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MODEL TEST - ACADEMIC IELTS
(Time: 90 minutes)
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Section 1
Script:
You will hear a new student, Stefan, talking to an assistant, Anna, at the Student Union about his membership. Anna: Hi, can I help you? Stefan: Um - yeah, I hope so. Erm - this is the first time I’ve been down to the Union - I’m a new international student - and I just wondered what to do. Anna: Oh right. Well, normally we ask international students to fill out this form and we put your details on the wall by reception. Then other students can contact you - it’s a way for everybody to get to know each other. It can be a bit lonely otherwise. Stefan: Oh I see. Anna: What’s your name? I’m Anna, by the way. Stefan: It’s Stefan Unger. Anna: OK - well just write that there - next to name - and then fill in the rest. Stefan: Right. Um - what does it mean degree programme? Anna: Oh, just if you are an undergraduate or a post-graduate - or maybe you’re just here for a short course? Stefan: I’m a postgraduate. Do I need to say what in? Anna: Not really - it’s too much detail. But you should put your department so people who have the same interests - 01* problems - as you can get in touch. Stefan: So I’m studying Marine Construction so, for Department, do I put down the Science faculty then? Anna: Just your actual Department. That must be Engineering, no? Stefan: Oh I see, yes. Anna: Then if you list what you like doing in your free time - not that we ever get any when we’re studying - and maybe you can meet up with someone socially or to join a club or something. Stefan: Well, I like lots of things - shall I just list them? Anna: My advice is to just put one or two like football and films or whatever. Otherwise you’ll get so many invitations you won’t get any time to work! Stefan: OK - I think I’ll just list computer games as that’s mv big interest. I haven’t played football for ages. I may start to play once I get settled. Now, let’s see - next thing is languages. Anna: Yes - we find many of the international students get a bit tired of speaking English all the time - sometimes they like to speak to someone in their own language. It’s up to you. Stefan: That is a good idea. I presume I don’t need to put English down? Anna: Oh no - (laughs) - I put - um - Italian and French. Stefan: Hm - I can only speak German - my mother tongue. Anna: OK, well that’s fine. Just put that. Stefan: What does accommodation mean? Is that my address? Anna: We’re trying to find similarities between people and some people live in Hall, some are in flats, some are in bed-sits - so it helps if you say. Stefan: I’m in Hall, though I’d like to be in a flat. But that won’t happen till the end of the first term. Anna: Put where you are now. You can always change it later. Then finally just put your phone number. Stefan: I haven’t really got one - I haven’t sorted out a mobile yet. Anna: Well, it’s going to be difficult for people to contact you then, isn’t it? Why don’t you put the Union one and we’ll take messages for you. Stefan: OK. Anna: It’s 02950 659003. Have you got that? Stefan: Yes. Anna: OK, then. Complete the form below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AN DIOR A NUMBER for each answer. Student Union Registration Form Name: Stefan Unger Degree programme: (1)…………… Department: (2) …………… Leisure activities: (3) …………… Language(s) (apart from English): (4) …………… Type of accommodation: (5) …………… Contact number: (6) …………… |
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postgraduate
0295069003
engineering
in Hall / in hall / Hall / hall
German
computer games
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Script:
Stefan: Oh I had a couple more questions about the services you’ve got here. Um - it says there’s a photocopier here ... Anna: Yes. You need to get a card from the shop - and then it’s available to all students in the mornings. The Union uses it after 1.00 pm. Stefan : OK. I see also the Union organises loads of events. Are they always held here in the Union building? It looks big enough! Anna: If you’re interested in something, you should check the poster or our website. In fact, we normally use the Round Theatre opposite the Conference Centre for most events because the sound system is better. Stefan: Right, I’ll do that. Also I wanted to hire a van. Can I do that through you? Anna: Erm - no. You need to present a case really - they’re not just available for hire to anyone. The President said we have to limit who is allowed to hire them. The person you need to see is the Transport Secretary. She’s on the second floor. Stefan: OK, thanks. The other thing is, are all the discounts we get with our Union card listed on the back of the card? I thought there might be more. Anna: No, that’s it I’m afraid - mainly books, clothes and music. Though we are currently negotiating to get one on newspapers, so that should be valid from next term. Stefan: OK, thanks a lot ... (fade) ... Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
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Round Theatre / the Round Theatre / at Round Theatre
in the mornings / mornings
Transport Secretary
newspapers
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Section 2
Script:
TUTOR: ... So, I’ll hand over now to Julie Brooks. JULIE BROOKS: Thank you. Welcome to the Sports Centre. It’s good to see that there are so many people wanting to find out about our sports facilities. First of all, membership. All students at the college are entitled to become members of the Sports Centre, for an annual fee of £9.50. To register with us and get your membership card, you need to come to reception, between 2 and 6 pm, Monday to Thursday. I’m afraid we can’t register new members on Friday, so it’s Monday to Thursday, 2 to 6, at reception. Now, there are three things that you must remember to bring with you when you come to register; they are: your Union card, a recent passport-sized photograph of yourself, and the fee. It doesn’t matter whether you bring cash or a cheque. We can’t issue your card unless you bring all three; so, don’t forget: your Union card, passport photo and fee. Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer. MEMBERSHIP OF SPORTS CENTRE | Cost | £(1)............. per (2)............... | Where | (3)............... | When | 2 to 6 pm, Monday to Thursday | Bring: | Union card Photo Fee |
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year / annum
reception
9.50
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Script:
JULIE BROOKS: Then once you have got your sports card, you will need to bring it with you whenever you come to book or use any Sports Centre facilities. Booking over the phone is not allowed, so you have to come here in person, with your card, when you want to book. Our opening hours seem to get longer every year. We are now open from 9am to 10pm on weekdays and from 10am to 6pm on Saturdays. For those of you who are up and about early in the morning, we are introducing a 50 per cent ‘morning discount’ this year. This is because the facilities tended to be under-used in the mornings last year. It means that all the sessions will be half-price between 9am and 12 noon on weekdays. Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Always bring sports (1). ..... when you come to (2)......... or use the Centre’s facilities. | Opening hours | 9 am to 10 pm on (3).......... 10 am to 6 pm on Saturdays | 50% ‘morning discount’ | 9 am to 12 noon on weekdays |
Script:
JULIE BROOKS: So, what exactly are the facilities? What sports can you play here? Well, this room we are in at the moment is called the Main Hall, and it’s used mainly for team sports such as football, volleyball and basketball, but also for badminton and aerobics. On the other side of the reception area there is the dance studio; this provides a smaller, more intimate space, which we use for ballet, modern dance and martial arts - not at the same time, of course. Then in a separate building, which you may have noticed on your way here . . . it’s on the other side of the car park . . . there are the squash courts (six of them), and at the far end of the building a fitness room. This is our newest facility, only completed in the Spring, but it is already proving to be one of the most popular. As well as all these facilities available here on the campus, we also have an arrangement with the local tennis club, which is only two miles away, entitling our students to use their courts on weekday mornings in the Summer. So, I think that there should be something here for everybody, and I hope to see all of you at the Centre, making use of the facilities. If, in the course of the year, you have any suggestions as to how the service we provide might be improved or its appeal widened, I’ll be interested to hear from you. Look at the map of the Sports Complex below. Label the buildings on the map of the Sports Complex. 
Section 3
Script:
You will hear two students Sharon and Xiao Li talking to their tutor about the presentation they gave the previous week. Tutor: So. Sharon and Xiao Li, in your presentation last week you were talking about the digital divide - the gap between those who can effectively use communication tools such as the Internet, and those who can't. And you compared the situation here in Northern Ireland with South-East China. Right, so I asked you to do some sell evaluation, watching the video of your presentation and thinking about the three main criteria you're assessed by - content, structure and technique. What do you think was the strongest feature of the presentation, when you watched it? Sharon? Sharon: Well. I was surprised actually, because I felt quite nervous but, when I watched the video, it didn't show as much as I expected. Tutor: So which of the criteria would that come under? Sharon: Er, confidence? Tutor: That’s not actually one of the criteria as such Xiao Li? Xiao Li: Technique? It's body language and eye contact, isn't it. Well, I didn't think I looked all that confident, but I think, that our technique was generally good like the way we designed and used the Powerpoint slides. Tutor: Mmm. So you both feel happiest about that side of the presentation? OK, now on the negative side, what would you change if you could do it again? Xiao Li: Well, at first I'd thought that the introduction was going to be the problem but actually I think that was OK. We defined our terms and identified key issues It was more towards the end... the conclusion wasn't too bad but the problem was the questions, we hadn’t really expected there'd be any so we hadn't thought about them that much. Tutor: Uhuh OK. Anything else? Sharon: Well, like Xiao Li says, I thought the conclusion was OK, but when I watched us on the video I thought the section on solutions seemed rather weak. Tutor: Mmm. Can you think why? Sharon: Well, we explained what people are doing about the digital divide in China and Northern Ireland but I suppose we didn't really evaluate any of the projects or ideas, it was just a list. And that was what people were asking us about at the end, mostly. Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
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the solutions/their solutions
the technique/their technique
questions/the questions/students' questions/answering the questions/answering students' questions
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Script:
Tutor: OK. Now, I also asked you to get some peer evaluation, from the other students. Sharon: Yes, er, well, people said it was interesting, like the fact that in China the Internet was used more for shopping than in Northern Ireland. They said sometimes it was a bit hard to understand because we were talking quite fast... but we didn't think so when we watched the video. Tutor: No, it’s a bit different though, because you know all this information already. Mmm. If you're hearing it for the first time, you need more time to process it ... that's why signposting the structure and organisation of the talk is important. Xiao Li: That seemed OK, no one mentioned that as a problem. Some people said that we could have had more on the slides… like some of the other groups had nearly everything they said written up on the visuals as well, but other people said the slides were good, they had just the key point... Tutor: Yes. Sharon: And most people said we had quite good eye contact and body language. They all pointed out we'd over run... they all said we were five minutes over but we timed it afterwards on the video and it was only three minutes. Xiao Li: We were a bit unsure about the background reading at first, but I think we did as much as we could in the time... anyway, no one commented on that under content, but one thing that did come out was that they liked the fact we'd done research on both Northern Ireland and China most other people had just based their research on one country. We managed to get quite a lot of data from the Internet, although we had to do our own analysis and we did our own surveys as well in both countries. So the class gave us best feedback for content but it was all OK. Tutor: Right. Well, that's quite similar to the feedback I'm giving you I was very impressed by the amount of work you'd done and by your research methodology... so, actually, I’m giving you full marks for content, five. The structure of the presentation was good, but not quite as good as the content, so. I gave that four, and the same for technique. So, well done. Xiao Li/Sharon: Thank you. Tutor: Now, the next stage is to write up your report. So, just a few pointers for you here. First of all, in your presentation think your ending was rather abrupt - you suddenly just stopped talking. It wasn't a big problem but think about your dosing sentences in your report - you want to round it off well. One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that I felt a very strong point was that after you'd given your results, you explained then limitations. Xiao Li: The fact that we didn't have a very reliable sample in terms of age in China? Tutor: Yes, that section. So don't forget to include that. And you had some excellent charts and diagrams, but maybe you could flesh out the literature review a bit. I can give you some ideas for that later on if you want. OK, is there anything else you want to ask? Xiao Li/Sharon: No... Thank you. / Thanks. Complete the sentences below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
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literature
limitations
end/ending
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Script:
Tutor: OK. Now, I also asked you to get some peer evaluation, from the other students. Sharon: Yes, er, well, people said it was interesting, like the fact that in China the Internet was used more for shopping than in Northern Ireland. They said sometimes it was a bit hard to understand because we were talking quite fast... but we didn't think so when we watched the video. Tutor: No, it’s a bit different though, because you know all this information already. Mmm. If you're hearing it for the first time, you need more time to process it ... that's why signposting the structure and organisation of the talk is important. Xiao Li: That seemed OK, no one mentioned that as a problem. Some people said that we could have had more on the slides… like some of the other groups had nearly everything they said written up on the visuals as well, but other people said the slides were good, they had just the key point... Tutor: Yes. Sharon: And most people said we had quite good eye contact and body language. They all pointed out we'd over run... they all said we were five minutes over but we timed it afterwards on the video and it was only three minutes. Xiao Li: We were a bit unsure about the background reading at first, but I think we did as much as we could in the time... anyway, no one commented on that under content, but one thing that did come out was that they liked the fact we'd done research on both Northern Ireland and China most other people had just based their research on one country. We managed to get quite a lot of data from the Internet, although we had to do our own analysis and we did our own surveys as well in both countries. So the class gave us best feedback for content but it was all OK. Tutor: Right. Well, that's quite similar to the feedback I'm giving you I was very impressed by the amount of work you'd done and by your research methodology... so, actually, I’m giving you full marks for content, five. The structure of the presentation was good, but not quite as good as the content, so. I gave that four, and the same for technique. So, well done. Xiao Li/Sharon: Thank you. Tutor: Now, the next stage is to write up your report. So, just a few pointers for you here. First of all, in your presentation think your ending was rather abrupt - you suddenly just stopped talking. It wasn't a big problem but think about your dosing sentences in your report - you want to round it off well. One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that I felt a very strong point was that after you'd given your results, you explained then limitations. Xiao Li: The fact that we didn't have a very reliable sample in terms of age in China? Tutor: Yes, that section. So don't forget to include that. And you had some excellent charts and diagrams, but maybe you could flesh out the literature review a bit. I can give you some ideas for that later on if you want. OK, is there anything else you want to ask? Xiao Li/Sharon: No... Thank you. / Thanks. Choose the correct answer.
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1. Look at three bar charts above. Which bar chart represents the marks given by the tutor? ................
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Explain:
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2. Sharon and Xiao Li were surprised when the class said ................
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Explain:
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3. The class gave Sharon and Xiao Li conflicting feedback on their................
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Explain:
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4. The class thought that the presentation was different from the others because ................
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Explain:
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Section 4
Script:
TUTOR: Right. Are we all here? OK. As you know, today Vivien is going to do a presentation on the hat-making project she did with her class during her last teaching practice. So, over to you, Vivien. VIVIEN: Thanks. Um . . . Mr. Yardley has asked me to describe to you the project I did as a student teacher at a secondary school in London. I was at this school for six weeks and I taught a variety of subjects to a class of fourteen-year-old pupils. Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer. HAT-MAKING PROJECT Project Profile | Example Name of student | Answer Vivien | Type of school: (1)………………… | Age of pupils: (2)…………………… |
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secondary
14 / fourteen / 14 year olds / 14 years old / fourteen year olds / fourteen years old
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Script:
VIVIEN: The project I chose to do was a hat-making project and I think this project could easily be adapted to suit any age. So, to explain the project... After we’d done the research, we went back to the classroom to make two basic hat shapes using rolls of old wallpaper. We each made, first of all, a conical hat by ... er ... if I show you now . . . cutting out a circle and then making one cut up to the centre and then ... er ... overlapping the cut like this ... a conical hat that sits on your head. The other hat we made was a little more complicated ... er ... first of all we cut out a circle again . . . like this . . . then you need a long piece with flaps on it - I’ve already made that bit which I have here - you bend the flaps over and stick them . .. with glue or prittstick . . . to the underside of the circle . .. like this. Again, I’ve prepared this so that I don’t get glue everywhere. The pupils do, of course, so you need plenty of covers for the table. And there you have a pillbox hat as in pill and box. Now variations and combinations of these two hat shapes formed the basis of the pupils’ final designs. Label the diagrams. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
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overlap / overlapping / over-lap / over-lapping
underside / underneath / bottom
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Script:
VIVIEN: The next stage of the project was the design phase and this involved, first of all, using their pages of research to draw a design of their hat on paper. That’s the easy part. They then had to translate their two-dimensional design into a form to fit their head. I encouraged them to make a small-scale, three-dimensional hat first so that they could experiment with how to achieve the form they required and I imposed certain constraints on them to keep things simple. For example, they had to use paper not card. Paper is more pliable and easier to handle. They also had to limit their colours to white, grey or brown shades of paper which reflected the colours of the buildings they were using as a model for their hats and they had to make sure their glue didn’t show! Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. DESIGN PHASE | Stage A | Refer to research and design a hat (1)……………… | Stage B | Make a small-scale (2)……………… hat | Constraints: | | + Material | Paper | + Colours | (3)………………… | + Glue | Must not show |
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on paper / in two dimensions
white, grey, brown / white, gray, brown / white, brown, grey / white, brown, gray / grey, white, brown / gray, white, brown / grey, brown, white / gray, brown, white / brown, grey, white / brown, gray, white / brown, white, grey / brown, white, gray
3 dimensional / three dimensional / 3-dimensional / three-dimensional / 3D / 3-D
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Script:
VIVIEN: Well, it was very enjoyable and just to give you an idea of what they produced, I’ve brought along three hats to show you. This one here is based on a circular stairway in an old building in London. It uses three pillbox hats one on top of the other. This was designed by Theresa. Here’s another one that has a simple strip going round the base of the hat but has then gone on to add strips of paper that come out from the base and that meet at the top of the hat -rather like a crown - making a fairly tall hat. This was made by Muriel. And lastly there’s a combination of the pillbox or single strip around the base and then the conical hat shape on top to form a castle turret. This was made by Fabrice, and there are many more that I could have brought. TUTOR: Thank you, Vivien. That was most interesting. Now what we can learn from this is that... Choose the correct answer choice for each question.Which hat was made by…
Passage 1
THE DOLLAR-A-YEAR MAN How John Lomax set out to record American folk music A In the early 1930s, folklorist, platform lecturer, college professor and former banker John Avery Lomax was trying to recapture a sense of direction for his life. For two decades he had enjoyed a national reputation for his pioneering work in collecting and studying American folk songs; no less a figure than President Theodore Roosevelt had admired his work, and had written a letter of support for him as he sought grants for his research. He had always dreamed of finding a way of making a living by doing the thing he loved best, collecting folk songs, but he was now beginning to wonder if he would ever realise that dream. B Lomax wanted to embark on a nationwide collecting project, resulting in as many as four volumes, and ‘complete the rehabilitation of the American folk-song’. Eventually this was modified to where he envisioned a single book tentatively called American Ballads and Folk Songs, designed to survey the whole field. It called for first-hand field collecting, and would especially focus on the neglected area of black folk music. C In 1932, Lomax travelled to New York, and stopped in to see a man named H.S. Latham of the Macmillan Company. He informally outlined his plan to Latham, and read him the text of an earthy African American blues ballad called ‘Ida Red’. Latham was impressed, and two days later Lomax had a contract, a small check to bind it, and an agreement to deliver the manuscript about one year later. The spring of 1932 began to look more green, lush and full of promise. D Lomax immediately set to work. He travelled to libraries at Harvard, the Library of Congress, Brown University and elsewhere in order to explore unpublished song collections and to canvas the folk song books published over the past ten years. During his stay in Washington, D.C., Lomax became friendly with Carl Engel, Music Division chief of the Library of Congress. Engel felt that Lomax had the necessary background and energy to someday direct the Archive of Folk Song. Through funds provided by the Council of Learned Societies and the Library of Congress. Lomax ordered a state-of-the-art portable recording machine. More importantly, the Library of Congress agreed to furnish blank records and to lend their name to his collecting; Lomax simply had to agree to deposit the completed records at the Library of Congress. He did so without hesitation. On July 15, 1933, Lomax was appointed an ‘honorary consultant’ for a dollar a year. E Together with his eighteen-year-old son Alan, he began a great adventure to collect songs for American Ballads and Folk Songs, a task that was to last for many months. Lomax’s library research had reinforced his belief that a dearth of black folk song material existed in printed collections. This fact, along with his early appreciation of African American folk culture, led Lomax to decide that black folk music from rural areas should be the primary focus. This bold determination resulted in the first major trip in the United States to capture black folk music in the field. In order to fulfill their quest, the two men concentrated on sections of the South with a high percentage of blacks. They also pinpointed laboring camps, particularly lumber camps, which employed blacks almost exclusively. But as they went along, prisons and penitentiaries also emerged as a focal point for research. F The recordings made by the Lomaxes had historical significance. The whole idea of using a phonograph to preserve authentic folk music was still fairly new. Most of John Lomax’s peers were involved in collecting songs the classic way: taking both words and melody down by hand, asking the singer to perform the song over and over until the collector had ‘caught’ it on paper. John Lomax sensed at once the limitations of this kind of method, especially when getting songs from African-American singers, whose quarter tones, blue notes and complex timing often frustrated white musicians trying to transcribe them with European notation systems. G The whole concept of field recordings was, in 1933 and still is today, radically different from the popular notion of recording. Field recordings are not intended as commercial products, but as attempts at cultural preservation. There is no profit motive, nor any desire to make the singer a ‘star’. As have hundreds of folk song collectors after him, John Lomax had to persuade his singers to perform, to explain to them why their songs were important, and to convince the various authorities - the wardens, the trusties, the bureaucrats - that this was serious, worthwhile work. He faced the moral problem of how to safeguard the records and the rights of the singers - a problem he solved in this instance by donating the discs to the Library of Congress. He had to overcome the technical problems involved in recording outside a studio; one always hoped for quiet, with no doors slamming or alarms going off, but it was always a risk. His new state-of-the-art recording machine sported a new microphone designed by NBC, but there were no wind baffles to help reduce the noise when recording outside. Lomax learned how to balance sound, where to place microphones, how to work echoes and walls, and soon was a skilled recordist.
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. JOHN LOMAX’S PROJECT
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rural areas
Library of Congress
song collections
portable recording machine
prisons and penitentiaries
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The reading passage has seven sections labeled A-G. Which section contains the following information? NB You may use any section more than once.
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1. a reference to the speed with which Lomax responded to a demand
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Explain:
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2. a reason why Lomax doubted the effectiveness of a certain approach
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Explain:
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3. reasons why Lomax was considered suitable for a particular official post
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Explain:
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4. a reference to a change of plan on Lomax′s part
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Explain:
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5. a reference to one of Lomax′s theories being confirmed
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Explain:
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1. Which THREE of the following difficulties for Lomax are mentioned by the writer of the text?
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Explain:
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Passage 2
WHALE STRANDINGS Why do whales leave the ocean and become stuck on beaches? When the last stranded whale of a group eventually dies, the story does not end there. A team of researchers begins to investigate, collecting skin samples for instance, recording anything that could help them answer the crucial question: why? Theories abound, some more convincing than others. In recent years, navy sonar has been accused of causing certain whales to strand. It is known that noise pollution from offshore industry, shipping and sonar can impair underwater communication, but can it really drive whales onto our beaches? In 1998, researchers at the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, a Greek non-profit scientific group, linked whale strandings with low- frequency sonar tests being carried out by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). They recorded the stranding of 12 Cuvier’s beaked whales over 38.2 kilometres of coastline. NATO later admitted it had been testing new sonar technology in the same area at the time as the strandings had occurred. ‘Mass’ whale strandings involve four or more animals. Typically they all wash ashore together, but in mass atypical strandings (such as the one in Greece), the whales don't strand as a group; they are scattered over a larger area. For humans, hearing a sudden loud noise might prove frightening, but it does not induce mass fatality. For whales, on the other hand, there is a theory on how sonar can kill. The noise can surprise the animal, causing it to swim too quickly to the surface. The result is decompression sickness, a hazard human divers know all too well. If a diver ascends too quickly from a high-pressure underwater environment to a lower-pressure one, gases dissolved in blood and tissue expand and form bubbles. The bubbles block the flow of blood to vital organs, and can ultimately lead to death. Plausible as this seems, it is still a theory and based on our more comprehensive knowledge of land-based animals. For this reason, some scientists are wary. Whale expert Karen Evans is one such scientist. Another is Rosemary Gales, a leading expert on whale strandings. She says sonar technology cannot always be blamed for mass strandings. "It’s a case-by-case situation. Whales have been stranding for a very long time - pre-sonar.” And when 80% of all Australian whale strandings occur around Tasmania, Gales and her team must continue in the search for answers. When animals beach next to each other at the same time, the most common cause has nothing to do with humans at all. "They're highly social creatures,” says Gales. "When they mass strand - it’s complete panic and chaos. If one of the group strands and sounds the alarm, others will try to swim to its aid, and become stuck themselves.” Activities such as sonar testing can hint at when a stranding may occur, but if conservationists are to reduce the number of strandings, or improve rescue operations, they need information on where strandings are likely to occur as well. With this in mind, Ralph James, physicist at the University of Western Australia in Perth, thinks he may have discovered why whales turn up only on some beaches. In 1986 he went to Augusta, Western Australia, where more than 100 false killer whales had beached. “I found out from chatting to the locals that whales had been stranding there for decades. So I asked myself, what is it about this beach?” From this question that James pondered over 20 years ago, grew the university's Whale Stranding Analysis Project. Data has since revealed that all mass strandings around Australia occur on gently sloping sandy beaches, some with inclines of less than 0.5%. For whale species that depend on an echolocation system to navigate, this kind of beach spells disaster. Usually, as they swim, they make clicking noises, and the resulting sound waves are reflected in an echo and travel back to them. Flowever, these just fade out on shallow beaches, so the whale doesn’t hear an echo and it crashes onto the shore. But that is not all. Physics, it appears, can help with the when as well as the where. The ocean is full of bubbles. Larger ones rise quickly to the surface and disappear, whilst smaller ones - called microbubbles - can last for days. It is these that absorb whale 'clicks! "Rough weather generates more bubbles than usual,” James adds. So, during and after a storm, echolocating whales are essentially swimming blind. Last year was a bad one for strandings in Australia. Can we predict if this - or any other year - will be any better? Some scientists believe we can. They have found trends which could be used to forecast ‘bad years’ for strandings in the future. In 2005, a survey by Klaus Vanselow and Klaus Ricklefs of sperm whale strandings in the North Sea even found a correlation between these and the sunspot cycle, and suggested that changes in the Earth’s magnetic field might be involved. But others are sceptical. “Their study was interesting ... but the analyses they used were flawed on a number of levels,” says Evans. In the same year, she co-authored a study on. Australian strandings that uncovered a completely different trend. “We analysed data from 1920 to 2002 ... and observed a clear periodicity in the number of whales stranded each year that coincides with a major climatic cycle.” To put it more simply, she says, in the years when strong westerly and southerly winds bring cool water rich in nutrients closer to the Australia coast, there is an increase in the number of fish. The whales follow. So what causes mass strandings? “It's probably many different components,” says James. And he is probably right. But the point is we now know what many of those components are.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
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skin/ skin samples
noise/ noise pollution
around Tasmania/ Tasmania
sperm/ sperm wales/ sperm whale
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Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
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blood
microbubbles
nutrients
sound waves
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Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? True if the statement agrees with the information False if the statement contradicts the information Not given if there is no information on this
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1. The aim of the research by the Pelagos Institute in 1998 was to prove that navy sonar was responsible for whale strandings.
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Explain:
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2. The whales stranded in Greece were found at different points along the coast.
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3. Rosemary Gales has questioned the research techniques used by the Greek scientists.
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4. According to Gales, whales are likely to try to help another whale in trouble.
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5. There is now agreement amongst scientists that changes in the Earth′s magnetic fields contribute to whale strandings.
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Passage 3
The First Antigravity Machine? It was one of the biggest science stories of the 1990s. Even now, the facts behind it remain hotly disputed. And small wonder, for if the claims made for the small disc, the focus of the controversy, are true, it may be possible to break through one of the great barriers in the scientific world and control the most potent of cosmic forces: gravity. Huge innovations in flight and space travel could arise from that. The first gravity-blocking system to be taken seriously by scientists appeared in a laboratory in Tampere University of Technology, Finland. A Russian scientist named Dr Evgeny Podkletnov created a disc 275mm across, made from a substance which combined copper, barium and the ‘rare Earth metal’ called yttrium, which is known to be a high-temperature superconductor (a substance that conducts electricity without resistance). When chilled with liquid nitrogen at -196° C (a high temperature compared with other superconductors), this material loses all its electrical resistance, and can levitate (lift) in a magnetic field. That may seem amazing for a ceramic-like material - and it won a Nobel Prize for the scientists, Karl Muller and Johannes Bednorz, who first demonstrated it in the 1980s. But according to Podkletnov, the disc had another far more astounding property. In 1992, while experimenting with rotating superconductors, Podkletnov noticed that pipe-smoke from a nearby researcher was drifting into a vertical column above the spinning disc. Intrigued by this phenomenon, he decided to devise an experiment to investigate further. A superconductive disc, surrounded by liquid nitrogen was magnetically levitated and rotated at high speed - up to 5,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) in a magnetic field. An object was suspended from a sensitive balance above the disc. It was enclosed in a glass tube to shield it from any effects of air currents. During the course of a series of tests, Podkletnov was able to observe that the object lost a variable amount of weight from less than 0.5 percent to 2 percent of its total weight. This effect was noted with a range of materials from ceramics to wood. The effect was slight, yet the implications were revolutionary: the disc appeared to be partly shielding the object from the gravitational pull of the Earth. This was just the start, claimed Podkletnov. While far short of the 100 percent reduction in weight needed to send astronauts into space, for example, it was infinitely greater than the amount predicted by the best theory of gravity currently in existence: Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR), published in 1905. According to Einstein, gravity is not some kind of ‘force field’, like magnetism, which can - in principle at least - be screened out. Instead, GR views gravity as a distortion in the very fabric of space and time, that permeates the whole cosmos. As such, any claim to have shielded objects from gravity is to defy Einstein himself. Podkletnov’s claims were subjected to intense scrutiny when he submitted them for publication. The UK Institute of Physics had Podkletnov’s paper checked by three independent referees, but none could find a fatal flaw. His research was set to appear in the respected Journal of Physics D when events took an unexpected turn. The claims were leaked to the media, sparking world-wide coverage of his apparent breakthrough. Then Podkletnov suddenly withdrew the paper from publication and refused to talk to the press. Rumours began to circulate of unknown backers demanding silence until the device had been fully patented. But for many scientists the strange events were all too familiar. Podkletnov was just the latest in a long line of people to have made claims about defying gravity. Most of these have come from madcap inventors, with bizarre devices - often with some kind of spinning disc. But occasionally, respectable academics have made such claims as well. One instance of this occurred in the late 1980s when scientists at Tohoku University, Japan, made headlines with research suggesting that apparatus, known as a gyroscope, lost 0.01 percent of its weight when spinning at up to 13,000 rpm. Oddly the effect only appeared if the gyroscope was spinning anticlockwise - raising suspicions that some mechanical peculiarity was to blame. Attempts by scientists at the University of Colorado to replicate the effect failed. Then Professor Giovanni Modanese, an Italian theoretical physicist, became interested. He had read an earlier paper by Podkletnov, hinting at a connection between superconductivity and gravity shielding. Modanese wondered if the magnetic fields surrounding the superconductive disc might somehow assimilate part of the gravitational field under it. He published some calculations based on his idea in 1995 - and soon discovered that taking ‘antigravity’ seriously was a career-limiting move. The revelations about Podkletnov’s antigravity research led to reports of major corporations setting up their own studies. In 2000, the UK defence contractor BAE Systems was said to have launched ‘Project Greenglow’ to investigate Podkletnov’s gravity shield effect. Then it emerged that the US aircraft builder Boeing was also investigating, suggesting it too had an interest in the effect. Groups in other countries were also rumoured to be carrying out studies. Yet not one of the teams has reported confirmation of the original findings. Some projects have been wound up without producing results either way. So for the time being, it seems that the dream of controlling gravity will remain precisely that.
Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
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sensitive balance / balance
glass tube
5,000 rpm / five thousand rpm /5,000 revolutions per minute / five revolutions per minute
liquid nitrogen
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Classify the following findings as belonging to Podkletnov, Tohoku University, or Modanese.
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1. The experiment only works if the equipment moves in a particular direction.
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Explain:
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2. Varying amounts of weight are lost as a result of the test.
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Explain:
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3. Gravity could be absorbed by a magnetic field.
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Explain:
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4. Superconductive material seems to screen an object from gravity.
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Explain:
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5. Weight loss occurs when the equipment rotates at speeds reaching 13,000 rpm.
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Explain:
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Do the following statements agree with information given in the reading passage?TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.
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1. Podkletnov won a prize for his initial work on superconductive substances.
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Explain:
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2. A chance observation led Podkletnov to experiment with gravity blocking.
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3. Einstein challenged earlier experiments on antigravity.
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4. Modanese suffered professionally after following up Podkletnov′s findings.
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5. An aircraft company announced that it had replicated Podkletnov′s results.
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