Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 With Answers

IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 With Answers ( Passage 1 The Beginning of Football!, Passage 2 The History of the Invention of Plastics, Passage 3 Does An IQ Test Prove Creativity? ) we prefer you to work offline, download the test paper and blank answer sheet.

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For Answers Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 Answers

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 Reading Passage The Beginning of Football! below.

The Beginning of Football!

{A} Football as we now know it developed in Britain in the 19th century, but the game is far older than this. In fact, the term has historically been applied to games played on foot, as opposed to those played on horseback, so ‘football’ hasn’t always involved kicking a ball.It has generally been played by men, though at the end of the 17th century, games were played between married and single women in a town in Scotland. The married women regularly won.

{B} The very earliest form of football for which we have evidence is the ‘tsu’chu’, which was played in China and may date back 3,000 years. It was performed in front of the Emperor during festivities to mark his birthday. It involved kicking a leather ball through a 30-40cm opening into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes – a feat that demanded great skill and excellent technique.

{C} Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese ‘kemari’ which dates from about the fifth century and is still played today. This is a type of circular football game, a more dignified and ceremonious experience requiring certain skills, but not competitive in the way the Chinese game was, nor is there the slightest sign of struggle for possession of the ball. The players had to pass the ball to each other, in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.

{D} The Romans had a much livelier game, ‘harpastum’. Each team took a noisy interest in the proceedings and the score. The role of the feet was so small as scarcely to be of little consequence. The game remained popular for 700 or 800 years, but, although it was taken to England, it is doubtful whether it can be considered as a forerunner of contemporary football.

{E} The game that flourished in Britain from the 8th to the 19th centuries was substantially different from all the previously known forms – more disorganised, more violent, more spontaneous and usually played by an indefinite number of players. Frequently, the games took the form of a heated contest between whole villages. Kicking opponents was allowed, as in fact was almost everything else.

{F} There was tremendous enthusiasm for football, even though the authorities repeatedly intervened to restrict it, as a public nuisance. In the 14th and 15th centuries, England, Scotland and France all made football punishable by law, because of the disorder that commonly accompanied it, or because the well-loved recreation prevented subjects from practising more useful military disciplines. None of these efforts had much effect.

{G} The English passion for football was particularly strong in the 16th century, influenced by the popularity of the rather better organised Italian game of calcio’. English football was as rough as ever, but it found a prominent supporter in the school headmaster Richard Mulcaster. He pointed out that it had positive educational value and promoted health and strength. Mulcaster claimed that all that was needed was to refine it a little, limit the number of participants in each team and, more importantly, have a referee to oversee the game.

{H} The game persisted in a disorganised form until the early 19th century, when a number of influential English schools developed their own adaptations. In some, including Rugby School, the ball could be touched with the hands or carried; opponents could be tripped up and even kicked. It was recognised in educational circles that, as a team game, football helped to develop such fine qualities as loyalty, selflessness, cooperation, subordination and deference to the team spirit. A games cult developed in schools, and some form of football became an obligatory part of the curriculum.

{I} In 1863, developments reached a climax. At Cambridge University, an initiative began to establish some uniform standards and rules that would be accepted by everyone, but there were essentially two camps: the minority — Rugby School and some others – wished to continue with their own form of the game, in particular allowing players to carry the ball. In October of the same year, eleven London clubs and schools sent representatives to establish a set of fundamental rules to govern the matches played amongst them. This meeting marked the birth of the Football Association.

{J} The dispute concerning kicking and tripping opponents and carrying the ball was discussed thoroughly at this and subsequent meetings, until eventually, on 8 December, the die-hard exponents of the Rugby style withdrew, marking a final split between rugby and football. Within eight years, the Football Association already had 50 member clubs, and the first football competition in the world was started – the FA Cup.

Questions 1-7

Reading Passage 1 has ten paragraphs A-J. 

Choose the correct headings for paragraphs D-J from the list of headings below. 

Write the correct number i-x in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

Example Paragraph C Answer v 

(1) Paragraph D 

(2) Paragraph E 

(3) Paragraph F 

(4) Paragraph G 

(5) Paragraph H 

(6) Paragraph I 

(7) Paragraph J

Questions 8-13

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-1 from the box below. Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

(8) Tsu’chu

(9) Kemari

(10) Harpastum

(11) From the 8th to the 19th centuries, football in the British Isles

(12) In the past, the authorities legitimately despised football and acted on the belief that football

(13) When it was accepted in academic settings, football

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27, which are based on the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 Reading Passage The History of the Invention of Plastics below.

The History of the Invention of Plastics

{A} Natural polymers include such familiar substances as silk, rubber, and cotton. Plastics are artificial polymers. Plastics are used on a daily basis throughout the world. The word plastic is a common term that is used for many materials of a synthetic or semi-synthetic nature. The term was derived from the Greek plastikos, which means “fit for molding.” Plastics are a wide variety of combinations of properties when viewed as a whole. They are used for shellac, cellulose, rubber, and asphalt. We also synthetically manufacture items such as clothing, packaging, automobiles, electronics, aircrafts, medical supplies, and recreational items. The list could go on and on and it is obvious that much of what we have today would not be possible without plastics.

{B} In the early part of the twentieth century, a big boom occurred in polymer chemistry when polymer materials such as nylon and Kevlar came on the scene. Much of the work done with polymers focuses on improvement while using existing technologies, but chemists do have opportunities ahead. There is a need for the development of new applications for polymers, always looking for less expensive materials that can replace what is used now. Chemists have to be more aware of what the market yearns for, such as products with a green emphasis, polymers that break down or are environmentally friendly. Concerns such as these have brought new activity to the science arena and there are always new discoveries to be made.

{C} The evolution of the chemistry behind plastics is mind numbing, and the uses for plastics are endless. In the Middle Ages, when scientists first started to experiment, plastics were derived from organic natural sources, such as egg and blood proteins. It wasn’t until the 19th and 20thcenturies that the plastics we know today were created. Many Americans will recognize the name Goodyear, it was Charles Goodyear who began the modern-day plastic revolution when he vulcanized rubber in 1839, paving the way for the tire. Prior to his discovery, products made with rubber did not hold up well in warm temperatures or climates. Rubber is only one source of plastic, however, and three key inventors followed Goodyear’s path and took plastic from a nearly unusable hard substance to the invaluable man-made resource it is today.

{D} The son of a brass lock manufacturer, Alexander Parkes was born in Birmingham, England in 1813. Parkes was raised around metal fabrication. In his first job he worked as an apprentice at Birmingham’s brass foundry, owned by Samuel S. Messengers and Sons. Parkes switched his attention from brass work to electroplating when he went to work for George and Henry Elkington. It was there Parkes developed his inventive spirit. Parkes’ first patent, awarded in 1841, dealt with electroplating delicate items such as flowers, but throughout his career Parkes reportedly held more than 80 patents on his works with both metals and plastics.Parkes is credited with inventing the first man-made plastic, which he patented as Parkesine in 1856. Parkes introduced this combination of nitrocellulose and solvents to England in 1862 at the London International Exhibition. While Parkesine itself did not prove to be a successful material in its original formulation, it was too flammable, it laid the groundwork for successful derivative materials from future inventors. One of those inventors being John Wesley Hyatt.

{E} What Alexander Parkes started, John Wesley Hyatt took to the next level. Hyatt was born in Starkey, New York in 1837, and patented several hundred inventions. Hyatt’s link to plastics comes in the form of the game of billiards. Billiard balls were originally made of ivory, a commodity that was in steep decline in the 1800s. Most likely inspired by the $10,000 reward being offered, Hyatt took on the challenge of finding a substitute material to manufacture billiard balls. Hyatt’s experiments began with a combination of Parkes’ Parkesine, a solid form of nitrocellulose, and another English inventor, Frederick Scott Archer, discovery of liquid nitrocellulose. Hyatt combined two to create celluloid, which he patented in 1870.

{F} Celluloid was used for numerous products, including billiard balls for Hyatt’s own company rather than his former employer. Celluloid also produced false teeth, combs, baby rattles, and piano keys. Despite its replacement by newer synthetic materials in today’s marketplace, Hyatt’s patented version of celluloid is still used to produce ping-pong balls. There is no doubt that the invention of celluloid was the next important rung in the plastic manufacturing ladder, including the use of celluloid in film production.

{G} Much like Parkes’ invention led to Hyatt’s success, Hyatt’s celluloid influenced Leo Baekeland. This Belgium-born chemist paved the way for George Eastman, of Eastman Kodak, to build the photographic empire we know today. Born in 1863, Baekeland’s first invention was Velox, a paper which allowed photographs to be taken in artificial light. Eastman purchased the Velox process from Baekeland for a reported $750,000 in 1899. Baekeland used that money to fund his own in-home laboratory.

{H} Baekeland moved his experiments from photography paper to synthetic resins, and invented Bakelite, a combination of phenol and formaldehyde in 1907. Bakelite was officially patented in 1909. Bakelite was a hard, yet moldable, plastic, and was considered the product that led the world into the Age of Plastics. Bakelite was used in everything from buttons to art deco furniture to television sets. While these items are made from different types of materials today, Bakelite is still used in the production of items such as car brakes and materials used in the space shuttle. 

Questions 14-18

Use the information in the passage to match the inventors, chemists or companies (listed A-F) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

(14) Invested a considerable amount of money in buying a technique that had a huge impact on the success of his well-known business.

(15) Invented a chemical formula that was successful only in a lab experimental stage yet marked the beginning of an important era.

(16) Had a lab sustained by his own capital.

(17) In the motivation of an attractive financial incentive, successfully created a succedaneum based on the work accomplished by chemists prior to him.

(18) Established a famous business on auto parts. 

Questions 19-22

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet, write

(19) Silk, cotton as well as plastics have something in common. 

(20) There are sometimes conflicts between what the chemists are trying on and what the markets are driving for. 

(21) The majority of Alexander Parkes’ patents lie in two major fields. 

(22) The importance of celluloid has completely faded out of in commercial use because of the occurrence of other alternative products.

Questions 23-27

Summary

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using No More than Three words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 23-27 on your answer sheet.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 Reading Passage Does An IQ Test Prove Creativity? below.

Does An IQ Test Prove Creativity?

Everyone has creativity, some a lot more than others. The development of humans, and possibly the universe, depends on it. Yet creativity is an elusive creature. What do we mean by it? What is going on in our brains when ideas form? Does it feel the same for artists and scientists? We asked writers and neuroscientists, pop stars, and AI gurus to try to deconstruct the creative process – and learn how we can all ignite the spark within.

{A} In the early 1970s, creativity was still seen as a type of intelligence. But when more subtle tests of IQ and creative skills were developed in the 1970s, particularly by the father of creativity testing, Paul Torrance, it became clear that the link was not so simple. Creative people are intelligent, in terms of IQ tests at least, but only averagely or just above. While it depends on the discipline, in general beyond a certain level IQ does not help boost creativity; it is necessary, but not sufficient to make someone creative.

{B} Because of the difficulty of studying the actual process, most early attempts to study creativity concentrated on personality. According to creativity specialist Mark Runco of California State University, Fullerton, the “creative personality” tends to place a high value on aesthetic qualities and to have broad interests, providing lots of resources to draw on and knowledge to recombine into novel solutions. “Creatives” have an attraction to the complexity and an ability to handle conflict. They are also usually highly self-motivated, perhaps even a little obsessive. Less creative people, on the other hand, tend to become irritated if they cannot immediately fit all the pieces together. They are less tolerant of confusion. Creativity comes to those who wait, but only to those who are happy to do so in a bit of a fog.

{C} But there may be a price to pay for having a creative personality. For centuries, a link has been made between creativity and mental illness. Psychiatrist Jamison of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, found that established artists are significantly more likely to have mood disorders. But she also suggests that a change of mood state might be the key to triggering a creative event, rather than the negative mood itself. Intelligence can help channel this thought style into great creativity, but when combined with emotional problems, lateral divergent or open thinking can lead to mental illness instead.

{D} Jordan Peterson, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, Canada, believes he has identified a mechanism that could help explain this. He says that the brains of creative people seem more open to incoming stimuli than less creative types. Our senses are continuously feeding a mass of information into our brains, which have to block or ignore most of it to save us from being snowed under. Peterson calls this process latent inhibition, and argues that people who have less of it, and who have a reasonably high IQ with a good working memory can juggle more of the data, and so maybe open to more possibilities and ideas. The downside of extremely low latent inhibition may be a confusing thought style that predisposes people to mental illness. So for Peterson, mental illness is not a prerequisite for creativity, but it shares some cognitive traits.

{E} But what of the creative act itself? One of the first studies of the creative brain at work was by Colin Martindale, a psychologist from the University of Maine in Orono. Back in 1978, he used a network of scalp electrodes to record an electroencephalogram, a record of the pattern of brain waves, as people made up stories. Creativity has two stages: inspiration and elaboration, each characterized by very different states of mind. While people were dreaming up their stories, he found their brains were surprisingly quiet. The dominant activity was alpha waves, indicating a very low level of cortical arousal: a relaxed state, as though the conscious mind was quiet while the brain was making connections behind the scenes. It’s the same sort of brain activity as in some stages of sleep, dreaming or rest, which could explain why sleep and relaxation can help people be creative. However, when these quiet-minded people were asked to work on their stories, the alpha wave activity dropped off and the brain became busier, revealing increased cortical arousal, more corralling of activity and more organized thinking. Strikingly, it was the people who showed the biggest difference in brain activity between the inspiration and development stages who produced the most creative storylines. Nothing in their background brain activity marked them as creative or uncreative. “It’s as if the less creative person can’t shift gears,” says Guy Claxton, a psychologist at the University of Bristol, UK. “Creativity requires different kinds of thinking. Very creative people move between these states intuitively.” Creativity, it seems, is about mental flexibility: perhaps not a two-step process, but a toggling between two states. In a later study, Martindale found that communication between the sides of the brain is also important.

{F} Paul Howard-Jones, who works with Claxton at Bristol, believes he has found another aspect of creativity. He asked people to make up a story based on three words and scanned their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In one trial, people were asked not to try too hard and just report the most obvious story suggested by the words. In another, they were asked to be inventive. He also varied the words so it was easier or harder to link them. As people tried harder and came up with more creative tales, there was a lot more activity in a particular prefrontal brain region on the right-hand side. These regions are probably important in monitoring for conflict, helping us to filter out many of the unhelpful ways of combining the words and allowing us to pull out just the desirable connections, Howard-Jones suggests. It shows that there is another side to creativity, he says. The story-making task, particularly when we are stretched, produces many options which we have to assess. So part of creativity is a conscious process of evaluating and analyzing ideas. The test also shows that the more we try and are stretched, the more creative our minds can be.

{G} And creativity need not always be a solitary tortured affair, according to Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School. Though there is a slight association between solitary writing or painting and negative moods or emotional disturbances, scientific creativity and workplace creativity seem much more likely to occur when people are positive and buoyant. In a decade-long study of real businesses, to be published soon, Amabile found that positive moods relate positively to creativity in organizations, and that the relationship is a simple linear one. Creative thought also improves people’s moods, her team found, so the process is circular Time pressures, financial pressures and hard-earned bonus schemes on the other hand, do not boost workplace creativity: internal motivation, not coercion, produces the best work.

{H} Another often forgotten aspect of creativity is social. Vera John-Steiner of the University of New Mexico says that to be really creative you need strong social networks and trusting relationships, not just active neural networks. One vital characteristic of a highly creative person, she says, is that they have at least one other person in their life who doesn’t think they are completely nuts

Questions 28-31 

Do the following statement agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

(28) High IQ guarantees more ability to create in one person than one with an average score. 

(29) For a competitive society, individuals’ language proficiency is more important than the other abilities. 

(30) A wider range of resources and knowledge can be integrated into bringing about creative approaches. 

(31) A creative person does not necessarily suffer more mental illness.

Questions 32-26

Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-F) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.

(32) Instead of producing the negative mood, a shift of mood state might be the one important factor in inducing creative thinking. 

(33) Where the more positive moods individuals achieve, there is higher creativity in organizations. 

(34) Good interpersonal relationship and trust contribute to a person with more creativity 

(35) Creativity demands different kinds of thinking that can be easily changed back and forth. 

(36) Certain creative mind can be upgraded if we are put into more practice in assessing and processing ideas.

Questions 37-40

Summary

Complete the Summary paragraph described below. In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write the correct answer with no more than three words

For Answers Academic IELTS Reading Test 109 Answers