IELTS Mock Test 2023 September

SECTION 2

Welcome to the Homes of the Future online website. I will be your virtual guide around the homes you could soon be living in. Let’s begin our tour in the bedroom. Firstly, the bed is programmed to gently rock you awake in the mornings. There’ll be no more rude awakenings by an alarm clock, and it will also know what time you need to wake up as it will get that information directly from your Personal Digital assistant, that is, your PDA, which will be inserted into you.

Let’s move to the wardrobe. Those are vour musical shoes that generate music while you walk. The music will change according to how fast you’re walking; calm music for a relaxing stroll and faster beats for when you’re in a hurry. You’ll feel like you’re walking on air. What’s more, vour clothes are also intelligent. They sense how you’re feeling and then change colour. The fabric that they’re made of also converts your body heat into a low-voltage electricity generator for some of the gadgets that are now inside you, like your PDA, for example.

Moving on to the bathroom … So. after waking up. you need a shower. There’s no need to turn on any taps as the house will know exactly what temperature you like the water in the mornings, though you’ll still have to wash yourself!

From the bathroom, we move into the kitchen. Now, we’ve all had that horrible feeling when you can’t find your keys just as you’re about to go out. Well, in the home of the future you wouldn’t need to panic, all vou need to do is an Internet search. All items are now programmed with a tracking device so that they will light up and signal to vou where they are. Just in case the object is upstairs, the house will project its position on your fridge.

Speaking of your fridge, this is now as intelligent as your clothes. Not only does it keep a record of when you’re running low on everyday essentials like milk, but it emails vour local grocery store, which will deliver them for you. It can also help with planning meals if you have friends over for dinner by moving the chicken from the freezer so that it’ll thaw in time.

Lastly, here we are in the living area, which, you’ll be pleased to hear, is still the heart of the family home. Let’s enter the room. Now, to the left of the entrance is the main seating area with a sofa, and directly opposite the entrance is an armchair. The sofa backs onto the wall and the armchair faces to the left, across the coffee table to a blank wall. So. ‘where is the TV?’ I hear vou ask. Well, this entire wall is the television. The whole thing is a plasma screen designed to show your TV, surf the Internet or, when it’s not in use, it displays anything you want it to from family pictures to famous works of art.

On the opposite wall to the sofa is a fireplace, which still has a real fire  nothing beats that now, does it? But the rug in front of the fire now also monitors the temperature, and either opens or closes the chimney, so as not to overheat the room. It still has its normal uses though, as you can see, the cat likes it very much and is curled up on it, happy as can be.

What else is on offer? Well, for entertainment the family still reads books, so there is a bookcase on the wall to the right of the entrance. But what about the computer? Well, it’s inside your head and powered by those intelligent clothes you’re wearing. Imagine this: as you’re sitting relaxing on the armchair, you’ll be able to reach out and put your hot drink on the coffee table in front of the armchair. You suddenly remember that you need to send work an email. That same coffee table holding vour cup is also a touch sensitive keyboard for you to type your email and then click ‘send’. All you need to do to activate it is say ’email’ and the image of a keyboard will appear.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour around the home of the future and that you’ll come visit again soon. Bye-bye.

SECTION 3

S: Hi Professor James, have you got a minute? You see I’m having a bit of trouble getting started on my graduate employability assignment.

P: Well, ok, as long as it doesn’t take longer than ten minutes as I have a meeting to get to at 3:30.

S: Yep fine. It shouldn’t take long at all.

P: OK, Sally. Tell me what you’ve done so far and we’ll go from there.

S: Well, as you suggested I chose three local businesses and contacted them via telephone to introduce myself.

P: That’s good.

S: Well, the thing is, I couldn’t get past the secretary of two of them. Do you have any suggestions?

P: What about following up with a letter stating what time you’ll be calling again?

S: Oh, that’s a good idea. I hadn’t thought of that.

P: So, tell me about the one you have contacted.

S: Right, well, he was very helpful actually. He received the survey I emailed him and has already sent it back. I’ve had a very quick look at it, but haven’t had a chance to write it up yet.

P: So far so good. Carry on …

S: Well, apart from that, I’ve also found a lot of statistics that exist on the starting salaries graduates begin on once they finish studying. There’s some really interesting stuff out there. Did you know, for example, that your average engineer earns nearly as much as a medical graduate?

P: Yes, I did.

S: Gosh, I had no idea.

P: Having second thoughts about a career in human resources are we?

S: No, but I was surprised. Anyway, getting back to where I was. I’ve gone to the library, but the books you recommend have already been taken out, apart from one that is, it’s called … A Starting Success. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve taken it out and it’s on my list of things to do.

P: Have you come up with a plan yet?

S: Yes, and I’ve written my hypothesis as well as my introduction, but that’s where I’ve got stuck. I don’t really know how I’m going to be able to present all of the information as there’s so much of it …

P: Well firstly, I’d recommend you start with analyzing what the employer said. Now can I have a look at the questionnaire you wrote?

S: Yes, here it is.

P: Thanks … Oh dear. Well it’s no wonder you’re overwhelmed with information. You’ve collected a lot of information, which can be overwhelming.

S: Oh dear! That took me ages … and does that mean I can’t use it?

P: Afraid so … but don’t worry if you’ve got a pen and paper, I’ll quickly give you some pointers, and then you can re-jig it to get the information you’re looking for.

S: OK, just a minute … I know there’s a pen in here somewhere. OK, got it.

P: Right, well, first and foremost you need to be clear. There’s no point having a beautifully worded document throughout that no one understands. Use language that is simple.

S: Right, got that. What next?

P: You need to catch the reader’s attention at the start of the document. And you need to find the right balance between formal and informal language. Your survey isn’t an official document, but more of a living one that serves a purpose, so neutral language is best.

S: OK, just writing that down … OK.

P: The next one’s what your mistake was this time – try not to use open-ended questions, or you’ll find it impossible to collect your results.

S: Yep, I think I’ve learned my lesson there. What else?

P: Scales really do make the job of completing the questionnaire easier for the recipients by saving them lots of time and effort writing.

S: I take your point. Anything else?

P: Ah ha. One last thing, make sure you’ve thought about the logic of your questions. There’s nothing worse than trying to make choices about things that seem to have no order.

S: Right … got it. I see where I went wrong now and will try to do better next time.

P: Don’t worry. It’s a very easy mistake to make, and one that many people come across the first time they do this kind of assignment. OK, Sally, I really must rush. I’m late for my appointment.

S: Of course, thanks for your help. I’ll see you in class tomorrow. Bye!

SECTION 4

Hi, good morning everyone. I’m here today to present my findings on the process of urbanization and its impact on the environment. As you know, urbanization involves the movement of people from the countryside to the cities. As this process continues, the cities of the world continue to grow. I will demonstrate how this growth is eating away at the planet’s most fertile land.

My research has focused on two studies that looked at land use in the United States. These have shown that since its independence, only three percent of all land in the United States has been built on. However, the same studies have also shown that the resulting loss of productive land is comparatively much, much greater. This isn’t so much of a problem in America as it has a relatively low ratio of people to land. However, most other countries are not so blessed, the impact of which could have dire consequences for the future. The real danger here is if this pattern were to be repeated by developing countries, it could have a major effect on the world’s food supplies in the next 50 years.

In order to reach this conclusion, several research methods were adopted. A group of scientists in the United States used a weather satellite that normally maps moonlit cloud cover at night. However, on nights when there were no clouds, they used the satellite to map the generation of heat from city lights. They then took the data and divided land use into three categories urban, semi-urban and non-urban land use. Next, they calculated how active the vegetation is in each region by using different satellites. When they combined this information with previous statistics and weather conditions, they came up with a number for total productivity for all areas.

So what did the results of this process of land classification show? Well, firstly, they proved that although only a tiny percentage of the land in the United States is urbanized, and 29% of land is used for agricultural purposes, the land which has been built on actually has the best soils. These were independently corroborated by a second team of scientists in San Francisco, whose results showed that this process is happening even faster in the southeastern corner of the United States. This means that land that is extremely productive from an agricultural point of view, is being taken over by lawns, golf courses and a few scattered trees. As a direct result of urbanization, the researchers in San Francisco calculated that every year 91 million tons of plants are ‘lost’ in the U.S.

So what does this mean for the future? Well, I have come up with some of my own ideas for practical solutions. Countries should calculate whether urbanization is happening on their fertile lands too; especially if they have large populations compared to the amount of land available, like India and China, for example. If it is, then every effort should be made to stop the process from happening. This can be done in many ways. One of them is to stop investing in the infrastructure of those areas. If people don’t have the facilities they need, they won’t want to live there. But in my opinion, the main solution here is to offer people financial incentives to move away from fertile land to areas that are less valuable in agricultural terms.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my presentation this morning. Thanks for your kind attention. I will now take any questions …

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Great thanks to volunteer Cẩm Vân has contributed these explanations markings.

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