AV5
AVTC5_Unit 1_Multiple choice
Inclass
Source: Brook-Hart, V. J. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5 Student's Book with Answers. Cambridge
University Press.
Air conditioning
The history of an invention that makes life more pleasant.
Willis Carrier designed the first air-conditioning unit in 1902, just a year after graduating from
Cornell University with a Masters in Engineering. At a Brooklyn printing plant, fluctuations in heat
and moisture were causing the size of the printing paper to keep changing slightly, making it hard
to align different colors. Carrier’s invention made it possible to control temperature and humidity
levels and so align the colors. The invention also allowed industries such as film, processed food,
textiles and pharmaceuticals to improve the quality of their products.
In 1914, the first air-conditioning device was installed in a private house. However, its size, similar
to that of an early computer, meant it took up too much space to come into widespread use, and
later models, such as the Weathermaker, which Carrier brought out in the 1920s, cost too much
for most people. Cooling for human comfort, rather than industrial need, really took off when
three air conditioners were installed in the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan.
People crowded into the shop to experience the new invention. The fashion spread from
department stores to cinemas, whose income rose steeply as a result of the comfort they
provided.
To start with, money-conscious employers regarded air conditioning as a luxury. They considered
that if they were paying people to work, they should not be paying for them to be comfortable
as well. So in the 1940s and ‘50s, the industry started putting out a different message about its
product: according to their research, installing air conditioning increased productivity amongst
employees. They found that typists increased their output by 24% when transferred from a
regular office to a cooled one. Another study into office working conditions, which was carried
out in the late ‘50s. showed that the majority of companies cited air conditioning as the single
most important contributor to efficiency in offices.
However, air conditioning has its critics. Jed Brown, an environmentalist, complains that air
conditioning is a factor in global warming. Unfortunately, he adds, because air conditioning leads
to higher temperatures, people have to use it even more. However, he admits that it provides a
healthier environment for many people in the heat of summer.
Questions 1-5.
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. When Willis Carrier invented air conditioning, his aim was to_____
A. make workers feel cooler.
B. produce more attractive paper.
C. set up a new business.
D. solve problems in a factory.
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2. Home air conditioners were not popular at first because they were_____
A. too big and expensive.
B. not considered necessary.
C. too inefficient.
D. complicated to use.
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3. Employers refused to put air conditioning in workplaces at first because they_____
A. could not afford to pay for it.
B. thought it was more suitable for cinemas.
C. did not want to spend money improving working conditions.
D. thought people would not work so hard in comfortable conditions.
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4. What was the purpose of the research done in the 1940s and ‘50s?
A. to make office workers produce more
B. to compare different types of air conditioner
C. to persuade business to buy air conditioners
D. to encourage employees to change offices
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5. What does Jed Brown say about air conditioning?
A. In future, everyone will need it.
B. Turning it off will not reduce global warming.
C. It can seriously damage people’s health.
D. It is good for people, but bad for the environment.
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Homework 1
Source: Brook-Hart, V. J. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5 Student's Book with Answers. Cambridge
University Press (pp. 98- 99)
The Pompidou Centre
More than three decades after it was built, the Pompidou Centre in Paris has survived its moment at the
edge of architectural fashion and proved itself to be one of the most remarkable buildings of the 20th
century.
It was the most outstanding new building constructed in Paris for two generations. It looked like an
explosion of brightly colored service pipes in the calm of the city center. However, when in 1977 the
architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano stood among a large crowd of 5,000 at the opening of the
Centre Culture! d'Art Georges Pompidou (known as the Pompidou), no one was really aware of the
significance of this unusual building.
Rogers was only 38 when he and Piano won the competition to design a new cultural centre for Paris in
the old market site. Young, unknown architects, they had been chosen from a field of nearly 700 to design
one of the most prestigious buildings of its day. After six difficult years, with 25,000 drawings, seven
lawsuits, battles over budgets, and a desperate last-minute scramble to finish the building, it had finally
been done.
Yet the opening was a downbeat moment. The Pompidou Centre had been rubbished by the
critics while it was being built, there was no more work in prospect for the architects, and their
partnership had effectively broken down. But this was just a passing crisis. The Centre, which
combined the national museum of modern art, exhibition space, a public library and a center
for modern music, proved an enormous success. It attracted six million visitors in its first year,
and with its success, the critics swiftly changed their tune.
The architects had been driven by the desire for ultimate flexibility, for a building that would
not limit the movement of its users. All the different parts were approached through the same
enormous entrance hall and served by the same escalator, which was free to anyone to ride,
whether they wanted to visit an exhibition or just admire the view. With all the services at one
end of the building, escalators and lifts at the other, and the floors hung on giant steel beams
providing uninterrupted space the size of two football pitches, their dream had become a
reality.
The image of the Pompidou pervaded popular culture in the 1970s, making appearances
everywhere - on record-album covers and a table lamp, and even acting as the set for a James
Bond film. This did much to overcome the secretive nature of the architectural culture of its time,
as it enabled wider audience to appreciate the style and content of the building and so moved
away from the strictly professional view.
The following year, Rogers was commissioned to design a new headquarters for Lloyd's Bank in
London, and went on to create one of Britain's most dynamic architectural practices. Piano is now
among the world's most respected architects. But what of their shared creation?
It was certainly like no previous museum, with its plans for a flexible interior that not only had
movable walls, but floors that could also be adjusted up or down. This second feature did not in
the end survive when the competition drawings were turned into a real building. In other ways,
however, the finished building demonstrated a remarkable degree of refinement - of
craftsmanship even - in the way the original diagram was transformed into a superbly detailed
structure. It was this quality which, according to some critics, suggested that the Pompidou should
be seen as closer to the 19th-century engineering tradition than the space age.
Nevertheless, as a model for urban planning, it has proved immensely influential. The
Guggenheim in Bilbao* and the many other major landmark projects that were built in the belief
that innovatively designed cultural buildings can bring about urban renewal are all following the
lead of the Pompidou Centre.
Other buildings may now challenge it for the title of Europe's most outlandish work of
architecture. However, more than a quarter of a century later, this construction - it is hard to
call it a building when there is no facade, just a lattice of steel beams and pipes and a long
external escalator snaking up the outside - still seems extreme.
Today, the Pompidou Centre itself still looks much as it did when it opened. The shock value
of its color-coded plumbing and its structure has not faded with the years. But while
traditionalists regarded it as an ugly attack on Paris when it was built, they now see it for what
it is - an enormous achievement, technically and conceptually.
*a modern-art museum in Spain designed by the North American architect, Frank O. Gehry
adapted from http://designmuseum.org
Questions 1-4
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. What does the writer say in the first paragraph about the opening of the Pompidou Centre?
A. The elderly did not like it.
B. The architects were not present.
C. The atmosphere was very noisy.
D. The people did not realize its importance.
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2. What does the writer say in the second paragraph about the construction of the Pompidou?
A. There was a hurry to complete it.
B. It cost less than expected.
C. Other experts helped draw the plans.
D. The market location was criticized.
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3. What is the writer's main purpose in the third paragraph?
A. to explain the multi-functional role of the center
B. to praise the architects for their design ideas
C. to say why some people's opinions quickly altered
D. to show how the media benefited from its success
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4. What was the architects' 'dream', referred to in the fourth paragraph?
A. to become famous
B. to provide entertainment
C. to allow visitors to use it freely
D. to build the biggest museum in the world
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Homework 2
Source: Wyatt, R. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5 Workbook with Answers. Cambridge University
Press.
The man who tried to destroy Paris
Le Corbusier was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. But many may wish he had
never built anything.
Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret in Switzerland in 1887, the architect Le Corbusier used his grandfather's
name when he went to Paris at the age of 29. As Jeanneret, he had been a fairly successful small-town
architect; as Le Corbusier, he had bigger ideas. He disliked the architectural styles that were popular at
the time and considered them to be out of date in an industrial age. He believed that the 20th century
deserved a brand-new style of architecture. “We must start again from zero,” he said.
The new style of architecture was called the International Style, and it attracted many followers in the
architectural world. However, nobody was as enthusiastic about it as Le Corbusier at the beginning. He
worked hard to promote his ideas at exhibitions, at talks, in books and in his own magazine. He loved
machines, and believed that, like a machine, a building should have a function. He is famous for saying:
“A house is a machine for living in.”
The machines he admired the most were ships, and his early buildings tried to capture the spirit of the sea
with their white walls, exposed rooms, shining glass and flat roofs. He called this style of architecture
“purism”. The first building to embrace this style was the Villa Savoye in France. Le Corbusier believed
that it was one of the best, most functional houses ever built. Unfortunately, this turned out to be an
exaggeration. The flat roof was a particular problem, as water poured in every time it rained, and it needed
constant repairs. Nevertheless, its design was revolutionary, and it should be considered a significant piece
of early 20th-century architecture.
In 1935, Le Corbusier visited New York City. He loved the city, and especially its tall buildings. He had
only one reservation, which he explained to a journalist for the Herald Tribune newspaper. American
skyscrapers were the biggest, tallest buildings in the world at that time, but Le Corbusier was a man who
always thought big, and as far as he was concerned, they were "just too small". Le Corbusier had always
admired tall buildings. Now, inspired by his visit, he abandoned purism. It is doubtful that he could have
created anything as grand as the skyscrapers he had seen in the city, but from now on Le Corbusier started
designing buildings that sent out a more powerful message.
He first started using bright colors, and then experimented with concrete. Le Corbusier loved the look and
flexibility of concrete and found it hard to hide it behind brick or paint, preferring to leave it in full view.
At a time when concrete was seen as modern and exciting, his designs made him world famous, and he was
asked to design several important buildings around the world. Altogether, he designed about 60 major
buildings worldwide, in a style that became known as “modernism”.
However, while many admired and copied his new style of architecture, many more hated it.
They turned against him and tried to block his plans. Buildings should inspire people and make
them feel good, they said, and Le Corbusier’s ugly, depressing buildings often had the opposite
effect. In this respect, the people of Paris had a lucky escape. Early in his career, Le Corbusier
had wanted to knock down the center of Paris and replace the old buildings with huge towers.
Fortunately, his plan was rejected. Justifiably, in view of his plans to transform one of the
world’s most beautiful cities into a hideous concrete jungle, Le Corbusier is still known as “the
man who tried to destroy Paris”.
Despite the criticism, he had an enormous effect on the world of architecture and attracted a
large number of followers. As a result, many places were subjected to his style. In the Paris
suburbs of Bobigny, for example, huge towers were built to house some of the city’s poorer
inhabitants. Other European cities such as London, Berlin and Dublin also felt his influence.
Apart from the buildings that were directly influenced by Le Corbusier, something else
happened that the architect never planned: there was a return to older styles of architecture.
Today, many people live in modern houses that look like they are much older. This look may
represent a return to traditional tastes and values. More likely, however, it represents a
reaction against modernist architecture.
Questions 1- 4
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. What does the writer say about Le Corbusier in the first paragraph?
A. He had a relative who was also an architect.
B. He became successful when he went to Paris.
C. He thought that there were too many industrial buildings.
D. He wanted to do something different from everyone else.
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2. What does the writer say about the International Style in the second paragraph?
A. A lot of other architects liked it.
B. At first, people did not like it very much.
C. It took a lot of hard work to get people to accept it.
D. The buildings looked like machines.
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3. Why does the writer describe the Villa Savoye as “revolutionary” in the third paragraph?
A. It looked more like a ship than a building.
B. Nobody had built anything like it before.
C. It looked nice, but had too many faults.
D. It was more functional than any other building of the time.
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4. What is the writer's main purpose in the fourth paragraph?
A. to explain why Le Corbusier visited New York
B. to show that Le Corbusier was not impressed by New York's skyscrapers
C. to describe Le Corbusier' s reaction to New York
D. to explain why Le Corbusier changed his style of architecture
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AVTC5_Unit 1_Multiple choice_MORE THAN 1 ANSWER
Inclass
Source: Brook-Hart, G., & Jakeman, V. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 5-6.5. Student’s
Book with Answers. Cambridge University Press (pp.18-19)
Organic food: Why?
By Rob Lyons and Jan Bowman
Today, many governments are promoting organic or natural farming methods that avoid
the use of pesticides and other artificial products. The aim is to show that they care about the
environment and about people's health. But is this the right approach?
A. Europe is now the biggest market for organic food in the world, expanding by 25 percent a year
over the past 10 years. So what is the attraction of organic food for some people? The really
important thing is that organic sounds more 'natural.' Eating organic is a way of defining oneself
as natural, good, caring, different from the junk-food-scoffing masses. As one journalist puts it: 'It
feels closer to the source, the beginning, the start of things.' The real desire is to be somehow close
to the soil, to Mother Nature.
B. Unlike conventional farming, the organic approach means farming with natural, rather than
man-made, fertilizers and pesticides. Techniques such as crop rotation improve soil quality and
help organic farmers compensate for the absence of man-made chemicals. As a method of food
production, organic is, however, inefficient in its use of labor and land; there are severe limits to
how much food can be produced. Also, the environmental benefits of not using artificial fertilizer
are tiny compared with the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by transporting food (a great deal of
Britain's organic produce is shipped in from other countries and transported from shop to home by
car).
C. Organic farming is often claimed to be safer than conventional farming - for the environment
and for consumers. Yet studies into organic farming worldwide continue to reject this claim. An
extensive review by the UK Food Standards Agency found that there was no statistically
significant difference between organic and conventional crops. Even where results indicated there
was evidence of a difference, the reviewers found no sign that these differences would have any
noticeable effect on health.
D. The simplistic claim that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food was always
likely to be misleading. Food is a natural product, and the health value of different foods will vary
for a number of reasons, including freshness the way the food is cooked, the type of soil it is grown
in, the amount of sunlight and rain crops have received, and so on. Likewise, the flavor of a carrot
has less to do with whether it was fertilized with manure or something out of a plastic sack than
with the variety of carrot and how long ago it was dug up. The differences created by these things
are likely to be greater than any differences brought about by using an organic or non­organic
system of production. Indeed, even some 'organic' farms are quite different from one another.
E. The notion that organic food is safer than 'normal' food is also contradicted by the fact that
many of our most common foods are full of natural toxins. Parsnips cause blisters on the skin of
agricultural workers. Toasting bread creates carcinogens. As one research expert says: 'People
think that the more natural something is, the better it is for them. That is simply not the case. In
fact, it is the opposite that is true: the closer a plant is to its natural state, the more likely it is that
it will poison you. Naturally, many plants do not want to be eaten, so we have spent 10,000 years
developing agriculture and breeding out harmful traits from crops.'
F. Yet educated Europeans are more scared of eating traces of a few, strictly regulated, man-made
chemicals than they are of eating the ones that nature created directly. Surrounded by plentiful
food, it's not nature they worry about, but technology. Our obsessions with the ethics and safety of
what we eat – concerns about antibiotics in animals, additives in food, GM crops and so on - are
symptomatic of a highly technological society that has little faith in its ability to use this technology
wisely. In this context, the less something is touched by the human hand, the healthier people
assume it must be.
G. Ultimately, the organic farming movement is an expensive luxury for shoppers in wellmanicured Europe. For developing parts of the world, it is irrelevant. To European
environmentalists, the fact that organic methods require more labor and land than conventional
ones to get the same yields is a good thing; to a farmer in rural Africa, it is a disaster. Here, land
tends to be so starved and crop yields so low that there simply is not enough organic matter to put
back into the soil. Perhaps the focus should be on helping these countries to gain access to the most
advanced farming techniques, rather than going back to basics.
Questions 1-6
Choose TWO letters, A-E
Questions 1-2
Which TWO of the following points does the writer mention in connection with organic
farming?
A. the occasional use of pesticides
B. using the same field for different crops
C. testing soil quality
D. reducing the number of farm workers
E. the production of greenhouse gases
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
Questions 3-4
According to the writer, which TWO factors affect the nutritional content of food?
A. who prepares the food
B. the weather conditions during growth
C. where the food has been stored
D. when the plants were removed from the earth
E. the type of farm the food was grown on
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
Questions 5-6
Which TWO negative aspects of organic farming does the writer mention?
A. Consumers complain about the extra cost.
B. Organic food may make people ill.
C. Farm workers have to be specially trained.
D. It requires too much technological expertise.
E. It is not possible in some countries.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
Homework 1
Source: Brook-Hart, G., & Jakeman, V. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5 Workbook with
Answers. Cambridge University Press (pp. 31-32)
On the trail of the honey badger
Researchers learn more about this fearless African predator.
On a recent field trip to the Kalahari Desert, a team of researchers learnt a lot more about honey
badgers. They were rewarded with a detailed insight into how these fascinating creatures live and
hunt.
The team employed a local wildlife expert, Kitso Khama, to help them locate and follow the
badgers across the desert. Their main aim was to study the badgers' movements and behavior as
discreetly as possible, without frightening them away or causing them to change their natural
behavior. They also planned to trap a few and study them close up before releasing them. In view
of the animal's reputation, this was something that even Khama was reluctant to do.
“The problem with honey badgers is they are naturally curious animals, especially when they see something
new,” he says. “That, combined with their unpredictable nature, can be a dangerous mixture. If they sense
you have food, for example, they won't be shy about coming right up to you for something to eat. They are
actually quite sociable creatures around humans, but as soon as they feel they might be in danger, they can
become extremely vicious. Fortunately, this is rare, but it does happen.”
The research confirmed many things that were already known. As expected, honey badgers ate
any creatures they could catch and kill. Even poisonous snakes, feared and avoided by most other
animals, were not safe from them. The researchers were surprised, however, by the animal's
fondness for local melons, probably because of their high water content. Previously researchers
thought that the animal got all of its liquid requirements from its prey. The team also learnt that,
contrary to previous research findings, the badgers occasionally formed loose family groups. They
were also able to confirm certain results from previous research, including the fact that female
badgers never socialized with each other.
Following some of the male badgers was a challenge, since they can cover large distances in a
short space of time. Some hunting territories cover more than 500 square kilometers. Although
they seem happy to share these territories with other males, there are occasional fights over an
important food source, and male badgers can be as aggressive towards each other as they are
towards other species.
As the badgers became accustomed to the presence of people, it gave the team the chance to get
up close to them without being the subject of the animals' curiosity - or their sudden aggression.
The badgers' eating patterns, which had been disrupted, returned to normal. It also allowed the
team to observe more closely some of the other creatures that form working associations with the
honey badger, as these seemed to adopt the badgers' relaxed attitude when near humans.
Questions 1-6
1. Why did the wildlife experts visit the Kalahari Desert? Choose TWO reasons. Choose TWO
letters, A-E.
A. To find where honey badgers live.
B. To observe how honey badgers behave.
C. To try to change the way honey badgers behave.
D. To temporarily catch some honey badgers.
E. To find out why honey badgers have such a bad reputation.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%0%B#~%100%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%0%B#~%100%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
2. What TWO things does Kitso Khama say about honey badgers? Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. They show interest in things they are not familiar with.
B. It’s hard to tell how they will behave.
C. They are always looking for food.
D. They do not enjoy human company.
E. It’s common for them to attack people.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
3. What TWO things did the team find out about honey badgers? Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. There are some creatures they will not eat.
B. They were afraid of poisonous creatures.
C. They may get some of the water they need from fruit.
D. They do not always live alone.
E. Female badgers do not mix with male badgers.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%0%B#~%100%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%0%B#~%100%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
4. According to the passage, which of these TWO features are typical of male badgers? Choose
TWO letters, A-E.
A. They don't run very quickly.
B. They hunt over a very large area.
C. They defend their territory from other badgers.
D. They sometimes fight each other.
E. They are more aggressive than females
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
5. What TWO things happened when the honey badgers got used to humans being around them?
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. The badgers lost interest in people.
B. The badgers became less aggressive towards other creatures.
C. The badgers started eating more.
D. Other animals started working with the badgers.
E. Other animals near them became more relaxed.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
Homework 2
Source: Brook-Hart, G., & Jakeman, V. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5 Workbook with
Answers. Cambridge University Press (pp. 31-32)
Humpback whale breaks migration record
A whale surprises researchers with her journey.
A lone humpback whale travelled more than 9,800 kilometers from breeding areas in Brazil to those in
Madagascar, setting a record for the longest mammal migration ever documented.
Humpback whales [Megaptera novaeangliae] are known to have some of the longest migration distances
of all mammals, and this huge journey is about 400 kilometers farther than the previous humpback record.
The finding was made by Peter Stevick, a biologist at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.
The whale's journey was unusual not only for its length, but also because it travelled across almost 90
degrees of longitude from west to east. Typically, humpbacks move in a north- south direction between cold
feeding areas and warm breeding grounds - and the longest journeys which have been recorded until now
have been between breeding and feeding sites.
The whale, a female, was first spotted off the coast of Brazil, where researchers photographed its tail fluke
and took skin samples for chromosome testing to determine the animal's sex. Two years later, a tourist on
a whale-watching boat snapped a photo of the humpback near Madagascar.
To match the two sightings, Stevick's team used an extensive international catalogue of photographs of the
undersides of tail flukes, which have distinctive markings. Researchers routinely compare the markings in
each new photograph to those in the archive.
The scientists then estimated the animal's shortest possible route: an arc skirting the southern tip of South
Africa and heading north-east towards Madagascar. The minimum distance is 9,800 kilometers, says
Stevick, but this is likely to be an underestimate, because the whale probably took a detour to feed on krill
in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica before reaching its destination.
Most humpback-whale researchers focus their efforts on the Northern Hemisphere because the Southern
Ocean near the Antarctic is a hostile environment and it is hard to get to, explains Rochelle Constantine,
who studies the ecology of humpback whales at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. But, for whales,
oceans in the Southern Hemisphere are wider and easier to travel across, says Constantine. Scientists will
probably observe more long-distance migrations in the Southern Hemisphere as satellite tracking becomes
increasingly common, she adds.
Daniel Palacios, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says that the record-breaking
journey could indicate that migration patterns are shifting as populations begin to recover from nearextinction and the population increases. But the reasons why the whale did not follow the usual migration
routes remain a mystery. She could have been exploring new habitats, or simply have lost her way. 'We
generally think of humpback whales as very well studied, but then they surprise us with things like this,'
Palacios says. 'Undoubtedly there are a lot of things we still don't know about whale migration.'
by Janelle Weaver, published online in Nature
Questions 1-7
1. What TWO aspects of the whale's journey surprised researchers?
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. the destination
B. the direction
C. the distance
D. the reason
E. the season
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
2. The passage mentions reasons why whales generally migrate. What TWO reasons are given?
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. to avoid humans
B. to be safe
C. to eat
D. to keep warm
E. to produce young
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
3. What TWO methods did researchers use to record the identity of the whale near Brazil?
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. They analyzed part of the whale's body.
B. They marked its tail.
C. They made notes of its behavior.
D. They recorded the sounds it made.
E. They took a picture.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
4. The passage mentions places the whale may have passed close to on its journey. Which TWO
places may the whale have passed. Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. Antarctica
B. Hawaii
C. Maine
D. New Zealand
E. South Africa
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
5. The passage says that more research is done in the Northern Hemisphere. Which TWO
reasons are given for this? Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. It contains more whales.
B. It has friendlier surroundings.
C. There are more samples available.
D. It is easier to reach.
E. It contains smaller whales.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
6. The passage suggests why the whale made a different journey from usual. Which TWO
reasons does it suggest? Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. She did not know where she was going.
B. She did not want to breed.
C. She wanted to escape a danger.
D. She was looking for a new place to live.
E. She was recovering from an illness.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A #~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
7. Which TWO methods of finding out where whales migrate are mentioned in the passage?
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
A. attaching radio transmitters
B. comparing pictures taken in different place
C. following them in boats
D. placing cameras in key positions
E. following their movements from space
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
and {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A #~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
UNIT 3 – MATCHING HEADINGS
In-class
THE FUTURE OF MALLS
A. Shopping malls have never been just about shopping. They began in the United
States after the Second World War and, for the young, they were always a place
to 'hang out' and be seen. However, the world has moved on, and just providing
shops and a food court is no longer enough to keep malls alive. Malls became
less popular at the start of the 21st century, mainly because of online shopping.
There is even a website, deadmalls.com, which shows the end of many US
malls. Malls need to change to survive. So what will the mall of the future look
like?
B. Malls are already becoming bigger and better all over the world. Asia and not the
US is now the 'mall capital of the world and is home to the five largest malls in
the world. China is home to the two largest. Some malls in the Middle East and
East Asia are starting to specialize. It is predicted that this will happen more and
more in the future. Some malls will only sell electrical items, for example, or only
fashion for young people. Some malls will only include expensive shops or cheap
shops, as already happens in Bangkok and Singapore.
C. Malls are becoming the new downtown', with cinemas, bowling alleys, climbing
walls and even concert halls. Xanadu, a mall 30 km from Madrid, is a recreation
center for a family day out as well as a shopping center, with ski slopes, mini-golf,
go-karts, balloon rides, bowling and billiards. We have always been able to grab a
burger at the mall, but in the future we are going to see 'fine dining' too, with more
expensive restaurants based at malls, as well as spas, fitness centers and art
galleries. There are also going to be more apartments and office space so that
more people can live, work, shop and be entertained in one location.
D. Mall owners are going to need to think of new ideas to remain in business. One
growing trend is the seasonal changes in the mall. It began with having Santa
Claus in December, but now there are pop-ups' - temporary shops, stalls and
kiosks - for other seasons and events. Brent Cross in North London has an 'urban
beach' in summer, and its main lobby has different promotions and events every
week, from bungee jumping for kids to free health checks.
E. So, we have looked at the facilities malls will need to offer. Malls will need to
consider the environment too. There will be more open-air malls and more
natural features. Mall designers will have to make sure people can get there by
public transport. They will also need to use more natural sources of heat and
light. We will see more plants, trees, grass and even waterfalls at our local malls
in the future.
F. The future of malls looks exciting: there will be 'virtual malls' and technology will
be used within malls to help us shop, find bargains and even park our car. With all
these creative innovations, the mall will go from strength to strength.
Choose a heading for each paragraph, B-E. Write the correct number i-v in the gaps
List of headings
i.
Innovate and stay alive
ii.
Fast food paradise
iii.
Expanding and improving
iv.
Malls and the natural world
v.
A new city center
1.
2.
3.
4.
Paragraph B _____
Paragraph C _____
Paragraph D _____
Paragraph E _____
ANSWER
1. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%100%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#}
2. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%100%v#}
3. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#}
4. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%100%iv#~%0%v#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 1 Student's Book with
Testbank and Online Modules. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 1
THE BURDEN OF THIRST
Millions of women carry water long distances. If they had a tap by their door, whole
societies would be transformed.
A. Aylito Binayo's feet know the mountain. Even at four in the morning, she can run
down the rocks to the river by starlight alone and climb the steep mountain back
up to her village with a container of water on her back. She has made this journey
three times a day since she was a small child. So has every other woman in her
village of Foro, in the Konso district of south-western Ethiopia in Africa. Binayo left
school when she was eight years old, in part because she had to help her mother
fetch water from the Toiro River. The water is unsafe to drink; every year that the
drought continues, the river carries less water, and its flow is reduced. But it is the
only water Foro has ever had.
B. In developed parts of the world, people turn on a tap and out pours abundant, clean
water. Yet nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean water.
Furthermore, 2.5 billion people have no safe way to get rid of human waste.
Polluted water and lack of proper hygiene cause disease and kill 3.3 million people
around the world annually, most of them children. In southern Ethiopia and in
northern Kenya, a lack of rain over the past few years has made even dirty water
hard to find. But soon, for the first time, things are going to change.
C. Bringing clean water close to villagers' homes is the key to the problem.
Communities where clean water becomes accessible and plentiful are
transformed. All the hours previously spent hauling water can be used to cultivate
more crops, raise more animals or even start a business. Families spend less time
sick or caring for family members who are unwell. Most important, not having to
collect water means girls can go to school and get jobs. The need to fetch water
for the family, or to take care of younger siblings while their mother goes, usually
prevents them ever having this experience.
D. But the challenges of bringing water to remote villages like those in Konso are
overwhelming. Locating water underground and then reaching it by means of deep
wells requires geological expertise and expensive, heavy machines. Abandoned
wells and water projects litter the villages of Konso. In similar villages around the
developing world, the biggest problem with water schemes is that about half of
them break down soon after the groups that built them move on. Sometimes
technology is used that can't be repaired locally, or spare parts are available only
in the capital.
E. Today, a UK-based international non-profit organization called WaterAid is tackling
the job of bringing water to the most remote villages of Konso. Their approach
combines technologies proven to last - such as building a sand dam to capture
and filter rainwater that would otherwise drain away. But the real innovation is that
WaterAid believes technology is only part of the solution. Just as important is
involving the local community in designing, building and maintaining new water
projects. Before beginning any project, WaterAid asks the community to create a
WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) committee of seven people. The committee
works with WaterAid to plan projects and involve the village in construction. Then
it maintains and runs the project.
F. The people of Konso, who grow their crops on terraces they have dug into the
sides of mountains, are famous for hard work. In the village of Orbesho, residents
even constructed a road themselves so that drilling machinery could come in. Last
summer, their pump, installed by the river, was being motorized to push its water
to a newly built reservoir on top of a nearby mountain. From there, gravity will carry
it down in pipes to villages on the other side of the mountain. Residents of those
villages have each given some money to help fund the project. They have made
concrete and collected stones for the structures. Now they are digging trenches to
lay pipes. If all goes well, Aylito Binayo will have a tap with safe water just a threeminute walk from her front door.
The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for
paragraphs A-F from the list of headings (i-viii) below.
List of headings
i.
Why some plans have failed
ii.
A rural and urban problem
iii.
A possible success
iv.
Explaining a new management style
v.
Some relevant statistics
vi.
A regular trip for some people
vii.
Treating people for disease
viii.
How water can change people’s lives
1. Paragraph A _____
2. Paragraph B _____
3. Paragraph C _____
4. Paragraph D _____
5. Paragraph E _____
6. Paragraph F _____
ANSWER
1. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%100%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#}
2. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%100%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#}
3. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%vii
#~%100%viii#}
4. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#}
5. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%100%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#}
6. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%100%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#}
Citation: Brook-Hart, G., & Jakeman, V. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5:
Student's Book with Answers. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 1
Organic food: Why?
Today, many governments are promoting organic or natural farming methods that avoid
the use of pesticides and other artificial products. The aim is to show that they care
about people’s health. But is this the right approach?
A. Europe is now the biggest market for organic food in the world, expanding by 25
percent a year over the past 10 years. So what is the attraction of organic food for
some people? The really important thing is that organic sounds more "natural'.
Eating organic is a way of defining oneself as natural, good, caring, different from
the junk-food-scoffing masses. As one journalist puts it: 'It feels closer to the
source, the beginning, the start of things.' The real desire is to be somehow close
to the soil, to Mother Nature.
B. Unlike conventional farming, the organic approach means farming with natural,
rather than man-made, fertilizers and pesticides. Techniques such as crop rotation
improve soil quality and help organic farmers compensate for the absence of manmade chemicals. As a method of food production, organic is, however, inefficient
in its use of labor and land; there are severe limits to how much food can be
produced. Also, the environmental benefits of not using artificial fertilizer are tiny
compared with the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by transporting food (a great
deal of Britain's organic produce is shipped in from other countries and transported
from shop to home by car).
C. Organic farming is often claimed to be safer than conventional farming - for the
environment and for consumers. Yet studies into organic farming worldwide
continue to reject this claim. An extensive review by the UK Food Standards
Agency found that there was no statistically significant difference between organic
and conventional crops. Even where results indicated there was evidence of a
difference, the reviewers found no sign that these differences would have any
noticeable effect on health.
D. The simplistic claim that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food was
always likely to be misleading. Food is a natural product, and the health value of
different foods will vary for a number of reasons, including freshness, the way the
food is cooked, the type of soil it is grown in, the amount of sunlight and rain crops
have received, and so on. Likewise, the flavor of a carrot has less to do with
whether it was fertilized with manure or something out of a plastic sack than with
the variety of carrot and how long ago it was dug up. The differences created by
these things are likely to be greater than any differences brought about by using
an organic or nonorganic system of production. Indeed, even some 'organic farms
are quite different from one another.
E. The notion that organic food is safer than 'normal' food is also contradicted by the
fact that many of our most common foods are full of natural toxins. Parsnips cause
blisters on the skin of agricultural workers. Toasting bread creates carcinogens.
As one research expert says: 'People think that the more natural something is, the
better it is for them. That is simply not the case. In fact, it is the opposite that is
true: the closer a plant is to its natural state, the more likely it is that it will poison
you. Naturally, many plants do not want to be eaten, so we have spent 10,000
years developing agriculture and breeding out harmful traits from crops.
F. Yet educated Europeans are more scared of eating traces of a few, strictly
regulated, man-made chemicals than they are of eating the ones that nature
created directly. Surrounded by plentiful food, it's not nature they worry about, but
technology. Our obsessions with the ethics and safety of what we eat - concerns
about antibiotics in animals, additives in food, GM crops and so on - are
symptomatic of a highly technological society that has little faith in its ability to use
this technology wisely. In this context, the less something is touched by the human
hand, the healthier people assume it must be.
G. Ultimately, the organic farming movement is an expensive luxury for shoppers in
well-manicured Europe. For developing parts of the world, it is irrelevant. To
European environmentalists, the fact that organic methods require more labor and
land than conventional ones to get the same yields is a good thing; to a farmer in
rural Africa, it is a disaster. Here, land tends to be so starved and crop yields so
low that there simply is not enough organic matter to put back into the soil. Perhaps
the focus should be on helping these countries to gain access to the most
advanced farming techniques, rather than going back to basics.
The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for
each paragraph from the list of headings below.
1. Paragraph A _____
2. Paragraph B _____
3. Paragraph C _____
4. Paragraph D _____
5. Paragraph E _____
6. Paragraph F _____
7. Paragraph G _____
List of headings
i.
Research into whether organic food is better for us
ii.
Adding up the cost of organic food
iii.
The factors that can affect food quality
iv.
The rich and poor see things differently
v.
A description of organic farming
vi.
Testing the taste of organic food
vii.
Fear of science has created the organic trend
viii.
The main reason for the popularity of organic
ix.
The need to remove hidden dangers from food
ANSWER
1. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0
%vii#~%100%viii#~%0%ix#}
2. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%100%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
3. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
4. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%100%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
5. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0
%vii#~%0%viii#~%100%ix#}
6. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%10
0%vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
7. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%100%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
Citation: Jakeman, V., Wyatt, R., & Brook-Hart, G. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 56.5: Student's Book with Answers. Cambridge University Press.
READING TEST – LEVEL B1+
AVTC 5 – UNIT3
In-class
Source: Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish
Education.
Unlikely Boomtowns: The World's Hottest Cities
Megacities like London, New York and Tokyo loom large in our imaginations. They are still
associated with fortune, fame and the future. They can dominate national economies and
politics. The last fifty years has been their era, as the number of cities with more than ten
million people grew from two to twenty. But with all respect to the science-fiction novelists
who have envisioned a future of urban giants, their day is over. The typical growth rate of the
population within a megacity has slowed from more than eight per cent in the 1980s to less
than half that over the last five years, and numbers are expected to be static in the next quarter
century. Instead, the coming years will belong to a smaller, far humbler relation - the Second
City.
Within a few years, more people will live in cities than in the countryside for the first time in
human history. But increasingly, the urban core itself is downsizing. Already, half the city
dwellers in the world live in metropolises with fewer than half-a-million residents. Second Cities
- from exurbs, residential areas outside the suburbs of a town, to regional centres - are
booming. Between 2000 and 2015, the world's smallest cities (with under 500,000 people) will
grow by 23 per cent, while the next smallest (one million to five million people) will grow by 27
per cent. This trend is the result of dramatic shifts, including the global real-estate bubble;
increasing international migration; cheaper transport; new technologies, and the fact that the
baby-boom generation is reaching retirement age.
The emergence of Second Cities has flowed naturally (if unexpectedly) from the earlier success
of the megacities. In the 1990s, megacities boomed as global markets did. This was particularly
true in areas with high-tech or knowledge-based'industries like finance. Bonuses got bigger,
bankers got richer and real-estate prices in the world's most sought-after cities soared. The
result has been the creation of what demographer William Frey of the Washington-based
Brookings Institute calls 'gated regions' in which both the city and many of the surrounding
suburbs have become unaffordable for all but the very wealthy. 'Economically, after a city
reaches a certain size its productivity starts to fall,' notes Mario Pezzini, head of the regionalcompetitiveness division of the OECD. He puts the tipping point at about six million people,
after which costs, travel times and the occasional chaos 'create a situation in which the centre
of the city may be a great place, but only for the rich, and the outlying areas become harder to
live and work in'.
One reaction to this phenomenon is further sprawl - high prices in the urban core and
traditional suburbs drive people to distant exurbs with extreme commutes into big cities. As
Frey notes, in the major US metropolitan areas, average commuting times have doubled over
the last fifteen years.
Why does one town become a booming Second City while another fails? The answer hinges on
whether a community has the wherewithal to exploit the forces pushing people and businesses
out of the megacities. One key is excellent transport links, especially to the biggest commercial
centres. Though barely a decade old, Goyang is South Korea's fastest-growing city in part
because it is 30 minutes by subway from Seoul.
Another growth driver for Second Cities is the decentralization of work, driven in large part by
new technologies. While more financial deals are done now in big capitals like New York and
London than ever before, it is also clear that plenty of booming service industries are leaving for
'Rising Urban Stars' like Dubai, Montpellier and Cape Town. These places have not only
improved their Internet backbones, but often have technical institutes and universities that
turn out the kinds of talent that populate growth industries.
Consider Montpellier, France, a case study in urban decentralization. Until the 1980s, it was like
a big Mediterranean village, but one with a strong university, many lovely villas and an IBM
manufacturing base. Once the high-speed train lines were built, Parisians began pouring in for
weekend breaks. Some bought houses, creating a critical mass of middle-class professionals
who began taking advantage of flexible working systems to do three days in Paris, and two
down South, where things seemed less pressured. Soon, big companies began looking at the
area; a number of medical-technology and electronics firms came to town, and IBM put more
investment into service businesses there. To cater to the incoming professionals, the city began
building amenities: an opera house, a tram linc to discourage cars in the city centre. The result,
says French urban-planning expert Nacima Baron, is that 'the city is now full of cosmopolitan
business people. It's a new society'.
All this means that Second Cities won't stay small. Indeed some countries are actively
promoting their growth. Italy, for example, is trying to create tourist hubs of towns close to
each other with distinctive buildings and offering different yet complementary cultural
activities. Devolution of policymaking power is leaving many lesser cities more free than ever to
shape their destinies. To them all: this is your era. Don't blow it.
from Newsweek, 7/3/2006 2006 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by
the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the
Material without express written permission is prohibited.
Questions 7 - 13
Complete the summary using the list of words A-R below.
Urban Decentralisation
It is becoming increasingly obvious that large numbers of 7________are giving up their
expensive premises in the megacities and relocating to smaller cities like Montpellier. One of
the attractions of Montpellier is the presence of a good 8 ________ that can provide them with
the necessary skilled workforce.
Another important factor for Montpellier was the arrival of visitors from the 9________The
introduction of the 10 ________ meant that increasing numbers were able to come for short
stays. Of these, a significant proportion decided to get a base in the city. The city council soon
realised that they needed to provide appropriate 11________ for their new inhabitants. In fact,
the 12 ________ among them liked the more relaxed lifestyle so much that they took
advantage of any 13 ________ arrangements offered by their firms to spend more of the week
in Montpellier.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
M.
N.
O.
P.
Q.
R.
urban centres
finance companies
Flexible
tram line
Cosmopolitan
service industries
Capital
high-speed train
Infrastructure
unskilled workers
Jobs
medical-technology
professionals
European Union
Amenities
Overtime
Middle-age
University
ANSWER:
7. {1:SA:=F}
8. {1:SA:=R}
9. {1:SA:=G}
10. {1:SA:=H}
11. {1:SA:=O}
12. {1:SA:=M}
13. {1:SA:=C}
Homework 1
Source: Travis, P., Harrison, L. & Chong S. C. (2005). Practice Tests for IELTS 1. Collins.
Twisted Light
A. Why is your mobile phone or wireless signal so slow? If you ask your service provider, they'll tell
you that it's the bandwidth. We're running out of signal space on the wireless spectrum. All
wireless communications travel through radio or optical frequencies: your TV or radio
programmes, your GPS device that helps you find your way, your mobile and smartphone,
laptop and wirelessly connected PC. The demands from users and industry on a limited
resource, the wireless spectrum, are growing daily and are closely regulated. The reason is that
two users cannot use the same signal: think about radio stations, which have to operate on
different frequencies otherwise they cause interference with each other. Likewise mobile phone
operators cannot transit over the same frequency in the same market at the same time.
Government-controlled agencies grant licences to use the wireless spectrum but if a wireless
company wants to add more spectrum to its service to boost its capacity, it's likely to be
disappointed as there isn't much more available. What is needed is a way of pushing more data
through the same amount of bandwidth.
B. Now scientists may have found a way of manipulating light waves to carry more information:
potentially enough for users to be able to download a film onto a smartphone in a single second.
By twisting light waves, scientists could possibly transmit data at speeds of 2.56 terrabits per
second: that's 85,000 times faster than the 30 megabits per second currently possible. To put it
another way, this is the same as transmitting 70 DVDs through the air in about a second.
Researchers based in America, China, Israel and Pakistan have built on previous research from
Sweden, which negates the need for more bandwidth by making better use of the spectrum.
The basis of the research is to manipulate the properties of light.
C. One property of light is wavelength: lasers, radio waves, microwaves are simply different
wavelengths of light. Light is made up of photons and photons have two other properties that
define a beam of light: spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum. A good way of
thinking about how photons travel is to think of the orbit of a planet: it spins around on its axis
(spin angular momentum), and at the same time the planet is also revolving around the sun
(orbital angular momentum). The latter force means that light can be twisted around its axis of
travel to take the shape of a spiral or a corkscrew. At the centre of the spiral the light waves
cancel each other out, leaving darkness in the middle, called an optical vortex. When light
travels, it is formed into a spiral shape and it can be manipulated. There are infinite possibilities
for ways in which the photon can be made to spiral: clockwise, counterclockwise, tight spirals or
loose ones. Each of these spiral states can be uniquely identified but, more importantly for
wireless communication, the spirals can be wrapped up within each other - or multiplexed - into
a single beam. The beam can be transmitted and unwound at the receiving end to get the data
streams back out again, essentially doubling or trebling or even quadrupling the bandwidth.
D. Scientists have been twisting light since the 1970s, and the spin angular momentum of waves is
already manipulated in standard wireless communication. For years, Bo Thide of the Swedish
Institute of Space Physics theorised that the orbital angular momentum could be used to create
the spiral signal or as Thide calls it a 'radio vortex'. Then in an experiment in Venice, his team
transmitted two signals simultaneously on the same frequency over a distance of 442 metres.
Following on from this, researchers in America, China, Israel and Pakistan, led by Alan Wilner,
twisted together eight light data streams, each stream with its own level of orbital angular
momentum twist. One of the streams was transmitted as a thin stream while the others were
transmitted around the outside. The data beam was then sent to a receiver and untwisted to
recover the data.
E. The achievement is very exciting for developers of wireless network technology as the useful
spectrum of frequencies is largely used up. The orbital angular momentum model would allow
for an infinite number of data transmissons without taking up any more of the spectrum. There
is a problem, however: researchers can only transmit the data stream one metre, which is an
insignificant distance for communication purposes. The short transmission range is due to
turbulence in the atmosphere, which disrupts the signal as the light hits air molecules. But the
scientists are planning to be able to send the beam considerably further. One idea is to create
links every kilometre to extend the network. Another is to build high-speed satellite
communication links where the atmospheric problems would not affect the signal. Another
possibility is to adapt the technology for fibre-optic use, the way data is currently transmitted
over the Internet. Unfortunately, at this point standard fibre-optic cables are not capable of
carrying multichannel signals and fibre-optic cables that can carry the signal experience
problems of interference between channels as they carry data with high bit-rates.
F. Nevertheless, exploiting the orbital angular momentum gives scientists options that could lead
to significant increases in data transfer, even a modest increase in the existing data transfer rate
is worthwhile. Furthermore, very often technology is pulled along by innovative research so a
novel solution to carrying the data-rich signal may not be far behind.
Questions 1-5
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Researchers are looking for a way of using the 1 _______ more efficiently. One option is to
transmit signals that are twisted into 2_______, and wrapping them together, or 3_______
them. This is still problematic on earth due to 4_______ but scientists hope that 5 _______
cable technology will catch up with the research breakthrough.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
Bandwidth
atmostpheric interference
fibre-optic
light waves
Multiplexing
wireless spectrum
Spirals
data streams
Novel
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
{1:SA:=F}
{1:SA:=G}
{1:SA:=E}
{1:SA:=B}
5. {1:SA:=C}
Homework 2
Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish Education
(pp.52-54)
Jargon
A. Jargon is a loaded word. One dictionary defines it, neatly and neutrally, as 'the technical
vocabulary or idiom of a special activity or group', but this sense is almost completely
overshadowed by another: 'obscure and often pretentious language marked by a roundabout
way of expression and use of long words'. For most people, it is this second sense which is at the
front of their minds when they think about jargon. Jargon is said to be a bad use of language,
something to be avoided at all costs. No one ever describes it in positive terms ('that was a
delightful piece of rousing jargon'). Nor does one usually admit to using it oneself: the myth is
that jargon is something only other people employ.
B. The reality, however, is that everyone uses jargon. It is an essential part of the network of
occupations and pursuits that make up society. All jobs present an element of jargon, which
workers learn as they develop their expertise. All hobbies require mastery of a jargon. Each
society grouping has its jargon. The phenomenon turns out to be universal - and valuable. It is
the jargon element which, in a job, can promote economy and precision of expression, and thus
help make life easier for the workers. It is also the chief linguistic element which shows
professional awareness (“know-how) and social togetherness ("shop-talk").
C. When we have learned to command it, jargon is something we readily take pleasure in, whether
the subject area is motorcycles, knitting, cricket, baseball or computers. It can add pace, variety
and humour to speech - as when, with an important event approaching, we might slip into
NASA-speak, and talk about countdown, all systems go, and lift-off. We enjoy the mutual
showing-off which stems from a fluent use of terminology, and we enjoy the in-jokes which
shared linguistic experience permits. Moreover, we are jealous of this knowledge. We are quick
to demean anyone who tries to be part of our group without being prepared to take on its
jargon.
D. If jargon is so essential a part of our lives, why then has it had such a bad press? The most
important reason stems from the way jargon can exclude as well as include. We may not be too
concerned if we find ourselves faced with an impenetrable wall of jargon when the subject
matter has little perceived relevance to our everyday lives, as in the case of hydrology, say, or
linguistics. But when the subject matter is one where we feel implicated, and think we have a
right to know, and the speaker uses words which make it hard for us to understand, then we
start to complain; and if we suspect that the obfuscation is deliberate policy, we unreservedly
condemn, labelling it gobbledegook and calling down public derision upon it.
E. No area is exempt, but the fields of advertising, politics and defence have been especially
criticised in recent years by the various campaigns for Plain English. In these domains, the extent
to which people are prepared to use jargon to hide realities is a ready source of amusement,
disbelief and horror. A lie is a lie, which can be only temporarily hidden by calling it an
‘inoperative statement' or 'an instance of plausible deniability'. Nor can a nuclear plant
explosion be suppressed for long behind such phrases as 'energetic disassembly', 'abnormal
evolution' or 'plant transient'.
F. While condemning unnecessary or obscuring jargon in others, we should not forget to look out
for it in ourselves. It is so easy to 'slip into jargon, without realizing that our own
listeners/readers do not understand. It is also temptingly easy to slip some jargon into our
expression, to ensure that others do not understand. And it is just as easy to begin using jargon
which we ourselves do not understand. The motivation to do such apparently perverse things is
not difficult to grasp. People like to be 'in', to be part of an intellectual or technical elite; and the
use of jargon, whether understood or not, is a badge of membership. Jargon, also, can provide a
lazy way into a group or an easy way of hiding uncertainties and inadequacies: when
terminology slips plausibly from the tongue, it is not essential for the brain to keep up. Indeed
some people have developed this skill to professional levels. And certainly, faced with a telling
or awkward question, and the need to say something acceptable in public, slipping into jargon
becomes a simple way out, and can soon become a bad habit.
Questions 1- 6
Complete the summary using the list of words A - L below.
The Up Side of Jargon
Jargon plays a useful part in many aspects of life including leisure. For example, when people
take up pastimes they need to develop a good 1................. of the relevant jargon. During
discussion of these or other areas of interest, conversation can become more exciting and an
element of 2................. can be introduced by the use of shared jargon.
Jargon is particularly helpful in the workplace. It leads to more 3. ................ in the way
colleagues communicate during work hours. Taking part in 4. ................ during moments of
relaxation can also help them to bond better.
It is interesting that members of a group, whether social or professional, often demonstrate a
certain 5................towards the particular linguistic characteristics of their subject area and tend
to regard new people who do not wish to learn the jargon with 6................
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
Judgement
Jokes
shop-talk
Efficiency
know-how
Command
Comtempt
Feeling
Possessiveness
Pleasure
Fear
Humour
ANSWER:
1. {1:SA:=F}
2. {1:SA:=L}
3. {1:SA:=D}
4. {1:SA:=C}
5. {1:SA:=I}
7. {1:SA:=G}
UNIT 4 – MATCHING FEATURES
In-class
BECOME RICH AND FAMOUS THROUGH THE INTERNET
In the past, to become famous you needed a talent: singing, playing an instrument,
dancing or writing books. Nowadays, it is much easier to become famous. This is
because of the internet. All you need is a camera or webcam, computer, internet
connection and a bit of creativity.
First of all, you need to decide what you are going to write or speak about: hair and
makeup, comedy, sport, news and current affairs, raising money for a charity or
something specialist like keeping tropical fish. Then choose a site to post on. Some
sites are international and some may be particular to one country, such Weibo in China.
Youtube is a good site to choose if you make your own videos. It is easy to upload your
short films, and many people use it.
If you want to become famous on Youtube, you should make lots of videos and release
one every day. Youtubers who become popular are often those who present tips,
advice, ‘how to’ guides and opinions on entertainment or stories in the news. If you
allow advertisements in your videos, you will make money when people view the
adverts. Facebook is a good platform for those who want to make money, but not for
those who want to be famous. To earn money through Facebook, you need a very
original and/or funny page, with interesting photos which can get you a few hundred
thousand ‘likes’. If you achieve fame on Facebook, it probably won’t last.
Twitter is a social media site where people can communicate through short messages.
It works well for those who want to be well-known but are not so interested in making
money. If you want to become known on Twitter, you will need to post lots of
entertaining content. Instagram is a site where people mainly put up photos and videos.
It is a site which can make you well-known, particularly if you want to become a famous
photographer.
Creating your own blog is possibly the best way to become internet famous and make
money, through advertising, especially once you have become known on one of the
sites above. You need to be aware of the topics and issues that are ‘trending’ (that are
popular right now) and post about those ideas. Learn to create ‘vines’ (a series of short
extracts from videos put together in a creative way) and become an expert on photo
editing. With these few easily learnt skills and some imagination, you can achieve the
fame you’ve always dreamed of-online at least.
Choose the correct website (A-E) for each statement. You may choose any website
more than once.
1. You want to be rich and become famous. _____
2. You want to take photographs as a career. _____
3. You want people to know you but don’t care about money. _____
4. You want to make money but not be famous. _____
5. You can post a new film daily. _____
6. You want to show people how to do something. _____
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Youtube
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Your own blog
ANSWER
7. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#}
8. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#}
9. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
10. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
11. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
12. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 1: Student's Book and
Online Modules with Testbank. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 1
FAMOUS ANIMALS
A. Like people, animals each have their own personality and talents. And like
some people, some animals achieve fame. Some of them become famous
through films, TV or advertisements, and others through their work, for
example rescuing people or playing a role in a war. Still others have done
something special or been the first to do something.
B. There have been many famous dogs in history. One of them is Hachiko, a
dog remembered for his loyalty to his owner. Hachiko was born in Japan in
1923 and was owned by Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at Tokyo University.
Every day, Hachiko waited for Ueno at Shibuya station and the pair walked
home together. One day in May 1925, Ueno died suddenly while he was at
work. For the next nine years, nine months and 15 days, his faithful dog
continued to meet the train his owner used to take every day. At first the
station staff did not welcome him, but gradually people understood his loyalty
and began giving him food and treats. Hachiko did not stop waiting for Ueno
until his own death in 1935. There have been films and books about Hachiko,
and every year there is a ceremony to commemorate him at the railway
station in Tokyo, where he waited so faithfully.
C. One animal that achieved fame in the twenty-first century is Knut the polar
bear. Knut was born in Berlin Zoo in December 2006. Sadly, Knut was
rejected by his mother, Tosca, and was raised by zookeepers. Knut was
extremely popular with the public, not only in Germany, but across the world.
Knut’s story increased attendance at the zoo by about 30% and increased the
zoo’s revenue by five million euros. The zoo made substantial amounts of
money by selling Knut toys, candy and other products. There were even
songs written about him. By the time he was a year old, Knut weighed almost
100 kg and it was too dangerous for him to be handled by humans. Poor Knut
missed his favorite keeper. Knut suffered in his short life without his mother,
and later without human contact. He died of a virus at the age of four.
D. Even some wild animals have become famous. One of them is Elsa the
lioness, born in 1956. Elsa’s mother was killed by a game warden, a person
whose job it was to protect wild animals. The warden, George Adamson, had
killed the lioness to defend himself, but he felt guilty about the orphaned cubs.
He and his wife, Joy, took them home and brought them up. They trained
Elsa, one of the cubs, to live in the wild. During her adult life in the wild, she
had three cubs and took them to visit her human foster parents. Joy Adamson
told Elsa’s story in a book called Born Free. Born Free was made into a film,
which was popular with both adults and children. In 1984, the actors who had
starred in the film started the Born Free Foundation, and organization that
protects wildlife in many ways. The Foundation’s important work includes
improving conditions in zoos and circuses, stopping hunting for ‘sport’ and
working against the killing of elephants for ivory.
E. Many of us enjoy learning about famous animals. They can inspire us with
their characters and stories, just as human celebrities can. Some of them are
remembered for years through books, films, toys and other items created in
their memory. But in the end, it is humans and not the animals themselves
who benefit from that fame.
Choose the correct animal (A-C) for each question. You may choose any animal
more than once.
Which animal…
1. Never forgot their human friend? _____
2. Lived part of their life in the wild? _____
3. Made large profits for the humans who cared for them? _____
4. Was not wanted by their parents? _____
5. Has had valuable work done in their memory? _____
6. Is formally remembered at regular times? _____
7. Had souvenirs of them made? _____
A. Hachiko
B. Knut
C. Elsa
ANSWER
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#}
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#}
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#}
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#}
{1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
{1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#}
Citation Crosthwaite, P. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 1: Student's Book and
Online Modules with Testbank. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 2
BUSINESS IDEAS OF THE FUTURE
A. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who predict the needs of the future
earlier than the competition. No new business start-up is without risk, but the
benefits can be immeasurable. Inventions such as the automobile, the internet and
the iPad were all initially met with a high degree of criticism, so it is important to
maintain the belief that anything is possible! Below are just a few of the business
ideas expected to be successful in the future.
B. Travelling to space used to be possible only for governments or large aerospace
companies. This is no longer the case, however, and several private companies
have planned tourist missions into space which are going to take place in the next
few years. Consulting firm Futron Corporation predict that the space tourism
industry will be worth $1.3 billion and have more than 25,000 customers in the next
five to ten years. Space tourism pioneer Peter Diamandis also predicts that space
hotels are going to be big business, with companies from around the world already
working on such projects. Not everyone, however, is as convinced about the
prospect of space tourism. Jeffrey Jones, a member of the Center for Space
Medicine at Baylor College, warns that even a short journey into space could cause
serious health problems for tourists of average or poor health.
C. Another idea comes from a company in New Zealand called Martin Aircraft. They
have produced the first commercially available jetpack, which they plan to start
selling next year. Initially, they will be sold to shops and cost approximately
$150,000. The craft will work for short trips only, approximately 30 minutes, and
manage speeds of up to 74 kph and an altitude of 914 m. The CEO of the company,
Peter Coker, notes that, as well as being used by the rich for pleasure, they could
also be useful in search- and-rescue operations.
D. Growing meat in a laboratory is an idea which, understandably, appeals greatly to
animal rights activists. Jason Matheny, founder of the not-for-profit company New
Harvest, also feels that producing meat in this way would satisfy a growing global
demand for meat. It would also be healthier, more energy-efficient and sustainable.
The Dutch scientist Professor Post, who served up the world’s first laboratorygrown beef burger, predicts that ‘cultured meat’ will mean the end of traditional
cattle farming within decades. Tracey Hayes, the CEO of the Northern Territory
Cattlemen’s Association in Australia, admits that although this technology could be
damaging to the worldwide beef industry, it would not affect Australia, as cattle
farming is a great Australian tradition.
E. According to a recent prediction made by the United Nations, in the future, 86% of
people living in developed countries will live in cities. With this in mind, an idea
called ‘vertical farming’ has emerged. Essentially, vertical farming coms from the
belief that cities should not rely on rural areas for food but should grow their own
crops by creating multi- storey, high-tech greenhouses. The idea for vertical farms
came from the ecologist Dickson Despommier, who turned his knowledge of
parasites into a way of looking at cities.
F. Daniel Kluko of Green Spirit Farms predicts that software will be used to look after
these multiple farms remotely. For example, an app on a smartphone or tablet will
be able to handle the day-to-day care of crops. Kluko also believes that this use of
technology will help to keep costs to a minimum, allowing vertical farms to compete
with traditional farms.
Look at the statement 1-5 and the list of people. Match each statement with the correct
person (A-F).
This person believes this new idea…
1. Could be used to save lives _____
2. Could be harmful _____
3. Is best controlled using technology _____
4. Would fulfil a worldwide need _____
5. Could have a significant impact on an existing business _____
List of people
A. Jeffrey Jones
B. Daniel Kluko
C. Peter Coker
D. Peter Diamandis
E. Jason Matheny
F. Professor Post
ANSWER
5. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
6. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
7. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
8. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#~%0%F#}
9. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%100%F#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 2 Student's Book with
Testbank and Online Modules. Cambridge University Press.
Unit 5, page 91
UNIT 1 – MATCHING INFORMATION
In-class
Question 1-6
The passage below has nine paragraphs A-I. Which paragraphs mention the following
information? You may use any letter more than once.
1. Physical and mental problems that a business owner can face _____
2. Leadership and team improvement ideas _____
3. The advantage of not expanding in business _____
4. Individuals and larger groups that are available to help people who are new to
business _____
5. The reasons why the more basic jobs in a small company should not be not be
carried out by employers _____
6. External reasons why companies should try to keep their employees’ knowledge
and expertise up to date _____
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS
A. It takes considerable commitment to set up and run a small business. Owners
must be able to do all the tasks necessary to run the business or have sufficient
funds to buy in appropriate external help, and even then they must be able
check the quality of the service they are receiving.
B. Anyone planning to start a business must be realistic about what can be
achieved, and in what time frame. Entrepreneurs often work extremely long
hours, not just during ‘trading’ hours, but also after hours doing all the
associated paperwork. If entrepreneurs overwork, they will find it difficult to
make good decisions and will lack the energy to analyse and evaluate
marketing and finance data. If an entrepreneur becomes over tired and over
anxious, they can undermine their businesses by giving the impression that
things are bad and the business is just about to close down.
C. Many organizations provide support networks for entrepreneurs running small
businesses. These networks provide training and access to experience
business mentors for little or no charge. The Business Link network, funded by
Department of Trade and Industry, is one source of this kind of support. If
entrepreneurs are under 30 years of age, the Prince’s Trust also provides
training and mentoring for business start-ups. There are various other privately
run business networking groups which can be both fun and mutually supportive.
D. Owners need to consider four key issues: training, leadership and team
development, delegation and management systems.
E. Investment in training is necessary to ensure that staff have the skills to do their
jobs efficiently and they can meet the requirements of current legislation such
as health and safety. Staff may also need training to develop skills to meet
internationally recognized quality standards for products and service delivery.
Research shows that small and medium-sized firms often find it very difficult to
organize effective training.
F. Ideally, workplace teams should be happy, creative working groups of
individuals who support each other, work to each other’s strengths and work
towards the business’s goals. This might require the owners to undertake selfassessment and target-setting reviews to ensure that the business is staying
focused on its objectives. Team development can be fostered by organizing
events such as team lunches and days out walking together.
G. Owners should delegate and employ appropriate people to do the tasks that
they cannot do or do not have time to do. By freeing themselves from some of
the easier day to day tasks of the business, owners can spend their time
monitoring the overall business and thinking about where the business should
be going. Certainly if the owners are passionate about the business, they need
time to step back and focus on the long-term goals and vision of the
organization. They also need time to network, to build up sales leads and to
explore further investment opportunities for the business.
H. In time, owners need to be able to let go of control of some aspects of the
business and to develop more formal management systems. This is probably
the most difficult task for any entrepreneur. Many entrepreneurs find it very
difficult to trust paid employees to run their business.
I. At this stage in their development, without outside help and guidance, may
businesses simply reach their ‘natural’ capacity and they do not develop or
grow any further. Entrepreneurs need to decide whether they want to keep their
business small- so that they retain control of all decisions- or whether they want
to go on growing their business and therefore accept that this will necessarily
change their role in the business.
ANSWER
8. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#~%0%I#}
9. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%100%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#~%0%I#}
10. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0%
G#~%0%H#~%100%I#}
11. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#~%0%I#}
12. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%100
%G#~%0%H#~%0%I#}
13. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#~%0%I#}
Citation: Geyte, V. E. (2014). Get ready for IELTS reading Pre-intermediate A2+.
Cobuild.
Homework 1
SPEED READING
What is speed reading, and why do we need it?
A. Speed reading is not just about reading fast. It is also about how much information
you can remember when you have finished reading. The World Championship
Speed-Reading Competition says that its top competitors average between 1,000
and 2,000 words a minute. But must remember at least 50 percent of this in order
to qualify for the competition.
B. Nowadays, speed reading has become an essential skill in any environment where
people have to master a large volume of information. Professional workers need
reading skills to help them get through many documents every day, while students
under pressure to deal with assignments may feel they have to read more and read
faster all the time.
C. Although there are various methods to increase reading speed, the trick is deciding
what information you want first. For example, if you only want a rough outline of an
issue, then you can skim the material quickly and extract the key facts. However,
if you need to understand every detail in a document, then you must read it slowly
enough to understand this.
D. Even when you know how to ignore irrelevant detail, there are other improvements
you can make to your reading style which will increase your speed. For example,
most people can read much faster if they read silently. Reading each word aloud
takes time for the information to make a complete circuit in your brain before being
pronounced. Some researchers believe that as long as the first and last letters are
in place, the brain can still understand the arrangement of the other letters in the
word because it logically puts each piece into place.
E. Chunking is another important method. Most people learn to read either letter by
letter or word by word. As you improve, this changes. You will probably find that
you are fixing your eyes on a block of words, then moving your eyes to the next
block of words, and so on. You are reading blocks of words at a time, not individual
words one by one. You may also notice that you do not always go from one block
to the next sometimes you may move back to a previous block if you are unsure
something.
F. A skilled reader will read a lot of works in each block. He or she will only look at
each block for an instant and will then move on. Only rarely will the reader’s eyes
skip back to a previous block of words. This reduces the amount of work that the
reader’s eyes have to do. It also increases the volume of information that can be
taken in over a given period of time.
G. On the other hand, a slow reader will spend a lot of time reading small blocks of
words. He or she will skip back often, losing the flow and structure of the text, and
muddling their overall understanding of the subject. This irregular eye movement
quickly makes the reader tired. Poor readers tend to dislike reading because they
feel it is difficult to concentrate and comprehend written information.
H. The best tip anyone can have to improve their reading speed is to practice. In order
to do this effectively, a person must be engaged in the material and want to know
more. If you find yourself constantly having to re-read the same paragraph, you
may want to switch to reading material that grabs your attention. If you enjoy what
you are reading you will make quicker progress.
The reading passage has seven paragraph, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1. The types of people who need to read more quickly. ____
2. The fastest reading speeds. _____
3. How a reader can become confused. _____
4. Why reading material should be interesting.
5. A definition of speed reading. _____
6. What you should consider before you start reading. _____
ANSWER
13. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#}
14. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#}
15. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%100
%G#~%0%H#}
16. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0%
G#~%100%H#}
17. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#}
18. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%0
%G#~%0%H#}
Citation: Wyatt, R. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 4-5 Workbook with Answers with
Audio CD. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 2
HOW THE YOUNGER GENERATION CONSUMES THE NEWS
A. In recent years, there has been growing concern by researchers and indeed the
older generation that the generation are somewhat disengaged from the news,
and as a result have a very narrow view of the world around them. This,
however, couldn’t be further from the truth, as shown by a recent study carried
out by the Media Insight Project (American Press Institute & Associated Press).
According to this research, 85% of youngsters say that keeping up to date with
the news is important to them, and 69% receive news on a daily basis.
B. Perhaps what some of the older generation fail to understand is that just because
the younger generation does not buy a daily newspaper, it doesn’t mean that
they don’t follow the news. Born into a digital age, or more specifically the age of
the internet, the younger generation simply accesses news through the digital
devices they grew up using: laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. A recent study
produced by Ofcom revealed that 60% of youngsters in the UK use the internet
or apps for news, compared to just 21% of those in the older age range.
C. Social media also plays an important part in consuming the news for the younger
generation. It was also revealed that most youngsters actually don’t seek out
news from social media, but choose to follow it once they see it there. In other
words, they encounter it accidentally and therefore following the news is
secondary. For example, when accessing social media sites, news headlines
automatically appear. These catch the user’s eye and consequently the news link
is clicked and followed.
D. For the moment, social networks are being used selectively, however. For
example, social media is used for breaking news, but is not relied on in terms of
accuracy. For hard news topics, such us economics or local crime, youngsters
continue to look to original sources. For accuracy and reliability, television is still
the preferred choice for both generations.
E. According to Alison Preston, Head of Media Literacy Research at Ofcom,
motivations for following the news also vary according to the generation. In her
current report on the topic, she states that, for the younger generation, news is
largely about convenience and being social. For the older generation, however,
motivation is greatly linked to a sense of duty and habit.
F. Overall, it is fair to say that news plays an important part in all our everyday lives,
regardless of generation. However, what is different amongst the generations is
why and how it is accessed.
The reading passage ‘How the younger generation consumes the news’ has
six paragraphs A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?
1. The reasons why the younger generation seeks news _____
2. The opinion that news is important to the younger generation _____
3. The percentage of older adults in the UK who access the news digitally _____
4. The idea that the younger generation largely encounters the news by chance
_____
5. The news is of great significance to both young and old people _____
6. Why the younger generation consumes the news through modern technology
_____
ANSWER
10. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#~%0%F#}
11. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
12. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
13. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
14. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%100%F#}
15. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 2 Student's Book with
Testbank and Online Modules. Cambridge University Press.
LEVEL B1+
AVTC 5 – UNIT 2
In-class
Source: Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish
Education.
Trans Fatty Acids
A recent editorial in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), written by researchers from the
University of Oxford, has called for food labels to list trans fats as well as cholesterol and
saturated fat.
Trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are a type of unsaturated fatty acid. They occur naturally in
small amounts in foods produced from ruminant animals* e.g. milk, beef and lamb. However,
most of the trans fatty acids in the diet are produced during the process of partial
hydrogenation (hardening) of vegetable oils into semi-solid fats. They are therefore found in
hard margarines, partially hydrogenated cooking oils, and in some bakery products, fried foods,
and other processed foods that are made using these.
Trans fatty acids have an adverse effect on certain chemicals, known as lipids, which are found
in the blood and have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease. They also increase LDLcholesterol (the 'bad cholesterold) and decrease HDL-cholesterol (the 'good cholesterol'). They
may also have adverse effects on cardiovascular disease risk that are independent of an effect
on blood lipids (Mozaffarian et al. 2006).
In a recent review of prospective studies investigating the effects of trans fatty acids, a 2%
increase in energy intake from trans fatty acids was associated with a 23% increase in the
incidence of heart disease. The authors also reported that the adverse effects of trans fatty
acids were observed even at very low intakes (3% of total daily energy intake, or about 2-7g per
day) (Mozaffarian et al. 2006).
However, in this recent review it is only trans fatty acids produced during the hardening of
vegetable oils that are found to be harmful to health. The public health implications of
consuming trans fatty acids from ruminant products are considered to be relatively limited.
Over the last decade, population intakes of trans fatty acids in the UK fell and are now, on
average, well below the recommended 2% of total energy set by the Department of Health in
1991, at 1.2% of energy (Henderson et al. 2003). This is not to say that intakes of trans fatty
acids are not still a problem, and dietary advice states that those individuals who are in the top
end of the distribution of intake should still make efforts to reduce their intakes.
Currently, trans fatty acids in foods are labelled in the USA, but not in the UK and Europe. The
UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is in favour of the revision of the European directive that
governs the content and format of food labels so that trans fatty acids are labelled. This should
enable consumers to make better food choices with regard to heart health (Clarke & Lewington
2006).
Recognising the adverse health effects of trans fatty acids, many food manufacturers and
retailers have been systematically removing them from their products in recent years. For
example, they have been absent for some time from major brands of margarine and other fat
spreads, which are now manufactured using a different technique. Also, many companies now
have guidelines in place that are resulting in reformulation and reduction or elimination of trans
fatty acids in products where they have in the past been found, such as snack products, fried
products and baked goods. Consequently, the vast majority of savoury biscuits and crisps
produced in the UK do not contain partially hydrogenated oils. Similarly, changes are being
made to the way bakery products are manufactured. For example, a leading European
manufacturer of major brands of biscuits, cakes and snacks has recently announced that these
are now made without partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, a transition that began in 2004.
Alongside these changes, the manufacturer has also reported a cut in the amount of saturates.
It is clear that a major technical challenge in achieving such changes is to avoid simply
exchanging trans fatty acids for saturated fatty acids, which also have damaging health effects.
Foods that are labelled as containing partially-hydrogenated oils or fats are a source of trans
fatty acids (sometimes 'partially-hydrogenated' fats are just labelled as 'hydrogenated' fats).
These foods include hard margarines, some fried products and some manufactured bakery
products e.g. biscuits, pastries and cakes.
It is important to note that intake may have changed in the light of reformulation of foods that
has taken place over the past six years in the UK, as referred to earlier. Furthermore, the
average intake of trans fatty acids is lower in the UK than in the USA (where legislation has now
been introduced). However, this does not mean there is room for complacency, as the intake in
some sectors of the population is known to be higher than recommended.
*animals that mainly eat grass
Trans Fatty Acids taken from British Medical Journal, 2006, Volume 333, p214, amended with permission
from the BMJ Publishing Group.
Questions 8-13
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
8. Scientists at Oxford University propose that information about trans fatty acids should be
included on ...........
9. In food manufacture, the majority of trans fatty acids are created when ........... are solidified.
10. The likelihood of a person developing ............... is increased by trans fatty acid
consumption.
11. In the UK, the ............... established a limit for the safe daily consumption of trans fatty
acids.
12. Partially hydrogenated oils are no longer found in most UK manufactured salty ...............
13. Consumption of trans fatty acids in ........... is now higher than in the UK.
ANSWER:
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
{1:SA:=food labels}
{1:SA:=vegetable oils }
{1:SA:=heart disease~=cardiovascular disease}
{1:SA:=Department of Health}
{1:SA:=biscuits and crisps~= crisps and biscuits}
{1:SA:=USA~=the USA}
Homework 1
Source: Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish
Education.
Educational and Professional Opportunities for
Women in New Technologies
Women in New Technologies The principle that you don't have to be a mechanic to drive a car
can also be applied to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Gone are the days
when a computer user needed knowledge of a programming language. On one hand, this is
good news for women. It is because women can now use computers without needing computer
science qualifications that gives ICTs the potential to enhance women's education. But, our lack
of ICT skills is not praiseworthy. Feminist writers for many years have argued that if more
women were engineers and scientists, we might live in a very different world. (Rothschild
1982).
In a review of five countries, Millar and Jagger examined women's employment in ICT
occupations. They found a pattern of a low proportion of female entrants, a significant 'leaking'
(Alper 1993) of those who enter to other areas of employment, and a ghetto of women in lower
paid jobs. How did a new area of economic activity become gendered so quickly? An obvious
answer could be that men have seen it as a desirable area and women have not.
It is often said that new industries are both 'gender blind' i.e. if you are good at your work you'll
succeed whatever your gender) and that they value 'feminine communication and people'skills.
But recent research does not bear this out. A study of a new high-tech ICT company (Woodfield
2000) employing highly qualified graduates showed that men were given management
responsibility despite an acknowledgement by the company that they had poor management
skills. And there was an unwillingness to give responsibilities to women who had these skills. It
seems that jobs acquire gender quite quickly in some sectors. In the 1980s and 1990s,
interesting studies were done into the ways in which men and women think about the world.
They argued for the validation of diverse ways of thinking, rather than a hierarchy with a
particular kind of male intellectual tradition at the apex. Turkle (1984; 1996) has done similar
work on the ways people interact with computers. She sees computers as tools used as an
extension of our identities, with significant variations in the ways that men and women use
them to explore and perform their gendered identities. This subtle way of understanding our
relationship with this technology, however, must go in parallel with a materialist view, which is
that an underlying motivation for most ICT-based initiatives in work, education, leisure,
citizenship is economic force. We must also differentiate between the opportunities for
employment offered by ICTs, and the tools they provide for education. We must beware of the
inappropriate application of ICTs to a problem that would be better addressed in another way.
Research into the effectiveness of ICTs as measured by student performance in Maths, suggests
that for young children there is a negative relationship between classroom computer use and
Maths performance. One researcher, Angrist, from MIT found when examining ICTs in the
classroom that the set-up costs were obvious and the benefits much less so (Economist 2002).
It could be more effective to have more teacher involvement and lower class sizes.
In 1963 Clark Kerr, the President of the University of California, coined the term 'multiversity',
to suggest that universities were no longer based on a body of universal knowledge or a
heterogeneous body of students. Higher education, professional education and life skills
education are now being delivered by a variety of different universities, colleges and
commercial companies. The distinctions between these are breaking down. Just when women
are getting equal access to higher education and professional education, what constitutes
higher level education and valid scholarly activity has been called into question through the
creation of virtual universities. On the other hand, women are often claimed to have the most
to gain from these new flexible and distributed kinds of education.
Although online education provides new opportunities for women it is also the source of new
pressures. The term 'Second Shift' was invented to identify the work/life balance of employed
women. Women in paid employment did not substitute this for their domestic work; they
struggled to carry out both obligations. Kramarae sees education in the new century as the
'Third Shift': 'As lifelong learning and knowledge become ever more important, women and
men find they juggle not only the demands of work and family, but also the demands of...
further education throughout their lives.' (2001).
ICTs - the Internet in particular - are seen as providing global access to key educational
resources. However, access to information is a useless resource if you don't have the skills to
evaluate and use it. Shade (2002) distinguishes between the feminisation of the Internet, where
women are targeted as consumers rather than citizens or learners; and feminist uses of the
Internet where women develop content that creates opportunities for women.
Digital media may also produce inflexibility for women engaged in learning. A survey of open
and distance learning students (Kirkup and Prümmer 1997, Kirkup 2001) demonstrated
differences in the preferred learning styles of women and men. Women were uncomfortable
with isolation and stated a desire for connection with others. Engagement in creating and
maintaining networks and relationships is often cited as a reason why computer-mediated
communication will be a 'female' technology. Unfortunately, however, empirical work
challenges this. Li (2002), in a study of university students in the UK and China, found that male
students used e-mail more frequently, spent more time online, and engaged in more varied
activities than women students. There is now a wealth of research on the gender differences of
male and female online activity, all of which demonstrate the online environment creating a
gendered world operating in similar ways to the material world.
Questions 35 - 40
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for
each answer.
35. The term ............ refers to a company that is equally happy to promote workers of
either sex.
36. It is clear that ICT developments in most fields are driven by ............
37. The range of institutions providing high level instruction today is known as a ...........
38. Women who are working find it hard to get their ...............right.
39. The way workers of both sexes now face having to fit children, work and continued learning
into their lives is called the ...........
40. Women are thought to be suited to computer work as it involves developing ........... and
...........
ANSWER:
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
{1:SA:=gender blind}
{1:SA:=economic force}
{1:SA:=multiversity}
{1:SA:=work balance~=life balance ~=work/life balance}
{1:SA:=Third Shift}
{1:SA:=network} {1:SA:=relationships}
Homework 2
Source: Travis, P., Harrison, L. & Chong S. C. (2005). Practice Tests for IELTS 2. Collins.
Is it really true that human adults are less able to learn as they grow older? Traditionally, the
brain was thought to be completed' at the latest by the start of adulthood. During adulthood
the brain was viewed as relatively stable until at last the aging brain started to decline. We have
around 86 billion neurons at birth, and that's it. Or is it? Until two decades ago, it was thought
that new neurons - the cells that carry messages between the brain and other parts of the body
- did not grow in adults. Moreover, it was believed that functions in the brain were fixed or
localised in distinct areas, one common assumption being that language functions resided
solely in the left hemisphere of the brain. The functions were fixed in childhood and did not
change.
But this is not strictly true. Research has shown that adult brains are not fixed, and nor are they
degenerating or dying as we grow older. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case: neurons are
dying and being regenerated all the time and new experiences create new connections
between neurons. Furthermore, when the brain suffers damage, it has the ability to shift brain
functions to other parts of the brain.
The first evidence that refuted the idea that the brain was a stable organ was produced over 30
years ago. Fernando Nottebohm's study of male songbirds at The Rockerfeller University
showed that new neurons would grow when a bird learnt a new song. And more recently,
evidence from studies done at Wayne State University has shown that physical exercise or lack
of it is a factor in remodelling the brain. Two regions of the brain are capable of producing new
neurons: the hippocampus and the olfactory cortex. In particular, the hippocampus is extremely
important in turning short-term memories into long-term memories. It appears that new
neurons regularly grow and move into the hippocampus. Conversely, the loss of brain tissue,
most often associated with brain damage or illness can also have a positive function. We know
that most of the neurons that die off in children and adults are the ones that are not effective
or are not needed. In short, the brain needs to operate at maximum efficiency and neurons
which become unused are discarded. So, far from being a stable organ, the brain is constantly
changing, losing what is not needed and developing what is needed.
A landmark study by neuroscientist Dr Eleanor Maguire and her colleagues at University
College, London confirmed findings from other studies which reveal that when humans spend
time repeating a particular skill, the area of the brain associated with that skill becomes better
developed. For four years, Dr Maguire and her team followed a group of 79 London taxi drivers
who shared certain characteristics including age, gender and education. They used magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) to map changes to their posterior hippocampi. The hippocampus plays
a major role in short-term memory and spatial navigation, both of which are very important to
the work of taxi drivers, and London taxi drivers in particular. To become a taxi driver in
London, you need to learn the knowledge' - a detailed understanding of the streets in central
London as well as tourist spots and other places of interest. Gaining the knowledge' takes on
average three to four years, at the end of which taxi drivers have to take a test that only fifty
per cent of candidates pass.
At the start of the study, the taxi drivers had similar sized hippocampi but after four years of
intensive spatial and memory training, Dr Maguire found that the taxi drivers who successfully
passed their tests had more developed hippocampi than those who failed. This was confirmed
by a series of memory tests and MRI images which showed that certain parts of their brains had
developed over time. Furthermore, other experimental studies over the last few decades have
shown that the adult brain can change its structure and function massively. In a 1982 study
carried out by Jon Kaas at Vanderbilt University, changes in brain patterns were noted in people
whose limbs had been amputated or who suffered nerve damage. Since then, it has become
clear that the living brain is constantly changing depending on external experiences. As Boston
University neurobiologist Howard Eichenbaum (commenting on Dr Maguire's research) stated:
'... you can produce profound changes in the brain with training. That's a big deal."
Questions 27-32
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS or a NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
27. Humans are born with about____________________neurons.
28. It used to be believed that neurons____________________ in humans after a certain age.
29. If the brain is damaged, it can ____________________ to other areas within the brain.
30. The hippocampus, which plays a role in creating __________________ from short-term
memories, has been identified as being one of the parts of the brain that can grow neurons.
31. The hippocampus also plays an important part in __________________ - a key skill for taxi
drivers in London.
32. Taxi drivers who successfully passed ‘the knowledge’ had __________________ hippocampi
than those who did not pass.
ANSWER:
27. {1:SA:=86 billion~=eighty-six billion}
28. {1:SA:=did not grow}
29.
30.
31.
32.
{1:SA:=shift functions~=shift brain functions}
{1:SA:=long-term~=long-term memories}
{1:SA:=special navigation}
{1:SA:=more developed~=better developed}
LEVEL B1+
AVTC 5 – UNIT 2
In-class
Source: Hallow, R., Lisboa, M. & Unwin, M. (2006). IETLS express Intermediate Coursebook.
Thomson.
Your adventure starts where?
An increasing number of students are thinking of going overseas to study
for a degree. This week we focus on five English-speaking countries,
examining what each has to offer and why you might choose to study there.
With thousands of institutions and courses to choose from, how do you decide where to study
as an international student? Do you dream of heading for the land of Uncle Sam or would you
feel more at home in Shakespeare's country? Perhaps the Australian outback will give you the
space you need to work out the problems of the world. Whichever you choose, the adventure
begins right here!
STUDY IN AUSTRALIA
Free-spirited Australia has been open to migration for many years and is today one of the
world's top three destinations for international students. Australia's renowned cultural
diversity, its high level of public safety and the vibrant atmosphere of its cities all help to make
it easy for overseas visitors to feel at home. Academically speaking, most of the national,
publicly-funded universities are of similarly high standard. Moreover, Australian institutions
have a particularly strong reputation for research into the environment and sport science.
STUDY ZIN IN THE UK
Many students are attracted to Britain by its long history of literature, from Chaucer and
Shakespeare to Bridget Jones and Harry Potter. Look beyond this, and you'll find a university
system with one of the best reputations in the world. Universities in the UK have a record of
achievement in business, law, the sciences, philosophy, linguistics and many other fields. Some
UK institutions offer a foundation course (usually three months or one year in length) to
prepare international students before they go on to do a full undergraduate degree; applying
for one of these courses normally involves taking the IELTS exam.
STUDY IN NEW ZEALAND
With its vast and beautiful open spaces and friendly city centres, New Zealand is a country
where you can enjoy both the great outdoors and the conveniences and dynamism of modern
city life. Low living costs and a high standard of living also make life here very appealing. New
Zealand's highly respected educational programmes are based on the British system. A large
part of a degree programme is practical; this gives graduates both the knowledge and the skills
they need when entering the workplace.
STUDY IN THE USA
The population of the US is made up of people from every continent, joined together by a
shared language and a core set of values. Of these values, liberty and freedom are probably the
most important, combined with individual responsibility. American students are therefore
expected to think independently and have responsibility for their own studies; classes are often
informal and students are encouraged to express their opinion. With 50 States all offering a
huge range of different types of institutions - from two-year community college courses to
fouryear undergraduate programmes - deciding where to study in the US may appear
confusing, so it is important to do some research first.
STUDY IN CANADA
Surveys conducted by the United Nations have repeatedly found Canada to be among the top
three places in the world to live in. In addition, Canada's largest cities, Vancouver, Toronto and
Montreal, have been recognised as world-class cities in which to live and work, for their
cleanliness and safety and for their cultural activities and attractive lifestyles. A Canadian
degree, diploma or certificate is well regarded in business, government and academic circles
around the globe. Canada has two official languages - English and French. Studying and living in
Canada could be your opportunity to learn both!
Questions 1-5.
Answer the following questions. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the reading
passage for each answer.
1. What type of university preparation course is available in the UK?
2. On which education system are New Zealand programmes founded?
3. Which two values are extremely important to Americans?
4. Which US educational programmes are two years in length?
5. Who concluded that Canada is one of the best countries in the world to live in?
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
{1:SA:=foundation course~=a foundation course}
{1:SA:=the British system~=British system}
{1:SA:=liberty} {1:SA:=freedom}
{1:SA:=community college courses}
{1:SA:=the United Nations~=United Nations}
Homework1
Source: Terry, M. & Wilson, J. (2004). Focus on Academic Skills for IELTS. Pearson.
Getting the picture from DNA
Working out what someone looks Hike from only a DNA sample is no longer science fiction.
You'd be surprised what forensics experts can already do, says Clare Wilson.
A. At present, if police find DNA which could be that of the criminal at the scene of a crime (for
example in blood or hair), standard forensic techniques can help in two ways. If there's a
suspect in custody, the police can see if their DNA matches the crime stain, as it is called. Or in
the absence of a suspect, they can see if it matches the DNA of any known criminal held in their
archives.
B. Both techniques have proved their worth in criminal investigations. But what if there's no
suspect and no match in the archive? Ever since DNA testing was introduced, forensic scientists
have wondered how much a DNA sample on its own could tell them about what a criminal might
look like.
C. Scientists have already had some success with predicting hair colour from DNA samples. For
example, researchers at Britain's Forensic Science Service (FSS) have developed a DNA test
which will tell with 98% accuracy whether or not someone has red hair. However, the red-hair
test is of limited use in Britain, where only 6% of the population are red-headed. What about
blonde, brown and black-haired criminals? Hair colour is usually determined by the cumulative
effect of several genes, so unfortunately there's no such thing as a single gene for blonde hair
that could be turned into a simple test, for example. It's the same with eye colour.
D. But biotechnology firm DNAPrint Genomics of Florida, USA, is having a crack at both problems.
As a starting point, research was carried out using mice to discover the genes that controlled
eye colour. Similar sequences in human DNA were then investigated, and ten possible genes
were found. Next, the DNAPrint researchers took DNA samples from 500 volunteers and
recorded their eye colours. They then applied a technique called SNP mapping to see if they
could discover any correlations between the two. (SNP stands for single nucleotide
polymorphism' - a single 'letter change in the genetic code. These variations account for most of
the genetic differences between individuals.) The researchers sequenced the ten possible genes
from each volunteer, then sifted through the sequences looking for SNPs. They found 50 in total.
Then they set computers to work out how the SNPs correlated with eye colour. Of the ten
genes, they found that only four really matter. By looking at these, they can classify someone as
having dark eyes (black and brown), light coloured eyes (blue and grey), or hazel eyes (greenishbrown) - with 97% certainty.
E. DNAPrint is now applying exactly the same technique to hair colour. identifying possible genes
and looking for SNPs. Representatives say they have made some headway and can classify
people into one of three groups - blonde, brown or black-haired-with some accuracy, from their
DNA alone.
F. Back in Britain, the Forensic Science Service has also been pursuing the genetic basis of facial
features. A few years ago it helped fund a major project carried out by scientists at University
College London (UCL). Over several months, an exhibit at a London museum invited visitors to
leave DNA samples and have their faces scanned using 3D surface mapping. About 600 people
volunteered. The UCL researchers tried to break down this data on overall facial shape into
distinct features such as nose curvature or chin clefts, and correlate them to DNA sequences.
But they made little progress. Just as with eye colour, there is no one gene for a big nose, so the
enormous complexity of the task defeated the researchers When the lead scientist retired, the
project was wound down without drawing any firm conclusions.
G. But the idea of finding genes for facial features isn't dead. Many of the genes involved are
common to most mammals. So a gene for a large jaw in mice, for example, might very well be
found in humans, too. One promising project has found that mice show significant variation in
jaw shape and size, and has begun to unravel the genetics behind the variation Project leader
Chris Klingenberg of the University of Konstanz in Germany cautions that, as with humans, the
genetics controlling jaw shape in mice is horribly complicated, but the project is making some
progress. In one study of 535 mice, it has identified genes for jaw shape, jaw size and jaw
symmetry and found two basic patterns resulting from the combination of these genes.
H. The UK-based human rights group known as "Liberty has concerns, saying that the existing tests
are not yet sufficiently conclusive to be used as a basis for arresting suspects. Certainly, genes
never tell the whole story with physical characteristics - environment plays a key role too. Kevin
Sullivan, from the Forensic Science Service, points out that when it comes to someone's facial
characteristics, playing rugby might have more of an effect on your ear and nose shape than
your genes.' But he is optimistic about the future of the research. 'Law-abiding citizens dont
have anything to worry about,' he says. But criminals do.
Questions 1-6.
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from
the reading passage for each answer.
1. Which American company is doing research on the genetic basis of hair and eye colour?
2. How many groups of eye colour can now be identified through SNP mapping?
3. Which British institution unsuccessfully researched data from humans on the genetic basis of facial
features?
4. In which country is research being done on mice to find out about genes for facial features?
5. Which association is concerned about the possible applications of the research described in this
text?
6. Which environmental factor could be important in determining your facial characteristics,
according to Kevin Sullivan?
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
{1:SA:=DNAPrint Genomics}
{1:SA:=three~= 3}
{1:SA:=University College London}
{1:SA:=Germany}
{1:SA:=Liberty}
{1:SA:=playing rugby}
Homework2
Source: Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish
Education.
Ocean Acidification Caspar Henderson reports on some new
concerns.
A few years ago, biologist, Victoria Fabry, saw the future of the world's oceans in a jar. She was
aboard a research ship in the North Pacific, carrying out experiments on a species of pteropod small molluscs with shells up to a centimetre long, which swim in a way that resembles
butterfly flight, propelled by small flaps. Something strange was happening in Fabry's jars. "The
pteropods were still swimming, but their shells were visibly dissolving,' says Fabry. She realised
that the animals' respiration had increased the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the jars, which had been
sealed for 48 hours, changing the water's chemistry to a point where the calcium carbonate in
the pteropods' shells had started to dissolve. What Fabry had stumbled on was a hint of the
other CO2 problem'.
It has taken several decades for climate change to be recognised as a serious threat. But
another result of our fossil-fuel habit - ocean acidification - has only begun to be researched in
the last few years. Its impact could be momentous, says Joanie Kleypas of the National Centre
for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
CO2 forms carbonic acid when it dissolves in water, and the oceans are soaking up more and
more of it. Recent studies show that the seas have absorbed about a third of all the fossil-fuel
carbon released into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mideighteenth century, and they will soak up much more over the next century. Yet until quite
recently many people dismissed the idea that humanity could alter the acidity of the oceans,
which cover 71% of the planet's surface to an average depth of about four kilometres. The
ocean's natural buffering capacity was assumed to be capable of preventing any changes in
acidity even with a massive increase in CO2 levels.
And it is - but only if the increase happens slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years. Over
this timescale, the release of carbonates from rocks on land and from ocean sediments can
neutralise the dissolved CO2, just like dropping chalk in an acid. Levels of CO2 are now rising so
fast that they are overwhelming the oceans' buffering capacity.
In 2003 Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution in Stanford, and Michael Wickett at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, calculated that the absorption of fossil CO2 could
make the oceans more acidic over the next few centuries than they have been for 300 million
years, with the possible exception of rare catastrophic events. The potential seriousness of the
effect was underlined in 2005 by the work of James Zachos of the University of California and
his colleagues, who studied one of those rare catastrophic events. They showed that the mass
extinction of huge numbers of deep-sea creatures around 55 million years ago was caused by
ocean acidification after the release of around 4500 gigatonnes of carbon. It took over 100,000
years for the oceans to return to their normal state.
Around the same time as the Zachos paper, the UK's Royal Society published the first
comprehensive report on ocean acidification. It makes grim reading, concluding that ocean
acidification is inevitable without drastic cuts in emissions. Marine ecosystems, especially coral
reefs, are likely to be affected, with fishing and tourism based around reefs losing billions of
dollars each year. Yet the report also stressed that there is huge uncertainty about the effects
on marine life.
The sea creatures most likely to be affected are those that make their shells or skeletons from
calcium carbonate, including tiny plankton and huge corals. Their shells and skeletons do not
dissolve only because the upper layers of the oceans are supersaturated with calcium
carbonate. Acidification reduces carbonate ion concentrations, making it harder for organisms
to build their shells or skeletons. When the water drops below the saturation point, these
structures will start to dissolve. Calcium carbonate comes in two different forms, aragonite and
calcite, aragonite being more soluble. So organisms with aragonite structures, such as corals,
will be hardest hit.
So far the picture looks relentlessly gloomy, but could there actually be some positive results
from adding so much CO2 to the seas? One intriguing finding, says Ulf Riebesell of the Leibniz
Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany, concerns gases that influence climate. A few
experiments suggest that in more acidic conditions, microbes will produce more volatile organic
compounds such as dimethyl sulphide, some of which escapes to the atmosphere and causes
clouds to develop. More clouds would mean cooler conditions, which could potentially slow
global warming.
Calculating the effect of ocean acidification on people and economies is virtually impossible,
but it could be enormous. Take the impact on tropical corals, assuming that warming and other
pressures such as pollution do not decimate them first. Reefs protect the shorelines of many
countries. Acidification could start eating away at reefs just when they are needed more than
ever because of rising sea levels.
'No serious scientist believes the oceans will be devoid of life,' says Caldeira. 'Wherever there is
light and nutrients something will live. A likely outcome will be a radical simplification of the
ecosystem.' Taking this and other scientists' views into account, it seems clear that acidification
will mean the loss of many species, so our children will not see the amazingly beautiful things
that we can. It is important to tell them to go and see the corals now before it is too late.
Questions 1-7
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
1. What does the pteropod use to move itself through the water?
2. Which part of the pteropods was being damaged by increased acidification?
3. What proportion of the carbon released over the last 200 years has been taken in by the
oceans?
4. Where do carbonates enter the oceans from?
5. How long did the oceans need to recover after the destruction of marine life by
acidification 55 million years ago?
6. Which businesses will suffer if reefs are damaged?
7. What type of creatures make their skeletons out of aragonite?
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
{1:SA:=flaps~=small flaps}
{1:SA:=their shells~= the shells}
{1:SA:=about 1/3~=about a third}
{1:SA:=rocks on land~=on land}
{1:SA:=over 100.000 years~=100.000 years}
{1:SA:=fishing and tourism}
{1:SA:=coral~=corals}
AV6
In class
Source: Brook-Hart, G., & Jakeman, V. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 5-6 (pp.38, 39).
Cambridge University Press.
Reading Passage
THE WORLD WIDE WEB FROM ITS ORIGINS
Science inspired the World Wide Web, and the Web has responded to changing
science.
'Information Management: A Proposal'. That was the bland title of a document written in
March 1989 by a then little known computer scientist called Tim Berners-Lee, who was
working at CERN, Europe's particle physics laboratory, near Geneva. His proposal,
modestly called the World Wide Web, has achieved far more than anyone expected at
the time.
In fact, the Web was invented to deal with a specific problem. In the late 1980s, CERN
was planning one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever, the Large Hadron
Collider•, or LHC. As the first few lines of the original proposal put it, 'Many of the
discussions of the future at CERN and the LHC end with the question "Yes, but how will
we ever keep track of such a large project?" This proposal provides an answer to such
questions.'
The Web, as everyone now knows, has many more uses than the original idea of linking
electronic documents about particle physics in laboratories around the world. But
among all the changes it has brought about, from personal social networks to political
campaigning, it has also transformed the business of doing science itself, as the man
who invented it hoped it would.
It allows journals to be published online and links to be made from one paper to
another. It also permits professional scientists to recruit thousands of amateurs to give
them a hand. One project of this type, called GalaxyZoo, used these unpaid workers to
classify one million images of galaxies into various types (spiral, elliptical and irregular).
This project, which was intended to help astronomers understand how galaxies evolve,
was so successful that a successor has now been launched, to classify the brightest
quarter of a million of them in finer detail. People working for a more modest project
called Herbaria@home examine scanned images of handwritten notes about old plants
stored in British museums. This will allow them to track the changes in the distribution of
species in response to climate change.
Another new scientific application of the Web is to use it as an experimental laboratory.
It is allowing social scientists, in particular, to do things that were previously impossible.
In one project, scientists made observations about the sizes of human social networks
using data from Facebook. A second investigation of these networks, produced by
Bernardo Huberman of HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard's research arm in Palo Alto,
California, looked at Twitter, a social networking website that allows people to post short
messages to long lists of friends.
At first glance, the networks seemed enormous- the 300,000 Twitterers sampled had 80
friends each, on average (those on Facebook had 120), but some listed up to 1,000.
Closer statistical inspection, however, revealed that the majority of the messages were
directed at a few specific friends. This showed that an individual's active social network
is far smaller than his 'clan'. Dr Huberman has also helped uncover several laws of web
surfing, including the number of times an average person will go from web page to web
page on a given site before giving up, and the details of the 'winner takes all'
phenomenon, whereby a few sites on a given subject attract most of the attention, and
the rest get very little.
Scientists have been good at using the Web to carry out research. However, they have
not been so effective at employing the latest web-based social-networking tools to open
up scientific discussion and encourage more effective collaboration.
Journalists are now used to having their articles commented on by dozens of readers.
Indeed, many bloggers develop and refine their essays as a result of these comments.
Yet although people have tried to have scientific research reviewed in the same way,
most researchers only accept reviews from a few anonymous experts. When Nature,
one of the world's most respected scientific journals, experimented with open peer
review in 2006, the results were disappointing. Only 5% of the authors it spoke to
agreed to have their article posted for review on the Web - and their instinct turned out
to be right, because almost half of the papers attracted no comments. Michael Nielsen,
an expert on quantum computers, belongs to a new wave of scientist bloggers who
want to change this. He thinks the reason for the lack of comments is that potential
reviewers lack incentive.
adapted from The Economist
*The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest particle accelerator and collides particle
beams. It provides information on fundamental questions of physics.
QUESTIONS 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
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 in the passage
1. Tim Berners-Lee was famous for his research in physics before he invented the
World Wide Web.
2. The original intention of the Web was to help manage one extremely complex project.
3. Tim Berners-Lee has also been active in politics.
4. The Web has allowed professional and amateur scientists to work together.
5. The second galaxy project aims to examine more galaxies than the first.
6. Herbaria@home's work will help to reduce the effects of climate change.
ANSWER:
1. {1:SA:~=FALSE~=False~=false~=F}
2. {1:SA:~=TRUE~=True~=true~=T}
3. {1:SA:~=NOT GIVEN~=Not given~=not given~=NG}
4. {1:SA:~=TRUE~=True~=true~=T}
5. {1:SA:~=FALSE~=False~=false~=F}
6. {1:SA:~=NOT GIVEN~=Not given~=not given~=NG}
Homework 1
Source: Lougheed, L. (2010). Barrons IETLS practice exams (3rd ed, pp. 69, 70, 71).
New Age International Publisher.
Reading Passage
DYSLEXIA
Dyslexia, also referred to as "specific reading disability," predominantly affects a
person's ability to read and write. Dyslexics have difficulty connecting visual symbols
(i.e., letters) with their corresponding sounds. Many people who suffer from dyslexia
also have trouble with enunciation, organization, and short-term memory. Dyslexia is
the most common learning disability in children. It is not related to intellectual ability,
vision, or access to education. Approximately 5-10 percent of school-age children in
North America suffer from the condition, with each case varying in severity. Children are
generally diagnosed with dyslexia during the elementary school years when they are
learning how to read and spell.
Determining the definite cause of dyslexia is a difficult task since studies of the
morphology of the brain are generally conducted in an autopsy. One hypothesis
suggests that dyslexic children suffer from "strabismus," the tendency of the eyes to
focus on two different points. When reading, for example, one eye focuses on the
beginning of the word and the other focuses on the end. This theory could explain why
dyslexics have difficulty reading. Many dyslexic children read letters and words
backwards, often mistaking ab for ad or reading was instead of saw. These reversals
are normal for children under the age of six, but indicate a problem if they persist
beyond the early elementary grades. Neurological research points to tiny flaws in the
dyslexic brain called ectopias and microgyria. These flaws alter the structure of the
cortex, the area of the brain that is responsible for connecting visual and audio
processing. Genetic research, often in the form of twins studies, shows that dyslexia
may be passed on in families.
Though most children are not diagnosed with dyslexia until they enter the school
system, there are some early signs of the disability. Toddlers who talk much later than
average, have difficulty learning new words, or do not understand the concept of
rhyming may develop other dyslexic symptoms. As children begin school, teachers are
trained to look for warning signs, such as an inability to recognize2 letters or spaces
between words on a page or difficulty following instructions given with more than one
command at a time. Properly screening children for dyslexia is important since other
factors can limit reading abilities, including vision or hearing impairment, anxiety, or
other neurological problems.
Dyslexia is a type of learning disorder that can often be compensated for with therapy
and motivational techniques. Phonological training, which involves identifying and
separating sound patterns, is the most common form of therapy used in the school
system. Depending on the severity of the disorder, dyslexic children are pulled from
regular classroom activities in order to work one-on-one with a language specialist.
Studies have shown that activity in the right temporoparietal cortex tends to increase
after sufficient phonological training. Improvements in visual focus can sometimes be
achieved when students are given an eye patch to wear while they learn to read.
Encouraging children to use many senses while reading also has proven benefits.
Some teachers find that having students listen to a book on tape before reading the text
can help with information processing as well.
Though it is properly classified as a learning disability, dyslexia is commonly mistaken
for a behavioral1 disorder. Dyslexic children often exhibit behavior that seems abnormal
but is caused by frustration at their own inability to perform at the same level as their
peers. Some studies show that attention deficit disorder co-occurs with dyslexia in up to
50 percent of cases. In general, behavioral problems decline as dyslexic students are
diagnosed and begin to receive treatment.
Other learning disabilities are neurologically linked to dyslexia, including dyscalculia,
dysgraphia, and dyspraxia. People who suffer from dyscalculia can usually perform
difficult mathematical tasks, but have trouble with formulas or basic addition and
subtraction. Dysgraphia prevents people from writing in an organized manner.
Dyspraxia impedes the performance of routine tasks that involve balance and fine motor
skills.
The earlier children are diagnosed with dyslexia, the more likely they are to overcome
their disabilities and progress to adult reading levels. Many studies show that children
who are diagnosed after grade three have a much lower chance of eliminating the
symptoms of dyslexia. Some dyslexics, especially those who are not diagnosed as
children, naturally develop their own coping mechanisms such as an increased visual
memory. In some instances, dyslexics develop keen spatial and visual abilities that
prepare them for very specialized careers.
QUESTIONS 14-20
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
YES
if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO
if the statement disagrees with the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
14. Dyslexia is a disorder related to intelligence.
15. Dyslexia is usually diagnosed during a child's first years of school.
16. People with dyslexia often read in reverse.
17. Children with dyslexia learn to speak at a younger than average age.
18. Scientists are looking for a drug treatment for dyslexia.
19. Dyslexia in children is often accompanied by behavioral problems.
20. People with dysgraphia have difficulty with math.
ANSWER:
14. {1:SA:~=NO~=No~=N}
15. {1:SA:~=YES~=Yes~=Y}
16. {1:SA:~=YES~=Yes~=Y}
17. {1:SA:~=NO~=No~=N}
18. {1:SA:~=NOT GIVEN~=Not given~=NG}
19. {1:SA:~=YES~=Yes~=Y}
20. {1:SA:~=NO~=No~=N}
Homework 2
Source: Lougheed, L. (2010). Barrons IETLS practice exams (3rd ed, pp. 150, 151,
152). New Age International Publisher.
Reading passage
CHOCOLATE - FOOD OF THE GODS
The cacao plant is believed to have evolved at least 4,000 years ago. It is a small
evergreen tree, 15-25 feet high, which grows in the tropical forest understory, where it is
protected by the shade of larger trees. The scientific name for the cacao plant is
Theobroma, which means "food of the gods." Native to the Amazon and Orinoco River
basins, it requires a humid climate and regular rainfall. Small pink flowers grow directly
on the trunk and older branches. The fruit, a cacao pod, is melon shaped and weighs
roughly 1 pound when fully ripened. A mature tree may have as many as 6,000 flowers
but will only produce about twenty pods. Each pod contains between twenty and sixty
seeds, called beans. The beans have a 40-50 percent fat content, referred to as cocoa
butter. (Cacao is the plant; cocoa is the edible derivative and the primary ingredient in
chocolate.)
Chemical analysis of pottery vessels unearthed in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, and
dating from around 3,100 years ago show traces of a compound that is found
exclusively in the cacao plant. At that time, the plant was already being used as a
beverage ingredient. However, it was not the cacao beans that were first used. Instead,
the first cacao-based drink was probably produced by fermenting the pulp in the cacao
pods to yield a beerlike beverage. Researchers speculate that the chocolate drink made
from the cacao beans and known later throughout Mesoamerica may have arisen as an
accidental by-product of the brewing process. In all, ten small, beautifully crafted
drinking vessels were found at the Puerto Escondido site, suggesting that even then the
cacao brew was not consumed on a frequent basis but was reserved for important
feasts or ceremonial events.
The villagers of Puerto Escondido had likely been influenced by the great Olmec
civilization1, which flourished for about 800 years beginning 3,200-2,400 years ago in
the southern Gulf of Mexico region. Although centered in the modern Mexican states of
Tabasco and Veracruz, Olmec influence reached as far south as El Salvador and
Honduras. A majority of scholars concur that the Olmec people created the first
civilization in the western hemisphere. They built large cities with significant architecture
and established commerce extending over hundreds of miles. Relatively little is known
about Olmec society because very little archeological2 evidence has survived the damp
climate of the Gulf of Mexico. What is known, however, is that the later Mayan peoples,
who did leave behind a great deal of cultural evidence, based much of their high culture
on earlier Olmec traditions.
Mayan civilization flourished in southern Mexico and Central America from around 500
B.C.E.3 to around 1500, and the word cacao comes from the Mayan word Ka'kau'.
However, this is not a native Mayan word but is derived from the Olmec language. To
the Mayans, the cacao pod symbolized4 life and fertility. Many of the bas-reliefs carved
on their palaces and temples show cacao pods. It is believed that the Mayans took the
cacao tree from its native rain forest and began to cultivate it in plantations. After
harvesting the seed pods, they scooped out the contents-the cacao beans embedded in
a sticky, white flesh-and allowed it all to ferment until the seeds turned dark brown. The
seeds were then roasted and ground into a thick chocolate paste.
From the paste, the Mayans made a hot chocolate drink. However, it was very different
from contemporary hot chocolate. The basic drink was made by mixing the paste with
water, chili powder, cornmeal, and other ingredients and heating it. Then the liquid was
poured back and forth from one vessel held at arm's height to another resting on the
ground. This created a chocolate drink with a thick head of dark foam-considered the
best part of the drink. Among the Mayans, as the chocolate drink grew more popular
and the ingredients more readily available, people from all levels of society enjoyed it at
least on occasion.
The Maya preserved their knowledge of cacao use through stone carvings, some in
jade and obsidian, pottery decorations, and written documents that detailed the use of
cacao, described in Mayan as "food of the gods." Cacao was used in ceremonies,
medical treatments, and daily life centuries before the discovery of the New World by
Europeans. Certain recipes for cacao drinks included vanilla, nuts, honey from native
bees, and various flowers.
Ek Chuah (meaning "black star" in Yucatec Maya) was the patron god of merchants and
commerce. Because cacao seeds were light in weight, easily transported, and of great
value, they were used as currency throughout Mesoamerica. Thus Ek Chuah also
became the patron god of cacao. Each April, the Maya held a festival to honor5 this
deity. The celebration included offerings of cacao, feathers, and incense, the sacrifice of
a dog with cacao-colored6 markings, other animal sacrifices, and an exchange of gifts.
Given that the chocolate drink could be made only through the direct destruction of
currency, one can understand why it was called the "food of gods." The immortals could
easily afford it, while for humans it was a precious commodity indeed.
1British:
civilisation
archaeological
3B.C.E. is the abbreviation for "Before the Common Era," that is, before the year 0.
4British: symbolised
5British: honour
6British: coloured
2British:
QUESTIONS 14-18
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE
if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE
if the statement disagrees with the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
14. The mature cacao plant produces about 6,000 pods.
15. The cacao plant prefers wet weather.
16. Each flower on the cacao plant produces twenty pods.
17. Cacao drinks were originally made using the pulp from the pod.
18. In ancient Puerto Escondido, cacao drinks were served hot.
ANSWER:
14. {1:SA:~=FALSE~=False~=false~=F}
15. {1:SA:~=TRUE~=True~=true~=T}
16. {1:SA:~=FALSE~=False~=false~=F}
17. {1:SA:~=TRUE~=True~=true~=T}
18. {1:SA:~=NOT GIVEN~=Not given~=not given~=NG}
UNIT 3 – MATCHING HEADINGS
In-class
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
MARKETS AROUND THE WORLD
We have become so used to shopping in big supermarkets and chain stores,
identical in every town, that we have forgotten about one important way to shopmarkets, Markets are found in every country in the world, but wherever you go they
are different and reveal the local culture- and agriculture. From farmers’ markets
selling fresh produce to craft and antique markets, they are the best place to find
something unique at a great price.
Food is at its cheapest and freshest in markets. Farmers often sell direct to the
consumer, without all the packaging, shipping and advertising that increases costs
in shops and supermarkets. You can often find unusual products and those that
are not mass-produces. Food markets vary hugely according to where they are in
the world. For example, the Kauppatori market in Helsinki, Finland sells moose,
reindeer and bear salami. Where you are, food will be locally produced and
reasonably priced.
Markets are also good places to buy clothes. Some sell cheap new and secondhand clothes, while others specialize vintage or ethically made clothes and original
items. The markets of London are some of the best in the world for those who want
to create a unique look for themselves. Many new designers start with a market
stall, so if you are looking for a totally original item of clothing, you could get
something really special at a bargain price at Brick Lane, Spitalfiends or Portobello
Road markets.
Another type of market is a flea market. This is a much more informal type of
market, where second-hand products can be sold by anyone. If you have
unwanted items at home, you could take them to a flea market and sell them
yourself. There are also antiques and possibly local crafts at this kind of market. In
some parts of the world there may not even be stalls; rather, vendors lay out their
goods on a sheet on the ground. In other parts of the world, flea markets have
developed into car boot sales, where people sell their unwanted items from their
cars.
In some places, markets are directed at visitors and tend to sell handicrafts typical
of the region. For many tourists, a visit to a nearby market to buy souvenirs is an
important part of their holiday. Guadalajara in Mexico has a huge range of
traditional textiles, glassware, ceramics an art works and Seoul in Korea has some
wonderful original designs of all kinds of products at affordable prices. Countries
in the Middle East usually have beautiful hand-made rugs and carpets, and Indian
markets sell colorful handloom fabrics and beautiful silk scarves.
F. In Europe, Christmas is the time when seasonal markets are held to sell
decorations and gifts for the festive season. One of the most famous of these is
held in Wenceslas Square in Prague in the Czech Republic. The market is made
up of colorfully decorated wooden huts selling traditional handicrafts, embroidered
lace, wooden toys, scented candles, Christmas tree ornaments, and puppets and
dolls beautifully dressed in traditional costumes. This looks very pretty, especially
in the snow.
G. So, wherever you are in the world and whatever you are looking for, there is a
market for you. You can get all kinds of unusual things at great prices.
The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for
paragraphs B-F from the list of headings (i-vii) below. Write the correct number, i-vii.
There are two headings you won’t need.
List of headings
ix.
Local art and craft work to take home
x.
Inexpensive things to eat straight from the countryside
xi.
Toys for children of all ages
xii.
Invent a new style for yourself at bargain prices
xiii.
London has the best markets
xiv.
Find gifts for winter celebrations
xv.
Sell what you don’t need
7. Paragraph B _____
8. Paragraph C _____
9. Paragraph D _____
10. Paragraph E _____
11. Paragraph F _____
ANSWER
19. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%100%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#}
20. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%100%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#}
21. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%100%
vii#}
22. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#}
23. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%100%vi#~%0%
vii#}
Citation: Wijayatilake, C. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 1: Student's Book and
Online Modules with Testbank. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 1
CAHOKIA-ANCESTOR OF TODAY’S CAPITAL CITIES
H. A thousand years ago the Mississippians, a diverse group of Native Americans
who lived in the area which is today knowns as the south-eastern United States,
took a small village on the Mississippi River and turned it into one of the world’s
first great urban centers. Cahokia, as it has been called by archaeologists, became
as large as London was in the 11th century, and some would argue that it was just
as forward-looking and prosperous as its European equivalents. Sophisticated,
cosmopolitan and ahead of its time, Cahokia was at the heart of ancient society in
North America; an ancestor of today’s capital cities.
I. In one respect in particular, Cahokia was quite unusual compared to other cities
around at the same time. Archaeologists working on the site have found enough
evidence over the past fifty years to concluded that, at a certain time, around 35%
of the population were not from Cahokia at all; it seems that many of the tribes that
lived all along the Mississippi River at some point began to relocate to Cahokia.
These researchers have been unable to find more than a handful of other
examples of such relocation of tribes, but they do know that something about
Cahokia attracted thousands of people to this regional center. And that, they
postulated, appears to have been thanks to a small group of planners who one day
decided to redesign to redesign the entire village.
J. After the redesigns of the village were put in place, the Native Americans at
Cahokia worked with tireless determination to carry them out. Over the course of
a few decades, they transported huge volumes of soil from the nearby countryside
to create 120 huge mounds of earth, the biggest of which rose to one hundred feet.
On top of these, they built a vast urban environment, complete with a vibrant town
center, municipal buildings, and a fifty-acre plaza at the foot of the biggest mound.
What makes it even more impressive to our modern imaginations is that, with no
machinery then, they used their bare hands and woven baskets to dig up and carry
the soil from the surrounding regions back to their city-in-waiting. Eventually, after
these efforts, the vision of the city planners was fulfilled, but even they could not
have predicted how popular Cahokia would become.
K. From this period on, Cahokia was alive with intense activity, and grew in size every
year, partly because of the co-operation between the residents. While the men
busied themselves with manual work, like constructing new buildings, or hunting
and fishing in the forests and rivers within a day’s walk of the city, the women made
sure that the fields stayed healthy and grew crops, and the homes were kept clean.
In many ways, it seems to have been the ideal place to live, and one with an
exciting and prosperous future ahead of it. And yet, having become a major
population center around AD 1050, by 1350 it had been almost completely
abandoned. Somewhere in the course of 300 years, something happened to
Cahokia to cause this, but it is an enigma that even archaeologists or historians
themselves struggle to resolve.
L. This rather curious state of affairs exists today because researchers have never
found a single piece of evidence that can conclusively explain why the residents
left. Academics who have studied other Native American sites have always found
weapons of war buried deep underground. And yet, the bows, arrows and swords
that littered the ground at these other sites were nowhere to be seen at Cahokia,
Other factors, such as disease or colonization from European invasion, do not
seem to be possible in this case, as common as they were elsewhere at that time.
The absence of definitive theories as to Cahokia’s decline is highly unusual, but
then again, Cahokia was no ordinary city and perhaps comparisons with other
urban centers of the time cannot be made.
M. While academics remain bemused as to why the residents fled the city, we can still
marvel at the individual artefacts that archaeologists have discovered: the jewellery
worn, the pots used to cook in, the small workshop at the base of one of the
mounds. That said, there is also a more unpleasant side to their investigations.
Human sacrifice, it seems, was a common fact of life in Cahokia; even if we cannot
be sure whether this was for religious or for other reasons, we can have no doubt
that it happened frequently. The bodies of hundreds of people, mostly young
women, have been found buried in mass graves, and the way in which they died
was often horrific. A somber reminder that even ‘advanced’ city states had their
shadowy sides.
Read the passage and answer questions 106.
The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each
paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii.
8. Paragraph A _____
9. Paragraph B _____
10. Paragraph C _____
11. Paragraph D _____
12. Paragraph E _____
13. Paragraph F _____
List of headings
x.
The benefits of collaboration
xi.
A forerunner of the modern metropolis
xii.
A period of intense activity and plans completed
xiii.
A clear contrast between then and now
xiv.
The rise and mysterious decline of Cahokia
xv.
An archaeological theory to explain Cahokia’s development
xvi.
The light and dark of archaeological finds
xvii. A city completely unlike any of its contemporaries
ANSWER
8. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%100%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#}
9. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%100%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#}
10. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%100%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#}
11. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%100%v#~%0%vi#~%
0%vii#~%0%viii#}
12. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0
%vii#~%100%viii#}
13. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%10
0%vii#~%0%viii#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2018). Mindset for IELTS Level 3 Student's Book with
Testbank and Online Modules. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 2
THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
G. The Trans-Siberian Railway has been described by some as the most
memorable journey on Earth. Measuring nearly 9,300 km, it is the longest railway
line in the world and takes approximately a week to complete. It is one incredible
train journey from Red Square to the Great Wall, taking in Siberia, Mongolia, the
Gobi Desert and arriving in the great city of Beijing. The journey has captured the
imagination of travelers from far and wide since construction began in 1891.
H. Although officials have been building this line since 1891, it is still being
expanded today. The original Trans-Siberian Railway was built from Moscow to
Vladivostok on the orders of Tsar Alexander III. Building the line was not an easy
task as there were only a few qualified engineers and the difficult climate often
slowed progress. A lack of workmen meant that soldiers and convicts had to be
conscripted to help. Up to 90,000 men were employed in its construction.
I. From the moment building began, the project faced many difficulties. Even
though it was considered a technological marvel at the time, there were
arguments about the quality of work. Rails were considered too light and bridges
not strong enough. Many claimed convicts had sabotaged the line. Furthermore,
the project also caused serious problems for the Russian economy.
J. Despite criticisms, however, the railway more than paid for itself in the twentieth
century. The Siberian economy exploded when 2.5 million poor people moved
there from European Russia between 1895 and 1916. The region quickly
became famous for producing bread and butter. Without the Trans-Siberian
Railway, Siberia’s industrial revolution would not have happened.
K. Today, this service is used by both tourists and workers. Running at an average
speed of 60 km/h, it is not designed for anyone in a hurry. Nor are the trains
particularly glamorous. The trip could never be described as dull, however, with
breathtaking views from the carriage window and the opportunity to talk to fellow
passengers.
L. Although the trip certainly attracts many foreign tourists, today it gets most of its
use from domestic passengers. It is responsible for 30% of Russian exports and
carries more than 250,000 containers a year.
The reading passage ‘Trans-Siberian Railway’ has six paragraphs, A-f. Choose the
correct headings for paragraphs A-F from the list of headings. Write the correct
number, i-ix, in the boxes provided.
List of headings
vi.
The impact the railway line had on Siberia
vii.
The reasons why peasants migrated to Siberia
viii.
The construction of the line
ix.
The speed and style of the train
x.
The controversy which surrounded the building of the line
xi.
The attraction of the Trans-Siberian Railway
xii.
The role of prisoners and soldiers in the building of the project
xiii.
The length of time it took to build the line
xiv.
The role the line has in the local economy
5. Paragraph A _____
6. Paragraph B _____
7. Paragraph C _____
8. Paragraph D _____
9. Paragraph E _____
10. Paragraph F _____
ANSWER
16. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%100%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
17. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%100%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
18. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%100%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
19. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
20. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%100%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%
vii#~%0%viii#~%0%ix#}
21. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%i#~%0%ii#~%0%iii#~%0%iv#~%0%v#~%0%vi#~%0%vii
#~%0%viii#~%100%ix#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 2 Student's Book with
Testbank and Online Modules. Cambridge University Press.
AVTC6_U2_(True-False-Not Given)
In-class
Source: Wijayatilake, C. (2017). Cambridge University Press. Mindset For IELTS: An Official Cambridge
IELTS Course Student’s book 1. (pp.110-111)
Parkour
A. Parkour was developed in France in the 1980s by Raymond Belle and later by his son David
Belle and his friends. It is based on military obstacle course training. The aim is to get from one
point to another in any way you can, and express yourself while doing so. There are no limits on
how you move in parkour: running, climbing, swinging, jumping, rolling and any other types of
movement are possible. Parkour is more of a philosophy or set of ideas than a sport. It is a new
way of seeing the environment and finding ways to go over, under, around, across or through
obstacles.
B. Parkour can be done alone or in groups. The most famous group of traceurs (people who do
parkour) were the Yamakasi, a group made up of David Belle and his friends and cousins. They
formed in the late 1980s and became popular during the 1990s and 2000s after appearing in
several films, documentaries and advertisements. In the Yamakasi, there were strict rules.
Members had to arrive on time and they were not allowed to complain or make excuses. They
valued humility, so they were not allowed to show off or compete with other members.
C. Parkour is a 'state of mind'. It is about getting over mental as well as physical barriers. It
teaches people to touch the world and interact with it. It is about understanding what it means
to be human. The organization Parkour.net believes that parkour can never be a competitive
sport. It is an art and is concerned with self-development. They say you can't ask, 'Who is the
best at parkour?' Raymond Belle's advice is: 'If two roads open up before you, always take the
more difficult one. Because you know you can travel the easy one.’
D. There are some gyms and camps where you can practice and learn parkour. However, many
traceurs do not like the idea of special places for their activity. The idea behind parkour is to
adapt to any environment and be creative about how you get through it. It is about freedom and
self-expression. The founder of parkour refused to teach people how to do moves or get over
obstacles. The whole point is to learn your own technique and way of moving. So, the idea of
having classes or a limited space to practice in conflicts with the values of parkour.
E. Parkour is also known as free running. Sometimes free running refers to another form of
parkour developed by Sebastien Foucan, which has more focus on the individual. The term free
running came out of the film Jump London (2003). It told the story of three French traceurs
practicing parkour around the famous monuments of London. Free running was the English
translation of parkour. There are more similarities than differences between the two activities,
and the Parkour UK websites uses the two terms to refer to the same activity.
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information in the text?
Choose
TRUE
If the statement agrees with the information
FALSE
if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. You have to use a limited number of moves in parkour.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
2. Parkour is mainly done in the countryside.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
3. Parkour began in the twentieth century.
{1:MCV:=T~F~NG}
4. The Yamakasi did not allow latecomers.
{1:MCV:=T~F~NG}
5. When doing parkour, Raymond Belle recommends that you always choose the easy route.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
6. There are many gyms in France where you can do parkour.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
7. The founder of parkour was a very good teacher of parkour.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
Homework 1
Source: Brook-Hart, V. J. (2012). Complete IELTS Bands 5-6.5 Student's Book with Answers. Cambridge
University Press.
Australian culture and culture shock
by Anna Jones and Xuan Quach
Sometimes work, study or a sense of adventure take us out of our familiar surroundings to go and
live in a different culture. The experience can be difficult, even shocking.
Almost everyone who studies, lives or works abroad has problems adjusting to a new culture.
This response is commonly referred to as ‘culture shock’. Culture shock can be defined as ‘the
physical and emotional discomfort a person experiences when entering a culture different from
their own’ (Weaver, 1993).
For people moving to Australia, Price (2001) has identified certain values which may give rise to
culture shock. Firstly, he argues that Australians place a high value on independence and personal
choice. This means that a teacher or course tutor will not tell students what to do but will give
them a number of options and suggest they work out which one is the best in their circumstances.
It also means that they are expected to take action if something goes wrong and seek out
resources and support for themselves.
Australians are also prepared to accept a range of opinions rather than believing there is one
truth. This means that in an educational setting, students will be expected to form their own
opinions and defend the reasons for that point of view and the evidence for it.
Price also comments that Australians are uncomfortable with differences in status and hence
idealize the idea of treating everyone equally. An illustration of this is that most adult Australians
call each other by their first names. This concern with equality means that Australians are
uncomfortable taking anything too seriously and are even ready to joke about themselves.
Australians believe that life should have a balance between work and leisure time. As a
consequence, some students may be critical of others who they perceive as doing nothing but
study.
Australian notions of privacy mean that areas such as financial matters, appearance and
relationships are only discussed with close friends. While people may volunteer such information,
they may resent someone actually asking them unless the friendship is firmly established. Even
then, it is considered very impolite to ask someone what they earn. With older people, it is also
rude to ask how old they are, why they are not married or why they do not have children. It is
also impolite to ask people how much they have paid for something, unless there is a very good
reason for asking.
Kohls (1996) describes culture shock as a process of change marked by four basic stages. During
the first stage, the new arrival is excited to be in a new place, so this is often referred to as the
“honeymoon” stage. Like a tourist, they are intrigued by all the new sights and sounds, new
smells and tastes of their surroundings. They may have some problems, but usually they accept
them as just part of the novelty. At this point, it is the similarities that stand out, and it seems to
the newcomer that people everywhere and their way of life are very much alike. This period of
euphoria may last from a couple of weeks to a month, but the letdown is inevitable.
During the second stage, known as the ‘rejection’ stage, the newcomer starts to experience
difficulties due to the differences between the new culture and the way they were accustomed
to living. The initial enthusiasm turns into irritation, frustration, anger and depression, and these
feelings may have the effect of people rejecting the new culture so that they notice only the
things that cause them trouble, which they then complain about. In addition, they may feel
homesick, bored, withdrawn and irritable during this period as well.
Fortunately, most people gradually learn to adapt to the new culture and move on to the third
stage, known as ‘adjustment and reorientation’. During this stage a transition occurs to a new
optimistic attitude. As the newcomer begins to understand more of the new culture, they are
able to interpret some of the subtle cultural clues which passed by unnoticed earlier. Now things
make more sense, and the culture seems more familiar. As a result, they begin to develop
problem-solving skills, and feelings of disorientation and anxiety no longer affect them.
In Kohls’s model, in the fourth stage, newcomers undergo a process of adaptation. They have
settled into the new culture, and this results in a feeling of direction and self-confidence. They
have accepted the new food, drinks, habits and customs and may even find themselves enjoying
some of the very customs that bothered them so much previously. In addition, they realize that
the new culture has good and bad things to offer, and that no way is really better than another,
just different.
adapted from Intercultural Communication for Students in the Faculty of Economics and
Commerce, University of Melbourne.
Questions 1–6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Choose
TRUE
if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE
if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. Australian teachers will suggest alternatives to students rather than offer one solution.
{1:MCV:=T~F~NG}
2. In Australia, teachers will show interest in students’ personal circumstances.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
3. Australians use people’s first names so that everyone feels their status is similar.
{1:MCV:=T~F~NG}
4. Students who study all the time may receive positive comments from their colleagues.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
5. It is acceptable to discuss financial issues with people you do not know well.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
6. Younger Australians tend to be friendlier than older Australians.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
Homework 2
Source: Brook-Hart, V. J. (2012 ). Complete IELTS band 5-6.5 Student’s Book with Answers. Cambridge
University Press.
The way the brain buys
Supermarkets take great care over the way the goods they sell are arranged. This is because they
know a lot about how to persuade people to buy things.
When you enter a supermarket, it takes some time for the mind to get into a shopping mode.
This is why the area immediately inside the entrance of a supermarket is known as the
'decompression zone'. People need to slow down and take stock of the surroundings, even if they
are regulars. Supermarkets do not expect to sell much here, so it tends to be used more for
promotion. So, the large items piled up here are designed to suggest that there are bargains
further inside the store, and shoppers are not necessarily expected to buy them. Walmart, the
world's biggest retailer, famously employs 'greeters' at the entrance to its stores. A friendly
welcome is said to cut shoplifting. It is harder to steal from nice people.
Immediately to the left in many supermarkets is a 'chill zone', where customers can enjoy
browsing magazines, books and DVDs. This is intended to tempt unplanned purchases and slow
customers down. But people who just want to do their shopping quickly will keep walking ahead,
and the first thing they come to is the fresh fruit and vegetables section. However, for shoppers,
this makes no sense. Fruit and vegetables can be easily damaged, so they should be bought at
the end, not the beginning, of a shopping trip. But psychology is at work here: selecting these
items makes people feel good, so they feel less guilty about reaching for less healthy food later
on.
Shoppers already know that everyday items, like milk, are invariably placed towards the back of
a store to provide more opportunity to tempt customers to buy things which are not on their
shopping list. This is why pharmacies are also generally at the back. But supermarkets know
shoppers know this, so they use other tricks, like placing popular items halfway along a section
so that people have to walk all along the aisle looking for them. The idea is to boost 'dwell time':
the length of time people spend in a store.
Having walked to the end of the fruit-and-vegetable aisle, shoppers arrive at counters of
prepared food, the fishmonger, the butcher and the deli. Then there is the in-store bakery, which
can be smelt before it is seen. Even small supermarkets now use in-store bakeries. Mostly these
bake pre-prepared items and frozen ingredients which have been delivered to the supermarket
previously, and their numbers have increased, even though central bakeries that deliver to a
number of stores are much more efficient. They do it for the smell of freshly baked bread, which
arouses people's appetites and thus encourages them to purchase not just bread but also other
food, including ready meals.
Retailers and producers talk a lot about the 'moment of truth'. This is not a philosophical idea,
but the point when people standing in the aisle decide to buy something and reach to get it. At
the instant coffee section, for example, branded products from the big producers are arranged
at eye level while cheaper ones are lower down, along with the supermarket's own-label
products.
But shelf positioning is fiercely fought over, not just by those trying to sell goods, but also by
those arguing over how best to manipulate shoppers. While many stores reckon eye level is the
top spot, some think a little higher is better. Others think goods displayed at the end of aisles sell
the most because they have the greatest visibility. To be on the right-hand side of an eye-level
selection is often considered the very best place, because most people are right-handed and most
people's eyes drift rightwards. Some supermarkets reserve that for their most expensive ownlabel goods.
Scott Bearse, a retail expert with Deloitte Consulting in Boston, Massachusetts, has led projects
observing and questioning tens of thousands of customers about how they feel about shopping.
People say they leave shops empty­ handed more often because they are 'unable to decide' than
because prices are too high, says Mr. Bearse. Getting customers to try something is one of the
best ways of getting them to buy, adds Mr. Bearse. Deloitte found that customers who use fitting
rooms in order to try on clothes buy the product they are considering at a rate of 85% compared
with 58% for those that do not do so.
Often a customer struggling to decide which of two items is best ends up not buying either. In
order to avoid a situation where a customer decides not to buy either product, a third 'decoy'
item, which is not quite as good as the other two, is placed beside them to make the choice easier
and more pleasurable. Happier customers are more likely to buy.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Choose
TRUE
if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE
if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. The 'greeters' at Walmart increase sales.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
2. People feel better about their shopping if they buy fruit and vegetables before they buy
other food.
{1:MCV:=T~F~NG}
3. In-store bakeries produce a wider range of products than central bakeries.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
4. Supermarkets find right-handed people easier to persuade than left-handed people.
{1:MCV:T~F~=NG}
5. The most frequent reason for leaving shops without buying something is price.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
6. 'Decoy' items are products which the store expects customers to choose.
{1:MCV:T~=F~NG}
UNIT 2– MATCHING SENTENCE ENDINGS
In-class
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
OUR FRIENDS AND PROTECTORS
When asked their favorite animals, many people answer ‘dolphins’. They are
known as friendly, intelligent creatures that have a special relationship with
humans. For example, dolphins can tell when a woman is pregnant. They can also
tell when someone is in trouble. No one is really sure why this is the case. Experts
think they may understand that humans are similar to them and try to protect them
from predators and other dangers. Dolphins’ protection of humans might not be
just automatic or instinctive: they may actively decide to help in certain situations.
There are many stories about dolphins protecting humans from sharks. Wildlife
filmmaker Hardy Jones was filming a group of dolphins, when a large shark swam
towards him ready to attack. Four dolphins came to his rescue and drove the shark
away. Perhaps they could tell he was a person who cared very much about
dolphins. In fact, Jones was a well-known campaigner against the killing of
dolphins. In another incident, in 2004, in New Zealand, four people were saved
from a great white shark by a pod of dolphins. The dolphins herded the swimmers
into a group and formed a protective ring around them. As they had not yet seen
the shark, one of them tried to swim away. He couldn’t get away, because every
time he tried, he was pushed back inside the ring by the dolphins.
Dolphins don’t only save humans from sharks, but protect them in other situations
too. A scuba diver was hit by a boat near the Channel Islands (between England
and France) in 2006. The man was unconscious, but survived 56 hours in the
water, watched over by a pod of about 150 dolphins. In 2014, dolphins again came
to the help of a human. Joey Trevino was losing hope. He had been in the sea for
24 hours after his boat sank in the Gulf of Mexico. He felt he couldn’t keep going
any more. A friendly dolphin approached him and gently pushed him, as if to say
‘don’t give up’. That moral support and encouragement may have saved Trevino’s
life.
Dolphins have also been known to help other species. In New Zealand, two pygmy
sperm whales were in difficulty next to a sand bank. People were trying their best
to get them back out to sea, but the whales couldn’t find their way past the sand
bank. After several hours of failed attempts, they were ready to give up. Along
came ‘Moko’, a bottlenose dolphin, who seemed to communicate with the whales
and led them to a channel which took them back to the ocean.
Whales have also been known to protect both humans and other mammals. In
California, in 2012, a BBC Planet Earth film crew filmed a group of humpback
whales who were protecting migrating grey whales from attacks by arcas (killer
whales) over a period of at least seven hours. In China, Yang Yun applied for a job
training whales at Polar Land in the city of Harbin. For the ‘interview’ she had to
dive down as far as possible in the seven-metre deep pool. When she was about
five metres down, Yang Yun found she couldn’t move her legs due to the freezing
temperatures. Two beluga whales, Mila and Nicola, sensed that she was in trouble.
Mia gripped Yang Yun’s leg in her mouth and pushed Yun to the surface, saving
her life.
F. Stories of marine mammals helping humans- and each other- date back to Ancient
Greece. Although we may never be sure why they help us, many people feel that
it is a good reason for us to do whatever we can to protect them.
Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-H.
1. Dolphins may protect humans _____
2. Dolphins swam toward Hardy Jones _____
3. The swimmer tried to leave the protective ring of dolphins _____
4. A dolphin nudged Joey Trevino _____
5. Dolphins and whales help us _____
A. So we should protect them.
B. To encourage him not to lose hope.
C. Because there were so many dolphins.
D. Because they recognize that humans are similar to them.
E. Because they sometimes actively decide to help.
F. Because he had not seen the shark.
G. Because a shark was about to attack him.
H. Because he was a campaigner for dolphin protection.
ANSWER
24. {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#~%0%H#}
25. {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~%1
00%G#~%0%H#}
26. {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%100%F#~
%0%G#~%0%H#}
27. {1:SHORTANSWER:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#~%0%H#}
28. {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#~%0%H#}
Citation: Wijayatilake, C. (2017). Mindset for IELTS Level 1: Student's Book and
Online Modules with Testbank. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 1
REALITY TV
A. Reality TV accounts for 67% of TV programs watched by Americans. A huge
range pf program types come under the banner ‘Reality TV’, some of them more
edifying than others. There are those which follow the pattern of one of the
earliest reality shows, Big Brother, where a group of people have to co-exist in a
house, their every move being filmed. Then there are the competitive shows
where ordinary people compete in skills such as singing, cooking, diving,
ice0skating or work-related skills like sales and entrepreneurship. Another subgenre is the self- or home improvement/ makeover type of show, such as What
Not to Wear, The Biggest Loser or Hoarders. Some of the most popular reality
TV shows are those of the social experiment sub-genre, such as The World’s
Strictest Parents, where misbehaving teens are sent to live in a less liberal
family, usually in a distant country. Perhaps the most educational type which
comes under the reality TV heading are the programs that follow someone with
an interesting or useful job doing their ordinary day-to-day work. This is the one
type of reality TV show most parents encourage their children to watch, as they
can learn about the work of police officers, paramedics, doctors, pilots and
teachers.
B. So how can we account for the immense popularity of reality TV? One reason it
has found favor with viewers is that for most ordinary people it is their best hope
of achieving at least a degree of fame or notoriety. A tiny minority might even
become really famous and be rewarded with a TV show of their own. A survey of
239 people revealed that, contrary to common belief, most reality TV fans were
not less sociable or less intelligent than others. It was thought the main aim of
watching such shows was to be able to discuss them with friends and coworkers. However, that has always been one of the reasons people watch any
kind of TV program. What is different about reality TV aficionados is that they
desire a rise in status and strongly value prestige. Reality TV has produced
‘stars; with little or no actual talent in conventional terms. Although they can’t
sing, dance or act, the force of their personality has shot them to stardom
through an appearance on a TV show. From there, many have launched careers
as ‘TV personalities’ and achieved the wealth and fame they craved. It is no
wonder, then, that so many hope to follow their example.
C. One crucial point about reality TV is that the name itself is a misnomer. It is not
actually ‘real’. While producers don’t go as far as having scripts, they edit footage
in such a way as to distort what really happened. Events are twisted to create an
illusion of conflict or to shape a more interesting storyline. Participants are told to
adapt their own personalities to suit the requirements of the show. For example,
a lady with a pleasant and gentle personality was told to ‘act mean’ or be ejected
from the show. Similarly, though viewers assume that either judges or the voting
public have the power to eliminate contestants, in fact the producers retain the
decision-making power. If a candidate in a singing competition has been voted
off by the public, he or she may be kept on for amusement value, not for the
quality of his or her singing. One producer admitted that a ’24-hour bathroom
makeover’ actually had a crew working on it behind the scenes for at least two
weeks.
D. Apart from the illusions of reality, what other criticisms are made of reality TV?
Author Mark Andrejevic wrote in the New York Times in 2012 that reality TV in
post 9/11 society represents the ‘normalisation of surveillance’. In all our favorite
TV shows, the cameras are on the participants 24 hours a day. It caught on
CCTV as we move around our cities and workplaces. Another accusation levied
at some of these shows it that the glamorize vulgarity and consumerism, An
American show called Toddlers and Tiaras, for example, shows little girls
dressing up in skimpy costumes and make-up to take part in beauty pageants.
Their parents spend thousands of dollars to parade their tiny children, some
barely old enough to walk, in front of judges, who evaluate their beauty, clothes
and modelling skills. The children featured in this and similar shows are growing
up to focus only on winning and many are totally unable to accept defeat. Many
reality TV shows feature a ‘confessional’, where contestants are encouraged to
back stab and report on their fellow contestants. Unethical behavior is valued and
rewarded because it boosts viewing figures. The plethora of shows encouraging
us to change our weight, wardrobe, job, house and car creates generations of
discontented individuals who feel themselves inadequate with who they are and
what they have.
E. To make matters worse, the experience of being on reality TV is not what it
appears. These shows are so popular with the television companies because
they are so cheap to produce. The producers’ aim is to get as much talent as
possible for as low a price as possible. While appearing on a reality show, you
can expect your expenses to be paid, but you will probably only receive $20 or
$30 a day. What is more, you can expect every aspect of your background and
family to be investigated in detail. Anything you would prefer to remain hidden will
inevitably come out. And the person who becomes the reality star will not be
‘you’. It will be a character created by the producers who happens to have your
face. So, if you are longing for your 15 minutes of fame, be aware of the risks of
achieving it through reality TV.
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.
1. People who like watching reality TV _____
2. The effects of reality TV on society _____
3. Producers of reality TV _____
4. People who take part in reality TV shows _____
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Include the development of competitiveness and materialistic attitudes.
Will pay lots of money for the right people.
May not realize how intrusive and financially unrewarding it will be.
Are willing to distort reality to attract more viewers.
Tend to aspire to raising their status in society.
Are usually grateful to be given a chance of becoming famous.
Are particularly damaging for young girls.
ANSWER
14. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#~%0%F#}
15. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
16. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
17. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#}
Citation: Archer, G. (2018). Mindset for IELTS student’s book 3. Cambridge
University Press.
Homework 2
BUSINESS IDEAS OF THE FUTURE
G. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who predict the needs of the future
earlier than the competition. No new business start-up is without risk, but the
benefits can be immeasurable. Inventions such as the automobile, the internet and
the iPad were all initially met with a high degree of criticism, so it is important to
maintain the belief that anything is possible! Below are just a few of the business
ideas expected to be successful in the future.
H. Travelling to space used to be possible only for governments or large aerospace
companies. This is no longer the case, however, and several private companies
have planned tourist missions into space which are going to take place in the next
few years. Consulting firm Futron Corporation predict that the space tourism
industry will be worth $1.3 billion and have more than 25,000 customers in the next
five to ten years. Space tourism pioneer Peter Diamandis also predicts that space
hotels are going to be big business, with companies from around the world already
working on such projects. Not everyone, however, is as convinced about the
prospect of space tourism. Jeffrey Jones, a member of the Center for Space
Medicine at Baylor College, warns that even a short journey into space could cause
serious health problems for tourists of average or poor health.
I. Another idea comes from a company in New Zealand called Martin Aircraft. They
have produced the first commercially available jetpack, which they plan to start
selling next year. Initially, they will be sold to shops and cost approximately
$150,000. The craft will work for short trips only, approximately 30 minutes, and
manage speeds of up to 74 kph and an altitude of 914 m. The CEO of the company,
Peter Coker, notes that, as well as being used by the rich for pleasure, they could
also be useful in search- and-rescue operations.
J. Growing meat in a laboratory is an idea which, understandably, appeals greatly to
animal rights activists. Jason Matheny, founder of the not-for-profit company New
Harvest, also feels that producing meat in this way would satisfy a growing global
demand for meat. It would also be healthier, more energy-efficient and sustainable.
The Dutch scientist Professor Post, who served up the world’s first laboratorygrown beef burger, predicts that ‘cultured meat’ will mean the end of traditional
cattle farming within decades. Tracey Hayes, the CEO of the Northern Territory
Cattlemen’s Association in Australia, admits that although this technology could be
damaging to the worldwide beef industry, it would not affect Australia, as cattle
farming is a great Australian tradition.
K. According to a recent prediction made by the United Nations, in the future, 86% of
people living in developed countries will live in cities. With this in mind, an idea
called ‘vertical farming’ has emerged. Essentially, vertical farming coms from the
belief that cities should not rely on rural areas for food but should grow their own
crops by creating multi- storey, high-tech greenhouses. The idea for vertical farms
came from the ecologist Dickson Despommier, who turned his knowledge of
parasites into a way of looking at cities.
L. Daniel Kluko of Green Spirit Farms predicts that software will be used to look after
these multiple farms remotely. For example, an app on a smartphone or tablet will
be able to handle the day-to-day care of crops. Kluko also believes that this use of
technology will help to keep costs to a minimum, allowing vertical farms to compete
with traditional farms.
Complete sentences 1-5 with the correct ending A-G. There are two more endings
than you need.
1. New ideas that are not always believed in _______
2. It has been predicted that accommodation in space _______
3. The invention which has been created to enable people to fly _______
4. It has been predicted that in years to come _______
5. The price of producing food in the city _______
A. Is currently available only to the rich.
B. The majority of the population will be living in urban areas.
C. At first are still worth following.
D. Will be kept to a minimum using technology.
E. Will be possible in the future, based on the evidence of current projects.
F. Is not as high as on traditional farms.
G. Will not be possible in the future.
ANSWER
1. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#}
2. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%100%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#}
3. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#}
4. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#}
5. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#~%0%E#~%0%F#~
%0%G#}
Citation: Archer, G. (2018). Mindset for IELTS student’s book 2. Cambridge
University Press.
UNIT 4 – MATCHING FEATURES
In-class
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
The Arctic and Antarctica are now within reach of the modern tourist, with many going to
see these icy wildernesses before it's too late. Christian Amodeo reports on the growth of
polar tourism. Travel at the North and South Poles has become an expensive leisure
activity, suitable for tourists of all ages. The poles may be inhospitable places, but they
are seeing increasing numbers of visitors. Annual figures for the Arctic, where tourism
has existed since the 19th century, have increased from about a million in the early 1990s
to more than 1.5 million today. This is partly because of the lengthening summer season
brought about by climate change.
Most visitors arrive by ship. In 2007, 370,000 cruise passengers visited Norway, twice the
number that arrived in 2000. Iceland, a country where tourism is the second-largest
industry, has enjoyed an annual growth rate of nine percent since 1990. Meanwhile,
Alaska received some 1,029,800 passengers, a rise of 7.3 percent from 2006. Greenland
has seen the most rapid growth in marine tourism, with a sharp increase in cruise-ship
arrivals of 250 percent since 2004.
The global economic downturn may have affected the annual 20.6 percent rate of
increase in visitors to the Antarctic - last season saw a drop of 17 percent to 38,200 - but
there has been a 760 percent rise in land-based tourism there since 1997. More people
than ever are landing at fragile sites, with light aircraft, helicopters and all-terrain vehicles
increasingly used for greater access, while in the past two seasons, 'fly-sail' operations
have begun. These deliver tourists by air to ships, so far more groups can enjoy a cruise
in a season; large cruise ships capable of carrying up to 800 passengers are not
uncommon.
In addition, it seems that a high number of visitors return to the poles. 'Looking at six
years! worth of data, of the people who have been to the polar regions, roughly 25 percent
go for a second time,' says Louisa Richardson, a senior marketing executive at tour
operator Exodus. In the same period that tourism has exploded. the 'health' of the poles
has 'deteriorated'. "The biggest changes taking place in the Antarctic are related to
climate change,' says Rod Downie, Environmental Manager with the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS). Large numbers of visitors increase these problems.
Although polar tourism is widely accepted, there have been few regulations up until
recently. At the meeting of the Antarctic Treaty in Baltimore, the 28 member nations
adopted proposals for limits to tourist numbers. These included safety codes for tourist
vessels in Antarctic waters, and improved environmental protection for the continent.
They agreed to prevent ships with more than 500 passengers from landing in Antarctica,
as well as limit the number of passengers going ashore to a maximum of 100 at any one
time, with a minimum of one guide for every 20 tourists. "Tourism in Antarctica is not
without its risks,' says Downie. After all, Antarctica doesn't have a coastguard rescue
service.
So far, no surveys confirm that people are going quickly to see polar regions before they
change,' says Frigg Jørgensen, General Secretary of the Association of Arctic Expedition
Cruise Operators (AECO). 'However, Hillary Clinton and many other big names have
been to Svalbard in the northernmost part of Norway to see the effects of climate change.
The associated media coverage could influence others to do the same."
These days, rarely a week passes without a negative headline in the newspapers. The
suffering polar bear has become a symbol of a warming world, its plight a warning that
the clock is ticking. It would seem that this ticking clock is a small but growing factor for
some tourists. "There's an element of "do it now", acknowledges Prisca Campbell,
Marketing Director of Quark Expeditions, which takes 7,000 people to the poles annually.
Leaving the trip until later, it seems, may mean leaving it too late.
Look at the following statement and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-D.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1. Some tourists believe they should not delay their trip to the poles. _____
2. There are some dangers to traveling in Antarctica. _____
3. Some famous people have traveled to polar regions to look at the impacts of
global warming. _____
4. Some tourists make more than one trip to the poles. _____
5. There is no evidence that visitors are hurrying to the poles. _____
List of people
A. Louisa Richardson
B. Rod Downie
C. Frigg Jorgensen
D. Prisca Campbell
ANSWER
29. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%100%D#}
30. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#}
31. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#}
32. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#~%0%D#}
33. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#~%0%D#}
Citation: Brook-Hart, G., & Jakeman, V. (2012). Complete IELTS.: Student's Book
with Answers. Bands 4-5. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 1
THE CHANGING FACE OF WORKING LIFE
The accepted concept of a career path followed a similar pattern for decades. After
completing their education, people would enter the adult world of work, settling down to
a job in which they would likely remain from that point onward. Not only would this
occupation provide their income for their entire working life, it would also allow them a
healthy pension when they retired and moved into old age. Over the past twenty years,
however, the relationship between a wage earner and their chosen profession has
changed enormously. Today, the idea of a job-for-life' has all but disappeared, to be
replaced by an unforgiving world of unstable employment. Some observers even argue
that current society appears to pit old against young in a constant battle to find work of
some description, all against a backdrop of increasing debt and economic difficulties. At
the same time, the government regularly releases figures that suggest that the economy
is prospering, evidencing this claim with the fact that the unemployment rate continues to
fall annually. Given this claim, logic would seem to dictate that, since there are fewer
people out of work, an increasing number of people are enjoying a regular income. To
dispute this, Frank Thomas's 2016 study on the nature of work, Employment as a Myth,
revealed an interesting and contradictory interpretation. There are indeed more jobs
available. However, a huge number of these are casual, temporary or short-term
positions, all of which are low-paid and create little in the way of tax income for the
government. This has a number of debilitating long-term effects, not least because this
assurance of a growing economy is based more in myth than fact. Thomas explains,
'Without tax income, the economy cannot grow; if the economy stays weak, new jobs will
not be created.
He also illustrates how, around the world, increases in life expectancy have created a
problem for a huge number of retired workers, who are starting to find that the sum of
money they have saved for their retirement does not stretch far enough to provide the
financial security that they had expected. As a result, there has been a widespread return
of these workers to the job market, very often in search of the type of casual employment
that was once the preserve of people in their late teens and early 20s. Lois Lawrence
expands on this view in Unfair Returns: 'Older people are taking opportunities away from
their grandchildren. Post-education, those new to the world of work are not able to earn
any sort of living wage, nor are they getting the opportunity to develop the 'soft skills, e.g.
social intelligence, that will enable them to flourish in the job market.' For Lawrence, the
days of the salaried worker - comfortable, assured, financially secure - are coming to an
end, and are being replaced by a new model: the exploited worker. Instead, these are the
days of the zero-hours' contract, where an employee is told by an employer to be available
for work, but is not necessarily given any, and so earns nothing for their time simply spent
waiting. She argues that this is causing even more inequality in the employment market,
as business leaders realize that they have no obligation to provide their staff with a fullor part-time contract, and can therefore avoid additional expenditure. The zero-hours'
worker receives no holiday or sick pay, and is considered to be self-employed, so has to
pay their own taxes. They also have no hope of stability, and can be instantly dismissed
without any hope of recourse. Employment laws, written decades ago at a time when the
vast majority of the country's workforce benefitted from permanent positions, do not
protect the new breed of worker from being unfairly dismissed at a moment's notice by
their manager.
Less pessimistic interpretations of today's employment market do exist elsewhere. A
2015 study by William Haroldson, How the Market Adjusts to Opportunity, advocated a
definition of a new type of multi-skilled worker: the model employee who not only refuses
to age, but also does not want to work in the same office every day, or even to be an
employee in the first place. In such a progressive, forward-looking environment, young
and old are supposed to collaborate extensively, sharing the benefits of each other's
talents and prior knowledge. Furthermore, although younger people are traditionally
thought to be more willing to try any number of routes into work before deciding on an
industry in which they want to develop, such an approach to employment no longer
excludes workers of a more advanced age. Thomas agrees: 'Most of today's self-starters
believe that the job market offers a vast array of potential opportunities from which they
can learn and gain experience. Whether they have a wide range of existing experience,
or none at all, is irrelevant to them.'
Moving from job to job is no longer seen in a negative way, he goes on to argue. In the
past, anyone with a series of short-term positions on their CV was seen as unreliable or
disloyal. Most of today's self-starters, however, approach the job market as a vast source
of possibilities, while employers themselves are more likely to be entrepreneurs who are
willing to accept job mobility without question, and less likely to punish potential staff for
doing so. One positive result of this development is that soft skills' such as social
intelligence can therefore be learnt in a new way, and through a greater number of personto-person encounters than used to be available. This has been made possible through
the fact that so much of human contact today now takes place in one enormous meeting
room - the internet. Even if it means that the people in contact are not actually present
together in the same room, the encounter still happens.
Look at the following statements and the list of studies below. Match each statement with
the correct study, A-C.
1. Unlike in previous years, a willingness to experiment with a wide range of possible
roles is visible in all groups of job-seekers. _____
2. Younger people are being denied the chance to develop the social skills necessary
for the modern office environment. _____
3. Many modern positions can be more easily terminated than ever before. _____
4. Claims of economic expansion are demonstrably incorrect. _____
5. An unforeseen problem has led to an increase in the number of people available
to work. _____
6. Much of today’s workforce do not feel constrained by a lack of familiarity with a
new position. _____
7. Refusal to conform to traditional behavior models at work is a positive step. _____
List of studies
A. Employment as a Myth
B. Unfair Returns
C. How the Market Adjusts to Opportunity
ANSWER
22. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#}
23. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#}
24. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#}
25. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
26. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
27. {1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
28. {1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#}
Citation: Archer, G., & Wijayatilake, C. (2018). Mindset for IELTS: An Official
Cambridge IELTS Course. Student's Book. Level 3. Cambridge University Press.
Homework 2
THE FINACIAL CRASH- WHO WAS TO BLAME?
There was once a widely held belief that people who were in debt, but who could not
afford to pay back that debt, should be punished severely. At the end of the 19th century,
those unable to repay what they owed were arrested, taken to court, and ultimately sent
to 'debtors' prisons, locked away until they had worked off what they owed. To be in debt,
in the eyes of society, was unacceptable. And yet, by the time we reached the first years
of the 21st century, the idea that owning debt was something positive, even productive,
had become commonplace in many parts of the world. So much so, that the global
financial crash of 2008, in the eyes of many observers, was entirely inevitable. At the end
of the 20th century, the general financial climate was stable and healthy. Commercial
banks and investment banks for a number of years had mostly functioned separately from
one another. When people put their income or savings into an investment, it was often
done without a great deal of risk, and they tended not to make an astonishing amount of
money. But this was soon to change in a disastrous way, writes Alicia Pillory in The Great
Deception. In the early 2000s, 'investment bankers devised an opportunity to make huge
profits by buying mortgage loans from commercial banks and mortgage lenders. She
explains how the investment banks then created ‘packages' of these loans and sold them
to individual investors. 'The grand, misguided theory was that any repayments would have
to be made to the companies or people who now owned the mortgages, and everyone
would get rich.’
Huge numbers of investors brought their money to the table. They were given confidence
by the fact that the packages being offered to them had apparently been assessed and
passed by the credit rating agencies The main purpose of these organizations is to
evaluate in a neutral way the amount of risk an individual or company might face in a
potential investment. The fundamental problem, as Charles Vane sets out in The End of
Innocence, was that these credit rating agencies were actually paid by the investment
banks themselves, and the agencies were happy to provide the first-class 'AAA' ratings
which did so much to convince potential investors to part with their money: 'which is
actually very far from being neutral'. It seems unthinkable now that this was the case, but
it was not uncommon at the time. We have to take that into consideration before isolating
and criticizing the investment banks too harshly The investment banks, now free to offer
home loans to anyone, regardless of how much that person earned or was even likely to
earn, began offering mortgages to new borrowers: people who were in low-paid
employment, and who had no savings at all. Huge levels of debt were provided to those
who, within two or three years, would have no way of meeting the monthly repayments.
So many people were taken advantage of,' writes Pillory, and 'this irresponsible lending
behavior was never made to stop, with no ultimate consequences for the bankers, who
simply became very, very rich' She maintains that the authorities could, and should, have
put a stop to it earlier. Instead, 'at this point, another industry saw the potential for profit
and greedily stepped in’.
Insurance companies commonly offer protection against personal debt (for example,
when somebody takes out a mortgage but wants to make sure that, if they suffer an
unexpected accident and cannot work, the debt will be paid not by themselves, but by
that company). However, in the early part of the 21st century, people suddenly became
able to buy insurance for properties they did not even own. In other words, when a family
could no longer afford the repayments on their home and had to leave, another person who they had never met, maybe even living on the other side of the country - could claim
a huge amount of money from the insurance company, simply because they had bought
a policy for that particular property. In The Crash: Reasons and Repercussions, Dr Alfred
Moran writes, 'The AAA ratings gave everyone a dishonest guarantee that the system
could not collapse. Unfortunately for the world's economy, the insurance companies
followed those ratings blindly.' Eventually, in 2008, the system did indeed collapse, on a
devastating scale.
Despite this, he emphasizes, it should not be overlooked that it was actually the
investment banks who paid the ratings agencies in the first place, and so the AAA rating
was essentially funded by those who would exploit it - it is they who are most to blame.
Pillory contends, however, that we should vent our strongest anger towards the
dangerously "hands-off' approach of western governments at the time, while Vane avoids
placing the entire blame at the feet of either the banks, or their governments and
regulators. He maintains that, in the western world, the attitude towards debt is careless.
'Chinese people, for example, often put 30% of their income into saving; this sensible
attitude to money is commonly seen in Asian countries. In comparison, in Europe and the
US, you rarely see anyone putting aside more than 5% of their earnings. This is extremely
unwise.' By extension, those people who borrowed money to buy a house, knowing that
they could never afford to pay that money back in their entire lifetimes, must take the
major share of the blame.
As Alicia Pillory laments, 'We are living through the worst recession for 80 years, all
because a comparatively small number of people working in the financial sector could not
control their greed.' Whatever the root causes of this highly devastating period in our
history, the one thing that experts seem to agree on is that our shared financial wellbeing
is unlikely to return to full health at any point soon. Perhaps it is even time to reconsider
some 19th-century notions of how we are supposed to feel about debt.
Look at the following statements and the list of people below. Match each statement
with the correct person, A-C.
1. The plan to make a greater number of people wealthy from mortgage
repayments was foolish. _____
2. The credit ratings agencies did not fulfil their essential reason for existing.
_____
3. The investment banks are not solely responsible for the problems that caused
the crash. _____
4. The bankers’ careless way of working was essentially a form of exploitation
from which they got more wealthy. _____
5. Accepting the false assurance of AAA credit ratings without question badly
damaged the global economy. _____
6. Government failure to bring the problem to an end led to another profit-driven
industry becoming involved. _____
LIST OF PEOPLE
A. Alicia Pillory
B. Dr Alfred Moran
C. Charles Vane
ANSWER
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
{1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
{1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#}
{1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%0%B#~%100%C#}
{1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
{1:MULTICHOICE:%0%A#~%100%B#~%0%C#}
{1:MULTICHOICE:%100%A#~%0%B#~%0%C#}
Citation: Crosthwaite, P. (2018). Mindset for IELTS Level 3 Student's Book with
Testbank and Online Modules. Cambridge University Press.
READING TEST
AVTC 6 – U4
In-class
Travis, P., Harrison, L. & Chong S. C. (2005). Practice Tests for IELTS 2. Collins.
Mutual harm
A. In forests and fields all over the world, plants are engaged in a deadly chemical war to
suppress other plants and create conditions for their own success. But what if we could learn
the secrets of these plants and use them for our own purposes? Would it be possible to use
their strategies and weapons to help us improve agriculture by preventing weeds from
germinating and encouraging growth in crops? This possibility is leading agricultural researchers
to explore the effects plants have on other plants with the aim of applying their findings to
farming.
B. The phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more chemicals that influence the
growth, survival and reproduction of other organisms is called allelopathy. These chemicals are
a subset of chemicals produced by organisms called secondary metabolites. Aplant's
primarymetabolites are associated with growth and development. Allelochemicals, however,
are part of a plant's defence system and have a secondary function in the life of the organism.
The term allelopathy comes from the Greek: allelo and pathy meaning 'mutual harm'. The term
was first used by the Austrian scientist Hans Molisch in 1937, but people have been noting the
negative effects that one plant can have on another for a long time. In 300 BC, the Greek
philosopher Theophrastus noticed that pigweed had a negative effect on alfalfa plants. In
China, around the first century AD, the author of Shennong Ben Cao Jing described 267 plants
that have the ability to kill pests.
C. Allelopathy can be observed in many aspects of plant ecology. It can affect where certain
species of plants grow, the fertility of competitor plants, the natural change of plant
communities over time, which plant species are able to dominate a particular area, and the
diversity of plants in an area. Plants can release allelopathic chemicals in several ways: their
roots can release chemicals directly into the soil, and their bark and leaves can release
chemicals into the soil as they rot. Initially, scientists were interested in the negative effects of
allelopathic chemicals. Observations of the phenomenon included poor growth of some forest
trees, damage to crops, changes in vegetation patterns and, interestingly, the occurrence of
weed-free areas. It was also realised that some species could have beneficial effects on
agricultural crop plants and the possible application of allelopathy became the subject of
research.
D. Today research is focused on the effects of weeds on crops, the effects of crops on weeds,
and how certain crops affect other crops. Agricultural scientists are exploring the use of
allelochemicals to regulate growth and to act as natural herbicides, thereby promoting
sustainable agriculture by using these natural chemicals as an alternative to man-made
chemicals. For example, a small fast-growing tree found in Central America, sometimes called
the 'miracle tree', contains a poison that slows the growth of other trees but does not affect its
own seeds. Chemicals produced by this tree have been shown to improve the production of
rice. Similarly, box elder - another tree-stimulates the growth of bluestem grass, which is a tall
prairie grass found in the mid-western United States. Many weeds may use allelopathy to
become ecologically successful; a study in China found that 25 out of 33 highly poisonous
weeds had significant allelopathic properties.
E. There may be at least three applications of allelopathy to agriculture. Firstly, the allelopathic
properties of wild or cultivated plants may be bred into crop plants through genetic
modification or traditional breeding methods to improve the release of desired allelochemicals
and thus improve crop yield. Secondly, a plant with strong allelopathic properties could be used
to control weeds by planting it in rotation with an agricultural crop and then leaving it to rot
and become part of the soil in order to inhibit the growth of weeds. Finally, naturally occurring
allelopathic chemicals could be used in combination with man-made chemicals. Boosting the
efficiency of man-made herbicides could lead to a reduction in the amount of herbicides used in
agriculture, which is better for the environment.
F. Despite the promising uses of allelopathic chemicals, agricultural scientists are still cautious.
Firstly, allelopathic chemicals may break down and disappear in the soil more easily than
artificial chemicals. Secondly, allelopathic chemicals may be harmful to plants other than
weeds. Thirdly, allelopathic chemicals could persist in the soil for a long time and may affect
crops grown in the same field as the allelopathic plants at a later date. Because the effects of
allelopathic chemicals are not yet fully known, agricultural scientists will need to continue to
study the biological war between plants.
Questions 1-5
Complete the summary of paragraphs E and F below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Scientists can see three potential uses of allelopathic chemicals in farming. Firstly, the ability to
produce allelopathic chemicals could be (1) ________into agricultural crops: secondly,
allelopathic plants could be planted in rotation with the (2) ________; finally, naturally
produced chemicals could be combined with (3) ________ herbicides. However, agriculturalists
are still (4) ________ as allelopathic plants may have negative effects on plants which are not
the intended target and the chemicals could remain in the ground for a(n) (5) ________, even
after the plants themselves have died.
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
{1:SA:=bred}
{1:SA:=agricultural crop}
{1:SA:=man-made}
{1:SA:=cautious}
{1:SA:=long time}
Homework 1
Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish Education.
Biofuels
Are biofuels really the greenhouse-busting answer to our energy problems?
It's not that simple, says Fred Pierce.
A. Soon, we're told, corn crops will be as valuable as oil. This is because corn and a few other crops
are being promoted as the 'biofuels' of the future. Biofuel is an umbrella term used to describe
all fuels derived from organic matter. The two most common biofuels are bioethanol, which is a
substitute for gasoline, and biodiesel. Not only have soaring oil prices made biofuels
economically viable for the first time in years, but they could also help countries reduce their
dependency on fossil fuel imports. However, the real plus point in the minds of many is their
eco-friendly image.
B. Supporters claim they will cut our net greenhouse gas inputs dramatically, because the crops
soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. Given this fact, it's no surprise that
politicians and environmentalists the world over are backing the idea, hoping we will soon be
using this green alternative to power our cars, buses and trains. Other scientists, however, have
begun to question the environmental and social arguments for biofuels. Far from solving our
problems they believe biofuels will destroy rainforests, suck water reserves dry, kill off species
and raise food prices. Worst of all, they claim that many biofuels will barely slow global warming
at all if the technology behind them does not improve. Biofuel supporters counter that it's still
early days, and we should give this technology the time and investment to deliver on its
promise. So who's right?
C. The controversy may be brand new, but the biofuels themselves are an old idea. The Model T
Ford, first produced in 1908, was designed to run on ethanol, and Rudolf Diesel, who invented
the diesel engine in 1892, ran his demonstration model on peanut oil. Biofuels fell out of favour
as petroleum-based fuels appeared and became cheaper to produce, but, after the oil crisis of
the early 1970s, some countries returned to biofuels. For example, Brazil has been producing
large quantities of ethanol from sugar cane for over 30 years. Brazilian law now requires that 20
per cent of fuel be blended with bioethanol, which all gasoline-powered cars can tolerate. Over
15 per cent of Brazil's cars can even run on pure bioethanol.
According to a recent study by the Worldwatch Institute, for Brazil to produce ten per
cent of its entire fuel consumption requires just three per cent of its agricultural land, so
it's not surprising that other places want to emulate Brazil's approach. The problem is
that in most other countries, the numbers don't add up. The same study estimated that
to meet that ten per cent target, the US would require 30 per cent of its agricultural
land, and Europe a staggering 72 per cent. It's no secret why things stack up so
differently. Not only do Brazilians drive far less than Europeans and Americans, their
fertile land and favourable climate mean their crop yields are higher, and their
population density is lower.
D. Several research groups have tried to compare fossil fuel emissions with those of corn
biocthanol at every stage of production from seed sowing to fuel production. The
studies have been beset by scientific uncertainties, such as how much of the
greenhouse gas nitrous oxide is produced by the nitrogen fertiliser used in growing corn.
Opinions are divided as to what should and should not be included in the calculations,
which means the results vary widely, but a study by David Pimentel at Cornell University
in New York concluded that corn ethanol creates more greenhouse gases than burning
fossil fuels.
E. Another reason a growing number of people oppose biofuels is that growing corn for ethanol
uses up land that is currently supplying food to the world. According to Lester Brown, veteran
commentator and activist on food politics, the corn required to fill a 4x4 tank with bioethanol
just once could feed one person for a year. He predicts that a boom in bioethanol would lead to
a competition between the 800 million people in the world who own automobiles and the three
billion people who live on less than $2 a day, many of whom are already spending over half their
income on food.
F. So are we utterly mistaken to think that bioethanol could usher in an era of greener energy? The
way things are developing, it certainly looks that way, but it needn't be so. Scientists want to
perfect a way to make biofuels from non-food crops and waste biomass, saving the corn and
other food crops for food use, and to do it without wrecking natural ecosystems. Already
researchers are discovering ways to convert cellulose-rich organic matter into ethanol. Cellulose
is the main structural component of all green plants. Its molecules comprise chains of sugars
strong enough to make plant cell walls. If you could break down those molecules to release the
sugars they contain, you could ferment them until ethanol is created. Developing such a process
could open the door to many non-food materials such as switchgrass - a wild grass that thrives
in the castern states and Midwest of the US - straw, crop residues like stalks and hardwood
chips. Its supporters say these cellulose materials could deliver twice as much ethanol per
hectare as corn, and do it using land that is today neither economically productive nor
environmentally precious. Some even think municipal waste such as paper, cardboard and
waste food could also be used.
If the numbers add up this could be the development that may yet deliver us from our
dependence on oil, without costing us the Earth in the process.
Questions 1-6
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for
each answer. Write your answers in boxes 20 - 25 on your answer sheet.
Using Non-Food Crops to Make Biofuels
A major constituent of green plants is cellulose. The 1 ................. of cellulose are made up of
sugars. These form the 2 ................. of plants. Ethanol could be produced by extracting the
sugars and allowing them to 3 .................. One common North American plant that could be
used in this method is 4................. Some scientists believe that this would be a more productive
source of ethanol than 5.................. Additionally, the source plant materials could be grown in
ground which is not currently being used for agriculture and is not 6............... valuable.
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
{1:SA:=molecules}
{1:SA:=cell walls~=structural component}
{1:SA:= ferment}
{1:SA:=switchgrass}
{1:SA:=corn}
6. {1:SA:=environmentally}
Homework 2
Bazin, A. & Boyd E. (2008). Achieve IELTS Practice Test Book. Marshall Cavendish Education.
A New Fair Trade Organisation
Trade has, so far, proved ineffective in solving the major problems faced by most nations.
However, the answer to the injustices of the existing trade regime is not no trade, but fair
trade.
The existing regime forbids poor nations from following the path taken by the rich. With the
exceptions of Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, all the nations that have become
independently wealthy did so with the help of a mechanism economists call'infant industry
protection': defending new sectors from foreign competition until they are big enough to
compete on equal terms. The textile industry in Britain, for example, on which the Industrial
Revolution was built in the nineteenth century, was nurtured and promoted by means of tariffs
(or trade taxes) and the outright prohibition of competing goods. Between 1864 and 1913, the
US was the most heavily protected nation on earth. Only when these countries had established
technological and commercial superiority did they suddenly discover the virtues of unimpeded
competition.
For nations to develop in direct competition with countries with established industries is like
learning to swim in a fast-flowing river: you are likely to be swept away and drowned long
before you acquire the necessary expertise. Your competitors have experience, legal rights and
established marketing networks on their side; your infant industries have none of these. It is all
but impossible, in other words, for poor nations to extract money from the rich unless they can
safeguard some key parts of their economies.
Clearly, nations that are currently poor should be permitted to defend certain industries from
foreign competition with the help of tariff barriers and subsidies. Rich nations, on the other
hand, should be permitted neither to subsidise their industries nor to impose tariffs on imports.
Nations should be forced gradually to lift their protections as they develop. So, the first function
of what we might call the Fair Trade Organisation (FTO) would be to lay down the rules
governing the protections and privileges permitted at different stages of development.
A fair-trade system should, or so we should hope, slowly push the world towards genuine free
trade, which is likely to be the most equitable means of governing nations' relationships with
each other. This system could provide a potent means by which the world could begin to move
towards the economic equality that is an essential precondition for political equality. It would
not, however, directly address some of the other critical problems that the people of poor
nations confront - such as inadequate working conditions, environmental devastation and the
inordinate power of the multinational corporations.
Many campaigners in the rich world have suggested that the best way to raise standards is to
discriminate, through tariffs or other measures, against imports from countries where workers
or the environment are mistreated. This approach has also been advocated by trades unions
seeking to protect members jobs from foreigners. Unsurprisingly, it is deeply resented by the
very people it is supposed to help: the workers of the poor world.
If our purpose is to regulate international trade, then it surely makes sense to address the
behaviour, not of nation states, but of the multinational corporations operating between them.
So a second function of the FTO could be to set the standards to which those corporations must
conform. A corporation would not be permitted to trade between nations unless it could
demonstrate that, at every stage of manufacture and distribution, its own operations and those
of its suppliers met the necessary standards.
If, for example, a food-processing corporation based in Europe wished to import cocoa from an
African country, it would need to demonstrate that the plantation owners it bought from were
not using banned pesticides, expanding into protected forests or failing to conform to whatever
other standards the FTO set. The company's performance would be assessed, at its own
expense, by monitors accredited to the organisation.
One other precondition of justice is that producers and consumers should carry their own costs,
rather than dumping them on other people. The monitors deployed by the FTO could
determine whether or not companies are paying a fair price for the resources they use.
Companies would, among other costs, have to buy enough of a nation's carbon quota to cover
the fossil fuel they consume.
One of the many beneficial impacts of such full-cost accounting would be that everything that
could be processed in the country of origin would be. No multinational company would export
logs, coffee beans or cotton, as it requires far more (costly) energy to transport these bulky
resources from one place to another than would be involved in exporting the finished products
- furniture, instant coffee and T-shirts (all currently manufactured on the other side of the
world). Those nations which are currently locked into the export of raw materials would
become the most favoured locations for manufacturing.
Under this scheme, export growth comes to measure something quite different. At present it
represents a mixture of gains and losses, which are misleadingly compounded into a single
figure. The loss of natural resources is 'added to the genuine addition of value provided by the
application of labour. The FTO system would effectively separate these measures. The
extraction and export of natural resources would in most cases be accounted as a loss. The
application of human labour would be measured as a gain. Nations would be able to see
immediately whether they were being enriched or impoverished through trade. To introduce
these measures in the face of the resistance of the world's most powerful governments and
companies would require severe and unusual methods. But the goal of universal fair trade
would permit the global economic levelling without which there can be no justice.
Questions 1-7
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
A Proposal for Regulating Multinational Corporations The FTO would determine the 1
................for the multinational corporations to follow. In this way, a multinational corporation
would have to prove that all aspects of the way it produced its goods and the systems for their
2..............to customers was in line with FTO requirements. Similarly it would need to satisfy the
FTO that the processes employed by any 3 ............... that it used were also acceptable.
As an illustration, in order to source cocoa from Africa, a corporation would have to ensure that
no illegal 4 ........... were being used by the 5...........during cultivation and that they had not
taken over land from 6...........
It would not be sufficient for multinational corporations to say that these points had been
checked. Their conduct would have to be inspected by 7................ appointed by the FTO.
ANSWER:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
{1:SA:=standards~=rules}
{1:SA:=distribution}
{1:SA:=suppliers}
{1:SA:=pesticides}
{1:SA:=plantation owners}
{1:SA:=protected forests}
{1:SA:=monitors}
AVTC 6 – Unit 6 (Official)
DIAGRAM LABELLING
In Class
[Note: This is an extract from an Academic Reading passage on the subject of tidal power. The
text preceding this extract gave some background facts about tidal power and undersea turbines,
and went on to describe the undersea turbine.]
D. A marine turbine blade needs to be only one third of the size of a wind generator to produce
three times as much power. The blades will be about 20 meters in diameter, so around 30 meters
of water is required. Unlike wind power, there are unlikely to be environmental objections. Fish
and other creatures are thought unlikely to be at risk from the relatively slow-turning blades. Each
turbine will be mounted on a tower which will connect to the national power supply grid via
underwater cables. The towers will stick out of the water and be lit, to warn shipping, and also be
designed to be lifted out of the water for maintenance and to clean seaweed from the blades.
E. Dr. Bahaj has done most work on the Alderney site, where there are powerful currents. The
single undersea turbine farm would produce far more power than needed for the Channel Islands
and most would be fed into the French Grid and be re-imported into Britain via the cable under
the Channel.
F. One technical difficulty is cavitation, where low pressure behind a turning blade causes air
bubbles. These can cause vibration and damage the blades of the turbines. Dr Bahaj said: ‘We
have to test a number of blade types to avoid this happening or at least make sure it does not
damage the turbines or reduce performance. Another slight concern is submerged debris floating
into the blades. So far, we do not know how much of a problem it might be. We will have to make
the turbines robust because the sea is a hostile environment, but all the signs that we can do it
are good.’
Questions 10-13
Label the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 10-13.
Whole tower can be raised for 10. {1:SA:~=maintenance} and the extraction of seaweed from
the blades.
Sea life not in danger due to the fact that blades are comparatively 11. {1:SA:~= slow turning}
Air bubbles result from the 12. {1:SA:~=low pressure}, behind blades. This is known as 13.
{1:SA:~=cavitation}
Source: Cambridge University Press. (2013). Cambridge English IELTS 9: with answers.
Homework 1
Read the passage and label the diagram.
BRAIN
In the front of the head, the biggest lobe of the brain is located, which is said to be the
frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is pertained to personality factors, like decision-making and
movement. Recognition of smell usually influences parts of the frontal lobe. Broca’s
area in the frontal lobe is associated with speech ability. The middle part of the brain is
called the parietal lobe. It helps a person to recognize objects and understand spatial
relationships (where one’s body is related to objects around the person). The parietal
lobe is involved in defining pain and touch in the body. The Wernicke’s area, in the lobe,
helps the brain to understand spoken language. The back part of the brain that is
involved with vision is called occipital lobe.
The sides of the brain are called temporal lobes. Especially involved in short-term
memory, speech, musical rhythm and some distance of smell recognition. The middle
part of the brain is said to be the brainstem connected with the cerebrum with the spinal
cord. It comprises the midbrain, the pons and the medulla. The other name of the
cerebellum is “little brain”. It's in a fist-sized segment of the brain placed at the back of
the head. Furthermore, the temporal and occipital lobes are located above the
brainstem. It has two hemispheres, the outer area includes neurons, and the inner area
communicates with the cerebral cortex. The function of the cerebellum is to organize
voluntary muscle movements and to maintain posture, balance and equilibrium. New
studies are analyzing the cerebellum’s roles in feeling, emotions and social behavior, as
well as its practical involvement in habit, autism and schizophrenia.
Questions 1-6
Label the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the reading passage for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 1-6.
1. {1:SA:~=frontal lobe}
2. {1:SA:~=temporal lobe}
3. {1:SA:~=brainstem}
4. {1:SA:~=cerebellum}
5. {1:SA:~=occipital lobe}
6. {1:SA:~=parietal lobe}
Source: IELTS academic reading diagram labelling Exercises. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2022,
from https://www.kanan.co/ielts/academic/reading/question-types/diagramlabelling/exercise-with-answer/
Homework 2
Simple Chemical Experiments
Hydrogen can be made very easily by using simple laboratory equipment. All you need is a thistle
funnel, cork, glass dish, graduated glass cylinder, test tube, glass pipe, zinc, tap water, and
hydrochloric acid. To begin with, 5ml of tap water is put into a 50 ml graduated glass cylinder with
about 1 gm of zinc. The top of the glass cylinder is fitted with a cork and a thistle funnel and a glass
pipe inserted into it. The glass pipe connects the cylinder with a glass dish. Sufficient tap water is
placed in the dish to cover the top of the pipe which is then covered with a water filled test tube.
Before adding 5 ml of hydrochloric acid to the funnel it is important to make sure that the end of the
funnel is below the tap water. Once added, the hydrochloric acid comes into contact with the tap
water very quickly and an immediate chemical reaction can be seen. Hydrogen gas is released and
starts to travel down the pipe into the test tube. The hydrogen displaces the water and produces a
test tube of pure hydrogen gas. By adding baking soda to the cylinder the acid solution is neutralized
and can be poured down the sink.
Questions 1 – 8
The diagram below shows how hydrogen can be made using simple laboratory equipment.
Label the diagram.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
1. {1:SA:~=5 ml hydrochloric acid}
2. {1:SA:~=cork}
3. {1:SA:~=50 ml graduated cylinder~=50 ml glass cylinder}
4. {1:SA:~=1 gm of zinc}
5. {1:SA:~=thistle funnel}
6. {1:SA:~=hydrogen gas}
7. {1:SA:~=test tube}
8. {1:SA:~=tap water}
Source: Diagrams Practice for the IELTS reading test. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.ieltsanswers.com/ielts-reading-diagrams-practice.html
AVTC6 – Unit 6 – Note, Table, Flow-chart Completion
In-class
Answer Questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.
The origins of coffee
Coffee as a drink or a plant dates back to the Sufi Muslim monasteries surrounding Mocha in
Yemen around the mid-15th century. Coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in Arabia, in a
similar manner to how it is produced today. It had spread throughout the Middle East, Persia,
Turkey, and northern Africa by the 16th century.
When we consider the processing of coffee, coffee berries and seeds go through a number of
steps, before becoming the typical roasted coffee. The fruit has traditionally been hand-picked for
ripeness; this is a time-consuming process that involves selecting only the ripest berries. Strip
picking is more usual, in which all berries are gathered at the same time, regardless of maturity,
by a person or a machine. Following harvest, green coffee is processed using one of two methods:
a dry process method, which is often simpler and less labor-intensive, or a wet process method,
which combines batch fermentation, utilizes more water in the process and often produces a
milder coffee.
The one who transported the first coffee out of the Middle East to India in 1670 is Sufi Baba Budan
of Yemen. Previously, every exported coffee had been boiled or sanitized in some way. Baba
Budan is said to have smuggled seven coffee seeds by strapping them to his breast in portraits.
The first plants that sprouted from these illicit seeds were planted in Mysore, Karnataka, India.
After that, coffee expanded over Italy, the rest of Europe, Indonesia, and the Americas.
When coffee first arrived in North America during the Colonial period, it was not as well-received
as it had been in Europe since alcoholic beverages were still more famous. The demand for coffee
grew so quickly during the Revolutionary War that sellers were forced to hoard their limited
supplies and hike prices considerably. Coffee was brought to Brazil in 1727, although it was not
widely grown until 1822 when the country gained freedom. After that, vast swaths of rainforest
were removed to make way for coffee plantations.
Questions 1- 7
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in 1. {1:SA:~=Arabia}

Green coffee is processed using one of two methods:
- A dry process method, which is often simpler and less 2. {1:SA:~=labor-
intensive}, or
- A wet process method, which combines batch fermentation, utilizes more water in
the process and often produces a 3. {1:SA:~=milder} coffee.

Coffee berries and 4. {1:SA:~=seeds} go through a number of steps, before becoming
the typical roasted coffee.

Sufi Baba Budan of Yemen transported the first coffee out of the 5. {1:SA:~=Middleeast} to India.

Coffee expanded over
- Italy,
- the rest of 6. {1:SA:~=Europe},
- Indonesia, and
- the Americas.

Coffee was brought to Brazil in 7. {1:SA:~=1727}
Source: IELTS Academic Reading Question Types. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.kanan.co/ielts/academic/reading/question-types/#ielts-academic-reading-tablecompletion-questions)
Homework 1
Careers with Kiwi Air
Flight Attendants – Recruitment and Training Process
Recruitment
The position of Flight Attendant is one of prestige and immense responsibility. Recruitment is
conducted according to operational demands and there can be periods of up to 12 months
where no new intake is required. However, applications are always welcomed.
After you submit your initial application online, the Kiwi Air HR Services Team review the details
you have provided. Candidates whose details closely match the requirements of the position are
then contacted via email advising that their application has progressed to the next stage of the
recruitment process. Potential candidates are then asked to attend a Walk-In Day. This could
occur several weeks or months after the original application has been submitted depending on
current needs.
The Walk-In Day consists of a brief presentation about the role and a short interview.
Candidates who are successful on the Walk-In Day are notified within 10 days and invited to
attend an Assessment Centre. Please note that candidates are required to pass a swimming
test before attending the Assessment Centre. At the Assessment Centre, candidates attend an
interview as well as participating in a number of assessments. Verbal references are then
requested, and candidates attend a medical check.
At times, there may not be a need to recruit for Flight Attendant positions. However, the
company continuously maintains a ‘recruitment pool’ of those who have completed the
Assessment Centre stage. These candidates are contacted when a need for Flight Attendants is
established, and attend a full interview before a decision is made on whether to extend an offer
of employment.
Due to the volume of applications received, Kiwi Air is not able to offer verbal feedback to
candidates at any stage of the recruitment process. Unsuccessful candidates may reapply at
any time after 12 months from the date at which their applications are declined.
Training
Upon being offered a role as a trainee Flight Attendant, a 5-week training course is undertaken
at our Inflight Services Training Centre in Auckland. This covers emergency procedures,
customer care and service delivery, and equipment knowledge. To successfully complete the
course, high standards must be attained and maintained in all subjects.
Questions 21 – 27
Complete the flow-chart below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for
each answer. Write your answers in boxes 21-27.
Flight attendants of Kiwi Air- Recruitment and Training Process
Candidates go to online to complete their (21) …
Suitable candidates are then invited to come to a (22) …
After having satisfactorily completed a (23) … successful candidates will then go to an
Assessment Centre.
Kiwi Air then asks for (24) … and candidates are required to undergo a medical check.
If there is no immediate need for flight attendants, successful candidates are put into a (25) …
When the need arises, these candidates will then be given a (26) … after which they may be
offered a job.
On starting the job, a 5-week training programme is given which includes how to look after
passengers and what to do in an (27) ....
21. {1:SA:~=initial application~=application}
22. {1:SA:~=Walk-in Day}
23. {1:SA:~=swimming test}
24. {1:SA:~=verbal references}
25. {1:SA:~=recruitment pool}
26. {1:SA:~=full interview}
27. {1:SA:~=emergency}
Source: Sample test questions. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.ielts.org/fortest-takers/sample-test-questions
Homework 2
[Note: This is an extract from an Academic Reading passage on the subject of dung beetles. The
text preceding this extract gave some background facts about dung beetles, and went on to
describe a decision to introduce non-native varieties to Australia.]
Introducing dung* beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are
released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats** in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately
disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new
environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they
multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.
Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds
and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the
pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some large species originating from France excavate
tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These beetles make sausageshaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller
Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear
tree. South African beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the
pat. Some surface-dwelling beetles, including a South African species, cut perfectly-shaped balls
from the pat, which are rolled away and attached to the bases of plants.
For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers require a variety of species
with overlapping periods of activity. In the cooler environments of the state of Victoria, the large
French species (2.5 cms long), is matched with smaller (half this size), temperate-climate Spanish
species. The former is slow to recover from the winter cold and produces only one or two
generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The latter, which multiplies rapidly in early
spring, produces two to five generations annually. The South African ball-rolling species, being a
sub-tropical beetle, prefers the climate of northern and coastal New South Wales where it
commonly works with the South African tunneling species. In warmer climates, many species are
active for longer periods of the year.
*dung: the droppings or excreta of animals
**cow pats: droppings of cows
Questions 9 – 13 Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 9-13.
9. {1:SA:~=temperate}
10. {1:SA:~=early spring}
11. {1:SA:~=two to five}
12. {1:SA:~=sub-tropical}
13. {1:SA:~=South African tunnelling~=tunneling}
Source: Sample test questions. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.ielts.org/fortest-takers/sample-test-questions