IELTS General Training Reading practice test 4

SECTION 1 Questions 1 to 14

Strideline Pace 5 Sports Watch: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are the answers to some of the questions our customers ask most often about the Pace 5. How long does the battery last? In everyday use, with notifications switched on, the battery lasts up to ten days. If you record activities with GPS, you can expect around 18 hours. Forty minutes on the charger will give you about 80 per cent; a full charge from empty takes around 90 minutes. Can I wear the watch in water? The Pace 5 is water-resistant to 50 metres and is suitable for swimming in a pool or in the sea. It should not be worn for diving, in a sauna or in a hot shower, as heat and steam may damage the seals. After a swim in salt water, rinse the watch in cool fresh water and dry it with a soft cloth. Why are my heart-rate readings sometimes inaccurate? The sensor works best when the watch is worn about one finger's width above the wrist bone, rather than directly on it. The strap should feel firm but comfortable. Readings may be less reliable during activities with sudden arm movements, such as tennis or weightlifting. Please remember that the Pace 5 is not a medical device. Do I need to take my phone with me? You can record workouts without your phone nearby: the data is stored on the watch and transferred to the free Strideline app the next time the two are connected. You will, however, need the app once to set up the watch when you first switch it on. What if I am not happy with my watch? If you are not completely satisfied, you may return the watch within 30 days of delivery for a full refund, provided it is in its original packaging. All watches carry a two-year warranty, although this does not cover scratches to the screen or damage to the strap. Replacement straps in several colours can be ordered from our online shop.

Fennel & Thyme Cookery School: Italian Evening Class Online customer reviews

A Priya The food itself was delicious and the chef clearly knows his subject, but the class needs to be smaller. There were sixteen of us, which was simply too many: I spent half the evening waiting for a free hob and the chef couldn't get round to everyone. Because we'd overrun, we had about ten minutes to eat what we'd made before the building closed, which felt a shame. B Tom Before this evening I could barely boil an egg, so I was nervous about keeping up. I needn't have worried, as the chef explained every step patiently and never made me feel slow. We went home with recipe cards, which are really clear, although I haven't actually tried any of the recipes in my own kitchen yet. I enjoyed it so much that I've since bought a voucher for my brother. C Gareth My daughter gave me a voucher for this class for my birthday. I'd let the school know in advance that I'm vegetarian, but the message obviously hadn't reached the kitchen, so while everyone else tucked into the main course I made do with the side dishes. That aside, the teaching was excellent and the atmosphere friendly, and I'd happily recommend the class to friends. D Helen I've cooked for my family for over twenty years, so I wondered whether there would be anything new for me. In fact I picked up several techniques, especially for making fresh pasta by hand. I'd mentioned my nut allergy when I booked, and the chef had already set aside separate ingredients for me before I arrived. I've already got my eye on the bread-making evening next month. E Rosa There were twelve in our group, but the chef still found time to help each of us individually. For me, the best part of the evening was sitting down together at the end to share the meal we had cooked. Last weekend I made the mushroom risotto for four friends and nobody believed it was my first attempt on my own.

1. A flat battery can be fully recharged in less than an hour.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

2. The watch is suitable for swimming in the sea.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

3. The watch can count the number of lengths swum in a pool.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

4. Heart-rate readings are most reliable when the watch sits directly on the wrist bone.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

5. You can record a run while your phone is left at home.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

6. Customers who return the watch within 30 days must pay the cost of postage.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

7. A broken strap will be replaced free of charge under the warranty.

TRUE) TRUE

FALSE) FALSE

NOT GIVEN) NOT GIVEN

8. The reviewer received the class as a present.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

9. The reviewer felt there were too many people in the class.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

10. The reviewer intends to book a further class at the school.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

11. The reviewer has since prepared one of the dishes for guests.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

12. The reviewer had very little cooking experience before the class.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

13. The reviewer would have liked longer to enjoy the meal at the end.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

14. The school responded well to the reviewer's dietary needs.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

E) E

SECTION 2 Questions 15 to 27

Ashcombe Valley Wildlife Trust: Seasonal Field Assistants (Pollinator Surveys)

Ashcombe Valley Wildlife Trust is looking for four seasonal field assistants to join our pollinator monitoring project from April to September. Over the past ten years, our grassland reserves have lost several species of bumblebee, and the information collected by this project helps us decide how and when our meadows should be cut and grazed. The work is mostly outdoors and involves a good deal of walking across uneven ground. The role Assistants walk fixed routes across the reserve and its neighbouring farms, counting the bees, hoverflies and butterflies they see within a set distance of the path. Counts only take place on days that are dry, at least 13°C and not too windy, as insects stay hidden in strong wind. Light cloud is not a problem. On days when the weather is unsuitable, assistants work in the office, entering data or looking after equipment. Each evening, assistants send their records from the Trust's tablet app to the project coordinator, who checks them before they are added to the national database. The reserve manager receives a monthly summary. Assistants will also help to train the volunteers who join our surveys at weekends. School visits to the reserve are led by our education team. What we are looking for You should be physically fit, comfortable working outdoors in changeable conditions and able to concentrate on careful, repetitive tasks for several hours. A full driving licence is essential, as some survey sites can only be reached by car. As assistants often work alone at sites far from the road, a valid first-aid certificate must be held before fieldwork begins; the Trust will pay for a course if you need one. A chainsaw certificate is only needed by our habitat team, not by survey staff. No experience of identifying bumblebees is required, as full training is given, but knowledge of common wild flowers would be an advantage. Many of the insects we record feed on only a small number of plant species, so being able to recognise these plants speeds up the work considerably. Pay and conditions Assistants are paid £12.60 per hour and normally work 37 hours a week, although hours are longer in midsummer and shorter in early spring. Protective clothing, a tablet and a hand lens are provided. Staff from outside the area can stay in a shared cottage on the reserve. The caravan near the car park is used for storing equipment. Rent is deducted from monthly pay, and bills are included. How to apply Upload your CV on our website by 14 February, together with the contact details of a previous employer. Recent graduates may also add a university tutor as a second referee, but personal references from friends or family are not accepted. Interviews will be held at the reserve in early March and will include a short identification exercise outdoors.

Corvane Home Energy: Guidance for New Customer Advisers

Welcome to the Customer Service Centre. This guide explains how your training is organised and sets out the basic procedure for handling calls. Please keep it beside you during your first weeks and ask your team leader if anything is unclear. Your training Before you join your team, you will complete two days of online induction covering health and safety and data protection. During their first fortnight, new advisers sit beside an experienced colleague, known as a buddy, and listen to the calls they take. The probation period as a whole lasts three months. After the listening stage, you will begin taking calls yourself, with your buddy listening in and giving you feedback at the end of each day. Checking who you are speaking to We must be sure we are speaking to the account holder, or to someone they have named on the account, before discussing any details. Always start by asking for the caller's postcode. Only if this matches more than one account should you ask for the account number. Then confirm the first line of the address and the caller's date of birth. Difficult calls Most customers who call are calm, but some will be worried about a high bill or a loss of supply. If a customer becomes upset and you need more time to look into the problem, do not keep them waiting on the line; offer to arrange a callback at a time that suits them. Engineer visits are booked only for faults with the meter itself. Enter every callback in the shared diary so that it is not missed if you are absent. Passing calls on Some calls need to be handled by specialist teams. Questions about meter readings go to the Metering team. Complaints that you cannot settle on the first call should be passed to the Resolutions team, not to your supervisor. Before transferring a call, tell the customer who they will speak to and why. Payments Customers who are struggling to pay should be treated with patience and understanding. Advisers may set up payment plans themselves, but any reduction to a bill must be approved by a supervisor. Let the customer know that this can take up to two working days. Ending a call Before you finish, check that the customer understands what will happen next and ask whether there is anything else you can help with. Before you take your next call, add a note to the customer's account summarising what was agreed. Customers receive a short survey by text message the following day. Your results are shared with you at monthly review meetings and help us to plan further training.

15. • surveys take place only on days that are dry, warm and not too {{15}}

16. • daily records are sent each evening to the project {{16}}

17. • assistants help to train {{17}} who take part at weekends

18. • a valid {{18}} certificate must be held before fieldwork begins

19. • knowledge of common wild {{19}} is an advantage

20. • staff from outside the area can live in a shared {{20}} on the reserve

21. • applications must include the contact details of a previous {{21}}

22. New advisers spend their first {{22}} listening to calls taken by an experienced colleague.

23. To confirm a caller's identity, advisers first ask for their {{23}}.

24. If a customer becomes upset, advisers should offer to arrange a {{24}} at a time that suits them.

25. Complaints that cannot be settled during the first call are passed to the {{25}} team.

26. Any reduction to a customer's bill must be approved by a {{26}}.

27. Before taking the next call, advisers must add a {{27}} to the customer's account.

Read the text below and answer Questions 28 to 40.

More than a slice of meat: the story of Leberkäse

A Walk into almost any butcher's shop in Munich at nine in the morning and you will find, behind the glass, a large rectangular block of pinkish meat with a dark, glossy crust. This is Leberkäse, known in parts of Switzerland and southern Germany as Fleischkäse, and it is one of the most familiar foods of the region. Yet its name causes a surprising amount of confusion. Literally, 'Leber' means liver and 'Käse' means cheese. Visitors who translate the word on the butcher's sign expect liver and cheese, yet the Bavarian loaf contains neither. The second half of the word is usually explained as a reference to shape: like a wheel of cheese, the loaf is compact and solid, and it is cut from a single block. The first half is harder to account for, and several explanations compete. A popular story credits a court butcher in eighteenth-century Munich with inventing the dish, although nobody has been able to prove it. What is certain is that many first-time customers hesitate at the counter, wondering what exactly they are about to order. B From a pale, smooth paste to a loaf with a deep brown crust takes little more than a tin, an oven and patience. The process begins with pork and beef, which are minced very finely with salt and spices. At the same stage, crushed ice is worked in as the meat is minced, because the blades would otherwise warm the mixture. The result is so fine that it no longer looks like meat at all. The paste is then pressed firmly into a rectangular tin, with care taken to remove any pockets of air, and many butchers score the top in a diamond pattern before it goes into the oven. Baking is slow, often more than an hour at a moderate temperature, until the surface has formed a deep brown crust and the inside is firm but still moist. Once out of the oven, it is left to rest for ten minutes so that the slices hold together. Cut too soon, the loaf crumbles; cut at the right moment, each slice comes away cleanly, thick enough to fill a roll. C Cross a regional border and both the name and the recipe can change. In Bavaria, as described above, the loaf is made without liver, but in and around Stuttgart, a loaf sold as Leberkäse must contain a small proportion of liver, and local customers notice its slightly richer, darker taste. In Austria the name Leberkäse is also common, while in Switzerland most shoppers know the same product as Fleischkäse, meaning 'meat cheese'. Other differences are more recent. Butchers looking for something new have developed newer varieties with small cubes of cheese folded through the paste, or with chopped chilli for those who like more heat. To traditionalists these may seem a step too far, but they sell well, and each region still regards its own version as the real thing. D For many workers in Bavaria, the mid-morning break means a hot slice in a crisp roll, handed over the butcher's counter. Between about half past nine and eleven, queues form at shops close to offices and building sites, and the order rarely varies: a thick slice, a roll with a crisp crust and a spoonful of sweet mustard, which is the traditional accompaniment. To keep up with demand, butchers bake fresh loaves in several batches through the day, because a loaf kept warm for hours dries out and loses its flavour. Rather than everyone leaving their desks at once, many offices send one colleague down with a handwritten list of everyone's orders, and that person simply arrives at the counter, reads it out and waits while the rolls are wrapped. Staff behind the counter soon learn their customers' habits: regulars often ask for the end piece, which has the most crust, so it tends to disappear early. E The snack has also travelled much further than the next region. Tobias Brandl trained as a butcher in Bavaria before moving to New Zealand, where he opened a small shop in the coastal town of Port Arden. When he first put a Leberkäse in his window, local customers were doubtful. Some were put off by the name, which he had translated on a card beside it, and others simply did not know what to make of a block of meat that was neither ham nor sausage. Friends suggested he adapt the loaf to local tastes, perhaps by adding more pepper or by selling it cold in sandwiches. He never altered a single ingredient; instead he set out a plate of warm samples every Saturday until the town came round. It took the best part of a year. Today the loaf is one of the shop's best sellers, and it has become a particular favourite with tradespeople, who call in for a hot slice in a roll at morning tea, much as office workers do in Munich.

28. Section A

i) A recipe that varies from place to place

The challenge of keeping the mixture cold

A name that misleads

Changing a recipe to suit new customers

v) A warm snack for the middle of the morning

An uncertain story of invention

Winning over customers on the other side of the world

How a smooth mixture becomes a baked loaf

29. Section B

i) A recipe that varies from place to place

The challenge of keeping the mixture cold

A name that misleads

Changing a recipe to suit new customers

v) A warm snack for the middle of the morning

An uncertain story of invention

Winning over customers on the other side of the world

How a smooth mixture becomes a baked loaf

30. Section C

i) A recipe that varies from place to place

The challenge of keeping the mixture cold

A name that misleads

Changing a recipe to suit new customers

v) A warm snack for the middle of the morning

An uncertain story of invention

Winning over customers on the other side of the world

How a smooth mixture becomes a baked loaf

31. Section D

i) A recipe that varies from place to place

The challenge of keeping the mixture cold

A name that misleads

Changing a recipe to suit new customers

v) A warm snack for the middle of the morning

An uncertain story of invention

Winning over customers on the other side of the world

How a smooth mixture becomes a baked loaf

32. Section E

i) A recipe that varies from place to place

The challenge of keeping the mixture cold

A name that misleads

Changing a recipe to suit new customers

v) A warm snack for the middle of the morning

An uncertain story of invention

Winning over customers on the other side of the world

How a smooth mixture becomes a baked loaf

33. Which TWO statements does the writer make about buying Leberkäse at a Bavarian butcher's counter?

A) Butchers usually keep one loaf warm from opening time until closing

B) One person often collects the orders for a group of colleagues

C) Regular customers often ask for a piece from the end of the loaf

D) Large orders normally have to be placed the day before

E) Most customers prefer slices from the middle of the loaf

34. Which TWO statements does the writer make about buying Leberkäse at a Bavarian butcher's counter?

A) Butchers usually keep one loaf warm from opening time until closing

B) One person often collects the orders for a group of colleagues

C) Regular customers often ask for a piece from the end of the loaf

D) Large orders normally have to be placed the day before

E) Most customers prefer slices from the middle of the loaf

35. • To stop the mixture warming up as the meat is processed, {{35}} is added together with the salt and spices.

36. • The paste is then packed tightly into a {{36}}, making sure that no air is trapped inside.

37. • Before baking, many butchers cut lines across the top to form a {{37}} shape.

38. • After baking, the loaf must {{38}} briefly, or it will fall apart when it is cut.

39. • The Bavarian loaf contains no liver, but a loaf sold under the same name near Stuttgart is required to include liver, if only as a modest {{39}} of the mixture.

40. • Some butchers now sell less traditional versions: spicy ones made with chilli, and others in which pieces of {{40}} are mixed into the paste.