BEST IELTS General Reading Test 427

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IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 427 – PASSAGE -2

IELTS GENERAL READING TEST

READING PASSAGE – 2

Fire evacuation plan

Evacuation Lead

Mrs Gillespie (Managing Director) will take charge and lead in the fire evacuation. In her absence, Mr Cummings (Sales Manager) will take charge.

Raising the alarm

If you discover a fire, activate the nearest alarm.

If fire is detected by smoke detectors, the fire alarm will be triggered automatically.

The sound of the alarm is a continuously ringing bell.

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Action to be taken on hearing the alarm

– The following actions will be taken upon the fire alarm being sounded:

– Dial 999 and request attendance by the Fire Service. Staff member gives their name, name of building, building address, contact number and details of the fire

– Evacuation lead to pick up visitors signing in book from reception desk if safe to do so.

– Staff will commence evacuation of the building in a calm and orderly manner and assist those needing additional help in evacuating

IELTS General Reading Test

– Staff will leave their personal possession where they are

– The lift is not to be used for evacuation

– Designated fire warden on each floor to sweep their floor to ensure all areas are clear if safe to do so and ensure all doors are closed on the way out

– If safe to do, electrical mains and gas supplies should be switched off before leaving the building by the Health and Safety Supervisor or their deputy

– Evacuation lead to ensure nobody re-enters the building until confirmed safe to do so by the Fire Service

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– Meet at assembly point and check all and staff members and visitors are accounted for

– Evacuation lead to liaise with Fire Service upon their arrival

– Staff will remain in the evacuation area until given the all clear to return to the building by the Fire Service

Escape Routes

The escape routes from the building are:

1. Down the main staircase and back staircase

2. Down the outside fire escape.

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Fighting fires – Extinguisher use

Fire extinguishers will only be used where:

– Staff have received training and feel confident in their use

– Where it is deemed safe to do so i.e. there is a clear means of escape, fire is small

Personal safety always takes priority and, if in any doubt, staff should not attempt to extinguish a fire

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 1-9

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS and/or a NUMBER from the text for each answer.

1. The person who first notices the fire should set off the …………………….

2. Staff will be alerted to the fire by the sound of a …………………….

3. The Fire Service can be contacted by calling …………………….

4. As long as there is no risk, the evacuation lead will collect the record of ……………………. from reception.

5. It is essential that staff do not use ……………………. during evacuation.

6. No one must go back inside until the …………………….. tell them the building is safe.

7. On leaving the building, staff must congregate at the designated ……………………. .

8. If the inside staircases are unsafe for evacuation, staff will leave the building by the ……………….. .

9. Fire extinguishers should only be used by ……………………. .

IELTS General Reading Test

Read the text below and answer Questions 10-14.

What matters most when speaking a new language

Instead of looking at a foreign language as an art to be mastered and perfected, think of it as a tool you can use to get a result, says communication skills trainer Marianna Pascal.

When we’re studying a new language, many of us approach it with fear and trepidation. If we make a mistake or say something wrong, we wince, freeze up, and judge ourselves harshly. But as it turns out, however, we’d benefit by shifting our focus and worry less about getting it right, according to communication skills trainer Marianna Pascal in a TEDxPenangRoad Talk.

IELTS General Reading Test

Pascal has spent 20 years in Malaysia helping people speak better English. Over time, she’s discovered a surprising truth: How well somebody communicates in a new language has very little to do with their language level and a lot more to do with their attitude.

As a teacher, she’d noticed that some students had a relatively low command of English but could still communicate very effectively. She recalls one specific student named Faisal, who was a factory supervisor. Despite not knowing much English, she says, “this guy could just sit and listen to anybody very calmly, clearly, and then he could respond [and] absolutely express his thoughts beautifully.” She’d also observed some students in the opposite situation – people who knew quite a bit of English but who struggled to make themselves understood.

IELTS General Reading Test

Then Pascal had a realization. She recalls, “My daughter at that time was taking piano lessons, and I started to notice two really strong similarities between my daughter’s attitude or thinking towards playing the piano and a lot of Malaysians’ thinking or attitude towards English.” The first similarity had to do with the fear of being wrong. Pascal says her daughter hated piano, hated the lessons, and hated practicing.

As she puts it, “she was filled with this … dread because it was all about not screwing up, right? To both my daughter and her teacher, her success in piano was measured by how few mistakes she made.” Pascal adds, “Now at the same time, I noticed that a lot of Malaysians went into English conversations with the same sort of feeling of dread – this … feeling that they were going to be judged by how many mistakes they were going to make and whether or not they were going to screw up.”

IELTS General Reading Test

The second similarity had to do with self-image. Pascal says, “My daughter, she knew what good piano sounded like, right? Because we’ve all heard good piano, and she knew what her level was, and she knew how long she’d have to play for, to play like that.”

The same thing happens to English learners, Pascal realized: “A lot of Malaysians, I noticed, had this idea of what good, proper English is supposed to sound like … and what their English sounded like, and how far they’d have to go to get there.” Still, that didn’t answer her question. While she now knew what made some people struggle, she didn’t quite know what made other people succeed.

IELTS General Reading Test

Then she went to a cyber cafe. The person sitting next to her was playing a shoot-’em-up game while his friends watched, and he just wasn’t a very good player. But at the same time, she saw something remarkable: “Even though this guy was terrible, even though his friends were watching him, there was no embarrassment. There was no feeling of being judged. There was no shyness.” Instead, he was focused completely on the task at hand: shooting his opponents.

Pascal says, “I suddenly realized, this is it. This is the same attitude that people like Faisal have when they speak English.” Just like the lousy player, when Faisal enters an English conversation, she explains, “he doesn’t feel judged. He’s entirely focused on the person that he’s speaking to and the result he wants to get. He’s got no self-awareness, no thoughts about his own mistakes.”

IELTS General Reading Test

There’s a significant difference between someone who speaks a new language like they’re playing piano and someone who speaks it like they are playing a video game. It has to do with where they’re putting their focus. On one hand, Pascal says, “We’ve got the one who’s got a high level, but is totally focused on herself and getting it right and therefore very ineffective. We’ve got another one low-level, but totally focused on the person she’s talking to and getting a result – effective.”

Pascal believes that speaking a language is not like those exams that many of us had to take in grade school, where a tiny spelling or grammar mistake would result in a big red X from the teacher. In the real world, small errors don’t matter. What matters is whether we’re able to make ourselves understood. She says, “If you want to speak English like Faisal with that great confidence, here’s the one thing that you can do when you speak. Don’t focus on yourself; focus on the other person and the result you want to achieve.”

Pascal’s bottom line: “Language belongs to you. It’s not an art to be mastered. It’s just a tool to use to get a result.” And, she adds, “that tool belongs to you.”

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 10-14

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the reading passage? Write:

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer.

NO if the statement contradicts what the writer thinks.

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to know what the writer’s point of view is

10. The ability to communicate in a second language has more to do with how a person thinks and feels about communicating with others than their actual language skills.

11. To communicate effectively, it is essential to have a good command of a new language.

12. Most language learners are worried that people will make fun of them when they say things incorrectly.

13. All language learners feel embarrassment about making errors.

14. Achieving success in learning a new language is about being able to communicate effectively, not in being fluent in the language.

IELTS General Reading Test

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