Reading for IELTS Academic Practice Test- 9 | Reading Practice Tests for IELTS Academic PDF Download

(A) Linkages between the Agri-Food Sector and Tourism offer significant opportunities for the development of both sectors within the region. These linkages could lead to ensuring the sustainability of the region’s tourism product thus ensuring it preservation. Agriculture and tourism — two of Wisconsin’s most industries — are teaming up in southwestern Wisconsin has found that tourists, rural communities, and some farmers could benefit from stronger efforts to promote and market agricultural tourism there. In 1990, agricultural tourism project members surveyed 290 visitors to the annual Monroe Cheese Festival and 164 visitors to the Picnic on the Farm, a one-time event held in Platteville in conjunction with the Chicago Bears summer training camp. More than one-half of those surveyed responded favorably to a proposed tour, saying they would be interested in participating in some type of agricultural tour in southwestern Wisconsin. Survey respondents reported that they would prefer to visit cheese factories, sausage processing plants, dairy farms, and historical farm sites, as well as enjoy an old-fashioned picnic dinner. The study also found strong interest in visiting specialty farms (strawberries, cranberries, poultry, etc.). More than 75 percent of the Cheese Day visitors planned ahead for the trip, with 37 percent planning at least two months in advance.

(B) More than 40 percent of the visitors came to Monroe for two-or three-day visits. Many stopped at other communities on their way to Cheese Days. Visitors at both events indicated that they were there to enjoy themselves and were willing to spend money on food and arts and crafts. They also wanted the opportunity to experience the “country” while there. The study found that planning around existing events should take into account what brought visitors to the area and provide additional attractions that will appeal to them. For example, visitors to Cheese Days said they were on a holiday and appeared to be more open to various tour proposals. Picnic visitors came specifically to see the Chicago Bears practice. They showed less interest in a proposed agricultural tour than Cheese Day visitors, but more interest in a picnic dinner.

(C) The study identified three primary audiences for agricultural tourism: 1) elderly people who take bus tours to see the country; 2) families interested in tours that could be enjoyed by both parents and children; and 3) persons already involved in agriculture, including international visitors. Agricultural tourism can serve to educate urban tourists about the problems and challenges facing farmers, says Andy Lewis, Grant county community development agent. While agriculture is vital to Wisconsin, more and more urban folk are becoming isolated from the industry. In fact, Lewis notes, farmers are just as interested in the educational aspects of agricultural tours as they are in any financial returns.
(D) “Farmers feel that urban consumers are out of touch with farming,” Lewis says. “If tourists can be educated on issues that concern farmers, those visits could lead to policies more favorable to agriculture.” Animal rights and the environment are examples of two issues that concern both urban consumers and farmers. Farm tours could help consumers get the farmer’s perspective on these issues, Lewis notes. Several Wisconsin farms already offer some type of learning experience for tourists. However, most agricultural tourism enterprises currently market their businesses independently, leading to a lack of a concerted effort to promote agricultural tourism as an industry.

(E) Lewis is conducting the study with Jean Murphy, assistant community development agent. Other participants include UW-Platteville Agricultural Economist Bob Acton, the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, UW-Extension Recreation Resources Center, the Wisconsin Rural Development Center, and Hidden Valleys, a Southwestern Wisconsin regional tourism organization. This past fall, Murphy organized several workshops with some Green and Grant County farmers, local business leaders, and motor coach tour operators to discuss how best to organize and put on farm tours. Committees were formed to look at the following: tour site evaluations, inventory of the area’s resources, tour marketing, and familiarization of tours. The fourth committee is organizing tours for people such as tour bus guides and local reporters to help better educate them about agricultural tourism. Green County farmers already have experience hosting visitors during the annual Monroe Cheese Days. Green county Tourism Director Larry Lindgren says these farmers are set to go ahead with more formal agricultural tours next year. The tours will combine a farm visit with a visit to a local cheese factory and a picnic lunch.

(F) Another farm interested in hosting an organized tour is Sinsinawa, a 200-acre Grant County farm devoted to sustainable agriculture and run by the Dominican Sisters. Education plays a major role at the farm, which has an orchard, dairy and beef cows, and hogs. Farm tours could be combined with other activities in the area such as trips to the Mississippi River and/or visits to historical towns orlandmarks, Lewis says. The project will help expose farmers to the tourism industry and farm vacations as a way to possibly supplement incomes, he adds. While farm families probably wouldn’t make a lot of money through farm tours, they would be compensated for their time, says Lewis. Farmers could earn additional income through the sale of farm products, crafts, and recreational activities.

Questions 1-4: The reading Passage has six paragraphs A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter AF, inboxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
Q.1. About half of all the tourists would spend several days in Monroe.
Q.2. Most visitors responded positively to a survey project on farm tour.
Q.3. Cooperation across organisations in research for agriculture tours has been carried out.
Q.4. Agriculture tour assist tourists to understand more issues concerning animal and environment. 

Questions 5-9: Which of following statements belongs to the visitor categories in the box Please choose A, B or c for each question.
Write the correct letter (a), (b) or (c), in boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once.
(a) Cheese Festival visitors
(b) Picnic visitors
(c) Both of them
Q.5. have focused destination
Q.6. majority prepare well before going beforehand.
Q.7. are comparably less keen on picnic meal
Q.8. show interest in activities such as visiting factory tour and fruit
Q.9. are willing to accept a variety of tour recommendation.

Questions 10-14: 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 10-14 on your answer sheet.
Through farm tour, visitors can better understand significant issues such as ____10____ and enviroment. In autumn, Murphy organised ____11____ and bring other participants together to develop local tour market. Larry Lindgren said the farmers already had experience of farm tours with factory visiting and a ____12____ In Sinsinawa, a large area of the farmland contains an orchard, cow etc which is managed and operated by____13____; Lewis said the project will probably bring extra____14____for local farmers.

(A) Since cosmetics and perfumes are still in wide use today, it is interesting to compare the attitudes, customs and beliefs related to them in ancient times to those of our own day and age. Cosmetics and perfumes have been popular since tile dawn of civilization; it is shown by the discovery of a great deal of pertinent archeological material, dating from the third millennium BC. Mosaics, glass perfume flasks, stone vessels, ovens, cooking-pots, clay jars, etc., some inscribed by the hand of the artisan. Evidence also appears in the Bible and other classical writings, where it is written that spices and perfumes were prestigious products known throughout the ancient world and coveted by kings and princes. The written and pictorial descriptions, as well as archaeological findings, all show how important body care and aesthetic appearance were in the lives of the ancient people. The chain of evidence spans many centuries, detailing the usage of cosmetics in various cultures from the earliest period of recorded history. 

(B) In antiquity, however, at least in the onset, cosmetics served in religious ceremonies and for healing purposes. Cosmetics were also connected with cultic worship and witchcraft: to appease the various gods, fragrant ointments were applied to the statuary images and even to their attendants. From this, in the course of time, developed the custom of personal use, to enhance the beauty of the face and the body, and to conceal defects.

(C) Perfumes and fragrant spices were precious commodities in antiquity, very much in demand, and at times even exceeded silver and gold in value. Therefore, they were luxury products, used mainly in the temples and in the homes of the noble and the wealthy. The Judean kings kept them in treasure houses (2 Kings 20:13).
And the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon "camels laden with spices, gold in great quantity and precious stones. (1 Kings 10:2,10). However, within time, the use of cosmetics became the custom of that period. The use of cosmetics became widespread among the lower classes as well as among the wealthy; in the same way they washed the body, 80 they used to care for the body with substances that softened the skin and anoint it with fragrant oils and ointments.

(D) Facial treatment was highly developed and women devoted many horns to it They used to spread various scented creams on the face and to apply makeup in vivid and contrasting colors. An Egyptian papyrus from the 16th century BC contains detailed recipes to remove blemishes, wrinkles, and other signs of age. Greek and Roman women would cover their faces in the evening with a “beauty mask” to remove blemishes, which consisted mainly of flour mixed with flagrant spices, leaving it on their face all night. The next morning they would wash it off with asses' milk. The very common creams used by women in the ancient Far East, particularly important in the hot climate and prevalent in that area of the globe, were made up of oils and aromatic scents. Sometimes the oil in these creams was extracted from olives, almonds, gourds, sesame, or from trees and plants; but, for those of limited means, scented animal and fish fete were commonly used.

(E) Women in the ancient past commonly put colors around their eyes. Besides beautification, its purpose was also medicinal as covering the sensitive skin of the lids with colored ointments that prevailed dryness and eye diseases: the eyepaint repelled the little flies that transmitted eye inflammations. Egyptian women colored tile upper eyelid black and the lower one green, and painted the space between the upper lid and the eyebrow gray or blue. The women of Mesopotamia favored yellows and reds. The use of kohl for painting the eyes is mentioned three times in the Bible, always with disapproval by the sages (2 Kings, 9:30; Jersniah 4:30; Ezekiel 23:40). In contrast. Job named one of his daughters "Kerai Happukh" — "ham of eye paint" (Job 42:14).

(F) Great importance was attached to the care for hair in ancient times. Long hair was always considered a symbol of beauty, and kings, nobles and dignitaries grew their hair long and kept it well-groomed and cared for. Women devoted much time to the style of the hair; while not cutting, they would apply much care to it by arranging it skillfully in plaits and "building it up" sometimes with the help of wigs. Egyptian women generally wore their hair flowing down to their shoulders or even longer. In Mesopotamia, women cherished long hair as a part of their beauty, and hair flowing down their backs in a thick plait and tied with a ribbon is seen in art. Assyrian women wore their hair shorter, braiding and binding it in a bun at the back. In Ancient Israel, brides would wear their hair long on the wedding day as a sign of their virginity. Ordinary people and slaves, however, usually wore their hair short, mainly for hygienic reasons, since they could not afford to invest in the kind of treatment that long hair required.

(G) From the Bible and Egyptian and Assyrian sources, as well as the words of classical authors, it appears that the centers of the trade in aromatic resins and incense were located in the kingdoms of Southern Arabia, and even as far as India, where some of these precious aromatic plants were grown. "Dealers from Sheba and Rammah dealt with you, offering the choicest spices..." (Ezekiel 27:22). The Nabateans functioned as the important middlemen in this trade; Palestine also served as a very important component, as the trade routes crisscrossed the country. It is known that the Egyptian Queen Hatsheput (15th century BC) sent a royal expedition to the Land of Punt (Somalia) in order to bring back myrrh seedlings to plant in her temple. In Assyrian records of tribute and spoils of war, perfumes and resins are mentioned; the text from the time of Tukulti-Ninurta II (890-884 BC) refers to balls of myrrh as part of the tribute brought to the Assyrian king by the Aramaean kings. The trade in spices and perfumes is also mentioned in the Bible as written in Genesis (37:25-26), "Camels carrying gum tragacanth and balm and myrrh".
Questions 15-21: Reading Passage 2 has 7 paragraphs A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write your answers in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet.
Q.15. recipes to conceal facial defects caused by aging
Q.16. perfumes were presented to conquerors in war
Q.17. long hair of girls had special meanings in marriage
Q.18. evidence exists in abundance showing cosmetics use in ancient times
Q.19. protecting eyes from fly-transmitted diseases
Q.20. from witchcraft to beautification
Q.21. more expensive than gold

Questions 22-27: Do the following statements are agree with the information give in Reading Passive 2? In boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet, write

Q.22. The written record for cosmetics and perfumes dates back to the third millennium BG
Q.23. Since perfumes and spices woe luxury products, their use was exclusive to the noble and the wealthy.
Q.24. In ancient Far East, fish fata woe used OS cream by women from poor households.
Q.25. The teachings in the Bible were repeatedly against the use of kohl for painting the eye».
Q.26. Long hair as a symbol of beauty was worn solely by women of ancient cultures
Q.27. The Egyptian Queen Hataheput sent a royal expedition to Font to establish a trade route for myrrh

The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs.
Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized?

(A) Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of ‘fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kaifung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the ‘Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon landing by the end of the decade.
(B) In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments.

(C) New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. 

(D) At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already selfsufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remote sensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology.
(E) Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. 

(F) In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of ‘small satellites’ and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry.

(G) The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs?

Questions 28-32 The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G
List of Headings
(i) Western countries provide essential assistance
(ii) Unbalanced development for an essential space technology
(iii) Innovative application compelled by competition
(iv) An ancient invention which is related to the future
(v) Military purpose of satellite
(vi) Rockets for application in ancient China
(vii) Space development in Asia in the past
(viii) Non-technology factors counts
(ix) competitive edge gained by more economically feasible satellite
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below. Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.
Q.28. Paragraph A
Q.29. Paragraph B
Q.30. Paragraph C
Paragraph D Example: Current space technology development in Asia
Q.31. Paragraph E
Q.32. Paragraph F

Questions 33-36 Match the following reasons for each question according to the information given in the passage Write the correct letter A-F, in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.
(a) Because it helps administrate the crops.
(b) Because there are some unapproachable areas,
(c) Because the economic level in that area is low.
(d) Because there are influences from some other social factors.
(e) Because it can be used in non-peaceful purpose.
(f) Because disasters such as bush fire happened in Southeast Asia.
Q.33. Why remote-photographic technology is used to resolve environmental problems?
Q.34. Why satellites technology is used in medicine area?
Q.35. Why Asian countries satellite technology is limited for development?
Q.36. Why satellites technology is deployed in agricultural area?

Questions 37-40 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3 In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write

Q.37. Ancient China had already deployed rockets as a military purpose as early as 500 years ago.
Q.38. Space technology has enhanced literacy of Asia.
Q.39. photos taken by satellites with certain technology help predict some natural catastrophes prevention and surveillance.
Q.40. commercial competition constitutes a boosting factor to Asian technology development.

Answers

Section - A

Section - B

Section - C