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BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 33
ACADEMIC READING TEST 33 – PASSAGE – 3
ACADEMIC READING TEST 33
READING PASSAGE – 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 26-40, which are based on Reading Passage – 3 below.
MIDDLE-AGED LONELINESS
Possibly you are lonely because you are living in a nuclear family with your husband busy with his work and the children busy with their studies. Women of a joint family have too much of company,so their problem is usually that they want to be alone. But they can also be lonely while living in a large joint family.
These are people who love to be alone but when this “being alone” seems like a punishment and you yearn for company,then the aloneness has changed into loneliness, which can hurt. It hurts the most when there is the possibility that you can have company but you feel that the other person chooses not to be with you. Then this enforced aloneness makes you feel sorry for yourself as you feel unwanted.
This is mostly the case with women whose husbands remain very busy with their work. Women feel that such husbands have a choice and if they wanted they could spend time with them. This sort of loneliness seems more like a punishment.
In joint families, you may have to do a lot of work. You may have to care for elders and look after a large family. If you feel that you are being exploited by your in-laws and your husband does not take your side, you are bound to feel all the more lonely because you feel forsaken by your own husband. This feeling of being neglected is thus the main reason for loneliness when a woman is staying in a family where there are other family members.
To beat this loneliness there are steps we can follow that will make the loneliness bearable.
1. The first thing is to be prepared for loneliness. If you are ready for it and accept it,loneliness becomes easier to bear. For this the romantic blinkers of the Mills and Boon type has to be removed and the mind should be made to accept that the husband will not stand with a rose for you and be chivalrous all the time.
2. Don’t expect anything from anyone, not even from your husband and children.They did not in any way take over the contract to keep you entertained, so you couldn’t be bored and lonely. They have their own lives to lead and they can give a modicum of company but you should not expect that their aim will be just to make your life free from the feeling of loneliness. When there is no expectation, there will be no disappointment.
3. Seeing self-sufficient is the main way you can remove loneliness. You should stop depending on others. You should be ready to fend for yourself. If you are complete in yourself and don’t need others you will not become like a creeper depending on the main free, rather you will be capable of being a support to others to lean back on.
4. You should think less and become a woman of action. What is the use of thinking and wounding yourself that. “Nobody loves me. Poor me. I am lonely.” Find the solutions yourself there and that. Don’t think but get up and do something that you like. When there is no time for such useless thinking and you are fruitfully occupied. Loneliness will have to be quite away from you.
5. So, what is important is that you develop your own hobbies which you love to do and see to it that your time is well spent and you are not lonely. Whether it is gardening,reading or any other activity which you relish even though it gives no profit, then it will also help you remove loneliness.
6. It would be better, of course, to do some work which lets you earn. The only requirement is that it uses the time you are free if you are not career-oriented and bent on building your life with ambition. Of course nothing stops you from having a full-fledged career, if you are ready for that. Don’t look after the children yourself but, with a clear conscience, pass the responsibility to someone else.
Questions 26-30
Complete the following statements 26-30 with the best ending A-G below.
Write the appropriate letters A-G in boxes 26-30 on your answer sheet.
26. Woman of a joint family
27. These are people
28. In joint families, you may have to
29. Don’t expect anything.
30. Being self-sufficient is the main way.
A. Who love to be alone
B. to remove loneliness
C. from anyone
D. develop your own hobbies
E. have too much of company
F. living in a nuclear family
G. do a lot of work
Questions 31-35
Using No More Than Three Words from the passage, answer the questions below:
31. What is the disadvantage of living in a nuclear family?
32. What advantage will women get in a joint family?
33. For what should women be always ready?
34. Should women expect anything from their husbands or children?
35. What advice does the writer offer to women to feel less lonely?
Questions 36-40
Do the following statements agree with the information in the Reading Passage.
In boxes 36-40 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 about the statement
36. Woman feel lonely because there is not much to do in a nuclear family.
37. Every woman wants to live in a joint family.
38. A woman can remain happy by thinking too much about herself.
39. Self-sufficiency is the main way to get rid of loneliness.
40. Hobbies can be useful for women to come out of loneliness.
ANSWER KEY
26. E
27. A
28. G
29. C
30. B
31. have no company
32. lot of work
33. to accept loneliness
34. No nothing
35. should think less
36. Yes
37. Not Given
38. No
39. Yes
40. Yes
