IELTS 4.

5- Unit 1: Relationships

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Lesson 1 Topic: Relationships WID: IELTS4.5_01_RL

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IELTS Reading: - Identify words in a question
- Scanning text …..pts/10
- IELTS Reading: Short answer questions
Skills
IELTS Listening: - Identifying speakers
- Listening for numbers …..pts/10
- Listening MCQ

Exercise 1. [Identifying key words in questions– Scanning] Read the text below

There have been a lot of scientific studies into what makes a friendship. It seems today that ideas
of what friendship is are also changing. A study in 1993 at the University of Oxford showed that
people could only maintain 150 relationships. However, with the explosion of social media since
then, many people now have over 300 people who they think of as friends. Some people think
that these friends are not real friends, but others believe that social media has helped us to
expand and keep our friendships because we have more time and opportunities.

One thing is definitely true though, it doesn't matter how old we are or how many friends we
have on social media, friendship is good for our health. People who spend time with friends have
fewer mental health problems and are generally happier and in a better physical state of health
than people who spend their free time alone.

Another change from the past is that people don't stay in the place where they were born. They
go to different cities and countries for education and jobs. People are in general more
geographically mobile nowadays. This means that we have more chances to meet and make
friends with people from different cultures and different backgrounds. People still often make
friends at college who remain friends for life, but making new friends at work is more difficult.
People now have less security at work and this also means that they find it harder to build new
relationships.

As people get older, they sometimes also have less free time. They become busier with their jobs
and families and have less time to spend with friends. Friendships can be very different when we
are at different ages. Young children often choose their friends because of convenience, for
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

example, they go to the same school, they live near each other or their parents are friends. As we
get older, friendships are more connected with having similar interests and opinions.

Exercise 1.1 [Identify key words in a question] Underline the question words (where, when, what)
and the key words in each of the questions.

1. What has enabled people to have more friends than in the past, according to some people?

___________________________________
2. What phrase does the writer use to describe people who don't stay in the same place?

___________________________________
3. What work-related problem do people have that makes them less likely to form friendships?

___________________________________
4. What frequently influences the friendships of young children?

___________________________________
5. What are people with friends less likely to suffer from?

___________________________________
Exercise 1.2 [Scanning] Answer those questions using scanning skills.

Exercise 2. [Identifying words – Scanning – Short answer questions] Read the text below.

Recent research into the world of teenagers has suggested that they value friendship above
everything else. Children aged between 12 and 15 were asked what was important to them.
Their answers included possessions such as money and computer gadgets but also relationships
with people. The teenagers questioned said that friends were the most important to them, more
even than family, or boyfriends and girlfriends.

We wanted to find out more about the results of this research so we asked our readers what they
thought about the value of friendship. Here are some examples of what they said about their
friends:

Ben, 15: Every time I have a fight with my parents, I need some time on my own. But after that,
the first thing I do is meet up with my friends. After playing football for a while, or skateboarding,
I usually feel much happier again.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

Rory, 13: When I moved to a village in the countryside, I thought that it would be the end of my
friendships. But my old friends have kept in touch and they come and visit in the holidays.
There's a lake nearby, so we often go sailing, water-skiing or windsurfing. And I have made some
new friends here too at school, and since I joined the rugby club.

Cartos, 11: Last year, I broke my arm on a skiing holiday. Unfortunately, it was my left arm and I
am left-handed. My school friends all helped and copied their notes for me.

It seems that our readers value their friendships very highly. From what they told us, they spend
a lot of time with their friends, just hanging out, or sharing hobbies and interests. They seem to
need their friends for advice, help, chats and for having fun. Clearly, friends make each other feel
better. Looking at what our readers told us, the results of the recent research are not really
surprising.

Exercise 2.1 [Identify words in a question] Underline the question words (where, when, what) and
the key words in each of the questions.

1. What is the first thing Ben does if he has a fight with his parents? _____________________

2. What do we know about the lake that Rory visits? ______________________

3. When did Carlos break his arm? ______________________

Exercise 2.2 [Scanning – Short answer] Answer those questions using scanning skills, use NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

Exercise 3 [IELTS Reading: Short answer questions] Read the text and answer the questions
How technology is changing learning

Technology is helping teachers to expand beyond traditional, text-based learning and to engage
students who learn best in other ways. Its role in schools has developed from a ‘computer class’
into a versatile learning tool that could change how teachers demonstrate concepts, assign
projects and assess students’ progress.

A It can be hard to show students some concepts such as exactly why mixing two particular
chemicals is dangerous. *Digital simulations can help teachers explain concepts that are too big
or too small, or processes that happen too quickly or too slowly to demonstrate a classroom.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

Simulations allow students to experiment with virtual greenhouses in order to understand how
plants develop. Other software helps students understand the physics of energy efficiency by
designing a model house. These are all concepts that are much harder to understand by simply
reading.

B Education, by its very nature, produces huge amounts of data and teachers can use this data to
better understand what a student knows and what he or she still needs to learn. Furthermore,
these measurements make it possible to provide every student with a constantly updating,
personalized textbook, with exactly the exercises and information he or she needs to study in
order to understand the course material and get ahead. A teacher can see exactly how well her
students understood that tough biology lesson at the beginning of the week. She can see that
Jane needs extra help understanding cell biology, and can look at what percentage of her
students are prepared for next month’s exam.

C Technology also helps to make the world a smaller place. Language students can use video
conferencing to attend lessons with native speakers living in other countries. In the past, only
students who could afford to travel had the experience of learning a foreign language about
other culture. Now the educational benefits of interaction with a native speaker are available to
anyone who can make a video conferencing call.

D Games are another great way technology has improved the learning experience. There are
games that put students in roles like hotel manager, teacher or scientist and ask them to solve
real problems. In one game, students are directors of a video game company who need to
develop and market a new game. In another, the game gives students the task of designing a new
transport system for London. People working in different industries can learn innovative thinking
through these games. Unlike in traditional classrooms, they develop practical skills by working
together to solve real-world problems.
Vocabulary required:

 engage someone in something (phrasal verb): make somebody take part in something
 versatile (adj): having many different uses
 digital simulation (n): a situation in which computer software is used to produce conditions that are similar
to real ones, especially in order to study or test something
 energy efficiency: using less energy to perform the same task
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each
answer.
1. What software can help students to see processes that are too rapid to show in the classroom?
___________________________________
2. Using software, what can students create that will help them learn more about electricity
usage?
___________________________________
3. What can teachers give to students that have helpful activities that stay up to date?
___________________________________
4. What technology can students use to study with students in other countries?
___________________________________
5. In what type of software do students look at actual situations?
___________________________________
6. What can lessons that are unlike the usual class activities teach creative people?
___________________________________

Exercise 4: [IELTS Reading: Short answer questions] Read the text and answer the questions.
Peanut allergy theory backed up by new research
The effects of eating peanut products as a baby to avoid the risk of allergy have been backed up
by new research. In 2015, a study claimed early exposure to peanut products could cut the risk of
allergy by 80%. Now researchers say "long-lasting" allergy protection can be sustained - even
when the snacks are later avoided for a year. The New England Journal of Medicine study looked
at 550 children deemed prone to developing a peanut allergy. The latest paper builds on the
results of the 2015 research, which was also carried out by King's College London and marked the
first time scientists were able to suggest that exposing children to small amounts of peanut
snacks could stave off an allergy.
The new study suggests that if a child has consumed peanut snacks within the first 11 months of
life, then at the age of five they can afford to stop eating the food entirely for a year, and
maintain no allergy. Lead author Prof Gideon Lack said: "[The research] clearly demonstrates that
the majority of infants did in fact remain protected and that the protection was long-lasting." He
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

said that part of the problem was that people lived in a "culture of food fear". "I believe that this
fear of food allergy has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, because the food is excluded from the
diet and, as a result, the child fails to develop tolerance," he told the BBC News website. The
researchers used the same children who took part in the 2015 study - half of whom had been
given peanut snacks as a baby while the remainder had been fed on a diet of breast milk alone.
"The study found that at six years of age, there was no statistically significant increase in allergy
after 12 months of avoidance, in those who had consumed peanut during the [2015] trial," the
authors said. The children taking part in the study were considered prone to peanut allergy,
because they had already developed eczema as a baby - an early warning sign of allergies. Prof
Lack said that further studies were needed to see if the resistance lasts for considerably longer
than the 12-month abstinence period. He said that in the UK and US combined, 20,000 babies a
year are being diagnosed with peanut allergies. He also said that between 1995 and 2005, the
number of people being diagnosed had trebled, and this was not because detection methods had
become any more advanced as they had remained the same. Prof Barry Kay, from Imperial
College London, said the study's results "point the way to completely fresh thinking on the
mechanisms of tolerance to allergenic foods in 'at risk' infants". Speaking about both pieces of
research, Michael Walker, a consultant analyst and medical adviser to the government, said:
"Taken together these are reassuring findings that pave the way to stem the epidemic of peanut
allergy."
Vocabulary required:

 exposure to something (n): the state of being in a place or situation where there is no protection from
something harmful or unpleasant

 prone to something (v): likely to suffer from something or to do something bad

 stave off (v): to prevent something bad from affecting you for a period of time

 self-fulfilling prophecy (n): thing becomes true because people expect it to be true and behave in a way that
will make it happen

 be excluded from: deliberately not included in something

 abstinence (n): the practice of not allowing yourself something, e.g. food

 be diagnosed with (v): said exactly what an illness or the cause of a problem is

 tremble= triple (v): to make something, three times as much or as many

 pave the way for something/ to do something (phrase): create a situation in which something can happen.
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

Answer the questions below. Write EXACTLY TWO WORDS OR A NUMBER from the passage for
each answer.
1. What is the number of children that the New England Journal of Medicine studied?
____________________________________
2. At what age can the child stop eating peanuts for a year if it has consumed peanut snacks
within the first 11 months of life? 
____________________________________
3. What part of the infants remained protected for a long-lasting period? 
____________________________________
4. What's the illness that 20,000 babies in the UK and US combined are diagnosed with each
year?
____________________________________

Exercise 5: [IELTS Reading: Short answer questions] Read the text and answer the questions.
Do dolphins have conversations?
A Researchers have recorded two dolphins having a conversation for the first time after the
development of an underwater microphone which can distinguish the animals’ different ‘voices’.
Researchers have known for years that dolphins have an advanced form of communication, using
a range of clicks and whistles to show they are excited, happy, stressed or separated from the
group. But scientists have now shown that dolphins make changes to the volume and frequency
of their clicks to form individual ‘words’, which they group together into sentences similar to how
humans speak.
B Researchers at Karadag Nature Reserve in Feodosia, Ukraine, recorded two Black Sea
bottlenose dolphins called Yasha and Yana talking to each other in a pool. They found that each
dolphin would listen to a sentence of clicks, without stopping the other dolphin, before replying.
Lead researcher Dr Vyacheslav Ryabov said, ‘Essentially, this exchange is very much like a
conversation between two people. Each click that is produced by dolphins is different from
another, so we can assume that each click represents a word of the dolphin’s spoken language.
C The researchers found that Yasha and Yana could create sentences of up to five ‘words’, but
the scientists have not worked out the content yet. Dr Ryabov said it was now almost certain that
dolphins speak their own language and it is time to start studying how to communicate directly
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

with them. Because dolphins have brains that are larger, more complex and older than human
ones, Dr Ryabov said, ‘Humans must take the first step to form relationships with the first
intelligent inhabitants of the planet Earth. We need to create devices that allow communication
between dolphins and people’.
D Scientists already knew that dolphins use more than 1,000 different types of whistles
depending on social context, but it was unclear if they could communicate directly with each
other, one to one. In 2007, Australian scientists identified specific whistles which they interpreted
to mean, ‘I’m here, where is everyone?’, ‘Hurry up!’ and ‘There’s food over here.’ Researchers
also think that dolphins have developed a type of sign language in which they communicate with
their flippers.
E Research has come a long way since the founder of dolphin communication research, Louis
Herman, started out. Herman worked with two dolphins, Pheonix and Ake, in Hawaii. Pheonix
was taught to respond to computer-generated whistles, while Ake learnt a ‘dolphinsed’ version of
American Sign Language. The two systems had their own different grammar structure. For
Pheonix, ‘pipe fetch gate’ meant ‘take the piece of pipe to the pool gate’, but for Ake the words
were organized differently, so ‘channel fish fetch’ meant ‘take the first to the channel connecting
the pools’. Each dolphin learnt about 300 words in all and by following the commands correctly,
they both showed an understanding of directions.
Vocabulary required:

 distinguish (v): to recognize the difference between two people or things

 exchange (n): a conversation or an argument
 represent (v): to be an expression of something
 social context (n): the immediate physical and social setting in which something happens or develops
 interpret (v): explain the meaning of something
 sign language (n): a system of communicating with people who cannot hear, by using hand movements
rather than spoken words

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
1. What did scientists use to record Yasha and Yana’s ‘conversations’?
_______________________
2. As well as changing how often they ‘click’, what else do dolphins change about their ‘clicks’ to
help them communicate?
_______________________
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

3. What are the researchers in Ukraine unable to understand about Yasha and Yana’s
‘conversations’?
_______________________
4. What form of communication do scientists believe dolphins use when they communicate with
their flippers?
_______________________
5. What type of instruction were both Pheonix and Ake able to follow in Louis Herman’s
research?
_______________________

Exercise 6 [IELTS Listening: Identifying speakers] Listen to a conversation about a project

someone is working on. Choose the correct answers.
1. How many speakers are there?
A. two B. three C. four
2. What is the relationship between the two people?
A. They are a student and her teacher.
B. They are both teachers.
C. They are both students.
3. Which animals does the woman decide to do her project on?
A. pandas B. sharks C. dolphins
4. What does the woman have to do for her project?
A. write a report on an animal
B. give a presentation about New Zealand
C. take some photographs of wild animals

Exercise 7 [IELTS Listening: Multiple Choice Questions - Identifying speakers] Look at the five
questions from different IELTS Listening tests with the extracts from the conversations that
answer them. Listen to the recording. Choose the correct answers.

1. How does the man describe female elephants?

A. rare B. dangerous C. sociable

IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

2. People should not keep wolves as pets because they are

A. wild animals. B. dangerous. C. very expensive to feed.

3. How fast does a great white shark usually swim?

A. 56 kph B. 2.5 kph C. 74 kph

4. In what unexpected place do sea lions sometimes sleep?

A. on the beach B. along the coast C. in the sea

5. How long is a giraffe's neck?

A. 3.5 m B. 1.45 m C. 1.8 m

Exercise 8 [IELTS Listening: Listening for numbers] Complete the form below, using NO MORE
THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Travel Safe
INSURANCE PLC
Department: Motor Insurance
Client details:
Name: Elizabeth (1)__________
Date of birth: 8th October, (2) ___
Address: (3)__________ (street) Callington (town)
Policy number: (4) __________
Accident details:
Date: (5) __________
Time: Approx. (6)__________
Supporting evidence: (7) __________
Medical problems (if any): minor injuries

Exercise 9 [IELTS Listening: Multiple Choice Questions] Robert is going to a conference next
month. He phones different places to find accommodation.

1 In the first phone call, Robert calls…

A. a guest house B. a friend C. his parents
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

2 The conference is…

A. 19th - 20th May B. 19th - 21st May C. 19th - 23rd May
3 Robert cannot stay with Sue because…
A. she is visiting her parents.
B. her parents are visiting her.
C. she doesn’t have a sofa.
4 In the second phone call, Robert calls…
A. a hotel B. a bed and breakfast C. a youth hostel
5 Robert wants…
A. a single room B. a twin room C. a double room
6 Robert doesn’t book a room at the hotel because…
A. it is too expensive.
B. he doesn’t want to change rooms.
C. the hotel is fully booked on all those dates.
7 At the guest house, the woman offers Robert…
A. a single room B. a double room C. a triple room
8 The room…
A. is on the top floor. B. has a private bathroom. C. doesn’t have a television.
9 The guest house…
A. has a lift.
B. has a bathroom on every floor.
C. serves breakfast at no extra cost.
10 To book the room Robert needs to…
A. pay the full price now.
B. pay a deposit.
C. give his credit card details.

Exercise 10 [IELTS Listening: Multiple Choice Questions- Listening for numbers] Listen to the
recording. Choose the correct answers.
1. Anne has asked Tom to help her with her dolphin project because
IELTS 4.5- Unit 1: Relationships

A. he is in the same class as Anne.

B. he is an expert on dolphins.
C. he once did a similar project to Anne.
2. How long is an adult male Maui dolphin?
A. 1.5 metres B. 1 metre C. 1.7 metres
3. Where are Maui dolphins found in New Zealand?
A. around most of the coast of the North Island
B. around the west coast of the North Island
C. around the whole coast of the South Island
4. The population of Maui dolphins is now likely to be
A. around 100 B. well over 500 C. less than 50
5. What do Anne and Tom agree is typical behaviour for Maui dolphins?
A. They prefer to live with many other Maui dolphins.
B. They often choose to follow boats to catch fish more easily.
C. They are friendly towards people who swim near them.
6. How far along the coastline do Maui dolphins swim?
A. 40 kilometres B. 50 kilometres C. 30 kilometres