The Origin of Water

This practice exercise is about space and tests your ability to deal with true, false not
given questions.

Where Did Earths Water Come From?

The exact origin of our planets water, which covers about 70 percent of Earths
surface, is still a mystery to scientists. Many researchers think that, instead of water
forming at the same time as Earth, objects in the outer solar system delivered water
to Earth in violent collisions shortly after its formation.

Astronomers began to wonder if clues to our waters past may lie in the asteroid
belt. This region of hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbiting between the inner
and outer planets was believed by astronomers to be too close to the sun to house
water, but astronomers recently found the first evidence of ice on the asteroid 24
Themis.

This discovery and others of ice on asteroids suggest that there might be far more ice
in the asteroid belt than originally thought and provide another possibility for the
origin of ocean water. Probes sent to explore asteroids, such as the DAWN
spacecraft, in the upcoming years will reveal more about their mysterious water ice,
potentially help us understand the beginnings of Earths water.

Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information given in passage above?

Write:

True if the statement agrees with the information

False if the statement contradicts the information
Not Given if there is no information on this
1. 70% of the Earth is covered in water from a known source.
2. Astronomers studied thousands of asteroids for signs of water.
3. It was believed that asteroids did not have water because of the proximity to
the sun.
4. It has long been known that there was ice on the asteroid 24 Themis.
5. More information will be gleaned about the ice on asteroids by dispatching
probes.
IELTS TFNG Practice: History of Clocks

True False Not Given questions are very common questions in IELTS reading and
are also one of the most difficult. You must read the statement in each question and
decide if the information can be found in the passage (true), if the information is
contrary to what is written in the passage (false) or if the statement cannot be found
(not given) in the passage. Answers can be written as either a full word (True False
Not Given) or a letter, for example T/F/NG.

This practice exercise is slightly easier than in the academic test and is similar to GT
passage 3. But it will still provide you all with good practice. Download the free PDF
of this passage: IELTS Reading Practice The History of Clocks

The History of Clocks

The movement of the sun through the sky makes possible a simple estimate of time,
from the length and position of a shadow cast by a vertical stick. If marks are made
where the suns shadow falls, the time of day can be recorded in a consistent
manner. The result is the sundial. An Egyptian example survives from about 800 BC,
but the principle may have been familiar to astronomers a few centuries before.
However it is difficult to measure time precisely on a sundial, because the suns path
through the sky changes with the seasons. Earlier attempts at precision in time-
keeping rely on a different principle.

The water clock, known from a Greek word as the clepsydra, attempts to measure
time by the amount of water which drips from a tank. This would be a reliable form
of clock if the flow of water could be perfectly controlled. In practice it cannot. The
clepsydra has an honourable history from perhaps 1400 BC in Egypt, through Greece
and Rome and the Arab civlizations and China, and even up to the 16th century in
Europe. But it is more of a toy than a timepiece.

The hourglass, using sand on the same principle, has an even longer career. It is a
standard feature on 18th-century pulpits in Britain, ensuring a sermon of sufficient
length. In a reduced form it can still be found timing an egg.

Questions 1-5

Decide if the following questions are true, false or not given. TFNG answers usually
come in order but in this passage, it is not the case. So, please pay attention to this.
True = the statement matches the information in the passage

False = the statement contradicts the information in the passage

Not Given = the information is not found in the passage

1. Sundials are able to provide accurate time using the suns paths through the
skies.
2. The existing Egyptian sundial was entirely new at that time.
3. Water clocks provide a more reliable method of telling the time than sundials.
4. The water clock is older than the sundial.
5. Water clocks make good toys.
6. Hourglasses work using sand to measure time.
7. Hourglasses were found in Britain earlier than the 18th century.
8. Hourglasses are no longer used by modern people.

IELTS Reading: The Life of Beethoven

This lesson is to practice the yes no not given question types in IELTS reading. Skim
read the passage first dont take too long doing this, you only want to get the gist
of the passage. Then read through the questions and prepare the paraphrases etc.
Download free PDF of the passage and questions below: IELTS Reading Practice
YNNG Beethoven

The Life of Beethoven

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born on or near December 16, 1770, in Bonn,
Germany. His personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness. The fact
that Beethoven composed his most beautiful and extraordinary music while deaf is
an almost superhuman feat of creative genius. He is widely considered the greatest
composer of all time.

Sometime between the births of his two younger brothers, Beethovens father began
teaching him music with an extraordinary rigor and brutality that affected him for
the rest of his life. Neighbors provided accounts of the small boy weeping while he
played the clavier, standing atop a footstool to reach the keys, his father beating him
for each hesitation or mistake. Qs
On a near daily basis, Beethoven was flogged, locked in the cellar and deprived of
sleep for extra hours of practice. He studied the violin and clavier with his father as
well as taking additional lessons from organists around town. Whether in spite of or
because of his fathers draconian methods, Beethoven was a prodigiously talented
musician from his earliest days and displayed flashes of the creative imagination
that would eventually reach farther than any composers before or since.

When the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died in 1790, a 19-year-old Beethoven
received the immense honor of composing a musical memorial in his honor. In 1792,
with French revolutionary forces sweeping across the Rhineland into the Electorate
of Cologne, Beethoven decided to leave his hometown for Vienna. In Vienna,
Beethoven dedicated himself wholeheartedly to musical study with the most
eminent musicians of the age. He studied piano with Haydn, vocal composition with
Antonio Salieri and counterpoint with Johann Albrechtsberger. Qs

In 1804, only weeks after Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor, Beethoven

debuted his Symphony No. 3 in Napoleons honor. It was his grandest and most
original work to date so unlike anything heard before that through weeks of
rehearsal, the musicians could not figure out how to play it. At the same time as he
was composing these great and immortal works, Beethoven was struggling to come
to terms with a shocking and terrible fact, one that he tried desperately to conceal.
He was going deaf. By the turn of the century, Beethoven struggled to make out the
words spoken to him in conversation. Beethovens Ninth and final symphony,
completed in 1824, remains the illustrious composers most towering achievement.
The symphonys famous choral finale is perhaps the most famous piece of music in
history.

Despite his extraordinary output of beautiful music, Beethoven was frequently

miserable throughout his adult life. Beethoven died on March 26, 1827, at the age of
56.

Questions 1- 10

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer? Write

yes if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

no if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
not given if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1. It is not known exactly when Beethoven was born.
2. Beethovens father was also a talented musician.
3. Beethoven suffered due to his fathers cruelty.
 4. It is possible that his early sufferings at the hands of his father resulted in his
remarkable genius.
5. He studied instrumental works with Antonio Salieri.
6. Beethovens Symphony No. 3 was inspired by Napoleon.
7. Beethovens Symphony No. 3 was so groundbreaking that even his
contemporaries did not know how to approach it.
8. By around 1804, Beethoven could hardly follow a conversation with someone.
9. Beethoven continued to write music even though he was going deaf.
10. Beethovens life was full of great works and bliss.

IELTS Yes No Not Given Reading Practice

February 17, 2015 by Liz 72 Comments

An IELTS reading practice exercise for Yes/ No / Not Given questions. This is quite
an easy practice lesson to help you develop your techniques. Here is a quick review
of what the answers mean:

Yes = the statement agrees with the writer

No = the statement contradicts the witer

Not Given = the information is not found in the passage

Richard, the Lionheart

Richard, the Lionheart, King of England had spent much of his reign outside
England fighting wars in the Middle East and France. To pay for these he had taxed
the English heavily. Richard was considered a good King by the people. In 1199,
Richard died and his brother, John became king.

John continued to fight wars in France but he kept losing battles. He needed more
money so his government in England ruthlessly demanded more taxes from the
nobility who were expected to pay tax if the King asked.

The Barons became very unhappy about John exploiting their loyalty and belief in
his complete power. They rebelled and took over London and forced John to
negotiate.

Question 1-4
Do the following statements match the information in the passage? Decide Y/N/NG
for the following statements.

1. Richard did not live in England while he was king.

2. The people had to pay King Richard a lot of tax.
3. John was a better king than Richard.
4. John was not successful at war.

True False Not Given: IELTS Reading Practice

The T/F/NG are difficult questions which require you to locate the information and
then decide if the information in the statement is the same, opposite or not given in
the passage. These questions come regularly in IELTS reading so the more practice
you have the better.

Skim read the passage below and then spend time reading the statements in each
question. The more time you spend preparing the questions with paraphrases and
paying attention to the information given, the easier it will be to get the right answer.
Remember, the answers come in order.

Spam Text Messages in China

SPAM, as every user of mobile phones in China is aware to their intense annoyance,
is a roaring business in China. Its delivery-men drive through residential
neighbourhoods in text-messaging cars, with illegal but easy-to-buy gadgetry they
use to hijack links between mobile-phone users and nearby communications masts.
They then target the numbers they harvest, blasting them with spam text messages
before driving away. Mobile-phone users usually see only the wearisome results:
another sprinkling of spam messages offering deals on flats, investment advice and
dodgy receipts for tax purposes.

Chinese mobile-users get more spam text messages than their counterparts almost
anywhere else in the world. They received more than 300 billion of them in 2013, or
close to one a day for each person using a mobile phone. Users in bigger markets like
Beijing and Shanghai receive two a day, or more than 700 annually, accounting for
perhaps one-fifth to one-third of all texts. Americans, by comparison, received an
estimated 4.5 billion junk messages in 2011, or fewer than 20 per mobile-user for the
yearout of a total of more than two trillion text messages sent.

In China, by contrast, the three largest mobile operators sell special numbers that
start with the digits 106. These are exempt from rules limiting the number of
messages that can be sent daily by a normal account. Regulators allow them to be
used for non-commercial purposes, such as by companies to send messages to staff.
But Tencent Mobile Security Lab, a software-security firm, found last year that 55%
of mobile spam reported by users came from 106 numbers. After a documentary last
year on these accounts by Chinese state television, China Mobile, one of the biggest
carriers, admitted there were loopholes and inadequacies and said it would work
to hold people accountable. The broadcaster estimated that the big three carriers
earned hundreds of millions of dollars a year from spam text messages. (The
economist, November 2014)

Questions 1-6

Decide if the following questions are true, false or not given.

True = the statement matches the information in the passage

False = the statement contradicts the information in the passage

Not Given = the information is not found in the passage

1. The men delivering spam text messages in China use technology which is
illegal and cannot be bought readily.
2. Customer numbers are accessed by hacking into users phones.
3. Mobile phone owners in Beijing and Shanghai receive over 700 spam texts in a
year.
4. America received 4.5 billion junk texts which was the least amount worldwide
in 2011.
5. Over half of all reported junk texts were sent from 106 numbers according to
Tencent Mobile Security Lab.
6. The three largest mobile operators make large amounts of money from junk text
messaging.

Origins of Bread: IELTS T F NG Reading Practice

A reading practice for the IELTS T F NG (true / false / not given) question type. Here
is a quick review of what each one means:

True = the statement matches the information in the passage

False = the statement contradicts the information in the passage

Not Given = the information is not found in the passage

Origins of Bread

Bread is the most widely consumed food in the world. Not only is it an important
source of carbohydrates, its also small and easy to carry, which helps to explain why
it has been part of our diet for thousands of years. In fact, recent scholarship
suggests humans started baking bread at least 30,000 years ago.

Prehistoric man had already been making gruel from water and grains, so it was a
small jump to starting cooking this mixture into a solid bread form by frying it on
stones. A 2010 study by the National Academy of Sciences discovered traces of
starch (likely from the roots of cattails and ferns) in prehistoric mortar and pestle-
like rocks. The roots would have been peeled and dried before they were ground
into flour and mixed with water. Finally, the paste would be cooked on heated rocks.

Question 1-4

Which of the following statements are true, false or not given?

1. Bread is eaten in all countries in the world.

2. Bread contains carbohydrates.
3. The first bread was made about 30,000 years ago.
4. Bread was first made from gruel cooked in clay pots.