Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
Academic Reading Practice Test 146 – Passage – 2
Academic Reading Practice Test 146
READING PASSAGE – 2
The pursuit of knowledge
According to the great English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it (Boswell Life vol. 2 p, 383 18 April 1775). In the information-driven world we now inhabit, the latter has assumed a much greater level of importance.
At the time of the European Renaissance, which spanned the fourteenth, fifteenth and six-teenth centuries, it was considered possible far the educated, well-read man, the so-called Renaissance man, to possess the sum total of human knowledge. Admittedly, the body of knowledge then available was restricted, being held firmly in check by several important factors; the paucity of books in circulation at that time; the difficulty of acquiring copies of the texts; the need to copy texts by hand; and the cost of doing so.
The example of Lupus of Ferrieres’ search for the Ars rhetorica of Fortunatus in the ninth century was repeated again and again throughout the Latin West until the momentous advent of printing in the middle of the fifteenth century. Printed books saw the end of some of the practical limitations placed on the spread of human knowledge. The first revolution in Information technology had begun.
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
Renaissance man was rapidly left behind by this development; and, henceforth, it would be increasingly difficult for the educated man to cope with the expansion of knowledge that flowed through Europe via the medium of movable type.
In today’s world, the scenario could hardly be more different. The most well-read individual, whom we could legitimately call information man, or homo sciens, would certainly be considerably more knowledgeable than Renaissance man, Yet, because of the ever-expanding increase in the sum total of human knowledge over the latter half of the last millennium, and the changes in the world of technology, easy access to information has reduced the stature of the educated individual. All that he can hope to be now is an expert in a narrow field, not the all-knowing polymath of yesteryear.
It Is not surprising to see people overwhelmed by the unlimited stream of Information. There is simply too much of it to assimilate, and it is difficult to know what to do with the data once it is received; which brings us back to Johnson’s words. But we need to add another dimension to his dictum, one which was probably true in his time, but is oven more pertinent today: people need to be able to life the knowledge they acquire and not just know it or know where to find it. Our deficiency in this regard is, perhaps, the most singular failure of the modern information age.
Acquisitiveness is a natural human Instinct. Children collect cards of footballers, or whatever is the latest fad, Stamps, coins and books are targets for children and adult collectors (dike, as their basic instincts are played upon and nurtured by market forces. The desire to gather knowledge is nothing new. What is astonishing, however, Is the way in which people treat the knowledge ones It has been collected.
It is as if the collection were an end in Itself; and herein lies the great deception, We have turned the world into a large machine of information, a veritable vortex into which we are ail being Inexorably sucked, People beaver away amassing raw data, labouring under the misapprehension that they arc doing something worthwhile, when all that is really happening is the movement of information from one place to another, We should hardly be surprised that, as this becomes apparent, disillusionment and stress in the workplace arc becoming sadly the all too common consequences.
The world Is not really the richer for having the current wealth of knowledge at its fingertips. It is like standing amongst the wealth of the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationals in Paris or other great libraries and not being able to read.
So what is to be done? Training in collecting and processing relevant information, followed by learning to collate, analyse and select or discard is the obvious solution, But there is such a dearth of people who know what to do that one remains pessimistic.
The pursuit of knowledge is sadly not all it is cracked up to be.
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
Questions 15-21
Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS from the passage to complete each blank space.
15. Samuel Johnson was an ……………. .
16. Renaissance man supposedly possessed all ……………. .
17. The spread of knowledge changed with the all-important ……………. .
18. According to the writer, today’s information man knows more than……………. .
19. The standing of the modern educated man has been diminished by ……………. .
20. The polymath of the Renaissance is described as ……………. .
21. In today’s world, people arc weighed down by the endless ……………. .
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
Questions 22-25
Write NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS from the passage for each answer.
22. How does the writer describe people’s inability in the modern world to use the knowledge that they obtain?
23. What is the desire to collect things described as?
24. According to the author, what has the world turned into?
25. What arc the consequences in the workplace of moving large amounts of raw data around?
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
Questions 26-28
Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage 1?
In Boxes 26-28, write:
YES – if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
NO – if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information about the statement in the passage
26. As the world has a wealth of knowledge within easy reach, it is now richer,
27. Knowledge processing courses will soon be obligatory for all library workers.
28. The author believes that the pursuit of knowledge is worthwhile.
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146
ANSWERS
15. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHER
16. (OF) HUMAN KNOWLEDGE
17. ADVERT OF PRINTING
18. RENAISSANCE MAN
19. EASY ACCESS TO INFORMATION/EASILY ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION/EASY INFORMATION ACCESS
20. ALL-KNOWING
21. STREAM OF INFORMATION
22. THE MOST SINGULAR FAILURE
23. A NATURAL HUMAN INSTINCT
24. A VORTEX/ A VERITABLE VORTEX/ A LARGE INFORMATION MACHINE
25. DISILLUSIONMENT AND STRESS
26. NO
27. NOT GIVEN
28. NO
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 146