Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 488
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 488 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 488
READING PASSAGE – 2
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION OF HUMAN REMAINS
Archaeologists can solve a lot of mysteries by studying human bones but they are opposed by those who believe that the dead should not be meddled with.
Davis, a marine archaeologist was specializing in ancient Greek and Roman shipwrecks. He could find that very few of them had human remains as most of the dead bodies floated away and could not survive for long in the ocean.
Various possibilities started coming to his mind like a lot of things can be known about those people who no longer exist on this planet. When he tried to get the opinion of Greek archaeology students at Luther College regarding this, they reacted in a different way. Some of them suggested that bones should be left alone.
IELTS General Reading Test
This response urged him to research on how the ancient Greeks viewed the issue. When Davis’ findings reached the world, people came up with different viewpoints. Some labelled it as ‘grave robbing’. While others questioned about the legitimacy and morality of digging up the mortal remains.
Religious beliefs are the reasons which lead to such objections. Sometimes the cause of wrath is the way we perceive things. Some people consider it to be indecent to disturb a person in his final resting place just to quench your own thirst for knowledge.
People, who study human biological remains scientifically such as bones from archaeological sites, often defend themselves by saying that they are trying to be speakers for the dead. In this way, they may bring up those stories which the world might not know otherwise. Giving life to history should not in any way be considered an illegal activity. It is something which throws light on some momentous hidden occurrences. The early literature is full of conclusions about stature, disease, cultural practices, population and relationships; all based upon the analysis of human remains found in the museum collections.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 15-21
Choose NO MORE THEN THREE WORDS/ORANUMBER from the text for each answer.
15. Skeletons rarely survive long in the ……………………. environment.
16. Some people object strongly when they come to know that some ……………………. remains are mixed with for some study purposes.
17. Davis imagined ……………………. about those people who are virtually historically invisible.
18. The reaction that he got from ……………………. at Luther college urged him to research on how the ancient Greeks viewed the issue.
19. People tagged Davis’ findings as …………………….
20. Giving life to history is not an illegal activity. It tells about …………………….
21. ……………………. of human remains leads to some important conclusions.
IELTS General Reading Test
Read the Text below and answer Questions 22-27.
DISTANT LEARNING-ITS ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
Thanks to the achievements of technology that has brought about a tremendous change in our life styles and has empowered us in many ways. It has also changed the way we learn things. We need not to be in the universities or colleges to gain knowledge. Times have changed and now we can obtain a degree from anywhere in the world without actually going to those places.
Admission Process
There are endless courses available in any subject we can think of and entry to various universities or accredited institutions is also easy. We have to sign up for the course that fits our needs in the same way we take admission in some institution. The platform, instructor or the class we choose determine whether we might or might not have to pay a fee.
IELTS General Reading Test
Advantages
This allows us to save our time and money as we need not commute so we get the opportunities and that are independent of time and place.
Another advantage is self paced studies and this reduces stress to a great extent & we learn things on our own terms. So our learning graph improves and we are ecstatic to enhance our horizon of cognitive abilities without feeling burdened.
We need not leave our jobs as we can plan things whenever we have time and our job schedule allows it.
IELTS General Reading Test
Virtual means not only make it feasible to interact with the professor but also with other people around the world taking the same course. Chat rooms, E-mails enable us to interact with people of different cultures and countries which provide us more insight & exposure to different point of views & ultimately help us to understand things better.
Disadvantages
This is suitable for only those students who can impose self-discipline on themselves. If we require moral support and motivation on a constant basis then this is not for us.
We can make use of it only if we know how to use modern technology comfortably & with facility. Some people don’t find it convenient to study without physical material.
IELTS General Reading Test
This is a bit costly as well. We need to have a computer and access to the internet that is onerous for some people.
It is said that opportunities always come with challenges. Overcoming obstacles always help us to grow and keep us delighted. So to reap benefits of the latest facilities; we need to keep ourselves updated.
Questions 22-27
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.
IELTS General Reading Test
These days we need not travel to 22………………….. degrees.
There is a plethora of 23………………….. at our disposal to take advantage of.
Our 24………………….. potential goes up by making use of the time on our own terms.
Virtual 25………………….. make communication with professors easy.
26………………….. is the key for distant learning as by studying irregularly and inconsistently doesn’t help in getting desired outcome.
Crossing hurdles assist us to 27…………………..
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
15. OCEAN
16. HUMAN BONES
17. VARIOUS POSSIBILITIES
18. GREEK ARCHAEOLOGY STUDENTS
19. GRAVE ROBBING
20. MOMENTOUS HIDDEN OCCURRENCES
21. ANALYSIS
22. OBTAIN
23. COURSES
24. LEARNING
25. MEANS
26. SELF-DISCIPLINE / DISCIPLINE
27. GROW
IELTS General Reading Test