Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 236
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST– PASSAGE – 2
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST
READING PASSAGE – 2
Meteorology
A. Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a foremost emphasis on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather dependent on historical data. It was not until after the elucidation of the laws of physics and more particularly, the development of the computer, allowing for the automated solution of a great many equations that model the weather, in the latter half of the 20th century that significant breakthroughs in weather forecasting were achieved. An important domain of weather forecasting is marine weather forecasting as it relates to maritime and coastal safety, in which weather effects also include atmospheric interactions with large bodies of water.
B. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology. Meteorological phenomena are described and quantified by the variables of Earth’s atmosphere: temperature, air pressure, water vapour, mass flow, and the differences and interactions of those variables, and how they change over time. Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local, regional, and global levels. Meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics, and atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Meteorology and hydrology comprise the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology. The interactions between Earth’s atmosphere and its oceans are part of a coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Meteorology has application in many diverse fields such as the military, energy production, transport, agriculture, and construction. The ability to predict rains and floods based on annual cycles was evidently used by humans at least from the time of agricultural settlement if not earlier.
IELTS General Reading Test
C. The Samaveda mentions sacrifices to be performed when certain phenomena were observed. Varahamihira’s classical work Brihatsamhita, written about 500 AD, provides evidence of weather observation. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote Meteorology. Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. One of the most impressive attainments defined in the Meteorology is the description of what is now known as the hydrologic cycle. The book De Mundo (composed before 250 BC or between 350 and 200 BC) noted: If the flashing body is set on fire and dailies violently to the Earth it is called a thunderbolt; if it is only half of fire, but violent also and massive, it is called a meteor; if it is entirely free from fire, it is called a smoking bolt. They are all called ‘swooping bolts’ because they swoop down upon the Earth. Lightning is sometimes smoky and is then called ‘smouldering lightning”; sometimes it darts quickly along and is then said to be vivid. At other times, it travels in crooked lines, and is called forked lightning. When it swoops down upon some object it is called ‘swooping lightning’.
D. The Greek scientist Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs. The work of Theophrastus remained a dominant influence in the study of weather and in weather forecasting for nearly 2,000 years. In 25 AD, Pomponius Mela, a geographer for the Roman Empire, formalized the climatic zone system. He defines the meteorological character of the sky, the planets and constellations, the sun and moon, the lunar phases indicating seasons and rain, the anwa (heavenly bodies of rain), and atmospheric phenomena such as winds, thunder, lightning, snow, floods, valleys, rivers, lakes. Early attempts at forecasting weather were often related to prophecy and divining and were sometimes based on astrological ideas. Admiral FitzRoy tried to separate scientific approaches from prophetic ones.
IELTS General Reading Test
QUESTION 15-20
Which paragraph contains the following information?
NB you may use any letter more than once.
15. Estimate of weather in early times founded on astronomy.
16. Evolution of weather prognostication.
17. A scientist’s text on weather forecasting inspired researchers for nearly two hundred decades.
IELTS General Reading Test
18. A book describing variety of lightning strikes.
19. Implementation of Meteorology in diverse fields.
20. An integral sphere of weather forecasting for littoral protection.
IELTS General Reading Test
READ THE TEXT BELOW AND QUESTION 21-26
Online Shopping
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to unswervingly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among supplementary vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product’s availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of diverse computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.
An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products orservices at a regular “bricks-and-mortar” retailer or shopping centre; the procedure is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When an online store is set up to enable businesses to buy from another businesses, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. A typical online store enables the customer to peruse the firm’s range of products and services, view photos or images of the products, along with information about the product specifications, features, and prices.
IELTS General Reading Test
Online stores usually enable shoppers to use “search” features to find specific models, brands, or items. Online customers must have access to the Internet and a valid technique of payment in order to complete a transaction, such as a credit card, an Interac-enabled debit card, or a service such as PayPal. For physical products (e.g., paperback books or clothes), the e-tailer ships the goods to the customer; for digital products, such as digital audio files of songs or software, the etailer usually sends the file to the customer over the Internet. The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay.
IELTS General Reading Test
As the revenues from online sales continued to grow significantly, investigators identified different types of online shoppers, Rohm & Swaninathan identified four categories and named them “convenience shoppers, variety seekers, balanced buyers, and store-oriented shoppers”. They focused on shopping motivations and found that the variety of products available and the perceived convenience of the buying online experience were significant motivating factors. This was different for offline shoppers, who were more motivated by time saving and recreational motives.
English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich was a pioneer of online shopping in 1979. His system connected a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line. He believed that videotex, the modified domestic TV technology with a simple menu-driven human-computer interface, was a ‘new, universally applicable, participative communication medium, the first from the time when the invention of the telephone happened. This enabled ‘closed’ corporate information systems to be opened to ‘outside’ correspondents not just for transaction processing but also for e-messaging and information retrieval and dissemination, later known as e-business.
His definition of the new mass communications medium as ‘participative’ [interactive, many-to-many] was essentially different from the traditional definitions of mass communication and mass media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet 25 years later. In March 1980 he launched Redifon’s Office Revolution, which allowed consumers, customers, agents, distributors, suppliers, and service companies to be connected on-line to the corporate systems and allow business transactions to be completed electronically in real-time. During the 1980s he designed, mass-produced, sold, installed, maintained, and reinforced many online shopping systems, using videotex technology. These systems which also provided voice response and handprint processing pre-date the Internet and the World Wide Web, the IBM PC, and Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed mainly in the UK by large corporations.
IELTS General Reading Test
QUESTION 21-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE If the statement agrees with the information
FALSE If the statement contradicts the information.
NOT GIVEN If there is no information on this.
21. Online shopping allows customers to compare products from auxiliary merchants.
22. Online shop tempts the physical likeness of buying products at a retail centre.
23. Customers are not exposed to a lot of information about products while purchasing them online.
IELTS General Reading Test
24. Alibaba only retails digital books.
25. An investigation reported that the online shoppers were inspired by time saving and leisure reasons.
26. Videotex technology system came after the origination of internet.
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWER
15. D
16. A
17. D
18. C
19. B
20. A
21. TRUE
22. TRUE
23. FALSE
24. NOT GIVEN
25. FALSE
26. FALSE
IELTS General Reading Test