IELTS Reading

Reading passage 1 A. Shortly before an exclusive event promoting charity was to take place in late September, tension was running high in the local Chinese media. Rumours had been floating around for weeks that half of the 50 or so billionaires invited to the dinner, known as the "Ba-Bi" banquet, might not show up. The Chinese term "Ba-Bi" refers to Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, the two hosts of the much-hyped dinner event. B. In the end, the press's hand-wringing was for naught: More than two out of three invitees attended, the two Americans proudly announced at a subsequent press conference in Beijing that they found philanthropy among the country's ultra-rich to be alive and well. According to Rupert Hoogewerf, publisher of an influential Chinese rich list, China currently has 189 dollar billionaires, second in number only to the U.S. "All those people have made enough money for generations to come," says Hoogewerf. "Now is a good time to start thinking about giving." C. But for most Chinese people, the idea of charity seems a bit detached from daily life. Although total amount donated, according to the government, has risen from $1.5 billion (10 billion rmb) in 2006 to over $7.5 billion (50 billion rmb) last year, it's a negligible fraction of the $300 billion annually donated in the U.S. — over 2% of the country's GDP. With the exception of 2008, when the disastrous Sichuan earthquake bumped up China's donations to an unprecedented $15 billion (100 billion rmb), "the awareness for philanthropy is still relatively low," says Deng Guosheng, director of Innovation and Social Responsibility Research Centre at Tsinghua University. Typically, only around 20% of China's annual donations come from individuals; the rest are made by private enterprises. In the U.S., that number is closer to 70%. D. Deng says China's breakneck economic growth has fostered widespread materialism in recent years, a trend intrinsically contrary to the notion of philanthropy. In 2009, China alone accounted for 25% of the world's total luxury consumption, making it the second largest luxury market after Japan, whose GDP per capita is more than 10 times higher. Despite their consumerism, the Japanese still appear more charitable in general than the Chinese. According to the 2010 World Giving Index, released by the Charities Aid foundation, 17% of the Japanese population has made charitable donations, compared to China's 11%. E. Historically, China's culture of giving can be traced back to Confucian preachings of benevolence as well as to Taoist and Buddhist principles, but all of them subsided as war and political turmoil dominated the country's more recent history. Today, even for China's nouveau riche who are willing to give, government policies often fail to encourage charitable actions. Tsinghua's Deng said that although there is officially a national tax deduction policy for charity donations, local governments often try to

negate that in their own interest. Moreover, the policy only applies to donations made to the very few government-sanctioned charities, which are commonly blamed for lack of transparency or even corruption. F. "If my donation doesn't end up helping the needy, to me it's not a question of money," Cao Dewang, CEO of Fuyao Group, the biggest glass manufacturer in China, said in a recent interview with the state-run China Central Television. "I'd feel cheated." According to the CCTV, Cao pledged to donate $30 million (200 million rmb) to 100,000 low-income households via the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, a non-profit charity overseen by the government — but only after signing a detailed contract to ensure that his money falls into the right hands. G. Meanwhile, many smaller, grassroots NGOs are faced with the eternal conundrum of maintaining independence while coping with the Chinese government. Per Chinese law, private foundations are forbidden to independently accept and distribute donations, a situation that largely restricts their role and diminishes reputation. What's worse is that for those NGOs, gaining official ratifications — and therefore being able to operate independently — is practically impossible, largely because those who are in charge are not incentivized to do so. Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 to 14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 to 7 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A – G. From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers I – ix in boxes 1 – 7 on your answer sheet.

i.

Cao Dewang’s wish.

ii.

Problems with the grassroots NGOs.

iii.

China's culture of giving.

iv.

Rumours.

v.

Fostering widespread materialism.

vi.

The idea of charity in China.

vii.

Problem with the rich in 1 Paragraph A China. 2 Paragraph B Chinese charity. 3 Paragraph C

viii. ix.

Philanthropy among the country's ultra-rich.

4 5 6 7

Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph

D E F G

Questions 8 – 10 Choose the correct letters, A, B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 8 – 10 on your answer sheet. 8 Private foundations are forbidden to independently accept and distribute A. B. C. D.

Cash. Money. Donations. Loan.

9

The number of dollar billionaires in China is

A. B. C. D.

200. 189. 198. 197.

10

The amount of donation in the US is

A. B. C. D.

$500 $300 $350 $400

billion. billion. billion. billion.

Questions 11 – 14 Complete each of the following statements (questions 11 – 14) with the best endings A – G from the box below Write the appropriate letters A – G in boxes 11 – 14 on your answer sheet. 11 China's culture of giving can be traced back to 12 For the NGOs, gaining official ratifications is 13 The director of Innovation and Social Responsibility Research Centre at Tsinghua University is 14 The Chinese term "Ba-Bi" refers to

A Practically impossible. B Confucian preaching of benevolence. C A relatively small collection of big corporate donors. D Deng Guosheng. E Finding Chinese rich to donate generously.

Reading passage 2 A. At least two episodes of earthquakes constitute the Nazko swarm. In the first seismic phase from October 29 to November 1, 2007, a total of 153 earthquakes took place. During the second seismic phase between September 25, 2007 and June 12, 2008, 4,428 earthquakes occurred. These two seismic episodes were cross-correlated by scientists to understand changes in the development of the earthquake swarm. Correlation coefficients were around 1.0 for the beginnings of the periods of activity, indicating almost identical situations, and then decayed to around 0.5, indicating a decrease in similarity between the later stages of the two events. B. The earthquake swarm was noted on October 12, 2007 in the Prince George Citizen by citizen staff, three days after the earthquakes began. Scientists mentioned in the report were seismologist John Cassidy of Natural Resources Canada and volcanologist Catherine Hickson, who was part of the Geological Survey of Canada at the time. At the time of the report, scientists did not know the origin of the swarm. Seismologist John Cassidy stated, "the depth is enough to rule out hydrothermal but it's up in the air as to whether the cause is tectonic shifts or volcanic activity. If it is volcanic there are certain characteristics that we would expect, there's a tremor-like character to it. And so we'll be looking for the types of events that we see beneath volcanoes and we'll be looking to see if they're getting closer to the surface or if they're migrating at all." C. Even if the Nazko swarm were a warning of a volcanic eruption, volcanologist Catherine Hickson doubted it would turn out to be a highly explosive eruption like those that can occur in subduction-zone volcanoes. "We're not talking about an injection of tonnes of ash many kilometers into the air like the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption or the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. We're talking about something very small, relatively localized that should have a fairly limited impact...but it'll be extremely exciting," Hickson said. If an eruption were to occur, Hickson suggested that it would be characterized by a lava fountain that sends globs of lava 100 m (330 ft) into the air. This is similar to those that occur in Hawaii. Hickson said that a Nazko eruption could be a tourist attraction, but warned that noxious gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide would be released during the event. D. Because no seismographs were close enough to the Nazko swarm zone before the earthquakes began, employees of Natural Resources Canada placed seismographs in the area to monitor future earthquakes in the area

more clearly. An infrasound station is also being established, which is able to measure sound waves that would normally go unnoticed by human hearing. These stations can detect volcanic eruptions and the release of gas at volcanic vents, and can be used in combination with other geophysical data to monitor fluid flow within volcanoes. Employees of Natural Resources Canada have also visited two communities that were adjacent to the 2007–2008 earthquake swarm to renew information about the Nazko swarm, collect samples, and examine some of the more poorly studied volcanic deposits in the Nazko region. The Natural Resources Canada employees also measured carbon dioxide levels during the earthquake swarm. Carbon dioxide is usually discharged at faults in volcanically active areas and can collect in soil and under snow. Because of this, carbon dioxide concentrations can provide information on volcanic activity in the subsurface. The Nazko swarm did not cause any discharge of carbon dioxide, which is normal for non-eruptive events. E. The 2007–2008 Nazko earthquake swarm is one of numerous seismic events that have occurred near volcanoes in British Columbia. Other regions that have experienced earthquakes related to volcanic activity include Mount Meager (seventeen events), Mount Cayley (four events), Mount Garibaldi (three events), Silverthrone Caldera (two events), Castle Rock (two events), Hoodoo Mountain (eight events), Crow Lagoon (four events), The Volcano (five events), and the Mount Edziza volcanic complex (eight events). Seismic data suggest that these volcanoes still contain active magma chambers, indicating possible future eruptive activity. F. Although the available data do not allow a clear conclusion, these observations are indications that some of Canada's volcanoes may be active, with significant potential hazards. This seismic activity correlates both with some of Canada's most youthful volcanoes and with long-lived volcanoes with a history of significant explosive activity, such as Hoodoo Mountain and the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. G. If magma were to rise towards the surface of Nazko, new earthquake swarms would occur, with a significant increase in the size and number of earthquakes. An eruption in the Nazko area would likely create a small cinder cone, similar to what formed Nazko Cone 7,200 years ago. Immediate hazards related to cinder cone eruptions in the Nazko area likely would be forest fires and, if an eruption column were produced, redirection of nearby air traffic. Source: Wikipedia.com Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15 – 27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 – 19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 15 -19 in your answer sheet write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Nazko swarm is a collection of smaller earthquakes. Scientists have a clear picture of the active volcanoes in Canada. The swarm of earthquakes is very dangerous. The Nazko swarm zone was well covered with technical help. Humans are in continuous search for such swarms of earthquakes.

Question 20 – 23 Look at the following persons or places (questions 20 – 23) and the list of statements below. Match each person or place to the correct statement. Write the correct letter A – G in boxes 1 – 4 on your answer sheet. 20. Hoodoo Mountain 21. Catherine Hickson 22. Employees of Natural Resources Canada 23. British Columbia A Is filled with active volcanoes. B First traced the swarm. C Is famous for its volcanic activity. D Collected a lot of evidence of eruptions. E

Have helped people in evacuation process.

F Erupted seven times. Questions 24 – 27 Complete the following statements with the correct alternative from the box. Write the correct letter A – F in boxes 24 – 27 on your answer sheet. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Mount Meager is situated in An infrasound station is also being established Silverthrone Caldera is a Some of Canada's volcanoes may be active A To measure sound waves. B Canada. C Dormant volcano. D The British Columbia. E With significant potential hazards.

Reading Passage 3 A. The Art of the Moving Picture, as it appeared six years ago, possessed among many elements of beauty at least one peculiarity. It viewed art as a reality, and one of our most familiar and popular realities as an art. This should have made the book either a revelation or utter Greek to most of us, and those who read it probably dropped it easily into one or the other of the two categories. B. For myself, long a propagandist for its doctrines in another but related field, the book came as a great solace. In it I found, not an appeal to have the art museum used--which would have been an old though welcome story--not this, but much to my surprise, the art museum actually at work, one of the very wheels on which our culture rolled forward upon its hopeful way. I saw among other museums the one whose destinies I was tenderly guiding, playing in Lindsay's book the part that is played by the classic myths in Milton, or by the dictionary in the writings of the rest of us. For once the museum and its contents appeared, not as a lovely curiosity, but as one of the basic, and in a sense humble necessities of life. To paraphrase the author's own text, the art museum, like the furniture in a good movie, was actually "in motion"--a character in the play. On this point of view as on a pivot turns the whole book. C. In The Art of the Moving Picture the nature and domain of a new Muse is defined. She is the first legitimate addition to the family since classic times. And as it required trained painters of pictures like Fulton and Morse to visualize the possibility of the steamboat and the telegraph, so the bold seer who perceived the true nature of this new star in our nightly heavens, it should here be recorded, acquired much of the vision of his seeing eye through an early training in art. Vachel Lindsay (as he himself proudly asserts) was a student at the Institute in Chicago for four years, spent one more at the League and at Chase's in New York, and for four more haunted the Metropolitan Museum, lecturing to his fellows on every art there shown from the Egyptian to that of Arthur B. Davies. D. Only such a background as this could have evolved the conception of "Architecture, sculpture, and painting in motion" and given authenticity to its presentation. The validity of Lindsay's analysis is attested by Freeburg's helpful characterization, "Composition in fluid forms," which it seems to have suggested. To Lindsay's category one would be tempted to add, "pattern in motion," applying it to such a film as the "Caligari" which he and I have seen together and discussed during these past few days. Pattern in this connection would imply an emphasis on the intrinsic suggestion of the spot and shape apart from their immediate relation to

the appearance of natural objects. But this is a digression. It simply serves to show the breadth and adaptability of Lindsay's method. E. The book was written for a visual-minded public and for those who would be its leaders. A long, long line of picture-readers trailing from the dawn of history, stimulated all the masterpieces of pictorial art from Altamira to Michelangelo. For less than five centuries now Gutenberg has had them scurrying to learn their A, B, C's, but they are drifting back to their old ways again, and nightly are forming themselves in cues at the doorways of the "Isis," the "Tivoli," and the "Riviera," the while it is sadly noted that "'the pictures' are driving literature off the parlour table." F. With the creative implications of this new pictorial art, with the whole visual-minded race clamouring for more, what may we not dream in the way of a new renaissance? How are we to step in to the possession of such a destiny? Are the institutions with a purely literary theory of life going to meet the need? Are the art schools and the art museums making themselves ready to assimilate a new art form? Or what is the type of institution that will ultimately take the position of leadership in culture through this new universal instrument? G. What possibilities lie in this art, once it is understood and developed, to plant new conceptions of civic and national idealism? How far may it go in cultivating concerted emotion in the now ungoverned crowd? Such questions as these can be answered only by minds with the imagination to see art as a reality; with faith to visualize for the little mid-western "home town" a new and living Pallas Athena; with courage to raze the very houses of the city to make new and greater forums and "civic centres." Source: The New York Times Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28 – 40 which are based on Reading Passage 3. Questions 28 – 32 The passage has seven paragraphs labelled A–G. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. NB: You may use any letter more than once. 28.

Even a few years ago the art of moving pictures saw art as a reality.

29.

The book defines the nature and domains of a new Muse.

30.

The book is meant to be enjoyed by the seriously art loving communities.

31.

The world of art is heading towards a neo renaissance age.

32.

Motion pictures have drawn the literature out of the parlours.

Questions 33 – 36 Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33.

The book was written for a visual-minded public and for ….

34.

Vachel Lindsay was a student at the Institute in Chicago for ….

35.

To Lindsay's category one would be tempted to add ….

36.

To paraphrase the author's own text, the art museum, was actually ….

Questions 37 – 40 Complete the summary of the paragraphs E – G below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. The book was written for a visual-minded public and for those who would 37 ……………………. A number of questions rose with the creative implications of this 38 …………………….. Such questions can be answered only by minds with the imagination to see 39 …………………… and with courage to raze the very houses of the city to make new 40 ……………………...