Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 448
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 448 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 448
READING PASSAGE – 2
Making a change How easy is it for us to change our lives – and why?
In 1990, a young American named Christopher McCandless gave up his career plans, left behind everyone he knew, including his family, and went off on an adventure. He was 22 at the time. In an act of kindness, he donated all his savings to the famous charity, Oxfam International, and hitchhiked his way through America to Alaska. His decisions were so unusual for his age that Jon Krakauer wrote a book about them called Into the Wild, and Sean Penn directed a film that had the same title.
Of course, this is an unusual story. Most college graduates would not do quite the same thing. However, studies do show that in teenage years, people are more likely to try out new experiences. Instead of following the family career path, for example, and working his way up the same organisation like his grandfather did, a 15-year-old may dream about becoming a traveller – only to find in his early 20s that this fascination with new places is declining and change is less attractive. This age-related trend can be observed in all cultures.
IELTS General Reading Test
The reason why people all over the world become less keen to change as they get older may be because people’s lives generally follow similar patterns and involve similar demands. Most people, wherever they are, aim to find a job and a partner. As they get older, they may have young children to look after and possibly elderly family members. These responsibilities cannot be achieved without some degree of consistency, which means that new experiences and ideas may not have a place in the person’s life. New experiences may bring excitement but also insecurity, and so most people prefer to stay with the familiar.
However, not every individual is the same. One toddler may want to play a different game every day and get fed up if nothing changes at the nursery. Another may seek out and play with the same children and toys on every visit. Young children who avoid new experiences will grow up to be more conventional than others. Psychologists argue that those who have more open personalities as children are more open than others might be when they are older. They also suggest that young men have a greater interest in novelty than women, although, as they age, this desire for new experiences fades more quickly than it does in women.
IELTS General Reading Test
The truth is that, as we get older, we prefer the things we know. We tend to order the same meals in restaurants, sit on the same side of the train when we commute to work, go on holiday to the same places and construct our day in the same way. If you are older than 20, remember that your openness to new experiences is slowly declining.
So you are better off making a new start today than postponing it until later.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 15-20
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the reading passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
15. Teenagers are more ready to have new experiences than young adults.
16. Grandparents usually encourage their grandchildren to get a well-paid job.
17. Life demands are different depending on which country you live in.
18. Some toddlers find repetitive activities boring.
19. Children who dislike new experiences become more adventurous than others as adults.
20. If you want to change something in your life, you should avoid delay.
IELTS General Reading Test
Read the text below and answer Questions 21-27
How Do Many Hearing-impaired People Talk?
Hearing-impaired people cannot hear sounds well. How do they “hear” words?
Many hearing-impaired people use sign language. They talk with their hands. Two hearing-impaired people can talk to each other. They both use sign language. Sometimes a person who can hear and interprets for hearing-impaired people. The person listens to someone talking, and then he or she makes hand signs.
There are two kinds of hand sign. Some signs are for whole words. For example, there is one hand sign for the word love. There are hand signs for different actions, things, and ideas. Some of the signs are very easy, for example, the sign for eat, milk, and house. You can see what they mean. Others are more difficult, for example, the sign for star, egg, and week.
IELTS General Reading Test
The second kind of hand sign is fingerspelling. In fingerspelling, there is a sign for every letter in the alphabet. For example, to fingerspell the word love, a person makes four different signs. It is much slower to fingerspell, but is useful for signing names and technical words. People can use both kinds of hand signs together.
Each country has its own sign language. For example, American Sign Language (ASL) is very different from British Sign Language. Using sign language is almost like a dance. The whole body talks. Sign languages are beautiful.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 21-27
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the reading passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
21. Hearing-impaired people cannot hear sounds well.
22. A person who interprets for hearing-impaired people cannot hear.
23. There are more signs for words than for letters.
24. Japanese people use ASL.
25. Finger spelling has signs for numbers.
26. Africans cannot learn ASL because they don’t speak English.
27. Only the hands move in ASL.
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
15. YES
16. NOT GIVEN
17. NO
18. YES
19. NO
20. YES
21. YES
22. NO
23. NOT GIVEN
24. NOT GIVEN
25. NOT GIVEN
26. NOT GIVEN
27. NOT GIVEN
IELTS General Reading Test