30 - Day Reading Challenge

Day 12 READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on ReadingIELTS ZONE Passage 3 below. MAKING A LOSS IS THE HEIGHT OF FASHION In this topsy-turvy world, selling a dress at an enormous discount turns out to be very good business indeed, says William Langley Given that a good year in the haute couture business is one where you lose even more money than usual, the prevailing mood in Paris last week was of buoyancy. The big- name designers were falling over themselves to boast of how many outfits they had sold at below cost price, and how this proved that the fashion business was healthier than ever. Jean-Paul Gaultier reported record sales, “but we don’t make any money out of it,” the designer assured journalists backstage. “No matter how successful you are, you can’t make a profit from couture,” explained Jean-Jacques Picart, a veteran fashion PR man, and co-founder of the now-bankrupt Lacroix house. Almost 20 years have passed since the bizarre economics of the couture business were first exposed. Outraged that he was losing money on evening dresses costing tens of thousands of pounds, the couturier Jean-Louis Scherrer – to howls of “treason” from his colleagues – published a detailed summary of his costs. One outfit he described contained over half a mile of gold thread, 18,000 sequins, and had required hundreds of hours of hand-stitching in an atelier. A fair price would have been £50,000, but the couturier could only get £35,000 for it. Rather than riding high on the follies of the super-rich, he and his team could barely feed their hungry families. The result was an outcry and the first of a series of government- and industry- sponsored inquiries into the surreal world of ultimate fashion. The trade continues to insist that – relatively speaking – couture offers you more than you pay for, but it’s not as simple as that. When such a temple of old wealth starts talking about value for money, it isn’t to convince anyone that dresses costing as much as houses are a bargain. Rather, it is to preserve the peculiar mystique, lucrative associations and threatened interests that couture represents. Essentially, the arguments couldn’t be simpler. On one side are those who say that the business will die if it doesn’t change. On the other are those who say it will die if it does. What’s not in doubt is that haute couture – the term translates as “high sewing” – is a spectacular anachronism. Colossal in its costs, tiny in its clientele and questionable in its influence, it still remains one of the great themes of Parisian life. In his book, The Fashion Conspiracy, Nicholas Coleridge estimates that the entire couture industry rests on the whims of less than 30 immensely wealthy women, and although the number may have grown in recent years with the new prosperity of Asia, the number of couture customers worldwide is no more than 4,000. +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge To qualify as couture, a garment must be entirely handmade by one of the 11 Paris couture houses registered to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Each house must employ at least 20 people, and show a minimum of 75 new designs a year. So far, so traditional, but the Big Four operators – Chanel, Dior, Givenchy and Gaultier – increasingly use couture as a marketing device for their far more profitable ready-to- wear, fragrance and accessory lines. It isn’t hard to see how this works in practice. “Haute couture is what gives our business its essential essence of luxury,” says Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH, which owns both Dior and Givenchy. “The cash it soaks up is largely irrelevant. Set against the money we lose has to be the value of the image couture gives us. Look at the attention the collections attract. It is where you get noticed. You have to be there. It’s where we set our ideas in motion.” The big idea being the one known in the trade as “name association”. Couture outfits may be unaffordable, even unwearable, but the whiff of glamour and exclusivity is hard to resist. The time-starved modern woman who doesn’t make enough in a year to afford a single piece of couture can still buy a share of the dream for the price of a Chanel lipstick or a Givenchy scarf. For all this, couture has been in decline – the optimists would say readjusting to changed conditions – for years. The number of houses registered to the Syndicale has halved in the last two decades. Pierre Cardin once had almost 500 people working full time on couture, but by the 1980s the number had fallen to 50, and today the house is no longer registered. Modern life tells the story. Younger women, even the seriously wealthy ones, find ready-to-wear clothes invariably more practical and usually more fun. Couture’s market has dwindled. “Haute couture is a joke,” scoffs Pierre Bergé, the former head of Yves St Laurent – another house that no longer creates it. “Anyone who tells you it still matters is fantasising. You can see it dropping dead all around you. Nobody buys it any more. The prices are ridiculous. The rules for making it are nonsensical. It belongs to another age. Where are today’s couturiers? A real couturier is someone who founds and runs their own house. No one does that anymore.” Why, then, are the surviving couture houses smiling? Because they trade in fantasy, and, in these times, more people want to fantasise. “We’ve received so many orders we may not be able to deliver them all,” says Sidney Toledano, head of Dior. So, the clothes are rolled out and the couture losses roll in, and everyone agrees that it’s good business. 51

IELTS ZONEDay 12 Questions 27–31 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D Write the correct letter in boxes 27–31 on your answer sheet. 27 What is the main topic of the first paragraph? A the difference between haute couture and other areas of the fashion industry B contrasting views on haute couture C the losses made on haute couture D the negative attitude towards haute couture of people in the fashion industry 28 The writer says that Jean-Louis Scherrer A upset other couturiers. B was in a worse financial position than other couturiers. C was one of the best-known couturiers. D stopped producing haute couture dresses. 29 The writer says that the outfit Jean-Louis Scherrer described A was worth the price that was paid for it. B cost more to make than it should have. C was never sold to anyone. D should have cost more to buy than it did. 30 In the third paragraph, the writer states that haute couture makers A think that the term ‘value for money’ has a particular meaning for them. B prefer to keep quiet about the financial aspects of the business. C have changed because of inquiries into how they operate. D want to expand their activities to attract new customers. 31 The writer says in the fourth paragraph that there is disagreement over A the popularity of haute couture. B the future of haute couture. C the real costs of haute couture. D the changes that need to be made in haute couture. 52

30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 32–36 Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the reading passage? In boxes 32–36 on your answer sheet, write YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 32 The way that companies use haute couture as a marketing device is clear. 33 Only wealthy people are attracted by the idea of ‘name association’. IELTS ZONE 34 Pierre Cardin is likely to return to producing haute couture. 35 Some women who can afford haute couture clothes buy other clothes instead. 36 It is hard to understand why some haute couture companies are doing well. Questions 37–40 Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–F, below. Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 37–40 on your answer sheet. 37 In his book, Nicholas Coleridge claims that 38 The head of LVMH believes that 39 The former head of Yves St Laurent feels that 40 The head of Dior states that A there is great demand for haute couture. B people who defend haute couture are wrong. C the cost of haute couture is likely to come down. D haute couture is dependent on a very small number of customers. E more companies will start producing haute couture. F it is important to continue with haute couture. 53

Day 13 READING PASSAGE 1 IELTS ZONEYou should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Meet the hedgehog A In Norwich, England, the first housing development designed for both hedgehogs and people has been built. All through the gardens and fences is a network of pathways and holes installed just for the ancient, spiny creatures. It’s a paradise that Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, calls ‘absolutely fantastic. As for the developers, they have reason to think the animals will help make home sales fantastic, too. Part of the attraction is that many people simply love hedgehogs, particularly in Britain, where children’s book writer Beatrix Potter introduced Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, a hedgehog character, over a century ago. But part of the attraction is also rooted in science. Studies have helped make clear that hedgehogs are good for gardens, eating vast numbers of slugs and other pests as they forage in the vegetation at night. B Recent scientific studies about hedgehogs have helped explain mysteries as varied as why hedgehogs apply saliva to their entire bodies, how they have survived on the planet for 30 million years, why they chew toxic toad skins and what secrets they may hold about evolution. As one of the most primitive mammals on theplanet, the hedgehog has been helping geneticists understand evolutionary relationships among mammals and even uncover secrets of the human genome1. At Duke University, for example, scientists chose the hedgehog and 14 other species to study the lineages of mammals. They determined among other things that marsupials (e.g. kangaroos) are not related to monotremes (the egg-laying platypus and echidna), which had long been a subject of debate. Such questions are not just academic. ‘If you are trying to trace, for example, the evolutionary steps of foetal heart development to better understand how foetal defects occur, it helps to know which mammals are related so that you can make accurate inferences about one mammal from another mammal’s development, says researcher Keith Killian. C Still, much about hedgehogs remains unknown. For one thing, scientists think they haven’t even discovered all the hedgehog species. We know of at least 14,’ says hedgehog researcher Nigel Reeve of Britain’s University of Surrey Roehampton, ‘It’s almost certain that there are more species. The 14 known species are native to Africa and parts of Asia as well as Europe. Some hibernate through cold winters in the north. Others tolerate desert heat near the equator. Some live in urban areas, adapting well to living in close proximity to humans. Others live in areas that rank among the most remote places on the planet. 1 genome: the complete set of genetic material of a living thing 54

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge D Hedgehogs spend much of their time alone, but Reeve says it would be a mistake to think of them as solitary. Hedgehogs do approach each other and can detect the presence of others by their scent,’ he says. It is true that they usually do not interact at close quarters, but that does not mean they are unaware of their neighbours They may occasionally scrap over food items and rival males attracted to a female may also have aggressive interactions. Still, it’s fair to say that, in adulthood, hedgehogs meet primarily to mate, producing litters of four or five hoglets as often as twice yearly. E Adult hedgehogs eat just about anything they can find: insects, snakes, bird eggs, small rodents and more. Veterinarians trying to understand gum disease in domesticated hedgehogs have concluded that the varied diet of wild hedgehogs gives them more than nutrition-the hard bodies of insects also scrape the hedgehogs’ teeth clean. F All hedgehogs also share the same defence mechanism: they retract their vulnerable parts-head, feet, belly-into a quill-covered ball, using special skin down their sides and over their heads and feet. Any perceived threat can. make them roll up, including the approach of a biologist, so researchers have invented a new measurement for the animals: ball length. Young hedgehogs have a few extra defence strategies. ‘One is to spring up in the air, says Reeve. ‘A fox would get a face full of bristles. They make a little squeak while they do it.’ Evidence suggests that hedgehogs may also add unpleasant chemicals to their quills to make them even less appealing. In behaviour that may be unique for a vertebrate, they chew substances laden with toxins and then apply frothy saliva to their entire bodies. In one 1977 study, human volunteers pricked themselves with quills from hedgehogs that had coated themselves after chewing on venomous toad skins. The volunteers found those quills much more imitating and painful than clean ones. G However, every year, many thousands of the animals die on roads in Europe and elsewhere as they go about their nightly business. Along with intensive farming and pesticides, road kill has taken its toll on hedgehog populations. One 2002 study found the animal numbers had dropped by between 20 and 30 per cent in a single decade. To help combat the decline, the British have established special clinics for injured hedgehogs, urged that anyone making a bonfire check for the animals underneath first, and ensured that hedgehogs can cope with cattle grids. Recently, they even persuaded McDonald’s to alter the packaging of its McFlurry ice-cream container, which had been trapping foraging hedgehogs. H Ironically, for centuries the English considered these animals as vermin. Even 50 years ago gamekeepers were killing as many as 10,000 a year thinking they were no more than bird-egg-eating pests. In some places today, scientists are coming to the same conclusions all over again. In the 1970s, hedgehogs were introduced to the Hebrides Islands off Scotland to help combat garden slugs. With no natural enemies there, a few hedgehogs soon turned into thousands. Wildlife researchers have watched the hedgehogs reduce the numbers of rare ground - nesting wading birds by feasting on their eggs. Efforts to cull the animals in the past two years have upset Britain’s conservationists who have countered with strategies to relocate the animals. +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

IELTS ZONEDay 13 Questions 1–9 The reading passage has eight sections, A–H. Which sections contain the following information? Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 1–9 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 1 The significance of establishing the relationship between different species. 2 The different habitats where hedgehogs can be found. 3 The reason why standard forms of measurement cannot be used for the hedgehog. 4 A problem associated with hedgehogs kept as pets. 5 Two reasons why hedgehogs are popular with people in the UK. 6 Four findings from the latest research into hedgehogs. 7 The social habits of the hedgehog. 8 The number of hedgehog species already identified. 9 The name given to baby hedgehogs. 56

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 10–13 Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 10–13 on your answer sheet. 10 The study conducted in 1977 revealed a possible reason why A hedgehogs clean their quills. B hedgehogs chew poisonous animal skins. C adult hedgehogs do not leap into the air. D young hedgehogs make a high-pitched noise. 11 In Britain, which of the following has NOT been done to protect hedgehogs? A The opening of hospitals just for hedgehogs. B Imposing fines for littering in areas where hedgehogs live. C The alteration of a container produced by a fast-food chain D Alerting people to the potential dangers faced by hedgehogs 12 What are the ‘conclusions’ that scientists on the Hebrides Islands have reached again? A Hedgehog numbers are declining. B Hedgehogs pose a threat to other wildlife. C Hedgehogs can safely be introduced there. D Hedgehogs can be used effectively as a natural predator. 13 What would conservationists prefer to do on the Hebrides Islands? A Introduce a native predator of hedgehogs. B Kill a small number of hedgehogs. C Remove ground-nesting birds. D Move the hedgehogs elsewhere. 57

Day 14 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Questions 14–18 The reading passage has five sections, A–E. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–viii, in boxes 14–18 on your answer sheet. IELTS ZONE List of headings i Outdoor spaces in the house of tomorrow ii The house of the future helps with the battle of the sexes iii The compact home of tomorrow iv The multipurpose home of tomorrow v Housework declines in the house of the future vi Mixed success for visions of the future vii The future lies in the past viii A change of structure in the home of tomorrow 14 Section A 15 Section B 16 Section C 17 Section D 18 Section E 58

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge The house of the future, then and now A The term ‘home of tomorrow’ first came into usage in the 1920s to describe the ‘ideal house for future living (Corn and Horrigan, 1984, p. 62). It quickly emerged as a cultural symbol for the American obsession with the single-family dwelling. In the 1930s and 1940s, advertisers and promoters picked up the concept, and a number of full-scale homes of tomorrow traveled through fairs and department stores. It was in this same era that American consumer culture was consolidated. In the 1920s, there were three competing conceptions of the home of the future. The first, indebted to modernist architecture, depicted the home of tomorrow as a futuristic architectural structure. The second conception was that of the mass-produced, prefabricated house, a dwelling potentially available to every North American. These first two failed to capture the imagination and the dollars of industrialists or of the public, but the third image of the home of the future did. From World War Il until the present, the evolving story of the home of the future is a story of the house as a wonderland of gadgets (Horrigan, 1986, p.154). B In the 1950s, the home of the future was represented in and by one room: the kitchen. Appliance manufacturers, advertisers and women’s magazines teamed up to surround women with images of the technology of tomorrow that would ‘automate’ their lives, and automation became a synonym for reduced domestic labor. In 1958, one author predicted ‘Combustion freezers and electric ovens may someday reduce the job of preparing meals to a push-button operation’ (Ross, 1958, pp.197-8). ‘Before long there will also be self-propelled carpet and floor sweepers, automatic ironers that can fold and stack clothing, laundro-matic units that will wash and dry clothes even as these hang in the closet, dishwashers capable of washing and drying dinnerware and storing it in the cupboard, and many additional push-button marvels.’ (Ross, 1958, p. 200) The postwar faith in and fascination with science is very apparent in future predictions made in the 1950s. The magazine Popular Mechanics did a special feature in February 1950 entitled, ‘Miracles You’ll See in the Next Fifty Years’. ‘Housewives in 50 years may wash dirty dishes-right down the drain! Cheap plastic would melt in hot water’. They also predicted that the housewife of the future would clean her house by simply turning the hose on everything. Furnishings, rugs, draperies and unscratchable floors would all be made of synthetic fabric or waterproof plastic. After the water had run down a drain in the middle of the floor (later concealed by a rug of synthetic fibre) you would turn on a blast of hot air and dry everything. The overriding message of the 1950s vision of the house of the future is that one can access the wonders of the future through the purchase of domestic technology today. In an October 1957 issue of Life magazine, the built-in appliances from Westinghouse reflect the ‘shape of tomorrow’. ‘Put them in your home suddenly you’re living in the future.’ As Corn and Horrigan (1984) noted, ‘by focusing on improving technology … the future becomes strictly a matter of things, their invention, improvement, and acquisition’ (p. 11). 59

IELTS ZONEDay 14 C What is most striking in the 1960s home of the future is the recognition and incorporation of social and political turmoil into the representation of domestic technology. Technology moves out of the kitchen and spreads to the living room, bedroom and bathroom, While the home of the future was still a wonderland of gadgets, who was using the gadgets, why, and to what effect, was finally being opened up to possible alternatives. Whirlpool dishwashers ran an advertisement in November 1968 in Ladies’ Home Journal explaining, ‘How Whirlpool made my husband a man again’. Readers learned of the crisis of masculinity that can take place if a man helps with the housework. We learn that Barry is a great son, father and husband. He believed that the scrubbing of pots and pans was man’s work and so he helped out at home. However, at work the men that work for him used to laugh behind his back because his hands were rough and red. The Whirlpool two-speed dishwasher stopped all that. Thus, a household appliance can preserve a man’s masculinity by ensuring that he does not have to do ‘women’s work’ in the home. D The broader social context continued to be reflected in the 1970s home of the future, but now the trend was to look backwards for the future, back to a proud pioneer heritage. In stark contrast to the 1950s, ‘old-fashioned’ is no longer used in a pejorative way: it is seen as a cherished value. Over the 1970s, North America experienced a certain erosion of trust in science and technology and there was less utopian speculation about the technologically produced future. The previous unproblematic link between technology, the future and progress was being questioned (Corn, 1986). From the space-age metals of the 1960s where every object had an electrical cord, we find a return to the traditional. Ideal homes featured wood, inside and out, and an increased emphasis on windows. Domestic technologies were not featured as prominently, and the modernist or ultra-modernist designs of a few years earlier were all but gone. The use of wood, combined with the use of windows, worked to blur the line between outside and inside, bringing the outside into inner or domestic space. We also see the influence of the Green movement, such as in the deployment of technology for solar-heated homes. The energy crisis was making itself felt, reflecting fears about a future not quite as rosy as that predicted by Popular Mechanics in 1950. Whereas in the 1960s the General Electric Company was exhorting consumers to ‘LiveElectrically’, in the 1970s, the Edison Electric Company found it necessary to address the energy crisis directly in their advertisements. E In 1978, House Beautiful magazine, predicting what the homes of the 1980s would be like, suggested that self - indulgence was the wave of the future. ‘Our senses are awakened, and a new technology is waiting to aid us in giving them a free rein. Bathroom spas and gyms, computerized kitchens, wide screen entertainment, even home discotheques are all on the way.’ By the 1980s, the environmental and social movements of the 1970s were starting to ebb, significantly more women were working outside of the home, and computer technology was becoming more +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge of a reality in the household. All these trends opened the door for a renewed love of technology. The line between work and leisure became blurred in the 1980s. Forget about not being able to fit exercise into a hectic workday, in 1982, you can work and work out simultaneously. The Walking Desk, a computer workstation for the office at home, has a treadmill, stationary bike and stair climber installed underneath. On her most productive day, a worker should be able to walk four to five miles and burn as many as fifteen hundred calories while maintaining a normal workload.The desk will also come with a compact-disc player and color monitor for viewing nature scenes on a computer break. Thus, in addition to turning exercise into work, we see that nature is being brought into the home for breaks. One never has to leave the home, but the imperative is still clearly productive. Questions 19–26 Look at the following list of statements (questions 19–26) Match each statement or prediction with the correct time period, A–E. Write the correct letter, A–E, in boxes 19–26 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 19 There was a loss of faith in automation. 20 Advertisers believed that houses would be made in a factory. 21 There were fewer housewives. 22 One writer envisaged furniture being made from fully washable materials. 23 There was an increased awareness of the environment. 24 There was a link between our interest in the future and increased consumerism. 25 One magazine predicted that disposable plates would be used. 26 A new expression for ‘the perfect home’ was introduced. List of time periods A 1920s B 1930s and 1940s C 1950s D 1970s E 1980s 61

Day 15 READING PASSAGE 3 IELTS ZONEYou should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. First words There are over 6, 000 different languages today, but how did language evolve in the first place? Pinpointing the origin of language might seem like idle speculation, because sound does not fossilise. However, music, chit-chat and even humor may have been driving forces in the evolution of language, and gossip possibly freed our ancestors from sitting around wondering what to say next. There are over 6,000 different languages today, and the main language families are thought to have arisen as modern humans wandered about the globe in four great migrations beginning 100,000 years ago. But how did language evolve in the first place? Potential indicators of early language are written in our genetic code, behavior and culture. The genetic evidence is a gene called FOXP2, in which mutations appear to be responsible for speech defects. FOXP2 in humans differs only slightly from the gene in chimpanzees, and may be about 200,000 years old, slightly older than the earliest modern humans. Such a recent origin for language seems at first rather silly. How could our speechless Homo sapiens ancestors colonize the ancient world, spreading from Africa to Asia, and perhaps making a short sea-crossing to Indonesia, without language? Well, language can have two meanings: the infinite variety of sentences that we string together, and the pointing and grunting communication that we share with other animals. Marc Hauser (Harvard University) and colleagues argue that the study of animal behavior and communication can teach us how the faculty of language in the narrow human sense evolved. Other animals don’t come close to understanding our sophisticated thought processes. Nevertheless, the complexity of human expression may have started off as simple stages in animal ‘thinking’ or problem-solving. For example, number processing (how many lions are we up against?), navigation (time to fly south for the winter), or social relations (we need teamwork to build this shelter). In other words, we can potentially track language by looking at the behavior of other animals. William Noble and lain Davidson (University of New England) look for the origin of language in early symbolic behavior and the evolutionary selection in fine motor control. For example, throwing and making stone tools could have developed into simple gestures like pointing that eventually entailed a sense of self-awareness. They argue that language is a form of symbolic communication that has its roots in behavioral evolution. Even if archaic humans were physically capable of speech (a hyoid bone for supporting the larynx and tongue has been found in a Neanderthal skeleton), we cannot assume symbolic communication. They conclude that language is a feature of anatomically modern humans, and an essential precursor of the earliest 62

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge symbolic pictures in rock art, ritual burial, major sea-crossings, structured shelters and hearths-all dating, they argue, to the last 100,000 years. But the archaeological debate of when does not really help us with what was occurring in those first chats. Robin Dunbar (University of Liverpool) believes they were probably talking about each other-in other words, gossiping. He discovered a relationship between an animal’s group size and its neocortex (the thinking part of the brain), and tried to reconstruct grooming times and group sizes for early humans based on overall size of fossil skulls. Dunbar argues that gossip provides the social glue permitting humans to live in cohesive groups up to the size of about 150, found in population studies among hunter-gatherers, personal networks and corporate organizations. Apes are reliant on grooming to stick together, and that basically constrains their social complexity to groups of 50. Gelada baboons stroke and groom each other for several hours per day. Dunbar thus concludes that, if humans had no speech faculty, we would need to devote 40 per cent of the day to physical grooming, just to meet our social needs. Humans manage large social networks by ‘verbal grooming’ or gossiping- chatting with friends over coffee, for example. So the ‘audience’ can be much bigger than for grooming or one-on-one massage. Giselle Bastion, who recently completed her PhD at Flinders University, argues that gossip has acquired a bad name, being particularly associated with women and opposed by men who are defending their supposedly objective world. Yet it’s no secret that men gossip too. We are all bent on keeping track of other people and maintaining alliances. But how did we graduate from grooming to gossip? Dunbar notes that just as grooming releases opiates that create a feeling of wellbeing in monkeys and apes, so do the smiles and laughter associated with human banter. Dean Falk (Florida State University) suggests that, before the first smattering of language there was motherese, that musical gurgling between a mother and her baby, along with a lot of eye contact and touching. Early human babies could not cling on to their mother as she walked on two feet, so motherese evolved to soothe and control infants. Motherese is a small social step up from the contact calls of primates, but at this stage grooming probably still did most of the bonding. So when did archaic human groups get too big to groom each other? Dunbar suggests that nomadic expansion out of Africa, maybe 500,000 years ago, demanded larger group sizes and language sophistication to form the various alliances necessary for survival. Davidson and Noble, who reject Dunbar’s gossip theory, suggest that there was a significant increase in brain size from about 400,000 years ago, and this may correlate with increasing infant dependence. Still, it probably took a long time before a mother delivered humanity’s maiden speech. Nevertheless. once the words were out, and eventually put on paper, they acquired an existence of their own. Reading gossip magazines and newspapers today is essentially one-way communication with total strangers - a far cry from the roots of language. 63

IELTS ZONEDay 15 Questions 27–31 Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27–31 on your answer sheet. 27 In paragraph 1, the writer uses the term ‘idle speculation’ to refer to the study of A why people began to use music. B where language first evolved. C when people began to talk. D how humor first began. 28 What does the writer tell us about FOXP2? A It helps prevent speech problems. B It is the same in chimpanzees as in humans. C It could have first occurred 100,000 years ago. D It could have first occurred 200,000 years ago. 29 In paragraph 2, what notion does the writer refer to as being ‘rather silly’? A That language began such a long time ago. B That man could travel around the world unable to talk. C That chimpanzees may have been able to talk. D That communication between chimpanzees pre-dates man. 30 Why does the writer refer to ‘lions’ in paragraph 3? A To illustrate the type of communication needs faced by early man. B To indicate how vulnerable early man was to predators. C To provide evidence of other species existing at the same time. D To show the relationship between early humans and other animals. 31 Gelada baboons are mentioned in order to show that A using grooming to form social bonds limits the size of a social group. B early humans would probably have lived in groups of up to 50. C baboons’ social groups are larger than those of early humans. D baboons spend 40 per cent of their time grooming each other. 64

30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 32–40 Look at the following statements (questions 32-40) below and the list of people. Match each statement with the correct person or people, A–E. Write the correct letter, A–E, in boxes 32–40 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 32 There is physical evidence of increased human intelligence up to 400,000 years ago. 33 In the modern world, gossiping is seen in a negative way. 34 Language must have developed before art and travel. 35 The development of human language can be gauged by studying other species. 36 Gossiping makes humans feel good. 37 The actions of early humans could have evolved into a form of communication. 38 The first language emerged through a parent talking to an infant. 39 Gossip was the first purpose of human communication. 40 Early humans used language to help them live together. List of people A Hauser B Noble and Davidson C Dunbar D Bastion E Falk IELTS ZONE +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

Day 16 READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13 which are based on ReadingIELTS ZONE Passage 1 below. Going Nowhere Fast THIS is ludicrous! We can talk to people anywhere in the world or fly to meet them in a few hours. We can even send probes to other planets. But when it comes to getting around our cities, we depend on systems that have scarcely changed since the days of Gottlieb Daimler. In recent years, the pollution belched out by millions of vehicles has dominated the debate about transport. The problem has even persuaded California—that home of car culture—to curb traffic growth. But no matter how green they become, cars are unlikely to get us around crowded cities any faster. And persuading people to use trains and buses will always be an uphill struggle. Cars, after all, are popular for very good reasons, as anyone with small children or heavy shopping knows. So politicians should be trying to lure people out of their cars, not forcing them out. There’s certainly no shortage of alternatives. Perhaps the most attractive is the concept known as personal rapid transit (PRT), independently invented in the US and Europe in the 1950s. The idea is to go to one of many stations and hop into a computer-controlled car which can whisk you to your destination along a network of guideways. You wouldn’t have to share your space with strangers, and with no traffic lights, pedestrians or parked cars to slow things down, PRT guideways can carry far more traffic, nonstop, than any inner city road. It’s a wonderful vision, but the odds are stacked against PRT for a number of reasons. The first cars ran on existing roads, and it was only after they became popular—and after governments started earning revenue from them—that a road network designed specifically for motor vehicles was built. With PRT, the infrastructure would have to come first—and that would cost megabucks. What’s more, any transport system that threatened the car’s dominance would be up against all those with a stake in maintaining the status quo, from private car owners to manufacturers and oil multinationals. Even if PRTs were spectacularly successful in trials, it might not make much difference. Superior technology doesn’t always triumph, as the VHS versus Betamax and Windows versus Apple Mac battles showed. But “dual-mode” systems might just succeed where PRT seems doomed to fail. The Danish RUF system envisaged by Palle Jensen, for example, resembles PRT but with one key difference: vehicles have wheels as well as a slot allowing them to travel on a monorail, so they can drive off the rail onto a normal road. Once on a road, the occupant would take over from the computer, and the RUF vehicle—the term comes 66

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge from a Danish saying meaning to “go fast”—would become an electric car. Build a fast network of guideways in a busy city centre and people would have a strong incentive not just to use public RUF vehicles, but also to buy their own dual-mode vehicle. Commuters could drive onto the guideway, sit back and read as they are chauffeured into the city. At work, they would jump out, leaving their vehicles to park themselves. Unlike PRT, such a system could grow organically, as each network would serve a large area around it and people nearby could buy into it. And a dual-mode system might even win the support of car manufacturers, who could easily switch to producing dual-mode vehicles. Of course, creating a new transport system will not be cheap or easy. But unlike adding a dedicated bus lane here or extending the underground railway there, an innovative system such as Jensen’s could transform cities. And it’s not just a matter of saving a few minutes a day. According to the Red Cross, more than 30 million people have died in road accidents in the past century—three times the number killed in the First World War—and the annual death toll is rising. And what’s more, the Red Cross believes road accidents will become the third biggest cause of death and disability by 2020, ahead of diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis. Surely we can find a better way to get around? 67

Day 16 Questions 1–6 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1–6 on your answer sheet, 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 City transport developed slower than other means of communication. 2 The pollution caused by city transport has been largely ignored. IELTS ZONE 3 Most states in America have taken actions to reduce vehicle growth. 4 Public transport is particularly difficult to use on steep hills. 5 Private cars are much more convenient for those who tend to buy a lot of things during shopping. 6 Government should impose compulsory restrictions on car use. Questions 7–12 Classify the following descriptions as referring to A PRT only B RUF only C both PRT and RUF Write the correct letter in boxes 7–12 on your answer sheet. 7 It is likely to be resisted by both individuals and manufacturers. 8 It can run at high speed in cities. 9 It is not necessary to share with the general public. 10 It is always controlled by a computer. 11 It can run on existing roads. 12 It can be bought by private buyers. 68

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Question 13 Choose THREE letters, A–G. Which THREE of the following are advantages of the new transport system? Write the correct letters in box 13 on your answer sheet. A economy B space C low pollution D suitability for families E speed F safety G suitability for children 69

Day 17 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Questions 14–20 Reading passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A–G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–x, in boxes 14–20 on your answer sheet. IELTS ZONE List of headings i The best moment to migrate ii The unexplained rejection of closer feeding ground iii The influence of weather on the migration route iv Physical characteristics that allow birds to migrate v The main reason why birds migrate vi The best wintering grounds for birds vii Research findings on how birds migrate viii Successful migration despite trouble of wind ix Contrast between long-distance migration and short-distance migration x Mysterious migration despite lack of teaching 14 Paragraph A 15 Paragraph B 16 Paragraph C 17 Paragraph D 18 Paragraph E 19 Paragraph F 20 Paragraph G +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Bird Migration A Birds have many unique design features that enable them to perform such amazing feats of endurance. They are equipped with lightweight, hollow bones, intricately designed feathers providing both lift and thrust for rapid flight, navigation systems superior to any that man has developed, and an ingenious heat conserving design that, among other things, concentrates all blood circulation beneath layers of warm, waterproof plumage, leaving them fit to face life in the harshest of climates. Their respiratory systems have to perform efficiently during sustained flights at altitude, so they have a system of extracting oxygen from their lungs that far exceeds that of any other animal. During the later stages of the summer breeding season, when food is plentiful, their bodies are able to accumulate considerable layers of fat, in order to provide sufficient energy for their long migratory flights. B The fundamental reason that birds migrate is to find adequate food during the winter months when it is in short supply. This particularly applies to birds that breed in the temperate and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where food is abundant during the short growing season. Many species can tolerate cold temperatures if food is plentiful, but when food is not available they must migrate. However, intriguing questions remain. C One puzzling fact is that many birds journey much further than would be necessary just to find food and good weather. Nobody knows, for instance, why British swallows, which could presumably survive equally well if they spent the winter in equatorial Africa, instead fly several thousands of miles further to their preferred winter home in South Africa’s Cape Province. Another mystery involves the huge migrations performed by arctic terns and mudflat-feeding shorebirds that breed close to Polar Regions. In general, the further north a migrant species breeds, the further south it spends the winter. For arctic terns this necessitates an annual round trip of 25,000 miles. Yet, en route to their final destination in far-flung southern latitudes, all these individuals overfly other areas of seemingly suitable habitat spanning two hemispheres. While we may not fully understand birds’ reasons for going to particular places, we can marvel at their feats. D One of the greatest mysteries is how young birds know how to find the traditional wintering areas without parental guidance. Very few adults migrate with juveniles in tow, and youngsters may even have little or no inkling of their parents’ appearance. A familiar example is that of the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in another species’ nest and never encounters its young again. It is mind boggling to consider that, once raised by its host species, the young cuckoo makes it own way to ancestral wintering grounds in the tropics before returning single-handedly to northern Europe the next season to seek out a mate among its own kind. The obvious implication is that it inherits from its parents an inbuilt route map and direction- finding capability, as well as a mental image of what another cuckoo looks like. Yet nobody has the slightest idea as to how this is possible. 71

IELTS ZONEDay 17 E Mounting evidence has confirmed that birds use the positions of the sun and stars to obtain compass directions. They seem also to be able to detect the earth’s magnetic field, probably due to having minute crystals of magnetite in the region of their brains. However, true navigation also requires an awareness of position and time, especially when lost. Experiments have shown that after being taken thousands of miles over an unfamiliar landmass, birds are still capable of returning rapidly to nest sites. Such phenomenal powers are the product of computing a number of sophisticated cues, including an inborn map of the night sky and the pull of the earth’s magnetic field. How the birds use their ‘instruments’ remains unknown, but one thing is clear: they see the world with a superior sensory perception to ours. Most small birds migrate at night and take their direction from the position of the setting sun. However, as well as seeing the sun go down, they also seem to see the plane of polarized light caused by it, which calibrates their compass. Traveling at night provides other benefits. Daytime predators are avoided and the danger of dehydration due to flying for long periods in warm, sunlit skies is reduced. Furthermore, at night the air is generally cool and less turbulent and so conducive to sustained, stable flight. F Nevertheless, all journeys involve considerable risk, and part of the skill in arriving safely is setting off at the right time. This means accurate weather forecasting, and utilizing favorable winds. Birds are adept at both, and, in laboratory tests, some have been shown to detect the minute difference in barometric pressure between the floor and ceiling of a room. Often birds react to weather changes before there is any visible sign of them. Lapwings, which feed on grassland, flee west from the Netherlands to the British Isles, France and Spain at the onset of a cold snap. When the ground surface freezes the birds could starve. Yet they return to Holland ahead of a thaw, their arrival linked to a pressure change presaging an improvement in the weather. G In one instance a Welsh Manx shearwater carried to America and released was back in its burrow on Skokholm Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, one day before a letter announcing its release! Conversely, each autumn a small number of North American birds are blown across the Atlantic by fast-moving westerly tail winds. Not only do they arrive safely in Europe, but, based on ringing evidence, some make it back to North America the following spring, after probably spending the winter with European migrants in sunny African climes. 72

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 21–22 Choose TWO letters, A–E. Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet. Which TWO of the following statements are true of bird migration? A Birds often fly further than they need to. B Birds traveling in family groups are safe. C Birds flying at night need less water. D Birds have much sharper eye-sight than humans. E Only shorebirds are resistant to strong winds. Questions 23–26 Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN ONE WORD OR A NUMBER from the passage. Write your answers in boxes 23–26 on your answer sheet. 23 It is a great mystery that young birds like cuckoos can find their wintering grounds without …………… . 24 Evidence shows birds can tell directions like a ……………. by observing the sun and the stars. 25 One advantage for birds flying at night is that they can avoid contact with …………… . 26 Laboratory tests show that birds can detect weather without …………… signs. 73

Day 18 READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on ReadingIELTS ZONE Passage 3 below. Although video games were first developed for adults, they are no longer exclusively reserved for the grown ups in the home. In 2006, Rideout and Hamel reported that as many as 29 percent of preschool children (children between two and six years old) in the United States had played console video games, and 18 percent had played hand- held ones. Given young children’s insatiable eagerness to learn, coupled with the fact that they are clearly surrounded by these media, we predict that preschoolers will both continue and increasingly begin to adopt video games for personal enjoyment Although the majority of gaming equipment is still designed for a much older target audience, once a game system enters the household it is potentially available for all family members, including the youngest. Portable systems have done a particularly good job of penetrating the younger market. Research in the video game market is typically done at two stages: some time close to the end of the product cycle, in order to get feedback from consumers, so that a marketing strategy can be developed; and at the very end of the product cycle to ‘fix bugs’ in the game. While both of those types of research are important, and may be appropriate for dealing with adult consumers, neither of them aids in designing better games, especially when it comes to designing for an audience that may have particular needs, such as preschoolers or senior citizens. Instead, exploratory and formative research has to be undertaken in order to truly understand those audiences, their abilities, their perspective, and their needs. In the spring of 2007, our preschool-game production team at Nickelodeon had a hunch that the Nintendo DS* — with its new features, such as the microphone, small size and portability, and its relatively low price point — was a ripe gaming platform for preschoolers. There were a few games on the market at the time which had characters that appealed to the younger set, but our game producers did not think that the game mechanics or design were appropriate for preschoolers. What exactly preschoolers could do with the system, however, was a bit of a mystery. So we set about doing a study to answer the query: What could we expect preschoolers to be capable of in the context of hand-held game play, and how might the child development literature inform us as we proceeded with the creation of a new outlet for this age group? Our context in this case was the United States, although the games that resulted were also released in other regions, due to the broad international reach of the characters. In order to design the best possible DS product for a preschool audience we were fully committed to the ideals of a ‘user-centered approach’, which assumes that users will be at least considered, but ideally consulted during the development process. After all, when it comes to introducing a new interactive product to the child market, and particularly such a young age group within it, we believe it is crucial to assess the range 74

30 - Day Reading Challenge of physical and cognitive abilities associated with their specific developmental stage. Revelle and Medoff (2002) review some of the basic reasons why home entertainment systems, computers, and other electronic gaming devices, are often difficult for preschoolers to use. In addition to their still developing motor skills (which make manipulating a controller with small buttons difficult), many of the major stumbling blocks are cognitive. Though preschoolers are learning to think symbolically, and understand that pictures can stand for real-life objects, the vast majority are still unable to read and write. Thus, using text-based menu selections is not viable. Mapping is yet another obstacle since preschoolers may be unable to understand that there is a direct link between how the controller is used and the activities that appear before them on screen. Though this aspect is changing, in traditional mapping systems real life movements do not usually translate into game-based activity. Over the course of our study, we gained many insights into how preschoolers interact with various platforms, including the DS. For instance, all instructions for preschoolers need to be in voiceover, and include visual representations, and this has been one of the most difficult areas for us to negotiate with respect to game design on the DS. Because the game cartridges have very limited memory capacity, particularly in comparison to console or computer games, the ability to capture large amounts of voiceover data via sound files or visual representations of instructions becomes limited. Text instructions take up minimal memory, so they are preferable from a technological perspective. Figuring out ways to maximise sound and graphics files, while retaining the clear visual and verbal cues that we know are critical for our youngest players, is a constant give and take. Another of our findings indicated that preschoolers may use either a stylus, or their fingers, or both although they are not very accurate with either. One of the very interesting aspects of the DS is that the interface, which is designed to respond to stylus interactions, can also effectively be used with the tip of the finger. This is particularly noteworthy in the context of preschoolers for two reasons. Firstly, as they have trouble with fine motor skills and their hand-eye coordination is still in development, they are less exact with their stylus movements; and secondly, their fingers are so small that they mimic the stylus very effectively, and therefore by using their fingers they can often be more accurate in their game interactions. IELTS ZONE * a brand of hand-held electronic games @ieltszone_uz +97 130 68 22

Day 18 Questions 27–31 Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 27–31 on your answer sheet, write YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 27 Video game use amongst preschool children is higher in the US than in other countries. 28 The proportion of preschool children using video games is likely to rise. 29 Parents in the US who own gaming equipment generally allow their children to play with it. 30 The type of research which manufacturers usually do is aimed at improving game design. 31 Both old and young games consumers require research which is specifically targeted. IELTS ZONE 76

30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 32–36 Complete the summary using the list of words/phrases, A–I, below. Write the correct letter, A–I, in boxes 32–36 on your answer sheet. Problems for preschool users of video games Preschool children find many electronic games difficult, because neither their motor skills nor their 32 …………… are sufficiently developed. Certain types of control are hard for these children to manipulate: for example, 33 …………… can be more effective than styluses. Also, although they already have the ability to relate 34 …………… to real-world objects, preschool children are largely unable to understand the connection between their own 35 …………… and the movements they can see on the screen.Finally, very few preschool children can understand 36 …………… . IELTS ZONE A actions B buttons C cognitive skills D concentration E fingers F pictures G sounds H spoken instructions I written menus 77

IELTS ZONEDay 18 Questions 37–40 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 37–40 on your answer sheet. 37 In 2007, what conclusion did games producers at Nickelodeon come to? A The preschool market was unlikely to be sufficiently profitable. B One of their hardware products would probably be suitable for preschoolers. C Games produced by rival companies were completely inappropriate for preschoolers. D They should put their ideas for new games for preschoolers into practice. 38 The study carried out by Nickelodeon A was based on children living in various parts of the world. B focused on the kinds of game content which interests preschoolers. C investigated the specific characteristics of the target market. D led to products which appealed mainly to the US consumers. 39 Which problem do the writers highlight concerning games instructions for young children? A Spoken instructions take up a lot of the available memory. B Written instructions have to be expressed very simply. C The children do not follow instructions consistently. D The video images distract attention from the instructions. 40 Which is the best title for Reading Passage 3? A An overview of video games software for the preschool market B Researching and designing video games for preschool children C The effects of video games on the behaviour of young children D Assessing the impact of video games on educational achievement 78

Day 19 READING PASSAGE 1 IELTS ZONEYou should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. The MIT factor: celebrating 150 years of maverick genius by Ed Pilkington The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has led the world into the future for 150 years with scientific innovations. The musician Yo-Yo Ma’s cello may not be the obvious starting point for a journey into one of the world’s great universities. But, as you quickly realise when you step inside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there’s precious little going on that you would normally see on a university campus. The cello, resting in a corner of MIT’s celebrated media laboratory – a hub of creativity – looks like any other electric classical instrument. But it is much more. Machover, the composer, teacher and inventor responsible for its creation, calls it a ‘hyperinstrument’, a sort of thinking machine that allows Ma and his cello to interact with one another and make music together. ‘The aim is to build an instrument worthy of a great musician like Yo-Yo Ma that can understand what he is trying to do and respond to it,’ Machover says. The cello has numerous sensors across its body and by measuring the pressure, speed and angle of the virtuoso’s performance it can interpret his mood and engage with it, producing extraordinary new sounds. The virtuoso cellist frequently performs on the instrument as he tours around the world. Machover’s passion for pushing at the boundaries of the existing world to extend and unleash human potential is not a bad description of MIT as a whole. This unusual community brings highly gifted, highly motivated individuals together from a vast range of disciplines, united by a common desire: to leap into the dark and reach for the unknown. The result of that single unifying ambition is visible all around. For the past 150 years, MIT has been leading the world into the future. The discoveries of its teachers and students have become the common everyday objects that we now all take for granted. The telephone, electromagnets, radars, high-speed photography, office photocopiers, cancer treatments, pocket calculators, computers, the Internet, the decoding of the human genome, lasers, space travel … the list of innovations that involved essential contributions from MIT and its faculty goes on and on. From the moment MIT was founded by William Barton Rogers in 1861, it was clear what it was not. While Harvard stuck to the English model of a classical education, with its emphasis on Latin and Greek, MIT looked to the German system of learning based on research and hands-on experimentation. Knowledge was at a premium, but it had to be useful. 79

30 - Day Reading Challenge This down-to-earth quality is enshrined in the school motto, Mens et manus – Mind and hand – as well as its logo, which shows a gowned scholar standing beside an ironmonger bearing a hammer and anvil. That symbiosis of intellect and craftsmanship still suffuses the institute’s classrooms, where students are not so much taught as engaged and inspired. Take Christopher Merrill, 21, a third-year undergraduate in computer science. He is spending most of his time on a competition set in his robotics class. The contest is to see which student can most effectively program a robot to build a house out of blocks in under ten minutes. Merrill says he could have gone for the easiest route – designing a simple robot that would build the house quickly. But he wanted to try to master an area of robotics that remains unconquered – adaptability, the ability of the robot to rethink its plans as the environment around it changes, as would a human. ‘I like to take on things that have never been done before rather than to work in an iterative way just making small steps forward,’ he explains. Merrill is already planning the start-up he wants to set up when he graduates in a year’s time. He has an idea for an original version of a contact lens that would augment reality by allowing consumers to see additional visual information. He is fearful that he might be just too late in taking his concept to market, as he has heard that a Silicon Valley firm is already developing something similar. As such, he might become one of many MIT graduates who go on to form companies that fail. Alternatively, he might become one of those who go on to succeed in spectacular fashion. And there are many of them. A survey of living MIT alumni* found that they have formed 25,800 companies, employing more than three million people, including about a quarter of the workforce of Silicon Valley. What MIT delights in is taking brilliant minds from around the world in vastly diverse disciplines and putting them together. You can see that in its sparkling new David Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, which brings scientists, engineers and clinicians under one roof. Or in its Energy Initiative, which acts as a bridge for MIT’s combined work across all its five schools, channeling huge resources into the search for a solution to global warming. It works to improve the efficiency of existing energy sources, including nuclear power. It is also forging ahead with alternative energies from solar to wind and geothermal, and has recently developed the use of viruses to synthesise batteries that could prove crucial in the advancement of electric cars. In the words of Tim Berners-Lee, the Briton who invented the World Wide Web, ‘It’s not just another university. Even though I spend my time with my head buried in the details of web technology, the nice thing is that when I do walk the corridors, I bump into people who are working in other fields with their students that are fascinating, and that keeps me intellectually alive.’ IELTS ZONE adapted from the Guardian *people who have left a university or college after completing their studies there +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

Day 19 Questions 1–5 Do the following statements agree with the information in the passage? In boxes 1–5 on your answer sheet, 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 The activities going on at the MIT campus are like those at any other university. 2 Harvard and MIT shared a similar approach to education when they were founded. IELTS ZONE 3 The school motto was suggested by a former MIT student. 4 MIT’s logo reflects the belief that intellect and craftsmanship go together. 5 Silicon Valley companies pay higher salaries to graduates from MIT. Questions 6–9 Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 6–9 on your answer sheet. Christopher Merrill – student at MIT Degree subject: 6……………… Competition: to 7……………… the automated construction of a house Special focus on: the 8……………… of robots Future plans: to develop new type of 9 ……………… 81

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 10–13 Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 10–13 on your answer sheet. 10 What proportion of workers at Silicon Valley are employed in companies set up by MIT graduates? 11 What problem does MIT’s Energy Initiative aim to solve? 12 Which ‘green’ innovation might MIT’s work with viruses help improve? 13 In which part of the university does Tim Berners-Lee enjoy stimulating conversations with other MIT staff? 82

Day 20 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Questions 14–20 The reading passage has seven sections, A–G. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–x, in boxes 14–20 on your answer sheet. IELTS ZONE List of Headings i Looking for clues ii Blaming the beekeepers iii Solutions to a more troublesome issue iv Discovering a new bee species v An impossible task for any human vi The preferred pollinator vii Plant features designed to suit the pollinator viii Some obvious and less obvious pollen carriers ix The undesirable alternative x An unexpected setback 14 Section A 15 Section B 16 Section C 17 Section D 18 Section E 19 Section F 20 Section G 83

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Gold dusters They are the Earth’s pollinators and they come in more than 200,000 shapes and sizes. A Row upon row, tomato plants stand in formation inside a greenhouse. To reproduce, most flowering plants depend on a third party to transfer pollen between their male and female parts. Some require extra encouragement to give up that golden dust. The tomato flower, for example, needs a violent shake, a vibration roughly equivalent to 30 times the pull of Earth’s gravity, explains Arizona entomologist Stephen Buchmann. Growers have tried numerous ways to rattle pollen from tomato blossoms. They have used shaking tables, air blowers and blasts of sound. But natural means seem to work better. B It is no surprise that nature’s design works best. What’s astonishing is the array of workers that do it: more than 200,000 individual animal species, by varying strategies, help the world’s 240,000 species of flowering plants make more flowers. Flies and beetles are the original pollinators, going back to when flowering plants first appeared 130 million years ago. As for bees, scientists have identified some 20,000 distinct species so far. Hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, wasps and ants are also up to the job. Even non-flying mammals do their part: sugar-loving opossums, some rainforest monkeys, and lemurs in Madagascar, all with nimble hands that tear open flower stalks and furry coats to which pollen sticks. Most surprising, some lizards, such as geckos, lap up nectar and pollen and then transport the stuff on their faces and feet as they forage onward. C All that messy diversity, unfortunately, is not well suited to the monocrops and mega-yields of modern commercial farmers. Before farms got so big, says conservation biologist Claire Kremen of the University of California, Berkeley, ‘we didn’t have to manage pollinators. They were all around because of the diverse landscapes. Now you need to bring in an army to get pollination done.’ The European honeybee was first imported to the US some 400 years ago. Now at least a hundred commercial crops rely almost entirely on managed honeybees, which beekeepers raise and rent out to tend to big farms. And although other species of bees are five to ten times more efficient, on a per-bee basis, at pollinating certain fruits, honeybees have bigger colonies, cover longer distances, and tolerate management and movement better than most insects. They’re not picky – they’ll spend their time on almost any crop. It’s tricky to calculate what their work is truly worth; some economists put it at more than $200 billion globally a year. D Industrial-scale farming, however, may be wearing down the system. Honeybees have suffered diseases and parasite infestations for as long as they’ve been managed, but in 2006 came an extreme blow. Around the world, bees began to disappear over the winter in massive numbers. Beekeepers would lift the lid of a hive and be amazed to find only the queen and a few stragglers, the worker bees 84

Day 20 gone. In the US, a third to half of all hives crashed; some beekeepers reported colony losses near 90 percent. The mysterious culprit was named colony collapse disorder (CCD) and it remains an annual menace – and an enigma. E When it first hit, many people, from agronomists to the public, assumed that our slathering of chemicals on agricultural fields was to blame for the mystery. Indeed, says Jeff Pettis of the USDA Bee Research Laboratory, ‘we do find more disease in bees that have been exposed to pesticides, even at low levels.’ But it is likely that CCD involves multiple stressors. Poor nutrition and chemical exposure, for instance, might wear down a bee’s immunities before a virus finishes the insect off. It’s hard to tease apart factors and outcomes, Pettis says. New studies reveal that fungicides – not previously thought toxic to bees – can interfere with microbes that break down pollen in the insects’ guts, affecting nutrient absorption and thus long-term health and longevity. Some findings pointed to viral and fungal pathogens working together. ‘I only wish we had a single agent causing all the declines,’ Pettis says, ‘that would make our work much easier.’ F However, habitat loss and alteration, he says, are even more of a menace to pollinators than pathogens. Claire Kremen encourages farmers to cultivate the flora surrounding farmland to help solve habitat problems. ‘You can’t move the farm,’ she says, ‘but you can diversify what grows in its vicinity: along roads, even in tractor yards.’ Planting hedgerows and patches of native flowers that bloom at different times and seeding fields with multiple plant species rather than monocrops ‘not only is better for native pollinators, but it’s just better agriculture,’ she says. Pesticide-free wildflower havens, adds Buchmann, would also bolster populations of useful insects. Fortunately, too, ‘there are far more generalist plants than specialist plants, so there’s a lot of redundancy in pollination,’ Buchmann says. ‘Even if one pollinator drops out, there are often pretty good surrogates left to do the job.’ The key to keeping our gardens growing strong, he says, is letting that diversity thrive. G Take away that variety, and we’ll lose more than honey. ‘We wouldn’t starve,’ says Kremen. ‘But what we eat, and even what we wear – pollinators, after all, give us some of our cotton and flax – would be limited to crops whose pollen travels by other means. ‘In a sense,’ she says, ‘our lives would be dictated by the wind.’ It’s vital that we give pollinators more of what they need and less of what they don’t, and ease the burden on managed bees by letting native animals do their part, say scientists. IELTS ZONE adapted from National Geographic Magazine @ieltszone_uz +97 130 68 22

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 21–24 Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 21–24 on your answer sheet. 21 Both …………… were the first creatures to pollinate the world’s plants. 22 Monkeys transport pollen on their …………… . 23 Honeybees are favored pollinators among bee species partly because they travel …………… . 24 A feature of CCD is often the loss of all the …………… . Questions 25–26 Choose TWO letters, A–E. Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet. Which TWO methods of combating the problems caused by CCD and habitat loss are mentioned in the article? A using more imported pest controllers B removing microbes from bees’ stomachs C cultivating a wide range of flowering plants D increasing the size of many farms E placing less reliance on honeybees 86

Day 21 READING PASSAGE 3 IELTS ZONEYou should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. The Earth and Space Foundation The community that focuses its efforts on the exploration of space has largely been different from the community focused on the study and protection of the Earth’s environment, despite the fact that both fields of interest involve what might be referred to as ‘scientific exploration’. The reason for this dichotomous existence is chiefly historical. The exploration of the Earth has been occurring over many centuries, and the institutions created to do it are often very different from those founded in the second part of the 20th century to explore space. This separation is also caused by the fact that space exploration has attracted experts from mainly non-biological disciplines – primarily engineers and physicists – but the study of Earth and its environment is a domain heavily populated by biologists. The separation between the two communities is often reflected in attitudes. In the environmental community, it is not uncommon for space exploration to be regarded as a waste of money, distracting governments from solving major environmental problems here at home. In the space exploration community, it is not uncommon for environmentalists to be regarded as introspective people who divert attention from the more expansive visions of the exploration of space – the ‘new frontier’. These perceptions can also be negative in consequence because the full potential of both communities can be realised better when they work together to solve problems. For example, those involved in space exploration can provide the satellites to monitor the Earth’s fragile environments, and environmentalists can provide information on the survival of life in extreme environments. In the sense that Earth and space exploration both stem from the same human drive to understand our environment and our place within it, there is no reason for the split to exist. A more accurate view of Earth and space exploration is to see them as a continuum of exploration with many interconnected and mutually beneficial links. The Earth and Space Foundation, a registered charity, was established for the purposes of fostering such links through field research and by direct practical action. Projects that have been supported by the Foundation include environmental projects using technologies resulting from space exploration: satellite communications, GPS, remote sensing, advanced materials and power sources. For example, in places where people are faced with destruction of the forests on which their livelihood depends, rather than rejecting economic progress and trying to save the forests on their intrinsic merit, another approach is to enhance the value of the forests – although these schemes must be carefully assessed to be successful. In the past, the Foundation provided a grant to a group of expeditions that used remote sensing to plan eco-tourism routes in the forests of Guatemala, thus providing capital to the local communities 87

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge through the tourist trade. This novel approach is now making the protection of the forests a sensible economic decision. The Foundation funds expeditions making astronomical observations from remote, difficult-to-access Earth locations, archaeological field projects studying the development of early civilisations that made significant contributions to astronomy and space sciences, and field expeditions studying the way in which views of the astronomical environment shaped the nature of past civilisations. A part of Syria – ‘the Fertile Crescent’ – was the birthplace of astronomy, accountancy, animal domestication and many other fundamental developments of human civilisation. The Foundation helped fund a large archaeology project by the Society for Syrian Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, in collaboration with the Syrian government that used GPS and satellite imagery to locate mounds or ’tels’, containing artefacts and remnants of early civilisations. These collections are being used to build a better picture of the nature of the civilisations that gave birth to astronomy. Field research also applies the Earth’s environmental and biological resources to the human exploration and settlement of space. This may include the use of remote environments on Earth, as well as physiological and psychological studies in harsh environments. In one research project, the Foundation provided a grant to an international caving expedition to study the psychology of explorers subjected to long- term isolation in caves in Mexico. The psychometric tests on the cavers were used to enhance US astronaut selection criteria by the NASA Johnson Space Center. Space-like environments on Earth help us understand how to operate in the space environment or help us characterise extraterrestrial environments for future scientific research. In the Arctic, a 24-kilometre-wide impact crater formed by an asteroid or comet 23 million years ago has become home to a Mars analogue programme. The Foundation helped fund the NASA Haughton–Mars Project to use this crater to test communications and exploration technologies in preparation for the human exploration of Mars.The crater, which sits in high Arctic permafrost, provides an excellent replica of the physical processes occurring on Mars, a permafrosted, impact-altered planet. Geologists and biologists can work at the site to help understand how impact craters shape the geological characteristics and possibly biological potential of Mars. In addition to its fieldwork and scientific activities, the Foundation has award programmes. These include a series of awards for the future human exploration of Mars, a location with a diverse set of exploration challenges. The awards will honour a number of ‘firsts’ on Mars that include landing on the surface, undertaking an overland expedition to the Martian South Pole, undertaking an overland expedition to the Martian North Pole, climbing Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system, and descending to the bottom of Valles Marineris, the deepest canyon on Mars. The Foundation will offer awards for expeditions further out in the solar system once these Mars awards have been claimed. Together, they demonstrate that the programme really has no boundary in what it could eventually support, and they provide longevity for the objectives of the Foundation. 88

Day 21 Questions 27–31 Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the reading passage? In boxes 27–31 on your answer sheet, write YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 27 Activities related to environmental protection and space exploration have a common theme. IELTS ZONE 28 It is unclear why space exploration evolved in a different way from environmental studies on Earth. 29 Governments tend to allocate more money to environmental projects than space exploration. 30 Unfortunately, the environmental and space exploration communities have little to offer each other in terms of resources. 31 The Earth and Space Foundation was set up later than it was originally intended. Questions 32–35 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 32–35 on your answer sheet. 32 What was the significance of the ’novel approach’ adopted in the Guatemala project? A It minimised the need to protect the forests. B It reduced the impact of tourists on the forests. C It showed that preserving the forests can be profitable. D It gave the Foundation greater control over the forests. 33 GPS and satellite imagery were used in the Syrian project to A help archaeologists find ancient items. B explore land that is hard to reach. C reduce the impact of archaeological activity. D evaluate some early astronomical theories. 89

30 - Day Reading Challenge 34 One of the purposes of the Foundation’s awards is to A attract non-scientists to its work. B establish priorities for Mars exploration. C offer financial incentives for space exploration. D establish the long-term continuity of its activities. 35 What is the writer’s purpose in the passage? A to persuade people to support the Foundation B to explain the nature of the Foundation’s work C to show how views on the Foundation have changed D to reject earlier criticisms of the Foundation’s work IELTS ZONE Questions 36–40 Complete the summary using the words, A–I, below. Write the correct letter, A–I, in boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet. Field research: Applying the Earth’s environment to the settlement of space Some studies have looked at how humans function in 36 …………… situations. In one project, it was decided to review cave explorers in Mexico who tolerate 37 …………… periods on their own. It is also possible to prepare for space exploration by studying environments on Earth that are 38 …………… to those on Mars. A huge crater in the Arctic is the 39 …………… place to test the technologies needed to explore Mars and gather other relevant 40 …………… information. A comparable D ideal G scientific B extreme E unexpected H extended C connected F beneficial I individual +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

Day 22 READING PASSAGE 1 IELTS ZONEYou should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. The environmental impact of the clothing industry On a Saturday afternoon, a group of teenage girls leaf through glossy fashion magazines at an American shopping mall. Their shopping bags are brimming with new purchases as they walk excitedly about what’s in style this summer. Far away in Tanzania, a young man wears a T-shirt bearing the logo of an American basketball team while shopping at the local second-hand goods market. Although seemingly disparate, these two scenes are connected through the surprising life cycle of clothing. How does a T-shirt sold in a US shopping mall to promote an American sports team end up being worn by a teenager in Africa? Globalisation, consumerism, and recycling all converge to connect these scenes. Globalisation has made it possible to produce clothing at increasingly lower prices, prices so low that many consumers consider this clothing to be disposable. Some call it ‘fast fashion’, the clothing equivalent of fast food. Fuelling the demand are fashion magazines that help create the desire for new ‘must-have’ for each season. ‘Girls especially are insatiable when it comes to fashion. They have to have the latest thing,’ says Mayra Diaz, mother of a 10-year-old girl. Yet fast fashion leaves a pollution footprint, generating both environmental and occupational hazards. For example, polyester, the most widely used manufactured fibre, is made from petroleum. With the rise in production in the fashion industry, demand for man-made fibres has nearly doubled in the last 15 years. The manufacture of polyester and other synthetic fabrics is an energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of crude oil and releasing emissions which can cause or aggravate respiratory disease.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers many textile manufacturing facilities to be hazardous waste generators. These issues do not apply only to the production of man-made fabrics. Cotton, one of the most popular fibres used in clothing manufacture, also has a significant environmental footprint. This crop accounts for a quarter of all the pesticides used in the United States. Much of the cotton produced in the United States is exported to China and other countries with low labour costs, where the material is woven into fabrics, cut and assembled according to the fashion industry’s specifications. In her 2005 book The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy, Pietra Rivoli, a professor at Georgetown University, writes that each year Americans purchase approximately one billion garments made in China, the equivalent of four pieces of clothing for every US citizen. Once bought, an estimated 21% of annual clothing purchases stay in the home, increasing the stocks of clothing and other textiles held by consumers, according to Recycling of Low Grade Clothing Waste, by consultant Oakdene Hollins. The report 91

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge calls this stockpiling an increase in the ‘national wardrobe’, which is considered to represent a potentially large quantity of latent waste that will eventually enter the solid waste stream. According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and this represents about 4% of the municipal solid waste. But this figure is rapidly growing. In her book Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash, Susan Strasser, a professor of history at the University of Delaware, traces the ‘progressive obsolescence’ of clothing and other consumer goods to the 1920s. Before then, and especially during World War I, most clothing was repaired, mended or tailored to fit other family members, or recycled within the home as rags or quilts. During that war, clothing manufacturers reduced the varieties, sizes and colours of their productions and even urged designers to create styles that would use less fabric and avoid needles decoration. The US government’s conservation campaign used slogans such as ‘Make economy fashionable lest it become obligatory’ and resulted in an approximate 10% reduction in the production of trash. However, the spirit of conservation did not last long; by the mid-1920s, consumerism was back in style. During World War II, consumption rose with increased employment as the United States mobilised for the war. Industrialisation brought consumerism with it as an integral part of the economy. When it comes to clothing, the rate of purchase and disposal has dramatically increased, so the path that a T-shirt travels from the sales floor to the landfill site has become shorter. Yet even today, the journey of a piece of clothing does not always end at the landfill site. A proportion of clothing purchases are recycled, mainly in three ways: clothing may be resold by the primary consumer to other consumers at a lower price, it may be exported in bulk for sale in developing countries, or it may be chemically or mechanically recycled into raw material that can be used to produce insulation. Domestic resale has boomed in the era of the internet. Many people sell directly to other individuals through auction websites such as eBay. Another increasingly popular outlet is charity and thrift shops, though only about one-fifth of the clothing donated to charities is directly used or sold in their thrift shops. Says Rivoli, ‘There are nowhere near enough people in America to absorb the mountains of cast-offs, even if they were given away.’ So charities find another way to fund their programmes, using the clothing that they cannot sell. About 45% of these textiles continue their life as clothing, just not domestically. Certain brands and rare collectible items are imported by Japan. Clothing that is not considered vintage or high-end is baled for export to developing nations. For Tanzania, where used clothing is sold at the markets that dot the country, these items are the number one import from the United States. Observers such as Rivoli predict that the trend toward increasing exports of used clothing to developing countries will continue to accelerate because of the rise of consumerism in the United States and Europe and the falling prices of new clothing. 92

IELTS ZONEDay 22 Questions 1–5 Look at the following statements and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A–D. Write the correct letter, A–D, in boxes 1–5 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 1 The amount of recycled clothing available in the US exceeds demand. 2 Countries like Tanzania will receive even more used clothing from North America in the future. 3 A change in manufacturers’ attitudes helped decrease the amount of waste that was generated 4 Our gender has an influence on our increased desire to shop. 5 A future waste problem may occur because people add to the clothes, they al ready own each year. List of people A Mayra Diaz B Pietra Rivoli C Oakdene Hollins D Susan Strasser 93

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 6–8 Choose THREE of these letters, A–G. Write the correct letters, A–G, in boxes 6–8 on your answer sheet. Which THREE possible consequences of the fashion industry are mentioned by the writer of the passage? A increased health problems B increases in petrol prices C increased use of chemicals D reduced wages for workers E lower profits for small local manufacturers F negative effects on other industries G production of unwanted dangerous materials Questions 9–13 Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9–13 on your answer sheet. 9 What is the name of one material that is not natural? 10 What percentage of household garbage is made up of clothes? 11 In what era did Americans stop reusing old clothes? 12 What has caused the selling of used clothing to increase in the US? 13 To which country does America export a lot of its good quality used clothing? 94

Day 23 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on ReadingIELTS ZONE Passage 2 below. Selling the health benefits of enriched ‘phoods’ A The introduction of iodine to Morton Salt in 1924 was instrumental in eradicating a dangerous thyroid condition called goiter from the U.S. population. It was also the first time a food company purposely added a medically beneficial ingredient to food to help market that product. Eighty years later, the food industry is intensively researching all kinds of other healthful ingredients it hopes to use to help sell otherwise everyday foods. Functional foods, or ‘phoods’ as they’re sometimes called to connote the intersection of food and pharmaceuticals, have been trickling into supermarkets over the past several years – think of calcium-enhanced orange juice and cholesterol-lowering margarine, for example. But they met with mixed success at first because consumers didn’t know or care enough about the new ingredients. B Now, though, consumers’ growing awareness of health and nutrition, and new regulatory rulings that will make it easier for manufacturers to make health claims on packaging, are re-energizing the ‘phood’ business. Once again, food companies see functional foods as a way to boost sales in a highly competitive market. ‘It’s definitely a big deal,’ said David Lockwood, editor of a recent report on functional foods by market research giant Mintel International Group Ltd. ‘We expect [the functional foods business] to grow about 7.6 percent annually – that’s about twice as fast as the overall food market is going to be growing.’ At the recent annual meeting of the Food Marketing Institute, fully half of the 75 new products one major food company introduced had a ‘health and wellness’ focus, the company said. That’s up from 15 percent of its new products the year before. C Many of these products have added vitamins and minerals, such as a new juice drink that provides 100 percent of a child’s daily vitamin C requirement, and a smoothie boosted with calcium. Lutein, linked to vision health, is now added to prune juice. Soy protein, which can help prevent heart disease, is being added to new breakfast cereals. Major food giants are actively unveiling products overseas, including yogurt with probiotic bacteria, to aid digestion. These nutritionally oriented products make up just 8 percent of company sales but account for 20 percent of its research budget, according to company spokesman Hans-Joerg Renk. D ‘There’s a lot of research and development going on into what kinds of products people want, what kinds of products we can produce to meet the demand – that taste good and will be successful in the marketplace – and how we communicate the benefits,’ said Michael E. Diegel, a spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers +97 130 68 22 @ieltszone_uz

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge of America. Vitamin water drinks, spiked with nutrients such as taurine, vitamin C, calcium and potassium, can be found on shelves of gourmet shops and supermarkets. Officials at privately owned Energy Brands Inc. attribute much of the dramatic growth in sales to consumers’ rising interest in nutrition and wellness. E Food marketing professor Nancy Childs, of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, said the widespread awareness of the low-carb phenomenon has led many consumers to check food labels while trying to lose weight. ‘It starts to make them think about their food in terms of its nutritional components,’ she said, which makes it easier to introduce other ingredients such as soy, fiber and many lesser-known compounds. Although more consumers may be ready to try the new products, the real driver behind the reborn interest of food manufacturers comes from science and the government. Government labs, universities and private companies are doing more research on the health effects of many nutrients, food scientists say, but much of it falls short of the full-scale clinical trials that the Food and Drug Administration has required for use in marketing. F Beginning this spring, the FDA started allowing ‘qualified health claims’ on foods, telling consumers about ingredients that current science ‘suggests’ might be helpful in preventing certain diseases and medical conditions. ‘FDA feels that this does provide more information to the consumer,’ said Kathleen C. Ellwood, director of the agency’s division of Nutrition Programs and Labeling. ‘It’s more to empower the consumer, to make them more aware of possible health benefits in these foods.’ That allowance has opened the floodgates. Dozens of petitions have been filed with the agency seeking permission for such claims: sports drink maker American Longevity wants to claim that lycopene reduces the risk of cancer; coral calcium producer Marine Bio USA has petitioned for a claim that calcium can reduce the risk of kidney stones; and the North American Olive Oil Association wants permission to use a claim that monounsaturated fatty acids can reduce the risk of heart disease. Consumers will start seeing these claims on packages soon, though some nutritionists and scientists are worried that the findings aren’t rock solid. The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest has filed suit against the FDA, arguing the new program violates the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, which mandated a higher level of scientific agreement for marketing the health benefits of ingredients. G Others fear there will be so many claims they will just become more noise to already bewildered consumers, ‘I’m concerned that too many such claims will cause consumers to tune out and make all of them ineffective’ said Clare Hasler, executive director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the University of California at Davis. So far, the FDA has approved only a handful of qualified health claims, and they show the limitations that this new system may have, for consumers and food companies. The California Walnut Commission, for example, wanted permission to put this claim on packages of walnuts, which are high in Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: ‘Diets including walnuts can reduce the risk of heart disease.’ The agency approved wording that is not quite as snappy for package design: ‘Supportive but not conclusive research shows that 96

IELTS ZONEDay 23 eating 1.5 oz. walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet, and not resulting in increased caloric intake, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.’ Questions 1–8 The Reading Passage has seven sections, A–G. Which section contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A–G, in boxes 1–8 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 1 the significance of the link between consumers reading food labels and functional foods 2 a mention of large companies that are marketing functional foods in several manufacturers 3 a reference to the success of one functional food in eliminating a disease 4 the reason why the FDA’s new ‘qualified health claims’ may not benefit countries 5 a prediction of the future sales figures for functional foods 6 a mention of the diet that caused consumers to focus on the ingredients in food 7 concern about the limitations of research being carried out into the health benefits of functional foods 8 the questions regarding functional foods that researchers are concentrating on 97

IELTS ZONE 30 - Day Reading Challenge Questions 9–13 Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–G, below. Write the correct letter, A–G, in boxes 9–13 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 9 Early attempts to produce functional foods were not very successful because 10 People are now buying more functional foods because 11 The FDA has decided to allow health claims on foods because 12 The Center for Science in the Public Interest has taken legal action against the FDA because 13 The Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is worried because A consumers did not like the taste of the extra ingredients. B it wants more researchers to support health claims before food is advertised. C it wants consumers to know that certain foods can improve their health. D consumers were ignorant of the benefits of the added ingredients. E it thinks the abundance of health claims will confuse consumers. F they are more concerned about their health. G they are attracted by the design of the packaging. 98

Day 24 READING PASSAGE 3 IELTS ZONEYou should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. Swarm theory I used to think that ants knew what they were doing. The ones marching across my kitchen bench looked so confident that I figured they had a plan, knew where going and what needed to be done. How else could ants organise highways, build elaborate nests, stage epic raids and do all of the other things ants do? But it turns out I was wrong. Ants aren’t clever little engineers, architects or warriors after all – at least not as individuals. When it comes to deciding what to do next, most ants don’t have a clue. ‘If you watch an ant trying to accomplish something, you’ll be impressed by how inept it is,’ says Deborah M Gordon, a biologist at Stanford University. How do we explain, then, the success of Earth’s 12,000 or so known ant species? They must have learned something in 140 million years. ‘Ants aren’t smart,’ Gordon says. ‘Ant colonies are.’ A colony can solve problems unthinkable to individual ants, such as finding the shortest path to the best food source, allocating workers to different tasks, defending territory from neighbours. As individuals, ants might be tiny dummies, but as colonies they respond quickly and effectively to their environment. They do this with something called swarm intelligence. Where this intelligence comes from raises a fundamental question in nature: how do the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex behaviour of a group? How do hundreds of honeybees make a critical decision about their hive if many of them disagree? What enables a school of herring to coordinate its movements so precisely it can change direction in a flash, like a single organism? One key to an ant colony is that no one’s in charge. No generals command ant warriors. No managers boss ant workers. The queen plays no role except to lay eggs. Even with half a million ants, a colony functions just fine with no management at all – at least none that we would recognise. It relies instead upon countless interactions between individual ants, each of which is following simple rules of thumb. Scientists describe such a system as ‘self-organising’. Consider the problem of job allocation. In the Arizona desert, where Deborah Gordon studies red harvester ants, a colony calculates each morning how many workers to send out foraging for food. The number can change, depending on conditions. Have foragers recently discovered a bonanza of tasty seeds? More ants may be needed to haul the bounty home. Was the nest damaged by a storm last night? Additional maintenance workers may be held back to make repairs. An ant might be a nest worker one day, a trash collector the next. But how does a colony make such adjustments if no one’s in charge? Gordon has a theory. Ants communicate by touch and smell. When one ant bumps into another, it sniffs with its antennae to find out if the other belongs to the same nest and where it has been 99