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202 Useful Exercises for IELTS

1.4T E N S E S : Choose the correct words or phrases that are missing in the following sentences, paying attention to the correct tense required:

(ANSWERS ON PAGE 113)

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PART 1 - COMMUNICATION AND THE ARTS

VOCABULARY EXERCISES 1.1 - 1.3

1.1 SUFFIXES (1): Note the meanings of the 4 suffixes given in the box below. Then work out the approximate meaning of the words that follow before checking their meanings in a good dictionary:

artful masterful hapless

cashless society justifiable notifiable hearten enlighten

1.2SUFFIXES (2): Can you think of three more words ending with each of the suffixes listed in the exercise above?

1.3WORD FORMATION: Complete the chart to provide the correct form of the words shown for the given parts of speech: (Not all forms are possible.)

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202 Useful Exercises for IELTS

LISTENING EXERCISES 2.1 - 2.9

2.1SPEED LISTENING: Note only the essential details of what you hear: (Refer to the tapescript for confirmation.)

a.Cardiff has

b.This city

c.Wales

d.More than

e.Nuclear

f.The major

g.Cardiff

h

i

j

2.2 NUMBERS AND LETTERS: (Refer to the tapescript for confirmation.)

2.3GENERAL INFORMATION: Listen to Radio Items 3 & 4 and complete the chart with the basic details: (Refer to the tapescript for confirmation.)

What? Where? When? Who? How? Why?

Radio

Item 3

Radio

Item 4

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PART 2 - THE ENVIRONMENT

2.5MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS: Listen to Radio Item 4 one more time and answer the following questions:

2.6 SPECIFIC INFORMATION: Listen again to the radio items:

i. What is the name of the environmental radio programme?

ii. What are you told about the distribution pattern of fresh water in the world?

iii.What percentage of fresh water is available for personal use?

iv.What do rivers and streams feed that supply us with fresh water?

v.Why are trees, plants and wildlife at risk?

i. Where did the explosions take place?

ii. What does the town rely on for its survival? (oil rigs? fishing? etc.)

iii.What can you no longer do in the waters off Carrsville?

iv.What is Professor Blunt's solution to the problem?

v.For what is global warming thought to be partly responsible?

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PART 2 - THE ENVIRONMENT

READING EXERCISES 2.1 - 2.11

2.1 P R E D I C T I O N : Look at the illustration below and the words and phrases taken from the Reading Passage on the next page. With a partner if possible, try

may have already become irreversible

2.2 P R E - R E A D I N G Q U E S T I O N S : Before reading the text on the following page, work with a partner and ask and answer the questions below. Base your answers on your possible knowledge of the topic:

What words would you use to describe frogs and toads?

Why do you think one is less likely to come across a frog these days?

What are the usual colours of frogs? Why?

How might frogs be warning us of climate changes?

Do you know what role frogs play in the ecological cycle of life?

What do you think could be causing the disappearance of frogs?

Next, reorder the words in the mystery questions below:

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202 Useful Exercises for IELTS

2.3 SKIMMING: Read the text once for the gist (overall idea) and then in detail:

para.l When was the last time you saw a frog? Chances are, if you live in a city, you have not seen one for some time. Even in wet areas once teeming with frogs and toads, it is becoming less and less easy to find those slimy, hopping and sometimes poisonous members of the animal kingdom. All over the world, even in remote jungles on the far side of the globe,

5frogs are losing the ecological battle for survival, and biologists are at a loss to explain their demise. Are amphibians simply over-sensitive to changes in the ecosystem? Could their rapid decline in numbers be signalling some coming environmental disaster for us all?

para.2 This frightening scenario is in part the consequence of a dramatic increase over the last quarter century in the development of once natural areas of wet marshland; home not

10only to frogs but to all manner of wildlife. Yet, there are no obvious reasons why certain frog species are disappearing from rainforests in the Southern Hemisphere which are barely touched by human hand. The mystery is unsettling to say the least, for it is known

that amphibian species are extremely sensitive to environmental variations in temperature and moisture levels. The danger is that planet Earth might not only lose a vital link in the

15ecological food chain (frogs keep populations of otherwise pestilent insects at manageable levels), but we might be increasing our output of air pollutants to levels that may have already become irreversible. Frogs could be inadvertently warning us of a catastrophe.

para. 3 An example of a bizarre occurrence regarding a species of frog dates from the summer of 1995, when 'an explosion' ofmulti-coloured frogs ofthe species Rana klepton esculenta

20occurred in the Netherlands. Normally these frogs are brown and greenish-brown, but some unknown contributory factor is turning these frogs yellow and/or orange. Nonetheless, so far, the unusual biand even tri-coloured frogs are functioning similarly to their normal-skinned contemporaries. It is thought that frogs with lighter coloured skins might be more likely to survive in an increasingly warm climate due to global warming.

para.4 One theory put forward to explain extinct amphibian species that seems to fit the facts concerns the depletion of the ozone layer, a well-documented phenomenon which has led to a sharp increase in ultraviolet radiation levels. The ozone layer is meant to shield the Earth from UV rays, but increased radiation may be having a greater effect upon frog populations than previously believed. Another theory is that worldwide temperature

30increases are upsetting the breeding cycles of frogs.

2.4W O R D DEFINITIONS: Find the single words in paragraphs 1 and 2 which mean the following:

Next, find the single words in paragraphs 3 and 4 which mean the following:

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PART 2 - THE ENVIRONMENT

2.5TEXT ANALYSIS:

i.Choose the best heading for each paragraph in the passage from Exercise 2.3:

a)The mystery of amphibian decline.

b)Frogs making changes to the ecosystem.

c)Multi-coloured frog species cause problems

d)Frogs declining in number.

e)Theories concerning the demise of frogs.

f)Possible adaption of frogs to the environment.

g)Proof that global warming is harmful.

h)Fewer frogs in wet marshland.

i)An example of the extinction of a frog species.

2.6G A P F I L L : Below is a summary of part of the passage in Exercise 2.3. Choose words from the box below and refer to the passage to fill the gaps. First, name the parts of speech of the missing words:

become aware of the threat.

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202 Useful Exercises for IELTS

2.7 WORDS & PHRASES WITH SIMILAR MEANINGS: Refer to the passage in Exercise 2.3, and see page 126 for advice on recognising pattern types. Circle the appropriate pattern type in each case.

2.8SPEED READING: Look below at the first few sentences of the passage on frogs. The text has been divided up into naturally forming phrases, and the stressed syllables have been marked. Practice speaking the text out loud, paying attention to the meaning of each phrase, grouping the words in the phrase words together, and regulating the 'beat' of the stresses within the phrase.

Now mark the natural phrases and stresses in the rest of the passage in Exercise 2.3 and practice accordingly.

2.9 TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN: Refer to the text in Exercise 2.3.

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PART 2 - THE ENVIRONMENT

2.10 SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS: Answer the following questions with words and phrases taken from the passage in Exercise 2.3.

i.From paragraph 1, name THREE places from which frogs are disappearing: 1 2 3

ii.Name the TWO mentioned dangers to the Earth because of decreasing frog numbers: 1 2

iii.What might frogs require to be more likely to survive global warming?

(MAXIMUM OF THREE WORDS)

iv.What has led to an increase in UV radiation? (MAXIMUM OF THREE WORDS)

v.What is the total number of reasons and theories given to explain disappearing frogs?

2.11 CROSSWORD: Refer to the Part 2 Listening Passages and the Reading

(ANSWERS ON PAGE 114) drilling oil in the sea (n)

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