IELTS READING 2

READING PASSAGE 7

You should spend about 20 minutes on  Questions 1-12 which are based on Reading Passage 7 below.

     

   A WORKAHOLIC ECONOMY

FOR THE  first century or so of the industrial revolution increased productivity led to decreases in working hours. Employees who had been putting in 12-hour days, six days a week, found their time on the job shrinking to 10 hours daily, then, finally, to eight hours, five days a week. Only a generation ago social planners worried about what people would do with all this new-found free time. In the US, at least, it seems they need not have bothered.

Although the output per hour of work has more than doubled since 1945, leisure seems reserved largely for the unemployed and underemployed. Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of World War II. In fact, working hours have increased noticeably since 1970 – perhaps because real wages have stagnated since that year. Bookstores now abound with manuals describing how to manage time and cope with stress.

There are several reasons for lost leisure. Since 1979, companies have responded to improvements in the business climate by having employees work overtime rather than by hiring extra personnel, says economist Juliet B. Schor of Harvard University, Indeed, the current economic recovery has gained a certain amount of notoriety for its ‘jobless’ nature: increased production has been almost entirely decoupled from employment. Some firms are even downsizing as their profits climb. ‘All things being equal, we’d be better off spreading around the work,’ observes labor economist Ronald G. Ehrenberg of Cornell University.

Yet a host of factors pushes employers to hire fewer workers for more hours and, at the same time, compels workers to spend more time on the job. Most of those incentives involve what Ehrenberg calls the structure of compensation: quirks in the way salaries and benefits are organized that make it more profitable to ask 40 employees to labor an extra hour each than to hire one more worker to do the same 40-hour job.

Professional and managerial employees supply the most obvious lesson along these lines. Once people are on salary, their cost to a firm is the same whether they spend 35 hours a week in the office or 70. Diminishing returns may eventually set in as overworked employees lose efficiency or leave for more arable pastures. But in the short run, the employer’ incentive is clear.

Even hourly employees receive benefits – such as pension contributions and medical insurance – that are not tied to the number of hours they work. Therefore, it is more profitable for employers to work their existing employees harder.

For all that employees complain about long hours, they, too, gave reasons not to trade money for leisure. ‘People who work reduced hours pay a huge penalty in career terms,’ Schor maintains. ‘It’s taken as a negative signal’ about their commitment to the firm.’ [Lotte] Bailyn [of Massachusetts Institute of Technology] adds that many corporate managers find it difficult to measure the contribution of their underlings to a firm’s well-being, so they use the number of hours worked as a proxy for output. ‘Employees know this,’ she says, and they adjust their behavior accordingly.

Although the image of the good worker is the one whose life belongs to the company,’ Bailyn says, ‘it doesn’t fit the facts.’ She cites both quantitative and qualitative studies that show

increased productivity for part-time workers: they make better use of the time they have, and they are less likely to succumb to fatigue in stressful jobs. Companies that employ more workers for less time also gain from the resulting redundancy, she asserts. ‘The extra people can cover the contingencies that you know are going to happen, such as when crises take people away from the workplace.’ Positive experiences with reduced hours have begun to change the more-is-better culture at some companies, Schor reports.

Larger firms, in particular, appear to be more willing to experiment with flexible working arrangements. It may take even more than changes in the financial and cultural structures of employment for workers successfully to trade increased productivity and money for leisure time, Schor contends. She says the U.S. market for goods has become skewed by the assumption of full-time, two-career households. Automobile makers no longer manufacture cheap models, and developers do not build the tiny bungalows that served the first post-war generation of home buyers. Not even the humblest household object is made without a microprocessor. As Schor notes, the situation is a curious inversion of the ‘appropriate technology’ vision that designers have had for developing countries: U.S. goods are appropriate only for high incomes and long hours.

Questions 1-6

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

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   

Example                                              Answer

During the industrial revolution, people worked harder. (NOT GIVEN)

1. Today, employees are facing a reduction in working hours.

2. Social planners have been consulted about US employment figures.

3. Salaries have not risen significantly since the1970s.

4. The economic recovery created more jobs.

5. Bailyn’s research shows that part-time employees work more efficiently.

6. Increased leisure time would benefit two-career households.

Questions 7-8

Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 33 and 34 on your answer sheet.

7. Bailyn argues that it is better for a company to employ more workers because

A     it is easy to make excess staff redundant.

B     crises occur if you are under-staffed.

C    people are available to substitute for absent

       staff.

D   they can project a positive image at work.

8. Schor thinks it will be difficult for workers

       in the US to reduce their working hours

       because

A  they would not be able to afford cars or

     homes.

B  employers are offering high incomes for long

      hours.

C  the future is dependent on technological

     advances.

D  they do not wish to return to the humble post-

     war era.

Questions 9-12

The writer mentions a number of factors that have resulted in employees working longer hours. Which FOUR of the following factors are mentioned? Write your answers (A-H) in boxes 35-38 on your answer sheet.

                              List of Factors   

A  Books are available to help employees cope with stress.

B  Extra work is offered to existing employees.

C  Increased production has led to joblessness.

D  Benefits and hours spent on the job are not linked.

E  Overworked employees require longer to do their work.

F  Longer hours indicate a greater commitment to the firm.

G  Managers estimate staff productivity in terms of hours worked.

H  Employees value a career more than a family.



Reading Passage 8

You should spend about 20 minutes on  Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 8 below.

     

Less Television, Less Violence and Aggression

Cutting back on television, videos, and video games reduce acts of aggression among schoolchildren, according to a study by Dr. Thomas Robinson and others from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The study, published in the January 2001 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, found that third- and fourth-grade students who took part in a curriculum to reduce their TV, video, and video game use engaged in fewer acts of verbal and physical aggression than their peers. The study took place in two similar San Jose, California, elementary schools. Students in one school underwent an 18-lesson, 6-month program designed to limit their media usage, while the others did not. Both groups of students had similar reports of aggressive behavior at the beginning of the study. After the six-month program, however, the two groups had very real differences. The students who cut back on their TV time engaged in six fewer acts of verbal aggression per hour and rated 2.4 percent fewer of their classmates as aggressive after the program.

Physical acts of violence, parental reports of aggressive behavior, and perceptions of a mean and scary world also decreased, but the authors suggest further study to solidify these results.

Although many studies have shown that children who watch a lot of TV are more likely to act violently, this report further verifies that television, videos, and video games actually cause the violent behavior, and it is among the first to evaluate a solution to the problem. Teachers at the intervention school included the program in their existing curriculum. Early lessons encouraged students to keep track of and report on the time they spent watching TV or videos or playing Video games, to motivate them to limit those activities on their own. The initial lessons were followed by TV-Turnoff, an organization that encourages less TV viewing. For ten days, students were challenged to go without television, videos, or video games. After that, teachers encouraged the students to stay within a media allowance of seven hours per week. Almost all students participated in the Turnoff, and most stayed under their budget for the following weeks. Additional lessons encouraged children to use their time more selectively, and many of the final lessons had students themselves advocate reducing screen activities.

This study is by no means the first to find a link between television and violence. Virtually all of 3,500 research studies on the subject in the past 40 years have shown the same relationship, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Among the most noteworthy studies is Dr. Leonard D. Eron’s, which found that exposure to television violence in childhood is the strongest predictor of aggressive behavior later in life—stronger even than violent behavior as children. The more violent television the subjects watched at age eight, the more serious was their aggressive behavior even 22 years later. Another study by Dr. Brandon S. Centerwall found that murder rates climb after the introduction of television. In the United States and Canada, murder rates doubled 10 to 15 years after the introduction of television, after the first TV generation grew up.

Centerwall tested this pattern in South Africa, where television broadcasts were banned until 1975. Murder rates in South Africa remained relatively steady from the mid-1940s through the mid- 1970s. By 1987, however, the murder rate had increased 130 percent from its 1974 level. The murder rates in the United States and Canada had leveled 1 off in the meantime. Centerwall's study implies that the medium of television, not just the content, promotes violence and the current study by Dr. Robinson supports that conclusion. The Turnoff did not specifically target violent television, nor did the following allowance period. Reducing television, in general, reduces aggressive behavior. Even television that is not “violent” is more violent than real life and may lead viewers to believe that violence is funny, inconsequential, and a viable solution to problems. Also, watching television of any content robs us of the time to interact with real people. Watching too much TV may inhibit the skills and patience we need to get along with others without resorting to aggression. TV, as a medium, promotes aggression and violence. The best solution is to turn it off.

Questions 1-7

Complete the summary using words from the box below. Write your answers in boxes 14-20 on your Answer Sheet.

A study that was published in January 2001 found that when children 1 ....................  less, they behaved less 2 .................... Students in a California elementary school participated in the study, which lasted 3 .................... By the end of the study, the children’s behavior had changed. For example, the children’s 4 .................... reported that the children were acting less violently than before. During the study, the children kept a record of the 5 ....................  they watched TV. Then, for ten days, they 6 .................... Near the end of the study, the students began to suggest watching 7 ....................

Questions 8-11

Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 186? in boxes 21-24 write

TRUE   if the statement is true according to the passage.

FALSE   if the statement contradicts the passage.

NOT GIVEN   if there is no information about this in the passage.

8. Only one study has found a connection between TV and violent behavior.

9. There were more murders in Canada after people began watching TV.

10. The United States has more violence on TV than other countries.

11. TV was introduced in South Africa in the 1940s.

Questions 12 and 13

For each question, choose the correct letter A-D and write it in boxes 25 and 26 on your Answer Sheet

12. According to the passage,

   A) only children are affected by violence on TV.

   B) only violent TV programs cause violent behavior.

   C) children who watch too much TV get poor grades in school.

   D) watching a lot of TV may beep us from learning important social skills.

13. The authors of this passage believe that

   A) some violent TV programs are funny.

   B) the best plan is to stop watching TV completely.

   C) it’s better to watch TV with other people than on your own.

   D) seven hours a week of TV watching is acceptable.

Reading Passage 9

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage below.

Questions 27-30

Reading Passage 187 has four sections (A-D). Choose the most suitable heading for each section from the list of headings below.

Write the appropriate numbers (i-vii) in boxes 27-30 on your Answer Sheet

There are more headings than sections, so you will not use all of them.

27.  Section A

28.  Section B

29.  Section C

30.  Section D

List of Headings

i.   Top Ocean Predators

ii.  Toxic Exposure

iii. Declining Fish Populations

iv.  Pleasure Boating in the San Juan Islands

v.   Underwater Noise

vi.  Smog in Large Cities

vii. Impact of Boat Traffic

vi.  Impact of Boat Traffic

Issues Affecting the Southern Resident Orcas

A Orcas, also known as killer whales, are opportunistic feeders, which means they will take a variety of different prey species. J, K, and L pods (specific groups of orcas found in the region) are almost exclusively fish eaters. Some studies show that up to 90 percent of their diet is salmon, with Chinook salmon being far and away their favorite. During the last 50 years, hundreds of wild runs of salmon have become extinct due to habitat loss and overfishing of wild stocks. Many of the extinct salmon stocks are the winter runs of chinook and coho. Although the surviving stocks have probably been sufficient to sustain the resident pods, many of the runs that have been lost were undoubtedly traditional resources favored by the resident orcas. This may be affecting the whales’ nutrition in the winter and may require them to change their patterns of movement in order to search for food.

Other studies with tagged whales have shown that they regularly dive up to 800 feet in this area. Researchers tend to think that during these deep dives the whales may be feeding on bottomfish. Bottomfish species in this area would include halibut, rockfish, lingcod, and greenling. Scientists estimate that today’s lingcod population in northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia is only 2 percent of what it was in 1950. The average size of rockfish in the recreational catch has also declined by several inches since the 1970s, which is indicative of overfishing. In some locations, certain rockfish species have disappeared entirely. So even if bottomfish are not a major food resource for the whales, the present low number of available fish increases the pressure on orcas and all marine animals to find food. (For more information on bottomfish see the San Juan County Bottomfish Recovery Program.)

B Toxic substances accumulate in higher concentrations as they move up the food chain. Because orcas t are the top predator in the ocean and are at the top of several different food chains in the environment, they tend to be more affected by pollutants than other sea creatures. Examinations of stranded killer whales have shown some extremely high levels of lead, mercury, and polychlorinated hydrocarbons. Abandoned marine toxic waste dumps and present levels of industrial and human refuse pollution of the inland waters probably presents the most serious threat to the continued existence of this orca population. Unfortunately, the total remedy to this huge problem would be broad societal changes on many fronts. But because of the fact that orcas are so popular, they may be the best species to use as a focal point in bringing about the many changes that need to be made in order to protect the marine environment as a whole from further toxic poisoning.'

C The waters around the San Juan Islands are extremely busy due to international commercial shipping, fishing, whale watching, and pleasure boating. On a busy weekend day in the summer, it is not uncommon to see numerous boats in the vicinity of the whales as they travel through the area. The potential impacts from all this vessel traffic with regard to the whales and other marine animals in the area could be tremendous.

The surfacing and breathing space of marine birds and mammals is a critical aspect of their habitat, which the animals must consciously deal with on a moment-to-moment basis throughout their lifetimes. With all the boating activity in the vicinity, there are three ways in which surface impacts are most likely to affect marine animals: (a) collision, (b) collision avoidance, and (c) exhaust emissions in breathing pockets.

The first two impacts are very obvious and don’t just apply to vessels with motors. Kayakers even present a problem here because they’re so quiet. Marine animals, busy hunting and feeding under the surface of the water, may not be aware that there is a kayak above them and actually hit the bottom of it as they surface to breathe.

The third impact is one most people don’t even think of. When there are numerous boats in the area, especially idling boats, there are a lot of exhaust fumes being spewed out on the surface of the water. When the whale comes up to take a nice big breath of “fresh" air, it instead gets a nice big breath of exhaust fumes. It’s hard to say how greatly this affects the animals, but think how breathing polluted air affects us (i.e., smog in large cities like Los Angeles, breathing the foul air while sitting in traffic jams, etc)._

D Similar to surface impacts, a primary source of acoustic pollution for this population of orcas would also be derived from the cumulative underwater noise of vessel traffic. For cetaceans, the underwater sound environment is perhaps the most critical component of their sensory and behavioral lives. Orcas communicate with each other over short and long distances with a variety of clicks, chirps, squeaks, and whistles, along with using echolocation to locate prey and to navigate. They may also rely on passive listening as a primary sensory source. The long-term impacts from noise pollution would not likely show up as noticeable behavioral changes in habitat use, but rather as sensory damage or gradual reduction in population health. A new study at The Whale Museum called the SeaSound Remote Sensing Network has begun studying underwater acoustics and its relationship to orca communication.

Questions 31-32

For each question, choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in boxes 31 and 32 on your Answer Sheet

31.  Killer whales (orcas) in the J, K, and L pods prefer to eat

   A) halibut.

   B) a type of salmon.

   C) a variety of animals.

   D) fish living at the bottom of the sea.

32. Some groups of salmon have become extinct because

   A) they have lost places to live.

   B) whales have eaten them.

   C) they don't get good nutrition.

   D) the winters in the area are too cold.

Questions 33-40

Complete the chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-40 on your Answer Sheet.

Cause	Effect
Scientists believe some whales feed 7__________________________	These whales dive very deep.
Scientists believe that the area is being over fished.	Rockfish caught today is 8___________________ than rockfish caught in the past.
Orcas are at the top of the ocean food chain.	9____________________ affects Orcas more than it does other sea animals.
Orcas are a 10______________ species.	We can use orcas to make society aware of the problem of marine pollution.
People enjoy boating, fishing, and whale watching in the San Juan Islands.	On weekends there are 11__________________ near the whales.
Kayaks are 12 ____________________________	Marine animals hit them when they come up for air.
A lot of boats keep their motors running.	Whales breathe 13________________________
Boats are noisy.	Whales have difficulty 14 ___________________

Reading Passage 10

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 10.

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A-G. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E and G from the list of headings below. Write the correct member (i-x) in boxes 1—5 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. The problem of dealing with emergencies in space

ii. How space biomedicine can help patients on Earth

iii. Why accidents are so common in outer space

iv. What is space biomedicine?

v. The psychological problems of astronauts

vi. Conducting space biomedical research on Earth

vii. The internal damage caused to the human body by space travel

viii. How space biomedicine First began

ix. The visible effects of space travel on the human body

x. Why space biomedicine is now necessary

Example Paragraph A Answer iv

1 . Paragraph B

2 . Paragraph C

3 . Paragraph D

4 . Paragraph E

Example Paragraph F Answer ii

5 . Paragraph G

A. Space biomedicine is a relatively new area of research both in the USA and in Europe. Its main objectives are to study the effects of space travel on the human body, identifying the most critical medical problems and finding solutions to those problems. Space biomedicine centers are receiving increasing direct support from NASA and/or the European Space Agency (ESA).

B. This involvement of NASA and the ESA reflects growing concern that the feasibility of travel to other planets, and beyond, is no longer limited by engineering constraints but by what the human body can actually withstand. The discovery of ice on Mars, for instance, means that there is now

no necessity to design and develop a spacecraft large and powerful enough to transport the vast amounts of water needed to sustain the crew throughout journeys that may last many years. Without the necessary protection and medical treatment, however, their bodies would be devastated by the unremittingly hostile environment of space.

C. The most obvious physical changes undergone by people in zero gravity are essentially harmless; in some cases, they are even amusing. The blood and other fluids are no longer dragged down towards the feet by the gravity of Earth, so they accumulate higher up in the body, creating what is sometimes called ‘fat face, together with the contrasting 'chicken legs’ syndrome as the lower limbs become thinner.

D. Much more serious are the unseen consequences after months or years in space. With no gravity, there is less need for a sturdy skeleton to support the body, with the result that the bones weaken, releasing calcium into the bloodstream. This extra calcium can overload the kidneys, leading ultimately to renal failure. Muscles too lose strength through lack of use. The heart becomes smaller, losing the power to pump oxygenated blood to all parts of the body, while the lungs lose the capacity to breathe fully. The digestive system becomes less efficient, a weakened immune system is increasingly unable to prevent diseases and the high levels of solar and cosmic radiation can cause various forms of cancer.

E. To make matters worse, a wide range of medical difficulties can arise in the case of an accident or serious illness when the patient is millions of kilometers from Earth. There is simply not enough room available inside a space vehicle to include all the equipment from a hospital’s casualty unit, some of which would not work properly in space anyway. Even basic things such as a drip depend on gravity to function, while standard resuscitation techniques become ineffective if sufficient weight cannot be applied. The only solution seems to be to create extremely small medical tools and ‘smart devices that can, for example, diagnose and treat internal injuries using ultrasound. The cost of designing and producing this kind of equipment is bound to be, well, astronomical.

F. Such considerations have led some to question the ethics of investing huge sums of money to help a handful of people who, after all, are willingly risking their own health in outer space, when so much needs to be done a lot closer to home. It is now clear, however, that every problem of space travel has a parallel problem on Earth that will benefit from the knowledge gained and the skills developed from space biomedical research. For instance, the very difficulty of treating astronauts in space has led to rapid progress in the field of telemedicine, which in turn has brought about developments that enable surgeons to communicate with patients in inaccessible parts of the world. To take another example, systems invented to sterilize wastewater onboard spacecraft could be used by emergency teams to filter contaminated water at the scene of natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. In the same way, miniature monitoring equipment, developed to save weight in space capsules, will eventually become tiny monitors that patients on Earth can wear without discomfort wherever they go.

G. Nevertheless, there is still one major obstacle to carrying out studies into the effects of space travel: how to do so without going to the enormous expense of actually working in space. To simulate conditions in zero gravity, one tried and tested method is to work underwater, but the space biomedicine centers are also looking at other ideas. In one experiment, researchers study the weakening of bones that results from prolonged inactivity. This would involve volunteers staying in bed for three months, but the center  concerned is confident there should be no great difficulty in finding people willing to spend twelve weeks lying down.AII in the name of science, of course.

Questions 6 and 7

Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

6. Where, apart from Earth, can space travelers find water? ………….

7. What happens to human legs during space travel? ……………..

Questions 8-12

Do the following statements agree with the writer’s views in Reading Passage 1? Write

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement does not agree with the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage

8. The obstacles to going far into space are now medical, not technological.

9. Astronauts cannot survive more than two years in space.

10. It is morally wrong to spend so much money on space biomedicine.

11. Some kinds of surgery are more successful when performed in space.

12. Space biomedical research can only be done in space.

Questions 13-14

Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 13 and 14 on your answer sheet.

Research area	Application in space	Application on Earth
Telemedicine	treating astronauts	13________________ in remote areas
Sterilization	sterilizing waste water	14__________________ in disaster zones
Miniaturization	saving weight	Wearing small monitors comfortably