IELTS READING

READING THE SCREEN

Are the electronic media exacerbating illiteracy and making our children stupid? On the contrary,
says Colin McCabe, they have the potential to make us truly literate.

The debate surrounding literacy is one of the most charged in education. On the one hand there is
an army of people convinced that traditional skills of reading and writing are declining. On the
other, a host of progressives protest that literacy is much more complicated than a simple
technical mastery of reading and writing. This second position is supported by most of the
relevant academic work over the past 20 years. These studies argue that literacy can only be
understood in its social and technical context. In Renaissance England, for example, many more
people could read than could write, and within reading there was a distinction between those who
could read print and those who could manage the more difficult task of reading manuscript. An
understanding of these earlier periods helps us understand today's `crisis in literacy' debate.
There does seem to be evidence that there has been an overall decline in some aspects of reading
and writing — you only need to compare the tabloid newspapers of today with those of 50 years
ago to see a clear decrease in vocabulary and simplification of syntax. But the picture is not
uniform and doesn't readily demonstrate the simple distinction between literate and illiterate
which had been considered adequate since the middle of the 19th century.

While reading a certain amount of writing is as crucial as it has ever been in industrial societies,
it is doubtful whether a fully extended grasp of either is as necessary as it was 30 or 40 years
ago. While print retains much of its authority as a source of topical information, television has
increasingly usurped this role. The ability to write fluent letters has been undermined by the
telephone and research suggests that for many people the only use for writing, outside formal
education, is the compilation of shopping lists.

The decision of some car manufacturers to issue their instructions to mechanics as a video pack
rather than as a handbook might be taken to spell the end of any automatic link between
industrialization and literacy. On the other hand, it is also the case that ever-increasing numbers
of people make their living out of writing, which is better rewarded than ever before. Schools are
generally seen as institutions where the book rules — film, television and recorded sound have
almost no place; but it is not clear that this opposition is appropriate. While you may not need to
read and write to watch television, you certainly need to be able to read and write in order to
make programmes.

Those who work in the new media are anything but illiterate. The traditional oppositions
between old and new media are inadequate for understanding the world which a young child now
encounters. The computer has re-established a central place for the written word on the screen,
which used to be entirely devoted to the image. There is even anecdotal evidence that children
are mastering reading and writing in order to get on to the Internet. There is no reason why the
new and old media cannot be integrated in schools to provide the skills to become economically
productive and politically enfranchised.
Nevertheless, there is a crisis in literacy and it would be foolish to ignore it. To understand that
literacy may be declining because it is less central to some aspects of everyday life is not the
same as acquiescing in this state of affairs. The production of school work with the new
technologies could be a significant stimulus to literacy. How should these new technologies be
introduced into the schools? It isn't enough to call for computers, camcorders and edit suites in
every classroom; unless they are properly integrated into the educational culture, they will stand
unused. Evidence suggests that this is the fate of most information technology used in the
classroom. Similarly, although media studies are now part of the national curriculum, and more
and more students are now clamouring to take these course, teachers remain uncertain about both
methods and aims in this area.

This is not the fault of the teachers. The entertainment and information industries must be drawn
into a debate with the educational institutions to determine how best to blend these new
technologies into the classroom.

Many people in our era are drawn to the pessimistic view that the new media are destroying old
skills and eroding critical judgment. It may be true that past generations were more literate but
— taking the pre-19th century meaning of the term — this was true of only a small section of the
population. The word literacy is a 19th-century coinage to describe the divorce of reading and
writing from a full knowledge of literature. The education reforms of the 19th century produced
reading and writing as skills separable from full participation in the cultural heritage.

The new media now point not only to a futuristic cyber-economy, they also make our cultural
past available to the whole nation. Most children's access to these treasures is initially through
television. It is doubtful whether our literary heritage has ever been available to or sought out by
more than about 5 per cent of the population; it has certainly not been available to more than 10
per cent. But the new media joined to the old, through the public service tradition of British
broadcasting, now makes our literary tradition available to all.

Questions 1 – 5: Choose the appropriate letters A-D. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered box provided.
1. When discussing the debate on literacy in education, the writer notes that
A. children cannot read and write as well as they used to.
B. academic work has improved over the last 20 years.
C. there is evidence that literacy is related to external factors.
D. there are opposing arguments that are equally convincing.
2. In the 4th paragraph, the writer's main point is that
A. the printed word is both gaining and losing power.
B. all inventions bring disadvantages as well as benefits.
C. those who work in manual jobs no longer need to read.
D. the media offers the best careers for those who like writing.
3. According to the writer, the main problem that schools face today is
A. how best to teach the skills of reading and writing.
B. how best to incorporate technology into classroom teaching.
C. finding the means to purchase technological equipment.
D. managing the widely differing levels of literacy amongst pupils.
4. At the end of the article, the writer is suggesting that
A. literature and culture cannot be divorced.
B. the term 'literacy' has not been very useful.
C. 10 per cent of the population never read literature.
D. our exposure to cultural information is likely to increase.
Questions 5– 10: Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the
passage? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
5. It is not as easy to analyse literacy levels as it used to be.
6. Our literacy skills need to be as highly developed as they were in the past.
7. Illiteracy is on the increase.
8. Professional writers earn relatively more than they used to.
9. A good literacy level is important for those who work in television.
10. Computers are having a negative impact on literacy in schools.
Questions 11 – 13: Complete the sentences below with words taken, from the passage. Use NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered box provided.
In Renaissance England, the best readers were those able to read 11_________________.
The writer uses the example of 12________________to illustrate the general fall in certain areas
of literacy.
It has been shown that after leaving school, the only things that a lot of people write are
13_____________________.

The Mystery of Sleep

Sleep takes up precious time and leaves us vulnerable, so why do we do it?
A. The question of why we sleep has been on people’s minds at least since the time of Aristotle,
who believed that the warming and cooling of the body as a result of digestion caused sleep.
Though we know this is incorrect today, other early theories have held up better. The possibility
of a ‘sleep toxin’ – a substance that built up during the day, causing drowsiness, and was
subsequently relieved by sleep – was put forward by Henri Pieron in the early 1900s, and this
concept is not unlike some contemporary ideas about sleep that researchers are pursuing today. It
was not until 1953 that Nathaniel Kleitman and his colleagues identified two different kinds of
sleep; REM and non-REM sleep. Many say that this breakthrough paved the way for modern
sleep research. But since then, despite the great deal of effort that has been made to better
understand sleep, it is still largely a mysterious phenomenon.

B. Among living things, sleep is practically universal. Even jellyfish, which have no brains,
experience something called sleep pressure – the need to rest longer after being kept awake. Tiny
worms, with only a few neurons, spend time in a sleep-like state and die more quickly when
exposed to stress if this state is prevented. Sharks and dolphins, which must keep moving at all
times in order to breathe, have the ability to sleep with one hemisphere of the brain at a time.
Yet, when an animal sleeps, it cannot protect itself from danger, it cannot eat or reproduce. Sleep
is high-risk and costly, so why is it such a universal phenomenon? Clearly, it must be important.

C. One theory about the reason for sleep is that it arose simply as a way to save energy. If there
were times when it was difficult or hazardous for an animal to move around, then it might make
sense for them to simply enter a sleep state when all of their physical systems slow down. That
way, they would require less food, and could hide away from danger. The observation that
animals with few natural predators, lions, for example, sleep up to 15 hours a day, while small
prey animals seldom sleep more than 5 hours a day, seems to contradict this, however. In
addition, the objection has been raised that sleep only lowers the metabolism by 10-15 per cent,
so not much energy is, in fact, saved. According to Serge Daan, a researcher who studied arctic
ground squirrels, something else must be taking place. He found that the ground squirrels would
periodically come out of their suspended-animation-like state of hibernation in order to sleep.
For these animals, sleep was actually energetically expensive, so it must serve some other
essential purpose.

D. 6. how the brain physically changes during sleep

It is well established that the act of sleeping is important for essential brain functions such as
memory and learning. A rapidly increasing body of cognitive research suggests that sleep allows
us to consolidate and process information that has been acquired during the day. Sleep scientist
Matthew Walker used MRI scans to visualise activity in the brains of people who were learning a
series of finger movements. One group was allowed to sleep and the other was not. He found
differences in the areas of the brain that were activated when they recalled the movements; the
group that had slept showed less activity in the brain, and better recollection of the task. In other
words, the way the memory was stored had become more efficient. Walker believes that this
could explain why toddlers, who are constantly learning new motor skills, require so much more
sleep than adults. Furthermore, Ted Abel, while assistant professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, found that mice deprived of sleep for the first five hours after learning did not
remember their physical surroundings, while their memory of facts and events was not affected.
This result allowed him to specify that sleep regulates memory in a specific part of the brain, the
hippocampus, which is responsible for memories related to spatial and contextual information.
But despite numerous studies, there are still more questions than answers on the role of sleep in
memory and learning.

E. 3. an example of lack of sleep being deadly

Another theory about the role of sleep is that it is essential for cleanup and repair in the brain and
body. Support for this theory is provided by research that shows periods of REM sleep increase
following periods of sleep deprivation and strenuous physical activity. During sleep, the body
also increases its rate of cell division and protein synthesis, further suggesting that repair and
restoration occurs during sleeping periods. Recently, new evidence supporting the repair and
restoration theory has been uncovered. Research has shown that the cellular structure of the brain
is altered during sleep, and more space forms between cells. This allows fluid to move between
the cells and flush out toxic waste products. It is believed that these toxins increase in the central
nervous system during waking times, and the restorative function of sleep is a consequence of
their removal.

F. It may seem that all of this new evidence is not making the question of why we sleep any
clearer; indeed, the evidence seems to point to different explanations. In this context, it seems
important to remember that there may not be one correct answer, but instead it could be a
combination. While the idea that sleep is a method of energy conservation seems to be falling out
of favour, it seems more and more likely that benefits for memory and learning, the cleanup of
the brain and the repair of the body can all be attributed to a good night’s sleep

Questions 1-6: There are six paragraphs marked A-F in the passage. In which paragraph is
the following mentioned? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
1. how researchers can see what is happening inside the brain
2. how many reasons for sleep there might realistically be
3. an example of lack of sleep being deadly
4. a particular discovery that was essential for how we view sleep today
5. how sleep might have arisen from threatening conditions
6. how the brain physically changes during sleep

Questions 7-9: Look at the following statement and the list of researchers below. Match each
statement with the correct researcher, A-E. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered box provided.
A Henri Pieron
B Nathaniel Kleitman
C Serge Daan
D Matthew Walker
E Ted Abel
7. Sleep is essential for the recollection only of certain types of memory.
8. The fact that sleep requirements vary with age alludes to its role.
9. A chemical that promotes sleep accumulates throughout the day.

Questions 10-11: Choose TWO letters, A-E. Which TWO theories does the writer question the
validity of? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A Sleep pressure is proof of the necessity of sleep.
B Animals’ sleeping habits are related to their place on the food chain.
C Sleep is related to changes in body temperature.
D Sleep prevents the unnecessary burning of calories.
E There are different types of sleep with different functions. 
10._____, 11._______

Questions 12-13: Choose TWO letters, A-E. Which TWO points does the writer mention in
support of the importance of sleep for memory? Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered box provided.
A During sleep, unimportant memories are removed.
B Sleep makes recollection more effortless.
C Sleep results in more activity throughout the brain.
D The function of a specific brain region is affected by sleep.
E Sleep duration modifies learning
12.________, 13._______