Cambridge 18 IELTS General Reading Test 1

SECTION 1 Questions 1-14

Read the text below and answer Questions 1-7.

What to do if your clothes have been lost or damaged by a dry cleaner

Dry cleaners are legally required to take reasonable care of anything left with them. You can claim compensation if your belongings are damaged or lost while in their care.

Even if the dry cleaning company has a sign saying they aren’t responsible for items left with them, this isn’t necessarily true. They can’t opt out of this responsibility just by putting up a sign.

As soon as you realise there’s a problem, contact them and explain the situation. They might offer you compensation straight away. If they don’t, you should ask them to either cover the cost of repairing the item or to pay for a replacement (if it can’t be repaired).

If they have to pay the cost of replacing a damaged or lost item, the maximum they’re obliged to offer you is the value of the item when it was left with them, not what it would cost to replace as new. You’ll probably be asked to provide evidence of how much it originally cost — for example, a receipt. The dry cleaner can then offer you a reduced amount depending on the condition of the item — you’ll have to negotiate the cost with them. If the dry cleaner is part of a national chain, you could get in touch with the customer services department of their head office and make the complaint to them directly. If the dry cleaner refuses to compensate you or they offer you too little, try the following steps:

• If the dry cleaner is a member of a trade association such as the UK Fashion and Textile Association, you can pass your complaint to them and they may be able to help you.

• You could get an independent organisation to look at your issue and produce a report, but this could be expensive (often around £100).

If you’ve tried the options above and are still unhappy With the outcome, you could take your case to court. There’s a time limit for going to court — from when you took the item to the dry cleaner, you have up to six years.

Read the text below and answer Questions 8-14,

Groups for readers and writers

A Teenvision

This is a reading group for teens aged 12—16 which meets on the last Thursday of the month. We are a friendly group, with everybody keen to talk about what we’ve enjoyed reading recently and make suggestions on what we should read next. We are massive fans of action, fantasy and adventure but we try to include a mix of genres in our choices.

B Creative writing workshops

Would you like to share your writing with others and hear their constructive suggestions for how to improve it? Have you got a book inside you but need the inspiration to get started? Build your confidence to begin formulating ideas for storylines and characters at our regular workshops. Open to all — beginners and established writers.

C Books for now

We meet on the second and fourth Mondays of each month in members’ homes. The group is open to men and women who enjoy discussing the themes and issues found in science fiction novels. Our books are usually those written from the 1960s onwards and include feminist science fiction, cyberpunk and scientific romance.

D Readers’ book group

This is an open group for parents at the library, and toddlers are welcome to come along and play in the children’s library while the meeting is taking place. The group reads mainly fiction of different genres. Books are supplied by the library. Anyone is welcome — have a look at our website to see what the book is for the next meeting.

E The book club

Every month members of this group read a fabulous business book which is then discussed when we meet. At our meetings you’ll have the chance to network With other members — all like-minded businesswomen — in a relaxed environment. There will be lots of ideas to discuss, as well as refreshments and lots of fun!

F Poetry writing group

A writing group for young poets aged between 12 and 18 at the library. You will explore how to power up your imagination, and your poems will be displayed in the library and online. The group meets fortnightly on Saturdays from 12 pm. to 2 pm. The group is currently full but anyone interested is welcome to join the membership waiting list.

SECTlON 2 Questions 15-27

Read the text below and answer Questions 15-22

Mechanical lifting equipment

If some simple precautions are taken, lifting equipment that is essential for construction and engineering projects can be used safely. Forklift trucks, lifting trolleys, mobile and fixed cranes and all their parts are classed as lifting equipment.

All equipment used for lifting or moving heavy loads should be properly constructed. For example, equipment bearing a CE mark has been constructed to international standards. In addition, equipment that meets these standards will have documented instructions for tests that should be adhered to prior to using the equipment. Certain types of machinery, such as cranes, must be inspected by a qualified engineer on a six-monthly basis.

For operations that use cranes, a formal lift plan must be prepared. Lift plans are a type of risk assessment, whereby the possible dangers of the operation are carefully calculated. and control measures are identified and put in place. Before any lift proceeds. the plan should be talked over with the lifting crew during what is often referred to as a ‘Tool Box Talk’ (TBT). This is an important opportunity for them to ask questions about their role in the operation.

When heavy loads are being moved around, there are some practical things that should be done to prevent accidents. Firstly, if a load needs to be moved where workers or members of the public are present, the area must have barriers or other means to ensure no one is allowed to walk under the load while it is moving. Secondly, someone called a banksman should always be used when moving heavy loads by crane. As a crane driver often cannot see the load, especially during touch—down, this person tells him or her which way to move it.

It is very unusual for machinery such as cranes to fail. However, it is all too easy to ignore the importance of the secondary equipment. This refers to those items that are attached between the mechanical lifting machine and the load that is being lifted. Chains, slings, shackles and rigging are all examples of secondary lifting equipment, and it is perhaps surprising to note that most injuries occur due to faults or weaknesses in these items. It is essential that a six-monthly visual inspection is carried 0th to ensure there are no signs of wear or damage to the slings and shackles.

Read the text below and answer Questions 23-27.

Dealing with customer complaints

When a customer complains, it is usually for a good reason. Here are some strategies that will help you handle a customer complaint in a smooth and professional manner.

When a customer presents you with a complaint. keep in mind that the issue is not personal. Aiming to win the confrontation accomplishes nothing. He or she has usually made a purchase that did not meet their expectations – a product, service, or maybe a combination of the two. A worker who remains in control of their emotions deals from a position of strength.

Let the customer say what they need to. Respond with phrases such as, ‘Hmm’, ‘I see’, and ‘Tell me more’. Then be quiet. As the customer expresses their annoyance yet sees you are not reacting, he or she will begin to relax. The customer needs to do this before being able to hear your solution.

When the customer has calmed down and feels you have heard his or her side, start asking questions. Be careful not to give scripted replies but use this as an opportunity to start a genuine conversation, building a relationship of trust with your customer. To help you understand the situation, get as many details as possible.

Take charge of the situation and let the customer know what you are going to do to solve the problem. One thing to keep in mind is that you should know what you can and cannot do within the policy of the business you work for. The cost could be minimal — maybe a simple upgrade on the customer’s next purchase or a small gift certificate. A simple gesture like this could result in a word-of-mouth recommendation to others, while making a promise you cannot commit to will only set you back.

SECTlON 3 Questions 28-40

Read the text below and answer Questions 28-40.

White storks back in Britain after hundreds of years

These beautiful birds could be about to become a feature of the British landscape again

A The last definitive record of a pair of white storks successfully breeding in Britain was in 1416, from a nest on St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. No one knows why storks disappeared from our shores. They often featured on the menus of medieval banquets so we might, quite simply, have consumed them all. But there could be a more ominous reason. Storks are migrants arriving after the end of Winter, nesting on rooftops and happily associating with humans, and because of this they have long been a symbol of hope and new life. Yet their association with rebirth also meant they became a symbol of rebellion. Shortly after the restoration of King Charles ll in 1660, while storks were rare but surviving, parliament debated putting greater effort into destroying them entirely for fear they might inspire republicanism. Today, fortunately, that notion has disappeared and the stork retains its association with new life, appearing on cards given to celebrate the arrival of a new child, as a bird carrying a baby in a sling held in its beak.

B So, after such a long absence, there was great excitement when in April of this year a pair of white storks built an untidy nest of sticks in the top branches of a huge oak in the middle of our rewilding project at Knepp Estate in West Sussex. Drone footage, taken before the pair started sitting on them, showed three large eggs. The fact that they were infertile and did not hatch was not too disappointing. The pair are only four years old, and storks can live to over thirty, with their first attempts to breed often failing. Prospects for next year are encouraging. These young storks are part of a project to return the species to Britain, inspired by reintroductions in European countries that more than reached their target. Imported from Poland, they have spent the best part of three years in a six acre pen with a group of other juveniles and several injured, non-flying adults, also from Poland. Other birds have already shown strong loyalty to the site. Two years ago, a young bird from Knepp flew across the Channel to France and, this summer, returned to its companions.

C In the face of reports of unrelenting ecological loss (the UN estimates a million species are on the brink of extinction globally), the white stork’s return is refreshing news. As tens of thousands of people demonstrate about the growing climate crisis and eco-anxiety besets us, these glimpses of restoration are important. Featuring the storks in BBC television’s Springwatch in June, the ecologist Chris Packham described the project as ‘imaginative, intelligent, progressive and practical’.

D And yet its path to restoration in the UK has not been smooth. Support from conservation bodies has been surprisingly difficult to obtain; some were hard-pressed with their own initiatives, while others were simply reluctant to stick their necks out. In addition, the committee of the Sussex Wildlife Trust raised doubts about the stork ever having been a British bird. They also had concerns that English-bred birds would migrate across the Channel, and feared that their messy nests and closeness to humans would cause a hazard – rubbish falling down people’s chimneys. So how has the reintroduction project managed to get going? What makes it in some ways special is that it has had to rely on private individuals actually building the introduction pens themselves and feeding the birds at their own expense. The expertise of tiny yet determined conservation charities such as the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation – responsible for the successful reintroductions of ospreys and white-tailed eagles to Britain – has been very welcome. And the support of Cotswold Wildlife Park, which quarantined the original Polish birds and continues to manage and cover the costs of the captive-breeding programme using its own well-trained staff and excellent facilities, has proved invaluable.

E Across Europe, as stork populations have suffered from the draining of wetlands and disappearance of insect-rich pastures and meadows, their loss has been felt deeply. A few years ago, a tearful old woman in a village in Belarus showed me the nest on her roof, empty of storks for the first time in living memory. Where storks have been reintroduced, they are greeted with great happiness and some historical stork festivals have been restored. The Spanish erect poles for nests along their motorways, and in Alsace householders install cartwheels for storks to build nests on their roofs. During a cold snap in Bulgaria last March, villagers even gave white storks access to their homes.

F A driving motivation behind the project in the UK is the aspiration that the storks’ return will spark feelings of empathy and affection from townspeople who see their nests on rooftops. They might also encourage the public to feel worried about the wider area where they fly off to feed on earthworms, grasshoppers and frogs. White storks could be that charismatic species that connects urban communities directly with landscape restoration. Certainly, people once loved them here. The name of our local village, Storrington, was originally ‘Estorcheton’ or ‘home of the storks’. The public response has been overwhelming, with crowds coming to see white storks flying free in England for the first time in hundreds of years, and private landowners queueing up to offer more introduction sites. The flight of the white stork over Britain is the triumph of practical action over bureaucracy, self-interest and negativity.