Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 464
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 464 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 464
READING PASSAGE – 2
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF UK
A. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. The library is a key research library, holding over 150 million bits and pieces from many countries, in numerous languages and in countless formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. The Library’s assortments include around 14 million books, along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 2000 BC. The British Library is the largest library in the world, with the second largest being the Library of Congress of the United States.
B. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. It also has a programme for content acquisitions. The British Library appends some three million items every year occupying 9.6 kilometres (6.0 mi) of new shelf space. The library is a non- departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is traced on the north side of Euston Road in St Pancras, London (between Euston railway station and St Pancras railway station) and has a document storage centre and reading room at Boston Spa, Wetherby in West Yorkshire.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
C. The British Library was created on 1 July 1973 as a result of the British Library Act 1972. Prior to this, the national library was part of the British Museum, which endowed with the bulk of the holdings of the new library, alongside smaller organizations which were folded in (such as the National Central Library, the National Lending Library for Science and Technology and the British National Bibliography).
In 1974 functions previously exercised by the Office for Scientific and Technical Information were taken over, in 1982 the India Office Library and Records and the HMSO Binderies became British Library responsibilities. In 1983, the Library riveted the National Sound Archive, which holds many sound and video recordings, with over a million discs and thousands of tapes. The heart of the Library’s historical collections is based on a series of donations and acquisitions from the 18th century, known as the ‘foundation collections’. These incorporate the books and manuscripts of Sir Robert Cotton, Sir Hans Sloane, Robert Harley and the King’s Library of King George III, as well as the Old Royal Library donated by King George II.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
D. The Library formerly had a book storage depot in Woolwich, south-east London, which is no longer in use. The new library was designed specially for the purpose by the architect Colin St John Wilson. Facing Euston Road is a large piazza that includes pieces of public art, such as large sculptures by Eduardo Paolozzi (a bronze statue based on William Blake’s study of Isaac Newton) and Antony Gormley. It is the largest public building constructed in the United Kingdom in the 20th century.
E. On Thursday, April 5, 2013, Lucie Burgess, the British Library’s head of content strategy, announced that, starting that weekend, the Library will begin saving all sites with the suffix .uk- every British website, e-book, online newsletter, and blog, in a bid to preserve the nation’s “digital memory” (which as of then amounted to about 4.8 million sites containing 1 billion web pages). The Library will make all the material publicly accessible to users by the end of 2013, and will ensure that, through technological advancements, all the material is preserved for future generations, despite the fluidity of the Internet.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
F. The Library is open to everyone who has a genuine need to use its collections. Anyone with a permanent address who wishes to carry out research can apply for a Reader Pass; they are required to provide proof of signature and address for security purposes. Historically, only those wishing to use specialised material unavailable in other public or academic libraries would be given a Reader Pass. The Library has been criticised for admitting numbers of undergraduate students, who have access to their own university libraries, to the reading rooms. The Library replied that it has always admitted undergraduates as long as they have a legitimate personal, work-related or academic research purpose.
G. The British Library makes a number of images of items within its collections available online. Its Online Gallery gives access to 30,000 images from various medieval books, together with a handful of exhibition-style items in a proprietary format, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. This includes the facility to “turn the virtual pages” of a few documents, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. Catalogue entries for a large number of the illuminated manuscript collections are obtainable online, with selected images of pages or miniatures from a growing number of them, and there is a database of significant bookbindings.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
H. In October 2010 the British Library launched its Management and business studies portal. This website is designed to allow digital right to use to management research reports, consulting reports, working papers and articles. In November 2011, four million newspaper pages from the 18th and 19th centuries were made available online. The project will scan up to 40 million pages over the next 10 years. The archive is complimentary to search, but there is a charge for accessing the pages themselves.
Questions 15-21
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-H
Write the correct number i-xi, in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet.
15. Paragraph B
16. Paragraph C
17. Paragraph D
18. Paragraph E
19. Paragraph
20. Paragraph G
21. Paragraph H
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LIST OF HEADINGS
i. Study material in British Library
ii. Eye-catching design of British Library
iii. How one can use the Library
iv. World’s largest library
v. Historical records of British Library
vi. Part of British Museum
vii. Graduates can’t use library
viii. Online Gallery of books
ix. Online availability of study material
x. Statue of Isaac Newton
xi. Accessibility of new online portal
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 22-25
Write the correct letter A, B, C, D OR E in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.
A. Archive
B. Digital Memory
C. Reader Pass
D. Online Gallery
E. Management Portal
22. Students need validation of signature and permanent address.
23. Online learning material offered for MBA students.
24. Students studying fine art and culture obtain study material.
25. Upcoming generation also has right to use present material.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 26-27
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
26. ‘Foundation Collection’ is
A. Contributions given by people
B. Correlation of people from 18th century
C. Library’s historical collections which slot in books and manuscripts
D. Assortment of videos, recordings and tapes
27. Which of the following phrases best describes the main aim of reading passage?
A. To suggest that British Library is needed in all the countries.
B. To describe how British Library successfully help people on line.
C. To examine how British Library promote different study material.
D. To describe how British Library was constructed.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
15. I
16. V
17. II
18. IX
19. III
20. VIII
21. XI
22. C
23. E
24. D
25. B
26. C
27. B
IELTS Academic Reading Test