Practical IELTS Strategies 1：IELTS Reading

　　IELTS雅思國際英語檢測是國際認可的英語能力證明，報考方便，是最廣泛參與的英語考試之一，除了英國與紐澳，美國多所知名大學亦採用IELTS成績。考試內容多取材生活情境，有別於學校課堂英語學習，講究實用，欲前往國外求學、工作者的英語檢測多以此為主，更可做為應試者個人英語能力的參考與指標。

　　Practical IELTS Strategies系列就是教導考生如何在IELTS考試獲得好成績的最佳工具書。本書內容涵蓋文法及字彙，提供20個學習秘訣（Tip）和相應的40個練習題，每個秘訣均互相扣合，考生能循序漸進學習閱讀要領、牢記答題技巧。最後則列出所有學習重點摘要，並附有四回測驗題，讓考生一次複習所有技巧，應用於答題之中，必能在考試中獲得高分。

　　About this Book

　　So, you have Book Two of the Practical IELTS Strategies series. Let us first be sure we know the meaning of those two key words.

　　Practical  =  connected with real situations; right or sensible; likely to be successful

　　Strategy  =   a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose;
the process of putting a plan into effect in a skilful way

　　This book—Book Two—is for the IELTS Speaking Test. This is not a grammar book; not a testpractice book; not a vocabulary book, although all of those elements are here. Overall, this book is practical and strategic, exactly as those definitions tell us. The real situation is the IELTS test, and the particular purpose or plan is to give you the highest score that you can achieve.

　　My other ‘Practical IELTS Strategies’ books are:

　　Book 1: Reading
　　Book 3: Writing Task One [Academic Module]
　　Book 4: Writing Task Two [Academic Module]
　　Book 5: IELTS Test Practice Book

　　Now, it is very important at this stage for you to trust me, and for this to happen you need to know two facts. The first concerns my credentials. In order for you to trust someone who writes an IELTS preparation book, they must be fully qualified to do so. Please look at the back cover of this book, and read my credentials carefully. The second fact concerns why I wrote these books. Let me begin this by saying that students of English often come to me and ask, ‘How do I pass the IELTS test?’ This is the wrong question—you do not pass or fail the test; you just receive band scores. However, I know what the students mean. They mean how do they achieve the bandscore they need—usually 6.5 or 7.0 overall.

　　So what do I say to these students? I usually say that there are no magic answers to obtaining higher band scores in the IELTS test. It is a test of English language ability, so, of course, you obtain higher scores by having higher ability. The best way to raise your ability is simply to practise your listening, reading, writing, and speaking. However, no matter how you’re your English may be, it is certainly possible for you to be unprepared, unpractised, and to try to do parts of the IELTS test in the wrong way, and thus to receive a result lower (or far lower) than what your English ability deserves. This is why it is also important to prepare and practise. I say this, too, to my students. However I know that they want a more definite answer.

　　This is why there is so much ‘IELTS Preparation’ material available, and my students often have, read, and use some of it, but does this material always provide the best advice and approaches?

　　The answer is no. Students should know that there are no magic answers, and that practice and preparation are important to achieving a high IELTS band score, but they clearly want and need some practical and strategic approaches showing how, and they are too often relying on unsatisfactory material to find this.

　　So that is why I wrote these IELTS books. In short, these books are the answer to that question about how to ‘pass’ the IELTS test. The answer is to follow the tips in these books. In this one, there are twenty tips and over forty exercises.

　　Each tip builds on the previous. Each tip is solid, proven, and supported. There are answers to all exercises. All the knowledge is summarised and demonstrated at the end to make a clear and achievable framework. This book is how you ‘pass’ the test. So, let us then begin on this road.

本書特色

　　‧ 20個實用學習秘訣，確實掌握閱讀技巧
　　‧ 40個練習題，配合學習秘訣，立即應用
　　‧ 最後列出學習摘要，回顧所有重點
　　‧ 附加總復習測驗與四回全真考題，紮實提升閱讀實力

作者簡介

Andrew Guilfoyle

　　澳洲墨爾本皇家理工學院教育碩士，並有劍橋英語教學教師訓練資格，曾任教於澳洲Monash大學語言中心與IELTS測驗研習中心；在五個國家擔任過英語教師，從事教學工作超過19年，經驗豐富，是IELTS領域的專家，目前任教於CES英語學習中心。

Tip 1
Background Strategies

Tips alone, with nothing else, are not enough to greatly improve your reading. We need to make a solid foundation for your success, so in Tip 1, we will look at some more general ‘background’ strategies that you should always be using.

Any language is words, words, and more words. Reading is a process of understanding words, and English has more words than any other language. Well, you will not be able to do well in the IELTS Reading test until you begin actively learning words. This will, of course, help you in all the skills of IELTS: Listening, Writing, and Speaking.

Here are 7 vocabulary learning and reading strategies for students who really want to achieve results.

Strategy 1: Learn Words in Context

‘Words, words, and more words. How can I remember them all?’

Many students ask this, and maybe you do, too. The answer is that you best learn new words as you hear or read them—that is, in context. Context means the situation in which you receive the word. It means who, when, why, and where, and all these stay better in your mind, and connect to that word, helping you to remember it.

Do not be tricked by ‘IELTS Vocabulary’ books. There is no special ‘IELTS’ vocabulary. ‘IELTS vocabulary’ is equally likely to be in a newspaper, but would you buy a book called ‘Newspaper Vocabulary’? ‘IELTS vocabulary’ is ‘English vocabulary’, and that appears in all written texts, and written texts present words in context, which is the best way to receive them.

Start reading an English newspaper or magazine. Use your dictionary at the same time, and learn ‘IELTS vocabulary’ in context. That is how you remember it, and that gives you all the other important information that you need to know—the form of the word, the way it is used, and the sort of situation it is used in.

Strategy 2: Have, and Use, a Good Dictionary

famous (adj) Someone or something that is famous is very well-known. New Orleans is famous for its food... England’s most famous landscape artist.

Where did I find this information? Obviously from my dictionary, which you have, right? Or do you have an electronic device? A much better idea is a ‘hardcopy’ learner’s dictionary. These dictionaries will show not only the word and its meanings, but also the sound, stress, part of speech, the way we use it, and example sentences. The definitions are written to be especially easy to understand. At higher levels, you should think about an English-English dictionary.

If you are serious about preparing for IELTS, you should have a good learner’s dictionary, and you should use it regularly.

Tip 2
Read the Text First

In Tip 1 we set the basis for good reading development. Now, we need to look at the IELTS Reading test itself. The IELTS Quiz at the beginning of this book asked the following question.

Upon starting, you should immediately look at the questions.

Some students do this, but my advice is... don’t! Well, I need to prove this, and I can do this in three ways. One: by the fact that I definitely look at the text before anything; two: by suggesting that, logically, nothing makes sense until you know the situation or context, and so, similarly, we need to know the context (that is, the reading) in order to make sense of the questions. The third way to make my point is with the following two exercises.

Exercise 1
Look at the following three questions first, then read the text to find the answers. Spend three minutes only. Use no more than three words for each answer.

1. In what way should a company best regard itself?

2. What should frontline staff have?

3. Who will determine the future of a company?

The Strategic Mindset I

No strategies can make bad managers good, badly run organisations efficient, or bad products sell, but, nevertheless, there are certain considerations which comprise a strategic mindset necessary for organisational success.

The most significant is the importance of the customer. This is, of course, almost a cliché (‘the customer is always right’) but many businesses do not fully realise that the core business of any organisation is to deliver value to the customer, and in the end, no matter how well strategy is built around cost, competition, product grouping, internal functions, or geography, it is the customers who will determine the future of the company.

Apart from the customer, there is also the staff of the company, and the next consideration concerns the need to give authority to act to the people closest to the customer—in other words, to those who need to make decisions related to the situations they face. Unanticipated conditions always arise, calling for spontaneous and innovative behaviour. Consequently, frontline staff should have some degree of practical autonomy, or as much as possible given the nature of the organisation.

The last consideration also involves staff, but this time through motivation. The prime consideration is employee involvement. Nothing as complex as an organisation can run without free and genuine communication and involvement, and, of course, listening. It follows from all these arguments that as a strategic consideration, the company should best see itself as an organic whole, with systems in place to encourage ways of communication and involvement.

The second reading is on the same subject, is the same length, and is as hard as the first, and the questions are similar, but I would like you to try a different approach.