IELTS READING MOCK TEST

PASSAGE 1

SOSUS: Listening to the Ocean

A. The oceans of Earth cover more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface, yet, until quite recently,
we knew less about their depths than we did about the surface of the Moon. Distant as it is, the Moon
has been far more accessible to study because astronomers long have been able to look at its
surface, first with the naked eye and then with the telescope-both instruments that focus light. And,
with telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light, modern astronomers can not only analyze
Earth’s atmosphere but also determine the temperature and composition of the Sun or other stars
many hundreds of light-years away. Until the twentieth century, however, no analogous instruments
were available for the study of Earth’s oceans: Light, which can travel trillions of miles through the
vast vacuum of space, cannot penetrate very far in seawater.

B. Curious investigators long have been fascinated by sound and the way it travels in water. As early
as 1490, Leonardo da Vinci observed: “If you cause your ship to stop and place the head of a long
tube in the water and place the outer extremity to your ear, you will hear ships at a great distance
from you.” In 1687, the first mathematical theory of sound propagation was published by Sir Isaac
Newton in his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Investigators were measuring the speed
of sound in the air beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, but it was not until 1826 that Daniel
Colladon, a Swiss physicist, and Charles Sturm, a French mathematician, accurately measured its
speed in the water. Using a long tube to listen underwater (as da Vinci had suggested), they recorded
how fast the sound of a submerged bell traveled across Lake Geneva. Their result-1,435 meters
(1,569 yards) per second in the water of 1.8 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit) – was only 3
meters per second off from the speed accepted today. What these investigators demonstrated was
that water – whether fresh or salt – is an excellent medium for sound, transmitting it almost five times
faster than its speed in air.

C. In 1877 and 1878, the British scientist John William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh, published his two-
volume seminal work, The Theory of Sound, often regarded as marking the beginning of the modern
study of acoustics. The recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904 for his successful isolation of
the element argon, Lord Rayleigh made key discoveries in the fields of acoustics and optics that are
critical to the theory of wave propagation in fluids. Among other things, Lord Rayleigh was the first to
describe a sound wave as a mathematical equation (the basis of all theoretical work on acoustics)
and the first to describe how small particles in the atmosphere scatter certain wavelengths of sunlight,
a principle that also applies to the behavior of sound waves in water.

D. A number of factors influence how far sound travels underwater and how long it lasts. For one,
particles in seawater can reflect, scatter, and absorb certain frequencies of sound – just as certain
wavelengths of light may be reflected, scattered, and absorbed by specific types of particles in the
atmosphere. Seawater absorbs 30 times the amount of sound absorbed by distilled water, with
specific chemicals (such as magnesium sulfate and boric acid) damping out certain frequencies of
sound. Researchers also learned that low-frequency sounds, whose long wavelengths generally pass
over tiny particles, tend to travel farther without loss through absorption or scattering. Further work on
the effects of salinity, temperature, and pressure on the speed of sound has yielded fascinating
insights into the structure of the ocean. Speaking generally, the ocean is divided into horizontal layers
in which sound speed is influenced more greatly by temperature in the upper regions and by pressure
in the lower depths. At the surface is a sun-warmed upper layer, the actual temperature and thickness
of which varies with the season. At mid-latitudes, this layer tends to be isothermal, that is, the
temperature tends to be uniform throughout the layer because the water is well mixed by the action of
waves, winds, and convection currents; a sound signal moving down through this layer tends to travel
at an almost constant speed. Next comes a transitional layer called the thermocline, in which
temperature drops steadily with depth; as the temperature falls, so does the speed of sound.

E. The U.S. Navy was quick to appreciate the usefulness of low-frequency sound and the deep sound
channel in extending the range at which it could detect submarines. In great secrecy during the
1950s, the U.S. Navy launched a project that went by the code name Jezebel; it would later come to
be known as the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS). The system involved arrays of underwater
microphones, called hydrophones, that were placed on the ocean bottom and connected by cables to
onshore processing centers. With SOSUS deployed in both deep and shallow water along both
coasts of North America and the British West Indies, the U.S. Navy not only could detect submarines
in much of the northern hemisphere, it also could distinguish how many propellers a submarine had,
whether it was conventional or nuclear, and sometimes even the class of sub.
F. The realization that SOSUS could be used to listen to whales also was made by Christopher Clark,
a biological acoustician at Cornell University, when he first visited a SOSUS station in 1992. When
Clark looked at the graphic representations of sound, scrolling 24 hours day, every day, he saw the
voice patterns of blue, finback, minke, and humpback whales. He also could hear the sounds. Using a
SOSUS receiver in the West Indies, he could hear whales that were 1,770 kilometers (1,100 miles)
away. Whales are the biggest of Earth’s creatures. The blue whale, for example, can be 100 feet long
and weigh as many tons. Yet these animals also are remarkably elusive. Scientists wish to observe
blue time and position them on a map. Moreover, they can track not just one whale at a time, but
many creatures simultaneously throughout the North Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific. They also
can learn to distinguish whale calls. For example, Fox and colleagues have detected changes in the
calls of finback whales during different seasons and have found that blue whales in different regions
of the Pacific Ocean have different calls. Whales firsthand must wait in their ships for the whales to
surface. A few whales have been tracked briefly in the wild this way but not for very great distances,
and much about them remains unknown. Using the SOSUS stations, scientists can track the whales
in real-time and position them on a map. Moreover, they can track not just one whale at a time, but
many creatures simultaneously throughout the North Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific. They also
can learn to distinguish whale calls. For example, Fox and colleagues have detected changes in the
calls of finback whales during different seasons and have found that blue whales in different regions
of the Pacific Ocean have different calls.

G. SOSUS, with its vast reach, also has proved instrumental in obtaining information crucial to our
understanding of Earth’s weather and climate. Specifically, the system has enabled researchers to
begin making ocean temperature measurements on a global scale – measurements that are keys to
puzzling out the workings of heat transfer between the ocean and the atmosphere. The ocean plays
an enormous role in determining air temperature – the heat capacity in only the upper few meters of
the ocean is thought to be equal to all of the heat in the entire atmosphere. For sound waves traveling
horizontally in the ocean, speed is largely a function of temperature. Thus, the travel time of a wave of
sound between two points is a sensitive indicator of the average temperature along its path.
Transmitting sound in numerous directions through the deep sound channel can give scientists
measurements spanning vast areas of the globe. Thousands of sound paths in the ocean could be
pieced together into a map of global ocean temperatures and, by repeating measurements along the
same paths overtimes, scientists could track changes in temperature over months or years.
H. Researchers also are using other acoustic techniques to monitor climate. Oceanographer Jeff
Nystuen at the University of Washington, for example, has explored the use of sound to measure
rainfall over the ocean. Monitoring changing global rainfall patterns undoubtedly will contribute to
understanding major climate change as well as the weather phenomenon known as El Niño. Since
1985, Nystuen has used hydrophones to listen to rain over the ocean, acoustically measuring not only
the rainfall rate but also the rainfall type, from drizzle to thunderstorms. By using the sound of rain
underwater as a “natural” rain gauge, the measurement of rainfall over the oceans will become
available to climatologists.

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

TRUE If the statement is true

FALSE If the statement is false

NOT GIVEN If the information is not given in the passage

1. In the past, difficulties of research carried out on Moon were much easier than that of the ocean.

2. The same light technology used in the investigation of the moon can be employed in the field of
the ocean.

3. Research on the depth of the ocean by the method of the sound wave is more time-consuming.

4. Hydrophones technology is able to detect the category of precipitation.

Questions 5-8

The Reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-H

Which paragraph contains the following information?

NB You may use any letter more than once

5. Elements affect sound transmission in the ocean.

6. Relationship between global climate and ocean temperature

7. Examples of how sound technology help people research ocean and creatures in it

8. Sound transmission underwater is similar to that of light in any condition.

Questions 9-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

9. Who of the followings is dedicated to the research of rate of sound?

A Leonardo da Vinci

B Isaac Newton

C John William Strutt

D Charles Sturm

10. Who explained that the theory of light or sound wavelength is significant in the water?

A Lord Rayleigh

B John William Strutt

C Charles Sturm

D Christopher Clark

11. According to Fox and colleagues, in what pattern does the change of finback whale calls happen

A Change in various seasons

B Change in various days

C Change in different months

D Change in different years

12. In which way does the SOSUS technology inspect whales?

A Track all kinds of whales in the ocean

B Track bunches of whales at the same time

C Track only finback whale in the ocean

D Track whales by using multiple appliances or devices

13. What could scientists inspect via monitoring along a repeated route?

A Temperature of the surface passed

B Temperature of the deepest ocean floor

C Variation of temperature

D Fixed data of temperature

PASSAGE 2

Talbot Park Reconstruction

A. An architecture of disguise is almost complete at Talbot Park in the heart of Auckland’s Glen Innes.
The place was once described as a state housing ghetto, rife with crime, vandalism and other social
problems. But today after a $48 million urban renewal makeover, the site is home to 700 residents —
200 more than before — and has people regularly inquiring whether they can buy or rent there. “It
doesn’t look like social housing,” Housing New Zealand housing services manager Dene Busby says
of the tidy brick and weatherboard apartments and townhouses which would look just as much at
home in “there is no reason why public housing should look cheap in my view,” says Design Group
architect Neil of the eight three-bedroom terrace houses his firm designed.

B. Talbot Park is a triangle of government-owned land bounded by Apirana Ave, Pilkington Rd and
Point England Rd. In the early 1960s it was developed for state housing built around a linear park that
ran through the middle. Initially, there was a strong sense of a family-friendly community. Former
residents recall how the Talbot Park reserve played a big part in their childhoods — a place where the
kids in the block came together to play softball, cricket, tiggy, leapfrog and bullrush. Sometimes they’d
play “Maoris against Pakehas” but without any animosity. “It was all just good fun”, says Georgie
Thompson in Ben Schrader’s We Call it Home: A History of State Housing in New Zealand. “We had
respect for our neighbours and addressed them by title Mr. and Mrs. soand-so,” she recalls.

C. Quite what went wrong with Talbot Park is not clear. We call it Home Records that the community
began to change in the late 1970s as more Pacific Islanders and Europeans moved in. The new
arrivals didn’t readily integrate with the community, a “them and us” mentality developed, and
residents interacted with their neighbours less. What was clear was the buildings were deteriorating
and becoming dilapidated, petty crime was on the rise and the reserve — focus of fond childhood
memories — had become a wasteland and was considered unsafe.

D. But it wasn’t until 2002 that Housing New Zealand decided the properties needed upgrading. The
master renewal plan didn’t take advantage of the maximum accommodation density allowable (one
unit per 100 sq metres ) but did increase density to one emit per 180 sq m by refurbishing all 108 star
flat units, removing the multis and building 111 new home. The Talbot strategy can be summed up as
mix, match and manage. Mix up the housing with variety plans from a mix of architects, match house
styles to what7 s built by the private sector, match tenants to the mix, and manage their occupancy.
Inevitably cost comes into the equation.” If you’re going to build low cost homes, you’ve got to keep
them simple and you can’t afford a fancy bit on them. ” says Michael Thompson of Architectus which
designed the innovative threelevel Atrium apartments lining two sides of a covered courtyard. At
$300,000 per two bedroom unit, the building is more expensive but provides for independent disabled
accommodation as well as offering solar hot water heating and rainwater collection for toilet cisterns
and outside taps.

E. The renewal project budget at $1.5 million which will provide park pathways, planting, playgrounds,
drinking fountains, seating, skateboard rails, a half-size basketball hard court, and a pavilion. But if
there was any doubt this is a low socio-economic area, the demographics for the surrounding Tamaki
area are sobering. Of the 5000 households there, 55 percent are state houses, 28 per cent privately
owned (compared to about 65 percent nationally) and 17 percent are private rental. The area has a
high concentration of households with incomes in the $5000 to $15,000 range and very few with an
income over $70,000. That’s in sharp contrast to the more affluent suburbs like Kohimarama and St
John’s that surround the area.

F. “The design is for people with different culture background,” says architect James Lunday of
Common Ground which designed the 21 large family homes. “Architecturally we decided to be
relatively conservative — nice house in its own garden with a bit of space and good indoor outdoor
flow.” There’s a slight reflection of the whare and a Pacific fale, but not overplayed “The private sector
is way behind in urban design and sustainable futures,” says Bracey. “Redesigning sheets and parks
is a big deal and very difficult to do. The private sector won’t do it, because It’s so hard.”

G. There’s no doubt good urban design and good architecture play a significant part in the scheme.
But probably more important is a new standard of social control. Housing New Zealand calls it
“intensive tenancy management”. Others view it as social engineering. “It’s a model that we are
looking at going forward,” according to Housing New Zealand’s central Auckland regional manager
Graham Bodman.1 The focus is on frequent inspections, helping tenants to get to know each other
and trying to create an environment of respect for neighbours, ” says Bodman. That includes some
strict rules — no loud parties after 10 pm, no dogs, no cats in the apartments, no washing hung over
balcony rails and a requirement to mow lawns and keep the property tidy. Housing New Zealand has
also been active in organising morning teas and sheet barbecues for residents to meet their
neighbours. “IVs all based on the intensification,” says Community Renewal project manager Stuart
Bracey. “We acknowledge if you are going to put more people living closer together, you have to
actually help them to live closer together because it creates tension — especially for people that
aren’t used to it.”

Questions 14-20

Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs, A-G from the list below.

List of Headings
(I) Financial hardship of community
(II) A good tendency of strengthening the supervision
(III) Details of plans for the community’s makeover and upgrade
(IV) Architecture suits families of various ethnic origins
(V) Problems arise then the mentality of alienation developed later
(VI) Introduction of a social housing community with unexpected high standard
(VII) A practical design and need assist and cooperate in future
(VIII) closer relationship among neighbors in original site
(IX) different need from a makeup of a low financial background should be considered
(X) How to make the community feel safe
(XI) a plan with details for house structure

14. Paragraph A

15. Paragraph B

16. Paragraph C

17. Paragraph D

18. Paragraph E

19. Paragraph F
20. Paragraph G

Questions 21-23

List of people
A Michael Thompson
B Graham Bodman
C Stuart Bracey
D James Lunday
E Dene Busby

Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-E) with opinions or deeds
below.

21. Design should meet the need of mix-raced cultural background

22. For better living environment, regulations and social control should be imperative

23. Organising more community’s activities helps strengthening relationship in community

Questions 24-27

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

In the year 2002, the Talbot decided to raise housing standard, yet the plan was to build homes go
much beyond the accommodation limit and people complain about the high living (24)……………..
And as the variety plans were complemented under the designs of many (25)…………….together,
made house styles go with the part designed by individuals, matched tenants from different culture.
As for the finance, reconstruction program’s major concern is to build a house within low (26)
……………..; finally, just as expert predicted residents will agree on building a relatively conventional
house in its own (27)……………., which provides considerable space to move around.
PASSAGE 3

THE ROLE OF ACCIDENTS IN BUSINESS

In 1894, Dr John Kellogg and his brother, Will, were supervising a hospital and health spa in
Michigan. The patients were on a restricted diet. One day, the brothers left cooked wheat untended
for more than 24 hours. When they returned, they saw what they had done. It was no good to eat, but
they decided to run the stale wheat through rollers, just to see how it would turn out. Normally, the
process produced long sheets, but they were surprised to discover that this time the rollers created
flat flakes. They baked them, and then tried the same thing with corn. From this accidental discovery
came the cornflakes that generations have now been eating for breakfast.

Accidents happen; there is nothing predictable and orderly about innovation. Nobel laureate Sir Alan
Hodgkin, who discovered how nerve cells transmit electrical impulses between the skin and the brain,
commented: 'I believe that the record of my published papers conveys an impression of directedness
and planning which does not at all coincide with the actual sequence of events.’

The same rule applies in business. The mistake that gave US cornflakes keeps repeating itself in the
history of disruptive innovation, the kind that transforms markets. Louis Daguerre, for, instance,
discovered the technique that gave US photography in the 1830s, when drops of mercury from a
shattered thermometer produced a photographic image. The microwave was discovered when Peroy
Spender, a scientist with Raytheon, was testing a new vacuum tube and discovered that the sweet in
his pocket had melted. The artificial sweetener, saccharin, was the unintentional result of a medical
scientist’s work on a chemical treatment for gastric ulcers. While working for the firm 3M, researcher
Art Fry had no idea he was taking the first steps towards Post- It Notes when he used bits of adhesive
office paper that could be easily lifted off the page to replace the scrap paper bookmarks that kept
falling out of his hymn book.

Breakthrough and disruptive innovation are rarely driven by orderly process. Usually they come out of
a chaotic, haphazard mess, which is why big companies, full of managers schooled in business
programmes designed to eliminate random variation and mistakes, struggle with them. In these sorts
of environments, accidents are called failures and are discouraged.

It is no surprise then that research from the late British economist Paul Geroski and London Business
School’s Constantinos Markides found that companies that were skilled at innovation were usually not
that skilled when it came to commercialisation, and vice versa. Their book, Fast Second, divides
businesses into 'colonists’ and 'consolidators’. Small and nimble, colonists are adept at creating
market niches but are terrible institution builders. Consolidators, with their strong cultures of discipline
and cost control, know how to take clever ideas from other firms and turn them into massmarket
items. Microsoft is a prime instance of this.

With companies spending hundreds of billions of dollars on research and development, US

academics Robert Austin and Lee Devin examined how managers can encourage productive slip-
ups. In their article Accident, Intention and Expectation in the Innovation Process, they argue that
business processes actually prevent helpful mis-steps from occurring. According to their catalogue of
accidents, not all false steps and mishaps are equal. Accidents, they say, come from unlikely mental
associations such as memories and vague connections, looking for something and finding it in an
unexpected way, looking for one thing and finding something else, and not looking for anything but
finding something valuable.

Accident-prone innovation, they say, requires companies to get outside the ‘cone of expectation’. It
means throwing together groups from diverse backgrounds, and combining ideas in unpredictable
ways, other strategies also include having systems that watch out for accidents and examine them for
value, generating them when they do not happen often enough, seizing oil the useful ones, capturing
their valuable features, and building on them to add value and give potential for useful accidents.

All this, however, requires thinking that is often counter-intuitive to the way businesses operate. In
other words, it is the kind of thinking that goes against the beliefs of most business managers. It runs
counter to the notion frequently pushes by consultants that you can ‘harness’ creativity and direct it to
line up with intention. ‘The cost of accidents business, people tend to call such efforts failure.’

There are tentative signs that more companies are starting to realise that failure can lead to
commercial gains, and that this is part or the risk-talking that underpins innovation. Australia’s largest
brewing company, for example, made a bad error when it launched a new beer called Empire Lager,
pitched at younger consumers. Having spent a fortune creating a beer with a sweeter taste, designing
a great-looking bottle and a television campaign, Foster’s was left with a drink that no-one wanted to
buy. The target market was more interested in brands built up by word of mouth.

Instead of wiping the unsuccessful product launch, Fosters used this lesson learned to go on and
develop other brands instead. One of them, Pure Blonde, is now ranked as Australia’s fifth-largest
beer brand. Unlike Empire Lager, there has been almost no promotion and its sales are generated
more by word of mouth.

Other companies are taking similar steps to study their own slip-ups. Intuit, the company behind
financial tools such as Quicken, holds regular ‘When Learning Hurts’ sessions. But this sort of
transformation is never easy. In a market that focuses on the short-term, convincing employees and
shareholders to tolerate failure and not play it safe is a big thing to ask.

Questions 27-31

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?

YES If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

27. The delay in the process used by the Kellogg brothers affected the final product.

28. Sir Alan Hodgkin is an example of someone whose work proceeded in a logical and systematic
way.

29. Daguerre is an exception to the general rule of innovation.

30. The discovery of saccharin occurred by accident during drug research.

31. The company 3M should have supported Art Fry by funding his idea of Post-It Notes.

Questions 32-35
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, below.

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet.

32.The usual business environment

33. Geroki and Markides’s book

34. Microsoft is an example of a company which

35. The origin of useful accidents

A can be found in unusual thoughts and chance events.

B can be taught in business schools.

C has made a success from someone else’s invention.

D is designed to nurture differences.

E is unlikely to lead to creative innovation

F says that all mistakes are the same.

G shows that businesses are good at either inventing of selling.

H suggests ways of increasing the number of mistakes

Questions 36 - 40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

36. How do Austin and Devin advise companies to get out of the 'cone of expectation'?

A by decreasing the number of company systems

B by forming teams of different types of people

C by hiring new and creative people

D by holding regular brainstorming meetings

37. In recommending ‘counter-intuitive’ thinking, what do Austin and Devin imply?

A that failing at business is bad for staff morale

B that innovation cannot be planned for

C that most businesses should be devoted to avoiding mistakes

D that the cost of mistakes is an important consideration

38. The writer describes the Empire Lager disaster in order to show that

A success can come out of a business failure

B the majority of companies now value risk-talking.

C TV advertising works better on older people

D young beer drinkers do not like a sweet taste

39. Pure Blonde has been more successful than Empire Lager because

A digital media other than TV were used.

B it was advertised under a different brand name.

C it was launched with very little advertising.

D the advertising budget was larger

40. The writer concludes that creating a culture that learns from mistakes

A brings short-term financial gains.

B can be very difficult for some companies.

C holds no risk for workers.

D is a popular move with shareholders.