Paper Or Computer Reading Answers

Jan 27, 2023

Paper Or Computer Reading Answers contains a write up about the paper and computer. Paper Or Computer Reading Answers contain a total of 6 paragraphs. Related to the paragraphs are 14 questions. Candidates in this IELTS Section will be shown various question types with clear instructions. The paragraphs contain information about the advancement of technology. Technology has replaced the use of paper and the cons and pros for the same have been mentioned.

Paper Or Computer Reading Answers is an IELTS Reading passage which comprises three types of questions:complete the sentence, choose the correct option and associate the paragraph.. Candidates are required to read each paragraph attentively and thoroughly. The interpretation of each paragraph is must. An overall theme of the paragraph is required to answer the questions. The important information must be remembered. To gain proficiency, candidates can practice from IELTS reading practice test.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Paper Or Computer Reading Answers

Computer technology was supposed to replace paper. But that hasn’t happened. Every country in the Western world uses more paper today, on a per- capita basis, than it did ten years ago. The consumption of uncoated free-sheet paper, for instance the most common kind of office paper — rose almost fifteen per cent in the United States between 1995 and 2000. This is generally taken as evidence of how hard it is to eradicate old, wasteful habits and of how stubbornly resistant we are to the efficiencies offered by computerization. A number of cognitive psychologists and ergonomics experts, however, don’t agree. Paper has persisted, they argue, for very good reasons: when it comes to performing certain kinds of cognitive tasks, paper has many advantages over computers. The dismay people feel at the sight of a messy desk — or the spectacle of air-traffic controllers tracking flights through notes scribbled on paper strips – arises from a fundamental confusion about the role that paper plays in our lives.
The case for paper is made most eloquently in “The Myth of the Paperless Office”, by two social scientists, Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper. They begin their book with an account of a study they conducted at the International Monetary Fund, in Washington, D.c. Economists at the I.M.F. spend most of their time writing reports on complicated economic questions, work that would seem to be perfectly suited to sitting in front of a computer. Nonetheless, the I.M.F. is awash in paper, and Sellen and Harper wanted to find out why. Their answer is that the business of writing reports – at least at the I.M.F. is an intensely collaborative process, involving the professional judgments and contributions of many people. The economists bring drafts of reports to conference rooms, spread out the relevant pages, and negotiate changes with one other. They go back to their offices and jot down comments in the margin, taking advantage of the freedom offered by the informality of the handwritten note. Then they deliver the annotated draft to the author in person, taking him, page by page, through the suggested changes. At the end of the process, the author spreads out all the pages with comments on his desk and starts to enter them on the computer — moving the pages around as he works, organizing and reorganizing, saving and discarding.
Without paper, this kind of collaborative and iterative work process would be much more difficult. According to Sellen and Harper, paper has a unique set of “affordances” — that is, qualities that permit specific kinds of uses. Paper is tangible: we can pick up a document, flip through it, read little bits here and there, and quickly get a sense of it. Paper is spatially flexible, meaning that we can spread it out and arrange it in the way that suits US best. And it’s tailorable: we can easily annotate it, and scribble on it as we read, without altering the original text. Digital documents, of course, have then own affordances. They can be easily searched, shared, stored, accessed remotely, and linked to other relevant material. But they lack the affordances that really matter to a group of people working together on a report. Sellen and Harper write:
Paper enables a certain kind of thinking. Picture, for instance, the top of your desk. Chances are that you have a keyboard and a computer screen off to one side, and a clear space roughly eighteen inches square in front of your chair. What covers the rest of the desktop is probably piles- piles of papers, journals, magazines, binders, postcards, videotapes, and all the other artifacts of the knowledge economy. The piles look like a mess, but they aren’t. When a group at Apple Computer studied piling behavior several years ago, they found that even the most disorderly piles usually make perfect sense to the piler, and that office workers could hold forth in great detail about the precise history and meaning of their piles. The pile closest to the cleared, eighteen-inch-square working area, for example, generally represents the most urgent business, and within that pile the most important document of all is likely to be at the top. Piles are living, breathing archives. Over time, they get broken down and resorted, sometimes chronologically and sometimes thematically and sometimes chronologically and thematically; clues about certain documents may be physically embedded in the file by, say, stacking a certain piece of paper at an angle or inserting dividers into the stack.
But why do we pile documents instead of filing them? Because piles represent the process of active, ongoing thinking. The psychologist Alison Kidd, whose research Sellen and Harper refer to extensively, argues that “knowledge workers” use the physical space of the desktop to hold “ideas which they cannot yet categorize or even decide how they might use.” The messy desk is not necessarily a sign of disorganization. It may be a sign of complexity: those who deal with many unresolved ideas simultaneously cannot sort and file the papers on their desks, because they haven’t yet sorted and filed the ideas in their head. Kidd writes that many of the people she talked to use the papers on their desks as contextual cues to’’ recover a complex set of threads without difficulty and delay” when they come in on a Monday morning, or after their work has been interrupted by a phone call. What we see when we look at the piles on our desks is, in a sense, the contents of our brains.
This idea that paper facilitates a highly specialized cognitive and social process is a far cry from the way we have historically thought about the stuff. Paper first began to proliferate in the workplace in the late nineteenth century as part of the move toward “systematic management.” To cope with the complexity of the industrial economy, managers were instituting company-wide policies and demanding monthly, weekly, or even daily updates from their subordinates. Thus was born the monthly sales report, and the office manual and the internal company newsletter. The typewriter took off in the eighteen-eighties, making it possible to create documents in a fraction of the time it had previously taken, and that was followed closely by the advent of carbon paper, which meant that a typist could create ten copies of that document simultaneously. Paper was important not to facilitate creative collaboration and thought but as an instrument of control.

Section 2

Solution with Explanation

Questions 1-6:
The reading passage is divided into seven paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the appropriate heading from the list below for paragraphs A-F. In boxes 1-6 of your answer sheet, write the proper number, i-xi.

List of Headings

paper continued as a sharing or managing must
piles can be more inspiring rather than disorganizing
Favorable situation that economists used paper pages
overview of an unexpected situation: paper survived
comparison between efficiencies for using paper and using computer
IMF’ paperless office seemed to be a waste of papers
example of failure for avoidance of paper record
There are advantages of using a paper in offices
piles reflect certain characteristics in people’ thought
joy of having the paper square in front of computer

Paragraph A

Answer: iv
Supporting sentence: Paper has persisted, they argue, for very good reasons: when it comes to performing certain kinds of cognitive tasks, paper has many advantages over computers.
Keyword: persisted
Keyword location: Paragraph A, 6th line
Explanation: As per paragraph A, it has been mentioned that paper has endured for very good reasons, as it has many benefits over computers when it comes to performing specific types of cognitive activities. People are fundamentally confused about the function that paper serves in our lives, which is evident in their shock at the sight of a cluttered workstation or their amusement at the sight of air traffic controllers tracking aircraft through notes scribbled on paper strips. So, the correct answer is iv.

Paragraph B

Answer: iii
Supporting sentence: The economists bring drafts of reports to conference rooms, spread out the relevant pages, and negotiate changes with one other.
Keyword: economist, paper, pages
Keyword location: Paragraph B, line 5-6
Explanation:As per paragraph B, it has been mentioned that Draft reports are brought into conference rooms by the economists, who then lay out the pertinent pages and discuss revisions. They take advantage of the freedom provided by the casualness of the handwritten note as they return to their workplaces and make notes in the margin. So, the correct answer is iii.

Paragraph C

Answer: viii
Supporting sentence: Paper is tangible: we can pick up a document, flip through it, read little bits here and there, and quickly get a sense of it.
Keyword: Paper, unique
Keyword location: Paragraph C, 2nd and 3rd line
Explanation: As per paragraph C, it has been clearly stated that paper is physical; we can pick up a piece of writing, turn the pages, read snippets here and there, and instantly have a sense of it. Paper is spatially adaptable, so we may spread it out and arrange it as it works best for the US. So, the correct answer is viii as per the explanation provided.

Paragraph D

Answer: ii
Supporting sentence: When a group at Apple Computer studied piling behavior several years ago, they found that even the most disorderly piles usually make perfect sense to the piler, and that office workers could hold forth in great detail about the precise history and meaning of their piles.
Keyword: piles, great detail, meaning
Keyword location: Paragraph D, 6th line
Explanation: As per paragraph D, it has been stated that although the piles appear chaotic, they are not. Even the most disorganized piles usually make perfect sense to the person creating them, according to research conducted by Apple Computer several years ago. Office workers could also explain into great detail about the exact origin and significance of their piles. So, the correct answer is ii.

Paragraph E

Answer: ix
Supporting sentence: It may be a sign of complexity: those who deal with many unresolved ideas simultaneously cannot sort and file the papers on their desks, because they haven’t yet sorted and filed the ideas in their head
Keyword: file of papers, ideas, disorganization
Keyword location: Paragraph E, 4th line
Explanation:As per paragraph E, it has been stated that the cluttered workstation does not always indicate disarray. The inability to organize the papers on their desks because they haven't yet organized the concepts in their heads may be an indication of complexity for those who deal with numerous unsettled ideas at once. So, the correct answer is ix.

Paragraph F

Answer: i
Supporting sentence: Thus was born the monthly sales report, and the office manual and the internal company newsletter.
Keyword: manual, newsletter, managers
Keyword location: Paragraph F, 3rd and 4th line
Explanation: As per paragraph F, it has been mentioned that managers implemented company-wide standards and required monthly, weekly, or even daily reporting from their employees to deal with the complexity of the industrial economy. Thus, the monthly sales report, office manual, and corporate newsletter were all created. Thus, the correct answer is i as per the explanation provided.

Questions 7-10:
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than three words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

Compared with digital documents, paper has several advantages. First it allows clerks to work in a …… 7……. way among colleagues. Next, paper is not like virtual digital versions, it is…… 8……..Finally, because it is……9……., note or comments can be effortlessly added as related information. However, shortcoming comes at the absence of convenience on task which is for a……10…….

Question 7:

Answer: Collaborative and iterative
Supporting sentence: Without paper, this kind of collaborative and iterative work process would be much more difficult.
Keyword: Collaborative, iterative
Keyword location: Paragraph C, 1st line
Explanation: As per paragraph C, it has been mentioned that paper appears to be collaborative as well as an iterative work approach would be considerably more challenging without paper. Sellen and Harper claim that paper possesses a special set of "affordances"—that is, properties that allow for particular kinds of usage. Thus, the correct answer is collaborative and iterative.

Question 8:

Answer: Tangible
Supporting sentence: Paper is tangible: we can pick up a document, flip through it, read little bits here and there, and quickly get a sense of it.
Keyword: Tangible, paper
Keyword location: Paragraph C, 3rd line
Explanation: As per paragraph C, paper is a tangible medium that allows us to take up the paperwork, flip through it, read snippets here and there, and instantly get a sense of it. Paper is spatially adaptable, so we may spread it around and arrange it as it works best for the US. Thus, the correct answer is Tangible.

Question 9:

Answer: Tailorable
Supporting sentence: And it’s tailorable: we can easily annotate it, and scribble on it as we read, without altering the original text.
Keyword: tailorable, annotate
Keyword location: Paragraph C, line 5
Explanation: As per paragraph C, it has been mentioned that paper is tailorable; we can simply comment and make notes as we read without changing the original text. Of course, digital papers have their own affordances. They are simple to search for, share, save, access from a distance, and link to other pertinent information. Thus, the correct answer is Taliorable.

Question 10:

Answer: Group of people
Supporting sentence: But they lack the affordances that really matter to a group of people working together on a report.
Keyword: group, people, affordances
Keyword location: Paragraph C, 2nd last line
Explanation: As per paragraph C, it has been stated that a weakness exists when convenience is absent from a task that necessitates a group of people. This is crucial when particular people are working together. The phrase "work together" refers to a group of people. Therefore, that is the appropriate reaction. So, the correct answer is a group of people.

Questions 11-14:
Choose the correct letter, A, B, c or D.
Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

What do the economists from IMF say that their way of writing documents?

they note down their comments for freedom on the drafts
they finish all writing individually
they share ideas on before electronic version was made
they use electronic version fully

Answer: C
Supporting sentence: The economists bring drafts of reports to conference rooms, spread out the relevant pages, and negotiate changes with one other. They go back to their offices and jot down comments in the margin, taking advantage of the freedom offered by the informality of the handwritten note.
Keyword: economists, IMF, documents
Keyword location: Paragraph B line 6-8
Explanation: As per paragraph B, it has been stated that draft reports are brought into conference rooms by the economists, who then lay out the pertinent pages and discuss revisions. They take advantage of the freedom provided by the informality of the handwritten note as they return to their workplaces and make notes in the margin. So, the correct answer is C.

What is the implication of the “Piles” mentioned in the passage?

they have underlying orders
they are necessarily a mess
they are in time sequence order
they are in alphabetic order

Answer: A
Supporting sentence: The piles look like a mess, but they aren’t. When a group at Apple Computer studied piling behavior several years ago, they found that even the most disorderly piles usually make perfect sense to the piler, and that office workers could hold forth in great detail about the precise history and meaning of their piles.
Keyword: piles
Keyword location: Paragraph D, lines 4-8, Paragraph E, line 1-2
Explanation: As per paragraph D, it has been mentioned that the piles appear chaotic, they are not. Even the most disorganized piles usually make complete sense to the person creating them, according to research conducted by Apple Computer several years ago. Office workers could also explain into great detail about the exact origin and significance of their piles. So, the correct answer is A.

What does the manager believe in sophisticated economy?

recorded paper can be a management tool
carbon paper should be compulsory
Teamwork is the most important
monthly report is the best way

Answer: A
Supporting sentence: To cope with the complexity of the industrial economy, managers were instituting company-wide policies and demanding monthly, weekly, or even daily updates from their subordinates. Thus, was born the monthly sales report, and the office manual and the internal company newsletter.
Keyword: managers, economy
Keyword location: Paragraph F, line 6-8
Explanation: As per paragraph F, it has been stated that managers implemented company-wide standards and required monthly, weekly, or even daily reporting from their employees to deal with the complexity of the industrial economy. As a result, the monthly sales report, office manual, and corporate newsletter were created. Thus, the correct answer is A.

According to the end of this passage, what is the reason why paper is not replaced by electronic vision?

Paper is inexpensive to buy
it contributed to management theories in western countries
people need time for changing their old habits
it is collaborative and functional for task implement and management

Answer: D
Supporting sentence: Paper first began to proliferate in the workplace in the late nineteenth century as part of the move toward “systematic management.”
Keyword: paper
Keyword location: Paragraph F, line 11
Explanation: As per paragraph F, it is possible to conclude that paper is a substantial source of documentation records by utilizing the appropriate search phrases, such as paper. They provide a highly well-organized and efficient method of maintaining control. So, the correct answer is D as per the explanation provided.

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