IELTS Practice Test Plus 3 General Training Reading Test 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

Volunteering program

Volunteers work with DNR managers, professionals and technicians to help manage the state’s diverse natural resources. Volunteer positions range from jobs requiring no previous experience to specialist positions requiring extensive skill and experience. Volunteers provide work which supplements DNR personnel. Volunteers help to preserve and enhance Minnesota’s natural beauty for the enjoyment of people of all ages, interests and abilities.

Follow these steps to sign up as a volunteer for DNR:

Volunteer opportunities are available throughout the state at State Parks, State Forest Campgrounds, Wildlife Management Areas, fisheries and hatcheries, the 150+ DNR area offices, four regional headquarter offices, the St. Paul Central Office and at special event sites. Check our website to learn about volunteer positions available in your area.

Contact the DNR officer who is designated for the project you are interested in. (If you live in Greater Minnesota, you may use our toll free number at 1-555 646-6367. Hearing impaired individuals may call (651) 296-5484. The DNR officer will inform you if the position is still open and will register you.

Arrive on time (or a little early) to work on the project for which you registered to work. The schedule you agree to is important: be sure to call if you will be absent or need to leave early. The DNR is counting on you to be a dependable volunteer.

While working for the DNR, take account of the following guidelines:

• Represent the DNR in a positive fashion. You are not expected to be knowledgeable in all areas concerning the DNR. If working with the public in your volunteer position, all questions from them related to DNR policies and procedures are to be passed on to your supervisor, or to the DNR Information Line at 1-888-646-6367. Avoid expressing a personal opinion.

• Keep a note of your hours. This is important for liability coverage, for reporting to the legislature, and for volunteer recognition. When the project is finished, turn in your records to your supervisor, who will pass them on to the programme manager.

• Your supervisor will be happy to discuss any worries that you may have, as well as any special needs, and try to offer solutions that may help you perform your volunteer duties better.

______________

Top tips on how to get further up the career ladder

Moving jobs is no longer quite as easy as it was just a couple of years ago, prompting many to look to develop their careers within existing companies until the recruitment outlook improves.

The following tips can help you take control of your career and make yourself more attractive to both your current and any future employer:

• Keep up with industry developments

  Ensuring you are up-to-date with the latest trends in your industry through attending conferences can make you an invaluable employee, and change the way managers see you, says John Grange, an adviser at free business advice and support service Business Link.

  In recent years, online networking, using corporate sites such as LinkedIn, has also given employees the ability to liaise with people doing similar work. It’s a great way of keeping up-to-date with what people in similar jobs and industries are thinking about, and plenty of people are willing to help if you have a problem or want some advice.

  But Leon Benjamin, author of the book Winning By Sharing, warns that the effectiveness of such sites in advancing your career varies considerably, depending on your industry sector. ‘For people who’re working in digital media it’s everything, but in the building trade it’s almost pointless because of its low level of take up,’ he says.

• Request suitable training

  Ensuring you have access to training to improve your skills is essential to progressing both your career and earning potential. By getting the right skills, individuals can sometimes get salary increases, as well as making themselves more likely to gain promotion.

  Finding the right type of training, though, is vital. Apart from on-the-job training, there are self-help books that can be found in book shops or libraries, as well as formal courses. Individuals should decide what their genuine areas of weakness are, and then talk about them with their Staff Development coordinator to find out what kind of training might be best.

• Broaden your experience

  Experiencing other parts of the business through temporary roles or job-shadowing can give you a more rounded view of the organisation and ensure you won’t be pigeon-holed in one particular area.

• Grange says, ‘If you have an appreciation of what goes on within all departments you become much more valuable to the business, because you understand that if you take an action over here, there’s a knock-on effect over there.’

• Work with your manager

  One of the key skills is dealing with your boss, and part of that is knowing what your boss is being judged by. They all have targets, from the chief executive and other more senior managers, so look at ways in which you can help them to deliver those while still helping yourself.

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

The Spotted Flycatcher

A

Despite its rather dull plumage and less than impressive vocal repertoire, the Spotted Flycatcher has always attracted a great deal of public attention in Britain. However, the bird is resident here for only a small part of the year. Although one of the last summer visitors to arrive, it begins to move south in late July, heading through western France and Iberia from August to October, and reaching North Africa in September. Recoveries of birds that have been ringed suggest that many winter in coastal West Africa, but others continue south to cross the Equator. Just how far south the birds winter is unclear; one juvenile ringed in Wales during August (which could have been on passage from a breeding area outside Britain) was recovered in South Africa the following March.

B

In the eighteenth century, Gilbert White, one of the first English naturalists to make careful observations of his surroundings and record these in a systematic way, commented that the annual return of ‘his’ Spotted Flycatchers occurred almost exactly to the day. An examination of his journals confirms this consistency in arrival dates, with a concentration of sightings around 20 May each year. Records logged through a British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)-led project show that the pattern of arrival still delivers the bulk of Spotted Flycatchers to Britain in the second half of May, though average arrival dates may now be slightly earlier than they were during White’s time.

C

Most Spotted Flycatcher nests are built against a vertical surface, such as a wall, but some may be positioned on a beam, and very occasionally, the species will make use of a hole. Although both sexes get involved in building the nest, it is the female who does most of the work. The nest itself is a fairly delicate structure, slightly built and containing moss, wool, hair and cobwebs. The female will deposit four or five eggs or, rarely, six, into this before she initiates incubation – a job that she undertakes almost entirely on her own. Bouts of incubation are broken by short periods of seven to ten minutes, when the female may leave the nest to feed. While she is away the male will appear, typically as if from nowhere, to watch the nest, very occasionally even settling on the eggs.

D

Once the eggs hatch, the female will continue to brood them until they are seven to ten days old; the young are blind and naked through to day five. Both sexes will then provide food for the growing chicks, sometimes bringing them through to successful fledging, and avoiding the unwelcome attentions of nest predators like cats. Newly fledged young are fairly conspicuous; noisily, they continue to beg for food from their parents for at least another 10-12 days. The pair may then initiate another breeding attempt, sometimes in the same nest. There are records of young from the first brood attending and feeding young from the second brood, a behaviour that also occurs in a number of other bird species.

E

Over the main period of egg production females take more calcium-rich prey (like small snails and woodlice). If a second batch of eggs is laid, the number of eggs is reduced to three or four, probably reflecting a reduction in the availability of insect prey later in the season. Research has shown that on cold days (or in the cool of early morning) the Spotted Flycatcher switches from taking larger, aerial insect prey to gleaning smaller prey from amongst foliage. These smaller prey are likely to be less nutritious, and a run of cooler days late in the breeding season may reduce the chances of the birds successfully rearing a second brood.

F

The Spotted Flycatcher lacks the more brightly marked plumage of many other birds, and the lack of easily recognisable features means it can be mistaken for another, equally drab species, such as the Dunnock, or even the female House Sparrow. Fortunately, the Spotted Flycatcher can also be identified from its behaviour. Spotted Flycatchers are seldom seen on the ground, but usually feed from a perch, making sallies after aerial insects. The flycatcher often adopts an upright posture when perching, making the bird appear rather sleek. Additionally, it is rare to see several Spotted Flycatchers together unless they happen to be a family of two adults feeding newly-fledged young (the latter looking very different from their parents because of their strongly patterned plumage). One other feature is the audible snapping sound that the bill sometimes makes when the bird snatches an insect from the air.

G

Data from the BTO show an 86 percent downturn in the breeding population of Spotted Flycatchers over the period 1967–2006, a pattern seemingly repeated elsewhere in Europe, where numbers are estimated to have fallen by 59 percent since 1980. However, ongoing and planned work should help to reveal the underlying causes of this trend. In particular, the BTO has a project to analyse nest data already collected. Work will need to be carried out elsewhere as well, looking at the Spotted Flycatcher in its wintering grounds. Understanding the factors that drive Spotted Flycatcher numbers should stimulate conservation action and help to secure the future of this bird.