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IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139, Food for thought 2, Biology of Bitterness, Internal and External Marketing

IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 ( Passage 1 Food for thought 2, Passage 2 Biology of Bitterness, Passage 3 Internal and External Marketing ) we prefer you to work offline, download the test paper, and blank answer sheet.

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For Answers Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 Answers

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 Reading Passage Food for thought 2 below.

Food for thought 2

{A} There are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter.

{B} Msekeni is in one of the poorer parts of Malawi, a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty and great poverty. No war lays waste in Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowded or infertile, but Malawians still have trouble finding enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, so the country is as good a place as any to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa.

{C} The headmaster at Msekeni, Bernard Kumanda, has strong views on the subject. He thinks food is a priceless teaching aid. Since 1999, his pupils have received free school lunches. Donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soybean flour, enriched with vitamin A) in that converted classroom. Local volunteers do the cooking, turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious slop, and spooning it out onto plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called “We are getting porridge”.

{D} When the school’s feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free porridge, but most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work. These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when set against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. One plate of porridge a day completely altered the calculation. A child fed at school will not howl so plaintively for food at home. Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home.

{E} When a school takes in a horde of extra students from the poorest homes, you would expect standards to drop. Anywhere in the world, poor kids tend to perform worse than their better-off classmates. When the influx of new pupils is not accompanied by any increase in the number of teachers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. But they have not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. Although this was an exceptional example, the nationwide results of school feeding programmes were still pretty good. On average, after a Malawian school started handing out free food it attracted 38% more girls and 24% more boys. The pass rate for boys stayed about the same, while for girls it improved by 9.5%.

{F} Better nutrition makes for brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus the mind on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. Mr Kumanda says that it used to be easy to spot the kids who were really undernourished. “They were the ones who stared into space and didn’t respond when you asked them questions,” he says. More crucially, though, more and better food helps brains grow and develop. Like any other organ in the body, the brain needs nutrition and exercise. But if it is starved of the necessary calories, proteins and micronutrients, it is stunted, perhaps not as severely as a muscle would be, but stunted nonetheless. That is why feeding children at schools work so well. And the fact that the effect of feeding was more pronounced on girls than on boys gives a clue to who eats first in rural Malawian households. It isn’t the girls.

{G} On a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was more or less universal. Now, it is extremely rare in rich countries. In developing countries, where most people live, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever before. The proportion of children under five in the developing world who are malnourished to the point of stunting fell from 39% in 1990 to 30% in 2000, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). In other places, the battle against hunger is steadily being won. Better nutrition is making people cleverer and more energetic, which will help them grow more prosperous. And when they eventually join the ranks of the well off, they can start fretting about growing too fat. 

Questions 1-7 IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

The IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G 

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below. 

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

List of Headings

(i) Why better food helps students’ learning 

(ii) A song for getting porridge 

(iii) Surprising use of school premises 

(iv) Global perspective 

(V) Brains can be starved 

(vi) Surprising academics outcome 

(vii) Girls are specially treated in the program 

(viii) How food program is operated 

(ix) How food program affects school attendance 

(x) None of the usual reasons xi How to maintain academic standard

(1) Paragraph A 

(2) Paragraph B 

(3) Paragraph C 

(4) Paragraph D 

(5) Paragraph E 

(6) Paragraph F 

(7) Paragraph G

Questions 8-11 IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage? Write your answers in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet

8 __________ are exclusively offered to girls in the feeding programme.

9 Instead of going to school, many children in poverty are sent to collect________ in the fields.

10 The pass rate at Msekeni has risen to____________with the help of the feeding programme.

11 Since the industrial revolution, the size of the modern human has grown by_________.

Questions 12-13 

Choose TWO letters, A-F. 

Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.

Which TWO of the following statements are true?

(A) Some children are taught in the open air. 

(B) Malawi have trouble to feed its large population. 

(C) No new staff were recruited when attendance rose. 

(D) Girls enjoy a higher status than boys in the family 

(E) Boys and girls experience the same improvement in the pass rate. 

(F) WHO has cooperated with WFP to provide grain to the school at Msekeni.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27, which are based on the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 Reading Passage Biology of Bitterness below.

Biology of Bitterness

To many people, grapefruit is palatable only when doused in sugar. Bitter blockers like adenosine monophosphate could change that.

{A} There is a reason why grapefruit juice is served in little glasses: Most people don’t want to drink more than a few ounces at a time. Naringin , a natural chemical compound found in grapefruit, tastes bitter. Some people like that bitterness in small doses and believe it enhances the general flavor, but others would rather avoid it altogether. So juice packagers often select grapefruit with low naringin content, even though the compound has antioxidant properties that some nutritionists contend may help prevent cancer and arteriosclerosis.

{B} It is possible, however, to get the goodness of grapefruit juice without the bitter taste. I found that out by participating in a test conducted at the Linguagen Corporation, a biotechnology company in Cranbury, New Jersey. Sets of two miniature white paper cups, labeled 304 and 305, were placed before five people seated around a conference table. Each of us drank from one cup and then the other, cleansing our palates between tastes with water and a soda cracker. Even the smallest sip of 304 had grapefruit’s unmistakable bitter bite. But 305 was smoother; there was the sour taste of citrus but none of the bitterness of naringin. This juice had been treated with adenosine monophosphate or AMP, a compound that blocks the bitterness in foods without making them less nutritious.

{C} Taste research is a booming business these days, with scientists delving into all five basics—sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami, the savory taste of protein. Bitterness is of special interest to industry because of its untapped potential in food. There are thousands of bitter-tasting compounds in nature. They defend plants by warning animals away and protect animals by letting them know when a plant may be poisonous. But the system isn’t foolproof. Grapefruit and cruciferous vegetables like brussels sprouts and kale are nutritious despite and sometimes because of their bitter-tasting components. Over time, many people have learned to love them, at least in small doses. “Humans are the only species that enjoys bitter taste,” says Charles Zuker, a neuroscientist at the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego. “Every other species is averse to bitterness because it means bad news. But we have learned to enjoy it. We drink coffee, which is bitter, and quinine [in tonic water] too. We enjoy having that spice in our lives.” Because bitterness can be pleasing in small quantities but repellent when intense, bitter blockers like AMP could make a whole range of foods, drinks, and medicines more palatable—and therefore more profitable.

{D} People have varying capacities for tasting bitterness, and the differences appear to be genetic. About 75 percent of people are sensitive to the taste of the bitter compounds phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil, and 25 percent are insensitive. Those who are sensitive to phenylthiocarbamide seem to be less likely than others to eat cruciferous vegetables, according to Stephen Wooding, a geneticist at the University of Utah. Some people, known as supertasters, are especially sensitive to 6-n-propylthiouracil because they have an unusually high number of taste buds. Supertasters tend to shun all kinds of bitter-tasting things, including vegetables, coffee, and dark chocolate. Perhaps as a result, they tend to be thin. They’re also less fond of alcoholic drinks, which are often slightly bitter. Dewar’s scotch, for instance, tastes somewhat sweet to most people. “But a supertaster tastes no sweetness at all, only bitterness,” says Valerie Duffy, an associate professor of dietetics at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

{E} In one recent study, Duffy found that supertasters consume alcoholic beverages, on average, only two to three times a week, compared with five or six times for the average nontasters. Each taste bud, which looks like an onion, consists of 50 to 100 elongated cells running from the top of the bud to the bottom. At the top is a little clump of receptors that capture the taste molecules, known as tastants, in food and drink. The receptors function much like those for sight and smell. Once a bitter signal has been received, it is relayed via proteins known as G proteins. The G protein involved in the perception of bitterness, sweetness, and umami was identified in the early 1990s by Linguagen’s founder, Robert Margolskee, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Known as gustducin, the protein triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that lead to changes in ion concentrations within the cell. Ultimately, this delivers a signal to the brain that registers as bitter. “The signaling system is like a bucket brigade,” Margolskee says. “It goes from the G protein to other proteins.” 

{F} In 2000 Zuker and others found some 30 different kinds of genes that code for bitter taste receptors. “We knew the number would have to be large because there is such a large universe of bitter tastants,” Zuker says. Yet no matter which tastant enters the mouth or which receptor it attaches to, bitter always tastes the same to us. The only variation derives from its intensity and the ways in which it can be flavored by the sense of smell. “Taste cells are like a light switch,” Zuker says. “They are either on or off.”

{G} Once they figured out the taste mechanism, scientists began to think of ways to interfere with it. They tried AMP, an organic compound found in breast milk and other substances, which is created as cells break down food. AMP has no bitterness of its own, but when put in foods, Margolskee and his colleagues discovered, it attaches to bitter-taste receptors. As effective as it is, AMP may not be able to dampen every type of bitter taste, because it probably doesn’t attach to all 30 bitter-taste receptors. So Linguagen has scaled up the hunt for other bitter blockers with a technology called high-throughput screening. Researchers start by coaxing cells in culture to activate bitter-taste receptors. Then candidate substances, culled from chemical compound libraries, are dropped onto the receptors, and scientists look for evidence of a reaction.

{H} In time, some taste researchers believe, compounds like AMP will help make processed foods less unhealthy. Consider, for example, that a single cup of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup contains 850 milligrams of sodium chloride, or table salt—more than a third of the recommended daily allowance. The salt masks the bitterness created by the high temperatures used in the canning process, which cause sugars and amino acids to react. Part of the salt could be replaced by another salt, potassium chloride, which tends to be scarce in some people’s diets. Potassium chloride has a bitter aftertaste, but that could be eliminated with a dose of AMP. Bitter blockers could also be used in place of cherry or grape flavouring to take the harshness out of children’s cough syrup, and they could dampen the bitterness of antihistamines, antibiotics, certain HIV drugs, and other medications.

{I} A number of food makers have already begun to experiment with AMP in their products, and other bitter blockers are being developed by rival firms such as Senomyx in La Jolla, California. In a few years, perhaps, after food companies have taken the bitterness from canned soup and TV dinners, they can set their sights on something more useful: a bitter blocker in a bottle that any of us can sprinkle on our brussels sprouts or stir into our grapefruit juice.

Questions 14-21 IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

The reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-I. 

Which paragraph contains the following information? 

Write the correct letter A-1, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet.

(14) Experiment on bitterness conducted

(15) Look into the future application

(16) Bitterness means different information for human and animals

(17) Spread process of bitterness inside of body

(18) How AMP blocks bitterness

(19) Some bitterness blocker may help lower unhealthy impact

(20) Bitterness introduced from a fruit

(21) Genetic feature determines sensitivity

Questions 22-25

Summary 

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet.

The reason why grapefruit tastes bitter is because a substance called 22_______contained in it. However, bitterness plays a significant role for plants. It gives a signal that a certain plant is_23________.For human beings, different people carry various genetic abilities to taste bitterness. According to a scientist at the University of Utah, 24________ have exceptionally plenty of 25_________, which allows them to perceive bitter compounds.

Questions 26-27

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. 

Write your answers in boxes 26-27 on your answer sheet.

Question 26 What is the main feature of AMP according to this passage?

(A) offset bitter flavor in food 

(B) only exist in 304 cup 

(C) tastes like citrus 

(D) chemical reaction when meets biscuit

Question 27 What is the main function of G protein?

(A) collecting taste molecule 

(B) identifying different flavors elements 

(C) resolving large molecules 

(D) transmitting bitter signals to the brain

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 Reading Passage Internal and External Marketing below.

Internal and External Marketing

{A} Employees need to hear the same messages that you send out to the marketplace. At most companies, however, internal and external communications are often mismatched. This can be very confusing, and it threatens employees’ perceptions of the company’s integrity: They are told one thing by management but observe that a different message is being sent to the public. One health insurance company, for instance, advertised that the welfare of patients was the company’s number one priority, while employees were told that their main goal was to increase the value of their stock options through cost reductions. And one major financial services institution told customers that it was making a major shift in focus from being a financial retailer to a financial adviser, but, a year later, research showed that the customer experience with the company had not changed. It turned out that company leaders had not made an effort to sell the change internally, so employees were still churning out transactions and hadn’t changed their behaviour to match their new adviser role.

{B} Enabling employees to deliver on customer expectations is important, of course, but it’s not the only reason a company needs to match internal and external messages. Another reason is to help push the company to achieve goals that might otherwise be out of reach. In 1997, when IBM launched its e-business campaign (which is widely credited for turning around the company’s image), it chose to ignore research that suggested consumers were unprepared to embrace IBM as a leader in e-business. Although to the outside world this looked like an external marketing effort, IBM was also using the campaign to align employees around the idea of the Internet as the future of technology. The internal campaign changed the way employees thought about everything they did, from how they named products to how they organized staff to how they approached selling. The campaign was successful largely because it gave employees a sense of direction and purpose, which in turn restored their confidence in IBM’s ability to predict the future and lead the technology industry. Today, research shows that people are four times more likely to associate the term “e-business” with IBM than with its nearest competitor, Microsoft. 

{C} The type of “two-way branding” that IBM did so successfully strengthens both sides of the equation. Internal marketing becomes stronger because it can draw on the same “big idea” as advertising. Consumer marketing becomes stronger because the messages are developed based on employees’ behaviour and attitudes, as well as on the company’s strengths and capabilities, indeed, the themes are drawn from the company’s very soul. This process can result in a more distinct advertising idea because marketers are more likely to create a message that’s unique to the company.

{D} Perhaps even more important, by taking employees into account, a company can avoid creating a message that doesn’t resonate with staff or, worse, one that builds resentment. In 1996, United Airlines shelved its “Come Fly the Friendly Skies” slogan when presented with a survey that revealed the depth of customer resentment toward the airline industry. In an effort to own up to the industry’s shortcomings, United launched a new campaign, “Rising,” in which it sought to differentiate itself by acknowledging poor service and promising incremental improvements such as better meals. While this was a logical premise for the campaign given the tenor of the times, a campaign focusing on customers’ distaste for flying was deeply discouraging to the staff. Employee resentment ultimately made it impossible for United to deliver the improvements it was promising, which in turn undermined the “Rising” pledge. Three years later, United decided employee opposition was undermining its success and pulled the campaign. It has since moved to a more inclusive brand message with the line “United,” which both audiences can embrace. Here, a fundamental principle of advertising-find and address a customer concern-failed United because it did not consider the internal market.

{E} When it comes to execution, the most common and effective way to link internal and external marketing campaigns is to create external advertising that targets both audiences. IBM used this tactic very effectively when it launched its e-business campaign. It took out an eight-page ad in the Wall Street Journal declaring its new vision, a message directed at both customers and internal stakeholders. This is an expensive way to capture attention, but if used sparingly, it is the most powerful form of communication; in fact, you need do it only once for everyone in the company to read it. There’s a symbolic advantage as well. Such a tactic signals that the company is taking its pledge very seriously; it also signals transparency – the same message going out to both audiences. 

{F} Advertising isn’t the only way to link internal and external marketing. At Nike, a number of senior executives now hold the additional title of “Corporate Storyteller.” They deliberately avoid stories of financial successes and concentrate on parables of “just doing it,” reflecting and reinforcing the company’s ad campaigns. One tale, for example, recalls how legendary coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, in an effort to build a better shoe for his team, poured rubber into the family waffle iron, giving birth to the prototype of Nike’s famous Waffle Sole. By talking about such inventive moves, the company hopes to keep the spirit of innovation that characterizes its ad campaigns alive and well within the company.

{G} But while their messages must be aligned, companies must also keep external promises a little ahead of internal realities. Such promises provide incentives for employees and give them something to live up to. In the 1980s, Ford turned “Quality is Job ! ” from, an internal rallying cry into a consumer slogan in response to the threat from cheaper, more reliable Japanese cars. It did so before the claim was fully justified, but by placing it in the public arena, it gave employees an incentive to match the Japanese. If the promise is pushed too far ahead, however, it loses credibility. When a beleaguered British Rail launched a campaign announcing service improvement under the banner “We’re Getting There,” it did so prematurely. By drawing attention to the gap between the promise and the reality, it prompted destructive press coverage. This, in turn, demoralized staff, who had been legitimately proud of the service advances they had made.

Questions 28-34 IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

Use the information in the passage to match the company (listed A-F) with correct category or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.

NB you may use any letter more than once

(A) legendary anecdote inspire employees successfully 

(B) advertisement campaigns inspire employees and ensure a leading role in business 

(C) improper ads campaign brings negative effect 

(D) internal and external announcements are different 

(E) the campaign brings positive and realistic expectations internally 

(F) a bad slogan that failed both to win support internally and raise standards to its poor service

(28) One health insurance Company

(29) British Rail

(30) IBM

(31) United Airline

(32) A financial service company

(33) A Shoemaking company (Nike)

(34) The Company of (Ford) 

Questions 35-38 IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

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

In boxes 35-38 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is True
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN If the information is not given in the passage

(35) Employers in almost all companies successfully make their employees fully understand the outside campaign.

(36) Currently IBM is more prominent in the area of E-business

(37) United Airlines finally gave up on an ads slogan due to a survey in 1996.

(38) Nike had improved company performance by telling employees legendary corporation stories. 

Questions 39-40 IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139

Choose Two correct letters below 

Write your answers in boxes 39-40 on your answer sheet. 

Please choose TWO approaches in the IELTSFever Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 passage mentioned that were employed as company strategy: 

(A) promoting the visual effect of their products’ advertisement

(B) launching inspiring campaigns internally

(C) introducing inner competition

(D) learning how to tell stories among senior executives

(E) applying an appropriate slogan

For Answers Academic IELTS Reading Test 139 Answers

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