Cambridge 18 IELTS General Reading Test 2

SECTION 1 Questions 1—8

Read the text below and answer Questions 1—8.

Choosing the best sleeping bag

When choosing a sleeping bag, check what seasons it’s for, as well as
how heavy it is if you’re backpacking. Also think about the filling.
Natural duck down is very warm, has a longer lifespan and is easier to
pack up, while synthetic materials are easier to clean, and they dry
quicker and are cheaper.

A Vango Fuse -12

This all-year-round sleeping bag combines natural duck down and a

new synthetic fibre. The result is a bag that’s warm and weighs 1.5kg.
There’s a water-resistant finish to protect it from moisture.

B Outwell Campion Lux Double Sleeping Bag

This double sleeping bag — which is suitable for all seasons except
winter — is soft and cosy, and there’s a handy pocket for essentials,
located inside near the top. It also folds up remarkably small, given its
size.

C Nordisk Oscar +10

At just 350g, this sleeping bag is remarkably light, and as it’s

synthetic, it’s very easy to maintain. The pack size is just 13x20cm,
which makes it ideal for backpacking. It will work perfectly for
summer trekking.

D The Big Sleep 250GSM Single Cowl Sleeping

If you want a no—frills, budget sleeping bag that will last more than
one summer, opt for this. It’s soft, comfy and simple to wash. Give
yourself a bit of time to fit it back in the bag, though. Use it for spring,
summer and autumn.
E Jack Wolfskin Smoozip +3

We like the extra insulation in this sleeping bag around the areas that
tend to feel the cold (head, chest and feet). And the hood is cosy
enough to use as a pillow.

F Vango Starwalker Dragon

This innovative, high-quality kids’ sleeping bag enables you to undo

some zips and turn it into a fun, animal—themed coat. Once your
youngster is ready for bed, simply zip the bottom back on and zip up
the shoulders. Suitable for between 8 and 20 degrees Celsius.

G Outwell Conqueror

This sleeping bag has an integrated down duvet and lots of space.
What’s more, it packs up compactly and is easy to get back in the bag.
It’s light but too big for a rucksack.
SECTION 1 Questions 9—14

Read the text below and answer Questions 9—14.

The Spread the Word Life Writing Prize

We are delighted to announce The Spread the Word Life Writing Prize
in association with Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre.

Competition Rules

Entries should be original works of life writing of no more than 5,000

words. The word count will be checked and entries longer than 5,000
words will be disqualified. There is no minimum word count.

For the purposes of the Prize, Life Writing is defined as non fiction and
should be based on a significant portion from the author’s own
experience. Traditional biographies, where the piece is only about the
experience of someone else, are excluded.

Writers only submit one entry each. Multiple entries by the same
author will result in only the first entry being considered for the Prize
and any additional entries disqualified. Writers who have previously
won or been highly commended in the Life Writing Prize are excluded
from entering; otherwise, previous entrants may submit.

Entries must be the original, previously unpublished work of the

entrant. Graphic novel-style entries, where drawings or photographs
accompany text, are welcome. Entries can be self-contained pieces of
life writing, or the first 5,000 words of a longer piece of work.

The Life Writing Prize is open to writers aged over 18 and resident in
the UK who are emerging writers, which means they have not
previously published in print a full-length work. We define a full-
length work as, for example, a complete work of fiction or non-fiction
over 30,000 words.
Entries that are simultaneously submitted elsewhere are welcome —
but please let us know as soon as possible if a piece is to be published
elsewhere or has won another prize so we can disqualify it from the
Life Writing Prize.

The winner will receive £1,500, publication on Spread the Word’s

website, two years’ membership of the Royal Society of Literature, and
a development meeting with an editor and an agent. Two highly
commended entries will receive £500 and two mentoring sessions, a
development meeting With an editor and an agent, and be published
on the Spread the Word website.
SECTION 2 Questions 15—21

Read the text below and answer Questions 15—21.

Encouraging employees to be healthy: a guide for employers

Benefits

Putting effort into employee wellness can reduce absenteeism and

encourage better teamwork in the workplace, as well as increased
productivity. Once you’ve devised a program, continue to assess the
outcomes and regularly survey your team to gather feedback.

Focus on general prevention

Consider offering flu vaccinations on site and look at offering

employees incentives on health insurance. Some companies arrange
for someone who specialises in health issues, such as a doctor, to visit
the workplace and speak to employees.

Encourage a healthier diet

Most of us know that eating healthily can help prevent future diseases,
but many are not aware that unhealthy eating is linked to a 66 percent
increased risk of loss of productivity. It may be necessary to
consciously develop a healthy food and drink workplace policy,
including a healthy catering policy. A simple thing to do is substitute
soda in any on-site vending machines with water or juice. Also
investigate the nutritional value of food supplied for team meetings
and work events. Consider putting a bowl of fruit out in the staff room
and urge everyone to help themselves for free. You can encourage
employees to bring in healthy lunches from home by making sure that
there is a fridge in the break room.

Encourage more exercise

Encouraging employees to exercise needn’t be expensive as there are

plenty of low-cost methods available. These might include: installing
racks for bikes in your staff car park; encouraging employees to take
part in fun runs and charity events; suggesting ‘walking meetings’
where people discuss business as they get fresh air and exercise; and
putting in showers to assist those who ride or run to the workplace.
Some companies negotiate group rates for their employees at a nearby
gym.

Improve mental health

Recent reports have shown that ignoring mental health costs

Australian companies at least $11 billion a year. We all have a
responsibility to look out for one another. Some ways you can do this
in the workplace include: running employee surveys to get valuable
information on morale in the workplace; training managers on mental
health strategies; offering rebates so employees are compensated for
counselling if required; and refusing to accept any bullying and
unprofessional behaviour in your workplace.
SECTION 2 Questions 22—27

Read the text below and answer Questions 22—27.

Marama Beach Hotel and Bistro: guidelines for working in the

kitchen

The health and well-being of customers and staff is our first priority,
and we expect all staff to take every step possible to maintain food
safety and work in a hygienic manner.

Hygiene

 Long hair must be tied back and no rings may be worn if

touching food.
 The regulation chefs” shirts and trousers are to be freshly
laundered before starting a new shift, along with aprons if they
are worn.
 Cross-contamination between raw and cooked food must be
avoided. To this end. staff must use a clean board each time they
out different types of food.
 Staff should not touch money and then food without washing
their hands in between.
 In the case of illness or a skin problem, the staff member should
inform the manager. Cuts on hands and arms must be properly
wrapped or bandaged.

Safety rules

 All injuries must be reported to management immediately.

 Safety guards must not be altered in any way, and staff must
always wear protective clothing and gloves when working with
sharp, hot, cold or corrosive items or materials.
 Loose clothing or jewellery must not be worn. Defective
appliances must be turned off and not used — staff must not tw
to fix them themselves.
 Heavy boxes should be lifted carefully with bent knees and a
straight back, holding the box close to the body.
 Work areas should be clean and free of hazards.
 Spills on the floor must be dealt with immediately.
 Flammable liquids must be stored away from flames.
  If storing containers of chemicals in the kitchen. they must have
clear labels, so as to avoid any confusion about the contents.

Breaks

Staff have 20 minutes of paid break time per 3 hours of work, during
which time they may not leave the premises. Every staff member who
works a shift exceeding 5 hours is entitled to a 30-minute unpaid
break and free meals. However, please be aware that the kitchen may
not always be able to provide this service, especially in peak times.
Beverages kept in the storeroom may not be consumed by staff, but
filtered water is provided free of charge in the staff room.
SECTION 3 Questions 28—40

Read the text below and answer Questions 28—40.

In the 1970s, Clothkits revolutionised home sewing. Later, a woman

from Sussex, England, revived the nostalgic brand and brought it up to
date

A ‘I can’t remember many of the clothes I wore before I was six, but I
have a vivid memory of a certain skirt whose patterns I can still trace
in my mind. It was wraparound, with a belt that threaded through
itself, decorated with cats in two shades of green. I wore it with a
knitted red jersey my mum bought in a jumble sale, and brown sandals
with flowers cut into the toes. It was 1979, and I was not yet five. I
forgot about that skirt for a long time, but when a girlfriend
mentioned the name Clothkits while we were chatting, it was as if a
door suddenly opened on a moment in the past that resonated with
vivid significance for me.’ The brand, founded in 1968, had by the late
1980s mostly vanished from people’s lives, but by a combination of
determination and luck Kay Mawer brought it back.

B Clothkits was created by the designer Anne Kennedy, who came up

with the ingenious idea of printing a pattern straight on to coloured
fabric so that a paper pattern was not needed. It was accompanied by
instructions that almost anyone could follow on how to cut the pieces
out and sew them together. ‘I was rebelling against the formulaic lines
of textile design at that time,’ Kennedy says. ‘My interest was in folk
art and clothes that were simple to make as I had lots of unfinished
sewing disasters in my cupboard.’ Clothkits has always embodied the
spirit of the late 1960s and 1970s. Its initial design was a dress in a
geometric stripe in orange, pink, turquoise and purple. It cost 25
shillings (£1.25), and after it was featured in the Observer newspaper,
Kennedy received more than £2,000 worth of orders. She ran the
company from Lewes in Sussex, where at its peak it employed more
than 400 people, selling to 44 countries worldwide. Sew-your—own
kits formed the core of the business, supplemented by knitwear.
Kennedy’s children demonstrated the patterns by wearing them in
photographs.

C Kennedy sold the company in the late 1980s. There had been a few
administrative problems with postal strikes and a new computer
system, which back then took up an entire room, ‘but the times were
changing as well,’ she says. ‘More women were going out to work and
sewing less for their children.’ She sold the company to one of her
suppliers, who then sold it on to Freeman’s, which ran Clothkits
alongside its own brand for a while, using Kennedy’s impressive
database, but its ethos as a big, corporate company did not sit well
alongside the alternative and artistic values of Clothkits. In 1991,
Clothkits was made dormant, and there the story might have ended,
were it not for Mawer’s fascination with discovering what happened to
Clothkits.

D Mawer’s mother bought her a sewing machine when she was ten and
taught her basic pattern-cutting and garment construction,
encouraging her to experiment With colour and design by trial and
error. The first garment Mawer made was a pair of trousers, which
she made by tracing around an existing pair of trousers. in her late
twenties, she spent five years working on digital and sculptural
installations. ‘It was an amazing, mind-expanding experience, but I
knew it was unlikely I could make a living as a practising artist. I was
definitely looking for a way that I could work in a creative industry
with a commercial edge.’ The experience inspired Mawer to return to
education, studying for a degree in fine art at the University of
Chichester. Her passion for vintage fabric, which her mother had
encouraged her to start collecting, led her back to Clothkits, and from
there to a journey into the heart of Freeman’s. Negotiations with the
company took 18 months, but in October 2007 Clothkits was hers.

E The ethos of Clothkits remains the same, and Mawer is proud that
her fabric is printed either in London or the north of England, and that
packaging is kept to an absolute minimum. ‘I wanted to feel that
everyone involved in the brand, from design to production, was part of
a process I could witness. I couldn’t see the point of manufacturing on
the other side of the world, as that’s not what Clothkits has ever been
about.’ The revival of Clothkits has also, of course, coincided with a
growing sense of dissatisfaction at our disposable society, and the
resulting resurgence of interest in skills such as sewing and knitting.
Making your own clothes gives you a greater appreciation of the
craftsmanship in the construction of a garment,’ Mawer says. ‘When
you know the process involved in making a skirt, you treasure it in a
way you wouldn’t if you’d bought it from a mass- producing
manufacturer.’