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| IELTS Reading Practice Test-23 With Answers |
READING PASSAGE 1
You
should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which
are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Ancient
SOCIEFIES Classification
A
Although
humans have established many types of societies throughout history sociologists
and anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to the
degree to which different groups within a society have unequal access to
advantages such as resources, prestige or power, and usually refer to four
basic types of societies. From least to most socially complex they are clans,
tribes, chiefdoms and states.
Clan
B
These
are small-scale societies of hunters and gatherers, generally of fewer than 100
people, who move seasonally to exploit wild (undomesticated) food resources.
Most surviving hunter-gatherer groups are of this kind, such as the Hadza of
Tanzania of the San of southern Africa. Clan members are generally kinsfolk,
related by descent or marriage. Clans lack formal leaders, so there are no
marked economic differences or disparities in status among their members.
C
Because
clans are composed of mobile groups of hunter-gatherers, their sites consist
mainly of seasonally occupied camps, and other smaller and more specialised
sites. Among the latter are kill or butchery sites – locations where large
mammals are killed and sometimes butchered-and work sites, where tools are made
or other specific activities carried out. The base camp of such a group may
give evidence of rather insubstantial dwellings or temporary shelters, along
with the debris of residential occupation.
Tribe
D
These
are generally larger than mobile hunter-gatherer groups, but rarely number more
than a few thousand, and their diet or subsistence is based largely on
cultivated plants and domesticated animals.
Typically,
they have settled farmers, but they may be nomadic with a very different,
mobile economy based on the intensive exploitation of livestock. These are
generally multi-community societies, with the individual communities integrated
into the large society through kinship ties. Although some tribes have
officials and even a “capital” or seat of government, such officials lack the
economic base necessary for effective use of power.
E
The
typical settlement pattern for tribes is one of settled agricultural homesteads
or villages. Characteristically, no one settlement dominates any of the others
in the region. Instead, the archaeologist finds evidence for isolated,
permanently occupied houses or for permanent villages. Such villages may be
made up of a collection of free-standing houses, like those of the first farms
of the Danube valley in Europe. Or they may be clusters of buildings grouped
together, for example, the pueblos of the American Southwest, and the early
farming village or the small town of Catalhoyuk in modern Turkey.
Chiefdom
F
These
operate on the principle of ranking-differences in social status between
people. Different lineages (a lineage is a group claiming descent from a common
ancestor) are graded on a scale of prestige, and the senior lineage, and hence
the society as a whole, is governed by a chief. Prestige and rank are
determined by how closely related one is to the chief, and there is no true
stratification into classes. The role of the chief is crucial.
G
Often,
there is local specialization in craft products, and surpluses of these and of
foodstuffs are periodically paid as an obligation to the chief. He uses these
to maintain his retainers and may use them for redistribution to his subjects.
The chiefdom generally has a center of power, often with temples, residences of
the chief and his retainers, and craft specialists. Chiefdoms vary greatly in
size, but the range is generally between about 5000 and 20,000 persons.
Early
State
H
These
preserve many of the features of chiefdoms, but the ruler (perhaps a king or
sometimes a queen) has explicit authority to establish laws and also to enforce
them by the use of a standing army. Society no longer depends totally upon kin
relationships: it is now stratified into different classes. Agricultural
workers and the poorer urban dwellers form the lowest classes, with the craft
specialists above, and the priests and kinsfolk of the ruler higher still. The
functions of the ruler are often separated from those of the priest: the palace
is distinguished from the temple. The society is viewed as a territory owned by
the ruling lineage and populated by tenants who have an obligation to pay
taxes. The central capital houses a bureaucratic administration of officials;
one of their principal purposes is to collect revenue (often in the form of
taxes and tolls) and distribute it to government, army and craft specialists.
Many early states developed complex redistribution systems to support these
essential services.
I
This
rather simple social typology, set out by Elman Service and elaborated by
William Sanders and Joseph Marino, can be criticised, and it should not be used
unthinkingly. Nevertheless, if we are seeking to talk about early societies, we
must use words and hence concepts to do so. Service’s categories provide a good
framework to help organise our thoughts.
Questions 1-7
Do
the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In
boxes 1-7 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
1
There’s little economic difference between members of a clan.
2
The farmers of a tribe grow a wide range of plants.
3
One settlement is more important than any other settlements in a tribe.
4
A member’s status in a chiefdom is determined by how much land he owns.
5
There are people who craft goods in chiefdoms.
6
The king keeps the order of a state by keeping a military.
7
Bureaucratic officers receive higher salaries than other members.
Questions 8-13
Answer
the questions below.
Choose NO
MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write
your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
8
What is made at the clan work sites?
9
What is the other way of life tribes besides settled farming?
10
How are Catalhoyuk’s housing units arranged?
11
What does a chief give to his subjects as rewards besides crafted goods?
12
What is the largest possible population of a chiefdom?
13
Which group of people is at the bottom of an early state but higher than the
farmers?
READING PASSAGE 2
You
should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on
Reading Passage 2 below.
The
Development of Plastics
A
When
rubber was first commercially produced in Europe during the nineteenth century,
it rapidly became a very important commodity, particularly in the fields of
transportation and electricity. However, during the twentieth century a number
of new synthetic materials, called plastics, superseded natural rubber in all
but a few applications.
B
Rubber
is a polymer – a compound containing large molecules that are formed by the
bonding of many smaller, simpler units, repeated over and over again. The same
bonding principle – polymerisation – underlies the creation of a huge range of
plastics by the chemical industry.
C
The
first plastic was developed as a result of a competition in the USA. In the
1860s, $10,000 was offered to anybody who could replace ivory – supplies of
which were declining – with something equally good as a material for making
billiard balls. The prize was won by John Wesley Hyatt with a material called
celluloid. Celluloid was made by dissolving cellulose, a carbohydrate derived from
plants, in a solution of camphor dissolved in ethanol. This new material
rapidly found uses in the manufacture of products such as knife handles,
detachable collars and cuffs, spectacle frames and photographic film. Without
celluloid, the film industry could never have got off the ground at the end of
the 19th century.
D
Celluloid
can be repeatedly softened and reshaped by heat and is known as a
thermoplastic. In 1907 Leo Baekeland, a Belgian chemist working in the USA
invented a different kind of plastic by causing phenol and formaldehyde to
react together. Baekeland called the material Bakelite, and it was the first of
the thermosets – plastics that can be cast and moulded while hot but cannot be
softened by heat and reshaped once they have set. Bakelite was a good insulator
and was resistant to water, acids and moderate heat. With these properties, it
was soon being used in the manufacture of switches, household items, such as
knife handles, and electrical components for cars.
E
Soon
chemists began looking for other small molecules that could be strung together
to make polymers. In the 1930s, British chemists discovered that the gas
ethylene would polymerise under heat and pressure to form a thermoplastic they
called polythene. Polypropylene followed in the 1950s. both were used to make
bottles, pipes and plastic bags. A small change in the starting material –
replacing a hydrogen atom in ethylene with a chlorine atom – produced PVC
(polyvinyl chloride), a hard, fireproof plastic suitable for drains and
gutters. And by adding certain chemicals, a soft form of PVC could be produced,
suitable as a substitute for rubber in items such as waterproof clothing. A
closely related plastic was Teflon, as PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). This had
a very low coefficient of friction, making it ideal for bearings, rollers, and
non-stick frying pans. Polystyrene, developed during the 1930s in Germany, was
a clear, glass-like material, used in food containers, domestic appliances and
toys. Expanded polystyrene – a white, rigid foam – was widely used in packaging
and insulation. Polyurethanes, also developed in Germany, found uses as
adhesives, coatings, and – in the form of rigid foams – as insulation
materials. They are all produced from chemicals derived from crude oil, which
contains exactly the same elements – carbon and hydrogen – as many plastics.
F
The
first of the man-made fibres, nylon, was also created in the 1930s. Its
inventor was a chemist called Wallace Carothers, who worked for the Du Pont
company in the USA. He found that under the right conditions, two chemicals –
hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid — would form a polymer that could be
pumped out through holes and then stretched to form long glossy threads that
could be woven like silk. Its first use was to make parachutes for the US armed
forces in World War II. In the post-war years, nylon completely replaced silk
in the manufacture of stockings. Subsequently, many other synthetic fibres
joined nylon, including Orion, Acrilan and Terylene. Today most garments are
made of a blend of natural fibres, such as cotton and wool, and man-made fibres
that make fabrics easier to look after.
G
The
great strength of the plastic is its indestructibility. However, this quality
is also something of a drawback: beaches all over the world, even on the
remotest islands, are littered with plastic bottles that nothing can destroy.
Nor is it very easy to recycle plastics, as different types of plastic are
often used in the same items and call for different treatments. Plastics can be
made biodegradable by incorporating into their structure a material such as
starch, which is attacked by bacteria and causes the plastic to fall apart.
Other materials can be incorporated that gradually decay in sunlight – although
bottles made of such materials have to be stored in the dark, to ensure that
they do not disintegrate before they have been used.
Questions 14-20
Complete
the table below
Choose NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write
your answers in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
|
Name of plastic |
Date of invention |
Original region |
Property |
Common use |
|
Celluloid |
1860s |
US |
|
Clothing
and 14………………. |
|
15………………. |
1907 |
US |
can be cast and
moulded but cannot be softened by heat |
16………………,
household items and car parts |
|
Polythene |
1930s |
17………… |
|
Bottles |
|
Rigid PVC |
|
|
18………………… |
drains and
gutters |
|
Polystyrene |
1930s |
Germany |
transparent and
resembled to 19……………….. |
Food container
domestic |
|
Polyurethanes |
|
Germany |
Formation
like 20………………… |
adhesives,
coatings and insulation |
Questions 21-26
Do
the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In
boxes 21-26 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
21
The chemical structure of plastic is very different from that of rubber.
22
John Wesley was a famous chemist.
23
Celluloid and Bakelite react to heat in the same way.
24 The
mix of different varieties of plastic can make them less recyclable.
25 Adding
starch into plastic does not necessarily make plastic more durable.
26 Some
plastic containers have to be preserved in special conditions.
READING
PASSAGE 3
You
should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on
Reading Passage 3 below.
How should reading be taught?
By Keith Rayncr a Barbara R Foorman
A
Learning
to speak is automatic for almost all children, but learning to read requires
elaborate instruction and conscious effort. Well aware of the difficulties,
educators have given a great deal of thought to how they can best help children
learn to read. No single method has triumphed. Indeed, heated arguments about
the most appropriate form of reading instruction continue to polarize the
teaching community.
B
Three
general approaches have been tried. In one, called whole-word instruction,
children learn by rote how to recognise at a glance a vocabulary of 50 to 100
words. Then they gradually acquire other words, often through seeing them used
over and over again in the context of a story.
Speakers
of most languages learn the relationship between letters and the sounds
associated with them (phonemes). That is, children are taught how to use their
knowledge of the alphabet to sound out words. This procedure constitutes a
second approach to teaching reading – phonics.
Many
schools have adopted a different approach: the whole-language method. The
strategy here relies on the child’s experience with the language. For example,
students are offered engaging books and are encouraged to guess the words that
they do not know by considering the context of the sentence or by looking for
clues in the storyline and illustrations, rather than trying to sound them out.
Many
teachers adopted the whole-language approach because of its intuitive appeal.
Making reading fun promises to keep children motivated, and learning to read
depends more on what the student does than on what the teacher does. The
presumed benefits of whole-language instruction – and the contrast to the
perceived dullness of phonics – led to its growing acceptance across American
during the 1990s and a movement away from phonics.
C
However,
many linguists and psychologists objected strongly to the abandonment of
phonics in American schools. Why was this so? In short, because research had
clearly demonstrated that understanding how letters related to the component
sounds in words is critically important in reading. This conclusion rests, in
part, on knowledge of how experienced readers make sense of words on a page.
Advocates of whole-language instruction have argued forcefully that people
often derive meanings directly from print without ever determining the sound of
the word. Some psychologists today accept this view, but most believe that
reading is typically a process of rapidly sounding out words mentally.
Compelling evidence for this comes from experiments which show that subjects
often confuse homophones (words that sound the same, such as Jrose and ‘rows5).
This supports the idea that readers convert strings of letters to sounds.
D
In
order to evaluate different approaches to teaching reading, a number of
experiments have been carried out, firstly with college students, then with
school pupils. Investigators trained English-speaking college students to read
using unfamiliar symbols such as Arabic letters (the phonics approach), while
another group learned entire words associated with certain strings of Arabic
letters (whole-word). Then both groups were required to read a new set of words
constructed from the original characters. In general, readers who were taught
the rules of phonics could read many more new words than those trained with a
whole-word procedure.
Classroom
studies comparing phonics with either whole-word or whole-language instruction
are also quite illuminating. One particularly persuasive study compared two
programmes used in 20 first-grade classrooms. Half the students were offered
traditional reading instruction, which included the use of phonics drills and
applications. The other half were taught using an individualised method that
drew from their experiences with languages; these children produce their own
booklets of stories and developed sets of words to be recognised (common components
of the whole-language approach). This study found that the first group scored
higher at year’s end on tests of reading and comprehension.
E
If
researchers are so convinced about the need for phonics instruction, why does
the debate continue? Because the controversy is enmeshed in the philosophical
differences between traditional and progressive (or new) approaches,
differences that have divided educators for years. The progressive challenge
the results of laboratory tests and classroom studies on the basis of a broad
philosophical skepticism about the values of such research. They champion
student-centred learned and teacher empowerment. Sadly, they fail to realise
that these very admirable educational values are equally consistent with the
teaching of phonics.
F
If
schools of education insisted that would-be reading teachers learned something
about the vast research in linguistics and psychology that bears on reading,
their graduates would be more eager to use phonics and would be prepared to do
so effectively. They could allow their pupils to apply the principles of
phonics while reading for pleasure. Using whole-language activities to
supplement phonics instruction certainly helps to make reading fun and
meaningful for children, so no one would want to see such tools discarded.
Indeed, recent work has indicated that the combination of literature-based
instruction and phonics is more powerful than either method used alone.
Teachers
need to strike a balance. But in doing so, we urge them to remember that
reading must be grounded in a firm understanding of the connections between
letters and sounds. Educators who deny this reality are neglecting decades of
research. They are also neglecting the needs of their students.
Questions 27-31
Reading
Passage 3 has six sections, A-F.
Choose
the correct heading for sections B-F from the list of headings below.
Write
the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
List
of Headings
i
Disagreement about the reading process
ii
The roots of the debate
iii
A combined approach
iv
Methods of teaching reading
v
A controversial approach
vi
Inconclusive research
vii
Research with learners
vii
Allowing teachers more control
ix
A debate amongst educators
Example
Section A ix
27
Section B
28
Section C
29
Section D
30
Section E
31
Section F
Questions 32-36
Do
the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In
boxes 32-36 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
32
The whole-language approach relates letters to sounds.
33
Many educators believe the whole-language approach to be the most interesting
way to teach children to read.
34
Research supports the theory that we read without linking words to sounds.
35
Research has shown that the whole-word approach is less effective than the
whole-language approach.
36
Research has shown that phonics is more successful than both the whole-word and
whole-language approaches.
Questions 37-40
Complete
the summary of sections E and F using the list of words, A-G,
below.
Write
the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
In
the teaching community, 37…………………………… question the usefulness of research
into methods of teaching reading. These critics believe
that 38……………………………… is incompatible with student-centred learning. In the
future, teachers need to be aware of 39………………………….. so that they
understand the importance of phonics. They should not, however, ignore the
ideas of 40………………………….. which make reading enjoyable for learners.
A
the phonics method
B the whole-word method
C the whole-language
method
D traditionalists
E progressives
F linguistics
G research studies
ANSWERS
1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. FALSE
4. FALSE
5. TRUE
6. TRUE
7. NOT GIVEN
8. Tools
9. Nomadic
10. grouped (together)
11. foodstuffs
12. 20,000
13. craft specialists
14. Photographic film
15. Bakelite
16. (electric) switches
17. Britain/UK
18. fireproof
19. glass
20. rigid foams
21. FALSE
22. NOT GIVEN
23. FALSE
24. TRUE
25. TRUE
26. TRUE
27. iv
28. i
29. vii
30. ii
31. iii
32. FALSE
33. TRUE
34. FALSE
35. NOT GIVEN
36. TRUE
37. E
38. A
39. G
40. C
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