Practice Test - 14 | Reading Practice Tests for IELTS Academic PDF Download

Traditional Farming System in Africa

(A) By tradition land in Luapula is not owned by individuals, but as in many other parts of Africa is allocated by the headman or headwoman of a village to people of either sex, according to need. Since land is generally prepared by hand, one ulupwa cannot take on a very large area; in this sense land has not been a limiting resource over large parts of the province. The situation has already changed near the main townships, and there has long been a scarcity of land for cultivation in the Valley. In these areas registered ownership patterns are becoming prevalent.

(B) Most of the traditional cropping in Luapula, as in the Bemba area to the east, is based on citemene, a system whereby crops are grown on the ashes of tree branches. As a rule, entire trees are not felled, but are pollarded so that they can regenerate. Branches are cut over an area of varying size early in the dry season, and stacked to dry over a rough circle about a fifth to a tenth of the pollarded area. The wood is fired before the rains and in the first year planted with the African cereal finger millet (Eleusine coracana).

(C) During the second season, and possibly for a few seasons more the area is planted to variously mixed combinations of annuals such as maize, pumpkins (Telfiria occidentalis) and other cucurbits, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, Phaseolus beans and various leafy vegetables, grown with a certain amount of rotation. The diverse sequence ends with vegetable cassava, which is often planted into the developing last-but-one crop as a relay.

(D) Richards (1969) observed that the practice of citemene entails a definite division of labour between men and women. A man stakes out a plot in an unobtrusive manner, since it is considered provocative towards one's neighbours to mark boundaries in an explicit way. The dangerous work of felling branches is the men's province, and involves much pride. Branches are stacke by the women, and fired by the men. Formerly women and men cooperated in the planting work, but the harvesting was always done by the women. At the beginning of the cycle little weeding is necessary, since the firing of the branches effectively destroys weeds. As the cycle progresses weeds increase and nutrients eventually become depleted to a point where further effort with annual crops is judged to be not worthwhile: at this point the cassava is planted, since it can produce a crop on nearly exhausted soil. Thereafter the plot is abandoned, and a new area pollarded for the next citemene cycle.

(E) When forest is not available - this is increasingly the case nowadays - various ridging systems (ibala) are built on small areas, to be planted with combinations of maize, beans, groundnuts and sweet potatoes, usually relayed with cassava. These plots are usually tended by women, and provide subsistence. Where their roots have year-round access to water tables mango, guava and oil-palm trees often grow around houses, forming a traditional agroforestry system. In season some of the fruit is sold by the roadside or in local markets.

(F) The margins of dambos are sometimes planted to local varieties of rice during the rainy season, and areas adjacent to vegetables irrigated with water from the dambo during the dry season. The extent of cultivation is very limited, no doubt because the growing of crops under dambo conditions calls for a great deal of skill. Near towns some of the vegetable produce is sold in local markets.

(G) Fishing has long provided a much needed protein supplement to the diet of Luapulans, as well as being the one substantial source of cash. Much fish is dried for sale to areas away from the main waterways. The Mweru and Bangweulu Lake Basins are the main areas of year-round fishing, but the Luapula River is also exploited during the latter part of the dry season. Several previously abundant and desirable species, such as the Luapula salmon or mpumbu (Labeo altivelis) and pale (Sarotherodon machochir) have all but disappeared from Lake Mweru, apparently due to mismanagement.

(H) Fishing has always been a far more remunerative activity in Luapula that crop husbandry. A fisherman may earn more in a week than a bean or maize grower in a whole season. I sometimes heard claims that the relatively high earnings to be obtained from fishing induced an ‘easy come, easy go’ outlook among Luapulan men. On the other hand, someone who secures good but erratic earnings may feel that their investment in an economically productive activity is not worthwhile because Luapulans fail to cooperate well in such activities. Besides, a fisherman with spare cash will find little in the way of working equipment to spend his money on. Better spend one's money in the bars and have a good time!

(I) Only small numbers of cattle or oxen are kept in the province owing to the prevalence of the tse-tse fly. For the few herds, the dambos provide subsistence grazing during the dry season. The absence of animal draft power greatly limits peoples' ability to plough and cultivate land: a married couple can rarely manage to prepare by hand-hoeing. Most people keep freely roaming chickens and goats. These act as a reserve for bartering, but may also be occasionally slaughtered for ceremonies or for entertaining important visitors. These animals are not a regular part of most peoples' diet.

(J) Citemene has been an ingenious system for providing people with seasonal production of high quality cereals and vegetables in regions of acid, heavily leached soils. Nutritionally, the most serious deficiency was that of protein. This could at times be alleviated when fish was available, provided that cultivators lived near the Valley and could find the means of bartering for dried fish. The citemene/fishing system was well adapted to the ecology of the miombo regions and sustainable for long periods, but only as long as human population densities stayed at low levels. Although population densities are still much lower than in several countries of South-East Asia, neither the fisheries nor the forests and woodlands of Luapula are capable, with unmodified traditional practices, of supporting the people in a sustainable manner. Overall, people must learn to intensify and diversify their productive systems while yet ensuring that these systems will remain productive in the future, when even more people will need food. Increasing overall production offood, though a vast challenge in itself, will not be enough, however. At the same time storage and distribution systems must allow everyone access to at least a moderate share of the total.
You should spend about 20 minutes on question 1-13, which are based on reading passage 1 on the following pages.

Questions 1-4: Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage!.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
Q.1. In Luapula land allocation is in accordance with______.
Q.2. The citemene system provides the land with______where crops are planted.
Q.3. During the second season, the last planted crop is______
Q.4. Under suitable conditions, fruit trees are planted near______

Questions 5-8 Classify the following items with the correct description.
Write your answers in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet
(a) fish
(b) oxen
(c) goats
Q.5. be used in some unusual occasions, such as celebrations.
Q.6. cannot thrive for being affected by the pests.
Q.7. be the largest part of creating profit.
Q.8. be sold beyond the local area.

Questions 9-12 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet, write

Q.9. People rarely use animals to cultivate land.
Q.10. When it is a busy time, children usually took part in the labor force.
Q.11. The local residents eat goats on a regular time.
Q.12. Though citemene has been a sophisticated system, it could not provide enough protein.

Questions 13: Choose the correct letter. A, B, c or D. Write the correct letter in the box 13 on your answer sheet.
What is the writer’s opinion about the traditional ways of practices?
(a) They can supply the nutrition that people need.
(b) They are not capable of providing adequate support to the population,
(c) They are productive systems that need no more improving.
(d) They will be easily modified in the future.

Griffith and American films

Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a window into American cultural and social history. A mixture of art, business, and popular entertainment, the movies provide a host of insights into Americans’ shifting ideals, fantasies, and preoccupations

(A) Many films of the early silent era dealt with gender relations. Before 1905, as Kathy Peiss has argued, movie screens were filled with salacious sexual imagery and risque humor, drawn from burlesque halls and vaudeville theaters. Early films offered many glimpses of women disrobing or of passionate kisses. As the movies' female audience grew, sexual titillation and voyeurism persisted. But an ever increasing number of film dealt with the changing work and sexual roles of women in a more sophisticated manner. While D.w. Griffith's films presented an idealized picture of the frail Victorian child-woman, and showed an almost obsessive preoccupation with female honor and chastity, other silent movies presented quite different images of femininity. These ranged from the exotic, sexually aggressive vamp to the athletic, energetic "serial queen"; the street smart urban working gal, who repels the sexual advances of her lascivious boss; and cigarette-smoking, alcohol drinking chorus girls or burlesque queens.

(B) In early 1910, director D.w. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troupe, consisting of actors Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and others. While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood, a little village that was friendly and enjoyed the movie company filming there. By focusing the camera on particular actors and actresses, Griffith inadvertently encouraged the development of the star system. As early as 1910, newspapers were deluged with requests for actors' names. But most studios refused to divulge their identities, fearing the salary demands of popular performers. As one industry observer put it, "In the 'star' your producer gets not only a 'production' value...but a 'trademark' value, and an 'insurance' value which are...very potent in guaranteeing the sale of this product." As the star system emerged, salaries soared. In the course of just two years, the salary of actress Mary Pickford rose from less than $400 a week in 1914 to $10,000 a week in 1916. This action made Griffith believe the big potential in movie industry. Thus many competitors completely copy the same system as Griffith used, for the considerable profits. Additionally, they also study the theory and methods which Griffith suggested.

(C) From the moment America entered the war, Hollywood feared that the industry would be subject to heavy-handed government censorship. But the government itself wanted no repeat of World War I, when the Committee on Public Information had whipped up anti-German hysteria and oversold the war as "a Crusade not merely to re-win the tomb of Christ, but to bring back to earth the rule of right, the peace, goodwill to men and gentleness he taught.”

(D) The formation of the movie trust ushered in a period of rationalization within the film industry. Camera and projecting equipment was standardized; film rental fees were fixed; theaters were upgraded; which improved the quality of movies by removing damaged prints from cnculation. This was also a period intense artistic and technical innovation, as pioneering directors like David Wark Griffith and others created a new language of film and revolutionized screen narrative.

(E) With just six months of film experience, Griffith, a former stage actor, was hired as a director by the Biograph Company and promised $50 a week and one-twentieth of a cent for every foot of film sold to a rental exchange. Each week, Griffith turned out two or three one-reelers. While earlier directors had used such cinematic devices as close ups, slow motion, fade-ins and fade-outs, lighting effects, and editing before, Griffith's great contribution to the movie industry was to show how these techniques could be used to create a wholly new style of storytelling, distinct from the theater. Griffith's approach to movie storytelling has been aptly called "photographic realism. "This is not to say that he merely wished to record a story accurately; rather he sought to convey the illusion of realism. He demanded that his performers act less in a more lifelike manner, avoiding the broad, exaggerated gestures and pantomiming of emotions that characterized the nineteenth century stage. He wanted his performers to take on a role rather than directly addressing the camera. Above all, he used close-ups, lighting, editing, and other cinematic techniques convey suspense and other emotions and to focus the audience's attention on individual performers.

(F) During the 1920s and 1930s, a small group of film companies consolidated then control. Known as the "Big Five" - Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO, 20th Century-Fox, and Lowe's (MGM) and the "Little Three" - Universal, Columbia, and United Artists, they formed fully integrated companies. The old film company’s opposition was shocked by new tycoons. The confusion of tongues in the foreign version of American films deepened when American directors themselves embarked on the shooting of the new version. They did not usually speak Spanish (or the given target language) and, at that time, there were only few translators at the studio’s disposal. For this reason, it was more general to contract Spanish directors, actors, and screenwriters to produce American films in Spanish for Latin American audiences and for the public in the Iberian Peninsula. Hollywood had depended on overseas markets for as much as 40 percent of its revenue. But in an effort to nurture then own film industries and prevent an excessive outflow of dollars, Britain, France, and Italy imposed stiff import tariffs and restrictive quotas on imported American movies.

(G) A basic problem facing today's Hollywood is the rapidly rising cost of making and marketing a movie: an average of $40 million today. The immense cost of producing movies has led the studios to seek guaranteed hits: blockbuster loaded with high-tech special effects, sequels, and remakes of earlier movies, foreign films, and even old TV shows. Hollywood has also sought to cope with rising costs by focusing ever more intently on its core audiences. Since the mid- 1980s, the movie going audience has continued to decrease in size. Ticket sales fell from 1.2 billion in 1983 to 950 million in 1992, with the biggest drop occurring among adults. And since over half of Hollywood's profits are earned overseas, the target market has to be changed due to the increasing costs and salary of making a film. The industry has concentrated much of its energy on crude action films easily understood by an international audience, featuring stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

Questions 14-19: Reading passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
(i) Detailed description for film system
(ii) Griffith's contribution to American films
(iii) The gender in development of American film
(iv) Change the view of the American movie
(v) People's reaction to making movies in the war period
(vi) The increasing market of film in society
(vii) Griffith improved the gender recognition in society
Q.14. Paragraph A
Q.15. Paragraph B
Q.16. ParagraphC
Q.17. Paragraph D
Q.18. Paragraph E
Q.19. Paragraph F

Questions 20-23: Use the information in the passage to match the companies (listed A-C) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A, B, c or D in boxes 20- 23 on your answer sheet
(A) old company's opposition
(B) huge drop happens among adults
(C) the pressure to change its market
(D) completely copy his system

Q.20. Griffith's successful in 1910s, led his rivals
Q.21. The growing costs and salary in Hollywood which shows it has
Q.22. The increasing new movie industries have a big impact on
Q.23. In 1992, ticket sales declined dramatically, due to

Questions 24-26: Choose the correct letter. A, B, c or D. Write your answer in boxes 36-38 on your answer sheet
Q.24. Why Griffith believe the potential in making movies?
(a) The gender development in American films
(b) He used the star system successfully
(c) He prefer the advanced movie techniques
(d) He earns lots of money 

Q.25. What are other competitors’ reaction to Griffith?
(a) Adopt Griffith’s theory and methods in making films
(b) Completely copy his theory and methods
(c) Try to catch up their innovations
(d) Find a new system to against Griffith

Q.26. What is the great change in films industries during 1920s and 1930s?
(a) Try to seek the high-tech special efforts
(b) Dismiss the needs of overseas audiences
(c) Changed its goal market
(d) Improved the foreign version of American movies

(A) We have long lived in an age where powerful images, catchy soundbites and too-good-to miss offers bombard from every quarter. All around US the persuaders are at work. Occasionally their methods are unsubtle —the planting kiss on a baby’s head by a wannabe political leader, or a liquidation sale in a shop that has been “closing down” for well over a year, but generally the persuaders know what they are about and are highly capable. Be they politicians, supermarket chains, salespeople or advertisers, they know exactly what to do to sell us their images, ideas or produce. When it comes to persuasion, these giants rule supreme. They employ the most skilled imagemakers and use the best psychological tricks to guarantee that even the most cautious among US are open to manipulation.

(B) We spend more time in them than we mean to, we buy 75 percent of our food from them and end up with products that we did not realize we wanted. Right form the start, supermarkets have been ahead of the game. For example, when Sainsbury introduced shopping baskets into its 1950s stores, it was a stroke of marketing genius. Now shoppers could browse and pick up items they previously would have ignored. Soon after came trolleys, and just as new roads attract more traffic, the same applied to trolley space. Pro Merlin Stone, IBM Professor of Relationship Marketing at Bristol Business School, says aisles are laid out to maximize profits. Stores pander to our money-rich, time-poor lifestyle. Low turnover products clothes and electrical goods are stocked at the back while high turnover items command position at the front.

(C) Stone believes supermarkets work hard to “stall” US because the more time we spend in them, the more we buy. Thus, great efforts are made to make the environment pleasant. Stores play music to relax US and some even pipe air from the in-store bakery around the shop. In the USA, fake aromas are sometimes used. Smell is both the most evocative and subliminal sense. In experiments, pleasant smells are effective in increasing our spending. A casino that fragranced only half its premise saw profit soar in the aroma—filled areas. The other success story from the supermarkets’ perspective is the loyalty card. Punters may assume that they are being rewarded for their fidelity, but all the while they are trading information about their shopping habits. Loyal shoppers could be paying 30% more by sticking to their favourite shops for essential cosmetics 

(D) Research has shown that 75 percent of profit comes from just 30 percent of customers. Ultimately, reward cards could be used to identify and better accommodate these “elite” shoppers. It could also be used to make adverts more relevant to individual consumers—rather like Spielberg’s futuristic thriller Minority Report, in which Tom Cruise’s character is bombarded with interactive personalized ads. If this sounds far-fetched, the data-gathering revolution has already seen the introduction of radio—frequency identification—away to electronically tag products to see who is buying what, FRID means they can follow the product into people homes. 

(E) No matter how savvy we think we are to then ploys, the ad industry still wins. Adverts focus on what products do or on how they make US feel. Researcher Laurette Dube, in the Journal of Advertising Research, says when attitudes are base on “cognitive foundations” (logical reasoning), advertisers use informative appeals. This works for products with little emotional draw but high functionality, such as bleach. Where attitude are based on effect (i.e, emotions), ad teams try to tap into our feelings. Researchers at the University of Florida recently concluded that our emotional responses to adverts dominate over “cognition”.

(F) Advertisers play on our need to be safe (commercials for insurance), to belong (make customer feel they are in the group in fashion ads) and for self-esteem (aspirational adverts). With time and space at a premium, celebrities are often used as a quick way of meeting these needs—either because the celeb epitomizes success or because they seem familiar and so make the product seem “safe”. A survey of 4,000 campaigns found ads with celebs were 10 percent more effective than without. Humor also stimulates a rapid emotional response. Hwiman Chung, writing in the International Journal of Advertising, found that funny ads were remembered for longer than straight ones. Combine humor with sexual imagery—as in Wonderbra’s “Hello Boys” ads—and you are on to a winner.

(G) Slice-of-life ads are another tried and tested method—they paint a picture of life as you would like it, but still one that feels familiar. Abhilasha Mehta, in the Journal of Advertising Research, noted that the more one’s self-image tallies with the brand being advertised, the stronger the commercial. Ad makers also use behaviorist theories, recognizing that the more sensation we receive from an object, the better we know it. If an advert for a chocolate bar fails to cause salivation, it has probably failed. No wonder advertisements have been dubbed the “nervous system of the business world”.

(H) Probably all of US could make a sale if the product was something we truly believed in, but professional salespeople are in a different league the best of them can always sell different items to suitable customers in a best time. They do this by using very basic psychological techniques. Stripped to its simplest level, selling works by heightening the buyer’s perception of how much they need a product or service. Buyers normally have certain requirements by which they will judge the suitability of a product. The seller therefore attempts to tease out what these conditions are and then explains how then products’ benefit can meet these requirements.

(I) Richard Hession, author of Be a Great Salesperson says it is human nature to prefer to speak rather to listen, and good salespeople pander to this. They ask punters about then needs and offer to work with them to achieve then objectives. As a result, the buyer feels they are receiving a “consultation” rather than a sales pitch. All the while, the salesperson presents with a demeanour that takes it for granted that the sale will be made. Never will the words “if you buy” be used, but rather “when you buy”.

(J) Dr Rob Yeung, a senior consultant at business psychologists Kiddy and Partner, says most salespeople will build up a level of rapport by asking questions about hobbies, family and lifestyle. This has the double benefit of making the salesperson likeable while furnishing him or her with more information about the client’s wants. Yeung says effective salespeople try as far as possible to match their style of presenting themselves to how the buyer comes across. If the buyer cracks jokes, the salespeople will respond in kind. If the buyer wants detail, the seller provides it, if they are more interested in the feel of the product, the seller will focus on this. At its most extreme, appearing empathetic can even include the salesperson attempting to “mirror” the hobby language of the buyer.

(K) Whatever the method used, all salespeople work towards one aim: “closing the deal”. In fact, they will be looking for “closing signals” through then dealings with potential clients. Once again the process works by assuming success. The buyer is not asked “are you interested?” as this can invite a negative response. Instead the seller takes it for granted that the deal is effectively done: when the salesman asks you for a convenient delivery date or asks what color you want, you will probably respond accordingly. Only afterwards might you wonder why you proved such a pushover.

Questions 27-29: Choose the correct letter, A, B, c or D. Write your answer in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.

Q.27. What is the supermarket’s purpose of using “basket” in paragraph B?
(a) Create a convenient atmosphere of supermarket
(b) Make customers spend more time on shopping
(c) Relieve pressure on supermarket’s traffic
(d) More than half items bought need carried

Q.28. What is the quality of a best salesman possessed according to this passage?
(a) Sell the right product to right person

(b) Clearly state the instruction of a product

(c) C Show professional background of one product

(d) Persuade customers to buy the product they sell

Q.29. What’s the opinion of Richard Hession?
(a) Pretend to be nice instead of selling goods
(b) Prefer to speak a lot to customers
(c) Help buyers to conclude then demands for ideal items
(d) Show great interpersonal skill

Questions 30-35 Reading Passage 3 has 7 paragraphs A-K. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write your answers in boxes 30-35 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once.
Q.30. how do supermarkets distract consumers
Q.31. how to build a close relationship between salespeople and buyer
Q.32. people would be impressed by humor advertisement
Q.33. methods for salespeople to get the order
Q.34. how questions work for salespeople
Q35. different customer groups bring different profits

Questions 36-40 Complete the notes below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage. Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

Trolleys are bom for the increasing traffic in supermarket. The width of 36 _______ in supermarkets is broadened in order to generate the most profits. Research from 37 _______ satisfying aromas can motivate people buy more products. Except the effort of creating a comfortable surroundings, 38 _______  is another card that supermarkets play to reward their regular customers. For example, loyal customers spend 30% more in their loved shops for everyday necessary 39 _______ Clothes shops use advertisements to make buyer think they are belonging to part of a 40 _______  research from 4,000 campaigns reflect that humor advertisement received more emotional respect.

Answers

Section - A

Section - B

Section - C