First Aid For Snake Bites, Vocational Training and The Panda’s Last Chance | IELTS General Reading Practice Test 12 with Answers

Reading passage 1

SECTION 1          

Question 1 – 15

Questions 1 – 3

On the following page is a Contents page from a magazine.

Example: On what page is the main article in the magazine?

Answer: 5

1 What page would you turn to for advice about money?

2 On what TWO pages can you read about art?

3 On what page is the new sports stadium discussed?

Question 4

Questions 5 – 10

Questions 5 – 10

Read the advertisements for musical events on the previous page.

Example      At which concert will a television character appear?

Answer            B

5 At which concert will young performers play?

6 Which concert will be held outdoors?

7 Which concerts will happen more than once?

8 Which concert will feature only one performer?

9 Which concert is NOT being held at night?

10 At which concert can the audience choose what will be performed?

Questions 11 – 15

First Aid For Snake Bites

Snakes are not normally aggressive and tend to bite only when they are threatened or mishandled. Some snakes, e.g. the carpet snake, are not poisonous. Others, e.g. the brown snake, tiger snake and taipan, are very poisonous.

1. Prevention

• leave snakes alone and do not collect snakes
• do not put your hands in hollow logs, under piles of wood, or in rubbish
• be noisy when walking in the bush
• look carefully when walking through thick grass
• use a torch around camps at night

     B. Symptoms and signs

These do not appear immediately, but from about 15 minutes to 2 hours after the casualty is bitten. There are often no visible symptoms or signs. Take seriously any information from a casualty concerning:

• strong emotional reaction
• headache or double vision
• drowsiness, dizziness or faintness
• nausea and/or vomiting and diarrhoea
• puncture marks about 1 centimetre apart at the site of the bite. Bites are usually on the limbs, especially the legs.
• reddening
• bruising
• sweating
• breathing difficulties

     C. Management

• reassure the casualty
• apply a pressure immobilisation bandage over the bitten area and around the limb
• seek medical aid urgently

D. Snakebite Warnings

• never wash the venom off the skin as this will help in later identification
• never cut or squeeze the bitten area
• never try to suck the venom out of the wound

Questions 11 – 15

Example:     never use a tight bandage

Answer            D

11 help the casualty to sit or lie down

12 wear stout shoes, walk-socks and jeans (or similar clothing) in areas where snakes could be present

13 pain or tightness in the chest or abdomen

14 do not try to catch the snake

15 swelling of the bitten area

Also check :

• IELTS General reading practice test
• General Training

Reading Passage 2

Questions 16-28

Questions 16-22:

School Excursions

Note: You may use any letter more than once.

Example Answer: Which excursion would you choose if you are interested in famous people? D

16 Which excursion would you choose if you wanted to know about the different uses of wax?

17 Where could students learn something about the animals of the country they are studying in?

18 On which excursion is it possible to learn something about the stars?

19 Which excursion would be suitable for students of fashion and design?

20 Which excursion would attract people interested in computers?

21 On which excursion would you expect to listen to an art critic?

22 On which excursion would you need to travel by boat?

Questions 23-28:

23 There are more people studying in TAFE colleges than in any other kind of higher education institution.

24 TAFE qualifications arc accepted anywhere in Australia.

25 Some TAFE colleges offer university degrees.

26 Each TAFE college specializes in teaching skills for working within one specific industry.

27 The next chapter deals with English language courses.

28 Certificates or diplomas from all private post-secondary institutions are recognized everywhere in Australia.

Chapter 5

   Vocational Training

Technical and Further Education

Australia’s Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector is a nationally recognized government system of vocational education and training and is the major provider of the skills required by the Australian workforce.

TAFE is the largest of the tertiary education sectors in Australia. It accounts for approximately 70 per cent of post-secondary education enrolments. There are 232 major TAFE colleges in Australia.

Although each state and territory administers its own system of TAFE. the qualifications they award are transferable throughout Australia. Although TAFE colleges cannot award tertiary-level degrees, some TAFE courses permit TAFE graduates to be admitted with advanced standing into degree courses offered by universities.

TAFE courses provide initial and further education at professional, para-professional, post-trade, trade and operative level. TAFE courses are developed in collaboration with industry and the community to ensure the most up-to-date education and training is provided.

Private Post-secondary Institutions

These private institutions are like TAFE colleges because they teach special skills for jobs but each one of them usually specializes in courses for one industry.

There are many private institutions in Australia offering a wide range of courses: English language (ELICOS, see Chapter 6). secretarial studies, data processing, pilot training, business and management, recreational courses and religious studies. (Other courses offered by private post-secondary institutions are listed in Chapter 7, Special Studies.)

If you successfully complete these courses you receive a qualification called a ‘certificate’ or ‘diploma’. These are widely recognized by professional associations and industries in Australia, and are sometimes recognized by higher education institutions for credit. Before you undertake a course at a private post-secondary institution you should check that the certificate or diploma offered is appropriate for your particular purpose because some private institutions offer courses which arc not recognized. If you want to enter a higher education institution from a private post-secondary institution, you should ask the higher education institution whether they accept the qualification before you start your course.

Questions 29-32:

Note: You may use each letter more than once.

Example Answer: Where panda habitats are located –> A

29 The separation of panda groups.

30 The panda’s diet.

31 The illegal killing of pandas.

32 Why pandas’ living areas have been reduced.

The Panda’s Last Chance

Chinese authorities have devised an ambitious plan to save the giant panda from the ravages of deforestation. Martin Williams assesses the creature’s chances of avoiding extinction.

1. The giant panda, the creature that has become a symbol of conservation, is facing extinction. The major reason is loss of habitat, which has continued despite the establishment, since 1963, of 14 panda reserves. Deforestation, mainly earned out by farmers clearing land to make way for fields as they move higher into the mountains, has drastically contracted the mammal’s range. The panda has disappeared from much of central and eastern China, and is now restricted to the eastern flank of the Himalayas in Sichuan and Gansu provinces, and the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi province. Fewer than 1400 of the animals are believed to remain in the wild.
2. Satellite imagery has shown the seriousness of the situation; almost half of the panda’s habitat has been cut or degraded since 1975. Worse, the surviving panda population has also become fragmented; a combination of satellite imagery and ground surveys reveals panda ’islands* in patches of forest separated by cleared land. The population of these islands, ranging from fewer than ten to more than 50 pandas, has become isolated because the animals are bathing to cross open areas. Just putting a road through panda habitat may be enough to split a population in two.
3. The minuscule size of the panda populations worries conservationists. The smallest groups have too few animals to be viable, and will inevitably die out. The larger populations may be viable in the short term, but will be susceptible to genetic defects as a result of inbreeding.
4. In these circumstances, a more traditional threat to pandas—the cycle of flowering and subsequent withering of the bamboo that is their staple food—can become literally species-threatening. The flowerings prompt pandas to move from one area to another, thus preventing inbreeding in otherwise sedentary populations. In panda islands, however, bamboo flowering could prove catastrophic because the pandas are unable to emigrate.
5. The latest conservation management plan for the panda, prepared by China’s Ministry of Forestry and the World Wide Fund for Nature, aims primarily to maintain panda habitats and to ensure that populations are linked wherever possible. The plan will change some existing reserve boundaries, establish 14 new reserves and protect or replant corridors of forest between panda islands. Other measures include better control of poaching, which remains a problem despite strict laws, as panda skins fetch high prices; reducing the degradation of habitats outside reserves; and reforestation.
6. The plan is ambitious. Implementation will be expensive—Yuan 56.6 million (US$ 12.5 million) will be needed for the development of the panda reserves— and will require participation by individuals ranging from villagers to government officials.

Questions 33-34:

1. pandas prefer to inbreed
2. panda groups arc getting too small

Example: iii. panda habitats have shrunk

1. pandas move to other countries
2. more bamboo is withering
3. panda groups are isolated

Questions 35-41:

Note: There are more words than spaces so you will not use them all. You may use any word more than once.

The survival of the giant panda is being seriously threatened. Panda numbers have already  seriously 35 ……………… This is largely because the overall size of their habitat has been reduced and habitable areas arc now 36 ………………… from each other. Two results are that pandas are more prone to genetic 37 …………………… and are unable to move around freely to follow the 38 ………………….. cycles of the bamboo that they cal. A new plan is aiming to protect the existing panda habitats and to 39 …………………. many of them. This plan also includes reforestation and the creation of new 40 …………………..

Answer Key

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