IELTS Reading: Skills Introduction Handout
Read the passage fragments and answer Questions 1-14. Check the word limit carefully for each question group.
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IELTS Reading: Skills Introduction Handout
Read the passage fragments and answer Questions 1-14. Check the word limit carefully for each question group.
Drones in Film
Questions 1-4
In the film industry, drones are most frequently used to break new ground in the documenting of natural phenomena, creating dramatic and never-before-seen perspectives on the world. For the TV series Planet Earth 2, the BBC used specially-adapted drones to capture the Costa Rican jungle from previously unreachable heights. In one sequence of shots, the viewer is carried from the shaded forest floor to drift seamlessly up and around tree trunks and finally burst through the leafy canopy. Likewise, pioneering National Geographic filmmaker Sam Cossman flew a drone right into the centre of an active volcano to film the lava flow as never seen before — from mere metres above the boiling crimson lake of the spectacular Marum Crater. Thanks to the impressive flexibility of the technology, countless possibilities exist for new and exciting shots. A drone can easily encircle a skyscraper to capture the sweeping vista of a dawn cityscape, and just as easily pursue a skilled skier down a perilous black run with no risk to the cameraman and it is undeniable that drone use has skyrocketed within the film industry. They have been employed to shoot television dramas, wildlife documentaries, sports coverage, wedding videos and feature-length films, to name just a few examples. Award-winning films featuring drone shots include Spectre, whose startling opening sequence swooped around Mexico’s Day of the Dead festival; The Wolf of Wall Street; Dheepan; and Lion, which used a drone to shoot from a small child's point of view.
Questions 1-4 (Short Questions)
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
Dr Google’s Diagnosis: Cyberchondria
Questions 5-7
A The Internet has revolutionised many aspects of our lives, including the way we socialise, entertain ourselves, shop, learn, and communicate. The web has also affected how we deal with health problems. The remarkable amount of information on the Internet includes a wealth of literature on health and disease, which, since around the year 2000, has increasingly become the main resource for people who think they may be ill. This is generally accessed through the 21st century’s gateway to online information - Google.
B In principle, this could be seen as positive: ill people could reassure themselves online about their symptoms, saving unnecessary trips to the doctor. However, in practice, the opposite is generally true. Professor Peter Tyrer of Imperial College explains that “Dr Google is very informative, but he doesn’t put things in the right proportion.” For example, if you ask “Dr Google” about your blocked nose and sore throat, the search results may focus more on rarer and more serious complaints such as pneumonia than the far more likely (and less serious) common cold. Rather than reassure patients about their symptoms, then, “Dr Google”’s diagnoses may unnerve them further!
C For such cases, the term cyberchondria (from ‘cyberspace’ and ‘hypochondria’) has been coined. This word first appeared in a UK article in 2001, and since then researchers at Imperial College London have tracked its effect. They have found that this type of health anxiety costs Britain’s health service at least £420 million a year. It also causes damage to the economy, with patients asking for expensive and unnecessary medical appointments, and taking more days off work.
Questions 5-7 (Matching Headings)
The passage has three sections, A-C. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-vii.
i The problem with "Dr Google"
ii The start of the 21st century
iii A dramatic change to how we manage our life - and health
iv The cost to the health service
v A new word for a 21st Century problem
vi Reasons for the change
vii A professor’s perspective
Cyberchondria Research
Questions 8-10
E As the ‘condition’ has become more prevalent, so have calls for research into it in order to choose the best course to mitigate its effects. The first in-depth study of cyberchondria, by White and Horvitz in 2008, confirmed the lack of clear correlation between likelihood of symptom-disease pairings and their ranking in search results, while finding that a significant proportion of participants in the study believed the reverse. The researchers noted the worrying potential for this to create a positive feedback loop and keep hyperbolic results at the top of the ranking. However, a further study by the same researchers revealed that approximately half of all participants in the study reported web research actually reduced their anxiety when using the web to check their symptoms, leading the researchers to conclude that consumers of Internet information were equally split between those who had a tendency to focus on the possibility of more distressing outcomes and those who used it to “seek more reasonable explanations”.
Questions 8-10 (Multiple Choice Questions)
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.
Dr Google’s Diagnosis: Cyberchondria - Reference Text
Questions 11-14
B In principle, this could be seen as positive: ill people could reassure themselves online about their symptoms, saving unnecessary trips to the doctor. However, in practice, the opposite is generally true. Professor Peter Tyrer of Imperial College explains that “Dr Google is very informative, but he doesn’t put things in the right proportion.” For example, if you ask “Dr Google” about your blocked nose and sore throat, the search results may focus more on rarer and more serious complaints such as pneumonia than the far more likely (and less serious) common cold. Rather than reassure patients about their symptoms, then, “Dr Google”’s diagnoses may unnerve them further!
Questions 11-14 (Completions)
Complete the sentences below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
