IELTS Practice Test: Academic Reading 1 March 26, 2011 Academic Reading You should spend about 20 minutes

on Questions 1-13 which are based on the Reading Passage below. The Giant Panda For more than 100 years. scientists have argued over exactly what a panda is. Now. finally, with the help of DNA testing. the panda has been admitted to the ursidae (bear) family. and the spectacled bear of South America has been confirmed as its closest living relative. In 1869. French Jesuit missionary Pere David first described the giant panda to western science. With just a pelt and reported sighting to go on. he classified it as a bear. However, the following year, zoologist Alphonse Milne Edwards dissected the first specimen and concluded that it had more in common with the red panda, a member of the raccoon family. For more than a century, scientists quarreled over whether the giant panda belonged to the bear family, the raccoon family or a separate family of its own. They had good reason to be confused. The giant panda shares many physical characteristics with the red panda. Both have evolved to feed on bamboo, grasping and eating it in the same way, with similar teeth skulls and forepaws. They also both have a distinctive cry, which they use to communicate with others in their group. In the mid-1980s there were several studies involving DNA comparisons between the species. The first investigations linked the giant panda with bears, but in 1991 further tests contradicted these findings and placed it

in the raccoon family with the red panda. By the year 2000, approximately twelve studies had been completed, and all except two placed the panda in the bear family. The data from these two studies was reanalysed by other researchers, who finally concluded that the giant panda was indeed a bear.

Today, there are eight species of bear. Along with dogs, their closest relatives, cats, raccoons and weasels, they belong to the order Carnivore, a group of meat -eating predators that evolved some 57 million years ago. The ancestors of modem bears split from this group about 34 million years ago, and today the panda is our oldest living bear. followed by the spectacled bear. Both are survivors of an ancient lineage dating back 18 million years. The rest the brown, black, polar. Asiatic black, sloth and sun bears are relatively modern. dating back four to five million years. Researchers have found that the spectacled bear and the panda have several physical features in common. The spectacled bears muzzle is comparatively short and it has blunt molar teeth and large jaw muscles. which are good for grinding fibrous vegetation vegetation such as bamboo. Indeed, scientists in Venezuela have found that bamboo makes up 70% of the diet of some spectacled bear populations. For most spectacled bears. however, the bromeliad, a tropical plant with fleshy leaves, is their main food source. Most species of bromeliad grow in trees, and spectacled bears therefore have to be adept tree climbers because they spend their lives foraging for these plants, as well as fruits, in the cloud forest of the Andes.

The giant pandas diet is famously dull, with bamboo representing 99% of its intake. This is rather strange given that its physiology is typical of a carnivore and it has no special adaptation for digesting cellulose, the

main constituent of plant cell walls. A panda manages to digest only about 17% of the bamboo it eats (a deer living on grass achieves 80% efficiency). It typically feeds for 14 hours a day, consuming 20 kg or more of bamboo. Unable to store fat effectively, it continues eating in the bitterly cold winter, at a time when many other bears hibernate. With such a specialized diet, the giant panda has evolved a sixth digit, a prehensile elongated wrist bone called the radial sesamoid. They use this false thumb to roll bamboo leaves into fat, cigarshaped wads which they then sever using their powerful jaws. They feed mainly on the ground but are capable of climbing trees as well. The spectacled bear is a more frequent climber and will even climb spiky cacti plants to reach fruit at the top. They also construct tree nests to act as a bed as well as a platform to feed from fruit-laden branches.

Very occasionally, the giant panda supplements its diet with meat, which it scavenges. Spectacled bears eat carrion, too, and some have been known to kill small calves. Spectacled bears are highly adaptable and are found in a wide range of habitats including rainforest, dry forest and coastal scrub desert. In contrast, the giant panda) live at an altitude of between 1,200 and 3,500 metres in mountain forests that are characterized by dense strands of bamboo.

There have been many theories as to why the panda has such a distinctive coat, but the most convincing argument is that of George Schaller, one of the first western scientists to study wild pandas. He believes the contrasting coat may help prevent close encounters with other pandas. In pandas, a stare is a threat, Schaller says. The eye patches enlarge the pandas small, dark eyes tenfold, making the stare more powerful. A staring panda will hold its head low, so presenting the eye patches. To

show lack of aggressive intent, a panda will avert its head, cover its eye patches with its paws or hide its face. Interestingly, the spectacled bear is the only other bear with comparably obvious markings around the eye.

Questions 1-8 Classify the following characteristics as belonging to A the giant panda B the spectacled bear C both the giant panda and the spectacled bear Write the correct letter A, B or C next to Questions 1-8 below. 1 an extra thumb on each paw 2 a tendency to sleep in trees 3 their species originated 18 million years ago 4 the ability to adjust to different environments 5 the use of noises to socialize with each other 6 the ability to climb trees 4 7 the eating of meat 8 a similarity to a type of raccoon Questions 9-13 Complete the sentences with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in spaces 9-13 below.

9 The pandas digestive system is that of a . 10 The giant panda must eat constantly because it can only a small amount of bamboo. 11 In winter, giant pandas cannot because of their feeding habits. 12 Spectacled bears build to help reach their food. 13 Giant pandas may use their to threaten other pandas.

Answers: 1 A 2 B 3 C 4B 5A 6 C 7 C 8A 9 carnivore 10 digest 11 hibernate 12 (tree) nests / platforms / a (tree) nest/a platform 13 eye patches

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IELTS Practice Tests: Academic Reading 2 March 26, 2011 Academic Reading You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-12 which are based on the Reading Passage below.

Robotic approach to crop breeding Jennifer Manyweathers takes a look at a robot that is being used to identify drought-tolerant crop varieties A The Australian sunflower industry is the major source of polyunsaturated fatty acids found in margarines and spreads. Recognised as the type of fatty acid most able to protect against heart disease, it is in everybodys best interest that Australia has a competitive and healthy sunflower industry, but in Australia there is a constant struggle with the harsh climate. However, thanks to one special robot, farmers may be able to win the battle against drought. B Dr Chris Lambrides, a research fellow at the University of Queensland, is nearing the end of a project that aims to develop more droughttolerant sunflowers by selecting flowers that use water more efficiently. Hes done this with the help of a robot developed by the Australian National Universitys Research School of Biological Sciences. C Plants undergo photosynthesis to produce energy in the form of sugar. This involves allowing carbon dioxide to enter the leaves through pores called stomata. Transpiration is the mechanism by which plants lose water through their leaves. This system is thought to facilitate the passage of minerals through the plant and is vital for healthy plants. D However, in conditions of drought, the plants that can use the available water efficiently and lose less to the environment will be more likely to thrive and, in a commercial sense become more profitable. These plants are classified as having a high transpiration efficiency. When plants transpire, the leaves become cooler due to evaporation. Therefore, by measuring the temperature of the leaves, scientists can determine how much water is being lost through transpiration. E When the project first began, the researchers used hand-held infrared thermometers to measure the temperature difference between leaves of different varieties of sunflowers in an experimental plot. Wind can affect leaf temperature, and the research team discovered that its initial

approach did not cater for changes in wind speed, which could not be controlled as an experimental variable. The team therefore needed a technique to measure temperature continuously that would allow it to examine the effects of other variables such as humidity. They needed a robot. F They designed a robot with two infrared thermometers set at 1800 to each other. The robot runs on an oblong track around the experimental plot and the thermometers operate on each side of the track. In order to minimize any variables from the two thermometers, they are rotated 1800 at the beginning of each run and the results are averaged. The infrared thermometers can be rotated on an angle to examine different parts of the foliage. G The robot is also able to detect light intensity. It has a garage on the track, where it waits until the light intensity is high enough to give useful results. If the skies darken due to rain, heavy cloud cover or sunset, the robot makes its way back to the garage to wait. H The main difficulty faced by the research group was to find an agronomist who could grow the perfect crop of sunflowers. The sunflower canopy had to be complete, with no visible soil, 50 that the thermometers would only measure the temperature of the plants and not the surrounding environment. Eight varieties of sunflower were examined. The data collected by the robot has been used by the research team to determine which variety has the highest transpiration efficiency. I This is not the first time such methods have been used to determine drought-resistance in plants. The team and their robot have already made a major breakthrough in the Australian wheat industry with Drysdale Wheat, which signalled the arrival of a new technique for selecting drought-resistant species.

Questions 1-4

Complete the sentences with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers next to Questions 1-4. 1 In terms of our health, sunflowers are important in defending humans against _______________________________. 2 The research team wanted to find a sunflower that could cope well in conditions. _______________________________. 3 The name of the process which is believed to help keep plants in good condition is _______________________________. 4 The research team had to rethink their initial approach when they realised they needed to measure the impact of external conditions such as __________ and ________________. Questions 5-12 The reading passage has nine paragraphs labelled A-I. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-I next to Questions 5-12. 5 the precise growing conditions required to allow the experiment to work 6 a description of the how the robot operates 7 an explanation of two important processes used by plants 8 a reference to a previous study using a different crop 9 details of what the robot does when conditions are poor 10 the name of the group responsible for making the robot 11 the number of different types of sunflower tested 12 the purpose of taking the temperature of the plants

Answers: 1 heart disease 2 drought 3 transpiration 4 wind 5H 6 F 7C 8 I 9 G 10 B 11 H 12 D Leave a Comment | Posted by neoenglish IELTS and TOEFL | Permalink

IELTS Practice Test: Academic Reading 3 March 26, 2011 Academic Reading You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-12 which are based on the Reading Passage below.

Experience versus speed Certain mental functions slow down with age, but the brain compensates in ways that can keep seniors as sharp as youngsters. Jake, aged 16, has a terrific relationship with his grandmother Rita, who is 70. They live close by, and they even take a Spanish class together twice a week at a local college. After class they sometimes stop at a cafe for a snack. On one occasion, Rita tells Jake, I think its great how fast you pick up new grammar. It takes me a lot longer. Jake replies, Yeah, but you dont seem to make as many silly mistakes on the quizzes as I do. How do you do that? In that moment, Rita and Jake stumbled across an interesting set of differences between older and younger minds. Popular psychology says that as people age their brains slow down. The implication, of course, is

that elderly men and women are not as mentally agile as middle-aged adults or even teenagers. However, although certain brain functions such as perception and reaction time do indeed take longer, that slowing down does not necessarily undermine mental sharpness. Indeed, evidence shows that older people are just as mentally fit as younger people because their brains compensate for some kinds of declines in creative ways that young minds do not exploit. Just as peoples bodies age at different rates, so do their minds. As adults advance in age, the perception of sights, sounds and smells takes a bit longer, and laying down new information into memory becomes more difficult. The ability to retrieve memories also quickly slides and it is sometimes harder to concentrate and maintain attention. On the other hand, the ageing brain can create significant benefits by tapping into its extensive hoard of accumulated knowledge and experience. The biggest trick that older brains employ is to use both hemispheres simultaneously to handle tasks for which younger brains rely predominantly on one side. Electronic images taken by cognitive scientists at the University of Michigan, for example, have demonstrated that even when doing basic recognition or memorization exercises, seniors exploit the left and right side of the brain more extensively than men and women who are decades younger. Drawing on both sides of the brain gives them a tactical edge, even if the speed of each hemispheres process is slower. In another experiment, Michael Falkenstein of the University of Dortmund in Germany found that when elders were presented with new computer exercises they paused longer before reacting and took longer to complete the tasks, yet they made 50% fewer errors, probably because of their more deliberate pace. One analogy for these results might be the question of who can type a paragraph better: a I6-year-old who glides along at 60 words per minute but has to double back to correct a number of mistakes or a 70-year-old

who strikes keys at only 40 words per minute but spends less time fixing errors? In the end, if better is defined as completing a clean paragraph. both people may end up taking the same amount of time. Computerized tests support the notion that accuracy can offset speed. In one so-called distraction exercise, subjects were told to look at a screen, wait for an arrow that pointed in a certain direction to appear, and then use a mouse to click on the arrow as soon as it appeared on the screen. Just before the correct symbol appeared, however, the computer displayed numerous other arrows aimed in various other directions. Although younger subjects cut through the confusion faster when the correct arrow suddenly popped up, they more frequently clicked on incorrect arrows in their haste. Older test takers are equally capable of other tasks that do not depend on speed, such as language comprehension and processing. In these cases, however. the elders utilize the brains available resources in a different way. Neurologists at Northwest University came to this conclusion after analyzing 50 people ranging from age 23 to 78. The subjects had to lie down in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine and concentrate on two different lists of printed words posted side by side in front of them. By looking at the lists, they were to find pairs of words that were similar in either meaning or spelling. The eldest participants did just as well on the tests as the youngest did, and yet the MRI scans indicated that in the elders brains, the areas which are responsible for language recognition and interpretation were much less active. The researchers did find that the older people had more activity in brain regions responsible for attentiveness. Darren Gleitman, who headed the study, concluded that older brains solved the problems just as effectively but by different means. Questions 1-3 Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

1 The conversation between Jake and Rita is used to give an example of A the way we learn languages. B the changes that occur in our brains over time. E the fact that it is easier to learn a language at a young age. D the importance of young and old people doing things together. 2 In paragraph six, what point is the analogy used to illustrate? A Working faster is better than working slower. B Accuracy is less important than speed. C Accuracy can improve over time. D Working faster does not always save time. 3 In the computerized distraction exercises, the subjects had to A react to a particular symbol on the screen. B type a text as quickly as possible. C move an arrow in different directions around the screen. D click on every arrow that appeared on the screen. Questions 4-7 Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-F. Write the correct letter A-F next to Questions 4-7 below. 4 According to popular psychology 5 Researchers at the University of Michigan showed that 6 Michael Falkenstein discovered that 7 Scientists at Northwest University concluded that A the older we get the harder it is to concentrate for any length of time. B seniors take longer to complete tasks but with greater accuracy. C old people use both parts of their brain more than young people. D older people use their brains differently but achieve the same result. E the speed of our brain decreases with age. F older people do not cope well with new technology. Questions 8-12

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in spaces 8-12 below. Peoples bodies and 8 __________. grow older at varying stages. As we age our senses take longer to process information and our aptitude for recalling 9 __________. also decreases. However, older peoples brains do have several advantages. Firstly, they can call upon both the 10 __________. and 11 __________. which is already stored in their brain. Secondly, although the 12__________. of each side of their brain is reduced, they are able to use both sides at once.

Answers: 1B 2D 3A4E 5C 6B 7D 8 minds 9 memories 10 and 11 IN EITHER ORDER: knowledge, experience 12 speed