Reading 01

Matching headings |
Identifying main points | Writing topic sentences

Getting started
Which of the following features do you associate with organic food? Circle the number 1-8.
1 use of pesticides 5 no synthetic chemicals
2 more nutrients 6 use of antibiotics
3 lower chances of having heart disease 7 cheaper than conventional food
4 use of growth hormones 8 bioengineered genes (GMOs)

Pre-reading
Exercise 1
Skim the reading passage Organic food: Why?. What is the main topic of the text?
A The differences between organic farming and conventional farming
B The reasons why people feel the need to eat organic food
C The fact that organic food and farming is not as good as humans think

In IELTS Reading Test

Matching heading questions test your ability to understand the organisation of texts and
identify main idea of each section or paragraph of the reading passage.
Before you read, underline the key points in each of the heading. Then skim each section
to get the gist of it.

Exercise 2
Read the given headings i-ix. What are the main points of each heading?
Underline the words that you find important.

golden standard for IELTS preparation 7

 READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1‒12 which are based on Reading Passage 1
below.
Questions 1̶6
Reading passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A̶G.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

List of Headings
i Research into whether organic food is better for us
ii Adding up the cost of organic food
iii The factors that can affect food quality
iv The rich and poor see things differently
v A description of organic farming
vi Testing the taste of organic food
vii Fear of science has created the organic trend
viii The main reason for the popularity of organic food
ix The need to remove hidden dangers from food

Example: Section A viii

1 Section B
2 Section C
3 Section D
4 Section E
5 Section F
6 Section G
Organic food: Why?
Today, many governments are promoting organic or natural farming methods that avoid use of
pesticides and other artificial products. The aim is to show that they care about the environment and
about people’s health. But is this the right approach?
A Europe is now the biggest market for organic food in the world, expanding by 25 per cent
a year over the past 10 years. So what is the attraction of organic food for some people?
The really important thing is that organic sounds more ‘natural’. Eating organic is a way of
defining oneself as natural, good, caring, different from the junk-food-scoffing masses. As
one journalist puts it: It feels closer to the source, the beginning, the start of things.’ The real
desire is to be somehow close to the soil, to Mother Nature.
B Unlike conventional farming, the organic approach means farming with natural, rather than

8 the IELTS workshop

 man-made, fertilisers and pesticides. Techniques such as crop rotation improve soil quality
and help organic farmers compensate for the absence of man-made chemicals. As a method
of food production, organic is, however, inefficient in its use of labour and land; there are
severe limits to how much food can be produced. Also, the environmental benefits of not
using artificial fertiliser are tiny compared with the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by
transporting food (a great deal of Britain’s organic produce is shipped in from other countries
and transported from shop to home by car).
C Organic farming is often claimed to be safer than conventional farming - for the environment
and for consumers. Yet studies into organic farming worldwide continue to reject this claim.
An extensive review by the UK Food Standards Agency found that there was no statistically
significant difference between organic and conventional crops. Even where results indicated
there was evidence of a difference, the reviewers found no sign that these differences would
have any noticeable effect on health.
D The simplistic claim that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food was always
likely to be misleading. Food is a natural product, and the health value of different foods will
vary for a number of reasons, including freshness, the way the food is cooked, the type of
soil it is grown in, the amount of sunlight and rain crops have received, and so on. Likewise,
the flavour of a carrot has less to do with whether it was fertilised with manure or something
out of a plastic sack than with the variety of carrot and how long ago it was dug up. The
differences created by these things are likely to be greater than any differences brought about
by using an organic or non­organic system of production. Indeed, even some ‘organic’ farms
are quite different from one another.
E The notion that organic food is safer than ‘normal’ food is also contradicted by the fact that
many of our most common foods are full of natural toxins. Parsnips cause blisters on the skin
of agricultural workers. Toasting bread creates carcinogens. As one research expert says:
‘People think that the more natural something is, the better it is for them. That is simply not
the case. In fact, it is the opposite that is true: the closer a plant is to its natural state, the
more likely it is that it will poison you. Naturally, many plants do not want to be eaten, so we
have spent 10,000 years developing agriculture and breeding out harmful traits from crops.’
F Yet educated Europeans are more scared of eating traces of a few, strictly regulated, man-
made chemicals than they are of eating the ones that nature created directly. Surrounded by
plentiful food, it’s not nature they worry about, but technology. Our obsessions with the ethics
and safety of what we eat - concerns about antibiotics in animals, additives in food, GM crops
and so on - are symptomatic of a highly technological society that has little faith in its ability to
use this technology wisely. In this context, the less something is touched by the human hand,
the healthier people assume it must be.

golden standard for IELTS preparation 9

 G Ultimately, the organic farming movement is an expensive luxury for shoppers in well-
manicured Europe. For developing parts of the world, it is irrelevant. To European
environmentalists, the fact that organic methods require more labour and land than
conventional ones to get the same yields is a good thing; to a farmer in rural Africa, it is a
disaster. Here, land tends to be so starved and crop yields so low that there simply is not
enough organic matter to put back into the soil. Perhaps the focus should be on helping these
countries to gain access to the most advanced farming techniques, rather than going back to
basics.

Questions 7 and 8
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO of the following points does the writer mention in connection with organic
farming?
A the occasional use of pesticides
B using the same field for different crops
C testing soil quality
D reducing the number of farm workers
E the production of greenhouse gases

Questions 9 and 10
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
According to the writer, which TWO factors affect the nutritional content of food?
A who prepares the food
B the weather conditions during growth
C where the food has been stored
D when the plants were removed from the earth
E the type of farm the food was grown on

Questions 11 and 12
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO negative aspects of organic farming does the writer mention?
A Consumers complain about the extra cost.
B Organic food may make people ill.
C Farm workers have to be specially trained.
D It requires too much technological expertise.
E It is not possible in some countries.

10 the IELTS workshop

 WRITING TASK 1 - DESCRIBING TRENDS

Trend Verb/adjective Noun

increase an increase
grow a growth
rise a rise
climb an upward trend
go up an upturn

surge a surge/an upsurge

jump a jump
leap a leap
take off
shoot up
soar
rocket
decrease a decrease
fall a fall
drop a drop
decline a decline
go down a downturn
a downward trend
plunge a plunge
slump a slump
crash a crash
plummet
sink
dip a dip

remain stable/static/constant a plateau/plateaux (pl)

stabilize
stay at the same level
stagnate

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fluctuate a fluctuation
to be erratic

peak (at)
reach a peak (of)

bottom out
reach a low point of

level off

level out

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 DESCRIBING DEGREE AND SPEED OF CHANGE

1. Degree of change
Adjective Example Adverb Example
spectacular A spectacular fall spectacularly Fell spectacularly
dramatic A dramatic rise dramatically Rose dramatically
substantial A substantial rise substantially Rose substantially
significant A significant fall significantly Fell significantly
considerable A considerable growth considerably Grew considerably
sharp A sharp rise sharply Rose sharply
steep A steep fall steeply Fell steeply
moderate A moderate drop moderately Dropped moderately
slight A slight increase slightly Increased slightly

2. Speed of change
Adjective Example Adverb Example
quick A quick growth quickly Grew quickly
rapid A rapid growth rapidly Grew rapidly
abrupt An abrupt fall abruptly Fell abruptly
sudden A sudden rise suddenly Rose suddenly
steady A steady increase steadily Increased steadily
consistent A consistent fall consistently Fell consistently
gradual A gradual fall gradually Fell gradually
slow A slow increase slowly Increased slowly

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 PRACTICE - DESCRIBING TRENDS

I. Fill in the table with different expressions to describe these

trends.

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Expression 1 Expression 2
1
2
3
4
5
6

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II. Sentences containing verb phrases such as fell steadily can often
be rewritten in other ways. Study the examples and draw out
the structure of these trend descriptions. Then rewrite
sentences a-j below.
Examples
The consumption of chocolate fell steadily from 1990 to 2000.
 There was a steady fall in the consumption of chocolate from 1990 to
2000.
 The ten year period from 1990 to 2000 witnessed a steady fall in the
consumption of chocolate.
 The consumption of chocolate experienced a steady fall from 1990 to
2000.

a. Spice exports from Africa fluctuated wildly over the period.




b. The development of new products fell gradually during 2000.



c. There has been a noticeable decrease in research investment
since 1980.




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d. The purchases of tickets dropped significantly last month.



e. On the Internet, the number of sites rose significantly.



f. There was a sudden decrease in the sale of mangos in the last
three months.



g. At the theme park, there were very slight fluctuations in the
number of visitors between January and March.



h. There were gradual declines in sugar and pepper imports.


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i. The quality of food in supermarkets has increased slowly over the
last 3 years.




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 j. The number of air travelers fluctuated remarkably during the
third quarter of 2013.

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
III. Describe at least 3 trends in the following line graph, using
different expressions.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The line graph below shows changes in the amount and type of fast
food consumed by Australian teenagers from 1975 to 2000.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main

features and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

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 IELTS WRITING TASK 1 - SENTENCE SUBJECT

When describing changes, it is important to be clear about WHAT IS CHANGING. For

example, the topic is “car”. We CANNOT say “car increased” but “the number of car
increased”, or to avoid repetition, we can say “car numbers increased”

CARS “INCREASED”

THE NUMBER OF CARS INCREASED.

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 Study the language below and fill in the table with appropriate expressions.

Topic ‘The’+ measurable quantity + ‘of’ + topic Alternatives

Computers The sales of computers Computer sales
Migrants The number of migrants Migrant numbers
Land (1) Land area
(2) The production of timber (3)
(4) (5) Crime levels
(6) The cost of insurance (7)
Unemployment (8) (9)
(10) (11) Female salaries

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 IELTS WRITING TASK 1
Preposition

1) We use the preposition ‘at’ for numbers when no change is being described.
Sales were at 90,000 in 1995.
Sales remained stable at 90,000 from 1995 to 2000.
2) We use the preposition ‘from’ to describe the number at the beginning of a change. We
use ‘to’ to describe the number at the end of the change.
Sales fell from 110,000 in 2005 to 80,000 in 2010.
Sales had increased to 100,000 by 1990.
3) We use the preposition ‘by’ after verbs to describe the difference between two points in
time.
Sales increased by 70,000 between 1980 and 1990.
There was an increase in sales of 70,000 between 1980 and 1990.
Compare this sentence with the following sentence: ‘Sales increased from 30,000 in 1980 to
100,000 in 1990.’
4) We use the preposition ‘of’ when describing the amount of a change following a noun.
There was an increase in sales of 70,000 between 1980 and 1990.
Notice that the preposition ‘in’ comes before the thing that changes i.e. ‘sales’.
 Preposition problem 1 – “by” and “to”
Prepositions are horrid in English. Have another look at the graph:

Note how these two sentences mean exactly the same:

The rate of unemployment rose to 12% in 2010.
The rate of unemployment rose by 5% in 2010.

Preposition problem 2 – “in” and “of”

This one is harder. We use “in” to describe changes in things and “of” to describe changes in
number or amount. For example,
There was a rise in the rate of unemployment
There was a rise of 5% in the rate of unemployment.