Cambridge IELTS Academic 14 Reading Test 1 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: Cambridge 14 Test 1 Answer / Cambridge IELTS 14 Reading Test 1 Answers with Explanation

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1.

The Importance of Children’s Play

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
1. Creativity	magical kingdom, develop	Para 1; Sent 1	As we can easily locate the phrase “magical kingdom” in the first sentence of the passage.In the last lines of the paragraph, the writer says, Although she isn’t aware of it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for creativity and . .  . .. ..Here, this refers to the magical kingdom and helping her take her first steps towards her capacity means help develop her creativity.
2. rules	board games, turn-taking	Para 2, line 3	As we can easily locate the phrase “board games and turn takes” in the 2nd paragraph of the passage.Read this “Later on, when they tire of this and settle down with a board game, she’s learning about the need to follow rules and take turns with a partner.”Which means that with board games, a child learns two things “1. follow the rules” and “2. take turns”.Here, take turns with a partner means turn-taking and is already mentioned so your answer is rules.
3. Cities	populations, changes	Para 5; line 1	we can easily locate the phrase “changes” and “people= population” in the 5th paragraph of the passage.Read this “But we live in changing times, and Whitebread is mindful of a worldwide decline in play, pointing out that over half the people in the world now live in cities”Here, over half of people in the world now live in cities implies that the number of people living in cities has increased/ grown compared to the past.
4 and 5. traffic, crime(any order)	opportunities, limited, fear of	Para 5, line 2	You won’t find the direct keywords in this question.The opportunities for free play, …. . . .   .. . . .   .. . are becoming increasingly scarce.’ he says. Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime.Here, becoming increasingly scarce means limited, perceptions of risk is similar to fear, and parents’ increased wish to protect their children means fear.Writer mentions two reasons which are listed include “perception of risk to do with traffic”, “parents wish to protect their children from being victims of crime”.
6. competition	increased, school	Para 2, line 5	we can easily locate the phrase “school” 2nd paragraph of the passage.. . .. .and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to greater competition in academic learning and schools.Here, leading to greater competition means increased competition.
7. evidence	difficult, support new policies	Para 6,	we can easily locate the phrase “difficult” and “police” in 6th paragraph of the passage.Read this “International bodies like the United Nations and the European Union have begun to develop policies . … ..” Then in the last line, “ . .. .But what they often lack is the evidence to base policies on.”The phrase “to base policies on” can be considered as “to support new policies”, and “what they often lack” means “it is difficult to find”.so, it is difficult to find evidence to support polices.
8. life	child’s, research	Para 8, line 2	we can easily locate the phrase “child’s later life” in 8th paragraph of the passage.Read this “Dr Jenny Gibson agrees, pointing out . .. ., there is very little data on the impact it has on the child’s later life“.Here, child’s later life means the rest of the child’s life
9. True	good self-control, school, later	Para 11	we can easily locate the phrase “self-control“ and “pre-schoolers” in 11th paragraph of the passage.Read this “In a study carried out by Baker with toddlers and young pre-schoolers, she found that children with greater self-control solved problems more quickly when exploring an unfamiliar set-up requiring scientific reasoning. ‘This sort of evidence makes us think that giving children the chance to play will make them more successful problem-solvers in the long run.”So, it is true that children with self-control do well in the long run.
10. True	child plays, medical problems	Para	we can easily locate the phrase “play“ and “medical problems= disorders” in 11th paragraph of the passage.Read this “… Playful behaviour is also an important indicator of healthy social and emotional development. . .. . .. . . .give us important clues about their well-being and . .. .. . .. .useful in the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.”Here, the lines clearly shows that the way a child plays can be used to identify medical problems (autism).”
11. Not Given	dolls, benefit, girl	Para 14, line 4	There is no comparison between girls’ writing and boys’ writing.
12. False	children, thinking up ideas, Lego	Para 15, line 3	we can easily locate the phrase “children“ and “lego” in 15th paragraph of the passage.Read this “Children wrote longer and better-structured stories when they first played with dolls representing characters in the story. In the latest study, children first created their story with Lego, with similar results”.Here, with lego they had similar results means Children wrote longer and better-structured stories. So, they had no problem, instead they could write longer and better. Hence, it is false.
13. True	nowadays, children’s play, less significant	Para last, line 1	No direct keywords are given.Read this “Somehow the importance of play has been lost in recent decades. It’s regarded as something trivial, or even as something negative that contrasts with ‘work’.”Here, nowadays means in recent decades and less significant is similar to has been lost, …. Regarded as something trivial.Which means that in recent decades, attitudes to play have, therefore, changed. It is now considered to be something unimportant or even negative. In contrast, people in the past thought that it was more important

READING PASSAGE 2

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

The Growth of Bike-Sharing Schemes Around the World

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
14. E	misused, bike-sharing	Para E, Line 4	Read this “The system was prone to vandalism and theft”.Here, system means the bike-sharing scheme and theft and vandalism means misuse.
15. C	proposed bike-sharing scheme, turned down	Para C, line 6	Read this “. . .. Nevertheless, the the council unanimously rejected the plan, ‘They said that the bicycle belongs to the past. They saw a glorious future for the car,’. … .”Here, rejected means turned down; paragraph C gives explanation of why a proposed bike-sharing scheme was turned down.
16. F	person being unable, profit	Para F	Read this “… But financially I didn’t really benefit from it, because I never filed for a patent.”Here, financially I didn’t really benefit from it has similar meaning that unable to profit and it means the bike-sharing schemes.
17. C	potential savings		Read this “ . .. . It turned out that a white bicycle – per person, per kilometre – would cost the municipality only 10% of what it contributed to public transport  per person, per kilometre.’. .. .”This suggests that the benefits of the scheme were much greater than the cost, hence it would save a lot of resources. Here, would cost the municipality only 10% means that potential savings is 90%.
18. A	problems, intended to solve	Para A, line 3	Read this “ . . .They believed the scheme, which was known as the Witte Fietsenplan, was an to the perceived threats of air pollution and consumerism.”Hence, air pollution and consumerism are two problems that the scheme was intended to solve.
19 & 20. B & D	Amsterdam bike-sharing scheme of 1999	Para D, line 7	This, combined with the success of the Danish bike-sharing scheme, led to the introduction of the new Amsterdam scheme in 1999. In other words, it was made possible by a change in people‟s attitudes.Thus, D is one correctNow Read line 7 “. . But the biggest blow came when Postbank decided to abolish the chip card, because it wasn’t profitable.. .. . .”  This was “the biggest blow” to the scheme, and the scheme could not continue. Therefore, B is correct.
21 & 22. D & E	Amsterdam today	Para G, line 2 & 6	Read this “In Amsterdam today.. ..”. At first, take a look at lines 2-3, “it is regarded as one of the two most cycle-friendly capitals in the world”, which means Amsterdam is known as a place that welcomes cyclists. Thus, E is correct.Again, look at lines 6-7, “.. . People who travel on the underground don’t carry their bikes around. But often they need additional transport to reach their final destination.” People using the underground are often the residents using public transport‟, and they would benefit from the scheme. Thus, D is correct.
23. activists	Dutch group Provo	Para A, line 2	Read this “.. .Provo, the organisation that came up with the idea, was a group of Dutch activists who wanted to change society.”Provo was a group of Dutch activists so activists is answer.
24. consumerism	concerned damage, environment	Para A, Line 3	Read this “…They believed the scheme, which . .. . .. . ., was an answer to the perceived threats of air pollution and consumerism.”This means that they are concerned about these two problems, and suggested a solution. Because air pollution means a damage to the environment, answer should be consumerism.
25. leaflets	white, use of cars	Para A, line 5	Now read this “… . . In the centre of Amsterdam, they painted a small number of used bikes white. They also distributed leaflets describing the dangers of cars . . .. .. ..” It is stated that Provo activists distributed leaflets describing the dangers of cars which means leaflets disapproved (or condemned) the use of cars.
26. police	scheme, quickly, success, provo	Para B, line 4	Read this “The police were opposed to Provo’s initiatives and almost as soon as soon as the white bikes were distributed around the city, they removed them.”It means that police removed as soon as the white bikes were distributed around the city.

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 .

 

Motivational Factors and the Hospitality Industry

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
27. E	managers, encourage, staff,	Para 9, line 1	No direct keywords so search for the synonyms; inspire = encourage, retention = to remain, staff = employee.Read this “. .. It is essential for hotel management to develop HRM practices that enable them to inspire and retain competent employees.”This implies that it is beneficial for hotels managers to understand what practices are most favourable to increase employee satisfaction and retention.” Hence the answer is E.
28. D	managers, staff, different, employer	Para 5, line 1	Keywords like managers, employees are obvious in paragraph 5.Now Read this “Ng and Sorensen (2008) demonstrated that when managers provide recognition to employees, motivate employees to work together, and remove obstacles preventing effective performance, employees feel more obligated to stay with the company.”Listed above are the actions of managers, and these actions make employees feel that they should stay with the company and shouldn’t move to another employer (employees feel more obligated to stay with the company). Hence, D is the answer.
29. B	hospitality, help workers, imporve skills	Para 4, line 1	No direct keywords so search for the synonyms; hone= improve, potential= skills, foster= develop, help.Now Read this “Lucas also points out that ‘the substance of HRM practices does not appear to be designed to foster constructive relations with employees or to represent a management approach that enables developing and drawing out the full potential of people, . .. .”The lines implies that such HRM practices does very little (or nothing) to help the employees hone (sharpen or improve) their full potential (skills). Hence B is the answer.
30. D	staff, jobs, cooperation	Para 5, line 1	Keywords like cooperation= work together, employees are obvious in paragraph 5.Now read this “Ng and Sorensen (2008) demonstrated that when managers provide recognition to employees, motivate employees to work together, and remove obstacles preventing effective performance, employees feel more obligated to stay with the company.”Here, recognition to employees, motivate employees to work together, and remove obstacles preventing effective performance, all these mean cooperation which are encouraged by managers.
31. C	Dissatisfaction, only reason, hospitality workers change jobs	Para 9 & 10	Keywords like dissatisfaction, reason= factors are obvious in paragraph 9 & 10.Now read the sentence from para 9 “When these factors are unfavourable, job dissatisfaction may result. Significantly, though, just fulfilling these needs does not result in satisfaction,but only in the reduction of dissatisfaction.”Then, in paragraph no. 10, “Employees also have intrinsic motivation needs or motivators, which include such factors as achievement and recognition. Unlike extrinsic factors, motivator factors may ideally result in job satisfaction.”These paragraphs combinely suggest that job dissatisfaction does not come only from pay(9th para), also it may arise from other factors such as achievement and recognition (10th para). Hence, c.
32. YES	staff turnover, poor morale	Para 4, line 4	Now read this “In addition, or maybe as a result, high employee turnover has been a recurring problem throughout the hospitality industry. Among the many cited reasons are low compensation, inadequate benefits, poor working conditions and compromised employee morale and attitudes.”Hence it is true.
33. No	staff, dislike, workplace	Para 6	Search for Keywords and their synonyms that are obvious in para 6; staff= employee, dislike= view negatively, workplace= work environment.Now read this “While it seems likely that employees’ reactions to their job characteristics could be affected by a predisposition to view their work environment negatively, no evidence exists to support this hypothesis.”No evidence exists to support this hypothesis clarifies the point that there is no proof that workers view their workplace negatively. The information contradicts with the given question, hence no.
34. No	improvement, working conditions, job security, satisfied	Para 9	Search for the key words like conditions= factors, fulfilling= improving, satisfaction that are obvious in para 9.Now read the sentence from para 9 “When these factors are unfavourable, job dissatisfaction may result. Significantly, though, just fulfilling these needs does not result in satisfaction,but only in the reduction of dissatisfaction.”Here, these means “Improving working conditions” and “job security”. So just fulfilling these does not make staff satisfied with their jobs. Hence, No.
35. Not Given			There is NO INFORMATION regarding taking breaks in this passage.
36. restaurants	Tews, Michel and Stafford	Para 11, line 1	Now read this “For example, Tews, Michel and Stafford (2013) conducted a study focusing on staff from a chain of themed restaurants in the United States.
37. performance	designed for staff, have fun, improved	Para 11, line 3	Read this line “ It was found that fun activities had a favourable impact on performance . . .. .”
38. turnover	management involvement, lower	Para 11, line 4	Now read the line “. . .. and manager support for fun had a favourable impact in reducing turnover.”Here, “manager support for fun” can be paraphrased into “manager involvement”.
39. & 40.Goals & Characteristics	fit with both, company’s	Para 11, line 4	Search for the keywords and synonyms: fit with means aligned with, company is synonym for organization, and staff means employee.Now read the line “Their findings support the view that fun may indeed have a beneficial effect, but the framing of that fun must be carefully aligned with both organizational goals and employee characteristics.”Hence the two factors(both) are goals and characteristics.