IELTS Reading TFNG

IELTS READING
IELTS Reading: true, false, not given
A. Tip of Simon
These 3 questions illustrate the difference between 'true', 'false' and 'not given'.
- True = part of the passage expresses the same idea as the question.
- False = the passage expresses the opposite or a different idea.
- Not Given = some information is missing, so we cannot answer true or false
False or not given?
Students are often confused by the difference between 'false' and 'not given'.
You should choose false if the information in the passage directly contradicts the question
statement; in other words, you need to be able to show that a different answer would be true.
Choose not given only when there is no information, or not enough information.
B. Practice exercises
1. Read the following passage about a study into 'sitting'.

The ease of our modern workday could come at the expense of our longevity. A new study of
older women in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that sitting for long
stretches of time increases the odds of an untimely death. The more hours women in the study
spent sitting at work, driving, lying on the couch watching TV, or engaged in other leisurely
pursuits, the greater their odds of dying early from all causes, including heart disease and
cancer.
Even women who exercised regularly risked shortening their lifespan if most of their daily
hours were sedentary ones. “Even if you are doing the recommended amount of moderate to
vigorous exercise, you will still have a higher risk of mortality if you’re spending too many
hours sitting,” says Dr. JoAnn Manson, one of the study’s authors.
How much sitting can you safely do in a day? In the study, women who were inactive for 11
or more hours a day fared the worst, facing a 12% increase in premature death, but even
lesser amounts of inactive time can cause problems. “Once you’re sitting for more than 6 to 8
hours a day, that’s not likely to be good for you,” Dr. Manson says. You want to avoid
prolonged sitting and increase the amount of moderate or vigorous exercise you do each day,
she adds.
Are the following statements true, false or not given?
1. The study looked at the effects of sitting on elderly women only.
2. A link was found between hours spent sitting and serious health problems.
3. The warnings about sitting do not apply to people who exercise regularly.
4. Less than 6 hours a day is a safe amount of sitting.
(Source: Harvard Medical School)
Collected by Ly Na Tran
Resources: ielts-simon.com Page 1
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2. Read the following paragraph about 'minority languages'.

Minority languages are occasionally marginalised within nations for a number of reasons.
These include the small number of speakers, the decline in the number of speakers, and their
occasional consideration as uncultured, primitive, or simple dialects when compared to the
dominant language. Support for minority languages is sometimes viewed as supporting
separatism. Immigrant minority languages are often also seen as a threat and as indicative of
the non-integration of these communities. Both of these perceived threats are based on the
notion of the exclusion of the majority language speakers. Often this is added to by political
systems which do not provide support (such as education and policing) in these languages.
1. Minority languages sometimes disappear.
2. Minority languages are simpler to learn than majority languages.
3. Minority languages are sometimes considered to be harmful.
3.Read the following passage about the performer Houdini.

Harry Houdini (1874 to 1926) was a Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer,
noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted attention as "Harry Handcuff Houdini"
on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he
extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under
water, and having to hold his breath inside a sealed milk can.
In 1904, thousands watched as Houdini tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned
by London's Daily Mirror newspaper. Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able
to claw himself to the surface. While many suspected that these escapes were faked, Houdini
presented himself as the scourge of fake magicians and spiritualists. As President of the
Society of American Magicians, he was keen to uphold professional standards and expose
fraudulent artists. He was also quick to sue anyone who pirated his stunts.
Are the following statements true, false, or not given in the text?
1. Houdini was more successful in Europe than in America.
2. Many people were skeptical about Houdini’s escape acts.
3. He took legal action against those who tried to copy him.
4. Read the following article about the effects of television on young children.
Watching television makes toddlers fatter and stupider at primary school, according to new
research. Scientists who tracked the progress of pre-school children found that the more
television they watched the worse they were at mathematics, the more junk food they ate, and
the more they were bullied by other pupils.
The findings, which support earlier evidence indicating television harms cognitive
development, prompted calls for the Government to set limits on how much children should
watch. American paediatricians advise that under-twos should not watch any television and
that older children should view one to two hours a day at most. France has banned shows
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aimed at under-threes, and Australia recommends that three to five year-olds watch no more
than an hour a day. Britain has no official advice.
Researchers said that pre-school is a critical time for brain development and that TV
watching displaced time that could be spent engaging in "developmentally enriching tasks".
Even incremental exposure to TV delayed development, said the lead author Dr Linda
Pagani, of Montreal University.
(The Independent)
According to the article, are these statements TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?
1. Scientists believe that there is a link between the amount of television young
children watch and their mental ability.
2. Shows aimed at under-twos are banned in the USA.
3. Children’s television programming is more strictly controlled in France than in
Britain.
5. Read the following text and answer true, false or not given.
Coffee consumption has been shown to have minimal or no impact, positive or negative, on
cancer development. However, researchers involved in an ongoing 22-year study by the
Harvard School of Public Health state that "the overall balance of risks and benefits [of
coffee consumption] are on the side of benefits."
Other studies suggest coffee consumption reduces the risk of being affected by Alzheimer's
disease, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, cirrhosis of the liver, and
gout. A longitudinal study in 2009 showed that those who consumed a moderate amount of
coffee or tea (3–5 cups per day) at midlife were less likely to develop dementia and
Alzheimer's disease in late-life compared with those who drank little coffee or avoided it
altogether.
1. Scientists have linked coffee consumption to accelerated cancer development.
2. Some scientists believe that the benefits of drinking coffee outweigh the drawbacks.
3. Recent research links coffee consumption with a reduced risk of some illnesses.
6. Read the following excerpt from a book review:
What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long
hours merely to acquire greater wealth? These are some of the questions that many asked
themselves when the financial system crashed in 2008. This book tackles such questions
head-on. The authors begin with the great economist John Maynard Keynes. In 1930, Keynes
predicted that within a century people’s basic needs would be met, and no one would have to
work more than fifteen hours a week.
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Clearly, he was wrong: though income has increased as he envisioned, our wants have
seemingly gone unsatisfied, and we continue to work long hours. The authors explain why
Keynes was mistaken. Then, arguing from the premise that economics is a moral science,
they trace the concept of the good life from Aristotle to the present and show how our lives
over the last half century have strayed from that ideal. Finally, they issue a call to think anew
about what really matters in our lives and how to attain it.
1. Before 2008, people were less concerned about economics.
2. Keynes’ prediction about working hours was wide of the mark.
3. The book asks us to consider what is important in life.
7. Read the following text about volcanoes in Iceland.

Iceland has a high concentration of active volcanoes due to unique geological conditions. The
island has about 130 volcanic mountains, of which 18 have erupted since the settlement of
Iceland, circa 900 CE. Over the past 500 years, Iceland's volcanoes have erupted a third of
the total global lava output.
Geologists explain this high concentration of volcanic activity as being due to a combination
of the island's position on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and a volcanic hotspot underneath the
island. The island sits astride the boundary between the Eurasian and North American Plates,
and most volcanic activity is concentrated along the plate boundary, which runs across the
island from the south-west to the north-east of the island. Some volcanic activity occurs
offshore, especially off the southern coast. This includes wholly submerged submarine
volcanoes and even newly formed volcanic islands such as Surtsey and Jólnir.
The most recent volcanic eruption in Iceland was that of Eyjafjallajökull, which started on
April 14, 2010. The Eyjafjallajökull eruption closely followed an eruption in Fimmvörðuháls,
which had erupted on March 20.
Are the statements below true, false or not given?
1. People first settled in Iceland around the beginning of the 10th century.
2. The island is situated at the point where two of the earth's plates meet.
3. Volcanic activity also takes place in the ocean near Iceland.
8. The Paper Clip
According to the Early Office Museum, the first patent for a bent wire paper clip was
awarded in the United States to Samuel B. Fay, in 1867. This clip was originally intended
primarily for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent recognized that it could be used
to attach papers together. Although functional and practical, Fay's design along with the 50
other designs patented prior to 1899 are not considered reminiscent of the modern paper clip
design known today.
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The most common type of wire paper clip still in use, the Gem paper clip, was never
patented, but it was most likely in production in Britain in the early 1870s by "The Gem
Manufacturing Company", according to the American expert on technological innovations,
Professor Henry J. Petroski.
1. Samuel B. Fay’s paper clip was only patented for one specific use.
2. Fay’s paper clip was not as practical as those we use today.
3. Nobody has a patent on the paper clip that most people use today.
9. Read the following passage and answer the questions below.
A Stradivarius is one of the violins, cellos, and other stringed instruments built by members
of the Stradivari (Stradivarius) family, particularly Antonio Stradivari, during the 17th and
18th centuries. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to
explain or equal it, though this belief is disputed. The name "Stradivarius" has become a
superlative often associated with excellence, and the fame of Stradivarius instruments is
widespread, appearing in numerous works of fiction.
Depending on condition, instruments made during Stradivari's "golden period" from 1700 to
about 1725 can be worth millions of dollars. In 2011, his "Lady Blunt" violin from 1721,
which is in pristine condition, was sold at Tarisio auctions for £9.8 million.
These instruments are famous for the quality of sound they produce. However, the many
blind tests from 1817 to the present have never found any difference in sound between
Stradivari's violins and high-quality violins in comparable style of other makers and periods,
nor has acoustic analysis. In a particularly famous test on a BBC Radio programme in 1977,
the violinists Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman and the violin expert and dealer Charles
Beare tried to distinguish between the "Chaconne" Stradivarius and three other violins,
including one made in 1976, played behind a screen by a professional soloist. None of the
listeners identified more than two of the four instruments. Two of the listeners identified the
20th-century violin as the Stradivarius.
1. The superior reputation of Stradivarius instruments has never been questioned.
2. The “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius is the most expensive violin every sold.
3. Tests have shown that experts are able to distinguish the famous Stradivarius sound.
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10. Read the following text about sharks, then answer the questions below.
Contrary to the common wisdom that sharks are instinct-driven "eating machines", recent
studies have indicated that many species possess powerful problem-solving skills, social
skills and curiosity. The brain- to body-mass ratios of sharks are similar to those of mammals
and birds, and migration patterns in sharks may be even more complex than in birds, with
many sharks covering entire ocean basins. However, shark behaviour has only begun to be
formally studied, so there is much more to learn.
A popular myth is that sharks are immune to disease and cancer; however, this remains to be
proven. The evidence that sharks are at least resistant to cancer and disease is mostly
anecdotal and there have been few, if any, scientific or statistical studies that show sharks to
have heightened immunity to disease.
According to the text, are the following statements true, false or not given?
1. Research shows that sharks are more intelligent than most people think.
2. Relative to their body size, sharks have bigger brains than birds.
3. There is no real evidence proving that sharks are resistant to diseases.
11. Read the following passage and answer the questions below.
‘Biometrics’ refers to the identification of humans by their characteristics or traits. Biometric
identifiers are often categorised as physiological versus behavioural characteristics.
Physiological characteristics are related to the shape of the body. Examples include
fingerprint, face recognition, DNA, Palm print, hand geometry and iris recognition.
Behavioural characteristics are related to the behaviour of a person, including typing rhythm,
gait, and voice.
More traditional means of identification include token-based systems, such as a driver's
license or passport, and knowledge-based systems, such as a password or personal
identification number. Since biometric identifiers are unique to individuals, they are more
reliable in verifying identity than token and knowledge-based methods; however, the
collection of biometric identifiers raises privacy concerns about the ultimate use of this
information.
1. There are two main types of biometric identifier.
2. Fingerprinting is the best known biometric identification system.
3. The use of a password is another example of biometric identification.
4. Some people may worry about how biometric data is used.
12. Read the following passage about a method for music teaching.
The Suzuki method is a method of teaching music conceived and executed by Japanese
violinist Shin'ichi Suzuki (born 1898, died 1998), dating from the mid-20th century. The
central belief of Suzuki is that all people are capable of learning from their environment. The
essential components of his method spring from the desire to create the "right environment"
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for learning music. He also believed that this positive environment would also help to foster
character in students.
As a skilled violinist but a beginner at the German language who struggled to learn it, Suzuki
noticed that children pick up their native language quickly, and even dialects adults consider
"difficult" to learn are spoken with ease by 5-year-olds. He reasoned that if children have the
skill to acquire their mother tongue, then they have the necessary ability to become proficient
on a musical instrument. He pioneered the idea that pre-school age children could learn to
play the violin if learning steps were small enough and if the instrument was scaled down to
fit their body.
Decide whether the following statements are true, false or not given.
1. Suzuki believed that environment is crucial for anyone learning a musical
instrument.
2. His method helped him to learn German.
3. Suzuki compared language learning with learning to play an instrument.
4. He introduced new ideas about teaching music to infants.
13. Read the following passage about the scientist Michael Faraday.
Michael Faraday, (1791 - 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the fields of
electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Although Faraday received little formal education he
was one of the most influential scientists in history, and historians of science refer to him as
having been the best experimentalist in the history of science.
The young Michael Faraday, who was the third of four children, having only the most basic
school education, had to educate himself. At fourteen he became the apprentice to George
Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller. During his seven-year apprenticeship he read
many books, including Isaac Watts' The Improvement of the Mind, and he enthusiastically
implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein.
In 1812, at the age of twenty, and at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures
by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy. Faraday subsequently sent Davy a three-
hundred-page book based on notes that he had taken during these lectures. Davy's reply was
immediate, kind, and favourable. When one of the Royal Institution's assistants was sacked,
Davy was asked to find a replacement, and appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the
Royal Institution.
1. Many experts regard Faraday as the foremost experimentalist of all time.
2. Faraday educated himself by reading books that were recommended to him by
George Riebau.
3. Faraday came to the attention of a famous chemist after he wrote a book based on
the chemist's lectures.
14. Look at the following extract from a text about diaries:
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Many diaries of notable figures have been published and form an important element of
autobiographical literature. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) is the earliest diarist who is well-
known today; his diaries, preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge, were first transcribed
and published in 1825. Pepys was amongst the first who took the diary beyond mere business
transaction notation, into the realm of the personal.
According to the text, are the following statements true, false, or not given?
1. Samuel Pepys is more famous today than he was during his own lifetime.
2. Pepys kept a diary for purely business reasons.
Please share your answers in the "comments" section below. Can you explain your answers?
I'll add the correct answers tomorrow.
15. Read the following text about the printing press:
From a single point of origin, Mainz, Germany, printing spread within several decades to
over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in operation
throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. In the
16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated
150 to 200 million copies. The operation of a press became so synonymous with the
enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media, the press.
In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of
mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively
unrestricted circulation of information and ideas transcended borders and threatened the
power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly
of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class.
Answer TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN:
1. By the beginning of the 16th century, the printing press was in use in several
different countries.
2. The printing press was popular because it was so easy to operate.
3. Movable type printing can be linked to a rise in the number of people who could
read and write.
4. Printing had a negative effect on the middle classes.
16. Read the following text and answer true, false or not given.
The killer whale, commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a
toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans,
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from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas. As a species they have a diverse
diet, although individual populations often specialize in particular types of prey. Some feed
exclusively on fish, while others hunt marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, walruses and
even large whales. Killer whales are regarded as apex predators, lacking natural predators and
preying on even large sharks.
Killer whales are highly social; some populations are composed of family groups which are
the most stable of any animal species. Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal
behaviors, which are often specific to a particular group and passed across generations, have
been described as manifestations of culture.
1. Killer whales are predominantly found in cold water areas.
2. Some killer whale groups only eat fish.
3. They may even eat large sharks.
4. Killer whales are able to pass on skills to their young.
17. Read the following text about last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is making Americans think more about a clean energy future
– but not yet to the extent of having to pay for it, or to tackle climate change, one of the
leading US thinkers on global warming policy said yesterday.
US citizens are "horrified" by the pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, and are starting to think
more about cleaner energy sources such as wind and wave power, said Eileen Clausen,
president of America's foremost climate think-tank, the Washington-based Pew Center on
Global Climate Change.
However, she said, when consumers are asked by pollsters if they would be willing to pay
more for such a future, they say no, and say the government should pay. Furthermore, Ms
Clausen said, the Gulf disaster was giving US energy policy "a nudge rather than a shift" in
the direction of clean energy, but it would probably not be enough to bring forward
legislation to curb carbon emissions, at least for the present.
(The Independent, 21.6.10)
Are the following statements true, false or not given according to the text?
1. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the result of a human error.
2. US citizens accept that they will need to pay for a clean energy future.
3. In spite of the disaster, the government is unlikely to introduce laws to reduce carbon
emissions.
18. Read the following passage from a text about linguistics.
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Before the twentieth century, the term "philology" was commonly used to refer to the science
of language, which was then predominantly historical in focus. However, this focus has
shifted and the term "philology" is now generally used for the "study of a language's
grammar, history and literary tradition", especially in the United States. The term
"linguistics" is now the usual academic term in English for the scientific study of language.
Linguistics concerns itself with describing and explaining the nature of human language.
Relevant to this are the questions of what is universal to language, how language can vary,
and how human beings come to know languages. Humans achieve competence in whatever
language is spoken around them when growing up, with apparently little need for explicit
conscious instruction.
Linguists assume that the ability to acquire and use language is an innate, biologically-based
potential of human beings, similar to the ability to walk. It is generally agreed that there are
no strong genetic differences underlying the differences between languages: an individual
will acquire whatever language(s) he or she is exposed to as a child, regardless of parentage
or ethnic origin.
1. Up until the 1900s, the science of language was usually referred to as 'philology'.
2. In order to learn a language, children need a significant amount of instruction.
3. Research has shown that humans have an inbuilt capacity for language learning.
19. Read the text below about the Stanford marshmallow experiment.

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on deferred gratification. The experiment
was conducted in 1972 by psychologist Walter Mischel of Stanford University. It has been
repeated many times since, and the original study at Stanford is regarded as one of the most
successful experiments in the study of human behaviour. In the study, a marshmallow was
offered to each child. If the child could resist eating the marshmallow, he was promised two
instead of one. The scientists analysed how long each child resisted the temptation of eating
the marshmallow, and whether or not doing so had an effect on their future success. The
results provided researchers with great insight on the psychology of self control.
1. When repeated by other researchers, the experiment was less successful.
2. Children were offered a second marshmallow if they managed not to eat the first one.
3. Scientists found a correlation between resisting temptation and future success.
20. Read the following text about photosynthesis in plants.
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Although some of the steps in photosynthesis are still not completely understood, the overall
photosynthetic equation has been known since the 1800s.
Jan van Helmont began the research of the process in the mid-1600s when he carefully
measured the mass of the soil used by a plant and the mass of the plant as it grew. After
noticing that the soil mass changed very little, he hypothesised that the mass of the growing
plant must come from the water, the only substance he added to the potted plant. His
hypothesis was partially accurate—much of the gained mass also comes from carbon dioxide
as well as water.
In 1796, Jean Senebier, a Swiss pastor, botanist, and naturalist, demonstrated that green
plants consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen under the influence of light. Soon
afterwards, Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure showed that the increase in mass of the plant as it
grows could not be due only to uptake of CO2, but also to the incorporation of water.
1. We now fully understand the process of photosynthesis.
2. Van Helmont's hypothesis did not take into account that plants consume carbon
dioxide.
3. De Saussure demonstrated that both carbon dioxide and water contribute to an
increase in mass in plants as they grow.
21. Read the text below about Issac Newton.
Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher,
alchemist, and theologian. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for
"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"; usually called the Principia), published in
1687, is one of the most important scientific books ever written. It lays the groundwork for
most of classical mechanics.
Newton is considered by many scholars and members of the general public to be one of the
most influential people in human history. French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange often
said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived. Newton himself had been rather
more modest of his own achievements, famously writing in a letter to Robert Hooke in
February 1676: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Are the following statements TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?
1. Newton's Principia is recognised as a groundbreaking text in its field.
2. Many experts regard Newton as the greatest genius the world has seen.
3. Newton wrote that he had achieved everything without the help of others.
22. Look at the following extract from a text about a psychology experiment:
In the year 1971, Zimbardo accepted a tenured position as professor of psychology at
Stanford University. There he conducted the Stanford prison study, in which 21 normal
college students were randomly assigned to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a mock prison
located in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. The two week planned study
into the psychological impact of prison life ended only after 6 days due to emotional trauma
being experienced by the participants.
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1. The participants in the study were all psychology students.
2. They were given the choice of playing the role of prisoner or guard.
3. A real prison was used in the experiment.
4. The study aimed to investigate the mental and behavioural effects of life in prison.
Feel free to share your answers in the "comments" area below.
23. Read the following text about "green taxes" in Britain.

According to a survey, most Britons believe “green” taxes on 4×4s, plastic bags and other
consumer goods have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour, while
two-thirds of Britons think the entire green agenda has been hijacked as a ploy to increase
taxes.
The UK is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, a target that most
experts believe will be difficult to reach. The results of the poll by Opinium, a leading
research company, indicate that maintaining popular support for green policies may be a
difficult act to pull off and attempts in the future to curb car use and publicly fund investment
in renewable resources will prove deeply unpopular.
The findings were released as the Prince of Wales yesterday called on Britain’s business
leaders to take “essential action” to make their firms more sustainable. Speaking in central
London to some of the country’s leading chief executives, Prince Charles said: “What more
can I do but urge you, this country’s business leaders, to take the essential action now to
make your businesses more sustainable. I’m exhausted with repeating that there really is no
time to lose.”
1. Most Britons think that the Government wants to change people’s behaviour.
2. By the year 2050 the Government will have imposed higher green taxes.
3. The survey predicts that it will be difficult to change people’s dependence on cars.
4. The Prince of Wales believes that most businesses are not sustainable.
(Text adapted from The Independent, 2nd May 2008)
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C. Correct answers from Simon:

Ex1:
1- True.
"A new study of older women in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that
sitting for long stretches of time increases the odds of an untimely death."
2- True
" the greater their odds of dying early from all causes, including heart disease and cancer.
3- False
"Even women who exercised regularly risked shortening their lifespan if most of their daily
hours were sedentary ones"
4- Not Given
"You want to avoid prolonged sitting and increase the amount of moderate or vigorous
exercise you do each day, she adds." that's the only recommendation and nothing about Less
than 6 hours.
Ex2:
1. NOT GIVEN
('disappear' is not mentioned, it only says 'marginalised', which means 'treated as less
important')
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2. NOT GIVEN
(there is nothing about how easy they are to learn)
3. TRUE
(considered to be harmful = seen as a threat)
Ex3:
1. NG (there isn’t a comparison between Europe and America)
2. T (people were skeptical = many suspected that these escapes were faked)
3. T (legal action against those who tried to copy him = sue anyone who pirated his stunts)
Ex4:
1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
Here are the reasons:
1. the more television they watched the worse they were at mathematics / television harms
cognitive development (cognitive = related to thinking)
2. American paediatricians advise that under-twos should not watch any television (they
"advise" but there is no mention of "banned")
3. France has banned shows aimed at under-threes. Britain has no official advice.
Ex5:
1. FALSE
(Coffee consumption has been shown to have minimal or no impact, positive or negative, on
cancer development)
2. TRUE
(the overall balance of risks and benefits [of coffee consumption] are on the side of benefits)
3. TRUE
(...study in 2009 showed that those who consumed a moderate amount of coffee or tea were
less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's)
Ex6:
1. NG
2. T
3. T
Note: The phrase "wide of the mark" means "not correct" and is quite a normal phrase / idiom
in English.
Ex7:
1. TRUE - 900 CE means the same as 900 AD. In other words, this means the year 900.
"Circa" means "about", so it's saying that people settled in Iceland in about the year 900,
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which is the same as 'the beginning of the 10th century'. For the meanings of CE, AD, BCE
and BC, have a look in a dictionary.
2. TRUE - "The island sits astride the boundary between the Eurasian and North American
Plates."
3. TRUE - "Some volcanic activity occurs offshore, especially off the southern coast."
('Offshore' means in the ocean or sea)
Ex8:
1. False
2. Not given
3. True
Ex9:
1. False (this belief is disputed = some people question it)
2. Not given
3. False
Ex10:
1. TRUE - 'contrary to common wisdom' means 'the opposite to what most people think'.
'Problem-solving skills etc.' refers to 'intelligence'.
2. FALSE - relative mass to body size is similar, not bigger. (You could say that 'mass' is not
strictly the same as 'size' but this is too technical for IELTS)
3. TRUE - 'this remains to be proven'.
Ex11:
1. TRUE (2 types = physiological and behavioural)

2. NOT GIVEN (no information about 'best known')
3. FALSE ('password' is a knowledge-based system)
4. TRUE (people may worry = raises privacy concerns)
Ex12:
1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
Ex13:
1. True "experts" = historians of science

"the foremost experimentalist" = the best experimentalist
"in the history of science" = of all time
IELTS READING
2. Not given "educated himself" = had to educate himself

"by reading books" = he read many books
3. True "came to the attention of a famous chemist" = Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and
favourable...Davy was asked to find a replacement, and appointed Faraday as Chemical
Assistant at the Royal Institution.
"he wrote a book based on the chemist's lectures." = Faraday attended lectures by the eminent
English chemist Humphry Davy. Faraday subsequently sent Davy a three-hundred-page book
based on notes that he had taken during these lectures.
Ex14:
1. NOT GIVEN
We don't know how famous he was in his own lifetime, so we can't compare.
2. FALSE
The opposite is true - he used his diary for MORE than just business. The key word is
"beyond" (more than).
Ex15:
1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
4. FALSE
Ex16:
1. NOT GIVEN
"predominantly" (= mainly) is the key word in the question. We know that they are found in
all oceans, but we don't know where they are MAINLY found.
2. TRUE
only eat fish = feed exclusively on fish
3. TRUE
may even eat large sharks = preying on even large sharks
4. TRUE
pass on skills to their young = techniques and behaviours... passed across generations
Ex17:
1. NOT GIVEN
2. FALSE (they say no, and say the government should pay)
IELTS READING
3. TRUE (it would probably not be enough to bring forward legislation to curb carbon
emissions)
Ex18:
1. TRUE
2. FALSE
3. NOT GIVEN
Question 1 means the same as line one of the text (typical IELTS paraphrasing)
Question 2 - see the last two lines of paragraph two (little need for instruction)
Question 3 was a trick! "Linguists assume" means they think language ability is inbuilt.
However, no "research" is mentioned. So the answer is not given.
Ex19:
1. NOT GIVEN
(nothing is mentioned about how successful the repeats were)
2. TRUE
(If the child could resist eating the marshmallow, he was promised two instead of one.)
3. NOT GIVEN
(We know that they "analysed" whether or not resisting temptation had an effect on future
success, but we don't know if they "found" this to be the case)
Ex20:
False
(not completely understood)
True
(His hypothesis was partially accurate—much of the gained mass also comes from carbon
dioxide as well as water.)
True
(de Saussure showed that the increase in mass of the plant as it grows could not be due only
to uptake of CO2, but also to the incorporation of water.)
Ex21:
1. TRUE
'lays the groundwork' and 'groundbreaking' give the same idea (even if they don't mean
EXACTLY the same thing) - don't "over-think" this question.
IELTS READING
2. NOT GIVEN
We only read about one expert who says Newton was the greatest genius - we don't know
what other experts think.
3. FALSE
'standing on the shoulders of giants' means that his work depended on the previous work of
other scientists (don't "over-think" this question - Newton clearly relied on other people's
work, and this is a kind of help).
Ex22:
1. NOT GIVEN - we only know that they were 'students'

2. FALSE - students were 'randomly assigned'
3. FALSE - 'mock' = not real
4. TRUE - 'psychological impact' = mental and behavioural effects
Ex23:
1. FALSE
(have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour)
2. NOT GIVEN
(2050 is mentioned, but there is no mention of imposing higher taxes)
3. TRUE
(attempts in the future to curb car use... will prove deeply unpopular)
4. NOT GIVEN
(Prince Charles wants businesses to be MORE sustainable, BUT he does not say that most
businesses are UNsustainable)

IELTS Reading TFNG

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IELTS READING

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

1. Read the following passage about a study into 'sitting'.

2. Read the following paragraph about 'minority languages'.

3.Read the following passage about the performer Houdini.

7. Read the following text about volcanoes in Iceland.

19. Read the text below about the Stanford marshmallow experiment.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

23. Read the following text about "green taxes" in Britain.

C. Correct answers from Simon:

1. TRUE (2 types = physiological and behavioural)

1. True "experts" = historians of science

2. Not given "educated himself" = had to educate himself

1. NOT GIVEN - we only know that they were 'students'

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