IELTS 4.

5- Unit 3: Education and employment

Full name:.................................
Lesson 8 Topic: Education and employment WID: IELTS4.5_08_RL

IELTS Reading: QR code:

- Skimming: identify the main ideas of a passage
...... pts/10
- Scanning: find information in a text quickly
- Deal with multiple-choice questions
Skills - Grammar Focus: the present perfect
IELTS Listening:
- learn vocabulary about different areas of work or study
- Sentence completion task ...... pts/10
- follow a conversation
- recognise synonyms and paraphrase

Exercise 1. [Present perfect - Present simple] Match the present results (present simple) with
the past events (present perfect).

Exercise 2. [Present perfect] Complete the sentences. Use the past participle of the irregular
verbs in brackets.
1. He wasn’t very good when he started, but he’s _____________ (become) a very good teacher
in the last few years.
2. Have you _____________ (chose) a career yet? Do you know what you want to do when you
leave school?
3. I studied History for five years at school, but now I’ve _____________ (forget) almost
everything.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

4. It’s been a very useful course and you’re a great teacher – you’ve _____________ (teach) me
a lot.
5. I’ve _____________ (send) emails to lots of companies asking for a job, but nobody’s offered
me one yet.
6. Have you _____________ (be) on any training courses this year?
7. I need to write a 10,000-word essay by the end of my course, but I’ve only_______________
(write) 2,500 words so far.
8. I studied Business at university, but I’ve _____________ (learn) more in my first month at
work than in three years at university.
9. Sorry I haven’t finished the presentation yet. I haven’t _____________ (have) time.
10. OK, so now that I’ve _____________ (show) you what to do, it’s your turn.

Exercise 3. [Present perfect] Complete the sentences. Use the words in brackets with the
present perfect. Use contractions where possible (e.g. haven’t). The first one has been done
for you.

1. My sister’s just started university – it’s her first week this week. (my sister/ just/ start)
2. I’m really pleased. ________________ all my exams. (I/ pass)
3. We finished our project over a month ago, but our teacher ________________. (not/check/
it/ yet)
4. ________________ to go to evening classes to learn how to write computer programs. (I/
already/ decide)
5. Don’t worry. ________________ anybody your exam results. (I/ not/ tell)
6. I think the job interview went well, but ________________, so I don’t know if I’ve got the job
or not. (they/ not/ contact/ me/ yet)
7. Why are we doing this training course again? ________________ it three times! (we/
already/ do)
8. I’m really worried. I think ________________ my end-of-course test. (I/ fail)
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

Exercise 4. [IELTS Reading: Multiple choice questions] Read the following paragraph and
answer the question.
Paragraph A
Researchers recently gave 1,000 people a questionnaire about ‘Cities of The Future’. To answer
the questions, the people had to imagine and describe what they thought our cities might look
like in the year 2050. Interestingly, a large number of people were anxious that they would
become ‘dark, dangerous places’, which had endless traffic jams and very few green spaces.
This group also predicted an increase in the level of pollution and thought people would always
need to wear facemasks in order to breathe. They also believed that it would be less safe to
walk on the street as there would be ‘more stealing’ and other criminal behaviour. A smaller
number thought cities might become a lot cleaner, and might be built from more interesting
materials. They were also looking forward to new technology such as flying cars and moving
pavements. In general, they believed that the cities of the future would offer a much more
convenient way of living. A few people were uncertain; for example, they thought the size of
apartments might reduce as the population of the city grew, but they also thought that public
transport would become better.
1 What do the results of the questionnaire show?
A Most people feel worried rather than pleased about the way that cities will develop.
B People imagined that no one would use their own vehicles any more.
C People think that crime will be the worst problem that future cities will have.
D Some people believe that there will not be enough houses in the city for everyone.

Exercise 5. [IELTS Reading: Skimming + Multiple choice questions]

A. Read the information. Then read Paragraphs B–E as quickly as possible. Answer the
questions below
Paragraph B
What do the results from this questionnaire tell us? In a way, we shouldn’t be amazed by the
descriptions of the largest group. So many Hollywood films show cities of the future as
frightening places. Online newspapers are also responsible for spreading this same belief.
Headlines such as ‘Global population rises – cities become crowded’ are becoming more
frequent. Journalists rarely discuss how future cities might be a good place to live.
Paragraph C
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

The facts are these: 50% of people now live in cities, even though cities only occupy 2% of the
world’s land. By 2050, it is predicted that the number of people living there will rise to 70%.
Some people are worried that villages in the countryside will become empty as everyone leaves
for the city, and so traditional ways of life will be lost. This may be true, but we have to accept
changes like this as part of human development. Rather than being negative, we should be
hopeful that we can improve people’s lives as they move to cities. The way to do this is through
intelligent planning.
Paragraph D
Architects have a big role to play in our future cities. In the past, the architects who were
responsible for planning our cities often designed buildings that they were interested in; but
now it is time for them to listen carefully to what people living in cities are asking for. In many
countries around the world, people are choosing to have smaller families or to wait longer
before they start a family. For this reason, not everyone needs a large house. Smaller and
cheaper houses are what they need. But ‘small’ doesn’t have to be the same as ‘ugly’ or
‘boring’. Western architects could perhaps look at some of the architecture in Japanese cities,
where very stylish houses are built on small pieces of unused land.
Paragraph E
And what might cities of the future be made from? Engineering companies have produced
some interesting new products, for example, wood-like material made from recycled
newspapers or old drink cartons. One engineering team are even working on a project that uses
mushrooms to create a hard building material. These new materials may seem strange, but we
should remember that plastic was only invented in 1907 – at the time people thought
that this was an unusual product, but now it is something we cannot manage without. Building
a city of the future requires imagination and an open mind.
In which paragraphs are the topics below mentioned? Choose the correct answers.
1 the duties and responsibilities of the people who design our cities  
2 the influence of cinema and the media on people’s view of the future 
3 the types of material that future buildings might be made from 
4 some information and opinions about people living in cities and living in the countryside 
B. Read the questions and the options carefully. Choose the correct answers.
1 What is the writer doing in Paragraph B?
A. Explaining why many people will probably prefer to live in cities in the future.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

B. Giving a reason why many people feel negative about cities of the future.
C. Suggesting that newspapers show a more realistic view of future cities than films.
2 What point does the writer make in Paragraph C?
A. It is important to encourage some people to stay in their villages.
B. It is possible to maintain traditional village customs after moving to cities.
C. It is necessary to think in a creative way about city design.
3 Paragraph D: In the writer’s opinion, architects who are responsible for planning cities
A. often make houses that are unattractive.
B. must make buildings based on people’s needs.
C. should get experience by working in foreign cities.
4 Paragraph E: The writer refers to the invention of plastic to make the point that
A. we can expect building materials to be very different in the future.
B. we must accept that good-quality materials take a long time to create.
C. we should use a variety of building materials to make our cities interesting.

Exercise 6. [IELTS Reading: Multiple choice questions] Read the passage and choose the
correct answer.

Everywhere we go, we can find a TV screen. From public places to the back of car seats, from
railway stations to restaurants and bars, TV is all around us. More than ever before, children are
living in a world filled with media, and television in particular. A third of children under the age
of four have a TV in their bedrooms, as do more than half of under-16-year-olds. A study
warned that children are becoming addicted to television. Researchers said that young people
in the UK watch around five hours of television a day- in the rest of Europe they watch just two
hours. On average, two-thirds of children watch TV for two hours a day and teenagers and
young adults spend nearly four hours a day in front of a TV and two additional hours on
computer playing video games.

For at least the past two decades, researchers have studied the effects of television on children-
and it hasn’t been good news. The first two years of life are extremely important for the
development of the brain. Children need these two years to explore and play with their parents
and other children. This helps learning and healthy physical and social development. As children
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

grow up, too much TV interferes with activities such as being physically active, reading, doing
homework, playing with friends, and spending time with family.

Apart from the general harmful effects on development, research shows that there are specific
effects too. Children spending over four hours each day in front of the TV are more likely to be
overweight. Violence on TV affects children very badly- the average American child will see
200,000 violent acts on television before they are 18. Children who see violent acts are more
likely to show aggressive behavior but they also think that the world is a frightening place and
that something bad will happen. Although cigarette adverts are banned in many countries,
children still see plenty of people smoking on TV. This kind of ‘product placement’ makes risky
behavior like smoking and drinking alcohol seem acceptable. In facts, kids who watch five or
more hours of TV per day are more likely to begin smoking than those who watch less than two
hours a day.

Why do parents allow their children near such a harmful influence? There are several reasons.
Many of these parents want to keep their children entertained while they do something else.
Many more have grown up watching a lot of TV themselves and don’t see anything wrong with
this.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with TV- only in the way we see it. In the UK, the government
wants school children to have a greater understanding of TV and film by teaching them media
studies from the age of five. But perhaps the answer lies at home. Parents can keep TVs out of
children’s bedrooms and limit the amount of TV they watch. They can take an interest in what
their children watch and comment on what they don’t agree. Today, media studies isn’t only a
university subject- it’s a way of life.

1. What is the most suitable title for the 3 Too much TV is bad for….
passage? A the parents of the children
A Product placement B the development of the brain
B Media studies for children C physical and social development
C The danger of too much TV 4 Children who see too much violence on TV
D Marketing and young viewers are…
E Parents and TV A likely to smoke and drink
2. Children in the UK watch… B frightened by the world
A more TV than children in Europe C overweight
B two hours per day
C six hours per day including video games
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

5 The UK government wants to teach children…

A to understand what they watch
B a way of life
C that there is nothing wrong with TV

Exercise 7. [IELTS Reading: Multiple choice questions]

Social organization among animals
The palato - a worm which lives on rocks in the sea- one of very few animals which never have
contact with other members of the same species. Others, such as spiders, are normally solitary,
meeting only to mate (that is, to reproduce).
Some species form social links only for the period while they are rearing their young. Among
birds, European robins raise their chicks in a pair, away from other members of their species,
while herring gulls form larger groups (colonies) consisting of many pairs living close together,
each pair raising their chicks independently.
Many species of fish and birds from large groups, called schools and flocks, respectively, and
swim or fly together. Hens attack each other, and eventually establish a hierarchy based on
their individual strength. Those at the top of the ‘pecking order’ get to eat before the others.
Finally, some animals spend most or all of their lives in social groups in which individuals co-
operate. Lions, for instance, usually live in a relatively permanent group, called a pride, where
some activities, such as hunting, are social, and others, like sleeping, are solitary.
Bees, wasps and ants live in stable, co-operative groups in which every activity is communal and
organized. Worker bees (which are all female) have several jobs in succession, depending on
their age. They begin with cleaning duties, and later become soldiers to defend the hive against
intruders. Finally, they fly out of the hive to collect food. Theirs is a highly complex social
organization.
Social co-operation can provide a number of benefits. Groups of male frogs sing to attract
females, and large groups generally attract more females per male than smaller groups, making
it easier for the males to find a mate.
The young can be reared more safely in social groups. Birds in a colony tend to lay their eggs at
around the same time, so all the chicks emerge from the egg almost simultaneously. As an
individual predator (an animal that kills and eats other animals) can only consume a finite
number of eggs or chicks, each individual is less likely to be eaten. Groups of adult elephants
surround all their young, giving each one much greater protection than its parents alone could
provide.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

Groups are also more effective in bringing up the young. In some species of apes and monkeys,
female ‘aunties’ help to look after the young which are not their own, while learning how to
raise their own young in the future. Lion cubs drink the milk not only of their mother but also of
other lionesses in the group, and the range of antibodies that different female provide
increases their resistance to disease.
A group that spread out in search of food is likely to be more successful than an animal
searching alone. When one has found food, others may simply join it, but some species have
developed a highly complex form of communication. When a honeybee finds some food, it
returns to its hive and performs a complex dance to indicate the location of the food to others.
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
1 Which of these animals spends most, but not all, of its life alone?
A palato
B herring gull
C spider
2 European robins and herring gulls are different with regard to
A how many birds help to bring each chick
B the social organization in which pairs bring up their young
C how long they spend together
3 What point is made about hens?
A The best fighters eat different kinds of food from weaker hens
B They live in larger groups than most other species of birds
C Their social structure gives certain individuals advantages over others.
4 What is said about the life of lions?
A They live in a group and do some activities together.
B They live separately and come together for some activities.
C They live in a group and do all activities together.
5 What point is made about worker bees?
A They carry out different tasks as they get older.
B They live in a social structure unlike that of any other animals.
C They could not survive alone.
6 Which FIVE of these advantages of social co-operation are mentioned in the above passage?
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

A Females can choose a mate more easily.

B More eggs can be laid.
C Eggs are more likely to survive.
D There are more adults available to protect the young.
E Individuals can develop skills for later use.
F The young are likely to be healthier.
G Individuals can eat food which others have found.
H The group is more likely to live close to a source of food.

Exercise 8. [IELTS Reading: Multiple choice questions]

How similar are animals and human beings?

Over the centuries, a number of animals have been charged with a crime, tried in a court of
law, found guilty and punished- even executed. The last time was as recently as 1906. Animals
were thought to be like human beings- able to decide their actions and morally responsible for
the outcome.

Then ideas about animals changed, and they were thought to lack awareness of their own
internal states and relationships to others. They were therefore considered incapable of true
suffering and of criminal behavior.

But the new research suggests that animals have far more complex cognitive and social skills
than we thought. The focus in recent decades has been on wildlife, but now seems that
something similar is also true of farm animals: pigs, sheep, cows, chickens.

First for some findings. In 2004, researchers in Cambridge, UK, reported that when individual
sheep were isolated from the flock of sheep that they belonged to, they experienced stress.
This was shown by increases in heart rate, stress hormones and bleating- a sheep’s call. But
showing them pictures of familiar sheep faces reduced all three measurements. The same
effect was not produced when they were shown pictures of goat faces or inverted triangles.

Donald Broom, professor of animal welfare at the University of Cambridge, says that cows often
form long-lasting, co-operative partnerships. They also show a physiological response on
learning something new. He and colleague Kristin Hagen put young cows in a situation where
they had to press a panel to open a gate and gain access to food.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

Those that learned the task were more likely to experience a sudden increase in heart rate and
to run around than those that did not. This was called ‘the eureka response’, and resembles the
human reaction to making a discovery.

Other research has shown that if offered a choice of two places to feed, pigs will avoid the one
where they had previously been shut in for several hours after eating, and go for the one that
they were released from quickly. None of these findings proves that animals feel pain or joy in
the same way that humans do, but according to Broom, the evidence suggests that animals may
be aware of what has happened in the past, and capable of acting on it in the future.

That awareness is the basis of collaboration among human beings- for instance, knowing not to
attack a familiar face. In animal communities too, it now seems, animals with big teeth, or
weighing several tonnes, will move carefully so as to not damage others. In the past, this was
explained as their fear that if they accidentally hurt another animal, it will attack them.
According to Broom, however, this is not true in every case. He claims that a great deal of this
behavior has a more general aim of ensuring that the society will function.

American animal rights lawyer Steven Wise has gone a step further. He argues that people have
basic civil liberties because they possess a sense of self, plus the ability to want something and
to have the intention of gaining what they want. The great apes, dolphins, African grey parrots
and other animals also appear to have this ability. Now, he says, it seems to apply to some farm
animals too. He claims that these animals therefore deserve basic rights such as freedom from
being raised as food for human beings.

Wherever development in our understanding of animals takes us, however, it seems unlikely
that we will again try them for criminal behavior.

Read the passage and choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

Exercise 9. [Vocabulary]

A. Match the people with the descriptions of the jobs.

IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

a chef a doctor a vet a programmer

a teacher a store manager an engineer an accountant

This person …

1   looks after people who are ill or hurt: 

2   designs or builds machines, equipment or roads, etc.:

3   cooks food in a restaurant:

4   keeps information about money that a company or person receives, pays or owes:

5   works in a school or college:

6   produces computer programs:

7   looks after sick animals:

8   is responsible for the day-to-day operations of a store:

B. Classify the jobs into different areas:

hotel and catering: retail:

information technology: health:

construction: education:

 
Exercise 10. [IELTS Listening: Follow a conversation] Read the extracts from a lecture on the
history of money and choose the five phrases that signal the introduction of a new topic.

(A) Well, we’ll start by thinking about the situation in prehistoric times.

(B) It was in western Turkey, however, that the system of producing coins became more
organised.

(C) The only problem with these little tools is that they looked just like the real ones.

(D) Now, about 3,000 years ago, there was an interesting development, and this happened in
China.

(E) This is a metal which is quite easy to use and to make large tools from.

(F) It’s something that’s so easy to buy in the supermarket nowadays.

IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

(G) But that wasn’t the only big development in China.

(H) What else was used instead of money in the distant past?

Exercise 11. [Listening for synonyms and paraphrase] Which word can you hear in the
recording that have the same meaning as the words below?

Answers will come in order. Answers might be one word or more.

1. acquired ____________________

2. familiar with ____________________

3. thousands of years ____________________

4. animal skins ____________________

5. limited ____________________

6. originates ____________________

7. world ____________________

Exercise 12. [IELTS Listening: Sentence completion] You will listen to two students talking
about the topic of finance in preparation for a lecture. Write ONE WORD for each answer.

1. Greg and Penny agree to do some background reading on the history of ___________.
2. Greg says that before money, ___________ was very common.
3. Greg says that in the past, bronze was probably used to make ___________.
4. The book Greg and Penny should read is called ‘The ___________ World’.

Exercise 13. [IELTS Listening: Sentence completion] Complete the sentences. Write ONE OR
TWO WORDS for each answer.
1. Ordinary people can provide a news story, a ___________ or a video when no professional
journalist is present.

2. Amateur journalists often report on subjects which would be of little interest to a large
___________.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment

3. In the past, someone who wanted to express an opinion used to write a ___________, while
now they write a blog.

4. An amateur journalist’s subject is more likely to be a ___________ rather than national or

international news.

5. Amateur news websites, such as Ohmynews in South Korea, earn money from ___________.

Exercise 14. [IELTS Listening: Sentence completion] Listen and complete the sentences. Write
ONE WORD ONLY in each gap.
1. People often exchanged vegetables for ___________ in prehistoric times.
2. In Ancient European cultures, tools that were used for ___________ were most important.
3. Around 3,000 years ago, the Chinese began to make tiny ___________ of tools from bronze.
4. China introduced coins that were round with a ___________ hole in the middle 2,800 years
ago.
5. Coins were made mostly from ___________ in western Turkey.
6. King Alyattes had the idea of putting pictures of birds and ___________ on coins.

Exercise 15. [IELTS Listening: Sentence completion]

IELTS 4.5- Unit 3: Education and employment