IELTS Reading Passage - Making Time for Science
Making Time For Science
Chronobiology is something out-of-the-box thinking inspired by a science fiction novel;
moreover - it's a scope of study regarding one of the ancient processes of life on this planet:
short-term time scale and their impact on the existing plants and animals.
It includes many aspects. Sea life, for instance, is based on tidal wave patterns. Animals, on
the other hand, seem to be active or inactive mainly due to the placement of the Sun or
Moon. Millions of species, including humans, are mostly diurnal - that is, they do most of the
activities in the morning. Whereas, nocturnal animals like bats and possums do their
activities in the night time. Apart from these two, a third group known as crepuscular, that are
active in the lowlight of dawn and always not active during other hours.
For human beings, chronobiologists have more interest in what is called the circadian
rhythm. It is a whole cycle of our bodies made to experience within the passage of a full
twenty-four hour day. Besides going to sleep at night and wake up in the morning, each
cycle includes so many aspects like differences in blood pressure and overall temperature of
the body. It is a fact that not all people have the same circadian rhythm. 'Night people' for
instance, mostly illustrate how they feel it is very difficult to perform in the morning, however,
the same people will be alert and active by evening. There is a new type within circadian
rhythms called a chronotype.
Well, scientists use minimal skills to make measurable modifications of chronobiological
requirements. The newly-formed therapeutic advancements for human beings like the
artificial light, machines and robots, melatonin administration, and so on can reinvent our
circadian rhythms, for instance, our human body can communicate the difference in various
ways, and the actual health feels less active when we deviate such natural rhythms for over
a period of time. In this context, plants do not become more malleable, research reveals that
vegetables grown in different climatic conditions and ripened on the tree have more
necessary nutrients and vitamins than those that emerged in greenhouses and ripened by
laser.
Insights of chronobiological variations may have practical consequences in our everyday life.
Here, the modern form of living might seem to subjugate biology - perhaps, who will require
circadian rhythms when we have caffeine tablets, energy waters, work shifts and places that
never stop working? So being in tandem with our body clock is imperative.
On average, residents in the urban area wake up at 6.04 a.m., which studies show that it is
way too early. Likewise, another research found that when residents wake up at 7.00 a.m.,
they will tend to have a negative impact on health unless they do any workout for at least 30
minutes later. After considering all these, the best time to wake up is at 7.22 a.m., when
residents will have fewer muscle aches, headaches, and mood swings. It is proved based on
a study, where respondents reported the same.
Once you are up before the alarm rings what's there to stop then? If you want to lose weight,
some dieticians won't compromise easily, as they mandate breakfast every day. It leads to
misorientation of your circadian rhythm and makes your body starve. The suggested step to
do is to perform an intense routine workout along with a carbohydrate-filled breakfast; while
the other way and weight reduction ended up as not expected.
Every morning workout is equally important for breaking out the vitamins stored. In addition
to that, adding more supplements to the body is not temporal-dependent, however, the
famous naturopath Pam Stone highlights that more amount during breakfast could assist in
getting energy to do tasks on that day. To absorb more to the body, Stone recommends
additional supplements with a portion of food (mixed and soluble). It must not be with
caffeinated beverages. Beyond this, Stones alerts us about taking storage; when you reach
the high potency, it's good for absorption, whereas, warmth and humidity will lead to
destroying the potency of a supplement.
Post-dinner espressos became like a form of tradition. We must thank the Italian people for
bringing it to us. To have a good night's sleep, we need to stop consuming caffeine as early
as 3 p.m. After crossing a seven-hour half-life, a cup of coffee having 90 mg of caffeine
consumed during this time might still have 45 mg of caffeine in your body's nervous system
at ten o'clock on the same day evening. It is necessary to remove all traces when you go to
bed.
Evening times are essential to process the winding down before going to bed. On the
contrary, dietician Geraldine Georgeou alerts us that post-five carbohydrate fasting is merely
a myth instead of a chronobiological requirement. This will cause deprivation of critical
energy from your body. Similarly, when you consume more than enough, it will lead to
indigestion. It is important to note that our digestive system does not stop working
throughout the night, but it works slowly as our bodies prepare to sleep. Despite all, you can
take a moderate snack, which would be highly sufficient.
Making Time for Science Reading Questions
Questions 1 - 7
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
To absorb more to the body, 1. __________ recommends additional supplements with a
portion of food (mixed and soluble). It must not be with 2. ____________. Beyond this,
Stones alerts us about taking storage; when you reach the high potency, it's good for 3.
____________, whereas, warmth and humidity will lead to destroying the potency of a
supplement. Post-dinner 4. _____________ became like a form of tradition. We must thank
the 5. ______________ for bringing it to us. To have a good night's sleep, we need to stop
consuming caffeine as early as 3 p.m. After crossing a seven-hour half-life, a cup of coffee
having 90 mg of caffeine consumed during this time might still have 45 mg of caffeine in your
body's 6. ____________ at ten o'clock on the same day evening. It is necessary to remove
all 7. ____________ when you go to bed.
Questions 8 - 10
Match the correct statement with the letter
8. Every day morning exercise is vital for
9. Geraldine Georgeou warns us that
10. Diurnal means
A. Carbohydrate-fasting is a myth
B. Do most of the activities in the morning
C. Indigestion happens when you consume more
D. breaking out the vitamins
Questions 11 - 13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement disagrees with the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this passage
11. Chronobiologists have more interest in what is called the circadian rhythm
12. Plants will become more malleable
13. The best time to sleep at night is around 7.20 p.m.
IELTS Reading Passage - Making Every Drop Count
Making Every Drop Count
A. The history of human civilization, right from the golden age, evolved parallel to the
history of the ways we learnt to handle water and its resources across the globe. As
urban areas expanded slowly and steadily, water resources were taken rapidly from
remote sources, amounting to luxury engineering impacts like aqueducts, dams, and
so on. During the Roman Empire's era, nine major systems had a drastic change with
the help of a sophisticated idea of sewers, pipelines, etc. Such engineering
advancements by the Roman occupants provided as much water per individual
person as it has been in many industrial areas today.
B. It was evident that the water resources demand rose exponentially due to the
industrial revolution and population growth in the 19th and 20th centuries. Moreover,
enormous monuments and other tens and thousands of engineering projects were
built, incorporating flood control systems, clean water supply, irrigation and
hydropower projects that brought happiness to millions of human lives. There was
also a food supply growing to compensate for the soaring population due to the
spread of artificial irrigation systems that ensure a potential growth of 40% of the
world's food. Almost one-fifth of the current electricity produced across the world is
generated using big turbines spun by the power of a tsunami.
C. However, there is a negative face to this picture. Besides our reach, nearly 50
percent of the world’s human population still faces hurdles, with water resources
lesser than those had by the ancient Greeks and Romans. According to the United
Nations (UN) report on access to water reemphasized in the month of November
2001, above one billion people are deprived of clean drinking water, and almost two
and a half billion people do not have access to necessary sanitation facilities.
Avoidable diseases pertaining to water kill an estimated 11,000 to 22,000 children
every day, and recent proof reveals that we need to speed up the process of solving
problems before it is too late.
D. The repercussions of our water policy framework extend not just jeopardising human
health but also the mere existence. Millions of people coerced to shift from their
homes permanently- with some warning or temporary relief - to give space for the
reservoirs behind water dams. 20 percent and above of all freshwater fish species
are now under serious threat or endangered mainly due to dams and water
reservoirs withdrawals have stopped the natural-flow of river water where they live
and survive. It eventually destroyed the entire ecosystem. There are some best
irrigation methods that lead to soil degradation and deteriorated production of
agriculture. Apart from that, groundwater aquifers (underground water stored) are
used faster than they are naturally refilled in different parts of China, India, the US
and elsewhere. And problems related to shared water resources have caused
unnecessary troubles and persist to cause local, national, and international
disturbances.
E. In the beginning of the new millennium, the way policy makers plan for water
resources is beginning to take a twist. Their aim is to gradually move towards the
basic human and environmental needs as the highest priority. It is to ensure 'some
for all', rather than 'more for some'. A few environmentalists and water experts
suggest that existing infrastructure facilities could be utilised in an efficient way
instead of constructing new buildings. However, it has been taken into consideration.
This philosophical change is not universal yet, as it's strongly opposed by certain
organisations, who closely work for water security. In spite of that, it could be the
ideal way to correctly tackle the overwhelming problem of serving everyone with
clean water. It is to drink, grow food and a society free from water-borne diseases.
F. Fortunately - and without anticipating - the water demand is not increasing as rapidly
as some estimated. Because of that, the intense pressure to construct many water
infrastructures has been destroyed for more than two decades from now. Even
though the human population, industries and economic development seemed to fly
high in developed countries, the frequency at which the public does not consume
water from aquifers, rivers and lakes has decreased. Moreover, in a few parts of the
world, the demand for water has seriously dipped to some extent.
G. How do these remarkable events take place? Well! There are two major factors
involved: people have noticed how efficiently water can be used, similarly
communities at large started thinking about their priorities on usage of water. Right
from the 20th century, on an average, the amount of freshwater consumption per
individual has doubled; in the US, the withdrawal of water increased ten times higher,
while the population increased four times higher. However, if we look from 1980, the
amount of water consumption has decreased per individual, it's all because of new
inventions and technologies that support the preservation of water at homes and
industries. For example, in 1965, Japan consumed exactly 13 million gallons (1
gallon equals to 4.546 litres) of water for the purpose of $1 million of commercial
output; by 1989, this amount of consumption had decreased drastically to 3.5 million
gallons (even taking inflation into account) - almost four times higher of water
productivity. Meanwhile, in the USA, water withdrawals were at its peak in 1980, but it
has fallen by more than 20 percent.
H. Nevertheless, aqueducts, water dams and other forms of infrastructure need to be
built, especially in emerging countries where the basic human needs did not come
into place. However, those infrastructure projects must be constructed with more
specifications, more accountability to local people and their environment than in the
past. Moreover, in areas where new projects receive warranty, we should still
discover new ways to meet demands with limited available resources without
compromising ecological criteria. All these things need to be done with a smaller
budget.
Making Every Drop Count Reading Questions
Questions 1 - 5
Choose the correct letter, a, b, c, or d.
1. 1 gallon is equal to
a. 4.555 litres
b. 4.565 litres
c. 4.547 litres
d. 4.546 litres
2. During the Roman empire, nine major systems had a big change due to?
a. Idea of sewers, pipelines
b. Water management system
c. Sophisticated infrastructure facilities
d. Dams, reservoirs
3. In the USA, water withdrawals had fallen by more than?
a. 23 percent
b. 21 percent
c. 20 percent
d. 50 percent
4. In emerging countries, what forms of infrastructure need to be built?
a. Water dams
b. Aqueducts
c. Both a and b
d. None of the above
5. The irrigation system leads to
a. Water pollution
b. Soil degradation
c. Tsunami
d. All of the above
Questions 6 - 10
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
6. ___________ and above of all freshwater fish species are now under serious threat or 7.
_____________ mainly due to dams and water reservoirs withdrawals have stopped the
natural-flow of river water where they live and survive. It eventually destroyed the 8.
____________. There are some best irrigation methods that lead to soil degradation and
deteriorated production of 9. __________. Apart from that, groundwater aquifers
(underground water stored) are used faster than they are naturally refilled in different parts of
China, India, 10. __________ and elsewhere.
Questions 11 - 13
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
11. For how many years has the intense pressure to build water infrastructure been
destroyed?
12. Millions of people were forced to move from their homes permanently with what?
13. During which centuries did the water resources demand rise exponentially due to the
industrial revolution?
IELTS Reading Passage - Endless Harvest
Endless Harvest
Russian explorers and fur hunters arrived on the Aleutian Islands more than two hundred
years ago, it is a volcanic archipelago in the North Pacific, and found a landmass that was
farther to the north. This land mass Alyeska is referred to as the ‘Great Land’ by the native
inhabitants of the island.
In 1959, Alaska joined the United States of America as a forty-ninth state, which is one-fifth
the size of the mainland 48 states combined. It shared both the longest river system in North
America and half the coastline of the United States with Canada. The rivers that exist in the
Gulf of Alaska and North America are cold and nutrient rich. It supports millions of birds and
about 400 species of fish, shellfish, molluscs and crustaceans. These advantages elevated
Alaska's commercial fisheries into some of the largest in the world.
Based on the report of Alaska Department of Fish and Game, In 2000 Alaska’s commercial
fisheries landed thousands of tonnes of herring and shellfish, and about million tonnes of
groundfish. Salmon is considered to be the true cultural heart and soul of Alaska. The
salmano enabled the native culture to flourish and helped to feed bears, eagles and other
animals and the soil itself. Five species of Pacific salmon - chinook ; chum ; coho ; sockeye ;
and pink, - spawn** in Alaskan waters and 90% Pacific salmon has commercial benefits in
North America. If Alaska was an independent nation, then it would have become the largest
producer of wild salmon in the world.
Catching salmon has not always been healthy. In 1953, Alaska was declared a federal
disaster area because overfishing of salmon became severe between 1940 and 1949. When
it achieved the status of statehood, the State of Alaska managed their own fisheries with the
guidance of the state constitution. During that time, the harvest rate was about 25 million
salmon. After a few decades, average catches have steadily increased as a consequence of
sustainable management policy. During the 1990’s, annual harvests were about more than
100 million, and on some occasions it had raised over 200 million fish.
‘In-Season Abundance-Based Management’ is the fundamental reason for such an increase.
There are biologists throughout the state consistently watching over the adult fish as they
are spawning. They sit in streamside counting towers, studying sonar, watching from
aeroplanes and talking to fishermen. The salmon season is not pre-set in Alaska. The
fishermen know the approximate time of year when they will be permitted to fish, but one or
more field biologists can put a halt to fishing in a particular area on any given day. Sport
fishing can even be put to Halt. This management mechanism enabled Alaska salmon as
well as Alaska salmon fisheries for better improvement. In the rest of the United States,
salmon populations are increasingly threatened.
A review of the Alaska salmon fishery was commissioned by the Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC) in 1999. In 1996, the Council was established to certify fisheries that meet
high environmental standards, which allows them to use a label that recognises their
environmental duty. Commercial fisheries can be judged with the criteria of MSC. After
finding the potential benefits of being identified as environmentally responsible, fisheries
requested the council to undergo the certification process. Then MSC sets up a certification
committee, consisting of a panel of fisheries experts, gathers opinions and information from
biologists, fishermen, government officials, fishermen, industry representatives,
non-governmental organizations and others.
Some people who watch over the Alaska fisheries thought it would not have the chance to
get certification. Salmon throughout western Alaska completely collapsed, when MSC led up
to the final decision. Likely, the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, chinook and chum rivers are
the poorest since statehood. Subsistence communities throughout the region who mostly
relied on commercial fishing were shattered.
It was a completely unexpected crisis, but still researchers believe it is not caused by the
fisheries. Instead, they asserted it happened as a result of climatic shifts, which occurred by
the cumulative effects of the el niño/La Niña phenomenon on Pacific Ocean temperatures.
Large numbers of salmon eggs were frozen because of the harsh winter. It will be the end, if
we take the certification process into account. Nevertheless, the state took action quickly,
shutting down all fisheries, even though it is for subsistence purposes.
In September 2000, MSC declared that the Alaska salmon fisheries qualified for certification.
Seven companies producing Alaska salmon got permission from MSC to put their logo on
their products. Certification is given in the format of initial periods of five years, and annual
review which ensures that the fisheries are consistent in following the required standards.
Endless Harvest IELTS Reading Questions
Questions 1 - 7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
● TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
● FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
● NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
1. Russian explorers arrived on the Aleutian Islands less than two hundred years ago.
2. The rivers in the Gulf of Alaska and North America are cold and nutrient rich.
3. Salmon is regarded as the true cultural heart and soul of the United States.
4. Salmon has the ability to cure digestive problems.
5. With the sustainable management policy, the average catching of salmon has
steadily increased
6. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was established in 1996.
7. Being identified as environmentally responsible is not fruitful for fisheries.
Questions 8 - 13
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
Russian Explorers:
● Russian explorers and fur hunters arrived on the Aleutian Islands over 8__________
ago
● The landmass 9_____ is known as the 10_______ by the native inhabitants of the
island.
Alaska
● Alaska joined the United States of America as a 11_______ state in 1959
● It shared both the longest 12________ in North America and half the coastline of the
United States with Canada
● In 2000 Alaska’s commercial fisheries landed thousands of tonnes of herring and
shellfish, and about million tonnes of 13______
Lost for words IELTS reading passage
Lost for Words
In the Native American Navajo nation, which sprawls across four states in the American
south-west, the native language is dying. Most of its speakers are middle-aged or elderly
Although many students take classes in Navajo, the schools are run in English. Street signs,
supermarket goods and even their own newspaper are all in English. Not surprisingly,
linguists doubt that any native speakers of Navajo will remain in a hundred years’ time.
Navajo is far from alone. Half the world’s 6,800 languages are likely to vanish within two
generations - that’s one language lost every ten days. Never before has the planet’s linguistic
diversity shrunk at such a pace. At the moment, we are heading for about three or four
languages dominating the world,’ says Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the
University of Reading. ‘It’s a mass extinction, and whether we will ever rebound from the
loss is difficult to know.’
Isolation breeds linguistic diversity: as a result, the world is peppered with languages spoken
by only a few people. Only 250 languages have more than a million speakers, and at least
3,000 have fewer than 2,500. It is not necessarily these small languages that are about to
disappear. Navajo is considered endangered despite having 150,000 speakers. What makes a
language endangered is not just the number of speakers, but how old they are. If it is spoken
by children it is relatively safe. The critically endangered languages are those that are only
spoken by the elderly, according to Michael Krauss, director of the Alassk Native Language
Center, in Fairbanks.
Why do people reject the language of their parents? It begins with a crisis of confidence,
when a small community finds itself alongside a larger, wealthier society, says Nicholas
Ostler, of Britain’s Foundation for Endangered Languages, in Bath. ‘People lose faith in their
culture,’ he says. ‘When the next generation reaches their teens, they might not want to be
induced into the old traditions.’
The change is not always voluntary. Quite often, governments try to kill off a minority
language by banning its use in public or discouraging its use in schools, all to promote
national unity.
The former US policy of running Indian reservation schools in English, for example,
effectively put languages such as Navajo on the danger list. But Salikoko Mufwene, who
chairs the Linguistics department at the University of Chicago, argues that the deadliest
weapon is not government policy but economic globalisation. ‘Native Americans have not
lost pride in their language, but they have had to adapt to socio-economic pressures,’ he says.
‘They cannot refuse to speak English if most commercial activity is in English.’ But are
languages worth saving? At the very least, there is a loss of data for the study of languages
and their evolution, which relies on comparisons between languages, both living and dead.
When an unwritten and unrecorded language disappears, it is lost to science.
Language is also intimately bound up with culture, so it may be difficult to preserve one
without the other. ‘If a person shifts from Navajo to English, they lose something,’ Mufwene
says. ‘Moreover,the loss of diversity may also deprive us of different ways of looking at the
world,’ says Pagel. There is mounting evidence that learning a language produces
physiological changes in the brain. ‘Your brain and mine are different from the brain of
someone who speaks French, for instance,’ Pagel says, and this could affect our thoughts and
perceptions. ‘The patterns and connections we make among various concepts may be
structured by the linguistic habits of our community.’
So despite linguists’ best efforts, many languages will disappear over the next century. But a
growing interest in cultural identity may prevent the direst predictions from coming true.
‘The key to fostering diversity is for people to learn their ancestral tongue, as well as the
dominant language,’ says Doug Whalen, founder and president of the Endangered Language
Fund in New Haven, Connecticut. ‘Most of these languages will not survive without a large
degree of bilingualism,’ he says. In New Zealand, classes for children have slowed the
erosion of Maori and rekindled interest in the language. A similar approach in Hawaii has
produced about 8,000 new speakers of Polynesian languages in the past few years. In
California, ‘apprentice’ programmes have provided life support to several indigenous
languages. Volunteer ‘apprentices’ pair up with one of the last living speakers of a Native
American tongue to learn a traditional skill such as basket weaving, with instruction
exclusively in the endangered language. After about 300 hours of training they are generally
sufficiently fluent to transmit the language to the next generation. But says that preventing a
language dying out is not the same as giving it new life by using it every day. ‘Preserving a
language is more like preserving fruits in a jar,’ he says.
However, preservation can bring a language back from the dead. There are examples of
languages that have survived in written form and then been revived by later generations. But
a written form is essential for this, so the mere possibility of revival has led many speakers of
endangered languages to develop systems of writing where none existed before.
Lost for words IELTS reading questions
Question 1-4
Summary Completion
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for
each answer.
Write your answers 1-4 on your answer sheet.
There are currently approximately 6,800 languages in the world. This great variety of
languages came about largely as a result of geographical 1 ____________ But in today’s
world, factors such as government initiatives and 2 __________ are contributing to a huge
decrease in the number of languages. One factor which may help to ensure that some
endangered languages do not die out completely is people’s increasing appreciation of their 3
__________ This has been encouraged though programmes of languages classes for children
and through ‘apprentice’ schemes, in which the endangered language is used as the medium
of instruction to teach people a 4 ____________ Some speakers of endangered languages
have even produced writing systems in order to help secure the survival of their mother
tongue.
Question 5-9
Matching Features
Look at the following statements (Question 5-9) and the list of people in the box below. Match
each statement with the correct person A-E.
Write the appropriate letter A-E in box 5-9 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
A Michael Krauss
B Salikoko Mufwene
C Nicholas Ostler
D Mark Pagel
E Doug Whalen
5. Endangered languages cannot be saved unless people learn to speak more than one
language.
6. Saving languages from extinction is not in itself a satisfactory goal.
7. The way we think may be determined by our language.
8. Young people often reject the established way of life in their community.
9. A change of language may mean a loss of traditional culture
Question 10-13
Yes/No/Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the Reading Passage?
In boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet write:
YES if the statement agrees with the view of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the view of writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.
10. The Navajo language will die out because it currently has too few speakers.
11. A large number of native speakers fails to guarantee the survival of a language.
12. National governments could do more to protect endangered languages.
13. The loss of linguistic diversity is inevitable.
