Cambridge IELTS Academic 2 Reading Test 2 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: Cambridge 2 Test 2 Answer / Cambridge IELTS 2 Reading Test 2 Answers with Explanation

READING PASSAGE 1

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

Implementing the cycle of success: A case study

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
1 C	high costs, related	P 1, l 10	Similar to many international hotel chains, however, AHI has experienced difficulties in Australia in providing long-term profits for hotel owners, as a result of the country’s high labour-cost structure. ·         labour= staff
2 A	SAH, requires	P2, l4	Partly as a result of this change, there are 25 per cent fewer management positions, enabling a significant saving. ·         25% less= 100-25= 75 % required
3 C	changing practice	P 3, l 1	The hotel also recognized that it would need a different approach to selecting employees who would fit in with its new policies. ·         different approach to selecting employees= change practice of hiring
4 B	jobs, advertised, SAH	P 3, l 8	Over 7000 applicants filled in application forms for the 120 jobs initially offered at SAH.
5 B	categories, select	P 4, l 10	Department heads and shift leaders then composed prospective teams using a combination of people from all three categories. ·         composed prospective teams= formed new team
6 benchmarking		P 6, L 4	SAH management concluded this would first require a process of ‘benchmarking‘.
7 (a range of) service delivery		P 6, l 6	The prime objective of the benchmarking process was to compare a range of service delivery processes across a range of criteria using teams made up of employees from different departments within the hotel which interacted with each other.
8 (performance) measures		P 6, l 11	This process resulted in performance measures that greatly enhanced SAH’s ability to improve productivity and quality.
9 productivity		P 6, l 11	This process resulted in performance measures that greatly enhanced SAH’s ability to improve productivity and quality.
10(‘) Take Charge (‘)		P 7, l 1	In addition, a program modeled on an earlier project called ‘Take Charge‘ was implemented.
11 feedback		P 7, l 3	Essentially, Take Charge provides an effective feedback loop horn both customers and employees.
12 employee(s’) / staff		P 8, l 13	Employee feedback is reviewed daily and suggestions are implemented within 48 hours, if possible, or a valid reason is given for non-implementation.
13 30 days		P 8, l 17	If suggestions require analysis or data collection, the Take Charge team has 30 days in which to address the issue and come up with recommendations.

 

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 .

Overcoming the language barrier

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
14 major consequences	Public attention	P 2, l 4	Publicity comes only when a failure to communicate has major consequences, such as strikes, lost orders, legal problems, or fatal accidents – even, at times, war.
15 surveys	books, periodicals	P 3, l 7	In the English-speaking scientific world, for example, surveys of books and documents consulted in libraries and other information agencies have shown that very little foreign-language material is ever consulted.
16 sales literature	British linguistic	P 4, l 11	….non-English-speaking customers were using English for outgoing correspondence; many had their sales literature only in English; and as many as 40 per cent employed no-one able to communicate in the customers’ languages. ·          British linguistic= English
17 The Far East / Russia / Eastern Europe / Latin America / the Arab World / French-speaking Africa  (one only)	difficulties, english	P 6, l 6	This is especially a problem when English is not an official language of public administration, as in most parts of the Far East, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Arab world, Latin America and French- speaking Africa. ·         problem= difficulties
18 C		P 1, line 12	….but the same….unfamiliar dialects or styles……. They don’t talk the same language‘ has a major metaphorical meaning alongside its literal one.
19 B		P 2, line 17	Presumably because the report of the treatment had been published only in journals written in European languages other than English.
20 C		P 5, line 1	The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly improved the situation,
21 (Industrial) training (schemes)		P 5, line 1	The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly improved the situation, industrial training schemes have promoted an increase in linguistic and cultural awareness.
22 Translation services		P 5, line 5	Many firms now have their own translation services; to take just one example in Britain, Rowntree Mackintosh now publish their documents in six languages (English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Xhosa).
23 (part-time) Language courses		P 5, line 11	Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved;
24 (technical) glossaries		P 5, line 11	Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved; some produce their own technical glossaries, to ensure consistency when material is being translated.
25 D		P 6, line 1	The changes in awareness have been most marked in English-speaking countries, where the realisation has gradually dawned that by no means everyone in the world knows English well enough to negotiate in it.
26 A		P 6, line 18	In securing understanding, how ‘we’ speak to ‘them’ is just as important, it appears, as how ‘they’ speak to ‘us’.

READING PASSAGE 3

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

What is port city?

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
27 ii		P B	They remain different kinds of places from non-port cities and their port functions account for that difference.
28 i		P C	Port functions, more than anything else, make a city cosmopolitan. A port city is open to the world.
29 v		P D	Sea ports have been transformed by the advent of powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased. Many formerly important ports have become economically and physically less accessible……
30 vi		P E	Most of any city’s population is engaged in providing goods and services for the city itself.
31 D	required, development	P A, line 8	Madras and Colombo are examples of harbors expensively improved by enlarging, dredging and building breakwaters. ·         development= improved
32 C	began, ports, dominated	P B, line 4	Many of the world’s biggest cities, for example, London, New York, Shanghai, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Jakarta, Calcutta, Philadelphia and San Francisco began as ports – that is, with land-sea exchange as their major function – but they have since grown disproportionately in other respects so that their port functions are no longer dominant.
33 F	lost, prominence, ships	P D, line 5	Examples of these are Charleston, Salem, Bristol, Plymouth, Surat, Galle, Melaka, Soochow, and a long list of earlier prominent port cities in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. ·         earlier prominent= lost prominence
34 G	ports, waterfront	P G, line 1	Cities which began as ports retain the chief commercial and administrative center of the city close to the waterfront.
35 NO	cease, function, dominate	P B, line 8	They remain different kinds of places from non-port cities and their port functions account for that difference. ·         their port functions account for that difference= port function is always differentiated whether they cease or not ·         or, once  port city always a port city
36 YES	past, trade, overseas	P E, line 1	Much domestic port trade has not been recorded. What evidence we have suggests that domestic trade was greater at all periods than external trade. ·         domestic trade= within their own country ·         external trade= overseas
37 NO	people, trade city	P E, line 5	Trade outside the city is its basic function. ·         most people are engaged in trading
38 YES	attract, subsidiary, independent	P F, line 2-5	The port function of the city draws…. ……….refining raw materials or turning them into finished goods. ·         draw= attract ·         refining raw materials= subsidiary(assistant before finished good is produced) ·         finished goods= independent(no assistance required)
39 NOT GIVEN
40 YES	river connections	P G, line 3	This proximity to water is also true of Boston, Philadelphia, ……… ·         proximity to water= river connection