IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

UNIT 100: READING MOCK TEST 12

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.

New perspectives on food production

Solving the food problem requires scientific progress, but also
an understanding of social context and cultures

Is new technology needed for global food production?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations notes that domestic prices of
staple food are continuing to increase, leading to a rise in the number of people worldwide
who are chronically underfed. According to Erik Millstone, a food and agriculture researcher
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the natural science
community tends to view world hunger as if it were a problem that could be solved simply by
increasing total production. But, he says, 'Most people who are chronically hungry are so not
because of the scarcity of food but because they are unable to afford what is available. In
addition, the food trade is so globalised that food is often exported from areas where people
are hungry and sent to countries where people already have sufficient.'

Millstone believes the problem can only be solved by changing the conditions for poor
subsistence farmers and providing the support they need to grow more food. And that is not
enough on its own-they also have to have facilities for storing it so that their food can be kept
safe and in good condition until it is needed. But, he adds, increasing productivity through
technology is not the answer. An example is the new genetically-engineered varieties of high-
performance maize. The problem with these new varieties is that if you save seed and plant it
again next year, its vigour has diminished. Most North American and European farmers can
afford to get new seed every year; poor farmers cannot, so they need traditional varieties
whose seed can be saved and replanted. Giving farmers access to credit also doesn't help; it
adds risk. 'Poor farmers should not be thought of as entrepreneurs looking to invest their
money. They are looking to diminish their risk.' Ultimately, he concludes, 'Instead of devoting
resources to research for intensifying commercial farming, we should devote them to
enhancing the techniques available to subsistence farmers, and to developing appropriate
tools for them to use, because their need is the greatest. Increasing their productivity will do
more to enhance food security for those who are hungry than anything else we can do.'

Looking for local solutions in the

UK

In contrast to Millstone, Gareth Edwrds-jones a professor of agriculture and land use at the
University of Bangor in Wales, focuses on food production in the UK. In recent years 'local
food' has become fashionable in the UK without any real understanding of the issues
involved. First and foremost, it is necessary to define more precisely what is meant by 'local'.
Is bread bought in England from an English bakery ‘local’ if the wheat it is made from was
grown in Canada? Funded through the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, Edwards
Jones is studying people's perceptions of ‘localness' and seeking to establish whether there
is any science behind the popular belief that ‘local is better'.

His work involves studying the carbon footprint* of foods grown in different areas of the UK,
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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

as well as such common sources of supply as Spain, Kenya and Uganda. He has made
some surprising discoveries. Which has the lower carbon footprint: sugar made from sugar
cane grown in Africa, or from sugar beet flown in from Europe? The answer is sugar from
sugar cane in Africa. Similarly, trucking vegetables in from Spain may have a smaller carbon
footprint than growing them locally in the UK-because growing them locally requires adding
all the emissions of running a heated greenhouse.

And, he asks, how far down the life cycle should you go? He discovered early in his research
that the methods used to prepare foods to be eaten can have a huge impact: “Boiling
potatoes accounts for fully half their carbon footprint. Ultimately, it's a mistake to look at just
one part of the food chain. You could have a policy where you're going to really pressurise
farmers to try to get emissions down, but decarbonising fuel and electricity is a much more
effective method of protecting the environment”, he says.

Another of Edwards-jones's research projects involved visiting farm workers in each of the
above countries to assess their health and well-being. 'We found that farm workers in Kenya
had better physical and mental health than the average Kenyan’, he says, attributing the
difference to both better income and to the benefits - housing, schools, medical care provided
by their large corporate employers. He finds it ironic that after years of ‘trade not aid', all of a
sudden people are starting to say the UK shouldn't be importing food from Africa.

The other problem with insisting on locally grown food, he says, is that the UK is not suited to
growing most fruits and vegetables - the key elements in a healthy diet. These crops need
our best land - which means demoting other crops that do grow well in the UK to lower quality
land. ‘There's a domino effect so that increasing self-sufficiency may, from an environmental
perspective, be quite bad, he says.

*carbon footprint: a calculation of the amount of greenhouse gases produced as a result of

human

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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

Questions 1-8

Complete the notes below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

The problem of world hunger

CAUSE

Some scientists see world hunger as due to a general 1 _______________ of food.

But it may be because:
 hungry people cannot 2 ___________
 food is not available because it has been 3 ___________

SOLUTION

 provide support for subsistence farmers in growing and 4 _________ their food

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

 don't use 5 ____________ to increase food production, e g. 6 ___________ varieties

of maize are better for poor farmers as the seed can be replanted
 don't provide opportunities for farmers to have 7 ________ -too risky
 don't do research into intensifying commercial farming
 do improve techniques and 8 _________ available to subsistence farmers

Questions 9-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

9 Importing sugar to the UK from other parts of Europe is less environmentally harmful
than importing sugar from Africa.
10 The way in which some foods are cooked may affect their impact on the environment.
11 The best way to reduce harm to the environment is to oblige farmers to use more
environmentally friendly farming methods.
12 Imports of food to the UK from African countries such as Kenya have fallen recently.
13 Growing fruit and vegetables is better for the environment than raising animals for
food.

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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.

Egypt's ancient boat-builders

Archaeological discoveries on Egypt's Red Sea coast indicate that
the region's ancient inhabitants were a skilled seafaring people

A The scenes carved into a wall of an Egyptian temple dating from the 15th century BC, tell
of a remarkable sea voyage from a mysterious land known as Punt, or 'Land of God'.
They show a fleet of ships bearing exotic cargo, navigating through high-crested waves
on a journey. The exact meaning of these detailed carvings has divided Egyptologists
ever since they were discovered in the mid-19th century. Some people have argued that
Punt was not on the sea, or a fictitious place altogether, says Oxford University
Egyptologist John Baines. However, a series of remarkable discoveries on a desolate
stretch of Egypt's Red Sea coast has settled the debate. 'These finds remove all doubt
that you reach Punt by sea.' Baines says. The Egyptians must have had considerable
seagoing experience.'

B The archaeologists behind these discoveries are Kathryn Bard of Boston University,
USA, and Rodolfo Fattovich of Orientale University, Italy. From 2002 they spent several
weeks each year examining a dried-up lagoon known in Egypt as Mersa Gawasis, and
the coastal cliffs nearby. They were searching for signs of a harbour that might have
sheltered merchant ships like those depicted in the wall carvings. Finally, in December
2004, Bard was clearing what she thought was the back wall of a rock shelter when she
put her hand through the sand into an open space, and uncovered a hemispherical cave
about 5 metres across and 2 metres high. The cave's entrance was carved into an exact
rectangle and was clearly not a natural formation. Inside, the archaeologists found
shattered storage jars, broken boxes made from cedar planks, and five grinding stones.
A pottery fragment inscribed with the name of Amenemhat III, a pharaoh who ruled Egypt
around 1800 BC, helped the team pinpoint the cave's age.

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C Not long afterwards, Bard and Fattovich came across a larger cave, reinforced with old
wooden timbers and stone anchors, the first conclusive evidence of large-scale Egyptian
seafaring ever discovered. Over the next few years, they uncovered the hidden remnants
of an ancient boat-building and seafaring community. Many of the artefacts found were
full of holes-the work of tiny marine animals known as shipworms. In addition to eight
caves, Bard and Fattovich found remains of five mud-brick ramps that might have been
used to ease ships into the water. One cave contained hundreds of metres of rope,
expertly coiled and stacked.

D Material connecting Mersa Gawasis to Punt accumulated both inside and outside the
caves. A few hundred metres from the cliffs lie piles of crumbled stone and conch shells -
most probable the remains of altars. Among these are stones carved with inscriptions
that specifically mention missions to Punt. As if that weren't enough, among the remnants
found outside one cave were two planks marked with directions for assembling a ship.
One of them bore an inscription still partly legible after 3, 800 years: ‘Year 8 under his
majesty the king of Upper and Lower Egypt......given life forever....of wonderful things of
Punt.'

E While the Mersa Gawasis artefacts have answered some questions, they have raised
others. For instance, how did the expeditions to Punt actually work, and how did the
Egyptians construct vessels that could make a round-trip voyage of over 3, 000
kilometres? Cheryl Ward, a maritime archaeologist at Coastal Carolina University in
South Carolina, USA, has gone some way to answering these questions. She spent three
years building a full-scale reconstruction of a ship that would have docked in the lagoon
of Mersa Gawasis. Ward has determined that unlike modern vessels, the Egyptian ship
was essentially one giant hull. The Egyptian ships were also unique in that they were
held together with fittings that needed no metal fasteners, and could be taken apart and
put back together again. ‘From the very beginning, the Egyptians were building boats that
could be disassembled, and that makes them different from anyone else,’ Ward says.

F For all the skill and craftsmanship evident in the Mersa Gawasis caves, ancient Egypt's
ocean voyages were most likely an exception to the usual modes of trade, born out of a
necessity to obtain precious materials, such as incense and aromatic resins. For most of
Egypt's history these goods had moved along established routes across the eastern
desert and through modern-day Sudan. But around the time Mersa Gawasis came into
use, it seems a hostile new kingdom to the south cut Egypt off from its supply of exotic
materials. ‘If they could have gone overland, it would have been much easier than
bringing timbers from Lebanon, building ships on the upper Nile, taking them apart and
carrying them across the desert’, Bard says. 'They weren't stupid - no one wants to do
things the hard way. But geopolitically, they had no other choice'. Fattovich suggests that
there were probably only 15 to 20 expeditions over some 400 years, about one every two
decades. After that Mersa Gawasis fell out of use, probably because either there was no
longer enough water in the lagoon to float ships, or overland links improved, or alternative
sites were found. The last sailors to use the lagoon sealed up their equipment and
shelters behind mud bricks and sand to await expeditions that never came.

Questions 14-17

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-F in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 possible reasons why the site of Mersa Gawasis was abandoned

15 mention of a lack of agreement about an archaeological discovery
16 reference to a study which involved copying ancient Egyptian boat-building techniques
17 a reason why the ancient Egyptians needed to import goods by sea

Questions 18-21
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.

18 Illustrations of merchant ships sailing from Punt were found on wall carvings in an
ancient ______________ in Egypt.
19 Bard and Fattovich hoped to find evidence of a _______ in the area of Mersa
Gawasis.
20 When Bard first discovered a cave at Mersa Gawasis, the shape of its ________
indicated that it was man-made.
21 Bard and Fattovich discovered a considerable number of objects that had ________
made by small sea creatures.

Questions 22-26

Look at the following statements (Questions 22-26) and the list of archaeologists below.
Match each statement with the correct archaeologist A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

22 Ancient Egyptian sea voyages were probably relatively infrequent.

23 It is now certain that the ancient Egyptians sailed to Punt.
24 During a certain period, Egyptians were forced to use sea rather than overland trade
routes.
25 It has been suggested that Punt never existed.
26 The construction of ancient Egyptian ships was unlike any other.

List of archaeologists

A John Baines
B Kathryn Bard
C Rodolfo Fattovich
D Cheryl Ward

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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.

Communication in Science

A Science plays an increasingly significant role in people’s lives, making the faithful
communication of scientific developments more important than ever. Yet such
communication is fraught with challenges that can easily distort discussions, leading to
unnecessary confusion and misunderstandings.

B Some problems stem from the esoteric nature of current research and the associated
difficulty of finding sufficiently faithful terminology. Abstraction and complexity are not signs
that a given scientific direction is wrong, as some commentators have suggested, but are
instead a tribute to the success of human ingenuity in meeting the increasingly complex
challenges that nature presents. They can, however, make communication more difficult. But
many of the biggest challenges for science reporting arise because in areas of evolving
research, scientists themselves often only partly understand the full implications of any
particular advance or development. Since that dynamic applies to most of the scientific
developments that directly affect people’s lives such as global warming, cancer research, diet
studies – learning how to overcome it is critical to spurring a more informed scientific debate
among the broader public.

C Ambiguous word choices are the source of some misunderstandings. Scientists often
employ colloquial terminology, which they then assign a specific meaning that is impossible
to fathom without proper training. Take Einstein’s famous theory of relativity. The term
“relativity,” here is intrinsically misleading. Many interpret the theory to mean that everything
is relative and there are no absolutes. Yet although the measurements any observer makes
depend on his coordinates and reference frame, the physical phenomena he measures have
an invariant description that transcends that observer’s particular coordinates. Einstein’s
theory of relativity is really about finding an invariant description of physical phenomena.
True, Einstein agreed with the idea that his theory would have been better
named “Invarianten theorie.” But the term “relativity” was already entrenched at the time for
him to change.

D “The uncertainty principle” is another frequently abused term. It is sometimes

interpreted as a limitation on observers and their ability to make measurements. But it is not
about intrinsic limitations on any one particular measurement; it is about the inability to
precisely measure particular pairs of quantities simultaneously? The first interpretation is
perhaps more engaging from a philosophical or political perspective. It’s just not what the
science is about.

E Even the word “theory” can be a problem. Unlike most people, who use the word to
describe a passing conjecture that they often regard as suspect, physicists have very specific
ideas in mind when they talk about theories. For physicists, theories entail a definite physical
framework embodied in a set of fundamental assumptions about the world that lead to a
specific set of equations and predictions – ones that are borne out by successful predictions.
Theories aren’t necessarily shown to be correct or complete immediately. Even Einstein took
the better part of a decade to develop the correct version of his theory of general relativity.
But eventually both the ideas and the measurements settle down and theories are either
proven correct, abandoned or absorbed into other, more encompassing theories.

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F “Global warming” is another example of problematic terminology. Climatologists

predict more drastic fluctuations in temperature and rainfall – not necessarily that every place
will be warmer. The name sometimes subverts the debate, since it lets people argue that
their winter was worse, so how could there be global warming? Clearly “global climate
change” would have been a better name. But not all problems stem solely from poor word
choices. Some stem from the intrinsically complex nature of much of modern science.
Science sometimes transcends this limitation: remarkably, chemists were able to detail the
precise chemical processes involved in the destruction of the ozone layer, making the
evidence that chlorofluorocarbon gases (Freon, for example) were destroying the ozone layer
indisputable.

G A better understanding of the mathematical significance of results and less insistence

on a simple story would help to clarify many scientific discussions. A few years ago, the
Harvard University faculty was tortured by empty debates over the relative intrinsic scientific
abilities of men and women. One of the more amusing aspects of the discussion was that
those who believed in the differences and those who didn’t use the same evidence about
gender-specific special ability? How could that be? The answer is that the data shows no
substantial effects. Social factors might account for these tiny differences, which in any case
have an unclear connection to scientific ability. Not much of a headline when phrased that
way, is it? Each type of science has its own source of complexity and potential for
miscommunication.

H Yet there are steps we can take to improve public understanding in all cases. The first
would be to inculcate greater understanding and acceptance of indirect scientific evidence.
The information from an unmanned space mission is no less legitimate than the information
from one in which people are on board. This doesn’t mean questioning an interpretation, but
it also doesn’t mean equating indirect evidence with blind belief, as people sometimes
suggest. Second, we might need different standards for evaluating science with urgent policy
implications than research with the purely theoretical value. When scientists say they are not
certain about their predictions, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve found nothing substantial.
It would be better if scientists were more open about the mathematical significance of their
results and if the public didn’t treat math as quite so scary; statistics and errors, which tell us
the uncertainty in a measurement, give us the tools to evaluate new developments fairly.

I But most important, people have to recognize that science can be complex. If we
accept only simple stories, the description will necessarily be distorted. When advances are
subtle or complicated, scientists should be willing to go the extra distance to give proper
explanations and the public should be more patient about the truth. Even so, some difficulties
are unavoidable. Most developments reflect work in progress, so the story is complex
because no one yet knows the big picture. Although the more involved story might not have
the same immediate appeal, the truth in the end will always be far more interesting.

Questions 27-31

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27 Why is faithful science communication important?

A. Science plays an increasingly significant role in people’s lives.

B. Science is fraught with challenges the public are interested in.
C. The nature of complexity in science communication leads to confusion.
D. Scientific inventions are more important than ever before.

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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

28 What is the reason that the author believes for the biggest challenges for science
reporting?

A. Phenomenon such as global warming, cancer research, diet studies is too

complex.
B. Scientists themselves often only partly understand the Theory of Evolution
C. Scientists do not totally comprehend the meaning of certain scientific evolution
D. Scientists themselves often partly understand the esoteric communication nature

29 According to the 3rd paragraph, the reference to the term and example of “theory of
relativity” is to demonstrate

A. theory of relativity is about an invariant physical phenomenon

B. common people may be misled by the inaccurate choice of scientific phrase
C. the term “relativity,” is designed to be misleading public
D. everything is relative and there is no absolute existence

30 Which one is a good example of appropriate word choice:

A. Scientific theory for the uncertainty principle

B. Phenomenon of Global warming
C. The importance of ozone layer
D. Freon’s destructive process on environment

31 What is a surprising finding of the Harvard debates in the passage?

A. There are equal intrinsic scientific abilities of men and women.

B. The proof applied by both sides seemed to be of no big difference.
C. The scientific data usually shows no substantial figures to support a debated idea.
D. Social factors might have a clear connection to scientific ability.

Questions 32-35
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agree with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

32 “Global warming” scientifically refers to greater fluctuations in temperature and rainfall

rather than a universal temperature rise.
33 More media coverage of “global warming” would help the public to recognize the
phenomenon.
34 Harvard debates should focus more on female scientist and male scientists
35 Public understanding and acceptance of indirect scientific evidence in all cases would
lead to confusion

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IELTS Preparation Course 25-2022_IELTS Thay Son_0347806269 April 17, 2024

Questions 36-40
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage
Using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

Science Communication is fraught with challenges that can easily distort discussions, leading
to unnecessary confusion and misunderstandings. Firstly, Ambiguous 36___________ are
the source of some misunderstandings. Common people without proper training do not
understand clearly or deeply a specific scientific meaning via the 37 ___________ scientists
are often employed. Besides, the measurements any 38 __________ makes can not be
confined to describe in a(n) constant 39 __________ yet the phenomenon can be. What’s
more, even the word “theory” can be a problem. Theories aren’t necessarily shown to be
correct or complete immediately since scientists often evolved better versions of specific
theories, a good example can be the theory of 40 ___________. Thus, most importantly
people have to recognize that science can be complex.

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