PYQs IELTS Test 1 – TheScholarsaKademy

Reading Passage 1

Organic Farming and Chemical Fertilizers

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14

The world’s population continues to climb. And despite the rise of high-tech agriculture, 800 million people don’t get enough to eat. Clearly, it’s time to rethink the food we eat and where it comes from. Feeding 9 billion people will take more than the same old farming practices, especially if we want to do it without felling rainforests and planting every last scrap of the prairie. Finding food for all those people will tax predicting farmers’—and researchers’—ingenuity to the limit. Yet already, precious aquifers that provide irrigation water for some of the world’s most productive farmlands are drying up or filling with seawater, and arable land in China is eroding to create vast dust storms that redden sunsets as far away as North America. “Agriculture must become the solution to environmental problems in 50 years. If we don’t have systems that make the environment better – not just hold the fort – then we’re in trouble,” says Kenneth Cassman, an agronomist at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. That view was echoed in January by the Curry report, a government panel that surveyed the future of farming and food in Britain.

It’s easy to say agriculture has to do better, but what should this friendly farming of the future look like? Concerned consumers come up short at this point, facing what appears to be an ever-widening ideological divide. In one corner are the techno-optimists who put their faith in genetically modified crops, improved agrochemicals, and computer-enhanced machinery; in the other are advocates of organic farming, who reject artificial chemicals and embrace back-to-nature techniques such as composting. Both sides cite plausible science to back their claims to the moral high ground, and both bring enough passion to the debate for many people to come away thinking we’re faced with a stark choice between two mutually incompatible options.

Not so. If you take off the ideological blinkers and simply ask how the world can produce the food it needs with the least environmental cost, a new middle way opens. The key is sustainability: whatever we do must not destroy the capital of soil and water we need to keep on producing. Like today’s organic farming, the intelligent farming of the future should pay much more attention to the health of its soil and the ecosystem it’s part of. But intelligent farming should also make shrewd and locally appropriate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The most crucial ingredient in this new style of agriculture is not chemicals but information about what’s happening in each field and how to respond. Yet, ironically, this key element may be the most neglected today.

Clearly, organic farming has all the warm, fuzzy sentiment on its side. An approach that eschews synthetic chemicals surely runs no risk of poisoning land and water. And its emphasis on building up natural ecosystems seems to be good for everyone. Perhaps these easy assumptions explain why sales of organic food across Europe are increasing by at least 50 per cent per year.

Going organic sounds idyllic-but it’s naive, too. Organic agriculture has its own suite of environmental costs, which can be worse than those of conventional farming, especially if it were to become the world norm. But more fundamentally, the organic versus-chemical debate focuses on the wrong question. The issue isn’t what you put into a farm, but what you get out of it, both in terms of crop yields and pollutants, and what condition the farm is in when you’re done.

Take chemical fertilizers, which deliver nitrogen, an essential plant nutrient, to crops along with some phosphorus and potassium. It is a mantra of organic farming that these fertilizers are unwholesome, and plant nutrients must come from natural sources. But in fact, the main environmental damage done by chemical fertilizers as opposed to any other kind is through greenhouse gases-carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels used in their synthesis and nitrogen oxides released by their degradation. Excess nitrogen from chemical fertilizers can pollute groundwater, but so can excess nitrogen from organic manures.

On the other hand, relying solely on chemical fertilizers to provide soil nutrients without doing other things to build healthy soil is damaging. Organic farmers don’t use chemical fertilizers, so they are very good at building soil fertility by working crop residues and manure into the soil, rotating with legumes that fix atmospheric nitrogen, and other techniques.

generates vital soil nutrients and also creates a soil that is richer in organic matter, so it retains nutrients better and is hospitable to the crop’s roots and creatures such as earthworms that help maintain soil fertility. Such soil also holds water better and therefore makes more efficient use of both rainfall and irrigation water. And organic matter ties up C02 in the soil, helping to offset emissions from burning fossil fuels and reduce global warming.

Advocates of organic farming like to point out that fields managed in this way can produce yields just as high as fields juiced up with synthetic fertilizers. For example, Bill Liebhardt, a research manager at the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pennsylvania recently compiled the results of such comparisons for corn, wheat, soybeans, and tomatoes in the US and found that the organic fields averaged between 94 and 100 per cent of the yields of nearby conventional crops.

But this optimistic picture tells only half the story. Farmers can’t grow such crops every year if they want to maintain or build soil nutrients without synthetic fertilizers. They need to alternate with soil-building crops such as pasture grasses and legumes such as alfalfa. So in the long term, the yield of staple grains such as wheat, rice and corn must go down. This is the biggest cost of organic farming. Vaclav Smil of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, estimates that if farmers worldwide gave up the 80 million tonnes of synthetic fertilizer they now use each year, total grain production would fall by at least half. Either farmer would have to double the amount of land they cultivate- at catastrophic cost to natural habitat –or billions of people would starve.

That doesn’t mean farmers couldn’t get by with less fertilizer. Technologically advanced farmers in wealthy countries, for instance, can now monitor their yields hectare by hectare, or even more finely, throughout a huge field. They can then target their fertilizer to the parts of the field where it will do the best, instead of responding to average conditions. This increases yield and decreases fertilizer use. Eventually, farmers may -incorporate long-term weather forecasts into their planning as well, so that they can cut back on fertilizer use when the weather is likely to make harvests poor anyway, says Ron Olson, an agronomist with Cargill Fertilizer in Tampa, Florida.

Organic techniques certainly have their benefits, especially for poor farmers. But strict “organic agriculture”, which prohibits certain technologies and allows others, isn’t always better for the environment. Take herbicides, for example. These can leach into waterways and poison both wildlife and people. Just last month, researchers led by Tyrone Hayes at the University of California at Berkeley found that even low concentrations of atrazine, the most commonly used weed killer in the US, can prevent frog tadpoles from developing properly.

Questions 1 – 4

Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-D) with opinions or deeds below.

Write the appropriate letters A-D in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

A.Vaclav Smil

B. Bill Liebhardt

C. Kenneth Cassman

D. Ron Olson

1. The use of chemical fertilizer can be optimized by combining weather information.

2. Organic framing yield is nearly equal to traditional ones.

3. A better agricultural setting is a significant key to solve environmental tough nut.

4. Substantial production loss would happen in case all farmers shifted from using synthetic fertilizer.

Questions 5 – 9

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

In boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet, write

YES, if the statement agrees with the information
NO, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

5. Increasing population, draining irrigation, eroding farmland push agricultural industry to extremity.

6. There are only two options for farmers; they use chemical fertilizer or natural approach.

7. Chemical fertilizer currently is more expensive than natural fertilizers.

8. In order to keep nutrients in the soil, organic farmers need to rotate the planting method.

9. “organic agriculture” is the way that environment-damaging technologies are all strictly forbidden.

Questions 10-13

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

Several 10 …………………… approaches need to be applied in the order that the global population wouldn’t go starved. A team called 11…………………… repeated the viewpoint of a scholar by a survey in British farming. More and more European farmers believe in 12……………………farming these years. The argument of organic against 13……………………seems in an inaccurate direction.

Answers

1: D

Question type: Matching Features

Answer location: Paragraph K, line 5

Explanation:If you read thoroughly, this entire paragraph is dedicated to the optimum utilization of technology for farming. It is also clear from the line, “Eventually, farmers may -incorporate long-term weather forecasts into their planning as well so that they can cut back on fertilizer use when the weather is likely to make harvests poor anyway, says Ron Olson.” Here, “incorporate and weather forecasts, fertilizers” are the main keywords.

2: B

Question type: Matching Features

Answer location: Paragraph I, line 4

Explanation: If you read thoroughly, this entire paragraph is dedicated to the difference between organic farming and conventional synthetic fertilizer based farming. It is paraphrased from the line, “Bill Liebhardt, a research manager at the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pennsylvania recently compiled the results of such comparisons for corn, wheat, soybeans, and tomatoes in the US and found that the organic fields averaged between 94 and 100 per cent of the yields of nearby conventional crops.” Here, the term “average difference is between 94 and 100 percent” has been paraphrased to nearly equal.

3: C

Question type: Matching Features

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 8

Explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. You must note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it is said that “Agriculture must become the solution to environmental problems in 50 years. If we don’t have systems that make the environment better~not just hold the fort-then we’re in trouble, says Kenneth Cassman, an agronomist at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.” Here, “agriculture, the solution, and environmental problems” are the keywords.

4: A

Question type: Matching Features

Answer location: Paragraph J, line 5

Explanation: If you observe, this paragraph has been dedicated to synthetic farming. The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line “Vaclav Smil of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, estimates that if farmers worldwide gave up the 80 million tonnes of synthetic fertilizer they now use each year, total grain production would fall by at least half.” Here the term ‘total grain production would fall‘ suggests the substantial loss that would happen to the production of synthetic fertilizers.

5: Ans. YES

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 1

Explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “The world’s population continues to climb. And despite the rise of high-tech agriculture, 800 million people don’t get enough to eat. Clearly, it’s time to rethink the food we eat and where it comes from. Feeding 9 billion people will take more than the same old farming practices if want to do it without felling rainforests and planting every last scrap of the prairie.” In the given sentence, “the world’s population continues to climb” has been paraphrased to increasing population. Moreover, ‘planting every last scrap of prairie’ is paraphrased to “pushing agriculture to extremity”

6. Ans: NO

Question type:Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1

Explanation: If you read thoroughly, this entire paragraph is dedicated to organic farming and the synthetic fertilizers approach. From the given line, “relying solely on chemical fertilizers to provide soil nutrients without doing other things to build healthy soil is damaging.” We can comprehend that chemical fertilizers are not safe to build healthy soil. Hence, organic farming is the only ideal approach farmers can follow.

7. Ans: NOT GIVEN

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: N/A

Explanation: None of the given paragraphs claim the price difference between organic farming and chemical fertilization.

8. Answer:YES

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph J, line 2

Explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line “Farmers can’t grow such crops every year if they want to maintain or build soil nutrients without synthetic fertilizers. They need to alternate with soil-building crops such as pasture grasses and legumes such as alfalfa.” Here, the phrase ‘need to alternate’ refers that in order to main the soil nutrients organic farmers need to rotate the planting method.

9. Answer: NO

Question: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph L, line 1

Explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “Organic techniques certainly have their benefits, especially for poor farmers. But strict “organic agriculture”, which prohibits certain technologies and allows others, isn’t always better for the environment.” From the given lines, we can learn that organic farming does not entirely prohibit environment damaging technologies, rather restricts some and allows others.

10. Ans: Farming

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 3

Explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line “Feeding 9 billion people will take more than the same old farming practices.” Here, the term will take more has been paraphrased to several. Hence, in order to feed 9 billion starving people, there need to be several farming approaches applied.

11. Ans: Curry

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, 2nd last line

Explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “that view was echoed in January by the Curry report, a government panel that surveyed the future of farming and food in Britain.” Confirms that it was the “Curry” reporting team which re-stated the viewpoint of scholars.

12. Ans: Natural/Organic

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 3

Explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “perhaps these easy assumptions explain why sales of organic food across Europe are increasing by at least 50 per cent per year.” Since the sale of organic food is surging, it is clear that more European farmers are relying on natural or organic farming.

13. Ans: Chemical

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 3

Explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “but more fundamentally, the organic versus-chemical debate focuses on the wrong question.” which suggests that debate is going in the wrong direction.

Reading Passage 2

The Pearl

Academic Reading Passage 2

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

Throughout history, pearls have held a unique presence within the wealthy and powerful. For instance, the pearl was the favoured gem of the wealthy during the Roman Empire. This gift from the sea had been brought back from the orient by the Roman conquests. Roman women wore pearls to bed so they could be reminded of

their wealth immediately upon waking up. Before jewellers learned to cut gems, the

pearl was of greater value than the diamond. In the Orient and Persia Empire, pearls

were ground into powders to cure anything from heart disease to epilepsy, with

possible aphrodisiac uses as well. Pearls were once considered an exclusive

privilege for royalty. A law in 1612 drawn up by the Duke of Saxony prohibited the

wearing of pearls by the nobility, professors, doctors or their wives in an effort to

further distinguish royal appearance. American Indians also used freshwater pearls

from the Mississippi River as decorations and jewellery.

There are essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. A

natural pearl (often called an Oriental pearl) forms when an irritant, such as a piece

of sand, works its way into a particular species of oyster, mussel, or clam. As a

defense mechanism, the mollusk secretes a fluid to coat the irritant. The layer upon

layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant until a lustrous pearl is formed.

The only difference between natural pearls and cultured pearls is that the irritant

is a surgically implanted bead or piece of shell called Mother of Pearl. Often, these

shells are ground oyster shells that are worth significant amounts of money in their

own right as irritant-catalysts for quality pearls. The resulting core is, therefore, much

larger than in a natural pearl. Yet, as long as there are enough layers of nacre (the

secreted fluid covering the irritant) to result in a beautiful, gem-quality pearl, the size

of the nucleus is of no consequence to beauty or durability.

Pearls can come from either salt or freshwater sources. Typically, saltwater pearls

tend to be higher quality, although there are several types of freshwater pearls that

are considered high in quality as well. Freshwater pearls tend to be very irregular in

shape, with a puffed rice appearance, the most prevalent. Nevertheless, it is each

individual pearl’s merits that determines value more than the source of the pearl.

Saltwater pearl oysters are usually cultivated in protected lagoons or volcanic atolls.

However, most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China. Cultured

pearls are the response of the shell to a tissue implant. A tiny piece of mantle tissue

from a donor shell is transplanted into a recipient shell. This graft will form a pearl

sac and the tissue will precipitate calcium carbonate into this pocket. There are a

number of options for producing cultured pearls: use freshwater or seawater shells,

transplant the graft into the mantle or the gonad, add a spherical bead or do it

non-beaded. The majority of saltwater cultured pearls are grown with beads.

Regardless of the method used to acquire a pearl, the process usually takes

several years. Mussels must reach a mature age, which can take up to 3 years, and

then be implanted or naturally receive an irritant. Once the irritant is in place, it can

take up to another 3 years for the pearl to reach its full size. Often, the irritant may be

rejected, the pearl will terrifically misshapen, or the oyster may simply die from

disease or countless other complications. By the end of a 5 to 10-year cycle, only

50% of the oysters will have survived. And of the pearls produced, only

approximately 5% are of substantial quality for top jewellery makers. From the

outset, a pearl farmer can figure on spending over $100 for every oyster that is

farmed, of which many will produce nothing or die.

Imitation pearls are a different story altogether. In most cases, a glass bead is

dipped into a solution made from fish scales. This coating is thin and may eventually

wear off. One can usually tell an imitation by biting on it. Fake pearls glide across

your teeth, while the layers of nacre on real pearls feel gritty. The Island of Mallorca

(in Spain) is known for its imitation pearl industry. Quality natural pearls are very rare

jewels. The actual value of a natural pearl is determined in the same way as it would

be for other “precious” gems. The valuation factors include size, shape, and colour,

quality of surface, orient, and lustre. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable

than natural pearls, whereas imitation pearls almost have no value. One way that

jewellers can determine whether a pearl is cultured or natural is to have a gem lab

perform an x-ray of the pearl. If the x-ray reveals a nucleus, the pearl is likely a

bead-nucleated saltwater pearl. If no nucleus is present, but irregular and small dark

inner spots indicating a cavity are visible, combined with concentric rings of organic

substance, the pearl is likely a cultured freshwater. Cultured freshwater pearls can

often be confused for natural pearls which present as homogeneous pictures that

continuously darken toward the surface of the pearl. Natural pearls will often show

larger cavities where organic matter has dried out and decomposed. Although

imitation pearls look the part, they do not have the same weight or smoothness as

real pearls, and their luster will also dim greatly. Among cultured pearls, Akoya

pearls from Japan are some of the most lustrous. A good quality necklace of 40

Akoya pearls measuring 7 mm in diameter sells for about $1,500, while a super-

high-quality strand sells for about $4,500. Size, on the other hand, has to do with the

age of the oyster that created the pearl (the more mature oysters produce larger

pearls) and the location in which the pearl was cultured. The South Sea waters of

Australia tend to produce the larger pearls; probably because the water along the

coastline is supplied with rich nutrients from the ocean floor. Also, the type of mussel

common to the area seems to possess a predilection for producing comparatively

large pearls.

Historically, the world’s best pearls came from the Persian Gulf, especially around

what is now Bahrain. The pearls of the Persian Gulf were naturally created and

collected by breath-hold divers. The secret to the special lustre of Gulf pearls

probably derived from the unique mixture of sweet and saltwater around the island.

Unfortunately, the natural pearl industry of the Persian Gulf ended abruptly in the

early 1930s with the discovery of large deposits of oil. Those who once dove for

pearls sought prosperity in the economic boom ushered in by the oil industry. The

water pollution resulting from spilt oil and indiscriminate over-fishing of oysters

essentially ruined the once pristine pearl-producing waters of the Gulf. Today, pearl

diving is practised only as a hobby. Still, Bahrain remains one of the foremost trading

centres for high-quality pearls. In fact, cultured pearls are banned from the Bahrain

pearl market, in an effort to preserve the location’s heritage. Nowadays, the largest

stock of natural pearls probably resides in India. Ironically, much of India’s stock of

natural pearls came originally from Bahrain. Unlike Bahrain, which has essentially

lost its pearl resource, traditional pearl fishing is still practised on a small scale in

India.

Questions 14-17

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

ancient stories around the pearl and customers
Difficulties in the cultivating process.
Factors can decide the value of natural pearls.
Different growth mechanisms that distinguish the cultured pearls from natural ones.

Questions 18 – 23

Complete the summary below.

Choose a letter from A-K for each answer. Write them in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.

In ancient history, pearls have great importance within the rich and rulers, which was treated as a gem for women in 18……………….. And pearls were even used as medicine and sex drug for people in 19……………….. There are essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. Most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China while the 20……………….. is famous for its imitation pearl industry. The country 21…………………… usually manufactures some of the glitteriest cultured ones while the nation such as 22……………….. produces the larger sized pearl due to the favourable environment along the coastline. In the past, one country of 23 ……………….. in the Gulf produced the world’s best pearls. Nowadays, the maJor remaining suppliers of the natural pearls belong to India

America
Ancient Rome
Australia
Bahrain
China
Japan
India
Korea
Mexico
Persia
Spain

Questions 24 – 27

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

In boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE, if the statement is true
FALSE, if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN, if the information is not given in the passage

Often cultured pearl’s centre is significantly larger than in a natural pearl.
Cultivated cultured pearls are generally valued the same as natural ones.
The size of pearls produced in Japan is usually of a smaller size than those who came from Australia.
Akoya pearls from Japan Glows more deeply than the South Sea pearls of Australia

Answers: Reading Passage 2

Answer: A

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 1

Answer explanation: The entire sentence has been paraphrased here. In the passage, it states that “Throughout history, pearls have held a unique presence within the wealthy and powerful.” Therefore, this complete passage discusses ancient stories of the Roman empire, Orient and Persian Empire, and American Indian thereby conveying the importance of pearl.

Answer: E

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 5

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, this entire paragraph is dedicated to the production of cultivated pearls. It is paraphrased from the line, “by the end of a 5 to 10-year cycle, only 50% of the oysters will have survived. And of the pearls produced, only approximately 5% are of substantial quality for top jewellery makers.” Here, the term “only 50% survives” suggests this passage discusses the difficulties of cultivating process.

Answer:F

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 6

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “the actual value of a natural pearl is determined in the same way as it would be for other “precious” gems. The valuation factors include size, shape, and colour, quality of surface, orient, and lustre. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls.” This confirms that this passage discusses the variety of factors that determine the value of the pearl.

Answer:C

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “the only difference between natural pearls and cultured pearls is that the irritant is a surgically implanted bead or piece of shell called Mother of Pearl.” This confirms that this passage discusses different types of growth mechanisms that distinguish cultured pearls from natural ones.

Answer:B

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 3

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line “Roman women wore pearls to bed so they could be reminded of their wealth immediately upon waking up. Before jewellers learned to cut gems, the pearl was of greater value than the diamond.” Here, this line confirms that pearls were gems for Ancient Roman women.

Answer:J

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 5

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “in the Orient and Persia Empire, pearls were ground into powders to cure anything from heart disease to epilepsy, with possible aphrodisiac uses as well.” Confirms that it was the people of Persia who used pearl powder as medicine.

Answer:K

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 4

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line “the Island of Mallorca (in Spain) is known for its imitation pearl industry.” Here, this line confirms that Spain is famous for its imitation pearl industry.

Answer:F

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 4

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line“Akoya pearls from Japan are some of the most lustrous. A good quality necklace of 40 Akoya pearls measuring 7 mm in diameter .” This line confirms that it is Japan the country that usually manufactures some of the glitteriest cultured pearls.

Answer:C

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, 3rd last line

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, the last part of the paragraph is dedicated to the large size pearls. It is also clear from the line, “the South Sea waters of Australia tend to produce the larger pearls; probably because the water along the coastline is supplied with rich nutrients from the ocean floor.” Here, the word water along the coastline is supplied with rich nutrients has been paraphrased in the question as favorable environmental conditions along the coastline.

Answer:D

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “historically, the world’s best pearls came from the Persian Gulf, especially around what is now Bahrain.” Confirms that the country of Bahrain produces the world’s best pearls.

Answer:TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 3

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, this entire paragraph is dedicated to the production difference between natural and cultivated pearls. It is paraphrased from the line, “the only difference between natural pearls and cultured pearls is that the irritant is a surgically implanted bead or piece of shell called Mother of Pearl. The resulting core is, therefore, much larger than in a natural pearl.” Here, the term “much larger than natural pearl” suggests that it’s true that cultivated pearls’ centres are larger than natural pearls.

Answer:FALSE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 9

Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph mentions that “in general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls, whereas imitation pearls almost have no value.” Therefore, we can deduce that cultivated pearls are not valued the same as natural pearls.

Answer:TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, 5th last line

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, the last part of the paragraph is dedicated to pearls sizes. It is also clear from the line, “Akoya pearls from Japan are some of the most lustrous. A good-quality necklace of 40 Akoya pearls measuring 7 mm in diameter sells for about $1,500, while a super- high-quality strand sells for about $4,500. Size, on the other hand, has to do with the age of the oyster that created the pearl (the more mature oysters produce larger pearls) and the location in which the pearl was cultured. The South Sea waters of Australia tend to produce the larger pearls.” Here, these lines from the passage confirm that size of pearls in Japan is usually smaller than the one that came from Australia.

Answer:TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 12

Answer explanation: In the given paragraph a line claims that “among cultured pearls, Akoya pearls from Japan are some of the most lustrous.” Akoya pearls are some of the most lustrous and not the lustrous amongst all. So we don’t know whether it glittered more than Australian pearls or not. No such comparison is given in the passage. So it is NOT GIVEN

Reading Passage 3

Scent of Success

Innovation and entrepreneurship, in the right mix, can bring spectacular results

and propel a business ahead of the pack. Across a diverse range of commercial

successes, from the Hills Hoist clothesline to the Cochlear ear implant, it is hard to

generalize beyond saying the creators tapped into something consumers could not

wait to get their hands on. However, most ideas never make it to the market. Some

ideas that innovators are spruiking to potential investors include new water-saving

showerheads, a keyless locking system, ping-pong balls that keep pollution out of

rainwater tanks, making teeth grow from stem cells inserted in the gum, and

technology to stop LPG tanks from exploding. Grant Kearney, chief executive of the

Innovation Xchange, which connects businesses to innovation networks, says he

hears of great business ideas that he knows will never get on the market. “Ideas by

themselves are absolutely useless,” he says. “An idea only becomes an innovation

when it is connected to the right resources and capabilities.”

One of Australia’s latest innovation successes stems from a lemon-scented

bath-room cleaner called Shower Power, the formula for which was concocted in a

factory in Yatala, Queensland. In 1995, Tom Quinn and John Heron bought a

struggling cleaning products business, OzKleen, for 250,000. It was selling 100

different kinds of cleaning products, mainly in bulk. The business was in bad shape,

the cleaning formulas were ineffective and environmentally harsh, and there were

few regular clients. Now Shower Power is claimed to be the top-selling bathroom

cleaning product in the country. In the past 12 months, almost four million bottles of

OzKleen’s Power products have been sold and the company forecasts 2004 sales of

10 million bottles. The company’s sales in 2003 reached $11 million, with 700k of

business being exported. In particular, Shower Power is making big inroads on the

British market.

OzKleen’s turnaround began when Quinn and Heron hired an industrial chemist to

revitalize the product line. Market research showed that people were looking for a

better cleaner for the bathroom, universally regarded as the hardest room in the

home to clean. The company also wanted to make the product formulas more

environmentally friendly. One of Tom Quinn’s sons, Peter, aged 24 at the time, began

working with the chemist on the formulas, looking at the potential for citrus-based

cleaning products. He detested all the chlorine-based cleaning products that

dominated the market. “We didn’t want to use chlorine, simple as that,” he says. “It

offers bad working conditions and there’s no money in it.” Peter looked at citrus

ingredients, such as orange peel, to replace the petroleum by-products in cleaners.

He is credited with finding the Shower Power formula. “The head,” he says. The

company is the recipe is in a vault somewhere and my sole owner of the intellectual

property.

To begin with, Shower Power was sold only in commercial quantities but Tom

Quinn decided to sell it in 750ml bottles after the constant “raves” from customers at

their retail store at Beenleigh, near Brisbane. Customers were travelling long

distances to buy supplies. Others began writing to OzKleen to say how good Shower

Power was. “We did a dummy label and went to see Woolworths,” Tom Quinn says.

The Woolworths buyer took a bottle home and was able to remove a stain from her

basin that had been impossible to shift. From that point on, she championed the

product and OzKleen had its first super¬market order, for a palette of Shower Power

worth $3000. “We were over the moon,” says OzKleen’s financial controller, Belinda

McDonnell.

Shower Power was released in Australian supermarkets in 1997 and became the

top-selling product in its category within six months. It was all hands on deck at the

factory, labelling and bottling Shower Power to keep up with demand. OzKleen

ditched all other products and rebuilt the business around Shower Power. This stage,

recalls McDonnell, was very tough. “It was hand-to-mouth, cash flow was very

difficult,” she says. OzKleen had to pay new-line fees to supermarket chains, which

also squeezed margins.

OzKleen’s next big break came when the daughter of a Coles Myer executive 1

used the product while on holidays in Queensland and convinced her father that

Shower Power should be in Coles supermarkets. Despite the product success, Peter

Quinn says the company was wary of how long the sales would last and hesitate to

spend money on upgrading the manufacturing process. As a result, he remembers

long periods of working around the clock to keep up with orders. Small tanks were

still being used so batches were small and bottles were labelled and filled manually.

The privately-owned OzKleen relied on cash-flow to expand. “The equipment could

not keep up with demand,” Peter Quinn says. Eventually, a new bottling machine

was bought for $50,000 in the hope of streamlining production, but he says: “We got

ripped off.” Since then he has been developing a new automated bottling machine

that can control the amount of foam produced in the liquid so that bottles can be

filled more effectively – “I love coming up with new ideas.” The machine is being

patented.

Peter Quinn says OzKleen’s approach to research and development is open

slather. “If I need it, I get me it. It is about doing something simple that no one else is

doing. Most of these things are just sitting in front of people … it’s just seeing the

opportunities.” With a tried and tested product, OzKleen is expanding overseas and

developing more Power-brand household products. Tom Quinn, who previously ran a

real estate agency, says: “We are competing with the same market all over the world;

the (cleaning) products are sold everywhere.” Shower Power, known as Bath Power

in Britain, was launched four years ago with the help of an export development grant

from the Federal Government. “We wanted to do it straight away because we

realized we had the same opportunities worldwide.” OzKleen is already number

three in the British market, and the next stop is France. The Power range includes

cleaning products for carpets, kitchens, and pre-wash stain removal. The Quinn and

Heron families are still involved. OzKleen has been approached with offers to buy

the company, but Tom Quinn says he is happy with things as they are. “We’re having

too much fun.”

Questions 28-34

Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A—G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-G, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

Description of one family member persuading another of selling cleaning products
An account of the cooperation of all factory staff to cope with a sales increase
An account of the creation of the formula of Shower Power
An account of buying the original OzKleen company
Description of Shower Power’s international expansion
The reason for changing the packaging size of Shower Power
An example of some innovative ideas

Questions 35 – 38

Look at the following people and list of statements below.

Match each person with the correct statement

Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.

Grant Keamey
Tom Quinn
PeterQuinn
BelindaMcDonnell

List of statement

A. Described his story of selling his product to a chain store

B. Explained there was a shortage of money when sales suddenly increased

C. Believe innovations need support to succeed

D. Believes new products like Shower Power may incur risks

E. Says business won’t succeed with innovations

Questions 39 – 40

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

Write your answers in boxes 12-13 on your answer sheet.

39. Tom Quinn changed the bottle size to 750ml to make Shower Power

A. Easier to package.

B. Appealing to individual customers.

C. Popular in foreign markets.

D. Attractive to supermarkets.

40. Why did Tom Quinn decide not to sell OzKleen?

A. No one wanted to buy OzKleen.

B. New products were being developed in OzKleen.

C. He couldn’t make an agreement on the price with the buyer.

D. He wanted to keep things unchanged.