Tài liệu Ielts preparationg and practice rading and writing part 5 docx

Because the strategies for each type of question are different, the first thing you should do in Section 2 is look at the questions to identify the question type.. Step 1 Survey the tex

paragraph/section that is related to that topic This is because there are only

a few questions while there are a lot of paragraphs/sections Therefore, many

of the paragraphs/sections do not contain an answer, and you will waste your time if you try to look for one

ACTIVITY 14 The following text consists of a set of short notices about a careers in- formation program It is an example of a text in which you cannot find the main idea in the first sentence Consequently, you will have to skim a little more slowly However, every notice has a heading, and these may help you to identify what the notices are about

Time target: 6 minutes

Questions 1-5 The ‘Industry Visit Workshops’ notice on the next page has information about 10 guest speakers at a school giving information about their jobs The notices are labelled a-j

Write the appropriate letters (aj) in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet Note: You may use any letter more than once

Which talk would you attend if you b wanted to work with children?

1 Which talk would you attend if you were interested in working in a department store?

Which talk would you attend to find out about working for a newspaper? Which speaker will probably talk about charitable and social work? Which speaker will talk about computing?

Which speaker would you expect to talk about the importance of personal appearance?

Check your answers with the Answer Key

Careers Information Program

This term, 10 guest speakers will be coming to the school to talk about their jobs The program is as follows:

a, Against the law Find out about the work- ings of a large inner-city legal firm Find out how the support staff handle the complex workings of the court Learn how to interpret the legalese used

in legal documents

b Growing concerns This speaker will explain how local authority child- care services operate Areas covered in the talk include pre-school and day-care facilities and activities

c Fast food The sick and the elderly often have difficulty feeding themselves Meals

on wheels is a non-profit making service which ensures that people who are unable to cook for themselves can eat well without having to leave their homes

d Your very good health Modern hospitals have many of the facilities of a 5-star hotel Learn how today’s doctors and nurses care not only for their

patients’ health, but also for

their comfort

e The long and the short of it Hairdressing is a serious business that involves a wide variety of skills

Clients can have their hair

cut, styled, dyed, tinted,

permed or straightened

And that’s just for starters!

Learn all about the glamour and the glitter of the beauty business

Ff Stop press

A story can break at any time so it’s important that there’s always someone on the job who can be on the spot within minutes to get the news out And then there are the times when nothing much happens but there’s still a paper to sell

Learn about the thrills and the frustrations of work on one of the biggest dailies

g Are you being served?

From the art of arranging the window displays, to the science of stock control—the range of activities involved in the retail trade is enormous

This talk introduces you to the business of buying and selling to the general

Accidents happen Things

get stolen People get sick,

and eventually we all die

Insurance softens the shock

of some of life’s hard blows

Determining the risks is mostly done by computers and this speaker will explain the management of insur- ance data bases

The Reading Test | 37

i The hospitality industry From cooking to cleaning

From purchasing to deliy- ering to the table It all happens in a hotel Find out about your job options

in a five-star hotel

Jj Dr Doolittle, I presume?

Cats, dogs, birds and even

goldfish catch a cold from time to time And that’s when you call for the vet

This busy little surgery will give you a thorough

overview of animal health

Summary—Section 2

There are usually two texts Each text has only one type of question Because the strategies for each type of question are different, the first thing you should

do in Section 2 is look at the questions to identify the question type

QUESTIONS ABOUT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Completing sentences True, False, Not Given Matching pieces of specific information Other question-types as in Section 1 Next, follow the three-step strategy to make finding the answer easier Step 1 Survey the text

® look at any parts of the text that stand out (e.g the title, pictures, etc.)

Step 2 Read the instructions and the question

e make sure you know how you must answer the questions

® underline the key words Step 3 Look for the answers

@ scan for key words or synonyms by looking over the text

® do not read every word

QUESTIONS ABOUT MAIN IDEAS

Matching headings with paragraphs Step 1 Survey the text

Step 2 Skim the paragraph to identify the topic

© the topic sentence is usually the first one in a paragraph

e skim the rest of the paragraph to make sure Step 3 Choose the correct heading from the list Identifying where to find information

Step 1 Survey the text Step 2 Read the question to identify the topic

¢ underline the key words in the question

© read one question at a time

Step 3 Skim the paragraphs to find the one related to the topic

e the topic sentence is often the first one

© skim the rest of the paragraph quickly to confirm

Skills Focus

Guessing the Meaning of Words

While you are reading, you will probably find many words you do not under- stand However, this does not have to be a problem Firstly, you should decide whether the word is important for you Understanding the word may not be necessary to answer the question If you think the word is important, there are many strategies you can use to help you guess the meaning of a word

Look at the context Often you can guess the meaning of a word from the other words around it

Check the part of speech of a word Knowing whether the word is a noun (singular or plural), verb, adjective or

an adverb can help you to decide on its meaning within the context Also, you may already know one form of the word (e.g the noun nation) but not the others (e.g the adjective national, the noun nationality, or the verb to national- ise), so you should look closely at the root word to give you a clue

Use your previous knowledge of English You may have seen the word in a different context You can use your previous knowledge and the new context to work out the meaning Or you may know the separate parts of a word, but may be unfamiliar with the word as a whole You can use this knowledge to help you work out the meaning

Check if there is a definition Sometimes there will be a definition, explanation or example of an unknown word These can be introduced by a variety of words—is, means, refers to, in other words, and i.e

Look for any linking words or discourse markers Linking words or discourse markers—such as however, but, therefore, for example, so that, finally—may help to indicate the meaning of a particular word

Use your general background knowledge Your knowledge and experience about what is logical or illogical can help you

to guess the meaning of some words

The Reading Test | 39

Demonstration — Examples

The following sentences are taken from the Section 1 text ‘Your Post Office’

on page 2

1 More staff at peak periods for faster service

Part of speech: normally a noun, but here acting as an adjective describing

‘periods’

Your knowledge of the root word: you may know that the noun ‘peak’ means the top or highest point on a mountain

The context: you need to have more staff to give faster service during these times Therefore, you can guess that ‘peak periods’ means periods with the highest or maximum number of customers, or the busiest periods

2 New vending machine services such as cash-change machines, and phonecard and stamp dispensers for faster service

Linking words: the words ‘machine services such as ’ tell you that a dis- penser is a kind of machine

The context: the text is talking about people obtaining (buying) things from machines If people can serve themselves, the service should be faster

You can guess that a dispenser is a kind of machine that sells or gives out things automatically

3 Extended opening hours at selected main offices

Part of speech: ‘extended’ is an adjective (i.e past participle form) describing

‘opening hours’

Background knowledge: an adjective to describe ‘opening hours’ (the hours

that the Post Office is open) can only be about more or less hours

Context: The text is talking about providing a better service

Knowledge of the root word: you may know that ‘extend’ means to make longer So, you can guess that ‘extended’ must mean longer

4 The tablets contain doses that are safe for children, so there’s no danger of

overdose (‘Easy Riders’, page 7.) Part of speech: both words are nouns The prefix over- means ‘more’ or

‘too much’

Context: the words ‘tablets contain doses’ tell you that a dose is something inside the tablet, or part of the ingredients Also, this part of the text is talking about safety and danger An overdose is negative (dangerous)

Background knowledge: a medicine can be dangerous if a person (especially

a child) takes too much

Therefore, you can guess that a dose is an amount of medicine in the tablet and an overdose is too much medicine

5 .we need about 50mg of vitamin C per day, and we can get it readily from citrus fruits, tomatoes and green vegetables (‘Sources of Vitamins’, page 10.) Part of speech: ‘readily’ is an adverb describing how we get vitamin C from those sources

Context: the sentence is talking about being able to get our minimum requirement of vitamin C from the sources mentioned

Background knowledge: you may know that these fruits and vegetables contain a lot of vitamin C We can guess that ‘readily’ means ‘easily’ or ‘in great quantity’

6 Most vitamins we need are available in sufficient quantities in vegetables

and fruits Some vitamins, however, can only be found in significant

quantities in animal products

Part of speech: significant is an adjective describing the noun ‘quantities’ Context: the text is talking about how much a vitamin we can get from dif- ferent sources The first sentence says that we can get ‘sufficient quantities’

(enough) of most vitamins from vegetables and fruits

Linking words: The word ‘however’ shows that the information in the second sentence contrasts with the information in the first sentence The main contrast is between animal products and vegetables/fruits as different sources of vitamins Therefore, you can guess that the meaning of ‘significant quantities’ is similar to the meaning of sufficient quantities

ACTIVITY 15 For the examples below, try to work out the meaning of the underlined words using the strategies described above Choose the correct answer

a, b orc

The following examples are taken from the reading ‘The Coming Crisis

in Long-Term Care’ in Section 3 on pages 51-3

1 While only 5 per cent of Americans over 65 currently reside in nursing homes, that percentage rises sharply with age Twenty-two per cent of persons 85 and older live in nursing homes

a live

b work

e visit

2 According to national estimates, one year in a nursing home costs an average of $22 000, and this is expected to more than double by 2018 Given that the mean income for Americans aged 65 and older is currently $19 000, nursing home care would exhaust the assets and available income of most elderly people in just one year

a tire out

b use up completely

c pay for

The Reading Test Ĩ 4I

3 But how will such insurance be funded —publicly or privately? While some groups urge a publicly funded program, there are grave doubts about the willingness of taxpayers to pay for a public program

a very few bD_ serious

c no

4 The federal government already faces a budget deficit, which threatens cutbacks in existing programs The substantial extra expenditure of a publicly funded program would certainly lose votes

a profit

b stability

© loss

5 Individuals would thus still be responsible for footing the bill for their own long-term care

a paying

b counting

e writing

Section 3

Step One Survey the text Step Two Skim the text to identify its organisation Step Three Read the question

Step Four Skim or scan for the answer

In this section there is only one longer reading text (about 700 words), usually without subheadings There will be three or four different types of questions The question-types could be:

any of those from Sections 1 or 2 completing a summary

completing a table identifying qualities or characteristics

Because the text is quite long, and because you will be looking for different kinds of information, it is a good idea to first survey the text to identify the topic, and then skim the text to identify how the information is organised before you start answering the questions

As with Section 2 of the test, the skills of scanning and skimming are very important in this section You must use your time efficiently The following Demonstration section will show you how to answer the questions without wasting time Skills and strategies will be discussed in the Analysis and Practice section which follows the Demonstration

Do not read the demonstration text and questions first Go directly to the How to Answer section on page 47, and refer back to the reading text as instructed

Demonsiration—Text and Questions

Questions 1-4 The passage has 8 paragraphs labelled A-H

Which paragraphs contain the following information?

Write the appropriate letters A—H in boxes I-4 on your answer sheet You only need ONE letter for each answer

Note: You may use each letter more than once

Numbers living in cities between 1950 and 1985 A

The Reading Test i 43

1 The number of large cities in Africa

2 The projected population of Mexico City

3 An explanation of what ‘natural’ population increase is

4 The lack of clean water in cities

URBANISATION

A The United Nations Human Development Report 1990 has called this ‘the century of the great urban explosion’

Between 1950 and 1985 the number of people living in cities in (he world nearly tripled In the developing world, it quadrupled—trom less than 300 million to

about 1.2 billion In Africa, th

itics inereased more than se

population of the larger

snfold over this period

B Although the rate of city growth is expected to slow in the future, the absolute numbers added each year walt continue to grow _ of this gracile much as

two-thirds in many Asian and Latin Amer

will come from sania increase (i.e

over deaths) of populations alr

ra ty putting pressure on ag netftorg)! Nie si

) and the urbanisation of currently rural areas

C In future, the urban population of the developing countries

is expected to grow by sen another billion in the next fifteen years By 2015, half the developing world’s people will live in urban areas Growth r will be

fastest in Africa, though

in Asia, w|

between 1985 an

D An increasing proportion of the urbanised population will be living in huge cities [he number of cities with a million or more inhabitants in developing countries was aay aes in củi By 1989 there were 125, and there will

city in 1950 By 2000 Africa could have 60

s of a R- Tết or more

E However, urban growth in developing countries has not been evenly distributed between all cities In most

countries one or two giant cities have grown out of all proportion, cornering the lion’s share o

investment

industry and government spending—but «iso creating problems oi coi

stion squalor and unrest

In 1970, only 13 per cent of the urban population of developing countries lived in cities with more than four million people By 2025, such cities are expected to

28 per cent of town dwellers While many northern cities such a idon or Paris have levelled out or reduced 1!) i the dominant cities of develop-

ing countries /iave grown exponentially The population:

of Tehran, Karachi and Manila grew at 5 per cent vr

year in the 1970s and those of Delhi, Mexico

Jakarta at between 4 and 5

per cent A ‘nitaibé T Af cities m w to gigantic size

Mexico City, which had a po 15 million in

1980, may grow to nearly Greater Bombay, which had

in 1950, is e ed to be the second Jars

15 million Jakarta wil! be third with an

million or more inhabitants by the turn of the century

While the balanced, gradual growth of cities of half a million or less is rarely a problem, rapid urbanisation, especially in poor countries, nearly ahways i is The

growth of urban populations has 1 %

growth of paying jobs and of government 1

infrastructure and services, such as sewe!

supply Large proportions of urban dwel illegal, self-built housing without secure tenure or facil-

ties, An estimated 40 per cent live in such conditions in Nairobi, Lima and Manila, and around ol pe cent in

Delhi and El Salvador One ci e had

access to clean water in 1983, <

no proper sanitation Some 1

their livings—on rubbish dumps,

>and water

s live in

In dealing with problems like this, attention must be

focused not only on cities City dwellers do need cheap land and building materials, secure tenure and local

employment More attention also needs to be give

reyersing appalling urban environmental deterioration But improving conditions in rural areas wil! also help

People in country areas would then have much less

incentive to migrate to cities Any m that leads to a slowing down in the rate of urban population ero

contribute to an improvement of living conditions there

€aSL

The Reading Test E