Candidate

Number

Candidate Name ___________________________________________________________

INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEM

ACADEMIC READING

SPECIMEN MATERIALS 1 hour

TIME 1 hour

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Do not open this booklet until you are told to do so.
Write your name and candidate number in the spaces at the top of this page.
Start at the beginning of the test and work through it.
You should answer all questions.
If you cannot do a particular question, leave it and go on to the next. You can return to it later.
All answers must be written on the answer sheet.
Do not remove this booklet from the examination room.

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

There are 40 questions on the question paper.
The test is divided as followed:

Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 — 13

Reading Passage 2 Questions 14 — 26
Reading Passage 3 Questions 27 — 40

_______________________________________________
© UCLES
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 – 13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 on the following pages.

Questions 1 – 4

Reading Passage 1 has five paragraphs, A – E.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B – E from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i – vii, in boxes 1 – 4 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Economic and social significance of tourism

ii The development of mass tourism
iii Travel for the wealthy
iv Earning foreign exchange through tourism
v Difficulty in recognising the economic effects of tourism
vi The contribution of air travel to tourism
vii The world impact of tourism
viii The history of travel

Example Answer
Paragraph A viii

1 Paragraph B
2 Paragraph C
3 Paragraph D
4 Paragraph E
 The Context, Meaning and Scope of
Tourism
A Travel has existed since the beginning of time, when primitive man set out, often
traversing great distances in search of game, which provided the food and clothing
necessary for his survival. Throughout the course of history, people have travelled for
purposes of trade, religious conviction, economic gain, war, migration and other equally
compelling motivations. In the Roman era, wealthy aristocrats and high government
officials also travelled for pleasure. Seaside resorts located at Pompeii and Herculaneum
afforded citizens the opportunity to escape to their vacation villas in order to avoid the
summer heat of Rome. Travel, except during the Dark Ages, has continued to grow and,
throughout recorded history, has played a vital role in the development of civilisations and
their economies.

B Tourism in the mass form as we know it today is a distinctly twentieth-century

phenomenon. Historians suggest that the advent of mass tourism began in England
during the industrial revolution with the rise of the middle class and the availability of
relatively inexpensive transportation. The creation of the commercial airline industry
following the Second World and the subsequent development of the jet aircraft in the
1950s signaled the rapid growth and expansion of international travel. This growth led to
the development of a major new industry: tourism. In return, international tourism became
the concern of a number of world governments since it not only provided new employment
opportunities but also produced a means of earning foreign exchange.

C Tourism today has grown significantly in both economic and social importance. In most
industrialised countries over the past few years the fastest growth has been seen in the
area of services. One of the largest segments of the service industry, although largely
unrecognized as an entity in some of these countries, is travel and tourism. According to
the World Travel and Tourism Council (1992), ‘Travel and tourism is the largest industry in
the world on virtually any economic measure including value-added capital investment,
employment and tax contributions’. In 1992, the industry’s gross output was estimated to
be $3.5 trillion, over 12 per cent of all consumer spending. The travel and tourism industry
is the world’s largest employer with almost 130 million jobs, or almost 7 per cent of all
employees. This industry is the world’s leading industrial contributor, producing over 6 per
cent of the world’s gross national product and accounting for capital investment in excess
of $422 billion in direct, indirect and personal taxes each year. Thus, tourism has a
profound impact both on the world economy and, because of the educative effect of travel
and the effects on employment, on society itself.

D However, the major problems of the travel and tourism industry that have hidden, or
obscured, its economic impact are the diversity and fragmentation of the industry itself.
The travel industry includes: hotels, motels and other types of accommodation;
restaurants and other food services; transportation services and facilities; amusements,
attractions and other leisure facilities; gift shops and large number of other enterprises.
Since many of these businesses also serve local residents, the impact of spending by
visitors can easily be overlooked or underestimated. In addition, Meis (1992) points out
that the tourism industry involves concepts that have remained amorphous to both
analysts and decision makers. Moreover, in all nations this problem has made it difficult
for the industry to develop any type of reliable or credible tourism information base in
order to estimate the contribution it makes to regional, national and global economies.
 However, the nature of this very diversity makes travel and tourism ideal vehicles for
economic development in a wide variety of countries, regions or communities.

E Once the exclusive province of the wealthy, travel and tourism have become an
institutionalised way of life for most of the population. In fact, McIntosh and Goeldner
(1990) suggest that tourism has become the largest commodity in international trade for
many nations and, for a significant number of other countries, it ranks second and third.
For example, tourism is the major source of income in Bermuda, Greece, Italy, Spain,
Switzerland and most Caribbean countries. In addition, Hawkins and Ritchie, quoting from
data published by the America Express Company, suggest that the travel and tourism
industry is the number one ranked employer in the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, France, (the
former) West Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, the United
Kingdom and the United States. However, because of problems of definition, which
directly affect statistical measurement, it is not possible with any degree of certainty to
provide precise, valid or reliable data about the extent of world-wide tourism participation
or its economic impact. In many cases, similar difficulties arise when attempts are made to
measure domestic tourism.

Questions 5 – 10

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

In boxes 5 – 10 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 not information on this

5 The largest employment figures in the world are found in the travel and tourism
industry.

6 Tourism contributes over six per cent of the Australian gross national product.

7 Tourism has a social impact because it promotes recreation.

8 Two main features of the travel and tourism industry make its economic significance
difficult to ascertain.

9 Visitor spending is always greater than the spending of residents in tourist areas.

10 It is easy to show statistically how tourism affects individual economies.

Questions 11 – 13

Complete the sentences below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 11 – 13 on your answer sheet.

11 In Greece, tourism is the most important ___________.

12 The travel and tourism industry in Jamaica is the major ____________.

13 The problem associated with measuring international tourism are often reflected in
the measurement of ___________.
READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 – 26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.

Autumn leaves
Canadian writer Jay Ingram investigates the mystery of
why leaves turn red in the fall
A One of the most captivating natural events of the year in many areas throughout North
America is the turning of the leaves in the fall. The colours are magnificent, but the
question of exactly why some trees turn yellow or orange, and others red or purple, is
something which has long puzzled scientists.

B Summer leaves are green because they are ful of chlorophyll, the molecule that captures
sunlight and converts that energy into new building materials for the tree. As fall
approaches in the northern hemisphere, the amount of solar energy available declines
considerably. For many trees – evergreen conifers being an exception – the best
strategy is to abandon photosynthesis* until the spring. So rather than maintaining the
now redundant leaves throughout the winter, the tree saves its precious resources and
discards them. But before letting its leaves go, the tree dismantles their chlorophyll
molecules and ships their valuable nitrogen back into the twigs. As chlorophyll is
depleted, the colours that have been dominated by it throughout the summer begin to be
revealed. This unmasking explains the autumn colours of yellow and orange, but not the
brilliant reds and purples of trees such as the maple or sumac.

C The source of the red is widely known: it is created by anthocyanins, water-soluble plant
pigments reflecting the red to blue range of the visible spectrum. They belong to a class
of sugar-based chemical compounds also known as flavonoids. What’s puzzling is that
anthocyanins are actually newly minted, made in the leaves at the same time as the tree
is preparing to drop them. But it is hard to make sense of the manufacture of
anthocyanins – why should a tree bother making new chemicals in its leaves when it’s
already scrambling to withdraw and preserve the ones already there?

D Some theories about anthocyanins have argued that they might act as a chemical
defence against attacks by insects or fungi, or that they might attract fruit-eating birds or
increase a leaf’s tolerance to freezing. However there are problems with each of these
theories, including the fact that leaves are red for such a relatively short period that the
expense of energy need to manufacture the anthocyanins would outweigh any anti-
fungal or anti-herbivore activity achieved,

E It has also been proposed that trees may produce vivid red colours to convince
herbivorous insects that they are healthy and robust and would be easily able to mount
chemical defences against infestation. If insects paid attention to such advertisements,
they might be prompted to lay their eggs on a duller, and presumably less resistant host.
The flaw in this theory lies in the lack of proof to support it. No one has as yet
ascertained whether more robust trees sport the brightest leaves, or whether insects
make choices according to colour intensity.

*photosynthesis: the production of new material from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide
F Perhaps the most plausible suggestion as to why leaves would go to the trouble of
making anthocyanins when they’re busy packing up for the winter is the theory known as
the ‘light screen’ hypothesis. It sounds paradoxical, because the idea behind this
hypothesis is that the red pigment is made in autumn leaves to protect chlorophyll, the
light-absorbing chemical, from too much light. Why does chlorophyll need protection
when it is the natural world’s supreme light absorber? Why protect chlorophyll at a time
when the tree is breaking it down to salvage as much of it as possible?

G Chlorophyll, although exquisitely evolved to capture the energy of sunlight, can

sometimes be overwhelmed by it, especially in situations of drought, low temperatures,
or nutrient deficiency. Moreover, the problem of oversensitivity to light is even more
acute in the fall, when the leaf is busy preparing for winter by dismantling its internal
machinery. The energy absorbed by the chlorophyll molecules of the unstable autumn
leaf is not immediately channelled into useful products and processes, as it would be in
an intact summer leaf. The weakened fall leaf then becomes vulnerable to the highly
destructive effects of the oxygen created by the excited chlorophyll molecules.

H Even if you have never suspected that this is what was going on when leave turn red,
there are clues out there. One is straightforward: on many trees, the leaves that are the
reddest are those on the side of the tree which gets most sun. Not only that, but the red
is brighter on the upper side of the leaf. It has also been recognised for decades that the
best conditions for intense red colours are dry, sunny days and cool nights, conditions
that nicely match those that make leaves susceptible to excess light. And finally, trees
such as maples usually get much redder the more north you travel in the northern
hemisphere. It’s colder there, they’re more stresses, their chlorophyll is more sensitive
and it needs more sunblock.

I What is still not fully understood, however, is why some trees resort to producing red
pigments while others don’t bother, and simply reveal their orange or yellow hues. Do
these trees have other means at their disposal to prevent overexposure to light in
autumn? Their story, though not as spectacular to the eye, will surely turn out to be as
subtle and as complex.

Questions 14 – 18

Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A – I.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A – I, in boxes 14 – 18 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 a description of the substance responsible for the red colouration of leaves

15 the reason why trees drop their leaves in autumn

16 some evidence to confirm a theory about the purpose of the red leaves

17 an explanation of the function of chlorophyll

18 a suggestion that the red colouration in leaves could serve as a warning signal
Questions 19 – 22

Complete the notes below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 19 – 22 on your answer sheet.

Why believe the ‘light screen’ hypothesis?

 The most vividly coloured red leaves are found on the side of the tree facing the
19 ____________.

 The 20 _____________ surfaces of leaves contain the most red pigment.

 Red leaves are most abundant when daytime weather conditions are 21 __________
and sunny.

 The intensity of the red colour leaves increases as you go further 22 _________.

Questions 23 – 25

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 23 – 25 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

23 It is likely that the red pigments help to protect the leaf from freezing temperatures.

24 The ‘light screen’ hypothesis would initially seem to contradict what is known about
chlorophyll.

25 Leaves which turn colours other than red are more likely to be damaged by sunlight.

Question 26

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in box 26 on your answer sheet.

For which of the following questions does the writer offer an explanation?

A why conifers remain green in winter

B how leaves turn orange and yellow in autumn
C how herbivorous insects choose which trees to lay their eggs in
D why anthocyanins are restricted to certain trees
READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 – 40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.

Beyond the blue horizon

Ancient voyagers who settled the far-flung islands of the Pacific Ocean

An important archeological discovery on the did all Pacific islanders spring from one
island of Efate in the Pacific archipelago of source or many? Was there only one
Vanuatu has revealed traces of an ancient outward migration from a single point in
seafaring people, the distant ancestors of Asia, or several from different points? ‘This
today’s Polynesians. The site came to light represents the best opportunity we’ve had
only by chance. An agricultural worker, yet,’ says Spriggs, ‘to find out who the
digging in the grounds of a derelict Lapita actually were, where they came from,
plantation, scraped open a grave – the first and who their closer descendants are
of dozens in a burial ground some 3,000 today.’
years old. It is the oldest cemetery ever
found in the Pacific islands, and it harbors There is one stubborn question for
the remains of an ancient people which archaeology has yet to provide any
archaeologists call the Lapita. answers: how did the Lapita accomplish the
ancient equivalent of a moon landing, many
They were daring blue-water times over? No-one has found one of their
adventurers who used basic canoes to rove canoes or any rigging, which could reveal
across the ocean. But they were not just how the canoes were sailed. Nor do the oral
explorers. They were also pioneers who histories and traditions of later Polynesians
carried with them everything they would offer any insights, for they turn into myths
need to build new lives – their livestock, taro long before they reach as far back in time
seedlings and stone tools. Within the span as the Lapita.
of several centuries, the Lapita stretched
the boundaries of their world from the ‘All we can say for certain is that the
jungle-clad volcanoes of Papua New Lapita had canoes that were capable of
Guinea to the loneliest coral outliers of ocean voyages, and they had the ability to
Tonga. sail them,’ says Geoff Irwin, a professor of
archaeology at the University of Auckland.
The Lapita left precious few clues Those sailing skills, he says, were
about themselves, but Efate expands the developed and passed down over
volume of data available to researchers thousands of years by earlier mariners who
dramatically. The remains of 62 individuals worked their way through the archipelagoes
have been uncovered so far, and of the western Pacific, making short
archaeologists were also thrilled to find six crossings to nearby islands. The real
complete Lapita pots. Other items included adventure didn’t begin, however, until their
a Lapita burial urn with modeled birds Lapita descendants sailed out of sight of
arranged on the rim as though peering land, with empty horizons on every side.
down at the human remains sealed inside. This must have been difficult for them as
‘It’s an important discovery,’ says Matthew landing on the moon is for us today.
Spriggs, professor of archeology at the Certainly it distinguished them from their
Australian National University and head of ancestors, but what gave them the courage
the international team digging up the site, to launch out on such risky voyages?
‘for it conclusively identifies the remains as
Lapita.’ The Lapita’s thrust into the Pacific
was eastward, against the prevailing trade
DNA teased from these human winds, Irwin notes. Those nagging
remains may help answer one of the most headwinds, he argues, may have been the
puzzling questions in Pacific anthropology: key to their success. ‘They could sail out for
days into the unknown and assess the area, have built canoes to re-create those early
secure in the knowledge that if they didn’t voyages based on that assumption. But
find anything, they could turn about and nobody has any idea what their canoes
catch swift ride back on the trade winds. looked like or how they were rigged.’
This is what would have made the whole
thing work.’ Once out there, skilled Rather than give all the credit to
seafarers would have detected abundant human skill, Anderson invokes the winds of
leads to follow to land: the tides, and the chance. El Niño, the same climate
afternoon pile-up of clouds on the horizon disruption that affects the Pacific today, may
which often indicates an island in the have helped scatter the Lapita, Anderson
distance. suggests. He points out that climate date
obtained from slow-growing corals around
For returning explorers, successful the Pacific indicate a series of unusually
or not, the geography of their own frequent El Niños around the time of the
archipelagoes would have provided a safety Lapita expansion. By reversing the regular
net. Without this to go by, overshooting their east-to-west flow of the trade winds for
home ports, getting lost and sailing off into weeks at a time, these ‘super El Niños’
eternity would have been all too easy. might have taken the Lapita on long
Vanuatu, for example, stretches more than unplanned voyages.
500 miles in a northwest-southeast trend, its
scores of intervisible islands forming a However they did it, the Lapita
backstop for mariners riding the trade winds spread themselves a third of the way across
home. the Pacific, then called it quits for reasons
known only to them. Ahead lay the vast
All this presupposes one essential emptiness of the central Pacific and
detail, says Atholl Anderson, professor of perhaps they were too thinly stretched to
prehistory at the Australian National venture farther. They probably never
University: the Lapita had mastered the numbered more than a few thousand in
advanced art of sailing against the wind. total, and in their rapid migration eastward
‘And there’s no proof they could do any they encountered hundreds of islands –
such thing,’ Anderson says. ‘There has more than 300 in Fiji alone.
been this assumption they did, and people

Questions 27 – 31

Complete the summary using the list of words and phrases, A – J, below.

Write the correct letter, A – J, in boxes 27 – 31 on your answer sheet.

The Efate burial site

A 3,000-year-old burial ground of a seafaring people called the Lapita has been found in an
abandoned 27 __________ on the Pacific island of Efate. The cemetery, which is a significant
28 ___________ , was uncovered accidentally by an agricultural worker.

The Lapita explored and colonised many Pacific islands over several centuries. They took many
things with them on their voyages including 29 _________ and tools.

The burial ground increases the amount of information about the Lapita available to scientists. A
team of researchers, led by Matthew Spriggs from the Australian National University, are
helping with the excavation of the site. Spriggs believes the 30 ________ which was found at
the site is very important since it confirms that the 31 _________ found inside are Lapita.
 A proof

B plantation

C harbor

D bones

E data

F archaeological discovery

G burial urn

H source

I animals

J maps

Questions 32 – 35

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 32 – 35 on your answer sheet.

32 According to the writer, there are difficulties explaining how the Lapita accomplished
their journeys because

A the canoes that have been discovered offer relatively few clues.
B archaeologists have shown limited interest in this area of research.
C little information relating to this period can be relied upon for accuracy.
D technological advances have altered the way such achievements are viewed.

33 According to the sixth paragraph, what was extraordinary about the Lapita?

A They sailed beyond the point where land was visible.

B Their cultural heritage discouraged the expression of fear.
C They were able to build canoes that withstood ocean voyages.
D Their navigational skills were passed on from one generation to the next.

34 What does ‘This’ refer to in the seventh paragraph?

A the Lapita’s seafaring talent

B the Lapita’s ability to detect signs of land
C the Lapita’s extensive knowledge of the region
D the Lapita’s belief they would be able to return home

35 According to the eight paragraph, how was the geography of the region significant?

A It played an important role in Lapita culture.

B It meant there were relatively few storms at sea.
C It provided a navigational aid for the Lapita.
D It made a large number of islands habitable.
Questions 36 – 40

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 36 – 40 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

36 It is now clear that the Lapita could sail into a prevailing wind.

37 Extreme climate conditions may have played a role in Lapita migration.

38 The Lapita learnt to predict the duration of El Niños.

39 It remains unclear why the Lapita halted their expansion across the Pacific.

40 It is likely that the majority of Lapita settled on Fiji.