Reading for IELTS Academic Practice Test- 2 | Reading Practice Tests for IELTS Academic PDF Download

(A) Leatherback turtles follow the general sea turtle body plan of having a large, flattened, round body with two pairs of very large flippers and a short tail. Like other sea turtles, the leatherback's flattened forelimbs are adapted for swimming in the open ocean. Claws are absent from both pairs of flippers. The Leatherback's flippers are the largest in proportion to its body among extant sea turtles. Leatherback's front flippers can grow up to 2.7 meters (9 ft) in large specimens, the largest flippers (even in comparison to its body) of any sea turtle. As the last surviving member of its family, the leatherback turtle has several distinguishing characteristics that differentiate it from other sea turtles. Its most notable feature is that it lacks the bony carapace of the other extant sea turtles.

(B) During the past month, four turtles have washed up along Irish coasts from Wexford to Kerry. These turtles are more typical of warmer waters and only occur in Irish waters when they stray off course. It is likely that they may have originated from Florida, America. Two specimens have been taken to Coastal and Marine Resources Centre (stored at the National Maritime College), University College Cork, where a necropsy (post mortem for animals) will be conducted to establish their age, sex, and their exact origin. During this same period, two leatherback turtles were found in Scotland, and a rare Kemp's Ridley turtle was found in Wales, thus making it an exceptional month for stranded turtles in Ireland and the UK.

(C) Actually, There has been extensive research conducted regarding sea turtles’ abilities to return to their nesting regions and sometimes exact locations from hundreds of miles away. In the water, their path is greatly affected by powerful currents. Despite their limited vision and lack of landmarks in the open water, turtles are able to retrace their migratory paths. Some explanations of this phenomenon have found that sea turtles can detect the angle and intensity of the earth’s magnetic fields.

(D) However, Loggerhead turtles are not normally found in Irish waters, because water temperatures here are far too cold for their survival. Instead, adult loggerheads prefer the warmer waters of the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and North America's east coast. The four turtles that were found have probably originated from the North American population of loggerheads. However, it will require genetic analysis to confirm this assumption. It is thought that after leaving their nesting beach as hatchlings (when they measure 4.5 cm in length), these tiny turtles enter the North Atlantic Gyre (a giant circular ocean current) that takes them from America, across to Europe (Azores area), down towards North Africa, before being transported back again to America via a different current. This remarkable round trip may take many years during which these tiny turtles grow by several centimeters a year. Loggerheads may circulate the North Atlantic several times before they settle in the coastal waters of Florida or the Caribbean.

(E) These four turtles were probably on their way around the Atlantic when they strayed a bit too far north from the Gulf Stream. Once they did, their fate was sealed, as the cooler waters of the North East Atlantic are too cold for loggerheads (unlike leatherback turtles which have many anatomical and physiological adaptations to enable them to swim in our seas). Once in cool waters, the body of a loggerhead begins to shut down as it get 'cold-stunned', then get hypothermia and die.

(F) Leatherbacks are in imminent danger of extinction. A critical factor (among others) is the harvesting of eggs from nests. Valued as a food delicacy, Leatherback eggs are falsely touted to have aphrodisiacal properties in some cultures. The leatherback, unlike the Green Sea turtle, is not often killed for its meat; however, the increase in human populations coupled with the growing black market trade has escalated their egg depletion. Other critical factors causing the leatherbacks’ decline are pollution such as plastics (leatherbacks eat this debris thinking it is jellyfish; fishing practices such as longline fishing and gill nets, and the development on habitat areas. Scientists have estimated that there are only about 35,000 Leatherback turtles in the world.

(G) We are often unable to understand the critical impact a species has on the environment—that is, until that species becomes extinct. Even if we do not know the role a creature plays in the health of the environment, past lessons have taught US enough to know that every animal and plant is one important link in the integral chain of nature. Some scientists now speculate that the Leatherback may play an important role in the recovery of diminishing fish populations. Since the Leatherback consumes its weight in jellyfish per day, it helps to keep Jellyfish populations in check. Jellyfish consume large quantities of fish larvae. The rapid decline in Leatherback populations over the last 50 years has been accompanied by a significant increase in jellyfish and a marked decrease in fish in our oceans. Saving sea turtles is an International endeavor.

Question 1-6: Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.
Write appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 1 -6 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.
List of Headings
i. Sea turtles are found in unusual locations
ii. Unique features of the Leatherbacks
iii. The Leatherback’s contribution
iv. Methods used for route tracking
v. Predict the migration routes
vi. Remains multiplicity within the species
vii. The progress of hatching
viii. The fate of the lost turtles
ix. How are trips supposed to look like?
x. Factors leading to population decline
Q.1. Paragraph B
Q.2. Paragraph C
Q.3. Paragraph D
Q.4. Paragraph E
Q.5. Paragraph F
Q.6. Paragraph G

Question 7 -13:  Choose words from the passage to answer the questions 7-13. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Q.7. How many Leatherback turtles are there in the world?

Q.8. What is the most noticeable difference between other sea turtles and leatherbacks?

Q.9. What candle leatherback turtles to die in Irish waters?

Q.10. Where did the four turtles probably come from?

Q.11. By which means can sea turtles retrace their migratory paths?

Q.12. For what purpose are Green Sea turtles killed by people?

Q.13. What kind of species will benefit from a decline in Leatherback populations?

Broadly speaking, proponents of CSR have used four arguments to make their case: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation. The moral appeal—arguing that companies must be good citizens and to *do the right thing” —is prominent in the goal of Business for Social Responsibility, the leading nonprofit CSR business association in the United States. It asks that its members “achieve commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment.” Sustainability emphasizes environmental and community stewardship.

(A) An excellent definition was developed in the 1980s by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and used by the World  Business Council for Sustainable Development "Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The notion of a license to operate derives from the fact that every company needs tacit or explicit permission from governments, communities, and numerous other stakeholders to do business. Finally, reputation is used by many companies to justify CSR initiatives because they will improve a company's image, strengthen its brand, enliven morale, and even raise the value of its stock.

(B) To advance CSR, we must root it in a broad understanding of the interrelationship between a corporation and society while at the same time anchoring it in the strategies and activities of specific companies. To say broadly that business and society need each other might seem like a cliché, but it is also the basic truth that will pull companies out of the muddle that their current corporate-responsibility thinking has created Successful corporations need a healthy society. Education, health care, and equal opportunity are essential to a productive workforce. Safe products and working conditions not only attract customers but lower the internal costs of accidents. Efficient utilization of land, water, energy, and other natural resources makes business more productive. Good government, the rule of law, and property rights are essential for efficiency and innovation. Strong regulatory standards protect both consumers and competitive companies from exploitation. Ultimately, a healthy society creates expanding business demand, as more human needs are met and aspirations grow. Any business that pursues its ends at the expense of the society in which it operates will find its success to be illusory and ultimately temporary. At the same time, a healthy society needs successful companies. No social program can rival the business sector when it comes to creating the jobs, wealth, and innovation that improve standards of living and social conditions over time.

(C) A company’s impact on society also changes over time, as social standards evolve and science progresses. Asbestos, now understood as a serious health risk, was thought to be safe in the early 1900s, given the scientific knowledge then available. Evidence of its risks gradually mounted for more than 50 years before any company was held liable for the harm it can cause. Many firms that failed to anticipate the consequences of this evolving body of research have been bankrupted by the results. No longer can companies be content to monitor only the obvious social impacts of today. Without a careful process for identifying the evolving social effects of tomorrow, firms may risk their very survival.

(D)  No business can solve all of society’s problems or bear the cost of doing so. Instead, each company must select issues that intersect with its particular business. Other social agendas are best left to those companies in other industries, NGOs, or government institutions that are better positioned to address them. The essential test that should guide CSR is not whether a cause is worthy but whether it presents an opportunity to create shared value— that is, a meaningful benefit for society that is also valuable to the business. However, Corporations are not responsible for all the world’s problems, nor do they have the resources to solve them all Each company can identify the particular set of societal problems that it is best equipped to help resolve and from which it can gain the greatest competitive benefit. Addressing social issues by creating shared value will lead to self-sustaining solutions that do not depend on private or government subsidies. When a well-run business applies its vast resources, expertise, and management talent to problems that it understands and in which it has a stake, it can have a greater impact on social good than any other institution or philanthropic organization.

(E) The best corporate citizenship initiatives involve far more than writing a check: They specify clear, measurable goals and track results over time. A good example is GE’s program to adopt underperforming public high schools near several of its major U.S. facilities. The company contributes between $250,000 and $1 million over a five-year period to each school and makes in-kind donations as well GE managers and employees take an active role by working with school administrators to assess needs and mentor or tutor students. In an independent study of ten schools in the program between 1989 and 1999, nearly all showed significant improvement, while the graduation rate in four of the five worst-performing schools doubled from an average of 30% to 60%. Effective corporate citizenship initiatives such as this one create goodwill and improve relations with local governments and other important constituencies. What's more, GE’s employees feel great pride in their participation. Their effect is inherently limited, however. No matter how beneficial the program is, it remains incidental to the company’s business, and the direct effect on GE's recruiting and retention is modest.

(F) Microsoft's Working Connections partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is a good example of a shared-value opportunity arising from investments in context. The shortage of information technology workers is a significant constraint on Microsoft’s growth; currently, there are more than 450,000 unfilled IT positions in the United States alone. Community colleges, with an enrollment of 11.6 million students, representing  45% of all U.S. undergraduates, could be a major solution. Microsoft recognizes, however, that community colleges face special challenges: IT curricula are not standardized, technology used in classrooms is often outdated, and there are no systematic professional development programs to keep faculty up to date. Microsoft's $50 million five-year initiative was aimed at all three problems. In addition to contributing money and products, Microsoft sent employee volunteers to colleges to assess needs, contribute to curriculum development, and create faculty development institutes. Note that in this case, volunteers and assigned staff were able to use their core professional skills to address a social need, a far cry from typical volunteer programs. Microsoft has achieved results that have benefited many communities while having a direct—and potentially significant—impact on the company.

(G) At the heart of any strategy is a unique value proposition: a set of needs a company can meet for its chosen customers that others cannot. The most strategic CSR occurs when a company adds a social dimension to its value proposition, making social impact integral to the overall strategy. Consider Whole Foods Market, whose value proposition is to sell organic, natural and healthy food products to customers who are passionate about food and the environment. The company's sourcing emphasizes purchases from local farmers through each store's procurement process. Buyers screen out foods containing any of nearly 100 common ingredients that the company considers unhealthy or environmentally damaging. The same standards apply to products made internally. Whole Foods’ commitment to natural and environmentally friendly operating practices extends well beyond sourcing. Stores are constructed using a minimum of virgin raw materials. Recently, the company purchased renewable wind energy credits equal to 100% of its electricity use in all of its stores and facilities, the only Fortune 500 company to offset its electricity consumption entirely. Spoiled produce and biodegradable waste are trucked to regional centers for composting. Whole Foods' vehicles are being converted to run on biofuels. Even the cleaning products used in its stores are environmentally friendly. Through its philanthropy, the company has created the Animal Compassion Foundation to develop more natural and humane ways of raising farm animals. In short, nearly every aspect of the company’s value chain reinforces the social dimensions of its value proposition, distinguishing Whole Foods from its competitors.
From Harvard Business Review 2007

Questions 14-20: The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below. Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet
List of Headings i. How CSR may help one business to expand ii. CSR in many aspects of a company's business iii. A CSR initiative without a financial gain iv. Lack of action by the state of social issues v. Drives or pressures motivate companies to address CSR vi. The past illustrates businesses are responsible for future outcomes vii. Companies applying CSR should be selective viii. Reasons that business and society benefit each other

Q.14. Paragraph A

Q.15. Paragraph B

Q.16. Paragraph C

Q.17. Paragraph D

Q.18. Paragraph E

Q.19. Paragraph F

Q.20. Paragraph G

Questions 21-22: Summary
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 21-22 on your answer sheet.

The implementation of CSR, HOW?
The promotion of CSR requires an understanding of the interdependence between business and society. Corporation workers’ productivity generally needs health care, Education, and given 21 ____ Restrictions imposed by the government and companies both protect consumers from being treated unfairly. Improvement of the safety standard can reduce the 22 ____ of accidents in the workplace. Similarly, society becomes a pool of more human needs and aspirations.

Questions 23-26 Use the information in the passage to match the companies (listed A-C) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A, B or C in boxes 23- 26 on your answer sheet.

List of companies
A. General Electronics
B. Microsoft
C. Whole foods market

NB: you may use any letter more than once 23. The disposable waste 24. The way the company purchases as goods 25. Helping the undeveloped 26. ensuring the people have the latest information

(A) Excessive cravings do not necessarily involve physical substances. Gambling can become compulsive; sex can become obsessive. One activity, however, stands out for its prominence and ubiquity—the world’s most popular pastime, television. Most people admit to having a love-hate relationship with it. They complain about the “boob tube” and “couch potatoes,” then they settle into their sofas and grab the remote control. Parents commonly fret about their children’s viewing (if not their own). Even researchers who study TV for a living marvel at the medium’s hold on them personally. Percy Tannenbaum of the University of California at Berkeley has written: “Among life’s more embarrassing moments have been countless occasions when I am engaged in conversation in a room while a TV set is on, and I cannot for the life of me stop from periodically glancing over to the screen. This occurs not only during dull conversations but during reasonably interesting ones just as well.”

(B) Scientists have been studying the effects of television for decades, generally focusing on whether watching violence on TV correlates with being violent in real life. Less attention has been paid to the basic allure of the small screen—the medium, as opposed to the message.

(C) The term “TV addiction” is imprecise and laden with value judgments, but it captures the essence of a very real phenomenon. Psychologists and psychiatrists formally define substance dependence as a disorder characterized by criteria that include spending a great deal of time using the substance; using it more often than one intends; thinking about reducing use or making repeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use; giving up important social, family or occupational activities to use it; and reporting withdrawal symptoms when one stops using it.

(D) All these criteria can apply to people who watch a lot of television. That does not mean that watching television, in itself, is problematic. Television can teach and amuse; it can reach aesthetic heights; it can provide much-needed distraction and escape. The difficulty arises when people strongly sense that they ought not to watch as much as they do and yet find themselves strangely unable to reduce their viewing. Some knowledge of how the medium exerts its pull may help heavy viewers gain better control over their lives.

(E) The amount of time people spend watching television is astonishing. On average, individuals in the industrialized world devote three hours a day to the pursuit—fully half of their leisure time, and more than on any single activity save work and sleep. At this rate, someone who lives to 75 would spend nine years in front of the tube. To some commentators, this devotion means simply that people enjoy TV and make a conscious decision to watch it. But if that is the whole story, why do so many people experience misgivings about how much they view it? In Gallup polls in 1992 and 1999, two out of five adult respondents and seven out of 10 teenagers said they spent too much time watching TV. Other surveys have consistently shown that roughly 10 percent of adults call themselves TV addicts.
(F) What is it about TV that has such a hold on the U.S ? In part, the attraction seems to spring from our biological ‘orienting response.’ First described by Ivan  Pavlov in 1927, the orienting response is our instinctive visual or auditory reaction to any sudden or novel stimulus. It is part of our evolutionary heritage, a built-in sensitivity to movement and potential predatory threats.

(G) In 1986 Byron Reeves of Stanford University, Esther Thorson of the University of Missouri, and their colleagues began to study whether the simple formal features of television, edits, zooms, pans, and sudden noises—activate the orienting response, thereby keeping attention on the screen. By watching how brain waves were affected by formal features, the researchers concluded that these stylistic tricks can indeed trigger involuntary responses and ‘derive their attention-al value through the evolutionary significance of detecting movement... It is the form, not the content, of television that is unique.’

(H) The orienting response may partly explain common viewer remarks such as: “If a television is on, I just can’t keep my eyes off it,” “I don’t want to watch as much as I do, but I can’t help it,” and “I feel hypnotized when I watch television.” In the years since Reeves and Thorson published their pioneering work, researchers have delved deeper. Annie Lang’s research team at Indiana University has shown that heart rate decreases for four to six seconds after an orienting stimulus. In ads, action sequences, and music videos, formal features frequently come at a rate of one per second, thus activating the orienting response continuously.

(I) Lang and her colleagues have also investigated whether formal features affect people’s memory of what they have seen. In one of their studies, participants watched a program and then filled out a score sheet. Increasing the frequency of edits (defined here as a change from one camera angle to another in the same visual scene) improved memory recognition, presumably because it focused attention on the screen. Increasing the frequency of cuts—changes to a new visual scene with a similar effect but only up to a point. If the number of cuts exceeded 10 in two minutes, recognition dropped off sharply.

(J) Producers of educational television for children have found that formal features can help learning. However, increasing the rate of cuts and edits eventually overloads the brain. Music videos and commercials that use rapid intercutting of unrelated scenes are designed to hold attention more than they are to convey information. People may remember the name of the product or band, but the details of the ad itself float in one ear and out the other. The orienting response is overworked. Viewers still attend to the screen, but they feel tired and worn out, with little compensating psychological reward. Our ESM findings show much the same thing.

(K) Sometimes the memory of the product is very subtle. Many ads today are deliberately oblique: they have an engaging storyline, but it is hard to tell what they are trying to sell. Afterward, you may not remember the product consciously. Yet advertisers believe that if they have gotten your attention, when you later go to the store you will feel better or more comfortable with a given product because you have a vague recollection of having heard of it.
You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 27-40, which are based on reading passage 3 on the following pages.
Questions 27-30: Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet, write
Q.27. Even researchers find sometimes it is more interesting to watch TV than talk with others in personal experience
Q.28. Information medium as TV has always been the priority for scientific research.
Q.29. It is partially unscientific to use the term ‘TV addiction’.
Q.30. Children do not know why they exercise too little.

Questions 31-33 Choose THREE letters, A-F.
Write the correct letters in boxes 31-33 on your answer sheet.
Which THREE of the following are the benefits of watching TV?
A. artistic inspiration
B. family reunion
C. relieve stress
D. learn knowledge and education
E. work efficiency
F. ease communicative conflict
Questions 34-37: Look at the following researchers (Questions 34-37) and the list of statements below. Match each researcher with the correct statements.
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 34-37 on your answer sheets.
Q.34. Percy Tannenbaum
Q.35. Ivan Pavlov
Q.36. Byron Reeves and Esther Thorson
Q.37. Annie Lang List of Statements
A. It is the specific media formal characteristic that counts.
B. TV distraction shows human physical reaction to a new and prompted stimulus
C. Conveying information is the most important thing.
D. It is hard to ignore the effects of TV.
E. Whether people can remember deeper of the content relates to the format.
F. The heart rate remains stable when watching.
G. Clinically reliance on TV does not meet the criteria of an addiction.
Questions 38-40: Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage 1, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet TV is becoming a worldwide 38 ____ Some people love it and spend a great deal of time watching it. According to some surveys, a small group even claim themselves as 39 ____ One researcher believes that this attraction comes from our human instinct, described as 40 ____ which is built in part of our physiological evolution.

Section- 1

Section- 2

Section- 3