IELTS 4.

5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Full name:.................................

Lesson 4 Topic: Places and buildings WID: IELTS4.5_04_RL

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IELTS Reading:
- Present simple and past simple tenses ...... pts/10
- Respond to sentence completion questions
Skills - Skim and scan a text
- Recognize paraphrase

IELTS Listening: ...... pts/10

- Answer short-answer questions
- Spell names correctly

Exercise 1. [Grammar focus: Present simple vs Past simple] Fill in the blanks with present
simple and past simple tenses. (optional)

Dear Peter,

Last summer, I ________ (travel) to Edremit with my family. We ________ (not stay) in our
friend’s house, because we ________ (want) to stay in a nice boutique hotel. I ________
(play) on the beach, ________ (go) for sightseeing, ________ (swim) in the beautiful sea, and
________ (write) many postcards. This ________ (be) a really different holiday for me. In
holidays, I usually ________ (stay) in bed more and ________ (sleep) more.
One day, we ________ (visit) a small island called Bozcaada. My father ________ (warn) me
before the trip not to leave them. He ________ (want) me to stay with them during the whole
trip. I usually ________ (listen) to my father, but I ________ ( not listen) to him in that trip.
Because the island ________(be) so beautiful and I couldn’t wait to see with them. They
________ (be) really slow. During the trip I eventually ________ (lose) them. Hopefully, at the
end of the trip I ________ (find) them. They ________ (be) angry with me. However, I really
________ (have) great time without them.
Tell me Peter, what ________(be) your holiday like? What ________ you ________ (do) last
summer?

Ersin
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Exercise 2. [Recognizing paraphrases]

Exercise 3. [Paraphrasing] Paraphrase the following passage.

The Koala Bear

The koala bear of Australia is a living “Teddy Bear.” Its thick coat of gray fur is just as soft as the
beloved toy. The koala has a large head, big ears and small, dark eyes that look at you without
expression. Its nose, as black as patent leather, seems too big for the rest of its face.

The koala is a gentle little animal. It is almost defenseless. Only its color protects it from
enemies. The koala makes no nest. It just sits in the forked branches of a tree. Unlike a bird, it
cannot balance itself with its tail—because it has no tail. It likes gum trees the best because it
loves entirely on the leaves of the tree. Sometimes the supply of its special diet is used up. The
koala, rather than seek food elsewhere, will stay in its own area and starve to death.

______________________________________________________________________________
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IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Exercise 4. [IELTS Reading: Sentence completion + Recognizing paraphrases] Read the passage
and answer the questions.
European Settlement of Australia
European settlement of Australia began in 1788 when a British penal colony was established on Q1
the east coast. From this starting point Australia grew rapidly and continually, expanding across
the entire continent.
A number of reasons contributed to Britain's decision to colonise Australia. The most important Q2
factor was Britain's need to relieve its overcrowded prisons. Several violent incidents at
overcrowded prisons convinced the British government of the need to separate unruly
elements from the rest of the prison populace.
Additionally, Australia was of strategic importance to Britain, and it provided a base for the
Royal Navy in the eastern sea. Also, Australia could be used as an entry point to the economic Q3
opportunities of the surrounding region. All these points figured in the decision by Lord Sydney,
Q4
secretary of state of home affairs, to authorise the colonisation.
To this affect, on May 13, 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip, commanding eleven ships full of
convicts, left Britain for Australia. He successfully landed a full fleet at Botany Bay on January
18, 1788. However, they left the bay eight days later because of its openness and poor soil, and Q5
settled instead at Port Jackson, a few kilometres north. The ships landed 1,373 people,
including 732 convicts, and the settlement became Sydney. Australia Day is now celebrated on
26 January each year, to commemorate this first fleet landing.
Vocabulary required:

• settlement (n): the process of people making their homes in a place

• colony (n): a country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country
• incident (n): something that happens, especially something unusual or unpleasant
• convict (n): a person who has been found guilty of a crime and sent to prison
• commemorate (v): remind people of an important person or event from the past with a special
action or object

I. Complete the following statements using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

1. Australia was originally founded as a ________________________.
2. The major consideration in colonizing Australia was Britain’s ______________________.
3. It was thought that ___________________ could be gained in that part of the world due to
the access provided via Australia.
4. Lord Sydney took every factor into account when he gave official permission for the
__________________ of Australia.
5. Botany Bay was abandoned by the settlers due to the lack of cover and
_______________________.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

II. Write down the paraphrases and synonyms that you would have needed to identify in
order to successfully find the answers:

Synonym/Paraphrase from the question Original word from the reading

Question 1 founded

Question 2 major consideration

access
Question 3
part of the world

took every factor into account

Question 4
official permission

abandoned
Question 5
lack of cover

Exercise 5. [IELTS Reading: Sentence completion]

A. Read the first paragraph

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

A. to explain where mammoths lived before they became extinct

B. to explain when mammoths became extinct

C. to explain why mammoths became extinct

B. Complete the sentences below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

1. The number of mammoths started to fall when their ___________ got smaller.

2. Humans used mammoths for food, and to make art and ___________.

3. Scientists have examined the contents of mammoths’ ___________.

4. Mammoths had smaller ___________ than modern elephants.

5. Some scientists think that a ‘new’ mammoth should have some ___________.
6. Both elephants and mammoths are ___________ animals.

7. There is a possibility that a ‘new’ mammoth could get a ___________.

IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Bringing the mammoth back to life

Mammoths once lived in large numbers across Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.
However, over time, their numbers fell until the mammoth became extinct. Scientists think this QA
happened for two reasons. Firstly, the mammoths’ natural habitat decreased in size because of Q1
climate change. Secondly, many mammoths were killed by people who hunted them. The last
population of mammoths lived on Wrangel Island, off north-east Siberia in the Chukchi Sea.
These were woolly mammoths that could survive in very cold conditions, but they also died out
around 4,000 years ago.

Prehistoric cave paintings show us that people ate the woolly mammoths they killed, but also
used their bones and tusks. They used these to make simple animal and human figures, an early Q2
kind of art, and also to create some basic tools. We also know a lot about the woolly mammoth
because the freezing conditions in Alaska and Siberia have preserved them. Researchers have
studied their skeletons, their teeth and even the grass and plants that were still inside their Q3

stomachs. We know that their fur was an orange-brown colour, they had a thick layer of fat,
and they had long, curved tusks. Their ears were short compared to an African or Asian Q4
elephant’s we might see today, so they would not lose so much heat or get frostbite.

In recent years, some researchers have suggested that we could bring woolly mammoths back
to life. Interestingly, not all scientists believe that bringing the mammoth back to life would be a
good thing. They think it would be unfair to create a ‘new’ mammoth and then keep it in a small Q5
space. They think the right thing to do would be to give it a certain amount of freedom, perhaps
in a wildlife park. But where would this be? And the mammoth would also be alone, and like Q6
elephants, mammoths were probably social in the way they behaved. This does seem to be a
strong reason against bringing the mammoth back to life. Perhaps the ‘new’ mammoth might Q7
also develop an ‘old’ disease – and this might have an effect on the ecosystem that scientists
cannot predict. Although the idea of bringing the mammoth back seems like an exciting one at
first, there are many issues that we need to consider.

Vocabulary required:

• woolly (adj): covered with wool or with hair like wool

• tusk (n): the long curved teeth that stick out of the mouth of elephants
• skeleton (n): the structure of bones that supports the body of a person or an animal; a model of
this structure
• frostbite (n): a medical condition in which parts of the body become damaged as a result of
extremely cold temperatures
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Exercise 6. [IELTS Reading: Sentence completion] Read the passage and answer the questions.

Calendars Through the Years

A How many days are there in a year? You might say 365, with an extra 'leap day' added to the
end of February every four years. This averages out to a quarter of a day every year, so that
every year is 365.25 days. This is because the actual length of a solar year - that is, the time it Q1
takes for the Earh to complete a full rotation of the Sun - is a little bit more than 365 days.
Throughout history, most calendars have tried to match their year to the length of a solar year,
with varying degrees of accuracy.

B The calendar used in much of the world today is based on the one used by the Romans.
Because Romans thought that even numbers were unlucky, the earliest Roman calendar had
months of 29 or 31 days, with 28 days in February. Since the year had 355 days, they would add Q2
a leap month of 27 days between February and March every 3 to 5 years, as determined by
priests called pontifces. As a result, the average year was anywhere from 360 to 364 days, so it
is no surprise that the calendar very quickly deviated from the solar year.

C Julius Caesar decided that the calendar should be based on the solar year, following a special Q3
year of 445 days in 46 BC that readjusted the months to their proper seasons. From 45 BC
onwards, the months were given the current lengths of 30 or 31 days, retaining 28 for February
but adding the 29th February every four years to account for the accumulated extra quarter
days. The names of the months used by the Romans remain in English today, either with a slight
adjustment to spelling (e.g., they called it Aprilis, we call it April) or in the exact same form (e.g.,
they also called September, October, November and December by those very names).

D The calendar used from 45 BC onwards - known as the Julian calendar, after the man who
imposed it on the world - is far more accurate than any earlier calendar. Even so, the Julian
calendar deviates from the solar year by 1 day every 128 years. This is because the exact length
of the solar year is actually 365.2422 days, or about 11 minutes shorter than the 365.25 days
calculated by the Romans. Q4

E By the 16th century AD, the discrepancy between the solar year and the Julian calendar was
notable enough that something had to be done. It took several decades of consultation among
mathematicians and astronomers until it was fnally decided to end the Julian calendar, and
move to a new system of calculating leap years. Pope Gregory XIII decreed that the Julian
calendar would end on Thursday 4th October 1582, and that the following day would be Friday
15th October. This would remove the 10 days that had been added in error by the Julian system
for leap years, and readjust the calendar to the seasons in the solar year. Q5

F As we can see from this brief history of calendars, one of the key challenges in making any
calendar is the decision about how to account for the variations between the calendar year and
the solar year, since the latter includes a fraction of a day. The Gregorian calendar improved
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

considerably on the Julian calendar, limiting the discrepancy to one day every 3,336 years.
While it is commonly believed that every fourth year is a leap year, the actual rule imposed in
1582 is slightly more complicated: we add a day to February in years that are divisible by 4, but
Q6
not in years divisible by 100, unless they can be divided by 400. Thus, 1700, 1800 and 1900
were not leap years, but 1600 and 2000 were. This adjustment means that the average
calendar year is only 26 seconds longer than a solar year, so it won't be an issue again until the
year 4918.
Vocabulary required:

• leap day (n): the extra day added to the calendar in leap year (=one year in every four years
when February has 29 days instead of 28).
• rotation (n): the action of an object moving in a circle around a central fixed point
• deviate from (v): to be different from something; to do something in a different way
• impose on (v): introduce a new rule, tax; to order that a rule, punishment, etc. be used
• discrepancy (n): a difference between two or more things that should be the same

Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
for each answer.

1. A solar year is the time it takes for the Earth to make a ______________ of the sun.

2. Without a ______________, the year in the earliest Roman calendar was 355 days long.

3. From 45 BC, the calendar year was based on the solar year, thanks to the intervention of
____________.

4. Unfortunately, the solar year is ___________ than the year in Julian calendar.

5. When Pope Gregory XIII first instituted the new calendar, one change was to __________
that were mistakenly added by the Julian calendar.

6. Under current rules, years that are ___________ are not leap year, unless they can also be
divided evenly by 400.

Exercise 7. [IELTS Reading: Sentence completion] Read the passage and answer the questions.

How can we measure happiness?

Western leaders are looking beyond traditional indices of economic and social well-being and
turning to ways of measuring national happiness.

What makes you happy? The smell of new-mown grass on a spring morning, perhaps; or the
laughter of your children. For many of us, happiness is spiritual, individual, difficult to define
and ephemeral. A Buddhist monk with no possessions beyond his clothes and an alms bowl
might consider himself happier than a City financier with homes on three continents.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Personal happiness is something we all aspire to; so what about national happiness? Can the
well-being of a country be measured? Is it possible to aggregate all those individual experiences
into a happiness index that can be published quarterly, along with crime statistics, inflation
rates and unemployment figures? Some political leaders think it is. They subscribe to the idea
Q1
that measuring a nation’s well-being by this economic output is a policy dead-end. Is this wise?

The consideration of happiness and how to maximize it is hardly a new activity. It has exercised
great minds from Socrates to Montaigne and on to Bentham, Mill and the authors of the
American Declaration of Independence. But while philosophers tended to deal with how we
should lead our lives as individuals, the idea of happiness both as a science and a specific aim of
national policy has only taken off in the past decade or so. Q2

It is hardly surprising that the idea appeals to many politicians, especially when most of the
economic news is gloomy and government policy is couched in the downbeat language of
austerity. In such circumstances, looking beyond the traditional measurement of national well-
Q3
being is a great temptation, even if it risks being criticized as a gimmick that has no place in the
serious business of politics.

Lord Layard, professor at the London School of Economics, believed that governments should
embrace the principle that ‘the best society is that where the people are happiest, and the best
policy is the one that produces the greatest happiness’. They found this hard to do because so
little was known about what made people happy. But as Lord Layard points out, ‘The first thing
we know is that in the past 50 years, average happiness has not increased at all in Britain or in Q4
the United States- despite massive increases in living standard.’ In better–off countries, in other
words, simply raising incomes does not make people any happier.

In truth, Prime Minister David Cameron has been thinking along these lines for a while. Shortly
after he became Tony leader in 2005, he said: “Well-being can’t be measured by money or
traded in markets. It’s about the beauty of our surroundings, the quality of our culture and,
above all, the strength of our relationships. Improving our society’s sense of well-being is, I
believe, the central political challenge of our times”. Q5

In order to avoid a politically biased view of what constitutes national contentment, it would be
essential to have an independent body deciding what questions to ask and when to do so. A
survey conducted in the middle of a cold, wet January, for instance, might produce significantly
gloomier results than one carried out in summer months. Q6

If measuring happiness is a relatively new phenomenon in the West, it has underpinned the
public policy of one country for almost 40 years. The Kingdom of Bhutan has pursued the goal
of ‘gross national happiness’ since 1972. In addition to the promotion of equitable
socioeconomic development and the establishment of good governance, it also stresses the
importance of the preservation and promotion of cultural values. Q7
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

It probably helps, too, that there is little in the way of traffic, commuting into major cities does Q8
not involve an hour-long journey crushed together like sardines, television was banned until
1999 and the Himalayas provide a visual backdrop to a stunning sub-tropical landscape. No
wonder they are happy.

Vocabulary required:

• ephemeral (adj): lasting or used for only a short period of time

• aspire to (v): to have a strong desire to achieve something
• inflation rate (n): the percentage at which a currency is devalued during a period of time
• philosopher (n): a person who studies or writes about philosophy (triết học)
• couch in (v): to say or write words in a particular style or manner
• austerity (n): a situation when people do not have much money to spend because there are bad
economic condition
• contentment (n): a feeling of happiness or satisfaction

Read the text and complete the sentences. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each
answer.

1. Some politicians feel that it is not wise to focus on a country’s _____________.

2. Governments have only really taken the importance of promoting national happiness
seriously in ____________.

3. While the idea of measuring happiness appeals to some politicians, others believe it could be
___________ for lacking in seriousness.

4. Although there have been ____________ in personal wealth, people in rich West are not
happier.

5. For David Cameron’s government, the attempt to increase the __________ of the people is a
key priority.

6. Surveys may have different results depending on the weather, with ______________ results
being possible for those carried out in winter.

7. As part of its policy of promoting happiness, the government of Bhutan thinks it is important
to ensure the country remains true to its _____________.

8. According to the writer, Bhutan has the advantage of having almost no ____________, which
is a source of stress in Western countries.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Exercise 8. [IELTS Listening: Short answer questions] Read the questions and underline the
key words. Then decide what kind of answer is needed in terms of grammar and topic, and
suggest possible answers.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

1. List 3 energy-saving methods.

Verb or Noun
_____________________ _________________________________________

2. Name 2 substances which contribute to climate change.

types of fuels
________________________________

Now listen and answer the questions below.

List three forms of energy Mary will write about in her essay. Write NO MORE THAN THREE
WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER for each answer.

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

Exercise 9. [IELTS Listening: Short answer questions] You are going to hear three students
discussing their environmental science presentation. Listen and answer the question.

What two pieces of information do the students agree to remove from their presentation?

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER for each answer.

1________________

2________________

Exercise 10. [IELTS Listening: Short answer questions] You are going to hear two friends
talking about the exercise classes they took in the last week. Listen and answer the questions
1-3.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

1. Which two classes did Debbie go to last week? ________________

2. Why didn’t Penny like yoga? ________________

3. Where is Penny going next week? ________________

IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

Exercise 11: [IELTS Listening: Short answer questions] Answer the questions.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER for each answer.

21. How many major essays do the students have to write a year?

____________________________________________

22. What percentage of the total marks does the written exam account for?

____________________________________________

23. How many marks was Carl given for his latest essay?

____________________________________________

24. How many marks did Pamela receive for her latest essay?

____________________________________________

25. In which session was the marking system explained before?

____________________________________________

Exercise 12. [IELTS Listening: Short answer questions] You are going to hear a lecture about
adults who continue to live with their parents. Before listening, underline the question words
and the key words in the questions.

1. What percentage of women in their early thirties still live with their parents?

___________________________

2. When were house prices only three times the average yearly income?

___________________________

3. What is the reason that people return to their parental home after university?

___________________________

4. Who does the Affordable Housing Scheme aim to help?

___________________________

Then listen and answer the questions in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER.

Exercise 13. [IELTS Listening: Short answer questions] Listen and answer the questions.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

1. What is the surname of the writer that Sarah likes?

_________________________________
IELTS 4.5- Unit 2: Places and buildings

2. What is the password for the university library website?

_________________________________

3. Which drink does Joe say people should stop drinking?

_________________________________

4. Where are many families getting their meals from?

_________________________________

5. What problem does Sarah say is increasing because of unhealthy eating?

_________________________________

6. Which kind of fast food is most popular with other university students?
_________________________________

7. In which street is the sushi café?

_________________________________