How to run, Stadium Australia, A Theory of Shopping Reading Answers
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The IELTS Reading passage, How to run, along with the other two Academic passages – Stadium Australia and A Theory of Shopping makes this a complete Reading practice test.
You will have 60 minutes to complete the whole test, which consists of 40 questions in total.
Here are the question types in this reading test
Reading Passage 1 (How to run)
- Multiple Choice Questions
- Matching information
- Matching features
Reading Passage 2 (Stadium Australia)
- Matching headings
- True or False / Not
- Given Diagram completion
Reading Passage 3 (A Theory of Shopping)
- Multiple Choice Questions
- Yes/No or Not Given
- Sentence completion
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Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below. Find the practice test with the How to run a… PDF here.
How to run a…
Publisher and author David Harvey on what makes a good management book.
Questions 1-2
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answers next to 1 and 2 on your answer sheet.
1 What does the writer say about the increase in the number of management books published?
A. It took the publishing industry by surprise.
B. It is likely to continue.
C. It has produced more profit than in other areas of publishing.
D. It could have been foreseen.
2 What does the writer say about the genre of management books?
A. It includes some books that cover topics of little relevance to anyone.
B. It contains a greater proportion of practical than theoretical books.
C. All sorts of people have felt that they should be represented in it.
D. The best books in the genre are written by business people.
Questions 3-7
Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 3-7 on your answer sheet.
3 reasons for the deserved success of some books
4 reasons why managers feel the need for advice
5 a belief that management books are highly likely to be very poor
6 a reference to books nor considered worth reviewing
7 an example of a group of people who write particularly poor books
Questions 8-13
Look at the statements (Questions 8-13) and the list of books below.
Match each statement with the book it relates to.
Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
8 It examines the success of books in the genre.
9 Statements made in it were later proved incorrect.
10 It fails to live up to claims made about it.
11 The advice given in it is seen to be actually harmful.
12 It examines the theories of those who have developed management thinking
13 It states die obviously in an unappealing way.
List of BooksA Guide to the Management Gurus B The Leader’s Edge C The Next Big Idea D In Search of Excellence E Re-engineering the Corporation |
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Reading Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on the Reading Passage below. Find the practice test with the Stadium Australia PDF here.
Stadium Australia
Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs A-E.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number i—x in boxes 14—18 on your answer sheet.
| List of Headings | |
| i | A strange combination |
| ii | An overall requirement |
| iii | A controversial decision |
| iv | A strong contrast |
| V | A special set-up |
| vi | A promising beginning |
| vii | A shift in attitudes |
| viii | A strongly held belief |
| ix | A change of plan |
| X | A simple choice |
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
Questions 19-22
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet unite
TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this
19 The public has been demanding a better quality of stadium design.
20 It is possible that stadium design has an effect on people’s behaviour in life in
general.
21 Some stadiums have come in for a lot more criticism than others.
22 Designers of previous Olympic stadiums could easily have produced far better designs.
Question 23-26
Label the diagram below
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the reading passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
23
24
25
26
Reading Passage 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on the Reading Passage below. Find the practice test with the A Theory of Shopping PDF here.
A Theory of Shopping
Questions 27-29
Choose THREE letters A-F.
Write your answers in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.
Which THREE of the following are problems the writer encountered when conducting his study?
A uncertainty as to what the focus of the study should he
B the difficulty of finding enough households to make the study worthwhile
C the diverse nature of the population of the area
D the reluctance of people to share information about their personal habits
E the fact that he was unable to study some people’s habits as much as others
F people dropping out of the study after initially agreeing to take part
27
28
29
Questions 30-37
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 30-37 on your answer sheet write
YES, if the statement agrees with the news of the writer
NO, if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
30 Anthropological relativism is more widely applied than anthropological
generalization.
31 Shopping lends itself to analysis based on anthropological relativism.
32 Generalisations about shopping are possible.
33 Tire conclusions drawn from this study will confirm some of the findings of other research.
34 Shopping should be regarded as a basically unselfish activity.
35 People sometimes analyze their own motives when they are shopping.
36 The actual goods bought are the primary concern in the activity of shopping.
37 It was possible to predict the outcome of the study before embarking on it.
Questions 38-40
Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
38 The subject of written research the writer first thought was directly connected with his study was ………………………………………..
39 The research the writer has been most inspired by was carried out by…………………………….
40 The writer mostly does not use the meaning of ‘sacrifice’ that he regards as……………………….
Answers
How to run Reading Answers (Passage 1)
1.
Answer: B
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2
Answer explanation: In the given paragraph, the writer claims the fact that you would need ‘plenty of room for expansion’ in your library of management books means that the increase will continue and many more books will be produced. Also, ‘the trend continues’ – the increase is still happening.
2.
Answer: C
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 3
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, the writer lists all kinds of people who have produced management books. These people feel a ‘need to get into print’ or were ‘aspiring authors’, which means they wanted to write the books, rather than that someone else asked them to do so. Moreover, option A (paragraph B) is incorrect. The writer says that all sorts of books have been written and that ‘the quality is uneven’ (some are better than others! but does not say that the content of any of them is completely irrelevant. Option B (paragraph B) is incorrect. It’s likely that the books by business leaders are more practical and the books by academics more theoretical, but the writer does not say that there are more of one kind than another. Option D (paragraph B) is incorrect. The writer says that some books are better than others, but does not say which ones are better than others.
3.
Answer: H
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph H, line 2
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. It is said that ” Peter Drucker, widely regarded as the doyen of management thinkers, has written a steady stream of influential books over half a century. ‘Drucker writes beautiful, dear prose.’ says Kennedy, ‘and his thoughts come through.’ He is among the handful of writers whose work, she believes, transcends the specific interests of the management community. Caulkin also agrees that Drucker reaches out to a wider readership. ‘What you get is a sense of the larger cultural background,’.” Drucker’s and Handy’s books are said to deserve their success because they are well-written, clear, and relevant to a wide range of people.
4.
Answer: E
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 3
Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph mentions that “add to that the requirement for management to reflect the changing demands of the times, the impact of information technology and other factors, and it is easy to understand why management is in a permanent state of confusion.” The writer lists here reasons why managers are ‘in a permanent state of confusion’ and need advice on management.
5.
Answer: D
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph D, line 2
Answer explanation: We are told that Caulkin ‘is philosophical about the inevitability of finding so much dross.’ He is not surprised that it is certain that most management books are rubbish.
6.
Answer: C
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph C, last line
Answer explanation: The last line of paragraph C mentions that “the banality of the treatment of core competencies for leaders, including the ‘competency of paying attention, was a conceit too far in the context of a leaden text. ‘Somewhere in this book,’ she wrote, there may be an idea worth reading and taking note of, but my own competency of paying attention ran out on page 31.’ Her opinion of a good proportion of the other books that never make it to the review pages is even terser.‘Unreadable’ is her verdict.” Some books never make it to the review pages’ are not considered worth reviewing) because they are ‘unreadable’.
7.
Answer: G
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 3
Answer explanation: According to the line in the given paragraph, Kennedy says that consultants ‘are among the worst offenders.’ They are a group of people who are particularly guilty of writing books full of jargon that cannot be understood.
8.
Answer: C
Question Type: Matching Features
Answer location: Paragraph E, last line
Answer explanation: Paragraph E, last sentence, and paragraph F, 1 states that “this book is about publishers’ desire to find ‘the next big management idea’, which will result in very high book sales. It ‘tracks’ (examines the progress of) ‘blockbusters’ (books that have sold in enormous quantities) in the management genre over the past 20 years, making big profits for publishers and authors.” The Next Big Idea, therefore, looks at management books that have been very successful.
Answer: D
Question Type: Matching Features
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 4
Answer explanation: If you observe clearly, this book made claims that ‘the early euphoria with which such books are greeted tends to wear off as the basis for the claims starts to look less than solid’ (began to appear not to be based on fact) because some of the companies used in it as examples of good companies suffered a rapid ‘reversal of fortune’ (quickly changed from being successful to being unsuccessful) and became ‘basket cases’ (in a hopeless situation).
10.
Answer: B
Question Type: Matching Features
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 4
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly given in the paragraph where it is mentioned that this book is said to “her recent review of The Leader’s Edge summed up her irritation with authors who over-promise and under-deliver.” which means that the writer of it makes claims about how good it is, but the book itself does not fulfill the promises made and does not contain what it is said to contain.
11.
Answer: E
Question Type: Matching Features
Answer location: Paragraph F, last line
Answer explanation: This book suggested a certain way of improving a company’s position, but people who followed this advice realised that it caused more problems than solved. It can be confirmed from the line where it is given that “for Hammer’s and Champy’s readers, disillusion dawned with the realisation that their slash-and-burn prescription for reviving corporate fortunes caused more problems than it solved.”
12.
Answer: A
Question Type: Matching Features
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1
Answer explanation: The opening line of paragraph C suggests that “few people are probably in a better position to evaluate the management canon than Carol Kennedy, a business journalist and author of Guide to the Management Gurus, an overview of the world’s most influential management thinkers and their works.” Hence, this book provides an ‘overview’ (a general look) at people whose ideas and books have been the most influential.
13.
Answer: B
Question Type: Matching Features
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 5
Answer explanation: There is a reference to the ‘banality’ (stating of things that are obvious and therefore not worth saying) of this book, and the fact that the writing is ‘leaden’ (very dull), with the result that Kennedy had completely lost interest in it after 31 pages.
Stadium Australia Reading Answers (Passage 2)
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14.
Answer: viii
Question Type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph A
Answer explanation: The whole paragraph consists of the writer’s argument that the architecture of a stadium is important. Throughout the first paragraph, he gives reasons in support of his strongly held belief that the architecture of stadiums is just as important as the architecture of other buildings because the sport itself Is important in people’s lives.
15.
Answer: iv
Question Type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph B
Answer explanation: In most of this paragraph, the writer contrasts stadiums that are popular with stadiums that are considered attractive. The most popular stadiums are not, in his view, attractive ones, and the ones that are considered attractive are also said not to be very good from a practical point of view.
16.
Answer: vi
Question Type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 4
Answer explanation: In this paragraph, the writer says that Sydney ‘set about’ (started) its programme of urban regeneration ‘in a wholly impressive way’ when it was preparing to stage the Olympics. His main point in the paragraph is that, although he does not normally like the buildings produced for Olympic Games, staging the games can be good for ‘urban regeneration’, – in Sydney the work that was carried out at the beginning of the process of getting ready for the Games (listed in the 2nd half of the paragraph) was very good and suggested that the outcome would be a good one.
17.
Answer: v
Question Type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph D, line 2
Answer explanation: This paragraph describes the special arrangement for the funding and ownership of Stadium Australia. That it was a special arrangement is indicated by the fact that it had a special name {‘BOOT’).
18.
Answer: ii
Question Type: Matching Headings
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 1
Answer explanation: This paragraph mainly describes the ways in which various aspects of the stadium met the general requirement of being environmentally friendly. “Stadium Australia was the most environmentally friendly Olympic stadium ever built.”
19.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: ‘What better way the writer is saying that the public would be more aware of and appreciate ‘quality design’ if sports stadiums were examples of good design. His point throughout paragraph A is that people expect buildings in which cultural events take place to be grand’ and ‘inspirational‘ (magnificent and exciting) and that stadiums should also be like that. However, he does not say whether or not the public complains about the quality of the design of stadiums.
20.
Answer: TRUE
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, last line
Answer explanation: The writer says that it’s possible that ‘better stadiums might make for‘ (help to create) ‘better citizens‘. By this, he means that they might encourage people to behave better as members of society.
21.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B
Answer explanation: In paragraph B, the writer talks about different opinions of various stadiums, saying that what people think of some stadiums is connected more with the events that happen there than with the building itself, and also saying that some stadiums are rather poorly designed’. However, he does not compare any stadiums in terms of the amount of criticism they have received.
22.
Answer: FALSE
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 3
Answer explanation: ‘Nor, as a spectator the writer says that ‘the bloated Games programme’ places certain demands on stadium designers. He means that designers are forced to produce certain designs because of the large number of events that have to be staged in the Olympics.’ They are therefore not free to choose what they might consider to be good designs, and so it is not their fault that the designs have not been better.
23.
Answer: natural lighting
Question Type: Given Diagram Completion
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 4
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the given passage specifies that “in order to reduce energy’ costs, the design allowed for natural lighting in as many public areas as possible, supplemented by solar-powered units.” The design made it possible to use this ‘in as many public areas as possible.’
24.
Answer: mechanical air-conditioning
Question Type: Given Diagram Completion
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 7
Answer explanation: Answer is clearly mentioned in the line where it is given that “wherever possible, passive ventilation was used instead of mechanical air- conditioning. Even the steel and concrete from the two end stands due to be demolished at the end of the Olympics was to be recycled.”
25.
Answer: stormwater
Question Type: Given Diagram Completion
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 6
Answer explanation: Answer is clearly mentioned in the line where it is given that “the stormwater run-off was collected for toilet flushing.”
26.
Answer: pitch irrigation
Question Type: Given Diagram Completion
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 5
Answer explanation: In this paragraph, the writer says that “rainwater collected from the roof ran off into storage- ranks, where it could be tapped for pitch irrigation.” Hence, this was collected separately from stormwater, ran off the roof and into storage tanks, and was then used on the playing area.
A Theory of Shopping Reading Answers (Passage 3)
27.
Answer: C (C/D/E :in any order)
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2
Answer explanation: A line in the given paragraph points out that, “I say ‘attempted’ because, given the absence of community and the intensely private nature of London households, this could not be an ethnography in the conventional sense.” The writer refers to the ‘absence of community, which means that the people could not be considered a single group with much in common. They were all different from each other and lived separate lives.
28.
Answer: D (C/D/E :in any order)
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2
Answer explanation: A line in the given paragraph points out that, “I say ‘attempted’ because, given the absence of community and the intensely private nature of London households, this could not be an ethnography in the conventional sense.” The writer refers to the ‘intensely private nature of London households’, which means that people did not want to give private information on their personal lives.
29.
Answer: E (C/D/E :in any order)
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1
Answer explanation: If read thoroughly the writer says that he has had to ‘gloss over’ the fact that (avoid drawing attention to the unfortunate fact that) the amount of his involvement differed greatly with different households. Some he only talked to about their shopping, and some he visited at home and accompanied when they went shopping. He would clearly have preferred to have maximum involvement with all the households, but he was not able to do so.
30.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: The writer describes both traditions and says that he intends to ‘I want to emphasize the latter approach and argue that if not all, then most acts of shopping on this street exhibit a normative form which needs to be addressed.’ (anthropological generalisation), but he does not say whether one Is more generally used than the other.
31.
Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, last line
Answer explanation: In the last line of paragraph D writer says that he intends to use anthropological generalisation because almost all of the acts of shopping in his study ‘exhibit a normative form.’ This is clearly something that he feels makes anthropological generalisation appropriate.
32.
Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, last line
Answer explanation: It is given that, the writer believes that the ‘heterogenous‘ (consisting of many different kinds of people) group he studied carried out ‘homogenous cultural practices‘ (ones that are all of the same types). He is, therefore, saying that he can generalise about shopping because the people he studied all did the same things.
33.
Answer: NO
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 1
Answer explanation: The writer says that his ideas are ‘at odds with’ (opposed to) ‘most of the literature on this topic’. His conclusions will therefore not agree with those of other research.
34.
Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2
Answer explanation: A line in the given paragraph claims that “my premise, unlike that of most studies of consumption, whether they arise from economists, business studies or cultural studies, is that for most households in this street the act of shopping was hardly ever directed towards the person who was doing the shopping.” The writer is saying that the basis of his theory is that people usually don’t do the shopping for their own benefit but for other reasons.
35.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph E, 2nd half
Answer explanation: The writer gives two purposes he believes shopping to have and analyses in both cases the motives of people when they are shopping. However, he does not say whether or not he thinks people analyse their own motives when they are shopping – the analysis is his.
36.
Answer: NO
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph E, last line
Answer explanation: The writer says That shopping ‘transcends any immediate utility’ (its aim is higher than simply the practical use of the things that are bought). He is saying that shopping is concerned with general values in life more than with the actual things people buy.
37.
Answer: NO
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 1
Answer explanation: The writer says that he never thought while he was carrying out his study that the subject of sacrifice would come into it. However, that subject did come into it later. His study was not an attempt to test the theories he now has; the theories, which include the area of ‘sacrifice’, developed after he had done the study. He, therefore, did not know before he started the study what theories would result from it.
38.
Answer: thrift
Question Type: Sentence Completion
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 3
Answer explanation: Answer is clearly mentioned in the line where it is given that “the literature that seemed most relevant in the initial analysis of the London material was that on thrift discussed in chapter 3.” He says that he first thought that the research most closely connected with his own research in London was research on thrift (being careful with money).
39.
Answer: Hubert and Mauss
Question Type: Sentence Completion
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 3
Answer explanation: Paragraph F puts forward the information that “the crucial element in opening up the potential of sacrifice for understanding shopping came through reading Bataille. Bataille, however, was merely the catalyst, since I will argue that it is the classic works on sacrifice and, in particular, the foundation to its modern study by Hubert and Mauss (1964) that has become the primary grounds for my interpretation.” He says that work done by Bataille led him to the area of sacrifice, but that the work done by Hubert and Mauss is ‘the primary grounds for my interpretation’. His interpretation is mainly based on their work.
40.
Answer: colloquial/metaphorical
Question Type: Sentence Completion
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 7
Answer explanation: The writer points out that he uses the colloquial sense of the word ‘only rarely’, and that the metaphorical sense may be useful at some point, but it is ‘secondary’ (of less importance) in comparison with the sense of the word in connection with ‘structure’ (here he means in connection with ‘ancient’ or ‘traditional’ sacrifice’).
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