24 bài đọc thi thử IELTS READING

Bên cạnh hướng dẫn kĩ thêm Cách học IELTS READING hiệu quả & Bài sửa đề thi IELTS WRITING TASK 2 ngày 22/8/2020 của HS đi thi đạt 7.0 writing, IELTS TUTOR giới thiệu 3 chuyên đề IELTS READING qua đó sẽ luyện tập khả năng Reading của mình trước kì thi. Cùng bấm thời gian 60 phút để làm quen hơn với áp lực đề thi thật.

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-12, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

INVASIVE SPECIES

Britain's rivers and estuaries are being invaded at an alarming rate by a small furry-clawed crab all the way from China. So how did a crab travel so far and why are naturalists so concerned? The mitten crab first arrived in Europe on ships sailing from Asia. It then spread rapidly from Portugal to Sweden and was first reported to be in the River Thames in 1935. From the Thames, it spread across the United Kingdom at a very rapid rate: by 1999 mitten crabs had spread across 448 km of British coastline, sometimes walking miles overland to reach the next river. A team from the University of Newcastle found that UK rivers are being invaded three times faster today than in 1935. And there's little wonder - a single female crab can carry between 250,000 and 1,000,000 eggs so mitten crab colonies expand very rapidly. Furthermore, cleaning up pollution from Britain's rivers is simply helping the invaders.
The mitten crab is one example of many invasive species that have found their way from their original habitat into foreign lands. There are several ways invasive species move from country to country: they may expand their territory naturally as their colony grows; but far more frequently an invasion is associated with human activity. The main causes include shipping, deliberate introduction for hunting or work, and the escape of pets into the wild. The introduction of the mitten crab to Europe was probably accidental: ships taking on water to use as ballast to keep the vessel steady on its journey from Asia to Europe also took on the unwanted guests and carried them to new areas to colonise. Elsewhere, invasive species have been purposefully introduced by man. In 1859, 24 rabbits were introduced into Australia by Thomas Austin so that he could hunt them for recreation. Unfortunately, like the mitten crab, rabbits are prolific breeders: a single pair of rabbits are able to increase to 184 individual rabbits in just one and a half years and they spread at a rate of 130 km per year. Soon the population in Australia was out of control and had spread throughout the continent. Another domestic creature introduced from India into Australia in the 1800s was the dromedary camel. Camels were initially brought to work as pack animals to carry heavy loads across the hot desert interior of Australia. By 1920 it was estimated that around 20,000 camels were being used to transport goods. However, with the arrival of trains and cars, camels were released into the wild where their numbers had increased to around one million by 2008. Finally, the trade in animals as pets can enable a.species to colonise areas far away from their native land.

Between 2000 and 2006 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recorded 1.5 billion animal shipments made into America. 92% of these imported animals were then sold as pets, with the rest imported for research, education and zoos. While most of these animals were fish, the imports also included reptiles and mammals. When these pets escape and begin to breed, it can create serious problems. An example of this is in Florida, where in the 1990s a number of pet Burmese pythons — a snake native to south east Asia — escaped their outdoor enclosures when a major hurricane hit the state. Today, it is estimated that up 30,000 snakes inhabit the wetlands of the Florida Everglades. Burmese pythons, which can grow up to 20 feet long, are thriving on their new diet of native species, including endangered creatures, and are more than capable of competing with the American alligator for food.

The impact of invasive species is not to be underestimated. Katherine Smith, a conservation biologist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island states that 'A huge amount of money goes into the myriad effects that invasive species have.' Smith continues, 'They destroy infrastructure. They cause public health threats. They harm livestock and native animals. They disrupt ecosystems. The dollar values really do increase quickly.'

When a non-native species finds its way into a new and vulnerable environment the damage can be more or less serious as the invader out-competes the local wildlife, brings in new disease or destroys the environment.

The Australian dromedary camel, forming the largest herd of wild camels in the world, competes for food with native species and may have aided the local extinction of preferred species such as the quandong tree. The Australian government estimate that the camel is responsible for AUS$10 million in damage to infrastructure and competition for livestock food every year. Even more damaging is the effect rabbits are having in Australia. Apart from the economic loss to the wool industry, estimated at AUS$95 million annually, rabbits compete with sheep for food. The animals have a devastating environmental impact. Close grazing of grass leads to soil erosion and has significantly altered the composition of extensive areas of land. While the real impact of the mitten crab in the UK is not known at present, scientists have noted that the crab is causing riverbank erosion as it burrows into the mud, forming a network of tunnels that make the riverbanks unstable.
Invasive species are very difficult to manage once they have become established. Various methods have been tried to keep the populations under control. In Australia, 85,000 were culled and various methods have been tried to keep rabbit populations under control including poison and destruction of their warrens or homes. The latest idea in the UK to control the mitten crab is even simpler: catch them and give them to restaurants to sell as a tasty meal.

Question 1-3

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? 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. Mitten crabs originated in Vietnam.
2. Crabs need water to spread.
3. Making rivers less dirty has aided the invasion of the mitten crab.

Questions 4-7
Look at the following items (Questions 4-7) and the list of reasons.
Match each item with the reason for their introduction.

Write the correct letter, A-E, next to Questions 4-7.
NB There are three more reasons than you will need.

Questions 8-11
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in spaces 36-40.

The effects of the introduction of non-native species can bring them into 8............. with native animals. Dromedary camels may have helped the 9........... a native plant. Rabbits have led to the degradation of 10.......... across large areas of Australia. At the moment, the impact of the mitten crab is 11...............

Question 12
Which of the following statements reflects the claims of the writer in the reading passage?
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
The writer of the article views invasive species as
A. a natural development.
B. a hard problem to manage.
C. a good business opportunity.

PRIVATE SPACE

A. It's a remarkable achievement: the question is no longer 'How can we send humans into space?' but 'How can we keep them there?' Spaceflight is reaching a turning point where new technologies in engine development, better understanding of aerodynamics and materials for body construction are making spaceflight possible for private industry.

B. The history of space exploration, until relatively recently, has been one of big government-backed projects like the Space Shuttle, Mars Landers and Long March rockets. But the most recent launches to the International Space Station (ISS) have been very special for at least three reasons. Firstly, along with 450 kg of scientific equipment, food and clothes, the rocket was carrying ice cream for the three space station astronauts. Secondly, the rocket was unmanned, being guided into docking position and back to earth again by remote control and automated systems. Finally, the rocket was commissioned from a private company by NASA.

C. When the privately owned rocket delivered its goods to the ISS, it marked a milestone in the evolution of space flight and vindicated NASA's decision to delegate routine supply flights to the space station. The flight has been a long time in development. It started with President George W Bush announcing his Vision for Space Exploration, calling for the ISS to be completed. Under the next President, America's Space Shuttles were retired leaving NASA with no other choice but to look for alternative methods of supplying the ISS. The initiative was part of an effort to commercialise the space industry in order to decrease costs and spread the investment in the industry across a wider group than governments.

D. The initiative had many attractions for NASA. By outsourcing to the private sector the routine business of taking food and equipment to and from low-earth orbit, NASA can theoretically free up money to do things that it really wants to prioritise: missions such as sending astronauts to Mars and landing on asteroids by the 2030s. Now that the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) has proved that private enterprise can be players in space exploration, firms are pouring money into developing new spacecraft built to transport cargo, to mine asteroids and to carry passengers into space.

E. In the last half of the twentieth century only government-backed agencies like NASA and Russia's ROSCOSMOS were capable of running space programs due to the gigantic investment costs and uncertain payoffs. However, SpaceX and similar companies are proving that the former conditions are no longer relevant as new solutions are coming to light. Commercial companies like Boeing are able to raise large sums of money to run these projects. Furthermore, as the firms are running cargo and taxi services to lower orbits, the break-even point is lower, the technology is cheaper and they have the benefit of years of experience in commercial aviation and space flight. Opening space programs to the commercial sector has the additional advantage of generating more solutions to old problems. An analogy is the invention of the Internet: when the technology went into the commercial sector, no one could have envisioned the development of social network sites. Likewise, no one can predict where commercial enterprise will take the space industry.

F. The uncertainty surrounding where the space industry will end up is a problem as well as an asset and it is unsettling private investors who like to invest in relatively certain prospects. At the moment the industry is dominated by big-spending billionaires like the owner of SpaceX. In addition, the relatively small number of companies in the area could pose a problem in the future. The commercial space industry is still very new and there is no guarantee that progress will be smoother. For one thing, no one is sure that the business model is sound: government is still the major, if not only, customer available to the private space companies. The other problem is that space travel is high risk: the loss of space shuttles Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 illustrates that even the most carefully planned launches have unavoidable risks associated with them. The question is what would happen to the industry if another accident occurred. Finally, many space experts are doubtful that, even if private industry takes over the 'taxi' role for low-orbit missions, NASA will be able to achieve its ambitions, given its squeezed budgets and history of being used for political purposes. Furthermore, NASA may have created another space race, this time between government and private industry. If NASA doesn't go to Mars or the asteroid belt, its private competitors certainly have plans to do so.

G. In spite of all of these risks, many argue that it is critical for the private sector and federal government to work together to push further into space.

Question 13-18

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraphs, A-F, contain the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-F, next to questions 13-18.

13. NASA being able to spend money on important projects.

14. events leading to the commercialisation of spaceflight

15. new developments that have made spaceflight more accessible

16. an automated rocket that successfully completed a mission

17. the great dangers of space travel

18. new answers being found to previous questions

Question 19-25

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

19. Which is NOT mentioned as making private space flight possible?
A. new methods of constructing the rockets
B. modern substances from which to build the rockets
C. understanding better how air moves round objects

D. new methods of making space suits

20. Why are the recent launches special?
A. Their destination was the International Space Station.
B. They carried clothes.
C. They were not managed by a private company.

D. The rocket is not owned by a government.

21. In order to make NASA look for other spaceflight providers, the US government

A. invested in private space companies.
B. started to build the international space station.
C. stopped using the Space Shuttle.
D. allowed private companies to fly into space.

22. Private companies
A. need to reduce the cost of space projects.
B. have social network sites.
C. are able to fly rockets at high orbits.
D. act as ferries to and from the space station.

23. At present, the private space industry is characterised by

A. uncertainty about how to make profits.
B. companies controlled by individuals.
C. companies too small to raise the amount of money needed.

D. government interference.

Questions 24-29

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in spaces 24-29.

There are a number of problems with commercial space projects. To start with, the 24......... might not be sound. There is also great 25.......... attached to space flight - what would happen if there was another 26.........? Experts doubt whether NASA can fulfil its 27.......... as it has offer been under 28........ pressure. Moreover, the development may lead to a 29............ between NASA and the private space industry.

Questions 30-34

Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-F from the list below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, next to questions 30-34.

List of Headings
i. Shielding the earth from the atmosphere

ii. Bouncing back the sun’s rays from earth
iii. The effect of volcanoes on the atmosphere
iv. Criticisms of geoengineering

v. Trapping greenhouse gases

vi. The root of the problem

vii. Why attempt geoengineering?

viii. Protecting glaciers

ix. The need for action

30. Paragraph B

31. Paragraph C

32. Paragraph D

33. Paragraph E

34. Paragraph F

ENGINEERING A SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

A. Looking at the rate of climate change and the disastrous effects it is having on the world, scientists are concerned that we are acting too slowly. Many are now looking to geoengineering — large-scale human interventions to change the world's climate — to counteract global warming. The schemes range from the mundane to science fiction but all come from the same impulse: if we don't do something now, it may be too late to do anything.

B. Climate change is now so rapid that, in the very near future, the Arctic will be ice-free during winter as less ice forms during winters and more melts in summer. Scientists say that tackling climate change isn't a problem we need to deal with in 10 or 20 years' time; we need to look at radical solutions now. A study has shown that the technologies to produce these geoengineering projects already exists and could be in place for around $5 billion a year. This is a bargain when compared with the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, a major greenhouse gas: that figure stands at somewhere between $200 and $2,000 billion.

C. So what exactly are scientists planning to do to deal with global warming in the short term? Among the main schemes are shielding the earth from the sun's rays either at ground or atmospheric level, or capturing the carbon produced by industry and sinking it back into the ground or the sea. Shielding the world has produced ideas that range from simple science to science fiction. One suggestion has been to make the roofs of buildings and roads whiter to reflect the sun's rays back into space. While this has the advantage of simplicity, it simply won't make much difference, reflecting only 0.15 watts per square metre, averaged across the planet. To put this into perspective, to stop earth warming we need to increase heat loss by about 3.7 watts per square metre averaged over the world. Another idea is to protect the Greenland ice field by covering it in giant sheets of reflective material. If this works, it could help in the Antartic where the giant Filchner-Ronne ice shelf is melting rapidly. If this glacier disappears completely, it would raise sea levels, causing catastrophic flood damage around the planet.

D. If reflecting heat back from the ground has little effect, there are two alternatives: seeding clouds and replicating volcanic activity. The first idea is to make clouds whiter by increasing the amount of rain in them. Sending salt particles into clouds should 'seed' the clouds with more raindrops. Clouds carrying more raindrops would be whiter and better reflectors of sunlight. This could be good news for the earth and in addition could be stopped when necessary with the salt completely clear from the skies within ten years. Unfortunately, other research indicates that creating whiter clouds may have unwanted side effects, producing adverse weather conditions in the region and changing ocean currents. A much older idea is to replicate the effect volcanoes have had on the atmosphere. A volcanic eruption sends large amounts of ash and sulphur into the air, which block the sun and create cooler conditions. For example, when Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, it produced a sulphur dioxide cloud, which reduced average global temperatures by one degree centigrade. Geoengineers have long put forward the idea of circulating particles of sulphur in the atmosphere to counteract global warming. The particles would be delivered by aircraft or balloons spraying them into the atmosphere. However, this also has unpredictable effects on the amount and pattern of rainfall. Furthermore, this method would delay the recovery of the ozone layer over the Antartic by 30 to 70 years. More ambitious geoengineering projects have included placing billions of reflective balloons between the sun and the earth and putting giant mirrors into orbit. Scientists have criticised these approaches as 'science fiction' and say they are unlikely to happen due to the huge costs involved.

E. Whatever actions we take to block or reflect the heat from the sun, we will still need to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Various geoengineering projects have been proposed to do this. Carbon capture technologies range from planting trees, which naturally use carbon dioxide as they grow, to pumping carbon back into the earth and trapping it there. This is a good idea but would only account for about 0.5 watts per square metre. Carbon capture technologies are already in use at power stations where the greenhouse gas is taken at point of production and pumped underground into depleted gas and oil reserves. However, the technology to do this is not very efficient. Other ideas for taking carbon out of the atmosphere include seeding the oceans with iron. This would increase the growth of plankton which, like trees, use carbon naturally. Unfortunately, this would only account for 0.2 watts per square metre.

F. Proponents of geoengineering have never regarded the earth-changing engineering projects as a complete solution. Nevertheless, the concept as a whole attracts many criticisms. One is that the problem of climate change is of such huge scale and complexity that there will not be one single solution. All proposals so far have advantages and disadvantages. The biggest problem of all is that many of the projects are untested and any of the proposals may have unforeseen consequences. For example, we could not suddenly stop a geoengineering scheme: keeping temperatures artificially low for a period then taking away the cause of this would cause the temperature to rise again rapidly. Furthermore, global engineering solutions to the problem of climate change would need the agreement of all the world's leaders: having an American solution, a Chinese solution, a Brazilian solution, and so on simply wouldn't be politically acceptable. But the biggest downfall is that geoengineering projects could reduce the political and popular pressure for reducing carbon emissions, as politicians point to geoengineering for an answer rather than tackling the real cause of climate change: human activity.

Questions 35-40
Classify the following as typical of
A. land-based reflection 

B. atmospheric reflection
C. carbon capture
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to Questions 35-40.

35. removes carbon dioxide as soon as it is produced
36. increases the reflectivity of white clouds
37. cleans carbon dioxide from the air naturally
38. would increase the number of small plants and animals in the sea
39. may help prevent rising water levels
40. is similar to the effect volcanoes have on the atmosphere

Bài tập thuộc chương trình học của lớp IELTS READING ONLINE 1 KÈM 1 của IELTS TUTOR

Questions 1-5

Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-D and F from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, next to Questions 1-5.

List of Headings

i. Improvements to faba bean farming

ii. Increasing productivity to secure the future of legume farming

iii. The importance of legumes

iv. The nutritional value of legumes

v. The effect of farming on the environment

vi. Legumes in the diet of ancient peoples

vii. The importance of reducing meat consumption

viii. Archaeological discoveries

ix. Legumes as a provider of protein

1. Paragraph A

2. Paragraph B

3. Paragraph C

4. Paragraph D

5. Paragraph F

A. The health benefit of legumes has been widely known for centuries. Also known as pulses or, more commonly, beans, they belong to an extremely large category of vegetables containing over 13,000 species. Only grain supplies more calories and proteins to the world's population. Today, agricultural researchers and scientists are experimenting with varieties of legumes that are easier to harvest, more resistant to disease and yield better crops.

B. Beans are often refers to as “the poor person’s meat”, but this label is unfair – considering the health benefits of legumes, they should really be called ‘the healthy alternative of meat’. Beans contain a rich and varied supply of nutritional substances, which are vital for keeping in good health. Diets rich in beans are used to help with a variety of health issues including lowering cholesterol levels, improving blood sugar control in diabetics, reducing the risk of many cancers, lowering the risk of heart diseases and lowering blood pressure. Beans are a good source of protein but are often considered to be an 'incomplete' protein as they lack the essential amino acids that we need to complete our diet. Foods from animals (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products), on the other hand, contains protein and amino acids. However, many cultures combine beans with grains to form a complete protein that is a high-quality substitute for meat – rice and soy in Japan, corn and beans in Mexico, rice and lentils in the Middle East. Beans are also a good source of fibre, giving the consumer between 5 and 8.6 grams of fibre per 100 grams eaten. Fibre is an important ingredient in a healthy diet with great benefits to our digestive system and in reducing cholesterol levels, which in turn reduces our risk of heart disease. Fibre also helps us to feel full and control our appetite.

C. Why is it important to substitute meat as much as possible? First of all because of the health implications – red meat in particular has a high fat content. Secondly, antibiotics and other chemicals are used in the raising poultry and cattle. Thirdly, the cost to the environment is much greater in raising cattle than it is in growing crops. To produce a kilogram of beef, farmers need to feed the cow 15 kilograms of grains and a further 30 kilograms of forage.

D. Little wonder then that legumes have been used from ancient times. According to Trevor Brice in Life and Society in the Hittite World, the Hittites, an ancient people living in Anatolia from the eighteenth century BC, ate a wide variety of legumes including peas, beans, faba beans, chickpeas and lentils. And in ancient Egypt, Ramses II is known to have offered 11,998 jars of beans to the god of the Nile. Archaeologists have found the remains of legume on land beneath the Lake Assad in Syria dating back to 8,000 BC and, astonishingly, a 4,000-year-old lentil seed found during an excavation in Turkey has been germinated, allowing scientists to compare the ancient variety with the organic and genetically engineered varieties of today. Professor Nejat Bilgen from Dumlupinar University, who led the archaeological team, said that the lentils were found in a container dating from the Bronze age. The plant grown from the ancient lentil was found to be ‘pretty weak’ in comparison with modern varieties.

E. Modern agricultural research has tended to focus on grain production, breeding new varieties of wheat and other crops rather than improving the varieties of legumes, which can suffer from low yields and unstable harvests. For this reason, farmers started to abandon them in favour of more dependable crops, which had had the benefits of scientific improvement. Recently, scientists have returned to legumes to identify desirable characteristics such as height, good crop production and resistance to pests in order to cross different plants with each other and produce a new, improved variety. Using traditional breeding methods agricultural scientists are transforming the faba bean into a variety that is easier to grow. Traditional varieties are undependable as they rely on insects to pollinate them. But faba bean types that can self-fertilise naturally were discovered and the gene is being bred into new varieties. Other faba bean varieties have been found that produce higher yields or shorter crops. Faba bean plants tend to grow tall and fall over in the field making them difficult to harvest mechanically so breeding plants that are 50% shorter means they are more stable. Unlike the traditional plants, the new faba bean plants end in a flower – this means that more of the plant's energy is transformed into producing beans instead of unusable foliage.

F. With the new varieties, farmers in some regions are achieving a marked rise in production – between 10% to 20% improvement. Scientists have also managed to develop a commercial faba bean able to resist the parasitic weed Orobanche, which has been known to destroy whole fields of the crop. The future of legumes and the farmers who grow them is becoming brighter. Legumes are an important source of nourishment for humans and also for the soil: the beans take nitrogen directly from the atmosphere and fix it into the soil to provide nutrients for other crops and save the farmer the cost of artificial fertiliser. Making legumes a profitable crop for the future may prove an essential factor in feeding growing populations.

Question 6-11

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? 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

6. Legumes are second to grain in providing people with calories and protein.

7. Beans can help to cure heart disease.

8. Antibiotics are used when farming animals for food.

9. Scientists have the opportunity to see how similar modern and ancient lentil plants are.

10. Agricultural scientists are making the faba bean easier to grow in dry areas.

11. New varieties of faba bean can destroy parasitic weeds.

Question 12

What is the best title for Reading Passage 1?

Choose the correct letter A, B, or C.

A. The health benefits of beans and pulses
B. Diet in ancient times
C. Agricultural scientists give legumes a new lease of life

WHAT IS DYSCALCULIA?

When you look at the morning newspaper or check a news webpage, numbers are everywhere: the date is 12th September; it's 16°C in London; England lose 2-1 at football; the time is 12.30. But for people with dyscalculia, dealing with numbers presents a particular everyday difficulty. Dyscalculia is a learning difficulty in mathematics. It was originally uncovered by Kosc - a Czech researcher - after research into damage to parts of the brain involved in mathematical cognition. Dyscalculia can have two causes: brain damage or 'acquired dyscalculia' and developmental dyscalculia - or dyscalculia from birth. Whichever the cause, dyscalculia has three features: problems with mathematics; problems with mathematics only, not other areas of learning; and the assumption that these problems are rooted in brain activity.
Unlike dyslexia - difficulties with words - dyscalculia has been relatively little studied until recently. Very little is known about its causes, prevalence or how to treat it. Estimates indicate that between 3% and 6% of the population could be affected. The figures refer to children who only have difficulties with maths but have good or excellent performance in other areas of learning. People with dyscalculia have difficulty with the most basic aspects of numbers and mathematics, but this does not mean that the person affected has difficulty with higher mathematical reasoning or arithmetic. In fact, the evidence from brain-damaged dyscalculic people shows that an individual might suffer dyscalculia but can even show great ability in abstract mathematical reasoning.
Dyscalculia appears to be related to an ability shared between humans and many other animals. This is called 'subitizing' and is the capacity to count the number of objects by briefly looking at them. Subitizing seems to be an innate skill present in humans from birth and is a useful survival skill for humans and animals: there is a big advantage in being able to count how many predators or prey there are. Experiments with babies show that we are able to count at a very early age: if a baby sees a doll put behind a screen then another doll is also put behind the screen, the baby expects to see two dolls when the screen is removed. Babies will look longer at things they didn't expect to see, so if the screen is removed and the baby sees only one doll or three dolls, they stare at this unexpected sight longer, proving our ability to count from infancy. Dyscalculia could be explained by the lack of this innate capability. Genetic causes could include known genetic disorders such as Fragile X syndrome. However, as well as genetic factors, there could also be environmental causes such as drinking alcohol during pregnancy, which can result in underdevelopment of the brain.

There are many signs of dyscalculia including some well established and some less well researched. There are a number of symptoms that we are relatively certain of. Firstly, counting: whilst discalculic children can learn the sequence of numbers — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc,— they have difficulty counting backwards or forwards, particularly in twos or threes. Secondly, they find learning and remembering number facts difficult and often lack confidence even when they have
the right answer. They can’t use rules correctly either; for instance they may know that 4+2=6 but not be able to see that 2 + 4 = 6 or understand the concept of addition. Thirdly, they have problems with numbers with zeros and don't understand that the numerals 10, 100 and 1,000 are the same as the words ten, one hundred and one thousand. Fourthly, dyscalculic children may not be good at using money or telling the time. Concepts of speed or temperature may be difficult for them to fully understand. Finally, they may have problems in understanding directions or in following a map.

Diagnosing and treating dyscalculia is not straightforward as there are many reasons for being bad at maths including poor teaching, lack of motivation and inability to concentrate for long periods of time. An important result of present research will be to improve our methods for identifying children with dyscalculia. The treatment of the problem, however, is a different matter. Many people think that, because the cause of dyscalculia is in the brain, it can't be treated. But this is a misunderstanding. Every time we learn a new fact or skill, our brain changes. Furthermore, if we practise a new skill extensively the brain changes considerably. This is related to a property of the brain called 'plasticity', which simply means the ability of the brain to develop and change, particularly during childhood. Dyscalculia could be treated by experiences at home, providing an environment that encourages children to count. Schools could pay more attention to making sure children understand basic mathematical concepts before dealing with more advanced ideas; they should, for example, avoid teaching the division of fractions before ensuring children have understood to concept of division. Teaching maths through a multi-sensory approach using speech, sound, writing and reading simultaneously has been shown to be a good approach. Finally, maths should be taught in short blocks of time and lessons should build on what was taught previously.

Questions 13-16

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

13. A person with dyscalculia cannot solve basic.............................. problems.

14. The condition was first discovered by a researcher investigating...................... to the brain.

15. Dyscalculia can be caused by injury to the brain or it can be present............................
16. Other aspects of..................... are not affected by dyscalculia.

Questions 17-22
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? 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

17. There is not much information on how many people have dyscalculia.

18. People with dyscalculia are not able to do advanced maths.

19. Subsitizing means knowing how many things there are by counting them.

20. Experiments show that babies are able to count to four.

21. One explanation is that people with dyscalculia have not inherited a common ability.

22. Drinking alcohol may be linked to the development of dyscalculia.

Questions 23-29
Classify the following as typical of
A. reasons for being bad at maths

B. plasticity

C. dyscalculia

D. the treatment of dyscalculia
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, next to Questions 23-29.

23. limiting maths teaching to short periods

24. being unmotivated to learn

25. the brain developing, especially when young

26. not associating words about figures with numbers

27. needing practice at telling the time

28. using all the senses when doing maths

29. poor concentration for longer lengths of time

CROWDMAPPING

One of the most exciting mass movements today is crowdmapping: sharing data collectively to produce a visualisation on a map giving almost-instant information on current events. Crowdmapping produces a picture of events on the ground as they happen by taking text messages and social media feeds together with geographic data to distribute real-time, interactive information on events such as revolutions, wars, humanitarian crises and natural disasters. This new application of social networking can bring fresh insights into events, which can be nearly impossible to cover through traditional methods of journalism where individuals report into a central newsroom. It has the additional advantage of mapping longer-term trends that fall in and out of the news.
Technologies like mobile phones and the world wide web have made it possible for those people caught up in a war or natural disaster to broadcast information from the affected area and for this information to be collected in a way that emergency aid services can use and act on. In a disaster situation the most current information is essential because the needs of, for example, flood victims change minute by minute. It enables response organisations to get an understanding of a crisis situation quickly (thus it is sometimes called crisis mapping), give targeted aid to people most in need and form a network of reliable reporters on the ground to check information going to the live updated map. When an emergency situation arises, a small army of volunteers comes together to collect incoming information and put it on the map. Some of the information conies from official sources such as the United Nations, but the most powerful aspect of data collection is the ability to pull information from Twitter posts, emails and text messages. Once this information is available, volunteers collaborate via the Internet to put data on to a map, which is updated every second to build a comprehensive picture of the scale and severity of the disaster. Volunteers from all over the world translate the messages coming in from the disaster zone into English and plot the information on the live interactive map.

One of the originators of crowdmapping is Ushahidi. The developers of crowdmapping software began the project in Kenya to map reports of violence after a controversial election result in 2008. Later, in 2010 in Haiti, a similar approach of collectively sharing information to help emergency services deal with the situation was adopted. A small team released a free phone number - 4636 - to allow victims of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake to text their requests for medical aid, water and shelter. Over 1,000 workers and volunteers around the globe, contacted via Facebook, translated the messages, mostly in Haitian Creole. They then prioritised and geolocated the requests for help via crowdmapping software. Through this service, emergency response teams were able to save the lives of hundreds of people and send food, water and medicine to tens of thousands. The success of Project 4636 led to the development of crowdmapping when dealing with critical and even non-critical situations.

Most recently, crowdmapping has been used to track violent activity in warzones and areas with uprisings. In one country, when the people rose up against their leader, the United Nations monitored the escalating violence via a crowdmap to provide them with information on what was happening in the country. In another country, rebel fighters reported people who were missing, killed or arrested according to eyewitnesses. Other uses for the software have included the Danish people's attempt to map the extent of CCTV surveillance in their country. Since the project began, 2,220 CCTV cameras have been photographed and verified by journalists. However, not all attempts at crowdmapping have been successful. The attempt to map an uprising in one country was cut short when the authorities took the country offline and, when the Internet was brought back, the crowdmap had been forgotten.

There are other downsides to crowdmapping. According to George Chamales, there are security challenges: it must be ensured that the system stays operational and that the information collated is not misused. Firstly, the lead crowdrnap tends to be the one that is set up first and has the most users. Unfortunately, the organisation behind the first crowdrnap may not be the best one to manage the complex process of collecting and managing the data. Secondly, there are several platforms for producing crowdmaps including commercial products and open-source projects like Ushahidi. Some have even been developed for a particular crisis such as the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima — all of these have their own disadvantages: commercial software may need to patch bugs in the programme; open source software may overlook security in favour of functionality. The information collected needs to come from trustworthy sources, which are then relied on for more reports; this may make the person sending the report a potential target in war situations. Finally, there is the human element in processing the information, relying on thousands of volunteers to translate, categorise and prioritise the information. There is an obvious risk in giving strangers access to messages generated in dangerous circumstances: messages may be deleted and the sender's identity may be compromised.

While the introduction of any new technology has flaws, George Chamales believes that crowdmapping cannot afford to go through the same maturation as other technologies: the risks to people using it in hostile political situations are too great and could lead to them being arrested or killed. Furthermore, over time the technology may be labelled as dangerous, leading organisations to shun an extremely useful instrument. The answer, Chamales believes, can be found in developing standards through collaboration between IT security experts and the crowdmapping movement. New challenges and issues will arise with each crisis mapped by the people affected, but George Chamales thinks that establishing security standards would be a good starting point to allow this valuable new form of networking to evolve.

Questions 30-34

Label the diagram below using words from the box.

Write the correct letter, A-E, in spaces 30-34.
Crowdmapping actions

A. interactive map

B. social media feeds

C. emergency services

D. volunteers collect and translate

E. official sources

Questions 35-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
35. Crowdmapping aims to produce data on

A. historical and future patterns of behaviour.

B. political events.

C. interactive maps.

D. events after earthquakes only.

36. Crowdmapping allows emergency services to

A. contact journalists.

B. help everyone who needs it.

C. check information online.

D. act quickly in specific areas.

37. The operation relies heavily on

A. a project in Kenya.

B. a small team

C. people translating messages.

D. emergency response teams.

38. The fourth paragraph contains examples of crowdmapping in

A. countries with no internet access.

B. natural disasters.

C. areas of conflict.

D. a country with a lot of traffic cameras.

39. Which is NOT a disadvantage of crowdmapping?

A. the inability of some organisations to handle the data effectively

B. unreliable information

C. security being compromised

D. computer crashes

40. What is the best way to deal with the problems associated with this new technology?

A. wait for problems to be resolved

B. arrest people using it incorrectly

C. agree common practices to make crowdmapping secure

D. change the process when new problems arise

Bài tập thuộc chương trình học của lớp IELTS READING ONLINE 1 KÈM 1 của IELTS TUTOR

SEAS BENEATH THE SANDS

A. Look at a map of North Africa from Egypt to Algeria. Almost everything outside the Nile Valley and south of the coastal plain appears to be lifeless sand and gravel deserts. But peer deeper, under the sand, and you will find water. Under the Sahara lie three major aquifers, strata of saturated sandstones and limestones that hold water in their pores like a wet sponge, The easternmost of these, extending over two million square kilometres, contains 375,000 cubic kilometres of water—the equivalent of 3,750 years of Nile river flow. It is called the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, and lately it has come to the attention of practitioners of a subspeciality of nuclear science known as isotope hydrology.

B. Isotope hydrology, which studies the atoms of the two elements making up groundwater—oxygen and hydrogen—and the trace elements in it, like carbon and nitrogen, is able to determine when, give or take a couple of thousand years, today's groundwater fell to earth as rain. In the case of the Nubian Aquifer, some water in the system is thought to be one million years old, but most of it fell between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. Since then, as the region has slowly turned to desert, there has been little addition of water to the aquifer. What lies beneath the ground is called fossil water, and it will likely never be recharged.

C. Because the Nubian Aquifer is shared among four nations, and because Libya and Egypt are now going forward with big water-pumping projects that tap the Nubian Aquifer, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, is trying to bring the countries together in a joint effort to plan for a rational shared use of the water.

D. The stakes are certainly high. Egypt eventually hopes to use almost half a billion cubic metres of groundwater annually—more than the volume of Lake Erie. Libya is already pumping water from the Kufra Oasis, in its southeast corner, through a four-metre-diameter pipeline to its thirsty coastal cities. When fully operational, that project will pump some 3.6 million cubic metres per day. Still, at current extraction rates, the aquifer is not likely to be depleted for a thousand years.

E. Dr Taher Muhammad Hassan of the EAEA (Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority) says One thing that isotope studies have shown us is that there is surprisingly little aquifer recharge from the Nile. Nile water has a younger isotopic profile, and samples from wells dug as close as five kilometres from the river show no sign of the Nile fingerprint. In fact, some of that well water is dated at 26,000 years old." Hassan is confident there is little likelihood of international conflict over aquifer sharing. "We know that the velocity of underground flow in most places is just two metres a day," he says. "It's like sucking a thick milkshake through a straw—it doesn't happen fast, and eventually it stops completely." Even Libya's big extraction plans for Kufra will probably have only a minor effect on Egypt's East Uweinat farming area, given the distance between the two. If Kufra's water table drops 200 metres, the Egyptian side might see a drop of only 10 centimetres.

F. At al-Agouza West in Egypt, a 10-story drilling rig, the same kind used to drill oil wells, has reached 800 metres and is now evacuating the drilling mud and widening the bore. It has taken 20 days to penetrate layers of shale and clay to reach the saturated sandstone—the basement of the Nubian formation is some 1,800 metres deep here—at a cost of about $400,000. Once the well is ready for testing, the ministry engineers check its static and dynamic levels with a sounder, a kind of fisherman's bob at the end of a tape measure that rises and falls with the water table.

G. Dr Khaled Abu Zeid, of the Egyptian non-profit Center for Environment and Development of the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), stresses the social context of water-resource development, and the need to keep in mind traditional water users as well as new users. Small farmers and Bedouin who rely on shallow wells should not be ignored in favour of the big development schemes. "They need water today," he says, "and will still need it tomorrow. We must not let it run dry because deeper wells are more cost-effective. But neither should we have an absolutist conservationist approach, in which we try to keep fossil water in some kind of 'museum' for their benefit."

H. The director of the Groundwater Research Institute at the Nile Barrage, Dr Ahmed Khater, finds it ironic that in a desert region like the Middle East, petroleum geology is much better understood than subsurface hydrology. "But water is what makes our life possible here, and we must use it wisely,' he says. He cites the experience of President Nasser's "New Valley" project in the 1960s, which proposed a massive resettlement of Nile Valley farmers to the western oases. It was a failure. "These isotope studies hold the promise of learning more about what is really our most precious asset—water, not oil," he says. Nasser, he notes, got the New Valley project's motto wrong. "He said, 'When settlers come, then we will find water.' He should have said, 'When we find water, then settlers can come."

Questions 1-4

Complete the table below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Nubian Sandstone Aquifer system
Extent: 1.................. 375,000 km³ of water

Formation: The majority of the 2..................... between 50,000 and 20.000 years ago.

Flow: water moves only 3............... a day in most places

Depth: The 4.................. of the formation is 1,800 metres deep.

Questions 5-12

Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-H, next to Questions 5-12.

5. dating the age of the water

6. understanding underground water through studying isotopes

7. the process of water collection

8. review of the likelihood of conflict

9. the importance of water for North-Saharan countries

10. Layers of porous rock holding water under the desert

11. attention to the needs of local people

12. cross-country project for the use of water

HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING

Endurance vs intensity

The traditional view of exercise is that more is better. But now a new form of exercise is challenging the old view and causing debate between traditionalists and proponents of a new form of exercise, High Intensity Training (HIT). Current recommendations from the US Department of Health and Human Services say adults aged between 16 and 64 should take two kinds of exercise every week: aerobic and muscle-strengthening. Aerobic exercise covers activities that make you breathe harder and your heart beat faster - activities such as walking quickly, swimming or playing a relaxed game of tennis. Muscle-strengthening exercises work all the major muscle groups in a person's body - legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders and arms. The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults do two hours and thirty minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week and muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days per week. A lot of people, perhaps understandably, never meet these targets, usually citing lack of time as the main reason. However, a recent study has removed the old excuse. Professor Martin Gibala, from Canada's McMaster University, has published research in the Journal of Physiology that shows doing less exercise can be more effective than time-consuming periods of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities. High Intensity Training is very simple: it involves a warm-up period followed by a short burst of intense activity, usually 30 seconds to one minute, then a recovery period where you exercise at a gentler pace for a couple of minutes, then another short period of high-energy activity. After a second recovery phase, there is more energy-intensive exercise before slowing down for a while, then stopping. That's all your exercise for the day. This cycle of warm up / intense activity / recovery / intense activity, etc can be applied to a variety of sports such as cycling, jogging and swimming.

How does it work?

There are a number of different explanations as to why HIT seems to be more effective than endurance exercise. Firstly, exercising at low intensity only burns calories while you are active so that the minute you stop, you also stop burning calories. In contrast, high-intensity exercise continues to work on your metabolism a long time after you have finished - and this can be up to 24 hours later - so that you continue burning calories for longer. Secondly, HIT builds your muscles, replacing fat with muscle mass. The third theory is that the sprint-and-recover cycle doesn't give the body the chance to store energy in the same way as training over a long period: the body needs to use all the energy in one go rather than maintain the same energy level over a longer period and still being able to reserve some as fat. The final theory is HIT combines both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities and uses many more muscles than regular exercise - up to 80% of the muscles in the body, compared with up to 40% for moderate jogging or cycling.

There have been numerous experiments into HIT. In one conducted by a team from the University of Colorado led by Kyle Sevits, five male volunteers were tested to measure the number of calories a typical HIT workout bums. The volunteers, aged between 25 and 31, were tested to make sure their hearts were healthy, and their body composition and resting metabolic rates were measured. The participants ate a specific diet, then taken to a hospital room where researchers were able to control the air intake and determine the oxygen, carbon dioxide and water content of the air. Through these indices researchers were able to measure how many calories the volunteers burned. While each person lived in the room, they were kept on their strict diet and could only watch TV or use a computer. However, on one day they were asked to participate in HIT on a gym bike, pedalling as fast as they could for five 30-second periods with four-minute recovery periods between. The results were startling: the volunteers burned an average of an extra 200 calories on the workout day in spite of doing high-intensity activity for just 2.5 minutes. Other experiments have revealed similar results. In Japan, a team from the National Institute of Fitness and Sport separated individuals into two groups. The first group trained five days a week over six weeks, taking an hour of moderate-intensity exercise per day, totally five hours per week. The oxygen intake of this group improved by an average of 9%. The second group's training sessions were eight 20-second intense workouts followed by ten seconds of rest. Their oxygen intake improved by 15%.

Benefits to health

Good oxygen intake is a sign of a healthy adult but the workout routine has shown other health benefits in diabetes. Scientists at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh found that short bursts of high-intensity activity every few days reduced the risk of contracting diabetes due to the beneficial effects on blood sugar. Similarly, a study in 2011 by Professor Gibala found that insulin sensitivity improved by 35% after just two weeks, which is important in enabling glucose digested from food to get to our cells and provide energy. Endurance is also increased: one study in 2006 found that eight weeks of doing high-intensity workouts meant subjects could exercise twice as long as they could before the study, while maintaining the same pace. Additionally, HIT increases the fat burnt and sustains more muscle. Finally, HIT stimulates production of human growth hormone (HGH) by up to 450% during the 24 hours after the workout has finished. HGH is not only responsible for increased calorie burning but also slows down the ageing process. It seems that HIT could keep us fitter and younger for longer.

Questions 13-17
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? 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

13. The traditional view of exercise questions the effectiveness of long periods of activity.

14. Aerobic exercise includes tennis, walking and football.

15. Many people fail to do the recommended amount of exercise.

16. Some now believe that being active for shorter periods is better for our health.

17. HIT involves a 10-minute cool-down period.

Questions 18-22

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

18. Low-intensity activity

A. burns calories after you stop.

B. lets the body store fat.

C. doesn't take much time.

D. uses all the body's energy reserves.

19. High-intensity training

A. retains both muscle and fat tissue.

B. is only good for muscle-building.

C. makes use of under half of our muscles.

D. is done in cycles of rest and activity.

20. In one experiment, participants

A. were all middle aged.

B. were slightly unhealthy.

C. ate a high-fibre diet.

D. were kept in a controlled environment.

21. Researchers measured

A. the air intake.

B. how much TV they watched.

C. how fast they pedalled.

D. how much energy they used.

22. In the Japanese experiment

A. there were two groups of men.

B. the groups trained simultaneously.

C. scientists measured the amount of oxygen used in training.

D. both groups had intensive training sessions.

Questions 23-27

Complete the text below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

A study has found that HIT 23........... the chance of getting diabetes. Another study found that HIT improves 24............ enabling individuals to exercise for longer periods while 25............ a similar pace. More fat is 26............ and the 27.............. of human growth hormone increases enormously.

Questions 28-32

Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-F from the list below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, next to Questions 28-32.

List of Headings

i. The collapse of the Neanderthal population

ii. The origin of modern humans

iii. Humanity's prehistoric mother

iv. Routes out of Africa

v. Attributes of humans and Neanderthals

vi. The human migration

vii. What did Neanderthals look like?

viii. The diversity of African populations

ix. Tracing back our DNA

Example Answer

Paragraph A ii

28. Paragraph B

29. Paragraph C

30. Paragraph D

31. Paragraph E

32. Paragraph F

A. Among prehistoric archeologists, Ksar Aqil has an almost mythical status, but the site is little known outside professional circles. The migration of modern humans out of Africa and the Near East's position as a bridge between continents and cultures, as well as nearly a century of scientific research, are all woven into the story of Ksar Aqil. Current perspectives on human evolution and mankind's colonization of the globe are based upon fossil evidence, as well as excavated artifacts and biogenetic data. These lines of inquiry indicate a relatively recent evolution of modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

B. The latest, and arguably most powerful, analytical tool available to those investigating human origins comes from molecular biology. Geneticists have found that examination of the DNA from tiny structures inside the cell, called mitochondria, provided a means to measure human biogenetic relationships on a time scale spanning hundreds of thousands of years. Mitochondria, also known as the powerhouse of the cell because they generate chemical energy, possess their own genome, and mitochondria! DNA (mtDNA) is inherited exclusively from the mother. Dramatic results released in 1987 by researchers at the University of California at Berkley indicated that all mtDNA present in people today stems from a single female who lived about 200,000 years ago in Africa. This woman was called "Mitochondria! Eve," the genetic mother of all of earth's present-day population.

C. Tens of thousands of years before Beirut became a meeting place of East and West, the Levantine coastal strip and the Arabian Peninsula to the south were corridors through which our common ancestors moved out of Africa and into Asia, Europe, Australia and, lastly, the Americas. The region also has the distinction of being a place where Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) and our immediate ancestors co-existed and indeed interbred. Although the evolutionary split between Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern humans occurred sometime between 440,000 and 270,000 years ago, according to research, a little Neanderthal DNA, between one and four per cent, exists in all peoples alive today, except for those in Africa. It is probable that our Neanderthal heritage resulted from interbreeding that happened in the Near East sometime between 80,000 and 45,000 years ago.

D. According to proponents of the "out of Africa" theory, the exodus of anatomically modem humans probably occurred in waves. One early migration into the Near East occurred prior to 130,000 years ago, and an examination of a modern map of the Horn of Africa and adjacent parts of Arabia shows there are two obvious routes this migration could have taken. One involves crossing from northern Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula, the other crosses the Bab el-Mandab strait to reach modern-day Yemen, perhaps by watercraft. It is likely that both these routes were taken at different times, as they were navigable, presented no significant hazards and were frequented by the animals our early ancestors tracked and hunted. Given the geographic position of the Near East as a bridge between Europe and Asia, this region formed the trunk through which our family tree branched out from its African roots, both geographically and genetically. When modern humans entered the area over 130,000 years ago, the Neanderthals were in residence, and it seems they curtailed the extent of the newcomers' settlement for a while. When another wave of modern humans began migrating from Africa about 50,000 years ago, perhaps due to population pressure on resources and territory, our ancestors ultimately became the sole inhabitants of places like Ksar Aqil.

E. If this contest had been based on physical strength alone, the Neanderthals would have won hands down. Modern humans, however, had developed cognitive, physical and cultural abilities that provided an advantage, ultimately leading to the Neanderthals being relegated to geographically marginalized refugees. Neanderthals differed from modern humans in a number of ways, perhaps most noticeably in their skull anatomy, which featured a sloped forehead, a large projection at the back of the skull called an occipital bun, pronounced eyebrow ridges, and no chin. Physically robust and more powerfully built than our ancestors, their massive but relatively short stature was more efficient in cold climates like Europe's. In common with modern humans, they possessed a gene essential for language development, and some paleoanthropologists believe they were capable of complex speech patterns. The Neanderthals apparently were not suited to activities like long-distance running. The energy cost of locomotion was apparently 32 per cent higher in Neanderthals, resulting in a daily dietary requirement between 100 and 350 calories greater than that of modern humans living in similar environmental settings. Our ancestors may, therefore, have had a competitive edge simply by being more fuel-efficient.

F. What exactly happened to the Neanderthals no one knows. Modern peoples migrating into Southwest Asia and on to Europe may have displaced them. Undoubtedly, contact led to a variety of interactions, some clearly resulting in opportunities for interbreeding, others involving physical conflict and competition for resources. The Neanderthals' demise may also have been linked to rapid climatic swings between 50,000 and 30,000 years ago, which created further pressure on their already divided and isolated populations.

Questions 33-39
Classify the following as typical of
A. Neanderthals

B. humans

C. both
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to Questions 33-39.

33. the ability to develop language

34. the absence of one particular facial feature

35. the ability to run long distances

36. needing to consume lots of calories

37. greater physical strength

38. being small in height

39. making up at least 96% of our genes

Question 40

What is the best title for Reading Passage 3?

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
A. The decline of Neanderthal man

B. The site where humans and Neanderthals met and mixed

C. The migration of humans into Europe

RAINING ICE

In May 2012, disaster struck a mountainous region of China's Gansu province. 40 people were killed and 29,300 people evacuated when a brief but extremely violent hailstone storm swept across Min County. Houses collapsed, roads were blocked and crops were destroyed. The extreme weather also affected the power supply and communications in the region. When you consider that hailstones can reach sizeable proportions, the damage they can cause is understandable. The world's largest hailstone was found after a storm in South Dakota and measured 20.5 cm in diameter with a 47 cm circumference - this was after melting caused it to lose 5 cm from its original size. Apart from China and the US, other parts of the world that frequently suffer from hailstorm damage include Russia, India and northern Italy.

Hail is a form of solid precipitation created within cumulonimbus clouds. Cumulonimbus clouds are caused by heating from below and cooling from above. As the earth is heated during the day by the sun, air close to the ground becomes warmer. Hot air is less dense than cold air and therefore lighter so it rises and, as it does so, it becomes cooler. The warm air reaches a cold point called the condensation level where the water vapor condenses and turns back to a liquid form. As the warm air rises to the condensation level, it becomes less able to keep its moisture and condenses into large clouds, which are often called thunderheads. The process of condensation releases heat into the surrounding air making the air rise even faster and release more moisture. These huge clouds are complex systems in their own right, containing large amounts of energy resulting in updrafts and downdrafts - vertical winds that can reach speeds over 176 km per hour and help in the formation of hail.

Hail grows in the thunderhead's main updraft where most of the cloud is 'supercooled' water: water that is still liquid even though its temperature is below 0°C. This water will stay in liquid form until it encounters something on which to freeze. There are other particles within the cloud - small frozen raindrops or soft ice particles - called graupel. When the supercooled water hits the graupel, it freezes around it, creating a hailstone. However, this is just the start of the hailstone's journey. A hailstone's eventual size depends upon the intensity of the storm in which it is born. To form a golf ball-sized hailstone requires over ten billion supercooled drops of water and a time span of between five and 10 minutes. This accumulation of additional ice is a process called accretion and takes place in areas of the cloud rich in supercooled water. Accretion takes place in two ways, resulting in two distinguishable kinds of hailstone. In the first process, strong updrafts, which lift the top of the cloud into part of the atmosphere known as the troposphere, take the hailstone through the supercooled layer where it accretes ice, making it heavy enough to fall back through the cloud. On falling, it encounters other strong updrafts, which take it back though the supercooled layer where it grows and falls again. An updraft of 35-55 km per hour will form small hailstones; hailstones that are 5 cm in diameter require updrafts of 88 kph and hailstones that are 12 cm in diameter need updrafts of 160 kph to grow. The other process involves the hailstone falling slowly through a layer of the cloud rich in supercooled water.

The first process results in hailstones with concentric layers usually alternating between clear and cloudy ice, indicating how it was produced. The opaque layer forms when supercooled water drops freeze quickly onto the growing hailstone and trap tiny air bubbles inside the ice giving it a milky appearance. The next layer - the transparent layer - forms when larger drops of supercooled liquid water hit the hailstone. Here the freezing process is slower, allowing air bubbles to escape and clear ice to form. Hailstones showing little of this layering may have been subject to the second process of formation. Instead of being pushed up through the cumulonimbus by updrafts and pulled back through by gravity several times, these hailstones simply fall slowly through the cloud gathering mass as they drop.

The interior of a cumulonimbus cloud is a place of extreme violence. As the hailstones rise and fall, they collide with each other. The result of this can be their breaking up or the formation of large irregular shaped hailstones. Hailstones are categorised according to their size. The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation classifies hailstorms according to their destructive power, ranging from HO - hard hail composed of hailstones of 5 mm in diameter, which do not cause damage - through H5 storms, destructive enough to damage glass, roofs and injure people, to the most severe - H10 or 'super hailstorms', which cause extensive structural damage and can fatally injure people caught out in the open.

The rate at which they fall varies but can be faster than 160 kph for larger hailstones as they become too heavy for the updraft to support or if a downdraft catches them and blows them violently back to earth. It is estimated that between 40 and 70% of hailstones never reach the earth, melting instead inside the cloud, colliding with and smashing into smaller pieces on their way through the air, or melting in the atmosphere to fall as rain.

Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? 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. Hailstone storms last a long time and cause considerable damage.

2. The world's largest hailstone had lost volume before it was found.

3. Cumulonimbus clouds hold significant quantities of energy.

4. Cumulonimbus clouds are called 'thunderheads' because they are the cause of thunder and lightening storms.

5. Water always turns to ice when it is under 0°C.

6. A slow freezing rate creates clear ice.

7. Hailstones are classified according to their destructive power.

8. Many hailstones stay within the cloud and do not reach the ground.

Questions 9-16

Label the diagram below using words from the box.

Write the correct letter, A-H, in spaces 9-16.
A. graupel
B. updraft

C. condensation level

D. accretion

E. heat released into atmosphere

F. downdraft

G. warm air

H. supercooled area

The formation of hailstones in a cloud

Bài tập thuộc chương trình học của lớp IELTS READING ONLINE 1 KÈM 1 của IELTS TUTOR

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 Thiele 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 17-22

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Which paragraphs contain the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-F, next to Questions 17-22.

17. changing light waves to increase capacity

18. a practical demonstration of the new technology

19. use of the wireless spectrum needing to be monitored closely

20. overcoming the problem of the short range of the new signal

21. improvements in data transmission possibly leading to technological breakthroughs

22. the prospect of saving people a lot of time

Questions 23-27

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.

Write the correct letter, A-I, in spaces 23-27.

Researchers are looking for a way of using the 23........... more efficiently. One option is to transmit signals that are twisted into 24.......... and wrapping them together, or 25.............them. This is still problematic on earth due to 26.................. but scientists hope that 27........... cable technology will catch up with the research breakthrough.

A. bandwidth

B. atmospheric interference

C. fibre-optic

D. light waves

E. multiplexing

F. wireless spectrum

G. spirals

H. data streams

I. novel

SINKING CITIES

Looking across the Bund towards Pudong across the Huangpu River in Shanghai, you will see an array of modern world-beating skyscrapers. In contrast, behind you are the magnificent buildings from the nineteenth century. Standing on the high tourist promenade that runs the length of the waterfront, you may also notice that the level of the river is quite a bit higher than that of the buildings on the Bund. It isn't because the river has risen higher than usual due to rainfall; no - Shanghai is sinking. It is an unfortunate problem that Shanghai shares with several other major financial and industrial centres and it is caused by factors most of the cities have in common. Included in the list are New York, Bangkok, Houston and Mexico City, all either built on shaky foundations or low-lying land that is now threatened by rising sea levels.

New York and Bangkok are victims of bad luck. The effect of global warming on the sea levels means that these cities may drown in the oceans that brought them such importance and prosperity. Scientists believe that sea levels in the New York area are expected to rise about twice as quickly as in the rest of the world. The position of the city — situated where the Hudson River flows into the Atlantic Ocean — already puts America's most densely populated city at a higher risk of flooding. But the impact of tropical storms and rising tides poses more dangers than just flooding. Beaches in the area will be swept away followed by the surrounding wetlands eventually becoming part of the sea; surrounding river estuaries will see an increase in the salt levels in the fresh water. All of this will affect the ecosystems in New York's immediate area and damage developments along the coast. Bangkok too will fall victim to rising sea levels. Also situated on swamplands next to a river, the Chao Phraya, the city is about 50 kilometres north of the Gulf of Thailand. The city is likely to face increasingly severe tropical storms crossing from the Bay as well as threats from coastal erosion and shifting clay soil. It seems unlikely that Bangkok will save itself from drowning under the waters of the Pacific, which are predicted to rise by between 19 and 29 cm by 2050.

Other cities are sinking due to bad planning rather than bad luck. The fourth largest city in America is Houston but it has been built on shaky foundations — and these are now giving way. Houston was literally built on a foundation of sand up to several kilometres deep and loosely packed clay from river deposits formed from the erosion of the Rocky Mountains. In addition to poor foundation materials, Houston has an estimated 300 fault lines running through it. Using GPS data from 24 measuring points throughout the country between 1995 to 2005 a research team were able to monitor the area of subsidence and found an area of Houston measuring 30 kilometres squared was sinking very fast — up to 5 centimetres per year. The reason for the subsidence is quite straightforward: the withdrawal of water from deep beneath the surface. Areas of Houston where water extraction has been stopped have stopped sinking. Similarly, parts of Mexico City are subsiding rapidly due to poor foundations — some areas of the city are sinking up to 20 centimetres a year. The city is built on a dry lake bed in the valley of Mexico, and the council has condemned fifty structures since 2006 because of leaning, and approximately 5,000 homes and buildings are unstable. Some of the heaviest buildings, like the Palace of Fine Arts, have sunk more than three metres over the past one hundred years and its original ground floor is now the basement. Again the reason is the depletion of the water reserve lying under the city. But in this case there is a complicating factor: a vast complex of drains was built under the city to protect it from flooding by water running from the surrounding mountains. As the city sinks, so do the drains and the wastewater they were supposed to carry away is finding its way back to the city. And it's not only water mains and drains that have been affected; as the city sinks the subway network is subsiding with it.

Back in Shanghai, the same problem is causing the city of 13 million people and ultra-modern skyline to sink beneath the waterline of the Huang Pu River. Originally a small fishing village built on swamplands surrounding the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai's population has swollen to around 13 million people. The expansion has been sustained by taking water from wells drilled into the aquifer under the city and by constructing massive skyscrapers. According to China Central Television, Shanghai has sunk up to three metres since the early 1990s mainly due to depletion of underground water but also because of the weight of high-rise buildings situated on areas with soft soil. As a partial solution to the problem, Shanghai is trying to reverse the sinking by pumping 5.2 billion gallons of water a year into the water table with some success — so far the city has risen by almost 11.5 cm.

Questions 28-35

Complete the table below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in spaces 28-35.

Questions 36-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

36. The thing that may strike you when you are standing on Shanghai's tourist promenade is

A. the contrasting styles of the buildings.

B. its height.

C. that the river is higher than the buildings behind the promenade.

D. that it runs the length of the waterfront.

37. Which of the following is NOT a predicted effect on New York?

A. wetlands becoming part of the ocean

B. beaches being lost

C. developments along the coastline

D. the increasing saltiness of river mouths

38. Houston has been built on

A. shallow sand.

B. material from the Rocky Mountains.

C. volcanic fault lines.

D. accurate GPS measurements.

39. The sinking in Houston

A. affects the whole city equally.

B. is due to water use and the weight of the buildings.

C. has completely stopped.

D. was measured using historical data.

40. Which of the following is NOT true of Mexico City's drains?

A. They were built to defend the city from flooding.

B. They run back to the surrounding mountains.

C. They are sinking with the city.

D. They are carrying wastewater back to the city instead of away from it.

Questions 21-26

The text below has seven sections, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for sections B-G from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, next to Questions 21-26.
List of Headings

i. Our guarantee to you

ii. The application process

iii. A wide choice

iv. Having friends to stay

v. On arrival

vi. A warm welcome from Melborough

vii. Sources of information

viii. Meeting our representatives

ix. Family applicants

Example Answer

Section A vi

21. Section B

22. Section C

23. Section D

24. Section E

25. Section F

26. Section G

A HOME FROM HOME AT MELBOROUGH UNIVERSITY!

A. Our relationship with Bechamp Logistics has been a long and fruitful one and we continue to welcome its employees to Melborough University for an education that is second to none. Whether you are about to start a full-time MBA or joining one of our part-time courses, we look forward to welcoming you to the university. We appreciate how important it is that you quickly and easily find somewhere to live during your time here. This leaflet will outline how we work with you to choose the right accommodation.

B. Obtaining suitable accommodation is a priority for those who are leaving their friends, colleagues and family to spend a period of time away from home. For this reason we promise that all Bechamp Logistics employees who have been accepted on a course with us will receive help with accommodation should they need it.

C. If you are planning on relocating during your studies or just renting during the week, we recommend you live on campus as experience has shown this will help you settle into your studies more quickly. We have economy single rooms in our halls of residence, or for those looking for a little more luxury we have Soho House, our dedicated hall for company-sponsored students. Should you prefer to live off campus we can offer you a single-room apartment or rooms in a shared house in the city centre or suburbs.

D. To help you make your choice you will find extensive information on our website with detailed descriptions of all our accommodation including photos and video tours of rooms and halls. You will also find a full price list for the various accommodation types. For people who are able to visit the university before the application deadline, you are welcome to contact our accommodation office for help with viewing places.

E. Students with dependent children can apply for accommodation in any of our dedicated family-friendly halls. There are limited spaces available and you will need to contact us quickly to be sure of obtaining a place on campus. Should these not be available we are always able to help with accommodation off campus. You should go through the application process as usual and be sure to complete the section marked 'dependents'. This will alert our staff to your requirements so they can prioritise your application.

F. Once you have been offered a place at the university you are advised to apply for accommodation immediately. All applications are made online. Once we have received your application we will arrange a time for you to be called by our accommodation office where we will talk to you about your options. Following this conversation, we will either reserve your campus accommodation or represent you should you be looking for a place to live off campus in private accommodation. You will receive written confirmation of your residence no later than two weeks before the start of term.

G. Our accommodation office will be pleased to answer any questions you may have when you arrive at university. Before handing over the keys we ask you to sign a contract outlining your responsibilities. Please note that included in these terms is a commitment to pay for your accommodation for the full academic year.

Please visit the accommodation section of our website for further details.

Questions 27-34

The text below has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Choose the correct headings for sections A-H from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, next to questions 27-34.

List of Headings

i. Surprising navigational achievements

ii. Inconsistent data

iii. Setting up the experiment

iv. The bees in action

v. Theories rejected

vi. Achievements explained

vii. Can larger brained creatures achieve the same?

viii. The challenge for previous researchers
ix. Bees versus computers
x. The bees' natural environment

27. Paragraph A
28. Paragraph B
29. Paragraph C
30. Paragraph D
31. Paragraph E
32. Paragraph F
33. Paragraph G
34. Paragraph H

UNDERSTANDING THE FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE

A. Bumblebees are remarkable navigators. While their flight paths may look scattered to the casual eye, all that buzzing about is anything but random. Like the travelling salesman in the famous mathematical problem of how to take the shortest path along multiple stops, bumblebees quickly find efficient routes among flowers. And once they find a good route, they stick to it. The same goes for other animals from hummingbirds to bats to primates that depend on patchy resources such as nectar and fruit. Perhaps this is not such a surprising feat for animals with relatively high brain power. But how do bumblebees, with their tiny brains, manage it? As new research in this issue of PLOS Biology by Lars Chittka and colleagues shows, a simple strategy may be enough for a real-world solution to this complex problem.

B. For computers, solving the travelling salesman problem means methodically calculating and comparing the lengths of all possible routes. But such an exhaustive approach isn't feasible in practice, and indeed animals can find a near-optimal foraging route, or trapline, without trying them all. Determining exactly how they do this, however, has been stymied by the difficulties of tracking animals as they forage in the wild. Chittka and colleagues got around this problem by tracking bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) on five artificial flowers set in a mown pasture. The “flowers” had landing platforms with drops of sucrose in the middle, and were fitted with motion-triggered webcams.

C. To keep the bees' focus on the artificial flowers, the experiments were done in October, when natural sources of nectar and pollen were scarce. To make the bees want to find all five flowers, each sucrose drop was only enough to fill one-fifth of a bumblebee's crop. And to keep the bees from finding one foraging site from another visually, the flowers were arranged in a pentagon that was 50 m on each side, which is more than three times farther than bumblebees can see.

D. The researchers released bees individually from a nest box that was about 60 m from the nearest flower, and used the webcams to track the sequence of flower visits during consecutive foraging bouts. The bees found the closest flowers first and added new flowers during subsequent bouts. With experience, they repeated segments of the visitation sequence that shortened the overall route while abandoning those that did not. Traplines linking all five flowers in a short route were established after an average of 26 foraging bouts, which entailed trying only about 20 of the 120 possible routes.

E. In addition, the researchers fitted five bees with transponders and tracked them with radar as they developed traplines. This revealed that flight paths between trapline segments were relatively straight and that between their first and last bouts, bees cut their total travel distance by 80% (from 1,953 to 458 m). In contrast to computers, bees did not find the absolute shortest route of 312 m even in this simple experimental arrangement. But they came very close, which is remarkable considering that they explored only a small fraction of the possible routes, and established traplines relatively rapidly. This tradeoff between perfection and speed highlights the differences between mathematical and biological solutions to the travelling salesman problem.

F. How do bees develop such efficient routes so fast? The researchers assessed three possibilities: that bees optimize foraging routes by visiting flowers in the order of discovery, by shuffling them randomly, or by visiting those that are closest together. But they found that the first two failed to fit their observations while the third did not fully explain them.

G. Rather, the researchers propose that bees optimize foraging routes by combining exploration with learning from previous bouts, which enables the bees to adjust their routes as they find shorter paths. Based on the bees' movements during trapline establishment, the researchers developed a model linking experience to the likelihood of visiting particular flowers. Bees are well known to be able to compute and memorize distances between locations, and the model assumes that they remember the length of the shortest route so far, compare it to the length of the current route, and then choose the shorter of the two. Over time, choosing the more efficient route favors shorter segments over longer ones. The model is a good fit with the researchers' observations, predicting, for example, that bees will develop and stick to optimal routes in 20–25 bouts.

H. Besides shedding light on how bees develop traplines, this work suggests that small-brained animals can use simple methods to solve complex routing problems without the need for cognitive maps of spatial relationships, as has been suggested. It remains to be seen whether big-brained animals can also develop traplines with such elementary tools. But if so, that would free up their brain power for other tasks.

Các khóa học IELTS online 1 kèm 1 - 100% cam kết đạt target 6.0 - 7.0 - 8.0 - Đảm bảo đầu ra - Thi không đạt, học lại FREE

>> IELTS Intensive Writing - Sửa bài chi tiết

>> IELTS Intensive Listening

>> IELTS Intensive Reading

>> IELTS Intensive Speaking

>> Thành tích học sinh IELTS TUTOR với hàng ngàn feedback được cập nhật hàng ngày