Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 485
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 485 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 485
READING PASSAGE – 2
Inkjet Printing
A. Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers are the most commonly used type of printer and range from small inexpensive consumer models to expensive professional machines. The concept of inkjet printing originated in the 20th century, and the technology was first extensively developed in the early 1950s.
B. While working at Canon in Japan, Ichiro Endo came up with the idea for a “Bubble jet” printer, while around the same time Jon Vaught at HP was developing a similar idea. In the late 1970s, inkjet printers that could reproduce digital images generated by computers were developed, mainly by Epson, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Canon. In the worldwide consumer market, four manufacturers account for the majority of inkjet printer sales: Canon, HP, Epson, and Brother.
IELTS General Reading Test
C. In 1982, Robert Howard came up with the idea to produce a small colour printing system that used piezos to spit drops of ink. He formed the company, R.H. (Robert Howard) Research (named Howtek, Inc. in Feb 1984), and developed the revolutionary technology that led to the Pixelmaster colour printer with solid ink using Thermojet technology.
D. This technology consists of a tubular single nozzle acoustical wave drop generator invented originally by Steven Zoltan in 1972 with a glass nozzle and improved by the Howtek inkjet engineer in 1984 with a Tefzel molded nozzle to remove unwanted fluid frequencies. The emerging ink jet material deposition market also uses inkjet technologies, typically printheads using piezoelectric crystals, to deposit materials directly on substrates.
E. The technology has been extended and the ‘ink’ can now also comprise solder paste in PCB assembly, or living cells, for creating biosensors and for tissue engineering. Images produced on inkjet printers are sometimes sold under trade names such as Digigraph, Iris prints, giclée, and Cromalin. Inkjet-printed fine art reproductions are commonly sold under such trade names to imply a higher quality product and avoid association with everyday printing. Fluid surface tension naturally pulls a stream into droplets. Optimal drop sizes of 0.004 inch require an inkjet nozzle size of about 0.003 inches.
IELTS General Reading Test
F. Fluids with surface tension may be water based, wax or oil based and even melted metal alloys. Most drops can be electrically charged. There are two main technologies in use in contemporary inkjet printers: continuous (CIJ) and drop-on-demand (DOD). Continuous inkjet means the flow is pressurized and in a continuous stream. Drop-on-demand means the fluid is expelled from the jet nozzle one drop at a time.
This can be done with a mechanical means with a push or some electrical method. A large electrical charge can pull drops out of a nozzle, sound waves can push fluid from a nozzle, or a chamber volume expansion can expel a drop. Continuous streaming was investigated first many years ago. Drop-on-demand was only discovered in the 1920s.
Questions 15-20
Choose the correct heading for the given sections from the list of headings below. Write the correct number in the answer sheet.
LIST OF HEADINGS
i. Establishments that rule the inkjet printer market.
ii. Distinguishing routine printing with better quality product.
iii. Initiation of Inkjet printing model.
iv. A concept that transformed colour printing.
v. Water and oil mixed together to form the best ink fluid.
vi. HP and Canon’s record-breaking achievements in the field of technology.
vii. Different ways of dipping fluid from the nozzle.
viii. LaserJet printers produce more unwanted fluids than inkjet printers.
ix. A nozzle upgraded to eliminate undesirable fluid regularities.
IELTS General Reading Test
15. Paragraph A
16. Paragraph B
17. Paragraph C
18. Paragraph D
19. Paragraph E
20. Paragraph F
IELTS General Reading Test
Read the text below and answer questions 21-26.
Pencil
A pencil is an implement for writing or drawing, constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core in a protective casing that prevents the core from being broken or marking the user’s hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of solid core material that adheres to a sheet of paper or another surface. They are distinct from pens, which dispense liquid or gel ink onto the marked surface.
Most pencil cores are made of graphite powder mixed with a clay binder. Graphite pencils or lead pencils produce grey or black marks that are easily erased, but otherwise resistant to moisture, most chemicals, ultraviolet radiation, and natural aging. Other types of pencil cores, such as those of charcoal, are mainly used for drawing and sketching. Coloured pencils are sometimes used by teachers or editors to correct submitted texts, but are typically regarded as art supplies, especially those with cores made from wax-based binders that tend to smear when erasers are applied to them.
IELTS General Reading Test
Grease pencils have a softer, oily core that can leave marks on smooth surfaces such as glass or porcelain. The most common pencil casing is thin wood, usually hexagonal in section but sometimes cylindrical or triangular, permanently bonded to the core. Casings may be of other materials, such as plastic or paper. To use the pencil, the casing must be carved or peeled off to expose the working end of the core as a sharp point.
Mechanical pencils have more elaborate casings which are not bonded to the core; instead, they support separate, mobile pigment cores that can be extended or retracted (usually through the casing’s tip) as needed. These casings can be reloaded with new cores as the previous ones are exhausted.
As a technique for drawing, the closest predecessor to the pencil was silverpoint or leadpoint until in 1565 (some sources say as early as 1500), a large deposit of graphite was discovered on the approach to Grey Knotts from the hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale parish, Cumbria, England. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid, and it could easily be sawn into sticks. It remains the only large-scale deposit of graphite ever found in this solid form.
IELTS General Reading Test
Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently, it was called plumbago (Latin for “lead ore”). Because the pencil core is still referred to as “lead”, or “a lead”, many people have the misconception that the graphite in the pencil is lead, and the black core of pencils is still referred to as lead, even though it never contained the element lead. The words for pencil in German, Irish, Arabic, and some other languages literally mean lead pen.
The value of graphite would soon be realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for cannonballs; the mines were taken over by the Crown and were guarded. When sufficient stores of graphite had been accumulated, the mines were flooded to prevent theft until more was required. The usefulness of graphite for pencils was discovered as well, but graphite for pencils had to be smuggled. Because graphite is soft, it requires some form of encasement. Graphite sticks were initially wrapped in string or sheepskin for stability. England would enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils until a method of reconstituting the graphite powder was found in 1662 in Italy.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 21-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE – If the statement agrees with the information.
FALSE – If the statement contradicts the information.
NOT GIVEN – If there is no information on this.
21. Pencils are analogous to pens.
22. The marks produced by lead pencils are impervious to moisture.
23. Students in some schools cannot use coloured pencils.
24. Only wood is used as the shell of pencil.
25. There is a fallacy among many people that pencils comprise lead.
26. Previously, the graphite mines were waterlogged to avert burglary.
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
15. III
16. I
17. IV
18. IX
19. II
20. VII
21. FALSE
22. TRUE
23. NOT GIVEN
24. FALSE
25. TRUE
26. TRUE
IELTS General Reading Test