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Designed to Last Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Practice Test

updated at

Updated on Jul 15, 2024, 10:49

The IELTS Reading section assesses your ability to understand and interpret academic texts. This part of the exam consists of 40 questions based on three passages, each progressively more challenging. You have 60 minutes to complete the section, requiring efficient time management and strong comprehension skills. You'll encounter various question types, including multiple-choice, matching, and True/False/Not Given, all designed to test different aspects of your reading abilities.


 

On this page, you'll find a passage titled "Designed to Last," along with specific questions, sample answers, and detailed explanations. This will give you a clear understanding of how to approach different question types and improve your performance in the IELTS Reading section.


 

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1. Designed to Last Reading Passage

You should spend approximately 20 minutes answering Questions 1 - 13 based on the Reading Passage below. This approach can help manage time effectively during a reading comprehension activity or exam.

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2. Designed to Last Reading Answers & Questions

Discover exciting and informative IELTS reading answers about Designed to Last Reading Question & Answers

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1.

Designed to Last Reading Passage

General Information

  • Read Instructions: Understand each question before answering.
  • Manage Time: Spend about 20 minutes per passage.
  • Skim and Scan: Quickly get the main idea and find specific information.
  • Highlight Key Info: Underline essential words or phrases.
  • Answer All Questions: Attempt every question; no penalty for wrong answers.
  • Stay Focused: Avoid distractions and keep your attention on the task.
  • Check Spelling: Ensure correct spelling and grammar.
  • Transfer Answers Clearly: Write answers neatly on the answer sheet.
  • Don’t Dwell: Move on if stuck and return later.
  • Review: If time allows, review your answers.

 

 

 

 

Designed to Last Reading Passage

 

 

Could better design cure our throwaway culture?

 

 

Paragraph A: Jonathan Chapman, a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton, UK, is one of a new breed of “sustainable designers’. Like many of us, they are concerned about the huge waste associated with Western consumer culture and the damage this does to the environment. Some, like Chapman, aim to create objects we will want to keep rather than discard. Others are working to create more efficient or durable consumer goods or goods designed with recycling in mind. The waste entailed in our fleeting relationships with consumer durables is colossal.

 

 

Paragraph B: Domestic power tools, such as electric drills, are a typical example of such waste. However much DIY the purchaser plans to do, the truth is that these things are thrown away after being used, on average, for just ten minutes. Most will serve their conscience time, gathering dust on a shelf in the garage. People are reluctant to admit that they have wasted their money. However, the end is inevitable for thousands of years of landfill waste sites. In its design, manufacture, packaging, transportation, and disposal, a power tool consumes many times its own weight in resources, all for a shorter active lifespan than that of the average small insect.

 

 

Paragraph C: To understand why we have become so wasteful, we should look to the underlying motivation of consumers. ‘People own things to express who they are and to show what group of people they feel they belong to’ Chapman says. In a world of mass production, however, that symbolism has lost much of its potency. For most of human history, people had an intimate relationship with objects they used or treasured. Often they made the objects themselves, or family members passed them on. For more specialist objects, people relied on expert manufacturers living close by, whom they probably knew personally. Chapman points out that all these factors gave objects a history – a narrative – and an emotional connection that today’s mass production cannot match. Without these personal connections, consumerist culture instead idolises novelty. We know we can’t buy happiness, but the chance to remake ourselves with glossy, box-fresh products seems irresistible. When the novelty fades we simply renew the excitement by buying more new stuff: what John Thackara of Doors of Perception, a network for sharing ideas about the future of design, calls the “schlock of the new”.

 

 

Paragraph D: As a sustainable designer, Chapman’s solution is what he calls “emotionally durable design”. Think about your favourite old jeans. They just don’t have the right feel until they have been worn and washed a hundred times, do they? It is like they are sharing your life story. You can fake that look, but it isn’t the same. Chapman says the gradual unfolding of a relationship like this transforms our interactions with objects into something richer than simple utility. Swiss industrial analyst Walter Stahel, visiting professor at the University of Surrey, calls it the “teddy-bear factor”. No matter how ragged and worn a favourite teddy becomes, we don’t rush out and buy another one. As adults, our teddy bear connects us to our childhoods, and this protects it from obsolescence. Stahel says this is what sustainable design needs to do.

 

 

Paragraph E: It is not simply about making durable items that people want to keep. Sustainable design is a matter of properly costing the whole process of production, energy use, and disposal. “It is about the design of systems, the design of culture,” says Tim Cooper from the Centre for Sustainable Consumption at Sheffield Hallam University in Britain. He thinks sustainable design has been “surprisingly slow to take off” but says looming environmental crises and resource depletion are pushing it to the top of the agenda.

 

 

Paragraph F: Thackara agrees. For him, the roots of impending environmental collapse can be summarised in two words: weight and speed. We are making more stuff than the planet can sustain and using vast amounts of energy, moving more and more of it around ever faster. The Information Age was supposed to lighten our economies and reduce our impact on the environment, but the reverse seems to be happening. We have simply added information technology to the industrial era and hastened the developed world’s metabolism, Thackara argues.

 

 

Paragraph G: Once you grasp that, the cure is hardly rocket science: minimise waste and energy use, stop moving stuff around so much and use people more. EZIO MANZINI, Professor of industrial design at Politecnico di Milano University, Italy, describes the process of moving to a post-throwaway society as “changing the engine of an aircraft in mid-flight Even so, he believes it can be done, and he is not alone.

 

 

Paragraph H: Manzini says a crucial step would be to redesign our globalised world into what he calls the “multi-local society”. His vision is that every resource, from food to electricity generation, should as far as possible be sourced and distributed locally. These local hubs would then be connected to national and global networks to allow the most efficient use and flow of materials.

 

 

Paragraph I: So what will post-throwaway consumerism look like? For a start, we will increasingly buy sustainably designed products. This might be as simple as installing energy-saving light bulbs, more efficient washing machines, or choosing locally produced groceries with less packaging.

 

 

Paragraph J: We will spend less on material goods and more on services. Instead of buying a second car, for example, we might buy into a car-sharing network. We will also buy less and rent a whole lot more: why own things that you hardly use, especially things that are likely to be updated all the time? Consumer durables will be sold with plans already in place for their disposal. Electronic goods will be designed to be recyclable, with the extra cost added to the retail price as prepayment. As consumers become increasingly concerned about the environment, many big businesses are eagerly adopting sustainable design and brushing up their green credentials to please their customers and stay one step ahead of the competition.

2.

Designed to Last Reading Questions & Answers

Discover exciting and informative IELTS reading answers about Designed to Last 

Questions and Answers 1-5

  • Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
  • Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

 

1. What does ‘conscience time’ imply in paragraph 2?

 

  1. People feel guilty when they throw things away easily.
  2. The shelf in the garage needs cleaning.
  3. The consumers are unaware of the waste problem.
  4. The power tool should be placed in the right place after being used.

 

2. Prior to mass production, people own things to show.

 

  1. Their quality.
  2. Their status.
  3. Their character.
  4. Their history.

 

3. The word ‘narrative’ in paragraph 3 refers to ____________.

 

  1. The novelty culture pursued by the customers.
  2. The motivation of buying new products.
  3. Object stories that relate personally and meaningfully to the owners.
  4. The image created by the manufacturers.

 

4. Without a personal connection, people buy new stuff for ____________.

 

  1. Sharing.
  2. Freshness.
  3. Collection.
  4. Family members.

 

5.  The writer quotes the old jeans and teddy bear to illustrate that ____________.

 

  1. The products are used for simple utility.
  2. Producers should create more special stuff to attract consumers.
  3. Chapman led a poor childhood life.
  4. The emotional connections make us keep the objects for longer.

 

Designed to Last Reading Answers with Explanations 1-5

 

Type of Question: Multiple Choice Questions


 

These types of questions in IELTS reading involve identifying the right choice from the given options using the given paragraph. 


 

How to best answer: 


 

  • Before reading the passage, scan the questions to understand what information you need to look for. This helps you focus on relevant details while reading.
  • Identify and underline keywords in the questions. Look for these keywords or their synonyms in the passage to locate the answers quickly.
  • Ensure you read a few sentences before and after the keyword to understand the context, which will help you choose the correct answer.
  • Eliminating clearly incorrect answers will narrow down your choices and increase your chances of selecting the right one from the remaining options.
  • Allocate your time wisely. Don't spend too much time on one question. If unsure, make an educated guess and move on; you can return if time permits.


 

1. A


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph B, "most will serve their conscience time, gathering dust on a shelf in the garage." 

 

Explanation: 

 

In Paragraph B, it mentions that power tools are often kept long after their usefulness, gathering dust because people feel guilty about wasting money on them. This aligns with option A, as it reflects the guilt associated with discarding items easily.

 

2. B


 

Reference:

 

 From Paragraph C, "people own things to express who they are and to show what group of people they feel they belong to." 

 

Explanation: 

 

According to Paragraph C, people historically owned objects to display their status and identity within their social groups, reflecting their character and social standing. Option B best describes this motivation.


 

3. C


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph C, "Chapman points out that all these factors gave objects a history – a narrative – and an emotional connection that today’s mass production cannot match." 

 

Explanation: 

 

Paragraph C discusses how personal objects were imbued with narratives and emotional connections due to their personal histories and craftsmanship. Option C correctly identifies "narrative" as referring to these personal and meaningful stories associated with objects.

 

4. B

 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph C, "When the novelty fades we simply renew the excitement by buying more new stuff." 

 

Explanation

 

Paragraph C highlights that without a personal connection, people often buy new items to maintain the excitement of novelty rather than for their functional or emotional value. Option B, freshness or novelty, aligns with this observation.


 

5. D

 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph D, "As adults, our teddy bear connects us to our childhoods, and this protects it from obsolescence."

 

 Explanation: 

 

In Paragraph D, the example of old jeans and teddy bears illustrates how emotional connections, particularly those tied to personal history or childhood, encourage people to keep objects for sentimental reasons. Option D correctly reflects this sentimentality and emotional attachment to objects over time.

 

IELTS Reading Tips & Tricks 2024: Techniques for Band 9

Questions and Answers 6-9

  • Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
  • Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.

 

 

Tim Cooper claims that although sustainable design proceeds 6. _____________ the coming problems are pushing the move. In accordance with Tim Cooper, Thackara believes that the origins of the looming environmental crises are weight and 7. ______________. The technology which was assumed to have a positive effect on our society actually accelerates the world’s 8. _______________. To cure this, Manzini proposes a ‘multi-local society’ which means every resource should be located and redeployed 9. _____________.

 

 

Designed to Last Reading Answers with Explanations 6-9

 

 

Type of Question: Summary Completion 


 

Carefully read the summary and identify keywords, then scan the passage to locate the relevant information, ensuring the words you choose to complete the summary accurately reflect the content and context of the passage.


 

How to best answer: 


 

  • Quickly go through the summary to understand the overall context and what information is missing.
  • Highlight or note down the keywords and phrases in the summary that will guide you to the relevant part of the passage.
  • Scan the passage for these keywords or synonyms to find the sections that match the summary content.
  • Read around the identified sections to ensure the missing words or phrases fit grammatically and contextually into the summary.
  • If multiple options seem possible, use logical reasoning and the overall context to determine the most appropriate fit.


 

6. E


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph E, "Tim Cooper from the Centre for Sustainable Consumption at Sheffield Hallam University in Britain [...] sustainable design has been 'surprisingly slow to take off' but says looming environmental crises and resource depletion are pushing it to the top of the agenda." 

 

Explanation: 

 

Tim Cooper emphasises in Paragraph E that while sustainable design has been slow to gain traction, the urgency of environmental crises and resource depletion is now propelling it into the forefront of global priorities.


 

7. F


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph F, "Thackara agrees. For him, the roots of impending environmental collapse can be summarised in two words: weight and speed." 

 

Explanation: 

 

Thackara, as stated in Paragraph F, attributes the looming environmental collapse to the excessive 'weight' of material production and the 'speed' at which resources are consumed and discarded, echoing concerns raised by Tim Cooper about sustainability challenges.


 

8. H


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph F, "we have simply added information technology to the industrial era and hastened the developed world’s metabolism." 

 

Explanation: 

 

Thackara argues in Paragraph F that the integration of information technology into industrial processes has accelerated global resource consumption ('metabolism'), reinforcing Tim Cooper's observation about technology's impact on environmental sustainability.


 

9. C


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph H, "Manzini says a crucial step would be to redesign our globalised world into what he calls the 'multi-local society'.

 

Explanation: 

 

In Paragraph H, Manzini advocates for a 'multi-local society' where resources are sourced and distributed locally, aiming to mitigate the accelerated resource consumption highlighted by Thackara and address the sustainability challenges discussed by Tim Cooper.
 

Questions and Answers 10-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
In boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet, write-

  • YES if the statement agrees with the information
  • NO if the statement contradicts the information
  • NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

 

   10. People often buy things that are seldom used and throw them away.

   11. In a post-throwaway society, we will pay extra money after disposing of electronic goods.

   12. Some businesses have jumped on the sustainability bandwagon.

   13. Company will spend less on repairs in the future.


 

Designed to Last Reading Answers with Explanations 10-13 

 

 

Type of Question: Yes/No/Not Given

 

These types of questions involve finding whether the given statement is Yes/No/Not Given based on the given paragraph. 


 

How to best answer: 

 

  • Pay close attention to the specific statement or claim presented in the question.
  • Scan the passage for information that directly addresses the statement in the question.
  • Compare the information found in the passage with the statement in the question. Look for exact matches or closely related information.
  • Answers should be directly supported by the text—be cautious of answers that require assumptions or extrapolations.
  • If the information to answer the question is not explicitly stated or implied in the passage, mark it as "Not Given". Avoid making assumptions beyond what is stated.


 

10. Yes


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph B, "Domestic power tools, such as electric drills, are a typical example of such waste. However much DIY the purchaser plans to do, the truth is that these things are thrown away after being used, on average, for just ten minutes." 

 

Explanation

 

The statement that people often buy things that are seldom used and throw them away aligns with the information in Paragraph B, where it's highlighted that domestic tools like electric drills are frequently discarded after minimal use.


 

11. No


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph J, "Electronic goods will be designed to be recyclable, with the extra cost added to the retail price as prepayment." 

 

Explanation: 

 

Paragraph J indicates that the cost of recycling electronic goods will be pre-paid at the time of purchase, not afterwards, as suggested in the statement. Therefore, the claim that we will pay extra money after disposing of electronic goods contradicts the passage.

 

12. Yes


 

Reference:

 

From Paragraph J, "As consumers become increasingly concerned about the environment, many big businesses are eagerly adopting sustainable design and brushing up their green credentials to please their customers and stay one step ahead of the competition." 

 

Explanation

 

The statement that some businesses have jumped on the sustainability bandwagon is supported by Paragraph J, which discusses how businesses are adopting sustainable practices to maintain competitiveness and meet consumer demand for environmentally friendly products.


 

13: Not Given


Reference:

 

Not Available 

 

Explanation: 

 

There is no information provided in the passage regarding whether companies will spend less on repairs in the future. Therefore, the statement is categorised as "Not Given" since it cannot be verified from the text.

 

Read more:

 

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FAQs

Q. How can I manage my time effectively during the IELTS Reading test?

Ans. Time management in the IELTS Reading test is crucial. Allocate about 20 minutes for each section, including reading and answering questions. Skim passages quickly to grasp the main idea before delving into details. Focus on keywords in questions to locate answers efficiently. If stuck, move on and return later. Practising with timed mock tests helps refine this skill.

Q. What are some good sources for practice materials for the IELTS Reading test?

Ans.  Utilize official IELTS practice tests from Cambridge University Press or the British Council for authentic exam-like questions. Websites like IELTS.org offer additional free samples. Prep books such as "Cambridge IELTS" series are invaluable for varied practice. Online platforms like Magoosh and IELTS Liz provide interactive exercises and tips, enhancing comprehension and test-taking strategies.

Q. How can I improve my comprehension skills for the IELTS Reading test?

Ans. Enhance comprehension by actively engaging with texts. Practice skimming for main ideas and scanning for specific details. Focus on understanding vocabulary in context to grasp nuanced meanings. Analyse question types to tailor strategies—whether identifying true/false/not given or completing summaries. Regularly reviewing and summarising passages helps reinforce understanding and prepares for diverse question formats.