Thematic ielts reading practice tests toshkent «pir» nashriyoti – 2023 Cambridge English

Cambridge IELTS Academic 17
TEST 20 
Questions 7-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 
7-13
 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
7
Other countries had built underground railways before the Metropolitan line opened.
8
More people than predicted travelled on the Metropolitan line on the first day.
9
The use of ventilation shafts failed to prevent pollution in the tunnels.
10
A different approach from the ‘cut and cover’ technique was required in London’s 
central area.
11
The windows on City & South London trains were at eye level.
12
The City & South London Railway was a financial success.
13
Trains on the ‘Tuppenny Tube’ nearly always ran on time.

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MATCHING PARAGRAPH INFORMATION
TEST 39 READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on 
Questions 14-17
 which are based on 
Reading Passage 2 below.
Stadiums: past, present and future
* amphitheatre: (especially in Greek and Roman architecture) an open circular or oval building with a central 
space surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators, for the presentation of dramatic or sporting events
A 
Stadiums are among the oldest forms 
of urban architecture: vast stadiums 
where the public could watch sporting 
events were at the centre of western 
city life as far back as the ancient Greek 
and Roman Empires, well before the 
construction of the great medieval 
cathedrals and the grand 19th- and 
20th-century railway stations which 
dominated urban skylines in later eras.
Today, however, stadiums are 
regarded with growing scepticism. 
Construction costs can soar above £1 
billion, and stadiums finished for major 
events such as the Olympic Games 
or the FIFA World Cup have notably 
fallen into disuse and disrepair.
But this need not be the cause. History 
shows that stadiums can drive urban 
development and adapt to the culture 
of every age. Even today, architects 
and planners are finding new ways 
to adapt the mono-functional sports 
arenas which became emblematic of 
modernisation during the 20th century.
B 
The amphitheatre* of Arles in 
southwest France, with a capacity of 
25,000 spectators, is perhaps the best 
example of just how versatile stadiums 
can be. Built by the Romans in 90 AD, 
it became a fortress with four towers 
after the fifth century, and was then 
transformed into a village containing 
more than 200 houses. With the 
growing interest in conservation during 
the 19th century, it was converted 
back into an arena for the staging 
of bullfights, thereby returning the 
structure to its original use as a venue 
for public spectacles.
Another example is the imposing 
arena of Verona in northern Italy, 
with space for 30,000 spectators, 
which was built 60 years before the 
Arles amphitheatre and 40 years 
before Rome’s famous Colosseum. 
It has endured the centuries and is 
currently considered one of the world’s 
prime sites for opera, thanks to its 
outstanding acoustics.
C 
The area in the centre of the Italian town 
of Lucca, known as the Piazza dell’ 
Anfiteatro, is yet another impressive 
example of an amphitheatre becoming 
absorbed into the fabric of the city. 
The site evolved in a similar way to 
Arles and was progressively filled 
with buildings from the Middle Ages 
until the 19th century, variously 
used as houses, a salt depot and a 
prison. But rather than reverting to an 
arena, it became a market square, 
designed by Romanticist architect 
Lorenzo Nottolini. Today, the ruins of 
the amphitheatre remain embedded 

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in the various shops and residences 
surrounding the public square.
D 
There are many similarities between 
modern stadiums and the ancient 
amphitheatres intended for games. 
But some of the flexibility was lost at 
the beginning of the 20th century, as 
stadiums were developed using new 
products such as steel and reinforced 
concrete, and made use of bright lights 
for night-time matches.
Many such stadiums are situated in 
suburban areas, designed for sporting 
use only and surrounded by parking 
lots. These factors mean that they may 
not be as accessible to the general 
public, require more energy to run and 
contribute to urban heat.
E 
But many of today’s most innovative 
architects see scope for the stadium 
to help improve the city. Among the 
current strategies, two seem to be 
having particular success: the stadium 
as an urban hub, and as a power plant.
There’s a growing trend for stadiums 
to be equipped with public spaces and 
services that serve a function beyond 
sport, such as hotels, retail outlets, 
conference centres, restaurants and 
bars, children’s playgrounds and 
green space. Creating mixed-use 
developments such as this reinforces 
compactness and multi-functionality, 
making more efficient use of land and 
helping to regenerate urban spaces.
This opens the space up to families 
and a wider cross-section of society, 
instead of catering only to sportspeople 
and supporters. There have been 
many examples of this in the UK: the 
mixed-use facilities at Wembley and 
Old Trafford have become a blueprint 
for many other stadiums in the world.
F 
The phenomenon of stadium as power 
stations has arisen from the idea that 
energy problems can be overcome by 
integrating interconnected buildings 
by means of a smart grid, which is an 
electricity supply network that uses 
digital communications technology 
to detect and react to local changes 
in usage, without significant energy 
losses. Stadiums are ideal for these 
purposes, because their canopies 
have a large surface area for fitting 
photovoltaic panels and rise high 
enough (more than 40 metres) to 
make use of micro wind turbines.
Freiburg Mage Solar Stadium in 
Germany is the first of a new wave 
of stadiums as power plants, which 
also includes the Amsterdam Arena 
and the Kaohsiung Stadium. The 
latter, inaugurated in 2009, has 8,844 
photovoltaic panels producing up to 
1.14 GWh of electricity annually. This 
reduces the annual output of carbon 
dioxide by 660 tons and supplies up 
to 80 percent of the surrounding area 
when the stadium is not in use. This 
is proof that a stadium can serve its 
city, and have a decidedly positive 
impact in terms of reduction of CO2 
emissions.
G 
Sporting arenas have always been 
central to the life and culture of cities. 
In every era, the stadium has acquired 
new value and uses: from military 
fortress to residential village, public 
space to theatre and most recently a 
field for experimentation in advanced 
engineering. The stadium of today now 
brings together multiple functions, thus 
helping cities to create a sustainable 
future.

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