IELTS Academic Reading Sample 70

Urban planning in Singapore

British merchants established a trading post in Singapore in the early nineteenth century, and for more than a century trading interests dominated. However, in 1965 the newly independent island state was cut off from its hinterland, and so it set about pursuing a survival strategy. The good international communications it already enjoyed provided a useful base, but it was decided that if Singapore was to secure its economic future, it must develop its industry. To this end, new institutional structures were needed to facilitate, develop, and control foreign investment. One of the most important of these was the Economic Development Board (EDB), an arm of government that developed strategies for attracting investment. Thus from the outset, the Singaporean government was involved in city promotion.

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the government realised that, due to limits on both the size of the country’s workforce and its land area, its labour-intensive industries were becoming increasingly uncompetitive. So an economic committee was established which concluded that Singapore should focus on developing as a service centre, and seek to attract company headquarters to serve South East Asia, and develop tourism, banking, and offshore activities. The land required for this service-sector orientation had been acquired in the early 1970s, when the government realised that it lacked the banking infrastructure for a modern economy. So a new banking and corporate district, known as the ‘Golden Shoe’, was planned, incorporating the historic commercial area. This district now houses all the major companies and various government financial agencies.

Singapore’s current economic strategy is closely linked to land use and development planning. Although it is already a major city, the current development plan seeks to ensure Singapore’s continued economic growth through restructuring, to ensure that the facilities needed by future business are planned now. These include transport and telecommunication infrastructure, land, and environmental quality. A major concern is to avoid congestion in the central area, and so the latest plan deviates from previous plans by having a strong decentralisation policy. The plan makes provision for four major regional centres, each serving 800,000 people, but this does not mean that the existing central business district will not also grow. A major extension planned around Marina Bay draws on examples of other ‘world cities’, especially those with waterside central areas such as Sydney and San Francisco. The project involves major land reclamation of 667 hectares in total. Part of this has already been developed as a conference and exhibition zone, and the rest will be used for other facilities. However the need for vitality has been recognised and a mixed zoning approach has been adopted, to include housing and entertainment.

One of the new features of the current plan is a broader conception of what contributes to economic success. It encompasses high quality residential provision, a good environment, leisure facilities and exciting city life. Thus there is more provision for low-density housing, often in waterfront communities linked to beaches and recreational facilities. However, the lower housing densities will put considerable pressure on the very limited land available for development, and this creates problems for another of the plan’s aims, which is to stress environmental quality. More and more of the remaining open area will be developed, and the only natural landscape surviving will be a small zone in the centre of the island which serves as a water catchment area. Environmental policy is therefore very much concerned with making the built environment more green by introducing more plants – what is referred to as the ‘beautification’ of Singapore. The plan focuses on green zones defining the boundaries of settlements, and running along transport corridors. The incidental green provision within housing areas is also given considerable attention.

Much of the environmental provision, for example golf courses, recreation areas, and beaches, is linked to the prime objective of attracting business. The plan places much emphasis on good leisure provision and the need to exploit Singapore’s island setting. One way of doing this is through further land reclamation, to create a whole new island devoted to leisure and luxury housing which will stretch from the central area to the airport. A current concern also appears to be how to use the planning system to create opportunities for greater spontaneity: planners have recently given much attention to the concept of the 24-hour city and the cafe society. For example, a promotion has taken place along the Singapore river to create a cafe zone. This has included the realisation, rather late in the day, of the value of retaining older buildings, and the creation of a continuous riverside promenade. Since the relaxation in 1996 of strict guidelines on outdoor eating areas, this has become an extremely popular area in the evenings. Also, in 1998 the Urban Redevelopment Authority created a new entertainment area in the centre of the city which they are promoting as ‘the city’s one-stop, dynamic entertainment scene’.

In conclusion, the economic development of Singapore has been very consciously centrally planned, and the latest strategy is very clearly oriented to establishing Singapore as a leading ‘world city’. It is well placed to succeed, for a variety of reasons. It can draw upon its historic roots as a world trading centre; it has invested heavily in telecommunications and air transport infrastructure; it is well located in relation to other Asian economies; it has developed a safe and clean environment; and it has utilised the international language of English.

Question 14-19

Complete the summary below using words from the box.

Singapore

When Singapore became an independent, self-sufficient state it decided to build up its 14 ......................., and government organisations were created to support this policy. However, this initial plan met with limited success due to a shortage of 15 ....................... and land. It was therefore decided to develop the 16 ....................... sector of the economy instead.

Singapore is now a leading city, but planners are working to ensure that its economy continues to grow. In contrast to previous policies, there is emphasis on 17 ....................... . In addition, land will be recovered to extend the financial district, and provide 18 ....................... as well as housing. The government also plans to improve the quality of Singapore’s environment, but due to the shortage of natural landscapes it will concentrate instead on what it calls 19 ....................... .

decentralisation    fuel          industry                      industry

hospitals                 loans          deregulation              service

trade                   transport entertainment     recycling

labour                   tourism          hygiene                     beautification

agriculture

     

Question 20-26

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 70?

In 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.

20.  After 1965, the Singaporean government switched the focus of the island’s economy.

a) ........................................................................................

21.  The creation of Singapore’s financial centre was delayed while a suitable site was found.

a) ........................................................................................

22.  Singapore’s four regional centres will eventually be the same size as its central business district.

a) ........................................................................................

23.  Planners have modelled new urban developments on other coastal cities.

a) ........................................................................................

24.  Plants and trees are amongst the current priorities for Singapore’s city planners.

a) ........................................................................................

25.  The government has enacted new laws to protect Singapore’s old buildings.

a) ........................................................................................

26.  Singapore will find it difficult to compete with leading cities in other parts of the world.

a) ........................................................................................

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 69

Light pollution

Light Pollution is a threat to Wildlife, Safety and the Starry Sky

A

After hours of driving south in the pitch-black darkness of the Nevada desert, a dome of hazy gold suddenly appears on the horizon. Soon, a road sign confirms the obvious: Las Vegas 30 miles. Looking skyward, you notice that the Big Dipper is harder to find than it was an hour ago.

B

Light pollution—the artificial light that illuminates more than its intended target area—has become a problem of increasing concern across the country over the past 15 years. In the suburbs, where over-lit shopping mall parking lots are the norm, only 200 of the Milky Way’s 2,500 stars are visible on a clear night. Even fewer can be seen from large cities. In almost every town, big and small, street lights beam just as much light up and out as they do down, illuminating much more than just the street. Almost 50 percent of the light emanating from street lamps misses its intended target, and billboards, shopping centers, private homes and skyscrapers are similarly over-illuminated.

C

America has become so bright that in a satellite image of the United States at night, the outline of the country is visible from its lights alone. The major cities are all there, in bright clusters: New York, Boston, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago—and, of course, Las Vegas. Mark Adams, superintendent of the McDonald Observatory in west Texas, says that the very fact that city lights are visible from on high is proof of their wastefulness. “When you’re up in an airplane, all that light you see on the ground from the city is wasted. It’s going up into the night sky. That’s why you can see it.”

D

But don’t we need all those lights to ensure our safety? The answer from light engineers, light pollution control advocates and astronomers is an emphatic “no.” Elizabeth Alvarez of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), a non-profit organization in Tucson, Arizona, says that overly bright security lights can actually force neighbours to close the shutters, which means that if any criminal activity does occur on the street, no one will see it. And the old assumption that bright lights deter crime appears to have been a false one: A new Department of Justice report concludes that there is no documented correlation between the level of lighting and the level of crime in an area. And contrary to popular belief, more crimes occur in broad daylight than at night.

E

For drivers, light can actually create a safety hazard. Glaring lights can temporarily blind drivers, increasing the likelihood of an accident. To help prevent such accidents, some cities and states prohibit the use of lights that impair night-time vision. For instance, New Hampshire law forbids the use of “any light along a highway so positioned as to blind or dazzle the vision of travellers on the adjacent highway.”

F

Badly designed lighting can pose a threat to wildlife as well as people. Newly hatched turtles in Florida move toward beach lights instead of the more muted silver shimmer of the ocean. Migrating birds, confused by lights on skyscrapers, broadcast towers and lighthouses, are injured, sometimes fatally, after colliding with high, lighted structures. And light pollution harms air quality as well: Because most of the country’s power plants are still powered by fossil fuels, more light means more air pollution.

G

So what can be done? Tucson, Arizona is taking back the night. The city has one of the best lighting ordinances in the country, and, not coincidentally, the highest concentration of observatories in the world. Kitt Peak National Optical Astronomy Observatory has 24 telescopes aimed skyward around the city’s perimeter, and its cadre of astronomers needs a dark sky to work with.

H

For a while, that darkness was threatened. “We were totally losing the night sky,” Jim Singleton of Tucson’s Lighting Committee told Tulsa, Oklahoma’s KOTV last March. Now, after retrofitting inefficient mercury lighting with low-sodium lights that block light from “trespassing” into unwanted areas like bedroom windows, and by doing away with some unnecessary lights altogether, the city is softly glowing rather than brightly beaming. The same thing is happening in a handful of other states, including Texas, which just passed a light pollution bill last summer. “Astronomers can get what they need at the same time that citizens get what they need: safety, security and good visibility at night,” says McDonald Observatory’s Mark Adams, who provided testimony at the hearings for the bill.

I

And in the long run, everyone benefits from reduced energy costs. Wasted energy from inefficient lighting costs us between $1 and $2 billion a year, according to IDA. The city of San Diego, which installed new, high-efficiency street lights after passing a light pollution law in 1985, now saves about $3 million a year in energy costs.

J

Legislation isn’t the only answer to light pollution problems. Brian Greer, Central Ohio representative for the Ohio Light Pollution Advisory Council, says that education is just as important, if not more so. “There are some special situations where regulation is the only fix,” he says. “But the vast majority of bad lighting is simply the result of not knowing any better.” Simple actions like replacing old bulbs and fixtures with more efficient and better-designed ones can make a big difference in preserving the night sky.

*The Big Dipper: a group of seven bright stars visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

Question 1-5

The first six paragraphs of Reading Passage 69 are lettered A-F.

Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs A-F from the list of headings below.

NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.

List of Headings

i       Why lights are needed    

ii      Lighting discourages law breakers

iii     The environmental dangers

iv     People at risk from bright lights     

v      Illuminating space    

vi     A problem lights do not solve

vii   Seen from above

viii  More light than is necessary

 ix   Approaching the city

Example                            Answer

Paragraph A                       ix (Approaching the city)

1.  Paragraph B     ..................................

2.  Paragraph C     ..................................

3.  Paragraph D    ..................................

4.  Paragraph E     ..................................

5.  Paragraph F     ..................................

Question 6-9

Complete each of the following statements with words taken from the passage.

Write ONE or TWO WORDS for each answer.

6.   According to a recent study, well-lit streets do not .......................... or make neighbourhoods safer to live in.

7.   Inefficient lighting increases .......................... because most electricity is produced from coal, gas or oil.

8.   Efficient lights .......................... from going into areas where it is not needed.

9.   In dealing with light pollution .......................... is at least as important as passing new laws.

Questions 10-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 69?

In boxes 8-13 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

10.   One group of scientists find their observations are made more difficult by bright lights.  

11.   It is expensive to reduce light pollution.  

12.   Many countries are now making light pollution illegal.  

13.   Old types of light often cause more pollution than more modern ones. 

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 68

The People of Corn

Maize is Mexico’s lifeblood – the country’s history and identity are entwined with it. But this centuries-old relationship is now threatened by free trade. Laura Carlsen investigates the threat and profiles a growing activist movement.

On a mountain top in southern Mexico, Indian families gather. They chant and sprinkle cornmeal in consecration, praying for the success of their new crops, the unity of their communities and the health of their families. In this village in Oaxaca people eat corn tamales, sow maize plots and teach children to care for the plant. The cultural rhythms of this community, its labours, rituals and celebrations will be defined – as they have been for millennia – by the lifecycle of corn. Indeed, if it weren’t for the domestication of teocintle (the ancestor of modern maize) 9,000 years ago mesoamerican civilization could never have developed. In the Mayan sacred book, the Popol Vuh, the gods create people out of cornmeal. The ‘people of corn’ flourished and built one of the most remarkable cultures in human history.

But in Mexico and Central America today maize has come under attack. As a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Mexico has been flooded with imported corn from north of the border in the US. The contamination of native varieties with genetically modified imported maize could have major consequences for Mexican campesinos (farmers), for local biodiversity and for the world’s genetic reserves.

A decade ago Mexican bureaucrats and business people had it all figured out. NAFTA would drive ‘uncompetitive’ maize farmers from the countryside to work in booming assembly factories across the country. Their standard of living would rise as the cost of providing services like electricity and water to scattered rural communities would fall. Best of all, cheap imported maize from the US – the world’s most efficient and most heavily subsidized producer – would be a benefit to Mexican consumers.

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. There weren’t quite enough of those factory jobs and the ones that did materialize continued to be along the US border, not further in Mexico. And despite a huge drop in the price farmers received for their corn, consumers often ended up paying more. The price of tortillas – the country’s staple food – rose nearly fivefold as the Government stopped domestic subsidies and giant agribusiness firms took over the market. Free trade defenders like Mexico’s former Under-Secretary of Agriculture Luis Tellez suggest: ‘It’s not that NAFTA failed, it’s just that reality didn’t turn out the way we planned it.’ Part of that reality was that the Government did nothing to help campesinos in the supposed transition. Nor did NAFTA recognize inequalities or create compensation funds to help the victims of free trade – unlike what occurred with economic integration in the European Union.

Basically, Mexico adopted a sink-or-swim policy for small farmers, opening the floodgates to tons of imported US corn. Maize imports tripled under NAFTA and producer prices fell by half. The drop in income immediately hit the most vulnerable and poorest members of rural society. While more than a third of the corn grown by small farmers is used to feed their families, the rest is sold on local markets. Without this critical cash, rural living standards plunged.

Maize is at the heart of indigenous and campesino identity. José Carrillo de la Cruz, a Huichol Indian from northern Jalisco, describes that relationship: ‘Corn is the force, the life and the strength of the Huichol. If there were a change, if someone from outside patented our corn, it would end our life and existence.’

The good news is that the free-trade threat to Mexico’s culture and food security has sparked a lively resistance. ‘In Defence of Corn’, a movement to protect local maize varieties, is not a membership organization but a series of forums and actions led by campesinos themselves. It’s a direct challenge to both free trade and the dictums of corporate science.

The farmers’ tenacity and refusal to abandon the crop of their ancestors is impressive. But larger economic conditions continue to shape their lives. Rural poverty and hunger have soared under free trade – and placed a heavier burden on women left to work the land. The battle for food sovereignty continues. Movement leaders insist that the Government reassess its free trade policies and develop a real rural development programme.

Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 68?

In boxes 1-5 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

1.   After NAFTA, a lot of corn from the USA has been sold in Mexico.  

2.   Following NAFTA, Mexican business people tried to stop maize farmers from working in factories throughout the country.  

3.   The Mexican farmers were paid a lot less for their corn after NAFTA.  

4.   Many Mexican farmers wanted to leave Mexico after the Free Trade Agreement.  

5.   The Mexican farmers were not able to do anything to help themselves after the Trade Agreement. 

Questions 6-10

Complete the summary below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.

For thousands of years, corn has been a very important 6 .................. in the Mexican culture. After the North American Free Trade Agreement, 7 ................. corn has been imported from the USA in very large amounts. Mexican business people hoped that this would mean that Mexican farmers had to get jobs in factories and that their 8 ................ would increase. Instead of this result, the farmers suffered from the low price of corn and people had to pay more for their corn. The farmers wish that the government had 9 ................. them during this time. As a result of the hardship, the farmers have organised themselves by forming a 10 ..................

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 67

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

EDUCATING PSYCHE

Educating Psyche by Bernie Neville is a book which looks at radical new approaches to learning, describing the effects of emotion, imagination and the unconscious on learning. One the theory discussed in the book is that proposed by George Lozanov, which focuses on the power of suggestion.

Lozanov's instructional technique is based on the evidence that the connections made ​​in the brain through unconscious processing (which he calls non-specific mental reactivity) are more durable than those mad through conscious processing. Besides the laboratory evidence for this, we know from our experience that we often remember what we have perceived peripherally, long after we have forgotten what we set out to learn If we think of a book we studied months or years ago, we will find it easier to recall peripheral details -. the colour, the binding , the typeface, the table at the library where we sat while studying it -. than the content on which were concentrating If we think of a lecture we listened to with great concentration, we will recall the lecturer's appearance and mannerisms, our place in the auditorium, the failure of the air-conditioning, much more easily than the ideas we went to learn. even if these peripheral details are a bit elusive, they come back readily in hypnosis or when we relive the event imaginatively, as in psychodrama. The details of the content of the lecture, on the other hand, seem to have gone forever.

This phenomenon can be partly attributed to the common counterproductive approach to study (making extreme efforts to memorize, tensing muscles, inducing fatigue), but it also simply reflects the way the brain functions. Lozanov therefore made ​​indirect instruction (suggestion) central to his teaching system. In suggestopedia, as he called his method, consciousness is shifted away from the curriculum to focus on something peripheral. The curriculum then becomes peripheral and is delta with by the reserve capacity of the brain.

The suggestopedic approach to foreign language learning provides a good illustration. In its most recent variant (1980) it consists of the reading of vocabulary and text while the class is listening to music. The first session is in two parts. In the first part, the music is classical (Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms) and the teacher reads the text slowly and solemnly, with attention to the dynamics of the music. The students follow the text in their books. This is followed by several minutes of silence. In the second part, they listen to baroque music (Bach, Corelli, Handel) while the teacher reads the text in a normal speaking voice During this time they have their books closed During the whole of this session, their attention is passive;.. they listen to the music but make no attempt to learn the material.

Beforehand, the students have been carefully prepared for the language learning experience. Through meeting with the staff and satisfied students they develop expectation that learning will be easy and pleasant and that they will successfully learn several hundred words of the foreign language during the class. In a preliminary talk, the teacher introduce them to the material to be covered, but does not 'teach' it. Likewise, the students are instructed not to try to learn it during this introduction.

Some hours after the two-part session, there is a follow-up class at which the students are stimulated to recall the material presented. Once again the approach is inderect. The students do not focus their attention on trying to remember the vocabulary, but focus on using the language to communicate (eg through games or improvised dramatizations). Such method are not unusual in language teaching. What is distinctive in the suggestopedic method is that they are devote entirely to assisting recall. The 'learning' of the material is assumed to be automatic and effortless, accomplished while listening to music. The teacher's task is to assist the students to apply what they have learned paraconsciously, and in doing so to make it easily accessible to consciousness. Another difference from conventional teaching is the evidence that students can regularly learn 1000 new words of foreign language during a suggestopedic session, as well as grammar and idiom.

Lozanov experimented with teaching by direct suggestion during sleep, hpynossis and trance stages, but found such procedure unnecessary. Hypnosis, yoga, Silva mind-control, religious ceremonies and faith healing are all associated with successful suggestion, but none of their techniques seem to be essential to it. Such rituals may be seen as placebos. Lozanov acknowledges that the ritual surrounding suggestion in hi own system is also a placebo, but maintains that with such a placebo people are unable to or afraid to tap the reserve capacity of their brains. Like any placebo, it must be dispensed with authority to be effective. Just as a doctor calls on the full power of autocratic suggestion by insisting that patient take precisely this white capsule precisely three times a day before meals, Lozanov is categoric in insisting that suggestopedic session be conducted exactly in that manner designated, by trained and accredited suggestopedic teachers.

White suggestopedia has gained some notoiety through success in the teaching of modern languages, few teachers are able to emulate the spectacular results of Lozanov and his associates. We can, perhaps, attribute mediocre results to and inadequate placebo effect. The students have not developed he appropriate mind set. The are often not motivated to learn through this method. They do not have enough 'faith'. They do not see it as 'real teaching', especially as it does not seem to involve the 'work' they have learned to believe is essential to learning.

Questions 27-30

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

Write the correc letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27.   The book Educating Psyche is mainly concerned with

    A the power of suggestion in learningn

    B a partiular technique for leaning based on emotions.

    C the effects of emotion on the imagination and the unconscious.

    D ways of learning which are not traiditonal.

28.   Lozanov's theory claims that, then we try to remember things,

    A unimportant details are the easiest to recall.

    B concentrating hard produces the best results.

    C the most significant facts are most easily recalled.

    D peripheral vision is not important.

29.   In this passge, the author uses the examples of a book and a lecture to illustrate that

    A both these are important for developing concentration.

    B his theory about methods of leanring is valid.

    C reading is a better technique for leanring thant listening.

    D we can remember things more easily under hypnosis.

30.   Lozanov claims that teachers shoudl train students to

    A memorise details of the curriculum.

    B develop their own sets of indirect instructions.

    C think about something other than the curriculum content.

    D avoid overloading the capacity of the brain.

Questions 31-36

Do the following statement agree with the information given in Reading Passage?

In boxes 31-36 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

31.   In the example of suggestopedic teahing int he fourth paragraph, the only variable that chagnes is the music.

32.   Prior to the suggestopedia class, students are made aware that the language experience will be demanding.

33.   In the follow-up class, the teaching activities are similar to those used in conventional classes.

34.   As an indirect benefit, students notice improvements in their memory.

35.  Teachers say they prefer suggestopedia to traditional approaches to language teaching.

36.  Students in a suggestopedia class retain more new vocabulary than those in ordinary classes.

Questions 37-40

Complete the summary using the list of words, A - K, below.

Write the correct letter A -K in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

Sugestopedia uses a less direct method of suggestion thatn other techniques such as hypnosis. However, Lozanov admits that a certain amount of 37.................. is necessary in roder to convince students, even ifthis is just a 38........................ Futhermore, if the method is to succeeed, teachers must follow a set procedure. Although Lozanov's method has become quite 39..................., the result of most other teachers using this method have been 40........................

A.   spectacular

B.   teaching

C.   lesson

D.   authoritarian

E.   unpopular

F.   ritual

G.   unspectacular

H.   placebo

I.   involved

J.   appropriate

K.   well known

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 66

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 66 on the following pages.

Questions 27-33

Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs ( A-H).

Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-H from the list of headings below.

Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.

NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them.

List of Headings

i      Common objections

ii     Who's planning what

iii    This type sells best in the shops

iv    The figures say it all

v     Early trials

vi    They can't get in without these

vii    How does it work?

viii   Fighting fraud

ix    Systems to avoid

x     Accepting the inevitable

Example                                Answer

Paragraph A                               vi

27 Paragraph B

28 Paragraph C

29 Paragraph D

30 Paragraph E

31 Paragraph F

32 Paragraph G

33 Paragraph H

THE KEYLESS SOCIETY

A Students who want to enter the University of Montreal's Athletic Complex need more than just a conventional ID card - their identities must be authenticated by an electronic hand scanner. In some California housing estates, a key alone is insufficient to get someone in the door; his or her /Voiceprinfmust also be verified. And soon, customers at some Japanese banks will have to present their faces for scanning before they can enter the building and withdraw their money.

B

 All of these are applications of biometrics, a little-known but fast-growing technology that involves the use of physical or biological characteristics to identify individuals. In use for more than a decade at some highsecurity government institutions in the United States and Canada, biometrics are now rapidly popping up in the everyctay world. Already, more than 10,000 facilities, from prisons to day-care centres, monitor people's fingerprints or other physical parts to ensure that they are who they claim to be. Some 60 biometric companies around the world pulled in at least $22 million last year and that grand total is expected to mushroom to at least $50 million by 1999.

C

 Biometric security systems operate by storing a digitised record of some unique human feature. When an authorised user wishes to enter or use the facility, the system scans the person's corresponding characteristics and attempts to match them against those on record. Systems using fingerprints, hands, voices, irises, retinas and faces are already on the market. Others using typing patterns and even body odours are in various stages of development.

D

 Fingerprint scanners are currently the most widely deployed type of biometric application, thanks to their growing use over the last 20 years by law-enforcement agencies. Sixteen American states now use biometric fingerprint verification systems to check that people claiming welfare payments are genuine. In June, politicians in Toronto voted to do the same, with a pilot project beginning next year.

E

 To date, the most widely used commercial biometric system is the handkey, a type of hand scanner which reads the unique shape, size and irregularities of people's hands. Originally developed for nuclear power plants, the handkey received its big break when it was used to control access to the Olympic Village in Atlanta by more than 65,000 athletes, trainers and support staff. Now there are scores of other applications.

F

 Around the world, the market is growing rapidly. Malaysia, for example, is preparing to equip all of its airports with biometric face scanners to match passengers with luggage. And Japan's largest maker of cash dispensers is developing new machines that incorporate iris scanner~. The first commercial biometric, a hand reader used by an American firm to monitor employee attendance, was introduced in 1974. But only in the past few years has the technology improved enough for the prices to drop sufficiently to make them commercially viable. 'When we started four years ago, I had to explain to everyone what a biometric is,' says one marketing expert. 'Now, there's much more awareness out there.'

G

 Not surprisingly, biometrics raise thorny questions about privacy and the potential for abuse. Some worry that governments and industry will be tempted to use the technology to monitor individual behaviour. 'If someone used your fingerprints to match your health-insurance records with a credit-card record showing you regularly bought lots of cigarettes and fatty foods,' says one policy analyst, 'you would see your insurance payments go through the roof.' In Toronto, critics of the welfare fingerprint plan complained that it would stigmatise recipients by forcing them to submit to a procedure widely identified with criminals.

H

 Nonetheless, support for biometrics is growing in Toronto as it is in many other communities. In an increasingly crowded and complicated world, biometrics may well be a technology whose time has come.

Questions 34-40

Look at the following groups of people (Questions 34-40) and the list of blol]1etric systems (A-F) below.

Match the groups of people to the biometric system associated with them in Reading Passage 3.  Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes 34-40 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any biometric system more than once.

34.   sports students

35.   Olympic athletes

36.   airline passengers

37.   welfare claimants

38.   business employees

39.   home owners

40.   bank customers

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 65

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 65 on the following pages.

Question 14-20

Reading Passage 65 has seven paragraphs, A-H

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A and C-H from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i      Scientists' call for revision of policy

ii     An explanation for reduced water use

iii    How a global challenge was met

iv    Irrigation systems fall into disuse

 v    Environmental effects

vi    The financial cost of recent technological improvements

vii   The relevance to health

viii  Addressing the concern over increasing populations

ix   A surprising downward trend in demand for water

 x   The need to raise standards

xi   A description of ancient water supplies

14 Paragraph A

15 Paragraph C

16 Paragraph D

17 Paragraph E

18 Paragraph F

19 Paragraph G

20 Paragraph H

MAKING EVERY DROP COUNT

A

The history of human civilization is entwined with the history of ways we have learned to manipulate water resources. As towns gradually expanded, water was brought from increasingly remote sources, leading to sophisticated engineering efforts such as dams and aqueducts. At the height of the Roman Empire, nine major systems, with an innovative layout of pipes and well-built sewers, supplied the occupants of Rome with as much water per person as is provided in many parts of the industrial world today.

B

During the industrial revolution and population explosion of the 19th and 20th centuries, the demand for water rose dramatically. Unprecedented construction of tens of thousands of monumental engineering projects designed to control floods, protect clean water supplies, and provide water for irrigation and hydropower brought great benefits to hundred of millions of people. Food production has kept pace with soaring populations mainly because of the expansion of artificial irrigation system that make possible the growth of 40% of the world's food. Nearly one fifth of all the electricity generated worldwide is produced by turbines spun by the power of falling water.

C

Yet there is a dark side to this picture: despite our progress, half of the world's population till suffers, with water services inferior to those available to the ancient Greeks and Romans. As the United Nations report on access to water reiterated in November 2001, more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water: some two and half billion do not have adequate sanitation services. Preventable water-related diseases kill an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children every day, and the latest evidence suggests that we are falling behind in efforts to solve there problems.

D

The consequences of our water policies extend beyond jeopardizing human health. Tens of millions of people have been forced to move from their homes - often with little warning or compensation - to make way for the reservoirs behind dams. More than 20% of all freshwater fish species are now threatened or endangered because dams and water withdrawals have destroyed the free-flowing river ecosystems where they thrive. Certain irrigation practices degrade soil quality and reduce arigicultural productivity. Groundwater aquifers* are being pumped down faster than they are naturally replenished in partof of India, china, the USA and elwhere. And disputes over shared water resources have led to violence and continue to raise local, national and even international tensions.

E

At the outset of the new millennium, however, the way resource planners think about water is beginning to change. The focus is slowly shifting back to the provision of basic human and environmental needs as top priority - ensuring 'some for all,' instead of 'more for some'. Some water experts are now demanding that existing infrastructure be used in smarter ways rather than building new facilities, which is increasingly considered the option of last, not first, resort. This shift in philosophy has not been universally accepted, and it comes with strong opposition from some established water organizations. Nevertheless, it may be the only way to address successfully the pressing problems of providing everyone with clean water to drink, adequate water to grow food and a life free from preventable water-related illness.

F

Fortunately - and unexpectedly - the demand for water is not rising as rapidly as some predicted. As a result, the pressure to build now water infrastructures has diminished over the past two decades. Although population, industrial output and economic productivity have continued to soar in developed nations, the rate at which people withdraw water from aquifers, rivers and lacks has slowed. And in a few parts of the world, demand has actually fallen.

G

What explains this remarkable turn of events? Two factors: people have figured out how to use water more efficiently, and communities are rethinking their priorities for water use. Throughout the first three-quarters of the 20th century, the quantity of freshwater consumed per person doubled on average; in the USA, water withdrawals increased tenfold while the population quadrupled. But since 1980, the amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased, thanks to a range of new technologies that help to conserve water in homes and industry. In 1965, for instance, Japan used approximately 13 million gallons* of water to produce $1 million of commercial output; by 1989 this had dropped to 3.5 million gallons (even accounting for inflation) - almost a quadrupling of water productivity. In the USA, water withdrawals have fallen by more then 20% from their peak in 1980.

H

On the other hand, dams, aqueducts and other kinds of infrastructure will still have to be built, particularly in developing countries where basic human needs have not been met. But such projects must be built to higher specifications and with more accountability to local people and their environment then in the past. And even in regions where new projects seem warranted, we must find ways to meet demands with fewer resources, respecting ecological criteria and to smaller budget.

Question 21-26

Do the following statement agree with information given in Reading Passage 65:

In boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

21.   Water use per person is higher in the industrial world than it was in Ancient Rome.

22.   Feeding increasing populations is possible due primarily to improved irrigation systems

23.   Modern water systems imitate those of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

24.   Industrial growth is increasing the overall demand for water.

25.   Modern technologies have led to reduction in the domestic water consumption.

26.   In teh future, governments should maintain ownership of water infrastructures.

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 64

Sticking power

Want to walk on the ceiling?

All it takes is a bit of fancy footwork

A 

    If Keilar Autumn, an expert in Biomechanik at Clark College in Portland, Oregon, has his way, the first footprints on Mars won't be human. They'll belong to a gecko. Gecko toes have legendary sticking power - and the Clark College scientist would like to see the next generation of Martian robots walking about on gecko-style feet. A gecko can whiz up the smoothest wall and hang from the ceiling by one foot, with no fear of falling.

B 

    Autumn is one of a long line of researchers who have puzzled over the gecko's gravity-defying footwork. Earlier this year, he and his colleagues discovered that the gecko's toes don't just stick, they bond to the surface beneath them. Engineers are already trying to copy the gecko's technique - but reptilian feet are not the only ones they are interested in.

C

     Some of the most persistent 'hanging' creatures are insects. They can defy not just gravity, but gusts of wind, raindrops and a predator's attempt to prize them loose. Recent discoveries about how they achieve this could lead to the development of quick-release adhesives and miniature grippers, ideal for manipulating microscopic components or holding tiny bits of tissue together during surgery. 'There are lots of ways to make two surfaces stick together, but there are very few which provide precise and reversible attachment,' says Stas Gorb, a biologist in Tübingen, Germany, working on the problem.

D

     Geckos and insects have both perfected ways of doing this, and engineers and scientists would dearly love to know how. Friction certainly plays a part in assisting horizontal movement, but when the animal is running up a slope, climbing vertically or travelling upside down, it needs a more powerful adhesive. Just what that adhesive is has been hotly debated for years. Some people suggested that insects had micro-suckers. Some reckoned they relied on electrostatic forces. Others thought that intermolecular forces between pad and leaf might provide a firm foothold.

E     Most of the evidence suggests that insects rely on 'wet adhesion', hanging on with the help of a thin film of fluid on the bottom of the pad. Insects often leave tiny trails of oily footprints. Some clearly secrete a fluid onto the 'soles' of their feet. And they tend to lose their footing when they have their feet cleaned or dried.

F

     This year, Walter Federle, an entomologist at the University of Würzburg, showed experimentally that an insect's sticking power depends on a thin film of liquid under its feet. He placed an ant on a polished turntable inside the rotor of a centrifuge, and switched it on. At slow speeds, the ant carried on walking unperturbed. But as the scientist slowly increased the speed, the pulling forces grew stronger and the ant stopped dead, legs spread out and all six feet planted firmly on the ground. At higher speeds still, the ant's feet began to slide. 'This can only be explained by the presence of a liquid,' says Federle. 'If the ant relied on some form of dry adhesion, its feet would pop abruptly off the surface once the pull got too strong.'

G

     But the liquid isn't the whole story. What engineers really find exciting about insect feet is the way they make almost perfect contact with the surface beneath. 'Sticking to a perfectly smooth surface is no big deal,' says Gorb. But in nature, even the smoothest-looking surfaces have microscopic lumps and bumps. For a footpad to make good contact, it must follow the contours of the landscape beneath it. Flies, beetles and earwigs have solved the problem with hairy footpads, with hairs that bend like the bristles of a toothbrush to accommodate the troughs below.

H     Gorb has tested dozens of species with this sort of pad to see which had the best stick. Flies resist a pull of three or four times their body weight - perfectly adequate for crossing the ceiling. But beetles can do better and the champion is a small, blue beetle with oversized yellow feet, found in the south-eastern parts of the US.

I 

    Tom Eisner, a chemical ecologist at Cornell University in New York, has been fascinated by this beetle for years. Almost 30 years ago, he suggested that the beetle clung an tight to avoid being picked off by predators - ants in particular. When Eisher measured the beetle's sticking power earlier this year, he found that it can withstand pulling forces of around 80 times its own weight for about two minutes and an astonishing 200 times its own weight for shorter periods. 'The ants give up because the beetle holds on longer than they can be bothered to attack it,' he says.

J 

    Whatever liquid insects rely on, the gecko seems able to manage without it. No one knows quite why the gecko needs so much sticking power. 'It seems overbuilt for the job,' says Autumn. But whatever the gecko's needs are, its skills are in demand by humans. Autumn and his colleagues in Oregon have already helped to create a robot that walks like a gecko. Mecho-Gecko, a robot built by iRobot of Massachusetts, walks like a lizard - rolling its toes down and peeling them up again. At the moment, though, it has to make do with balls of glue to give it stick. The next step is to try to reproduce the hairs on a gecko's toes and create a robot with the full set of gecko skills. Then we could build robots with feet that stick without glue, clean themselves and work just as well underwater as in the vacuum of space, or crawling over the dusty landscape of Mars.

Questions 14-18

You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 2.  Look at the following statements (Questions 14-18) and the list of scientists below.

Match each statement with the correct scientist A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

List of Scientists

A     Kellar Autumn

B     Stas Gorb

C     Walter Federte

D     Tom Eisher

14.   Some insects use their ability to stick to surfaces as a way of defending themselves.

15.   What makes sticky insect feet special is the fact that they can also detach themselves easily from a surface.

16.   Gecko feet seem to be stickier than they need to be.

17.   A robot with gecko-style feet would be ideal for exploring other planets.

18.   Evidence shows that in order to stick, insect feet have to be wet.

Questions 19-22

Reading Passage 2 has ten paragraphs A-J.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-J in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.

19.   some of the practical things a gecko-style adhesive could be used for

20.   a description of a test involving an insect in motion

21.   three different theories scientists have had about how insect feet stick

22.   examples of remarkable gecko movements

Questions 23-26

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-G below.

Write the correct Ietter A-G in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

A stick to surfaces in and out of water.

B curl up and down.

C are washed and dried.

D resist a pull of three times their body weight.

E start to slip across the surface.

F leave yellow footprints.

G have hairy footpads.

23.   Insect feet lose their sticking power when they

24.   If you put ants on a rapidly rotating object, their feet

25.   Beetles can stick to uneven surfaces because they

26.   The toes on robots like Mecho-Gecko

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 63

Question 27-33

Reading Passage 63 has nine paragraphs, labelled A–I.

Which paragraphs contain the following information?

27. an example of a food which particularly benefits from the addition of spices.

a) ........................................................................................

28. a range of methods for making food safer to eat.

a) ........................................................................................

29. a comparison between countries with different climate types.

a) ........................................................................................

30.  an explanation of how people first learned to select appropriate spices.

a) ........................................................................................

31. a method of enhancing the effectiveness of individual spices.

a) ........................................................................................

32. the relative effectiveness of certain spices against harmful organisms.

a) ........................................................................................

33. the possible origins of a dislike for unspiced foods.

a)      ........................................................................................

Question 34-39

Answer the questions below with words taken from Reading Passage 63.

Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer

34. According to the writers, what might the use of spices in cooking help people to avoid?

a) ........................................................................................

35. What proportion of bacteria in food do four of the spices tested destroy?

a) ........................................................................................

36. Which food often contains a spice known as ‘quatre epices’?

a) ........................................................................................

37. Which types of country use the fewest number of spices in cooking?

a) ........................................................................................

38. What might food aversions often be associated with?

a) ........................................................................................

39. Apart from spices, which substance is used in all countries to preserve food?

a)      ........................................................................................

        

Question 40

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

40. Which is the best title for Reading Passage 63?

A. The function of spices in food preparation

B.  A history of food preservation techniques

C.  Traditional recipes from around the world

D.  An analysis of the chemical properties of spice plants

A. Spice plants, such as coriander, cardamom or ginger, contain compounds which, when added to food, give it a distinctive flavour. Spices have been used for centuries in the preparation of both meat dishes for consumption and meat dishes for long-term storage. However, an initial analysis of traditional meat-based recipes indicated that spices are not used equally in different countries and regions, so we set about investigating global patterns of spice use.

B. We hypothesized initially that the benefit of spices might lie in their anti-microbial properties. Those compounds in spice plants which give them their distinctive flavours probably first evolved to fight enemies such as plant-eating insects, fungi, and bacteria. Many of the organisms which afflict spice plants attack humans too, in particular the bacteria and fungi that live on and in dead plant and animal matter. So if spices kill these organisms, or inhibit their production of toxins1, spice use in food might reduce our own chances of contracting food poisoning.

C. The results of our investigation supported this hypothesis. In common with other researchers, we found that all spices for which we could locate appropriate information have some antibacterial effects: half inhibit more than 75% of bacteria, and four (garlic, onion, allspice and oregano) inhibit 100% of those bacteria tested. In addition, many spices are powerful fungicides.

D.  Studies also show that when combined, spices exhibit even greater anti-bacterial properties than when each is used alone. This is interesting because the food recipes we used in our sample specify an average of four different spices. Some spices are so frequently combined that the blends have acquired special names, such as ‘chili powder’ (typically a mixture of red pepper, onion, paprika, garlic, cumin and oregano) and ‘oriental five spice’ (pepper, cinnamon, anise, fennel and cloves). One intriguing example is the French ‘quatre epices’ (pepper, cloves, ginger and nutmeg) which is often used in making sausages. Sausages are a rich medium for bacterial growth, and have frequently been implicated as the source of death from the botulism toxin, so the value of the anti-bacterial compounds in spices used for sausage preparation is obvious.

E. A second hypothesis we made was that spice use would be heaviest in areas where foods spoil most quickly. Studies indicate that rates of bacterial growth increase dramatically with air temperature. Meat dishes that are prepared in advance and stored at room temperatures for more than a few hours, especially in tropical climates, typically show massive increases in bacterial counts. Of course temperatures within houses, particularly in areas where food is prepared and stored, may differ from those of the outside air, but usually it is even hotter in the kitchen.

F.  Our survey of recipes from around the world confirmed this hypothesis: we found that countries with higher than average temperatures used more spices. Indeed, in hot countries nearly every meat-based recipe calls for at least one spice, and most include many spices, whereas in cooler ones, substantial proportions of dishes are prepared without spices, or with just a few. In other words, there is a significant positive correlation between mean temperature and the average quantity of spices used in cooking.

G. But if the main function of spices is to make food safer to eat, how did our ancestors know which ones to use in the first place? It seems likely that people who happened to add spice plants to meat during preparation, especially in hot climates, would have been less likely to suffer from food poisoning than those who did not. Spice users may also have been able to store foods for longer before they spoiled, enabling them to tolerate longer periods of scarcity. Observation and imitation of the eating habits of these healthier individuals by others could spread spice use rapidly through a society. Also, families that used appropriate spices would rear a greater number of more healthy offspring, to whom spice-use traditions had been demonstrated, and who possessed appropriate taste receptors.

H. Another question which arises is why did people develop a taste for spicy foods? One possibility involves learned taste aversions. It is known that when people eat something that makes them ill, they tend to avoid that taste subsequently. The adaptive value of such learning is obvious. Adding a spice to a food that caused sickness might alter its taste enough to make it palatable again (i.e. it tastes like a different food), as well as kill the micro-organisms that caused the illness, thus rendering it safe for consumption. By this process, food aversions would more often be associated with unspiced (and therefore unsafe) foods, and food likings would be associated with spicy foods, especially in places where foods spoil rapidly. Over time people would have developed a natural preference for spicy food.

I. course, spice use is not the only way to avoid food poisoning. Cooking, and completely consuming wild game immediately after slaughter reduces opportunities for the growth of micro-organisms. However, this is practical only where fresh meat is abundant year-round. In areas where fresh meat is not consistently available, preservation may be accomplished by thoroughly cooking, salting, smoking, drying, and spicing meats. Indeed, salt has been used worldwide for centuries to preserve food. We suggest that all these practices have been adopted for essentially the same reason: to minimize the effects of harmful, food-borne organisms.

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 62

Numeration

                One of the first great intellectual feats of a young child is learning how to talk, closely followed by learning how to count. From earliest childhood we are so bound up with our system of numeration that it is a feat of imagination to consider the problems faced by early humans who had not yet developed this facility. Careful consideration of our system of numeration leads to the conviction that, rather than being a facility that comes naturally to a person, it is one of the great and remarkable achievements of the human race.

               

                It is impossible to learn the sequence of events that led to our developing the concept of number. Even the earliest of tribes had a system of numeration that, if not advanced, was sufficient for the tasks that they had to perform. Our ancestors had little use for actual numbers; instead their considerations would have been more of the kind Is this enough? rather than He many? when they were engaged in food gathering, for example. However, when early humans first began to reflect on the nature of things around them, they discovered that they needed an idea of number simply to keep their thoughts in order. As they began to settle, grow plants and herd animals, the need for a sophisticated number system became paramount. It will never be known how and when this numeration ability developed, but it is certain that numeration was well developed by the time humans had formed even semipermanent settlements.

               

                Evidence of early stages of arithmetic and numeration can be readily found. The indigenous peoples of Tasmania were only able to count one, two, many; those of South Africa counted one, two, two and one, two twos, two twos and one, and so on. But in real situations the number and words are offen accompanied by gestures to help resolve any confusion. For example, when using the one, two, many type of system, the word many would mean, Look my hands and see how many fingers 1 am showing you. This basic approach is limited in the range of numbers that it can express, but this range will generally suffice when dealing with the simpler aspects of human existence.

               

                The lack of ability of some cultures to deal with large numbers is not really surprising. European languages, when traced back to their earlier version, are very poor in number words and expressions. The ancient Gothic word for ten, tachund, is used to express the number 100 as tachund tachund. By the seventh century, the word teon had become interchangeable with the tachund or hund of the Anglo-Saxon language, and so 100 was denoted as hund teontig, or ten times ten. The average person in the seventh century in Europe was not as familiar with numbers as we are today. In fact, to qualify as a witness in a court law a man had to be able to count to nine!

               

                Perhaps the most fundamental step in developing a sense of number is not the ability to count, but rather to see that a number is really an abstract idea instead of a simple attachment to a group of particular objects. It must have been within the grasp of the earliest humans to conceive that four birds are distinct from two birds; however, it is not an elementary step to associate the number 4, as connected with four birds, to the number 4, as connected with four rocks. Associating a number as one of the qualities of a specific object is a great hindrance to the development of a true number sense. When the number 4 can be registered in the mind as a specific word, independent of the object being referenced, the individual is ready to take the first step toward the development of a notational system for numbers and, from there, to arithmetic.

               

                Traces of the very first stages in the development of numeration can be seen in several living languages today. The numeration system of the Tsimshian language in British Columbia contains seven distinct sets of words for numbers according to the class of the item being counted: for counting flat objects and animals, for round objects and time, for people, for long objects and trees, for canoes, for measures, and for counting when no particular object is being numerated. It seems that the last is a later development while the first six groups show the relics of an older system. This diversity of number names can also be found in some widely used languages such as Japanese.

               

                Intermixed with the development of a number sense is the development of an ability to count. Counting is not directly related to the formation of a number concept because it is possible to count by matching the items being counted. against a group of pebbles, grains of corn, or the counter's fingers. These aids would have been indispensable to very early people who would have found the process impossible without some form of mechanical aid. Such aids, while different, are still used even by the most educated in today's society due to their convenience. AII counting ultimately involves reference to something other than the things being counted. At first it may have been grains or pebbles but now it is a memorised sequence of words that happen to be the names of the numbers.

Questions 27-31

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27.  A developed system of numbering  

28.  An additional hand signal  

29.  In seventh-century Europe, the ability to count to a certain number  

30.  Thinking about numbers as concepts separate from physical objects  

31.  Expressing number differently according to class of item 

Questions 32-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 62?

In boxes 32-40 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

32.  For the earliest tribes, the concept of sufficiency was more important than the concept of quantity.  

33.  Indigenous Tasmanians used only four terms to indicate numbers of objects.  

34.  Some peoples with simple number systems use body language to prevent misunderstanding of expressions of number.  

35.  All cultures have been able to express large numbers clearly.  

36.  The word 'thousand' has Anglo-Saxon origins.  

37.  In general, people in seventh-century Europe had poor counting ability.  

38.  In the Tsimshian language, the number for long objects and canoes is expressed with the same word.  

39.  The Tsimshian language contains both older and newer systems of counting.  

40.  Early peoples found it easier to count by using their fingers rather than a group of pebbles. 

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