IELTS Reading: more practice

The following exercise comes from Cambridge IELTS 5, page 43.

Here are the questions with the relevant part of the text below each one. Study the questions and the text sentences carefully. Decide whether the statements are true, false or not given.

1. Arthur Koestler considered laughter biologically important in several ways.

• Arthur Koestler dubbed it the luxury reflex: 'unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose'.

2. Plato believed humour to be a sign of above-average intelligence.

• Plato expressed the idea that humour is simply a delighted feeling of superiority over others.

3. Kant believed that a joke involves the controlled release of nervous energy.

• Kant felt that joke-telling relies on building up a psychic tension which is safely punctured.

4. Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle's view on the subject.

• Most modern humour theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle's belief.

5. Graeme Richie's work links jokes to artificial intelligence.

• Graeme Richie studies the linguistic structure of jokes in order to understand not only humour but language understanding and reasoning in machines.

6. Most comedians use personal situations as a source of humour.

• A comedian will present a situation followed by an unexpected interpretation.

7. Chimpanzees make particular noises when they are playing.

• Chimpanzees have a 'play-face' - a gaping expression accompanied by a panting 'ah, ah' noise.

Comments

[Radmila]

1-FALSE
2-TRUE
3-TRUE
4-FALSE
5-TRUE
6-NOT GIVEN
7-TRUE

[maiha]

1. False
2. True
3. True
4. False
5. Not given
6. Not given
7. True

[Maya]

1. False
2. False
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. Not Given
7. True

[Aika]

1. False
2. False
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. Not Given
7. Not Given

[cagla]

Hi Simon!

1-False
2-True
3-True
4-False
5-True
6-Not given
7-True

[Rony]

Hi Simon,
1. FALSE
2. FALSE
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. NOT GIVEN
6. FALSE
7. TRUE

[kg nair]

hi mr.Simon
thanks a lot for your valuable postings.
expecting more reading tips;
to be honest this site has made an immense difference during my IELTS journey.

regards
kg nair

[Jill]

Hello~ Simon
1.False
2.True
3.True
4.False
5.Not given
6.Not given
7.True

[Adel Ansari]

Hi Simon,

1. Falsa
2. True
3. True
4. False
5. Not Given
6. Not Given
7. True

[Adel Ansari]

1. False

[chris]

1.False
2.True
3.True
4.False
5.Not Given
6.Not Given
7.True

[Nazila]

Hi Simon

1.False
2.False
3.True
4.False
5.Not Given
6.Not Given
7.True

Thanks for everything.

[Thuylinh]

Hi Simon,
My answer:
1. False
2. True
3. Not given
4. False
5.Not given
6.Not given
7. True

[khadija]

1 f
2 t
3 t
4 ng
5 f
6 f
7 t

[Grace]

1.F
2.NG
3.NG
4.F
5.T
6.NG
7.T

[Anh]

Hi Simon,

I took the IELTS exam on 9th Feb. The topic for task 2 is:
the widespread of multinational companies rapidly increase. Globalization affects positive to everyone. Do you agree or disagree?

Could I support 3 paragraphs with all agreement?

[pido]

hi Simon

1.f
2.ng
3.ng
4.f
5.t
6.ng
7.t

the questions are so ambiguous!

[black_moon]

Hi Simon, here is my answer:

1. FALSE
2. TRUE
3. TRUE
4. FALSE
5. NOT GIVEN
6. FALSE
7. TRUE

Thank for your challenge.

[khadija]

Hi Simon.
I need ur advice for readings.I was doing reading test 3 from ielts Cambridge 5..I found really hard which paragraph contain following inform ation.I've got almost all wrong and got 20 right out of 40.this made really upset bcoz my exam is in next month.although I m not very good in English language skills but I m doing really hard work to achive my taget.plz me tips how can I get right above mentioned questions right.
thanks
kind regards
Khadija

[jawairia]

Hi,
Below are my answers
1-f
2-f
3-t
4-t
5-ng
6-t

Thanks and Regards.

[Cherry]

1,False
2,True
3,True
4,False
5,NG
6,NG
7,True

Thanks

[annie]

1. false
2. true
3. not given
4. not given
5. false
6. false
7. true

[Anuar]

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.htm
Hi, Simon! A great video, great speech, I think you should do a listening gap-fill with this video, very educating and interesting, and has a link to IELTS as well.
Sincerely, Anuar.

[Anuar]

Hi, Simon! Can we pronounce some words in american pronunciaton in speaking test? Like "advertisement".

[x-reader]

Hi Simon,

I face difficulty in reading section.

I, particularly, find problem in True, False and Not Given question.
I need band 7 in each.

I went through your reading section but could not find any advice to sort this problem out.

I hope i get some useful advice on T F and NG in order to solve them.

Thanks

[Kadir]

hi simon,

1-F
2-F
3-F
4-F
5-NG
6-NG
7-T

[Tom]

My answers:
1- F
2- F
3- T
4- F
5- NT
6- NT
7- T

[henry]

1. F
2. NG
3. F
4. F
5. T
6. NG
7. T

[Cate]

1.NG
2.T
3.T
4.F
5.NG
6.NG
7.T

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. FALSE (laughter has 'no apparent biological purpose')

2. NOT GIVEN ('a feeling of superiority' does not mean the same as 'a sign of intelligence')

3. TRUE (controlled release of nervous energy = building up a psychic tension which is safely punctured)

4. FALSE (they have 'settled on' Aristotle's view means they have decided to agree with it)

5. TRUE (artificial intelligence = reasoning in machines)

6. NOT GIVEN ('personal' situation is not mentioned)

7. TRUE (make particular noises = a panting 'ah, ah' noise)

This was difficult. Check your answers carefully!

...

No Problem kg.

...

Hi Anh,

Yes, that would be fine.

...

Hi Khadija,

Yes, "which paragraph contains?" questions are probably the most difficult type. There's no easy way to do them. My advice is to leave them until last - if you do the other questions first, you will be more familiar with the passage. Then, to find the answers you need to look for keywords as usual.

If you continue to struggle with this type of question, miss them completely and spend more time on all the other questions.

...

Hi Anuar,

I think that's the video I posted in this lesson:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2010/06/ielts-listening-the-learning-revolution.html

However, I didn't make an exercise for it, so I'll try to make one soon.

Yes, it's fine to use American pronunciation.

...

Hi x-reader,

The technique for T,F,NG questions is really the same as for all other types of questions in the reading test:

You need to find words in the passage that are the same as (or similar to) words in the questions. When you find the relevant sentence in the passage, read it carefully.

Remember, the answer is 'false' if you can prove that a different answer would be true. The answer is 'not given' when you can't find any information to confirm whether it is true or false.

[Anuar]

Hi, Simon!
No, it isn't, it's even better.

[Simon]

Ok, I'll have a look. Thanks Anuar.

[Reza]

Dear Simon

Would you please make a recommendation on Q-type page 18 of C-5? (1-3)

[Reza]

Dear Simon

Would you please make a recommendation on Q-type page 18 of Cambridge-5? (number 1-3)

[Simon]

Hi Reza,

That's a type of 'multiple choice' question. As usual, you need to look for 'keywords' in the passage in order to decide which statements are correct.

NOTE: I think I remember doing those 3 questions and finding one that seemed to be a mistake (or very confusing), so don't worry too much about that particular section.

[Reza]

Thank you Simon

[AMA]

Thank you Simon.

[tek bdr bam]

false ( no apparent biological propose)
False( pluto believe NOT Feel)
true
false
true
false
true

[hussain]

chimpanjee makes perticular noise when they are playing,in paragraph where it mention that chimpanjee is playing.

[Saja]

1.F
2. T
3. NG
4. T
5. T
6. NG
7. T

[edzlee]

1.FALSE
2.TRUE
3.NOT GIVEN
4.FALSE
5.TRUE
6.NOT GIVEN
7.TRUE

[edzlee]

Oh! My initial answer in number 2 was correct. I was thinking "feeling of" might be a distractor. So in number 3, "controlled release" means "safely punctured". I was thinking of another meaning of punctured.kkkkk...Thanks Simon.

[Sreejasuresh]

Could you send some tips for true or false or not given question.

[john]

i m 20 percent agree with you, means i am 80 percent disagree with you
now come to Q4. Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle's view on the subject.

Most modern humour theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle's belief.

here largely ignore mean count/settle/accepted /agree with some of them

please give me clarity simon
i m confused

[Cherry]

Hi Simon,

I am preapring for IELTS and one of friend recommended this site as it helped a lot for IELTS preparation.

I have a query on Question 7. I feel that the answer to question 7 should be 'not given' because the passage mention that Chimpanzees make noise (But no situation in passage). We know that Chimpanzees make noise when playing.

Regards,
Cherry.

[Oanh]

thanks simon!

[ali]

f
t
ng
f
t
ng
t