IELTS

PRACTICE READING TEST 1

Time allowed: 60 minutes
Number of questions: 40
Total marks:
Instructions
WRITE YOUR ANSWERS ON THE ANSWER SHEET
The test is in three sections. as Iollows:
- Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 - 14
- Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 - 25
- Reading Passage 3 Questions 26 40
Start at the beginning oI the test and work through it. You should
try to answer all the questions.
However. keep to the suggested time Ior each section. II you are
having trouble with a question. leave it and move on to the next.
You can return to it later. iI you have time.
Read the instructions Ior each part oI the test careIully.
READING PASSAGE 1
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on questions 1 14 which are based on
Reading Passage 1 below.
SOFTWARE ERRORS IMPERIL LIVES
On March 26. 1986. oilIield worker Ray Cox visited a clinic in Tyler. Texas. to
receive radiation treatment on his back. Irom which a cancerous tumour had been
removed. On the basis oI previous visits. he knew the procedure should be painless.
but that day he Ielt a iolt oI searing heat. Outside the shielded treatment room. the
technician was puzzled by his complaint: the computer terminal used to operate the
radiation machine bore only the cryptic message 'MalIunction 54. indicating either
an overdose or an underdose. Clinic staII were unable to Iind anything wrong with the
machine. so they sent Cox home and continued treating other patients. But Cox`s
condition worsened. in Iact. he had received a lethal overdose.
Less than a month later. MalIunction 54 occurred again at the Tyler clinic. this time
striking Verdon kidd. a sixty-six-year-old bus driver. Kidd died in May oI 1986.
reportedly the Iirst Iatality ever caused by an overdose during radiation treatment.
Meanwhile. Cox became paralysed and lapsed into a coma. and Iour months later he.
too. died oI the iniury.
As news oI the Tyler incidents spread. similar mishaps in other clinics came to light:
one patient in Canada and another in Georgia had received mutilating iniuries in 1985;
an overdose occurred in Washington State in January oI 1987. In each case. the
radiation had come Irom the Therac-25. a computer controlled machine manuIactured
by Atomic Energy oI Canada. AIter the IiIth such accident was reported. the U.S.
Eood and Drug Administration advised but did not order clinics to discontinue
routine use oI the Therac-25 until saIety Ieatures could be installed in the equipment.
The million-dollar Therac-25. introduced in 1983. was among the Iirst oI a generation
oI computer-controlled linear accelerators. With earlier accelerators. electricity and
mechanical Iorces were used to transmit the operator`s directions directly to the
wheels. levers. and cables controlling the radiation beam. But with computers. it was
necessary to transmit only inIormation. not Iorce. so the operator`s commands could
be processed by soItware-lists oI coded instructions that tell the computer what to do.
Thus. complex electro-mechanical control systems were replaced by minicomputers.
and the traditional operator`s control systems were replaced by minicomputers. and
the traditional operator`s control panels were exchanged Ior computer terminals. With
these changes. manuIacturers hoped to capitalise on the speed and versatility oI
computers to make radiation machines Iaster and more convenient.
When electro-mechanical radiation machines malIunctioned.. the Iailures were caused
by manuIacturing deIects or wear that could be prevented by inspecting the product
and replacing the worn or Iaulty parts. When computers malIunction. the problems are
not so easy to understand; they are design weaknesses. caused by Ilaws in the logic.
not the mechanics. oI the control mechanisms. so there are no material deIects to track
down. True. Iaults may exist in the hardware - the chips themselves - but. more
Irequently. the occur in the soItware.
It was a soItware error. involving the operation oI a switch. that killed Cox and Kidd.
Linear accelerators can produce two kinds oI radiation: electrons which are used to
treat superIicial tumours. such as skin cancers. and X-rays. which are more eIIective
against such deeply embedded tumours as those oI the cervix and prostrate. An
electron beam can be produced by the accelerator directly. or an X-ray beam can be
created by placing a tungsten target in the path oI the electron beam. so that. as the
target absorbs electrons. X-rays emerge Irom the other side. Because this process oI
producing X-rays emerge Irom the other side. Because this process oI producing X-
rays is ineIIicient. the intensity oI the electron beam must be increased tremendously
when the target is in place.
To guard against the grave damage that the electron beam might attain its higher
intensity without the target in place. and be driven directly into a patient. accelerators
were equipped with protective circuits. called interlocks. In the Therac-25. however.
both target position and beam intensity were computer controlled. When the operator
switched the machine Irom X-ray to electron mode. the computer was counted upon
to set the beam to low intensity beIore the target was withdrawn.
Usually. it worked that way. But iI the operator Iirst selected X-rays and then switched
to electrons. by hitting the up-arrow key and tying over the previous instruction.
because oI a soItware error the target was withdrawn while the Iull-intensity beam
remained on. In the cases oI Cox and Kidd. the Therac-25 delivered about twenty-Iive
thousand rads oI electrons. more than a hundred times the prescribed dose.
The problem in the soItware itselI was compounded by a weakness in the user
interIace (the system the computer employs to inIorm the operator oI what it is doing).
which encouraged operators to run the machine in a hazardous Iashion. According to
one therapist. Therac-25 typically issued as many as Iorth error messages a day. most
oI which indicated that beam intensity was slightly less than it should be. Such
messages could be cancelled by pressing the terminal`s P key. and operators quickly
learned to respond this way to virtually all error messages each one diIIicult to
interpret. because the problem was reIerred to by a number instead oI being described
in words. At Tyler. the only indication oI trouble the operator saw was the code
'MalIunction 54. She repeatedly pushed P. turning on the beam again and again. Ray
Cox was burned twice beIore he managed to move out oI the way.
Questions 1 11
Answer the Iollowing questions according to the inIormation in Reading Passage 1.
'SoItware Errors Imperil Lives. Write a word or short phrase oI UP TO THREE
WORDS in boxes 1 11 on your answer sheet.
1.What does radiation treatment usually Ieel like?
2.Who was the Iirst Iatality Irom MalIunction 54?
3.AIter how many accident reports did the EDA advise that routine use oI Therac-25
be stopped?
4.What type oI equipment is used to deliver radiation treatment?
5.What two aspects make computer-operated radiation machines more convenient?
6.What are computer malIunctions caused by?
7.What kind oI radiation is used to treat a tumour oI the prostate?
8.What is the name oI the circuit which prevents large doses oI radiation being given
to a patient?
9.What type oI electron beam is needed to produce X-rays?
10. What words reIer to the system by which the Therac-25 computer and its operator
communicate?
11. What Iorm did the error messages take on the Therac-25?
Questions 12 13
Based on the inIormation in Reading Passage 1. select the best answer Ior the
questions below. Write the appropriate letters (A. B. C. or D) in boxes 12 13 on your
answer sheet.
12. Which oI the Iollowing would you expect to be given as a normal dose oI
radiation?
A 250 rads
B 25 rads
C 2.500 rads
D 25.000 rads
13. Which oI the Iollowing would be a typical number oI error messages per day
Irom Therac-25?
A 54
B 25
C 40
D 2
Question 14
Which oI the Iollowing Ilow charts represents the sequence oI events which occurred
in Therac-25 in the cases oI Cox and Kidd? Write the appropriate letter (A. B. or C) in
box 14 on your answer sheet.
Example Answer
What was the number of the malfunction involved? 54
A B C
X-ray mode X-ray mode X-ray mode
switch to
electron mode
switch to
electron mode
switch to
electron mode
switch to low
intensity beam
target removed target removed
target removed beam intensity
unchanged
switch to high
intensity beam
READING PASSAGE 2
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15 25 which are based on
Reading Passage 2 below.
Disappearing Fish
Sea Iishing grew rapidly in the decades aIter the Second World War Mechanisation
increased the Iishermen`s catch in traditional grounds and then carried them to distant
waters Ior more. AIter the world catch had tripled to over 60 million tonnes in only 20
years. Iishing developed more slowly in the 1970s and 1980s. like the rest oI the oil-
shocked world economy. In 1989. when the sea catch rose above 86 million tonnes.
the growth stopped.
In 1990 and 1991. the two most recent years Ior which the Eood and Agriculture
Organisation (EAO) has Iigures. the world catch began to shrink. It has not been a
dramatic Iall only a Iew percent overall (see Eigure 1). But experts at the EAO. in
common with many Iisheries scientists. now believe that the limit to sustainable
catches oI wild Iish was exceeded decades earlier. In more and more waters. too Iew
Iish have been leIt in the sea to maintain levels needed Ior spawning. Thus. Iishermen
are consuming the very resource that should yield their catch.
When catches oI the most valuable Iish in the waters oI the northern hemisphere. such
as turbot and halibut. started to Iail. Ileets began instead to chase other species that
had been thrown back as 'trash only a generation beIore whiting. spiny dogIish
and others. They also Iished distant waters and Iound massive catches oI a Iew other
low-value species. The EAO notes that it was these short-lived catches oI Iish such
as Alaska pollack. Peruvian anchovetta and Japanese pilchard that greatly increased
the total world catch in the 1980s.
But the true. downward trend in Iishing worldwide was masked because these catches
were measured in tonnes. not dollars. Moreover. the world`s 3 million or so Iishing
boats cannot hope Ior Iurther yields oI that kind. There are no more waters and Iew
species that have not been explored. The world`s Iishermen say they operate at a loss:
$22 billion in 1989. not counting capital expenditure or proIit Irom unreported illegal
catches.
Almost all the 200 Iisheries monitored by the EAO are Iully exploited. One in three is
depleted or heavily overexploited. almost all in the developed countries. Governments
have encouraged this excess. by subsidising Iishermen. oIten as a Iorm oI regional aid
and in response to Iailing catches. Although Iishermen still catch relatively Iew oI the
15.000 existing species oI Iish. most oI the remainder are expensive to catch. taste bad.
or both.
OverIishing is not the only threat to the world`s Iisheries. although it is the most
severe. Development and pollution are also reducing Iish numbers. According to Paul
Brouha. director oI the American Eisheries Society. between 11 and 15 million
salmon once spawned in the Columbia river system. Now there are only 3 million. oI
which 2.75 million are spawned artiIicially. So much oI the river system has been
dammed that only 250.000 salmon can Iind their way back to old spawning grounds.
According to a recent study. three-quarters oI the American catch comprises species
that depend upon estuaries (oIten as a habitat Ior young Iish. which can saIely Ieed in
the shallow waters).
But estuaries are themselves vulnerable. Almost a third oI the world`s 5.5 billion
people live within 60 kilometres oI the sea. polluting inshore waters with eIIluent
Irom industry. and Iarmland. Lagoons and wetlands are Iilled to make land; mangrove
Iorests are cut down; Iresh water is taken in large quantities upstream. aIIecting the
salinity oI estuaries and the growth oI young Iish.
Eor all the damage that they cause. overIishing and pollution rarely lead to extinction
(though even this is possible Ior a Iew large. slow-growing and valuable species. such
as the blueIin tuna). Nor. at least Ior many years yet. will Iish be oII the menu Ior
those who have enough money. Indeed. as the price oI Iish climbs and biotechnology
develops. the most valuable Iish will increasingly be Iarmed. Eish Iarming. or
aquaculture. yielded more than 12 million tonnes in 1990. and is growing by more
than 10 a year. Ein-Iish make up almost 70 oI the total. shellIish a quarter. and
shrimp about 6. But intensive Iish Iarming tends to damage coastlines. And. though
the technology is developing rapidly. the EAO doubts whether Iarmed Iish will
account Ior more than 12 oI world Iish consumption by the end oI the century.
A Iish shortage has other economic and social consequences. Eish prices have been
rising since the early 1980s (see Eigure 2). Eish is the most important source oI animal
protein in some countries. especially poor ones. Moreover. as overIishing spreads to
poorer countries. the eIIects may be more severe than in the richer ones. This is partly
because overIishing threatens to engulI local Iisheries more rapidly. and partly
because more iobs are at stake: traditional Iisheries employ 20 times as many people
as the industrial Iisheries that are replacing them. according to London`s Panos
Institute; and Iishermen tend to live in places where Iew other iobs are available.
Questions 15 19
Based on the inIormation in Reading Passage 2. 'Disappearing Eish. indicate the
relationship between the each oI the two items listed below by identiIying.
PR iI there is a positive relationship;
NR iI there is a negative relationship;
L/N iI there is litter or no relationship;
NI iI there is no inIormation;
Write the appropriate letters (PR. NR. L/N. or NI) in boxes 15 19 on your answer
sheet.
15. number oI Iish level oI spawning
16. Iishing subsidies exploitation oI Iisheries
17. extent oI damming oI river level oI natural spawning
18. water pollution species extinction
19. value oI a Iish species success in Iarming that species
Question 20 25
Do the Iollowing statements reIlect the inIormation in Reading Passage 2? In boxes
20 25 on your answer sheet write:
YES iI the statement reIlects the inIormation in the passage
NO iI the statement contradicts the inIormation in the passage
NI iI there is no inIormation about the statement in the passage
20. Technological developments contributed to the higher Iish catches aIter the
Second World War.
21. According to the EAO. Iisheries have become over-exploited only in the past
decade.
22. Eishermen can rely on Iinding new species oI Iish in Iuture to maintain a large
world catch.
23. Approximately one third oI depleted Iishing grounds are in developing countries.
24. American Iisherman catch 75 oI their Iish in estuaries.
25. Eish Iarming can cause environmental destruction.
Answer
Example catch of a particular species sustainability of that species NR
READING PASSAGE 3
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on Questions 26 40 which are based on
Reading Passage 3. 'Historical Thermometers.
Questions 26 31
Reading Passage 3. 'Historical Thermometers has 7 sections.
Choose the most suitable heading Ior each section Irom the list oI headings (i xi)
below. Write the appropriate numbers (i xi) in boxes 26 31 on your answer sheet.
N.B. There are more headings than sections so you will not use all oI them.
List of Headings
26. Section A
27. Section B
28. Section C
29. Section E
30. Section E
31. Section G
Historical Thermometers
Section A
II someone asked you to Iind out iI the Earth`s climate had changed over the past
century. your Iirst instinct would be to reach Ior the meteorological records. iust as
climate change researchers have done Ior decades. But boreholes holes drilled in the
ground in search oI resources such as oil and water might give you a better answer.
i current models for predicting climate change
ii bore depth and computer simulation
iii bore depth and temperature level
iv the limitations of data from boreholes
v annual changes to underground temperature
vi reassessing the value of boreholes
vii meteorological records
viii limitations of models based on meteorological data
ix bore depth and temperature history
x regional variations in borehole date
xi pace of climate research using boreholes
Answer
Example Section D i
Over the past IiIty years. mineral. oil and gas exploration companies have drilled
thousands oI boreholes all over the world. In some cases. geophysicists have drilled
boreholes to study how temperature varies with depth in the upper sections oI the
Earth`s past and. possibly. Iuture climate.
Already. analyses oI temperature readings Irom boreholes are producing provocative
Iindings. They suggest that at least part oI the global warming (also known as the
'greenhouse eIIect) seen in the meteorological records oI the past century can be
explained by natural Iluctuations in the Earth`s underground temperature.
Section B
Geophysicists have known Ior a long time that the crust becomes progressively
warmer as you drill into it. edging closer to the Earth`s hot interior. Mostly. this
temperature gradient is smooth. increasing by between 10 and 50 with every
kilometre Irom the surIace. The exact amount depends on how eIIectively the rock
carries that through the crust towards the surIace. But within 200 to 300 metres or so
oI the surIace. things become less predictable. Previously. geophysicists were
interested only in measuring heat Ilow Irom the Earth`s centre. so they threw away
these unreliable top sections oI their borehole temperature data. As climatologists now
realise. however. this temperature variability is a powerIul source oI inIormation
about past climactic Iluctuations. In particular. it can tell you about daily and seasonal
variations in surIace temperature.
Section C
The temperature a metre down Irom the ground surIace is an accurate average oI the
ground temperature the previous day. Similarly. the temperature at 20 metres is an
accurate measure oI the average ground temperature over the previous annual cycle.
But the real value oI the thermal waves is not in revealing yesterday`s average ground
temperature. or even last year`s; because heat travels so slowly. the Iirst 500 metres oI
crust oIIers a record oI the Earth`s ground temperature Ior the whole oI the past
millennium. Eor most rocks. a measurable change in surIace temperature takes a year
to travel 16 metres. 100 years to travel 160 metres and 1000 years to travel 500
metres.
Section D
Many climatologists now believe that underground temperature data will provide a
valuable check on recently developed models oI climate change. such as the complex
computer models used to predict how climate might change as a result oI the
greenhouse eIIect. These computer models. called general circulation models. or
GCMs. are complicated simulations oI the Earth`s response to changes caused by
human activities such as burning Iossil Iuels. They are built up Irom known patterns
oI climate change over the past century or so. bases on the meteorological records.
According to these records. the average air temperature at the Earth`s surIace has
increased by about 0.5 in the past 100 years. This warming is uneven: Arctic
regions show most warming. regions close to the equator show little or none. and
some regions in AIrica show slight cooling.
Section E
However. predictions based on GCMs diIIer widely. It is diIIicult to establish a clear
picture oI historical climate trends because there is little reliable meteorological data
extending beyond the past century. while widespread records exist only Ior the past
halI century. In addition. the longest records are usually Irom urban areas and these
cannot not be accepted without question because they take into account heat Irom
human activities. Many oI the early weather stations were abandoned or moved
elsewhere when people moved. without any corresponding adiustment oI the records.
Measurement methods have also varied Irom place to place. It is hoped that borehole
data might Iill some oI the gaps in current knowledge.
Section E
Hence the excitement about boreholes. Edward Bullard oI the University oI
Cambridge made the Iirst borehole measurements in 1939 in South AIrica. But he was
interested in heat Ilow in the Earth. not climate. Research aimed at investigating
climate change only took oII in earnest in 1986. aIter researchers published the Iirst
detailed analyses oI temperatures Irom boreholes in Alaska and eastern Canada. To
date. geophysicists have measured heat Ilow at 10.000 boreholes on continents
worldwide. New measurements are being added at about 200 sites per year. A global
network oI these 'historical thermometers is Iast developing.
Section G
Not all the data will be suitable Ior studying climate change. Boreholes less than 150
metres deep are too shallow to extend the climate record back beyond what is known
Irom meteorological data. At some oI the older boreholes. researchers chose not to
measure temperatures in the Iirst 100 metres below the surIace because they thought
the date would be unreliable. But an estimated one in ten boreholes are considered to
be suitable Ior climate studies. Analysing data Irom these sites should take between
three and Iive years.

Glossary
Meteorology: the scientiIic study oI weather conditions
Earth`s crust: the outer covering oI the Earth. extending down approximately 100
km Irom the ground surIace.
Questions 32 37
Below is a summary oI some oI the main points oI Reading Passage 3. 'Historical
Thermometers.
Read the summary and then select the best word or phrase Irom the box below to Iill
each gap. according to the inIormation in the Reading Passage.
Write the corresponding letter in boxes 32 37 on your answer sheet.
N.B. There are more words and phrases than you will need to Iill the gaps. You may
use a word or phrase more than once iI you wish.
Summary: Historical Thermometers
The value oI boreholes in researching . (32) . over the past century has
Traditionally. such scientists relied upon . (33) . to determine historical
changes in temperature. This data has provided a Ioundation Ior computer-
generated . (34) . Irom which estimations are made about Iuture changes to
the climate. The results have proven to be . (35) . . however. as there is a
shortage oI inIormation about weather patterns beIore the last 50 100 years.
The main role oI boreholes in the past was to assist in the search Ior . (36) . It
was not realised at the time that they might also be oI use in measuring
temperature change by oIIering . (37) . about temperatures oI the past.
List of words and phrases
Questions 38 40
Based on the inIormation in Reading Passage 3. select the best answer Ior the
questions below. Write the appropriate letters (A. B. C. or D) in boxes 38 40 on your
answer sheet.
38. Variations in temperature near the surIace oI the Earth`s crust .
A become more predictable over longer periods oI time
B have been diIIicult to incorporate into computer models
C are independent oI variations in surIace temperature
Answer
Only recently been recognised by . (Example) . D
A underground resources G predictive models
B raw data H meteorological records
C climate changes I geophysicists
D climatologists J average ground temperature
E geological records K inconsistent
E complex L new data
Example Apart Irom the search Ior oil. water and mineral resources. boreholes
were drilled in the past to .
A measure climate changes
B measure heat Ilow in the earth
C compare geological and meteorological data
D attempt to explain global warming
D are oI more interest to climatologists than to geologists
39. Computer-based GCMs .
A have explained the greenhouse eIIect
B can predict human activities such as burning Iossil Iuels
C attempt to predict patterns oI climate change
D will in Iuture be based on temperature data Irom boreholes. rather than
on meteorological records
40. Analysis oI temperature data Irom boreholes .
A has been carried out mainly in AIrica and North America
B has discarded temperatures less than 100 metres below the surIace
C has provided impetus Ior new studies oI climate change
D has Iocused on only 10 oI the 10.000 known boreholes