IELTS Academic Reading Test
The reading test is
different for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Candidates
- Each section contains one long
text.
- Texts are authentic and are
taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers. They have been
written for a non-specialist audience and are on academic topics of
general interest.
- Texts are appropriate to, and
accessible to, candidates entering undergraduate or postgraduate courses
or seeking professional registration.
- Texts range from the
descriptive and factual to the discursive and analytical. Texts may
contain non-verbal materials such as diagrams, graphs or illustrations. If
texts contain technical terms, then a simple glossary is provided.
- There are three texts and 40 questions.
Read about the settlement at Skara Brae and answer the
questions.
Skara Brae
Off the Northern tip of Scotland, where the
Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea, lies a group of 70 or so islands called the
Orkneys. These largely treeless isles are frequently battered by Atlantic
storms, gales and rain. It was during one such storm in the winter of 1850,
when the combination of wind and high tides stripped away the grass from the
top of a small hill called Skerrabra on the west side of the
largest island known simply as ‘The Mainland’. This revealed a number of stone
dwellings.
The local landowner started excavations on the
site, and within twenty years the remains of four ancient houses were
unearthed. However, work was later abandoned until 1925 when another storm
damaged some of the excavated buildings. A sea wall was proposed to protect the
site, and, during construction, yet more buildings were discovered.
It was first believed that the village was an
Iron Age settlement, dating from around 1500 years ago. However, radiocarbon
dating proved that it was in fact much older. It was a Neolithic village and
dated back to 3000 B.C. The village had been inhabited for a period of about
600 years. The Neolithic village of Skara Brae now consists of
eight dwellings, connected by low, covered passages. The stone buildings are
extremely well-preserved, thanks to the layer of sand that protected the
settlement. The interior fittings, furniture and household objects also survive
to this day.
The houses were partly built into a mound of
waste material known as ‘midden’, which would have provided both stability and
a thick layer of thick insulation against the harsh climate. From the outside,
the village would have looked like a low, round mound, from which the rooves
emerge. Nothing remains of these, so it is assumed that driftwood or whalebone
beams supported a roof made of turf, skins, seaweed or straw. The dwellings
were all connected by a series of passageways covered by stone slabs. This
allowed the villagers to travel from one house to another without stepping outside
– not a bad idea, considering the harsh climate. There was only one main
passageway leading outside the village, which could be sealed from the inside.
Evidence suggests that there were never more
than eight dwellings, suggesting a total population of no more than 100 people.
The houses are all very similar in design, consisting of a large square room
with a central fireplace. The furnishings were all made of stone, given the
shortage of wood on the islands. Two stone-edged compartments on either side of
the fireplace appear to be beds. Every house also had a distinctive shelved,
stone dresser. Its position, opposite the doorway and illuminated by the fire,
indicating that this piece of furniture was not just a useful storage space,
but had special significance. There was a sunken floor tank in each dwelling,
possibly to supply shell fish. The village also had a remarkably sophisticated
drainage system.
One of the buildings, now known as ‘house
seven’, is intriguingly different from the others. This building is detached
from the others, and has a door which door could only be secured from the
outside, suggesting that the house may have served as a type of jail – an
unusual necessity in a village of less than a hundred people. ‘House eight’ is
also unique, having none of the furnishings of the other houses. Excavators
have found that the floor of the building is littered with fragments from the
manufacture of tools, suggesting that the room was a workshop.
The standardised house design has led some to
believe that there was no hierarchy of rank within the settlement at Skara
Brae, and that all villagers were equal. Whether or not this is true is
debatable. However, it is likely that life here was probably quite comfortable
for the Neolithic people. The villagers kept sheep and cattle, and grew wheat
and barley. They probably traded these commodities for pottery. They would have
hunted red deer and boar for their meat and skins. They would also have
consumed fish, seal and whale meat, and the eggs of sea birds. The skin and
bones of these animals would have provided tools such as needles and knives.
Flint for cutting tools would have been traded or gathered from the
shore. Fuel probably came from seaweed, making the inside of the
dwellings smoky and probably smelly. Driftwood was probably too valuable to
burn.
Why Skara Brae was deserted is still unknown.
For some time it was thought that the people met with disaster. This theory
came about when beads from a necklace were found abandoned on the floor.
It was thought that the woman who dropped them was in too much of a panic
to pick them up. However, it is more likely that environmental and social
factors forced people to leave. Firstly, the encroachment of sand and salt
water would have made farming increasingly difficult. Second, there may have
been changes in Neolithic society. Construction of large henge monuments in
other parts of the island suggests that an elite ruling body, with the power to
control other people, was emerging. Tight-knit communities like the one at
Skara Brae were being replaced by larger, organized civilizations.
Answer the following questions:
1. The village of Skara Brae is located on an
island called ( The Mainland )
2. In 1925, … ( excavation resumed after a
storm )
3. The village is about… ( 5000 years old )
4. What preserved the village for such a
long time? ( sand )
5. What surrounded the walls and kept the
buildings warm? ( midden )
6. What building material did the villagers lack?
( wood )
7. What did villagers obtain from other
settlements, by exchanging goods? ( pottery )
8. What did villagers burn for warmth and cooking?
( seaweed )
9. What were the passage roofs made of? ( stone )
10. Which piece of furniture appears to be most
important? ( dresser )
11. How many of the buildings have identical
features? ( 6 )
12. What discovery caused people to believe there
had been a disaster at Skara Brae? ( beads )
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