About this set: compiled and lightly cleaned up from real test material that test-takers recalled. IELTS draws from a global question pool, so this material circulates worldwide. To give you a complete, sittable test, material reported around the same period is assembled together — so a set may combine content from several exam dates, not one single sitting. Any audio is a recreation for practice. Organized for study convenience. Based on test-taker recalls — not official IELTS material.
Reading Passage 1: John Franklin - The Discovery Of The Slowness
A John Franklin (1786-1847) was the most famous vanisher of the Victorian era. He joined the Navy as a midshipman at the age of 14 and fought in the battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar. When peace with the French broke out, he turned his attention to, and in particular to solve the conundrum of the Northwest Passage, the mythical clear-water route which would, if it existed, link the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans above the northern coast of the American continent. The first expedition Franklin led to the Arctic was an arduous overland journey from Hudson Bay to the shores of the so-called Polar Ocean east of the Coppermine River. Between 1819 and 1822, Franklin and his twenty-strong team covered 5550 miles on foot. Their expedition was a triumph of surveying – they managed to chart hundreds of miles of previously unknown coastline.
B There followed a career as a travel writer and salon-goer (‘the man who ate his boots’ was Franklin’s tag-line), a second long Arctic expedition, and a controversial spell as Governor of Van Diemen’s Land. Then, in May 1845, Franklin set off with two ships – the Erebus and the Terror – and 129 men on the voyage that would kill him. In July, the convoy was seen by two whalers, entering Lancaster Sound. Nothing more would be heard of it for 14 years. Had the ships sunk or been iced in? Were the men dead, or in need of rescue? Or had they broken through to the legendary open polar sea, beyond the ‘ice barrier’?
C In his correspondence and his published memoirs, Franklin comes across as a man dedicated to the external duties of war and exploration, who kept introspection and self-analysis to a minimum. His blandness makes him an amenably malleable subject for a novelist, and Sten Nadolny has taken full advantage of this license. Most important, he has endowed his John Franklin with a defining character trait for which there is no historical evidence: (‘slowness’, or ‘calmness’).
D Slowness influences not only Franklin’s behaviour but also his vision, his thought, and his speech. The opening scene of ‘The Discovery of Slowness’ (The Discovery of Slowness by Sten Nadolny) – depicts Franklin as a young boy, playing catch badly because his reaction time is too slow. Despite the bullying of his peers, Franklin resolves not to fall into step with ‘their way of doing things’. For Nadolny, Franklin’s fated fascination with the Arctic stems from his desire to find an environment suited to his peculiar slowness.
E He describes Franklin as a boy dreaming of the ‘open water and the time without hours and days’ which exist in the far north, and of finding in the Arctic a place ‘where nobody would find him too slow’. Ice is a slow mover. Ice demands corresponding patience from those who venture onto it. The explorers who have thrived at high latitude and high altitudes haven’t usually been men of great speed. They have tended instead to demonstrate unusual self-possession, a considerable capacity for boredom, and a talent for what the Scots call ‘tholing’, the uncomplaining endurance of suffering.
F These were all qualities that the historical Franklin possessed in abundance, and so Nadolny’s concentration and exaggeration of them isn’t unreasonable. Even as an adult, his slowness of thought means that he is unable to speak fluently, so he memorizes ‘entire fleets of words and batteries of response’, and speaks a languid, bric-a-brac language. In the Navy, his method of thinking first and acting later initially provokes mockery from his fellow sailors. But Franklin persists in doing things his way, and gradually earns the respect of those around him. To a commodore who tells him to speed up his report of an engagement, he replies: ‘When I tell something, sir. I use my own rhythm.’ A lieutenant says approvingly of him: ‘Because Franklin is so slow, he never loses time.’
G Since it was first published in Germany in 1983, The Discovery of Slowness has sold more than a million copies and been translated into 13 languages. It has been named as one of German literature’s twenty ‘contemporary classics’, and it has been as a manual and by European pressure groups and institutions representing causes as diverse as sustainable development, the Protestant Church, management science, motoring policy, and pacifism.
H The various groups that have taken the novel up have one thing in common: a dislike of the high-speed culture of Postmodernity. Nadolny’s Franklin appeals to them because he is immune to ‘the compulsion to be constantly occupied’, and to the idea that ‘someone was better if he could do the same thing fast.’ Several German churches have used him in their and focus groups as an example of peacefulness, piety, and self-confidence. A centre scheme (a ‘march of slowness’ or ‘of the slow’), inspired by the novel. Nadolny has appeared as a guest speaker for RIO, a Lucerne-based organization which aims to reconcile management principles with ideas of environmental sustainability. The novel has even become involved in the debate about speed limits on German roads. Drive down an autobahn today, and you will see large road-side signs proclaiming ‘unhurriedness’ a slogan that deliberately plays off the title of the novel.
I A management journal in the US described The Discovery of Slowness as a ‘major event not only for connoisseurs of fine historical fiction, but also for those of us who concern themselves with leadership, communication, and systems-thinking, issues’. It’s easy to see where the attraction lies for the management crowd. The novel is crammed with quotations about time-efficiency, punctiliousness, and profitability: ‘As a rule, there are always three points in time: the right one, the lost one and the premature one’. ‘What did too late mean? They hadn’t waited for it long enough, that’s what it meant.’
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What was Sir John Franklin's occupation before he went on a career of arctic exploration?
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A story John Franklin reacted strangely when he met bullies by other children
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Reason of popularity for the book The Discovery of Slowness
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A depiction that Sten Nadolny's biography on John Franklin is not much based on facts
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The particular career Sir John Franklin took after his expedition unmatched before.
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What is the central scheme and environment conveyed by the book The Discovery of Slowness
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In his personal correspondence to and in his published memoirs by Sten Nadolny, John Franklin was depicted as a man dedicated to the exploration, and the word of "slowness" was used to define his 7..............
- A. exploration
- B. blandness
- C. personality
- D. policy
- E. pressure
- F. guidebook
- G. management
- H. timelessness
- I. sports
- J. bully
- K. evidence
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when Franklin was in his childhood, his determination to the 8.............. of the schoolboys was too slow for him to fall into step.
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And Franklin was said to be a boy dreaming finding in a place he could enjoy the 9.............. in the Arctic.
- 10
Later in 20th, His biography of the discovery of slowness has been adopted as a 10.............. as for the movement such as sustainable development, or management science, motoring policy.
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Why does the author mention "the ice is slow in the geological arctic", to demonstrate the idea
- A. of the difficulties Franklin conquered
- B. that Franklin had a dream since his childhood
- C. of fascination with the Arctic exploration
- D. that explorer-like Franklin should possess the quality of being patient
- 12
When Franklin was on board with sailors, how did he speak to his fellow sailors
- A. he spoke in a way mocking his followers
- B. he spoke a bric-a-brac language to show he languish attitude
- C. he spoke in the words and phrases he previously memorized
- D. he spoke in a rhythmical tune to save chatting time
- 13
His effort to overcome his slowness in marine time life had finally won the
- A. understanding of his personality better
- B. capacity for coping with boredom
- C. respect for him as he insisted to overcome his difficulties
- D. the valuable time he can use to finish a report
- 14
Why is the book The Discovery of Slowness sold more than a million copies
- A. it contains aspects of the life people would like to enjoy
- B. it contains the information for the flag language applied in ships
- C. it induces a debate about speed limits German
- D. it contains the technique for symposia German churches
Reading Passage 2: Why Do We Need Sleep?
A According to the United States (U.S.) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 80 million American adults are chronically sleep deprived, meaning they sleep less than the recommended minimum of seven hours a night. The resulting fatigue contributes to more than a million auto accidents each year, as well as to a significant number of medical errors. Even small adjustments in sleep can be problematic. On the Monday after a daylight-saving time change in the U.S.—when the clocks are moved ahead one hour—there is a 24 percent increase in heart attacks and a jump in fatal car crashes, compared with other Mondays.
B During their lifetimes, about a third of Americans will suffer from at least one of the recognized sleep disorders. They range from common sleep disorders to much rarer and stranger conditions such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. For example, in exploding head syndrome, booming noises seem to reverberate in your brain as you try to sleep. Also, people with Kleine-Levin syndrome will, every few years, sleep nearly nonstop for a week or two. However, insomnia is by far the most prevalent of these problems and the main reason 4 percent of U.S. adults take sleeping pills in any given month.
C Evolution endowed us with sleep that is flexible in its timing and easily disturbed, so that attention can be directed to higher priorities. The brain has an automatic override system that can wake us in all stages of sleep when it perceives an emergency like the cry of a child. But the problem is that, in the modern world, our ancient innate wake-up call is constantly triggered by something that is non-life-threatening, like worrying before an exam or the unexpected sound of a car alarm. Before the Industrial Revolution, which brought us alarm clocks and fixed work schedules, we could often counteract a sleep deficit by simply sleeping in. That is no longer possible.
D The first segment of the brain that begins to fail when we don’t get enough sleep is the prefrontal cortex, the center of decision-making and problem-solving. Dr Chiara Cirelli, a neuroscientist in the U.S., suggests that, ‘Every cognitive function to some extent seems to be affected by sleep loss,’ and she comments that people are often more irritable, moody, and irrational. For instance, sleep-deprived suspects held by the police will often confess to anything in exchange for rest. Other research has also found that people who regularly sleep less than six hours a night have an elevated risk of developing depression, as well as other mental and physical illnesses. In fact, lack of sleep has been directly tied to obesity: without enough sleep, the stomach and other organs overproduce ghrelin, the hunger hormone, causing us to eat more. However, proving a cause-and-effect relationship in this case is challenging because subjecting humans to the necessary experiments is unethical.
E NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) makes up the first of two distinct and repetitive phases of a night’s sleep. As we fall into NREM sleep, our brain stays active and begins an editing process—deciding which memories to keep and which ones to ignore. The first of NREM’s four stages is called the shallow end of sleep and is characterized by a distinctive regular pattern of brain activity, as shown on an EEG (electroencephalogram) device—a machine that measures electrical impulses. In stage two, the EEG measures electric sparks that strike the cerebral cortex (grey matter covering the outer layer of the brain) in regular half-second intervals. Researchers believe that this electrical activity helps the cortex preserve and store recently acquired information. Stages three and four have been described as a deep, coma-like sleep that is as essential to our brain as food is to our body. In stage three, big, rolling waves of brain activity as measured on an EEG are present less than half the time; in stage four, more than half the time. It’s in this deep sleep that our cells produce most growth hormone, which is needed throughout life to service bones and muscles.
F REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep was at first believed to be only a variation of a stage in NREM sleep, and not particularly significant. However, once scientists documented the distinctive eye movements in REM, and found that virtually all dreaming takes place during this period, REM sleep was recognized as the second major phase of sleep. Today, scientists believe that the content of our approximately two hours of dreams each night in REM sleep is important in the processing of new memories. Some sleep theorists argue that REM sleep is when we are our most intelligent, insightful, creative, and free. It’s when we truly come alive. ‘REM sleep may be the thing that makes us the most human, both for what it does for the brain and body, and for the sheer experience of it,’ says Professor Michael Perlis.
G The problem of sleep loss is not easily solved—whether by power naps or pharmaceuticals. Dr Jeffrey Ellenbogen, a sleep scientist at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., argues, ‘It’s tempting to manipulate sleep with drugs or devices, but we don’t yet understand sleep enough to risk artificially manipulating the parts.’ Dr Ellenbogen and other experts argue against shortcuts, especially the notion that we can mostly do without sleep. In fact, Dr Steven Lockley, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, suggests that sleep may be more essential to us than food.
- 15
an example of how sleeplessness can influence a person accused of a crime
- 16
a description of recordings of different types of brain activity during sleep
- 17
a description of how present-day society interrupts sleep
- 18
information about the relationship between being overweight and sleep
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a suggestion that medication is an ineffective solution for sleeping problems
- 20
a discovery that changed ideas about how sleep is understood
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examples of the life-threatening consequences of inadequate sleep
- 22
Which TWO of these statements describe characteristics of NREM sleep?
- A. NREM sleep is important for maintaining brain function.
- B. NREM sleep consists of two distinct parts.
- C. The brain remains passive throughout NREM sleep.
- D. Each stage of NREM sleep has a unique EEG pattern.
- E. Hormones are released continuously throughout NREM sleep.
- 23
Which TWO of these statements describe characteristics of NREM sleep?
- 24
Which TWO of these statements describe the characteristics of REM sleep?
- A. The REM stage is the longest phase of sleep.
- B. REM sleep can be identified by an unusual physical feature.
- C. REM sleep is important for removing unpleasant memories.
- D. REM sleep is another part of NREM sleep.
- E. Some scientists consider REM sleep to be a source of human innovation.
- 25
Which TWO of these statements describe the characteristics of REM sleep?
- 26
According to the CDC, lack of sleep leads to ______, which is often a factor in car crashes.
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The most common sleep disorder in the U.S. is ______.
- 28
The brain responds to any type of ______ by activating a built-in alarm.
- 29
Researchers claim that routinely sleep-deprived people are more likely to be obese and suffer from illnesses like ______.
- 30
The processing of new memories is crucially linked to our ______ during sleep.
Reading Passage 3: Malaria Combat in Italy
A Everybody now knows that malaria is carried by mosquitoes. But in the 19th century, most experts believed that the disease was produced by "miasma" or "poisoning of the air". Others made a link between swamps, water and malaria, but did not make the further leap towards insects. The consequences of these theories were that little was done to combat the disease before the end of the century. Things became so bad that 11m Italians (from a total population of 25m) were "permanently at risk". In malarial zones the life expectancy of land workers was a terrifying 22.5 years. Those who escaped death were weakened or suffered from splenomegaly - a "painful enlargement of the spleen" and "a lifeless stare". The economic impact of the disease was immense. Epidemics were blamed on southern Italians, given the widespread belief that malaria was hereditary. In the 1880s, such theories began to collapse as the dreaded mosquito was identified as the real culprit.
B Italian scientists, drawing on the pioneering work of French doctor Alphonse Laveran, were able to predict the cycles of fever but it was in Rome that further key discoveries were made. Giovanni Battista Grassi, a naturalist, found that a particular type of mosquito was the carrier of malaria. By experimenting on healthy volunteers (mosquitoes were released into rooms where they drank the blood of the human guinea pigs), Grassi was able to make the direct link between the insects (all females of a certain kind) and the disease. Soon, doctors and scientists made another startling discovery: the mosquitoes themselves were also infected and not mere carriers. Every year, during the mosquito season, malarial blood was moved around the population by the insects. Definitive proof of these new theories was obtained after an extraordinary series of experiments in Italy, where healthy people were introduced into malarial zones but kept free of mosquito bites — and remained well. The new Italian state had the necessary information to tackle the disease.
C A complicated approach was adopted, which made use of quinine - a drug obtained from tree bark which had long been used to combat fever, but was now seen as a crucial part of the war on malaria. Italy introduced a quinine law and a quinine tax in 1904, and the drug was administered to large numbers of rural workers. Despite its often terrible side-effects (the headaches produced were known as the "quinine-buzz") the drug was successful in limiting the spread of the disease, and in breaking cycles of infection. In addition, Italy set up rural health centres and invested heavily in education programmes. Malaria, as Snowden shows, was not just a medical problem, but a social and regional issue, and could only be defeated through multi-layered strategies. Politics was itself transformed by the anti-malarial campaigns. It was originally decided to give quinine to all those in certain regions — even healthy people; peasants were often suspicious of medicine being forced upon them. Doctors were sometimes met with hostility and refusal, and many were dubbed "poisoners".
D Despite these problems, the strategy was hugely successful. Deaths from malaria fell by some 80% in the first decade of the 20th century and some areas escaped altogether from the scourge of the disease. War, from 1915-18, delayed the campaign. Funds were diverted to the battlefields and the fight against malaria became a military issue, laying the way for the fascist approach to the problem. Mussolini's policies in the 20s and 30s are subjected to a serious cross-examination by Snowden. He shows how much of the regime's claims to have "eradicated" malaria through massive land reclamation, forced population removals and authoritarian clean-ups were pure propaganda. Mass draining was instituted — often at a great cost as Mussolini waged war not on the disease itself, but on the mosquitoes that carried it. The cleansing of Italy was also ethnic, as "carefully selected" Italians were chosen to inhabit the gleaming new towns of the former marshlands around Rome. The "successes" under fascism were extremely vulnerable, based as they were on a top-down concept of eradication. As war swept through the drained lands in the 40s, the disease returned with a vengeance.
E In the most shocking part of the book, Snowden describes — passionately, but with the skill of a great historian — how the retreating Nazi armies in Italy in 1943-44 deliberately caused a massive malaria epidemic in Lazio. It was "the only known example of biological warfare in 20th century Europe". Shamefully, the Italian malaria expert Alberto Missiroli had a role to play in the disaster: he did not distribute quinine, despite being well aware of the epidemic to come. Snowden claims that Missiroli was already preparing a new strategy — with the support of the US Rockefeller Foundation — using a new pesticide, DDT. Missiroli allowed the epidemic to spread, in order to create the ideal conditions for a massive, and lucrative, human experiment. Fifty-five thousand cases of malaria were recorded in the province of Littoria alone in 1944. It is estimated that more than a third of those in the affected area contracted the disease. Thousands, nobody knows how many, died. With the war over, the US government and the Rockefeller Foundation were free to experiment. DDT was sprayed from the air and 3m Italians had their bodies covered with the chemical. The effects were dramatic, and nobody really cared about the toxic effects of the chemical.
F By 1962, malaria was more or less gone from the whole peninsula. The last cases were noted in a poor region of Sicily. One of the final victims to die of the disease in Italy was the popular cyclist, Fausto Coppi. He had contracted malaria in Africa in 1960, and the failure of doctors in the north of Italy to spot the disease was a sign of the times. A few decades earlier, they would have immediately noticed the tell-tale signs; it was later claimed that a small dose of quinine would have saved his life. As there are still more than 1m deaths every year from malaria worldwide, Snowden's book also has contemporary relevance. This is a disease that affects every level of the societies where it is rampant. It also provides us with "a message of hope for a world struggling with the great present-day medical emergency".
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Before the link between malaria and 14 ________ was established, there were many popular theories circulating among the public.
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one of which points to 15________, the unclean air.
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The lack of proper treatment affected the country so badly that rural people in malaria infested places had extremely short 16________.
- 34
The disease spread so quickly, especially in the south of Italy, thus giving rise to the idea that the disease was 17________.
- 35
People believed in these theories until mosquito was found to be the 18________ in the 1880s.
- 36
The volunteers of the Italian experiments that provided assuring evidence were from all over Italy.
- 37
It's possible to come out of malarial zones alive.
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The government successfully managed to give all people quinine medication.
- 39
A breakthrough in the theory of the cause of malaria
- 40
A story for today's readers
- 41
A description of an expert who didn't do anything to restrict the spread of disease
- 42
A setback in the battle against malaria due to government policies
- 43
A description of how malaria affects the human body
Answer sheet
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Show answer key
Answer key
1. A
2. D
3. H
4. C
5. B
6. H
7. C
8. J
9. H
10. F
11. D
12. C
13. C
14. A
15. D
16. E
17. C
18. D
19. G
20. F
21. A
22. A / D
23. A / D
24. B / E
25. B / E
26. fatigue
27. insomnia
28. emergency
29. depression
30. dreams
31. insects / mosquitoes
32. "miasma"
33. life expectancy
34. hereditary
35. culprit / real culprit
36. NOT GIVEN
37. TRUE
38. FALSE
39. B
40. F
41. E
42. D
43. A