بانک جامع سوالات ریدینگ آیلتس

در بخش خواندن یا ریدینگ ایلتس ۱۴ نوع سوال وجود دارد. در ادامه به بررسی انواع این سوالات می پردازیم و نکاتی درمورد هر یک ارائه می‌کنیم.

 

1. Matching Heading Questions

در این‌گونه سوالات، داوطلب باید از میان فهرست عنوانی را متناسب با یک بخش یا پاراگراف از متن انتخاب کند. برای پاسخگویی به این‌گونه سوالات قبل از خواندن متن، فهرست عنوان‌ها را مطالعه کنید. در نظر داشته باشید که تعداد عنوان‌های فهرست بیش از تعداد جواب‌هاست. عنوان ها را تحلیل کنید و سعی کنید بر اساس موضوع و محتوا آنها را به پاراگراف‌ها مرتبط کنید. گزینه‌ها در این‌گونه سوالات معمولا به صورت اعداد رومی (i, ii, iii, iv, etc) هستند، پس در وارد کردن جواب در پاسخ‌نامه دقت کنید.

نمونه سوالات ریدینگ آیلتس

در این نوع سوال، سوالات به ترتیب متن نیستند.

The reading passage has five paragraphs, A-E.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-E from the list of headings below.

 

List of Headings

i Effect of city life on mental health

ii Stress reduction in animals

iii Two types of stress

iv The fallout of cell death

v The best type of exercise

vi How stress can be useful

vii Managing stress in job interviews

viii One reason behind bad tempers

ix Neuron loss in childhood

x Regrowing the brain with exercise

A

Despite its bad reputation, stress historically had a vital role to play. Commonly referred to as the ‘fight or flight’ mode, the sudden release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol causes the heart to beat faster, airways to dilate and blood vessels to open up, all of which push the body towards optimal performance and, ultimately, survival. In the rest of the animal kingdom, this is still often the difference between life and death. As he springs off to freedom, the lucky gazelle who escapes the lion can thank this primal evolutionary response.

B

In ordinary modern life, although we’re in little danger of being stalked by wild beasts down city streets, our bodies react to stress in the same ways. Experiencing anxiety, fear and stress is considered a normal part of life when it is occasional and temporary, such as feeling anxious and stressed before an exam or a job interview. It is when these acute reactions are prolonged or cannot be switched off, however, that serious physical, social and cognitive issues can result. In contrast to the normal everyday stress of modern life, chronic stress is a pathological state which can significantly interfere with daily living activities such as work, school and relationships, wreaking havoc on the body’s immune, metabolic and cardiovascular systems.

C

Of major concern is the impact on the brain. Researchers have found that the hippocampus, the control centre of memory and our ability to learn, can physically shrink in response to prolonged release of stress hormones like cortisol which result from chronic stress. Neurons in this area do not just get smaller, but actually die, which weakens the neural connections, affecting the way memories are organised and stored in the brain. A chronically stressed person would recognise this as a ‘brain fog’, and it also has ramifications for other areas such as creativity and adaptability.

D

While this part of the brain gets smaller, another area, the amygdala, which is involved in processing emotions, can grow with chronic stress. Across species, a larger amygdala has been found to correlate with aggression and this, coupled with the weakened connection to the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s decision-making centre, can profoundly impact mood and behaviour. With the link between emotions and decision-making compromised, a person is much less able to stop and reflect, becoming instead reactive and short-fused. Think of the difference between being able to tolerate a screaming child and instead giving in to the desire to scream back.

E

In the past, it was accepted that there was a limited number of neurons in the brain and as they died off as a result of ageing, stress or substance abuse, for instance, they were lost forever. It turns out, however, that this is not the case and that stem cells within the brain are actually able to create new neurons. In other words, lost neurons can be replaced. What makes this discovery even more powerful is the fact that replenishing neurons is rather straightforward. One of the most powerful stimulants for neuron growth is physical activity. So, in addition to its role in the reduction of stress hormones in the first place, and its ability to stimulate the release of endorphins, exercise has now been shown to contribute to the repair of the chronically stressed brain.

2. True, False, Not Given / Yes, No, Not Given

در این نوع از سوالات، داوطلب باید تصمیم بگیرد که  آیا اطلاعات یا نظر نویسنده که در سوال مطرح شده، در متن وجود دارد یا خیر. برای پاسخ‌گویی به این سوالات ابتدا معنی هر گزینه را بفهمید. گزینه YES/TRUE مربوط به زمانی است که اطلاعات در متن موجود است. گزینه NO/FALSE مربوط به زمانی است که متضاد اطلاعات سوال در متن وجود دارد. گزینه NOT GIVEN مربوط به زمانی است که اطلاعات در متن وجود ندارد. توجه کنید که پیش از بررسی متن برای یافتن پاسخ، لازم است جواب‌ها را در ذهن خود بازنویسی کنید چرا که معمولا متن عینا در سوال تکرار نمی‌شود.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

While skin bleaching is a long-standing cosmetic staple across Sudan, a newer craze is sweeping the nation. Many young women are turning to prescription pills in order to gain weight, and hopefully gain the curvaceous figures they see as the standard of beauty. Away from the regulation of trained pharmacists, fattening pills are illegally dispensed by the same small shops which sell topical bleaching creams and other popular beauty fixes. Sold individually, in small bags and emptied sweet containers, they are completely devoid of any information about medical risks.

People do not get any information about the dangers to their health when they purchase unregulated weight gain pills.

 True / False / Not Given

 

3. Matching Paragraph Information Questions

در این نوع از سوالات، داوطلب باید اطلاعات داده شده در سوال را با اطلاعات داده شده در یکی از پاراگراف‌های متن تطابق دهد. برای پاسخ‌گویی به این نوع از سوالات ابتدا سوالات را در ذهن بازنویسی کنید. اطلاعات مورد نظر را در متن پیدا کنید. ممکن است برای پاسخ‌گویی نیازی به تمام متن نداشته باشید. پاسخ سوالات معمولا به صورت حروف لاتین (A, B, C, …) هستند.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات به ترتیب متن نیستند.

 

When the flip of a coin wins an election

(A) In the first vote to decide the US’s presidential candidates, several results were decided on the toss of a coin. How common is it for elections to be decided this way? A silver coin balanced on thumb and forefinger is pinged upwards, falls, then gives its verdict – heads or tails. In sport, it’s a common practice to decide who kicks off or opens the batting. In elections it’s rarer, but not as rare as you might suppose. In Iowa’s Democratic caucuses – a contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the party’s presidential nomination – the results in several precincts were decided by flipping a coin, according to the Des Moines Register.

(B) It was a series of dramatic finishes in a race the party called “the closest in Iowa Democratic caucus history”. On Twitter there were reports that contests were settled in this way in Ames, one Des Moines precinct, another Des Moines precinct, Newton, West Branch and West Davenport. In some of these cases it was reported that there was a dead heat in voting. In Ames, it was the vagaries of the voting system and the decision by 60 of those present not to vote that left the final result unclear. Party officials were contacted on a hotline to advise, and recommended tossing a coin.

(C) Unusually, all six coin tosses were won by Clinton. According to John Moriarty, Reader in Mathematics at Queen Mary University London, there would have been a one-in-64 or 1.6% chance of Clinton winning all six flips. (That’s nothing, however, compared to the time the England cricket team lost 12 tosses of the coin in a row – a probability of about 4,000-to-one.) The caucus system used in 10 US states, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, differs from the primary system used in most states in that votes are taken in small groups rather than on a statewide basis. This makes ties more likely.

(D) “It’s quite an idiosyncratic process,” says Rene Lindstaedt, an expert on US politics at the University of Essex. Unlike in primaries, which are conducted like ballots, Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa show their support for candidates by standing or sitting together in “preference groups” before a head count is taken (Iowa Republicans use secret ballots or a show of hands).

(E) The Iowa Democratic party’s caucus guide states that “where two or more preference groups are tied for the loss of a delegate, a coin shall be tossed to determine who loses the delegate”. With the statewide result a virtual tie between Clinton and Sanders, the flips became one of the night’s biggest talking points, and within hours the coin had its own Twitter profile.

(F) It’s not unprecedented for elections to be decided in this manner. The mayor of San Teodoro, a town in the central Philippines, was ultimately chosen by a coin toss in 2013 after two rival candidates both received 3,236 votes apiece. In the UK, returning officers are legally obliged to settle elections immediately if recounts fail to establish a winner. This has never happened in an election to the House of Commons, but it has in local elections.

(G) Worksop North East seat in Bassetlaw District Council was won by Labour on the toss of a coin in 2000 after three recounts. Christopher Underwood-Frost, a Conservative councillor in Lincolnshire held his seat by the toss of a coin in 2007. And control of Stirling District Council was decided by cutting a deck of cards on two occasions in 1988 and 1992. There are other uses for coin flips, too. Government contracts in Canada can be awarded this way if tenders are identical.

(H) But there remains unease about the use of making decisions so arbitrarily – even in sport, where the use of coin tosses is perhaps best established. From 2016, under an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) trial, visiting county teams will be given the option of bowling first, and a coin toss will only take place if they decline. Perhaps the ECB will share its findings with Iowa’s Democratic Party.

The text has eight paragraphs A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

1. Heat in voting
2. A fact about the UK
3. Statement of the caucus guide
4. The way Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa show their support
5. A parallel with sport
6. Some examples of winning by the toss of a coin
7. An unexpected outcome
8. New rule

 

4. Summary Completion Questions

در این‌گونه سوالات، هدف داوطلب تکمیل جاهای خالی خلاصه متن توسط کلمات متن یا کلمات داده‌شده است. برای جواب دادن به این سوالات، ابتدا نوع کلمه مورد نیاز (فعل، اسم، صفت، …) برای تکمیل جای خالی را انتخاب کنید. اطلاعات مورد نظر را در متن پیدا کنید. اگر از متن کلمات را انتخاب می‌کنید، دقت کنید که هر جواب حداکثر چند کلمه است. توجه کنید که ضروری است که خلاصه متن از لحاظ گرامری صحیح باشد و این امر می‌تواند در انتخاب جواب به شما کمک کند.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

The instructions accompanying do-it-yourself products are regularly cited as a source of unnecessary expense or frustration. Few companies seem to test their instructions by having them followed by a first-time user. Often, essential information is omitted, steps in the construction process are taken for granted, and some degree of special knowledge is assumed. This is especially worrying in any fields where failure to follow correct procedures can be dangerous.

Objections to material in plain English have come mainly from the legal profession. Lawyers point to the risk of ambiguity inherent in the use of everyday language for legal or official documents, and draw attention to the need for confidence in legal formulations, which can come only from using language that has been tested in courts over the course of centuries. The campaigners point out that there has been no sudden increase in litigation as a consequence of the increase in plain English materials.

Similarly, professionals in several different fields have defended their use of technical and complex language as being the most precise means of expressing technical or complex ideas. This is undoubtedly true: scientists, doctors, bankers and others need their jargon in order to communicate with each other succinctly and unambiguously. But when it comes to addressing the non-specialist consumer, the campaigners argue, different criteria must apply.

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

Consumers often complain that they experience a feeling of 1 ____ when trying to put together do-it-yourself products which have not been tested by companies on a 2 ____. In situations where not keeping to the correct procedures could affect safety issues, it is especially important that 3 ____ information is not left out and no assumptions are made about a stage being self-evident or the consumer having a certain amount of 4 ____. Lawyers, however, have raised objections to the use of plain English. They feel that it would result in ambiguity in documents and cause people to lose faith in 5 ____, as it would mean departing from language that has been used in the courts for a very long time.

5. Sentence Completion Questions

در این‌گونه سوالات، هدف داوطلب تکمیل جملات توسط کلمات موجود در متن است. برای جواب دادن به این سوالات، ابتدا نوع کلمه مورد نیاز (فعل، اسم، صفت، …) برای تکمیل جمله را انتخاب کنید. اطلاعات مورد نظر را در متن پیدا کنید. دقت کنید که هر جواب حداکثر می تواند چند کلمه باشد. توجه کنید که ضروری است که جملات از لحاظ گرامری صحیح باشند و این امر می‌تواند در انتخاب جواب به شما کمک کند.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

European Settlement of Australia

European settlement of Australia began in 1788 when a British penal colony was established on the east coast. From this starting point Australia grew rapidly and continually, expanding across the entire continent.

A number of reasons contributed to Britain’s decision to colonise Australia. The most important factor was Britain’s need to relieve its overcrowded prisons. Several violent incidents at overcrowded prisons convinced the British government of the need to separate unruly elements from the rest of the prison populace.

Additionally, Australia was of strategic importance to Britain, and it provided a base for the Royal Navy in the eastern sea. Also, Australia could be used as an entry point to the economic opportunities of the surrounding region. All these points figured in the decision by Lord Sydney, secretary of state of home affairs, to authorise the colonisation.

To this affect, on May 13, 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip, commanding eleven ships full of convicts, left Britain for Australia. He successfully landed a full fleet at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788. However, they left the bay eight days later because of its openness and poor soil, and settled instead at Port Jackson, a few kilometres north. The ships landed 1,373 people, including 732 convicts, and the settlement became Sydney. Australia Day is now celebrated on 26 January each year, to commemorate this first fleet landing.

Questions 1-5

Complete the following statements using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

1. Australia was originally founded as a ____.
2. The major consideration in colonizing Australia was Britain’s ____.
3. It was thought that ____ could be gained in that part of the world due to the access provided via Australia.
4. Lord Sydney took every factor into account when he gave official permission for the ____ of Australia.
5. Botany Bay was abandoned by the settlers due to the lack of cover and ____.

 

6. Multiple Choice Questions

در این نوع از سوال داوطلب باید از بین چندین گزینه موجود، گزینه صحیح برای پاسخ به سوال یا تکمیل جمله را انتخاب کند. برای پاسخ‌گویی به این نوع سوالات، ابتدا سوال و گزینه‌ها را بازنویسی کنید و در متن به دنبال اطلاعات خواسته شده بگردید. پاسخ این نوع سوالات معمولا به صورت حروف لاتین (A, B, C, etc) است.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

Rice That Fights Global Warming

More than half the global population relies on rice as a regular part of their diet. But rice paddies have a downside for the planet too: they produce as much as 17 percent of the world’s total methane emissions. That is even more than coal mining emissions, which make 10 percent of total! So Christer Jansson, a plant biochemist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, spent the past 10 years developing SUSIBA2, a genetically modified rice plant that emits almost no methane.

1. What is the negative effect of rice?
2. It is regular part of more than half of the world population’s diet.
3. Rice paddies emit more methane than coal mining industry.
4. Its plantations produce 17% of the world’s total methane emissions.
5. Rice has genetically modified sort SUSIBA2, which is harmful for health.

 

7. List Selection

در این نوع سوال داوطلب باید گزینه صحیح را از فهرستی از کلمات، اطلاعات یا اسامی انتخاب کند. تفاوت این سوال با سوالات چند گزینه‌ای در این است که اینجا تمام سوالات یک فهرست جواب مشترک دارند. برای پاسخ دادن به این نوع سوالات ابتدا فهرست گزینه‌ها را بررسی و بازنویسی کنید. سپس سوالات را بخوانید و کلید‌واژه مناسب انتخاب کنید. بعد از آن اطلاعات مورد نیاز را در متن پیدا کنید.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. Since March 1901, it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.

Nobel died in 1896 and he did not leave an explanation for choosing peace as a prize category. As he was a trained chemical engineer, the categories for chemistry and physics were obvious choices. The reasoning behind the peace prize is less clear. According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, his friendship with Bertha von Suttner, a peace activist and later recipient of the prize, profoundly influenced his decision to include peace as a category. Some Nobel scholars suggest it was Nobel’s way to compensate for developing destructive forces. His inventions included dynamite and ballistite, both of which were used violently during his lifetime.

Which TWO of the statements below are correct?

1. The creator of the Nobel Peace Prize was himself a producer of weapons.
2. The Nobel Peace Prize is a controversial award.
3. Nobel was a peace activist during his lifetime.
4. The ‘peace’ prize category was suggested by one of Nobel’s friends.
5. Nobel saw the destructive application of some of his inventions.

 

8. Choosing a Title

در این نوع سوال داوطلب باید از فهرست داده شده، عنوان مناسب را انتخاب کند. برای پاسخ‌گویی به این نوع سوال ابتدا به فهرست عناوین نگاه کنید و به تفاوت‌های آنها بیاندیشید. در متن به ابتدا و انتهای پاراگراف‌ها دقت کنید.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن نیستند.

 

Read the following article and choose the best title from the list below.

 

A new survey reveals that a family sit-down at dinnertime may reduce a teenager’s risk of trying or using alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. The study surveyed more than 1,000 teens and found that those who dined with their families five to seven times a week were four times less likely to use alcohol, tobacco or marijuana than those who ate with their families fewer than three times a week.

A recent UK survey also found that dining together as a family is a key ingredient in ensuring a child’s happiness. Children in the survey reported higher levels of happiness when they dined together with their families at least three times a week. “Contrary to the popular belief that children only want to spend time playing video games or watching TV,” said researcher Dr. Maris Iacovou of the University of Essex, “we found that they were most happy when interacting with their parents or siblings.”

1. Children’s happiness
2. Why teenagers use alcohol, cigarettes and drugs
3. What teenagers really want
4. Why families should dine together

 

9. Categorization Questions

در این نوع سوال داوطلب باید انتخاب کند که اطلاعات داده شده در سوال، به کدام گروه داده شده تعلق دارد. برای این کار، اطلاعات داده شده را در متن جستجو کنید. توجه داشته باشید که معمولا باید به دنبال بازنویسی جملات داده شده بگردید. پس از یافتن اطلاعات، تصمیم بگیرید که به کدام دسته‌بندی داده شده تعلق دارد.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن نیستند.

Why do we sleep?

Researchers have found that sleep is beneficial to humans in many ways: it helps us process memories, and keeps our social and emotional lives on track. Yet we still do not really know how, why or even exactly when sleep evolved.

“The cost of losing consciousness to survival is astronomical,” says Matthew Walker at the University of California in Berkeley. Whatever functions sleep performs, they must be so fundamentally important that they far outweigh the obvious vulnerability associated with being asleep.

This means we can confidently reject one of the simplest theories of sleep: that we drift off simply because we have nothing better to do. This could be described as the indolence theory of sleep. Once an animal has eaten, seen off any rivals and exhausted any potential mating opportunities, it effectively has an empty schedule, and losing consciousness kills time for a few hours.

It is a fun idea, but considering that a sleeping animal is significantly more likely to be caught and eaten than a waking animal, this hypothesis makes “zero sense”, says Walker.

There is now an emerging consensus on the behavioural features that define sleep, and these features can be used to look for sleep in simple animals, says Ravi Allada at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

There are three main elements, says Allada. First and foremost, sleep renders an animal quiet and still: muscles are not very active during sleep. Second, sleep makes animals slower to respond. For instance, if you make a loud noise near a sleeping animal, it will react more slowly than an awake animal. And finally, we can recognise sleep because it keeps animals from getting tired.

“I believe that the behavioural features used to characterise sleep are quite reliable for identifying this behaviour in animals… and to differentiate sleep from a simple rest,” says Paul-Antoine Libourel at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center in France.

According to Libourel, sleep now appears to be an almost universal feature of animal life. “This suggests that sleep is fundamental for the survival of species. Natural selection did not suppress it. In fact, natural selection did the exact opposite: it built on the concept of sleep, adding in new stages and new functions.”

“At some point in prehistory, the most famous of all stages of sleep appeared: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep,” says Walker. “Non-REM sleep was the original form.”

Sleep impacts every major system in the body. Cut down on sleep and it is not just your brain that struggles: the reproductive, metabolic, cardiovascular, thermoregulatory and immune systems all suffer too, says Libourel.

All the explanations for sleep we have looked at ultimately boil down to the same thing: sleep is a state we enter to fix the systems that are put under stress when we are awake.

Classify the following statements as referring to

1. Matthew Walker
2. Ravi Allada
3. Paul-Antoine Libourel

 

Write the appropriate letters A, B or C in boxes 1-7:

• There are three main behavioural features incident to sleep. ____
• The idea that we sleep because we have nothing else to do is absurd. ____
• At some point in the evolution, a new stage of sleep appeared: rapid eye movement sleep. ____
• Natural selection did not suppress sleep, but developed it. ____
• Sleep makes animals’ reaction slower. ____
• Every major system in human’s body suffers because of lack of sleep. ____
• Muscles are not very active during sleep. ____

 

10. Matching Sentence Endings

در این نوع سوال، داوطلب باید با تطابق دادن ابتدا و انتهای جمله‌های داده شده جملات صحیح بسازد. برای پاسخ‌گویی به این نوع سوال، ابتدا بخش‌های جملات را بخوانید. بازنویسی جملات را آماده کنید و سپس اطلاعات داده شده را در متن پیدا کنید. بهترین انتها را برای ابتدای جملات پیدا کنید. مواظب باشید که جملات ساخته شده باید از نظر گرامری صحیح باشند. معمولا در بین گرینه‌های انتهای جملات، چند گزینه اضافه وجود دارد.

در این نوع سوال، ابتدای جملات به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-J from the box below. Write only the letter. You do not need to use all of the sentence endings.

1. Strawberries may help to
2. In non-human tests fisetin was shown
3. Specialists believe
4. Fisetin has
5. Mahar wants to soon begin
6. Alzheimer’s is
7. Almost a quarter of the world’s population is predicted
8. A reduction in the number of cases of cognitive diseases suffered by the elderly will reduce

 

1. to be over the age of 60 by the year 2050.
2. may be described as a new superfood.
3. to reduce swelling of an organ.
4. an increasing problem around the world.
5. been studied for over 10 years.
6. more testing should be carried out to find out the benefits of fisetin.
7. the predicted burden on health services in the future.
8. cure diseases suffered by the elderly.
9. controlled testing of fisetin on people.
10. are highly toxic.

 

A compound found in strawberries and other fruit may help prevent cognitive decline, new research shows. The findings may help prevent Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that treating aging mouse models with fisetin, a compound found in strawberries, helped reduce brain inflammation and cognitive decline. The study, authored by Pamela Maher of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at Salk, was published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A. “Companies have put fisetin into various health products, but there hasn’t been enough serious testing of the compound,” said Maher. “Based on our ongoing work, we think fisetin might be helpful as a preventative for many age-associated neurodegenerative diseases, not just Alzheimer’s, and we’d like to encourage more rigorous study of it.”

Maher has been studying the compound for more than a decade. Previous research has found that fisetin reduced memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s in mice, but that study was related to genetic Alzheimer’s. This form of the disease only accounts for 1-3% of cases.

​In the team’s most recent study, they fed the prematurely aging mice a daily dose of the compound in their food for seven months. A separate group was fed the same food without fisetin. The team examined certain proteins associated with brain function, inflammation and stress response. After 10 months, Maher said the differences between the two groups was “striking.” Mice fed the fisetin compound had no noticeable differences in their behavior, inflammatory markers or cognitive ability. The group that was not fed fisetin had elevated markers of inflammation and stress, and had difficulty with cognitive tests. The researchers found no acute toxicity in mice treated with fisetin, even when given high doses of the compound.

While Maher acknowledges that mice are not people, she is confident that there are enough similarities to warrant a closer look at the compound. “We think fisetin warrants a closer look, not only for potentially treating sporadic AD, but also for reducing some of the cognitive effects associated with aging, generally,” said Maher. The next step, Maher hopes, is to partner with another company or group to conduct human trials of the compound.

Fisetin is currently sold as a dietary supplement, but those products are not regulated by the FDA. The team has also developed derivatives of the compound that may have enhanced properties, Maher says. “One of the advantages of those is that you can patent them,” she said. “The disadvantage is that to get them into a clinic, you have to go through a lot more regulatory hurdles.”

Maher and her colleagues have also collaborated on research related to other cognitive-protecting compounds. One of those compounds, J147, is almost ready for human testing. The paperwork is being filed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The team is still in the negotiating phase of securing funding for a Phase 1 clinical trial. The J147 compound is derived from curcumin, a compound found in turmeric.

If proven effective and safe, fisetin may be used to help prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, a growing problem as the world’s population continues to age. Aging is, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), one of the most significant trends of this century. One in eight people in the world is over the age of 60. By 2050, UNFPA estimates that 22% of the population will be 60 and older. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that there are 5.5 million people living with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States alone. Among those 5.5 million people, 5.3 million are 65 and older. Alzheimer’s disease in older individuals is closely linked with other medical issues, such as incontinence, which requires caregivers to take on the additional tasks of changing bed pads (or chux) and adult diapers.

As researchers continue to learn more about compounds and their cognitive-protecting properties, Alzheimer’s cases may begin to decline. A decline in Alzheimer’s and dementia may help reduce the expected shortage of medical care professionals needed to treat aging patients.

The research team is currently trying to secure clinical human trials, but such treatments will likely not be available to the public for years.

11. Table Completion

در این سوالات، داوطلب باید با توجه به متن اطلاعات یک جدول را تکمیل کند. برای این کار ابتدا عنوان ستون‌های جدول را بخوانید و نوع کلمات مورد نیاز را مشخص کنید. متن را جستجو کنید تا اطلاعات مورد نظر را بیابید. محدودیت تعداد کلمات برای جواب را همواره در نظر داشته باشید.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن نیستند.

 

A Remarkable Beetle

Some of the most remarkable beetles are the dung beetles, which spend almost their whole lives eating and breeding in dung.

More than 4,000 species of these remarkable creatures have evolved and adapted to the world’s different climates and the dung of its many animals. Australia’s native dung beetles are scrub and woodland dwellers, specialising in coarse marsupial droppings and avoiding the soft cattle dung in which bush flies and buffalo flies breed.

In the early 1960s George Bornemissza, then a scientist at the Australian Government’s premier research organisation, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), suggested that dung beetles should be introduced to Australia to control dung-breeding flies. Between 1968 and 1982, the CSIRO imported insects from about 50 different species of dung beetle, from Asia, Europe and Africa, aiming to match them to different climatic zones in Australia. Of the 26 species that are known to have become successfully integrated into the local environment, only one, an African species released in northern Australia, has reached its natural boundary.

Introducing dung beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.

Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some large species originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree. South African beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat. Some surface-dwelling beetles, including a South African species, cut perfectly-shaped balls from the pat, which are rolled away and attached to the bases of plants.

For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers require a variety of species with overlapping periods of activity. In the cooler environments of the state of Victoria, the large French species (2.5 cms long) is matched with smaller (half this size), temperate-climate Spanish species. The former are slow to recover from the winter cold and produce only one or two generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The latter, which multiply rapidly in early spring, produce two to five generations annually. The South African ball-rolling species, being a subtropical beetle, prefers the climate of northern and coastal New South Wales where it commonly works with the South African tunnelling species. In warmer climates, many species are active for longer periods of the year.

Dung beetles were initially introduced in the late 1960s with a view to controlling buffalo flies by removing the dung within a day or two and so preventing flies from breeding. However, other benefits have become evident. Once the beetle larvae have finished pupation, the residue is a first-rate source of fertiliser. The tunnels abandoned by the beetles provide excellent aeration and water channels for root systems. In addition, when the new generation of beetles has left the nest the abandoned burrows are an attractive habitat for soil-enriching earthworms. The digested dung in these burrows is an excellent food supply for the earthworms, which decompose it further to provide essential soil nutrients. If it were not for the dung beetle, chemical fertiliser and dung would be washed by rain into streams and rivers before it could be absorbed into the hard earth, polluting water courses and causing blooms of blue-green algae. Without the beetles to dispose of the dung, cow pats would litter pastures making grass inedible to cattle and depriving the soil of sunlight. Australia’s 30 million cattle each produce 10-12 cow pats a day. This amounts to 1.7 billion tonnes a year, enough to smother about 110,000 sq km of pasture, half the area of Victoria.

Dung beetles have become an integral part of the successful management of dairy farms in Australia over the past few decades. A number of species are available from the CSIRO or through a small number of private breeders, most of whom were entomologists with the CSIRO’s dung beetle unit who have taken their specialised knowledge of the insect and opened small businesses in direct competition with their former employer.

Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

12. Flow Chart Completion Questions

در این سوالات، داوطلب باید با توجه به متن اطلاعات یک فلوچارت را تکمیل کند. برای پاسخ به این سوالات، نوع کلمه مورد نظر برای تکمیل هر بخش فلوچارت را مشخص کنید. متن را به دنبال اطلاعات مورد نظر جستجو کنید. از پیکان‌های فلوچارت برای دنبال کردن اطلاعات استفاده کنید. کلمات مناسب را از متن انتخاب کنید و با توجه به تعداد کلمات مجاز، سوال را پاسخ دهید.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن نیستند.

 

No treatment on the market today has been proved to slow human aging. But one intervention, consumption of a low-calorie* yet nutritionally balanced diet, works incredibly well in a broad range of animals, increasing longevity and prolonging good health. Those findings suggest that caloric restriction could delay aging and increase longevity in humans, too. But what if someone could create a pill that mimicked the physiological effects of eating less without actually forcing people to eat less, a ‘caloricrestriction mimetic’?

The best-studied candidate for a caloric-restriction mimetic, 2DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose), works by interfering with the way cells process glucose. It has proved toxic at some doses in animals and so cannot be used in humans. But it has demonstrated that chemicals can replicate the effects of caloric restriction; the trick is finding the right one.

Cells use the glucose from food to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the molecule that powers many activities in the body. By limiting food intake, caloric restriction minimizes the amount of glucose entering cells and decreases ATP generation. When 2DG is administered to animals that eat normally, glucose reaches cells in abundance but the drug prevents most of it from being processed and thus reduces ATP synthesis. Researchers have proposed several explanations for why interruption of glucose processing and ATP production might retard aging. One possibility relates to the ATP making machinery’s emission of free radicals, which are thought to contribute to aging and to such age-related diseases as cancer by damaging cells. Reduced operation of the machinery should limit their production and thereby constrain the damage. Another hypothesis suggests that decreased processing of glucose could indicate to cells that food is scarce (even if it isn’t) and induce them to shift into an anti-aging mode that emphasizes preservation of the organism over such ‘luxuries’ as growth and reproduction.

Questions 1 – 3

Complete the flow-chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

How a caloric-restriction mimetic works

CR mimetic

↓

less 1 ____ is processed

↓

production of ATP is decreased

Theory 1:                                                                   Theory 2:

cells less damaged by disease because                        cells focus on 3 ____ because

fewer 2 ____ are emitted                                          food is in short supply

 

13. Diagram Completion Questions

در این نوع از سوالات داوطلب باید بخش‌های مختلف یک تصویر را نام‌گذاری کند. ابتدا نوع کلمات مورد نیاز را مشخص کنید. سپس اطلاعات مورد نیاز را در متن پیدا کنید. اطلاعات مورد نیاز معمولا فقط در یک یا دو پاراگراف هستند. هنگام پاسخ‌گویی به محدودیت در تعداد کلمات توجه داشته باشید.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن نیستند.

 

The chicken egg

Chicken egg consists of six main parts: albumin, yolk, shell, germinal disc, chalaza and air cell. In further paragraphs we will learn all the important information you need to know about these parts.

One of the main parts of the egg is yolk – the yellow, inner part of the egg where the embryo will form. The yolk contains the food that will nourish the embryo as it grows. Yolk is a major source of vitamins, minerals, almost half of the protein, and all of the fat and cholesterol. The yolk contains less water and more protein than the white part of the egg, some fat, and most of the vitamins and minerals of the egg. The yolk is also a source of lecithin, an effective emulsifier. Yolk color ranges from just a hint of yellow to a magnificent deep orange, according to the feed and breed of the hen. Yolk is anchored by chalaza – a spiral, rope-like strand that anchors the yolk in the thick egg white. There are two chalazae anchoring each yolk; one on the top and one on the bottom.

Another very important part of the egg is the albumin, which is the inner thick white part of the egg. This part of the egg is a excellent source of riboflavin and protein. In high-quality eggs, the inner thick albumen stands higher and spreads less than thin white. In low-quality eggs, it appears thin white.

Now let’s talk about the outer part of the egg – the shell It is a hard, protective coating of the egg. It is semi-permeable; it lets gas exchange occur, but keeps other substances from entering the egg. The shell is made of calcium carbonate and is covered with as many as 17,000 tiny pores.

Air cell is an air space that forms when the contents of the egg cool and contract after the egg is laid. The air cell usually rests between the outer and inner membranes at the eggs larger end. As the egg ages, moisture and carbon dioxide leave through the pores of the shell, air enters to replace them and the air cell becomes larger.

And last but not least, let’s look at the germinal disc. It’s a small, circular, white spot (2-3 mm across) on the surface of the yolk; it is where the sperm enters the egg. The nucleus of the egg is in the blastodisc. The embryo develops from this disk, and gradually sends blood vessels into the yolk to use it for nutrition as the embryo develops.

Complete the diagram below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

 

14. Short Answer Questions

در این نوع سوالات، داوطلبان باید به سوالاتی درباره متن جواب بدهند. ابتدا نوع کلمات مورد نیاز را مشخص کنید. متن را به دنبال کلیدواژه‌ها و کلمات مترادف جستجو کنید. به تعداد کلماتی که می‌توانید برای هر جواب استفاده کنید توجه کنید.

در این نوع سوال، سوالات معمولا به ترتیب متن هستند.

 

Education Industry Revving Up

A recent newspaper investigation into the growing number of foreign fee-paying students raises some issues for timely reflection. To be blunt, we need to prepare ourselves for a sudden and major increase in population. This new population will not be permanent but it will continue to increase in numbers and make itself at home in New Zealand for the main purpose of intellectual advancement. It will, in effect, be a rotating population but one that produces an increase in the total population at any one time.

If you think, as even some Asian students do, that Auckland is already too Asian (one in eight Aucklanders is now Asian), be prepared for it becoming too European or too South American. Our booming education industry still catches some locals by surprise and, depending on your point of view about racial diversity, it may or may not be of comfort to know that it has only just begun.

The only limitations to its growth will be the decisions and behaviour of organizations serving these students from overseas who want to study here – whether it is English language or IT skills. And I do not mean just the education function itself: it includes health, transport, property and entertainment. The list increases into all aspects of society as more students arrive from the major continents.

My own company has grown 500 per cent in the past four years and our board is anticipating an even higher rate over the next five years. I see no reason we should consider industry growth expectations below this. Early next month we will open a new international language school in Queen St designed to give students internationally accredited English language skills so they can stay longer and study IT courses. Some will go on to our universities.

This one new school alone will inject an extra $60 million-odd annually into Auckland’s economy. What does this industry growth mean? It could mean a $10 billion (contribution to gross domestic product) industry by the end of this decade, employing 100,000 New Zealanders directly and many more indirectly.

The conditions which have created this opportunity are many, but underlying them all are the standards which shape education in this country. Some will argue that whimsical circumstances, such as a favourable exchange rate or our distance from the troubled areas of the world, have caused it all. But without the right internationally recognised education standards we would have no such booming industry.

Make no mistake, this is our trump card. As long as we are known for quality education, we can develop what we have started regardless of almost any other change of circumstance. Undoubtedly, there are financial benefits for society. But we would be blind not to acknowledge and address the many other implications which the newspaper article began to identify.

The growth opportunity is so good that we must effectively evolve as an industry and fast, too. We must eliminate the clumsy, experimental mistake-ridden phase of youth. Fundamentally we must leap from childhood to maturity.

But how? Experiences in my company lead me to suggest three main areas to address – total service, performance regulation and long-term planning. By total service I mean accepting some responsibility for students inside and outside of campus. Within two years, my company expects at least 1000 overseas students to be studying at all our six campuses. We must take some responsibility for this size of customer base, as any normal company would.

This means we must attract other suppliers as dedicated partners with us – property, insurance, healthcare, transport, social support, the list goes on. Education New Zealand has a valuable role here.

This type of care begins in the students’ countries of origin, ensuring they have correct information about our country and how different it will be in many small and large ways. Our company, intent on achieving this, is introducing marketing programmes in three continents. Performance regulation will be vital in our leap to adulthood. We cannot leave it up to the Government; it will mean a private sector-Government partnership.

I am also not surprised to hear calls for the Government to introduce an industry levy – frankly, just another tax – to “protect” standards. We should keep in mind that foreign students are happy to come here because of our stable Government, virtually non-existent corruption, and education standards. For the Government to come to our support with an extra levy imposition reminds me of an old saying: When a sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance.

Long-term planning usually begins with a vision agreed by the industry and I will support any immediate efforts in this area. We now have an industry that is arguably our country’s third largest export earner. We need to know where we can take this industry, how it fits with society and its place in an increasingly systemic world where people move more freely and technology drives a global economy.

 

Answer the following questions in no more than three words:

1. Where should the type of care the writer discusses initially come from?
2. What will be very important in the education sector’s rise to maturity?
3. What does the government want to bring in?
4. Give one reason why students are content to study in New Zealand?
5. What does the ongoing preparation usually start with?
6. How big an export industry is English language teaching?