🔥Keeping the fun in funfairs: Đề thi thật IELTS READING (IELTS Reading Recent Actual Test) - Làm bài online format computer-based, kèm giải thích từ vựng

READING PASSAGE 3

Keeping the fun in funfairs

A

Fun is becoming a tricky issue for ride designers. In order to increase excitement, they have been ramping up the accelerations to create the most dizzying forces possible. But getting it right is far from easy. Err on the side of caution and people won't bother with a second ride. Go too far, however, and they may not be able to come back for more. The problem is that true innovation has been lacking for a while, and fairground rides have become more about survival than actual enjoyment. So if our thrill-seeking bodies can really take no more, what’s going to keep dragging us back to amusement parks? Creating something new and exciting, yet safe, is going to take some careful thought.

B

When the Disney Corporation asked German designer Walter Stengel to design a giant loop ride for them in the 1970s, he went to NASA, the aeronautics and space foundation, to discover the effects of sustained acceleration on the pilots. NASA’s research suggests that the maximum level we can endure is 9 g, g being the standard unit of acceleration due to gravity. Go much beyond that and pilots pass out. Go further still and they suffer serious internal damage. So, Stengel decided that the maximum vertical acceleration for the public should be 6, and then only for a second or so. What’s more, he put firm restrictions on the rate at which acceleration can increase – you’ll never go down a 45-degree ramp into a tight circular loop, for instance.

C

But stricter safety limits only intensify the need to search for novel ways to thrill customers. Part of the problem is that no matter how exciting an attraction is, after a few rides, the passengers will have some idea of what to expect. The next stage in designing rides, however, could throw predictability out of the window. This step has already been taken in the most recent waltzers, or tea-cup rides. Ride a waltzer and you sit in a car that spins on its own axis. The car is on a huge platform that also rotates. In the past, you could take comfort from the fact that the spin was tightly controlled by gears that turned your car at a rate determined by the rotation speed of the whole ride. But the latest generation of waltzer cars spin freely, at a rate determined by the weight and position of the people in them. So you never have the same experience twice. "People seem to like these 'chaotic rides'," says Stengel.>> Form đăng kí giải đề thi thật IELTS 4 kĩ năng kèm bài giải bộ đề 100 đề PART 2 IELTS SPEAKING quý đang thi (update hàng tuần) từ IELTS TUTOR

D

Although seemingly a passport to endless thrills, chaos does have one rather obvious drawback: it’s unpredictable. Despite complex calculations, designers can never be completely sure that something odd won’t happen, especially since freely turning systems occasionally hit a resonance frequency. For example, if pushed at a particular frequency, a child on a swing would go over the top of the swing's frame. Similarly, if you drive a revolving waltzer car at its resonance frequency, it could speed up uncontrollably. This could be very hazardous, according to Stengel. If a ride is subjected to unforeseen stresses, no one can guarantee that it will be able to cope.

E

No one even knows what the safe limits of rotational force are, let alone its effect on the human body. Stengel has worked with the German Air Force, rotating volunteers head over heels while also making them cartwheel or pirouette like a ballet dancer. It emerged that if the pilots were turned on all three axes simultaneously, they became so nauseous they almost blacked out, and when they got off, they couldn't walk. But what Stengel found particularly puzzling was that they also developed headaches and other problems about two days later. Since these effects aren't understood, he tries to limit how people on his rides are rotated. We want to provide fun, not pain.

F

With that goal in mind, Stengel feels that finding people around in ever more chaotic machines is no longer the way forward. He believes that the sequence of accelerations, not their size, is what counts, and that the way to make rides more fun is to put people through a carefully designed succession of relatively small accelerations. Other experts in this field agree, and it seems likely that designers could formulate profiles even for existing attractions that would lead to higher amusement value. Recent experiments testing the tolerances of Dutch military pilots to a range of accelerations have shown that tumbling around in machines doesn't have to be unpleasant. When the force is kept low, the subjects actually enjoy the experience.

G

The fun seems to come from the unforeseen, particularly when an effect called the Coriolis illusion comes into play. This is an agreeable tumbling feeling which occurs, for example, when the head is suddenly tilted while the subject is spinning with eyes closed. It appears that a roll which includes, for instance, an unexpected change of acceleration from a small negative g—a feeling of weightlessness—to a small positive g, a slight crushing sensation, has an extraordinary effect on people. If the theories of Stengel and other experts really do work, fairground fun might one day be measured in smiles, not screams.

Questions 33-37

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 33-37 on your answer sheet.

1. Some attractions, such as the new type of waltzers, depend on both the __________ of their passengers in order to create a variety of ride experiences.

2. Designers need to be aware that a "chaotic" ride could accelerate at a violent rate if it reaches its __________.

3. Research has shown that people will begin to feel ill if they are subjected to movement on all __________ at the same time.

4. Volunteers in Stengel's rotation tests suffered delayed reactions such as __________.

5. A phenomenon known as the __________ produced a pleasurable sensation in test subjects.

Questions 38-40

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

In boxes 38-40 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.

1. There is still a lot to be learnt about the rates of acceleration which people can withstand.

2. Children enjoy funfairs more than adults.

3. Current rides could probably be adapted to become more enjoyable.

1. Thrill-seeking (adj)
   Explanation: Tìm kiếm sự phấn khích
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "So if our thrill-seeking bodies can really take no more, what’s going to keep dragging us back to amusement parks?"

1. Dizzying (adj)
   Explanation: Khiến choáng váng, quay cuồng
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "In order to increase excitement, they have been ramping up the accelerations to create the most dizzying forces possible."

1. Err (v)
   Explanation: Lỗi, phạm sai lầm
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Err on the side of caution and people won't bother with a second ride."

1. Ramp up (phrasal verb)
   Explanation: Tăng cường, làm tăng
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "In order to increase excitement, they have been ramping up the accelerations..."

1. Caution (n)
   Explanation: Sự thận trọng, cẩn trọng
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Err on the side of caution and people won't bother with a second ride."

1. Innovation (n)
   Explanation: Sự đổi mới, sáng tạo
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "The problem is that true innovation has been lacking for a while..."

1. Fairground (n)
   Explanation: Khu hội chợ
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...and fairground rides have become more about survival than actual enjoyment."

1. Thrill (n)
   Explanation: Cảm giác mạnh, sự phấn khích
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Creating something new and exciting, yet safe, is going to take some careful thought."

1. Endure (v)
   Explanation: Chịu đựng, cam chịu
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "NASA’s research suggests that the maximum level we can endure is 9 g..."

1. Resonance (n)
   Explanation: Tần số cộng hưởng
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...freely turning systems occasionally hit a resonance frequency."

1. Tolerances (n)
   Explanation: Mức độ chịu đựng, dung sai
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Recent experiments testing the tolerances of Dutch military pilots..."

1. Perplexing (adj)
   Explanation: Làm bối rối, khó hiểu
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...what Stengel found particularly perplexing was that they also developed headaches..."

1. Pirouette (v)
   Explanation: Quay tròn (như một điệu múa ballet)
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...rotating volunteers head over heels while also making them cartwheel or pirouette like a ballet dancer."

1. Nauseous (adj)
   Explanation: Buồn nôn
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...they became so nauseous they almost blacked out..."

1. Cartwheel (n)
   Explanation: Vòng tròn tay (một động tác thể dục)
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...rotating volunteers head over heels while also making them cartwheel..."

1. Pilots (n)
   Explanation: Phi công
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Recent experiments testing the tolerances of Dutch military pilots..."

1. Unforeseen (adj)
   Explanation: Không lường trước được
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "If a ride is subjected to unforeseen stresses, no one can guarantee that it will be able to cope."

1. Coriolis illusion (n)
   Explanation: Ảo giác Coriolis (cảm giác lộn nhào do thay đổi tốc độ và hướng)
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "This is an agreeable tumbling feeling which occurs, for example, when the head is suddenly tilted while the subject is spinning with eyes closed."

1. Screams (n)
   Explanation: Tiếng la hét
   IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "If the theories of Stengel and other experts really do work, fairground fun might one day be measured in smiles, not screams."

• iv
• viii
• ii
• iii
• i
• vi
• Weight, position
• Resonance frequency 
• Three axes
• Headaches
• Coriolis illusion
• No
• Not given
• Yes