SEED HUNTING IELTS READING RECENT ACTUAL TESTS READING TEST 3

 

IELTS READING

RECENT ACTUAL TESTS

READING TEST 3

 

SECTION 2 SEED HUNTING A With quarter of the world's plants set to vanish within the next 50 years, Dough Alexander reports on the scientists working against the clock the preserve the Earth’s botanical heritage. They travel the four comers of the globe, scouring jungles, forests and savannas. But they're not looking for ancient artefacts, lost treasure or undiscovered tombs. Just pods. It may lack the romantic allure of archaeology, or the whiff of danger that accompanies going after big game, but seed hunting is an increasingly serious business. Some seek seeds for profit—hunters in the employ of biotechnology firms, pharmaceutical companies and private corporations on the lookout for species that will yield the drugs or crops of the future. Others collect to conserve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction facing so many plant species. B Among the pioneers of this botanical treasure hunt was John Tradescant, an English royal gardener who brought back plants and seeds from his journeys abroad in the early 1600s. Later, the English botanist Sir Joseph Banks who was the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and travelled with Captain James Cook on his voyages near the end of the 18th century—was so driven to expand his collections that he sent botanists around the world at his own expense. C Those heady days of exploration and discovery may be over, but they have been replaced by a pressing need to preserve our natural history for the future. This modem mission drives hunters such as Dr Michiel van Slageren, a good-natured Dutchman who often sports a wide-brimmed hat in the field—he could easily be mistaken for the cinematic hero Indiana Jones. He and three other seed hunters work at the Millennium Seed Bank, an 80 million [pounds sterling] international conservation project that aims to protect the world's most endangered wild plant species D The group's headquarters are in a modem glass-and-concrete structure on a 200- hectare Estate at Wakehurst Place in the West Sussex countryside. Within its underground vaults are 260 million dried seeds from 122 countries, all stored at -20 Celsius to survive for centuries. Among the 5， 100 species represented are virtually all of Britain's 1,400 native seed-bearing plants, the most complete such collection of any country’s flora. E Overseen by the Royal botanic gardens, the Millennium Seed Bank is the world's largest wild-plant depository. It aims to collect 24,000 species by 2010. The reason is simple: thanks to humanity's efforts, an estimated 25 per cent of the world's plants are on the verge of extinction and may vanish within 50 years. We're currently responsible for habitat destruction on an unprecedented scale, and during the past 400 years, plant species extinction rates have been about 70 times greater than those indicated by the geological record as being ’normal’. Experts predict that during the next 50 years a further one billion hectares of wilderness will be converted to farmland in developing countries alone. F The implications of this loss are enormous. Besides providing staple food crops, plants are a source of many machines and the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world. They also protect soil and help regulate the climate. Yet, across the globe, plant species are being driven to extinction before their potential benefits are discovered. G The world Conservation Union has listed 5,714 threatened species is sure to be much higher. In the UK alone, 300 wild plant species are classified as endangered. The Millennium Seed Bank aims to ensure that even if a plant becomes extinct in the wild, it won’t be lost forever. Stored seeds can be used the help restore damaged or destroyed environment or in scientific research to find new benefits for society in medicine, agriculture or local industry that would otherwise be lost. H Seed banks are an insurance policy to protect the world's plant heritage for the future, explains Dr Paul Smith, another Kew seed hunter. "Seed conservation techniques were originally developed by farmers/' he says. “Storage is the basis what we do, conserving seeds until you can use them just as in farming." Smith says there’s no reason why any plant species should become extinct, given today’s technology. But he admits that the biggest challenge is finding, naming and categorising all the world's plants. And someone has to gather these seeds before it's too late. "There aren't a lot of people out there doing this," he says” The key is to know the flora from a particular area, and that knowledge takes years to acquire." I There are about 1,470 seed banks scattered around the globe, with a combined total of 5.4 million samples, of which perhaps two million are distinct non-duplicates. Most preserve genetic material for agriculture use in order to ensure crop diversity; others aim to conserve wild species, although only 15 per cent of all banked plants are wild. J Imperial College, London, examined crop collections from 151 countries and found that while the number of plant samples had increased in two thirds of the countries, budget had been cut in a quarter and remained static in another 35 per cent. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research has since set up the Global Conservation Trust, which aims to raise US $260 million to protect seed banks in perpetuity.   Questions 14-19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement is true FALSE if the statement is false NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage   14 The purpose of collecting seeds now is different from the past 15 The millennium seed bank is the earliest seed bank. 16 One of major threats for plant species extinction is farmland expansion into wildness. 17 The approach that scientists apply to store seeds is similar to that used by farmers. 18 technological development is the only hope to save plant species. 19 The works of seed conservation are often limited by financial problems.   Questions 20-24 Summary Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage 2, using no more than three words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 20-24 on your answer sheet. Some people collect seeds for the purpose of protecting certain species from ___________ 20_________ ; others collect seeds for their ability to produce _____________ 21_____________ . They are called seed hunters. The ______________ 22_____________ of them included both gardeners and botanists ， such as______________ 23_____________ ， who financially supported collectors out of his own pocket. The seeds collected are usually stored in seed banks, one of which is the famous millennium seed bank, where seeds are all stored in the __________ 24___________ at a low temperature.   Questions 25-26 Choose the correct letter, A-E. Write your answers in boxes 25, 26 on your answer sheet. Which TWO of the followings are provided by plants to the human? A food B fuels C clothes D energy E commercial products

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William Gilbert and Magnetism IELTS READING RECENT ACTUAL TESTS READING TEST 3

 

IELTS READING

RECENT ACTUAL TESTS

READING TEST 3

 

SECTION 1 William Gilbert and Magnetism A 16th and 17th centuries saw two great pioneers of modem science: Galileo and Gilbert. The impact of their findings is eminent. Gilbert was the first modem scientist, also the accredited father of the science of electricity and magnetism, an Englishman of learning and a physician at the court of Elizabeth. Prior to him, all that was known of electricity and magnetism was what the ancients knew, nothing more than that the : lodestone possessed magnetic properties and that amber and jet, when rubbed, would attract bits of paper or other substances of small specific gravity. However, he is less well-known than he deserves. B Gilbert’s birth predated Galileo. Born in an eminent local family in Colchester county in the UK, on May 24, 1544, he went to grammar school, and then studied medicine at St. John’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1573. Later he traveled in the continent and eventually settled down in London. C He was a very successful and eminent doctor. All this culminated in his election to the president of the Royal Science Society. He was also appointed the personal physician to the Queen (Elizabeth I) ， and later knighted by the Queen. He faithfully served her until her death. However, he didn’t outlive the Queen for long and died on December 10, 1603, only a few months after his appointment as personal physician to King James. D Gilbert was first interested in chemistry but later changed his focus due to the large portion of mysticism of alchemy involved (such as the transmutation of metal). He gradually developed his interest in physics after the great minds of the ancient, particularly about the knowledge the ancient Greeks had about lodestones, strange minerals with the power to attract iron. In the meantime, Britain became a major seafaring nation in 1588 when the Spanish Armada was defeated, opening the way to British settlement of America. British ships depended on the magnetic: compass, yet no one understood why it worked. Did the pole star attract it, as Columbus once speculated; or was there a magnetic mountain at the pole, as described in Odyssey’ which ships would never approach, because the sailors thought its pull would yank out all their iron nails and fittings? For nearly 20 years William Gilbert conducted ingenious experiments to understand magnetism. His works include On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, Great Magnet of the Earth. E Gilbert’s discovery was so important to modem physics. He investigated the nature of magnetism and electricity. He even coined the word “elec- tric”. Though the early beliefs of magnetism were also largely entangled with superstitions such as that rubbing garlic on lodestone can neutralize its magnetism, one example being that sailors even believed the smell of garlic would even interfere with the action of compass, which is why helmsmen were forbidden to eat it near a ship’s compass. Gilbert also found that metals can be magnetized by rubbing materials such as fur, plastic or the like on them. He named the ends of a magnet “north pole’ and “south pole”. The magnetic poles can attract or repel, depending on polarity. In addition, however, ordinary iron is always attracted to a magnet. Though he started to study the relationship between magnetism and electricity, sadly he didn’t complete it. His research of static electricity using amber and jet only demonstrated that objects with electrical charges can work like magnets attracting small pieces of paper and stuff. It is a French guy named du Fay that discovered that there are actually two electrical charges, positive and negative. F He also questioned the traditional astronomical beliefs. Though a Copernican, he didn’t express in his quintessential beliefs whether the earth is at the center of the universe or in orbit around the sun. However he believed that stars are not equidistant from the earth, but have their own earth-like planets orbiting around them. The earth is itself like a giant magnet, which is also why compasses always point north. They spin on an axis that is aligned with the earth’s polarity. He even likened the polarity of the magnet to the polarity of the earth and built an entire magnetic philosophy on this analogy. In his explanation, magnetism was the soul of the earth. Thus a perfectly spherical lodestone, when aligned with the earth’s poles, would wobble all by itself in 24 hours. Further, he also believed that suns and other stars wobble just like the earth does around a crystal core, and speculated that the moon might also be a magnet caused to orbit by its magnetic attraction to the earth. This was perhaps the first proposal that a force might cause a heavenly orbit. G His research method was revolutionary in that he used experiments rather than pure logic and reasoning like the ancient Greek philosophers did. It was a new attitude toward scientific investigation. Until then, scientific experiments were not in fashion. It was because of this scientific attitude, together with his contribution to our knowledge of magnetism, that a unit of magneto motive force, also known as magnetic potential, was named Gilbert in his honor. His approach of careful observation and experimentation rather than the authoritative opinion or deductive philosophy of others had laid the very foundation for modem science.   Questions 1-7 Reading passage 1 has seven paragraphs A-G Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number i-x in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet. List of Headings i Early years of Gilbert ii What was new about his scientific research method iii The development of chemistry iv Questioning traditional astronomy v Pioneers of the early science vi Professional and social recognition vii Becoming the president of the Royal Science Society viii The great works of Gilbert ix His discovery about magnetism x His change of focus   1 Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph C 4 Paragraph D 5 Paragraph E 6 Paragraph F 7 Paragraph G   Questions 8-10 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet write TRUE if the statement is true FALSE if the statement is false NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage   8 He is less famous than he should be. 9 He was famous as a doctor before he was employed by the Queen 10 He lost faith in the medical theories of his time.   Questions 11-13 Choose THREE letters A-F. Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet. Which THREE of the following are parts of Gilbert’s discovery? A Metal can be transformed into another. B Garlic can remove magnetism. C Metals can be magnetized. D Stars are at different distances from the earth. E The earth wobbles on its axis. F There are two charges of electricity.

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