Practice 1
Australian culture and culture shock
Sometimes work, study or a sense of adventure take us out of our familiar
surroundings to go and live in a different culture. The experience can be difficult, even
shocking.
Almost everyone who studies, lives or works abroad has problems adjusting to a new
culture. This response is commonly referred to as 'culture shock'. Culture shock can be
defined as 'the physical and emotional discomfort a person experiences when entering
a culture different from their own' (Weaver, 1993).
For people moving to Australia, Price (2001) has identified certain values which may
give rise to culture shock. Firstly, he argues that Australians place a high value on
independence and personal choice. This means that a teacher or course tutor will not
tell students what to do, but will give them a number of options and suggest they work
out which one is the best in their circumstances. It also means that they are expected
to take action if something goes wrong and seek out resources and support for
themselves.
Australians are also prepared to accept a range of opinions rather than believing there
is one truth. This means that in an educational setting, students will be expected to
form their own opinions and defend the reasons for that point of view and the
evidence for it.
Price also comments that Australians are uncomfortable with differences in status and
hence idealise the idea of treating everyone equally. An illustration of this is that most
adult Australians call each other by their first names. This concern with equality
means that Australians are uncomfortable taking anything too seriously and are even
ready to joke about themselves.
Australians believe that life should have a balance between work and leisure time. As
a consequence, some students may be critical of others who they perceive as doing
nothing but study.
Australian notions of privacy mean that areas such as financial matters, appearance
and relationships are only discussed with close friends. While people may volunteer
such information, they may resent someone actually asking them unless the friendship
is firmly established. Even then, it is considered very impolite to ask someone what
they earn. With older people, it is also rude to ask how old they are, why they are not
married or why they do not have children. It is also impolite to ask people how much
they have paid for something, unless there is a very good reason for asking.
Kohls (1996) describes culture shock as a process of change marked by four basic
stages. During the first stage, the new arrival is excited to be in a new place, so this is
often referred to as the "honeymoon" stage. Like a tourist, they are intrigued by all the
new sights and sounds, new smells and tastes of their surroundings. They may have
some problems, but usually, they accept them as just part of the novelty. At this point,
it is the similarities that stand out, and it seems to the newcomer that people
everywhere and their way of life are very much alike. This period of euphoria may last
from a couple of weeks to a month, but the letdown is inevitable.
During the second stage, known as the 'rejection' stage, the newcomer starts to
experience difficulties due to the differences between the new culture and the way
they were accustomed to living. The initial enthusiasm turns into irritation, frustration,
anger and depression, and these feelings may have the effect of people rejecting the
new culture so that they notice only the things that cause them trouble, which they
then complain about. In addition, they may feel homesick, bored, withdrawn and
irritable during this period as well.
Fortunately, most people gradually learn to adapt to the new culture and move on to
the third stage, known as 'adjustment and reorientation'. During this stage, a transition
occurs to a new optimistic attitude. As the newcomer begins to understand more of the
new culture, they are able to interpret some of the subtle cultural clues which passed
by unnoticed earlier. Now things make more sense and the culture seems more
familiar. As a result, they begin to develop problem-solving skills, and feelings of
disorientation and anxiety no longer affect them.
In Kohls's model, in the fourth stage, newcomers undergo a process of adaptation.
They have settled into the new culture, and this results in a feeling of direction and
self-confidence. They have accepted the new food, drinks, habits and customs and
may even find themselves enjoying some of the very customs that bothered them so
much previously. In addition, they realise that the new culture has good and bad things
to offer and that no way is really better than another, just different.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. Australian teachers will suggest alternatives to students rather than offer one
solution.
2. In Australia, teachers will show interest in students’ personal circumstances.
3. Australians use people’s first names so that everyone feels their status is similar.
4. Students who study all the time may receive positive comments from their
colleagues.
5. It is acceptable to discuss financial issues with people you do not know well.
6. Younger Australians tend to be friendlier than older Australians.
(Source: Page 10,11 - Unit 1 - Complete IELTS Bands 5 - 6.5)
Practice 2
The World Wide Web from its origins
Science inspired the World Wide Web, and the Web has responded by changing
science.
'Information Management: A Proposal' . That was the bland title of a document
written in March 1989 by a then little- known computer scientist called Tim Berners-
Lee, who was working at CERN, Europe’s particle physics laboratory, near Geneva.
His proposal, modestly called the World Wide Web, has achieved far more than
anyone expected at the time.
In fact, the Web was invented to deal with a specific problem. In the late 1980s,
CERN was planning one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever, the Large
Hadron Collider*, or LHC. As the first few lines of the original proposal put it, 'Many
of the discussions of the future at CERN and the LHC end with the question "Yes, but
how will we ever keep track of such a large project?" This proposal provides an
answer to such questions.
The Web, as everyone now knows, has many more uses than the original idea of
linking electronic documents about particle physics in laboratories around the world.
But among all the changes it has brought about, from personal social networks to
political campaigning, it has also transformed the business of doing science itself, as
the man who invented it hoped it would.
It allows journals to be published online and links to be made from one paper to
another. It also permits professional scientists to recruit thousands of amateurs to give
them a hand. One project of this type, called GalaxyZoo, used these unpaid workers to
classify one million images of galaxies into various types (spiral, elliptical and
irregular). This project, which was intended to help astronomers understand how
galaxies evolve, was so successful that a successor has now been launched, to classify
the brightest quarter of a million of them in finer detail. People working for a more
modest project called Herbaria@home examine scanned images of handwritten notes
about old plants stored in British museums. This will allow them to track the changes
in the distribution of species in response to climate change.
Another new scientific application of the Web is to use it as an experimental
laboratory. It is allowing social scientists, in particular, to do things that were
previously impossible. In one project,scientists made observations about the sizes of
human social networks using data from Facebook. A second investigation of these
networks, produced by Bernardo Huberman of HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard's research
arm in Pato Alto, California, looked at Twitter, a social networking website that
allows people to post short messages to long lists of friends.
At first glance, the networks seemed enormous - the 300,000 Twitterers sampled had
80 friends each, on average (those on Facebook had 120), but some listed up to 1,000.
Closer statistical inspection, however, revealed that the majority of the messages were
directed at a few specific friends. This showed that an individual's active social
network is far smaller than his 'clan'. Dr Huberman has also helped uncover several
laws of web surfing, including the number of times an average person will go from
web page to web page on a given site before giving up, and the details of the 'winner
takes all' phenomenon, whereby a few sites on a given subject attract most of the
attention, and the rest get very little.
Scientists have been good at using the Web to carry out research. However, they have
not been so effective at employing the latest web-based social-networking tools to
open up scientific discussion and encourage more effective collaboration. Journalists
are now used to having their articles commented on by dozens of readers. Indeed,
many bloggers develop and refine their essays as a result of these comments.
Yet although people have tried to have scientific research reviewed in the same way,
most researchers only accept reviews from a few anonymous experts. When Nature,
one of the world's most respected scientific journals, experimented with open peer
review in 2006, the results were disappointing. Only 5% of the authors it spoke to
agreed to have their article posted for review on the Web - and their instinct turned out
to be right, because almost half of the papers attracted no comments. Michael Nielsen,
an expert on quantum computers, belongs to a new wave of scientist bloggers who
want to change this. He thinks the reason for the lack of comments is that potential
reviewers lack incentive.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. Tim Berners-Lee was famous for his research in physics before he invented the
World Wide Web.
2. The original intention of the Web was to help manage one extremely complex
project.
3. Tim Berners-Lee has also be active in politics.
4. The Web has allowed professional and amateur scientists to work together.
5. The second galaxy project aims to examine more galaxies than the first.
6. Herbaria@home’s work will help to reduce the effects of climate change.
(Source: Page 38,39 - Unit 4 - Complete IELTS Bands 5 - 6.5)
Practice 3
The way the brain buys
Supermarkets take great care over the way the goods they sell are arranged. This is
because they know a lot about how to persuade people to buy things.
When you enter a supermarket, it takes some time for the mind to get into a shopping
mode. This is why the area immediately inside the entrance of a supermarket is known
as the ‘decompression zone’. People need to slow down and take stock of the
surroundings, even if they are regulars. Supermarkets do not expect to sell much here,
so it tends to be used more for promotion. So the large items piled up here are
designed to suggest that there are bargains further inside the store, and shoppers are
not necessarily expected to buy them. Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, famously
employs ‘greeters’ at the entrance to its stores. A friendly welcome is said to cut
shoplifting. It is harder to steal from nice people.
Immediately to the left in many supermarkets is a ‘chill zone’, where customers can
enjoy browsing magazines, books and DVDs. This is intended to tempt unplanned
purchases and slow customers down. But people who just want to do their shopping
quickly will keep walking ahead, and the first thing they come to is the fresh fruit and
vegetables section. However, for shoppers, this makes no sense. Fruit and vegetables
can be easily damaged, so they should be bought at the end, not the beginning, of a
shopping trip. But psychology is at work here: selecting these items makes people feel
good, so they feel less guilty about reaching for less healthy food later on.
Shoppers already know that everyday items, like milk, arc invariably placed towards
the back of a store to provide more opportunity to tempt customers to buy things
which are not on their shopping list. This is why pharmacies are also generally at the
back. But supermarkets know shoppers know this, so they use other tricks, like
placing popular items halfway along a section so that people have to walk all along
the aisle looking for them. The idea is to boost ‘dwell time’: the length of time people
spend in a store.
Having walked to the end of the fruit-and-vegetable aisle, shoppers arrive at counters
of prepared food, the fishmonger, the butcher and the deli. Then there is the in-store
bakery, which can be smelt before it is seen. Even small supermarkets now use in
store bakeries. Mostly these bake pre-prepared items and frozen ingredients which
have been delivered to the supermarket previously, and their numbers have increased,
even though central bakeries that deliver to a number of stores are much more
efficient. They do it for the smell of freshly baked bread, which arouses people’s
appetites and thus encourages them to purchase not just bread but also other food,
including ready meals.
Retailers and producers talk a lot about the ‘moment of truth’. This is not a
philosophical idea, but the point when people standing in the aisle decide to buy
something and reach to get it. At the instant coffee section, for example, branded
products from the big producers are arranged at eye level while cheaper ones are
lower down, along with the supermarket’s own label products.
But shelf positioning is fiercely fought over, not just by those trying to sell goods, but
also by those arguing over how best to manipulate shoppers. While many stores
reckon eye level is the top spot, some think a little higher is better. Others think goods
displayed at the end of aisles sell the most because they have the greatest visibility. To
be on the right-hand side of an eye-level selection is often considered the very best
place, because most people are right-handed and most people’s eyes drift rightwards.
Some supermarkets reserve that for their most expensive own-label goods.
Scott Bearse, a retail expert with Deloitte Consulting in Boston, Massachusetts, has
led projects observing and questioning tens of thousands of customers about how they
feel about shopping. People say they leave shops empty- handed more often because
they are ‘unable to decide’ than because prices are too high, says Mr Bearse. Getting
customers to try something is one of the best ways of getting them to buy, adds Mr
Bearse. Deloitte found that customers who use fitting rooms in order to try on clothes
buy the product they are considering at a rate of 8j% compared with 58% for those
that do not do so.
Often a customer struggling to decide which of two items is best ends up not buying
either. In order to avoid a situation where a customer decides not to buy either
product, a third ‘decoy’ item, which is not quite as good as the other two, is placed
beside them to make the choice easier and more pleasurable. Happier customers are
more likely to buy.
Questions 5-10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
5. The ‘greeters’ at Walmart increase sales.
6. People feel better about their shopping if they buy fruit and vegetables before they
buy other food.
7. In-store bakeries produce a wider range of products than central bakeries.
8. Supermarkets find right-handed people easier to persuade than left-handed people.
9. The most frequent reason for leaving shops without buying something is price.
10. ‘Decoy’ items are products which the store expects customers to choose.
(Source: Page 58,59 - Unit 6 - Complete IELTS Bands 5 - 6.5)
Practice 4
The causes, diagnosis and prevention of stress
In prehistoric times, the physical changes in response to stress were an essential
adaptation for meeting natural threats. Even in the modern world, the stress response
can be an asset for raising levels of performance during critical events such as sports
activities, important meetings, or in situations of actual danger or crisis. If stress
becomes persistent and low-level, however, all parts of the body's stress apparatus (the
brain, heart, lungs, vessels and muscles) become chronically over- or under-activated.
This may produce physical or psychological damage over time. Acute stress can also
be harmful in certain situations.
Psychological effects of stress
Studies suggest that the inability to deal with stress is associated with the onset of
depression or anxiety. In one study, two-thirds of subjects who experienced a stressful
situation had nearly six times the risk of developing depression within that month.
Some evidence suggests that repeated release of stress hormones disrupts normal
levels of serotonin, the nerve chemical that is critical for feelings of well-being.
Certainly, on a more obvious level, stress diminishes the quality of life by reducing
feelings of pleasure and accomplishment, and relationships are often threatened.
Nevertheless, ѕоmе stress mау bе beneficial. Fоr example, аlthоugh ѕоmе research hаѕ
suggested thаt stress mау bе а risk factor fоr suicide (a 2003 study fоund а higher risk
fоr suicide іn women reporting bоth lоw аnd vеrу high stress), thоѕе wіth moderate
stress hаd thе lowest risk.
Heart disease
Thе effects оf mental stress оn heart disease аrе controversial. Stress саn сеrtаіnlу
influence thе activity оf thе heart whеn іt activates thе sympathetic nervous system
(the automatic part оf thе nervous system thаt affects thе nerve organs including thе
heart). Suсh actions аnd оthеrѕ соuld theoretically negatively affect thе heart іn
ѕеvеrаl dіffеrеnt ways.
Nevertheless, evidence іѕ ѕtіll needed tо confirm аnу clear cut relation bеtwееn stress
аnd heart disease. Fоr example, а 2002 study іn Scotland fоund nо greater risk fоr
actual heart disease оr heart events, аlthоugh men wіth high stress levels dіd tend tо
complain оf chest pain аnd gо tо hospital fоr іt mоrе оftеn thаn thоѕе wіth lоwеr stress
levels.
Evidence hаѕ linked stress tо heart disease іn men раrtісulаrlу іn work situations
whеrе thеу lack control. Thе association bеtwееn stress аnd heart problems іn women
іѕ weaker аnd thеrе іѕ ѕоmе evidence thаt thе ways women cope wіth stress mау bе
mоrе heart protective. In оnе study, fоr example, men wеrе mоrе apt thаn women tо
uѕе alcohol оr eat lеѕѕ healthy іn response tо stress thаn women, whісh mіght account
fоr thеіr higher heart risks frоm stress. Dіffеrеnt stress factors mау affect genders
differently. In оnе study, work stress wаѕ аѕѕосіаtеd wіth а higher risk оf heart disease
іn men, but marital stress – nоt work stress – wаѕ аѕѕосіаtеd wіth mоrе severe heart
disease іn women wіth existing heart problems.
Eating problems
Stress саn hаvе varying effects оn eating problems аnd weight. Oftеn stress іѕ related
tо
weight gain аnd obesity. Mаnу people develop cravings fоr salt, fat аnd sugar tо
counteract tension and, thus, gain weight. Weight gain саn occur еvеn wіth а healthy
diet іn ѕоmе people exposed tо stress. In а 2000 study, lean women whо gained
weight іn response tо stress tended tо bе lеѕѕ аblе tо adapt tо аnd manage stressful
conditions. Thе release оf cortisol, а major stress hormone, appears tо promote
abdominal fat аnd mау bе thе primary connection bеtwееn stress аnd weight gain іn
ѕuсh people.
In contrast ѕоmе people suffer а loss оf appetite аnd соnѕеquеntlу lose weight. In rare
cases, stress mау trigger hyperactivity оf thе thyroid gland, stimulating appetite but
causing thе body tо burn uр calories аt а faster thаn normal rate. Chronically elevated
levels оf stress chemicals hаvе bееn observed іn patients wіth anorexia аnd bulimia.
Sоmе studies, however, hаvе nоt fоund аnу strong link bеtwееn stress аnd eating
disorders.
Pain
Chronic pain caused bу arthritis аnd оthеr conditions mау bе intensified bу stress.
However, ассоrdіng tо а study оn patients wіth rheumatoid arthritis, stress
management techniques dо nоt арреаr tо hаvе muсh effect оn arthritic pain. Sоmе
studies hаvе сlеаrlу linked job dissatisfaction аnd depression tо bасk pain, аlthоugh іt
іѕ ѕtіll unclear іf stress іѕ а direct cause.
Tension type headaches аrе frequently аѕѕосіаtеd wіth stress аnd stressful events.
Sоmе research suggests thаt headache sufferers mау асtuаllу hаvе ѕоmе biological
predisposition fоr translating stress іntо muscle contractions.
Sleep disturbances
Thе tensions оf unresolved stress frequently саuѕе insomnia, generally kеер thе
unstressed person awake оr causing awakening іn thе middle оf thе night оr early
morning. In fact, evidence suggests thаt stress hormones саn increase durіng sleep іn
anticipation оf а specific waking time. However, thеrе іѕ ѕоmе hope fоr sufferers іn
thіѕ area аѕ relaxation therapy hаѕ bееn fоund tо reduce stress levels аnd соnѕеquеntlу
improve thе quality оf sleep.
Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 . Stress wаѕ originally аn important wау оf keeping humans safe.
2 . If stress continues fоr а long time, аll thе body’s organs аrе affected.
3 . Thе study іntо thе psychological effects оf stress involved people wіth а history оf
depression.
4 . Increased stress саuѕеѕ thе body tо produce mоrе serotonin.
(Source: Page 19,20 - Unit 3 - Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS)
Practice 5
Questions 6-12
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
6. 2% of Americans already use biodiesel.
7. At present in America, 400 millions of acres of lands are used for agriculture.
8. The use of palm oil as a fuel source will require more land than using rapeseed oil.
9. Growing biodiesel crops has had a positive effect on local wildlife in some areas.
10. One advantage of algae is the speed with which it grows.
11. David Bayless believes that algae can produce more energy than solar power.
12. It is easy to grow algae using agriculture waste water.
(Source: Page 87,88 - Unit 16 - Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS)
Practice 6
Making time for science
Chronobiology might sound a little futuristic – like something from a science fiction
novel, perhaps – but it’s actually a field of study that concerns one of the oldest
processes life on this planet has ever known: short-term rhythms of time and their
effect on flora and fauna.
This can take many forms. Marine life, for example, is influenced by tidal patterns.
Animals tend to be active or inactive depending on the position of the sun or moon.
Numerous creatures, humans included, are largely diurnal – that is, they like to come
out during the hours of sunlight. Nocturnal animals, such as bats and possums, prefer
to forage by night. A third group are known as crepuscular: they thrive in the low-light
of dawn and dusk and remain inactive at other hours.
When it comes to humans, chronobiologists are interested in what is known as the
circadian rhythm. This is the complete cycle our bodies are naturally geared to
undergo within the passage of a twenty-four hour day. Aside from sleeping at night
and waking during the day, each cycle involves many other factors such as changes in
blood pressure and body temperature. Not everyone has an identical circadian rhythm.
‘Night people’, for example, often describe how they find it very hard to operate
during the morning, but become alert and focused by evening. This is a benign
variation within circadian rhythms known as a chronotype.
Scientists have limited abilities to create durable modifications of chronobiological
demands. Recent therapeutic developments for humans such as artificial light
machines and melatonin administration can reset our circadian rhythms, for example,
but our bodies can tell the difference and health suffers when we breach these natural
rhythms for extended periods of time. Plants appear no more malleable in this respect;
studies demonstrate that vegetables grown in season and ripened on the tree are far
higher in essential nutrients than those grown in greenhouses and ripened by laser.
Knowledge of chronobiological patterns can have many pragmatic implications for
our day-to-day lives. While contemporary living can sometimes appear to subjugate
biology – after all, who needs circadian rhythms when we have caffeine pills, energy
drinks, shift work and cities that never sleep? – keeping in synch with our body clock
is important.
The average urban resident, for example, rouses at the eye-blearing time of 6.04 a.m.,
which researchers believe to be far too early. One study found that even rising at 7.00
a.m. has deleterious effects on health unless exercise is performed for 30 minutes
afterward. The optimum moment has been whittled down to 7.22 a.m.; muscle aches,
headaches and moodiness were reported to be lowest by participants in the study who
awoke then.
Once you’re up and ready to go, what then? If you’re trying to shed some extra
pounds, dieticians are adamant: never skip breakfast. This disorients your circadian
rhythm and puts your body in starvation mode. The recommended course of action is
to follow an intense workout with a carbohydrate-rich breakfast; the other way round
and weight loss results are not as pronounced.
Morning is also great for breaking out the vitamins. Supplement absorption by the
body is not temporal-dependent, but naturopath Pam Stone notes that the extra boost
at breakfast helps us get energised for the day ahead. For improved absorption, Stone
suggests pairing supplements with a food in which they are soluble and steering clear
of caffeinated beverages. Finally, Stone warns to take care with storage; high potency
is best for absorption, and warmth and humidity are known to deplete the potency of a
supplement.
After-dinner espressos are becoming more of a tradition – we have the Italians to
thank for that – but to prepare for a good night’s sleep we are better off putting the
brakes on caffeine consumption as early as 3 p.m. With a seven hour half-life, a cup of
coffee containing 90 mg of caffeine taken at this hour could still leave 45 mg of
caffeine in your nervous system at ten o’clock that evening. It is essential that, by the
time you are ready to sleep, your body is rid of all traces.
Evenings are important for winding down before sleep; however, dietician Geraldine
Georgeou warns that an after-five carbohydrate-fast is more cultural myth than
chronobiological demand. This will deprive your body of vital energy needs.
Overloading your gut could lead to indigestion, though. Our digestive tracts do not
shut down for the night entirely, but their work slows to a crawl as our bodies prepare
for sleep. Consuming a modest snack should be entirely sufficient.
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. Chronobiology is the study of how living things have evolved over time.
2. The rise and fall of sea levels affects how sea creatures behave.
3. Most animals are active during the daytime.
4. Circadian rhythms identify how we do different things on different days.
5. A ‘night person’ can still have a healthy circadian rhythm.
6. New therapies can permanently change circadian rhythms without causing harm.
7. Naturally-produced vegetables have more nutritional value
(Source: Page 2,3,4 - Test 1 - Road to IELTS)
