high-volume mass of
air, accelerated rearward by the fan, produces a great deal of thrust by
itself, even though it is never burned. This additional thrust of air, similar
to the thrust produced by a propeller, adds propulsion and thereby reduces
fuel consumption.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
G.
Jet engines can also be used to turn propellers on smaller planes. These
small jet engines are known as turboprops. As in a turbojet, hot gases
flowing through the engine rotate a turbine wheel that drives the
compressor. The gases then pass through a power turbine. This power
turbine is coupled to a shaft, which drives the propeller through gear
connections. As a power source for a propeller, a turbine engine is
extremely efficient, and many smaller airliners in the 19- to-70-passenger-
capacity range use turboprops. They are particularly efficient at lower
altitudes and medium speeds up to about 640 km/h (400 mph).
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Questions 5 and 6
Choose the appropriate letter A—D and write them in boxes 5 and 6 on
your answer sheet.
5. According to the text, the greatest application of Bernoulli’s principle to
airplanes was that it
A. solved the problem of thrust deployment.
B. was wrongly applied to explain the cause of lift.
C. explained the concept of lift.
D. provided a means for developing bigger and better airplanes.
6. According to the text, the greatest progress in modern commercial
propulsion technology was made
A. when the Wright Brothers built the first light piston engine for an
airplane.
B. upon the development of the turbojet engine.
C. during the Second World War.
D. when scientists applied Newton’s reaction principle to the fan-jet.
Questions 7-10
From the information in the text, indicate which engine would MOST
PROBABLY be used for the airplanes in the list below.
Write the appropriate letter A—E, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once.
Example Answer
150-passenger-capacity commercial airliner A
7. 4-passenger-capacity private airplane
8. 20-passenger-capacity commercial airliner
9. SR-71 high altitude surveillance military aircraft
10. 280-passenger-capacity fuel-efficient/low noise commercial airliner
Engine MOST PROBABLY used
A. Turbojet
B. Fan-jet
C. Piston engine
D. Ramjet
E. Turboprop
Questions 11-14
Look at the drawings of the different engines below, A-6, and the names of
the types of engines given in the passage.
In Questions 11—14, match each name with one drawing.
Write the appropriate letter, A-G, in boxes 11-14 an your answer sheet.
Example Answer
The “aeoIipile” F
11. The turboprop
12. The turbojet
13. The fan-jet
14. The ramjet

Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
WHY AM I ITCHING ALL OVER?
A.
When Marcy prepared a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her 1-year-
old son Ben’s lunch that morning, she did it because they were running
late for day care and it was the quickest thing she could put together.
However, shortly after Ben began eating his lunch, his child-care provider
noticed he seemed to be trying to scratch an itch in his mouth. After he
vomited and began wheezing, she sought medical treatment for Ben, who
was later diagnosed with a food allergy to peanuts.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
B.
One out of three people either say that they have a food allergy or that they
modify the family diet because a family member is suspected of having a
food allergy. But only about three percent of children have clinically
proven allergic reactions to foods. In adults, the prevalence of food allergy
drops to one percent. What is a food allergy? A person first develops a
food allergy when his body misinterprets an otherwise harmless substance
in a food product as a harmful one. His body’s immune system (which
fights infection and disease) reacts by creating antibodies to attack the
substance. In the first exposure, the person does not experience any
symptoms. However, the next time the person encounters that particular
food by touching, or eating it or inhaling its particles, it activates the
antibodies. In turn, the antibodies cause the body cells to release a
substance called histamine, a chemical that dilates blood vessels, promotes
fluid secretions, and stimulates nerves that cause muscles to spasm. These
reactions can affect the person’s respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract,
skin, or cardiovascular system.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
C.
Allergy symptoms could appear within a few minutes or up to 2 hours
after coming into contact with the food. “Typically the first symptom is a
rash; other symptoms involve itching, gastrointestinal symptoms, nausea,
diarrhoea, respiratory symptoms, and swelling,“ says Michael Young, MD,
a paediatric allergist and immunologist and author of The Peanut Allergy
Answer Book. A common skin symptom of a food allergy is hives, or
raised red itchy bumps on the skin. Swelling of the face, throat, lips, and
tongue may also occur, often within minutes of contact with the food.
Respiratory symptoms such as wheezing and trouble breathing or
gastrointestinal symptoms such as sudden abdominal pain and vomiting
are also common reactions. When a child has a serious allergic reaction
with widespread effects on the body, this condition is known as
anaphylaxis. A child with anaphylaxis, which can involve the heart, lungs,
blood vessels, and other body systems may feel dizzy or lightheaded or
even lose consciousness. Other indications that the food allergy reaction is
serious include a rapid heart rate, difficulty breathing because of a swelling
in the throat and airways, or a life-threatening drop in the blood pressure
(which is also known as anaphylactic shock). Without rapid emergency
medical treatment, children with anaphylaxis can die if they are unable to
breathe.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
D.
Who is susceptible to developing a food allergy? Doctors say that some
factors may place a child at higher risk for developing food allergies. “The
capacity to be an allergic person is inherited.” says Dr. Young. Many
children with food allergies come from families whose members have a
history of other allergies, although it is not known whether a child is
allergic to a food until the first time she has a reaction to it. In addition,
“some people believe that being exposed to highly allergenic [allergy-
triggering] foods early in life increases the risk of allergy,” he says. There
is nothing parents can do that will completely eliminate the possibility that
their child will develop food allergies. However, breastfeeding (especially
exclusive breastfeeding that is not supplemented with infant formula) can
help infants who are especially prone lo milk or soy allergies avoid allergic
reactions. When an infant consumes only breast milk, she has a decreased
exposure to foods that can cause allergies. Some doctors also recommend
that allergy-prone babies not be fed solid foods until 6 months of age or
later to avoid exposure to allergenic foods.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
E.
Food allergies are more difficult to diagnose and treat than other types of
allergies. It is often difficult to isolate the substance in the food that is
causing the allergic reaction. Skin tests are unreliable, and blood tests can
be inconclusive. When a particular food is suspect, the patient simply
should not eat it. Regularly eating minute amounts of the allergy-causing
food won’t cure the allergy. If the culprit food is unknown, the allergist
may put the patient on a special diet that eliminates various foods. If
symptoms decline, the allergist will reintroduce each of the foods one at a
time to help identify which food is the offending allergen.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
F.
Food allergy, which is an immune response, is often confused with food
intolerance, which may cause similar symptoms of gastrointestinal
discomfort. Food intolerance, however, has nothing to do with an immune
response. Rather, it is caused by other factors, such as the lack of digestive
enzymes. For example, a person may lack an enzyme to digest the lactose
in dairy products such as milk. Technically speaking, this person would be
more properly deemed “lactase deficient” rather than “allergic to dairy
products.”
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Questions 15-17
Choose the appropriate letter, A—D, and write them in boxes 15-1 7 on
your answer sheet.
15. According to the information in the text, food allergy symptoms
A. are experienced during the first exposure to the allergy-causing food.
B. include loss of feeling in the fingertips.
C. are triggered by the release of histamine.
D. usually appear within seconds after coming into contact with the food.
16. According to the information in the text, an allergy to a particular kind
of food
A. is an immune response.
B. is often prevalent among people of the same race.
C. is inherited from one’s parents.
D. can be caused by overt consumption.
17. According to the information in the text, food allergies
A. are relatively easy to diagnose and treat.
B. are three times more common in children than in adults.
C. can cause liver damage.
D. are a more serious type of food intolerance.
Questions 18-21
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading
Passage 2?
YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
18. Breast milk can also help build up a baby’s immunity to diseases.
19. Regularly eating minute amounts of the allergy-causing food might
cure the allergy.
20. Anaphylaxis can be deadly.
21. Lactase deficiency is a common cause of milk allergies.
Questions 22-24
Choose ONE phrase from the list of phrases, A–I below, to complete each
of the following sentences (Questions 22-24).
Write the appropriate letter in boxes 22-24 on your answer sheet.
22. A food allergy . . .
23. Compared with “food allergies”, “food intolerance” . . .
24. In the text, Dr. Michael Young . . .
A. has nothing to do with the immune response system.
B. can cause serious kidney problems.
C. can be caused by over-eating the allergy-causing food.
D. indicates that the capacity to be an allergic person is inherited.
E. indicates that usually, the first allergy symptom is a sneeze.
F. is difficult to diagnose and treat.
G. is becoming increasingly common among adults.
H. reduces weight over a period of time.
I. can be caused by the presence of bacteria in the gastrointestinal system.
Questions 25-28
Classify the following statements as being
A. a finding by doctors mentioned in the text
B. an opinion by the writer a factual statement by the writer
C. an assumption by milk drinkers who suffer gastrointestinal discomfort
Write the appropriate letter; A—D, in boxes 25-28 on your answer sheet.
25. Typically, the first symptom of an allergic reaction is a rash.
26. Intolerance for milk is a food allergy.
27. If you suspect that you are allergic to a particular food, you should not
eat it.
28. About three percent of children have clinically proven allergic
reactions to foods
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 29 – 40, which are based
on Reading Passage 3 on the following pages.
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A—G.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B—F from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate number, i—ix, in boxes 29 – 33 on your answer
sheet.
them all.
Questions 29 – 33
List of Headings
i. Famous sayings by Abraham Lincoln and James Bryce
ii. Early recognition of the need for public opinion research
iii. Examining the source and opinion base of the poll
iv. What is “public opinion”?
v. The market for public opinion research
vi. Trends in public opinion research
vii. Pitfalls of public opinion surveys
viii. Examining the timing and content of the survey
ix. Surveys are inherently biased and statistically invalid
Example Answer
Paragraph A iv
29. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
30. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
31. Paragraph D
Paragraph “D.”
32. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
33. Paragraph F
Paragraph “F.”
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PUBLIC OPINION
RESEARCH
A.
“Public Opinion” means the expressed views of a group of people about is-
sues of common interest or concern. The relevant public is most often
considered to be the adult citizenry of a political unit such as a town, or a
nation. However, one may also speak of neighbourhood public opinion,
public opinion within various subgroups of a population, or even world
public opinion.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
Political leaders early recognized the need for some means of knowing
what people were thinking and saying. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
once said: “What I want to get done is what the people desire to have done,
and the question for me is how to find that out exactly.” British historian
James Bryce wrote in 1888: “The obvious weakness of government by
public opinion is the difficulty of ascertaining it.” Efforts to accurately
ascertain public opinion have long presented a challenge to politicians and
public opinion researchers.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
By far the biggest users of public opinion research are business and
industry. Many companies have their own research departments or
combine the function with advertising or marketing. Their interest ranges
from attempts to measure the effects of their advertising, to controlled tests
of new products, or to efforts to understand and improve their public
image. Newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters use surveys to ascertain
the opinions as well as the size and characteristics of their audiences.
Another group of survey users are private foundations, voluntary agencies,
sociologists, and political scientists. Their interest is usually in broad
social trends, in the determinants of social decisions, and in the structure
and effects of the opinion process itself.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
Critics often argue that surveying methods are subject to bias because it all
depends on how you ask the question. Furthermore, how does one know
that people are telling the truth? No doubt, these are difficulties that must
be addressed in the design of the survey. Clearly, the proliferation of
surveys has brought with it problems of quality and standards, in a tree
market, anyone can sell survey services, and price competition usually
ensures the adoption of bare minimum survey standards. Similarly, there
are no legal barriers to the widespread release of spurious survey data
based on poorly worded questions or biased samples. Becoming an
informed consumer of public opinion research can help you assess the
value and validity of the data you encounter.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
The first questions you should ask when evaluating poll results are: “who
conducted the poll?” and “who paid for it?” The biases of a poll’s sponsors
can be reflected in its design — skewing results. Next, you should ask,
“who was polled?” Public opinion research seeks to understand the
opinion of an entire group by asking questions of a scientifically
constructed sample of the group. Critical to understanding any poll data is,
knowing what group was sampled. Are the opinions reported those of all
adults, all parents or just those with school-age children? To be statistically
valid, the sample itself must be randomly selected and of adequate size. In
general, the larger the size of the sample, the smaller the margin of error.
The margin of error should be 5% or less.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
You should also examine the wording of the questions and the timing of
the survey. Were the questions worded in a bias or leading manner?
Certain words or sentence structures could improperly suggest the
pollster‘s preferred answer. The poll’s results can also be affected by the
order in which questions are asked and the order in which choices are
presented. Did the survey solicit an opinion on a particular topic soon after
the occurrence of a related event? An example would be conducting a
survey on air safety a week after a major air disaster. The results might
reveal more about the public’s emotional response to the disaster than
about their long-term beliefs regarding the dangers of flying.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
G.
Good public opinion research can be invaluable to assessing the opinions
and preferences of the public. Poor public opinion research can mislead
users and severely reduce the public’s confidence in the survey process.
Any- one who plans to rely on poll results — businessmen, advocates,
journalists, consumers, or members of the general public, for instance —
needs to be able to tell the difference to help them determine how much
weight any given poll research should be given.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 34-35
In which TWO paragraphs in Reading Passage 3 does the writer give
advice directly to the reader?
Write the TWO appropriate letter, A –G, in boxes 34 and 35 on your
answer sheet.
Questions 36-39
Do the following statements reflect the opinions of the writer in Reading
Passage 3?
YES if the statement reflects the opinion of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the opinion of the writer
36. Politicians and governments are the biggest users of public opinion
research.
37. Conducting an opinion survey on the safety of air travel soon after a
major airplane disaster should yield more meaningful and reliable results.
38. A reliable survey should have a margin of error no less than 5%.
39. Price competition usually ensures the adoption of high quality survey
standards.
Question 40
Choose the appropriate letter, A – D, and write it in box 40 on your
answer sheet.
Which of the following statements best describes the writer‘s main
purpose in Reading Passage 3?
A. to advise survey participants about the pitfalls of public opinion
research
B. to encourage survey and poll users to beware of validity issues
C. to explain the theory behind public opinion research
D. to criticize those who conduct and use public opinion research
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - V”
Reading Passage 1
Reading Passage 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14,
which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
TEA TIMES
A.
The chances are that you have already drunk a cup or glass of tea today.
Perhaps, you are sipping one as you read this. Tea, now an everyday
beverage in many parts of the world, has over the centuries been an
important part of rituals of hospitality both in the home and in wider
society.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
B.
Tea originated in China, and in Eastern Asia tea making and drinking
ceremonies have been popular for centuries, Tea was first shipped to North
Western Europe by English and Dutch maritime traders in the sixteenth
century. At about the same time, a land route from the Far East, via
Moscow, to Europe was opened up. Tea also figured in America’s bid for
independence from British rule-the Boston Tea Party.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
C.
As, over the last four hundred years, tea-leaves became available
throughout much of Asia and Europe, the ways in which tea was drunk
changed. The Chinese considered the quality of the leaves and the ways in
which they were cured all important. People in other cultures added new
ingredients besides tea-leaves and hot water. They drank tea with milk,
sugar, spices like cinnamon and cardamom, and herbs such as mint or
sage. The variations are endless. For example, in Western Sudan on the
edge oi the Sahara Desert, sesame oil is added to milky tea on cold
mornings. In England tea, unlike coffee, acquired a reputation as a
therapeutic drink that promoted health. Indeed, in European and Arab
countries as well as in Persia and Russia, tea was praised for its restorative
and health giving properties. One Dutch physician, Cornelius Blankaart,
advised that to maintain health a minimum of eight to ten cups a day
should be drunk, and that up to 50 to 100 daily cups could be consumed
with safety.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
D.
While European coffee houses were frequented by men discussing politics
and closing business deals, respectable middle-class women stayed at
home and held tea parties. When the price of tea fell in the nineteenth
century poor people took up the drink with enthusiasm, Different grades
and blends of tea were sold to suit every pocket.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
E.
Throughout the world today, few religious groups object to tea drinking. In
Islamic cultures, where drinking of alcohol is forbidden, tea and coffee
consumption is an important part of social life. However, Seventh-Day
Adventists, recognising the beverage as a drug containing the stimulant
caffeine, frown upon the drinking of tea.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
F.
Nomadic Bedouin are well known tor traditions of hospitality in the desert.
According to Middle Eastern tradition, guests are sewed both tea and
coffee from pots kept ready on the tires of guest tents where men of the
family and male visitors gather. Cups of ‘bitter’ cardamom coffee and
glasses of sugared tea should be constantly refilled by the host.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
G.
For over a thousand years, Arab traders have been bringing Islamic
culture, including tea drinking, to northern and western Africa. Techniques
of tea preparation and the ceremonial involved have been adapted. In West
African countries, such as Senegal and The Gambia, it is fashionable tor
young men to gather in small groups to brew Chinese ‘gunpowder’ tea.
The tea is boiled with large amounts of sugar for a long time.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
H.
Tea drinking in India remains an important part of daily life. There, tea
made entirely with milk is popular. ‘Chai’ is made by boiling milk and
adding tea, sugar and some spices. This form or tea making has crossed the
Indian Ocean and is also popular in East Africa, Where tea is considered
best when it is either very milky or made with water only. Curiously, this
‘milk or water’ formula has been carried over to the preparation of instant
coffee, which is served in cafes as either black, or sprinkled on a cup or
hot milk.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
I.
In Britain, coffee drinking, particularly in the informal atmosphere of
coffee shops, is currently in vogue. Yet, the convention of afternoon tea
lingers. At conferences, it remains common practice to serve coffee in the
morning and tea in the afternoon. Contemporary China, too, remains true
to its long tradition. Delegates at conferences and seminars are served tea
in cups with lids to keep the infusion hot. The cups are topped up
throughout the proceedings. There are as yet no signs of coffee at such
occasions.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Questions 1-8
Reading Passage 1 has 9 paragraphs (A-I).
Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the List of
headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-xiii) in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
One of the headings has been done for you as an example.
NB: There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all
of them.
1. Paragraph A
Paragraph “A.”
2. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
3. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
4. Paragraph D
Paragraph “D.”
5. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
6. Paragraph G
Paragraph “G.”
7. Paragraph H
Paragraph “H.”
8. Paragraph I
Paragraph “I.”
Example Answer
Paragraph F xiii
List of headings
i. Diverse drinking methods
ii. Limited objections to drinking tea.
iii. Today’s continuing tradition - in Britain and China
iv. Tea — a beverage of hospitality
v. An important addition — tea with milk
vi. Tea and alcohol
vii. The everyday beverage in all pans of the world
viii. Tea on the move ix African tea
x. The fall in the cost of tea
xi. The value of tea
xii. Tea-drinking in Africa
xiii. Hospitality among the Bedouin
Questions 9-14
Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS
from the passage to complete each blank space.
9. For centuries, both at home and in society, tea has had an important role
in ..........................
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.” “G.” “H.” “I.”
10. Falling tea prices in the nineteenth century meant that people could
choose the ......................... of tea they could afford.
11. Because it .......................... Seventh-Day Adventists do not approve of
the drinking of tea.
12. In the desert, one group that is well known for its traditions of
hospitality is the ...........................
13. In India, ....................... as well as tea, are added to boiling milk to
make ‘chai’.
14. In Britain, while coffee is in fashion, afternoon tea is still a
.................................
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
Tyes and Greens
A.
There are a number of settlements in this part of East Anglia with names
containing the word ‘lye’. The word is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and the
Oxford English Dictionary quotes the earliest usage of the term as dating
from 832. Essentially a ‘tye’ was a green, or a small area of open common
land, usually sited away from the main village or settlement, perhaps at the
junction of two or more routes. Local people and passing travellers had the
right to pasture their horses, pigs and other farm animals on the tye. In the
Pebmarsh area there seem to have been five or six of these tyes, all, except
one, at the margins of the parish. These marginal clearings are all away
from the richer farming land close to the river, and, in the case of Cooks
Green, Hayles Tye, and Dorking Tye, close to the edge of still existing
fragments of ancient woodland. It seems likely then that, here, as
elsewhere in East Anglia, medieval freemen were allowed to clear a small
part of the forest and create a smallholding. Such unproductive forest land
would, in any case, have been unattractive to the wealthy baronial or
monastic landowners. Most of the land around Pebmarsh village belonged
to Earls Colne Priory, a wealthy monastery about 10 kilometres to the
south, and it may be that by the 13th and 14th centuries the tyes were
maintained by tenant farmers paying rent to the Priory.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27. 28 29
B.
Hayles Tye seems to have got its name from a certain John Hayle who is
documented in the 1380s, although there are records pointing to
occupation of the site at a much earlier date. The name was still in use in
1500, and crops up again throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, usually
in relation to the payment of taxes or tithes. At some point during the 18th
century the name is changed to File’s Green, though no trace of an owner
called File has been found. Also in the 18th century the original dwellings
on the site disappeared. Much of this region was economically depressed
during this period and the land and its dwellings may simply have been
abandoned. Several farms were abandoned in the neighbouring village of
Alphamstone, and the population dwindled so much that there was no
money to support the fabric of the village church, which became very
dilapidated. However, another possibility is that the buildings at File’s
Green burnt down, fires being not infrequent at this time.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27. 28 29
C.
By 1817 the land was in the ownership of Charles Townsend of Ferriers
Farm, and in 1821 he built two brick cottages on the site, each cottage
occupied by two families of agricultural labourers. The structure of these
cottages was very simple, just a two-storey rectangle divided in the centre
by a large common chimney piece. Each dwelling had its own fireplace,
but the two families seem to have shared a brick bread—oven which jutted
out from the rear of the cottage. The outer wall of the bread-oven is still
visible on the remaining cottage. The fireplaces themselves and the
chimney structure appear to be older than the 1821 cottages and may have
survived from the earlier dwellings. All traces of the common land had
long disappeared, and the two cottages stood on a small plot of less than an
acre where the labourers would have been able to grow a few vegetables
and keep a few chickens or a pig. The bulk of their time was spent working
at Ferriers farm.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27. 28 29
D.
Both cottages are clearly marked on maps of 1874, but by the end of the
century one of them had gone. Again, the last years of the 19th century
were a period of agricultural depression, and a number of smaller farms in
the area were abandoned. Traces of one, Mosse’s Farm, still partly
encircled by a very overgrown moat, may be seen less than a kilometre
from File’s Green. It seems likely that, as the need for agricultural labour
declined, one of the cottages fell into disuse, decayed and was eventually
pulled down. Occasional fragments of rubble and brick still surface in the
garden of the remaining cottage. In 1933, this cottage was sold to the
manager of the newly-opened gravel works to the north-west of Pebmarsh
village. He converted these two dwellings into one. This, then, is the only
remaining habitation on the site, and is called File’s Green Cottage.
Questions 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27. 28 29
Questions 15-18
Choose the appropriate letters A—D and write them in Boxes 15-18 on
your answer sheet.
15. A tye was...
A. a green
B. a large open area
C. common land with trees
D. found at the junction of two or more routes
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.”
16. The Pebmarsh area.......
A. probably had seven tyes
B. probably had six tyes
C. appears to have had five or six tyes
D. was not in East Anglia
17. The tyes in the Pebmarsh area were.....
A. near the fiver
B. used by medieval freemen
C. mostly at the margins of the parish
D. owned by Earls Colne Priory
18. According to the writer, wealthy landowners.......
A. did not find the sight of forest land attractive
B. found the sight of forest land attractive
C. were attracted by the sight of forest land
D. considered forest land unproductive
Questions 19-29
Complete the text below, which is a summary of paragraphs 3 — 6 in
Reading Passage 2.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage to fill each blank
space.
Write your answers in Boxes 19 - 29 on your answer sheet.
1380s John Hayle, who is .................19...................... apparently gave
his name to Hayles Tye.
1520s The name of Hayles Tye was still........20..........
..........21........again in the following two centuries to taxes.
18th Hayles tye was renamed .......22..........the original dwellings may
century either have disappeared, or were .....................23.............
1817 The land was..........24..........by Charles Townsend.
1821 Charles Townsend built.......25.......cottages on the site.
.........26........inhabited by two families, but by the end of the
nineteenth century only one cottage ..................27....................
1933 The cottage, now called File’s Green Cottage, was bought by the
local........28......... manager who converted the cottage
into.......29........
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
Haydn’s late quartets
A.
By the time he came to write the String Quartets published as Opus 76 and
Opus 77, Haydn was undoubtedly the most famous living composer in the
whole of Europe. He had recently returned from the highly successful
second visit to England, for which he had composed his last six
symphonies, culminating in the brilliant and festive Drum Roll Symphony
(No. 103) and London Symphony (No. 104). This is public music, full of
high spirits, expansive gestures and orchestral surprises. Haydn knew how
to please his audience. And in 1796, following his return to Vienna, he
began work on his largest and most famous choral work, the oratorio, ‘The
Creation’. In the succeeding years, till 1802, he was to write a series of
other large scale religious choral works, including several masses. The
oratorios and masses were also public works, employing large forces for
dramatic effect, but warm and full of apparently spontaneous religious
feeling. Yet at the same time he composed these 8 quartets, in terms of
technical mastery and sheer musical invention the equal of the symphonies
and choral works, but in their mood and emotional impact far removed, by
turns introspective and detached, or full of passionate intensity.
Questions 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
Once again, as in the early 1770s when he appears to have been going
through some kind of spiritual crisis, Haydn returned to the String Quartet
as a means to accomplish a twofold aim: firstly to innovate musically in a
genre free from public performance requirements or religious convention;
secondly to express personal V emotions or philosophy in a musical form
that is intimate yet capable of great subtlety and complexity of meaning.
The result is a series of quartets of astonishing structural, melodic,
rhythmic and harmonic variety, inhabiting a shifting emotional world,
where tension underlies surface brilliance and calm gives way to unease.
Questions 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C
The six quartets of Opus 76 differ widely in character. The opening
movement of No. 2 is tense and dramatic, while that of No 4 begins with
the soaring long-breathed melody that has earned it the nickname of ‘The
Sunrise’. The minuets too have moved a long way from the stately court
dance of the mid-eighteenth century. The so-called ‘Witches Minuet’ of
No. 2 is a strident canon, that of No. 6 is a fast one-in-a-bar movement
anticipating the scherzos of Beethoven, while at the heart of No. 5 is a
contrasting trio section which, far from being the customary relaxed
variant of the surrounding minuet, flings itself into frenetic action and is
gone. The finales are full of the energy and grace we associate with
Haydn, but with far less conscious humour and more detachment than in
earlier quartets. < l i l But it is in the slow movements that Haydn is most
innovative and most unsettling. In No. 1 the cello and the first violin
embark on a series of brusque dialogues. No.4 is a meditation based on the
hushed opening chords. The slow movements of No.5 and No.6 are much
looser in structure, the cello and viola setting off on solitary episodes of
melodic and harmonic uncertainty. But there the similarity ends, for While
No.5 is enigmatic, and predominantly dark in tone, the overlapping
textures of its sister are full of light- filled intensity.
Questions 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
The Opus 76 quartets were published in 1799, when Haydn was well over
60 years old. Almost immediately he was commissioned to write another
set by Prince Lobkowitz, a wealthy patron, who was later to become an
important figure in Beethoven’s life. Two quartets only were completed
and published as Opus 77 Nos 1 & 2 in 1802. But these are not the works
of an old man whose powers are fading, or who simply consolidates
ground already covered. Once again Haydn innovates. The opening
movement of Opus 77 No.2 is as structurally complex and emotionally
unsettling as anything he ever wrote, alternating between a laconic
opening theme and a tense and threatening counter theme which comes to
dominate the whole movement. Both quartets have fast scherzo-like
‘minuets’. The slow movement of No.1 is in traditional variation form but
stretches the form to the limit in order to accommodate widely contrasting
textures and moods. The finale of No.2 is swept along by a seemingly
inexhaustible stream of energy and inventiveness.
Questions 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
In fact, Haydn began a third quartet in this set, but never finished it, and
the two completed movements were published in 1806 as Opus 103, his
last published work. He was over 70, and clearly lacked the strength to
continue composition. The two existing movements are a slow movement
followed by a minuet. The Slow movement has a quiet warmth, but it is
the minuet that is remarkable. It is in true dance time, unlike the fast quasi-
scherzos of the earlier quartets. But what a dance! In a sombre D minor
Haydn unfolds an angular, ruthless little dance of death. The central trio
section holds out a moment of consolation, and then the dance returns,
sweeping on relentlessly to the final sudden up rush of sound. And then,
after more than 40 years of composition the master falls silent.
Questions 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 30-32
answer sheet.
30. Which one of the following statements is true?
A. Haydn wrote the London Symphony in England
B. We do not know where Haydn wrote the London Symphony
C. Haydn wrote the London Symphony in Vienna
D. Haydn wrote the Drum Roll Symphony in England
Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C” “D.” “E.”
31. Like symphonies 103 and 104, the oratorios and masses were....
A. written in the eighteenth century
B. for the public
C. as emotional as the quartets
D. full of religious feeling
32. The string quartets in Opus 76 and Opus 77 were......
A. the cause of a spiritual crisis
B. intimate yet capable
C. calm unease
D. diverse
Questions 33-37
Complete the text below, which is a summary of paragraphs 3 and 4 in
Reading Passage 3.
Choose your answer; from the Word List below and write them in Boxes
There are more words and phrases than spaces, so you will not be able to
use them all. You may use each word or phrase only once.
For example, the opening of ‘The Sunrise’ is not nearly as
................33................... as that of No.2. ...................34................ those of
the mid-eighteenth century, the minuets are more frenetic and less relaxed.
It is in the slow movements, however, that Haydn tried something very
different. In contrast to No.4, No.1 is much ...............35......................
brusque, the former being much ..............36
.......... . .................37.............., Nos. 5 and 6 are alike in some respects.
Word List
wide less different
more long-breathed unlike
similarly subdued tense
like conversely quieter
Questions 38-40
Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage
3? In Boxes 38-40, write:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
Not Given if there is no information about the statement in the passage
38. Before the Opus 76 quartets were published, Haydn had been
commissioned to write more.
39. The writer says that Opus 103 was Haydn’s last published work.
40. The writer admires Haydn for the diversity of the music he composed.
Answer Key
Answer Key
“lELTS READING TEST - VI”

ReadingPassage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 13, which are based
SHOULD I BE AFRAID OF THIS SPIDER?
A.
Many people are deathly afraid of handling a spider because they fear it
may be poisonous. Although almost all spiders are capable of producing
venom, very few species produce harmful bites, and even fewer cause
death. Compared to other venomous creatures, spiders rank low on the
fatality scale. During a typical year in the U.S., twelve deaths were caused
by bees, ten by wasps, fourteen by snakes, and only six by spiders.
Learning a little about the spiders that are dangerous might help overcome
a spider-phobia. In the U.S., there are three kinds of spiders which are
considered dangerous. They are the Black Widow, the Brown Recluse and
the Aggressive House spider. The Black Widow is a small to medium
sized spider, easily recognized by its glossy coal-black colour and the
reddish hourglass marking on the underside of its globe- shaped abdomen.
In the northern species, the hourglass may appear incomplete or split into
two triangles. The female‘s body is about half an inch in length, and with
her slender legs extended, about an inch and a half. She has eight relatively
large eyes arranged in two rows of four. The web she constructs is
irregular, tangled, and cris-crossed. Invariably, she builds it outside the
house in protected places, like under large rocks or logs, or in holes of dirt
embankments, barns, outhouses, and other outbuildings.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
B.
The Widow spider gets its name from the fact that the female frequently
eats her male partner after mating, thus making herself a “widow”. Despite
its reputation, Black Widows are very timid and are not known to
aggressively bite humans unless they are guarding an egg mass or are
cornered and pressed. However, the bite of a Widow contains a neurotoxin
that interferes with muscle control. The bite causes a lot of pain in the
abdomen and limbs and it can result in breathing difficulties and paralysis.
In the rare event that death occurs, it is usually by suffocation. The Brown
Recluse is a small spider with two unique characteristics. The first is a
dark fiddle or violin-shaped marking on its thorax (the part to which the
legs are attached). The second is its six eyes arranged in three pairs that
form a semi- circle (most spiders have eight eyes). Its slim light brown to
yellow body measures about three eighths of an inch long, and with its
slender legs extended, it measures more than an inch. It doesn’t always
spin a web, but when it does, the web is irregular in shape and can usually
be found under logs, stones, or piles of lumber. It is not uncommon for a
Recluse to live inside a house in the dark corners of a trunk, among piles
of stored clothing, or inside a garage or basement storage area.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
C.
The Brown Recluse is a shy spider and searches for its insect prey
primarily at night. People typically are bitten accidentally while putting on
clothes in which the spider is hiding or by rolling onto them while in bed.
The physical bite of the Brown Recluse is fairly painless with maybe only
a slight stinging sensation being felt. People often do not know when the
actual bite occurred. The symptoms from the venom appear about six to
eight hours after the bite. The first symptom is a pimple-sized swelling at
the bite site. About 12-24 hours after being bitten one may feel malaise,
chills, fever and nausea. The bite usually produces a necrotic (death of
tissue) condition followed by deep scaring, which often requires skin
grafts. The poison also destroys red blood cells and may cause death by
liver and/or kidney failure. The Aggressive House spider, nick-named the
“Hobo spider“, is a medium sized, long-legged, swift running member of
the funnel web spider family. The brown abdomen has a distinctive
yellowish chevron pattern. The legs are a uniform brown without the
darker brown bands that other non-poisonous funnel web spiders have.
Adult Hobo spiders are approximately a half to five eighths of an inch in
size. The male spider has pedipalps between the front legs, which are
swollen and are often referred to as “boxing gloves“. These spiders build
funnel shaped webs in corners of homes as well as on stairs. In the yard,
the webs are usually attached to anything that remains stationary near the
ground level. Its web is non-sticky by spider standards and serves more as
a trip web. Thus, the Hobo spider must pounce upon its prey to capture it
before it can get away. This may explain its aggressive nature.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
D.
Experts call it the Aggressive House spider because it bites with little
provocation when cornered or threatened. Fortunately, the bite is relatively
painless, and often times the victim does not even realize that he has been
bit. 50% are “dry” bites that do not inject venom. If venom is injected, an
immediate redness will develop around the bite; later, it will blister in the
centre. Within 24 to 36 hours, the blister breaks open, leaving an open,
oozing ulceration. This ulceration ‘scabs’ over within three weeks from the
initial bite, leaving a permanent scar. In addition to the tissue damage,
other symptoms such as headaches, nausea, sweating, and joint pain may
be experienced after the bite. In extreme cases, skin graft, amputation, and
the possibility of bone marrow failure may occur. On the positive side, the
Widow, the Recluse and the Aggressive House spider, can be helpful
creatures. They consume enormous numbers of harmful insects. The
Widow, in particular, eats troublesome flies and mosquitoes (which carry
diseases), locusts, and grasshoppers (which destroy grain crops) and
beetles and caterpillars (which defoliate plants and trees). Keeping debris
and woodpiles away from living quarters will aid in limiting their food
sources and thus decrease the chances of having contact with them.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Questions 1-5
Passage 1?
YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
1. The bite of the Brown Recluse spider is relatively painless.
2. The Black Widow’s venom is more dangerous than that of the Brown
Recluse spider.
3. Dangerous spiders cause more deaths in the U.S. than other venomous
creatures.
4. The Hobo spider is timid compared to the female Black Widow spider.
5. Dangerous spiders serve useful purposes.
Questions 6-8
Look at the drawings of the different spiders below, A-F1 In Questions 6-8,
match the name of each spider with one of the drawings.
Write the appropriate letter, A-F, in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
Example Answer
The “woIf spider” F

6. The Hobo
7. The Brown Recluse
8. The female Black Widow
Questions 9-13
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS
OR A NUMBER from Reading Passage 1 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9 – 13 on your answer sheet.
Species Number of Body-only Body Usual Shape of
eyes length Colour Behaviour web
Recluse ....9..... 3/8in. Brown to shy Irregular
Brown Yellow
Black Eight .....10...... ......11...... Timid Tangled
Widow
Hobo Eight ½ - 5/8 in. Brown ....12... .....13....
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphss, A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphss A-C and E—F from
the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate number, i—ix, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet
them all.
List of Headings
i. An energy alternative but a matter of choice
ii. Promising but stifled by safely issues
iii. Our present sources of energy
iv. An impending shortage on the horizon
v. A profile of energy use in the U.S.
vi. The side effects of industrialisation
vii. Shale oil and Tar sands, a limitless source
viii. Detrimental effects limit its growth
ix. A cleaner medium-term solution
Example Answer
Paragraph D ii
14. Paragraph A
Paragraph “A.”
15. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
16. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
17. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
18. Paragraph F
Paragraph “F.”
A.
Oil accounts for approximately 40% of the world’s primary energy
consumption. Coal contributes 23%. Natural gas provides 22%. Nuclear
energy and hydroelectric facilities add about 7% each. Biomass,
geothermal, solar and wind energy together kick in only 1%. Despite the
low world oil prices that have prevailed since 1986 and the absence of any
apparent sign of shortage, concern over disruption and depletion of non-
renewable energy reserves has continued to be a major concern in
industrialized countries. Ongoing issues include: How much longer can we
heavily rely upon oil before we run out? What sources of energy can we
rely on in the future and at what cost, financially and environmentally? Let
us examine the current status of our main energy sources.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
B.
Experts predict that a permanent worldwide oil shortage will begin in the
year 2010, after which date production from the world’s oil fields will
steadily decline. They also say that by the year 2040, all active and
recoverable crude oil reserves will have been depleted. No doubt, there
are alternative sources of petroleum. Some of these sources are hundreds
of times more abundant than existing crude oil reserves, e.g., shale oil and
tar sands. However, the high cost of recovering and converting these
resources into usable petroleum products remains a major stumbling block
to its commercial use. in the future, we may have no choice but to tap into
these resources, but the cost may be higher than most people want to bear.
With regard to the environment impact, the use of oil continues to result in
disastrous ocean oil spills by oil transport tankers, contaminated ground
water and polluted air. In addition, burning this type of fuel releases stored
carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere, which is a major cause of
global warming.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
C.
Experts say we have enough coal reserves to last another 200 years.
Despite coal’s relative cheapness and huge reserves, its growth in use has
been limited by its detrimental effect on humans and the environment.
Underground mining causes black lung disease in miners, sinking of land
over mines, and drainage of acid into underground water supplies. Surface
mining scars the land and renders it unproductive for planting. In addition,
the burning of coal causes emission of sulphur dioxide particles, nitrogen
oxide, and other impurities. Millions of people who depend on coal for
indoor cooking and heating suffer bronchitis and respiratory illnesses,
including lung cancer. In additional to severely polluting the air, coal
burning causes highly acidic rainfall that is damaging to lakes and forests.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
D.
Nuclear power does not contribute to air pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions. However, mining uranium ore is hazardous to human health.
Moreover, splitting the atom to boil water is like using a chainsaw to cut
butter. The process creates tons of waste, i.e., radioactive waste that
remains highly lethal to all life forms for thousands of years. The safe
storage and transport of nuclear fuel waste have proven to be a serious
obstacle to the industry and add significantly to the financial, social, and
environmental cost of producing electricity with atomic energy. Another
stifling factor has been the technical engineering difficulties and
unexpected equipment and system failures, such as the ones that caused
the radioactive accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. The public’s
fear of the lethal radioactivity released in nuclear accidents is well
founded. Health officials estimate that at least 4,365 people who took pan
in the Chernobyl cleanup have died. Other factors that have crushed the
expected rapid growth of nuclear energy are increasing regulatory
demands, construction cost overruns, court challenges, and resistance by
well-organized antinuclear activists. Many countries are now abandoning
their nuclear programs, instead shifting to natural gas and renewable
energy sources.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
E.
Natural gas is not as convenient, safe or flexible as crude oil. It is also
more expensive to recover, transport and store. Existing gasoline engines,
such as car engines, are not capable of using natural gas. Nevertheless, it is
being widely touted by energy providers as an abundant, clean fuel for the
21st century. However, this resource, like other fossil fuels, is non-
renewable. Experts estimate that the world’s natural gas reserves will last
only about 65 years. Thus, some say that it is not a viable solution to the
long-term energy crisis. One of the greatest advantages of natural gas is
that it contains less sulphur, and therefore burns far cleaner than oil and
coal. However, it still emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
F.
Many people have come to recognize that increased energy efficiency
could help the world energy balance in the short and middle term, and that
productive conservation should be considered as no less an energy
alternative than the energy sources that have been described. A number of
obstacles stand in the way, however. One major roadblock is its highly
fragmented and unglamorous character; it requires hundreds of millions of
people to do mundane things such as turn off lights and keep tires properly
inflated. Another barrier has been the price. Low energy prices make it
difficult to convince people to invest time in energy efficiency.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Questions 19-22
Complete the table below using the information in paragraphs B – E of
Reading passage 2.
Choose your answers from the box below the table and write them in boxes
Energy activity Detrimental effect on humans or the environment
....19..... Black lung disease
.....20.... Ocean pollution
.....21.... Long-term lethal waste products
.....22.... Greenhouse gasses
A. Burning natural gas
B. Mining for Coal
C. Processing natural gas
D. Burning oil-based fuels
E. Generating nuclear energy
F. Transporting oil via tankers
G. Indoor use of coal for cooking or heating
Questions 23-27
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write them in boxes 23-27 on your
answer sheet.
23. According to the text, one of the greatest benefits of using natural gas
is that
A. it has been widely touted as the fuel of the 21“ century.
B. it burns cleaner than oil and coal.
C. worldwide reserves will last us 65 years.
D. it is more flexible and easier to transport than coal.
24. According to the text, energy conservation may be difficult for some
people because
A. low energy prices do not motivate energy efficiency.
B. conserving energy is expensive and very time consuming.
C. many lack the knowledge of how to be energy efficient.
D. of all of the above reasons.
25. According to the text, “acidic rainfall” is caused by
A. processing crude oil into petroleum-based products.
B. mining coal above the ground.
C. radioactive incidents like Chemobyl and Three Mile island.
D. coal burning.
26. According to the text, the production of nuclear energy
A. accounts for about 3.5% of the world‘s energy consumption.
B. is cleaner than any other type of conventional energy source.
C. has been held back by engineering difficulties and equipment and
system failures.
D. has caused 4,365 deaths worldwide.
27. With regard to shale oil and tar sands as a future energy source, the
writer believes that
A. it is a better source of energy than coal.
B. it will not be viable due to the high cost of transport and storage.
C. people might not be willing to bear the expense.
D. it will produce cleaner burning fuels than crude oil.
Question 28
From the list below choose the most suitable title for Reading passage 2.
Write the appropriate letter, A—E, in box 28 of your answer sheet.
A. A comprehensive look at energy sources around the globe
B. Imminent energy depletion crises in the industrialized nations
C. Environmental pollution and its main sources
D. Concern over oil reserves and the potential of other energy sources
E. Fossil fuels: Energy source for the 21st century?
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
FAMILY SOCIOLOGY
The basic family structures
A.
The structure of the family, and the needs that the family fulfils vary from
society to society. The nuclear family—two adults and their children—is
the main family unit in most Western societies. In others, especially in
Asian societies, it is a subordinate part of an extended family unit, which
also consists of grandparents and other relatives. A third type of family
unit, which is becoming more prevalent, is the single-parent family, in
which children live with an unmarried, divorced, or widowed mother or
father.
History and evolution of the family unit
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
The family unit began primarily as an economic unit; men hunted, while
women gathered and prepared food and tended children. Infanticide and
expulsion of the infirm who could not work were common. Later, with the
advent of Christianity, marriage and childbearing became central concerns
in religious teaching. However, after the Reformation, which began in the
1500s, the purely religious nature of family ties was partly abandoned in
favour of civil bonds. Today, most western nations now recognize the
family relationship as primarily a civil matter rather than a religious one.
The modern family
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
The modern family differs from earlier traditional forms, primarily in its
functions, composition, and life cycle and in the roles of husbands and
wives. Many of the functions that were once performed by or within the
traditional family unit are now performed by or within community
institutions, e.g., economic production (work), education, and recreation.
In the modern family, members now work in different occupations and in
locations away from the home. Education is provided by the state or by
private groups. Organized recreational activities often take place outside
the home. The family is still responsible for the socialization of children.
Even in this capacity, however, the influence of peers and of the mass
media has assumed a larger role.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
Family composition in industrial societies has also changed dramatically.
The average number of children born to a woman in the United States, for
example, fell from 7.0 in 1800 to 2.0 by the early 1990s. Consequently, the
number of years separating the births of the youngest and oldest children
has declined. This has occurred in conjunction with increased longevity. In
earlier times, marriage normally dissolved through the death of a spouse
before the youngest child left home. Today husbands and wives potentially
have about as many years together after the children leave home as before.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
During the 20th century, extended family households declined in
prevalence. This change is associated particularly with increased
residential mobility and with diminished financial responsibility of
children for aging parents, as pensions from jobs and government-
sponsored benefits for retired people became more common. By the 1970s,
the prototypical nuclear family had yielded somewhat to modified
structures including the one-parent family, the stepfamily, and the
childless family. One-parent families in the past were usually the result of
the death of a spouse. Now, however, most one-parent families are the
result of divorce, although some are created when unmarried mothers bear
children. In 1991, more than one out of four children lived with only one
parent, usually the mother. Most one-parent families, however, eventually
became two-parent families through remarriage.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
A stepfamily is created by a new marriage of a single parent. It may
consist of a parent and children and a childless spouse, a parent and
children and a spouse whose children live elsewhere, or two joined one-
parent families. In a stepfamily, problems in relations between non-
biological parents and children may generate tension; the difficulties can
be especially great in the marriage of single parents when the children of
both parents live with them as siblings.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
G.
Childless families may be increasingly the result of deliberate choice and
the availability of birth control. For many years, the proportion of couples
that were childless declined steadily as venereal and other diseases that
cause infertility were conquered. In the 1970s, however, the changes in the
status of women reversed this trend. Couples often elect to have no
children or to postpone having them until their careers are well established.
Since the 1960s, several variations on the family unit have emerged. More
unmarried couples are living together, before or instead of marrying. Some
elderly couples, most often widowed, are finding it more economically
practical to co- habit without marrying.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
World trends
H.
All industrial nations are experiencing family trends similar to those found
in the United States. The problem of unwed mothers—especially very
young ones and those who are unable to support themselves—and their
children is an international one, although improved methods of birth
control and legalized abortion have slowed the trend somewhat. Divorce is
increasing even where religious and legal impediments to it are strongest.
Unchecked population growth in developing nations threatens the family
system. The number of surviving children in a family has rapidly increased
as infectious diseases, famine, and other causes of child mortality have
been reduced. Because families often cannot support so many children, the
reduction in infant mortality has posed a challenge to the nuclear family
and to the resources of developing nations.
Questions 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 29-35
Do the following statements reflect the views of the writer in Reading
Passage 3?
YES if the statement reflects the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
29. Due to changes in function, the modern family is weaker than earlier
traditional forms.
30. Some elderly couples prefer living together without marriage because
it is more practical.
31. Peer influence and mass media have assumed a larger role in the
socialization of children.
32. During the 20th century, extended family households became more
common.
33. Presently, most western countries view the family relationship as
essentially a civil matter.
34. The family unit first began as a product of religious teaching.
35. Divorce is slowly decreasing, especially where religious and legal
impediments are strongest.
Questions 36-39
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from Reading Passage 3 for each answer.
36. Childless families maybe increasingly the result of deliberate choice
and the availability of......
37. Unchecked population growth in developing nations threatens the......
38. Now, most one-parent families are the result of......
39. The main family unit in most western societies is the....
Question 40
Choose the appropriate letter, A-D, and write it in box 40 on your answer
sheet.
This text is most probably taken from
A. an encyclopaedia article that provides basic facts about the subject.
B. a critical study of the positive and negative aspects of the evolving
family unit
C. a newspaper editorial about one person’s view of family sociology.
D. a guidebook for people wanting to start their own family.
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - VII”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 -13 which are based on
William Gilbert and Magnetism
A.
The accredited father of the science of electricity and magnetism was the
English scientist, William Gilbert, who was a physician and man of
learning at the court of Elizabeth. Prior to him, all that was known of
electricity and magnetism was what the ancients knew, that the lodestone
possessed magnetic properties and that amber and jet, when rubbed, would
attract bits of paper or other substances of small specific gravity. William
Gilberts great treatise De Magnete, Magneticisique Corporibus or On the
Magnet, printed in Latin, in 1600, containing the fruits of his researches
and experiments for many years, indeed provided the basis for a new -
science. William Gilbert was born in Colchester, Suffolk, on May 24,
1544. He studied medicine at St. Johns College, Cambridge, graduating in
1573. He was prominent in the College of! Physicians and became its
president in 1599. The following year he was appointed physician to
Queen Elizabeth I, and a few months before his death on Dec. 10, 1603,
physician to James I.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
B.
The ancient Greeks knew about lodestones, strange minerals with the
power to attract iron. Some were found near the city of Magnesia in Asia
Minor (now Turkey), and that city lent its name to all things magnetic. The
early Chinese also knew about lodestones and about iron magnetized by
them. Around the year 1000 they discovered that when a lodestone or an
iron magnet was placed on a float in a bowl of water, it always pointed
south. From this developed the magnetic compass, which quickly spread to
the Arabs and from them to Europe. Britain was a major seafaring nation
in 1588 when the Spanish Armada was defeated, opening the way to
British settlement America. British ships depended on the magnetic
compass, yet no one understood why it worked. Did the pole star attract it,
as Columbus once speculated; or was there a magnetic mountain at the
pole, as described in Odyssey, which ships should never approach, because
the sailors thought its pull would yank out all their iron nails and fittings?
Did the smell of garlic interfere with the action of the compass, which is
why helmsmen were forbidden to eat it near a ship’s compass? For nearly
20 years William Gilbert conducted ingenious experiments to understand
magnetism.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
C.
“William Gilbert was fascinated by magnets,” as Dr. David P. Stern of
NASA notes. Given two magnets, Gilbert knew that; magnetic poles can
attract or repel, depending on polarity. In addition, however, ordinary iron
is always attracted to al magnet. Gilbert guessed, correctly, that near a
permanent magnet iron became a temporary magnet, of a polarity suitable
for attraction. That is, the end of an iron bar stuck to an S pole of a magnet
(south-seeking pole) temporarily becomes an N- pole. Because magnetic
poles always come in matched pairs, the other end of the bar temporarily
becomes an S-pole, and can in its turn attract more iron. Gilbert confirmed
his guess of temporary (“induced”) magnetism by an original experiment.
Using strings, he hung two parallel iron bars above the pole of a terrella, a
model earth he designed for this experiment, and noted that they repelled
each other. Under the influence of the - terrella, each became a temporary
magnet with the same polarities, and the temporary poles of each bar
repelled those of the other one.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
D.
In 1600 Gilbert published De Magnete in Latin. Very quickly it became
the standard work throughout Europe on electrical and magnetic
phenomena. In this work he describes many of his; experiments with his
model earth terrella. From his experiments, he concluded that the Earth
was itself magnetic and that this was the reason A l compasses pointed
north. In his book, he also studied static electricity using amber. Gilbert
strongly argued that electricity and magnetism was not the same thing. For
evidence, he ( incorrectly ) pointed out that electrical attraction
disappeared with heat, magnetic attraction did not. By keeping clarity,
Gilbert’s strong distinction advanced science for nearly 250 years. It took
James Clerk Maxwell to show electromagnetism is, in fact, two sides of
the same coin.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
E.
De Magnets is not only a comprehensive review of what was known w
about the nature of magnetism; Gilbert added much knowledge through his
own experiments. He likened the polarity of the magnet to the polarity of
the Earth and built an entire magnetic philosophy on this analogy. In
Gilbert’s animistic ‘ explanation, magnetism was the soul of the Earth and
a perfectly spherical lodestone, when aligned with the Earth’s poles, would
spin on its axis, just as the Earth spins on its axis in 24 hours. He
speculated that the moon might also be a magnet caused to orbit by its
magnetic attraction to the Earth. This was perhaps the first proposal that a
force might cause a heavenly orbit. Gilbert did not, however, express an
opinion as to whether this rotating Earth was at the centre of the universe
or in orbit around the Sun. In traditional cosmology the Earth was fixed
and it was the sphere of the fixed stars, carrying the other i heavens with it,
which rotated in 24 hours. Since the Copernican cosmology needed a new
physics to undergird it, Copernicans such as Johannes Kepler and Galileo
were very interested in Gilbert’s magnetic researches. Galileo’s efforts to
make a truly powerful armed lodestone for his patrons, probably date from
his reading of Gilbert’s book.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
F.
The first major scientific work produced in England, Gilbert’s De Magnete
reflected a new attitude toward scientific investigation. Until then,
scientific experiments were not in fashion: instead, books relied on quotes
of ancient authorities and that is where the myth about garlic interfering
with the compass started. Unlike most medieval thinkers, Gilbert was
willing to rely on sense experience and his own observations and
experiments rather than the authoritative opinion or deductive philosophy
of others. In the treatise he not only collected and reviewed critically older
knowledge on the behaviour of the magnet and electrified bodies but
described his own researches, which he had been conducting for 17 years.
It was because of this scientific attitude, together with his contribution to
our knowledge of magnetism, that a unit of magneto motive force, also
known as magnetic potential, was named the Gilbert in his honour.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Questions 1 -8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the
Reading Passage.
In boxes 1 -8 on your answer sheet write
1. It was Gilbert who first discovered some substances with magnetic
properties.
2. Arabs invented the magnetic compass in which an iron magnet always
pointed south. .
3. Gilbert explained the phenomenon of the magnetic compass in his book
De Magnete.
4. Gilbert’s mistaken notion about the distinction between electricity and
magnetism held back the development of science.
5. Gilbert speculated that the moon orbited the Earth by magnetic force.
6. Copernicans such as Galileo favoured traditional cosmology which held
that the earth was the centre of the universe.
7. Gilbert’s magnetic theories contradicted traditional cosmology.
8. As a scientist, Gilbert set himself apart by favouring an intuitive
approach and experiments rather than deductive reason.
Questions 9-13
Choose the appropriate letters A—D and write them in boxes 9-13 on your
answer sheet.
9. In the Odyssey, why could ships not approach the mountain at the pole?
A. People believed that they would get lost if garlic hampered the action of
the compass.
B. People believed that the pole star would distract ships away.
C. People believed that the magnetism would wreck the ship.
D. People believed that the magnetic mountain would make the compass
out of work .
10. By contacting two metal bars, one magnetised, the other neutral, he
was able to pass on a charge to the neutral bar. He called this
______________
A. induced magnetism.
B. permanent magnetism.
C. terrella magnetism.
D. polar magnetism.
11. In De Magnete, Gilbert ______________ discussed electricity,
magnetism and heat
A. emphatically
B. scientifically
C. wrongly
D. passionately
12. James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that ______________
A. electricity and magnetism was the same thing.
B. electrical and magnetic attraction disappeared with heat.
C. there was some relationship between electricity and magnetism.
D. electromagnetism has two opposite sides.
13. Gilbert’s De Magnete, a collection of his theories and experiments and
reflections on others’ work is commonly known as ______________
A. an essay.
B. a treatise.
C. a volume.
D. a contribution.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
The History and Evolution of Banana Hybrids
A.
Bananas are the world’s favourite fruit and many nations depend on
banana trees to supply its citizens with this delicious food product to save
them from famines. Bananas are available on markets year round and are
rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, containing only small hollow seed
that are infertile. Ornamental bananas, ‘Musa ensete’ and ‘Musa nana’ are
inedible but in high demand for landscaping.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
B.
India is the world’s largest producer of bananas and Alexander the Great
found them growing there in 327 BC, when he conquered India. Soldiers
of Alexander the Great returned to Greece and Persia with bulbs from
banana plants, ‘Musa accuminata’, where they were distributed and
planted. Antonius Musa, the personal physician of Augustus Caesar,
imported the first banana trees, ‘Musa accuminata’, to Home from Africa
in 63 BC. Later, slaves from Portugal brought bananas to Europe from
Africa in the early 1400s. Even though the banana is believed to have
originated in India (Eastern Asia), it was established in Africa and Europe
as a staple food product many centuries ago and came into North America
through Spanish missionaries.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
C.
Those first bananas that people knew in antiquity were not sweet like the
bananas we know today, but were cooking bananas or plantain bananas
with a starchy taste and composition. The bright yellow bananas that we
know today were discovered as a mutation from the plantain banana by a
Jamaican, Jean Francois Poujot, in the year 1836. He found this hybrid
mutation growing in his banana tree plantation with a sweet flavour and a
yellow colour—instead of green or red, and not requiring cooking like the
plantain banana. The rapid establishment of this new exotic fruit was
welcomed worldwide, and it was massively grown for world markets.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
D.
Each banana comes from a flower maturing into groups of 10-20 bananas
called ‘hands’ that circle the stalk, which collectively is called a ‘bunch’.
The bananas can require one year to mature after flowering in the field,
and then the mother banana plant dies. The plant is restored the following
season by offshoots from the mother plant. An original cluster of banana
trees can grow continuously for 100 years, but are generally replaced in
banana tree plantations after 25 years. Bananas ripen best and develop
more sweetness, if the bunch is removed from the tree, allowing the fruit
to ripen off the tree in a shady place to slowly ripen.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
E.
The banana tree can grow up to 30 feet tall, and the trunk of the tree grows
to a width at the base of over 1 foot. The trunk of the banana plant is made
sheaths and stems with new growth emerging from the centre of the trunk.
The size of bananas can range from a fruit the size of a football to one as
small as a child’s finger. Some bananas taste sweet; some starchy and
some ornamental bananas are loaded with large seeds and are considered
inedible. The colour of ripe bananas can range from green, orange, brown,
yellow, or variegated with white stripes. Bananas are the world’s best
selling fruit, outselling both apples and citrus; each American is estimated
to eat 25 pounds of fruit every year. The ‘Cavendish’ banana is the most
popular banana in the United States and over 400 cuItivars of bananas are
available on world markets. The leaves of banana trees are used as
wrappers for steaming other foods inside, and the banana flower is also
edible.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
F.
Bananas are also the largest exported fruit in the world, registering sales of
12 billion dollars a year for Chiquita and Dole. These bananas are
imported into the United States from companies and plantations growing
banana trees in India, South America and Africa. Many third world
countries depend on the production of bananas to feed them as a major
food staple, where they eat bananas 3 meals a day. Bananas are rich in
sugars such as sucrose, glucose, and fructose, as well as fiber and special
minerals containing potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and iron.
Bananas contain tryptophan, a body protein that is converted to serotonin,
a mood enhancer. They also are high in Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin
B12, and Vitamin C. Doctors claim that eating bananas can cut the risk of
sudden stroke by 40%, as published in the New England Journal of
Medicine.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
G.
Most banana trees available today are grown from ‘mother’ bulbs by
taking offsets that form shoots. Those can be replanted to multiply and
increase a banana tree plantation. These banana sprouts that form at the
base of the ‘ mother’ bulb can be shipped around the world to many
countries, being almost genetically identical to the original banana plant
parent of 10,000 years ago that mutated and stopped making seed and
became the first naturally evolved hybrid. No pollinated sex means no
annoying seeds, which may be good news for hungry consumers but also
means that there is little or no genetic variation—and hence little or no
resistance to the ‘banana’s many natural enemies. Devoid of sex, the poor
cloned banana is a sitting target for any pest.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
H.
Recently, an evil-sounding beast called the Black Sigatoka fungus has
been throwing those livelihoods into jeopardy. Black Sigatoka, along with
the weevils, worms and viruses that also routinely attack bananas, is a
particularly disturbing menace in the tropics, where the cooking banana
and starchy plantain provide up to a quarter of the daily intake of essential
calories. Finding a way of introducing a little spice—and therefore genetic
variety- into the reproductive life of the banana (and its cousin the
plantain) is therefore a pressing problem. That’s why a project to do just
that has now begun. Announced recently, it involves scientists from 11
countries forming a consortium to decode the banana’s genome within the
next five years. As with the human genome project, the information will
reveal much about the genes that make a banana what it is, and more
importantly what it might be with a little extra help. This information and
any resulting advances in genetic modification will be of profound
importance, not just to banana boffins, but to a large proportion of
humanity
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Questions 14—21
Passage 2?
In boxes 14-21 write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.
14. Ornamental bananas are valued as a delicacy.
15. Augustus Caesar brought bananas from Greece to Home via Africa.
16. Third World countries grow bananas as n major food source.
17. After maturing for one year bananas are at their peak.
18. The banana genome project aims at changing the genetic code of
bananas.
19. Bananas are the No. 1 fruit crop in the world in terms of consumption.
20. Without pollinated sex, the cloned banana is vulnerable to pests.
21. Doctors believe that eating bananas can heal some diseases.
Questions 22 -26
Complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use
ONLY ONE WORD.
22. The bright yellow bananas we eat today were a ______________ from
the plantain banana.
23. ______________ is a key factor in curing mood depression.
24. The benefit to cloned fruit is that it has no ______________ .
25. Some ornamental bananas are full of large seeds, making them
______________.
26. The bananas of antiquity required ______________ before eating.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27- 40 which are based
Questions 27-32
Reading Passage 2 has 7 paragraphs A— G.
From the list of headings below choose the 6 most suitable headings for
paragraphs A, B, C, D, E and F.
Write the appropriate numbers (i—x).
NB: There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use
them all.
List of Headings
i. Toys challenging the early conceptions
ii. Parental love never changes
iii. Toy representing Medieval art
iv. The first archaeological evidence
v. Various sources of medieval toys
vi. Development of toy industry and trade
vii. Written evidence of toys
viii. Window to the Middle Ages childhood
ix. Tangible proof of toys
x. Exceptionally rare toys
27. Paragraph A
Paragraph “A.”
28. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
29. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
30. Paragraph D
Paragraph “D.”
31. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
32. Paragraph F
Paragraph “F.”
Medieval Toys and Childhood
A.
The toy knight comes from a rich harvest of archaeological finds, made in
the mud banks of the River Thames in Landon during the last 30 years. It
was manufactured in about 1300, and illustrates several facets of medieval
childhood. Then as now, children liked playing with toys. Then as now,
they had a culture of their own, encompassing slang, toys, and games.
Then as now, adults cared for children and encouraged their play. An adult
made this toy and another adult bought it for a child, or gave child money
to buy it. The toy knight was made from a mould, and produced in large
numbers. It probably circulated among the families of merchants,
shopkeepers, and craft workers, as well as those of the nobility and gentry.
The finds also include toys that girls might have liked: little cups, plates,
and jugs, some sturdy enough to heat up water by a Fireside. There is even
a self-assembly kit: cupboard out out of a sheet of soft metal, instead of the
plastic that would be used today. Toys give us a positive view of medieval
childhood.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
Medieval toys might be home-made by adults with time on their hands,
fashioned by the children themselves, or bought from wandering peddlers
or merchants at fails—even ordered specially from the most prestigious
makers. Some of the dolls appear to have been given to children once their
usefulness as fashion models was past. Naturally, the types and
magnificence of the toys varied with the status of the recipient.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
Many of the dolls sold In England came from abroad, chiefly from many
and Holland, although very fancy dolls were sold in the Palais du Justice,
alongside other expensive luxuries. However, the industry as slow to
develop into a guild, hampered partly by its own rules—toys ad to be
finished by the appropriate masters, and thus could not be made all in one
workshop, for instance. There was also the hindrance that toy making was
for a long time considered an addition to a ‘real’ trade, and to a great
extent left to the local craftsmen in their spare me, rather than quickly
becoming an industry of its own, as was the case in many other fields.
However, dolls among other toys appear to have been traded on a small
but constant and gradually increasing level throughout the Middle Ages
and Renaissance. Dockenmacher (‘doll- makers’) are recorded in
Nuremberg from 1413, and their very existence indicates the rising
importance of the toy trade on both the local and the international scene.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
Written sources for the existence of toys, and to some extent of their type
and manufacture, are fairly plentiful, from legal records, to poetry
describing the age of innocence, and sermons on the immature behaviour
of the socialites of the day. Most pictorial sources are generally later, but
one drawing survives from around 1200, which shows two youths playing
with a pair of foot soldiers. The warriors appear to be on strings, enabling
them to be pulled back and forth in semblance or battle. Boys are often
shown in illustrations playing with such warrior dolls, an various Jousting
figures survive which show the perfection of articulated armour and fine
horse-trappings which could be achieved in a boy‘s plaything. In
portraiture of the sixteenth century, noble girls are often pictured holding
exquisitely dressed dolls, possibly bought new for the sitting as they seem
fresh from the box and neither grubby nor worn own with use. These dolls
are likely to be accurately painted rather than idealized, as the sitters
themselves often were, so it must be assumed that such dolls were indeed
artistically finished, beautifully attired and painted with the most delicate
of features. In contrast, the seventeenth-century painting of a peasant
family, by Adriane van Ostade, offers proof that children of more humble
origins also play with dolls.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
Archaeological evidence is more widely available than might at first
thought. Naturally, more survives, the closer we get to modem times, and
the material of which dolls were made doubtless influences our picture of
their history. From Viking settlements in the far north a few oils have been
separated ‘from the multitude of figures identified by the experts as idols
and funerary figures. Some heads and limbs have been found, which may
once have had cloth bodies, although it is certain whether these were
designed as toys or votive offerings. Although no surviving pieces have
thus far been uncovered, wealthy Anglo-Saxon children in England may
have entertained themselves with carved alabaster dolls, a substance which
had been used for doll-making since the Roman occupation, while poorer
children of this age would have owned wooden or cloth dolls.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
Dating from as early as the 13th century, items unearthed from the mud
banks of the River Thames include tiny cannons and guns, meta figurines,
and miniaturized household objects such as stools, jugs. cauldrons, and
even frying pans complete with little fish. Made mainly from pewter (a tin-
lead alloy), these medieval toys are exceptionally rare and have helped
transform perceptions of childhood during the Middle ages says Hazel
Forsyth curator of post-medieval collections at the Museum of London.
“In the 1960s French historian Philippe Aries claimed at there wasn’t
really such a thing as childhood in the Middle Ages and that parents didn’t
form emotional attachments with their offspring, regarding them as
economic providers or producers for the household,” Forsyth said. Aries
pioneered ways of looking beyond kings, politics, and war to everyday
medieval life. He argued that parents invested little emotional capital in
their children because they had lots of offspring, many of them died in
infancy, and that surviving children were sent to work at the ages of six or
seven.
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
G.
Aries’s views had a lot of currency. And for very many years, people took
it for granted. It has only been recently, with discovery of ancient
childhood items by contemporary treasure hunters, that we’ve challenged
this received wisdom. “Surprise, surprise, human nature doesn’t change,”
Forsyth said. “Some parents from the Middle Ages are very devoted to
their children and gave them every luxury and pleasure they could afford.”
Questions 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 33-36
Passage 3?
33. In the past boys have played with soldier dolls and girls with feminine,
fashionably dressed miniatures.
34. The establishment of the toy trade grew together with the formal
establishment of a toymaker’s guild.
35. England was the largest doll market during the Middle Ages.
36 Paintings show young boys playing with dolls that having moving
pieces.
Questions 37- 40
Complete the summary below.
Choose your answers from the box and write them in boxes 37-40 on your
answer sheet.
NB: There are more words than spaces so you will not use them all.
French historian Philippe Aries claimed that there wasn’t .........37......... the
Middle Ages. Aries also asserted that people at that time had so many
............38............ that they could not invest much effort in everyone.
Although many people ...........39.......... those views, the discovery of
Medieval Toys cast much doubt on them. Hazel Forsyth believed that
.......40........... didn’t change and in the Middle Ages parents spent vast
money to buy luxury toys for their children.
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - VIII”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 – 12, which are based
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE
A.
The Smithsonian was established in 1846 by the U.S. Congress under the
terms of a gift by British scientist James Smithson. Today, it is the largest
museum complex in the world. It comprises 16 museums, a National Zoo,
and several prominent research centres, most of which are located near its
headquarters in Washington, D.C. The institutions collections number
more than 140 million items, from masterpieces of modern sculpture and
the world’s oldest fossil to the original compass used by the “Lewis and
Clark expedition” to the American West. A hallmark of the Smithsonian is
its accessibility. Every museum is open to the public free of charge,
generally every day of the year except December 25. The research centres
offer frequent public exhibitions and educational programs. The
Smithsonian’s principal museums and research centres are briefly
described below. The National Air and Space Museum presents a
comprehensive survey of the evolution of aviation and space flight. Two
dozen galleries trace themes and events in aviation and space history. The
large and diverse collection of aircraft, spacecraft, and artefacts includes
the Flyer, designed by the Wright brothers; the Spirit of St. Louis, used by
Charles Lindbergh to make the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean; and
the command module of Apollo 11, the first space mission to land on the
moon.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
B.
The National Museum of American History is devoted to providing an
understanding of the United States and its many peoples through extensive
collections, exhibitions, and public programs. Highlights of the collection
include the original Star-Spangled Banner (the battle flag from the War of
1812 that inspired American lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key to
compose the words of the United States’ national anthem); the compass
explorer William Clark used on his expedition to the American West with
Meriwether Lewis from 1804 to 1806; and the oldest operable locomotive,
the John Bull, built in 1841. The National Museum of Natural History is
one of the world’s leading centres for research and learning about the
natural world and humans‘ place in it. Its collections, which number more
than 120 million specimens, are the foundation for research, exhibitions,
and education. Highlights include the 45.5-carat Hope Diamond, the
largest deep blue diamond in the world; millions of fossilized plants,
animals, and geologic specimens; and one of the most complete
AlIosaurus dinosaur skeletons displayed in a museum.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
C.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was founded in 1890. As the
era of space exploration began, the observatory was at the forefront of
space science research, gaining a prominent reputation for its worldwide
satellite-tracking network. In 1973 the joint Harvard-Smithsonian Centre
for Astrophysics was created. The organization has been a pioneer in
developing instruments and methods for astronomical research. Its
facilities and equipment include ground-based telescopes in Arizona and
Massachusetts, a highly advanced radio telescope in Cambridge, and many
instruments aboard spacecraft and balloons. The Smithsonian
Environmental Research Centre conducts long term ecological studies that
contribute to the protection and management of natural resources,
interdisciplinary studies at the centre investigate the effects of human
activities on natural systems. Biology is the primary focus, but scientists
also use geography, geology, hydrology, chemistry, physics, and other
disciplines to find answers to environmental questions. Studies are
conducted over 25 years to identify patterns and draw conclusions about
causes of environmental phenomena.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
D.
At the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), staff scientists and
visiting researchers from around the world study the organisms,
ecosystems, and peoples of the world’s tropics in the institute’s
laboratories and research stations. As one of the world’s leading centres
for tropical research, STRI has programs exploring animal behaviour,
plant ecology, forest canopy biology, paleoecology (the study of ancient or
prehistoric organisms in their environment), archaeology, evolution,
genetics, marine ecology, anthropology, and conservation science.
Research by the institute’s staff and visiting scientists has increased
understanding of how tropical plants respond to increased carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere. By studying how tropical organisms communicate,
scientists know more about the tropical forest canopy’s effect on global
biological diversity. Smithsonian scientists use a specially designed tower
crane system to reach the forest canopy. The crane was developed by STRI
and is the only system of its kind in the tropics.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Questions 1 - 6
Passage 1?
TRUE if the statement is true according to the passage.
FALSE if the statement is false according to the passage.
Example
The National Museum of American History is devoted to providing an
understanding of the United States and its many peoples.
Answer
TRUE
1. The Smithsonian consists of large museums, all of which are located
near its headquarters in New York.
2. At the National Air and Space Museum, you can learn about the
evolution of aviation.
3. The 45.5-carat Hope Diamond, located in the National Museum of
Natural History, is the world’s most valuable diamond.
4. The Smithsonian was established by an American scientist from
Harvard University.
5. A hallmark of the Smithsonian is their lack of a public admission fee.
6. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre conducts 25 year-
studies to identify patterns and draw conclusions about causes of
environmental phenomena.
Questions 7-12
Some of the exhibits and instruments of the Smithsonian Institute are listed
below (Questions 7-12).
The writer gives these items as examples of what can be found at the
Smithsonian’s various museums and research centres.
Match each exhibit or instrument with the name of the museum or research
centre which it is associated in Reading Passage 1.
Write the appropriate letter in boxes 7-12 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any museum or research centre name more than
once.
Museums and Research Centres
AS National Air and Space Museum
AH National Museum of American History
NH National Museum of Natural History
AO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
TR Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Example Answer
Explorer William Clark’s compass AH
7. The original Star-Spangled Banner
8. A highly advanced radio telescope
9. The oldest operable locomotive
10. The command module of Apollo 11
11. A specially designed tower crane system
12. The “Spirit of St. Louis”
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
Questions 13-15
Reading Passage 2 has six sections, A—F.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections B—C and E from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate number; i—vii, in boxes 13-15 on your answer
sheet.
them all.
List of Headings
i. Massive heads, carved out of rock
ii. Present day demographics
iii. The island’s archaeological importance
iv. Massacre and destruction by the Polynesians
v. Geographic profile
vi. How to carve a 27-ton statue
vii. 18th century inhabitants
Example Answer
Paragraph A v
13. Paragraph B
Paragraph “B.”
14. Paragraph C
Paragraph “C.”
15. Paragraph E
Paragraph “E.”
MYSTERY OF THE MEGALITHS
A.
Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is a triangular-shaped island
belonging to Chile. It is located in the South Pacific Ocean, about 3700 km
west of the Chilean coast. The island is formed by three extinct volcanoes.
Swept by strong trade winds, the area is warm throughout the year.
Indigenous vegetation consists mainly of grasses. Potatoes, sugarcane, taro
roots, tobacco, and tropical fruits are grown in the fertile soil. The prime
source of fresh water is the rain that gathers in the crater lakes.
Questions 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
B.
The Island was named by a Dutch explorer who landed there on Easter
Day in 1722. At the time, several thousand Polynesians inhabited the
island. However, disease and raids by slave traders reduced the number to
fewer than 200 by the late 19th century. The Chilean government annexed
the island in 1888. An area on the western coast is reserved by the
government for the indigenous population; the remainder is used as
grazing land for sheep and cattle. Some intermarriage has taken place
between the Polynesians and the Chileans.
Questions 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
C.
Easter Island is of considerable archaeological importance. It is the richest
site of the megaliths (giant stone monuments) of the Pacific island groups
and the only source of evidence of a form of writing in Polynesia. Very
little is known about the people who made the megaliths and carved the
wooden tablets. One belief is that settlement of Easter Island took place
about 18 centuries ago, although some scholars contend that the
settlement occurred more recently. Archaeological and botanical evidence
suggests that the island’s original inhabitants were of South American
origin. The ancestors of the present Polynesian population are thought to
have travelled in canoes from the Marquesas Islands, massacred the
inhabitants, and made the island their home. Many archaeologists believe
that at the time of the invasion, the megaliths, including about 600 statues,
were standing throughout the island and that many were destroyed by the
Polynesians during a period of violence on Easter Island.
Questions 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
D.
Largest of the existing stone monuments are the great burial platforms,
called ahus, which were used to support rows of statues. The ahus were
situated on bluffs and in other positions commanding a view of the sea.
Each ahu was constructed of neatly fitted stone blocks set without mortar.
The burial platform usually supported 4 to 8 statues, although one ahu,
known as Tongariki, carried 15 statues. Within many of the ahus, vauIts
house individual or group burials.
Questions 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
E.
About 100 statues still stand on the island; they vary in height from 3 to 12
m (10 to 40 ft). Carved from tufi, a soft volcanic rock, they consist of huge
heads with elongated ears and noses. Material for the statues was quarried
from the crater called Ftano Ftaraku, where modern explorers found an
immense unfinished statue, 21 m (68 ft) long. Many of the statues on the
burial platforms bore cylindrical, brimmed crowns of red tuff; the largest
crown weighs approximately 27 metric tons.
Questions 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
F.
Excavations have also disclosed hidden caves containing decayed remains
of tablets and wooden images, and numerous small wooden sculptures.
The tablets are covered with finely carved and stylized figures, which
seem to be a form of picture writing.
Questions 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Questions 16-21
Passage 2?
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
Example Answer
Easter Island is a square-shaped island. NO
16. Easter Island is a significant source of artefacts.
17. The settlement of Easter Island took place about 18 centuries ago.
18. A few archaeologists believe that the Polynesians destroyed many of
the megaliths.
19. Disease and raids by slave traders decimated the island’s population.
20. Evidence confirms that the island‘s first inhabitants came from South
America.
21. Not much is known about the makers of the megaliths and the wooden
tablets.
Questions 22-25
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write them in boxes 22-25 on your
answer sheet.
22. The primary source of fresh water on Easter Island comes from
A. natural underground springs.
B. Chile.
C. rain that gathers in the crater lakes.
D. tropical vegetation.
23. The ancestors of the present-day Polynesian population
A. are thought to have built some of the megaliths.
B. are believed to have come from the Mariana islands.
C. used some form of picture writing on wooden tablets.
D. may have destroyed many of the megaliths.
24. The brimmed crowns found on the island
A. each weigh more than 27 metric tons.
B. were made from soft volcanic rock.
C. are the largest stone monuments on the island.
D. were only worn around the necks of statues on burial platforms.
25. The giant stone burial platforms
A. typically supported fewer than 7 stone statues.
B. were only used for the burial of tribal chiefs.
C. contained numerous chambers where wooden tablets were found.
D. weighed as much as 27 metric tons.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
OUCH! YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE!
A.
Serious pain starts with the stimulation of one or more of the body’s many
special sensors, called nociceptors, in the skin or internal organs. These
special sensors receive information about intense heat, extreme pressure,
sharp pricks or cuts, or other events that can cause body damage. Two
types of nerve fibres carry this information from the nociceptors to the
spinal cord: A-delta fibres, which transmit information quickly and appear
to be responsible for sudden and sharp feelings of pain; and C-type fibres,
which transmit pain impulses more slowly and may be the cause of a
nagging sense of pain.
Questions 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35-37 38 39 40
B.
At the spinal cord, messages from nociceptors may be modified by other
spinal nerves that enhance or, more frequently, diminish the intensity of
the pain. The pain impulse then travels to several pans of the brain. Some
brain areas determine where the pain is and what is causing it, while other
areas combine the sensory information with the total state of the body and
produce the emotional sensation called pain. These same brain centres can
activate long nerve fibres that descend to the place in the spinal cord where
the pain signal originates and decrease the signal.
Questions 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35-37 38 39 40
C.
In the mid-1970s, researchers showed that many nerve fibres that holdback
pain messages in the spinal cord release a neurotransmitter called
enkephalin. Some areas of the brain that process pain messages produce a
related chemical called endorphin. Although the exact roles of these two
substances in pain perception is not yet clear, scientists hope that studies of
these chemicals may eventually give rise to better types of pain treatment.
Questions 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35-37 38 39 40
D.
The complex nature of pain is illustrated by the stories of soldiers who are
severely wounded and do not complain of pain, or of athletes who are
injured but do not experience pain until the contest is over. In some
cultures, an operation can be performed on the skull without an anaesthetic
(anti-pain drug). On the other hand, scientists have recently shown that the
expectation of pain can actually intensify the experience, perhaps by
inducing anxiety. The emotional component of pain is also illustrated by
the words frequently used to describe its nature, such as “vicious”,
“nauseating”, and “nagging”.
Questions 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35-37 38 39 40
E.
Acute or severe pain—such as that produced by physical injury, burns or
surgery— is most often treated with anti-pain drugs, which can range from
simple ones, like aspirin, to more powerful drugs, like morphine. In the
terminal stages of cancer, combinations of powerful painkilling drugs may
be used, including mood-altering drugs, like tranquilizers or anti-
depressants. In some patients who have had surgery, pain is effectively
relieved by a nerve block: the injection of an anaesthetic into the regional
nerve centre through which the nerves from the surgery site pass. With
certain types of back pain, surgery can correct the problem causing the
pain. Beginning about 1965, physicians came to appreciate the uniqueness
of the condition called-”chronic pain.” In this syndrome (bodily
condition), patients may complain of pain for years, without having any
apparent or detectable injury or cause. Researchers suggest that chronic
pain is a behaviour state, initiated by a real injury, in which the pain has
lasted so long that it has itself become the disease. Of the many millions of
Americans who suffer from chronic pain, one-third have back pain and
another third arthritis (swelling between the bone joints). Many of these
patients are dependent on strong painkilling medicines, and they usually
have fallen into a cycle of pain, depression, and inactivity.
Questions 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35-37 38 39 40
F.
A number of special clinics have been formed to treat people who suffer
from chronic pain. Such clinics emphasize reduction of drug dosages,
along with exercise, activity therapy, and mental relaxation techniques
such as hypnosis and biofeedback. Some include psychological
counselling, and many attempt to change learned pain behaviours by
enlisting the patient’s family. In other cases, patients are helped by an
electronic nerve-stimulating device, called T.E.N.S., that can be used to
send electricity into the nerves and up the spinal cord. Exactly how and
why this device works is not known, but it may stimulate the brain to send
pain-inhibiting impulses down the spine.
Questions 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35-37 38 39 40
Questions 26-28
Choose the appropriate letter, A—D, and write them in boxes 26-28 on
your answer sheet.
26. “Chronic pain”
A. causes many patients to become dependent on strong painkilling
medicines.
B. is long-term pain that may lack any observable injury or cause.
C. is believed by researchers to be a behaviour state initiated by a real
injury.
D. is all of the above.
27. A person’s perception of pain is intensified by
A. the body’s release of enkephalin in the spinal cord.
B. anticipation and anxiety.
C. the release of morphine by the brain.
D. a nerve block.
28. C-type fibres are responsible for
A. carrying information from the spinal cord to the Nociceptors.
B. transmitting quick pain impulses.
C. creating chronic pain.
D. probably causing a sense of nagging pain.
Questions 29-34
Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading
Passage 3?
TRUE if the statement is true according to the passage
FALSE if the statement is false according to the passage
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
29. Mood-modifying drugs are used to treat pain in the late stages of
cancer.
30. T.E.N.S. is an effective drug therapy that blocks pain impulses from
reaching the brain.
31. Some experts suggest that sensitivity to pain is a good sign of healthy
nerves.
32. Researchers suggest that chronic pain is a behaviour state, initiated by
an imaginary injury.
33. Most painkillers have detrimental side effects.
34. In some cultures, a skull operation can be performed without an
anaesthetic.
Questions 35-37
According to the text, which THREE of the following have been used to
reduce the effects of pain in humans?
Choose THREE letters, A—G, and write them in boxes 35-3 7 on your
answer sheet.
A. enkephalin B. arthritis C. morphine
D. skull surgery E. tranquilizers F. music
G. biofeedback
Questions 38-40
Complete each of the following statements with the best ending from the
box below.
Write the appropriate letter, A-G, in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
38. A number of special clinics have been formed to treat people who
suffer from.....
39. Sudden and sharp feelings of pain are transmitted by.....
40. Expectation of pain can actually intensify the experience, perhaps by
inducing....
A. endorphins B. anxiety C. terminal cancer
D. hypnosis E. chronic pain F. nerve blocks
G. A-delta fibres
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - IX”
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions I-13, which are based on
HOW CLEAN IS THE WATER?
A.
Plants and animals require water that is moderately pure. They cannot
survive if their water is loaded with toxic chemicals or harmful
microorganisms. If severe, water pollution can kill large numbers of fish,
birds, and other animals, in some cases killing all members of a species in
an affected area. Fish and shellfish harvested from polluted waters may be
unsafe to eat. People who ingest polluted water can become ill, and, with
prolonged exposure, may develop cancers or bear children with birth
defects. The major water pollutants can be classed into five categories,
each of which presents its own set of hazards.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
B.
Petroleum products.
Oil and chemicals derived from petroleum are used for fuel, lubrication,
plastics manufacturing, and many other purposes. However, these
petroleum products often find their way into the water by means of
accidental spills from ships, tanker trucks, pipelines, and leaky
underground storage tanks. An oil spill has its worst effects when it
encounters a shoreline. Oil in coastal waters kills tide pool life and harms
birds and marine mammals by causing feathers and fur to lose their natural
waterproof quality, which causes the animals to drown or die of cold.
Additionally, these animals can become sick or poisoned when they
swallow the oil while preening (grooming their feathers or fur).
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
C.
Pesticides and herbicides.
Pesticides and herbicides are useful for killing unwanted insects and
weeds, for instance on farms or in suburban yards. Some of these
chemicals are biodegradable and quickly decay into harmless or less
harmful forms, while others are non-biodegradable and remain dangerous
for many years. When animals consume plants that have been treated with
certain non-biodegradable chemicals, such as DDT, these chemicals are
absorbed into the tissues or organs of the animals. When other animals
feed on these contaminated animals, the chemicals are passed up the food
chain. With each step up the food chain, the concentration of the pollutant
increases. In one study, DDT levels in ospreys (a family of fish-eating
birds) were found to be 10 to 50 times higher than in the fish that they ate,
600 times the level in the plankton that the fish ate, and 10 million times
higher than in the water. Animals at the top of food chains may, as a result
of these chemical concentrations, suffer cancers, reproductive problems,
and death.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
D.
Many drinking water supplies are contaminated with pesticides from
widespread agricultural use. More than 14 million Americans drink water
contaminated with pesticides, and the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) estimates that 10 percent of wells contain pesticides. Nitrates, a
pollutant often derived from fertilizer runoff, can cause
methemoglobinemia in infants, a potentially lethal form of anemia that is
also called “blue baby syndrome.”
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
E.
Heavy metals.
Heavy metals, such as copper, lead, mercury, and selenium, get into water
from many sources including industries, automobile exhaust, mines, and
even natural soil. Like pesticides, heavy metals become more concentrated
as animals feed on plants and are consumed in turn by other animals.
When they reach high levels in the body, heavy metals can be immediately
poisonous, or can result in long-term health problems similar to those
caused by pesticides and herbicides. For example, cadmium in fertilizer
derived from sewage sludge can be absorbed by crops. If these crops are
eaten by humans in sufficient amounts, the metal can cause liver and
kidney damage. Lead can get into water from lead pipes and solder in
older water systems; children exposed to lead in water can suffer mental
retardation.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
F.
Hazardous wastes.
Hazardous wastes are chemical wastes that are toxic (poisonous), reactive
(capable of producing explosive or toxic gases), corrosive (capable of
corroding steel), or ignitable (flammable). If dumped, improperly treated
or stored, hazardous wastes can pollute water supplies and cause a variety
of illness, birth defects and cancers. Even tiny amounts, over time, can
lead to serious health problems. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland,
Ohio, was so polluted with hazardous wastes that it caught fire and burned.
PCBs, a class of chemicals once widely used in electrical equipment such
as transformers, can get into the environment through oil spills and even a
small amount can reach toxic levels as organisms eat one another.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
G.
Infectious organisms.
A 1994 study by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
estimated that about 900,000 people get sick annually in the United States
because of organisms in their drinking water, and around 900 people die.
Many disease-causing organisms that are present in small numbers in most
natural waters are considered pollutants when found in drinking water.
Such parasites as Giardia Iamblia and Cryptosporidium pavum
occasionally turn up in urban water supplies. These parasites can cause
illness, especially in people who are very old or very young, and in people
who are already suffering from other diseases. In 1993, an outbreak of
Cryptosporidium in the water supply of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sickened
more than 400,000 people and killed more than 100.
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Questions 1 -5
Look at the following effects (Questions 1-5) and causes of water
pollution.
Match each effect with one cause. Write the appropriate letter; A-F, in
boxes 1-5 on your answer sheer.
EFFECT
1. Illness or death from Cryptosporidium
2. Mental retardation
3. Blue baby syndrome
4. A river on fire
5. Marine life die from drowning or cold
CAUSE
A. Oil spill
B. Infectious organism contamination
C. Cadmium dumped into sewage system
D. Use of DDT
E. Use of lead pipes and solder
F. Nitrate fertilizer runoff
Questions 6-10
Passage 1?
TRUE if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
6. Giardia lamblia and Cryptosparidium parvum frequently turn up in
urban water supplies.
7. An oil spill causes the most damage when it hits a shoreline.
8. With each step up the food chain, the concentration of a pollutant
slightly decreases.
9. Many drinking water supplies are contaminated with pesticides due to
widespread agricultural use.
10. A substantial amount of water pollution is caused when tankers
routinely and deliberately flush out their oil tanks with seawater.
Questions 11-13
Choose the appropriate letter, A-D, and write them in boxes 11-13 on your
answer sheet.
11. How can you reduce pollution by pesticides?
A. Use only pesticides that contain PCBs.
B. Dispose of all pesticides now, safely down the kitchen drain.
C. Use only biodegradable pesticides.
D. Use a protective mask when spraying pesticides.
12. Which of the following water pollution-related incidents occurred in
Wisconsin?
A. A river polluted with hazardous waste caught fire and burned.
B. 900,000 people became sick from drinking lead contaminated water.
C. 14 million Americans drank water contaminated with pesticides.
D. Infectious organisms in the water supply killed more than 100 people.
13. What kinds of health problems can result from ingesting polluted
water?
A. Lung cancer.
B. Lethal anemia.
C. Asthma.
D. Green baby syndrome.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 2
CHILDREN AT WORK
A.
Children have been used as workers for thousands of years in countries
around the world. The rise of child labour in the United States began in the
late seventeen and early eighteen hundreds. Industrialization was a strong
force in increasing the number of working children. By 1900, more than
two million U.S. children were at work. The 1900 census, which counted
workers aged 10 to 15, found that 18.2 percent of the country’s children
between those ages were employed. Children worked in factories, mines,
fields and in the streets. They also picked cotton, shined shoes, sold
newspapers, canned fish, made clothes and wove fabric. Children worked
to help support their families.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
B.
Working conditions were often horrendous. Children would work twelve
hours a day, six days a week throughout the year. The hours were long, the
pay was low and the children were exhausted and hungry. Factory children
were kept inside all day long. Children who worked the fields spent long,
hot days in the sun or went barefoot in mud and rain. These young workers
could not attend school and rarely knew how to read or write.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
C.
Children in the United States continued to work under deplorable
conditions until well into the mid-twentieth century. In the early nineteen
hundreds, reformers began working to raise awareness about the dangers
of child labour and tried to establish laws regulating the practice. In 1904,
the National Child Labour Committee was formed. In 1908, the
Committee hired Lewis Hine as its staff photographer and sent him
throughout the country to photograph and report on child labour.
Documenting child labour in photographs and words, his state-by-state and
industry-by-industry surveys became one of the movement’s most
powerful tools. Often photo- graphing the children looking directly into
the camera, Hine brought them face to face with people throughout the
country who would rather believe that such poverty and hardship did not
exist.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
D.
The movement against child labour confronted its biggest obstacle when it
lobbied for the creation of a federal child labour law that would prohibit
the use of child labour, nationwide. At the time, the federal government
did not have clear authority to regulate child labour. Legal scholars
believed that the U.S. Constitution left the matter of child labour to each
State to regulate as it saw fit. Nevertheless, the movement was able to
generate strong public support for the federal regulation of child labour. It
also succeeded in establishing a Children’s Bureau within the United
States government in 1912.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
E.
By 1916, the U.S. Congress had passed its first federal child labour law,
which effectively prevented factories and mines from using children under
the age of 14. However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law and
ruled that it was not within the federal government’s authority to regulate
child labour. In December of 1918, Congress tried again and passed a
second child labour law. This time, it based the law on its powers of
taxation rather than its powers of interstate commerce. However, the U.S.
Supreme Court again struck down the law for the same reasons.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
F.
For the next twenty years, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme court
remained at odds over federal regulation of child labour. It wasn’t until
1938 that federal protection of working children would be obtained
through passage of the Fair Labour Standards Act. Like the first child
labour bill, it prohibited the interstate commerce of products or services
that were made using children under a certain age. It also established
minimum standards and working conditions for the employment of
children above a certain age. The law was again challenged in the U.S.
Supreme Court. However, in 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its
earlier ruling on the 1918 law and upheld the right of the federal
government to use its interstate commerce powers to regulate child labour.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
G.
With the Fair Labour Standards Act and its amendments, the movement to
end child labour in the United States accomplished most of what it initially
set out to do. The worst abuses of child labour as it existed in the first few
decades of the twentieth century are now history. Countless children and
their children were saved from deadening exploitation in mines, mills, and
factories. But new challenges have arisen both in the United States and
abroad. Young people around the world continue to toil as child labourers.
Internationally, two hundred fifty million children work to help support
their families. Africa, Asia, Central America and South America have the
highest rates of child labour. There are also a significant number of
children who are migrant farm workers and sweatshop workers in the
United States.
Questions 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Questions 14-15
Choose the appropriate letter; A—D, and write them in boxes 14 and 15
on your answer sheet.
14. What was the biggest challenge for the movement against child labour?
A. Obtaining passage of a law that would prohibit child labour,
nationwide.
B. Establishing a Children’s Bureau within the U.S. government.
C. Investigating the deplorable child labour conditions, state-to-state.
D. Seeking the cooperation of children who wanted to work.
15. Why did the U.S. Congress have a difficult time establishing a federal
child labour law?
A. They felt that they did not have the authority to regulate child labour.
B. There was growing public support for the use of child labour.
C. They were at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court over authority to
regulate.
D. There was disagreement within the Congress over what the rules should
be.
Question 16
Choose TWO letters, A-E, and write them in box 16 on your answer sheet.
In which TWO of the following years were federal laws passed to regulate
child labour, nationwide?
A. 1904
B. 1908
C. 1912
D. 1916
E. 1918
Questions 17-19
Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS
front Reading Passage 2 for each answer.
Three ways in which working children were mistreated in the 1900s:
v children would work 12-hour days, six . . . 17 . . .
v factory children were kept inside . . . 18 . . .
v the pay was low and the children were . . . 19 . . .
Questions 20-26
Do the following statements reflect the situation as described by the writer
in Reading Passage 2?
YES if the statement reflects the situation as described by the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to know what the situation is from the
passage
Example Answer
In 1904, the National Child Labour Committee was formed. YES
20. In the early 1900’s, reformers began working to raise awareness about
the dangers of child labour.
21. Child labourers were allowed to attend night school where they learned
reading and writing.
22. The rise of child labour in the United States began in the late 1700’s
and early 1800’s.
23. In 1908, the U.S. Congress hired Lewis Hine as its staff photographer.
24. Children who worked the fields spent long days in the sun or went
barefoot in mud and rain.
25. By 1900, more than ten million U.S. children were at work.
26. Presently in America, nearly 28 percent of the children between 16 and
18 are employed.
Question 27
Choose the appropriate letter, A-D, and write it in box 27 on your answer
sheet.
27. The writer of the article finds the conditions under which children
continued to work, until well into the mid-twentieth century, to be
A. onerous.
B. cruel.
C. back-breaking.
D. deplorable.
Answer Key
Reading Passage 3
THE NIGHT SHIFT
A.
A factory whistle blows and the workers leave their stations, punch the
clock, and file out into the morning light. The graveyard shift is over. In a
scene that is repeated across the country every day, these workers head
home to face their night time, a night time that is at odds with the rest of
society and the worker’s own internal clock. Midnight shift work is an
example of how the body’s internal clock can be upset by external factors.
Another common example is jet lag, the malaise associated with travel
across time zones. In the case of jet lag, the effect is short-lived and the
body readjusts relatively quickly. In the workplace, however, disturbances
of the body clock can continue unabated. This provokes several questions:
What is the body’s internal clock, what is its purpose, and how does it
work?
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
B.
One of the most predictable features of life on Earth is exposure to the
rhythmic environmental changes caused by the planet’s movements. As
described by one scientist, the rotation of the Earth on its polar axis gives
rise to the dominant cycle of the day and night; the revolutions of the Earth
around the Sun give rise to the unfailing procession of the seasons; and the
more complicated movements of the Moon in relation to the Earth and the
Sun give rise to the lunar month and to the tidal cycles”. Given the
pervasiveness of these rhythms, it is not surprising to find that most
organisms show alterations in their bodily processes and their behaviour in
response to them. These cycles are called biological rhythms, and the
internal biological mechanisms that control them are the body clock
(figure 1). Biological rhythms provide a temporal framework for an
organism’s behavioural and physiological functions. For example, many
flowers open and close at certain times of day or night (figure 2), and
honeybees time their visits to plants to coincide with these cycles. Certain
animals are active and search for food only at night (nocturnal), while
some do so only during the day (diurnal). These are just a few examples of
the diverse activities and functions guided by the body clock.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
C.
While biological rhythms have cycles ranging in length from minutes to
months, those in synchrony with the 24-hour rotation of the Earth are
probably the most extensively studied. These circadian rhythms are usually
20 to 28 hours long, and many physiological and psychological functions
follow such a circadian cycle (figure 3). The realization that these cycles
were solely a consequence of environmental influences did not occur until
1729, when French astronomer Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan studied the
actions of a plant that normally opens its leaves during the day and closes
them at night (figure 4). De Mairan observed that even when kept in the
dark, the plant opened and closed its leaves according to the day-night
cycle. This indicated that the force driving the plant’s rhythms was
internally generated.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
D.
The first observations of circadian rhythms in humans were made in 1866,
when William Ogle noted that fluctuations in body temperature varied in
synchrony with day and night. It was not until more recent times that the
endogenous nature of circadian rhythms in humans was characterized. To
date, research has identified hundreds of biological variables in humans
that exhibit a circadian rhythm. These functions are both physiological
(e.g., body temperature, hormone production, sleep wake cycles) and
psychological (e.g., cognitive performance, memory).
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
E.
Humans are diurnal, and for most of history they obeyed the body clock’s
mandate to be active during the day and sleep at night. However, as
civilization evolved, the desire, ability, and need to contravene this pattern
of activity grew. This trend was accelerated with the industrial Revolution
and the advent of readily available electric power. In the last few decades,
other technological and economic forces, such as the need to operate costly
equipment continuously, the requirement of some manufacturing processes
for uninterrupted operation, and the increasing demand for 24- hour
services, have contributed to the ever-growing number of occupations that
operate around the clock. As a result, many persons in these occupations
work nonstandard schedules that can put them out of synchrony with their
body clocks.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
F.
It is estimated that one in five workers in the United States does not
regularly work a standard daytime schedule. As a result, about 20 million
workers are exposed to a wide range of schedules that differ in the
duration of the work period, the hour of day, and the stability of the
schedule. in addition to disrupting biological rhythms, shift work can cause
other physiological factors, such as sleep deprivation and fatigue, to come
into play. It can also affect the family and social life of workers, creating a
situation in which their schedules do not coincide with those of the people
around them. The cumulative effects of these factors can adversely affect
the health and performance of workers and can jeopardize their safety and
that of the public. However, the degree to which these effects occur, which
workers are most susceptible, and the work conditions under which they
occur have yet to be clearly delineated.
Questions 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Questions 28-30
Choose the appropriate letter; A--D, and write them in boxes 28-30 on
your answer sheet.
28. Typically, circadian rhythms are
A. one 24-hour cycle of day and night.
B. one in five.
C. 20-28 hours long.
D. based on the lunar calendar.
29. William Ogle is known for
A. making the first observations of circadian rhythms in humans.
B. discovering that circadian rhythms are solely a result of environmental
influences.
C. identifying hundreds of biological variables in humans that exhibit a
circadian rhythm.
D. characterizing the endogenous nature of circadian rhythms in humans.
30. In the U.S., the number of workers who don’t regularly work a
standard daytime schedule
A. has yet to be clearly delineated.
B. is approximately two in ten.
C. is nearly 12 million.
D. are primarily in the 24-hour manufacturing sector.
Questions 31-36
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE word front Reading Passage 3 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet
. . . . 31. . . work is an example of how the body’s external clock can be
upset by external factors. Another common example is jet lag. Most living
things exhibit alterations in their bodily processes and behaviour in
response to rhythmic . . . 32 . . . changes caused by the planet’s
movements. These cycles are called biological rhythms, and the internal
biological mechanisms that control them are called the . . . 33 . . . clock.
To date, research has identified hundreds of biological variables in humans
that exhibit a . . . 34 . . . rhythm. Humans are . . . 35 . . . and for most of
history, they obeyed their body’s mandate to be active during the day and
to sleep at night. However, as civilization evolved, the desire, ability, and
need to contravene this pattern of activity grew. Today, many people work
nonstandard schedules that can put them out of . . . 36 . . . with their body
clocks.
Questions 37-40
Look at Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Reading Passage 3.
Choose the most appropriate label, A-I, for each Figure from the box
below.
NB: There are more labels than figures so you will not use them all.
A. Circadian Timing of Various Functions
B. Nocturnal blooming
C. De Mairan‘s Experiment
D. Alertness and Temperature graph
E. William Ogle‘s Discovery
F. Flowering is timed by a Circadian Clock
G. Sleeping on the job: An effect of shift work
H. Diurnal functioning
I. The Intemnl Biological Mechanism
37. Fig 1 ...............
38. Fig 2 ..............
39. Fig3 ...............
40. Fig4 ...............
Answer Key
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - X”
Answer Key
“IELTS READING TEST - I”
Reading Passage 1
1E
2C
3A
4D
5B
6C
7C
8D
9A
10 D
11 TRUE
12 NOT GIVEN
13 TRUE
14 TRUE
15 TRUE
Reading Passage 2
16 B
17 B
18 A
19 D
20 solved
21 computers
22 other people
23 cut-off
24 team-work
25 decrease in
26 team-work
27 just the same way as
28 touch-tone dialling systems
29 electronic presence
30 no longer geographical
Reading Passage 3
31 K
32 G
33 F
34 J
35 E
36 D
37 B
38 D
39 C
40 A
“IELTS READING TEST - II”
Reading Passage 1
1C
2A
3D
4C
5B
6 intestine
7 beaks
8 vomiting
9 hardens
10 FALSE
11 TRUE
12 TRUE
13 NOT GIVEN
Reading Passage 2
14 iii
15 viii
16 ii
17 vi
18 vii
19 H
20 L
21 C
22 I
23 E
24 Hong Kong, Singapore, (and) part of Taiwan
25 the prevalence of disease, (and) agricultural productivity
26 Finland
Reading Passage 3
27 the host computer
28 the interrogator
29 the electromagnetic
30 TRUE
31 TRUE
32 NOT GIVEN
33 FALSE
34 B
35 D
36 B
37 usurp
38 distinguish
39 here lo stay
40 blue chip
“IELTS READING TEST - III”
Reading Passage 1
1B
2D
3A
4D
5B
6A
7C
8 structural adjustment policies
9 cut social expenditure
10 tools of production
11 development issues
12 powerful nations
13 fill the gap
Reading Passage 2
14 ix
15 vii
16 i
17 viii
18 vi
19 NOT GIVEN
20 YES
21 NO
22 NOT GIVEN
23 A
24 C
25 H
26 F
Reading Passage 3
27 B
28 D
29 C
30 Six years.
31 Ultraviolet light.
32 Network of plates.
33 O
34 VW
35 LW
36 T
37 V
38 LW
39 S
40 T
“IELTS READING TEST - IV”
Reading Passage 1
1 ix
2 vi
3i
4 viii
5v
6 xi
7 oil/fluids and chemicals
8 CO2 (emmissions)/ carbon dioxide
9 acute respiratory problems/asthma/cancer-related illnesses
10 crops lose yield
11 rubbber
12 sleep deprivation/stress
13 D/G
14 G/D
“ReadingPassage 2”
Reading Passage 2
15 D
16 G
17 C
18 E
19 D
20 young business - minded people
21 academic qualifications
22 energy and determination
23 books
24 NOT GIVEN
25 TRUE
26 FALSE
27 NOT GIVEN
Reading Passage 3
28 skeletal biology/osteology
29 children/the elderly
30 Teeth
31 alcohol and drugs
32 toxins
33 anthropology/odontology/pshychology
34 CSI
35 John F. Kennedy
36 sacrum
37 insects behave predictably
38 fingerprints and serology
39 art and psychology
40 A
“IELTS READING TEST - V”
Reading Passage 1
1) vii
2) ix
3) v
4) ii
5) B
6) B
7) C
8) E
9) D
10) B
11) C
12) D
13) A
14) E
Reading Passage 2
15 C
16 A
17 B
I8 NOT GIVEN
19 NO
20 YES
21 NO
22 F
23 A
24 D
25 A
26 D
27 B
28 C
Reading Passage 3
29 ii
30 v
31 vii
32 iii
33 viii
34 & 35 in either order
E
F
36 NO
37 NO
38 N0
39 NO
40 B
“lELTS READING TEST - VI”
Reading Passage 1
1 iv
2 viii
3i
4x
5 ii
6 xii
7v
8 iii
9 hospitality
10 grade(s) and blend(s) or different grades or different
blends
11 contains caffeine
12 Bedouin
13 sugar and spices
14 lingering convention or convention
Reading Passage 2
15 A
16 C
17 C
18 D
19 documented
20 in use
21 cropping up
22 File’s Green
23 burnt down
24 owned
25 two
26 each
27 remained
28 gravel works
29 one dwelling
Reading Passage 3
30 B
31 B
32 D
33 tense
34 unlike
35 more
36 quieter
37 conversely
38 FALSE
39 TRUE
40 TRUE
“IELTS READING TEST - VII”
Reading Passage 1
1 YES
2 NOT GIVEN
3 NO
4 NO
5 YES
6D
7B
8E
9 Six
10 1/2 in.
11 (glossy coal-)Black
12 Aggressive
13 Funnel(-shaped)
Reading Passage 2
14 iii
15 iv
16 viii
17 ix
18 i
19 B
20 F
21 E
22 A
23 B
24 A
25 D
26 C
27 C
28 D
Reading Passage 3
29 NOT GIVEN
30 YES
31 YES
32 NO
33 YES
34 NO
35 NO
36 birth control
37 family system
38 divorce
39 nuclear family
40 A
“IELTS READING TEST - VIII”
Reading Passage 1
1 FALSE
2 FALSE
3 TRUE
4 NOT GIVEN
5 TRUE
6 FALSE
7 NOT GWEN
8 TRUE
9C
10 A
11 C
12 C
13 B
Reading Passage 2
14 NO
15 NO
16 YES
17 NO
18 YES
19 YES
20 YES
21 NOT GIVEN
22 mutation
23 Serotonin
24 seeds
25 inedible
26 cooking
Reading Passage 3
27 viii
28 v
29 vi
30 vii
31 ix
32 i
33 TRUE
34 NOT GIVEN
35 NOT GIVEN
36 TRUE
37 a toy
38 descendants
39 advocated
40 human nature
“IELTS READING TEST - IX”
Reading Passage 1
1 FALSE
2 TRUE
3 NOT GIVEN
4 FALSE
5 TRUE
6 TRUE
7 AH
8 AO
9 AH
10 AS
11 TR
12 AS
Reading Passage 2
13 vii
14 iii
15 i
16 YES
17 NOT GlVEN
18 NO
19 YES
20 NO
21 YES
22 C
23 D
24 B
25 A
Reading Passage 3
26 D
27 B
28 D
29 TRUE
30 FALSE
31 NOT GIVEN
32 FALSE
33 NOT GIVEN
34 TRUE
35-37 [in any order)
C
E
G
38 E
39 G
40 B
“IELTS READING TEST - X”
Reading Passage 1
1B
2E
3F
4G
5A
6 FALSE
7 TRUE
8 FALSE
9 TRUE
10 NOT GIVEN
11 C
12 D
13 B
Reading Passage 2
14 A
15 C
16 (Both must be given)
D
E
17 days a week
18 all day long
19 exhausted and hungry
20 YES
21 NO
22 YES
23 NO
24 YES
25 NO
26 NOT GIVEN
27 D
Reading Passage 3
28 C
29 A
30 B
31 shift
32 environmental
33 body
34 circadian
35 diurnal
36 synchrony
37 I
38 F
39 A
40 C
FOR MORE EXERCISES
GET
IELTS READING PRACTICE MATERIALS
PART: II
BY
LIZA SIMON
ON
AMAZON

IELTS Reading by Liza Simon

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IELTS READING TEST - II

IELTS READING TEST - III

IELTS READING TEST - IV

IELTS READING TEST - V

lELTS READING TEST - VI

IELTS READING TEST - VIII

IELTS READING TEST - IX

IELTS READING TEST - X

11. Rules and regulations are examples of parameters.

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.” “G.”

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.”

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.”

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.” “G.”

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.” “E.” “F.” “G.”

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.”

Paragraph “A.” “B.” “C.” “D.”

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