Delivering the Goods IELTS Academic Reading Sample with Explanation

Collegedunia Team

Feb 10, 2022

Candidates' reading aptitude is assessed in the IELTS Academic Reading section, which includes a passage and questions. Candidates are required to react to a variety of questions, each of which is unique. In the IELTS academic reading section, students' comprehension skills are examined using a range of issue kinds. In this area of the IELTS Academic Reading Answers, there are three sorts of questions for the text Delivering the Goods:

  1. Choose the correct answer
  2. True/False/Not Given
  3. Complete the Statements with the Best Ending

IELTS academic reading practice papers cover a variety of themes to help students improve their exam performance.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Delivering the Goods IELTS Academic Reading Sample

A

International trade is growing at a startling pace. While the global economy has been expanding at a bit over 3% a year, the volume of trade has been rising at a compound annual rate of about twice that. Foreign products, from meat to machinery, play a more important role in almost every economy in the world, and foreign markets now tempt businesses that are never much worried about sales beyond their nation's borders.

B

What lies behind this explosion in international commerce? The general worldwide decline in trade barriers, such as customs duties and import quotas, is surely one explanation. The economic opening of countries that have traditionally been minor players is another. But one force behind the import-export boom has passed all but unnoticed: the rapidly falling cost of getting goods to market. Theoretically, in the world of trade, shipping costs do not matter. Goods, once they have been made, are assumed to move instantly and at no cost from place to place. The real world, however, is full of frictions. Cheap labour may make Chinese clothing competitive in America, but if delays in shipment lie up working capital and cause winter coats to arrive in spring, trade may lose its advantages.

C

At the turn of the 20th century, agriculture and manufacturing were the two most important sectors almost everywhere, accounting for about 70% of total output in Germany, Italy and France, and 40-50% in America, Britain and Japan. International commerce was therefore dominated by raw materials, such as wheat, wood and iron ore, or processed commodities, such as meat and steel. But these sorts of products are heavy and bulky and the cost of transporting them is relatively high.

D

Countries still trade disproportionately with their geographic neighbours. Over time, however, world output has shifted into goods whose worth is unrelated to their size and weight. Today, finished manufactured products dominate the flow of trade, and, thanks to technological advances such as lightweight components, manufactured goods themselves have tended to become lighter and less bulky. As a result, less transportation is required for every dollar's worth of imports or exports.

E

To see how this influences trade, consider the business of making disk drives for computers. Most of the world's disk-drive manufacturing is concentrated in South-east Asia. This is possible only because disk drives, while valuable, are small and light and so cost little to ship. Computer manufacturers in Japan or Texas will not face hugely bigger freight bills if they import drives from Singapore rather than purchasing them on the domestic market. Distance therefore poses no obstacle to the globalization of the disk-drive industry.

F

This is even more true of the fast-growing information industries. Films and compact discs cost little to transport, even by airplane. Computer software can be 'exported' without ever loading it onto a ship, simply by transmitting it over telephone lines from one country to another, so freight rates and cargo-handling schedules become insignificant factors in deciding where to make the product. Businesses can locate based on other considerations, such as the availability of labor, while worrying less about the cost of delivering their output.

G

In many countries deregulation has helped to drive the process along. But, behind the scenes, a series of technological innovations known broadly as containerisation and intermodal transportation has led to swift productivity improvements in cargo-handling. Forty years ago, the process of exporting or importing involved a great many stages of handling, which risked portions of the shipment being damaged or stolen along the way. The invention of the container crane made it possible to load and unload containers without capsizing the ship and the adoption of standard container sizes allowed almost any box to be transported on any ship. By 1967, dual-purpose ships, carrying loose cargo in the hold* and containers on the deck, were giving way to all-container vessels that moved thousands of boxes at a time.

H

The shipping container transformed ocean shipping into a highly efficient, intensely competitive business. But getting the cargo to and from the dock was a different story. National governments, by and large, kept a much firmer hand on truck and railroad tariffs than on charges for ocean freight. This started changing, however, in the mid-1970s, when America began to deregulate its transportation industry. First airlines, then road hauliers and railways, were freed from restrictions on what they could carry, where they could haul it and what price they could charge. Big productivity gains resulted. Between 1985 and 1996, for example, America's freight railways dramatically reduced their employment, trackage, and their fleets of locomotives - while increasing the amount of cargo they hauled. Europe's railways have also shown marked, albeit smaller, productivity improvements.

I

In America the period of huge productivity gains in transportation may be almost over, but in most countries the process still has far to go. State ownership of railways and airlines, regulation of freight rates and toleration of anti-competitive practices, such as cargo-handling monopolies, all keep the cost of shipping unnecessarily high and deter international trade. Bringing these barriers down would help the world’s economies grow even closer

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-4
Reading Passage has nine paragraphs, A-I.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

  1. a suggestion for improving trade in the future

Answer: I
Supporting Sentence
: State ownership of railways and airlines, regulation of freight rates and toleration of anti-competitive practices, such as cargo-handling monopolies, all keep the cost of shipping unnecessarily high and deter international trade.
Keywords
: trade, railways, airlines, freight, cargo handling, shipping
Keyword Location
:
Para I, Lines 2-5
Explanation
: ”all keep the cost of shipping unnecessarily high and deter international trade” indicates “a suggestion for improving trade in the future”

Read More About IELTS Reading Related Articles

  1. the effects of the introduction of electronic delivery

Answer: F
Supporting Sentence
: Computer software can be 'exported' without ever loading it onto a ship, simply by transmitting it over telephone lines from one country to another, so freight rates and cargo-handling schedules become insignificant factors in deciding where to make the product.
Keywords
: electronic delivery, computer software, telephone,
Keyword Location
:
Para F, Lines 2-5
Explanation
: ”transmitting it over telephone lines” indicates the effects

  1. the similar cost involved in transporting a product from abroad or from a local supplier

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence
: Computer manufacturers in Japan or Texas will not face hugely bigger freight bills if they import drives from Singapore rather than purchasing them on the domestic market.
Keywords
: cost, transporting, abroad, local market
Keyword Location
:
Para E, Lines 4-6
Explanation
: ”domestic market” indicates “local market”

  1. the weakening relationship between the value of goods and the cost of their delivery

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence
: Over time, however, world output has shitted into goods whose worth is unrelated to their size and weight.
Keywords
: relationship, goods, delivery, unrelated
Keyword Location
:
Para D, Lines 1-3
Explanation
: ”worth is unrelated to their size and weight” shows a weakening relationship

Questions 5-9
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
In boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

  1. International trade is increasing at a greater rate than the world economy.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence
: While the global economy has been expanding at a bit over 3% a year, the volume of trade has been rising at a compound annual rate of about twice that.
Keywords
: international trade, world economy, trade, compound annual rate,
Keyword Location
:
Para A, Lines 1-3
Explanation
: increasing = expanding

  1. Cheap labour guarantees effective trade conditions.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence
: Businesses can locate based on other considerations, such as the availability of labour while worrying less about the cost of delivering their output.
Keywords
: cheap labour, trade, cost
Keyword Location
:
Para F, Lines 6-8
Explanation
: Business location is based on labour, but not trade

  1. Japan imports more meat and steel than France.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

  1. Most countries continue to prefer to trade with nearby nations.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence
: Countries still trade disproportionately with their geographic neighbours.
Keywords
: trade, countries, disproportionately, geographic neighbours, nearby nations
Keyword Location
:
Para C, Lines 1
Explanation
: ”geographic neighbour”s means “nearby nations”

  1. Small computer components are manufactured in Germany.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Questions 10-13
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-K, below.
Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.
Locate in order to free up the domestic cargo sector.

A tariffs B components C container ships
D output E employees F insurance costs
G trade H freight I fares
J software K international standards -

THE TRANSPORT REVOLUTION

Modern cargo-handling methods have had a significant effect on (10) —--------

Answer: G - trade
Supporting Sentence
: The shipping container transformed ocean shipping into a highly efficient, intensely competitive business.
Keywords
: modern, cargo-handling, significant effect, shipping container, efficient, competitive
Keyword Location
:
Para H, Lines 1-2
Explanation
: ”highly efficient, intensely competitive business” indicates “significant effect”

the business of moving freight around the world becomes increasingly streamlined. Manufacturers of computers, for instance, are able to import (11) —--------

Answer: B - components
Supporting Sentence
: Computer manufacturers in Japan or Texas will not face hugely bigger freight bills if they import drives from Singapore rather than purchasing them on the domestic market.
Keywords
: freight, streamlined, computer manufacturers,
Keyword Location
:
Para E, Lines 4-6
Explanation
: ”drive” indicates “components”

from overseas, rather than having to rely on a local supplier. The introduction of (12 ) —--------

Answer: C - container ships
Supporting Sentence
: But, behind the scenes, a series of technological innovations known broadly as containerisation and intermodal transportation has led to swift productivity improvements in cargo handling.
Keywords
: oversees, local supplier, container ships, technological innovations, containerisation, cargo-handling
Keyword Location
:
Para G, Lines 1-4
Explanation
: ”containerisation and intermodal transportation” indicates efficient and safe handling by container ships

meant that bulk cargo can be safely and efficiently moved over long distances. While international shipping is now efficient, there is still a need for governments to reduce (13) —-------

Answer: A - tariffs
Supporting Sentence
: But getting the cargo to and from the dock was a different story. National governments, by and large, kept a much firmer hand on truck and railroad tariffs than on charges for ocean freight.
Keywords
: cargo, governments, dock, freight
Keyword Location
:
Para H, Lines 2-4
Explanation
: ”firmer hand on truck and railroad tariffs than on charges for ocean freight” indicated governments’ control over tariffs

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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