IELTS Shine - Ms.

Ngoc Lan Language Academy

66 Trần Đại Nghĩa, HN & 72 Thụy Khuê, HN
LISTENING

SECTION 1
Questions 1 – 10
Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Events during Kenton Festival

Example

Start date: ….16th… May

Opening ceremony (first day)

● In town centre, starting at 1…………….

The mayor will make a speech
A 2…………… will perform
Performance of a 3……………. About Helen Tungate (a 4…………….)
Evening fireworks display situated across the 5……………..

Other events

● Video about relationships that children have with their 6……………

Venue: 7……………. House
● Performance of 8……………. Dances
Venue: the 9…………….. market in the town centre
Time: 2 and 5 pm every day except 1st day of festival
● Several professional concerts and one by children
Venue: library
Time: 6.30 pm on the 18th

Tickets available online from festival box office and from shops which have the
festival 10……………. in their windows

SECTION 2
Questions 11 – 15
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Theatre trip to Munich

11 When the group meet at the airport they will have

A breakfast.
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B coffee.
C lunch.

12 The group will be met at Munich Airport by

A an employee at the National Theatre.
B a theatre manager.
C a tour operator.

13 How much will they pay per night for a double room at the hotel?
A 110 euros
B 120 euros
C 150 euros

14 What type of restaurant will they go to on Tuesday evening?

A an Italian restaurant
B a Lebanese restaurant
C a typical restaurant of the region

15 Who will they meet on Wednesday afternoon?

A an actor
B a playwright
C a theatre director

Questions 16-20
What does the man say about the play on each of the following days?

Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-G, next to
Questions 16-20

Comments

A The playwright will be present.

B The play was written to celebrate an anniversary.
C The play will be performed inside a historic building.
D The play will be accompanied by live music.
E The play will be performed outdoors.
F The play will be performed for the first time.
G The performance will be attended by officials from the town.

Days

16 Wednesday …………..
17 Thursday …………..
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18 Friday …………..
19 Saturday …………..
20 Monday …………..

SECTION 3
Questions 21 – 25
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Scandinavian Studies

21 James chose to take Scandinavian Studies because when he was a child

A he was often taken to Denmark.
B his mother spoke to him in Danish.
C a number of Danish people visited his family.

22 When he graduates, James would like to

A take a postgraduate course.
B work in the media.
C become a translator.

23 Which course will end this term?

A Swedish cinema
B Danish television programmes
C Scandinavian literature

24 They agree that James’s literature paper this term will be on

A 19th century playwrights
B the Icelandic sagas
C modern Scandinavian novels.

25 Beth recommends that James’s paper should be

A a historical overview of the genre.
B an in-depth analysis of a single writer.
C a study of the social background to the literature.

Questions 26 – 30
Complete the flow-chart below.

Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-G, next to
Questions 26-30

A bullet points
B film
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C notes
D structure
E student paper
F textbook
G documentary

How James will write his paper on the Vikings

He’ll read a 26……………. and choose his topic.

↓
He’ll borrow a 27…………….. from Beth.
↓
He’ll plan the 28……………… of the paper.
↓
He’ll read some source material and write 29……………… .
↓
He’ll write the paper using 30……………. .
↓
He’ll write the complete paper.

SECTION 4
Questions 31 – 40
Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Conflict at work

Conflict mostly consists of behaviour in the general category of 31……………..

Often a result of people wanting to prove their 32………………
Also caused by differences in 33……………… between people 34 ‘………………’
conflicts: people more concerned about own team than about company
Conflict-related stress can cause 35……………. that may last for months

Chief Executives (CEOs)

Many have both 36…………….. and anxiety
May not like to have their decisions questioned
There may be conflict between people who have different 37………………

Other managers
A structure that is more 38………………. may create a feeling of uncertainty about
who staff should report to.

Minimising conflict
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Bosses need to try hard to gain 39………………..
Someone from outside the company may be given the role of 40………………. in
order to resolve conflicts.

READING

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

The risks agriculture faces in developing countries

Synthesis of an online debate*
A
Two things distinguish food production from all other productive activities: first, every
single person needs food each day and has a right to it; and second, it is hugely
dependent on nature. These two unique aspects, one political, the other natural,
make food production highly vulnerable and different from any other business. At the
same time, cultural values are highly entrenched in food and agricultural systems
worldwide.
B
Farmers everywhere face major risks, including extreme weather, long-term climate
change, and price volatility in input and product markets. However, smallholder
farmers in developing countries must in addition deal with adverse environments,
both natural, in terms of soil quality, rainfall, etc., and human, in terms of
infrastructure, financial systems, markets, knowledge and technology.
Counter-intuitively, hunger is prevalent among many smallholder farmers in the
developing world.
C
Participants in the online debate argued that our biggest challenge is to address the
underlying causes of the agricultural system’s inability to ensure sufficient food for
all, and they identified as drivers of this problem our dependency on fossil fuels and
unsupportive government policies.
D
On the question of mitigating the risks farmers face, most essayists called for greater
state intervention. In his essay, Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International
Fund for Agricultural Development, argued that governments can significantly reduce
risks for farmers by providing basic services like roads to get produce more
efficiently to markets, or water and food storage facilities to reduce losses. Sophia
Murphy, senior advisor to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, suggested
that the procurement and holding of stocks by governments can also help mitigate
wild swings in food prices by alleviating uncertainties about market supply.
E
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Shenggen Fan, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute,
help up social safety nets and public welfare programmes in Ethiopia, Brazil and
Mexico as valuable ways to address poverty among farming families and reduce
their vulnerability to agriculture shocks. However, some commentators responded
that cash transfers to poor families do not necessarily translate into increased food
security, as these programmes do not always strengthen food production or raise
incomes. Regarding state subsidies for agriculture, Rokeya Kabir, Executive Director
of Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha, commented in her essay that these ‘have not
compensated for the stranglehold exercised by private traders. In fact, studies show
that sixty percent of beneficiaries of subsidies are not poor, but rich landowners and
non-farmer traders.’
F
Nwanze, Murphy and Fan argued that private risk management tools, like private
insurance, commodity futures markets, and rural finance can help small-scale
producers mitigate risk and allow for investment in improvements. Kabir warned that
financial support schemes often encourage the adoption of high-input agricultural
practices, which in the medium term may raise production costs beyond the value of
their harvests. Murphy noted that when futures markets become excessively
financialised they can contribute to short-term price volatility, which increases
farmers’ food insecurity. Many participants and commentators emphasised that
greater transparency in markets is needed to mitigate the impact of volatility, and
make evident whether adequate stocks and supplies are available. Others
contended that agribusiness companies should be held responsible for paying for
negative side effects.
G
Many essayists mentioned climate change and its consequences for small-scale
agriculture. Fan explained that ‘in addition to reducing crop yields, climate change
increases the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events, which increase
smallholder vulnerability.’ The growing unpredictability of weather patterns increases
farmers’ difficulty in managing weather-related risks. According to this author, one
solution would be to develop crop varieties that are more resilient to new climate
trends and extreme weather patterns. Accordingly, Pat Mooney, co-founder and
executive director of the ETC Group, suggested that ‘if we are to survive climate
change, we must adopt policies that let peasants diversify the plant and animal
species and varieties/breeds that make up our menus.’
H
Some participating authors and commentators argued in favour of community-based
and autonomous risk management strategies through collective action groups,
co-operatives or producers’ groups. Such groups enhance market opportunities for
small-scale producers, reduce marketing costs and synchronise buying and selling
with seasonal price conditions. According to Murphy, ‘collective action offers an
important way for farmers to strengthen their political and economic bargaining
power, and to reduce their business risks.’ One commentator, Giel Ton, warned that
collective action does not come as a free good. It takes time, effort and money to
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organise, build trust and to experiment. Others, like Marcel Vernooij and Marcel
Beukeboom, suggested that in order to ‘apply what we already know’, all
takeholders, including business, government, scientists and civil society, must work
together, starting at the beginning of the value chain.
I
Some participants explained that market price volatility is often worsened by the
presence of intermediary purchasers who, taking advantage of farmers’ vulnerability,
dictate prices. One commentator suggested farmers can gain greater control over
prices and minimise price volatility by selling directly to consumers. Similarly, Sonali
Bisht, founder and advisor to the Institute of Himalayan Environmental Research and
Education (INHERE), India, wrote that community-supported agriculture, where
consumers invest in local farmers by subscription and guarantee producers a fair
price, is a risk-sharing model worth more attention. Direct food distribution systems
not only encourage small-scale agriculture but also give consumers more control
over the food they consume, she wrote.

———————
* The personal names in the text refer to the authors of written contributions to the
online debate

Questions 1-3
Reading Passage 1 has nine paragraphs, A-I.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.
1 a reference to characteristics that only apply to food production
2 a reference to challenges faced only by farmers in certain parts of the world
3 a reference to difficulties in bringing about co-operation between farmers

Questions 4-9
Look at the following statements (Question 4-9) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 4-9 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

4 Financial assistance from the government does not always go to the farmers who
most need it.
5 Farmers can benefit from collaborating as a group.
6 Financial assistance from the government can improve the standard of living of
farmers.
7 Farmers may be helped if there is financial input by the same individuals who buy
from them.
8 Governments can help to reduce variation in prices.
9 Improvements to infrastructure can have a major impact on risk for farmers.
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List of People

A Kanayo F. Nwanze
B Sophia Murphy
C Shenggen Fan
D Rokeya Kabir
E Pat Mooney
F Giel Ton
G Sonali Bisht

Questions 10-11
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 10 and 11 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO problems are mentioned which affect farmers with small farms in
developing countries?

A lack of demand for locally produced food

B lack of irrigation programmes
C being unable to get insurance
D the effects of changing weather patterns
E having to sell their goods to intermediary buyers

Questions 12-13
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO actions are recommended for improving conditions for farmers?

A reducing the size of food stocks

B attempting to ensure that prices rise at certain times of the year
C organising co-operation between a wide range of interested parties
D encouraging consumers to take a financial stake in farming
E making customers aware of the reasons for changing food prices

READING PASSAGE 2

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

The Lost City

An explorer’s encounter with the ruined city of Machu Picchu, the most famous icon
of the Inca civilization
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A
When the US explorer and academic Hiram Bingham arrived in South America in
1911, he was ready for what was to be the greatest achievement of his life: the
exploration of the remote hinterland to the west of Cusco, the old capital of the Inca
empire in the Andes mountains of Peru. His goal was to locate the remains of a city
called Vitcos, the last capital of the Inca civilisation. Cusco lies on a high plateau at
an elevation of more than 3,000 metres, and Bingham’s plan was to descend from
this plateau along the valley of the Urubamba river, which takes a circuitous route
down to the Amazon and passes through an area of dramatic canyons and mountain
ranges.
B
When Bingham and his team set off down the Urubamba in late July, they had an
advantage over travelers who had preceded them: a track had recently been blasted
down the valley canyon to enable rubber to be brought up by mules from the jungle.
Almost all previous travelers had left the river at Ollantaytambo and taken a high
pass across the mountains to rejoin the river lower down, thereby cutting a
substantial corner, but also therefore never passing through the area around Machu
Picchu.
C
On 24 July they were a few days into their descent of the valley. The day began
slowly, with Bingham trying to arrange sufficient mules for the next stage of the trek.
His companions showed no interest in accompanying him up the nearby hill to see
some ruins that a local farmer, Melchor Arteaga, had told them about the night
before. The morning was dull and damp, and Bingham also seems to have been less
than keen on the prospect of climbing the hill. In his book Lost City of the Incas, he
relates that he made the ascent without having the least expectation that he would
find anything at the top.
D
Bingham writes about the approach in vivid style in his book. First, as he climbs up
the hill, he describes the ever-present possibility of deadly snakes, ‘capable of
making considerable springs when in pursuit of their prey’; not that he sees any.
Then there’s a sense of mounting discovery as he comes across great sweeps of
terraces, then a mausoleum, followed by monumental staircases and, finally, the
grand ceremonial buildings of Machu Picchu. ‘It seemed like an unbelievable dream
… the sight held me spellbound …’ he wrote.
E
We should remember, however, that Lost City of the Incas is a work of hindsight, not
written until 1948, many years after his journey. His journal entries of the time reveal
a much more gradual appreciation of his achievement. He spent the afternoon at the
ruins noting down the dimensions of some of the buildings, then descended and
rejoined his companions, to whom he seems to have said little about his discovery.
At this stage, Bingham didn’t realise the extent or the importance of the site, nor did
he realise what use he could make of the discovery.
F
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However, soon after returning it occurred to him that he could make a name for
himself from this discovery. When he came to write the National Geographic
magazine article that broke the story to the world in April 1913, he knew he had to
produce a big idea. He wondered whether it could have been the birthplace of the
very first Inca, Manco the Great, and whether it could also have been what
chroniclers described as ‘the last city of the Incas’. This term refers to Vilcabamba,
the settlement where the Incas had fled from Spanish invaders in the 1530s.
Bingham made desperate attempts to prove this belief for nearly 40 years. Sadly, his
vision of the site as both the beginning and end of the Inca civilisation, while a
magnificent one, is inaccurate. We now know that Vilcabamba actually lies 65
kilometres away in the depths of the jungle.
G
One question that has perplexed visitors, historians and archaeologists alike ever
since Bingham, is why the site seems to have been abandoned before the Spanish
Conquest. There are no references to it by any of the Spanish chroniclers – and if
they had known of its existence so close to Cusco they would certainly have come in
search of gold. An idea which has gained wide acceptance over the past few years is
that Machu Picchu was a moya, a country estate built by an Inca emperor to escape
the cold winters of Cusco, where the elite could enjoy monumental architecture and
spectacular views. Furthermore, the particular architecture of Machu Picchu
suggests that it was constructed at the time of the greatest of all the Incas, the
emperor Pachacuti (c. 1438-71). By custom, Pachacuti’s descendants built other
similar estates for their own use, and so Machu Picchu would have been abandoned
after his death, some 50 years before the Spanish Conquest.

Questions 14-20

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

i Different accounts of the same journey

ii Bingham gains support
iii A common belief
iv The aim of the trip
v A dramatic description
vi A new route
vii Bingham publishes his theory
viii Bingham’s lack of enthusiasm

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
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17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
20 Paragraph G

Questions 21-24

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 21-24 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

21 Bingham went to South America in search of an Inca city.

22 Bingham chose a particular route down the Urubamba valley because it was the
most common route used by travellers.
23 Bingham understood the significance of Machu Picchu as soon as he saw it.
24 Bingham returned to Machu Picchu in order to find evidence to support his
theory.

Questions 25-26

Complete the sentences below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 25-26 on your answer sheet.
25 The track that took Bingham down the Urubamba valley had been created for
the transportation of …………………………….
26 Bingham found out about the ruins of Machu Picchu from a
…………………………….. it the Urubamba valley.

READING PASSAGE 3

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

The Benefits of Being Bilingual

A
According to the latest figures, the majority of the world’s population is now bilingual
or multilingual, having grown up speaking two or more languages. In the past, such
children were considered to be at a disadvantage compared with their monolingual
peers. Over the past few decades, however, technological advances have allowed
researchers to look more deeply at how bilingualism interacts with and changes the
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cognitive and neurological systems, thereby identifying several clear benefits of
being bilingual.
B
Research shows that when a bilingual person uses one language, the other is active
at the same time. When we hear a word, we don’t hear the entire word all at once:
the sounds arrive in sequential order. Long before the word is finished, the brain’s
language system begins to guess what that word might be. If you hear ‘can’, you will
likely activate words like ‘candy’ and ‘candle’ as well, at least during the earlier
stages of word recognition. For bilingual people, this activation is not limited to a
single language; auditory input activates corresponding words regardless of the
language to which they belong. Some of the most compelling evidence for this
phenomenon, called ‘language co-activation’, comes from studying eye movements.
A Russian-English bilingual asked to ‘pick up a marker’ from a set of objects would
look more at a stamp than someone who doesn’t know Russian, because the
Russian word for ‘stamp’, marka, sounds like the English word he or she heard,
‘marker’. In cases like this, language co-activation occurs because what the listener
hears could map onto words in either language.
C
Having to deal with this persistent linguistic competition can result in difficulties,
however. For instance, knowing more than one language can cause speakers to
name pictures more slowly, and can increase ‘tip-of-the-tongue states’, when you
can almost, but not quite, bring a word to mind. As a result, the constant juggling of
two languages creates a need to control how much a person accesses a language at
any given time. For this reason, bilingual people often perform better on tasks that
require conflict management. In the classic Stroop Task, people see a word and are
asked to name the colour of the word’s font. When the colour and the word match
(i.e., the word ‘red’ printed in red), people correctly name the colour more quickly
than when the colour and the word don’t match (i.e., the word ‘red’ printed in blue).
This occurs because the word itself (‘red’) and its font colour (blue) conflict. Bilingual
people often excel at tasks such as this, which top into the ability to ignore
competing perceptual information and focus on the relevant aspects of the input.
Bilinguals are also better at switching between two tasks; for example, when
bilinguals have to switch from categorizing objects by colour (red or green) to
categorizing them by shape (circle or triangle), they do so more quickly than
monolingual people, reflecting better cognitive control when having to make rapid
changes of strategy.
D
It also seems that the neurological roots of the bilingual advantage extend to brain
areas more traditionally associated with sensory processing. When monolingual and
bilingual adolescents listen to simple speech sounds without any intervening
background noise, they show highly similar brain stem responses. When researchers
play the same sound to both groups in the presence of background noise, however,
the bilingual listeners’ neural response is considerably larger, reflecting better
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encoding of the sound’s fundamental frequency, a feature of sound closely related to
pitch perception.
E
Such improvements in cognitive and sensory processing may help a bilingual person
to process information in the environment, and help explain why bilingual adults
acquire a third language better than monolingual adults master a second language.
This advantage may be rooted in the skill of focussing on information about the new
language while reducing interference from the languages they already know.
F
Research also indicates that bilingual experience may help to keep the cognitive
mechanisms sharp by recruiting alternate brain networks to compensate for those
that become damaged during aging. Older bilinguals enjoy improved memory
relative to monolingual people, which can lead to real-world health benefits. In a
study of over 200 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disease,
bilingual patients reported showing initial symptoms of the disease an average of five
years later than monolingual patients. In a follow-up study, researchers compared
the brains of bilingual and monolingual patients matched on the severity of
Alzheimer’s symptoms. Surprisingly, the bilinguals’ brains had more physical signs of
disease than their monolingual counterparts, even though their outward behaviour
and abilities were the same. If the brain is an engine, bilingualism may help it to go
farther on the same amount of fuel.
G
Furthermore, the benefits associated with bilingual experience seem to start very
early. In one study, researchers taught seven-month-old babies growing up in
monolingual or bilingual homes that when they heard a tinkling sound, a puppet
appeared on one side of a screen. Halfway through the study, the puppet began
appearing on the opposite side of the screen. In order to get a reward, the infants
had to adjust the rule they’d learned; only the bilingual babies were able to
successfully learn the new rule. This suggests that for very young children, as well
as for older people, navigating a multilingual environment imparts advantages that
transfer far beyond language.

Questions 27-31

Complete the table below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
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Test Findings

Observing the 27…………………. of Bilingual people engage both languages

Russian-English bilingual people when simultaneously: a mechanism known as
asked to select certain objects 28…………………..

A test called the 29…………………, Bilingual people are more able to

focusing on naming colours handle tasks involving a skill called
30…………………

A test involving switching between tasks When changing strategies, bilingual

people have superior
31…………………..

Questions 32-36

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage
3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

32 Attitudes towards bilingualism have changed in recent years.

33 Bilingual people are better than monolingual people at guessing correctly what
words are before they are finished.
34 Bilingual people consistently name images faster than monolingual people.
35 Bilingual people’s brains process single sounds more efficiently than
monolingual
People in all situations.
36 Fewer bilingual people than monolingual people suffer from brain disease in old
age.

Questions 37-40

Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 an example of how bilingual and monolingual people’s brains respond differently
to a certain type of non-verbal auditory input
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38 a demonstration of how a bilingual upbringing has benefits even before we learn
to speak
39 a description of the process by which people identify words that they hear
40 reference to some negative consequences of being bilingual