IELTS Reading Sample Question # Crime And Science

July 16, 2016 IELTS Research

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–11, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

On the morning of November 23, 2009, a cyclist riding near Lake Charles, Louisiana, discovered the body of a young woman lying near a country road. Her face had been beaten beyond recognition, but an unusual tattoo led the police to identify her as 19-year-old Sierra Bouzigard. Investigators from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, headed by Sheriff Tony Mancuso, immediately set about reconstructing her final hours. The people who last saw Bouzigard alive had let her use their phone. The number she dialed gave police a lead.

Bouzigard’s assailant had also left behind a promising clue. From tissue caught under her fingernails as she struggled for her life, the detectives were able to pick up a clear DNA sample. To find the killer, all they needed was a match. The number she had dialed led police to a crew of undocumented Mexican workers. “So we started getting warrants for DNA swabs, getting translators, working with immigration,” Mancuso recalls.

But none of the Mexicans’ DNA matched the sample from the crime scene. Nor was there a hit in the FBI’s database of prior felons, missing persons, and arrestees, a system known as CODIS—the Combined DNA Index System. The investigators continued to issue calls for people with any information to come forward, and Bouzigard’s family offered a $10,000 reward. But the case grew cold.

Then, in June 2015, Monica Quaal, a lead DNA analyst at the lab that works with the sheriff’s office, learned about an intriguing new way of exploiting the information contained in a DNA sample—one that would not require a suspect’s DNA or a match in a database. Called DNA phenotyping, the technique conjures up a physical likeness of the person who left the sample behind, including traits such as geographic ancestry, eye and natural hair color, and even a possible shape for facial features. Quaal immediately thought of the Bouzigard case, in which the DNA left at the scene was virtually the only lead. She contacted Mancuso and Lt. Les Blanchard, a detective on the case, and they sent their sample to Ellen Greytak, director of bioinformatics at Parabon NanoLabs, a company specializing in DNA phenotyping.

Here the investigation took an unexpected turn. Based on the available evidence, the detectives still believed her killer was likely Hispanic—perhaps a member of the Mexican crew who had fled the area soon after committing the crime. But the person in the DNA-generated portrait Parabon produced had pale skin and freckles. His hair was brown, and his eyes were probably green or blue. His ancestry, the analysis said, was northern European.

“We kind of had to take a step back and say all this time, we’re not even in the right direction,” Mancuso says. But armed with this new evidence, he is optimistic. “I think at some point we can solve this case, because we have such a good DNA sample and this profile,” he says. “We know who the killer is. We just don’t know who the killer is.”

DNA phenotyping is a relatively recent arrival in forensic science, and some critics question how useful it will be. The facial composites it produces are predictions from genetics, not photographs. Many aspects of a person’s appearance are not encoded in DNA and thus can never be unearthed from it, like whether someone has a beard, or dyed hair. Nevertheless, Parabon, which calls its facial composite service Snapshot, has had more than 40 law enforcement organizations as customers. Human genome pioneer Craig Venter, as part of his new personalized health company called Human Longevity, is also investigating facial reconstruction from DNA, as are many academic labs.

Meanwhile other high-tech forensic methods are coming on the scene. CT scanners allow doctors to perform virtual autopsies, peering into bodies for signs of murder undetected by standard autopsies. Researchers are studying whether bacteria on corpses can provide a more accurate clock to gauge when death occurred. And they’re even investigating whether culprits might be identified not just by the DNA left at a crime scene but also by the microbial signature of the bacteria they leave behind.

The forensic techniques we’re more familiar with from movies and television shows such as CSI have far longer histories. In 1910 Thomas Jennings became the first American convicted of murder based primarily on fingerprint evidence. He was accused of shooting one Clarence Hiller during a bungled burglary. The culprit had left his fingerprints behind on a freshly painted windowsill, and the testimony of four fingerprint experts was nearly the entire basis on which Jennings was found guilty and sentenced to death. In response to his appeal, a higher court pointed both to the long heritage of using fingerprints for identification—pharaohs employed thumbprints as signatures, they said—and to “the great success of the system in England, where it has been used since 1891 in thousands of cases without error.” The court did caution that because such evidence fell beyond the purview of the average person’s experience, it must be presented by experts who could explain it to the jury. The verdict was upheld, and Jennings was hanged.

By the late 20th century, there were numerous investigative techniques in the courtroom. FBI analysts gave testimony comparing hairs found at a crime scene with those from suspects. Hair-analysis experts note the shape of the microscopic scales that coat hairs, the thickness and coloration of the hair, and the organization of pigment granules in it, among other qualities. Bite-mark analysis, in which experts compare the pattern left by a bite on a victim to a suspect’s teeth, was widely adopted in the early 1970s, including a 1974 court case that hinged on marks identified on a dead woman’s nose after she’d been exhumed. Other visual comparisons—between tire tracks, shoe prints, and patterns on bullet casings—also made their way from being clues used by law enforcement to identify suspects to becoming evidence presented in court to help prove guilt. In thousands of cases, judges tasked with deciding whether evidence is reliable have leaned on ample precedent to allow such forensic results to be admitted in court. Experts with years of experience at their craft have testified with assurance.

Kirk Odom was convicted of rape after an expert testified that a hair on the victim’s nightgown matched his. Odom spent more than 22 years in prison and eight on parole before DNA tests proved his innocence and fingered the real culprit. The FBI is now reviewing hundreds of other cases where the value of hair analysis may have been overstated.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 1–7 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

It was with the help of a body mark that police was able to find the name of the unknown body.
CODIS is the system of ISA which keeps records of prior felons, missing person and likewise people.
To find out the details of the murderer, the family of Sierra Bouzigard announced a reward of $10,000.
The technique using which one can find out the natural colour, ancestory etc using the DNA sample is called DNA phenotyping.
The murderer of Sierra Bouzigard was expected to be a green or blue eyed man, initially.
DNA phenotyping uses photographs to figure out the possible details.
CT scanners allow the doctors to undergo virtual autopsies.

Questions 8-11

Complete the sentences below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

8. ___________________ was the fist person to be convicted of murder on the basis of finger print.

In (9)___________________, the investigators look for the kind of bite marks left on the body of the analysis to decide the criminal.

The investigating teams look for (10)__________________ , organization of (11)___________ and many other qualities when doing search on the basis of strands of hairs available.

ANSWERS

True
False
True
True
False
False
True
Thomas Jennings
Bite mark analysis
coat hairs
pigment granules

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Source – National Geographic

France Vs Portugal # Improve Vocabulary

July 10, 2016 IELTS Research

FRANCE VS PORTUGAL

With the showpiece event now decided as France take on Portugal, most are leaning towards the hosts to secure glory on home turf for the third time in their history. The Portuguese, meanwhile, are aiming for their first major international trophy anywhere having narrowly missed out as hosts themselves back in 2004, and will be aiming to avenge defeat to Greece by replicating what would be another success for the underdog.

While Fernando Santos’ side haven’t exactly thrilled en route to the final, to put it mildly, they’ve proven defensively resolute to answer some doubters in that regard ahead of the tournament. That said they’ve yet to face a side of les Bleus’ quality thus far, so whether Portugal can stop France in their tracks just as they have seemingly hit their stride will be dependent on some key battle across the pitch, and we take a look at four crucial match ups.

Pepe vs Olivier Giroud

He may have missed out on the win over Wales last time out through injury but Pepe will be determined to prove his fitness ahead of Sunday’s final and that much may prove decisive. The Real Madrid centre-back is not a popular figure but when he does let his football do the talking few would question his ability and commitment at the back. The 33-year old not only distributes with accuracy from defence but reads the game exceptionally well, which will be key to cutting the supply line to Olivier Giroud having averaged the second most interceptions per game of players to make more than three appearances this summer.

Giroud, meanwhile, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but his ability to bring others into play – most notably Griezmann – has been pivotal to France’s improvements as the tournament has progressed. A threat when balls are delivered into feet or in the air, his battle with Pepe, assuming the latter is fit, will be key. Both players have won the most aerial duels for their respective sides this summer (Pepe – 4 per game, Giroud – 4.6) but who will come out on top at the Stade de France?

William Carvalho vs Antoine Griezmann

There’s no question as to the man of the moment right now, and little doubt as to the favourite for the Player of the Tournament gong regardless of Sunday’s outcome, with Antoine Griezmann hitting top form just when it has mattered most. After a disappointing start to his Euro 2016 campaign, somewhat wasted out on the right of a 4-3-3 formation and consequently dropped in France’s second group game against Albania, the Atletico forward has found his feet since a switch to a 4-2-3-1 system in support of Olivier Giroud.

Following a move infield after the interval as the hosts trailed to Ireland in the round of 16, Griezmann has fired off 14 shots (8 on target), created 7 chances and completed 6 dribbles in 225 minutes of action. That’s opposed to tallies of 10 shots (4 on target), 4 key passes and one dribble in 209 minutes from a right-sided berth. He’s profiting from Giroud’s hold up play in the middle, and the link between the two will need to be restricted.

That will likely be the job of William Carvalho, who should return to the side having missed the semi-final with Wales through suspension. There’s a sense that the Sporting midfielder has never quite come good on his potential but this summer he has been key to Portugal’s success. After sitting out of the opener with Iceland the 24-year old has claimed his place at the base of the midfield, making more tackles (11) than any teammate this summer and completing the most passes (235) for Santos’ side.

Renato Sanches vs Paul Pogba

While Paul Pogba is yet to convince a worldwide audience of the hype that has built around him for some time and culminated ahead of this tournament, he is a model midfielder when it comes to youngsters who are unfazed by those around them. Now 23, the Juventus powerhouse is an experienced pro by contrast to Renato Sanches, though the latter perhaps looks more likely than any young player since Pogba’s emergence to emulate the success of the former Manchester United man.

At 18 he has already earned a huge transfer to Bayern Munich and proven in his brief outings this summer just why so many people are excited to watch his progression. Both players are comfortable under pressure and willing to prove themselves in a physical contest should an opponent attempt to dispossess them. Sanches has completed a dribble marginally more often than Pogba (every 32.8 minutes to 37.1) so it will be interesting to watch these two go head-to-head this weekend.

Cristiano Ronaldo vs Samuel Umtiti

There’s no avoiding Cristiano Ronaldo, he just won’t let you, so when it comes to a key battle in Saint Denis this Sunday his clash with Samuel Umtiti may well be pivotal. The two are set to be rivals beyond this weekend given the latter’s impending switch to Barcelona, so this may not be the last time Umtiti has to try and limit Ronaldo’s influence. The young defender has equipped himself excellently for les Bleus thus far, only making his international debut a week ahead of the final. In the two matches he has played the 22-year old has complemented Koscielny well, putting his body on the line to make a number of crucial interventions against Germany. Moreover, having misplaced just 2 of 94 pass attempts thus far it’s little surprise a switch to Camp Nou has materialized.

Nevertheless, Ronaldo will no doubt be confident of exploiting any understandable anxiety or nervousness from the young defender. Now extremely well-versed in such high profile matches, despite flattering to deceive in a number of those, the Portugal captain may well view this as the biggest achievement of his career should he fire his nation to their first ever major international trophy. The incentive of potentially becoming the top scoring player in European Championship history having equalled Michel Platini’s record of 9 last time out should mean that the 31-year old is pumped up for this one.

WORD	MEANING	SYNONYM
1. Showpiece	Something that is displayed or exhibited	Display, masterpiece, model, work of art
2. Turf	A layer of matted Earth formed by grass and plant roots	Grass, lawn, sod, soil, peat, sward
3. Avenge	To take vengeance or exact satisfaction for.	Vindicate, chasten, chastise, punish, redress, repay, requite, revenge
4. Replicating	Folded, bent back on itself	Clone, depict, duplicate, imitate, mirror, reflect, repeat, reproduce, simulate
5. underdog	A person who is expected to lose in a contest or conflict	Dark horse, longshot, bottom dog, out-of-towner
6. Thrilled	To affect with a sudden wave of keen emotion or excitement, as to produce a tremor or tingling sensation through the body	Elated, atingle
7. En route	On the way	Advancing, along the way, bound, driving, en voyage, entrained, flying, heading toward, in passage, in transit, making headway
8. resolute	Firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion	Adamant, bold, courageous, obstinate, persistent, relentless, serious, staunch, steadfast, strong, stubborn, tenacious, uncompromising, unflinching, unshakable, unwavering, unyielding
9. stride	To walk with long steps, as with vigor, haste, impatience or arrogance	Stalk, stomp, traipse, tramp, clump, drill, march, pace, parade, pound, stamp, stump
10. decisive	Having the power or quality of deciding	Conclusive, critical, crucial, definitive, determined, fateful, forceful, influential, momentous, positive, resolute, significant
11. commitment	The act of committing	Engagement, guaranteed, need, pledge, promise, responsibility, charge, committal, devoir, duty, liability, must, undertaking, vow, word
12. exceptionally	Forming an exception or rare instance; unusual; extraordinary	Abnormally, especially, particularly
13. interceptions	To take possession of (a ball or puck) during an attempted pass by an opponent team	Interference, stopping, interfering with, interposing
14. pivotal	A vital or critical importance	Central, climatic, critical, crucial, decisive, essential, momentous, vital
15. aerial	Reaching far into the air; high; lofty	Flying, aeriform, aeronautical, airy, atmospheric, birdlike, ethereal, lofty, pneumatic, up above vapours
16. of the moment	Of importance at this time
17. trailed	To tread down or make a path through	Chase, fall behind, falter, lag, pull, dally, dangle, dawdle, delay, dog, drag, draggle, draw, droop, extend, flag, halt, hang, haul, hunt, linger, loiter, plod, poke, procrastinate, pursue, shadow, shag, spook, spoor, stalk, straggle, stream, tail, tarry, tow, trace, track, traipse, trudge
18. dribbled	To move (the ball or puck) along by rapid succession of short kicks or pushes	Drizzle, ooze, squirt, distill, drip, drivel, drool, drop, leak, run, salivate, seep, slaver, slobber, spout, trill, weep, fall in drops
19. tallies	An account or reckoning; a record or debit and credit, of the score of a game, or the like	Poll, total, account, mark, reckoning, score, summation, tab, running total
20. suspension	Something on or by which something else is suspended or hung	Break, freeze, halt, interruption, layoff, moratorium, period, postponement, stoppage, termination, abeyance, adjournment, breather, cessation, conclusion, cutoff, deferment, disbarment, discontinuation, doldrums, dormancy, downtime, end, ending, finish, five, intermission, latency, letup, pause, quiescence, remission, respite, stay, suspense, ten, time-out
21. unfazed	Not dismayed or disconcerted; undaunted	Undaunted, unperturbed, calm, collected, composed, cool, nonchalant, casual, detached, placid, serene, tranquil, unvexed, unworried
22. emulate	To try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass	Follow suit, imitate, mimic, mirror, challenge, compete, contend, ditto, do, follow, outvie, rival, do like, follow in footsteps, follow the example of, rivalize
23. dispossess	To put( a person) out of possession, especially of real property	Evict, appropriate, eject, expel, expropriate, ousts, put of, throw into the street
24. marginally	At the outer or lower limits; minimal requirements; almost insufficient	Kind of, lightly, somewhat, hardly, insignificantly, more or less, on a small scale, to some extent, scarcely any
25. impending	About to happen; imminent	Approaching, brewing, imminent, looming, coming, gathering, hovering, menacing, near, nearing, overhanging, portending, threatening
26. complemented	Something that completes or make perfect	Accompaniment, addition, aggregate, augmentation, balance, capacity, completion, consummation, correlate, correlative, counterpart, enhancement, enrichment, entirety, filler, makeweight, pendant, quota, remainder, rest, supplement, total, totality
27. crucial	Involving an extremely important decision or result; decisive; critical	Central, compelling, deciding, decisive, essential, imperative, momentous, necessary, pivotal, pressing, touchy, urgent, vital, acute, clamorous, climacteric, desperate, dire, hanging by thread, high-priority, insistent, on thin ice, searching, showdown touch and go
28. interventions	Interposition or interference of one state in the affairs of other	Interference, meditation, arbitration, intercession, interposition, interruption
29. misplaced	To put it in a wrong place	Gone, lost, mislaid
30. materialized	To come into perceptible existence; appear; become actual or real; be realized or carried out	Appear, emerge, happen, occur, realize, take place, turn up, unfold, actualize, coalesce, develop, embody, evolve, exteriorize, externalize, hypostatize, manifest, metamorphose, objectify, personalize, personify, reify, substantiate, symbolize, typify, visualize
31. exploiting	To utilize, especially for profit; turn to a practical account	Abuse, apply, capitalize on, employ, handle, manipulate, mine, profit from, use, utilize, bleed, exercise, finesse, fleece, jockey, maneuver, milk, play, skin, soak, stick, work, avail oneself of, cash in on, get mileage out of
32. anxiety	Distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune	Angst, apprehension, concern, disquiet, doubt, dread, jitters, misery, misgiving, mistrust, nervousness, panic, restlessness, suffering, suspense, trouble, uncertainty, unease, botheration, butterflies, care, creeps, disquietude, distress, downer, drag, fidgets, flap, foreboding, fretfulness, fuss, heebie-jeebies, jumps, needles, shakes, shivers, solicitude, watchfulness, willies, worriment
33. flattering	To try to please by complimentary remarks or attention	Complimentary, favorable
34. deceive	To mislead by false appearance or statement	Betray, cheat, circumvent, defraud, delude, disappoint, dupe, entrap, falsify, fool, hoodwink, swindle, trick, victimize, bamboozle, beat, beguile, bilk, buffalo, burn, clip, con, cozen, ensnare, fake, fleece, gouge, gull, hoax, humbug, outwit, rob, scam, screw, sell, skin
35. achievement	Something accomplished, especially by superior ability, special effort or great courage	Accomplishment, attainment, creation, deed, effort, feat, performance, realization, success, triumph, victory, acquirement, acquisition, act, actualization, completion, conquest, consummation, contrivance, effectuation, enactment, encompassment, execution, exploit, fulfillment, hit, masterpiece, production, stroke, tour de force
36. incentive	Something that incites or tends to incite to action or greater effort as a reward offered for increased productivity	Encouragement, enticement, impetus, motivation, reason, stimulus, allurement, bait, carrot, catalyst, come-on, consideration, determinant, drive, excuse, exhortation, goad, ground, impulse, incitement, influence, insistence, inspiration, instigation, motive, persuasion, provocation, purpose, rationale, spring, spur, stimulant, stimulation, temptation, urge, whip, reason why

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IELTS Reading Sample Question # Victims

July 9, 2016 IELTS Research

Victims of Their Own Success

[A] Young men, spurred on by religious beliefs and encouraged by their peers, gathered on the edges of Asia Minor, waiting to attack the Christian world to the west. Immense kudos was to be won within the Muslim world from inflicting pain and damage on innocent victims: men, women and children who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Launching attacks could and did cause untold damage to the economy, driving fear and changing the way people lived, moved and thought. Training bases in northern Syria prepared eager would-be soldiers, teaching them the survival techniques needed to infiltrate enemy territory and, of course, how to launch their attacks. And spiritual rewards were on offer too: a place in paradise, if you met your end during the mission. That was Asia Minor 11 centuries ago.

[B]The Roman Empire splintered in two spectacular explosions. First, Rome itself was sacked in 410 and then its western provinces and many of those of North Africa collapsed later in the fifth century. Two hundred years later, ‘the most important parts of the Empire’ did not just remain standing, but were flourishing. Centred on the great city of Constantinople, the East Roman (or Byzantine) Empire, controlled the wealthy grain basket of the Nile delta, as well as Anatolia (modern Turkey), much of the Balkans, Greece, Palestine and Syria. Life looked rosy, as the numismatic and archaeological records show.

[C]The second expansion brought the Byzantine Empire to its knees as followers of the Prophet Muhammad poured out of the Arabian peninsula in the 630s, forging a vast new world that linked Spain with the Middle East and Central Asia, pushing right up to the border with China by 751. The Empire hung on for dear life, pouring resources into a frontier network across Asia Minor to hold back the tide.

[D]Byzantine generals were realistic about how secure the border could be: there was no hope of stopping bands of motivated, fast-moving individuals from penetrating under the cover of darkness or otherwise: policing a frontier in this way required (and still requires) money, time, resources and people to maintain it. Instead, the Byzantines had to learn how to deal with attacks.

[E]They identified patterns. Timing was predictable; so, too, were the targets: the attackers were more keen on glory than death, on the bragging rights in this world than the next and more keen on enriching themselves than finding out what paradise had to offer. The best approach was to adapt to the reality and prepare for regular pin-pricks, rather than becoming the target of more powerful forces further away. As seen from Constantinople, there would always be problems on the periphery, so it was important to build relations with Baghdad and Cairo and to use official channels to try to rein in troublesome warlords in border zones, whose successes could destabilise not just the Byzantine Empire but the Abbasid Caliphate, too.

[F]In the 10th century, however, the balance began to change. A series of economic shocks rattled the economies of the Middle East and Central Asia, result of a period of climate change. Soul searching in Baghdad opened the door for daring Byzantine raids that knocked out the attack bases that had been used to such great effect for almost 200 years. That, in turn, changed the make-up and fighting practices of the imperial military. Having pioneered defensive tactics to prevent raids causing too much damage, attention now turned to big targets: fortified towns and cities.

[G]Within the space of a generation, the Byzantines had rolled the frontier back hundreds of miles, recovering places long lost to Muslims. The jewel in the crown was Antioch in northern Syria, the gateway to Palestine, but also the protecting valve to defend Asia Minor and the interior. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the century that followed saw an astonishing period of economic and demographic growth, as well as an intellectual and cultural flowering, as artists, scholars and writers like Michael Psellos created some of the treasures of Byzantine culture.

[I]The problem was that when a new threat appeared in the form of the Sekjuk Turks in the 11th century, it took the Byzantines too long to remember how to fight a rearguard action. Instead of dealing swiftly with nimble attackers, a ploy that had worked in the past, the response was to send large, heavy armies that took too long to move and were left chasing shadows.

[J]A similar problem, it seems, is facing the US Air Force today. In a recently published report, Lt General David Barno, former Commander of Military Operations in Afghanistan, argued that the USAF – like the Byzantine army of the 10th and 11th centuries – is a victim of its own success. Not a single American warplane has been shot down by an enemy aircraft since 1991; and not one has been lost to enemy air defences since 2003. ‘As a result’, General Bardo notes, ‘the risk to aircraft and airmen in combat has become nearly negligible’.

[I]At a time when the US is acutely aware of growing ambition and military expenditure by China and Russia, the fact that pilots have never experienced ‘contested air war’ means that investment is needed to prepare for threats of the future and not those of the present. It also means that skills need to be taught and developed in advance, rather than when it is too late. ‘Resilience’, for example, to enable soldiers and airmen to cope when ‘more and more squadrons of their mates don’t come home’, should be impressed on serving a military that has got used to undisputed superiority.

[J]When the going had been good in Constantinople 1,000 years ago, there were voices like those of General Barno, too, who warned about under-funding in the armed forces and the fact that young people did not want to serve the emperor but to feather their own nests by becoming lawyers and making money. By the time anyone listened, it was too late. Whether General Barno’s warning meets the same deaf ears remains to be seen.

VOCABULARY

spurred – a thing that prompts or encourages someone

infiltrate – enter or gain access to surreptitiously and gradually, especially to gain secret information

splintered – break or cause to break into smaller fragments

sacked – dismissed

numismatic – relating to or consisting of coins and medals

squadrons – a number of persons grouped together for some purpose

rattled -knocked or shattered

Questions 14-19

Sample Passage 7 has ten paragraphs labelled A-J

Which paragraphs contain the following information?

Write the correct letter A-J in boxes 14-19 in your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once

During the 4^th and 5^th century, Rome was divided into two parts.
Bryzantines were in danger from Sekjuk Turks during the period of 1001 to 1100.
General Barno gave a signal that in future the young people of the country will be more interested in working for themselves rather than the country.
The Americans have not lost a single aircraft to enemies in the 20^th
The soldiers were convinced to join army saying if they die during the war, they would certainly go to heaven.
Bryzantine dealt with attacks by figuring out patters in them.

Questions 20-24 Choose the appropriate letters A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 20-24 on your answer sheet.

What caused the shattering of economies of the Middle East and central Asia during the 10^th century?

Climate change
War
Both A and B
Neither A or B

What kind of army did Byzantines send when they were attacked by the Sekjuk Turks in 11^th century?

Small and nimble
Large and slow
Foreign attackers
Neither of the above

What was the warning given by general Barno?

Soldiers will stop working of army
People will prefer working for themselves rather than army
People are more likely to become businessman
There will be no need of army in later years

What was offered to the future soldiers in the Syrian training camps?

Place in paradise
lot of money
security
financial support to the family

How did Bryzantines dealt with the possible terrors possible in the border?

Stopped bands of individuals marching towards border.
Identified patterns of war.
Predicting the timing and targets
Both C and D

ANSWERS

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IELTS Reading

IELTS Sample Reading # Republicans Face Off

December 26, 2015 IELTS Research

Source : http://www.timeforkids.com/news/republicans-face/308981

REPUBLICANS FACE OFF

A slightly smaller group of Republican candidates ( a person who applies for a job or is nominated for election)took the stage on November 10, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fox Business News, which hosted (act as host at (an event) or for (a television or radio programme)) the event, limited it to eight participants (a person who takes part in something), rather than the 10 allowed in the past. But the smaller (of a size that is less than normal or usual)field did not mean a less lively discussion (the action or process of talking about something in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas). The debate (a formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote), which primarily (for the most part; mainly) covered (put something on top of or in front of (something) in order to protect or conceal it) economic (relating to economics or the economy) issues (an important topic or problem for debate or discussion), allowed (let (someone) have or do something)candidates to share (have a portion of (something) with another or others)their plans for the country. They also spent plenty of time criticizing (indicate the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way)one another, President Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, who is expected to be the Democratic (relating to or supporting democracy or its principles)nominee (a person who is nominated as a candidate for election or for an honour or award)for president.

Donald Trump, a businessman, and Ben Carson, a retired (having left one’s job and ceased to work) surgeon (a medical practitioner qualified to practise surgery), are ahead in the polls. But Carson has faced questions (a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information)lately about whether certain parts of his autobiography (an account of a person’s life written by that person), Gifted Hands, are true. When asked about accusations (a charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrong)that he made up some events in the book, he said, “I have no problem being vetted (make a careful and critical examination of (something),” or investigated (carry out a systematic or formal inquiry to discover and examine the facts of (an incident, allegation, etc.) so as to establish the truth). “What I do have a problem with is being lied (say or write something that is not true in order to deceive someone)about.”

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