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Ielts Practice Test 01.26.27

1) A village in India called Punukula became reliant on pesticides after cotton farming was introduced by outsiders, promising higher profits. 2) Local agrochemical dealers sold seeds, fertilizers, and insecticides to farmers and provided technical advice from product companies, making farmers dependent on them. 3) Initially yields were high but pests developed resistance requiring more pesticides, mixing multiple chemicals and higher costs that exceeded crop value, trapping farmers in debt. 4) Pesticide overuse eliminated natural predators and degraded soils requiring chemical fertilizers in a vicious cycle until an elder farmer experimented with pesticide-free cotton, breaking the cycle.

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0% found this document useful (1 vote)
563 views

Ielts Practice Test 01.26.27

1) A village in India called Punukula became reliant on pesticides after cotton farming was introduced by outsiders, promising higher profits. 2) Local agrochemical dealers sold seeds, fertilizers, and insecticides to farmers and provided technical advice from product companies, making farmers dependent on them. 3) Initially yields were high but pests developed resistance requiring more pesticides, mixing multiple chemicals and higher costs that exceeded crop value, trapping farmers in debt. 4) Pesticide overuse eliminated natural predators and degraded soils requiring chemical fertilizers in a vicious cycle until an elder farmer experimented with pesticide-free cotton, breaking the cycle.

Uploaded by

thuyhuong1985
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 23

TEST 10

SECTION 1
Question 1-10

Questions 1-6

Complete the table below.


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

• Warranty:
Damaged (Fridge Report)

3 years

Model:
1......... Mount

Colour:
2.

P
Date of purchase:
3

Problems:

The repair shop


the non-stop 4..............
5....
degrees

Ken's appliance (near to the 6...)

The customer needs to store food for her 7......... shop.

Total value of loss:

Things to do:

Ask the
Replace the damaged
8$....

9.... To call back


ack

10......
SECTION 2

Questions 11-16
Questions 11-20

What tourist attraction does each of the following locations have?

Choose six answers from the box and write the corrct letter, A- I, next to Questions 11-

16

Locations
11 sheepfoul
12 Brown Mare

13 doris

14 Lodge Estate
15 Aurden

16 Eastlake
Tourist Attractions

A farming life in the past


B Nature reserve

C canoes

D old ruins EAL


E newly born deer
F birds

G waterfalls

H wild flowers

I hills

TS
EXAMS
Questions 17 and 18

Choose TWO letters, A-E

Which TWO types of accommodation are available on a weekly basis?


A lighthouse

B hostel

C castle

D cottages
E bed and breakfast

Questions 19 and 20

Choose TWO letter, A- E.

REAL

Which TWO benefits can all the members get?

A free entry to some castles

B subscription of Scottish magazines


C discount of apartment rent

D free visitor guide

E free parking.

TS
EXAMS
SECTION 3

Questions 21-30

Complete the notes belows


Questions 21-30

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.


SUVs( sort Unitily Vehicles)

Purposes

• Innitially made for off-road driving in remote areas

Now often found in 21....

Advantages

• Available for 22

• Larger 23..
Purpose

Capacity
Can haul heavy cargo

Reasons for popularity

Due to their image

Seen as 24
By mothers

Greater seating capacity REAL


Drivers like their 25

Disadvatages

• SUVS can be 26...in urban centres beacause of their 27......

The bodywork won't deform in the collision to absorb impact energy

• They are liable to 28

How to limit the use of SUVs

Limit use to those people who need them (e.g. 29.


...................................)

Raise cost of 30

SECTION 4

For drivers
M
5

Questions 31-40

Questions 31 and 32

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C


31 participants in the learner persistence study were all drawn from the
same

A age

B geographical area

C socio-economic level

32 the study showed that when starting their course, older students were
worried about
A effects on their home life

B implications for their future career


C financial constraints
REAL

Complete the notes below.

ELTS
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Research findings

Social and
Other Factors

Enviromental Factors
Personal

Characteristics

First level of
Effective support
Perceived success in Enjoyment of a 33

importance

Second level of

importance
study

Positive experience
at 34....
Good 35
Many

36....
in

daily life

Third level of

importance
Good interaction with
No family problems
the 37.
Capacity for multi-
tasking

Question 38-40

Complete the notes below

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answe

Recommendations

Ask new students to complete questionaires to gauge their level of


38.........

Train the selected students to act as 39....

Outside office hours, offer 40


.........help

Follow up students who miss deadlines

MES
READING PASSAGE 1
TEST 10

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on

Reading Passage below.

XAMS
The pesticide-free village

Gerry Marten and Dona Glee Williams report on reliance on the Indian village of
Punukula, so nearly destroyed by reliance on pesticides.

Around 20 years ago, a handful of families migrated from the Guntur district of

Andhra Pradesh, south-east India, into Punukula, a community of around 900

people farming plots of between two and ten acres. The outsiders from Guntur

brought cotton culture with them, and this attracted resident farmers by promising

to bring in more hard cash than the mixed crops they were already growing to eat

and sell, such as millet, mung beans, chilli and rice. But growing cotton meant
using pesticides and fertilisers - until then a mystery to the mostly illiterate farmers

of the community.

Local agro-chemical dealers obligingly filled the need for information and

supplies. These middlemen' sold commercial seeds, fertilisers and insecticides on

credit, and guaranteed purchase of the crop. They offered technical advice

provided by the companies that supplied their products. The farmers depend on the

dealers. If they wanted to grow cotton - and they did - it seemed they had no
choice.

A quick 'high' of booming yields and incomes hooked growers during the early

years of cotton in the region. Outlay on insecticides was fairly low because cotton

pests hadn't moved in yet. Many farmers were so impressed with the chemicals that

they started using them on their other crops as well. The immediate payoffs from
chemically-dependent cotton agriculture both ensured and obscured the fact that

the black dirt fields had gone into a freefall of environmental degradation, dragged

down by a chain of cause and effect.

Soon cotton-eaters, such as bollworms and aphids, plagued the fields. Repeated

spraying killed off the most susceptible pests and left the strongest to reproduce

and pass on their resistance to generations of ever-hardier offspring. As the bugs


grew tougher and more abundant, farmers applied a greater variety and quantity of

poisons, something mixing 'cocktails' of as many as ten insecticides. At the same

time, cotton was gobbling up the nutrients in the soil, leaving the growers no

option but to invest in chemical fertilisers.

By the time some farmers tried to break free of their chemical dependence,

insecticides had already decimated the birds, wasps, beetles, and other predators
that had once provided natural control of crop pests. Without their balancing

presence, pests ran riot if insecticide was cut back. As outlays for fertilisers and

insecticides escalated, the cost of producing cotton mounted. Eventually the

expense of chemical inputs outgrew the cash value of the crop, and farmers fell
further and further into debt and poverty.

Their vicious cycle was only broken by the willingness of a prominent village elder
to experiment with something different. He had been among the first villagers to

grow cotton, and he would be the first to try it without chemicals, as set out by a

programme in Non-Pesticide Management (NPM). This had been devised for


Punukala with the help of a Non-Government Organisation called SECURE that

had become aware of the hardships caused by the pesticide trap.

It involved turning to neem, a fast-growing, broad-leaved evergreen tree related to

mahogany. Neem protects itself against insects by producing a multitude of natural

pesticides that have evolved specifically to defeat plant-eating insects. Thus they
are generally harmless to human and other animals, including birds and insects that
eat pests.

The plant is native to India and Burma, where it has been used for centuries to

control pests and to promote health. To protect cotton, neem seeds are simply

ground into a powder, soaked overnight in water, and sprayed onto the crop at least

every 10 days. Neem cake applied to the soil kills insect pests and doubles as an

organic fertiliser high in nitrogen. As neem grows locally and is easy to process, it

is much less expensive than the chemical insecticides sold for profit by the dealers

and their corporate suppliers.

Quick, short-term gains had once pushed Punukula into chemical-dependent

agriculture. Now they found that similar immediate rewards were helping to speed

change in the other direction: the harvest of the next 20 NPM farmers was as good

as the harvest of farmers using insecticides, and they came out ahead because they

weren't buying insecticides, instead of investing cash (in short supply)

in chemicals, they invested time and labour in NPM practices.

By the end of 2000, all the farmers in Punukula village were using NPM rather

than chemicals for cotton, and they began to use it on other crops as well. The

was using it. The status and economic opportunities of women improved - neem

change gathered momentum as NPM became even more effective once everyone

became a source of income for some of them, as they gathered seeds from the

surrounding area to sell for NPM in other villages. The improve situation meant

that families could afford to put more land under cultivation.


In 2004, the panchayat (village government) formally declared Punukula to be a

pesticide-free village. And they have big plans for the future, such as water

purification. The village now serves as a model for disseminating NPM to other
communities, with around 2000 farmers visiting each year.

What began as a few farmers desperate to find a way to farm without poisons has
become a movement with the potential to pull an entire region back from
ecological disaster.

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage
1?

Write
PEA
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

TC
1 Cotton growing was expected to raise more money than other crop.

2 Some of the local agro-chemical dealers had been farmers in the past.

3 Initially the farmers' cotton yields were low.

4 At first, the farmers failed to notice the negative effects on their fields of

pesticide use.
effects on th

Questions 5-10

Complete the notes below.


Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each

answer. Write your answers in boxes 5 - 10 on your answer sheet.

Non-Pesticide-Management Programme

Developed with the aid of SECURE


Based on use of an 5

• Neem contains many 6


Neem
called neem

that target plant-eating predators


• Used as a pesticide
·

• left 8
formed by grinding seeds
to soak in water

Sprayed regularly

• Used as a pesticide and as a fertilizer


added in 9

• contains a lot of 10
form to soil

Questions 11-13

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the

passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 11 - 13 on your answer
sheet.

REAL
11.In which year did farmers finally stop using chemicals on cotton crops in
Punukula?

12. What did the women of Punukula collect to make money?

13. What project do the authorities in Punukula hope to set up in the future?

READING PASSAGE 2

$ 14-2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 on below
Skyscraper Farming

With a global food crisis predicted, a group of scientists is advocating an innovative


alternative to conventional farming that could radically transform the way that food is

produced.

A Today's environment scientists are in no doubt that the world's resources of fertile sol

are rapidly deteriorating, and that new land for agriculture is becoming ever more sparse

Intensive farming urbanisation, desertification and sea-level rises are all putting growing

pressure on the planers agricultural land and therefore on food supplies. Currently 24 per

cent of the worlds 11.5 billion hectares of cultivated land has already undergone human-
induced soil degradation particularly through erosion. according to a recent study by the
UK Government Office for Science.

B. The global population is expected to exceed nine billion by 2050 - up a third from
today's level and studies suggest that food production will have to go up by 70 per cent if

we are to feed all of those new mouths This means that scientists will have to develop new
ways of growing crops if we are to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Indeed, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization figures suggest that the number of undernourished people is
already growing. And with escalating climate change. crop yields in many areas have

been projected to decline

C With this in mind, some scientists and agricultural experts are advocating an innovative

alternative to traditional farming whereby skyscrapers packed with shelf-based systems

for growing vegetables on each storey -known as 'vertical farms' - could hold the key to

revolutionising agriculture. Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier claims

that vertical farming could boost crop yields many times over. A single 20-storey vertical

farm could theoretically feed 50 000 people. according to Despommier. And if the theory

translates into realty as proposed. 160 skyscraper-sized vertical farms could feed the
entire population of New York City, while 180 would be needed to feed London, 289 to

feed Cairo and 302 to feed Kolkata a.


AMS
D It's a compelling vision, and one that has already been put into practice in Asia. Albeit
on a smaller scale But there are problems. such as initial investment and operating costs

that are too great' says a spokesman for Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and

Fisheries Nevertheless Tokyo-based mushroom producer Hokuto Corporation is a model

example of how a vertical farm can be profitable. With 28 vertical mushroom farms

operating across the country, it produces some 68,000 tonnes of mushrooms annually.

Vertical mushroom fams have more advantages than ground-level farms,' says Hokuto's

Ted Yamanoko. Yamanoko goes on to highlight the relative cost-effectiveness of his

organisation's farming practices together with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases


E And the impact of vertical farms could extend beyond feeding established urban

populations. Despommier sees them as being capable of helping centres of displaced

persons - such as refugee camps in much the same way that Mobile Army Surgical
Hospital (MASH) units are deployed in emergency situations. "Developing an emergency-
response system for crop production inside specially constructed modular and
highly transportable greenhouses would allow for humanitarian interventions, at least tor
refuges

that are forced out of their countries by political tumor, he says. If you have three or four storeys
of food already growing some place, they could become mobile units that could

be picked up by helicopters and dropped into the middle of a crisis zone. The food would
be ready to pick and eat. It could be designed to supply people with all the nutrition they

need to make it through the crisis."

REA I productio
F But it isn't only about increasing food production. Despommier is concerned about the

harm which farming has done to the world's landscape over a relatively short time span,

particularly the elimination of hardwood forests. Farming is only 12,000 years old, 'he
points allow us for the first time to feed everyone on earth and still return land to its original
ecological function.' Natalie Jeremijenko, associate professor at New York University,

agrees. The challenge that we have now is how we can design urban agriculture systems that
not only reduce food miles, but also improve the world's ecosystems,' she says. By

required fo
significantly reducing the amount of land required for food production, vertical farms could

help to enrich biodiversity. And according to Jeremijenko, this can, in tum, help to improve

the productivity of conventional farms, as the health of agricultural land is often tied to the

health of the surrounding ecosystems. Furthermore. vertical farming could dramatically

cut the utilisation of fossil fuels. And also reduce geopolitical tensions in countries where

poor farming conditions cause conflict and malnutrition.

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs. A-F


Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Potential production capabilities of vertical farms

ii Opposition to new ideas about food production


iii A successful application of vertical farming
technology
iv The potential to provide urgent relief

v The original inspiration for vertical farming

vi Various environmental benefits of vertical farming

Vii An increasing problem for farmers worldwide

Vii A return to traditional farming methods

ix A rising demand for food


14 Paragraph A
PEAL

out We have been a species for over 200,000 years. Producing food in tall, buildings will

15 Paragraph B

16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D

18 Paragraph E

19 Paragraph F
Questions 20-22

IELTS
EXAMS
Complete the sentences below
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 20-22 on your answer sheet.

20 A UK Government study found that..... is a significant factor contributing to worldwide

levels of soil degradation

21 Disadvantages of vertical taming projects include the expense of setting them up, as
well

as their high.........

22.........could potentially be used to take vertical farming facilities to areas where there

is a critical food shortage


Questions 23-26

Look at the following statements (Questions 23-26) and the list of people below Match
each statement with the correct person, A.B or C

Write the correct letter A, B or c, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet

NB You may use any letter more than once

23 Vertical farming can have financial benefits

24 Traditional farming has had a negative effect on the natural world

25 Vertical farming could dramatically increase world food production.

26 Traditional farms may benefit from wider use of vertical farming

List of people
A Dickson Despommier
B. Ted Yamanoko

C. Natalie Jeremijenko

ELTS
READING PASSAGE
Questions 28 - 40

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on
Reading Passage below.

The Cane Toad in Australia


Paragraph A

The cane toad was introduced into Australia in 1935 to control sugar cane pests in
Queensland. One hundred and one cane toads arrived at Edmonton in June in 1935.
Breeding occurred almost immediately. The cane toad is tough and adaptable, as well
as being poisonous throughout its life cycle, and has few predators in Australia.

Paragraph B

Cane toads are large heavily-built amphibians with dry, warty skin. They have a bony head and
over their eyes are bony ridges that meet above the nose. They sit upright and move in short
rapid hops. Their hind feet have leathery webbing between the toes and their front feet
are unwebbed. Adult cane toads have large swellings - the parotoid glands - on each shoulder
behind the eardrum. Cane toads may be grey, yellowish, olive-brown or reddish-brown,
and their bellies are pale with dark mottling. Average-sized adults are ten to fifteen centimetres
long. The largest female measured in Queensland was twenty-four centimetres long
and weighed one point three kilograms. Male cane toads are smaller and wartier than
females. During the breeding season males develop dark lumps (nuptial pads) on their first two
fingers; these help them cling to a female while mating. Their mating call is a long loud purring
trill. Cane toad spawn is exclusive in Australia. It is laid in long strings of transparent jelly
enclosing double rows of black eggs. The spawn tangles in dense dark masses around
water plants, and hangs in ropy strands if picked up.

Paragraph
C

The natural range of cane toads extends from the southern United States to
tropical South America. In 2002, cane toads occurred throughout the
eastern and northern half of Queensland and have extended their range to
the river catchments surrounding Kakadu National Park in the Northern
Territory. In New South Wales, they occur as far south as Yamba and
Port Macquarie.

Paragraph
D

Cane toads tolerate a broad range of environmental and climatic conditions


and appear to be able to adjust and survive in almost any environment system,
including sea water for short periods of time. This to a large extent explains
their success in their spreading in Australia. Cane toads are found in
environments ranging from sand dunes and coastal heath to the margins of
rainforest and mangroves. They are most abundant in open clearings in
urban areas, and in grassland and woodland.

Paragraph
E

Cane toads eat almost anything they can swallow, including pet food, carrion and
household scraps, but most of their food consists of living insects.
Beetles, honey bees, ants, winged termites, crickets and bugs are eaten
in abundance. Marine snails, smaller toads and native

frogs, small snakes, and small mammals are occasionally eaten by cane toads. The tadpoles of
cane toads eat algae and other aquatic plants which they rasp off with five rows of tiny peg-like teeth.
They also filter organic matter from the water. Large tadpoles sometimes eat cane toad eggs.

Paragraph F

Cane toads were introduced to Australia to eat French's Cane Beetle and the Greyback Cane Beetle. The
'whitegrub' larvae of these beetles eat the roots of sugar cane and kill or stunt the plants. The Australian
Bureau of Sugar Experimental Stations imported about a hundred toads from Hawaii to the Meringa
Experimental Station near Cairns. The toads bred quickly and more than three thousand were released in
the sugar cane plantations of north Queensland in July 1935. At that time, some naturalists and scientists
warned of the dangers of liberating cane toads in Australia. Their protests resulted in a brief moratorium on
the release of toads, but releases resumed in 1936. The protestors were right. Firstly, cane toads compete
for the resources of native animals, like food, which affects native populations. Secondly, cane toads don't
have as many established predators as native animals and so their population grows quickly. Finally,
some native animals who would normally feed on frogs try to eat toads and get poisoned.

Paragraph G

All stages of the cane toad's life-cycle are poisonous. No humans have died in Australia from cane toad
poison, but overseas, people have died after eating toads and even soup made from boiled toad eggs.
Cane toads are also poisonous to pets. In Hawaii, up to fifty dogs a year have died after having cane
toads in their mouths. Signs of dogs being poisoned through ingestion include profuse salivation,
twitching, vomiting, shallow breathing, and collapse of the hind limbs. Death may occur by cardiac arrest
within fifteen minutes. A cane toad responds to threat by turning side-on so its parotoid glands are
directed towards the attacker. The poison usually oozes out of the glands, but toads can squirt a fine
spray for a short distance if they want. The poison is absorbed through mucous membranes such as eyes,
mouth and nose, and in humans may cause intense pain, temporary blindness and inflammation.

Questions 28-33

The reading passage The Cane Toad in Australia 7 has paragraphs (A-G).
From the list of headings below (i - x) choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs
B-G.

Write the appropriate number (i-x) in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.

NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.

Answer
Example

Paragraph A
V

Diet

Habitat

Pollution Effects

iv
Danger

Arrival In Australia

vi
Food for Snakes

vii
Identification

viii
Captivity

ix
Distribution

X Environmental Impacts

28
Paragraph B

29
Paragraph C

30
Paragraph D

31
Paragraph E
32
Paragraph F

33
Paragraph G

Questions 34-37

Reading Passage 3, The Cane Toad in Australia, has 7 paragraphs (AG). Which
paragraphs offer information on the following ideas? Write the appropriate letters
(A-G) in boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet.

34 Male cane toads grow protuberances during mating periods.

35
The cane toad's unique way of laying eggs in Australia.

36
Opposition to the introduction of cane toads in Australia.

37
The danger of eating cane toad eggs.

Questions 38-40

Complete each of the following statements (Questions 38-40) with words taken
from the box below.

Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

38
When suspended, the eggs of the cane toad resemble

39

40
Cane toads were introduced into Australia in order to stop beetle young eating
sugar cane
The text says that dogs affected by cane toad poisoning may have
problems
with

flowers
hearing
hair
walking

leaves
roots
smelling
tadpoles

stalks
rope
seeds
sleeping

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