Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 20 to 26.
Travelling around Thailand in the 1990s, William Janssen was impressed with the basic rooftop solar heating systems that were on many homes, where energy from the sun was absorbed by a plate and then used to heat water for the home. Two decades later Janssen developed that basic idea he saw in south-east Asia into a portable device that uses the power from the sun to purify water. The Desolenator operates as a mobile desalination unit that can take water from different places, such as the sea, rivers, boreholes, and rain, and purify it for human consumption. It is particularly valuable in regions where natural groundwater reserves have been polluted, or where seawater is the only water source available. Janssen saw that there was a need for a sustainable way to clean water for both the developing and the developed countries when he moved to the United Arab Emirates and saw large-scale water processing. The Desolenator can produce 15 liters of drinking water per day, enough to sustain a family for cooking and drinking. Its main selling point is that unlike standard desalination techniques, it doesn't require a generated power supply; just sunlight. It measures 120 cm by 90 cm, and it's easy to transport, thanks to its two wheels. Water enters through a pipe and flows as a thin film between a sheet of double glazing and the surface of a solar panel, where it is heated by the sun. The warm water flows into a small boiler (heated by a solar-powered battery) where it is converted to steam. When the steam cools, it becomes distilled water. The device has a very simple filter to trap particles, and this can easily be shaken to remove them. A recent analysis found that at least two- thirds of the world's population lives with severe water scarcity for at least a month every year. Janssen says that by 2030 half of the world's population will be living with water stress - where the demand exceeds the supply over a certain period of time. It is really important that a sustainable solution is brought to the market that is able to help these people,' he says. 'Many countries don't have the money for desalination plants, which are very expensive to build. They don't have the money to operate them, they are very maintenance intensive, and they don't have the money to buy the diesel to run the desalination plants, so it is a really bad situation." (Adapted from Cambridge English IELTS Academic 15 by Cambridge University Press)
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 44 to 48.
Sylvia Earle is an underwater explorer and marine biologist, who was born in the USA in 1935. She became interested in the world's oceans from an early age. As a child, she liked to stand on the beach for hours and look at the sea, wondering that it must be like under the surface. When she was 16, she finally got a chance to make her first dive. It was this dive that inspired her to become an underwater explorer. Since then, she has spent more than 6,500 hours under water, and has led more than seventy expeditions worldwide. She has also made the deepest dive ever, reaching a record-breaking depth of 381 meters. In 1970, she became famous around the world when she became the captain of the first all-female team to live under water. The team spent two weeks in an underwater "house". The research they carried out showed the damage that pollution was causing to marine life, and specially to coral reefs. Since then she has written several books and magazine articles in which she suggests ways of reducing the damage that is being done to the world's oceans. One way, she believes, is to rely on fish farms for seafood, and reduce the amount of fishing that is done the out at sea. (Adapted from Complete IELTS by Rawdon Wyatt)
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
In the early 1990s, the psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues installed themselves at Berlin's elite Academy of Music. With the help of the academy's professors, they (39)_______ the school's violinists into three groups. First were the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. Second were those judged to be merely 'good'. Third were the students unlikely ever to play professionally and who intended to be music teachers in schools. All were then asked how (40)______ hours they had practised since they first picked up a violin. Everyone, from all three groups, had started playing at roughly the age of five and practised from two or three hours a week. (41)______ around the age of eight, differences started to emerge. The students (42)________ would end up as the best in their class began to practise more than everyone else, until by the age of 20 they were practising well over 30 hours a week. By then, the elite performers had all totaled 10000 hours of practice over the (43) ________of their lives, the merely good students 8000 hours and the future music teachers just over 4000 hours. (Adapted from Ready for Advanced by Roy Norris, Amanda French with Miles Hordern)