Cambridge IELTS Academic 2 Reading Test 4 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Reading - Green Wave Washes over Shopping , Declining standards of literacy , In search of the holy grail

READING PASSAGE 1

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

Green Wave Washes over Shopping

Answers	Keywords	Location	Explanation
1. YES	Research reports, commercials	P 2, l 9	The recently published report also predicts ………….. the Third World and the social record of businesses. ·         commercials= business
2. NO	green, financially better	P 2, l 1	A report from Mintel, the market research organisation, says that despite recession and financial pressures, more people than ever want to buy environmentally friendly products and a ‘green wave’ has swept through consumerism. ·         recession, financial pressure = not financially better
3. YES	shoppers, pay more	P 3, l 1	Mintel’s survey, based on nearly 1,000 consumers, found that the proportion who look for green products and are prepared to pay more for them has climbed from 53 per cent in 1990 to around 60 per cent in 1994. ·         consumers= shoppers ·         climbed from 53% to 60%= became major
4. NOT GIVEN	influenced, sopping habits
5. NO	limited, managerial groups	P 3, line 6	On average, they will pay 13 per cent more for such products, although this percentage is higher among women, managerial and professional groups and those aged 35 to 44. ·         the study also contains women and others
6. NOT GIVEN	annual basis,surveys
7. B	misjudge the public mood	P 1 Line3	This suggests that politicians who claim environmentalism is yesterday’s issue may be seriously misjudging the public mood.
8. B	Mintel	P 2, l 1	A report from Mintel, the market research organisation, says that despite recession and financial pressures, more …………. ·         the market research organisation= business survey org.
9. C	concern, active support	P 5, line 8	Another 26 per cent are ‘armchair greens‘ they said that ……….. ·         concern but does not affect spending habits= support but not active
10. honesty and openness	companies, dealings	P 2, line 14	Companies will have to be more honest and open in response to this mood. ·         to match the grammar of the sentence, honesty and openness
11. consumers	increased awareness	P 3,line1	Mintel’s survey, based on nearly 1,000 consumers, found that the proportion who look for green products and are prepared to pay more for them has climbed from 53 per cent in 1990 to around 60 per cent in 1994. ·         climbed= increased ·         look for= aware ·         whose awareness climbed= consumers
12. armchair ethicals	recent survey, growth	P 6, line 4	This figure is the same as in 1990, although the number of ‘armchair ethicals‘ has risen from 28 to 35 per cent and only 22 per cent say they are unconcerned now, against 30 per cent in 1990. ·         growth= rise ·         recent = now ·         whose number has grown= ‘armchair ethical’
13. social record	companies, carefully	P 6, line 9	Hughes claims that in the …………… the policies of the companies that provide them and that this ………… ·         history of the products and services = record ·         greater degree of honesty= carefully ·         no direct answer but the overall meaning is revealed by social record

 

READING PASSAGE 2

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

Declining standards of literacy

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
14 D	bark	P D, l 3	Even if a child is able to read aloud fluently, he or she may not be able to understand much of it: this is called ‘barking at text‘.
15 B	text	P C, line 2	On the contrary, a great deal of empirical evidence shows that pictures interfere in a damaging way with all aspects of learning to read. ·         pictures interfere in a damaging way with all aspects of learning= slow down learning
16 D	university academics	P F, line 9	The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates. ·         noticeably rapid decline in literacy= significant change
17 C	youngest readers	P E, line 2	The artwork is often marvellous, but the pictures make the language redundant, and the children have no need to imagine anything when they read such books. ·         children= youngest readers
18 NO	traditionally accepted, pictures	P B, line 2	When teachers use picture books, they are simply continuing a long-established tradition that is accepted without question. ·         using pictures is long established tradition so it contains many not few pictures
19 YES	teachers, recognition, meaning	P D, line 1	A teacher’s main concern is to help young beginner readers to develop not only the ability to recognize words, but the skills necessary to understand what these words mean.
20 YES	older, texts, pictures	P E, line 4	Looking at a picture actively prevents children younger than nine from creating a mental image, and can make it difficult for older children.
21 NOT GIVEN
22 F	decline, literacy,ages	P F, line 6	The least intelligent are most vulnerable, but tests show that even intelligent children are being affected.
23 C	reading methods, research findings	P C, line 2	On the contrary, a great deal of empirical evidence shows that pictures interfere in a damaging way with all aspects of learning to read.
24 J	ignore, progress	P J, line 1	Jay Samuels, an American psychologist, found that poor readers given no pictures learnt significantly more words than those learning to read with books with pictures.
25 I	illustration, misleading, meaning	P I, line 5	If they do not know a word and look to the picture for a clue to its meaning, they may well be misled by aspects of the pictures which are not closely related to the meaning of the word they are trying to understand.
26 C			The whole passage talks about the research and its findings.

READING PASSAGE 3

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

In search of the holy grail

Answer	keywords	Location	Explanation
27. Apollo (space) programme	compares, scale to	P 1 L 1	It has been called the Holy Grail of modern biology. Costing more than £2 billion, it is the most ambitious scientific project since the Apollo programme that landed a man on the moon. ·         comparing with Apollo in terms of cost
28. (early) next century	possible, completion date	P 1 L 8	And it will take longer to accomplish than the lunar missions, for it will not be complete until early next century.
29. 7,000	genome, require	P 3 L 20	On the printed page it would fill about 7,000 volumes. ·         it requires 7000 pages
30. diseases	drug, not	P 5 L 1	None of the single-gene disorders is a disease in the conventional sense, for which it would be possible to administer a curative drug: the defect is pre-programmed into every cell of the sufferer’s body. ·         genetic disorders are not disease hence no drugs
31. muscular dystrophy	genetic defect	P 5, L 9	American researchers identified the genetic defect underlying one type of muscular dystrophy.
32. cystic fibrosis	gene defect	P 5, L 13	In 1989, a team of American and Canadian biologists announced that they had found the site of the gene which, when defective, gives rise to cystic fibrosis.
33. D	project new, understanding	P 1 L 12	Even before it is finished, according to those involved, this project should open up new understanding of, and new treatments for, many of the ailments that afflict humanity.
34. C	components, DNA, recorded	P 3 L 21	Yet, within little more than a decade, the position of every letter and its relation to its neighbors will have been tracked down, analysed and recorded.
35. B	monster, gene	P 2 L 18	But others see the future through a darker glass, and fear that the project may open the door to a world peopled by Frankenstein’s monsters and disfigured by a new eugenics.
36. C	order, genetic data	P 6, L 12	Momentum quickly built up behind the Human Genome Project and its objective of ‘sequencing’ the entire genome – writing out all the letters in their correct order. ·         ‘sequencing’= order
37. D	parents, birth, offspring	P 5, L 31	Foetuses can be tested while in the womb, and if found free of the genetic defect, the parents will be relieved of worry and stress, knowing that they will be delivered of a baby free from the disorder. ·         delivered of a baby= birth
38. B	human, data	P 6, L 1	In the mid-1980s, the idea gained currency within the scientific world that the techniques which were successfully deciphering disorder-related genes could be applied to a larger project: if science can learn the genetic spelling of cystic fibrosis, why not attempt to find out how to spell ‘human’?
39. A	discriminated, new ways	P 9, L 6	But if the new knowledge is not used wisely, it also holds the threat of creating new forms of discrimination and new methods of oppression.
40. A	past experience, new knowledge	P 10, L 18	That such a potential is a promise and not a threat? We need only look at the past to understand the danger. ·         understand= knowledge