IELTS READING PRACTICE
IELTS READING PRACTICE
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
Close your eyes and imagine walking along a sandy beach and then
gazing over the horizon as the Sun rises. How clear is the image that
springs to mind?
Most people can readily conjure images inside their head - known as their
mind's eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia,
in which some people are unable to visualize mental images.
Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind mind's eye. He knew
he was different even in childhood. "My stepfather, when I couldn't sleep,
told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and
I couldn't," he says. "I couldn't see any sheep jumping over fences, there
was nothing to count."
Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first
day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are
"terrible", but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with
aphantasia, he struggles to recognize faces. Yet he does not see
aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life.
The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: "You're weird." But
while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is often a
cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into
aphantasia said he had started to feel "isolated" and "alone" after
discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being
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unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being
"extremely distraught".
The super-visualizer
Prof Zeman tells the BBC: "People who have contacted us say they are
really delighted that this has been recognized and has been given a name,
because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is
this oddity that they find hard to convey to others." How we imagine is
clearly very subjective - one person's vivid scene could be another's grainy
picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often
report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases
of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury.
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Questions 1–5
Do the following statements agree with the information in the IELTS reading text?
3. People with aphantasia struggle to remember personal traits and clothes of different
people.
6. All people with aphantasia start to feel 'isolated' or 'alone' at some point of their
lives.
8. The author met Lauren Beard when she was working on a comedy scene in her next
book.
Questions 9–13
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
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9. Only a small fraction of people has imagination as as Lauren does.
13. Many people spend their lives with somewhere in the mind's eye.
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READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
(A) A notorious Mexican drug baron’s audacious escape from prison in July
doesn’t, at first, appear to have much to teach corporate boards. But some
in the business world suggest otherwise. Beyond the morally reprehensible
side of criminals' work, some business gurus say organised crime
syndicates, computer hackers, pirates and others operating outside the law
could teach legitimate corporations a thing or two about how to hustle and
respond to rapid change.
(B) Far from encouraging illegality, these gurus argue that – in the same
way big corporations sometimes emulate start-ups – business leaders
could learn from the underworld about flexibility, innovation and the ability
to pivot quickly. “There is a nimbleness to criminal organisations that legacy
corporations [with large, complex layers of management] don’t have,” said
Marc Goodman, head of the Future Crimes Institute and global cyber-crime
advisor. While traditional businesses focus on rules they have to follow,
criminals look to circumvent them. “For criminals, the sky is the limit and
that creates the opportunity to think much, much bigger.”
(C) Joaquin Guzman, the head of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, for
instance, slipped out of his prison cell through a tiny hole in his shower that
led to a mile-long tunnel fitted with lights and ventilation. Making a break for
it required creative thinking, long-term planning and perseverance –
essential skills similar to those needed to achieve success in big business.
(D) While Devin Liddell, who heads brand strategy for Seattle-based design
consultancy, Teague, condemns the violence and other illegal activities he
became curious as to how criminal groups endure. Some cartels stay in
business despite multiple efforts by law enforcement on both sides of the
US border and millions of dollars from international agencies to shut them
down. Liddell genuinely believes there’s a lesson in longevity here. One
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strategy he underlined was how the bad guys respond to change. In order
to bypass the border between Mexico and the US, for example, the Sinaloa
cartel went to great lengths. It built a vast underground tunnel, hired family
members as border agents and even used a catapult to circumvent a high-
tech fence.
Left-field thinking
(G) Goodman and others believe thinking hard about problem solving
before worrying about restrictions could prevent established companies
falling victim to rivals less constrained by tradition. In their book The Misfit
Economy, Alexa Clay and Kyra Maya Phillips examine how individuals can
apply that mindset to become more innovative and entrepreneurial within
corporate structures. They studied not just violent criminals like Somali
pirates, but others who break the rules in order to find creative solutions to
their business problems, such as people living in the slums of Mumbai or
computer hackers. They picked out five common traits among this group:
the ability to hustle, pivot, provoke, hack and copycat.
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(H) Clay gives a Saudi entrepreneur named Walid Abdul-Wahab as a prime
example. Abdul-Wahab worked with Amish farmers to bring camel milk to
American consumers even before US regulators approved it. Through
perseverance, he eventually found a network of Amish camel milk farmers
and started selling the product via social media. Now his company, Desert
Farms, sells to giant mainstream retailers like Whole Foods Market. Those
on the fringe don’t always have the option of traditional, corporate jobs and
that forces them to think more creatively about how to make a living, Clay
said. They must develop grit and resilience in order to last outside the
cushy confines of cubicle life. “In many cases scarcity is the mother of
invention,” Clay said.
Questions 14-21
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs A-H. Match the headings below with the
paragraphs. Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet.
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Questions 22–25
Write ONLY ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
22. To escape from a prison, Joaquin Guzman had to use such traits as creative
thinking, long-term planning and .
23. The Sinaloa cartel built a grand underground tunnel and even used a to
avoid the fence.
24. The main difference between two groups is that criminals, unlike large corporations,
often have encoded into their daily life.
Question 26
pg. 8
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.
"It's more important than ever that we have more strong, popular
channels... that act as beacons, drawing audiences to the best content," he
said. Speaking earlier, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale rejected
suggestions that he wanted to dismantle the BBC.
'Champion supporters'
Iannucci co-wrote "I'm Alan Partridge", wrote the movie "In the Loop" and
created and wrote the hit "HBO" and "Sky Atlantic show Veep". He
delivered the 40th annual MacTaggart Lecture, which has previously been
given by Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, former BBC director general Greg
Dyke, Jeremy Paxman and Rupert Murdoch. Iannucci said: "Faced with a
global audience, British television needs its champion supporters."
With the renewal of the BBC's royal charter approaching, Iannucci also
praised the corporation. He said: "If public service broadcasting - one of the
best things we've ever done creatively as a country - if it was a car industry,
our ministers would be out championing it overseas, trying to win contracts,
boasting of the British jobs that would bring." In July, the government
issued a green paper setting out issues that will be explored during
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negotiations over the future of the BBC, including the broadcaster's size, its
funding and governance.
'Don't be modest'
Iannucci suggested one way of easing the strain on the licence fee was "by
pushing ourselves more commercially abroad".
"Use the BBC's name, one of the most recognised brands in the world," he
said. "And use the reputation of British television across all networks, to
capitalise financially oversees. Be more aggressive in selling our shows,
through advertising, through proper international subscription channels,
freeing up BBC Worldwide to be fully commercial, whatever it takes.
"Frankly, don't be icky and modest about making money, let's monetise the
bezeesus Mary and Joseph out of our programmes abroad so that money
can come back, take some pressure off the licence fee at home and be
invested in even more ambitious quality shows, that can only add to our
value."
"Whatever my view is, I don't determine what programmes the BBC should
show," he added. "That's the job of the BBC." Mr Whittingdale said any
speculation that the Conservative Party had always wanted to change the
BBC due to issues such as its editorial line was "absolute nonsense".
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Questions 27-31
Do the following statements agree with the information in the IELTS reading text?
30. Ianucci believes that British television has contributed to the success of American
TV-shows.
31. There have been negotiations over the future of the BBC in
July.
Questions 32–35
A US shows
B British shows
C Corporation
D British programming
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33. To advise on the charter renewal Mr Whittingdale appointed a panel of
A five people
B two people
C seven people
D four people
34. Who of these people was NOT invited to the discussion concerning BBC renewal?
A Armando Iannucci
B Dawn Airey
C John Whittingdale
D Stewart Purvis
A media owners
D top executives
Questions 36–40
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
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Easing the strain on the licence fees
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