Adopt a Wild Dolphin, Diving : Taking the Plunge and Laughter is the Best Medicine

 The IELTS General Training Reading will give you 60 minutes to complete 3 sections where the question subject will be everyday/ general topics.

Section 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Read the information below and answer Question 1-7

                  Adopt a Wild Dolphin

Where do the dolphins live?

These dolphins live in Port River Estuary in Adelaide, South Australia. Researchers have studied them for over 15 years and have led a campaign to improve protection for the dolphins and their environment.

Why do the dolphins need your support?

The Port River dolphins face many threats including pollution, habitat damage, and marine litter. By adopting a dolphin, you will be helping to protect its habitat and most urgently, to rescue any dolphin caught in fishing lines.

Choose your dolphin!

These amazing bottlenose dolphins live in three groups. There are 30 dolphins in the main estuary and they socialise with the other group to the north and one to the south. Each group has a different habitat type.

• Sparke

Sparkle and her calf Twinkle are often seen playing with other mothers and calf pairs.

• Rob Roy

A young, dark and handsome male, Rob Roy is seen mostly on the edge of the research area.

• Scarlett

Scarlett has a scar shaped like a crescent on her dorsal fin, mostly from a shark attack when she was young.

• Spunky

A young Romeo, he’s often seen cruising for potential mates with his best friend, Buddy.

• Buddy

Buddy’s fin shows all the signs of life of rugged encounters with rivals in the pursuit of romance.

• Captain Hook

A handsome, unmarked dolphin, he is named after his very long, curved dorsal fin.

• Phoebe

Phoebe and her calf, Sasha, have both nearly been caught in fishing lines but are now doing well.

• Billie

Billie is one of Adelaide’s best-loved dolphins, famous for swimming alongside racehorses training in the Port River.

$5 a month from 50 adopters could help monitor an individual whale or dolphin in the wild for a year.

$10 a month from 100 adopters could help to fund a study of an individual species in the wild and develop new strategies to protect it.

$20 a month from 100 adopters could help set up a new field project.

Adopt Today!

IELTS Reading (General Training) Actual Tests with Answers (January – April 2021) 

Questions 1-7

Which dolphin (A-H):

[1] seems to enjoy the company of horses ____________

[2] can be recognised by a distinctive fin shape____________

[3] carries the marks of an early injury ____________

Which TWO dolphins (A-H):

[4] are mothers looking after babies .____________

[5] are often seen spending time together____________

Questions 6 and 7

Circle the correct answer A-D.

[6] Which of the following poses the most immediate threat to the Port River Dolphins?

A waste from boats

B environmental degradation

C fishing nets

D water pollution

[7] ‘Adoption’ in this article means…

A choosing one dolphin to look after

B making regular donations to the program

C giving money to support only one dolphin

D making a one-off donation to the program

Read the advertisements and answer the questions 8-14

 

Questions 8-14

Look at the information on companies specialising in removals. Which company (A-P) is the best choice for the following situations? You may use the same letter more than once.

[8] You have just bought a piano and need delivery to your second-floor apartment.

…………………………………………………………..

[9] You are immigrating to England, with all your household goods plus a car.

…………………………………………………………..

[10] You got a job in another city. You want to rent a truck to move your household goods by yourself, one way only.

…………………………………………………………..

[11] You need fast service to deliver to your house a sofa you just bought.

…………………………………………………………..

12] You want an inexpensive service to help you move and store apartment furniture.

…………………………………………………………..

[13] You are moving house and need a truck for a few hours which you will load and drive.

…………………………………………………………..

[14] You need to get rid of some old things stored in a shed.

…………………………………………………………..

Section 2

Read the passage below and answer the questions below

Diving : Taking the Plunge

Have you always wanted to learn to dive?

Getting a Diving Certificate will be one of the most exciting experiences of your life as you learn how to explore a new world underwater.

Here’s the 10-step path to becoming a certified diver.

Step 1: Decide that you really want to do it.

Step 2: Find a dive store and dive instructor you like.

Step 3: Discuss how you will complete your open-water certification: meeting weekly for pool sessions, weekend classes, home study, a class trip for open-water dives, and more.

Step 4: With your instructor, decide on a plan that best fits your schedule.

Step 5: Put on a mask, snorkel, and a pair of fins. These are the basic items of personal equipment that need to be fitted to you by the diving professional. For reasons of safety and comfort, we recommend that you buy diving equipment only at a dive store.

Step 6: Be enthusiastic. An important part of your training involves going back to the classroom and learning about the dive environment, physics and safety practices.

Step 7: Your first dives will take place in a swimming pool. Be prepared for your first breath on a regulator (breathing apparatus) underwater!

Step 8: Go diving. Your open-water training dives provide the opportunity to practise the skills you learnt in the classroom and pool work!

Step 9: Use you ‘C-card’ now that you’re a certified diver! Only card-carrying divers can buy scuba life-support equipment. We also encourage you to begin right away selecting your personal equipment regulator, buoyancy compensator and dive computer. Having your own equipment will make you safer and more comfortable underwater.

Step 10: Go for more. Your certification is really just the beginning. You still need to serve a diving internship with your instructor and other experienced divers. Sign up for more training or dives under supervision as soon as you can.

Questions 14-19

Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS FROM THE PASSAGE answer the following questions.

[14] what THREE pieces of personal equipment do you need to buy before starting the course?

[15] Why should you buy your equipment from a dive store?

[16] Name ONE topic studied in the classroom.

(17] Where do you do your first dives?

[18] What must you show before being allowed to buy scuba diving equipment?

[19] Under what conditions can you dive, once you are certified?

Question 20 -23

The passage ‘Tear No More’ on the next page has 5 paragraphs (A-E). Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B to E from the list (i-ix) below.

List of Headings

(i) HI panic

(ii) FU get lost

(iii) ni be trapped

(iv) I won’t be able to swim

(v) III get the bends

(vi) I won’t be able to see

(vii) HI get eaten

(viii) HI run out of the air

(ix) Diving statistics EXAMPLE

[20] Paragraph B………………………..

[22] Paragraph D………………………..

[21] Paragraph C………………………..

[23] Paragraph E………………………..

Questions 24 -27

Complete the notes below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS FROM THE PASSAGE for each answer.

Dive with a buddy.

Check your gauges so you don’t run out of air.

Dive no deeper than [24]————-until you feel comfortable.

Don’t dive [25]……………. make a 3-minute safety stop at 15 feet.

If you see a shark [26]………….. avoid splashing, kicking or poking at fish.

Visualise emergencies and [27] ……….— your responses. Experience gives you confidence.

Fear No More

A. It’s natural to be scared at first. but statistics show scuba diving is not particularly dangerous. It is estimated that there are 2.4 million divers and 17 million dives made in the U.S. per year. Divers Alert Network, the leading safety organisation for divers reported only 85 fatalities in the past year. Most of us find that as our ability increases, our fears decrease. The risks in scuba diving, while real, can all be reduced significantly by what you do for your own safety. Here are some of the most common fears of new scuba divers.

B. It’s understandable if you mistrust your scuba regulator. But the mechanical failure of your breathing equipment is highly unlikely. A regulator is simple, strong and designed so that if it does fail, it delivers more air than you need, not less. You also have an extra breathing system, and so will your diving buddy. Keep an eye on gauges and time. If you are running on air you will find that you have to suck to breathe. You will still have time to ascend slowly, even if you have to hold your breath. If you stay above feet and stay out of caves and wrecks — good advice for ail divers — there is no reason to be afraid of running out of air underwater.

C. The bends’ is the most decompression sickness most people associate with diving, but in fact, it is almost preventable. Divers most often get the bends by going too deep and coming up quickly. It is not a serious risk if you stay above 60 feet. A safety stop of three minutes at 15 feet is a wise precaution. Cases of the bends do occur rarely, but the sickness is normally treatable.

D. Most fish ignore you or swim away. They have very narrow diets and eat only what they are accustomed to; however, sometimes sharks have been known to make attacks on humans. Even here, there is evidence that the shark mistakes a human for his regular meal, a seal or sea-lion, and shark attacks are very rare. In the presence of sharks, remain calm. Don’t annoy sharks by poking at them. Almost all fish will leave you alone if you do the same to them.

E. Fear can sometimes overwhelm the intellect and leaves some people paralysed. The best prevention is training. You will be taught the correct response to danger. When you practise the response, it will be there when you need it. When you know just what to do, you’re much less likely to lose self-control And experience — simply diving again and again — reduces the general anxiety level that is natural when diving is still new. When you realise you are not helpless, your fears are likely to disappear.

Section 3

Read the passage and answer the questions

Laughter is the Best Medicine

The therapeutic use of laughter — to relieve stress, combat disease and strengthen the immune system — no longer raises medical eyebrows. The idea that humour is healthy and that a hearty laugh can make a person feel much better has gained much medical respectability in the last two decades.

Humour therapy has been accepted on the basis of considerable research conducted in the West. The case of Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams ( immortalised by actor Robin Williams in the film Patch Adams), who developed laughter therapy over 35 years at the Gesundheit Institute in Virginia, USA is well-known. The other is the story of Norman Cousins, the late editor of the American paper The Saturday Review, who was taken ill with a severe connective tissue disease where the body just wastes away. When doctors gave up on him. he cured himself with large doses of vitamin C and comedies starring the Marx Brothers. Cousins found that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and gave him at least two hours of pain-free sleep. He recorded his experiences of self-healing through laughter in a best selling book. Anatomy of an Illness.

This has been an inspiration for many practitioners of laughter therapy, including Dr Madan Kataria, a Mumbai-based general practitioner who has pioneered the concept of laughter clubs in India. As the founder of Laughter Club International. Dr Kataria is credited with initiating over 300 laughter clubs throughout India. Each of these conducts regular group laughter sessions on the premise that laughter is healthy for the body and mind.

We still know very little about what happens in the brain when we laugh, but there’s a fair amount of evidence to suggest that laughter has wide-ranging effects on us psychologically and physiologically. The most obvious effect is on our mood but laughter is also known to keep away negative emotions like anxiety and depression, which tend to weaken the immune system. It relieves stress, a common cause of heart and blood.

Pressure problems. It improves lung capacity and oxygen levels in the blood and thus Iviates complaints of asthma and bronchitis. It also releases endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers, thus reducing the frequency and intensity of arthritic pain and muscular spasms. It is also known to help with insomnia, migraines, allergies, and ulcers.

French neurologist, Henri Rubenstein. said that even one minute of laughter can give the body up to 45 minutes of therapeutic relaxation, It also reduces heart rate and stimulates appetite and digestion. French doctor, Pierre Vachet, who studied the physiology of laughter has concluded that laughter expands the blood vessels and sends more blood to the extremities. As it sends more oxygen to every cell in the body, it also serves to speed tissue healing and stabilise many body functions. Other experiments have shown how watching funny films lowers our blood pressure and generates more endorphins in the blood, producing a feeling of well-being.

However, new insights say that not everyone benefits equally from this therapy. Researchers say that if people with a strong sense of humour are less affected by stress, it’s not necessarily the laughter that’s helping them cope; it could mean that if they are coping well, they can laugh a lot. In fact, one study showed that viewing funny videos led to a rise in immune chemical levels, but that they rose most in people whose tendency to laugh was the greatest, to begin with.

Questions 28-32

Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS FROM THE PASSAGE.

Laughter raises [28]—————————in the blood to improve lung function for conditions like asthma.

Laughter helps the body to release £29]—————————-called endorphins.

When we laugh. [30]—————————expand, which assist circulation and help tissue to heal.

Hospital patients who were [31]—————————-the comedies they watched had the best response to laughter therapy.

Researchers have shown that humour and the ability to play contribute to [32]————————–

Questions 33-35

Which THREE of the following (A-J) in the passage have NOT been attributed to laughter?

[33] ———-

[34] ———-

[35] ————-

List of descriptions

A reduced pain                       F weakened immune system

B improved sleep                   G stimulated appetite

C slower heart rate                H higher blood pressure

D increased anxiety               I less stress

E better digestion

Questions 36-40

Match the following names with a phrase (A-I) from the list below that describes the work of each

36. Dr Hunter Adams
37. Norman Cousins
38. Dr. Madan Kataria
39. Dr. Henri Rubinstein
40. Dr. Pierre Vachet

List of Phrases

1. studied the relaxation response produced by laughter
2. starred in a movie about laughter therapy
3. wrote about self-healing through laughter
4. developed the concept of comedy dubs in India
5. proved that happiness is the best medicine
6. treated patients using funny films
7. showed that laughter facilitates the delivery of oxygen to cells
8. initiated group laughter sessions
9. pioneered laughter therapy in medical settings

Answer Key 

Section 1

1. H
2. F
3. C
4. A, G (both required for 1 mark)
5. D, E (both required for 1 mark)
6. C
7. B
8. F
9. C
10. B
11. F
12. A
13. E
14. D

Section 2

14. mask, snorkel, fins (all required for 1 mark)
15. (for)safety /(and) comfort
16. safety practices/dive environment/physics
17. swimming pool
18. C card/certification
19. with your instructor/experienced divers/(under) supervision
20. viii
21. v
22. vii
23. i
24. 60 feet
25. too quickly
26. remain calm
27. practise

Section 3

28. oxygen levels
29. natural pain killers
30. blood vessels
31. allowed to choose
32. creativity/solutions to problems

33-35. D/F/H (in any order)

36. I
37. C
38. H
39. A
40. G