This is a practice Reading Passage for IELTS

 Reading Passage 1

You should spent about 20 minutes on Question 1-15 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below  

Question 1-5 

Reading Passage 1 below has 5 Paragraphs [ A-E ]. Which paragraph focuses on the information below ? Write the appropriate letter [ A-E] in Boxes 1- 5 on your answer sheet .  

NB. Write only ONE letter for each answer 

1. The way parameters in the mind help people to be creative 

2. The need to learn rules in order  to break them 

3. How habits restrict us and limit creativity 

4. How to train the mind to creative 

5. How the mind is trapped  by the desire for order 

The creation myth 

A. It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents : gifts from god or nature . Creative genius is , in fact , latent within many of us , without our realising . But how far do we need to travel to find the path to creativity ? For many people , long way . In our everyday lives , we have to perform many  acts out of habit to surive , like opening the door , shaving , getting dressed , walking to work , and so on . If this were not the case , we would , in all probability , become mentally unhinged . So strongly ingrained are our habits , though this varies from person to person , that , sometimes , when a conscious effort is made to be creative , automatic response take over . We may try , for example , to walk to work  following a different route , but end up on our usual path . By then it is too late to go back and change our minds . Another day , perhaps . The same applies to all other areas of our lives . When we are solving problems , for example , we may seek different answer , but , often as not , find ourselves walking along the same well-trodden paths .

B. So, for many people , their action and behaviour  are set in immovable blocks , their minds clogged with the cholesterol of habitual action , preventing them from operating freely , and thereby stifling creation . unfortunately , mankind's very struggle for survival has become a tyranny - the obsessive desire to give order to the world as case in point . Witness people's attitude to time , social custom and the panoply of rules and regulations by which the human mind is now circumscribed .

C. The groundwork for keeping creative ability in check begins at school. School , later university and then work teach us to regulate our lives , imposing a continuous process of restrictions , which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of technology . Is it surprising  then that creative ability appears to be so rare ? It is trapped in prison that we have erected . Yet , even here in this hostile environment , the foundation for creativity are being laid ; because setting off on creative path is also partly about using rules and regulation . Such limitations are needed so that once they are learnt , they can  be broken .

D. The truly creative mind is often  seen as totally free and unfettered . But a better image is of a mind , which can be free when it wants , and once that recognises that rules and regulation are parameters , or barriers ,to be raised and dropped again at will . An example of how the human mind can be trained to be creative might help here . people's minds are just like tense muscles that need to be freed up potential unlocked . One strategy is to erect artificial barriers or hurdles in solving a problems . As a form of stimulation , the participants in task can be forbidden to use particular solutions or to follow certain lines of thought to solve a problem . In this way they are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory , which may lead to some startling discoveries . Unfortunately , the difficulty in this exercise , and with creation itself , is convincing people that creation is possible , shrouded as it is in so much myth and legend . There is also an element of fear involved , however subliminal , as deviating from the safety of one's own thought patterns is very much akin to madness . But , open Pandora 's box , and a whole new world unfolds before your very eyes .

E.  Lifting barriers into place a major part in helping the mind to control ideas rather than letting them collide at random . Parameters act as containers for ideas , and thus help the mind to fix on them . When the mind is thinking laterally , and two ideas from different areas of the brain come or are brought together , they from a new idea , just like atoms floating around and then forming a molecule . Once the ideas has been formed , it needs to be contained or it will fly away , so fleeting is its passage . The mind needs to hold it in place for a time so that it can recognise  it or call on it again . And then the parameters can act as channels along which the ideas can flow , developing and expanding . When the mind  has brought the ideas to fruition by thinking it through to its final conclusion , the parameters can be brought down and the ideas allowed to float off and come in contact with other ideas .

Questions 6-10 

Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write them in Boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet

6. According to write , creative people .....

A  are usually born with their talents 

B  are born with their talents 

C  are not born with their talents 

D  are geniuses

7. According to write , creativity is ...

A  a gift from god or nature 

B  an automatic response 

C difficult for many people to achieve 

D  a well-trodden path 

8. According to writer ,...

A  the human race's fight to live is becoming a tyranny 

B  the human brain id blocked with cholesterol

C   the human race is now circumscribed by talents 

D  the human race's fight  to survive stifles creative ability 

9 . Advancing technology ....

A  holds creativity in check

B  improves creativity 

C  enhances creativity 

D  is a tyranny             

10 . According to author , creativity ...

A  is common

B  is increasingly common 

C  is becoming rarer and rarer 

D  is rare commodity 

Question 11-15 

Do the statements below agree with information in Reading Passage 1?

In Boxes 11-15 

Yes                if the statement agrees with the information in the passage 

No                 if the statement contradicts   the information in the passage

Not Given     if there is no information about the statement in the passage 

11. Rules and regulation are examples of parameters 

12. The truly creative mind is associated with the need for free speech and a totally free society 

13. One problem with creativity is that people think it is impossible 

14. The act of creation is linked to madness 

15. Parameters help the mind by holding ideas and helping them to develop