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Reading Practice

Reading Practice Test 1

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based
on Reading Passage 1 below.

Communicating in Colour
There are more than 160 known species of chameleons. The main distribution is in Africa
and Madagascar, and other tropical regions, although some species are also found in
parts of southern Europe and Asia. There are introduced populations in Hawaii and
probably in California and Florida too.

New species are still discovered quite frequently. Dr Andrew Marshall, a conservationist
from York University, was surveying monkeys in Tanzania, when he stumbled across a
twig snake in the Magombera forest which, frightened, coughed up a chameleon and fled.
Though a colleague persuaded him not to touch it because of the risk from venom,
Marshall suspected it might be a new species, and took a photograph to send to
colleagues, who confirmed his suspicions. Kinyongia magomberae, literally “the
chameleon from Magombera”, is the result, and the fact it was not easy to identify is
precisely what made it unique. The most remarkable feature of chameleons is their ability

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to change colour, an ability rivalled only by cuttlefish and octopi in the animal kingdom.
Because of this, colour is not the best thing for telling chameleons apart and different
species are usually identified based on the patterning and shape of the head, and the
arrangement of scales. In this case it was the bulge of scales on the chameleon’s nose.

Chameleons are able to use colour for both communication and camouflage by switching
from bright, showy colours to the exact colour of a twig within seconds. They show an
extraordinary range of colours, from nearly black to bright blues, oranges, pinks and
greens, even several at once. A popular misconception is that chameleons can match
whatever background they are placed on, whether a chequered red and yellow shirt or a
Smartie box. But each species has a characteristic set of cells containing pigment
distributed over their bodies in a specific pattern, which determines the range of colours
and patterns they can show. To the great disappointment of many children, placing a
chameleon on a Smartie box generally results in a stressed, confused, dark grey or
mottled chameleon.

Chameleons are visual animals with excellent eyesight, and they communicate with
colour. When two male dwarf chameleons encounter each other, each shows its brightest
colours. They puff out their throats and present themselves side-on with their bodies
flattened to appear as large as possible and to show off their colours. This enables them to
assess each other from a distance. If one is clearly superior, the other quickly changes to
submissive colouration, which is usually a dull combination of greys or browns. If the
opponents are closely matched and both maintain their bright colours, the contest can
escalate to physical fighting and jaw-locking, each trying to push each other along the
branch in a contest of strength. Eventually, the loser will signal his defeat with submissive
colouration.

Females also have aggressive displays used to repel male attempts at courtship. When
courting a female, males display the same bright colours that they use during contests.
Most of the time, females are unreceptive and aggressively reject males by displaying a
contrasting light and dark colour pattern, with their mouths open and moving their bodies
rapidly from side to side. If the male continues to court a female, she often chases and
bites him until he retreats. The range of colour- change during female displays, although
impressive, is not as great as that shown by males.

Many people assume that colour change evolved to enable chameleons to match a
greater variety of backgrounds in their environment. If this was the case, then the ability of
chameleons to change colour should be associated with the range of background colours
in the chameleon’s habitat, but there is no evidence for such a pattern. For example, forest
habitats might have a greater range of brown and green background colours than
grasslands, so forest-dwelling species might be expected to have greater powers of colour
change. Instead, the males whose display colours are the most eye-catching show the

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greatest colour change. Their displays are composed of colours that contrast highly with
each other as well as with the background vegetation. This suggests that the species that
evolved the most impressive capacities for colour change did so to enable them to
intimidate rivals or attract mates rather than to facilitate camouflage.

How do we know that chameleon display colours are eye-catching to another chameleon
– or, for that matter, to a predatory bird? Getting a view from the perspective of
chameleons or their bird predators requires information on the chameleon s or bird’s visual
system and an understanding of how their brains might process visual information. This is
because the perceived colour of an object depends as much on die brain’s wiring as on
the physical properties of the object itself. Luckily, recent scientific advances have made it
possible to obtain such measurements in the field, and information on visual systems of a
variety of animals is becoming increasingly available.

The spectacular diversity of colours and ornaments in nature has inspired biologists for
centuries. But if we want to understand the function and evolution of animal colour
patterns, we need to know how they are perceived by the animals themselves – or their
predators. After all, camouflage and conspicuousness are in the eye of the beholder.

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.

The Pursuit of Happiness


A. In the late 1990; psychologist Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania urged
colleagues to observe optimal moods with the same kind of focus with which they had for
so long studied illnesses: we would never learn about the full range of human functions
unless we knew as much about mental wellness as we do about mental illness. A new
generation of psychologists built up a respectable body of research on positive character
traits and happiness-boosting practices. At the same time, developments in neuroscience
provided new clues to what makes us happy and what that looks like In the brain. Self
appointed experts took advantage of the trend with guarantees to eliminate worry, stress,
dejection and even boredom. This happiness movement has provoked a great deal of
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opposition among psychologists who observe that the preoccupation with happiness has
come at the cost of sadness, an important feeling that people have tried to banish from
their emotional repertoire. Allan Horwitz of Rutgers laments that young people who are
naturally weepy after breakups are often urged to medicate themselves instead of working
through their sadness. Wake Forest University’s Eric Wilson fumes that the obsession with
happiness amounts to a ‘craven disregard” for the melancholic perspective that has given
rise to the greatest works of art. “The happy man,” he writes, ‘is a hollow man.’

B. After all people are remarkably adaptable. Following a variable period of adjustment, we
bounce back to our previous level of happiness, no matter what happens to us. (There are
some scientifically proven exceptions, notably suffering the unexpected loss of a job or the
loss of a spouse. Both events tend to permanently knock people back a step.) Our
adaptability works in two directions. Because we are so adaptable, points out Professor
Sonja J.yubomirsky of the University of California, we quickly get used to many of the
accomplishments we strive for in life, such as lauding the big job or getting married. Soon
alter we reach a milestone, we start to feel that something is missing. We begin coveting
another worldly possession or eyeing a social advancement. But such an approach keeps
us tethered to a treadmill where happiness is always just out of reach, one toy or one step
away. It’s possible to get off the treadmill entirely by focusing on activities that
are dynamic, surprising, and attention-absorbing. and thus less likely to bore us than, say,
acquiring shiny new toys.

C. Moreover, happiness is not a reward tor escaping pain. Russ Harris, the author of The
Happiness Trap, calls popular conceptions of happiness dangerous because they set
people up for a ‘struggle against reality*. They don’t acknowledge that real life is full of
disappointments, loss, and inconveniences.”If you’re going to live a rich and meaningful
life.* Harris says, “you’re going to feel a full range of emotions.” Action toward goals other
than happiness makes people happy. It is not crossing the finish line that is most
rewarding, it is anticipating achieving the goal. University of Wisconsin neuroscientist
Richard Davidson has found that working hard toward a goal, and making progress to the
point of expecting a goal to be realized, not only activates positive feelings but also
suppresses negative emotions such as fear and depression.

D.We are constantly making decisions, ranging from what clothes to put on. to whom we
should marry, not to mention all those flavors of ice cream. We base many of our
decisions on whether we think a particular preference will increase our well-being.
Intuitively, we seem convinced that the more choices we have, the better off we will
ultimately be. But our world of unlimited opportunity imprisons us more than it makes us
happy. In what Swarthmore psychologist Barrs- Schwartz calls “the paradox of choice.”
lacing many possibilities leaves us stressed out – and less satisfied with whatever we do
decide. Having too many choices keeps us wondering about all the opportunities missed.

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E. Besides, not everyone can put on a happy face. Rirlxira Held, a professor of psychology
at Bowdoin College, rails against “the tyranny of the positive attitude”. ‘Looking on the
bright side isn’t possible for some people and Is even counterproductive,” she insists.
‘When you put pressure on people to cope in a way that doesn’t fit them, it not only doesn’t
work, it makes them feel like a failure on top of already feeling bad.” The one-size-fits-all
approach to managing emotional life is misguided, agrees Professor Julie Norem, author
of The Positive Power of Negative Thinking. In her research, she has shown that the
defensive pessimism that anxious people feel can be harnessed to help them get things
done, which in turn makes them happier. A naturally pessimistic architect, for example,
can set low expectations for an upcoming presentation and review all of the bad outcomes
that she’s imagining, so that she can prepare carefully and increase her chances of
success.

F.By contrast, an individual who is not living according to their values, will not be happy,
no matter how much they achieve. Some people, however, are not sure what their values
are. In that case Harris has a great question: ‘Imagine I could wave a magic wand to
ensure that you would have the approval and admiration of everyone on the planet,
forever. What, in that case, would you choose to do with your life?” Once this has been
answered honestly, you can start taking steps toward your ideal vision of yourself. The
actual answer is unimportant, as long as you’re living consciously. The state of happiness
is not really a state at all. It’s an ongoing personal experiment.

READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.

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The Deep Sea
At a time when most think of outer space as the final frontier, we must remember that a
great deal of unfinished business remains here on earth. Robots crawl on the surface of
Mars, and spacecraft exit our solar system, but most of our own planet has still never been
seen by human eyes. It seems ironic that we know more about impact craters on the far
side of the moon than about the longest and largest mountain range on earth. It is amazing
that human beings crossed a quarter of a million miles of space to visit our nearest
celestial neighbor before penetrating just two miles deep into the earths own waters to
explore the Midocean Ridge. And it would be hard to imagine a more significant part of our
planet to investigate – a chain of volcanic mountains 42,000 miles long where most of
the earth’s solid surface was born, and where vast volcanoes continue to create new
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submarine landscapes.

The figure we so often see quoted 71% of the earth’s surface – understates the oceans’
importance. If you consider instead three-dimensional volumes, the land dwellers’ share of
the planet shrinks even more toward insignificance: less than 1% of the total. Most of the
oceans’ enormous volume, lies deep below the familiar surface. The upper sunlit layer, by
one estimate, contains only 2 or 3% of the total space available to life. The other 97% of
the earth’s biosphere lies deep beneath the water’s surface, where sunlight never
penetrates. Until recently, it was impossible to study the deep ocean directly. By the
sixteenth century, diving bells allowed people to stay underwater for a short time: they
could swim to the hell to breathe air trapped underneath it rather than return all the way to
the surface. Later, other devices, including pressurized or armored suits, heavy’ metal
helmets, and compressed air supplied through hoses from the surface, allowed at least
one diver to reach 500 feet or so. It was 1930 when a biologist named William Beebe and
his engineering colleague Otis Barton sealed themselves into a new kind of diving craft, an
invention that finally allowed humans to penetrate beyond the shallow sunlit layer of the
sea and the history of deep-sea exploration began. Science then was largely incidental –
something that happened along the way. In terms of technical ingenuity and human
bravery, this part of the story is every’ bit as amazing as the history of early aviation. Yet
many of these individuals, and the deep-diving vehicles that they built and tested, are not
well known.

It was not until the 1970s that deep-diving manned submersibles were able to reach the
Midocean Ridge and begin making major contributions to a wide range of scientific
questions. A burst of discoveries followed in short order. Several of these profoundly
changed whole fields of science, and their implications are still not fully understood. For
example, biologists may now be seeing – in the strange communities of microbes and
animals that live around deep volcanic vents – clues to the origin of life on earth. No one
even knew that these communities existed before explorers began diving to the bottom in
submersible. Entering the deep, black abyss presents unique challenges for which
humans must carefully prepare if the wish to survive. It is an unforgiving environment, both
harsh and strangely beautiful, that few who have not experienced it firsthand can fully
appreciate. Even the most powerful searchlights penetrate only lens of feet. Suspended
particles scatter tile light and water itself is for less transparent than air; it absorbs and
scatters light. The ocean also swallows other types of electromagnetic radiation, including
radio signals. That is why many deep sea vehicles dangle from tethers. Inside those
tethers, copper wires or fiber optic strands transmit signals that would dissipate and the if
broadcast into open water.

Another challenge is that the temperature near the bottom in very deep water typically
hovers just four degrees above freezing, and submersibles rarely have much insulation.
Since water absorbs heat more quickly than air. the cold down below seems to penetrate
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a diving capsule for more quickly than it would penetrate, say, a control van up above, on
the deck of the mother ship. And finally, the abyss clamps down with crushing pressure on
anything that enters it. ‘I his force is like air pressure on land, except that water is much
heavier than air. At sea level on land, we don’t even notice I atmosphere of pressure,
about 15 pounds per square inch, the weight of the earths blanket of air. In the deepest
part of the ocean, nearly seven miles down, its about 1,200 atmospheres. 18,000 pounds
per square inch. A square-inch column of lead would crush down on your body with equal
force if it were 3,600 feet tall.

Fish that live in the deep don’t feel the pressure, because they are filled with water from
their own environment. It has already been compressed by abyssal pressure as much as
water can be (which is not much). A diving craft, however, is a hollow chamber, rudely
displacing the water around it. That chamber must withstand the full brunt of deep sea
pressure – thousands of pounds per square inch. If seawater with that much pressure
behind it ever finds a way to break inside, it explodes through the hole with laser-like
intensity. It was into such a terrifying environment that the first twentieth-century explorers
ventured.

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Questions 1-4
Answer the questions below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

What kind of climate do most chameleons live in?


1

Which animal caught a chameleon that Dr. Andrew Marshall saw?


2

What was the new species named after?


3

Which part of the body is unique to the species Kinyongla magomberae?


4

Questions 5-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1
?

In boxes 5-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is true

FALSE if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

5 Few creatures can change colour as effectively as cuttlefish.

6 Chameleons can imitate a pattern provided there are only two


colours.
7 Chameleons appear to enjoy trying out new colours.

[8:NOT GIVEN Size matters more than colour when male chameleons compete.
9 After a fight, the defeated male hides among branches of a
tree.
10 Females use colour and movement to discourage males.

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11 The popular explanation of why chameleons change colour
has been proved wrong.
12 There are more predators of chameleons in grassland habitats
than In others.
13 Measuring animals’ visual systems necessitates removing
them from their habitat.

Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs A-F. Which paragraph mentions the
following?

Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.


14 the need for individuals to understand what really matters to
them
15 tension resulting from a wide variety of alternatives

16 the hope of success as a means of overcoming unhappy


feelings
17 people who call themselves specialists

18 human beings’ capacity for coping with change

19 doing things which are interesting in themselves

Questions 20-21
Choose TWO letters A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 20-21 on your answer
sheet

Which TWO of the following people argue against aiming for constant happiness?

A  Martin Seligman
B  Eric Wilson
C  Sonja Lyubomirsky
D  Russ Harris
E  Barry Schwartz
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Questions 22-23
Choose TWO letters A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 22-23 on your answer
sheet.

Which TWO of the following beliefs are identified as mistaken in the text?

A  Inherited wealth brings less happiness than earned wealth.


B  Social status affects our perception of how happy we are.
C  An optimistic outlook ensures success.
D  Unhappiness can and should be avoided.
E  Extremes of emotion are normal in the young.

Questions 24-26
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the
passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.

In order to have a complete understanding of how people’s minds work, Martin


Seligman suggested that research should examine our most positive
24 as closely as it does our psychological problems.

Soon after arriving at a 25 in their lives, people become


accustomed to what they have achieved and have a sense that they are lacking
something.

People who are 26 by nature are more likely to succeed if


they make thorough preparation for a presentation.

Questions 27-30
Write the correct letter. A. B. C or D, in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

In the first paragraph, the writer finds it surprising that


27 …

A  we send robots to Mars rather than to the sea bed.

B  we choose to explore the least accessible side of the moon.

C  people reached the moon before they explored the deepest parts of the
earth’s oceans.

D  spaceships are sent beyond our solar system instead of exploring it.
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Answer: C
28

The writer argues that saying 71 % of the earth’s surface is ocean is not accurate
because it …………………

A  ignores the depth of the world’s oceans.

B  is based on an estimated volume.

C  overlooks the significance of landscape features.

D  refers to the proportion of water in which life is possible.

Answer: A
How did the diving bell help
29 divers?

A  It allowed each diver to carry a supply of air underwater.

B  It enabled piped air to reach deep below the surface.

C  It offered access to a reservoir of air below the surface.

D  It meant that they could dive as deep as 500 feet.

Answer: C
30

What point does the writer make about scientific discoveries between 1930 and
1970?

A  They were rarely the primary purpose of deep sea exploration.

B  The people who conducted experiments were not professional scientists.

C  Many people refused to believe the discoveries that were made.

D  They involved the use of technologies from other disciplines.

Answer: A

Questions 31-36
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage
3?

In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write

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YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

31 The Midocean Ridge is largely the same as when the


continents emerged.
32 We can make an approximate calculation of the percentage of
the ocean which sunlight penetrates.
33 Many unexpected scientific phenomena came to light when
exploration of the Midocean Ridge began.
34 The number of people exploring the abyss has risen sharply in
the 21st century.
35 One danger of the darkness is that deep sea vehicles become
entangled in vegetation.
36 The construction of submersibles offers little protection from
the cold at great depths.

Questions 37-40
Complete the summary using the list of words A-I below.

Deep diving craft


A diving craft has to be 37 enough to cope with the enormous
pressure of the abyss, which is capable of crushing almost anything. Unlike
creatures that live there, which are not 38 because they contain
compressed water, a submersible is filled with 39 If it has a
weak spot in its construction, there will be a 40 explosion of
water into the craft.

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A ocean

B air

C deep

D hollow

E sturdy

F atmosphere

G energetic

H violent

I heavy

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Solution:

1 tropical 2 (a) (twig) snake


3 (a / the) forest (of Magombera) / 4 (the) nose
Magombera (forest) 5 TRUE
6 FALSE 7 FALSE
9 NOT GIVEN 10 TRUE
11 TRUE 12 NOT GIVEN
13 NOT GIVEN 14 F
15 D 16 C
17 A 18 B
20
19 B 21
B,D
22
23
C,D 24 moods
25 milestone 26 pessimistic
27 C 28 A
29 C 30 A
31 NOT GIVEN 32 YES
33 YES 34 NOT GIVEN
35 NOT GIVEN 36 YES
37 E 38 D
39 B 40 H

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