AUTHENTIC READING TEST COLLECTIONS IELTS

www.ngocbach.com AUTHENTIC READING TEST COLLECTIONS IELTS NGOC BACH www.ngocbach.com Page CONTENT Mental gymnastics Food of thought 10 World Ecotourism in the developing courtiers 17 Museum Blockbuster 24 Keep a watchful eye on the bridges 31 Knowledge in medicine 37 Spider Silk 43 The Adolescents 49 Coral reefs 55 Griffith and American films 62 Water Filter 70 Memory Decoding 76 Smell and Memory 83 Language Strategy in Multinational Company 90 Mass Production 97 The dugong: sea cow 105 Tea and Industrial Revolution 119 Koalas 125 TV Addiction 131 The history of salt 138 London Swaying Footbridge 144 The reconstruction of community in Talbot Park, Auckland 148 Art in Iron and Steel 153 Stealth Forces in weight Loss 158 What are Dreams? 164 The Exploration of Mars 170 Company Innovation 176 Development of Public management theory 181 Ancient Chinese Chariots 192 www.ngocbach.com Page The concept of childhood in the western countries 197 Animal minds: Parrot Alex 202 The History of building Telegraph lines 208 Implication of False Belief Experiments 213 Fossil files ―The Paleobiology Database‖ 218 Paper or Computer? 224 Organic farming and chemical fertilizers 231 Internal and External Marketing 237 Texting! The television 242 The Beginning of Football! 248 Corporate Social Responsibility 253 www.ngocbach.com Page MENTAL GYMNASTICS A The working day has just started at the head office of Barclays Bank in London Seventeen staff are helping themselves to a buffet breakfast as young psychologist Sebastian Bailey enters the room to begin the morning‘s training session But this is no ordinary training session He‘s not here to sharpen their finance or management skills He‘s here to exercise their brains B Today‘s workout, organized by a company called the Mind Gym in London, entitled ―having presence‖ What follows is an intense 90-minute session in which this rather abstract concept is gradually broken down into a concrete set of feelings, mental tricks and behaviors At one point the bankers are instructed to shut their eyes and visualize themselves filling the room and then the building They finish up by walking around the room acting out various levels of presence, from low-key to over the top C It‘s easy to poke fun Yet similar mental workouts are happening in corporate seminar rooms around the globe The Mind Gym alone offers some 70 different sessions, including ones on mental stamina, creativity for logical thinkers and ―zoom learning‖ Other outfits draw more directly on the exercise analogy, offering ―neurotics‖ courses with names like ―brain sets‖ and ―cerebral fitness‖ Then there are books with titles like Pumping Ions, full of brainteasers that claim to ―flex your mind‖, and software packages offering memory and spatial-awareness games D D But whatever the style, the companies‘ sales pitch is invariably the same - follow our routines to shape and sculpt your brain or mind, just as you might tone and train your body And, of course, they nearly all claim that their mental workouts draw on serious scientific research and thinking into how the brain works E One outfit, Brainergy of Cambridge, Massachusetts (motto: ―Because your grey matter matters‖) puts it like this: ―Studies have shown that mental exercise can cause changes in brain anatomy and brain chemistry which www.ngocbach.com Page promote increased mental efficiency and clarity The neuroscience is cuttingedge.‖ And on its website, Mind Gym trades on a quote from Susan Greenfield, one of Britain‘s best known neuroscientists: ―It‘s a bit like going to the gym, if you exercise your brain it will grow.‖ F Indeed, the Mind Gym originally planned to hold its sessions in a local health club, until its founders realized where the real money was to be made Modem companies need flexible, bright thinkers and will seize on anything that claims to create them, especially if it looks like a quick fix backed by science But are neurotic workouts really backed by science? And we need them? G Nor is there anything remotely high-tech about what Lawrence Katz, coauthor of Keep Your Brain Alive, recommends Katz, a neurobiologist at Duke University Medical School in North Carolina, argues that just as many of us fail to get enough physical exercise, so we also lack sufficient mental stimulation to keep our brain in trim Sure we are busy with jobs, family and housework But most of this activity is repetitive routine And any leisure time is spent slumped in front of the TV H So, read a book upside down Write or brush your teeth with your wrong hand Feel your way around the room with your eyes shut Sniff vanilla essence while listening intently to orchestral music Anything, says Katz, to break your normal mental routine It will help invigorate your brain, encouraging its cells to make new connections and pump out neurotrophins, substances that feed and sustain brain circuits I Well, up to a point it will ―What I‘m really talking about is brain maintenance rather than bulking up your IQ,‖ Katz adds Neurotics, in other words, is about letting your brain fulfill its potential It cannot create superbrains Can it achieve even that much, though? Certainly the brain is an organ that can adapt to the demands placed on it Tests on animal brain tissue, for example, have repeatedly shown that electrically stimulating the synapses that connect nerve cells thought to be crucial to learning and reasoning, makes them www.ngocbach.com Page stronger and more responsive Brain scans suggest we use a lot more of our grey matter when carrying out new or strange tasks than when we‘re doing wellrehearsed ones Rats raised in bright cages with toys sprout more neural connections than rats raised in bare cages - suggesting perhaps that novelty and variety could be crucial to a developing brain Katz, And neurologists have proved time and again that people who lose brain cells suddenly during a stroke often sprout new connections to compensate for the loss especially if they undergo extensive therapy to overcome any paralysis J Guy Claxton, an educational psychologist at the University of Bristol, dismisses most of the neurological approaches as ―neuron-babble‖ Nevertheless, there are specific mental skills we can loam, he contends Desirable attributes such as creativity, mental flexibility, and even motivation, are not the fixed faculties that most of us think They are thought habits that can be learned The problem, says Claxton, is that most of us never get proper training in these skills We develop our own private set of mental strategies for tackling tasks and never learn anything explicitly Worse still, because any learned skill - even driving a car or brushing our teethquickly sinks out of consciousness, we can no longer see the very thought habits we‘re relying upon Our mental tools become invisible to us K Claxton is the academic adviser to the Mind Gym So not surprisingly, the company espouses his solution - that we must return our thought patterns to a conscious level, becoming aware of the details of how we usually think Only then can we start to practise better thought patterns, until eventually these become our new habits Switching metaphors, picture not gym classes, but tennis or football coaching L In practice, the training can seem quite mundane For example, in one of the eight different creativity workouts offered by the Mind Gym entitled ―creativity for logical thinkers‖ one of the mental strategies taught is to make a sensible suggestion, then immediately pose its opposite So, asked to www.ngocbach.com Page spend five minutes inventing a new pizza, a group soon comes up with no topping, sweet topping, cold topping, price based on time of day, flat-rate prices and so on M Bailey agrees that the trick is simple But it is surprising how few such tricks people have to call upon when they are suddenly asked to be creative: ―They tend to just label themselves as uncreative, not realizing that there are techniques that every creative person employs.‖ Bailey says the aim is to introduce people to half a dozen or so such strategies in a session so that what at first seems like a dauntingly abstract mental task becomes a set of concrete, learnable behaviors He admits this is not a short cut to genius Neurologically, some people start with quicker circuits or greater handling capacity However, with the right kind of training he thinks we can dramatically increase how efficiently we use it N It is hard to prove that the training itself is effective How you measure a change in an employee‘s creativity levels, or memory skills? But staff certainly report feeling that such classes have opened their eyes So, neurological boosting or psychological training? At the moment you can pay your money and take your choice Claxton for one believes there is no reason why schools and universities shouldn‘t spend more time teaching basic thinking skills, rather than trying to stuff heads with facts and hoping that effective thought habits are somehow absorbed by osmosis www.ngocbach.com Page Questions - Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage In boxes - on your answer sheet, write YES if the statement agree with the views of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the view of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this Mind Gym coach instructed employees to imagine that they are the building Mind Gym uses the similar marketing theory that is used all round Susan Greenfield is the founder of Mind Gym All business and industries are using Mind Gym‘s session globally According to Mind Gym, extensive scientific background supports their mental training sessions www.ngocbach.com Page Questions - 13 Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A - D) with opinions or deeds below Write the appropriate letters, A - D, in boxes - 13 on your answer sheet NB You may use any letter more than once A Guy Claxton B Sebastian Bailey C Susan Greenfild D Lawrence Katz We not have enough inspiration to keep our brain fit The more you exercise your brain like exercise in the gym, the more brain will grow Exercise can keep your brain health instead of improving someone‘s IQ It is valuable for schools to teach students about creative skills besides basic known knowledge 10 We can develop new neuron connections when we lose old connections via certain treatment 11 People usually mark themselves as not creative before figuring out there are approaches for each person 12 An instructor in Mind Gym who guided the employees to exercise 13 Majority of people don‘t have appropriate skills-training for brain www.ngocbach.com Page KEY NO YES NO NO NOT GIVEN D C D A 10 D 11 B 12 B 13 A www.ngocbach.com Page G The success of TV-related texting is a reminder of how easily an elaborate technology can be unexpectedly overtaken by a simpler, lower-tech approach It does not mean that the traditional approach to interactive TV is doomed: indeed, it demonstrates that there is strong demand for interactive services People, it seems, really want to more than just stare at the screen If nothing else, couch potatoes like to exercise their thumbs Questions 28-32 The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-E Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-E from the list below Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet List of Headings i an existed critical system into operating in a new way ii Overview of a fast growing business iii profitable games are gaining more concerns iv Netherlands takes the leading role v a new perspective towards sharing the business opportunities vi opportunities for all round prevalent applications vii revenue gains and bonus share viii the simpler technology prevails over complex ones ix set-top box provider changed their mind 28 Paragraph A 29 Paragraph B 30 Paragraph C 31 Paragraph D 32 Paragraph E Questions 33-35 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet 33 In Europe, a consultancy suggested that young audiences spend more money on: www.ngocbach.com Page 244 34 A thumbing text message B writing E-mail C watching TV program D talking through Mobile phones what happened when some TV show invited audience to participate: A get attractive bonus B shows are more popular in Norway than in other countries C change to invite them to the reality show D their participation could change the result 35 Interactive TV change their mind of concentrating set-top box but switched to: A increase their share in the market B change a modified set-top box C build a embedded message platform D march into European market Questions 36-40 Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-E) with opinions or deeds below Write the appropriate letters A-E in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet A Lars Becker Flytxt B Katrina Bond of Analysys C Endemol D CMG E mmO2 F Gartner 36 offer mobile phone message technology 37 earned considerable amount of money through a famous program 38 shortcodes are convenient to remember when turn up 39 build their own mobile phone operating applications www.ngocbach.com Page 245 40 it is easy for people to send messages in an interactive TV www.ngocbach.com Page 246 KEY 28 ii 29 vi 30 vii 31 i 32 v 33 A 34 D 35 C 36 D 37 E 38 A 39 C 40 F www.ngocbach.com Page 247 The Beginning of Football! A Football as we now know it developed in Britain in the 19 th century, but the game is far older than this In fact, the term has historically been applied to games played on foot, as opposed to those played on horseback, so ‗football‘ hasn‘t always involved kicking a ball It has generally been played by men, though at the end of the 17th century, games were played between married and single women in a town in Scotland The married women regularly won B The very earliest form of football for which we have evidence is the ‗tsu‘chu‘, which was played in China and may date back 3,000 years It was performed in front of the Emperor during festivities to mark his birthday It involved kicking a leather ball through a 30-40cm opening into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes –a feat that demanded great skill and excellent technique C Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese ‗kemari‘ which dates from about the fifth century and is still played today This is a type of circular football game, a more dignified and ceremonious experience requiring certain skills, but not competitive in the way the Chinese game was, nor is there the slightest sign of struggle for possession of the ball The players had to pass the ball to each other, in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground D The Romans had a much livelier game, ‗harpastum‘ Each team member had his own specific tactical assignment, and the crowds of spectators took a noisy interest in the proceedings and the score The role of the feet was so small as scarcely to be of consequence The game remained popular for 700 or 800 years, but, although it was taken to England, it is doubtful whether it can be considered as a forerunner of contemporary football E The game that flourished in Britain from the th to the 19th centuries was substantially different from all the previously known forms –more disorganized, more violent, more spontaneous and usually played by an indefinite number of players Frequently, the games took the form of a heated contest between whole villages Kicking opponents was allowed, as in fact was almost everything else F There was tremendous enthusiasm for football, even though the authorities repeatedly intervened to restrict it, as a public nuisance In the 14th and 15th centuries, England, Scotland and France all made football punishable by law, because of the disorder that commonly accompanied it, or because the www.ngocbach.com Page 248 well-loved recreation prevented subjects from practising more useful military disciplines None of these efforts had much effect G The English passion for football was particularly strong in the 16 th century, influenced by the popularity of the rather better organized Italian game of ‗calcio‘ English football was as rough as ever, but it found a prominent supporter in the school headmaster Richard Mulcaster He pointed out that it had positive educational value and promoted health and strength Mulcaster claimed that all that was needed was to refine it a little, limit the number of participants in each team and, more importantly, have a referee to oversee the game H The game persisted in a disorganized form until the early 19 th century, when a number of influential English schools developed their own adaptations In some, including Rugby School, the ball could be touched with the hands or carried; opponents could be tripped up and even kicked It was recognized in educational circles that, as a team game, football helped to develop such fine qualities as loyalty, selflessness, cooperation, subordination and deference to the team spirit A ‗games cult‘ developed in schools, and some form of football became an obligatory part of the curriculum I In 1863, developments reached a climax At Cambridge University, an initiative began to establish some uniform standards and rules that would be accepted by everyone, but there were essentially two camps: the minority –Rugby School and some others –wished to continue with their own form of the game, in particular allowing players to carry the ball In October of the same year, eleven London clubs and schools sent representatives to establish a set of fundamental rules to govern the matches played amongst them This meeting marked the birth of the Football Association J The dispute concerning kicking and tripping opponents and carrying the ball was discussed thoroughly at this and subsequent meetings, until eventually, on December, the die-hard exponents of the Rugby style withdrew, marking a final split between rugby and football Within eight years, the Football Association already had 50 member clubs, and the first football competition in the world was started - the FA Cup www.ngocbach.com Page 249 Questions 1-7 Reading Passage has ten paragraphs A-J Choose the correct headings for paragraphs D-J from the list of headings below Write the correct number i-x in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet List of Headings i Limited success in suppressing the game ii Opposition to the role of football in schools Iii A way of developing moral values iv Football matches between countries v A game that has survived vi sports vii Separation into two Proposals for minor improvements viii Attempts to standardise the game ix Probably not an early version of football x A chaotic activity with virtually no rules Paragraph D Paragraph E Paragraph F Paragraph G Paragraph H Paragraph J Paragraph I Questions 8-13 Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-I from the box below Write the correct letter A-Fin boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet Tsu‘chu Kemari 10 Harpastum 11 From the 8th to the 19th centuries, football in the British Isles www.ngocbach.com Page 250 12 In the past, the authorities legitimately despised the football and acted on the belief that football 13 When it was accepted in academic settings, football A was seen as something to be encouraged in the young B involved individual players having different responsibilities C was influenced by a game from another country D was a cooperative effort by all the players E distracted people from more important activities F was played by teams of a fixed size G was less popular than it later became H was often played by one community against another I formed part of a celebration www.ngocbach.com Page 251 KEY ix x i vii iii viii vi I D 10 B 11 H 12 E 13 A www.ngocbach.com Page 252 Corporate Social Responsibility Broadly speaking, proponents of CSR have used four arguments to make their case: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation The moral appeal –arguing that companies have a duty to be good citizens and to “do the right thing” –is prominent in the goal of Business for Social Responsibility, the leading nonprofit CSR business association in the United States It asks that its members “achieve commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment.” Sustainability emphasizes environmental and community stewardship A An excellent definition was developed in the 1980s by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and used by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: ―Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.‖ The notion of license to operate derives from the fact that every company needs tacit or explicit permission from governments, communities, and numerous other stakeholders to business Finally, reputation is used by many companies to justify CSR initiatives on the grounds that they will improve a company‘s image, strengthen its brand, enliven morale, and even raise the value of its stock B To advance CSR, we must root it in a broad understanding of the interrelationship between a corporation and society while at the same time anchoring it in the strategies and activities of specific companies To say broadly that business and society need each other might seem like a cliché, but it is also the basic truth that will pull companies out of the muddle that their current corporate-responsibility thinking has created Successful corporations need a healthy society Education, health care, and equal opportunity are essential to a productive workforce Safe products and working conditions not only attract customers but lower the internal costs of accidents Efficient utilization of land, water, energy, and other natural resources makes business more productive Good government, the rule of law, and property rights are essential for efficiency and innovation Strong regulatory standards protect both consumers and competitive companies from exploitation Ultimately, a healthy society creates expanding demand for business, as more human needs are met and aspirations grow Any business that pursues its ends at the expense of the society in which it operates will find its success to be illusory and ultimately temporary At the same time, a health society needs successful companies No social program can rival the business sector when it comes to creating the jobs, wealth, and innovation that improve standards of living and social conditions over time www.ngocbach.com Page 253 C A company‘s impact on society also changes over time, as social standards evolve and science progresses Asbestos, now understood as a serious health risk, was thought to be safe in the early 1900s, given the scientific knowledge then available Evidence of its risks gradually mounted for more than 50 years before any company was held liable for the harms it can cause Many firms that failed to anticipate the consequences of this evolving body of research have been bankrupted by the results No longer can companies be content to monitor only the obvious social impacts of today Without a careful process for identifying evolving social effects of tomorrow, firms may risk their very survival D No business can solve all of society‘s problems or bear the cost of doing so Instead, each company must select issues that intersect with its particular business Other social agendas are best left to those companies in other industries, NGOs, or government institutions that are better positioned to address them The essential test that should guide CSR is not whether a cause is worthy but whether it presents an opportunity to create shared value- that is, a meaningful benefit for society that is also valuable to the business However, Corporations are not responsible for all the world‘s problems, nor they have the resources to solve them all Each company can identify the particular set of societal problems that it is best equipped to help resolve and from which it can gain the greatest competitive benefit Addressing social issues by creating shared value will lead to self-sustaining solutions that not depend on private or government subsidies When a well-run business applies its vast resources, expertise, and management talent to problems that it understands and in which it has a stake, it can have a greater impact on social good than any other institution or philanthropic organization E The best corporate citizenship initiatives involve far more than writing a check: They specify clear, measurable goal and track results over time A good example is GE‘s program to adopt underperforming public high schools near several of its major U.S facilities The company contributes between $250,000 and $1 million over a five-year period to each school and makes in-kind donations as well GE managers and employees take an active role by working with school administrators to assess needs and mentor or tutor students In an independent study of ten schools in the program between 1989 and 1999, nearly all showed significant improvement, while the graduation rate in four of the five worstperforming schools doubled from an average of 30% to 60% Effective corporate citizenship initiatives such as this one create goodwill and improve relations with local governments and other important constituencies What‘s more, GE‘s employees feel great pride in their www.ngocbach.com Page 254 participation Their effect is inherently limited, however No matter how beneficial the program is, it remains incidental to the company‘s business, and the direct effect on GE‘s recruiting and retention is modest F Microsoft‘s Working Connections partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is a good example of a sharedvalue opportunity arising from investments in context The shortage of information technology workers is a significant constraint on Microsoft‘s growth; currently, there are more than 450,000 unfilled IT positions in the United States alone Community colleges, with an enrollment of 11.6 million students, representing 45% of all U.S undergraduates, could be a major solution Microsoft recognizes, however, that community colleges face special challenges: IT curricula are not standardized, technology used in classrooms is often outdated, and there are no systematic professional development programs to keep faculty up to date Microsoft‘s $50 million five-year initiative was aimed at all three problems In addition to contributing money and products, Microsoft sent employee volunteers to colleges to assess needs, contribute to curriculum development, and create faculty development institutes Note that in this case, volunteers and assigned staff were able to use their core professional skills to address a social need, a far cry from typical volunteer programs Microsoft has achieved results that have benefited many communities while having a direct-and potentially significant-impact on the company G At the heart of any strategy is a unique value proposition: a set of needs a company can meet for its chosen customers that others cannot The most strategic CSR occurs when a company adds a social dimension to its value proposition, making social impact integral to the overall strategy Consider Whole Foods Market, whose value proposition is to sell organic, natural and healthy food products to customers who are passionate about food and the environment The company‘s sourcing emphasizes purchases from local farmers through each store‘s procurement process Buyers screen out foods containing any of nearly 100 common ingredients that the company considers unhealthy or environmentally damaging The same standards apply to products made internally Whole Foods‘ commitment to natural and environmentally friendly operating practices extends well beyond sourcing Stores are constructed using a minimum of virgin raw materials Recently, the company purchased renewable wind energy credits equal to 100% of its electricity use in all of its stores and facilities, the only Fortune 500 company to offset its electricity consumption entirely Spoiled produce and biodegradable waste are trucked to regional centers for composting Whole Foods‘ vehicles are being converted to run on biofuels Even the cleaning products used in its stores are environmentally www.ngocbach.com Page 255 friendly And through its philanthropy, the company has created the Animal Compassion Foundation to develop more natural and humane ways of raising farm animals In short, nearly every aspect of the company‘s value chain reinforces the social dimensions of its value proposition, distinguishing Whole Foods from its competitors Questions 14-20 The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet List of Headings i How CSR may help one business to expand ii CSR in many aspects of a company‘s business iii A CSR initiative without a financial gain iv Lack of action by the state of social issues v Drives or pressures motivate companies to address CSR vi the past illustrates business are responsible for future outcomes vii Companies applying CSR should be selective viii Reasons that business and society benefit each other 14 Paragraph A 15 Paragraph B 16 Paragraph C 17 Paragraph D 18 Paragraph E 19 Paragraph F 20 Paragraph G Questions 21-22 Summary Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer Write your answers in boxes 21-22 on your answer sheet www.ngocbach.com Page 256 The implement of CSR, HOW? Promotion of CSR requires the understanding of interdependence between business and society Corporations workers‘ productivity generally needs health care, Education, and given 21 _ Restrictions imposed by government and companies both protect consumers from being treated unfairly Improvement of the safety standard can reduce the 22 _ of accidents in the workplace Similarly society becomes a pool of more human needs and aspirations Questions 23-26 Use the information in the passage to match the companies (listed A-C) with opinions or deeds below Write the appropriate letters A, B or C in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet List of companies A General Electronics B Microsoft C Whole foods market NB you may use any letter more than once 23 The disposable waste 24 The way company purchases as goods 25 Helping the undeveloped 26 Ensuring the people have the latest information www.ngocbach.com Page 257 KEY 14 v 15 viii 16 iv 17 vii 18 iii 19 i 20 ii 21 equal opportunity 22 internal cost 23 C 24 C 25 A 26 B www.ngocbach.com Page 258 ... Questions 10-13 Summary Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on... blockbuster Questions - Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer www.ngocbach.com Page 27 Write your... well off, they can start fretting about growing too fat www.ngocbach.com Page 12 Questions - The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A - G Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A - G from