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British Council Academic Reading Practice Test One Passage One Answer Explained
Fair games?
You can find the passage in here.
I would recommend you open both the passage and my website together after you have tried to solve the passage. This approach can help you become familiarized with the pattern of answers and paraphrasing that Cambridge utilizes to create the IELTS reading tests.
Questions 14–18
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–K, below.
14. Bids to become a host city
The answer is E.
E. can take up to ten years to complete.
In the second paragraph, most cities can expect to exhaust a decade working on their bid from the moment it is initiated to the announcement of voting results from International Olympic Committee members.
15. Personal relationships and political tensions
The answer is J.
J. often underlie the decisions of International Olympic Committee members.
In the second paragraph, all of this can be for nothing if a bidding city does not appease the whims of IOC members – private connections and opinions on government conduct often hold sway (Chicago’s 2012 bid is thought to have been undercut by tensions over U.S. foreign policy).
16. Cost estimates for the Olympic Games
The answer is I.
I. are known for being very inaccurate.
In the third paragraph, as is typical with large-scale, one-off projects, budgeting for the Olympics is a notoriously formidable task.
17. Purpose-built sporting venues
The answer is D.
D. are often never used again once the Games are over.
In the fourth paragraph, these complexes typically fall into disuse after the Olympic fervor has waned.
18. Urban developments associated with the Olympics
The answer is B.
B. tend to occur in areas where they are least needed.
In the fifth paragraph, the improvement of public transport, roads and communication links tends to concentrate in places already well-equipped with world-class infrastructures.
Questions 19–25
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
- Answer true if the statement agrees with the information.
- Answer false if the statement contradicts the information.
- Answer not given if there is no information on this.
19. Residents of host cities have little use for the full range of Olympic facilities.
The answer is TRUE.
In the fourth paragraph, despite the enthusiasm many populations initially have for the development of world-class sporting complexes in their home towns, these complexes typically fall into disuse after the Olympic fervor has waned.
20. Australians have still not paid for the construction of Olympic sports facilities.
The answer is NOT GIVEN.
In the fourth paragraph, even Australia, home to one of the world’s most sportive populations, has left its taxpayers footing a $32 million-a-year bill for the maintenance of vacant facilities.
21. People far beyond the host city can expect to benefit from improved infrastructure.
The answer is FALSE.
In the fifth paragraph, another major concern is that when civic infrastructure developments are undertaken in preparation for hosting the Olympics, these benefits accrue to a single metropolitan centre.
In countries with an expansive land mass, this means vast swathes of the population miss out entirely.
22. It is difficult for small cities to win an Olympic bid.
The answer is TRUE.
In the fifth paragraph, perpetually by-passing minor cities creates a cycle of disenfranchisement: these cities never get an injection of capital, they fail to become first-rate candidates, and they are constantly passed over in favor of more secure choices.
23. When a city makes an Olympic bid, a majority of its citizens usually want it to win.
The answer is NOT GIVEN.
In the sixth paragraph, the “feel good” factor that most proponents of Olympic bids extol (and that was no doubt driving the 90 to 100 per cent approval rates of Parisians and Londoners for their cities’ respective 2012 bids)
24. Whether or not people enjoy hosting the Olympics in their city depends on how athletes from their country perform in Olympic events.
The answer is TRUE.
In the sixth paragraph, the “feel good” factor that most proponents of Olympic bids extol (and that was no doubt driving the 90 to 100 per cent approval rates of Parisians and Londoners for their cities’ respective 2012 bids) can be an elusive phenomenon, one that is tied to that nation’s standing on the medal tables.
25. Fewer people than normal visited Greece during the run up to the Athens Olympics.
The answer is TRUE.
In the sixth paragraph, Greece’s preparation for Athens 2004 famously deterred tourists from visiting the country due to widespread unease about congestion and disruption).
Questions 26 and 27
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
Which TWO of the following does the author propose as alternatives to the current Olympics?
The answers are A and C (in either order).
The answer is in the eighth paragraph.
A. The Olympics should be cancelled in favor of individual competitions for each sport.
International competition could still be maintained through world championships in each discipline.
C. The Olympics should be held in the same city every time.
The Olympics could simply be scrapped altogether.