BETS IELTS General Reading Test 19

Table of Contents

GENERAL READING TEST 19

Reading Passage – 1

LOST DAMAGED OR DELAYED INLAND MAIL CLAIM FORM

Before completing this claim form for lost, damaged or delayed mail you should visit www.royalmail.com to find out all you need to know about our policies . Alternatively you can get the details from our ” Mail Made easy ” booklet, available at nay local post office branch . When you fill in the form , make sure you complete it in full, using the checklist that we have provided to help you . If you find that you do not have the evidence required to make a claim but world like us to investigate an issue with your mail service , the easiest way to do this is by visiting our website.

LOST ITEMS
if you wish to claim compensation for items that have been damaged , you should send us original proof of posting , e.g. a Post office receipt . If claiming for the contents of a package , you also need to provide proof of value , e.g. till item reference number , receipt , bank statement etc.

DAMAGED ITEMS
When claiming compensation for lost items that have been damaged , you should send us the items themselves , if possible . However , if these are very large or unsafe to post , you may instead provide photographs as evidence of the damage . Please retain the original packaging ( and damaged items , if not sent to us ) as we may need to inspect them.

TIME RESTRICTIONS
We allow up to 15 working days for items to arrive , so cannot accept a claim for loss unless 15 working days or more have passed since the items was posted
Claims for lost or damaged items must be made within 12 months of the date they were posted if the claim is made by the sender, or within 1 month of receipt if the claim is made by the recipient of the item.

Questions 1-7

complete the notes below
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND /OR A NUMBER from the text for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet

Claiming compensation from the Royal Mail for lost , damaged or delayed mail

Before filling the form
. go online o learn about their policies or get the 1. ……………………………… that contains the relevant information.

When filling in he form
. refer to the 2 ………………….. to ensure all the relevant sections are completed
( you can use their 3 …………………………. to request action if you don’t have enough proof to make a claim)

when claiming compensation for a lost item
. include proof that you have posted the item
. in the case of a package include something ( e.g. bank statement ) to prove its 4……………………..

When claiming for the cost of a damaged item, include
. either the actual item or 5………………………. showing the damage to the item ( you should keep the
6……………. that was used when the item was originally sent:)

When to claim
. Lost or damaged items: within 12 months of posting the claim
. Delayed items : if you are the 7………………… , you must claim within three months of posting the package

Read the text below and answer Questions 8-14

DAYS OUT FOR THE FAMILY

A. Carrickfergus castle
considered to be Northern Ireland’s oldest castle, Carrickfergus has seen more than 800 years of miltary occupation since its foundations were laid , During summer, traditional feasts are served , and fairs and craft markets provide an extra attraction . the history of the castle is explained and brought to life with exhibits and guided tours.

B. Glaims Castle
Shakespeare used Glamis as the background when he wrote one of his best-known plays , Macbeth and the Queen Mother Grew up here . It is also rumoured to have a secret chamber in the castle. There are many ghost tales associated with this castle , which will capture the imagination of younger visitors.

C. Tintagel Castle
High up on the cliff tops, Tintagel Castle is the legendary home of king Arthur . The visitors guide on sale at the reception is well worth of the money , as it can help you to visualise what it would have been like hundreds of years ago . you can park in the village car park and walk the half mile to the castle , or take the shuttle bus.

D. Pickering Castle
Built by William the conqueror, this is a great castle for children to run around in . There are lots of special events too, including a chance to come along and see some plays which are put on during the summer months . Nearby Helmsley Castle is also worth a visit.

E. Stokesay Castle
A range of workshops , including music and combat are held here during the summer , children of all ages will enjoy learning at these and there is a guided tour which has been especially designed with younger visitors in mind , some of them may find the dungeon quit scary though.

F. Warwick Castle
This castle is over 1,000 years old and has towers and a moat , and is just as you might imagine a castle to be . children can even get to try on armour to see how heavy it is, At Christmas , a special market id held here – a great opportunity to look for presents and Christmas treats

Questions 8-14

Look at the description of six castles A-F
For which castle are the following statements true?
Write the correct letter A-F , in boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet

NB you may use any letter more than once

8. At certain times of the year you can eat special meals here.
9. Children can get dressed up here
10. There is another castle in the same area.
11. A lot of stories are told about this place.
12. Parts of the castle may be frightening for some children.
13. Play are performed here during part of the year.
14. A guided tour is offered which is particularly suitable for children.

Reading Passage – 2

Read the text and answer Questions 15-27

TV Studio Tour

Of the commercial TV networks, only NBC Studios in Burbank offers the public a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of its television operation.

ABC TV doesn’t offer a guided tour of their studio. Neither does CBS, nor even Fox. In fact, if you want to see the inside of a TV studio, your only other choice is over at KCET – the local public television (PBS) station, Channel 28 , which offers a free guided tour of its historic Monogram Studios.

The studio tour at NBC isn’t free, but it is reasonably priced when compared with the cost of the tours provided by the local motion picture studios. NBC’s $7.50 admission charge seems like a bargain compared with the $36 charged by Universal Studios or the $30 charged by nearby Warner Brothers. It also beats the $15 price of the Paramount Studiostour.

The NBC tour is a modest one, though. You’ll find no audioanimatronic sharks snapping at your heels here, no 50-foot apes or flying DeLoreans. Unlike Universal, the NBC Studio tour is not a theme park in disguise.

And unlike the Warner Bros tour, there are no mini trams or giant back lots to explore. It’s just a 70-minute, indoor walking tour, offering a down-to-earth view of a working television studio.

Their guided studio tour gives you a chance to go where TV history was made; it takes you deep inside the NBC studio. The tour shows you the vast warehouse areas where props are stored, and construction areas where craftsmen are hard at work building realistic sets, it shows you examples of special-effects hardware, and gives you a peek at the NBC wardrobe department.

The tour leads you through the studio’s labyrinth of hallways, past the makeup department, through the Peacock Store, and out into the parking lot where Jay Leno and other celebrities park their cars. You even get a glimpse of the infamous NBC commissary.
Then it’s up to Studio Three, the set where the “Tonight Show” is taped. (Jay Leno moved the show to this building in 1994, from the historic Studio One where Johnny Carson taped his shows.) There, tour guests get to sit in the same seats as the “Tonight Show” studio audience and see that famous, familiar “Tonight Show” set up-close.

The tour shows you videos about NBC’s history, gives you demonstrations of sound-effects machines, and explains how such TV effects as ‘chroma key’ is brought to life. You might even bump into a minor celebrity along the way. And they accomplish all of this in less than 90 minutes. It’s a polished, professional little tour which probably satisfies most tourists’ urge for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of some aspect of Hollywood.

The problem is that the NBC tour is just a little too slick. In fact, it’s superficial – bordering on condescending. Tour guests don’t actually visit the wardrobe department, for instance, they just walk past it, and look at mannequins in a picture window. Tour guests don’t get to see the actual makeup or special-effects departments in action, instead they are merely shown simple display cases filled with related props. The tour guide points to the NBC commissary from afar, but they won’t let you actually go inside that well known cafeteria. When they take visitors out to the studio parking lot, they actually expect us to be impressed by the oil stain left by Jay Leno’s car.

You get the feeling that someone in charge thinks the tour guests have just fallen off the turnip truck. When soap opera actress Deidre Hall (from “Days of Our Lives”) “accidentally” walks by and waves hello, you’re supposed to believe that it was a blissful coincidence. When they demonstrate the well-known blue-screen process (by making a volunteer “fly” in a Superman cape against a blue background) we are supposed to be dazzled by 20-year-old video technology that in this day of home computers and videocams is old hat to just about everyone taking the tour.

Guests are “treated like tourists” in the worst sense of that term. The well groomed tour guides are friendly and polite, but you are always aware that, as a visitor, you are being kept on a very tight leash.

Questions 15-20

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

15 NBC and Monogram Studios are the only two TV networks that provide a …………….

16 A guided tour at Universal Studios costs ………………

17…………. tour takes 70 minutes.

18 During the tour you will see the car park used by the …………….

19 Since 1994 the Tonight Show has been produced in ………………

20 Visitors can only see several rather than seeing inside actual departments. ………………

Read the text and answer Questions 21 – 27

Information Overload

Here are ten of my favorite ways to manage information:

A. Factor reference from action. Carve out action items, To Dos, and tasks from your incoming streams of information. If it’s not an action, it’s reference. I first learned this practice when I was dealing with information overload as a support engineer. I ended up cementing the idea while working on our Microsoft Knowledge Base. The Knowledge Base is a vast collection of information, where each article tends to be optimized around either action or reference.

B. Create lists. Make a new To Do list each day and use it to organize your key action items for the day. Create checklists for your common routines.

C. Create collections. Put things into collections or think in terms of collections. Consolidate your notes into a single collection that you access quickly, such as in a personal notebook, a Word document or etc. Consolidate your thoughts or ideas into a single collection. Consolidate reference examples of your heroes or stories you can use for inspiration. Consolidate your “ah-has” into a single collection. Note that by single collection, I don’t mean you have it all in a single document, although you can. Instead, I’m thinking of collections of items, much like a photo album music collection. By stashing things of a similar type, such as “idea” or “note” … etc., you can determine the best way to arrange that collection. Maybe it’s a simple A -Z list or maybe you arrange it by time. For example, when I keep a journal of my insights, and each time I get an “ah ha”, I write it down under the current date. This way I can easily flip back through days and see my insights in chronological order. While I could arrange them A – Z, I like having my most recent ideas or inspirations bubbled to the top, since chances are I’m finding ways to act on them.

D. Put things where you look for them. Where ever you look for it, that’s where it should be. If you keep looking for something in a certain place, either just put it there when you find it or add some sort of pointer to the actual location. While you might logically think something belongs in a certain place, the real test is where you intuitively look for it.

E. Keep things flat. Out of sight, out of mind holds true for information. Avoid nesting information. Keep it flat and simple where you can. Think in terms of iTunes or a playlist. A well organized playlist is easy to jump to what you need.

F. Organize long lists or folders using A-Z. When you have long lists or big collections, then listing things A-Z tends to be a simple way to store things and to look things up fast. Once a list gets long, A-Z or a numbered list is the way to go.

G. Archive old things. When information is no longer useful for you, consider archiving it to get it out of your way. This usually means having a separate location. I’m a pack rat and I have a hard time letting things go, so I tend to archive instead. It let’s me get things out of the way, and then eventually get rid of them if I need to. Archiving has really helped me get a ton of information out of my way, since I know I can easily re-hydrate it if I need to.

H. Bubble up key things to the top. When you have a lot of information, rather than worry about organizing all of it, bubble up things to the top. You can effectively have a quick, simple list or key things up top, followed by more information. Keep the things up front simple. This way you get the benefits of both exhaustive or complete, as well as simple. Whenever you have a large body of information, just add a simple entry point or key take away or summary up front.

I. Know whether you’re optimizing for storing or retrieving. Distinguish whether you are storing something because you will need to look it up or refer to it a lot, or if you are simply storing it because you might need it in the future. For information that I need to look up a lot, I create a view or I make it easy to get to the information fast. For example, I might use a sticky note since I can quickly put it wherever I need to. For a lot of information, you simply need a quick way to store it. What you don’t want to do is have to work to hard, each time you need to file a piece of information. This I is where having a place for things, using lists, and organizing information in a meaningful way comes in handy. For most of my reference information, I organize it either by A-Z or by time. This way I don’t have to think too hard. I don’t create a bunch of folders for my email. Instead, I just store it all flat so it’s easy to search or browse or sort. For example, if I need to find an email from somebody, I simply sort my email by their name. Just by asking the question whether you’re optimizing for fast filing or for fast lookup will get you improving your information management in the right direction.

J. Create views. Create views for the information that you need to frequently access. For example, you might put sticky notes of information that consolidate just the key things. As an analogy, think of your music store versus your playlists. You store might be a large collection organized A-Z, but your playlists are views that are more focused or have themes. You can apply this metaphor to any of your information collections.

Questions 21 – 27

The text contains nine paragraphs, A-I.
Which paragraph contains the following information?

21 organising information into similar groups

22 what to do if you don’t want to delete something completely

23 avoiding too many sub-directories

24 the two main categories of incoming information

25 how to test that your system is working

26 what you should do on a daily basis

27 what to do if your list of items is very lengthy

Reading Passage – 3

QUESTIONS 28–34

The text has seven paragraphs, A–G.
Choose the correct heading, A–G, from the list of headings below.

Write your answers, A-G, in boxes 28–34 on your answer sheet.

List of headings
i Methods of applying colour patterns to cloth
ii The origins and use of factory-made cloth
iii Specialist training for quilt and coverlet makers
iv Two types of quilt construction
v The production of rawmaterials
vi Dyeing techniques used in America
vii The rising price of manufactured textiles
viii Sources of natural dyes in America
ix The development of weaving techniques

28 Paragraph A ……………….
29 Paragraph B ……………….
30 Paragraph C ……………….
31 Paragraph D ……………….
32 Paragraph E ……………….
33 Paragraph F ……………….
34 Paragraph G ……………….

North American Quilts and Coverlets

Paragraph A:
The craft traditions which early American colonists from Europe brought to the ‘New World’ centred primarily around the use of linen and wool. These familiar choices were then adapted to America, whose climate and environment enabled the introduction and raising of sheep for wool and, in some areas – though with less success – the growing of flax for linen. The cultivation of silk – an exotic fibre originally brought from China – was attempted for a short time only in the northern states, although by the nineteenth-century silk was being used extensively. Cotton thrived in the southern region, but was restricted to small-scale home production until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when the invention of new mechanical equipment facilitated its harvesting, spinning, and weaving on a large scale.

Paragraph B:
Quilts and coverlets were created from both homemade and commercially produced cloth. During the early colonial period (seventeenth century) and into the new republic (1776 onwards), most commercial fabric was imported from England. Even goods that had been produced in other regions, such as the popular dye-printed calicoes from India and woven silks from China, were brought into America via English ships. These were used in making quilts and also influenced American quilt design. Eventually, by the mid-nineteenth century, most of the fabrics found in quilts were industrially produced, and reflected the taste and achievements of the American textile industry. Specialty fabrics, particularly silk ribbons, had become popular by the second half of the nineteenth century.

Paragraph C:
Prior to the development of synthetic dyes in the nineteenth century, early American dyers utilized substances obtained from a variety of plants and animals, to create a wide-ranging colour palette. Red colours ranged from the orange-red hue produced from the madder root to the brilliant scarlet made from cochineal, the scale insect that grows on the cactus from Central and South America. Most of the blue colours were from indigo leaves, and browns derived from a variety of sources, including substances called tannins found in oak trees.

Paragraph D:
Unwoven yarn or finished cloth was coloured by immersing it into containers of hot dye solution. Numerous shades of colour could be achieved, depending on the quality of the dyes, the purity of water, the type of utensils used (a copper kettle, for example, could affect the colour), and the addition of specific metallic salts to create a strong colour which would not fade in light. These salts, along with other additives such as vinegar or ash, were essential to the dyeing process. The dyeing of textiles with natural dyes was both an art and a science. Indigo blue, for example, with its complex chemistry, required a series of steps in order to produce a durable, lightfast blue colour. Turkey Red was another complicated dye process. Originating in India, it was a method that involved immersing the cloth several times into oils, milk fats or dung. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, books were published on the science and philosophy of dyes, thus heralding a period of experimentation, and the creation of a whole new category of synthetic dyes that flourished at the end of the nineteenth century, and continue to be used today.

Paragraph E:
Methods of applying designs onto the surface of fabrics ranged from hand painting and stencilling 2 to block and roller printing. Block printing involved the use of carved wooden blocks. The surfaces of the blocks were covered with the dye which were thickened with gum Arabic or other starchy substances, and pressed directly onto the cloth. Some quilts were made with floral designs from block-printed fabrics. Etched plates of copper were also used for printing, and in 1783 technological developments led to covering cylindrical rollers with etched copperplates for continuous printing, a process called roller printing. This new technology enabled printers to produce more yardage at a much faster rate.

Paragraph F:
The creation of complex quilts composed of many small pieces of cloth – known as patchwork – requires systematic organization. A template might be used for creating the basic design unit, such as a square, diamond, or hexagon. The template – sometimes a heavy card or paper – ensured an even, regular unit size, thus enabling the quilter to join together the many pieces of fabric, following an overall design arrangement. Appliquéd quilts, also made by using fabric pieces, were put together in a different manner. Appliqué is a versatile technique, enabling the sewer to compose visual patterns with multiple layers of single-colour and printed fabrics, creating depth in the overall composition.

Paragraph G:
For American woven blankets, simple weaves were woven on simple looms. Creating designs in geometric patterning resulted from a weaver’s meticulous attention to the loom’s operation, along with the artistic use of contrasting colours and materials to highlight the pattern effects. Floral and larger-scale pictorial images generally required more complex patterning mechanisms. For example, the Jacquard mechanism, developed by French weaver Joseph-Marie Jacquard in the late eighteenth century, used a series of cards with pre-punched holes that would control the threads as they were woven on the loom. An early forerunner of the computer, the Jacquard loom was introduced to American weavers by the 1820s, and used extensively to produce woven coverlets with both large- and small-scale designs.

Questions 35–37

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write your answers in boxes 35–37 on your answer sheet.

35. How suitable were various fibres for production by the first immigrants to America?
A. Silk was produced in every geographical region.
B. Cotton could be grown on large plantations.
C. Wool presented no particular problems.
D. Flax was the easiest fibre to cultivate.

36. What does the writer say about early cloth printing in America?
A. Fabrics were printed using a variety of methods.
B. The introduction of block printing speeded up the process.
C. For a long time, flowers were the only image that was printed.
D. Wooden printing equipment was quickly replaced by metal.

37. The technique of creating patterns in woven cloth
A. required little skill on the part of a loom operator.
B. was only possible after complex looms were invented.
C. had originated in eighteenth-century France.
D. involved combining different colors and materials.

Questions 38–40

Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 38–40 on your answer sheet.

Dyeing fabrics
In the early years of textile production, Americans used red, blue and brown dyes made from plants and animals. Several factors affected the finished shade of the fabric, such as what the containers were made from, or how clean the 38……………….. was. Additives were used to create colours which would be unaffected by 39………….……. . After some time, techniques became more innovative, resulting in the production of the 40…………….…. dyes that are now in use.

ANSWER KEY:-

1 Booklet
2 Checklist
3 Website
4 Value
5 (provide) photograph(s)/photos
6 (original) packaging
7 Sender
8 A
9 F
10 D
11 B
12 E
13 D
14 E
15 guided tour
16 $36
17 The NBC
18 celebrities
19 Studio Three
20 display cases
21 C
22 G
23 E
24 A
25 D
26 B
27 F
28 v
29 ii
30 viii
31 vi
32 i
33 iv
34 ix
35 C
36 A
37 D
38 water
39 light
40 synthetic