IELTS Academic Reading Sample 163 Obtaining Linguistic Data You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 2740 which are based on Reading Passage 163 below. Obtaining Linguistic Data A. Many procedures are available for obtaining data about a language. They range from a carefully planned, intensive field investigation in a foreign country to a casual introspection about one’s mother tongue carried out in an armchair at home. The Nature and Aims of Archaeology You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 2840. which are based on Reading Passage 164. The Nature and Aims of Archaeology Archaeology is partly the discovery of treasures of the past, partly the work of the scientific analyst, partly the exercise of the creative imagination. It is toiling in the sun on an excavation in the Middle East, it is working with living Inuit in the snows of Alaska, and it is investigating the sewers of Roman Britain. But it is also the painstaking task of interpretation, so that we come to understand what these things mean for the human story. And it is the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage against looting and careless harm. Archaeology, then, is both a physical activity out in the field, and an intellectual pursuit in the study or laboratory. That is part of its great attraction. The rich mixture of danger and detective work has also made it the perfect vehicle for fiction writers and filmmakers, from Agatha Christie with Murder in Mesopotamia to Stephen Spielberg with Indiana Jones. However far from reality such portrayals are, they capture the essential truth that archaeology is an exciting quest – the quest for knowledge about ourselves and our past. But how does archaeology relate to other disciplines such as anthropology and history that are also concerned with the human story? Is archaeology itself a science? And what are the responsibilities of the archaeologist in today’s world? Anthropology, at its broadest, is the study of humanity our physical characteristics as animals and our unique nonbiological characteristics that we call culture. Culture in this sense includes what the anthropologist, Edward Tylor, summarised in 1871 as ‘knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society’. Anthropologists also use the term ‘culture’ in a more restricted sense when they refer to the ‘culture’ of a particular society, meaning the nonbiological characteristics unique to that society, which distinguish it from other societies. Anthropology is thus a broad discipline – so broad that it is generally broken down into three smaller disciplines: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology and archaeology.
IELTS Academic Reading Sample 163 - Obtaining Linguistic Data You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 163 below Obtaining Linguistic Data A Many procedures are available for obtaining data about a language They range from a carefully planned, intensive field investigation in a foreign country to a casual introspection about one’s mother tongue carried out in an armchair at home B In all cases, someone has to act as a source of language data — an informant Informants are (ideally) native speakers of a language, who provide utterances for analysis and other kinds of information about the language (e.g translations, comments about correctness, or judgments on usage) Often, when studying their mother tongue, linguists act as their own informants, judging the ambiguity, acceptability, or other properties of utterances against their own intuitions The convenience of this approach makes it widely used, and it is considered the norm in the generative approach to linguistics But a linguist’s personal judgments are often uncertain, or disagree with the judgments of other linguists, at which point recourse is needed to more objective methods of enquiry, using nonlinguists as informants The latter procedure is unavoidable when working on foreign languages, or child speech C Many factors must be considered when selecting informants – whether one is working with single speakers (a common situation when language has not been described before), two people interacting small groups or large-scale samples Age, sex, social background and other aspects of identity are important, as these factors are known to influence the kind of language used The topic of conversation and the characteristics of the social setting ( e.g the level of formality ) are also highly relevant, as are the personal qualities of the informants (e.g their fluency and consistency ) For large studies, scrupulous attention has been paid to the sampling theory employed, and in all cases, decisions have to be made about the best investigative techniques to use D Today, researchers often tape-record informants This enables the linguist’s claims about the language to be checked, and provides a way of making those claims more accurate (“difficult” pieces of speech can be listened to repeatedly) But obtaining naturalistic, good-quality data is never easy People talk abnormally when they know they are being recorded, and sound quality can be poor A variety of tape-recording procedures have thus been devised to minimize the “observer’s paradox” (how to observe the way people behave when they are not being observed) Some recordings are made without the speakers being aware of the fact- a procedure that obtains very natural data, though ethical objections must be anticipated Alternatively, attempts can be made to make the speaker forget about the recording, such as keeping the tape recorder out of sight, or using radio microphones A useful technique is to introduce a topic that quickly involves the speaker, and stimulates a natural language style (e.g asking older informants about how times have changed in their locality ) E An audio tape recording does not solve all the linguist’s problems, however Speech is often unclear and ambiguous Where possible, therefore, the recording has to be supplemented by the observer’s written comments on the non-verbal behavior of the participants, and about the context in general A facial expression, for example, can dramatically alter the meaning of what is said Video recordings avoid these problems to a large extent, but even they have limitations (the camera cannot be everywhere), and transcriptions always benefit from any additional commentary provided by an observer F Linguists also make great use of structured sessions, in which they systematically ask their informants for utterances that describe certain actions, objects or behaviour With a bilingual informant, or through use of an interpreter, it is possible to use translation techniques (‘How you say table in your language?’) A large number of points can be covered in a short time, using interview worksheets and questionnaires Often, the researcher wishes to obtain information about just s single variable, in which case a restricted set of questions may be used a particular feature of pronunciation, for example, can be elicited by asking the informant to say a restricted set of words There are also several direct methods of elicitation, such as asking informants to fill in the blanks in a substitution frame (e.g I _ see a car), or feeding them the wrong stimulus of correction (‘is it possible to say I no can see?’) G A representative sample of language, compiled for the purpose of linguistic analysis, is known as a corpus A corpus enables the linguist to make unbiased statements about frequency of usage, and it provides accessible data for the use of different researchers Its range and size are variable Some corpora attempt to cover the language as a whole, taking extracts from many kinds of text, others are extremely selective, providing a collection of material that deals only with a particular linguistic feature The size of the corpus depends on practical factors, such as the time available to collect, process and store the data it can take up to several hours to provide an accurate transcription of a few minutes of speech Sometimes a small sample of data will be enough to decide a linguistic hypothesis; by contrast, corpora in major research projects can total millions of words An important principle is that all corpora, whatever their size, are inevitably limited in their coverage, and always need to be supplemented by data derived from the intuitions of native speakers of the language, through either introspection or experimentation Questions 27-31 Reading Passage 163 has seven paragraphs labeled A-G Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet NB You may use any letter more than once 27 the effect of recording on the way people talk 28 the importance of taking notes on body language 29 the fact that language is influenced by social situation 30 how informants can be helped to be less self-conscious 31 various methods that can be used to generate specific data Questions 32-36 Complete the table below Choose NO MORE THAT THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer Write your answers in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet METHODS OF OBTAINING LINGUISTIC DATA ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES 32……as informant Convenient Method of enquiry set objective enough Non-linguist as informant Necessary with 33……and child speech The number of faction to be considered Recording an informant Allows linguists’ claims to be 34……of sound checked Videoing an informant Allows speakers’ 35…… to be observed 36……might miss certain things Questions 37-40 Complete the summary of paragraph G below Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet A linguist can use a corpus to comment objectively on 37…… Some corpora include a wide range of language while others are used to focus on a 38… .… The length of time the process takes will affect the 39 .… … of the corpus No corpus can ever cover the whole language and so linguists often find themselves relying on the additional information that can be gained from the 40… .…of those who speak the language concerned Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers Answer: 27 D 28 E 29 C 30 D 31 F 32 (the) linguist (acts)/ (the) linguists (acts) 33 foreign language 34 quality / the quality/ the poor quality 35 non-verbal behavior / non-verbal behaviour/ facial expression / facial expressions 36 camera/ video camera / recording / video recording 37 frequency of usages / usage frequency 38 particular linguistic feature 39 size 40 intuitions IELTS Academic Reading Sample 164 - The Nature and Aims of Archaeology You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 164 The Nature and Aims of Archaeology Archaeology is partly the discovery of treasures of the past, partly the work of the scientific analyst, partly the exercise of the creative imagination It is toiling in the sun on an excavation in the Middle East, it is working with living Inuit in the snows of Alaska, and it is investigating the sewers of Roman Britain But it is also the painstaking task of interpretation, so that we come to understand what these things mean for the human story And it is the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage against looting and careless harm Archaeology, then, is both a physical activity out in the field, and an intellectual pursuit in the study or laboratory That is part of its great attraction The rich mixture of danger and detective work has also made it the perfect vehicle for fiction writers and film-makers, from Agatha Christie with Murder in Mesopotamia to Stephen Spielberg with Indiana Jones However far from reality such portrayals are, they capture the essential truth that archaeology is an exciting quest – the quest for knowledge about ourselves and our past But how does archaeology relate to other disciplines such as anthropology and history that are also concerned with the human story? Is archaeology itself a science? And what are the responsibilities of the archaeologist in today’s world? Anthropology, at its broadest, is the study of humanity- our physical characteristics as animals and our unique non-biological characteristics that we call culture Culture in this sense includes what the anthropologist, Edward Tylor, summarised in 1871 as ‘knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society’ Anthropologists also use the term ‘culture’ in a more restricted sense when they refer to the ‘culture’ of a particular society, meaning the non-biological characteristics unique to that society, which distinguish it from other societies Anthropology is thus a broad discipline – so broad that it is generally broken down into three smaller disciplines: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology and archaeology Physical anthropology, or biological anthropology as it is called, concerns the study of human biological or physical characteristics and how they evolved Cultural anthropology – or social anthropology – analyses human culture and society Two of its branches are ethnography (the study at first hand of individual living cultures) and ethnology (which sets out to compare cultures using ethnographic evidence to derive general principles about human society) Nevertheless, one of the most important tasks for the archaeologist today is to know how to interpret material culture in human terms How were those pots used? Why are some dwellings round and others square Here the methods of archaeology and ethnography overlap Archaeologists in recent decades have developed ‘ethnoarchaeology’ where, like ethnographers, they live among contemporary communities, but with the specific purpose of learning how such societies use material culture – how they make their tools and weapons, why they build their settlements where they do, and so on Moreover, archaeology has a role to play in the field of conservation Heritage studies constitute a developing field, where it is realised that the world’s cultural heritage is a diminishing resource which holds different meanings for different people If, then, archaeology deals with the past, in what way does it differ from history? In the broadest sense, just as archaeology is an aspect of anthropology, so too is it a part of history – where we mean the whole history of humankind from its beginnings over three million years ago Indeed, for more than ninety-nine percent of that huge span of time, archaeology – the study of past material culture – is the only significant source of information Conventional historical sources begin only with the introduction of written records around 3,000 BC in western Asia, and much later in most other parts in the world A commonly drawn distinction is between pre-history, i.e the period before written records - and history in the narrow sense, meaning the study of the past using written evidence To archaeology, which studies all cultures and periods, whether with or without writing, the distinction between history and pre-history is a convenient dividing line that recognises the importance of the written word, but in no way lessens the importance of the useful information contained in oral histories Since the aim of archaeology is the understanding of humankind, it is a humanistic study, and since it deals with the human past, it is a historical discipline But is differs from the study of written history in a fundamental way The material the archaeologist finds does not tell us directly what to think Historical records make statements, offer opinions and pass judgements The objects the archaeologists discover, on the other hand, tell us nothing directly in themselves In this respect, the practice of the archaeologist is rather like that of the scientist, who collects data, conducts experiments, formulates a hypothesis tests the hypothesis against more data, and then, in conclusion, devises a model that seems best to summarise the pattern observed in the data The archaeologist has to develop a picture of the past, just as the scientist has to develop a coherent view of the natural world Questions 14-19 Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 164? In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet write: YES if the statement agrees with the cliams of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 14 Archaeology involves creativity as well as investigative work 15 Archaeologist must be able to translate texts from ancient languages 16 Movies give a realistic picture of the work of archaeologists 17 Anthropologists define culture in more than one way 18 Archaeology is a more demanding field of study than anthropology 19 The history of Europe has been documented since 3,000 BC Questions 20 and 21 Choose TWO letters A – E Write your answer in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet The list below gives some statements about anthropology Which TWO statements are mentioned by the writer of the text? A It is important for government planners B It is a continually growing field of study C It often involves long periods of fieldwork D It is subdivided for study purposes E It studies human evolutionary patterns Questions 22and 23 Choose TWO letters A – E Write your answer in boxes 22 and 23 on your answer sheet The list below gives some of the tasks of an archaeologist Which TWO of these tasks are mentioned by the writer of the text? A examining ancient waste sites to investigate diet B studying cave art to determine its significance C deducing reasons for the shape of domestic buildings D investigating the way different cultures make and use objects E examining evidence for past climate changes Questions 24-27 Complete the summary of the last two paragraphs of Reading Passage 164 Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer Write your answer in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet Much of the work of archaeologists can be done using written records, but they find 24 equally valuable The writer describes archaeology as both a 25 and a 26 However, as archaeologists not try to influence human behaviour, the writer compares their style of working to that of a 27 Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers Answer: 14 YES 15 NOT GIVEN 16 NO 17 YES 18 NOT GIVEN 19 NO 20 & 21 D, E (In either order) 22 & 23 C, D (In either order) 24 oral histories 24 & 26 humanistic study, historical discipline (In In either order) 27 scientist IELTS Academic Reading Sample 165 - The Problem of Scarce Resources You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 165 Questions 28-31 Reading Passage 165 has five sections A-E Choose the correct heading for section A and C-E from the list of headings below Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet List of Headings i The connection between health-care and other human rights ii The development of market-based health systems iii The role of the state in health-care iv A problem shared by every economically developed country v The impact of recent change vi The views of the medical establishment vii The end of an illusion viii Sustainable economic development 28 Section A Example Section B Answer viii 29 Section C 30 Section D 31 Section E The Problem of Scarce Resources Section A The problem of how health-care resources should be allocated or apportioned so that they are distributed in both the "most just" and "most efficient" way, is not a new one Every health system in an economically developed society is faced with the need to decide (either formally or informally) what proportion of the community’s total resources should be spent on health-care; how resources are to be apportioned; what diseases and disabilities and which forms of treatment are to be given priority; which members of the community are to be given special consideration in respect of their health needs; and which forms of treatment are the most cost-effective Section B What is new is that, from the 1950s onwards, there have been certain general changes in outlook about the finitude of resources as a whole and of health-care resources in particular, as well as more specific changes regarding the clientele of health-care resources and the cost to the community of those resources Thus, in the 1950s and 1960s, there emerged an awareness in Western societies that resources for the provision of fossil fuel energy were finite and exhaustible and that the capacity of nature or the environment to sustain economic development and population was also finite In other words, we became aware of the obvious fact that there were ‘limits to growth’ The new consciousness that there were also severe limits to health-care resources was part of this general revelation of the obvious Looking back, it now seems quite incredible that in the national health systems that emerged in many countries in the years immediately after the 1939-45 World War, it was assumed without question that all the basic health needs of any community could be satisfied, at least in principle; the ‘invisible hand’ of economic progress would provide Section C However, at exactly the same time as this new realization of the finite character of health-care resources was sinking in, an awareness of a contrary kind was developing in Western societies: that people have a basic right to health-care as a necessary condition of a proper human life Like education, political and legal processes and institutions, public order, communication, transport and money supply, health-care came to be seen as one of the fundamental social facilities necessary for people to exercise their other rights as autonomous human beings People are not in a position to exercise personal liberty and to be self-determining if they are poverty-stricken, or deprived of basic education, or not live within a context of law and order In the same way, basic health-care is a condition of the exercise of autonomy Section D Although the language of ‘rights’ sometimes leads to confusion, by the late 1970s it was recognized in most societies that people have a right to health-care (though there has been considerable resistance in the United Sates to the idea that there is a formal right to health-care) It is also accepted that this right generates an obligation or duty for the state to ensure that adequate health-care resources are provided out of the public purse The state has no obligation to provide a health-care system itself, but to ensure that such a system is provided Put another way, basic health-care is now recognized as a ‘public good’, rather than a ‘private good’ that one is expected to buy for oneself As the 1976 declaration of the World Health Organisation put it: ‘The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition’ As has just been remarked, in a liberal society basic health is seen as one of the indispensable conditions for the exercise of personal autonomy Section E Just at the time when it became obvious that health-care resources could not possibly meet the demands being made upon them, people were demanding that their fundamental right to healthcare be satisfied by the state The second set of more specific changes that have led to the present concern about the distribution of health-care resources stems from the dramatic rise in health costs in most OECD countries, accompanied by large-scale demographic and social changes which have meant, to take one example, that elderly people are now major (and relatively very expensive) consumers of health-care resources Thus in OECD countries as a whole, health costs increased from 3.8% of GDP in 1960 to 7% of GDP in 1980, and it has been predicted that the proportion of health costs to GDP will continue to increase (In the US the current figure is about 12% of GDP, and in Australia about 7.8% of GDP.) As a consequence, during the 1980s a kind of doomsday scenario (analogous to similar doomsday extrapolations about energy needs and fossil fuels or about population increases) was projected by health administrators, economists and politicians In this scenario, ever-rising health costs were matched against static or declining resources heat around far more effectively than simple diffusion Because warm water expands more than cold when it is heated, scientists had presumed that the sea level would rise unevenly around the globe It is now believed that these inequalities cannot persist, as winds will act to continuously spread out the water expansion Of course, of global warming changes the strength and distribution of the winds, then this ‘evening-out’ process may not occur, and the sea level could rise more in some areas than others 57 Questions 15 - 20 There are paragraphs numbered - in Reading Passage 175 The first paragraph and the last paragraph have been given headings 58 From the list below numbered A - I, choose a suitable heading for the remaining paragraphs 59 Write your answers A - I, in the spaces, numbered 15 - 20 on the answer sheet 60 There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all the headings 61 List of headings A THE GYRE PRINCIPLE B THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT C HOW OCEAN WATERS MOVE D STATISTICAL EVIDENCE E THE ADVECTION PRINCIPLE F DIFFUSION VERSUS ADVECTION G FIGURING THE SEA LEVEL CHANGES H ESTIMATED FIGURES I THE DIFFUSION MODEL 62 15 Paragraph 16 Paragraph 17 Paragraph 18 Paragraph 19 Paragraph 20 Paragraph 63 Questions 21 and 22 Answer questions 21 and 22 by selecting the correct answer to complete each sentence according to the information given in the reading passage 64 Write your answers A, B, C or D in the spaces numbered 21 and 22 on the answer sheet 65 21 Scientists not know for sure why the air and surface of ocean temperatures are rising because: A There is too much variability B There is not enough variability C They have not been recording these temperatures for enough time D The changes have only been noticed for 100 years 66 22 New research leads scientists to believe that: A The oceans are less complex B The oceans are more complex C The oceans will rise more than expected D The oceans will rise less than expected 67 Question 23 Look at the following list of factors A-F and select THREE which are mentioned in the reading passage which may contribute to the rising ocean levels 68 Write the THREE corresponding letters A-F, in the space numbered 23 on the answer sheet 69 List of factors A Thermal expansion B Melting ice C Increased air temperature D Higher rainfall E Changes in the water table F Increased ocean movement 70 Questions 24 - 28 Read each of the following statements, 24 - 28 According to the information in the reading passage Write: 71 T if it is true F if it is false NA If there is no information about the statement in the reading passage 72 Write your answers in the spaces numbered 24 - 28 on the answer sheet 73 24 The surface layer of the oceans is warmed by the atmosphere 25 Advection of water changes heat and salt levels 26 A gyre holds less heat than there is in the atmosphere 27 The process of subduction depends on the water density 28 The sea level is expected to rise evenly over the Earth's surface 74 Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers 75 Answer: 15 H 16 I 17 E 18 A 19 C 20 C 21 D 22 B & C & E (in any order) 23 NA 24 T 25 F 26 T 27 F 28 B 76 IELTS Academic Reading Sample 176 - Mondays are bad for your heart 77 Last Updated: Sunday, 02 February 2020 00:10 78 Written by IELTS Mentor 79 Hits: 21889 80 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions - 15 which are based on Reading Passage 176 below 81 82 ??????? 83 A That ‘Monday morning feeling’ could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday morning and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break B The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a sixyear study coordinated by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2,600 Germans revealed that the average person had a 20 per cent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day C Working Germans are particularly vulnerable, with a 33 per cent higher risk at the beginning of the working week Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day 84 D A study of 11,000 Italians identified am on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewer heart attacks in both countries E The findings could lead to a better understanding of what triggers heart attacks, according to Dr Stefan Willich of the Free University ‘We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol， but we don’t know what actually triggers heart attacks, so we can’t make specific recommendations about how to prevent them,’ he said 85 F Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid transition from sleep to activity, and from the relaxing weekend to the pressures of work ‘When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal changes in their bodies,’ Willich explained ‘All these things can have an adverse effect in the blood system and increase the risk of a clot in the arteries which will cause a heart attack.’ ‘When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activity,’ said Willich ‘We need to know how these events cause changes in the body before we can understand if they cause heart attacks.’ ， G But although it is tempting to believe that returning to work increases the risk of a heart attack, both Willich and the Italian researchers admit that it is only a partial answer Both studies showed that the over-65s are also vulnerable on a Monday morning even though most no longer work The reason for this is not clear, but the Italian team at the Luigi Saddo Hospital in Milan speculate that social interactions—the thought of facing another week and all its pressures—may play a part ，， H What is clear, however, is that the Monday morning peak seems to be consistent from northern Germany to southern Italy in spite of the differences in diet and lifestyle I Willich is reluctant at this stage to make specific recommendations, but he suggests that anyone who suffers from heart disease should take it easy on Monday mornings and leave potentially stressful meetings until midweek ‘People should try to create a pleasant working environment,’ he added ‘Maybe this risk applies only to those who see work as a burden, and people who enjoy their work are not so much at risk We need to find out more.’ Question 1: (Write your answer in the space numbered on the answer sheet.) On which day are people least likely to have a heart attack? 86 Read the following statements 2-5 According to the reading passage, 87 If the statement is true, write True If the statement is false, write False If there is insufficient evidence, write IE 88 Write your answers in the spaces numbered 2-5 on the answer sheet An example is shown below 89 Example: It was once believed that there was an equal chance of suffering a heart attack on any day of the week 90 Answer: True Unemployed Germans have a higher risk of heart attack than employed Germans Unemployed Italians have a lower risk of heart attack than unemployed Germans Germans risk heart attack because of their high consumption of fatty food Cholesterol and smoking cause heart attacks 91 Questions 6-14: Read Reading Passage and from the list of headings below, select the best heading for each paragraph A-I Write the appropriate number i-ix, in the spaces numbered 6-14 on the answer sheet Use each heading ONCE only Heading for Paragraph A Heading for Paragraph B Heading for Paragraph C Heading for Paragraph D 10 Heading for Paragraph E 11 Heading for Paragraph F 12 Heading for Paragraph G 13 Heading for Paragraph H 14 Heading for Paragraph I List of headings i Exact cause of heart attacks ii The safest day iii Breathless, sweaty and crushed iv Reducing heart attack hazard v High-risk Monday vi Mondays: riskier than food and way of life vii Jobless but safer viii Elderly also at risk ix Bodily adaptations Question 15: Reading Passage 176 is untitled Select the best title for the entire passage from the choices A-D below Write your answer in space number 15 on the answer sheet A) Reduce your chance of having a heart attack B) Warning: Mondays are bad for your heart C) The overweight and smokers risk heart attacks D) Happy and healthy Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers Answer: False IE IE False iii v vii ii 10 i 11 ix 12 viii 13 vi 14 iv 15 B IELTS Academic Reading Sample 177 - Working In The Movies You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions - 14 which are based on Reading Passage 177 below Working In The Movies Subtitling is an exciting part of the translation profession Melanie Leyshon talks to Virginie Verdler of London translation company VSI about the glamour and the grind When people ask French translator Virginie Verdier what she does for a living, it must be tempting to say enigmatically: ‘Oh me? I’m in the movies’ It’s strictly true, but her starring role is behind the scenes As translating goes, it doesn’t get more entertaining or glamorous than subtitling films If you’re very lucky, you get to work on the new blockbuster films before they’re in the cinema, and if you’re just plain lucky, you get to work on the blockbuster movies that are going to video or DVD Virginie is quick to point out that this is as exciting as any translating job 'You work had It's not all entertainment as you are doing the translating You need all the skills of a good translator and a top-notch editor You have to be precise and of course, much more concise than in traditional translation work.' The process starts when you get the original script and a tape ‘We would start with translating and adapting the film script The next step is what we call ‘timing’, which means synchronising the subtitles to the dialogue and pictures.’ This task requires discipline You play the film, listen to the voice and the subtitles are up on your screen ready to be timed You insert your subtitle when you hear the corresponding dialogue and delete it when the dialogue finishes The video tape carries a time code which runs in hours, minutes, seconds and frames Think of it as a clock The subtitling unit has an insert key to capture the time code where you want the subtitle to appear When you press the delete key, it captures the time code where you want the subtitle to disappear So each subtitle would ‘have an ‘in’ point and an ‘out’ point which represent the exact time when the subtitle comes in and goes out This process is then followed by a manual review, subtitle by subtitle, and time- codes are adjusted to improve synchronisation and respect shot changes This process involves playing the film literally frame by frame as it is essential the subtitles respect the visual rhythm of the film.’ Different subtitlers use different techniques ‘I would go through the film and the whole translation and then go right back from the beginning and start the timing process But you could it in different stages, translate let’s say 20 minutes of the film, then time this section and translate the next 20 minutes, and so on It’s just a different method.’ For multi-lingual projects, the timing is done first to create what is called a ‘spotting list’, a subtitle template, which is in effect a list of English subtitles pre-timed and edited for translation purposes This is then translated and the timing is adapted to the target language with the help of the translator for quality control ‘Like any translation work, you can’t hurry subtitling,’ says Virginie ‘If subtitles are translated and timed in a rush, the quality will be affected and it will show.’ Mistakes usually occur when the translator does not master the source language and misunderstands the original dialogue ‘Our work also involves checking and reworking subtitles when the translation is not up to standard However, the reason for redoing subtitles is not just because of poor quality translation We may need to adapt subtitles to a new version of the film: the time code may be different The film may have been edited or the subtitles may have been created for the cinema rather than video If subtitles were done for cinema on 35mm, we would need to reformat the timing for video, as subtitles could be out of synch or too fast If the translation is good, we would obviously respect the work of the original translator.’ On a more practical level, there are general subtitling rules to follow, says Virginie ‘Subtitles should appear at the bottom of the screen and usually in the centre.’ She says that different countries use different standards and rules In Scandinavian countries and Holland, for example, subtitles are traditionally left justified Characters usually appear in white with a thin black border for easy reading against a white or light background We can also use different colours for each speaker when subtitling for the hearing impaired Subtitles should have a maximum of two lines and the maximum number of characters on each line should be between 32 and 39 Our company standard is 37 (different companies and countries have different standards).’ Translators often have a favourite genre, whether it’s war films, musicals, comedies (one of the most difficult because of the subtleties and nuances of comedy in different countries), drama or corporate programmes Each requires a certain tone and style ‘VSI employs American subtitlers, which is incredibly useful as many of the films we subtitle are American,’ says Virginie ‘For an English person, it would not be so easy to understand the meaning behind typically American expressions, and vice-versa.’ Questions 1-5: Complete the flow chart below Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet 92 THE SUBTITLING PROCESS 93 Stage 1: Translate and adapt the script 94 Stage 2: ………….……… -matching the subtitles to what said Involves recording time codes by using the ………….……… and ………….……… keys 95 Stage 3: ………….……… – in order to make the 4………….……… better 96 Multi-lingual projects Stage 1: Produce something known as a ………….……… and translate that Questions 6-10: Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 177? In boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet write TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN if the statement agrees with the information if the statement contradicts the information if there is no information on this For translators, all subtitling work on films is desirable Subtitling work involves a requirement that does not apply to other translation work Some subtitling techniques work better than others Few people are completely successful at subtitling comedies 10 Every single movie has the same tone and style Questions 11-14: Complete the sentences below with words from Reading Passage I Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer Write your answers in boxes 11—14 on your answer sheet 11 Poor subtitling can be a result of the subtitler not being excellent at ………….……… 12 To create subtitles for a video version of a film, it may be necessary to ………… ……… 13 Subtitles usually have a ………….……… around them 14 Speakers can be distinguished from each other for the benefit of ………….……… Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers Answer: Timing insert, delete Manual review synchronization spotting list TRUE TRUE NOT GIVEN NOT GIVEN 10 FALSE 11 the source language 12 reformat the timing 13 thin black border 14 the hearing impaired IELTS Academic Reading Sample 178 - Martin Luther King You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40 which are based on Reading Passage 178 below Martin Luther King A Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia He was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr and Alberta Williams King He had an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams King Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T Washington High School He skipped ninth and twelfth grade, and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school From the time that Martin was born, he knew that black people and white people had different rights in certain parts of America If a black family wanted to eat at a restaurant, they had to sit in a separate section of the restaurant They had to sit at the back of the cinema, and even use separate toilets Worse, and perhaps even more humiliating still, in many southern states, if a black man was on a bus and all the seats were taken, he would have to endure the indignity of relinquishing his own seat to a white man King could never understand the terrible injustice of this In 1948, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology Later, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955 King married Coretta Scott, on June 18, 1953, and they had four children B Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved national renown when he helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955 This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man – in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the Supreme Court declared such segregation unconstitutional C In 1957 King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination He advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi, who led protests against British rule in India culminating in India’s independence in 1947 In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory practices in Birmingham, Alabama, where the white population were violently resisting desegregation The city was dubbed ‘Bombingham’ as attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests D After his release, King participated in the enormous civil rights march, in Washington, in August 1963, and delivered his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote The same year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south E As the civil rights movement became increasingly radicalised, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger generation King began to protest against the Vietnam War and poverty levels in the US On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the black sanitary public works employees who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment In one incident, black street repairmen had received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees had been paid for the full day King could not bear to stand by and let such patent acts of racism go unnoticed He moved to unite his people, and all the peoples of America on the receiving end of discriminatory practices, to protest for their rights, peacefully but steadfastly F On his trip to Memphis, King was booked into room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey King was shot at 6:01 p.m April 4, 1968 while he was standing on the motel’s second-floor balcony King was rushed to St Joseph’s Hospital, where doctors opened his chest and performed manual heart massage He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m King’s autopsy revealed that although he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man Questions 27 – 31: Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D 27 From a young age Martin Luther King A wanted to protest for the rights of black people B could not understand why black people were treated differently C was not allowed to go to the cinema or to restaurants D was aware that black people were being humiliated in many northern states 28 What initially made Martin Luther King famous? A B C D the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system becoming a pastor at a Baptist Church when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus when he persuaded Rosa Parks not to give up her bus seat to a white man 29 What influenced Martin Luther King regarding non-violence? A B C D India’s independence in 1947 Christianity the Southern Leadership Christian Conference the methods of Gandhi 30 What did Martin Luther King fight for in 1965? A the right of black people to vote B the actions of the US Congress C the right to win the Nobel Peace Prize D the right of black people to travel abroad 31 How did Martin Luther King feel about the civil rights movement? A It was helping the war in Vietnam B It brought the younger generation together C It had been exploited by politicians who wanted to get more votes D The protesters sometimes behaved too violently Questions 32 – 34: Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In spaces 32 – 34 below, write YES NO NOT GIVEN if the statements agrees with the information if the statements contradicts the information if there is no information on this 32 The black boycott of the Montgomery bus system was a success 33 In 1963 the white people in Alabama wanted desegregation 34 Martin Luther King achieved a lot in his protest against the Vietnam War Questions 35 – 40: Reading Passage 178 has paragraphs Choose the correct heading for each paragraph A – F, from the list of headings Write the correct number, i – viii, in spaces 35 – 40 below 35 Paragraph A 36 Paragraph 37 Paragraph C 38 Paragraph D 39.Paragraph E 40 Paragraph F The memorable speech Unhappy about violence A tragic incident Protests and action The background of an iconic man Making his mark internationally Difficult childhood Black street repairmen Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers Answer: 27 B 28 A 29 D 30 A 31 D 32 YES 33 NO 34 NOT GIVEN 35 v 36 iv 37 ii 38 i 39 vi 4o iii ... choose goods in this way, they engage in quite detailed analytical thinking - taking account of the product information, including its price, its perceived quality and so on This form of thinking,... become confused This, in turn, is likely to lead them to disengage and choose something else Third, people often lack the knowledge or experience needed, so will not be able to deal with things they... shopping baskets Having said this, understanding how consumers make decisions, and the crucial role of packaging in this process has been a neglected area of research so far This is surprising given