Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 196
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 196 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 196
READING PASSAGE – 2
Read the text below and answer Questions 16-20.
ADJUSTMENTS IN THE WORKPLACE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Some people with disabilities can face harriers at work because of how their work situation is organized. In many cases, these harriers can he removed by changing some feature of the workplace environment. Making these changes is commonly referred to as ‘reasonable adjustment’.
IELTS General Reading Test
Employers have a responsibility to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace so that an employee with a disability can do their job effectively. Failure to do so may amount to discrimination.
Adjustments should respond to the particular needs or concerns of the worker. Examples of adjustments include making changes to work premises, making adjustments to work schedules, modifying equipment or providing training.
Example: An employer made the reasonable adjustment of obtaining a larger computer screen and zooming software to allow a clerical worker with vision impairment to perform word processing tasks. Employers are not required to make adjustments to their workplace if they can prove that an adjustment would be too expensive, difficult or time consuming or cause some other hardship to the organization. This is called ‘unjustifiable hardship’.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 16 – 20
Fill in the blanks in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS in boxes 16-20 on your answer sheet.
16. It is obvious for some handicapped individual to face …………… At work.
17. It is relevant for some companies to make …………… for their work situation.
18. A place, which is not compatible for handicapped to work over, can lead to …………… .
19. Changing the premises and …………… tangible solutions a company can take to provide comfort to their disabled employees.
20. Unless …………… a company should make reasonable adjustment like installing a larger computer screen for visually impaired workers.
IELTS General Reading Test
Read the text below and answer Questions 21-30.
VARIETY DEVELOPMENT
A. Since the dawn of agriculture some 10,000 years ago, farmers have been developing varieties of plants to yield desired results. When you eat an ear of corn, for example, you can thank the prehistoric agriculturalists who started the process by selecting types of maize that retained their seed on the ear, leading to the development of coal on the cob. Variety development can be accomplished through many activities, from simply selecting plants with desirable characteristics for propagation to more complex molecular breeding techniques.
B. Plant breeding is the generation of variation, selection of plants and genetic stabilization (fixing) of traits to obtain varieties with reproducible desired characteristics. Its scientific underpinnings began to be understood in the mid-nineteenth century with the work of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. Using the pea plants in his garden, Mendel observed how traits were passed down to succeeding generations and he formulated the idea that specific traits were inherited as units in a predictable way.
IELTS General Reading Test
By the mid-twentieth century, scientists had established that traits are transmitted by genes in chromosomes, which store and express chemical information resulting in these characteristics. An understanding of genetic principles and their application to plant breeding technology has greatly accelerated the rate of improvement of crop plants. Researchers estimate that at least half of the several-fold yield increases attained in wheat and rice during the Green Revolution resulted from the development and use of genetically improved varieties.
C. Plant traits are encoded in the DNA of their genes. Sometimes many different genes can influence a desirable trait, making it difficult for plant breeders to accumulate them all into a single variety. Marker-assisted breeding allows breeders to map and trace thousands of genes and screen large populations of plants for those that possess the traits of interest. The marker, or genetic tag, can be based on either DNA or proteins. Molecular markers have enabled high-throughput genotyping and accelerated the rate at which breeders can incorporate useful traits into new varieties.
IELTS General Reading Test
D. Breeders often make crosses between plants of diverse genetic makeup or genotypes to produce new combinations of genetic traits, which then result in diverse phenotypes, or observable morphological or quality traits in the progeny plants. The natural diversity of different sources of germplasm within a species or its close relatives is a primary source of genetic variation.
Genetic variation can also be increased by inducing mutations, changes in the DNA sequences of the plants. Since the 1950s, over 2,200 crop varieties have been developed by induced mutations. In 1973, it became possible to identify and splice (or recombine) specific DNA molecules, leading to recombinant DNA technology or genetic engineering, which allows scientists to copy and exchange genes among species to introduce new characteristics, such as resistance to herbicides (compounds that control weeds) or insects. Plants developed using genetic engineering are often called transgenic plants.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 21-24
The text has four sections. Which section follows the heading given in the box from I- VI.
List of headings
I. Agricultural science
II. Making choices for the best output
III. Selecting the gene for its characteristics
IV. Crop plantation
V. Introduction of genetics
VI. Two ways of leading a genetic variation
21. Paragraph A
22. Paragraph B
23. Paragraph C
24. Paragraph D
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 25- 30
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 25-30 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.
25. Corn was the first plant to be used for selective breeding.
26. Gregor Mendel worked on peas to study inheritance.
27. The information that traits are forwarded with the help of chromosome came into light in 1950.
28. Green Revolution yield was a result of indigenous seed varieties of crops.
29. Genetic Tag includes DNA or proteins.
30. Many plants have become pest resistant because of mutation or Recombinant DNA technology.
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
ANSWERS
16. BARRIERS
17. REASONABLE ADJUSTMENT
18. DISCRIMINATION
19. MODIFYING EQUIPMENT
20. UNJUSTIFIABLE HARDSHIP
21. II
22. V
23. III
24. VI
25. NOT GIVEN
26. TRUE
27. TRUE
28. FALSE
29. TRUE
30. TRUE