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雅思阅读高分技巧汇总

网上有各种各样的雅思阅读技巧，非常混乱，小编仔细整理了一下，完成这篇雅思阅读高分技巧汇总，大家可以参考一下。

选择合适的备考资料

雅思考试最好的资料就是官方资料剑桥雅思系列。但是这个显然不能满足众多烤鸭的需求。所以，小编给大家整理了一批评价很好的备考书籍,有基础类的词汇长难句备考书籍，比如《雅思词汇词根+联想》、《雅思阅读高分突破：长难句破解密码》;讲解雅思题型技巧的书籍，比如《雅思阅读真经1&2精编版》;雅思套题练习《9分达人雅思阅读真题还原及解析1&2&3》……点击查看下载更多雅思阅读备考资料

打好基础

备考雅思阅读，首先要打好词汇和语法的基础，知道必备词汇和专业词汇，能够快速分析结构复杂的长难句，扫清阅读的基本障碍。然后熟悉文章丰富的背景知识，比如说生物、地理、科技、社会、人文历史……提高阅读速度和答题正确率。那么如何快速打好基础呢?点击查看具体的词汇和语法备考方法

雅思阅读技巧

雅思阅读时间紧，任务重，因此要想拿到雅思阅读高分，就必须掌握一定的雅思阅读技巧，比如要学会分析作者的写作目的、快速抓取文章主要观点及各段的段落主旨、学会略读与精读相结合……更多具体内容请参考雅思阅读的14种做题技巧

雅思阅读题型技巧

雅思阅读题型基本上有八种类型:配对题(Matching)真假题(True/False)填充题(Gap fill)选择题(Multiple Choice)完成句子题(Sentence Completion)图解标签题(Diagram Labeling)短问答

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(Short-answer question)图表完成题(Chart/table completion)。熟练掌握这些题型技巧不仅可以提高做题速度，更好的安排做题顺序，还可以提高正确率。

雅思阅读注意事项

雅思阅读除了要打好基础，掌握技巧，还要一些小细节需要注意。比如说制定系统的备考计划、掌握快速阅读的技巧、分辨有效关键词并能快速定位、注意题干与原文的同意转换、合理安排做题时间……更多注意事项点击查看雅思阅读备考14个注意事项

更多雅思阅读高分技巧文章推荐：

1. 雅思阅读高分有哪些好技巧(一)

2. 雅思阅读高分有哪些好技巧(二)

3.雅思阅读方法高分技巧，就这么简单

雅思阅读高分技巧就给大家分享到这里，希望大家能够熟练掌握。祝大家能力与技巧并重，早日拿到雅思阅读高分。

 

第二篇：雅思阅读技巧训练

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Reading Skills & Practices

Page 1 of 32

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Quotations:

1. “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be

chewed and digested.”

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

English philosopher, statesman, and lawyer.

Essays, "Of Studies"

2. “A smattering of everything, and a knowledge of nothing.”

Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870)

British novelist.

Sketches by Boz

(Boz, pseudonym of Charles Dickens, which was taken from Dickens's childhood nickname for his younger brother, Augustus. Dickens used the pseudonym while contributing newspaper pieces to London's Morning Chronicle, as well as for his early work Sketches by Boz (1836) and for the first printing of The Pickwick Papers (1837).)

3. “The art of reading is to skip judiciously.”

Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834 - 1894)

British art critic.

The Intellectual Life

Page 2 of 32

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Skimming

Ulrike Welsch/Photo Researchers, Inc.

All Souls College, Oxford University

England’s oldest institution of higher learning, Oxford University, is a federation of 35 colleges, each with its own structure and activities. Many prominent people have attended the All Souls College, shown here.

Practices:

Skimming Practice One

Start Time: ______________

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Education of Australia. You should spend as little time as possible to skim for one word in each line. The maximum time is 1 minute 30 seconds. Good luck

responsibility

recruiting

compulsory

Tasmania

schooling

secular

clergy

Page 3 of 32 EDUCATION OF AUSTRALIA Education in Australia is primarily the responsibility of the individual states. In each state administration, the training and recruiting of teachers are centralized under an education department. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15 in all the states except Tasmania, where the upper age limit is 16. Most children start their schooling at the age of 5. State schools provide free secular education; students may attend religious classes offered by the clergy of various denominations. About 72

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

addition

private

catholic

public

boarders percent of students attend state schools. In addition to the state school system there are private schools, which are usually denominational and charge tuition fees. The majority of the private schools are Catholic. Some private schools, which in some states are called public schools as in Britain, accept day students and boarders. Schooling is provided at kindergartens kindergartens and play centers for children from 2 to 6 years of age. The conducts Australian Broadcasting Corporation conducts broadcasts for provisions

isolated

two-way

participate

instruction

primary

junior

technical

entrance

program

1995

enrollment

2.4 million

maintains

Canberra

Sydney

service

government

maritime

dramatic

significant

offering

annual

leading

territory

1948

1850

1874

1890

Monash

1911

Page 4 of 32 kindergarten children unable to attend such centers. Special provisions are made for children in isolated areas. These include Schools of the Air—where children use two-way radios, television sets video and cassette recorders, and computers to participate in classroom instruction— and correspondence schools. Most children transfer from the primary to the secondary school level at the age of 12. Secondary schools, known as high schools and junior technical schools, provide five- or six-year courses that enable students to prepare for state examinations for university entrance. The commonwealth government conducts the educational program for all children in the territories. In 1995 Australia had nearly 10,000 primary and secondary schools, with an annual enrollment of 1.9 million primary students and 2.4 million secondary students. Specialized Schools The commonwealth government maintains training colleges for the defense services, the Australian Forestry School in Canberra and the School of Pacific Administration in Sydney, which conduct training programs that are attended primarily by civil service administrators from Papua New Guinea. The government also maintains the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, the Australian Maritime College, and the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Universities and Colleges In the early 1990s Australia had 37 universities, including two significant private institutions, and a large number of colleges offering advanced education in specific subject areas. Their combined annual enrollment in 1997 was 1,041,648. Among the leading universities are the Australian National University (founded in 1946), in the Australian Capital Territory; Macquarie University (1964), the University of New South Wales (1948), and the University of Sydney (1850), in New South Wales; the University of Queensland (1910); the University of Adelaide (1874), in South Australia; the University of Tasmania (1890); La Trobe University (1964), the University of Melbourne (1853), and Monash University (1958), in Victoria; and the University of Western Australia (1911).

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Finish Time: ______________

Skimming Practice Two

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Historical Importance of Education in Britain and Contrast with American Education. You should spend as little time as possible to skim for one word in each line. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck!

Start Time: ______________

vital

professionals

literacy

99

Tom Brown’s

politician

inspired

based on

famous

homesick

robust

journey

pioneering

mass

major

1902

areas

LEAs

criticized

taxes

scholarships

1944

secondary

1973

reform

grants

controversial

1994

legislation

Britain

Page 5 of 32 HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION Education is a vital concern throughout Britain because a highly developed nation depends upon educated professionals and a skilled workforce. The literacy rate in Britain is one of the highest in the world at over 99 percent. Great works of literature Hughes: From Tom Brown's Schooldays Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer, politician, educator, novelist, and biographer whose own education inspired his best-known work. His 1857 novel, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, was based on his experiences at Rugby School under the headmastership of the famous British educator Thomas Arnold. Young Tom enters Rugby as a shy, homesick boy; he leaves it as a robust, self-confident young man. This passage describes the beginning of Tom’s journey to Rugby from London. Britain’s first education act, in 1870, was inspired by the pioneering example of mass compulsory education in Germany and provided for state-financed primary education. Another major education act, passed in 1902, established local education authorities (LEAs) that were responsible for providing schools and education in their areas. The act also authorized LEAs to use public funds for church-affiliated schools. This policy was severely criticized by people whose children attended state schools because their taxes were used to support church schools. The 1902 act also established scholarships for secondary education. An education act passed in 1944 and administered by the newly created Ministry of Education established free and compulsory secondary education up to age 15; this was increased to age 16 in 1973. An education reform act in 1988 allowed individual schools to control their own affairs and budgets, free from LEAs, and to receive grants directly from the government. It also established a controversial national curriculum, which was simplified in 1994 after complaints about its complexity. Legislation pertaining to education is laden with controversies because of education’s importance in Britain.

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

higher

fewer

segregating

funded

supplemental

curriculum

inspected

7, 11,14

religious

collective

children

4, ,3, 4

nursery

primary

designate

graduated

independent

opposite

person

thrown out

preparatory

catering

vocational entrance Contrasts with American Education “Compared to the United States, fewer people go on to higher education in Britain.” Compared to the United States, fewer people go on to higher education in Britain, and there is more emphasis on segregating pupils at the lower levels on the basis of ability. Most British schools are funded by the central government, with local governments providing supplemental funding. England and Wales have a national curriculum of core courses for students 5 to 16 years old, and schools are inspected by the Office for Standards in Education. National tests at the ages of 7, 11, and 14 assess students’ progress. Schools must provide religious education and daily collective worship for all pupils, although parents can withdraw their children from these. Full-time school begins at age 5 in Great Britain and at age 4 in Northern Ireland. In addition, about half of 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in specialized nursery schools or in nursery classes at primary schools. In Britain, the term form is used to designate grade; old boys and old girls refer to people who have graduated from a school. Private schools or independent schools are called public schools, a term that means just the opposite in the United States. What are called public schools in the United States are called state schools in Britain. When a person is sent down from school, it means he or she has been thrown out. Grammar schools are university preparatory schools, most of which have been replaced by comprehensive schools catering to students of all academic abilities. Secondary modern schools provide vocational education rather preparation for university entrance.

Finish Time: ______________

Skimming Practice Three

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Education and Religion of New Zealand. You should spend as little time as possible to skim for one word in every other line. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

Page 6 of 32 EDUCATION AND RELIGION OF NEW ZEALAND

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

5

transferring

minority

Auckland

1926

1899

agricultural

teacher

certificates

denomination

declining

meanwhile

affiliation

Maori

active

Education Education in New Zealand is free and compulsory for all children aged 6 through 16, although nearly all children begin attending school at age 5. Students spend eight years in primary school, often transferring to specialized intermediate schools for the final two years. Secondary schooling generally takes five years, and it remains tuition-free for students under the age of 20. Most students attend public secular schools; only a minority attend private or church-affiliated schools. The system of higher education in New Zealand includes eight universities. The largest are the University of Auckland (founded in 1882), at Auckland, and Massey University (1926), with campuses at Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Other institutions of higher education are the University of Waikato (1964), at Hamilton; the Victoria University of Wellington (1899); the University of Canterbury (1873), at Christchurch; the University of Otago (1869), at Dunedin; Lincoln University (1990; formerly Lincoln Agricultural College), near Christchurch; and the Auckland University of Technology (2000, formerly the Auckland Institute of Technology). Several colleges provide teacher training, and polytechnic institutions offer degree programs, diplomas, and certificates in various technical and professional trades. Religion The majority of New Zealanders are at least nominally Christian. Anglicans traditionally have formed the largest single denomination. The next largest Christian groups are Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. Membership in the major Christian churches has been declining steadily in recent decades. Membership in some smaller sects, such as the Pentecostal church, has meanwhile increased, as has the number of New Zealanders professing no religion or refusing to state their affiliation. Many Pakeha claim the religious affiliation of their families but are not active churchgoers. In general, religious practice is stronger among Maori and Pacific Islanders than among Pakeha. The Maori Christian churches, the Ringatu Church (founded in 1867) and the Ratana Church of New Zealand (1918), have relatively small but consistently active

membership.

Finish Time: ______________

Skimming Practice Four

Instructions: you are going to read an article on China’s Education. You should spend Page 7 of 32

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

as little time as possible to skim for one word in every other line. The maximum time is 4 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

imperial

prospective

bureaucrats

estimated

stumbling

98

females

defined

1951

slack

reduce

gaps

peasant

1978

virtually

chaotic

reopen

1972

Page 8 of 32 CHINA’S EDUCATION Education has played a major role in China’s long and rich cultural tradition. Throughout much of the imperial period (221 BC-AD1911), only educated people held positions of social and political leadership. In 124 BC the first state academy was established for training prospective bureaucrats in Confucian learning and the Chinese classics. Historically, however, relatively few Chinese have been able to take the time to learn the complex Chinese writing system and its associated literature. It is estimated that as late as 1949 only 20 percent of China’s population was literate. To the Chinese Communists, this widespread illiteracy was a stumbling block in the promotion of their political programs. Therefore, the Communists combined political propaganda with educational development. By 2001 China’s literacy rate had reached 98 percent, although literacy levels between the sexes were different. The literacy rate for males was 99 percent, whereas the rate among females was only 97 percent. Literacy in China is defined as the ability to read without difficulty. One ambitious CCP program has been the establishment of universal public education for such a large population. From 1949 to 1951, more than 60 million peasants enrolled in winter schools, or sessions, which were established to take advantage of the slack season for agricultural workers. Communist leader Mao Zedong declared that a primary goal of Chinese education was to reduce the sense of class distinction among the population. This was to be accomplished by reducing the social gaps between the manual and mental laborer; between the city and countryside resident; and between the worker in the factory and the peasant on the land. The most radical developments in Chinese education, however, took place from 1966 to 1978, during the Cultural Revolution and the years that followed. From 1966 to 1969 the government closed virtually all schools and universities in China. Many of the 131 million youths who had been enrolled in primary and secondary school became involved in Mao’s chaotic efforts to shake up China’s new elite. These efforts involved using students as youthful critics to attack governmental programs and policies. Primary and secondary schools began to reopen in 1968 and 1969, but institutions of higher education did not reopen until

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

dramatically

5

productive

mandatory

As a result

resemble

9

competing

generation

flavored

standardized

mobility

tradition

selection

campaign

science

theoretical

crackdown

Protest

Page 9 of 32 the period from 1970 to 1972. During the Cultural Revolution, government policies toward education changed dramatically. The traditional 13 years of primary and secondary schooling, spanning from kindergarten to 12th grade, were reduced to 9 or 10 years. Colleges that had traditionally had a 4- or 5-year curriculum adopted a 3-year program. Part of these 3 years had to be spent in productive labor in support of the school or the course of study being pursued. A 2-year period of manual labor also became mandatory for most secondary-school graduates who wished to attend college. Following Mao’s death in 1976, the government began a major review of these policies. As a result, and because of an increased interest in the development of science in Chinese education, curricula came to resemble those of the pre-Cultural Revolution years. Programs for primary and secondary education were gradually readjusted to encompass 12 years of study (although only 9 years were made compulsory). High school graduates were no longer required to go to the countryside for 2 years of labor before competing for college positions. The Cultural Revolution thus resulted in a decade of disruption in China’s educational programs. During this period nearly an entire generation of students simply was not educated or received only a marginal education heavily flavored with the radical politics of the Maoist era. Since the late 1970s the educational system has changed significantly with the reinstitution of standardized college-entrance examinations. These exams were a regular part of the mechanism for upward mobility in China before the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, radical leaders eliminated the entrance exams by arguing that they favored an elite who had an intellectual tradition in their families. When colleges reopened between 1970 and 1972, many candidates were granted admission because of their political leanings, party activities, and peer-group support. This method of selection ceased in 1977 as the Chinese launched a new campaign for the so-called Four Modernizations. The stated goals for this campaign, which sought to rapidly modernize agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology, required high levels of training. Such educational programs by necessity had to be based more on theoretical and formal skills than on political attitudes and the spirit of revolution. However, after students agitated for greater democracy in the 1970s and 1980s, which culminated in the government’s violent crackdown on student protestors in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, university students were again required to complete one year of political education before entering college.

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

promising

elite

attend

prominent

Nankai

Prestigious

Shanghai

required

tuition

enabled

1990s

available

popular

trend

1978

163,000

By contrast

enrolled

Chinese higher education is now characterized by the key-point system. Under this system, the most promising students are placed in selected key-point schools, which specialize in training academic elite. University education remains difficult to attain; as many as 2 million students compete each year through entrance examinations for 500,000 university openings. Students finishing secondary school may also attend junior colleges and a variety of technical and vocational schools. Among the most prominent comprehensive universities in China are Beijing University, Fudan University in Shanghai, Nanjing University, Nankai University in Tianjin, Wuhan University, Northwest University in Xi’an, and Zhongshan University in Guangzhou. Prestigious science and technical universities include Qinghua Technical and Engineering University in Beijing, Tongji University in Shanghai, and the Chinese University of Science and Technology in Hefei. In the past, students received free university education but upon graduation were required to accept jobs in state-owned industries. The government instituted a pilot program in 1994 whereby the state allowed university students the option of paying their own tuition in exchange for the freedom to find their own jobs after graduation. This enabled graduates who paid their way to choose better paying jobs with foreign companies in China, or to demand better pay from state-owned enterprises. By the late 1990s, all incoming university students were required to pay their own tuition, although government loans were available. Certain fields of study have grown in popularity in Chinese higher education. While engineering and science remain very popular, other fields, including medicine, economics, literature, and law, have grown considerably in recent years. Another trend has been the rapid increase in the number of advanced students who study abroad, mainly in North America, Europe, and Japan. In 1978, at the beginning of the reform period, approximately 11,000 Chinese students went abroad to study. By 1996 more than 163,000 Chinese students were studying abroad. In 1998-1999 China had 145 million pupils enrolled in primary schools, and 77 million students enrolled in secondary schools. By contrast, enrollments in 1949 had been about 24 million in primary schools and 1.25 million in secondary schools. There were 6.4 million students enrolled in institutions of higher learning in 1998-1999.

Finish Time: ______________

Page 10 of 32

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Scanning

Dorling Kindersley

Steam Engine

Harnessing the power of steam marked a significant step in technology. The introduction of the steam engine led to many new inventions, most notably in transportation and industry. Steam engines transfer the energy of heat into mechanical energy, often by allowing steam to expand in a cylinder equipped with a movable piston. As the piston moves up and down (or alternatively, from side to side), an attached arm converts this motion into parallel motion that drives a wheel. Models of the steam engine were designed as early as 1690, but it was not until 70 years later that James Watt arrived at the design of the modern

steam engine.

Practices:

Scanning Practice One

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Early Technology. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from each paragraph of the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

artifacts

scrapers

Page 11 of 32

primarily tools 2.3 million protection nomadic observed humans distinguishes

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Early Technology

The earliest known human artifacts are roughly flaked stones used for chopping and scraping, found primarily in eastern Africa. Known as Oldowan tools, they date from about

2.3 million years before present, and serve to define the beginning of the Stone Age. The first toolmakers were nomadic groups of people who used the sharp edges of stone to process food. By about 40,000 years before present, humans had begun to use fire and to make a variety of tools, including pear-shaped axes, scrapers, knives, and other instruments of stone, bone, and other materials. They had also begun to use tools to make clothing and build shelters for protection from inclement weather. The use of tools can be observed in many members of the animal kingdom, but the capacity for creating tools to craft other objects distinguishes humans from all other animals.

step

crucibles

The next big step in the history of technology was the control of fire. By striking flint against pyrites to produce sparks, people could kindle fires at will, thereby freeing themselves from the necessity of perpetuating fires obtained from natural sources. Besides the obvious benefits of light and heat, fire was also used to bake clay pots, producing heat-resistant vessels that were then used for cooking grains and for brewing and fermenting. Fired pottery later provided the crucibles in which metals could be refined. Advanced thought processes may well have first developed around the hearth, and it was there that the first domesticated animal, the dog, was tamed.

technologies

polished

malleable pigments jewelry necessary objects split sickles azurite civilizations hammered alloying sparks processes perpetuating domesticated bake grains

Early technologies were not centered only on practical tools. Colorful minerals were pulverized to make pigments that were then applied to the human body, to clay utensils, and to baskets, clothing, and other objects. In their search for pigments, early peoples discovered the green mineral malachite and the blue mineral azurite. When these copper-containing ores were hammered they did not turn to powder but bent instead, and they could be polished but not chipped. Because of these qualities, small bits of copper were soon made into jewelry. Early peoples also learned that if this material was repeatedly hammered and put into a fire, it would not split or crack. This process of relieving metal stress, called annealing, eventually brought human civilizations out of the Stone Age—particularly when, about 3000 B.C., people also found that alloying tin with copper produces bronze. Bronze is not only more malleable than copper but also holds a better edge, a quality necessary for such objects as swords and sickles.

copper

Page 12 of 32 Euphrates seaworthy wealthy

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Although copper deposits existed in the foothills of Syria and Turkey, at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, the largest deposits of copper in the ancient world were found on the island of Crete (Kríti). With the development of seaworthy ships that could reach this extremely valuable resource, Knossos (Knosós) on Crete became a wealthy mining center during the Bronze Age.

Finish Time: ______________

Scanning Practice Two

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Rise of Agriculture. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from each 2 paragraphs of the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

Rise of Agriculture

bronze emerged available

technological

traces

needles occur

shift soil

agriculture abundance

By the time of the Bronze Age, the human societies that dotted every continent had long since made a number of other technological advances. They had developed barbed spears, the bow and arrow, animal-oil lamps, and bone needles for making containers and clothing. They had also embarked on a major cultural revolution; the shift from nomadic hunting and herding societies to the more settled practice of agriculture.

Farming communities first emerged following the end of the most recent ice age, about 10,000 B.C. Their traces can be found in widely scattered areas, from southeastern Asia to Mexico. The most famous ones occur in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) near the temperate and fertile river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. The loose soil in this region, known as the Fertile Crescent, was easily scratched for planting, and an abundance of trees was available for firewood.

5000 Europe surveying

By 5000 B.C., farming communities were established in areas known today as Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Greece, and the islands of Crete and Cyprus. Agricultural societies in these places constructed stone buildings, used the sickle to harvest grain, developed a primitive plow stick, and advanced their skills in metalworking. Trade in flint

Page 13 of 32

Jordan eastward property

sickle Nile season

plow irrigation master

spread crops

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

also began. By 4000 B.C., farming had spread westward from these centers to the Danube River in central Europe, southward to the Mediterranean shores of Africa (including the Nile River), and eastward to the Indus Valley.

Development of the Nile River valley led to other technological advances. In that valley, the river floods in the early spring. A system of irrigation and canals had to be developed to water the crops during the growing seasons, when insufficient rain falls. Land ownership had to be predetermined each year by a system of surveying, because property markers often were lost during the floods. The Tigris and Euphrates valleys presented other technological problems. Floods came later in the growing season, so that people had to master the craft of building dikes and flood barriers.

Finish Time: ______________

Scanning Practice Three

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Urbanization. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

Urbanization

humankind

urban

shekel advancements magnitude stimulated networks worshiped division surplus cutting engineers citadels management

After about 3000 B.C, one of the most complex creations of humankind appeared: the city. From this point forward, technology cannot be described only in terms of simple tools, agricultural advancements, and technical processes such as metallurgy, because the city itself is a technological system. This is evident even in the first written symbols used to represent a city; the symbol is a circle containing networks of lines that indicate transportation and communication systems. The emergence of the city made possible a surplus of food and an abundance of material wealth, which in turn made possible the institution of holy kingship and the construction of temples, tombs, and citadels. The accumulation of precious metals, the acquisition of the power to build defensive walls, and the control of armies and priests ensured the ascendancy of the king, who may be called the first urban technologist.

The ziggurats of Mesopotamia and the pyramids of Egypt symbolize the organizational power and the technological magnitude of the first urban settlements. The pyramid of King Page 14 of 32

Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Djoser (reigned 2630-2611 B.C.) of Egypt was built at ?aqqārah by Imhotep around 2620

B.C. The first engineer known by name, Imhotep was worshiped as one of the gods of wisdom. The Great Pyramid of King Khufu involved the organization of more than 100,000 workers and the cutting of 2.3 million blocks of stone, each weighing 2 to 4 metric tons. The construction of such massive buildings and monuments, the growth of trade in metalwork, and the development of water-resource management also brought about a standardization of measurement. In Mesopotamia the cubit became the standard of length, and the shekel the standard of weight. Time was measured in Egypt with a calendar that divided the yearly cycle of seasons into months and days.

Urbanization also stimulated a greater need for writing. The Egyptians improved on the clumsy clay tablet by manufacturing, from papyrus plants, a paperlike material on which they wrote in hieroglyphs. In addition, the city brought about a new division of labor: the caste system. This structure provided security, status, and leisure for an intellectual class of scribes, doctors, teachers, engineers, magicians, and diviners; the greatest resources, however, were allotted to the military.

Finish Time: ______________

Scanning Practice Four

Instructions: you are going to read an article on The Rise of the Military. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

The Rise of the Military

defense

mobility military stirrup chariot transportation ancient Mediterranean clumsy

The first cities were also, in effect, war machines, built within walls for defense and organized for battle and conquest. Urban centers at Ur, Nippur, Uruk, Thebes, Heliopolis, Assur, Nineveh, and Babylon were arsenals of destructive weaponry. The goal of a military force was to lay waste the city of its enemy. Ur, in Sumer, was not only one of the first great cities to arise (about 4000 B.C.) but also one of the first to be destroyed (about 2000 B.C.). Similarly, in the Indus Valley far to the east, the great city of Mohenjo-Daro was founded about 2500 B.C. and destroyed about 1700 B.C. by chariot armies from the north. This same pattern was repeated in Peru and Ecuador in about 1000 B.C. and later in Central America.

Military technology in the ancient world developed, loosely, in three stages. In the first Page 15 of 32

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stage arose the infantry with its leather or copper helmets, bows, spears, shields, and swords. This stage was followed by the development of chariots, which at first were clumsy vehicles for the use of commanders. The later addition of spokes to the wheels to lighten them (circa 2000 B.C.), and a bit and bridle for the horse, made the chariot a light war machine that could outflank enemy infantry. The third stage of ancient military technology centered on increasing the mobility and speed of the cavalry. The Assyrians, with their knowledge of iron weaponry and their superb horsemanship, dominated much of the civilized world between 1200 and 612 B.C.

With the introduction of the stirrup from Asia about the 2nd century B.C., horsemen were able to obtain better leverage in fighting with swords, and they made chariot warfare obsolete. Swift-striking cavalry units first observed in Egypt and Persia became the major military forces. With their emergence came the need for better transportation and communication systems. The Persians were the first to set up a network of roads and posting stations in order to rule their vast empire, which extended all the way from the Punjab to the Mediterranean Sea.

Finish Time: ______________

Scanning Practice Five

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Greek and Roman Technologies. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

Greek and Roman Technologies

skill

manufacturing

respect

grind defeated turbines occurred weapons slavery pump enormous manual advances baths theoretical speculations provided

The Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great was overthrown and succeeded by the empire of Greece's Alexander the Great. Greece had first become a power through its skill in shipbuilding and trading and by its colonization of the shores of the Mediterranean. The Greeks defeated the Persians, in part, because of their naval power.

The Persians and Greeks also introduced a new caste into the division of labor: slavery. By the time of Greece's Golden Age, its civilization depended on slaves for nearly all manual labor. Most scholars agree that in societies that practice slavery, problems in productivity tend to be solved by increasing the number of workers rather than by looking Page 16 of 32

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for new production methods or new energy sources. Because of this, theoretical knowledge and learning in Greece—and later in Rome—was largely separated from physical labor and manufacturing.

This is not to say that the Greeks did not develop many new technological ideas. People such as Archimedes, Hero of Alexandria, Ctesibius, and Ptolemy wrote about the principles of siphons, pulleys, levers, cams, fire engines, cogs, valves, and turbines. Some practical contributions of the Greeks were of great importance, such as the water clock of Ctesibius, the diptra (a surveying instrument) of Hero of Alexandria, and the screw pump of Archimedes. Similarly, Greek shipping was improved by Thales of Miletus, who introduced methods of navigation by triangulation, and by Anaximander, who produced the first world map. Nevertheless, the technological advances of the Greeks were not on a par with their contributions to theoretical knowledge and their wide-ranging speculations.

The Roman Empire that engulfed and succeeded that of the Greeks was somewhat similar in this respect. The Romans, however, were great technologists in the sense of organizing and building; they established an urban civilization that enjoyed the first long peaceful period in human history. The great change in engineering that occurred in the Roman period came as a shift from building tombs, temples, and fortifications to the construction of enormous systems of public works. Using water-resistant cement and the principle of the arch, Roman engineers built 70,800 km (44,000 mi) of roads across their vast empire. They also built numerous sports arenas and public baths and hundreds of aqueducts, sewers, and bridges. The engineer of public works for Rome in the 1st century ad, Sextus Julius Frontinus, fought corruption and illegal practices and took great pride in the public works that provided better sanitary conditions for the citizens of Rome.

Roman engineers were also responsible for introducing the water mill and for the subsequent design of undershot and overshot water wheels, which were used to grind grain, saw wood, and cut marble. In the military sphere, the Romans advanced technology by improving weapons such as the javelin and the catapult.

Finish Time: ______________

Scanning Practice Six

Instructions: you are going to read an article on Modern Technology. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luck

Start Time: ______________

Modern Technology

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Global

weaving

destroy libraries spindles aspirations placement encouragement pervaded cotton prestige

By the end of the Middle Ages the technological systems called cities had long since become a central feature of Western life. In 1600 London and Amsterdam each had populations of more than 100,000, and twice that number resided in Paris. Also, the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French were beginning to develop global empires. Colonialism and trade produced a powerful merchant class that helped to create an increasing desire for such luxuries as wine, coffee, tea, cocoa, and tobacco. These merchants acquired libraries, wore clothing made of expensive fabrics and furs, and set a style of life aspired to by the wider populace. By the beginning of the 18th century, capital resources and banking systems were well enough established in Great Britain to initiate investment in mass-production techniques that would satisfy some of these middle-class aspirations.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution started in England, because that nation had the technological means, government encouragement, and a large and varied trade network. The first factories appeared in 1740, concentrating on textile production. In 1740 the majority of English people wore woolen garments, but within the next 100 years the scratchy, often soggy and fungus-filled woolens were replaced by cotton—especially after the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, an American, in 1793. Such English inventions as the flying shuttle and carding machines of John Kay, the water frame of Richard Arkwright, the spinning jenny of James Hargreaves, and the improvements in weaving made by Samuel Crompton were all integrated with a new source of power, the steam engine, developed in England by Thomas Newcomen, James Watt, Richard Trevithick, and in the U.S. by Oliver Evans. Within a 35-year period, from the 1790s to the 1830s, more than 100,000 power looms with 9,330,000 spindles were put into service in England and Scotland.

One of the most important innovations in the weaving process was introduced in France in 1801 by Joseph Jacquard; his loom used cards with holes punched in them to determine the placement of threads in the warp. This use of punched cards inspired the British mathematician Charles Babbage to attempt to design a calculating machine based on the same principle. Although this machine never became fully practical, it presaged the great computer revolution of the 20th century.

Outlook

Twentieth-century technology spread from Europe and the U.S. to other major nations such as Japan and the Soviet Union. It has not, however, pervaded all the countries of the world, by any means. Some so-called developing nations have never experienced the factory system and other institutions of industrialization. The leaders of such countries tend to feel that the acquisition of modern weapons and new technology will provide them Page 18 of 32

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with power and prestige. No one, however, can predict the religious, social, and cultural consequences of the transfer of technologies to these countries. In fact, some of the most severe social dislocations during recent decades have occurred in regions where radical changes caused by technology transfer have taken place; Uganda and Iran are two unhappy examples.

Technology has always been a major means for creating new physical and human environments. It is possible to ask today whether technology will also destroy the global civilization that human beings have created.

Finish Time: ______________

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Comprehensive Reading

Practice One: Computer

Newsmakers/Liaison Agency

Apple iMac

Apple Computer introduced the appealing iMac personal computer with an eye-catching design in 1998.

The low-cost computer has a curvy, translucent case and comes in five bright tropical colors.

Computer, machine that performs tasks, such as calculations or electronic communication, under the control of a set of instructions called a program. Programs usually reside within the computer and are retrieved and processed by the computer’s electronics. The program results are stored or routed to output devices, such as video display monitors or printers. Computers perform a wide variety of activities reliably, accurately, and quickly.

Practice Two: Motion Picture

The Everett Collection, Inc.

Scene from Toy Story

Toy Story (1995), created by the animation studio Pixar and produced by the Walt Disney Company, was the first feature-length motion picture made entirely with computer animation. The film, which took four years to complete, humorously portrays the rivalry between the characters Buzz Lightyear, left, and the

cowboy doll Woody, right.

Motion Picture, a series of images that are projected onto a screen to create the illusion of motion. Motion pictures—also called movies, films, or the cinema—are one of the most popular forms of entertainment, enabling people to immerse themselves in an imaginary world for a short period of time. But movies can also teach people about history, science, human behavior, and many other subjects. Some films combine entertainment with instruction, to make the learning process more enjoyable. In all its forms, cinema is an art as well as a business, and those who make motion pictures take great pride in their creations.

The images that make up a motion picture are all individual photographs. But when they appear rapidly in succession, the human eye does not detect that they are separate images. This results from persistence of vision, a phenomenon whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Although we do not experience the images as individual photographs, we do notice the differences between them. The brain then perceives these differences as motion.

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Motion pictures are recorded using specially designed cameras that capture the images on rolls of film. After being processed and printed, the film is run through a projector, which shines light through the film so that the images are displayed on a screen. Most movies have accompanying sound.

Practice Three: Biology

Ken Eward/Photo Researchers, Inc.

DNA Strands

Nucleic acids are complex molecules produced by living cells and are essential to all living organisms. These acids govern the body’s development and specific characteristics by providing hereditary information and triggering the production of proteins within the body. This computer-generated model shows two strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the double-helical structure typical of this class of

nucleic acids.

Biology, the science of life. The term was introduced in Germany in 1800 and popularized by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck as a means of encompassing the growing number of disciplines involved with the study of living forms. The unifying concept of biology received its greatest stimulus from the English zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley, who was also an important educator. Huxley insisted that the conventional segregation of zoology and botany was intellectually meaningless and that all living things should be studied in an integrated way. Huxley’s approach to the study of biology is even more cogent today, because scientists now realize that many lower organisms are neither plants nor animals (see Prokaryote; Protista). The limits of the science, however, have always been difficult to determine, and as the scope of biology has shifted over the years, its subject areas have been changed and reorganized. Today biology is subdivided into hierarchies based on the molecule, the cell, the organism, and the population.

Molecular biology, which spans biophysics and biochemistry, has made the most fundamental contributions to modern biology. Much is now known about the structure and action of nucleic acids and protein, the key molecules of all living matter. The discovery of the mechanism of heredity was a major breakthrough in modern science. Another important advance was in understanding how molecules conduct metabolism, that is, how they process the energy needed to sustain life.

Cellular biology is closely linked with molecular biology. To understand the functions of the cell—the basic structural unit of living matter—cell biologists study its components on the molecular level. Organismal biology, in turn, is related to cellular biology, because the life functions of multicellular organisms are governed by the activities and interactions of their cellular components. The study of organisms includes their growth and development (developmental biology) and how they function (physiology). Particularly important are investigations of the brain and nervous system (neurophysiology) and animal behavior (ethology).

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in the 1970s. Central to this field is evolutionary biology, in which the contributions of Charles Darwin have been fully appreciated after a long period of neglect. Population genetics, the study of gene changes in populations, and ecology, the study of populations in their natural habitats, have been established subject areas since the 1930s. These two fields were combined in the 1960s to form a rapidly developing new discipline often called, simply, population biology. Closely associated is a new development in animal-behavior studies called sociobiology, which focuses on the genetic contribution to social interactions among animal populations.

Biology also includes the study of humans at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels. If the focus of investigation is the application of biological knowledge to human health, the study is often termed biomedicine. Human populations are by convention not considered within the province of biology; instead, they are the subject of anthropology and the various social sciences. The boundaries and subdivisions of biology, however, are as fluid today as they have always been, and further shifts may be expected.

Practice Four: Ecology

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Carbon and Oxygen in the Ecosystem

All living organisms are made of carbon compounds. Some plants and algae have retained the ability to synthesize these organic compounds using the sun’s energy. This process, called photosynthesis, uses atmospheric carbon dioxide and water as building blocks. Organisms that have lost the ability to photosynthesize obtain their carbon indirectly, from plants that are able to photosynthesize. A by-product of photosynthesis is oxygen, necessary to almost all plants and animals to maintain life. Organisms that breathe in oxygen exhale carbon dioxide. Through respiration, and through the decomposition of their bodies after they die, these organisms return carbon to the atmosphere.

Ecology, the study of the relationship of plants and animals to their physical and biological environment. The physical environment includes light and heat or solar radiation, moisture, wind, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients in soil, water, and atmosphere. The biological environment includes organisms of the same kind as well as other plants and animals.

Because of the diverse approaches required to study organisms in their environment, ecology draws upon such fields as climatology, hydrology, oceanography, physics, chemistry, geology, and soil analysis. To study the relationships between organisms, ecology also involves such disparate sciences as animal behavior, taxonomy, physiology, and mathematics.

An increased public awareness of environmental problems has made ecology a common but often misused word. It is confused with environmental programs and environmental science (see Environment). Although the field is a distinct scientific discipline, ecology does indeed contribute to the study and understanding of environmental problems.

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The term ecology was introduced by the German biologist Ernst Heinrich Haeckel in 1866; it is derived from the Greek oikos (“household”), sharing the same root word as economics. Thus, the term implies the study of the economy of nature. Modern ecology, in part, began with Charles Darwin. In developing his theory of evolution, Darwin stressed the adaptation of organisms to their environment through natural selection. Also making important contributions were plant geographers, such as Alexander von Humboldt, who were deeply interested in the “how” and “why” of vegetational distribution around the world.

Practice Five: Environment

Harold Taylor/Oxford Scientific Films

Automobile Traffic Pollution

Automobile exhaust contains unburned hydrocarbons, particulates, carbon dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur that contribute to acid rain, smog, and global warming. The oxides combine with water vapor in the air to form acids, which return to the ground as acid rain. Smog, a mixture of smoke (particulates) and fog, irritates the eyes, throat, and lungs and also damages plants. Photochemical smog, a particularly harsh form of smog, is created when sunlight triggers a chemical reaction between the unburned hydrocarbons and the oxides of nitrogen in automobile exhaust. Carbon dioxide, produced from the burning of fossil fuels including gasoline, is the leading cause of the greenhouse effect, a

phenomenon thought to be responsible for rising global temperatures.

Environment, all of the external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other living organisms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic factors), such as water, soil, climate, light, and oxygen. All interacting biotic and abiotic factors together make up an ecosystem

Organisms and their environment constantly interact, and both are changed by this interaction. Additionally, environmental factors, singly or in combination, ultimately limit the size that any population may attain. This limit, a population’s carrying capacity, is usually reached because needed resources are in short supply. Occasionally, carrying capacity may be dictated by the direct actions of other species, as when predators limit the number of their prey in a specific area.

Like all other living beings, humans have clearly changed their environment, but they have done so generally on a grander scale than have other species. Some of these changes—such as the destruction of the world’s tropical rain forests to create grazing land for cattle or the drying up of almost three-quarters of the Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth-largest freshwater lake, for irrigation purposes—have led to altered climate patterns, which in turn have changed the distribution of species of animals and plants.

Humans have changed their environment; and they have done so on a grander scale than any other species.

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Scientists are working to understand the long-term consequences that human actions have on ecosystems, while environmentalists—professionals in various fields, as well as concerned citizens in the United States and other countries—are struggling to lessen the impact of human activity on the natural world.

Practice Six: Geology

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Geologic Time Scale

Geology, study of the planet earth, its rocky exterior, its history, and the processes that act upon it. Geology is also referred to as earth science and geoscience. The word geology comes from the Greek geo, “earth,” and logia, “the study of.” Geologists seek to understand how the earth formed and evolved into what it is today, as well as what made the earth capable of supporting life. Geologists study the changes that the earth has undergone as its physical, chemical, and biological systems have interacted during its 4.5 billion year history.

Geology is an important way of understanding the world around us, and it enables scientists to predict how our planet will behave. Scientists and others use geology to understand how geological events and earth’s geological history affect people, for example, in terms of living with natural disasters and using the earth’s natural resources. As the human population grows, more and more people live in areas exposed to natural geologic hazards, such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and landslides. Some geologists use their knowledge to try to understand these natural hazards and forecast potential geologic events, such as volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. They study the history of these events as recorded in rocks and try to determine when the next eruption or earthquake will occur. They also study the geologic record of climate change in order to help predict future changes. As human population grows, geologists’ ability to locate fossil and mineral resources, such as oil, coal, iron, and aluminum, becomes more important. Finding and maintaining a clean water supply, and disposing safely of waste products, requires understanding the earth’s systems through which they cycle.

The field of geology includes subfields that examine all of the earth's systems, from the deep interior core to the outer atmosphere, including the hydrosphere (the waters of the earth) and the biosphere (the living component of earth). Generally, these subfields are divided into the two major categories of physical and historical geology. Geologists also examine events such as asteroid impacts, mass extinctions, and ice ages. Geologic history shows that the processes that shaped the earth are still acting on it and that change is normal.

Many other scientific fields overlap extensively with geology, including oceanography, atmospheric sciences, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and microbiology. Geology is Page 24 of 32

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also used to study other planets and moons in our solar system. Specialized fields of extraterrestrial geology include lunar geology, the study of earth’s moon, and astrogeology, the study of other rocky bodies in the solar system and beyond. Scientific teams currently studying Mars and the moons of Jupiter include geologists.

Practice Seven: Geography

Geography, science that deals with the distribution and arrangement of all elements of the earth's surface. The word geography was adopted in the 200s bc by the Greek scholar Eratosthenes and means “earth description.” Geographic study encompasses the environment of the earth's surface and the relationship of humans to this environment, which includes both physical and cultural geographic features. Physical geographic features include the climate, land and water, and plant and animal life. Cultural geographic features include artificial entities, such as nations, settlements, lines of communication, transportation, buildings, and other modifications of the physical geographic environment. Geographers use economics, history, biology, geology, and mathematics in their studies.

Practice Eight: Physics

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Models of the Atom

Experimental data has been the impetus behind the creation and dismissal of physical models of the atom. Rutherford's model, in which electrons move around a tightly packed, positively charged nucleus, successfully explained the results of scattering experiments, but was unable to explain discrete atomic emission—that is, why atoms emit only certain wavelengths of light. Bohr began with Rutherford’s model, but then postulated further that electrons can only move in certain quantized orbits; this model was able to explain certain qualities of discrete emission for hydrogen, but failed completely for other elements. Schr?dinger’s model, in which electrons are described not by the paths they take but by the regions where they are most likely to be found, can explain certain qualities of emission spectra for all elements; however, further refinements of the model, made throughout the 20th century, have been needed to

explain all observable spectral phenomenon.

Physics, major science, dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. Sometimes in modern physics a more sophisticated approach is taken that incorporates elements of the three areas listed above; it relates to the laws of symmetry and conservation, such as those pertaining to energy, momentum, charge, and parity.

Physics is closely related to the other natural sciences and, in a sense, encompasses them. Chemistry, for example, deals with the interaction of atoms to form molecules; much Page 25 of 32

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of modern geology is largely a study of the physics of the earth and is known as geophysics; and astronomy deals with the physics of the stars and outer space. Even living systems are made up of fundamental particles and, as studied in biophysics and biochemistry, they follow the same types of laws as the simpler particles traditionally studied by a physicist.

The emphasis on the interaction between particles in modern physics, known as the microscopic approach, must often be supplemented by a macroscopic approach that deals with larger elements or systems of particles. This macroscopic approach is indispensable to the application of physics to much of modern technology. Thermodynamics, for example, a branch of physics developed during the 19th century, deals with the elucidation and measurement of properties of a system as a whole and remains useful in other fields of physics; it also forms the basis of much of chemical and mechanical engineering. Such properties as the temperature, pressure, and volume of a gas have no meaning for an individual atom or molecule; these thermodynamic concepts can only be applied directly to a very large system of such particles. A bridge exists, however, between the microscopic and macroscopic approach; another branch of physics, known as statistical mechanics, indicates how pressure and temperature can be related to the motion of atoms and molecules on a statistical basis.

Physics emerged as a separate science only in the early 19th century; until that time a physicist was often also a mathematician, philosopher, chemist, biologist, engineer, or even primarily a political leader or artist. Today the field has grown to such an extent that with few exceptions modern physicists have to limit their attention to one or two branches of the science. Once the fundamental aspects of a new field are discovered and understood, they become the domain of engineers and other applied scientists. The 19th-century discoveries in electricity and magnetism, for example, are now the province of electrical and communication engineers; the properties of matter discovered at the beginning of the 20th century have been applied in electronics; and the discoveries of nuclear physics, most of them not yet 40 years old, have passed into the hands of nuclear engineers for applications to peaceful or military uses.

Practice Nine: Chemistry

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Water Molecule

Water is an example of a compound. A water molecule consists of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen

atoms.

Chemistry, study of the composition, structure, properties, and interactions of matter. Chemistry arose from attempts by people to transform metals into gold beginning about ad 100, an effort that became known as alchemy (see Chemistry, History of). Modern chemistry was established in the late 18th century, as scientists began identifying and Page 26 of 32

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verifying through scientific experimentation the elemental processes and interactions that create the gases, liquids, and solids that compose our physical world. As the field of chemistry developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, chemists learned how to create new substances that have many important applications in our lives.

Chemists, scientists who study chemistry, are more interested in the materials of which an object is made than in its size, shape, or motion. Chemists ask questions such as what happens when iron rusts, why iron rusts but tin does not, what happens when food is digested, why a solution of salt conducts electricity but a solution of sugar does not, and why some chemical changes proceed rapidly while others are slow. Chemists have learned to duplicate and produce large quantities of many useful substances that occur in nature, and they have created substances whose properties are unique.

Chemistry is often called the central science, because its interests lie between those of physics (which focuses on single substances) and biology (which focuses on complicated life processes). A living organism is a complex chemical factory in which precisely regulated reactions occur between thousands of substances. Increased understanding of the chemical behavior of these substances has led to new ways to treat disease and has even made it possible to change the genetic makeup of an organism. For example, chemists have produced strains of food plants that are hardier than the parent strain.

Because the field of chemistry covers such a broad range of topics, chemists usually specialize. Thus, chemistry is divided into a number of branches, some of which are discussed at the end of this article. Nevertheless, the process of learning the properties of a substance and of taking it apart is fundamental to nearly all of chemistry.

The first step in investigating a complex material is to try to break it down into simpler substances. Sometimes this is easy. A mixture of brass and iron tacks, for instance, could be sorted with a magnet or even by hand. Getting the salt out of brine or seawater is a little harder, but the water can be evaporated, leaving the salt. Changes of this sort, which do not alter the fundamental nature of the components of the mixture but do modify their physical condition, are called physical changes. Grinding a rock, hammering a metal, or compressing a gas causes physical changes. Another example of physical change is the melting of ice, in which water changes from the solid to the liquid state.

Salt and water may not only be separated when in solution, but each may be broken down into other substances. This, however, involves a different kind of change—one that usually requires more energy than a physical change and that alters the fundamental nature of the material. This type of change is called a chemical change. By applying electrical energy, water can be broken down into two gases, hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is a light gas that burns; oxygen is a gas that is necessary to sustain animal life. Salt can be broken down by melting it, then passing an electric current through it. This produces a pungent yellow-green gas called chlorine and a soft, silvery metal called sodium, which burns readily in air.

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Some materials can be broken down simply by heating them. Other materials yield to attack by another substance; for example, iron oxide ore heated with coke yields metallic iron.

Practice Ten: Psychology

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Simplified Model of Memory

In this information-processing model of memory, information that enters the brain is briefly recorded in sensory memory. If we focus our attention on it, the information may become part of working memory (also called short-term memory), where it can be manipulated and used. Through encoding techniques such as repetition and rehearsal, information may be transferred to long-term memory. Retrieving

long-term memories makes them active again in working memory.

Psychology, the scientific study of behavior and the mind. This definition contains three elements. The first is that psychology is a scientific enterprise that obtains knowledge through systematic and objective methods of observation and experimentation. Second is that psychologists study behavior, which refers to any action or reaction that can be measured or observed—such as the blink of an eye, an increase in heart rate, or the unruly violence that often erupts in a mob. Third is that psychologists study the mind, which refers to both conscious and unconscious mental states. These states cannot actually be seen, only inferred from observable behavior.

Many people think of psychologists as individuals who dispense advice, analyze personality, and help those who are troubled or mentally ill. But psychology is far more than the treatment of personal problems. Psychologists strive to understand the mysteries of human nature—why people think, feel, and act as they do. Some psychologists also study animal behavior, using their findings to determine laws of behavior that apply to all organisms and to formulate theories about how humans behave and think.

With its broad scope, psychology investigates an enormous range of phenomena: learning and memory, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, thinking and language, personality and social behavior, intelligence, infancy and child development, mental illness, and much more. Furthermore, psychologists examine these topics from a variety of complementary perspectives. Some conduct detailed biological studies of the brain, others explore how we process information; others analyze the role of evolution, and still others study the influence of culture and society.

Psychologists seek to answer a wide range of important questions about human nature: Are individuals genetically predisposed at birth to develop certain traits or abilities? How accurate are people at remembering faces, places, or conversations from the past? What Page 28 of 32

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motivates us to seek out friends and sexual partners? Why do so many people become depressed and behave in ways that seem self-destructive? Do intelligence test scores predict success in school, or later in a career? What causes prejudice, and why is it so widespread? Can the mind be used to heal the body? Discoveries from psychology can help people understand themselves, relate better to others, and solve the problems that confront them.

The term psychology comes from two Greek words: psyche, which means “soul,” and logos, "the study of." These root words were first combined in the 16th century, at a time when the human soul, spirit, or mind was seen as distinct from the body.

Practice Eleven: GPS

NASA

GPS System

The Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of 24 satellites in orbit around the earth that provides users with information about their position and movement. A GPS receiver computes position information by comparing the time taken by signals from three or four different GPS satellites to reach

the receiver.

Global Positioning System (GPS), space-based radio-navigation system (see Navigation), consisting of 24 satellites and ground support. GPS provides users with accurate information about their position and velocity, as well as the time, anywhere in the world and in all weather conditions.

Practice Twelve: Astronomy

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Constellations of the Zodiac

Ancient astronomers noted that the Sun makes a yearly journey across the celestial sphere, part of which is represented in this picture by the blue band. The ancient astronomers associated dates with the constellations in this narrow belt (which is known as the zodiac), assigning to each constellation of stars the dates when the Sun was in the same region of the celestial sphere as the constellation. The twelve zodiacal signs for these constellations were named by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, as follows: Aries (ram), Taurus (bull), Gemini (twins), Cancer (crab), Leo (lion), Virgo (virgin), Libra (balance), Scorpio (scorpion), Sagittarius (archer), Capricorn (goat), Aquarius (water-bearer), and Pisces (fishes).

Astronomy, study of the universe and the celestial bodies, gas, and dust within it. Astronomy includes observations and theories about the solar system, the stars, the galaxies, and the general structure of space. Astronomy also includes cosmology, the study of the universe and its past and future. People who study astronomy are called astronomers, and they use a wide variety of methods to perform their research. These methods usually involve ideas of physics, so most astronomers are also astrophysicists, Page 29 of 32

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and the terms astronomer and astrophysicist are basically identical. Some areas of astronomy also use techniques of chemistry, geology, and biology.

Astronomy is the oldest science, dating back thousands of years to when primitive people noticed objects in the sky overhead and watched the way the objects moved. In ancient Egypt, the first appearance of certain stars each year marked the onset of the seasonal flood, an important event for agriculture. In 17th-century England, astronomy provided methods of keeping track of time that were especially useful for accurate navigation. Astronomy has a long tradition of practical results, such as our current understanding of the stars, day and night, the seasons, and the phases of the Moon. Much of today's research in astronomy does not address immediate practical problems. Instead, it involves basic research to satisfy our curiosity about the universe and the objects in it. One day such knowledge may well be of practical use to humans.

Practice Thirteen: Nuclear Energy

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Fission and Fusion Processes

Nuclear energy can be released in two different ways: by fission (splitting) of a heavy nucleus, or by fusion (combining) of two light nuclei. In both cases energy is released because the products have a higher binding energy than the reactants. Fusion reactions are difficult to maintain because the nuclei

repel each other, but unlike fission reactions, fusion does not create radioactive products.

Nuclear Energy, energy released during the splitting or fusing of atomic nuclei. The energy of any system, whether physical, chemical, or nuclear, is manifested by the system’s ability to do work or to release heat or radiation. The total energy in a system is always conserved, but it can be transferred to another system or changed in form.

Until about 1800 the principal fuel was wood, its energy derived from solar energy stored in plants during their lifetimes. Since the Industrial Revolution, people have depended on fossil fuels—coal, petroleum, and natural gas—also derived from stored solar energy. When a fossil fuel such as coal is burned, atoms of hydrogen and carbon in the coal combine with oxygen atoms in air. Water and carbon dioxide are produced and heat is released, equivalent to about 1.6 kilowatt-hours per kilogram or about 10 electron volts (eV) per atom of carbon. This amount of energy is typical of chemical reactions resulting from changes in the electronic structure of the atoms. A part of the energy released as heat keeps the adjacent fuel hot enough to keep the reaction going.

Physiology, study of the physical and chemical processes that take place in living organisms during the performance of life functions. It is concerned with such basic activities as reproduction, growth, metabolism, excitation, and contraction as they are carried out within the fine structure, the cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems of the body.

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Vernon Robin’s IELTS Reading Skills Practice Collection

Physiology is intimately linked with anatomy and was historically considered a part of medicine. Its emphasis on investigating biological mechanisms with the tools of physics and chemistry made physiology a distinct discipline in the 19th century; the tendency today, however, is toward a fragmentation and merging with the many specialized branches of the life sciences. Three broad divisions are recognized: general physiology, concerned with basic processes common to all life forms; the physiology and functional anatomy of humans and other animals, including pathology and comparative studies; and plant physiology, which includes photosynthesis and other processes pertinent to plant life.

Practice Fourteen: Anatomy

Anatomy (Greek anatomē, “dissection”), branch of natural science dealing with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its beginnings in prehistoric times. For centuries anatomical knowledge consisted largely of observations of dissected plants and animals. The proper understanding of structure, however, implies a knowledge of function in the living organism. Anatomy is therefore almost inseparable from physiology, which is sometimes called functional anatomy. As one of the basic life sciences, anatomy is closely related to medicine and to other branches of biology.

It is convenient to subdivide the study of anatomy in several different ways. One classification is based on the type of organisms studied, the major subdivisions being plant anatomy (see Plant) and animal anatomy. Animal anatomy is further subdivided into human anatomy (see below) and comparative anatomy, which seeks out similarities and differences among animal types. Anatomy can also be subdivided into biological processes—for example, developmental anatomy, the study of embryos, and pathological anatomy, the study of diseased organs. Other subdivisions, such as surgical anatomy and anatomical art, are based on the relationship of anatomy to other branches of activity under the general heading of applied anatomy. Still another way to subdivide anatomy is by the techniques employed—for example, microanatomy, which concerns itself with observations made with the help of the microscope.

Practice Fifteen: Botany

Fossilized Fern from the Carboniferous Period

Paleobotany is the study of fossil plant forms. Although there are far fewer plant fossils than animal fossils, those that are available have provided useful information concerning the evolution and interrelationships of seeds. Scientists speculate that the fossil record represents 10 percent or less of all

species of plants and animals that have existed in the geologic past.

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Dr. C. R. Belinky/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Botany, branch of biology concerned with the study of plants (kingdom Plantae; see Plant). Plants are now defined as multicellular organisms that carry out photosynthesis. Organisms that had previously been called plants, however, such as bacteria, algae, and fungi, continue to be the province of botany, because of their historical connection with the discipline and their many similarities to true plants, and because of the practicality of not fragmenting the study of organisms into too many separate fields.

Botany is concerned with all aspects of the study of plants, from the smallest and simplest forms to the largest and most complex, from the study of all aspects of an individual plant to the complex interactions of all the different members of a complicated botanical community of plants with their environment and with animals

Practice Sixteen: Zoology

Generalized Anatomy of a Dolphin

Dolphins emit pulses of sound from the melon, a fatty area just below the blowhole. Much like the orientation vocalizations of a bat, these pulses, or clicks, return as echoes when the sound bounces off objects in the dolphin’s path. The animal uses the echoes to navigate and to judge the distance to, and

location of, prey as small as shrimp. Dolphins also produce whistling sounds when excited or

communicating with other dolphins. These sounds arise from the larynx.

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Zoology, the branch of biology devoted to the study of the animal kingdom (Animalia). This article discusses the history and concerns of that study. For a discussion of animals and a description of animal groups.

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