Simon
128
IELTS
reading exercises
Compiled by
Ulugbek Yusupov
Created by
Proper English School
+998 90 770-99-77
Page 2
Exercise 1
IELTS Reading: true, false, not given
Look at the following extract from a text about a psychology experiment:
In the year 1971, Zimbardo accepted a tenured position as professor of psychology at
Stanford University. There he conducted the Stanford prison study, in which 21 normal
college students were randomly assigned to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a mock prison
located in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. The two week planned
study into the psychological impact of prison life ended only after 6 days due to emotional
trauma being experienced by the participants.
Are the following statements true, false or not given?
1. The participants in the study were all psychology students.
2. They were given the choice of playing the role of prisoner or guard.
3. A real prison was used in the experiment.
4. The study aimed to investigate the mental and behavioural effects of life in prison.
Exercise 2
IELTS Reading: paragraph headings
Read the following passage about a chess-playing computer.
A)
On February 10, 1996, Deep Blue became the first machine to win a chess game
against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls. However,
Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, beating Deep Blue by a
score of 4
–2. Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded and played Kasparov again in May
1997, winning the six-
game rematch 3½–2½. Deep Blue won the deciding game six,
becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under
standard chess tournament time controls.
B)
After the loss, Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in
the machine's moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players had
intervened on behalf of the machine, which would be a violation of the rules. IBM denied
that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules
provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they
said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play that were revealed during
the course of the match. This allowed the computer to avoid a trap in the final game that it
had fallen for twice before. Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM refused and
dismantled Deep Blue.
