| How
can I prepare for IELTS?
It
is not necessary to attend an IELTS preparation course though
it is, of course, a good idea to prepare thoroughly for the test.
You can arrange a variety of test materials. British Council itself
offers a preparation kit whereas you can also buy preparation
material from other publishers as well.
Reading Task 1
Wind
Power in the US
Prompted by the oil crises of the 1970s, a
wind-power industry flourished briefly in the United States. But
then world oil prices dropped, and funding for research into renewable
energy was cut. By the mid 1980s US interest in wind energy as
a large-scale source of energy had almost disappeared. The development
of wind power at this time suffered not only from badly designed
equipment, but also from poor long-term planning, economic projections
that were too optimistic and the difficulty of finding suitable
locations for the wind turbines.
Only now are technological advances beginning to offer hope that
wind power will come to be accepted as a reliable and important
source of electricity. There have been significant successes in
California, in particular, where wind farms now have a capacity
of 1500 megawatts, comparable to a large nuclear or fossil-fuelled
power station, and produce 1.5 per cent of the state's electricity.
Nevertheless, in the U.S., the image of wind power is still distorted
by early failures. One of the most persistent criticisms is that
wind power is not a significant energy resource. Researchers at
the Battelle Northwest Laboratory, however, estimate that today
wind turbine technology could supply 20 per cent of the electrical
power the country needs. As a local resource, wind power has even
greater potential. Minnesota's energy commission calculates that
a wind farm on one of the state's southwestern ridges could supply
almost all that state's electricity. North Dakota alone has enough
sites suitable for wind farms to supply more than a third of all
electricity consumed in the continental US.
The prevailing notion that wind power is too costly results largely
from early research, which focused on turbines with huge blades
that stood hundreds of meters tall. These machines were not designed
for ease of production or maintenance, and they were enormously
expensive. Because the major factors influencing the overall cost
of wind power are the cost of the turbine and its supporting systems,
including land, as well as operating and maintenance costs, it
is hardly surprising that it was thought at the time that wind
energy could not be supplied at a commercially competitive price.
More recent developments such as those seen on California wind
farms have dramatically changed the economic picture for wind
energy. These systems, like installations in Hawaii and several
European countries have benefited from the economies of scale
that come through standardized manufacturing and purchasing. The
result has been a dramatic drop in capital costs: the installed
cost of new wind turbines stood at $1000 per kilowatt in 1993,
down from about $4000 per kilowatt in 1980, and continues to fall.
Design improvements and more efficient maintenance programs for
large numbers of turbines have reduced operating costs as well.
The cost of electricity delivered by wind farm turbines has decreased
from about 30 cents per kilowatt-hour to between 7 and 9 cents,
which is generally less than the cost of electricity from conventional
power stations. Reliability has also improved dramatically. The
latest turbines run more than 95 per cent of the time, compared
with around 60 per cent in the early 1980s. Another misconception
is that improved designs are needed to make wind power feasible.
Out of the numerous wind turbine designs proposed or built by
inventors or developers, the propeller-blade type, which is based
on detailed analytical models as well as extensive experimental
data, has emerged as predominant among the more than 20,000 machines
now in commercial operation world-wide. Like the gas-driven turbines
that power jet aircraft, these are sophisticated pieces of rotating
machinery. They are already highly efficient, and there is no
reason to believe that other configurations will produce major
benefits. Like other ways of generating electricity, wind power
does not leave the environment entirely unharmed. There are many
potential problems, ranging from interference with telecommunications
to impact on wildlife and natural habitats. But these effects
must be balanced against those associated with other forms of
electricity generation. Conventional power stations impose hidden
costs on society, such as the control of air pollution, the management
of nuclear waste and global warming. As wind power has been ignored
in the US over the past few years, expertise and commercial exploitation
in the field have shifted to Europe. The European Union spends
10 times as much as the US government on research and development
of wind energy. It estimates that at least 10 per cent of Europe's
electrical power could be supplied by land-based wind-turbines
using current technology. Indeed, according to the American Wind
Energy Association, an independent organization based in Washington,
Denmark, Britain, Spain and the Netherlands will each surpass
the US in the generating capacity of wind turbines installed during
the rest of the decade.
Glossary
Fossil fuel: coal, oil and natural gas
Kilowatt: 1,000 watts; a watt is a unit of power
Kilowatt-hour: one kilowatt for a period of one hour
Megawatt: one million watts
Wind farm: a group of wind turbines in one location producing
a large amount of electricity
Wind turbine: a machine which produces energy when the
wind turns its blades
Questions 1 - 5
Complete the summary below using words from the
box (given below). Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer
sheet.
NB: There are more words or phrases than you will need to fill
the gaps. You may use any word or phrase more than once.
Example
The failure during the late 1970s and early 1980s of an attempt
to establish a widespread wind power industry in the United States
resulted largely from the ...(1)... in oil prices during this
period. The industry is now experiencing a steady ...(2)... due
to improvements in technology and an increased awareness of the
potential in the power of wind. The wind turbines that are now
being made based in part on the ...(3)... of wide-ranging research
in Europe, are easier to manufacture and maintain than their predecessors.
This has led wind-turbine makers to be able to standardize and
thus minimize ...(4).... There has been growing ...(5)... of the
importance of wind power as an energy source.
| Criticism |
Success |
Design
costs |
Production
costs |
Failure |
| Stability |
Operating
costs |
Fall |
Growth |
Recognition |
| Skepticism |
Decisions |
Effects |
Decline |
Results |
Questions 6 – 10
Look at the following issues (Questions 6-10) and the list of
implications below (A-C). Match each issue with the correct implication.
Write the correct letter A-C in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.
N.B. You may use any letter more than once.
Example
The current price of one wind-generated kilowatt... Answer A
Issues
(6)... The recent installation of systems taking advantage of
economies of scale...(2) The potential of meeting one fifth of
current US energy requirements by wind power ... (3)... The level
of acceptance of current wind turbine technology ...(4)... A comparison
of costs between conventional and wind power sources.... (5)...
The view of wind power in the European Union...
Implications
A. Provides evidence against claims that electricity produced
from wind power is relatively expensive.
B. Supports claim that wind power is an important source of energy.
C. Opposes the view that wind power technology requires further
development.
Writing
Task 1
Write
a report for a university lecturer describing the information
below.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task
Write
at least 150 words.
The
graph below shows the different modes of transport used to travel
to and from work in one European city in 1960, 1980 and 2000.
Writing Task 2
You
should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Present
a written argument or case to an educated reader with no specialist
knowledge of the following topic.
It is inevitable that as technology
develops so traditional cultures must be lost. Technology and
tradition are incompatible - you cannot have both together. To
what extent do you agree or disagree?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge
and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant
evidence.
Write
at least 250 words.
There are three main parts to the IELTS Speaking Module.
In Part one the candidate answers general questions about
themselves, their home/family and other such personal topics.
This part lasts about four-five minutes.
Part Two is sampled below:
Speaking
Part Two Sample
Describe
a teacher who has greatly influenced you in your education.
You
should say:
Where
you met them;
What
subject they taught;
What
was special about them?
And
explain why this person influenced you so much.
You
will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes. You
have one minute to think about what you are going to say.
You can make some notes if you wish. |
In Part Three the candidate and
Examiner engage in a discussion of more abstract issues and concepts
which are related to the topic in Part Two.
|
