Office for National Statistics Reading Answers

Mar 19, 2024

Office for National Statistics Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Office for National Statistics Reading Answers have a total of 14 IELTS questions in total. This topic has 7 questions in which you have to fill up the black choosing appropriate words from paragraphs.This topic has 7 questions in which you have to tell whether the statement is true or false.

Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS Reading practice papers, which feature topics such as Office for National Statistics Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Office for National Statistics

This week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that more of us than ever are living alone. This won't trouble the author Colm Tibfn, who once eulogised the freedom that living alone gives him, likening his solitary existence to that of 'a cloistered nun'. This is a terrifying image, surely, and not a metaphor for a life most of us would seek to inhabit. Certainly not my friend Helen. successful, well-off, homeowner; but tired of her single life, of the near-constant awareness that she's running out of time to have children, as fast as she's running out of the energy to embark on another round of futile first dates. Nor my friend Mark, divorced dad, active in his daughter's life - but who still, at the end of the weekend, returns the child to her mother, - before driving back to his re-emptied house, where he spends the evenings with PlayStation and Sky Sports.
In discussing solitary lives, we should ignore the Colm T6ibfns - financially independent people who realise that, for them, living alone brings more advantages than otherwise. Most people of my generation had such a stage in their lives - between university, and settling down - but we didn't want it to last forever. In any case, with property prices as they are, such self-selected solitude is not an option for much of the succeeding generation. Set aside, too, those figures pertaining to the very elderly; not because there aren't real problems faced by those (usually female) 'survivors', but because their existence is a function of the uneven impact of medical advances and lifestyle changes on the longevity of each of the genders.
It's not the relatively young, or the very old, who are the main drivers of this demographic change. As the ONS makes clear, the largest increase in solitary living is down to the 45-64 age group. Almost two and a half million Britons in that age category have no one with whom to share their home, an increase of more than 800,000 households since the mid-Nineties. Even allowing for the increase in total population size, that's still a noticeable change, and they don't all enjoy the experience. I suspect there are more divorced parents, like my friend Mark, poking about their fridges for a pre-packed meal for one, than there are cloistered Irish novelists
This would all be fine, were this phenomenon merely to affect matters as concrete as housing. But evidence suggests a link between solitariness and poorer health outcomes (mirroring, bleakly, the evidence about the outcomes for children raised in single-parent households). One paper I read showed a significant increase in the prescription of antidepressants to the solitary, compared with cohabiting couples. Correlation doesn't prove a sociological theory, of course, but it's hard to ignore the link between living alone, and other detrimental life choices.
The issue demands a political response: marriage is the most important institution to act as a bulwark against loneliness, and the British Government should promote it. Instead, the government is unwinding its insidious 'couples penalty': a financial punishment for initially setting up home with a partner, and then after divorce, (probably the result of the stress brought on by all the expense), a further charge for a change to living conditions. The Centre for Social Justice discovered that the people most C penalised for living together are - surprise - among the poorest. This must be fixed. What's more, couples who arrange to 'live apart together' shouldn't be demonised for rationally navigating the snares of the benefits system.
But if we acknowledge that a financial penalty can cause the poorest to avoid marriage, why assume that monetary considerations don't affect the betteroff? First, because politicians are scared to reward marriage in the tax system, and second, because our divorce laws so scar those who endure them that, I suspect, we've produced a generation with the motto 'once bitten, twice shy'. The changes to child benefit for the well-off hardly help either.
Not very long ago, the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard deployed a powerful phrase in defence of his criminal justice policy: prison works'. It's time we used a similar phrase, in defence of social justice: marriage 'works' too. It works for most people and definitely for civic society, yet we find it hard to say this, and shy away from its political implications. What started as a desire not to judge 'lifestyle choices' has bred a generation living in lonely, quiet despair. Loneliness is a much harder political issue to tackle than, say, housebuilding but- if we believe in society at all - hardly one of lesser significance.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 13-19

Reading passage 2 has seven paragraphs labelled A-G. Choose the correct heading for each from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number i- x.

List of headings

Middle age solitude is growing
The institution of marriage needs a motto that resonates
The young and the elderly are not relevant to the debate
The system is clearly unfair
The real issue is a lack of affordable housing
For many, the benefits of a single life are exaggerated
The wealthy are affected by the same measures
Most men would rather be single
Loneliness has a range of consequences
Couples must work harder to make relationships work

Paragraph A

Answer: VI
Supporting statement:“........This won't trouble the author Colm Tibfn, who once eulogised the freedom that living alone gives him, likening his solitary existence to that of 'a cloistered nun'. .........”
Keywords: freedom, solitary
Keyword Location: para A, line 2
Explanation: The paragraph discusses Colm Tibfn, who enjoys living alone, suggesting that the benefits of a single life are exaggerated.

Paragraph B

Answer: III
Supporting statement:“........In discussing solitary lives, we should ignore the Colm T6ibfns - financially independent people who realise that, for them, living alone brings more advantages than otherwise..........”
Keywords: financially, independent
Keyword Location: para B, line 1
Explanation: The paragraph tells to ignore the young and the elderly in the discussion of solitary lives. It wants to focus instead on those in the middle age group.

Paragraph C

Answer: I
Supporting statement:“.......As the ONS makes clear, the largest increase in solitary living is down to the 45-64 age group..........”
Keywords: living, group
Keyword Location: para C, line 3
Explanation: The paragraph highlights the increase in solitary living among the 45-64 age group.

Paragraph D

Answer: IX
Supporting statement:“.......This would all be fine, were this phenomenon merely to affect matters as concrete as housing. But evidence suggests a link between solitariness and poorer health outcomes (mirroring, bleakly, the evidence about the outcomes for children raised in single-parent households..........”
Keywords: alone, poorer
Keyword Location: para D, line 3
Explanation: The paragraph discusses the link between living alone and poorer health outcomes.

Paragraph E

Answer: IV
Supporting statement:“......Instead, the government is unwinding its insidious 'couples penalty': a financial punishment for initially setting up home with a partner, and then after divorce, (probably the result of the stress brought on by all the expense), a further charge for a change to living conditions. ..........”
Keywords: unfair, government
Keyword Location: para E, line 3
Explanation: The paragraph mentions about argument against the unfairness of the government's financial penalties related to living arrangements and marriage.

Paragraph F

Answer: VII
Supporting statement:“.......But if we acknowledge that a financial penalty can cause the poorest to avoid marriage, why assume that monetary considerations don't affect the betteroff?..........”
Keywords: marriage, monetary
Keyword Location: para F, line 1
Explanation: The para F discusses how financial considerations affect both the poorest and the better-off in terms of marriage and divorce.

Paragraph G

Answer: II
Supporting statement:“........Not very long ago, the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard deployed a powerful phrase in defence of his criminal justice policy: prison works'. It's time we used a similar phrase, in defence of social justice.........”
Keywords: marriage, combating
Keyword Location: para G, line 1
Explanation: The paragraph suggests that marriage is an important institution for combating loneliness and calls for its promotion by the government.

Questions 20-26

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the reading passage? In boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet, write.

YES - if the statement agrees with the views of the writer.
NO - if the statement contradicts the views of the writer.
NOT GIVEN- if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

The Irish author Calm T 6ibfn has a lifestyle that most people would envy.

Answer: NO
Supporting statement:“.......In discussing solitary lives, we should ignore the Colm T6ibfns - financially independent people who realise that, for them, living alone brings more advantages than otherwise...........”
Keywords: envy, lifestyle
Keyword Location: para B, line 1
Explanation: The passage suggests that not everyone would envy Colm Tibfn's lifestyle.It may not be desirable for most people.

His friends Helen and Mark would like their lives to be different.

Answer: YES
Supporting statement:“........Certainly not my friend Helen. successful, well-off, homeowner; but tired of her single life, of the near-constant awareness that she's running out of time to have children.........”
Keywords: single, time
Keyword Location: para A, line 5
Explanation: The passage mentions Helen and Mark as tired of their single lives and suggests they desire to change it.

Most students accept that the benefits of being single are temporary.

Answer: YES
Supporting statement:“......... Most people of my generation had such a stage in their lives - between university, and settling down - but we didn't want it to last forever.........”
Keywords: university, forever
Keyword Location: para B, line 3
Explanation: Although not explicitly mentioned, the passage mentions that the benefits of being single are temporary, especially for most people who do not wish to live alone forever.

Most elderly women have not chosen to live alone.

Answer: YES
Supporting statement:“.........Almost two and a half million Britons in that age category have no one with whom to share their home, an increase of more than 800,000 households since the mid-Nineties........”
Keywords: influence, lifestyle
Keyword Location: para C, line 3
Explanation: The passage suggests that the increase in solitary living among the elderly is not necessarily by choice but influenced by factors like medical advances and lifestyle changes.

Divorced men do not usually enjoy cooking.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: The passage does not mention about the cooking preferences of divorced men.

Couples who try to deceive the benefits system deserve to be punished.

Answer: NO
Supporting statement:“.......This must be fixed. What's more, couples who arrange to 'live apart together' shouldn't be demonised for rationally navigating the snares of the benefits system...........”
Keywords: demonised, benefits
Keyword Location: para E, line 7
Explanation: The passage states against demonizing couples who try to usethe benefits system, suggesting they should not be punished.

People who go through a divorce are afraid of marrying again.

Answer: YES
Supporting statement:“........, I suspect, we've produced a generation with the motto 'once bitten, twice shy'. The changes to child benefit for the well-off hardly help either..........”
Keywords: divorce, afraid
Keyword Location: para F,line 4
Explanation: The passage mentions that divorce laws and financial penalties make people afraid of remarrying. It is indicated by the phrase "once bitten, twice shy."

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