IELTS reading

Reading Test 27

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Section 1

Reading Passage 1

Sleepy Students Perform Worse

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Staying up an hour or two past bedtime makes it far harder for kids to learn, say scientists who deprived youngsters of sleep and tested whether their teachers could tell the difference. They could. If parents want their children to thrive academically, “Getting them to sleep on time is as important as getting them to school on time," said psychologist Gahan Fallone, who conducted the research at Brown Medical School. The study, unveiled Thursday at an American Medical Association (AMA) science writers meeting, was conducted on healthy children who had no evidence of sleep- or learning-related disorders. Difficulty paying attention was among the problems the sleepy youngsters faced - raising the question of whether sleep deprivation could prove even worse for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Fallone now is studying that question, and suspects that sleep problems “could hit children with ADHD as a double whammy”. Sleep experts have long warned that Americans of all ages do not get enough shuteye. Sleep is important for health, bringing a range of benefits that, as Shakespeare put it, “knits up the ravelled sleave of care”. Not getting enough is linked to a host of problems, from car crashes as drivers doze off to crippled memory and inhibited creativity. Exactly how much sleep correlates with school performance is hard to prove. So, Brown researchers set out to test whether teachers could detect problems with attention and learning when children stayed up late - even if the teachers had no idea how much sleep their students actually got.…

Questions 1–4

The text has 7 paragraphs (A - G). Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of information?

1.Traffic accidents are sometimes caused by lack of sleep.

2.The number of children included in the study

Section 2

Reading Passage 2

The Brains Business

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For those of a certain age and educational background, it is hard to think of higher education without thinking of ancient institutions. Some universities are of a venerable age - the University of bologna was founded in 1088, the University of Oxford in 1096 - and many of them have a strong sense of tradition. The truly old ones make the most of their pedigrees, and those of a more recent vintage work hard to create an aura of antiquity. Yet these tradition-loving (or -creating) institutions are currently enduring a thunderstorm of changes so fundamental that some say the very idea of the university is being challenged. Universities are experimenting with new ways of funding (most notably through student fees), forging partnerships with private companies and engaging in mergers and acquisitions. Such changes ate tugging at the ivy's toots. This is happening for four reasons. The first is the democratisation of higher educa-tion - “massification". in the language of the educational profession. In the rich world, massification has been going on for some time. The proportion of adults with higher educational qualifications in developed countries almost doubled between l975 and 2000. From 22% to 41%. Most of the rich countries are still struggling to digest this huge growth in numbers. Now massification is spreading to the developing world. China doubled its student population in the late 1990s, and India is trying to follow suit. The second reason is the rise of the knowledge economy. The world is in the grips of a “soft revolution” in which knowledge is replacing physical…

Questions 14–17

The text has 6 paragraphs (A - F). Which paragraph does each of the following headings best fit?

14.Education for the masses

Section 3

Reading Passage 3

Sunday Is a Fun Day for Modern Brits

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In a new study, Essex University sociologists have dissected the typical British Sunday, and found we get up later and do fewer chores than we did 40 years ago - and we are far more likely to be out shopping or enjoying ourselves than cooking Sunday lunch. Academics at the university’s Institute of Social and Economic Research asked 10,000 people to keep a detailed diary of how they spent Sundays in 2001. Then they compared the results with 3,500 diaries written in 1961, a treasure trove of information that had been uncovered ‘in two egg boxes and a tea chest’ in the basement of the BBC by ISER’s director, Professor Jonathan Gershuny. The contrast between the two periods could not be more striking. Forty years ago, Sunday mornings were a flurry of activity as men and women - especially women - caught up on their weekly chores and cooked up a storm in the kitchen. Women rarely allowed themselves any ‘leisure’ until the afternoon, after the dishes were cleaned. In 1961, more than a fifth of all men and women in Britain were sitting at a table by 2 p.m., most likely tucking into a roast with all the trimmings. Then there would be another rush to the table between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. for high tea. Since the arrival of brunch, the gastropub and the all-you-can-eat Sunday buffet at the local curry house, such institutions have become extinct. Today, we graze the entire day. You only have two free days a week. You don’t want to have to waste one because there is nothing to do but watch TV. Sunday has leapfrogged Saturday in the fun stakes. On Saturdays, you are recovering from the…

Questions 29–32

For each question, only ONE of the choices is correct. Write the corresponding letter in the appropriate box on your answer sheet.

29.According to the diaries, in 1961, women rarely had free time on Sunday

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Answers & explanations

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42 answers3 explanations open
  1. 1

    C

    The keywords concerned in Q1 must be "traffic accidents" and "lack of sleep". In this question, we have to find out the paragraph which shows that one of the reasons of traffic accidents is lack of sleep. First, we will need to scan the passage and figure out which paragraph discuss about the disadvantages of not sleeping enough. At the paragraph C, they claim "Not getting enough is linked to a host of problems." Thanks to the words "problems" and the phrase "not getting enough" which mentions about lack of sleep, we can guess that C is the paragraph we need to find out. And after that, they give out some examples such as car crashes, crippled memory or inhibited creativity. Because car crashes is the other expression of traffic accidents, we can be sure that paragraph C is the correct one.

  2. 2

    D

    The keywords of Q2 are "The number of children" and "the study". In this question, we have to find out the paragraph which contains the number of children in the study. At the beginning of paragraph D, we can see that they write "They recruited seventy-four 6- to 12-year-olds from Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts for the three-week study". From this information, we can conclude that their study was conducted among 74 children from 6 to 12 years old.

  3. 3

    F

    The keywords of Q3 are "two schools" and "deal with the problem". In this question, we have to find out the paragraph containing the ways of two schools to solve their problem. Because the school name "Potter-Burns Elementary School" and the phrase "another school" at 3 first sentences of paragraph F are suitable with the key "two schools", we can guess that this paragraph may be the right one that we need to find out. In these above-mentioned sentences, we can also get the information about what two schools do to solve the problem about students' sleep. In particular, they will send notes to parents or include it in the monthly newsletters. From these clues, we can be sure that this paragraph is the correct answer.

  4. 4

    E

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  5. 5

    ADHD

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  6. 6

    wrist monitors

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  7. 7

    paying attention

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  8. 8

    tough

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  9. 9

    FALSE

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  10. 10

    FALSE

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  11. 11

    TRUE

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  12. 12

    NOT GIVEN

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  13. 13

    NOT GIVEN

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  14. 14

    ii

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  15. 15

    vi

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  16. 16

    iv

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  17. 17

    v

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  18. 18

    A

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  19. 19

    C

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  20. 20

    D

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  21. 21

    E

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  22. 22

    H

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  23. 23

    C

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  24. 24

    C

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  25. 25

    A

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  26. 26

    B

    Answer only

  27. 27

    A

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  28. 28

    C

    Answer only

  29. 29

    A

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  30. 30

    C

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  31. 31

    C

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  32. 32

    A

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  33. 33

    diaries

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  34. 34

    high tea

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  35. 35

    an average of

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  36. 36

    gender segregated

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  37. 37

    playing football

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  38. 38

    TRUE

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  39. 39

    FALSE

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  40. 40

    TRUE

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  41. 41

    TRUE

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  42. 42

    NOT GIVEN

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Understand why, not only what.

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