IELTS RIELTS Reading 03-10-2019: Reading Passage 3 (Academic) | Makete Integrated Rural Transport Project

Makete Integrated Rural Transport Project

Section A
The disappointing results of many conventional road transport projects in Africa led some experts to rethink the strategy by which rural transport problems were to be tackled at the beginning of the 1980s. A request for help in improving the availability of transport within the remote Makete District of south-western Tanzania presented the opportunity to try a new approach.

The concept of ‘integrated rural transport’ was adopted in the task of examining the transport needs of the rural households in the district. The objective was to reduce the time and effort needed to obtain access to essential goods and services through an improved rural transport system. The underlying assumption was that the time saved would be used instead for activities that would improve the social and economic development of the communities. The Makete Integrated Rural Transport Project (MIRTP) started in 1985 with financial support from the Swiss Development Corporation and was coordinated with the help of the Tanzanian government.

Section B
When the project began, Makete District was virtually totally isolated during the rainy season. The regional road was in such bad shape that access to the main towns was impossible for about three months of the year. Road traffic was extremely rare within the district, and alternative means of transport were restricted to donkeys in the north of the district. People relied primarily on the paths, which were slippery and dangerous during the rains.

Before solutions could be proposed, the problems had to be understood. Little was known about the transport demands of the rural households, so Phase I, between December 1985 and December 1987, focused on research. The socio-economic survey of more than 400 households in the district indicated that a household in Makete spent, on average, seven hours a day on transporting themselves and their goods, a figure which seemed extreme but which has also been obtained in surveys in other rural areas in Africa. Interesting facts regarding transport were found: 95% was on foot; 80% was within the locality; and 70% was related to the collection of water and firewood and travelling to grinding mills.

Section C
Having determined the main transport needs, possible solutions were identified which might reduce the time and burden. During Phase II, from January to February 1991, a number of approaches were implemented in an effort to improve mobility and access to transport.

An improvement of the road network was considered necessary to ensure the import and export of goods to the district. These improvements were carried out using methods that were heavily dependent on labour.

In addition to the improvement of roads, these methods provided training in the operation of a mechanical workshop and bus and truck services. However, the difference from the conventional approach was that this time consideration was given to local transport needs outside the road network.

Most goods were transported along the paths that provide short-cuts up and down the hillsides, but the paths were a real safety risk and made the journey on foot even more arduous. It made sense to improve the paths by building steps, handrails and footbridges.

It was uncommon to find means of transport that were more efficient than walking but less technologically advanced than motor vehicles. The use of bicycles was constrained by their high cost and the lack of available spare parts. Oxen were not used at all but donkeys were used by a few households in the northern part of the district. MIRTP focused on what would be most appropriate for the inhabitants of Makete in terms of what was available, how much they could afford and what they were willing to accept. After careful consideration, the project chose the promotion of donkeys – a donkey costs less than a bicycle – and the introduction of a locally manufacturable wheelbarrow.

Section D
At the end of Phase II, it was clear that the selected approaches to Makete’s transport problems had had different degrees of success. Phase III, from March 1991 to March 1993, focused on the refinement and institutionalisation of these activities. The road improvements and accompanying maintenance system had helped make the district centre accessible throughout the year. Essential goods from outside the district had become more readily available at the market, and prices did not fluctuate as much as they had done before.

Paths and secondary roads were improved only at the request of communities who were willing to participate in construction and maintenance. However, the improved paths impressed the inhabitants, and requests for assistance greatly increased soon after only a few improvements had been completed.

The efforts to improve the efficiency of the existing transport services were not very successful because most of the motorised vehicles in the district broke down and there were no resources to repair them. Even the introduction of low-cost means of transport was difficult because of the general poverty of the district. The locally manufactured wheelbarrows were still too expensive for all but a few of the households. Modifications to the original design by local carpenters cut production time and costs. Other local carpenters have been trained in the new design so that they can respond to requests. Nevertheless, a locally produced wooden wheelbarrow which costs around 5000 Tanzanian shillings (less than US$20) in Makete, and is about one quarter the cost of a metal wheelbarrow, is still too expensive for most people.

Donkeys, which were imported to the district, have become more common and contribute, in particular, to the transportation of crops and goods to market. Those who have bought donkeys are mainly from richer households but with an increased supply through local breeding, donkeys should become more affordable. Meanwhile, local initiatives are promoting the renting out of the existing donkeys. It should be noted, however that a donkey, which at 20,000 Tanzanian shillings costs less than a bicycle, is still an investment equal to an average household’s income over half a year This clearly illustrates the need for supplementary measures if one wants to assist the rural poor.

Section E
It would have been easy to criticise the MIRTP for using in the early phases a ‘top-down’ approach, in which decisions were made by experts and officials before being handed down to communities, but it was necessary to start the process from the level of the governmental authorities of the district. It would have been difficult to respond to the requests of villagers and other rural inhabitants without the support and understanding of district authorities.

Section F
Today, nobody in the district argues about the importance of improved paths and inexpensive means of transport. But this is the result of dedicated work over a long period, particularly from the officers in charge of community development. They played an essential role in raising awareness and interest among the rural communities. The concept of integrated rural transport is now well established in Tanzania, where a major program of rural transport is just about to start. The experiences from Makete will help in this initiative, and Makete District will act as a reference for future work.

Questions 27-30
Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F. Choose the correct heading for sections B, C, E and F from the list of headings below.

List of Headings

i MIRTP as a future model
ii Identifying the main transport problems
iii Preference for motorised vehicles
iv Government Authrities’ instructions
v Initial improvements in mobility and transport modes
vi Request for improves transport in Makete
vii Transport improvements in the northern part of the district
viii Improvements in the rail network
ix Effects of initial MIRTP measures
x Co-operation of district officials
xi Role of wheelbarrows and donkeys

Section A              vi
27 Section B
28 Section C
Section D ix
29 Section E
30 Section F

Questions 31-35
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in reading passage 3? In boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet write:

YES                           if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                             if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN          if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

31 MIRTP was divided into five phases.
32 Prior to the start of the MIRTP the Makete district was almost inaccessible during the rainy reason.
33 Phase I of MIRTP consisted of a survey of household expenditure on transport.
34 The survey concluded that one-fifth or 20% of the household transport requirement as outside the local area.
35 MIRTP hopes to improve the movements of goods from Makete district to the country’s capital.

Questions 36-39
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-J below.

Write the correct letter, A-J in boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet.

36 Construction of footbridges, steps and handrails
37 Frequent breakdown of buses and trucks in Makete
38 The improvement of secondary roads and paths
39 The isolation of Makete for part of the year

A provided the people of Makete with experience in running bus and truck services.
B was especially successful in the northern part of the district.
C differed from earlier phases in that the community became less actively involved.
D improved paths used for transport up and down hillsides.
E was no longer a problem once the roads had been improved.
F cost less than locally made wheelbarrows.
G was done only at the request of local people who were willing to lend a hand.
H was at first considered by MIRTP to be affordable for the people of the district.
I hindered attempts to make the existing transport services more efficient.
J was thought to be the most important objective of Phase III.

Question 40
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.

Which of the following phrases best describes the main aim of Reading Passage 3?

A to suggest that projects such as MIRTP are needed in other countries
B to describe how MIRTP was implemented and how successful it was
C to examine how MIRTP promoted the use of donkeys
D to warn that projects such as MIRTP are likely to have serious problems

27. ii
28. v
29. x
30. 1
31. no
32. yes
33. no
34. yes
35. not given
36. D
37. I
38. G
39. E
40. B

IELTS RIELTS Reading 03-10-2019: Reading Passage 2 (Academic) | True Cost of Food

True Cost of Food

A For more than forty years the cost of food has been rising. It has now reached a point where a growing number of people believe that it is far too high, and that bringing it down will be one of the great challenges of the twenty first century. That cost, however, is not in immediate cash. In the West at least, most food is now far cheaper to buy in relative terms than it was in 1960.

The cost is in the collateral damage of the very methods of food production that have made the food cheaper: in the pollution of water, the enervation of soil, the destruction of wildlife, the harm to animal welfare and the threat to human health caused by modern industrial agriculture.

B First mechanisation, then mass use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, then monocultures, then battery rearing of livestock, and now genetic engineering – the onward march of intensive farming has seemed unstoppable in the last half-century, as the yields of produce have soared. But the damage it has caused has been colossal. In Britain, for example, many of our best-loved farmland birds, such as the skylark, the grey partridge, the lapwing and the corn bunting, have vanished from huge stretches of countryside, as have even more wild flowers and insects. This is a direct result of the way we have produced our food in the last four decades. Thousands of miles of hedgerows, thousands of ponds, have disappeared from the landscape. The faecal filth of salmon farming has driven wild salmon from many of the sea lochs and rivers of Scotland. Natural soil fertility is dropping in many areas because of continuous industrial fertiliser and pesticide use, while the growth of algae is increasing in lakes because of the fertiliser run-off.

C Put it all together and it looks like a battlefield, but consumers rarely make the connection at the dinner table. That is mainly because the costs of all this damage are what economists refer to as externalities: they are outside the main transaction, which is for example producing and selling a field of wheat, and are borne directly by neither producers nor consumers. To many, the costs may not even appear to be financial at all, but merely aesthetic – a terrible shame, but nothing to do with money. And anyway they, as consumers of food, certainly aren’t paying for it, are they?

D But the costs to society can actually be quantified and, when added up, can amount to staggering sums. A remarkable exercise in doing this has been carried out by one of the world’s leading thinkers on the future of agriculture, Professor Jules Pretty, Director of the Centre for Environment and Society at the University of Essex. Professor Pretty and his colleagues calculated the externalities of British agriculture for one particular year. They added up the costs of repairing the damage it caused, and came up with a total figure of £2,343m. This is equivalent to £208 for every hectare of arable land and permanent pasture, almost as much again as the total government and EU spend on British farming in that year. And according to Professor Pretty, it was a conservative estimate.

E The costs included: £120m for removal of pesticides; £16m for removal of nitrates; £55m for removal of phosphates and soil; £23m for the removal of the bug Cryptosporidium from drinking water by water companies; £125m for damage to wildlife habitats, hedgerows and dry stone walls; £1,113m from emissions of gases likely to contribute to climate change; £106m from soil erosion and organic carbon losses; £169m from food poisoning; and £607m from cattle disease. Professor Pretty draws a simple but memorable conclusion from all this: our food bills are actually threefold. We are paying for our supposedly cheaper food in three separate ways: once over the counter, secondly through our taxes, which provide the enormous subsidies propping up modern intensive farming, and thirdly to clean up the mess that modern farming leaves behind.

F So can the true cost of food be brought down? Breaking away from industrial agriculture as the solution to hunger may be very hard for some countries, but in Britain, where the immediate need to supply food is less urgent, and the costs and the damage of intensive farming have been clearly seen, it may be more feasible. The government needs to create sustainable, competitive and diverse farming and food sectors, which will contribute to a thriving and sustainable rural economy, and advance environmental, economic, health, and animal welfare goals.

G But if industrial agriculture is to be replaced, what is a viable alternative? Professor Pretty feels that organic farming would be too big a jump in thinking and in practices for many farmers. Furthermore, the price premium would put the produce out of reach of many poorer consumers. He is recommending the immediate introduction of a ‘Greener Food Standard’, which would push the market towards more sustainable environmental practices than the current norm, while not requiring the full commitment to organic production. Such a standard would comprise agreed practices for different kinds of farming, covering agrochemical use, soil health, land management, water and energy use, food safety and animal health. It could go a long way, he says, to shifting consumers as well as farmers towards a more sustainable system of agriculture.

Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 a cost involved in purifying domestic water
15 the stages in the development of the farming industry
16 the term used to describe hidden costs
17 one effect of chemicals on water sources

Questions 18-21
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet, write

YES                           if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                             if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN          if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

18 Several species of wildlife in the British countryside are declining.
19 The taste of food has deteriorated in recent years.
20 The financial costs of environmental damage are widely recognised.
21 One of the costs calculated by Professor Pretty was illness caused by food.

Questions 22-26
Complete the summary below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage.

Professor Pretty concludes that our (22)……………….. are higher than most people realise, because we make three different types of payment. He feels it is realistic to suggest that Britain should reduce its reliance on (23)………………..
Although most farmers would be unable to adapt to (24)…………………….Professor Pretty wants the government to initiate change by establishing what he refers to as a (25)………………He feels this would help to change the attitudes of both (26)………………….and ………………………..

ANSWERS

14. E
15. B
16. C
17. B
18. yes
19. not given
20. no
21. yes
22. food bills
23. intensive farming
24. organic farming
25. greener food standard
26. farmers and consumers

IELTS RIELTS Reading 03-10-2019: Reading Passage 1 (Academic) | Why Pagodas Don’t Fall Down

Why Pagodas Don’t Fall Down

In a land swept by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, how have Japan’s tallest and seemingly flimsiest old buildings – 500 or so wooden pagodas – remained standing for centuries? Records show that only two have collapsed during the past 1400 years. Those that have disappeared were destroyed by fire as a result of lightning or civil war. The disastrous Hanshin earthquake in 1995 killed 6,400 people, toppled elevated highways, flattened office blocks and devastated the port area of Kobe. Yet it left the magnificent five-storey pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed, though it levelled a number of buildings in the neighbourhood.

Japanese scholars have been mystified for ages about why these tall, slender buildings are so stable. It was only thirty years ago that the building industry felt confident enough to erect office blocks of steel and reinforced concrete that had more than a dozen floors. With its special shock absorbers to dampen the effect of sudden sideways movements from an earthquake, the thirty-six-storey Kasumigaseki building in central Tokyo – Japan’s first skyscraper – was considered a masterpiece of modern engineering when it was built in 1968.

Yet in 826, with only pegs and wedges to keep his wooden structure upright, the master builder Kobodaishi had no hesitation in sending his majestic Toji pagoda soaring fifty-five metres into the sky – nearly half as high as the Kasumigaseki skyscraper built some eleven centuries later. Clearly, Japanese carpenters of the day knew a few tricks about allowing a building to sway and settle itself rather than fight nature’s forces. But what sort of tricks?

The multi-storey pagoda came to Japan from China in the sixth century. As in China, they were first introduced with Buddhism and were attached to important temples. The Chinese built their pagodas in brick or stone, with inner staircases, and used them in later centuries mainly as watchtowers. When the pagoda reached Japan, however, its architecture was freely adapted to local conditions – they were built less high, typically five rather than nine storeys, made mainly of wood and the staircase was dispensed with because the Japanese pagoda did not have any practical use but became more of an art object. Because of the typhoons that batter Japan in the summer, Japanese builders learned to extend the eaves of buildings further beyond the walls. This prevents rainwater gushing down the walls. Pagodas in China and Korea have nothing like the overhang that is found on pagodas in Japan.

The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building’s overall width. For the same reason, the builders of Japanese pagodas seem to have further increased their weight by choosing to cover these extended eaves not with the porcelain tiles of many Chinese pagodas but with much heavier earthenware tiles.

But this does not totally explain the great resilience of Japanese pagodas. Is the answer that, like a tall pine tree, the Japanese pagoda – with its massive trunk-like central pillar known as shinbashira – simply flexes and sways during a typhoon or earthquake? For centuries, many thought so. But the answer is not so simple because the startling thing is that the shinbashira actually carries no load at all. In fact, in some pagoda designs, it does not even rest on the ground, but is suspended from the top of the pagoda – hanging loosely down through the middle of the building. The weight of the building is supported entirely by twelve outer and four inner columns.

And what is the role of the shinbashira, the central pillar? The best way to understand the shinbashira’s role is to watch a video made by Shuzo Ishida, a structural engineer at Kyoto Institute of Technology. Mr Ishida, known to his students as ‘Professor Pagoda’ because of his passion to understand the pagoda, has built a series of models and tested them on a ‘shake- table’ in his laboratory. In short, the shinbashira was acting like an enormous stationary pendulum. The ancient craftsmen, apparently without the assistance of very advanced mathematics, seemed to grasp the principles that were, more than a thousand years later, applied in the construction of Japan’s first skyscraper. What those early craftsmen had found by trial and error was that under pressure a pagoda’s loose stack of floors could be made to slither to and fro independent of one another. Viewed from the side, the pagoda seemed to be doing a snake dance – with each consecutive floor moving in the opposite direction to its neighbours above and below. The shinbashira, running up through a hole in the centre of the building, constrained individual storeys from moving too far because, after moving a certain distance, they banged into it, transmitting energy away along the column.

Another strange feature of the Japanese pagoda is that, because the building tapers, with each successive floor plan being smaller than the one below, none of the vertical pillars that carry the weight of the building is connected to its corresponding pillar above. In other words, a five- storey pagoda contains not even one pillar that travels right up through the building to carry the structural loads from the top to the bottom. More surprising is the fact that the individual storeys of a Japanese pagoda, unlike their counterparts elsewhere, are not actually connected to each other. They are simply stacked one on top of another like a pile of hats. Interestingly, such a design would not be permitted under current Japanese building regulations.

And the extra-wide eaves? Think of them as a tightrope walker’s balancing pole. The bigger the mass at each end of the pole, the easier it is for the tightrope walker to maintain his or her balance. The same holds true for a pagoda. ‘With the eaves extending out on all sides like balancing poles,’ says Mr Ishida, ‘the building responds to even the most powerful jolt of an earthquake with a graceful swaying, never an abrupt shaking.’ Here again, Japanese master builders of a thousand years ago anticipated concepts of modern structural engineering.

Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet, write

YES                              if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                                if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN             if there it impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1 Only two Japanese pagodas have collapsed in 1400 years.
2 The Hanshin earthquake of 1995 destroyed the pagoda at the Toji temple.
3 The other buildings near the Toji pagoda had been built in the last 30 years.
4 The builders of pagodas knew how to absorb some of the power produced by severe weather conditions.

Questions 5-10
Classify the following as typical of

A both Chinese and Japanese pagodas
B only Chinese pagodas
C only Japanese pagodas

Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.

5 easy interior access to top
6 tiles on eaves
7 use as observation post
8 size of eaves up to half the width of the building
9 original religious purpose
10 floors fitting loosely over each other

Questions 11-13
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C. Write the correct letter in boxes11-13 on your answer sheet.

11 In a Japanese pagoda, the shinbashira
A bears the full weight of the building
B bends under pressure like a tree
C connects the floors with the foundations
D stops the floors moving too far

12 Shuzo Ishida performs experiments in order to
A improve skyscraper design
B be able to build new pagodas
C learn about the dynamics of pagodas
D understand ancient mathematics

13 The storeys of a Japanese pagoda are
A linked only by wood
B fastened only to the central pillar
C fitted loosely on top of each other
D joined by special weights

ANSWERS

1. yes
2. no
3. not given
4. yes
5. B
6. A
7. B
8. C
9. A
10. C
11. D
12. C
13. C

IELTS Reading 03-10-2019: Reading Passage 3 (General)

SECTION 3
Read the following passage and answer questions 28 – 40.

SOME SNAKES OF AUSTRALIA

The most deadly Australian snake is undoubtedly the taipan (oxyuranus scutellatus). There are two types of taipan found in Australia, the coastal taipan and the inland or western taipan, the latter being the most venomous land snake found on earth.

Growing to a possible length of 2.9 metres, the taipan has a light olive to dark brown back with a lighter coloured head. The underbelly is cream in colour. The taipan can be found in open forests, coastal heaths, grassy beach dunes and cultivated areas such as cane fields. It lives in the far north of Australia and down the Queensland coast, but has been found as far north as the Murray river in western New South Wales.

The taipan is an aggressive hunter, moving at speed through grasslands with ease. On finding its prey by scent, the reptile flings itself at the victim and inflicts several rapid bites. Like most other venomous snakes, the taipan uses its venom sparingly. As they don’t regard man as prey, they have been known to strike and bite without releasing any venom at all, leading to no adverse effects.

Although the taipan is the deadliest Australian snake, few snakes can match the sinister reputation of the eastern tiger snake (notechis scutatis). However, recent observations indicate that their ferocity and aggressiveness are not as bad as once thought and that actually they are fairly timid. There are different types of tiger snake found in Australia but they are all highly poisonous and should be avoided. Until recently tiger snakes held the record for the most snakebite fatalities (now overtaken by the eastern brown snake).

The body of the tiger snake has cross bands of yellow or cream on a background of grey, green or brown and this is what gives them their name. They have a heavy build and can grow up to 1.8 metres. In the wild they are mainly a swamp dwelling species and are often found around waterways. Their habitat is now threatened by the clearing of such areas for development. They have been known, though, to climb into surrounding vegetation to a height of about 1 metre. They mainly feed on frogs and mice as adults but will take the odd bird or lizard.

Another highly dangerous Australian snake is the copperhead (austrelaps superbus). Although it is non-aggressive, if provoked it raises its forebody from the ground and flattens its neck, angry and hissing, ready to strike. Like all other Australian poisonous snakes it is an elapid, which means it has a neurotoxic venom. This venom mainly attacks the nerves of the body, but it also contains blood destroying properties. The poison from elapids is generally very dangerous to humans and the copperhead is no exception having very potent venom.

Colour and size vary with where you find the snake. However, they can grow up to 1.8 metres in length and can be tan, brown or black. One feature of copperheads is that they are more tolerant to cold and can be found lying in the sun in mid-winter when other snakes are hibernating.

The food of the copperhead, like most snakes, is frogs and reptiles. What is unusual is that they are threats to each other because they are sometimes prone to cannibalism.

Pythons are also found in Australia, the carpet python (morlelia spilota) being the most common. There are several different types of carpet python in Australia. They are widespread and can be found in a variety of habitat from wet tropics to dry, nearly arid, desert. They can be found in variable colours but usually have lighter blotches on a darker background. Carpet pythons are also bigger than most Australian snakes and can grow up to a length of almost 4 metres.

The carpet python is largely nocturnal and preys mainly on mammals, birds and reptiles. Non-venomous, pythons bite into their prey and, when the prey struggles, it only sinks further onto the fangs. Next, the python coils around the animal to squeeze its breath out or, in some cases, to constrict its muscles and cause the main blood vessels to burst.

One of the easiest snakes to identify in Australia is the bandy bandy (vermicelli annulata). This is a distinctly marked elapid snake with black and white bands around it. It is found in 80% of mainland Australia. The bandy bandy averages about 60cm in length but can grow up to 80cm. It is found in all types of habitat from rainforest to swamps to deserts. It is usually found during the day under cover or on a mild night moving around the ground.
The bandy bandy is a crepuscular or after-dark hunter though it seldom feeds due to its low metabolic rate. Unlike many of its cousins in Australia, it only feeds on blind snakes.

Being an elapid, the bandy bandy is definitely a poisonous snake and looks alarmingly dangerous as it resembles the Malay krait and, when threatened, will flatten its body and raise its body in an aggressive manner. However, the markings and behaviour are a bluff and its venom is only mild and virtually harmless to humans.

Questions 28 – 33
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, answer the following questions. Write your answers in boxes 28 – 33 on your answer sheet.

28 Which snake is not an elapid?
29 Which snake will eat other snakes of the same species?
30 Which snake doesn’t require much food?
31 Which snake is potentially the largest?
32 Which snake’s primary food is other snakes?
33 Which snake can sometimes be found in trees?

Questions 34 – 40
After reading the passage about Australian snakes, look at the statements below.

TRUE                      if the statement is true
FALSE                    if the statement is not true
NOT GIVEN         if the information is not given in the passage

34 A bite from a taipan is always fatal to humans.
35 Tiger snakes got their name from their supposed aggressiveness.
36 Elapid snakes are always poisonous
37 Copperhead snake poison is not that harmful to humans.
38 The carpet python can kill humans.
39 Bandy bandy snakes are found outside Australia.
40 You’ll never find a bandy bandy over 1 metre long.

ANSWERS

IELTS Reading 03-10-2019: Reading Passage 2 (General)

Questions 13 – 17

Look at the Guide for Patients for Westley General Hospital on the following page and the statements (questions 13 – 17) below: In boxes 13 – 17 on your answer sheet write:

TRUE                     if the statement is true
FALSE                   if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN        if the information is not given in the passage

13. Don’t bring any money to the hospital.
14. Radios can interfere with hospital electronic equipment.
15. Leave any false teeth at home.
16. You should pack a bag to stay for the night even if you intend only to be a day patient.
17. Telephone services are provided through coin or card operated telephones.

Questions 18 – 20
The Guide for Patients for Westley General Hospital has information divided into sections A – I. Which section best helps you with the following things that you want to know. Write the appropriate letter (A – I) in boxes 18 – 20 on your answer sheet.

18. You are allergic to some antibiotics.
19. Your brother wants to know when to come and see you.
20. You want to buy something to read at the hospital.

WESTLEY GENERAL HOSPITAL
GUIDE FOR PATIENTS

When you come to hospital for a planned stay, please remember that space is limited. We also advise you to bring an overnight bag even if you are only expecting to spend a day in hospital.

A Clothing
Please bring a selection of light clothing and personal belongings that may include: night clothes, a track suit, a sweater or fleece, a bathrobe, slippers or socks, glasses, contact lenses, dentures, a hearing aid, bottled drinks (plastic only), tissues, books and magazines, contact details of friends, cash to purchase items during your stay.

B Toiletries
Please bring a selection with you including a shaving kit if you are male. The hospital also runs a shop and trolley service from which extra items (additional toiletries, magazines, stamps, newspapers etc.) can be purchased.

C Valuables
We strongly advise you not to bring any valuables with you as their security cannot be guaranteed. A closet is provided for some personal items.

D Electrical appliances
We ask that you do not bring electrical appliances with you. TV, radio and payphones are provided.

E Medicines
Please bring all your current medication with you, preferably in their original containers. On arrival the nursing staff will ask about your history and allergies.

F Maternity
Please bring the appropriate baby clothes and feeding equipment. For further information, please contact the Maternity Unit on 740648.

G What Not to Bring
Please do not bring any valuables (jewellery), personal computers, radios, TVs. The hospital cannot be held responsible for the loss of any items during your stay. Please note that the hospital does not allow the use of mobile telephones due to possible interference with patient monitoring equipment.

H Smoking and Drinking Policy
Smoking and alcohol are strictly prohibited in Westley Hospital. Patients wishing to smoke must do so outdoors. No alcohol is allowed on the premises.

I Visiting Hours
For details about when your friends and family can visit, see the list in your room or ward or check our website.

Questions 21 – 24
Look at the Computer Services Training information leaflet from the University of Westley. Complete the following statements (Questions 21 – 24) with words taken from the leaflet. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 21 – 24 on your answer sheet.

21. If a student has any further questions, he or she should ask someone at _______________.
22. Computer courses that are not instructor-led, for undergraduates and postgraduates, can last as long as students like because they are _______________.
23. All the materials provided for the courses are produced _______________.
24. Any previous computer course in the archives can be re-used and also changed to be _______________ to the requirements of students

University of Westley

Computing Services Training

Traditional Instructor–Led Courses
We run courses on software and techniques for which we see a significant need within the University amongst staff and research students. To see details of these courses, and the current schedule, please enquire at the computing centre.

Self-Paced Training Materials
These take various forms but the main materials are workbooks which are designed for use alongside applications software, and allow you to work your way through at your own pace.

These introductory workbooks are designed for undergraduates and postgraduates on taught courses, so that, if departments do not provide specific computer use training, students can still acquire the skills required to benefit from the main items of software provided on open access PCs. These workbooks are Westley University specific, written in-house, so they tell you precisely what you have to do on an open access PC, but they can also function as introductory material for staff and research students with office PCs. They cover basic computer use and IT-related library skills.

There are also workbooks for most of the current mainstream applications, so if there are no tutor-led courses at convenient times for you, or if you cannot spare the time to attend a course, or if we do not cover the application you wish to learn, or if you simply prefer to train at your own pace, you can use this material.

Workbooks and related course materials used on previous courses are still available, so if we have stopped giving a particular course, you can probably still obtain copies of the notes and exercises.

We can run any of our current or past courses, adapted to be tailor-made to the needs of particular groups, or we can develop courses to order if they are more or less in the areas of computer use we support. Providing there is sufficient demand, we will do our best to accommodate your requirements.

Computer staff can also contribute to academic departments’ teaching, but there are usually fees involved, particularly for significant amounts of course development or delivery. There is no fee if you want to incorporate any of our workbooks or other materials in courses you give yourself.

Questions 25 – 27
Read the Computer Services Training information leaflet again from the University of Westley and look at the statements below (questions 25 – 27). In boxes 25 – 27 on your answer sheet write:

TRUE                     if the statement is true
FALSE                   if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN        if the information is not given in the passage

25. Some departments at the university do not provide the computer training needed for their courses.
26. If you cannot come for a course at a suitable time, you can do the course at home over the internet using self-study materials.
27. Other departments at the university usually have to pay a charge if they want to use computer department staff for teaching.

ANSWERS

IELTS Reading 03-10-2019: Reading Passage 1 (General)

Questions 1 – 6

There are 5 advertisements on the next page.
Answer the questions below by writing the letters of the appropriate advertisement in boxes 1 – 6 on your answer sheet. Your answer may require more than one letter.

Example Which TWO advertisements have a website?
Answer C + D

1. Which is the most luxurious hotel?
2. Which advertisement is NOT for a hotel?
3. Which hotel offers the cheapest deal for 2 people for 1 night?
4. At which TWO hotels can you have a party?
5. Which hotel helps you with water sports?
6. At which place can you NOT make an advanced reservation?

Questions 7 – 10
Look at the contents page of a local magazine on the following page.
Answer questions 7 – 10 by writing the appropriate page number or numbers where the information appears in the magazine, in boxes 7 – 10 on your answer sheet. Your answer may require more than one page number.

7. What page would you turn to for a crossword?
8. On what TWO pages can you read about sports?
9. On what page can you read about readers’ complaints?
10. What page would you turn to if you wanted to go to the cinema?

Questions 11 and 12
Look again at the contents page of the local magazine.
Answer Questions 11 and 12 by writing NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS in boxes 11 and 12 on your answer sheet.

11. What does Alan Richards write about?
12. What is the subject of Pierre Arlangue’s photographs in his new book?

ANSWERS

IELTS RIELTS Reading 02-10-2019: Reading Passage 3 (Academic) | EDUCATING PSYCHE

EDUCATING PSYCHE

Educating Psyche by Bernie Neville is a book which looks at radical new approaches to learning, describing the effects of emotion, imagination and the unconscious on learning. One theory discussed in the book is that proposed by George Lozanov, which focuses on the power of suggestion.

Lozanov’s instructional technique is based on the evidence that the connections made in the brain through unconscious processing (which he calls non-specific mental reactivity) are more durable than those made through conscious processing. Besides the laboratory evidence for this, we know from our experience that we often remember what we have perceived peripherally, long after we have forgotten what we set out to learn. If we think of a book we studied months or years ago, we will find it easier to recall peripheral details – the colour, the binding, the typeface, the table at the library where we sat while studying it – than the content on which we were concentrating. If we think of a lecture we listened to with great concentration, we will recall the lecturer’s appearance and mannerisms, our place in the auditorium, the failure of the air-conditioning, much more easily than the ideas we went to learn. Even if these peripheral details are a bit elusive, they come back readily in hypnosis or when we relive the event imaginatively, as in psychodrama. The details of the content of the lecture, on the other hand, seem to have gone forever.

This phenomenon can be partly attributed to the common counterproductive approach to study (making extreme efforts to memorise, tensing muscles, inducing fatigue), but it also simply reflects the way the brain functions. Lozanov therefore made indirect instruction (suggestion) central to his teaching system. In suggestopedia, as he called his method, consciousness is shifted away from the curriculum to focus on something peripheral. The curriculum then becomes peripheral and is dealt with by the reserve capacity of the brain.

The suggestopedic approach to foreign language learning provides a good illustration. In its most recent variant (1980), it consists of the reading of vocabulary and text while the class is listening to music. The first session is in two parts. In the first part, the music is classical (Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms) and the teacher reads the text slowly and solemnly, with attention to the dynamics of the music. The students follow the text in their books. This is followed by several minutes of silence. In the second part, they listen to baroque music (Bach, Corelli, Handel) while the teacher reads the text in a normal speaking voice. During this time they have their books closed. During the whole of this session, their attention is passive; they listen to the music but make no attempt to learn the material.

Beforehand, the students have been carefully prepared for the language learning experience. Through meeting with the staff and satisfied students they develop the expectation that learning will be easy and pleasant and that they will successfully learn several hundred words of the foreign language during the class. In a preliminary talk, the teacher introduces them to the material to be covered, but does not ‘teach’ it. Likewise, the students are instructed not to try to learn it during this introduction.

Some hours after the two-part session, there is a follow-up class at which the students are stimulated to recall the material presented. Once again the approach is indirect. The students do not focus their attention on trying to remember the vocabulary, but focus on using the language to communicate (e.g. through games or improvised dramatisations). Such methods are not unusual in language teaching. What is distinctive in the suggestopedic method is that they are devoted entirely to assist recall. The ‘learning’ of the material is assumed to be automatic and effortless, accomplished while listening to music. The teacher’s task is to assist the students to apply what they have learned paraconsciously, and in doing so to make it easily accessible to consciousness. Another difference from conventional teaching is the evidence that students can regularly learn 1000 new words of a foreign language during a suggestopedic session, as well as grammar and idiom.

Lozanov experimented with teaching by direct suggestion during sleep, hypnosis and trance states, but found such procedures unnecessary. Hypnosis, yoga, Silva mind-control, religious ceremonies and faith healing are all associated with successful suggestion, but none of their techniques seem to be essential to it. Such rituals may be seen as placebos. Lozanov acknowledges that the ritual surrounding suggestion in his own system is also a placebo, but maintains that without such a placebo people are unable or afraid to tap the reserve capacity of their brains. Like any placebo, it must be dispensed with authority to be effective. Just as a doctor calls on the full power of autocratic suggestion by insisting that the patient take precisely this white capsule precisely three times a day before meals, Lozanov is categoric in insisting that the suggestopedic session be conducted exactly in the manner designated, by trained and accredited suggestopedic teachers.

While suggestopedia has gained some notoriety through success in the teaching of modern languages, few teachers are able to emulate the spectacular results of Lozanov and his associates. We can, perhaps, attribute mediocre results to an inadequate placebo effect. The students have not developed the appropriate mind set. They are often not motivated to learn through this method. They do not have enough ‘faith’. They do not see it as ‘real teaching’, especially as it does not seem to involve the ‘work’ they have learned to believe is essential to learning.

Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27 The book Educating Psyche is mainly concerned with
A the power of suggestion in learning
B a particular technique for leaning based on emotions
C the effects of emotion on the imagination and the unconscious
D ways of learning which are not traditional

28 Lozanov’s theory claims that, when we try to remember things,
A unimportant details are the easiest to recall
B concentrating hard produces the best results
C the most significant facts are most easily recalled
D peripheral vision is not important

29 In this passage, the author uses the examples of a book and a lecture to illustrate that
A both these are important for developing concentration
B his theory about methods of learning is valid
C reading is a better technique for learning than listening
D we can remember things more easily under hypnosis

30 Lozanov claims that teachers should train students to
A memorise details of the curriculum
B develop their own sets of indirect instructions
C think about something other than the curriculum content
D avoid overloading the capacity of the brain

Questions 31-36
Do the following statement agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write:

TRUE                         if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE                       if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN           if there is no information on this

31 In the example of suggestopedic teaching in the fourth paragraph, the only variable that changes is the music.
32 Prior to the suggestopedia class, students are made aware that the language experience will be demanding.
33 In the follow-up class, the teaching activities are similar to those used in conventional classes.
34 As an indirect benefit, students notice improvements in their memory.
35 Teachers say they prefer suggestopedia to traditional approaches to language teaching.
36 Students in a suggestopedia class retain more new vocabulary than those in ordinary classes.

Questions 37-40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-K, below. Write the correct letter A-K in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

Sugestopedia uses a less direct method of suggestion than other techniques such as hypnosis. However, Lozanov admits that a certain amount of (37)……………… is necessary in order to convince students, even if this is just a (38)……………………. Furthermore, if the method is to succeed, teachers must follow a set procedure. Although Lozanov’s method has become quite (39)………………., the result of most other teachers using this method have been (40)……………………

ANSWERS

27. D
28. A
29. B
30. C
31. false
32. false
33. true
34. not given
35. not given
36. true
37. F
38. H
39. K
40. G

IELTS RIELTS Reading 02-10-2019: Reading Passage 2 (Academic) | Making Every Drop Count

Making Every Drop Count

A The history of human civilisation is entwined with the history of the ways we have learned to manipulate water resources. As towns gradually expanded, water was brought from increasingly remote sources, leading to sophisticated engineering efforts such as dams and aqueducts. At the height of the Roman Empire, nine major systems, with an innovative layout of pipes and well-built sewers, supplied the occupants of Rome with as much water per person as is provided in many parts of the industrial world today.

B During the industrial revolution and population explosion of the 19th and 20th centuries, the demand for water rose dramatically. Unprecedented construction of tens of thousands of monumental engineering projects designed to control floods, protect clean water supplies, and provide water for irrigation and hydropower brought great benefits to hundreds of millions of people. Food production has kept pace with soaring populations mainly because of the expansion of artificial irrigation systems that make possible the growth of 40 % of the world’s food. Nearly one fifth of all the electricity generated worldwide is produced by turbines spun by the power of falling water.

C Yet there is a dark side to this picture: despite our progress, half of the world’s population still suffers, with water services inferior to those available to the ancient Greeks and Romans. As the United Nations report on access to water reiterated in November 2001, more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water; some two and a half billion do not have adequate sanitation services. Preventable water-related diseases kill an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children every day, and the latest evidence suggests that we are falling behind in efforts to solve these problems.

D The consequences of our water policies extend beyond jeopardising human health. Tens of millions of people have been forced to move from their homes – often with little warning or compensation – to make way for the reservoirs behind dams. More than 20 % of all freshwater fish species are now threatened or endangered because dams and water withdrawals have destroyed the free-flowing river ecosystems where they thrive. Certain irrigation practices degrade soil quality and reduce agricultural productivity. Groundwater aquifers are being pumped down faster than they are naturally replenished in parts of India, China, the USA and elsewhere. And disputes over shared water resources have led to violence and continue to raise local, national and even international tensions.

E At the outset of the new millennium, however, the way resource planners think about water is beginning to change. The focus is slowly shifting back to the provision of basic human and environmental needs as top priority – ensuring ‘some for all,’ instead of ‘more for some’. Some water experts are now demanding that existing infrastructure be used in smarter ways rather than building new facilities, which is increasingly considered the option of last, not first, resort. This shift in philosophy has not been universally accepted, and it comes with strong opposition from some established water organisations. Nevertheless, it may be the only way to address successfully the pressing problems of providing everyone with clean water to drink, adequate water to grow food and a life free from preventable water-related illness.

F Fortunately – and unexpectedly – the demand for water is not rising as rapidly as some predicted. As a result, the pressure to build new water infrastructures has diminished over the past two decades. Although population, industrial output and economic productivity have continued to soar in developed nations, the rate at which people withdraw water from aquifers, rivers and lakes has slowed. And in a few parts of the world, demand has actually fallen.

G What explains this remarkable turn of events? Two factors: people have figured out how to use water more efficiently, and communities are rethinking their priorities for water use. Throughout the first three-quarters of the 20th century, the quantity of freshwater consumed per person doubled on average; in the USA, water withdrawals increased tenfold while the population quadrupled. But since 1980, the amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased, thanks to a range of new technologies that help to conserve water in homes and industry. In 1965, for instance, Japan used approximately 13 million gallons of water to produce $1 million of commercial output; by 1989 this had dropped to 3.5 million gallons (even accounting for inflation) – almost a quadrupling of water productivity. In the USA, water withdrawals have fallen by more than 20 % from their peak in 1980.

H On the other hand, dams, aqueducts and other kinds of infrastructure will still have to be built, particularly in developing countries where basic human needs have not been met. But such projects must be built to higher specifications and with more accountability to local people and their environment than in the past. And even in regions where new projects seem warranted, we must find ways to meet demands with fewer resources, respecting ecological criteria and to a smaller budget.

Questions 14-20
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-H. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A and C-H from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Scientists’ call for revision of policy
ii An explanation for reduced water use
iii How a global challenge was met
iv Irrigation systems fall into disuse
v Environmental effects
vi The financial cost of recent technological improvements
vii The relevance to health
viii Addressing the concern over increasing populations
ix A surprising downward trend in demand for water
x The need to raise standards
xi A description of ancient water supplies

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph C
16 Paragraph D
17 Paragraph E
18 Paragraph F
19 Paragraph G
20 Paragraph H

Questions 21-26
Do the following statements agree with information given in Reading Passage 2. In boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet, write

YES                                 if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                                   if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN                if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

21 Water use per person is higher in the industrial world than it was in Ancient Rome.
22 Feeding increasing populations is possible due primarily to improved irrigation systems.
23 Modern water systems imitate those of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
24 Industrial growth is increasing the overall demand for water.
25 Modern technologies have led to reduction in the domestic water consumption.
26 In the future, governments should maintain ownership of water infrastructures.

14. xi
15. vii
16. v
17. i
18. ix
19. ii
20. x
21. no
22. yes
23. not given
24. no
25. yes
26. not given