IELTS Reading - Self-Marking Practice Exam 01

English Self-Study Objective: IELTS Academic Reading

IELTS Reading – Self-Marking Practice Exam 1

1

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

88 and 89.

WATER ON TAPA Eorlg people hod no need Jo,

engineering works to supply their

woter. Hunters ond nomods comped

neor noturol sources ond populotions

were so sporse thot pollution oJ the

woter supplg did not pose a serious

problem. But os civilised liJe developed

ond smoll settlements grew into cities,

woter monogement become o mojor

concern, not onlU to supply the urbon

centres but olso to irrigote the Jormssurrounding them. The solution wos to

Jind o wou to roise woter up Jrom the

rivers.

B Around 5000 BC, primitive ottempts

were mode bg the Eggptions. They

used the Perion Wheel, o woter-wheel

thot dipped contoiners into a river,

liJting up woter os it revolved. Another

method wos o simple lever-ond-bucket

sgstem colled the shodooJ. The

invention ,J the lever, os well os o

screw, to liJt woter is oJten ottributed

to Archimedes Q87-213 BC) but both

devices were without doubt in use

thousonds oJ yeors beJore his time. A

more occurote explonotion is thot

Archimedes wos the Jirst to try todescribe in mothemoticol terms the

woy these devices worked.

C Bg 2000 BC, the rulers "JMesopotomio, Bobylonio ond EgUpt

hod constructed systems oJ doms ond

conols to control the Jlood woters "Jthe Tigris, Euphrotes ond the Nile.

Such conols not onlg irrigoted crops

but olso supplied woter Jor domestic

purposes, the woter being stored inlorge pottery jors, hond-corried Jromthe river bg household sloves. The

remoins "J

the eorliest oqueduct on

record hove been pinpointed to the

works oJ the Assyrion king ond moster

builder Sennocherib (705-681 BC),

who developed o 10-mile conol in

three stoges, including 18 Jresh-wotercourses Jrom the mountoins.

D But we con thonk the Romons Jo,being the Jirst to consider seriouslg the

sonitotion of their woter supplg. Foced

with the prlblem oJ directing-enough

woter towords Rome - woter Jrom the

Tiber, o muddy, smelly river, wos out

q the question they set obout

constructing the most extensive sgstem

"J oqueducts in the oncient world.

These brought the pure woters oJ the

Apennine Mountoins into the city,

with settling bosins ond Jilters olong

the woy, to ensure the wtter's clorit!

ond cleonliness. The Jirst, built oround

312 BC during Appius Cloudius

Coecus's odministrotion, wos Aquo

Appio, oh underground oqueduct

obout 10 miles in length.

E The orch revolutionised woter supplg.



2

By using it, Romon orchitects could

roise oqueducts to the height needed

to spon volleys. The Aquo Morcion in

Rome - oround 56 miles long with o

10-mile bridged section - wos built by

the proetor Morcius in 144 BC, ond

wos the Jirst to corrU woter obove

ground. Eventuollg, Rome wos served

bg eleven linked oqueducts. These kept

the citg's tops ond Jountoins running -providing on ostonishing 38 million

gollons "J

woter eoch doy. Ports "J

severol "J

these ore still in use,

olthough the construction "J

such

mossive woter-supply sgstems declined

with the Joll oJ the Romon Empire. For

severol centuries oJterwords, springs

ond wells provided the moin source oJ

domestic ond industriol woter.

The introduction oJ the Jorce pump in

Englond in the middle "J

the 16'h

centuru greotlu extended the

possibilities oJ development oJ woter-

supply systems. This pump wos bg no

meons o new invention. lt wos in Joctthe broinchild

"J Ctesibius

"JAlexondrio ond it dotes to the 3'o

century BC. Like oll greot engineers,

Ctesibius took his inspirotion Jrom his

surroundings. While working on o wog

to roise ond lower a mirror in his

Jother's borber shop by

counterboloncing it with a leod

weight, he stumbled on a method "J

outomoticollg closing the shop's door

without it slomming. He ron o

weighted line Jrom the door over a

pulleg ond into o pipe, which slowed

the speed ot which the weight

dropped. As the door hissed owo!,

opening ond closing, he reolised the

weight wos displocing oir ond octing

os o piston. This reolisotion led

Ctesibius to investigote methods "J

moving Jluids olong o pipe using o

piston, ond to the Jounding principle

"J hydroulics. Ctesibius's Jorce pump

wos not copoble "J

pumping high

volumes oJ woter but it ploged o vitol

port in oncient Greek culture. Among

other uses, Jorce pumps droined the

bilges oJ the troding ships oJ the time.

They were used to extinguish Jires ond

they brought to liJe the Jountoins thot

groced Alexondrio.

ln London, the Jirst pumping

woterworks were completed in 1562.

This pumped river woter to o reservoir

suspende d 120Jt obove the Thomes. lt

wos then distributed bg grovitg vio

leod pipes to surrounding buildings. ln

more recent times, mony oqueducts

hove been built worldwide. Among

them ore the oqueducts supplying

woter to Glosgow (35 miles long),

Morseilles (60 miles), Monchester (96

miles), Liverpool (68 miles) ond Vienno

(144 miles). ColiJornio now hos the

most extensive oqueduct system in the

world. Woter drown Jrom the

Colorodo River's Porker Dom is corried

242 miles over the Son Bernodino

Mountoins, supplying more thon o

billion gollons o dog. ln oddition, the

338-mile Los Angeles oqueduct drows

woter Jrom the Owens River in the

Sierro Nevodo, giving o doilg supplg oJ

oround 4 billion gollons.

G



3

ACADEMIC READING

Questions 1-6

Complete the table below.

choose N0 M0RE THAN THREE W0RDS from the passage for each onswer.

Wite your answers in boxes 1-6 on your onswer sheet.

. Perian Wheel

(a type of water-

wheel.)

ol - ........(a lever and

bucket system)

o system of

aqueducts

. invention of

5 ........ led to

aqueducts above

ground

e water pumped

to reservoir and

carried to

buildings

through

6 ........

Questions 7-10

Reading Passage t has seven paragrophs labelled A-G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

write the correct letter A-G in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

7 an invention that could onty suppl.y Limited amounts of water

8 a reference to a widespread but false beLief

9 reasons why water-suppty systems needed to be devetoped

10 the name of the person responsibte for creating the first known aqueduct

Questions 11-13

Answer the questions below using N0 M0RE THAN THREE W0RDS for each onswer.

Write your onswers in boxes L1-13 on your onswer sheet.

tl What was Ctesibius trying to move?

t2 What did Ctesibius succeed in causing to move?

13 What area of science did Ctesibius help to establ.ish?

ryffi5ruo systems of dams and r dealt with water . use of force

canals supply 4 ........ pump

r water for

2 ........ and

r J ........ used for

keeping water in

90 Practice test



4

HOWLS OF WOVES NEARS US SUBURB

HOWL OF WOLVESN EARS U S S U B U RB S

+#*iiI#iiFiJfii=i.d+#** iii

A Phil Miller flies the single-engine plane in a tight

circle at an altitude of about 300 feet, listening

on his headset to beeping from a wolf 's radio

collar. The animal is somewhere below in a

mix of patchy pine forest and low, sparse brush

scattered over a snow-covered swamp. lt is a

gray day, drizzlingand misty, and after the plane

circles a line of pines several times, the wolf is

still not visible. Then Mr Miller spots a pair -their coats a peppery mix of gray, black and

cinnamon - standing casually under a pine tree,

looking for all the world like they are trying todecide whether it's worth going out in the rain.

lf they were really worried about the weather,

they might go to the vast Mall of America in

Bloomington, Minnesota, only a two-hourdrive away - or a 19O-kilometer trot, no great

challenge for a wolf. These wolves are not on

Arctic tundra or in the confines of Yellowstone

National Park. They are in Wisconsin, not

exactly the suburbs, but not the wilderness

either.

ln their quiet way they have shown that wolves

do not need pristine wilderness to be

successful, that they do not necessarily need a

highly managed reintroduction programme, as

used in Yellowstone, and that they can increase

their range without stirring conflict among wolfproponents and opponents. 'Once wolves

were thought emblematic of wilderness,' said

Dr Adrian Treves, a biologist with the Wildlife

Conservation Society in New York who has

just published an analysis of what conditions

are most likely to bring wolves and people into

conflict. But the nearly 350 wolves ofWisconsin, in 80 known packs, have shown

that they can cope with people.

'The wolves,' Dr Treves said, 'have managed tomake dens and breed successfully for 25 years

on a lot of private land, on county and state

forest land, which is heavily, heavily used by

recreationalists like snowmobilers, cross-

country skiers and hunters. This is the classic

case of the quiet recovery of wolves without a

big fanfare, without big attention.' He added

that because the wolves conducted their own

repopulation, public reaction had been largely

favourable. ln the 1950s, nofthern Minnesota

had a remnant population of a few hundred

wolves, Dr Treves said. After the Endangered

Species Act was passed in1973, the protection

it afforded, along with some forestregeneration and a change in attitudes, allowed

the wolves to start growing in number. There

are now more than 3,000 wolves in Minnesota,

Michigan and Wisconsin.

D The day after flying with Mr Miller, who tracks

wolves from the air, I went with Adrian

Wydeven as he drove slowly around on sandy

roads looking for wolf tracks in the same

forested areas. Mr Wydeven, a mammalian

ecologist, has been in charge of the wolfprogramme for the Wisconsin Department ofNatural Resources for about 10 years. The

talking stopped when we saw tracks in the

sand. These were wolf tracks, not the large

dog tracks we had seen earlier. 'lf you look at

these tracks,' he said, 'they're more elongated

than those other tracks.' He noted that the

wolf was not trotting but running, so that both

back feet set down at once and then both frontfeet - a gallop. 'lf he's chasing after a deer, that

would make sense,' Mr Wydeven said.

Stepping into the snow at the side of the road,

he added, 'lt looks like the deer veers off a bit

here.' The tracks were fresh. 'l would say less

than a day. I would say a few hours. lt could be

this morning. There might be just a pair.'

The road is just a few miles from a cattle

operation that has claimed significant

B

c

92 Practice test



5

ACADEMIC READING

depredations from wolves each year. Those

attacks on livestock are the central problem in

any resurgence of predators, and it is those

attacks that Dr Treves has been studying. The

state compensates anyone who has suffered

loss from wolves. The highest risk, Dr Treves

said, was 'at the colonization front' where an

expanding wolf population, especially young,

inexperienced wolves, comes into contact with

people who are unused to coping with wolves.

His findings may lead wildlife managers away

from lethal control, which Dr Treves said is

inefficient at getting the wolves that are preying

on livestock. The more refined the

understanding of how wolves and people

interact, the better the chances are for keeping

the public on the side of the wolves. The

wolves are doing their part to keep theirpopulation growing. When Mr Wydeven was

inspecting the tracks in the road, we came on a

spot where the road was all scuffed up with

tracks. 'They're milling about here,' he said.

I asked whether they might be playing. 'They

might be, or they might be mating,' he replied.

'We're still in the breeding season.'

From "Howl of Wolves Nears U.S. Suburbs," byJames

Gorman. Copyright @ 2004 by the New York Times Co.

Questions 20-23

Complete the notes below.

Choose N0 MORE THAN THREE W0RDS from the plssage for each onswer.

Wite your onswers fn boxes 20-23 on your onswer sheet.

carried out in one of the

27 .. of various

Wolves in the US. may not require an organised 20 .... , dS

nationaI parks

o have reproduced for some time on tand used by

kinds

o greatest danger of wolves attacking is at a place known as 22

. a poticy of 23 may not prevent attacks on cattle

Questions 24-26

Choose THREE letters A-F.


Which THREE of the following are mentjoned as new developments concerning wotves

in the US?

A the ptaces they now inhabit

B their abiHty to adapt to climate changes

C a change from Uving in packs to liv'ing in smaller groups

D their ability to coexist with people

E the fact that they have benefited from environmental initiatives

F a change in the'ir behaviour towards other animats

Practice test 93

ACADEfvrIC READING

Questions ltl-26

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

2 on the following pages.

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each parograph from the list of headings below.

Wite the correct numbers i-x in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Predictable behaviour

ii Interpreting evidence

iii An out-of-date image of wolves

iv New problems for wolves

v Preventing negative views of wotves

vi Wolves who may be sheltering

vii Understandable reactions

viii Contrasting behaviour patterns among wolves

ix A largely unnoticed increase

x Damage done by wolves

t4 Paragraph A

15 Paragraph B

16 Paragraph C

t7 Paragraph D

18 Paragraph E

19 Paragraph F

Practice test 91



6

ACADEMIC READING

depredations from wolves each year. Those

attacks on livestock are the central problem in

any resurgence of predators, and it is those

attacks that Dr Treves has been studying. The

state compensates anyone who has suffered

loss from wolves. The highest risk, Dr Treves

said, was 'at the colonization front' where an

expanding wolf population, especially young,

inexperienced wolves, comes into contact with

people who are unused to coping with wolves.

His findings may lead wildlife managers away

from lethal control, which Dr Treves said is

inefficient at getting the wolves that are preying

on livestock. The more refined the

understanding of how wolves and people

interact, the better the chances are for keeping

the public on the side of the wolves. The

wolves are doing their part to keep theirpopulation growing. When Mr Wydeven was

inspecting the tracks in the road, we came on a

spot where the road was all scuffed up with

tracks. 'They're milling about here,' he said.

I asked whether they might be playing. 'They

might be, or they might be mating,' he replied.

'We're still in the breeding season.'

From "Howl of Wolves Nears U.S. Suburbs," byJames

Gorman. Copyright @ 2004 by the New York Times Co.

Questions 20-23

Complete the notes below.

Choose N0 MORE THAN THREE W0RDS from the plssage for each onswer.

Wite your onswers fn boxes 20-23 on your onswer sheet.

carried out in one of the

27 .. of various

Wolves in the US. may not require an organised 20 .... , dS

nationaI parks

o have reproduced for some time on tand used by

kinds

o greatest danger of wolves attacking is at a place known as 22

. a poticy of 23 may not prevent attacks on cattle

Questions 24-26

Choose THREE letters A-F.


Which THREE of the following are mentjoned as new developments concerning wotves

in the US?

A the ptaces they now inhabit

B their abiHty to adapt to climate changes

C a change from Uving in packs to liv'ing in smaller groups

D their ability to coexist with people

E the fact that they have benefited from environmental initiatives

F a change in the'ir behaviour towards other animats

Practice test 93



7

ACADEfV1IC READING

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

94 and 95.

MISSION OUT OF CONTROLItt not just physicol dcngeru ostronouts have to contend with -

psychologicot friaion is o b[ problem,soys Raj Persoud

On space missions, weightlessness and radiation and anxiety, worsens. The spacefarers are

are often seen as being the key dangers. But there unusually upset by loud noises or unexpected

is increasing evidence to show that one of the information. This is the period when crew

greatest hazards lies in the crew itself.The hostile members get testy with one another and with the

sPace environments and the hardware are, of ground crew.There have been reports describing

course, crucial factors in any space mission. But so how one crew member did not speak to another

is the software of the human brain.

During long missions, space travellers have shown

signs of increased territoriality, withdrawal and

need for privacy. As a result of these sorts of

psychological difficulties, one cosmonaut had a

religious experience that led him to make a

dangerous, unauthorised spacewalk. Nasa's Skylab

missions in 1973 and 1974 almost immediately

ran into trouble. One astronaut erroneously

changed the control systems while suffering from

psychological problems. Crew members began

the third mission with a schedule that was too

strenuous. They fell behind in their work and

became demoralised. On their 45th day in space,

the crew went on strike, refusing to perform

scheduled tasks. Disregarding orders was an

unusual and dangerous response for astronauts.

After concessions from mission control, the crew

settled down and eventually completed an 84-day

mission.

The Russians have identified three phases in

adaptation to space. The first lasts up to two

months and is dominated by adjustments to the

new environment. This is followed by increasing

fatigue and decreasing motivation,'asthenia'.What

once seemed exciting becomes boring and

repetitious. Next comes a lengthy period during

which the asthenia, which can include depression

for days; there are even rumours of fist fights -one over a chess game.Tensions frequently spill

over to mission control, as they did in the Skylab

strike. One Russian crew aboard a Salyut space

station reportedly got so cross with mission

control that they shut down communications for

24 hours.

According to Henry Cooper, who wrote a book,

A House in Spoce, on the loneliness of the long-

distance astronaut, at least three missions have

been aborted for reasons that were in part

psychological. ln the 1976 Soyuz-2l mission to

the Salyut-S space station, the crew was brought

home early after the cosmonauts complained

fiercely of an acrid odour in the space station's

environmental control system. No cause was ever

found, nor did other crews smell it;conceivably, it

was a hallucination. Coincidentally, the crew had

not been getting along. The crew of the Soyuz

T- 14 mission to Salyut-7 in 1985 was brought

home after 65 days after Vladimir Vasyutin

complained that he had a prostate infection. Later,

the doctors believed that the problem was partly

psychological. Vasyutin had been getting behind in

his work and was under pressure, having been

passed over for a flight several times before.

Alexander Laveikin returned early from the Soyuz

TM-2 mission to the Mir space station in 1987

94 Practice test



8

A(iAFEfvtIC RE/A,DING

because he complained of a cardiac irregularity.

Flight surgeons could find no sign of it. The

cosmonaut had been under stress - he had made

a couple of potentially serious errors. And he had

not been getting along with his partner, Yuri

Romanenko.

The same psychological phenomena curse men

and women on expeditions to remote places.

lsolation and sensory deprivation are the

common denominators, whether the mission is in

the Arctic wastes or the realm of the deep,

causing a series of symptoms heightened

anxiety, boredom, depression, loneliness,

excessive fear of danger and homesickness. The

scientists and support staff who work in

Antarctica have been studied by DrJoannaWood

of the National Space Biomedical Research

lnstitute in Houston, who also studies how crews

behave in a special test chamber.'After a few

months, you get tired of looking at the same faces.

People frequently have behaviours that might be

endearing in the larger society, but when you're

living with it day after day it's an annoyance.'

This continent,the lastto be explored by humans,

is the coldest, windiest and driest land mass.

Because of the extreme environment, researchers

must'winter over' for six months out of the year.

During this period, there is little contact with the

outside world and groups tend to be confined

indoors by the extreme temperatures. Antarctica

has served as one of the primary means of

gathering psychosocial data for space missions,

according to Dr John Annexstad, a space scientist

and ten-time veteran of scientific missions to

Antarctica.

During the first few months of an Antarctic

mission, interpersonal problems dont play a

major part. The problem arises, says Dr

Annexstad, after the initial shock and awe of the

environment wear off, and crew members get to

know their surroundings a little better. Then they

begin to rebel against authority and each other.ln

one ice base, anxiety episodes increased from 3

during the first four months to l9 during the last

four.ln a study of personnel who wintered over in

the Antarctic, 85 per cent reported periods of

significant depression,65 per cent had periods of

anger or hostility,60 per cent suffered from sleep

disturbance, and 53 per cent had impaired

cognition. During the 1977 lnternational

Biomedical Expedition to Antarctica, a l2-man

adventure lasting 72 days, bickering became such

a problem that psychologists accompanying the

expedition had to intervene. Antarctic literature

is full of stories about teammates who stopped

talking to one another or even fought - one

concerns a cook with a meat cleaver facing off

against an engineer brandishing a fire axe.

Practice test 95



9

ACADEfvlIC READING

Questions 27-29

Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3.

Use N0 M0RE THAN THREE W0RDS for each onswer.

Wite your answers in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.

27 Space travetlers on long mjssions demonstrate the des'ire to have some

28 Astronauts can get into a state called ..... after two months in space.

29 The causes of psychotogical problems on both space missions and expeditions

to remote places are .. ... together with

Questions 30-35

Look at the statements (Questions 30-35) ond the list of space missions below.

Match each statement with the space mission it refers to.

Write the correct letter A-D in boxes 30-35 on your onswer sheet.

NB You moy use any letter more than once.

30 Two of the astronauts had a bad relationship with each other.

31 The astronauts decided not to carry out their duties.

32 One of the astronauts did not complete the mission.

33 One of the astronauts had faited to be selected for previous miss'ions.

34 One of the astronauts made a mistake with the equipment.

35 The astronauts percejved something that may not have existed.

List of Space Missions

A Skyl.ab

B Soyuz-21

C Soyuz T-14

D Soyuz TM-2

Questions 36-40

Complete the summary below using words from the box.

Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your onswer sheet.

boredom

discussion

careLessness

involvement

tension

cooperation

fami[iarity

disappointment

misunderstanding

competition

improvement

error

vio[ence

confidence

envy

Antarctic missionsAccording to Dr fohn Annexstad, relationships are not an important factor

during the first part of a mission because crew members lack 36 ..... withtheir environment and have a feeling of 37 After this, there is less

38 .. ... from crew members and the number of events caused by

39 .. ... increases enormously as the mission continues. According to some

stories, relationships can even result in 4O ..... involving crew members.

expectation

sympathy

determination

amazement

failure

96 Practice test

Documents

IELTS Reading - Self-Marking Practice Exam 01