30 BÀI TẬP CHUYÊN ĐỀ IELTS READING DETAIL QUESTIONS (Short Answer / Gap Filling / Multiple Choice / Classification)

• Dạng Detail Question trong IELTS READING là bao gồm những chuyên đề tập trung vào những câu hỏi mang tính chất chi tiết, đòi hỏi thí sinh cần phải đọc kĩ câu hỏi và đoạn văn mới có thể tìm ra đáp án được.
• Để có thể làm được các bài tập trong dạng Detail Questions, thí sinh cần phải đọc lại lí thuyết hướng dẫn Cách làm dạng bài short Answer trong IELTS READING, Cách làm dạng bài Gap Filling trong IELTS READING, Cách làm dạng vài Multiple Choice trong IELTS READING và Cách làm dạng bài Classification trong IELTS READING.

IELTS TUTOR lưu ý:

• 2/3 các câu hỏi trong đề thi IELTS thuộc dạng detail questions (câu hỏi mô tả thông tin chi tiết) (About two thirds of the questions in the IELTS Reading test focus on comprehension of specific information, using detail questions)
• Dạng detail questions hỏi các thông tin chi tiết (A detail question asks about one piece of information in the passage rather than the passage as a whole)
• Câu hỏi dạng detail questions sẽ đi theo thứ tự (The answers to this kind of question are generally given in order in the passage) >> IELTS TUTOR hướng dẫn Trong 12 Dạng câu hỏi IELTS Reading: dạng nào theo thứ tự
• Câu hỏi thường được paraphrase từ một ý trong đoạn văn khoanh vùng chứa keywords (The correct answer is often a restatement of what is given in the passage. This means that the correct answer often expresses the same ideas as what is written the passage, but the words are not exactly the same)

Detail questions thường bao gồm những dạng sau:

1. Short-Answer Questions
2. Gap-Filling Questions
3. Multiple-Choice Questions
4. Classification Questions
5. True / False / Not Given Questions
6. Sentence-Completion Questions
7. Matching Questions
8. Diagram / Table / Flow Chart- Completion Questions

For fifteen years, Sustrans - it stands for 'sustainable transport' - has been building traffic-free routes for cyclists and walkers, often through the heart of towns and cities. Several hundred miles are now completed, using disused railway line, canal towpaths, riversides and unused land. As a civil engineering charity, we work in partnership with local authorities and landowners.

We are now promoting a true national network, composed of traffic-free paths, quiet country roads, and on-road cycle lanes and protected crossings.

Safe cycling networks already exist in many parts of Europe - including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Netherlands. Europeans are often astonished at the road danger we put up with here.

A Danish cyclist is ten times less likely to be killed or seriously injured - per mile cycled - than a cyclist in Britain. Extensive national and local cycle routes there are supported by slower traffic systems on surrounding roads.

A national cycle network for Britain can help transform local transport for the 21^st century. With your help, it really is achievable! Make a donation now! (176 words)

Questions 1-5

Answer the questions using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answer in the blank below the question.

1. How many miles of the network have already been completed?

..............................................................................................................

2. At what are other European cyclists surprised that British cyclists accept?

..............................................................................................................

3. In addition to cycle network, what does Denmark have to protect cyclists?

..............................................................................................................

4. How can people help create a national cycle network in Britain?

..............................................................................................................

5. Apart from cyclists, who benefits from the work of Sustrans?

..............................................................................................................

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

Mining operations by their very nature have major impacts, positive and negative, on the local area and on local communities. They are usually in remote places and the people affected are often isolated or neglected communities.

It is inevitable that mining operations will disturb the environment in a fairly dramatic way. Forest cover may have to be cut down to clear the site of the mine or for access roads. Tunnels or open-cut pits are dug. Overburden is removed and dumped nearby, usually to erode slowly into nearby streams and rivers. Tailings from the ore processing plants have to be put somewhere preferably into an on-site tailings dam, but more likely straight into a river and/or the sea.

Mine tailings may contain some dangerous chemicals, but the major problem is usually the huge amounts of solid sediment that they put into the river system, and the effect this has on water quality and marine life. This can directly affect the livelihood of people living downstream who depend on the river for fish, for drinking water for themselves and their animals, or for cooking or washing. Heavy sedimentation can silt up rivers, making transportation difficult and causing fields and forests by the river banks to flood.

Other environmental effects can include air pollution from trucks tearing along dusty access roads, or more seriously, fumes from ore processing plants. Kelera, a woman who lives with her husband and two school-age children near the Australian-owned Emperor Gold Mine in Fiji, describes it thus:

When the gas comes, sometimes in the morning, it falls like a mist, and all the children start coughing, and we cough too. The people who get asthma, they are the ones who are really frightened to death. But what can you do? When the gas comes you have to breathe it... You know how strong it is? I tell you. The chili and the betel leaves that we grow, they just die. It's as though you took hot water and spilled it on the grass, and the next day you go and see what it looks like. It's just like that. (358 words)

Questions 1-5
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text to answer the following questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided.

1. In what kind of areas do mining operations usually occur?

.................................................................................................

2. What will be cleared from a site before mining begins?

.................................................................................................

3. Where do the tailings come from?

.................................................................................................

4. What aspect of mining will have the major impact on the river system?

.................................................................................................

5. What two air pollutants are often associated with a mining operation?

.................................................................................................

Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.

Economic growth is very strong, but America isn't generating enough jobs. Many blame outsourcing. The truth is a lot more complicated.

Americans live in a faith-based economy. We believe deeply in education, innovation, risk-taking, and plain hard work as the way to a better life. But that faith is being eroded. The link between strong growth and job creation appears to be broken, and we don't know what's wrong with it. Profits are soaring, yet no one is hiring. Angry voices are blaming Benedict Arnold CEOs who send jobs to India and China. If highly educated 'knowledge' workers in Silicon Valley are losing their jobs, who is really safe?

The truth is that we are living through a moment of maximum uncertainty. The economy is at an inflection point as new forces act upon it. Yet the shape and impact of these forces remain unknown. Outsourcing looms large as a potential threat because no one knows how many jobs and which industries are vulnerable. And productivity seems problematic because it's hard to see where the rewards for all the cost-cutting and hard work are going. Meanwhile, the Next Big Thing that is supposed to propel the economy and job growth forward after the Internet boom isn't obvious. As a result, CEOs are reluctant to place big bets on the future. Workers hunker down. And those laid off are at a loss trying to retrain. How can they when they don't know where the new jobs will be and who will be hiring? It's not even clear what college students should major in anymore. No wonder this feels like a new age of uncertainty.

THE REAL CULPRIT. Yet there are things we do know. The real culprit in this jobless recovery is productivity, not offshoring. Unlike most previous business cycles, productivity has continued to grow at a fast pace right through the downturn and into recovery. One percentage point of productivity growth can eliminate up to 1.3 million jobs a year. With productivity growing at an annual rate of 3% to 3 1/2% rather than the expected 2% to 2 1/2%, the reason for the jobs shortfall becomes clear: Companies are using information technology to cut costs — and that means less labour is needed. Of the 2.7 million jobs lost over the past three years, only 300,000 have been from outsourcing, according to Forrester Research Inc. People rightly fear that jobs in high tech and services will disappear just as manufacturing jobs did. Perhaps so. But odds are it will be productivity rather than outsourcing that does them in.

We know also where the benefits of rising productivity are going: higher profits. lower inflation, rising stocks, and, ultimately, loftier prices for houses. In short, productivity is generating wealth, not employment. Corporate profits as a share of national income are at an all-time high. So is net worth for many individuals. Consumer net worth hit a new peak, at $45 trillion — up 75% since 1995 — and consumers have more than recouped their losses from the bust.

We know, too, that outsourcing isn't altogether a bad thing. In the 1990s, high-tech companies farmed out the manufacture of memory chips, computers, and telecom equipment to Asia. This lowered the cost of tech gear, raising demand and spreading the IT revolution. The same will probably happen with software. Out-sourcing will cut prices and make the next generation of IT cheaper and more available. This will generate greater productivity and growth. In fact, as venture capitalists increasingly insist that all IT startups have an offshore component, the cost of innovation should fall sharply, perhaps by half.

We know something about the kinds of jobs that could migrate to Asia and those that will stay home. In the '90s, the making of customised chips and gear that required close contact with clients remained in the US, while production of commodity products was outsourced. Today, the Internet and cheaper telecom permit routine service work to be done in Bangalore. But specialised jobs that require close contact with clients, plus an understanding of US culture, will likely remain.

America has been at economic inflection points many times in the past. These periods of high job anxiety were eventually followed by years of surging job creation. The faith Americans have in innovation, risk-taking, education, and hard work has been sustained again and again by strong economic performance.

There's no question that today's jobless recovery is causing many people real pain. The number of discouraged workers leaving the workforce is unprecedented. Labour-force participation is down among precisely the most vulnerable parts of the workforce - younger and non-white workers. Some are going back to school, but many are simply giving up after fruitless searches for decent jobs. If the participation rate were at its March 2001 level, there will be 2.7 million more workers in the labour force looking for jobs. This would push the unemployment rate up to 7.4% not the current 5.6%.

History has shown time and again that jobs follow growth, but not necessarily in a simple, linear fashion. America has a dynamic, fast-changing economy that embodies Joseph A. Schumpeter's ideal of creative destruction. We are now experiencing the maximum pain from the wreckage of outmoded jobs while still awaiting the innovations that will generate the work of the future. While America's faith in its innovation economy has often been tested, it has never been betrayed. Given the chance, the economy will deliver the jobs and prosperity that it has in the past. (919 words).

Questions 1-9

Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answer in your booklet.

1. At present, ..........................................is not necessarily expected of a booming economy.
2. ............................. are needed to boost the worldwide economic growth.
3. Production costs are greatly curtailed due to the use of .............................................
4. The real estate property market is now overwhelmed by .............................................
5. Moving manufacture offshore helps ................................. economic development.
6. The 1990s witnessed the advantages of .............................. to keep jobs at home.
7. Economic history has proved ........................... will go after inflection.
8. The current ............................... reflects what is called the creative destruction.
9. In fact, ............................... is the only way to pull the country out of the paradoxical situation.

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

Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.

Was the Red Planet once a wet planet? A plucky Martian rover finally delivers some hard evidence.

Giovanni Schiaparelli could have told you there had been water on Mars. It was Schiaparelli who peered through his telescope one evening in 1877 and discovered what he took to be the Red Planet's famous canals. As it turned out, the canals were an optical illusion, but as more powerful telescopes and, later, spacecraft zoomed in for closer looks, there was no shortage of clues suggesting that Mars was once awash in water. Photographs shot from orbit show vast plains that resemble ancient sea floors, steep gorges that would dwarf the Grand Canyon and sinuous surface scars that look an awful lot like dry riverbeds.

Given all that, why were NASA scientists so excited last week to announce that one of their Mars rovers, having crawled across the planet for five weeks, finally determined that Mars, at some point in its deep past, was indeed 'drenched' — to use NASA's term — with liquid water?

Part of their excitement probably stems from sheer failure fatigue. NASA has had its share of setbacks in recent years — including a few disastrous missions to Mars. So it was with some relief that leading investigator Steve Squyres announced that the rover Opportunity had accomplished its primary mission. 'The puzzle pieces have been falling into place,' he told a crowded press conference, 'and the last piece fell into place a few days ago.'

But there was also, for the NASA team, the pleasure that comes from making a genuine contribution to space science. For despite all the signs pointing to Mars' watery past, until Opportunity poked its instruments into the Martian rocks, nobody was really sure how real that water was. At least some of the surface formations that look water carved could have been formed by volcanism and wind. Just two years ago, University of Colorado researchers published a persuasive paper suggesting that any water on Mars was carried in by crashing comets and then quickly evaporated.

The experiments that put that theory to rest — and nailed down the presence of water for good — were largely conducted on one 10-in-high, 65-ft-wide rock out-cropping in the Meridiani Planum that mission scientists dubbed El Capitan. The surface of the formation is made up of fine layers — called parallel laminations — that are often laid down by minerals settling out of water. The rock is also randomly pitted with cavities called vugs that are created when salt crystals form in briny water and then fall out or dissolve away.

Chemical analyses of El Capitan, performed with two different spectrometers, support the visual evidence. They show that it is rich in sulfates known to form in the presence of water as well as a mineral called jarosite, which not only forms in water but also actually contains a bit of water trapped in its matrix.

The most intriguing evidence comes in the form of the BB-size spherules — or 'blueberries,' as NASA calls them — scattered throughout the rock. Spheres like these can be formed either by volcanism or by minerals accreting under water, but the way the blueberries are mixed randomly through the rock — not layered on top, as they would have been after a volcanic eruption — strongly suggests the latter.

None of these findings are dispositive, but their combined weight persuaded NASA scientists to summarise their findings in unusually explicit language. 'We have concluded that the rocks here were soaked with liquid water,' said Squyres flatly. 'The ground would have been suitable for life.'

Does that mean that there was — or still is — life on Mars? The fossil record on Earth suggests that given enough time and H₂O, life will eventually emerge, but there's nothing in the current findings to prove that this happened on Mars. Without more knowledge of such variables as temperature, atmosphere and the length of time Martian water existed, we can't simply assume that what happened on our planet would necessarily occur on another.

Opportunity and its twin robot Spirit are not equipped to search for life. Their mission is limited to looking for signs of water. But there's still a lot for them to do. Just knowing that rocks were wet doesn't tell you if the water was flowing or stationary, if it melted down from ice caps or seeped up through the ground. And if water was once there in such abundance, where did it go? Opportunity, which is very likely to exceed its planned 90-day mission, is already looking for those answers, toddling off to investigate other rocks farther and farther from its landing site. Spirit is conducting its own studies in Gusev Crater, on the opposite side of the planet.

The next step — the search for life — will have to wait until 2013 or so. That's when NASA has tentatively scheduled the first round trip to Mars — a mission that will pluck selected rocks off the Red Planet and bring them back home for closer study. Whether humans will ever follow those machines — President Bush's January announcement notwithstanding — is impossible to say. (851 words)

Questions 1-8
Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answer in the blank.

1. The Martian rover is likely to show that the once regarded ......................may be true.
2. The completion of ........................ gave NASA scientists confidence for excitement.
3. Volcanoes and wind help shape............................
4. Small holes on the rock clearly indicate the .................................. on Mars.
5. .......................... are more likely to cause the formation of BB-size spherules.
6. The appearance of life depends on H₂0 as well as on.........................
7. Water may be .................................... from underneath the Martian surface.
8. The next trip will aim at scraping ............................... from the Mars.

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

You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-13, which are based on the reading passage below.

Emotional intelligence as a theory was first brought to public attention by the book Emotional Intelligence, Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman, but the theory itself is, in fact, attributed to two Americans, John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey. What is emotional intelligence exactly? According to Goleman, emotional intelligence consists of five key elements. The first is knowing one's own emotions: being able to recognise that one is in an emotional state and having the ability to identify which emotion is being experienced, even if it is not a particularly comfortable feeling to admit to, e.g. jealousy or envy.

Emotional awareness can then lead to managing one's emotions. This involves dealing with emotions, like jealousy, resentment, anger, etc., that one may have difficulty accepting by, perhaps, giving oneself comfort food, or doing nice things when one is feeling low. Many people do this instinctively by buying chocolate or treating themselves; others are able to wrap themselves in positive thoughts or "mother themselves". There are, of course, many people who are incapable of doing this, and so need to be taught. The third area is self-motivation. Our emotions can simultaneously empower and hinder us, so it is important to develop the ability to control them. Strategies can be learnt whereby emotions are set aside to be dealt with at a later date. For example, when dealing with the success or good fortune of others, it is better not to suppress any "negative" emotion that arises. One just has to recognise it is there. And then one just needs to be extra careful when making decisions and not allow one's emotions to cloud thee issue, by letting them dictate how one functions with that person. The separation of logic and emotion is not easy when dealing with people.

As social beings, we need to be able to deal with other people, thus bringing us to the next item on Goleman's list, namely: recognising emotions in other people. This means, in effect, having or developing "social radar", i.e. learning to read the weather systems around individuals or groups of people. Obviously, leading on from this is the ability to handle relationships. If we can recognise, understand and then deal with other people's emotions, we can function better both socially and professionally. Not being tangible, emotions are difficult to analyse and quantify, compounded by the fact that each area in the list above does not operate in isolation. Each of us has misread a friend's or a colleague's behaviour to us and other people. The classic example is the shy person, categorised by some people as arrogant and distant and by others as lively and friendly and very personable. How can two different groups make a definitive analysis of someone that is so strikingly contradictory? And yet this happens on a daily basis in all our relationships — even to the point of misreading the behaviour of those close to us! In the work scenario, this can cost money. And so it makes economic sense for business to be aware of it and develop strategies for employing people and dealing with their employees.

All common sense you might say. Goleman himself has even suggested that emotional intelligence is just a new way of describing competence: what some people might call savoir faire or savoir vivre. Part of the problem here is that society or some parts of society have forgotten that these skills ever existed and have found the need to re-invent them.

But the emergence of emotional intelligence as a theory suggests that the family situations and other social interactions where social skills were honed in the past are fast disappearing, so that people now sadly need to be re-skilled. (622 words)

Questions 1-5

Choose one phrase (A-I) from the list of phrases on the next page to complete each key point below. Write the appropriate letters (A-I) beside questions 1-5. The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate summary of the points made by the writer.

N.B. There are more phrases than key points, so you will not need to use them all. You may use each phrase once only.

Key Points

1. Knowing one's emotions...
2. One aspect of managing one's emotions ...
3. Self-motivation ...
4. The ability to recognise emotions in other people ...
5. Handling relationships...

List of Phrases

A. empowers and hinders us

B. means many people eat chocolate

C. involves both recognition and identification

D. is intangible

E. is achieved by learning to control emotions

F. is the key to better social and professional functioning

G. is particularly comfortable

H. is like having social radar

I. is that some emotions are difficult to accept

Questions 6-12
Choose the appropriate letters (A-D) and write them in questions 6-12 on your answer sheet.

6. Emotional intelligence as a theory..................

A. is attributed to Daniel Goleman

B. was unheard of until the 1970s

C. is attributed to Mayer and Salovey

D. consists of at least five key areas
7. One way of controlling emotions is to.........................

A. hinder them

B. suppress the negative ones

C. put them to the side to deal with later

D. use both logic and emotion
8. As well as being intangible, the problem with emotions is that they.................

A. are difficult

B. are difficult to qualify

C. do not operate in isolation

D. are compounded
9. Misreading the behaviour of others.......................

A. is most common with those close to us

B. is always expensive

C. is a classic example

D. happens on a daily basis

10. Employers need to ...............

A. save money

B. know about people's emotions

C. employ and deal with employees

D. work scenario
11. Goleman links emotional intelligence to....................

A. competence

B. incompetence

C. happiness

D. common sense
12. The fact that the idea of emotional intelligence has emerged suggests that social interactions ...............

A. happen in the family

B. need to be re-skilled

C. are becoming less frequent

D. are honed

Question 13
Does the statement below agree with the information in the reading passage? Beside question 13, write:
YES if the statement agrees with the information in the passage;

NO if the statement contradicts the information in the passage;

NOT GIVEN if there is no information about the statement in the passage.
Example:

John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey wrote "Emotional Intelligence, Why It Can Matter More Than IQ".

Answer: NO

13. The author believes that the lack of emotional intelligence will lead to the disintegration of the family as a social unit.

Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.

1. By 2000, half of the recoverable material in Britain's dustbins will be recycled — that, at least, was the target set last November by Chris Pattern, Secretary of State for the Environment. But he gave no clues as to how we should go about achieving it. While recycling enthusiasts debate the relative merits of different collection systems, it will largely be new technology, and the opening up of new markets, that makes Pattern's target attainable: a recycling scheme is successful only if manufacturers use the recovered materials in new products that people want to buy.

2. About half, by weight, of the contents of the typical British dustbin is made up of combustible materials. These materials comprise 33 per cent paper, 7 per cent plastics (a growing proportion), 4 pet cent textiles and 8 per cent miscellaneous combustibles.

3. Of the rest, hard non-combustibles (metals and glass) each make up another 10 per cent, and 'putrescibles', such as potato peelings and cabbage stalks, account for 20 per cent, although this proportion is decreasing as people eat more pre-prepared foods. The final fraction is fines — nameless dust. This mixture is useless to industry, and in Britain most of it is disposed of in landfill sites — suitable holes, such as worked-out quarries, in which the waste is buried under layers of soil and clay. That still leaves about 40 per cent of the mixture - glass containers, plastics, and some paper and metal containers — as relatively clean when discarded. This clean element is the main target for Britain's recyclers.

4. The first question, then, is how best to separate the clean element from the rest. The method of collection is important because manufacturers will not reuse collected material unless it is clean and available in sufficient quantities. A bewildering assortment of different collection schemes operates in the rest of Europe, and pilot schemes are now under way in many British cities including Leeds, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Cardiff. Sheffield, Cardiff and Dundee are testing out alternatives as part of a government-monitored recycling project initiated last year by Friends of the Earth.

5. We could almost have the total weight of domestic waste going to landfill by a combination of 'collect' schemes (such as doorstep collections for newspapers), 'bring' schemes (such as bottle banks) and plants for extracting metals.

6. This estimate makes two important assumptions. One is that the government will bring in legislation to encourage the creation of markets for products made from recycled materials, especially glass, paper and plastics. The other is that industry will continue to introduce new technology that will improve both the products and the techniques used to separate materials from mixed refuse. (448 words)

Questions 1-4

Decide which of the alternatives is the correct answer and put the appropriate letter in the space provided.

1. In paragraph 1, the writer suggests that the Secretary of State for the Environment has

A. created an impossible target.

B. provided a target without a method.

C. given clear details of how to achieve a target.

D. given manufacturers a target to aim for.

Answer: ........................................................
2. It can be inferred from the text that the disposal of ...................... is on the decline.

A. paper and textiles

B. vegetable peelings

C. bottles and metals

D. glass and plastics

Answer:....................................................
3. 'This mixture is useless to industry' (paragraph 3). This statement is

A. true for Britain but not for other countries.

B. a matter of disagreement.

C. the opinion of the author.

D. an established fact.

Answer:.............................................................
4. According to the text, recycling is only possible when

A. there is enough clean material.

B. there is a small amount of clean material.

C. it is monitored by the government.

D. different schemes operate.

Answer:...........................................................

What if the dark energy and dark matter essential to modern explanations of the universe don't really exist?

It was beautiful, complex and wrong. In 150 AD, Ptolemy of Alexandria published his theory of epicycles — the idea that the moon, the sun and the planets moved in circles, which were moving in circles around the Earth. This theory explained the motion of celestial objects to an astonishing degree of precision. It was, however, what computer programmers call a kludge: a dirty, inelegant solution. Some 1,500 years later, Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer, replaced the whole complex edifice with three simple laws.

Some people think modern astronomy is based on a kludge similar to Ptolemy's. At the moment, the received wisdom is that the obvious stuff in the universe — stars, planets, gas clouds, and so on — is actually only 4% of its total content. About another quarter is so-called cold, dark matter, which is made of different particles from the familiar sort of matter, and can interact with the latter only via gravity. The remaining 70% is even stranger. It is known as dark energy, and acts to push the universe apart. However, the existence of cold, dark matter and dark energy has to be inferred from their effects on the visible, familiar stuff. If something else is actually causing those effects, the whole theoretical edifice would come crashing down.

According to a paper just published in the MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY by Tom Shanks and his colleagues at the University of Durham, in England, that might be about to happen. Many of the inferences about dark matter and dark energy come from detailed observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This is radiation that pervades space, and is the earliest remnant of the Big Bang which is thought to have started it all. Small irregularities in the CMB have been used to deduce what the early universe looked like, and thus how much cold, dark matter and dark energy there is around.

Dr. Shanks thinks these irregularities may have been misinterpreted. He and his colleagues have been analysing data on the CMB that were collected by WMAP, a satellite launched in 2001 by NASA, America's space agency. They have compared these data with those from telescopic surveys of galaxy clusters, and have found correlations between the two which, they say, indicate that the clusters are adding to the energy of the CMB by a process called inverse Compton scattering, in which hot gas boosts the energy of the microwaves. That, they say, might be enough to explain the irregularities without resorting to ghostly dark matter and energy.

Dr. Shanks is not the only person questioning the status quo. In a pair of papers published in a December issue of ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS, Sebastien Vauclair of the Astrophysics Laboratory of the Midi-Pyrenees, in Toulouse, and his colleagues also report the use of galaxy clusters to question the existence of dark energy. But their method uses the clusters in a completely different way from Dr. Shanks, and thus opens a second flank against the conventional wisdom.

Cosmological theory says that the relationship between the mass of a galaxy cluster and its age is a test of the value of the 'density parameter' of the universe. The density parameter is, in turn, a measure of just how much normal matter, dark matter and dark energy there is. But because the mass of a cluster is difficult to measure directly, astronomers have to infer it from computer models which tell them how the temperature of the gas in a cluster depends on that cluster's mass.

Even measuring the temperature of a cluster is difficult, though. What is easy to measure is its luminosity. And that should be enough, since luminosity and temperature are related. All you need to know are the details of the relationship, and by measuring luminosity you can backtrack to temperature and then to mass.

That has been done for nearby clusters, but not for distant ones which, because of the time light has taken to travel from them to Earth, provide a snapshot of earlier times. So Dr. Vauclair and his colleagues used XMM-NEWTON, a European X-ray-observation satellite that was launched in 1999, to measure the X-ray luminosities and the temperatures of eight distant clusters of galaxies. They then compared the results with those from closer (and therefore apparently older) clusters.

The upshot was that the relationship between mass and age did not match the predictions of conventional theory. It did, however, match an alternative model with a much higher density of 'ordinary matter' in it. That does not mean conventional theory is yet dead. The NEWTON observations are at the limits of accuracy, so a mistake could have crept in. Or it could be that astronomers have misunderstood how galaxy clusters evolve. Changing that understanding would be uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable as throwing out cold, dark matter and dark energy.

On the other hand, a universe that requires three completely different sorts of stuff to explain its essence does have a whiff of epicycles about it. As Albert Einstein supposedly said, 'Physics should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.' Put Dr. Shanks's and Dr. Vauclair's observations together, and one cannot help but wonder whether Ptolemy might soon have some company in the annals of convoluted, discarded theories. (899 words)

Questions 1-8

Three categories of astronomical theories are mentioned in the essay. Which category should each of the following be classified into? Write your answer in the space provided. Choose:
SV = Dr. Shanks and Dr. Vauclair

Con = Conventional wisdom

Pt = Ptolemy

1. The approach of luminosity measurement: ......................
2. 'Ordinary matter' model: ......................
3. The presence of dark matter and energy: ......................
4. The successive rotation of the heavenly body: ......................
5. Density parameter approach: ......................
6. Scattering galaxy clusters: ......................
7. Big Bang: ......................
8. Cosmic microwave background: ......................

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

With or without AT&T Wireless, Vodafone now has a fight on its hands.

The word 'dilemma' is widely misused. It does not simply refer to a difficult decision, but to a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives. That is exactly what Vodafone, the world's largest mobile telephone operator, faced this week as it debated whether or not to bid for AT&T Wireless, a struggling American firm that recently put itself up for sale. With the deadline for bids set for February 13^th, there was much speculation over Vodafone's intentions as THE ECONOMIST went to press. But whether or not the firm decides to make a play for AT&T Wireless, it now has a fight on its hands as it struggles to win control of an American mobile operator, an essential component of its strategy to establish a dominant global brand.

At the moment, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the leading American operator. (The other 55% is owned by Verizon, a fixed-line telephone firm.) This is an anomaly: Vodafone usually has a controlling stake in its subsidiaries. So, it would love to take control of Verizon Wireless, or buy another operator outright, in order to apply the Vodafone brand and integrate its American operations with those overseas. Surely, then, a bid for AT&T Wireless would make perfect sense? Alas, no. Worries about the impact of such a deal have wiped $17 billion off Vodafone's market value. Shareholders and managers are divided over the merits of bidding.

The first objection is that to buy AT&T Wireless, Vodafone would have to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless, worth around $30 billion, back to Verizon. It would then find itself in a bidding war with Cingular, another operator which has already made a cash bid of $30 billion for AT&T Wireless. Even if Vodafone wins, the tax bill associated with selling its Verizon Wireless stake plus the premium needed to outbid Cingular with probably add up to $5 billion - 10 billion. As Bob House of Adventis, a consultancy, observes, that is a lot to pay to swap 'a minority stake in a very good operator for a controlling stake in much less with good one'.

Vodafone would receive far less income from its new American subsidiary: AT&T Wireless is much less profitable than Verizon Wireless. It would also cost money to bring AT&T Wireless's network up to the standards of Vodafone's networks in other countries. Verizon Wireless has a modem, efficient network based on CDMA technology, which it is upgrading to provide high-speed 'broadband' access. AT&T Wireless, by contrast, has a complicated patchwork of old TDMA and newer GSM and EDGE technologies. The appeal of Vodafone is that these technologies are compatible with its GSM network in other countries. This would allow roaming between its network in America and in other countries, something that is currently impossible (though not, it must be said, of much concern to most subscribers). It would also increase Vodafone's clout when negotiating with GSM equipment vendors.

Overall, buying AT&T Wireless would be expensive, difficult and risky - which is why many shareholders are opposed. In a statement released in February 9^th, Vodafone announced that it 'continues to monitor developments in the US market and is exploring whether a potential transaction with AT&T Wireless is in the interests of its shareholders'. It would seem to be an open-and-shut case -- buying AT&T Wireless would destroy shareholder value. Cingular, in contrast, can cut costs by merging its existing operations with those of AT&T Wireless, since it is already operating in the American market. Vodafone cannot.

But the company's Sphinx-like statement could he read both ways. For to win control of an American operator, the alternative to bidding for AT&T Wireless is not to do nothing: it is to attempt a $150 billion hostile takeover of Verizon, in order to win control of Verizon Wireless. This could make buying AT&T Wireless look like a picnic in comparison. And even if Vodafone pulled off such a deal, it would then have to sell off Verizon's shrinking and unattractive landline business. This is not impossible — the company performed a similar manoeuvre in Japan — but it is not difficult to see why bidding for AT&T Wireless might look like the least bad option.

For Arun Sarin, who took over as Vodafone's boss last July, the timing could hardly be worse. Mr. Sarin was planning to concentrate on integrating Vodafone's existing businesses, and perhaps working on a deal to extract SFR, its French associate, from the controlling clutches of Vivendi. Consolidation in the American market was thought to be a year or two away. But now AT&T Wireless has forced his hand. Ironically, a big American deal, whatever form it takes, is just the sort of thing that Sir Chris Gent, Mr. Sarin's swashbuckling predecessor, would have relished. (802 words)

Questions 1-9

There are both advantages and disadvantages for Vodafone to bid for AT&T Wireless. Label the following statements as:
A = Advantage

D = Disadvantage

1. Negotiation with equipment vendors: .......................
2. Profitability of AT&T Wireless: .......................
3. Integration of networks: .......................
4. Control of an American operator: .......................
5. Continental mobile roaming: .......................
6. Premium needed to outbid: .......................
7. Sell off Verizon's shrinking and unattractive landline business: .......................
8. Global brand: .......................
9. The patchwork of TDMA, GSM and EDGE: .......................

You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-14, which are based on the reading passage below.

British further education colleges did not traditionally have any concerns about student drop-out, because the origins of the sector were in vocational apprenticeship training for employers where the apprentices could not drop out without endangering their job. In the 1970s, this sector began to expand into more general education courses, which were seen both as an alternative to school for 16-18-year-olds and a second chance for adults. The philosophy was mainly liberal with students regarded as adults who should not be heavily monitored, but rather free to make their own decisions; it was not uncommon to hear academic staff argue that attendance at classes was purely voluntary.

In the 1980s, with an increased consciousness of equal opportunities, the focus of the further education colleges moved to widening participation, encouraging into colleges students from previously under-represented groups, particularly from ethnic minorities. This, in turn, led to a curriculum which was more representative of the new student body. For example, there were initiatives to ensure the incorporation of literature by black writers into A-level literature courses; history syllabuses were altered to move beyond a purely Eurocentric view of the world; and geography syllabuses began to look at the politics of maps.

A turning point came in 1991 with the publication of a report on completion rates by the government inspection body for education, Her Majesty's Inspectorate for England and Wales (HMI 1991). However, this report was based on academic staff's explanations of why students had left. It suggested that the vast majority left either for personal reasons or because they had found employment, and that only 10% left for reasons that could in any way be attributed to the college.

Meanwhile, Britain had been going through the Thatcherite revolution and, in parallel to the Reagan politics of the US, a key principle was the need to reduce taxation drastically. At this point (and to a large extent still), further and higher education colleges were almost entirely funded from the public purse. There had been any cuts in this funding through the 1980s, but no one had really looked at value for money. However, in the early 1990s, the Audit Commission with Office of Standards in Education (OFSTED) (the new version of HMI) turned the spotlight onto further education and published a seminal report. Unfinished Business (Audit Commission and OFSTED 1993), which showed that drop-out was happening on a significant scale and, crucially given the politics of the time, attributed a cost to the state of £500 million, arguing that this was a waste of public (i.e. taxpayers') money. To quote Yorke (1999), non-completion became political. The Audit Commission report coincided with government moves to privatise the functions of the state as much as possible, and with the decision to remove further education from the control of local government and give it a quasi-dependent status, where colleges were governed by independent boards of governors bidding to the state for funding to run educational provision. As part of this, a new series of principles for funding and bidding were developed (FEFC 1994) which incorporated severe financial penalties for student drop-out. In essence, the system is that almost all the state funding is attached to the individual student. There is funding for initial advice and guidance, on course delivery and student achievement, but if the student drops out, the college loses that funding immediately, so that loss of students in the first term leads to an immediate loss of college funding for the other two terms. Not surprisingly, this focused the concern of colleges immediately and sharply on the need to improve student retention rates.

Recently, therefore, there has been considerable effort to improve retention but, as Martinez (1995) pointed out, there was nobody of research on which to base strategies. An additional complexity was that colleges had been slow to computerise their student data, and most colleges were in the position of not knowing what their retention rates were or any patterns involved. Where data did exist it was held separately by either administrative or academic staff with poor communication between these groups. Colleges, however, jumped into a number of strategies based largely on experience, instinct and common sense, and publication of these began. (Martinez 1996; Martinez 1997; Kenwright 1996; Kenwright 1997).

The main strategies tried are outlined in the literature as summarised by Martinez (1996). These include sorting activities around entry to ensure "best fit", supporting activities including childcare, financial support and enrichment / learner support, connecting activities to strengthen the relationship between the college and the student, including mentoring and tutorials and activities to transform the student, including raising of expectations and study / career development support and tutoring. (777 words)

Questions 1-3

Use the information in the text to match each of the years listed (1-3) with one of the key events in the development of further education (i-vii). Write the appropriate numbers (i-vii) beside questions 1-3 in your booklet. Note that there are more items listed under the key events than years, so you will not use all of them.

Years

1. 1991 
2. 1993 
3. 1994

Key Events in the Development of Further Education 

i. Severe penalties for drop-out are developed as part of college funding mechanisms.

ii. Serious attempts are made to improve student support.

iii. An influential report showing that non-completion rates are significantly high is published.

iv. The lack of a strategic basis is officially recognised.

v. The HMI is created.

vi. Data on student completion rates for further education are published.

vii. A minor report showing that non-completion rates are significantly high is published.

Questions 4-8
Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage to fill each blank space. Write your answers in the blanks.

4. Further education colleges in Britain were originally not worried about student drop-out, because students did not leave college for fear of .............................

5. According to the writer, the philosophy at further education colleges was .............................
6. As people became more aware of equal opportunities, colleges encouraged students from under-represented groups, as a move to ..............................

7. The HMI's report focused on completion rates, based on ............................ of reasons for students' departure from college.

8. In the early 1990s, the political situation, both in Britain and the US, demanded a drastic ................................

Questions 9-14

Choose the appropriate letters (A-D) and write them in questions 9-14 in your booklet.

9. The report Unfinished Business .................

A. pointed out the politics of the time

B. gave £500 million to the state

C. linked drop-out to wasting money

D. turned the spotlight

10. The new series of principles developed in 1994 by the FEFC .....................

A. gave money to each student

B. was quasi-independent

C. meant colleges had to turn their immediate attention to improving student retention rates

D. was aimed at improving teacher retention rates
11. Attempts to reduce the student drop-out rate were hindered because ...............

A. there was a lack of research data on which to base strategies

B. colleges did not know what to do

C. computers in colleges were slow

D. colleges had no patterns
12. Further hindrances in reducing the student drop-out rate were ...................

A. colleges' slowness in computerising data and not knowing their retention rates, nor what patterns of retention existed

B. college inertia and administrative incompetence

C. computer glitches and strikes, which occurred at most colleges

D. colleges not knowing their retention rates or where the patterns were

13. Colleges' strategies to deal with the problem of low retention ...................

A. brought administrative and academic staff together

B. varied enormously

C. jumped

D. were based on something other than data

14. The main strategies to improve retention included ........................

A. "best fit" supporting activities

B. activities to support and transform the student

C. the raising of college expectations

D. a summary by Martinez

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

You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-13, which are based on the reading passage below.

Human intelligence is an elusive quality. We all think we know it when we see it but try to pin down that quality to a firm, testable definition and suddenly, even for the most experienced researchers, the concept disappears. But now a team British and German scientists believe they have firmly nailed down at least part of the notion of intelligence. They claim to have found a location for intelligence, whatever it is, in the brain.

For many years, researchers have believed that intelligence is a quality which is spread throughout the whole human brain. Traditional psychologists such as Benjamin Martin believe that this accounts for incidences where physical damage to the brain need not affect intelligence at all. By using advanced scanning equipment, however, researchers led by John Duncan of the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge now think that it is much more localised and at the front of the brain in particular.

Duncan and his team have attempted to link intelligence to the activity of nerve cells in the brain by giving subjects a series of problem-solving tests. These tests are of the standard sort used to test and measure intelligence. They resemble puzzles where sequences of numbers or letters have to be rearranged or continued, or patterns of shapes have to be inverted. While subjects are carrying out these intelligence tasks, their heads are scanned to see where electrical activity and blood flow in the brain are concentrated. It turns out that activity was concentrated in the frontal cortex and so, Duncan and his team presume, intelligence is situated there too.

This new idea has not been met with universal acceptance, however. The usual definition of "intelligence" was set by Charles Spearman 100 years ago. This was the quality that allows some people to be very good at a whole variety of things — music, mathematics, practical problem-solving, and so on — while others are not. He called this quality general intelligence or the "g" factor for short. It was a contentious idea even at the time but still no one has come up with a better definition. Nonetheless, because the notion of intelligence is imprecisely defined, the idea that there is a fixed location for intelligence has to be questioned.

The questioning comes in an article in the prestigious journal Science, the same edition as Duncan's own article. Yale psychologist Robert Sternberg points out that many people who are clearly intelligent, such as leading politicians and lawyers, do very badly in intelligence tests. Conversely, one might argue, there are plenty of academics who are good at intelligence tests but who cannot even tie their own shoelaces! Sternberg implies that the idea that being a successful politician or lawyer does not require intelligence flies in the face of reason. Rather more likely is the idea that so-called intelligence tests can have little to do with many practical manifestations of intelligence. The skill of verbal and mathematical analysis measured by these tests can tell us very little about the skills of social interaction and people handling which are equally essential for success and are, therefore, equally valid qualities of intelligence.

Sternberg makes a further criticism of the conclusions drawn by Duncan's team. The mental-atlas approach really does not tell us anything about intelligence. The fact that we know a computer's ''intelligence'' is produced by a computer chip and that we can say where this chip is, does not tell us anything about the computer's intelligence or ability. We could easily move the location of the chip and this would not change the computer's "intelligence''. As Benjamin Martin points out, this may be what happens in reality when following physical damage to one area of the brain, knowledge and ability appear able to relocate. (630 words)

Questions 1-8
Classify the following statements as referring to:

A. John Duncan

B. Charles Spearman

C. Benjamin Martin

D. Robert Sternberg

E. The writer of the article

Write the appropriate letters (A-E) beside questions 1-8 below.
Example: Physical damage to the brain need not affect intelligence. (Answer: C)

1. Intelligence can be located throughout the brain.

2. Intelligence makes you good at many different things.

3. Intelligence tests examine limited skills.

4. Intelligence is located at the front of the brain.

5. It is difficult to describe what intelligence is.

6. Intelligence tests can be bad at measuring the intellect of professionals.

7. Intelligence and other abilities can reposition following injury to the brain.

8. Intelligence is a characteristic required by those doing well in legal and political professions.

Questions 9-13
Using the information contained in the text, complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS for each answer.

9. Spearman suggested that intelligence was the ability to be good at ......................

10. Spearman's ideas about intelligence are ........................

11. Sternberg suggests that in addition to academic ability, intelligence includes ................................
12. Sternberg also believes that computer's intelligence is not affected by .............................

13. Duncan and his team have attempted ........................ to locate the intelligence.

Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.

UNICEF has continued to be at the forefront of advocacy and support for the importation of programmes to combat child malnutrition. A condition for designing effective programmes fight malnutrition is understanding the causes of the problem recognising how complex they are.

Micronutrients

IODINE: Some of the most rapid and important progress in UNICEF programmes is in the area of salt iodisation. The strategy of universal salt iodisation (USI) has been widely accepted in all regions, and the goal of USI by end-1995 has been met in virtually all of Latin America and in many countries in other regions. During the year, a number of countries with a high prevalence of fording deficiency in which salt iodisation was previously thought to be virtually impossible, such as Pakistan and Indonesia, started to iodise at least half of all salt reaching consumers. To achieve this, UNICEF offices supported a range of innovative and flexible approaches, for example, the establishment of an 'Iodised Salt Support Facility' in Pakistan, to provide training, supplies and quality control to the 800 or so small salt crushers in the country.

Enormous progress was seen not only in getting iodine into salt but also in the promulgation of laws to give teeth to monitoring and quality control efforts. UNICEF, WHO and the International Council for the Control of Iodine Disorders (ICCID) sponsored a forum in 1995 to consider the iodine and monitoring challenges faced by countries in which salt is brought to market by many small producers rather than larger enterprises.

A technical monograph on practical ways of monitoring salt iodisation programmes was developed jointly with WHO, ICCID and PAMM and widely distributed. Many UNICEF country programmes are monitoring household availability of iodine salt, utilising a simple test kit, as part of the Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys being under-taken to assess progress in meeting the goals of the World Summit.

VITAMIN A: WHO-UNICEF estimates now indicate that over 250 million children still suffer from vitamin A deficiency (VAD) with many million more at risk. The known effects of VAD on the immune system and thus on child mortality make this a high-priority challenge for UNICEF. In 1995, UNICEF supported surveys of vitamin A status that resulted in widespread deficiency being recognised for the first time in Egypt, South Africa, Kenya and Botswana.

With support from the Micronutrient Initiative in Canada, UNICEF launched projects in 14 countries that will enable innovation in systems of distribution of vitamin A supplements and improvements in monitoring the mortality and morbidity impact of supplementation. A number of countries are building on the successful experience of Guatemala in fortification of sugar with vitamin A. Bolivia and Brazil both launched sugar fortification with vitamin A on a pilot basis in 1995. In Namibia and South Africa, the feasibility, of fortifying maize meal with vitamin A is being considered.

UNICEF supports dietary diversification and the consumption of appropriate fruits and vegetables as one of the most potentially sustainable ways for communities to overcome micronutrient malnutrition. Research completed in 1995 with UNICEF assistance pointed to the need to pay farther attention to the types of vegetables grown and the type of cooking in order to maximise the impact of home gardening on the vitamin A status of children. In Bangladesh, UNICEF is collaborating with Helen Keller International to assess the impact of a large home gardening project on the vitamin A status of mothers and young children. This information should help to ensure that future programmes of this type are designed in the most cost-effective way.

IRON: The statement on strategies for reducing iron deficiency anaemia, developed and adopted by WHO and UNICEF in 1995, calls for general supplementation with iron in any populaion of pregnant women or young children where the prevalence of anaemia exceeds 30%. The result of research trials investigating the impact on anaemia of weekly iron supplements have started to become available. Weekly iron or iron and vitamin A supplements now appear to be a feasible intervention to combat iron deficiency anaemia on a population basis in some vulnerable groups.

UNICEF supported a meeting, jointly with the Thrasher Research Fund and Cornell University, to explore ways of increasing the micronutrient content of foods commonly consumed in countries where micronutrient malnutrition is common. Plant breeders, soil scientists and human nutritionists met to consider the problem and agreed that the micronutrient content of foods had been neglected in the breeding of high yielding (green revolution) varieties of cereals such as rice. With the realisation of the tremendous importance of the micronutrient content of staple food crops to human development, plant breeders agreed that future breeding work should take micronutrient goals into account. The participants also called for research in other priority areas to exploit the potential food-based systems, including the development of programmes and policies that influence the choices of consumers and producers to increase the supply and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods. (823 words)

Questions 1-7
Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answer in the blank in your booklet.

1. UNICEF had expected to accomplish the target of .................... by the end of 1995.
2. In Pakistan and Indonesia's countryside, salt is supplied through the channel of .......................
3. .................... are thought to be unlikely to reach the goal of salt iodisation programme.
4. UNICEF experts believe .......................... proves to be the most cost-effective way in combating VAD.
5. Children suffer most from VAD because evidence shows their ...................... is affected.
6. Pregnant women and young children are .................... to suffer from iron deficiency anaemia.
7. ................ is partly responsible for the lack of micronutrient content in foods.

Questions 8-10

Choose the appropriate letters (A-D) to answer questions 8-10.

8. In which country or area was an Iodised Salt Support Facility established?

A. Indonesia

B. Latin America

C. Botswana

D. Pakistan
9. What common food has vitamin A been added to?

A. Salt

B. Maize meal

C. Sugar

D. Rice flour
10. In what aspect of the green revolution was micronutrient content not taken fully into account?

A. Development of high yielding varieties of cereals

B. Excessive use of pesticides

C. Programmes designed to influence consumer choice

D. Application of chemical fertilisers

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

Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.

The social impact of a modern mining operation in a remote area can also be great. Some people may have to move off their land to make way for the mine. Many more will probably relocate themselves voluntarily, moving in from more remote areas to the mining road or the mining settlement, drawn by the prospects of jobs and money, trade stores and health clinics, or just by the general excitement of the place. In many cases the men will come in by themselves, leaving the women to fend for themselves back in the village. Traditional agriculture and other pursuits are, as a result, often neglected.

But the social environment into which they come is a culturally alien one which can undermine traditional kin and gender relations and traditional authority and control, often with bitter consequences.

Large amount of cash will normally be injected into the local community in the form of royalties or compensation to landowners, wages to mine workers or payments to sub-contractors. While this can be very beneficial, it can also lead to inequalities, disputes and problems.

Those in the local community who acquire cash from wages or compensation and the power that goes with it are not necessarily those who by tradition hold power in that society. The very advent of the cash can have a disruptive effect on traditional social structures.

Also in societies where resources including cash are owned communally and shared out according to traditional rules and precedents, the injection of very large amounts of money can strain the rules and tempt some to keep more than their entitlement, thus causing internal rifts, disputes and fightings.

Disputes between landowners and mining companies over payments or compensation are also common, and can lead to violent reactions against landowners by the police or armed forces, or repression by the authorities.

For and against

Mining also, of course, brings considerable benefits. Locally it provides jobs and incomes, and for those who use their income wisely an escape from grinding poverty and a life of hardship and struggle. It also brings development and services, such as roads, wharfs, airstrips, stores, health clinics and schools, to areas which are usually remote and often neglected by government. The advent of health care and educational facilities to remote areas that would otherwise not have them can be especially beneficial.

Opinions about a mine will usually vary. Those most in favour tend to be those living near the mine and enjoying its facilities, who have been generously compensated for loss of land or damaged environment, or who are earning good money as mine workers or sub-contractors. Among those least in favour will be women living in or near the mining settlements who have to put up with alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual harassment or other social ills, and people living downstream, far enough away from the mine to be receiving little or no compensation but who nevertheless suffer its polluting effects. (493 words)

Questions 1-5

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage to answer the following questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided.

1. Who is more likely to suffer in compensation-related struggles over the land?

Answer:...........................................................
2. What is the best description of the living conditions of relocated people?

Answer:...........................................................
3. Who are equally polluted but benefit less from the prosperity of mining?

Answer:...........................................................
4. What might be caused by the dispute over the distribution of an unprecedented huge amount of money within a community?

Answer:...........................................................
5. Which two areas are most prominently improved as the result of the wealth brought by mining?

Answer:...........................................................

Questions 6-9
Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answers in your booklet.

6. With the advent of mining, people pay less attention to ..................................

7. Although people benefit from mining, they also suffer from such ........................... as inequalities, disputes and other problems.

8. Two opinions, namely ........................, are both held by people in regard to mining.
9. Because of the strong impact of mining, ............................ are changing.

Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.

Eurotunnel is trying to head off yet another financial crisis.

'Without a doubt, the Channel Tunnel would not have been built if we'd known about these problems,' Richard Shirrefs, the chief executive of Eurotunnel, said this week. Too few people are using the ten-year-old undersea link between Britain and France to repay even the interest on its bloated construction costs, which have left Eurotunnel with some €9 billion ($11.5 billion) in debt. So, just as happened with supersonic Concorde, taxpayers are being asked to bail out another Anglo-French transport fiasco.

But this time, the governments of Britain and France are unlikely to cough up. In 1986, when Margaret Thatcher, then Britain's prime minister, and the late Francois Mitterrand, France's president, announced that Eurotunnel had won the bid to build the link. both were adamant that no public money would be involved. While the French might now, as is their way, be a little flexible about such things, Britain will not. 'Pouring public money down the tunnel is prohibited by international treaty and legislation,' insists a spokesman for Britain's Department of Transport.

Mr. Shirrefs has not been specific about what he wants, other than a radical restructuring of Eurotunnel's balance sheet, which could involve state assistance or guarantees. His firm, which was granted a 99-year lease on the tunnel, has unveiled a record net loss of €1.9 billion, mostly due to an accounting charge to reflect reduced cash flow expectations. Eurotunnel operates a shuttle service on the twin rail-tracks carrying passengers and vehicles. It also charges others to use the link, including rail-freight companies and Eurostar, which operates high-speed rail services between London, Paris and Brussels.

Even at the lower end of forecasts, some 10m Eurostar passengers were expected to use the link each year. But last year just 6.3m did. Instead of 5m tonnes of freight, only 1.7m tonnes were transported. Mr. Shirrefs would like to boost traffic by cutting charges, but until November 2006, the fees paid by Eurostar and the freight companies are fixed — and at a level that is also based on an expectation of much higher usage. Slashing prices would bring in more passengers, but it risks tipping Eurotunnel even closer to bankruptcy unless its balance sheet can be shorn up. The company has already undergone (at least) three earlier financial shake-ups.

None of this will come as a surprise to tunnel-sceptics — who, like Concorde's, were mostly ignored. Even as the tunnel was being dug, ferry firms ordered bigger and faster ships, confident that they could undercut it. In the event, this is what they did. Even the ferries are now adrift and losing passengers to cut-price airlines. Instead of taking an expensive train or a slow boat, an increasing number of passengers now fly cheaply to destinations in Europe, and if they want a car, they hire one.

Mr. Shirrefs is besieged by dissident French shareholders who want to replace Euro-tunnel's management. But that would probably not prevent bankruptcy. The only consolation is that, if it goes bust, the Channel Tunnel, like all fixed assets, will still be there for another operator to use — and its life expectancy is much longer than the recently retired Concordes. (533 words)

Questions 1-5

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text to answer the following questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided.

1. What has been caused by the cooperation between England and France in the traffic area?

Answer: .............................................................................

2. Who claimed that government would not be financially involved in the tunnel construction?

Answer: .............................................................................

3. What is proposed to transform the current operation mode of the Eurotunnel?

Answer: .............................................................................

4. Since its inception, what has Eurotunnel experienced in terms of financial arrangement?

Answer: .............................................................................

5. What makes Eurotunnel lose both freight and passengers?

Answer: .............................................................................

Questions 6-9

Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answers in your booklet.

6. .................. would bring in more passengers and goods but make the Eurotunnel finance even worse.

7. The construction of the tunnel has left a huge amount of ...................... to become an operation burden.
8. Some ..................... think the bankruptcy is avoidable by changing the company's leaders and strategies.

9. Compared with flights, trains and ferries are regarded as being ....................

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

Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.

System of political organisation are divided into two board categories. Larger systems such as that of modern Australia with centralised structure and developed form of legislative and judicial institutions are known as states. In contrast to societies organised as states are stateless societies in which there are highly developed institutions with less specialisation.

Stateless societies are divided into two main types, chiefdom and acephalous societies. In chiefdom there are visible leaders. The title of chief is normally inherited by birth. The word acephalous means headless and refers to societies which do not have clearly visible leaders. Power may be in the hands of a council or may be spread throughout the group with kinship being the most important factor in determining authority. Aboriginal societies are acephalous stateless societies.

The nature of aboriginal societies created problems for them when they faced expansionist European societies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In other areas of colonial expansion, Europeans observed political structures with identifiable chiefs or councils. In some societies, people engaged in warfare and were organised into fighting units which put up some resistance to invaders. In many stateless societies, there were recognisable claims to ownership of territory, with permanent occupancy of villages and use of land for agriculture or animal husbandry. In these societies, there was sometimes an accumulation of surplus goods with recognised avenues of trade between groups. Members of societies gained status as they accumulated wealth through trade.

When in contact with these societies, Europeans identified people with authority and made treaties or entered into alliance with them, negotiated titles to land while recognising the traditional rights, and established trade links with those who had accumulated surplus goods. These contacts sometimes increased status and power of local chiefs and councils.

Pacific island societies in Polynesia and Melanesia provide contrasts which highlight disadvantages suffered by aboriginal groups during the period of nineteenth century colonial expansion. In the Polynesian islands of Tonga, society was divided in an hierarchical structure with chiefs, nobles and commoners. Status in the hierarchy was ascribed by birth and in a person. Others could not achieve entry into higher status through ambition and effort. The power of some chiefs was strengthened through alliances with Great Britain.

In Somoa, power was exercised by local political units as family heads formed the village councils. Melanesian societies of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, lacked these formal hierarchies and structure but within local groups status, were achieved by 'Big Men' through their own prowess in fighting, skills in accumulating and distributing goods, and initiative in arranging marriage alliances.

In Australia, the lack of large-scale warfare and military leaders, the nomadic nature of land occupancy and use, the absence of trading goods of interest to Europeans, and the difficulty in discerning leaders with whom agreements could be negotiated proved costly for aboriginal societies as they succumbed quickly to invasion, despite pockets of resistance. It was often assumed that aboriginal people had no real attachment to their land and no system of authority.

Questions 1-5
Answer the following questions by writing the letter corresponding to the correct answer in the space provided.

1. In aboriginal societies, ..................

A. the chief makes all the decisions

B. the chief inherits its position

C. it is not clear to outsiders who the leader is

D. family ties are most important in deciding who has power

2. Europeans could not understand aboriginal societies because .........................

A. they did not speak their language

B. their chiefs did not engage in trade

C. their political structure was different from that of the other colonised peoples

D. their military units were ineffective
3. Pacific island societies ....................

A. resembled aboriginal societies

B. were usually allied to Great Britain in the 19^th century

C. showed distinctive hierarchical structures, both formal and informal

D. were ruled by the most successful warriors

4. Aboriginal societies could not withstand European invasion because ..........................

A. aborigines did not believe in trade

B. Europeans did not believe it was necessary to negotiate with them

C. they were not interested in land

D. they had no system of authority

5. The most important people in aboriginal societies .......................

A. wore badges around their necks

B. were known as chiefs and elders

C. could not contacted on stations

D. were not recognised by the Europeans

Questions 6-12

The following is a list of the characteristics of the three types of societies mentioned in the passage. Indicate the characteristics of each society by writing the code in your booklet. The first has been done as an example.

Use this code:
M = Modern states

C = Chiefdom

A = Aboriginal
Example: Kinship being the most important (Answer: A)

6. Visible leaders inherited by birth

7. Centralised structure

8. An hierarchical structure of leaders

9. Nomadic lifestyle

10. Legislative and judicial institutions

11. Position could be attained through skill and commerce

12. Family heads as council members

For people who like to keep poultry, ducks offer certain advantages over hens. Ducks are immune to some common diseases found in hens and are less vulnerable to others. Some breeds of dock produce bigger eggs than hens. In addition, ducks lay eggs over a longer season than hens do.

Poultry keepers with gardens have less to worry about if they keep ducks rather than hens because the former are less apt to dig up plants and destroy roots. While both hens and ducks benefit the garden by eating pests, hens are known to damage herb and grass beds. Ducks, on the other hand, will search for insects and snails more carefully. Only very delicate plants at risk from the broad, webbed feet of ducks.

Like all-water birds, ducks need access to water, and duck keepers typically provide this by building a pond. Something this large is not absolutely necessary; however, ducks need only to be able to dip their heads in the water to keep their nostrils clean. If a pond is provided, though, it is important to keep ducklings away from it until they are old enough to withstand the cool temperature of the water -- about eight weeks.

When keeping ducks, one has to consider just how many the land will support. Generally the rule is 100 ducks per half hectare. If more than this proportion is introduced, there is a risk of compacting the soil, which can lead to muddy conditions for long periods as the rain is not easily absorbed into the ground.

While ducks offer many advantages over hens, they must be given a greater quantity of food, especially if regular eggs are desired. An adult duck will eat between 170 to 200 grams of food a day. If the ducks have access to grass and a pond, they will be able to find for themselves approximately 70% of their daily dietary requirements in warmer months but less than half that in colder times. Therefore, it is important that they be fed enough food, such as grain, every day.

Experienced duck keepers raise ducklings every three years or so because it is after this period of time that ducks' egg-laying powers begin to seriously weaken. If the aim is to hatch ducklings, keepers should be aware that not all ducks make good mothers, and that certain breeds of duck appear to be worse than others. The poor mothers abandon their eggs a few days after laying them. A sure way of making sure the rejected eggs hatch is to place them next to chicken eggs under a hen.

The eggs of ducks as food for humans have a mixed reputation. This is because of a number of cases of salmonella food poisoning in Europe in the 1970s. AIthough it was never conclusively show that duck eggs were to blame, the egg-eating public stopped buying and many duck egg producers went bankrupt. Indeed, there is a risk of salmonella poisoning when ducks lay their eggs in damp conditions, such as on ground that is constantly wet, but the same can be said for the eggs of hens. And commercial duck egg production in France and England, where the outbreaks of salmonella poisoning took place, followed the same standards as those used in the hen egg industry, which experienced no salmonella problems. Storage of eggs, whether those of hen or duck, can also be a factor in contamination. Studies have found that bacterial growth reaches potentially dangerous levels at storage temperatures of 5^oC or greater.

The salmonella scare was over by the early 1980s, but at least in smaller markets like Australia and New Zealand, few producers wished to risk investment in ducks for fear of problems. No large-scale commercial duck egg production exists in these countries. It has thus been left to small producers, and, more commonly, home duck keepers. (650 words)

Questions 1-8

Classify the characteristics listed below as belonging to:
D Ducks

H Hens

or

NI if there is no information in the reading passage.
Example: More vulnerable to illness

Answer: H

1. More eggs per week

Answer: ...................................

2. Lengthier laying period

Answer: ...................................

3. Less likely to uproot plants

Answer: ...................................

4. Dangerous to grass

Answer: ...................................

5. Eat more grain

Answer: ...................................

6. Better mothers

Answer: ...................................

7. Salmonella problems

Answer: ...................................

8. More food at cold times

Answer: ...................................

Questions 9-12

Complete the partial summary below. Choose ONE or TWO words from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet.

To prevent their (9)............ from getting dirty, ducks should have access to water. This may be provided by building a pond, but ducklings under (10) ............. of age should be prevented from entering it because of the (11) .............. of the water. If too many ducks are kept on a plot of land, the soil may eventually become (12) ............... as a result of compaction. For this reason, it is advised that one limits the number of ducks per half hectare of land to 100.

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