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Book review on Musicophilia

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Academic Reading Test 22.3

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on  Questions 27-40 , which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Book review on Musiccophilia

Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks

A.   Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

B.   Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book - which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata-makes a positive impression that is home out by the contents of the book. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] Sacks’s voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

C.   The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it, Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned  from  the  “enormous  and  rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone.” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is tom between the ‘old-fashioned path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

D.   The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] Part, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electroencephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his, trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria, has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!   E.   Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often has better hearing than the sighted. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds as music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

F.   To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music,” bring the US into the underappreciated realm of music therapy.  Chapter  16  explains how  “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasic patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect

G.  To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.

H.   It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

I.   Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another, or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

J. Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognises the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. [ Crack IELTS with Rob ] In fact, although he exhibits the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the book’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.

Questions 27 - 30

Choose the correct letter A , B , C or D .

Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27. Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book?

  • Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book.
  • This is the only book written by Sacks.
  • The guilty feeling made him so.
  • The writer expected it to be better than it was.

28.  What is the best part of the book?

  • the autobiographical description in the book
  • the description of Sacks ’s wealth
  • the photo of Sacks listening to music
  • the tone of voice of the book

29.  In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve?

  • explain how people understand music
  • explain why he needs to do away with simple observation
  • make a herald introduction of the research work and technique applied
  • give detailed description of various musical disorders

30.  What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria’s case?

  • His brain waves were too normal to show anything.
  • He refuses to have further tests.
  • He can’t determine the cause of his sudden musicality.
  • He nearly died because of the lightening.

Questions 31 - 36

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write

YES                         if the statement agrees with the view of the writer

NO                          if the statement contradicts the view of the writer

NOT GIVEN          if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

31.  YES NO NOT GIVEN   It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than totally favorable review.

32.  YES NO NOT GIVEN   Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders.

33.  YES NO NOT GIVEN   Sacks believes technological methods is of little importance compared with traditional observation when studying his patients.

34.  YES NO NOT GIVEN   It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued.

35.  YES NO NOT GIVEN   Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories  and  findings in describing reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book.

36.  YES NO NOT GIVEN   Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.

Questions 37 - 40

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F , below. 

Write the correct letter, A-F , in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

List of endings A. show no music-brain disorders. B. indicates that medication can have varied results. C. is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries. D. should not be used in Isolation. E. indicate that not everyone can receive a good education. F. show a misconception that there is a function centre localized in the brain.

37.  A B C D E F   The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody

38.  A B C D E F   The study of treating musical disorders

39.  A B C D E F   The EEG scans of Sacks’s patients

40.  A B C D E F   Sacks believes testing based on new technologies

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IELTS AC Reading: Cambridge 13 Test 4; Reading Passage 3: Book Review; with best solutions and detailed explanations

This IELTS Reading post deals with Cambridge 13 Reading Test 4 Passage 3 which is entitled ‘Book Review’ . This post discusses all the answers and solutions for Reading Passage 3. This is another intended post for candidates who have the most difficulties in finding and understanding IELTS Reading Answers. This post can simply guide you the best to figure out every Reading answer without trouble. Finding IELTS Reading answers is a step-by-step routine and I hope this post can assist you in this topic.

Cambridge 13 Reading Test 4 Passage 3 :

The headline of the passage: book review.

Questions 27-29:   (Multiple Choice Questions)

[ Multiple choice questions are a common type of question set in the IELTS Reading test. It is also found in the Listening test.  Most of the time, they come with four options but sometimes there are three options. Candidates need to work hard for this type of question because this may confuse them easily in passage 2 or passage 3. There will be long answers for each question, so they may kill valuable time. So, a quick reading or skimming technique might come handy here.  Remember that answers in 3 options out of 4 will be very close. So, vocabulary power will help a lot to choose the best answer.]

[ TIPS: Skimming is the best reading technique. You need not understand every word here. Just try to gather the gist of the sentences. That’s all. Read quickly and don’t stop until you finish each sentence.]

Question 27: What is the reviewer’s attitude to advocates of positive psychology?  

Keywords for this question: reviewer’s attitude, advocates of positive psychology

We can find the reference to ‘positive psychology’ in line 6 of paragraph no. 1. Here, the writer defines ‘positive psychology’.  However, the mention of ‘advocates of positive psychology’ is found in line 12 of paragraph no. 2.  The writer says in lines 2-5 about them, “Those who think in this way are oblivious to the vast philosophical literature in which the meaning and value of happiness have been explored and questioned, and write as if nothing of any importance had been thought on the subject until it came to their attention .”

Here, as if nothing of any importance had been thought on the subject until it came to their attention means they are actually ignorant about the ideas which they should consider.

*The word oblivious also means unaware or ignorant .

So, the answer is: D

Question 28: The reviewer refers to the Greek philosopher Aristotle in order to suggest that happiness    

Keywords for this question: Aristotle,  

We find the mention of Greek philosopher Aristotle in line 7 of paragraph no. 2. So, we need to scan the lines carefully. Here, the writer says in lines 6-10, “For Bentham it was obvious that the human good consists of pleasure and the absence of pain. The Greek philosopher Aristotle may have identified happiness with self-realisation in the 4th century,. .. . .. .. .   but for Bentham all this was mere metaphysics or fiction.” The writer discusses here that Bentham considers happiness as only with pleasure and with the absence of pain. But for Aristotle it was not only pleasure and absence of pain. Rather, it was something that could be identified by self-realisation, which may not seem correct all the time.

So, the answer is: A

Question 29: According to Davies, Bentham’s suggestion for linking the price of goods to happiness was significant because

Keywords for this question: Davies, Bentham’s suggestion, linking, price of goods,

The answer is in the fourth paragraph, where the writer talks about price of goods. Here, in the last few lines, the writer says, “By associating money so closely to inner experience, Davies writes, Bentham ‘ set the stage for the entangling of psychological research and capitalism that would shape the business practices of the twentieth century’.”  The writer explains here that Bentham had associated money or price of goods with inner experience and thus made a connection between work and human psychology.

So, the answer is: B

Questions 30-34: (Summary completion with NO MORE THAN ONE WORD)

[In this kind of question candidates are given a summary for one, two or three paragraphs with some fill in the blanks questions. As these are fill in the blanks or gaps, there is a condition of writing no more than ONE, TWO, or THREE words for each answer and candidates must maintain this condition. Candidates need to find out the related paragraphs by correctly studying the keywords form the questions. Then, they should follow the steps of finding answers to fill in the gaps.]

Title of the summary: Jeremy Bentham

Question 30: In the 1790s he suggested a type of technology to improve _________ for different Government departments.

Keywords for this question: 1790s, technology, to improve, different Government departments  

The answer to this question lies in paragraph no. 3, lines 6-7 where the author writes, “In the 1790s, he wrote to the Home Office suggesting that the departments of government be linked together through a set of ‘conversation tubes’.”

These lines indicate that Bentham proposed to the Home office that Governmental departments should establish communication with Home office through ‘conversation tubes’.

So, the answer is: F (communication)

Question 31: He developed a new way of printing banknotes to increase ________

Keywords for this question: developed, new way, printing banknotes  

In paragraph no. 3, the author says in lines 8-9, “… and to the Bank of England with a design for a printing device that could produce unforgeable banknotes ”. Here, unforgeable means something that cannot be forged or falsified or falsified. So, this means that Bentham actually developed a new way of printing banknotes to increase safety or security .

So, the answer is: B (security)

Question 32: and also designed a method for the ________ of food.

Keywords for this question: designed, method, food

The reference to food can be found in lines 9-10 of paragraph no. 3. “He drew up plans for a “frigidarium” to keep provisions such as meat, fish, fruit and vegetables fresh.” These lines directly refer to the preservation of food .

So, the answer is: G (preservation)

Question 33: He also drew up plans for a prison which allowed the _______ of prisoners at all times, … .. . .

Keywords for this question: drew up plans, prison, allowed, prisoners

The answer is in lines 10-12 of paragraph no. 3. Here, the author writes, “He celebrated design for a prison to be known as ‘Panoptieon’, in which prisoners would be kept in solitary confinement while being visible at all time to the guards, ….”  Here, while being visible = under observation

So, the answer is: E (observation)

Question 34: when researching happiness, he investigated possibilities for its ________, and suggested some methods of doing this.  

Keywords for this question: investigated, possibilities, suggested some methods    

The answer to this question is also found in lines 1-2 of Paragraph no. 4. “If happiness is to be regarded as a science, it has to be measured ,….” This means Bentham suggested the methods of taking measurement .

So, the answer is: A (measurement)

Questions 35-40 (YES/NO/NOT GIVEN):

[In this type of question, candidates are asked to find out whether:

The statement in the question matches the claim of the writer in the text- YES The statement in the question contradicts the claim of the writer in the text- NO The statement in the question has no clear connection with the account in the text- NOT GIVEN ]

[TIPS: For this type of question, you can divide each statement into three independent pieces and make your way through with the answer.]

Question 35: One strength of The Happiness Industry is its discussion of the relationship between psychology and economics.

Keywords for this question: The Happiness Industry, discussion, relationship, psychology, economics

The answer can be found in the first few lines of paragraph no. 5 “The Happiness Industry describes how the project of a science of happiness has become integral to capitalism . We learn much that is interesting about how economic problems are being redefined and treated as psychological maladies ”. So, it is clear from these lines that there is a strong relationship between psychology and economics.

So, the answer is: YES

Question 36: It is more difficult to measure some emotions than others.

Keywords for this question: difficult to measure, some emotions,

The answer cannot be found in this passage. There is a sentence in paragraph 5 about the feeling of pleasure and displeasure that can be measured which gives further information for research management and advertising. “In addition, Davies shows how the belief that inner states of pleasure and displeasure can be objectively measured has informed management studies and advertising.” But it is not related to this question.

So, the answer is : NOT GIVEN

Question 37: Watson’s ideas on behaviourism were supported by research on humans he carried out before 1915.   

Keywords for this question: Watson’s ideas, behaviuorism, supported, research, humans, before 1915

The answer is found in lines 7-9 of paragraph no. 5 which directly contradicts the given question. “When he became president of the American Psychological Association in 1915, he had never even studied a single human being: his research had been confined to experiments on white rats.”

This means Watson’s experiments were on rats , not on humans.

So, the answer is: NO

Question 38: Watson’s ideas have been most influential on governments outside America.

Keywords for this question: Watson’s ideas, most influential, governments outside America

In paragraph 5 there is no information about the impact of Watson’s ideas on countries outside the USA.

So, the answer is: NOT GIVEN

Question 39: The need for happiness is linked to industrialization.  

Keywords for this question: need for happiness, linked, industrialization  

The answer to this question can be found in the opening sentence paragraph no. 6 which talks about the need for happiness that is connected with labour market. “ Modern industrial societies appear to need the possibility of ever-increasing happiness to motivate them in their labours.” This is a clear match with the question.

Question 40: A main aim of government should be to increase the happiness of the population.

Keywords for this question: main aim, government, increase, happiness of the population  

The writer says in lines 2-3 in paragraph no. 6, “But whatever its intellectual pedigree, the idea that governments should be responsible for promoting happiness is always a threat to human freedom .”

Our question asks to find out the aim. But we find out that this is a comment from the author, not a statement on the aim of government.

So, the answer is: NO  

Please leave your comments if you like this post or have any queries about it.

Click here for solutions to Cambridge 13 Test 4 Reading Passage 1 

Click here for solutions to Cambridge 13 Test 4 Reading Passage 2

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36 thoughts on “ IELTS AC Reading: Cambridge 13 Test 4; Reading Passage 3: Book Review; with best solutions and detailed explanations ”

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Why the answer of 40 is not “Not Given”? In the sentence, it doesn’t mention government’s aim at all

I agree with you 🙂 The question designers of IELTS tests design the tests in a way that even the natives connot answer them correctly!!! I don’t understand it is an analytical test or a test for assessment of our English! I don’t comprehend why they are taking so hard! How many languages except their mother language do they know which expect us know English as well as our mother tongue?!

Sorry:( I am a little angry about the vain rigidity that the world has considered for people!

Hahahahhaha, wonderful???

Totally agree!

Initially, I also struggled to understand the explanation for question 40. After carefully scanning again, I finally found out the problem. We suppose to find the synonym of the key word ‘main aim of the government’ which is located in Paragraph 5, line 10 – ‘the goal of governments’. Reading that sentence, we’ll see that the main aim here is to change the behaviour of the population , not to increase their happiness.

Omg thank u

Government has several aims, and even if one of them is changing the behavior of the population, we still can not be sure whether increasing their happiness is their main aim or not, so the detail cant be in that passage

Just to for fun I guess, cause’ it is wrong answer to make a student have a mistake they say the answer is wrong!

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2 mistakes on ques 6 and 40 🙂

May I ask about the mistakes in details please?

I also found some difficulty in que 6 bcz I think it’s a true but it is false..!

Thanks for explanation But why the q 38 is notgiven ? It is obviously said that :In Britain

But it doesn’t mention ‘most influential’

Why some of the passage 3 in book 12 and 13 are too hard?

Hi thank you for all your information with nice flow to compare frequentist vs bayesian approach. I will look forward to next part of the tutorials!!

You’re most welcome!

The ans of third question should be false

Can you explain que no 37 ..here, they are talking about’ before 1915′ also.. But in passage ,it is mentioned that ‘ he became president in 1915’..

This means Watson’s experiments were on rats, not on humans.

I am from Vietnam and I wish I could do something for you. Since I started to do the tests, this web has helped me a lot

Hello, Thank you for your kind thoughts. My son is extremely sick. As a father, it gives me such a pain to watch him go through this. Please pray for my son.

According to the author’s analysis, the answer 40 seems like a ‘NG’. However, in the last paragraph, the writer gives his own comment that he is not agree with the idea that government should be responsible for promoting happiness, which is just what the question 40 claims. That’s why the answer 40 is a ‘N’ not a ‘NG’, cuz it contradicts the claims of the writer.

How the answer of 35 is yes? AND does it has mentioned that discussing relationship between psychology and economics is the strenght part of The happiness industry?

Thanks a lot.This was helpful

Good day! I always use your system to check my mistakes. The system is perfectly organised. Please, can you give me some advice about reading? I do most of the reading practices but the score is always the same 5.5 or 6.

Hello, I think you can register for some 1-to-1 classes with me. Here, I can help you solve your problems directly. If that sounds good, let me know. Here’s my email: [email protected]

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Many thanks.

Could you explain why the answer for 36 question isn’t No. Could you explain why the answer for 36 isn’t No

because there did not mentioned about emotions, only emphasized pleasure and displeasure

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(update 2024) book review on musiccophilia | ielts reading practice test.

Table of Contents

Book review on Musiccophilia

Book review on Musiccophilia

Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks

A . Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

B . Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book-which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata-makes a positive impression that is home out by the contents of the book. Sacks’s voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

C . The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone.” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is tom between the ‘ old-fashioned path o observation and the new fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

Book review on Musiccophilia

D . The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electroencephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his, trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria, has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!

E . Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often have better hearing than the sighted. The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds as music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

F . To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music,” brings  US  into the under appreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasic patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect

G . To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.

H.  It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

I . Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another, or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

J . Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognises the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the book’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.

Questions 27-30

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet 27 Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book? 

A. The guilty feeling made him so.

B. The writer expected it to be better than it was.

C. Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book.

D. This is the only book written by Sacks.

28 . What is the best part of the book?

A. the photo of Sacks listening to music

B the tone of voice of the book

C the autobiographical description in the book

D the description of Sacks ’s wealth

29 In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve?

A. make a herald introduction of the research work and technique applied

B. give detailed description of various musical disorders

C. explain how people understand music

D. explain why he needs to do away with simple observation

30 What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria’s case?

A. He refuses to have further tests.

B. He can’t determine the cause of his sudden musicality.

C. He nearly died because of the lightening.

D. His brain waves were too normal to show anything.

Questions 31-36

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3 ? In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet write

YES  if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO  if the statement contradicts with the views of the writer NOT GIVEN  if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

31 . It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than totally favorable review.

32 . Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders.

33 . Sacks believes technological methods is of little importance compared with traditional observation when studying his patients.

34 . It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued

35 . Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories and findings in describing reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book.

36 . Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.

Questions 37-40

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F , below . 

Write correct letter, A-F , in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet

37 . The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody

38 .  The study of treating musical disorders

39 .  The EEG scans of Sacks’s patients

40 .  Sacks believes testing based on new technologies

—————

A . show no music-brain disorders.

B . indicates that medication can have varied results,

C . is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries.

D . should not be used in Isolation

E . indicate that not everyone can receive good education.

F . show a misconception that there is function centre localized in the brain

Book review on Musiccophilia answers

39. A 40. D

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Musical Maladies Reading Ielts Answers and Questions

The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions :

  • IELTS Reading Matching Sentence Endings
  • IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions
  • IELTS Reading Yes/NO/Not Given

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IELTS reading passage -Musical Maladies

book review on musicophilia reading answers ielts material

Musical Maladies

Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music.

A. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specializing in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

B. Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book— which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata—makes a positive impression that is borne out by the contents of the book. Sacks’ voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

C. The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it, Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone ” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is torn between the “old-fashioned” path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

D. The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part I, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electro-encephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!

E. Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often has better hearing than the sighted. The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds as music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

F. To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement, and Music,” brings us into the underappreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasia patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect.

G. To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.

H. It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localization of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

I. Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another, or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

J. Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognizes the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the hook’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.

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Questions 1-4

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

1. Why does the writer have mixed feeling about the book?

  • The guilty feeling made him so.
  • The writer expected it to be better than it was.
  • Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book.
  • This is the only book written by Sacks.

2. What is the best part of the book?

  • The photo of Sacks listening to music
  • The tone of voice of the book
  • The autobiographical description in the book
  • The description of Sacks’ wealth

3. In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve?

  • Make terms with the new technologies
  • Give a detailed description of various musical disorders
  • Explain how people understand music
  • Explain why he needs to do away with a simple observation

4. What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria’s case?

  • He refuses to have further tests.
  • He can’t determine the cause of his sudden musicality.
  • He nearly died because of the lightning.
  • His brain waves were too normal to show anything.

Ready to improve your performance in Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) ? Click here to access our comprehensive guide on how to tackle MCQs effectively in the IELTS Reading section.

Questions 5-10

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage? In boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet, write

YES                     if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO                       if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NOT GIVEN         if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

5. It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less-than-favorable review. 6. Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders. 7. Sacks believe technological methods are not important compared with observation when studying his patients. 8. It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued. 9. Sacks should have more skepticism about other theories and findings. 10. A sack is impatient to use new testing methods.

Want to excel in identifying the writer’s views and claims? Click here to explore our in-depth guide on how to accurately determine Yes, No, or Not Given in the IELTS Reading section .

Questions 11-14

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

11. The dissociations between harmony and melody 12. The study of treating musical disorders 13. The EEG scans of Sacks’ patients 14. Sacks believe testing based on new technology

A. Show no music-brain disorders. B. Indicates that medication can have varied results. C. Is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries. D. Should not be used in isolation. E. Indicate that not everyone can receive a good education. F. Show that music is not localized in the brain.

Ready to sharpen your skills in Matching Sentence Endings ? Click here to discover expert strategies and techniques for accurately matching sentence endings with the corresponding information in the IELTS Reading section.

Answers for Musical Maladies

1. Answer: B 2. Answer: C 3. Answer: A 4. Answer: A 5. Answer: Yes 6. Answer: Not given 7. Answer: No 8. Answer: Not given 9. Answer: Yes 10. Answer: No 11. Answer: F 12. Answer: B 13. Answer: A 14. Answer: D

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Music Therapy in Disease IELTS Reading Passage with Answers

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Musical Maladies

Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music.

A Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

B Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book-which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata-makes a positive impression that is borne out by the contents of the book. Sacks’ voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

C The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it, Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone.” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is torn between the “old-fashioned” path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

D The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electroencephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria, has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!

E Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often has better hearing than the sighted. The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds like music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

F To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music,” brings us into the underappreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasic patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect

G To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.

H It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

I Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

J Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognises the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the book’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.

Questions 27-30 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27 Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book?

A The guilty feeling made him so. B The writer expected it to be better than it was. C Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book. D This is the only book written by Sacks.

28 What is the best part of the book?

A the photo of Sacks listening to music B the tone of voice of the book C the autobiographical description in the book D the description of Sacks’ wealth

29 In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve?

A make a herald introduction of the research work and technique applied B give a detailed description of various musical disorders C explain why he needs to do away with the simple observation D explain why he needs to do away with the simple observation

30 What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria’s case?

A He refuses to have further tests. B He can’t determine the cause of his sudden musicality. C He nearly died because of the lightening. D His brain waves were too normal to show anything.

Questions 31-36 Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the views of the writer FALSE if the statement contradicts with the views of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

31 It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than totally favorable review. 32 Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders. 33 Sacks believes technological methods is of little importance compared with traditional observation when studying his patients. 34 It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued 35 Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories and findings in describing reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book. 36 Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.

Questions 37-40 Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

37 The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody 38 The study of treating musical disorders 39 The EEG scans of Sacks’ patients 40 Sacks believes testing based on new technologies

A show no music-brain disorders. B indicates that medication can have varied results. C is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries. D should not be used in isolation. E indicate that not everyone can receive a good education. F show a misconception that there is a function centre localized in the brain

Music Therapy in Disease IELTS Reading Passage Answers

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34. NOT GIVEN

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Book Review: IELTS Reading Answers

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IELTS Academic Test – Passage 12: Book Review reading with answers explanation, location and pdf. This IELTS reading paragraph has been taken from our huge collection of Academic & General Training (GT) Reading practice test PDFs.

Book Review reading answers pdf

Book Review

The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being

– By William Davies

‘Happiness is the ultimate goal because it is self-evidently good. If we are asked why happiness matters we can give no further external reason. It just obviously does matter.’ This pronouncement by Richard Layard, an economist and advocate of ‘positive psychology’, summarises the beliefs of many people today. For Layard and others like him, it is obvious that the purpose of government is to promote a state of collective well-being. The only question is how to achieve it, and here positive psychology – a supposed science that not only identifies what makes people happy but also allows their happiness to be measured – can show the way. Equipped with this science, they say, governments can secure happiness in society in a way they never could in the past.

It is an astonishingly crude and simple-minded way of thinking, and for that very reason increasingly popular. Those who think in this way are oblivious to the vast philosophical literature in which the meaning and value of happiness have been explored and questioned, and write as if nothing of any importance had been thought on the subject until it came to their attention. It was the philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) who was more than anyone else responsible for the development of this way of thinking. For Bentham it was obvious that the human good consists of pleasure and the absence of pain. The Greek philosopher Aristotle may have identified happiness with self-realisation in the 4th century BC, and thinkers throughout the ages may have struggled to reconcile the pursuit of happiness with other human values, but for Bentham all this was mere metaphysics or fiction. Without knowing anything much of him or the school of moral theory he established – since they are by education and intellectual conviction illiterate in the history of ideas – our advocates of positive psychology follow in his tracks in rejecting as outmoded and irrelevant pretty much the entirety of ethical reflection on human happiness to date.

But as William Davies notes in his recent book  The Happiness Industry , the view that happiness is the only self-evident good is actually a way of limiting moral inquiry. One of the virtues of this rich, lucid and arresting book is that it places the current cult of happiness in a well-defined historical framework. Rightly, Davies his story with Bentham, noting that he was far more than a philosopher. Davies writes, ‘Bentham’s activities were those which we might now associate with a public sector management consultant’. In the 1790s, he wrote to the Home Office suggesting that the departments of government be linked together through a set of ‘conversation tubes’, and to the Bank of England with a design for a printing device that could produce unforgeable banknotes. He drew up plans for a ‘frigidarium’ to keep provisions such as meat, fish, fruit and vegetables fresh. His celebrated design for a prison to be known as a ‘Panopticon’, in which prisoners would be kept in solitary confinement while being visible at all times to the guards, was very nearly adopted. (Surprisingly, Davies does not discuss the fact that Bentham meant his Panopticon not just as a model prison but also as an instrument of control that could be applied to schools and factories.)

Bentham was also a pioneer of the ‘science of happiness’. If happiness is to be regarded as a science, it has to be measured, and Bentham suggested two ways in which this might be done. Viewing happiness as a complex of pleasurable sensations, he suggested that it might be quantified by measuring the human pulse rate. Alternatively, money could be used as the standard for quantification: if two different goods have the same price, it can be claimed that they produce the same quantity of pleasure in the consumer. Bentham was more attracted by the latter measure. By associating money so closely to inner experience, Davies writes, Bentham ‘set the stage for the entangling of psychological research and capitalism that would shape the business practices of the twentieth century’.

The Happiness Industry  describes how the project of a science of happiness has become integral to capitalism. We learn much that is interesting about how economic problems are being redefined and treated as psychological maladies. In addition, Davies shows how the belief that inner of pleasure and displeasure can be objectively measured has informed management studies and advertising. The tendency of thinkers such as J B Watson, the founder of behaviourism*, was that human beings could be shaped, or manipulated, by policymakers and managers. Watson had no factual basis for his view of human action. When he became president of the American Psychological Association in 1915, he ‘had never even studied a single human being’: his research had been confined to experiments on white rats. Yet Watson’s reductive model is now widely applied, with ‘behaviour change’ becoming the goal of governments: in Britain, a ‘Behaviour Insights Team’ has been established by the government to study how people can be encouraged, at minimum cost to the public purse, to live in what are considered to be socially desirable ways.

Modern industrial societies appear to need the possibility of ever-increasing happiness to motivate them in their labours. But whatever its intellectual pedigree, the idea that governments should be responsible for promoting happiness is always a threat to human freedom.

———————– * ‘behaviourism’: a branch of psychology which is concerned with observable behaviour

Questions 27-29

Choose the correct letter,  A ,  B ,  C  or  D .

Write the correct letter in boxes  27-29  on your answer sheet.

27.   What is the reviewer’s attitude to advocates of positive psychology?

A )   They are wrong to reject the ideas of Bentham.

B )   They are over-influenced by their study of Bentham’s theories.

C )   They have a fresh new approach to ideas on human happiness.

D )   They are ignorant about the ideas they should be considering.

28.   The reviewer refers to the Greek philosopher Aristotle in order to suggest that happiness

A )   may not be just pleasure and the absence of pain.

B )   should not be the main goal of humans.

C )   is not something that should be fought for.

D )   is not just an abstract concept.

29.   According to Davies, Bentham’s suggestion for linking the price of goods to happiness was significant because

A )   it was the first successful way of assessing happiness.

B )   it established a connection between work and psychology.

C )   it was the first successful example of psychological research.

D )   it involved consideration of the rights of consumers.

Questions 30-34

Complete the summary using the list of words  A-G  below.

Write the correct letter,  A-G , in boxes  30-34  on your answer sheet.

Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham was active in other areas besides philosophy. In the 1970s he suggested a type of technology to improve  30 ……………………… for different Government departments. He developed a new way of printing banknotes to increase  31 ………………………… and also designed a method for the  32  …………………………. of food. He also drew up plans for a prison which allowed the  33 …………………………. of prisoners at al times, and believed the same design could be used for other institutions as well. When researching happiness, he investigated possibilities for its  34 ……………………….., and suggested some methods of doing this.

A    measurement B    security C    implementation D    profits E    observation F    communication G    preservation

Questions 35-40

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes  35-40  on your answer sheet, write

YES                   if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO                    if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN     if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

35 .   One strength of  The Happiness Industry  is its discussion of the relationship between psychology and economics.

36 .   It is more difficult to measure some emotions than others.

37 .   Watson’s ideas on behaviourism were supported by research on humans he carried out before 1915.

38 .   Watson’s ideas have been most influential on governments outside America.

39 .   The need for happiness is linked to industrialisation.

40 .   A main aim of government should be to increase the happiness of the population.

________________

1) IELTS 13 READING PASSAGE – HOW BABY TALK BOOST INFANT BRAINS ↗

2) IELTS 13 READING PASSAGE – HARAPPAN CIVILISATION ↗

3) IELTS 13 READING PASSAGE – CUTTY SARK: THE FASTEST SAILING SHIP ↗

4) IELTS 13 READING PASSAGE – SAVING THE SOIL ↗

5) IELTS 13 READING PASSAGE – THE COCONUT PALM ↗

Book Review Answers

Check out Book Review reading answers below with explanations and locations given in the text.

36. NOT GIVEN

38. NOT GIVEN

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Good afternoon, I’d like a copy of the “Book Review” pdf. And if possible material related to writing book reviews. Thank you so very much, Teacher Gis

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 -13 , which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

book review on musicophilia reading answers ielts material

Facial Expression 1

A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among aliens, but also occur in most other mammals and some other animal species. Facial expressions and their significance in the perceiver can, to some extent, vary between cultures with evidence from descriptions in the works of Charles Darwin.

Humans can adopt a facial expression to read as a voluntary action. However, because expressions are closely tied to emotion, they are more often involuntary. It can be nearly impossible to avoid expressions for certain emotions, even when it would be strongly desirable to do so; a person who is trying to avoid insulting an individual he or she finds highly unattractive might, nevertheless, show a brief expression of disgust before being able to reassume a neutral expression. Microexpressions are one example of this phenomenon. The close link between emotion and expression can also work in the order direction; it has been observed that voluntarily assuming an expression can actually cause the associated emotion.

Some expressions can be accurately interpreted even between members of different species – anger and extreme contentment being the primary examples. Others, however, are difficult to interpret even in familiar individuals. For instance, disgust and fear can be tough to tell apart. Because faces have only a limited range of movement, expressions rely upon fairly minuscule differences in the proportion and relative position of facial features, and reading them requires considerable sensitivity to the same. Some faces are often falsely read as expressing some emotion, even when they are neutral because their proportions naturally resemble those another face would temporarily assume when emoting.

Also, a person’s eyes reveal much about hos they are feeling, or what they are thinking. Blink rate can reveal how nervous or at ease a person maybe. Research by Boston College professor Joe Tecce suggests that stress levels are revealed by blink rates. He supports his data with statistics on the relation between the blink rates of presidential candidates and their success in their races. Tecce claims that the faster blinker in the presidential debates has lost every election since 1980. Though Tecce’s data is interesting, it is important to recognize that non-verbal communication is multi-channelled, and focusing on only one aspect is reckless. Nervousness can also be measured by examining each candidates’ perspiration, eye contact and stiffness.

As Charles Darwin noted in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: the young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements. Still, up to the mid-20th century, most anthropologists believed that facial expressions were entirely learned and could, therefore, differ among cultures. Studies conducted in the 1960s by Paul Ekman eventually supported Darwin’s belief to a large degree.

Ekman’s work on facial expressions had its starting point in the work of psychologist Silvan Tomkins. Ekman showed that contrary to the belief of some anthropologists including Margaret Mead, facial expressions of emotion are not culturally determined, but universal across human cultures. The South Fore people of New Guinea were chosen as subjects for one such survey. The study consisted of 189 adults and 130 children from among a very isolated population, as well as twenty-three members of the culture who lived a less isolated lifestyle as a control group. Participants were told a story that described one particular emotion; they were then shown three pictures (two for children) of facial expressions and asked to match the picture which expressed the story’s emotion.

While the isolated South Fore people could identify emotions with the same accuracy as the non-isolated control group, problems associated with the study include the fact that both fear and surprise were constantly misidentified. The study concluded that certain facial expressions correspond to particular emotions and can not be covered, regardless of cultural background, and regardless of whether or not the culture has been isolated or exposed to the mainstream.

Expressions Ekman found to be universally included those indicating anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise (not that none of these emotions has a definitive social component, such as shame, pride, or schadenfreude). Findings on contempt (which is social) are less clear, though there is at least some preliminary evidence that this emotion and its expression are universally recognized. This may suggest that the facial expressions are largely related to the mind and each part on the face can express specific emotion.

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 - 26 , which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

book review on musicophilia reading answers ielts material

Aqua Product: New zealand ‘s Algae Biodiesel

The world’s first wild algae biodiesel, produced in New Zealand by Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation, was successfully test-driven in Wellington by the Minister for Energy and Climate Change Issues, David Parker. In front of a crowd of invited guests, media and members of the public, the Minister filled up a diesel-powered Land Rover with Aquaflow B5 blend bio-diesel and then drove the car around the forecourt of Parliament Buildings in Central Wellington. Green Party co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons was also on board. Marlborough-based Aquaflow announced on May 2006 that it had produced the world’s first bio-diesel derived from wild microalgae sourced from local sewage ponds.

“We believe we are the first company in the world to test drive a car powered by wild algae-based biodiesel. This will come as a surprise to some international bio-diesel industry people who believe that this break-through is still years away,” explains Aquaflow spokesperson Barrie Leay. “A bunch of inventive Kiwis and an Aussie have developed this fuel in just over a year”, he comments. “This is a huge opportunity for New Zealand and a great credit to the team of people who saw the potential in this technology from day one.”

Bio-diesel based on algae could eventually become a sustainable, low cost, cleaner-burning fuel alternative for New Zealand, powering family cars, trucks, buses and boats. It can also be used for other purposes such as heating or distributed electricity generation. There is now a global demand for billions of litres of biodiesel per year. Algae are also readily available and produced in huge volumes in nutrient-rich waste streams such as at the settling ponds of Effluent Management Systems (EMS). It is a renewable indigenous resource ideally suited to the production of fuel and other useful by-products. The breakthrough comes after technology start-up, Aquaflow, agreed to undertake a pilot with Marlborough District Council late last year to extract algae from the settling ponds of its EMS based in Blenheim. By removing the main contaminant to use as a fuel feedstock, Aquaflow is also helping clean up the council’s water discharge – a process known as bio-remediation. Dairy farmers, and many food processors too, can benefit in similar ways by applying the harvesting technology to their nutrient-rich waste streams.

Blended with conventional mineral diesel, bio-diesel can run vehicles without the need for vehicle modifications. Fuel derived from algae can also help meet the Government B5 (5% blended) target, with the prospect of this increase over time as bio-fuel production increases. “Our next step is to increase capacity to produce one million litres of bio-diesel from the Marlborough sewerage ponds over the next year,” says Leay. Aquaflow will launch a prospectus pre-Christmas as the company has already attracted considerable interest from potential investors. The test drive bio-diesel was used successfully in a static engine test at Massey University’s Wellington campus on Monday, December 11.

Today Algae are used by humans in many ways; for example, as fertilizers, soil conditioners and livestock feed. Aquatic and microscopic species are cultured in clear tanks or ponds and are either harvested or used to treat effluents pumped through the ponds. Algaculture on a large scale is an important type of aquaculture in some places. Naturally growing seaweeds are an important source of food, especially in Asia. They provide many vitamins including A, B, B2, B6, niacin and C, and are rich in iodine, potassium, iron, magnesium and calcium. In addition, commercially cultivated microalgae, including both Algae and Cyan-bacteria, are marketed as nutritional supplements, such as Spirulina, Chlorella and the Vitamin-C supplement, Dunaliella, high in beta-carotene. Algae are national foods of many nations: China consumes more than 70 species, including fat choy , a cyanobacterium considered a vegetable; Japan, over 20 species. The natural pigments produced by algae can be used as an alternative to chemical dyes and coloring agents.

Algae are the simplest plant organisms that convert sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air around us into stored energy through the well-understood process of photosynthesis. Algae are rich in lipids and other combustible elements and Aquaflow is developing technology that will allow these elements to be extracted in a cost-effective way. The proposed process is the subject of a provisional patent. Although algae are good at taking most of the nutrients out of sewage, too many algae can taint the water and make it smell. So, councils have to find a way of cleaning up the excess algae in their sewerage outflows and then either dispose of it or find alternative uses for it. And that’s where Aquaflow comes in.

Unlike some bio-fuels which require crops to be specially grown and thereby compete for land use with food production, and use other scarce resources of fuel, chemicals and fertiliser, the source for algae-based biodiesel already exists extensively and the process produces a sustainable net energy gain by capturing free solar energy from the sun.

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40 , which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

book review on musicophilia reading answers ielts material

Book review on Musicophilia

Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music.

Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book-which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata-makes a positive impression that is borne out by the contents of the book. Sacks’ voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it, Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone.” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is torn between the “old-fashioned” path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electroencephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria, has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!

Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often has better hearing than the sighted. The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds like music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music,” brings us into the underappreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasic patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect

To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.

It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognises the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the book’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.

Questions 1-5

Complete the Summary paragraph below. In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write the correct answer with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

The result of Ekman’s study demonstrates that fear and surprise are persistently and made a conclusion that some facial expressions have something to do with certain . Which is impossible covered, despite of and whether the culture has been or to the mainstream.

Questions 6-11

The reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-H

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-H , in boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once .

6. A B C D E F G H the difficulty identifying the actual meaning of facial expressions

7. A B C D E F G H the importance of culture on facial expressions is initially described

8. A B C D E F G H collected data for the research on the relation between blink and the success in elections

9. A B C D E F G H the features on the sociality of several facial expressions

10. A B C D E F G H an indicator to reflect one’s extent of nervousness

11. A B C D E F G H the relation between emotion and facial expressions

Questions 12-13

Choose two letters from the A-E

Write your answers in boxes 12-13 on your answer sheet

Which Two of the following statements are true according to Ekman’s theory?

Questions 14-18

Reading Passage contains seven paragraphs A-G.

Which paragraph stales the following information?

Write the appropriate letter A-G , in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

14. A B C D E F G It is unnecessary to modify vehicles driven by bio-diesel.

15. A B C D E F G Some algae are considered edible plants.

16. A B C D E F G Algae could be part of a sustainable and recycled source.

17. A B C D E F G Algae biodiesel is superior to other bio-fuels in a lot of ways.

18. A B C D E F G overgrown algae also can be a potential threat to the environment

Questions 19-23

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage.

Using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet.

Bio-diesel based on algae could become a substitute for in New Zealand. It could be used to vehicles such as cars and boats. As a result, billions of litres of bio-diesel are required worldwide each year. Algae can be obtained from with nutrient materials. With the technology breakthrough, algae are extracted and the is removed from the settling ponds. Dairy farmers and many food processors can adopt such technology.

Questions 24-26

Choose words from the passage to answer the questions 24-26 .

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

What environmental standard would bio-diesel vehicles are to meet?

What is to do like the immediate plan for coming years for Aquaflow?

Through what kind of process do algae obtain and store energy?

Questions 27-30

Choose the correct letter, A , B , C or D .

Write your answers in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

Questions 31-36

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage?

In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write

31. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than totally favorable review.

32. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders.

33. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN Sacks believes technological methods is of little importance compared with traditional observation when studying his patients.

34. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued

35. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories and findings in describing reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book.

36. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.

Questions 37-40

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F , below.

Write the correct letter, A-F , in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

37. A B C D E F The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody

38. A B C D E F The study of treating musical disorders

39. A B C D E F The EEG scans of Sacks’ patients

40. A B C D E F Sacks believes testing based on new technologies

book review on musicophilia reading answers ielts material

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IELTS Reading Practice

Book review on musicophilia.

Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music.

Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book-which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata-makes a positive impression that is borne out by the contents of the book. Sacks’ voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it, Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone.” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is torn between the “old-fashioned” path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electroencephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria, has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!

Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often has better hearing than the sighted. The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds like music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music,” brings us into the underappreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasic patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect

To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.

It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognises the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the book’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.

Questions 1-4

Choose the correct letter,  A ,  B ,  C  or  D .

Write your answers in boxes  1-4  on your answer sheet.

1.  Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book?

A     The guilty feeling made him so.

B     The writer expected it to be better than it was.

C     Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book.

D     This is the only book written by Sacks.

2.     What is the best part of the book?

A     the photo of Sacks listening to music

B     the tone of voice of the book

C     the autobiographical description in the book

D     the description of Sacks’ wealth

3.  In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve?

A     make a herald introduction of the research work and technique applied 

B     give a detailed description of various musical disorders 

C     explain why he needs to do away with the simple observation

D     explain why he needs to do away with the simple observation

4. What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria’s case?

A     He refuses to have further tests.

B     He can’t determine the cause of his sudden musicality.

C     He nearly died because of the lightening.

D   His brain waves were too normal to show anything.

Show workspace

Questions 5-10

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage?

In boxes  5-10  on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

FALSE               if the statement contradicts with the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN     if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

5   TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN   It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than totally favorable review.

6   TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN   Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders. 

7   TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN   Sacks believes technological methods is of little importance compared with traditional observation when studying his patients.

8   TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN   It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued

9   TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN   Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories and findings in describing reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book.

10   TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN   Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.

Questions 11-14

Complete each sentence with the correct ending,  A-F , below.

Write the correct letter,  A-F , in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

11   ABCDEF   The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody

12   ABCDEF   The study of treating musical disorders

13   ABCDEF   The EEG scans of Sacks’ patients

14   ABCDEF   Sacks believes testing based on new technologies

A    show no music-brain disorders.

B    indicates that medication can have varied results.

C    is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries.

D    should not be used in isolation.

E    indicate that not everyone can receive a good education.

F    show a misconception that there is a function centre localized in the brain

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Musical Maladies – IELTS Academic Reading Passage

Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book are mixed.

Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book— which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata—makes a positive impression that is borne out by the contents of the book. Sacks’s voice throughout is steady and erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.

The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it Sacks explains that he wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone ” He also stresses the importance of “the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is torn between the “old-fashioned” path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.

The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part I, “Haunted by Music,” begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electro-encephalography (EEG) showed his brain waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his trauma and subsequent “conversion” to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria has declined to undergo them; he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!

Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages long, merely notes that the blind often have better hearing than the sighted. The most interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about “amusia,” an inability to hear sounds as music, and “dysharmonia,” a highly specific impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact. Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.

To Sacks’s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music,” brings us into the underappreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasie patients (those unable to express their thoughts verbally fol-lowing a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power of music to animate Parkinson’s patients and other people with severe movement disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how music achieves this effect.

To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more at ease dis-cussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories. It’s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.

Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another, or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.

Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognises the existence of new technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest com-passion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence echoes the hook’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neuro logical community will respond.

Questions 27-30 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

27. Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book? A  The guilty feeling made him so. B  The writer expected it to be better than it was. C  Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book. D  This is the only book written by Sacks.

28. What is the best part of the book? A  the photo of Sacks listening to music B  the tone of voice of the book C  the autobiographical description in the book D  the description of Sacks’s wealth

29. In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve? A  make terms with the new technologies B  give detailed description of various musical disorders C  explain how people understand music D  explain why he needs to do away with simple observation

30. What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria’s case? A  He refuses to have further tests. B  He can’t determine the cause of his sudden musicality. C  He nearly died because of the lightening. D  His brain waves were too normal to show anything.

Questions 31-36 Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write

YES  if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO  if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NOT GIVEN  if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

31. It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than favorable review. 32. Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders. 33. Sacks believes technological methods is not important compared with observation when studying his patients. 34. It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued. 35. Sacks should have more skepticism about other theories and findings. 36. Sacks is impatient to use new testing methods.

Questions 37-40 Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.

37. The dissociations between harmony and melody 38. The study of treating musical disorders 39. The EEG scans of Sacks’s patients 40. Sacks believes testing based on new technologies

A  show no music brain disorders. B  indicates that medication can have varied results. C  is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries. D  should not be used in isolation. E  indicate that not everyone can receive good education. F  show that music is not localised in the brain.

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The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning – IELTS Reading Answers

Nehasri Ravishenbagam

11 min read

Updated On Feb 12, 2024

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The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning – IELTS Reading Answers

Recent IELTS Reading Test with Answers - Free PDF

‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ is an academic reading passage that has appeared in an IELTS Test. Since questions get repeated in the IELTS exam, these kinds of reading passages are ideal for practice. If you want more practice, try taking a whole IELTS reading practice test.

Since IELTS Reading is considered the second easiest module of the exam after Listening, try to solve and review ‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ Reading passages and similar passages to ensure that your reading skills are up to the mark.

The question types found in the ‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ passage are:

  • Multiple-Choice Questions   (Q. 1-4)
  • Summary Completion   (Q. 5-9)
  • True/False/Not Given (Q. 10-14)’

Want to boost your IELTS Reading score? Check out the video below!

Reading Passage

The characteristics of wise reasoning.

How to make wise decisions

Across cultures, wisdom has been considered one of the most revered human qualities. Although the truly wise may seem few and far between, empirical research examining wisdom suggests that it isn’t an exceptional trait possessed by a small handful of bearded philosophers after all – in fact, the latest studies suggest that most of us have the ability to make wise decisions, given the right context.

‘It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously imagined,’ says Associate Professor Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. ‘Recent empirical findings from cognitive, developmental, social, and personality psychology cumulatively suggest that people’s ability to reason wisely varies dramatically across experiential and situational contexts. Understanding the role of such contextual factors offers unique insights into understanding wisdom in daily life, as well as how it can be enhanced and taught.’

It seems that it’s not so much that some people simply possess wisdom and others lack it, but that our ability to reason wisely depends on a variety of external factors. ‘It is impossible to characterize thought processes attributed to wisdom without considering the role of contextual factors,’ explains Grossmann. ‘In other words, wisdom is not solely an “inner quality” but rather unfolds as a function of situations people happen to be in. Some situations are more likely to promote wisdom than others.’

Coming up with a definition of wisdom is challenging, but Grossmann and his colleagues have identified four key characteristics as part of a framework of wise reasoning. One is intellectual humility or recognition of the limits of our own knowledge, and another is appreciation of perspectives wider than the issue at hand. Sensitivity to the possibility of change in social relations is also key, along with compromise or integration of different attitudes and beliefs.

Grossmann and his colleagues have also found that one of the most reliable ways to support wisdom in our own day-to-day decisions is to look at scenarios from a third-party perspective, as though giving advice to a friend. Research suggests that when adopting a first-person viewpoint we focus on ‘the focal features of the environment’ and when we adopt a third-person, ‘observer’ viewpoint we reason more broadly and focus more on interpersonal and moral ideals such as justice and impartiality. Looking at problems from this more expansive viewpoint appears to foster cognitive processes related to wise decisions.

What are we to do, then, when confronted with situations like a disagreement with a spouse or negotiating a contract at work, that require us to take a personal stake? Grossmann argues that even when we aren’t able to change the situation, we can still evaluate these experiences from different perspectives.

For example, in one experiment that took place during the peak of a recent economic recession, graduating college seniors were asked to reflect on their job prospects. The students were instructed to imagine their career either ‘as if you were a distant observer’ or ‘before your own eyes as if you were right there’. Participants in the group assigned to the ‘distant observer’ role displayed more wisdom-related reasoning (intellectual humility and recognition of change) than did participants in the control group.

In another study, couples in long-term romantic relationships were instructed to visualize an unresolved relationship conflict either through the eyes of an outsider or from their own perspective. Participants then discussed the incident with their partner for 10 minutes, after which they wrote down their thoughts about it. Couples in the ‘other’s eyes’ condition were significantly more likely to rely on wise reasoning – recognizing others’ perspectives and searching for a compromise – compared to the couples in the egocentric condition.

‘Ego-decentering promotes greater focus on others and enables a bigger picture, conceptual view of the experience, affording recognition of intellectual humility and change,’ says Grossmann.

We might associate wisdom with intelligence or particular personality traits, but research shows only a small positive relationship between wise thinking and crystallized intelligence and the personality traits of openness and agreeableness. ‘It is remarkable how much people can vary in their wisdom from one situation to the next, and how much stronger such contextual effects are for understanding the relationship between wise judgment and its social and affective outcomes as compared to the generalized “traits”,’ Grossmann explains. ‘That is, knowing how wisely a person behaves in a given situation is more informative for understanding their emotions or likelihood to forgive [or] retaliate as compared to knowing whether the person may be wise “in general”.’

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Questions 1-4

1 What point does the writer make in the first paragraph?

A Wisdom appears to be unique to the human race.

B A basic assumption about wisdom may be wrong.

C Concepts of wisdom may depend on the society we belong to.

D There is still much to be discovered about the nature of wisdom.

2 What does Igor Grossmann suggest about the ability to make wise decisions?

A It can vary greatly from one person to another.

B Earlier research into it was based on unreliable data.

C The importance of certain influences on it was underestimated.

D Various branches of psychology define it according to their own criteria.

3   According to the third paragraph, Grossmann claims that the level of wisdom an individual shows

A can be greater than they think it is.

B will be different in different circumstances.

C may be determined by particular aspects of their personality.

D should develop over time as a result of their life experiences.

4   What is described in the fifth paragraph?

A a difficulty encountered when attempting to reason wisely

B an example of the type of person who is likely to reason wisely

C a controversial view about the benefits of reasoning wisely

D a recommended strategy that can help people to reason wisely

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Questions 5-9

The characteristics of wise reasoning

Igor Grossmann and colleagues have established four characteristics which enable us to make wise decisions. It is important to have a certain degree of 5  ………………….. regarding the extent of our knowledge, and to take into account 6  ………………….. which may not be the same as our own. We should also be able to take a broad 7  …………………..  of any situation. Another key characteristic is being aware of the likelihood of alterations in the way that people relate to each other.

Grossmann also believes that it is better to regard scenarios with 8 ………………….. . By avoiding the first-person perspective, we focus more on 9  …………………..  and on other moral ideals, which in turn leads to wiser decision-making.

B confidence

F objectivity

H experiences

Questions 10-14

10   Students participating in the job prospects experiment could choose one of two perspectives to take.

11   Participants in the couples experiment were aware that they were taking part in a study about wise reasoning.

12 In the couples experiments, the length of the couples’ relationships had an impact on the results.

13   In both experiments, the participants who looked at the situation from a more detached viewpoint tended to make wiser decisions.

14   Grossmann believes that a person’s wisdom is determined by their intelligence to only a very limited extent.

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‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ IELTS Reading Answers With Location and Explanation 

Read further for the explanations and location of the ‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ IELTS reading answer

1 Answer:  B

Question type:  Multiple-Choice Questions

Answer Location:  Paragraph 1, Line 3-4

Answer explanation:  The first paragraph suggests that a basic assumption about wisdom may be wrong, as it discusses how recent research challenges the idea that wisdom is an exceptional trait possessed by only a few individuals. Hence the answer is B.

2  Answer:  C

Answer Location:  Paragraph 2, Line 1

Answer explanation:  In the second paragraph, Igor Grossmann suggests that the ability to make wise decisions depends on experiential, situational, and cultural factors, and these factors play a significant role in shaping wisdom. Hence, the answer is C.

3 Answer:  B

Answer Location:  Paragraph 3, Line 4

Answer explanation:  According to the third paragraph, Grossmann argues that people’s ability to reason wisely varies dramatically across experiential and situational contexts, indicating that the level of wisdom can be different in different circumstances. Hence, the answer is A.

4  Answer:  D

Answer Location:  Paragraph 5, Line 4

Answer explanation:  The fifth paragraph describes a recommended strategy to foster wise reasoning: looking at scenarios from a third-party perspective, as though giving advice to a friend. Hence, the answer is G.

5 Answer:  Modesty

Question type:  Summary Completion

Answer Location:  Paragraph 4, line 3

Answer explanation:  The answer is in the fourth paragraph, third line. It claims that the most important quality is intellectual humility, or the understanding of our own knowledge’s limitations. Hence the answer is Modesty.

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6  Answer:  Opinion

Answer Location:  Paragraph 4

Answer explanation:  The solution is in the fourth paragraph’s last sentence. It states that we should take into account various points of view in order to integrate various attitudes and beliefs. Hence the answer is Opinion.

7 Answer:  View

Answer Location:  Paragraph 5, lines 2 and 3

Answer explanation:  According to the fifth paragraph, viewing situations from the viewpoint of a third party is one of the most trustworthy ways. Especially when it comes to supporting wisdom in our own day-to-day decisions. Hence, the answer is View.

8 Answer:  Objectivity

Answer Location:  Paragraph 5

Answer explanation:  According to the fifth paragraph, viewing situations from the viewpoint of a third party is one of the most trustworthy ways. Especially when it comes to supporting wisdom in our own day-to-day decisions. This can help us be objective. Hence, the answer is Objectivity.

9 Answer:  Fairness

Answer explanation:   By ignoring the first-person viewpoint, we can concentrate more on other moral principles, which helps us make better decisions. The fifth paragraph states that one of the most reliable methods is to look at things from the perspective of a third person. Hence, the answer is fairness.

10 Answer:  False

Question type:  True/False/Not Given

Answer Location:  Paragraph 7, last 3 lines

Answer explanation:  By abandoning the first-person viewpoint, we can concentrate more on other moral principles, which results in better decision-making. The fifth paragraph suggests that one of the most reliable approaches is to look at problems from the perspective of a third person. Hence, the answer is false.

11 Answer:  Not given

Answer Location:  N.A

Answer explanation:  The passage doesn’t have any information related to this.

12 Answer:  Not Given

13 Answer:  True

Answer Location:  Paragraph 8, last 3 lines

Answer explanation:   In paragraph 8, it was said that couples in the “other’s eyes” condition were more prone to rely on sound judgment. Thereby appreciating other people’s viewpoints and trying to reach a consensus. Hence, the answer is true.

14  Answer:  True

Answer Location:  Paragraph 9, line 1

Answer explanation:  The final paragraph has the answer. It claims that we may equate wisdom with mental prowess or specific behavioural attributes. However, there is only a slight correlation, according to the study. Between wise reasoning, intelligence that has been crystallized, and open-minded and amiable personality qualities. Hence, the answer is true.

Tips for Answering the Question Types in the ‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ IELTS Reading Passage

Let us check out some quick tips to answer the types of questions in ‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ the IELTS Reading passage.

Multiple Choice Questions:

You will be given a reading passage followed by several questions based on the information in the paragraph in multiple choice questions. Your task is to understand the question and compare it to the paragraph to select the best solution from the available possibilities.

  • Before reading the passage, read the question and select the keywords. Check the keyword possibilities if the question statement is short on information.
  • Then, using the keywords, read the passage to find the relevant information.
  • To select the correct option, carefully read the relevant words and match them with each option.
  • You will find several options with keywords that do not correspond to the information.
  • Try opting for the elimination method mostly.
  • Find the best option by matching the meaning rather than just the keywords.

Summary Completion:

Summary Completion is a type of IELTS reading question that requires you to fill in a gap in a sentence with a word or phrase from the passage.

To answer these questions, you can use the following strategies:

  • Read the sentence carefully, hence this will give you an idea of the type of word or phrase that is missing.
  • Scan the passage for the keywords in the sentence as they can help you to identify the correct word or phrase.
  • Read the sentence with the missing word or phrase, hence this will help you to see how the word or phrase fits into the sentence.
  • Check your answer once you have filled in the gaps. Make sure that your answer makes sense in the context of the sentence.

True/False/Not Given: 

True/False/Not Given questions are a type of IELTS Reading question that requires you to identify whether a statement is true, false, or not given in the passage.

  • True statements  are statements that are explicitly stated in the passage.
  • False statements  are statements that are explicitly contradicted in the passage.
  • Not Given statements  are statements that are neither explicitly stated nor contradicted in the passage

To answer True/False/Not Given questions, you need to be able to understand the passage and identify the key information. You also need to be able to distinguish between statements that are explicitly stated, contradicted, and not given.

Great work on attempting to solve the ‘The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning’ IELTS reading passage! To crack your IELTS Reading in the first go, try solving more of the  Recent IELTS Reading Passages.

Also check: 

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Nehasri Ravishenbagam

Nehasri Ravishenbagam

Nehasri Ravishenbagam, a Senior Content Marketing Specialist and a Certified IELTS Trainer of 3 years, crafts her writings in an engaging way with proper SEO practices. She specializes in creating a variety of content for IELTS, CELPIP, TOEFL, and certain immigration-related topics. As a student of literature, she enjoys freelancing for websites and magazines to balance her profession in marketing and her passion for creativity!

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  1. Book Review on Musicophilia IELTS Reading Answers

    Book Review on Musicophilia is a reading passage that appeared in the recent IELTS Test. Try to find the answers to get an idea of the difficulty level of the passages in the actual reading test. The Reading Module of the IELTS can be the top-scoring category with diligent practice. To achieve the best results in this section, you must understand how to approach and answer the different ...

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    8 It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued. Answer: NOT GIVEN. 9 Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories and findings in describing reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book. Answer: YES. 10 Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.

  3. Book review on Musicophilia

    Book review on Musicophilia. IELTS Academic Reading Passage. A. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks.

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    Academic Reading Test 22.3. READING PASSAGE 3. You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. Book review on Musiccophilia. Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks. A. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in ...

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    You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.. Book review on Musicophilia. Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music. A. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing.

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    This post can simply guide you the best to figure out every Reading answer without trouble. Finding IELTS Reading answers is a step-by-step routine and I hope this post can assist you in this topic. Cambridge 13 Reading Test 4 Passage 3: The headline of the passage: Book Review. Questions 27-29: (Multiple Choice Questions)

  11. Reading Practice Test 27

    READING PASSAGE 3. You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.. Book review on Musicophilia. Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music. A. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing.

  12. (Update 2024) Book review on Musiccophilia

    Book review on Musiccophilia. D. The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part, "Haunted by Music," begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a ...

  13. Mock Test

    Questions 1-6. Reading Passage 1 has six sections A-F. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number i-x in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet. List of Headings. i Locations and features of different seaweeds.

  14. Musical Maladies Reading Ielts Answers and Questions

    IELTS reading passage -Musical Maladies. Musical Maladies. Norman M. Weinberger reviews the latest work of Oliver Sacks on music. A. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specializing in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the ...

  15. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

    Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and amateur musician, has long been fascinated by "musicophilia," the affinity for music that "lies so deep in human nature that one is tempted to think of it as innate" [p. x]. In Musicophilia, Sacks draws on his medical expertise and his love of music in a collection of tales about people affected by music ...

  16. Book review on Musicophilia Archives

    Download PDF ielts reading test ... Practice General Reading Test with Answer. Reading Practice Test 27 READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. The coming back of the "Extinct" Grass in Britain A It's Britain's dodo, called interrupted brome because of its gappy ...

  17. Music Therapy in Disease IELTS Reading Passage with Answers

    Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. 37 The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody. 38 The study of treating musical disorders. 39 The EEG scans of Sacks' patients.

  18. Book Review: IELTS Reading Answers

    IELTS Academic Test - Passage 12: 'Book Review' reading with answers explanation, location and pdf. PRACTICE NOW !! ... 1 thought on "Book Review: IELTS Reading Answers" ... October 18, 2022 at 6:57 pm Good afternoon, I'd like a copy of the "Book Review" pdf. And if possible material related to writing book reviews. Thank you so very ...

  19. Reading Practice Book review on Musicophilia Norman M. Weinberger

    Write your answers in boxes€1-4€on your answer sheet. € 1.€Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book? A€€ The guilty feeling made him so. B€€ The writer expected it to be better than it was. C€€ Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book. D€€ This is the only book written by Sacks. €

  20. IELTS Mock Test 2023 October Reading Practice Test 1

    Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage. Using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.. Write your answers in boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet.. Bio-diesel based on algae could become a substitute for in New Zealand. It could be used to vehicles such as cars and boats. As a result, billions of litres of bio-diesel are required worldwide each ...

  21. IELTS Reading Practice

    IELTS Reading Practice. Skip to content. THE IELTS BRIDGE +917302390901; [email protected]; BOOK DEMO +917302390901 ; ... Book review on Musicophilia. ... Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet. 1.

  22. Musical Maladies

    Musical Maladies - IELTS Academic Reading Passage. Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author Oliver Sacks.

  23. The Characteristics of Wise Reasoning

    Answer Location: Paragraph 5, Line 4. Answer explanation: The fifth paragraph describes a recommended strategy to foster wise reasoning: looking at scenarios from a third-party perspective, as though giving advice to a friend. Hence, the answer is G. 5 Answer: Modesty. Question type: Summary Completion.