Reading – Multiple Choice (with more than one answer) (The Complete Guide to IELTS Pg122)

A. About the task

1. Read the information about the task type. Then look at a quiz you have been given to do. Choose the correct options to complete
the sentences.

The Multiple Choice (with more than one answer) task tests your ability to find information in a reading passage, and then to read it carefully to
understand the details. It's often used to test your understanding of a factual passage about a specific subject. On the question paper, you see a
question with a set of five statements that refer to the information and ideas in the passage. Your job is to read the passage and decide which of the
five statements matches the information and ideas in the passage. For each question, there are two correct options and three incorrect options.

 Here are the basic rules for this type of Multiple Choice task:
 There are two or three sets of statements (A-E).
 Each set contains two correct answers and three wrong answers.
 The statements in each set follow the order of information in the passage.
 All five statements refer to information in the passage, but only two of them match the exact meaning of the passage.
 The wording of the correct statements is not exactly the same as the wording of the passage, but they contain the same information.
 When you read the statements, you see some words and ideas that are also used i n the passage. These help you to find the information.
 You write the letters of the correct statements on the answer sheet.

Multiple Choice Q U I Z
1. You have to choose two I three of the five options in each set.
2. The statements in each set are in random order I the same order as the information in the passage.
3. The wrong statements refer to information you can I cannot find in the passage.
4. You are likely I unlikely to see the words in the statements repeated in the passage.
5. You write a letter I numeral on the answer sheet.

B. SAMPLE QUESTIONS
2. Read the passage and answer t h e questions. Use the rules about the task from Section A to help you. Then check your
answers. Which questions did you find difficult?

IELTS PRACTIVE TEST

The Perfect Protein

There may be a profound way for the oceans to forgive our ecological mistakes: by providing us with lots of
food. That's the premise of a recently published book, The Perfect Protein, by Andy Sharpless, the head of
Oceana, a non-profit conservation organization. Sharpless says that there's a lot of unused potential protein
swimming in the ocean. Fish are 'the healthiest, cheapest, and most environmentally friendly source of
animal protein: If we manage the way fish are caught, and choose wisely which fish we eat, there should be
plenty of food for the growing number of mouths on the planet. Larger species, however, like Atlantic cod and
bluefin tuna, aren't thriving because overfishing has devastated their populations. Although numerous
international conferences have been held
to urge countries to reduce fishing levels and allow fish stocks to regenerate, little progress has been made.
Andy Sharpless tries to get above the country-to-country debate to make a simple point: countries don't
necessarily have to agree. Most of the world's edible fish aren't found in the deep seas. They're within the
shallower waters 320 kilometres off coastlines, areas generally controlled by a single national government. If
about 25 countries with long shorelines set limits on fishing within these areas, there would be plenty of
fish to go around.

More and more of the fish of the fish available as food today is farmed - the result of aquaculture. When assessing the benefits, Sharpless says it
depends on what kind of fish is being bred. Fish farmers take small, highly nutritious, fast-growing species such as anchovies, mackerel and
sardines and feed them to more popular - and profitable - species such as salmon. A farmed salmon can consume as much as two kilograms of
small fish in order to produce about half a kilogram of protein. Aquaculture should, in Sharpless' view, add protein to the planet, not reduce it. For
example, farmed shellfish such as oysters, mussels and clams, which eat algae, don't compete with people for food. Smaller fish also contain fewer
harmful pollutants such as mercury, and also contain high levels of healthy Omega-3 acids.

If feeding more people around the world is the goal - and how could it not be? - changing people's tastes so that they eat more of these species and
fewer of the big ones could result in much more edible protein in the human food supply. To this end, Sharpless includes recipes from celebrity chefs
like Mario Batali and Jose Andres in his book. Whether you can get excited about sardine tartare or sauteed mackerel is a matter of taste, but the
argument seems sound.
Questions 1 and 2

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which TWO of these points about Andy Sharpless' book does the reviewer make?
a. Sharpless believes that fish should be used more as food.
 b. Bluefin tuna are being protected by new regulations.
c. Sharpless favours stronger regulations in international waters.
d. Sharpless regards the fishing of salmon as a waste of resources.
e. Sharpless is keen to restrict the farming of shellfish
1. _____________
2. _____________

C. Tips and tactics

3. Work in pairs. Read the tips and tactics and discuss these questions.
a. Which tips and tactics do you think are the most useful?
b. Did you use any of these tips and tactics when you answered the sample questions in Section B?
c. Which tips will you use in the future?
1. Before you read the passage, read the five statements in the questions and underline the main words and ideas.
2. Use the words and ideas you've underlined to help you find the relevant sections of the passage.
3. Read the passage quickly and mark the relevant sections for each question. Write the question numbers in the margin so
that you can find the sections again easily.
4. The statements in each set follow the order of information in the passage. When you read the passage, you may see some
words or ideas from the statements. These help you to find the relevant sections.
5. Go through the statements one by one. Read the section of the passage you have marked carefully to make sure you are in
the correct place.
6. For each statement, decide if the wording of the statement expresses exactly the same ideas that are in the passage or not.
7. There are two correct answers in each set. However, you should check all the statements carefully to make sure you have
the right ones. Find reasons why the incorrect statements are wrong.
8. Don't use your own knowledge of the subject to decide the answers. Use ONLY the information in the passage.
9. Remember to write the correct letters on the answer sheet.
10. Always write two letters. If you're not sure, always give an answer.

D. Skills-building exercise
4. Read the pairs of statements (1-3). Underline the important words and ideas in each statement.

1. A BMI is widely used in medical studies to decide if a person is underweight.

B BMI is widely respected as a reliable method of deciding if a person is overweight.
2. A BMI provides information about the total level of fat in a person's body.
B BMI gives no information about the distribution of fat in a person's body.
3. A BMI provides a numerical measure of obesity in adults.
B BMI provides an unreliable measure of obesity in children.

5. Read the passage below quickly. Mark the sections that contain the information relevant to each pair of statements in
Exercise 4.
6. Go through the statements in Exercise 4 one by one. Read the passage carefully and decide which statement (A or B) best
matches the information in the text and which does not.

BMI
Body mass index (BMI) is often used as a way of establishing whether a person's weight should be regarded as normal or not, and it
is used to categorize individuals as underweigl1t or overweight. But there are doubts as to its reliability and questions about how good
a measure it is of good or bacl health. Altl1ough it is common for medical studies to use BMI, it's acknowledged that it may not be
particularly accurate. one reason for this is that BMI neither measures fat, nor gives any information about where fat might be located
in the body. The importance of this should not be underestimated because if, for example, fat is located near vital organs, then there
is an increased risk of heart disease and conditions such as diabetes. Peripheral fat, which is found in other parts of the body, poses
much less of a threat.

To find an adult's BMI it is necessary to do a simple calculation. You take the individual's weight in kilograms and divide this by either
height in metres, squared. A BMI reading under 18.5 is deemed underweight, 18.6 to 24.9 normal, while 25 to 29.9 is regarded as
overweight, and the term obese is applied to people with readings over 30. A similar principle is applied to obtaining a BMI for
children, but different values are used.

7. Read the statements (1-5). Underline the important words and ideas in each statement.
1. BMI was developed by a physician in Belgium.
2. Ouetelet's main aim was to define what represented an obese person.
3. BMI takes into account the differences in weight between body fat and muscle.
4. BMI has been shown to vary in people from different ethnic backgrounds.
5. Trefethen thinks that Ouetelet's formula is most accurate when used with taller people.

8. Read the first two paragraphs of the passage below quickly. Mark the sections that contain the information relevant to each
of the statements (1-5) in Exercise 7.
9. Look at the statements in Exercise 7 again. Read the first two paragraphs carefully. Decide which words in each statement
make it different from the meaning of the passage.

BMI was developed in 1832, at a time when much less was known about human health, and was the work of neither a physician nor a
biologist, but of a Belgian statistician named Adolphe Quetelet. He devised the equation as part of his quest to define the 'normal
person' in terms of everything from average arm strength to the age of marriage, a project which had nothing to do with obesity-
related diseases.

Another reservation about the use of BMI is that it doesn't distinguish between body fat and muscle mass, which weighs more than
fat. Many powerful athletes could be considered 'obese' because of their high BMI, when they actually have a low percentage of body
fat. On the other hand, elderly people may have a low BMI because they have lost height and their muscle mass has deteriorated with
age. In some cases, a low BMI may result from illness. BMI does not take into consideration other physical factors, such as bone
density or the size of a person's frame, and doesn't consider ethnic differences. Nick Trefethen, Professor of Numerical Analysis at
Oxford university Mathematical Institute in the UK, believes that the Quetelet formula divides the weight by too much in short people
and by too little in tall individuals, with the result that short people tend to appear underweight and tall people overweight.

Because the BMI is expressed as a number between 1 and 100 and derives from a mathematical formula, it carries an air of scientific
authority. The use of precise measurements suggests that there are distinct categories: underweight, normal, overweight, and obese,
with sharp boundaries between them. According to Dr Rexford Ahima, a medical professor, however, there's no single number that
can represent a healthy weight, as that depends on too many factors.

Since the early 20th century, studies have linked obesity and health problems. Many studies have shown that people with a BMI
higher than 30 are at increased risk of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, etc. But in the last few years, studies have suggested that
in some cases, a BMI which is slightly higher than normal can actually protect a person from certain types of heart and kidney failure
because when someone has a chronic illness, body fat can provide additional energy reserves. Further studies show that a very low
BMI - in other words, being severely underweight - can be as dangerous as an extremely high BMI. Scientists need to start looking
more closely at the undoubtedly complex relationship between body fat and disease. Ahima asks: 'What is it about being obese that
makes one unhealthy? We need to understand the molecular mechanisms.'

This raises the question of why BMI is still so widely used and why physicians continue to recommend it. 'Because it's simple,' says
Ahima, and it is also cheap and non-invasive. Trefethen points out that in the 1 830s there were no calculators or computers, which
probably explains why Quetelet opted for such a simple system . Other methods have their drawbacks as well. Computer tomography,
magnetic resonance imaging, and bone densitometry scans can all accurately measure body fat, but they are very expensive. Even
accurate waist measurements require slightly more time and training than it takes to record a BMI reading, and they don't come with
any official cut-offs that can be used to make easy assessments. All this explains why BMI continues to be the standard.

10. Read the statements (A-E). Underline the important words and ideas in each statement.
A. The fact that B M I produces a numerical score leads people to assume that it is accurate.
B. A link between a high B M I and certain diseases has never been clearly established.
C. Some benefits of having a high B M I have recently been recognised by researchers.
D. Ahima and Trefethen predict that more up-to-date methods will soon replace B M I .
E. B M I remains widely used because it is quick and inexpensive to administer.

11. Read the last three paragraphs of the passage quickly. Mark the sections that contain the information relevant to the
statements (A-E) in Exercise 10.

12. Go through the statements in Exercise 10 again. Read the last three paragraphs carefully and decide which TWO statements
match the information in the text.

IELTS PRACTICE TEST

Our Vanishing Night
If humans were nocturnal creatures, the night-time world would be as visible to us as it is to the vast number of nocturnal animals on
this planet. The light of the stars and moon would supply all the light that was needed. But humans are a diurnal species, with eyes
adapted to the sunlight. In order to extend human activity into the hours of darkness, humans have created artificial light.
As with all kinds of human intervention in the natural environment, there are environmental consequences - what is often called light
pollution. Ill-designed lighting lessens the darkness of night and radically alters the light levels and rhythms to which various animal
species, including nocturnal predators, have adapted.
For most of human history, the expression "light pollution" would have meant little to people. Today, nearly all of night time Europe is
a nebula of light, as is most of the United States and all of Japan. In the south Atlantic, the glow from a single fishing fleet - squid
fishermen luring their prey with metal halide lamps - can be seen by satellites in space, burning brighter than Buenos Aires or Rio de
Janeiro. The sky as seen from most cities looks as though it has been emptied of stars, leaving behind a haze known as "skyglow”.
People have grown so used to this pervasive orange haze that the original glory of a n unlit night is wholly beyond their experience,
and professional astronomers have been forced to set up observatories in the few places beyond its reach, such as the Atacama
Desert in South America.
Light is a powerful biological force and acts as a magnet to many species and triggers certain types of behaviour. For example, birds
are attracted by artificial light, causing them to sing at unnatural hours. Scientists think that artificially long days and short nights may
induce early breeding in birds, and while a longer day allows for longer feeding, it can also affect migration schedules. Migration, like
most other aspects of bird behavior, is a precisely timed biological process. Leaving early may mean arriving too soon for the optimum
nesting conditions, which may have an effect on breeding rates.
Light pollution doesn't just affect animals - it takes a biological toll on people as well: sleep deprivation, increased incidence of
headaches, fatigue, stress and anxiety have all been attributed to light pollution by researchers. At least one recent study has
suggested a correlation between higher rates of certain types of cancer and the night-time brightness of residential areas.
Light pollution, however, is perhaps the most easily remedied of all the man-made pollutants that affect the natural world. Simple
changes in lighting design yield immediate changes in the amount of light spilt into the atmosphere and often represent energy
savings. What's more, this can be achieved by using inexpensive technology which is already available. For example, wasteful
mercury lamps can be replaced with LED, sodium or halide lamps. Timers and sensors can turn off artificial lighting when it is not
needed. Illuminated outdoor advertising, for example, doesn't have to operate all night. Meanwhile, well-designed streetlamps can
encase bulbs from above and to the side, channeling light where it is needed. Known as "cutting off light at the horizontal·; this
ensures that light is used to illuminate the ground, not the sky.
In the end, humans are trapped by light. We have cut ourselves off from the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night. Light
pollution causes us to lose sight of our place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the
dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way arching overhead.
Questions 1 and 2
The list below gives some effects of light pollution.
Which TWO of these are mentioned by the writer?
A. Light pollution has a negative effect on fishing activities.
B. Light pollution obscures people's view of man-made objects in the night sky.
C. What is called 'skyglow' now affects all parts of the world to some extent.
D. Light pollution has affected the reproductive success of certain bird species.
E. There is growing evidence to suggest light pollution affects human health.
1. ………..
2. ………..
Questions 3 and 4
Which TWO of these points related to remedies for light pollution does the writer make?
A. It takes time for the benefits of new types of lighting to be felt.
B. New types of lighting can save money as well as reducing light pollution.
C. New types of lighting can be expensive to install.
D. Automated systems can be programmed to reduce light pollution.
E. Street lighting can easily be red
3. ………..
4. ………..