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BEST IELTS General Reading Test 528
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 528 – PASSAGE – 3

IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 528
READING PASSAGE – 3
Moving the World
The evolution of the elevator, or lift
A. Imagine the skyline of a modern city if the elevator did not exist. Buildings would be limited to five or six stories. Most of the architecture of the 20th and 21st century would be impossible. Office towers, hotels and high-rise apartments would hardly stand in their present form. To gain some idea of the effect of this one piece of machinery, consider that today, elevators move the equivalent of the world’s population every 72 hours.
B. The need for vertical transport is as old as civilization. Over the centuries, mankind has employed ingenious forms of lifting. The earliest lifts used man, animal and water power to raise the load. Lifting devices relied on these basic forms of power from the early agricultural societies until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. In ancient Greece, Archimedes developed an improved lifting device operated by ropes and pulleys, in which the hoisting ropes were coiled around a winding drum by a capstan and levers. By A.D. 80, gladiators and wild animals rode crude elevators up to the arena level of the Roman Coliseum. Medieval records contain numerous drawings of hoists lifting men and supplies to isolated locations.
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C. By the 18th century, machine power was being applied to the development of the lift. In 1743, a counterweighted personal lift was commissioned by Louis XV in France for his personal chambers in Versailles. By 1833, a system using reciprocating rods raised and lowered miners in Germany’s Harz Mountains. A belt-propelled elevator called the “teagle” was installed in an English factory in 1835. The first hydraulic industrial lift powered by water pressure appeared in 1846. As machinery and engineering improved, other powered lifting devices quickly followed.
D. Despite these advances, one problem continued to trouble the elevator as it had since ancient times. There was no effective way to prevent the hoist from plummeting to earth if the lifting cable failed. This ever-present danger made elevators a risky proposition. In 1852, Elisha Otis sought a solution that would eliminate the hazard. He invented a security brake, which functioned automatically in the event of a broken cable. The Otis device revolutionized the elevator industry. Since its invention, the core design of the brake has remained essentially unchanged.
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Otis went on to found the Otis Elevator Company, which continues to manufacture elevators to this day. The Otis invention had farreaching effects. Buildings in major cities began rising above the sixth floor, taking advantage of the new opportunities provided by the new elevator. As the safety and efficiency of the early elevators continued to improve, space in buildings’ upper floors soon became more desirable, reversing a long-standing trend in commercial and residential leasing.
E. Today, an increasing array of elevator options is available to meet the needs of architects and building owners. The observation elevator puts the lift on the outside of the building. These cars walled with glass allow passengers to view the cityscape as they travel. On the other hand, when sturdiness is more important than a beautiful view, freight elevators are designed to withstand the rigours of heavy loads.
Double-deck elevators save time and space in high-occupancy buildings by mounting one car upon another. One car stops at even floors and the other stops at the odd floors. Depending on their destination, passengers can mount one car in the lobby or take an escalator to a landing for the alternate car.
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In very tall buildings, elevator efficiency can be increased by a system that combines express and local elevators. The express elevators stop at designated floors called sky lobbies. There, passengers can transfer to local elevators that will take them to their desired floor. By dividing the building into levels served by the express elevators, the local elevators can be stacked to occupy the same shaft space. That way, each zone can be served simultaneously by its own bank of local elevators. Residential elevators use modern hydraulics to produce a quiet ride while occupying a minimum amount of space.
These hydraulic systems produce about the same amount of sound as a typical refrigerator, which makes them well suited for residential use. They can be operated at any hour without causing disturbance. The compact design allows the elevator to be installed in the amount of space required for an average-sized closet.
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F. Breakthroughs in computerised systems continue to enhance the quality and reliability of modern elevators. The power of microprocessors has been increasingly employed to control every aspect of elevator operation.
For maintenance purposes, elevator companies use a remote elevator monitoring system which can identify problems before they occur by detecting failing components and intermittent anomalies that might go undetected until they cause a loss of service. If the system detects an urgent issue, it alerts the appropriate dispatching centre via the Internet and mechanics are sent to repair it and restore service.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 28–33
The text on the next page has six paragraphs, A–F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–ix.
List of headings
i. The earliest recorded instances of lifts
ii. The disadvantages of living and working in skyscrapers
iii. A significant safety innovation and its consequences
iv. The use of technology to maximise efficiency
v. The advent of mechanically-driven lifts
vi. Public mistrust of elevator safety
vii. The importance of the elevator today
viii. The hidden cost of elevator maintenance
ix. Different lifts for differing needs
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28. Paragraph A
29. Paragraph B
30. Paragraph C
31. Paragraph D
32. Paragraph E
33. Paragraph F
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 34–36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
34. What happened to the safety brake that Otis invented?
A. it was soon superseded by other inventions
B. its design had to be completely reworked
C. it enabled Otis to start his own business
D. it was copied by rival elevator companies
35. In the 19th century, innovations in elevator design led to
A. a change in leasing habits.
B. a jump in real estate prices.
C. a demand for renovation.
D. new safety regulations.
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36. Using a remote elevator monitoring system allows elevator companies to
A. employ fewer mechanics on staff.
B. avoid long delays for lift repairs.
C. switch off elevators that are not in use.
D. observe the behaviour of lift users.
Questions 37–40
Write ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
These days, there is a variety of different elevators to suit different needs. For example, building designers can incorporate lifts with a view by choosing the 37……………. elevator. Some skyscrapers have 38……………. elevators working in conjunction with local elevators to cater for their large number of users. In apartment buildings where people live, it is particularly important for elevators to be both 39……………. and compact, while in buildings where weighty objects need to be moved around, specially engineered 40……………. elevators are essential.
IELTS General Reading Test

IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
28. VII
29. I
30. V
31. III
32. IX
33. IV
34. C
35. A
36. B
37. OBSERVATION
38. EXPRESS
39. QUIET
40. FREIGHT
IELTS General Reading Test