Listening – Reading Lesson 9

Reading: Matching paragraph information

Listening: IELTS Listening – Gap-fill
A. READING: Passage 1:

Passage 2: When the flip of a coin wins an election

(A) In the first vote to decide the US's presidential candidates, several results were decided on the toss of a coin. How
common is it for elections to be decided this way? A silver coin balanced on thumb and forefinger is pinged upwards,
falls, then gives its verdict - heads or tails. In sport, it's a common practice to decide who kicks off or opens the
batting. In elections it's rarer, but not as rare as you might suppose. In Iowa's Democratic caucuses - a contest between
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the party's presidential nomination - the results in several precincts were
decided by flipping a coin, according to the Des Moines Register.
(B) It was a series of dramatic finishes in a race the party called "the closest in Iowa Democratic caucus history". On
Twitter there were reports that contests were settled in this way in Ames, one Des Moines precinct, another Des
Moines precinct, Newton, West Branch and West Davenport. In some of these cases it was reported that there was a
dead heat in voting. In Ames, it was the vagaries of the voting system and the decision by 60 of those present not to
vote that left the final result unclear. Party officials were contacted on a hotline to advise, and recommended tossing a
coin.
(C) Unusually, all six coin tosses were won by Clinton. According to John Moriarty, Reader in Mathematics at Queen
Mary University London, there would have been a one-in-64 or 1.6% chance of Clinton winning all six flips. (That's
nothing, however, compared to the time the England cricket team lost 12 tosses of the coin in a row - a probability of
about 4,000-to-one.) The caucus system used in 10 US states, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, differs from
the primary system used in most states in that votes are taken in small groups rather than on a statewide basis. This
makes ties more likely.
(D) "It's quite an idiosyncratic process," says Rene Lindstaedt, an expert on US politics at the University of Essex.
Unlike in primaries, which are conducted like ballots, Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa show their support for
candidates by standing or sitting together in "preference groups" before a head count is taken (Iowa Republicans use
secret ballots or a show of hands).
(E) The Iowa Democratic party's caucus guide states that "where two or more preference groups are tied for the loss of
a delegate, a coin shall be tossed to determine who loses the delegate". With the statewide result a virtual tie between

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Clinton and Sanders, the flips became one of the night's biggest talking points, and within hours the coin had its own
Twitter profile.
(F) It's not unprecedented for elections to be decided in this manner. The mayor of San Teodoro, a town in the central
Philippines, was ultimately chosen by a coin toss in 2013 after two rival candidates both received 3,236 votes apiece.
In the UK, returning officers are legally obliged to settle elections immediately if recounts fail to establish a winner.
This has never happened in an election to the House of Commons, but it has in local elections.
(G) Worksop North East seat in Bassetlaw District Council was won by Labour on the toss of a coin in 2000 after
three recounts. Christopher Underwood-Frost, a Conservative councillor in Lincolnshire held his seat by the toss of a
coin in 2007. And control of Stirling District Council was decided by cutting a deck of cards on two occasions in 1988
and 1992. There are other uses for coin flips, too. Government contracts in Canada can be awarded this way if tenders
are identical.
(H) But there remains unease about the use of making decisions so arbitrarily - even in sport, where the use of coin
tosses is perhaps best established. From 2016, under an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) trial, visiting county
teams will be given the option of bowling first, and a coin toss will only take place if they decline. Perhaps the ECB
will share its findings with Iowa's Democratic Party.
Questions 1-8 The text has eight paragraphs A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information?
1. Heat in voting 2. A fact about the UK
3. Statement of the caucus guide 4. The way Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa show their support
5. A parallel with sport 6. Some examples of winning by the toss of a coin
7. An unexpected outcome 8. New rule
B. LISTENING
Ex1:

Ex2: Complete the form using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Ascot Child Care Centre - Enrolment form
Personal details
Family name: Cullen
Child’s first name: 1 _______________
Age: 2 _______________
Birthday: 3 _______________
Other children in the family: a brother aged 4 _______________
Address: 5 _______________ , Brisbane
Emergency contact number: 3467 8890
Relationship to child: 6 _______________
Development:
• Has difficulty 7 _______________ during the day
• Is able to 8 _______________ herself
Child-care arrangements:
Days required: 9 _______________
Pick-up time: 10 _______________

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Ex3: Write ONE WORD only for each answer

Homework
READING In which paragraph will you find the following information? Give the paragraph number as your answer.
Numbers may be used more than once.
Soil Erosion
1.__________________________
If none of the options listed above suits your needs, you have another alternative that doesn’t require planting of other
plants or crops on your land and allows you to create a clean look to your property. You can protect the soil by
covering exposed spots around the plants with a mulching material. By putting down mulch, you are keeping bare soil
from being washed and eroded away, as well as helping to retain soil moisture and eliminate weed growth around your
carefully selected plants. Mulching layer stabilizes soil temperature, protecting plants and soil from the effects of
fluctuating temperature in winter.
2. __________________________
You can create neatly looking dry creeks that direct water away from your land or channel runoff to your designated
area from where you can reuse it (e.g. for irrigation). Dry creeks look like a small version of a rocky river bed and
even imitate its function. You also have an option to plant vegetated filter strips or simply install drainage pipes to
gather water and carry it away from critical areas. Some people choose to protect land around their houses by
implementing so called French drains. French drains are trenches along outer house walls that contain drainage pipes
covered by permeable gravel.
3. _________________________
Growing crops on slopes can be particularly challenging and plowing on slopes can easily lead to soil erosion.
However, there are several techniques for cultivating crops on slopes that prevent erosion. These include contour
farming, where farmers plow and plant across a slope along its contour lines as opposed to planting in downhill facing
lines.
4. _________________________
When talking about soil erosion control measures, we should not neglect the areas that have already been damaged but
have a potential for great improvement when managed properly. Restoration of degraded ecosystems and protection of
marginal areas to ensure that we will place sufficient soil erosion prevention methods in place is crucial.
5.________________________
Land that is used for livestock grazing is often hilly or is located in marginal areas that are unsuitable for crop
cultivation. Unsustainable livestock management on such lands leads to overgrazing and decreases the protective
groundcover. When more than 60 percent of vegetation gets removed, the rate of erosion accelerates, and topsoil is
more likely to be washed off with every rainfall event.
6. _______________________
Whether on a large scale, like rice fields, or on a smaller scale in your backyard, terracing allows cultivation and
erosion control of many difficult slopes that would otherwise be unsuitable for any activity. With the structural
support of retaining walls, terraces can create a nice decorative element on your property, giving it a new look. They
can be useful for the creation of raised garden beds that are for many gardeners more comfortable to maintain.

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7. ______________________
It is recommended to plant cover crops after the harvest of the main crop. Take for example corn. Once you harvest
corn, the land will most likely remain barren over the winter. This means that the soil will lack the protective layer of
growing vegetation in the season when it rains or snows a lot and the land is subjected to cycles of freezing and
unfreezing. This easily damages soil structure and increases the risk of soil loss.
A) A number of techniques allow farmers to overcome issues with slanted landscapes in farming.
B) Without an abundance of plants, the wind and rain will wear away the land more quickly.
C) When the land is emptier, it is more prone to damage and lose earth.
D) Adding a cover protects the land and keeps soil from being harmed by fluctuating temperatures.
E) Another way to protect soil is to redirect water away from where plants are being grown.
F) By becoming frozen and then thawing out, farmers may experience harm to soil or a reduction in the amount of
soil.
LISTENING
EX1:

Ex2. Choose the correct letter, A, B or C

1. How did Jamie choose the topic for her presentation?
A She saw a film about it.
B The issue has been in the media recently.
C One of her parents is an expert on it.
2. Jamie says that before this presentation,
A she was indifferent towards to the issue.
B she was strongly in favour of GM food.
C she knew only one side of the argument.
3. In relation to social media, the professor advises Jamie to
A ignore articles with political messages.
B be aware of the techniques marketers use.
C only trust stories from mainstream media.
4. What does Jamie say about using technology in this presentation?
A She found it harder than she had expected.
B She should have been more ambitious.
C She felt it distracted from her message.