TEST THREE ACADEMIC READING 79

ACADEMIC READING 60 minutes

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below

T he instruments of the western orchestra are conventionally

divided into four sections: woodwind, brass, percussion and
strings. However, a much more comprehensive system for
classifying musical instruments - ancient and modern, eastern and
western, orchestral and folk - is also available. This alternative
system, based on the work of Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs,
provides for the classification of musical instruments of all shapes
and sizes according to how their sounds are produced. It begins by
dividing instruments into four broad groups - aerophones,
chordophones, idiophones and membranophones.
The first group, aerophones, contains any instrument that makes a
sound when the air within or around it is made to vibrate. Further
classification within the group is made according to how the air is
set into vibration. Simplest are the so-called free aerophones (bull-
roarers and buzzers), which consist of a flat disc twirled through the
air on a string.
More typically, aerophones have a hollow tube or vessel body into
which air is introduced by blowing. Sub-groups include
instruments with a blow hole (most flutes) or a whistle mouthpiece
(whistles and whistle flutes), in which the air vibrates after being
blown against a sharp edge. In instruments with a cup mouthpiece,
such as trumpets and horns, it is the action of the player's lips that
causes the air to vibrate. Vibrations within a tube may also be
produced by a reed taken into the musician's mouth. Such reeds
may be single (clarinets) or double (oboes). Instruments classified
as free reed aerophones, such as mouth organs and concertinas,
have vibrating reeds within the body of the instrument. Organs and
bagpipes are hybrid forms, each with pipes of different kinds.
The name chordophones is used for instruments with strings that produce a sound when
caused to vibrate. Further classification is based on body shape and on how vibrations are
induced. There are five basic types: bows, lyres, harps, lutes and zithers. The simplest musical
bows have a single string attached to each end of a flexible stick; others have resonators to
amplify the sound. Lyres, common in ancient times, have a four-sided frame consisting of a
soundbox, two arms and a crossbar. The plucked strings run from the front of the soundbox to
the crossbar. Harps are basically triangular in shape, with strings attached to a soundbox and
the instrument's 'neck'.
Classified as lutes are all instruments with strings that run from the base of a resonating
'belly' up and along the full length of an attached neck. This sub-group is further divided into
plucked lutes (round- or flat-backed), and bowed lutes (including folk fiddles and violins).
The fifth type, zithers, have strings running the entire length of the body and are subdivided
into simple zithers (stick, raft, tube or trough-shaped), long zithers (from the Far East),
plucked zithers (such as the psaltery and harpsichord), and struck zithers (including the
dulcimer and piano).
80 ACADEMIC READING TEST THREE

The third main group, idiophones, contains instruments made of naturally sonorous
material, which are made to sound in various ways. They range in complexity from two
sticks simply struck one against another, to tuned instruments like the orchestral
glockenspiel. Idiophones are further classified according to the method of sound production
into eight sub-groups: stamped, stamping, scraped, friction, shaken (bells and rattles),
plucked (Jew's harps), concussion (when two sonorous parts are struck together, for example
cymbals) and percussion (when a non-sonorous beater is used for striking). Percussion
idiophones are further subdivided by shape into bars (metallophones, lithophones,
xylophones), vessels (slit drums and steel drums), gongs and two types of bell (struck and
clapper).
Hornbostel and Sachs termed their final broad group membranophones. In these instruments
sound is produced by the vibration of a membrane or skin. Most drums fall into this
category, being further classified by shape as frame, vessel and tubular drums, and by
sounding method as friction drums. Tubular drums are further subdivided into long, footed,
goblet, waisted, barrel, conical and cylindrical types. Much less important than drums are
membranophones with an internal membrane vibrated by blowing, such as the kazoo.
The classification system of Hombostel and Sachs, published in 1909, came before the
burgeoning of electronicmusic in the second half of the twentieth century. The addition of a
fifth group, to take in instruments that produce sound electronically (guitars, organs,
synthesizers) would bring their system neatly up to date.

Questions 1-4

Choose ONE phrase from the list of phrases A-1 below to complete each of the sentences 1-4 below.
Write the appropriate letters in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

1 Western orchestra instruments

2 In Hornbostel and Sachs' system, musical instruments

3 The classification of aerophones

4 Apart from the way sound is made, chordophones

A are classified according to body shape.

B are sometimes classified into four groups.
C are usually classified into three groups.
D are normally classified into four groups.
E are classified according to sound production.
F are classified according to volume of sound.
G are classified according to sound quality.
H is made according to how hot the air is.
I is made according to how the air is made to vibrate.
TEST THREE ACADEMIC READING 81

Questions 5-12

Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each space, complete the chart below.

Types of chordophones Description

i.e. 5 ............................

6 . ........................... Single strings attached to a single stick.

Harps 7 ............................ attached to a soundbox and the instrument's neck.

8 ............................ with strings from the base of a resonating belly and along the length of
an attached neck.

9. ........................... 10 ............................with a soundbox, two arms and a crossbar

are 11 ............................into simple, long, plucked and

Zithers
12 ............................

Questions 13-1 4

Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 13-14 on your answer sheet.

13 The writer states that

A electronic music fits neatly into the fourth group in the Hornbostel/Sachs classification system.
B the kazoo belongs to the idiophone group.
C electronic music is less important than other forms of music.
D a fifth group needs to be added to the Hornbostel/Sachs classification system.

14 Which of the titles below is the most suitable heading for the passage?

A Chordophones and idiophones

6 Musical instruments reclassified
C A conventional classification
D The work of Erich von Hornbostel

Before you check your answers to Reading Passage 1, go on to pages 82-83.

84 ACADEMIC READING TEST THREE

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-28 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Questions 15-21

Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs labelled A-H.

Which paragraphs focus on the information below?

Write the appropriate letters A-H in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet.

Note:You will not use all of the paragraphs.

15 Rapid development takes place on the west side of Southampton Water.

16 One factor influencing development on Waterside was the fact that there were few people.

17 The New Forest affects development on Waterside.

18 The site of an oil refinery is dictated by the land available.

19 Various limitations dictate the direction of expansion in Waterside.

20 Facilities like educational and sporting did not expand at the same rate as the housing provision.

21 Economic activity is the stimulus for suburban development.

Waterside: a study in suburban development

A Since the 1950s there has been an increasing trend for extended housing and
commercial expansion t o take the form of rapid suburban rather than urban growth.
There are several factors influencing the location and spread of such development,
but an increase in economic activity is the trigger.
B The area t o the west of Southampton Water, now known as Waterside, exemplifies
several factors impacting on the shape and nature of recent development. Up until
the early 1950s this area, occupying a narrow strip of predominantly rural land
approximately twenty kilometres long by five kilometres wide between Southampton
Water and the New Forest, was relatively sparsely populated. There were a number of
small villages, including Hythe, Fawley, Holbury, Dibden and Marchwood;
communications were poor, and farming and associated industries were the main
sources of employment.
I
C The main town in the region, Southampton, was and still is one of the major UK ports.
In the early part of the twentieth century, Southampton boomed as the growth in
I passenger numbers on transatlantic liners reached i t s peak. The main waterway leading
I t o Southampton, Southampton Water, enjoys a long stretch of deep water channel
i suitable for large ocean-going vessels, and also benefits from an extended period of
TEST THREE ACADEMIC READING 85

high tide because of i t s position in relation to the Isle of Wight. Existing settlement on
the east side of the waterway made further expansion problematic, so a site was chosen
on the west side t o build a large oil refinery capable of handling the crude oil imported
in the cargo holds of the enormous oil tankers then being built. The new oil refinery
was built in the mid 1950s between Fawley and the coastal hamlet of Calshot.
D The effects on the Waterside area were dramatic. Firstly, a major road was built linking
the new Fawley refinery t o the road network around Southampton. Also, a number of
ancillary chemicals and plastics industries developed, dependent on by-products of the
refining process. Work opportunities expanded and the population began t o grow
rapidly as workers and their families moved into the area. House-building took off.
E The first areas t o expand were around Fawley village, close t o the refinery, and Hythe,
the largest of the existing villages, with a ferry link t o Southampton. However,
although expansion in house-building was rapid, the development of a new
commercial centre with a range of services and the provision of an expanded range of
educational and health services or entertainment and sporting facilities did not initially
take place. Partly, this was due t o the proximity of Southampton, with i t s large range of
facilities, now easily accessible through improved road links.
F But there was another constraint on growth: the limited availability of land. Bordered
on the east by Southampton Water, on the south by the sea, and limited t o the north by
the large village of Totton, almost a suburb of Southampton, there was only one
direction expansion could go - westwards.
G There were, however, limits here too. West of Southampton Water lies the New Forest,
an area of ancient woodland and open heath, soon t o be designated a National Park.
Although it occupies a relatively small area, about 160 square kilometres, the New
Forest is a complex and diverse ecosystem supporting a wide variety of plants and
animals, many of which are found only in this area or are under threat in other parts of
the country. There are stringent planning restrictions on all new building or
construction of any kind. Moreover, these restrictions are supported by the local
population living within the Forest, who are determined t o preserve the unspoilt
character of their villages and whose income is increasingly dependent on providing
services for the growing tourist industry exploiting the Forest as a leisure resource. In
short, development was channelled along a relatively narrow corridor parallel t o
Southampton Water. The space between existing villages was progressively filled with
housing until they coalesced. Little farming land now exists between Dibden and
Fawley; housing estates have taken almost all the land. The area around Marchwood,
further from Fawley, remains more rural, but some development has taken place here
too. Nor has any nucleated commercial centre emerged, though the existing village
centres now have more shops, offices and a greater range of public facilities.
H There is little room for further residential expansion in Waterside except in the area
around Dibden Bay. Pressure for new housing development is now less, economic
expansion has slowed considerably, and residents in the area are keen t o preserve the
bay area as a green open space with pleasant waterside views. But there is now a threat
from another quarter. While passenger numbers using Southampton have declined,
freight container traffic has continued t o expand. The port area of Southampton has
reached capacity. So the port authority are looking with speculative eyes at the one as
yet undeveloped shoreline of Southampton Water with relatively easy access t o deep
water for large container ships - Dibden Bay.
86 ACADEMIC READING TEST THREE

Questions 22-25

Using NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS from the passage, answer the questions below.

22 What were the main job providers in the area west of Southampton Water up until the 1950s?

23 What made building on the east of Southampton Waterway difficult?

24 How does the writer describe the consequences of the oil refinery on the coast?

25 What made it easier to reach Southampton from Waterside?

Questions 26-28

Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 26-28 on your answer sheet write

YES if the statement agrees with the information

NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about the statement

Example
Since the 1950s there has been an increasing trend for commercial expansion to take
place in suburban areas.
Answer
Yes

26 The New Forest has already been made into a National Park.

27 The people living in the New Forest are in favour of the limitations on development in the area.

28 Passengers going through Southampton are attracted by the charms of Dibden Bay.

Before you check your answers to Reading Passage 2, go on to pages 87-89.

90 ACADEMIC READING TEST THREE

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 29-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

One finds oneself rebelling against a very controlled approach to education with its restrictions of
centralization and, at the same time, against the liberal chaos that can a t times prevail. There is a
constant struggle between both camps of the educational divide, a struggle which invariably
creates a jumbled mixture of educational provision. This is not to say that what is provided is
totally unacceptable. Far from it.
In the educational world, picking and choosing from different theories, i.e. eclecticism, as is no
doubt the case in many other fields, is frowned upon by the theoretical purist, irrespective of
which of the two above camps they belong to. The pragmatists, i.e. practical classroom teachers,
know that they have to jump from one teaching method to another, trying out new ones and
discarding the old. But they frequently return again to tried and trusted techniques, sometimes
with a fresh insight. Experienced teachers know that essentially there is not just one method, but
that people learn in many different ways.

Some learners use a single method, but the most sophisticated employ an array of different
techniques, instinctively or subconsciously, picking and even adapting any approach to suit their
needs, while the not-so effective learners stick to a limited repertoire or even one method. The
practicalities of the real world demand, however, that students and trainers in every field be
eclectic.
Having a larger repertoire of strategies for learning, the sophisticated student advances a t an
exponential rate, as the different strategies he or she uses cross-fertilize and help each other. It is
dangerous to exclude one particular technique in teaching or to follow one orthodoxy, as the
one-size-fits-all principle does not, from a common sense point of view, work. It may deprive a
weaker student of the only tool he or she may be able to use and deny the more effective learner
an extra mechanism.

Take rote-learning, a much maligned learning process. There are certain aspects of any subject
area, whether it be language or the arts or science, where a student is required to learn huge
amounts of facts. Th,esemay be learnt by experience, but developing memory skills gives
students an advantage in this area. Antipathy to certain methods like memory-based learning has
condemned many students to a second-rate education, compounded by the fact that their
teachers have been damaged by similar attitudes. It has been said that students are damned by
the limitations of their teachers, just as the teachers themselves were damned.

This i s not to say that rote-learning is the best approach to learning, yet it has its place as part of
a wider programme. Where rote-learning proves inadequate is that it is not suitable for every
learner. Not everyone is blessed with a good memory and learners should not be humiliated by
not being able to learn things by heart. Other strategies need then be harnessed to compensate
for this.

The search for ever more different novel learning styles goes on. Electronic-learning, or e-
learning, is now very much the flavour of the month. The upside is that students may access the
training whenever they want and they can learn at their own pace unhindered by fellow
students. Again, whilst it has i t s place, e-learning lacks some essential ingredients, like the
motivation of human contact in the classroom. Such training is, in fact, inherently flawed as it is
TEST THREE ACADEMIC READING 91

impossible to devise an exhaustive programme to accommodate every individual. Learners have

individual needs that may not be catered for by distance-learning delivered on the Internet.
Frustrated by their lack of development, they will not develop to their full potential. One solution
has been to build into any e-learning programme an element of human contact with on-line help
via e-mail, but increasingly, as video-conferencing facilities become more advanced, designers are
able to incorporate real-time video links. While this is a considerable advance, it still falls far short
of the human contact that learning requires.

E-learning is here to stay, so what needs to be done is to give it a human face. Not, might I add, a
computerized one, but a real one. Students should be able, if necessary, to access a tutor by
telephone or, even better, face to face. Periodic tutorials could be built in to any programme.
These can be individual, group and seminar or a mixture of all three.

Distance learning, such as e-learning, comes with an oft unheeded caveat. It is seen by the unwary
as a cheap option and as a way of curbing costs. Set up on a wave of innovation and excitement,
the initial wave of enthusiasm soon wanes. Few take on board the warning: any self-access
material that needs to be developed requires huge amounts of input time. It has been estimated
that, for every student hour, materials writers have to put in 70 hours of preparation. Those
unfamiliar with the workings of materials production expect others to live through the
consequences of their inexperience in this field. The wrong people, i.e. the materials producers,
get the blame for any shortcomings: frequently, the quality and volume of material. There is one
further point here that is worth mentioning. Once in place, the material requires constant
updating and research: an added cost.

Questions 29-31

Complete the following statements 29-3 1 with the best ending A-G below.

Write the appropriate letters A-G in boxes 29-31 on your answer sheet.

29 There are, according to the writer, two educational camps: a centralized and

30 Unlike teachers, theoretical purists look down upon

31 The modern world dictates that students adopt

a flexible approach to teaching.

an over-controlled approach.
practical teachers.
various learning methods.
a controlled approach.
a liberal approach.
only a limited range of learning techniques.
92 ACADEMIC READING TEST THREE

Questions 32-36

Do the statements below agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet write

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

32 Adopting one teaching technique rather than another depends on a whole range of issues
which it is difficult for the writer to enumerate.

33 Rote-learning is an important learning strategy in all but a few subjects.

34 Rote-learning fails, because not every learner has a good memory.

35 Students are invariably humiliated by not being able to learn things by heart.

36 E-learning will not last long.

Questions 37-39

According to the text, what are the THREE drawbacks of e-learning?

Choose three letters A-G and write them in boxes 37-39 on your answer sheet.

A The cheapness of learning by computer.

B The cost of training teachers.

C Not having enough trained personnel.

D Not being able to cater for everyone.

E The cost of keeping materials up to date.

F Not having sufficient video-conferencing facilities.

G Not having contact with people.

Question 40

Choose the appropriate Ietter A-D and write the answer in box 40 on your answer sheet.

Which of the following is a suitable title for Reading Passage 3?

A Education in the modern world
B Rote-learning and its drawbacks
C Learning methods
D A controlled approach to learning

Now check your answers to Reading Passage 3.