IELTS reading

Reading Test 50

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Section 1

Reading Passage 1

The Evolution of Language

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Language everywhere changes over time; it has to. A central reason that necessitates modification is to allow for developments in our world to be expressed. For example, the technological revolution alone has been responsible for the addition of a plethora of words to our vocabulary: hard drive, software, modem to name just a few. The Japanese writing script katakana, which was originally introduced in the 9th century as a means by which Buddhist monks could correctly interpret Chinese pronunciations, is now most commonly used to embrace foreign words for which there is no original Japanese character; pizza or hamburger for example. Likewise the western world’s exposure to and familiarity with foreign cultures now means that words such as sushi, nam bread and kebab, for example, are used by diners on a regular basis. However, expansion of our vocabulary is just one element involved in how and why language evolves. Given the variation of dialects or regional accents present in most language systems, it is clear that an individual’s interpretation of what is actually correct and commonly used will vary quite dramatically, since this perception is based upon a combination of factors including the age, educational level and region of the country a person is from. As we go about our daily lives and interact with others from different backgrounds and experiences, the language we hear is often taken on board and incorporated into the way in which we communicate ourselves. Many phrases with American origins are now commonplace in British English for example, due to the frequency…

Questions 1–4

Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs A-F. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B, C, E and F from the list of headings below.

1.Paragraph B

2.Paragraph C

Section 2

Reading Passage 2

Water Hyacinth: Beautiful Yet Destructive

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Despite possessing vibrant purple flowers and being attractive to the eye, the water hyacinth has often been referred to as the most problematic aquatic plant in the world’s waters. Due to its aesthetic appeal, water hyacinth, which is native to South America, has been distributed to many different regions and now thrives in the southern states of the USA and many subtropical and tropical locations. It has also been observed to be relatively tolerant of cooler climates and is routinely sold as an ornamental plant for domestic use in a number of horticulture centres. Though the hyacinth species is distinctive in appearance, another aquatic floating plant – water lettuce – is sometimes mistakenly identified as water hyacinth. Water lettuce, however, does not have the same attractive flowers, has larger leaves and is less tolerant of cooler climates. Water hyacinth has rounded waxy, green leaves which grow up to around 6 inches in width and floating leaf stems which grow up to 12 inches in length. Flowers are typically between 2 to 3 inches in width and as many as 15 flowers, each purple on the outside and containing a yellow centre, may grow from each plant. Many of the problems associated with the water hyacinth are due to its incredible growth and reproduction capabilities, which have made it difficult to control and allow it to quickly dominate the environment in which it grows and spreads. Its growth patterns are characterised by a rapid formation of an impenetrable vegetation mass; botanists say that one plant can produce around 5000 seeds and in one study two plants…

Questions 14–18

Reading Passage 2 has eight sections A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information?

14.Why the use of bio-control insects may be less successful than the first time.

Section 3

Reading Passage 3

Psychometrics

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Psychometrics involves psychological and educational assessment of the subject by way of measuring attitudes, personality, abilities and knowledge. The field has two primary focuses; the creation of measurement instruments and procedures and development and enhancement of existing methodology employed. The concept of psychometric testing, introduced long before the establishment of IQ testing and other current methodologies, was first explored by Francis Galton who developed the first testing procedures supposedly related to intelligence; however, his measurement tools were in fact based upon physical and physiological benchmarks rather than testing of the mind itself. Measurements included the physical power, height and weight of subjects which were recorded and results used to estimate the intelligence of subjects. While the approach was not successful, the studies conducted by Galton were to influence the work of future researchers. Approaches to measurement of intelligence, which is defined as the mind’s relative ability to reason, think, conceptually plan, solve problems, understand and learn, were later developed by pioneers such as Charles Spearman. Significant contributions to its early development were also made by Wilhelm Wundt, L.L. Thurstone, Ernst Heinrich Weber and Gustav Fechner. The most well-known traditional approach to development of psychometric instruments to measure intelligence is the Stanford-Binet IQ test, originally developed by French psychologist Alfred Binet. Researchers define intelligence as separate to other attributes such as personality,…

Questions 27–31

Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information? You may use any letter more than once.

27.Physiological evidence from Gardner that his intelligence theories are sound.

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Answers & explanations

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40 answers3 explanations open
  1. 1

    iii

    To find our suitable heading of this passage, we should skim the content and identify the main subject. We can find the main idea of this passage from the sentence "Given the variation of dialects …… a person is from". We can understand this sentence as following: under different expressions of language (variation of dialects or regional accents), an individual's understanding about speech (what is actually correct and commonly used) will be different. Moreover, we can take a look to following sentences and find that main issue mentioned in this this passage is that the language changes in various background/expression (or how language is influenced). So we choose answer iii – Influences on speech as answer of this question

  2. 2

    ii

    After skimming paragraph C, we can see that the sentence "Changes in language are often [...] rather than an evolution and an improvement" contains the main idea of this passage (as other sentences are almost examples of this idea). This sentence indicates about how young and older people react with changes in language. While the young aim at changes in language, the older people seems to have negative assess about this issue. So from above information, we can reason out that there is a gap in thinking of young and old people. This helps us identify ii. The Generation Gap is the suitable heading for this passage

  3. 3

    vii

    This passage mainly mentions about logicality of some people's opinion on traditional and modern usage of language. From the text, we can see that there is an example of usage that is not acceptable in traditional usage (this was considered incorrect). Following this example is information about the reason why it was not accepted. However, the last sentence indicates that the origin of this reason (initial motivations behind the rule) is questionable and is likely to be abandoned in the future. From above analysis, we can confirm that answer vii. Questioning logic is suitable heading of this paragraph

  4. 4

    viii

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  5. 5

    YES

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  6. 6

    NOT GIVEN

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  7. 7

    NOT GIVEN

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  8. 8

    NOT GIVEN

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  9. 9

    NO

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  10. 10

    NO

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  11. 11

    B

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  12. 12

    D

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  13. 13

    F

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  14. 14

    H

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  15. 15

    E

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  16. 16

    D

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  17. 17

    G

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  18. 18

    A

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  19. 19

    A

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  20. 20

    B

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  21. 21

    D

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  22. 22

    C

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  23. 23

    A

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  24. 24

    TRUE

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  25. 25

    NOT GIVEN

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  26. 26

    TRUE

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  27. 27

    G

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  28. 28

    C

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  29. 29

    B

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  30. 30

    F

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  31. 31

    C

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  32. 32

    FALSE

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  33. 33

    FALSE

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  34. 34

    FALSE

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  35. 35

    TRUE

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  36. 36

    TRUE

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  37. 37

    NOT GIVEN

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  38. 38

    C

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  39. 39

    C

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  40. 40

    D

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