IELTS Real Reading Test 2025 - Q1 Test 3 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Luyện tập đề IELTS Real Reading Test 2025 - Q1 Test 3 được lấy từ cuốn sách Real Test 2025 - Q1 với trải nghiệm thi IELTS trên máy và giải thích đáp án chi tiết bằng Linearthinking, kèm answer key và list từ vựng IELTS cần học trong bài đọc.
IELTS Real Reading Test 2025 - Q1 Test 3 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 1
Question 1 - 5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1
The chemical industry makes use of the majority of salt produced globally.
2
In ancient times, people were only able to get salt from a single source.
3
Salt production through quarrying rock salt was common before the solar evaporation method of producing salt.
4
Two thousand years ago, the Chinese were quick to develop the equipment needed to mine underground.
5
At the time of the Roman Empire, salt was removed from salt water by heating the water in a type of pan.
Question 6 - 9
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
The production of rock salt
• Samples of the salt are collected with the aid of a drill.
• The salt is analysed to see if mining should go ahead.
• Vertical tunnels are sunk into the middle of the salt deposit.
• During a process called
6.
, a machine is used to break into the salt.
• Explosives are placed in the holes in the salt.
• After blasting,
7.
of salt are left behind to hold the roof up.
• In an underground crushing area, small pieces of rock salt are gathered using a
8.
.
• The process of
9.
removes any unwanted material from the rock salt.
Question 10 - 13
Complete the labels on the diagrams below using ONE WORD ONLY from the reading passage.
Obtaining salt from brine: the multi-effect vacuum evaporator
STEP 01
Cylinders made of are filled with brine.
STEP 02
heats the tube in the first cylinder
STEP 03
The brine boils.
STEP 04
The in cylinders falls due to condensation.
STEP 05
Slurry is collected in the cylinders and is passed to a tank.
STEP 06
are used to separate salt particles by size.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 2
Question 14 - 20
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
14
The Pyramid of Cestius has always been one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions.
15
The construction of the Pyramid was completed before Cestius' death.
16
In the Middle Ages, people thought an original founder of Rome was buried in the Pyramid of Cestius.
17
Today the height of the Pyramid is something that tourists and residents immediately notice.
18
Japanese businessman Yuzo Yagi was an admirer of both Italian and Egyptian architecture.
19
The restoration of the Pyramid of Cestius, which was funded by Yuzo Yagi, finished earlier than expected.
20
Most of the original frescoes inside Cestius’ tomb have survived to this day.
Question 21 - 26
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
History of the Pyramid of Cestius
Construction of Cestius' pyramid
- It was made from
21.
, marble, and cement.
- Its
22.
is different to the pyramids found in Egypt.
- It was originally built in the
23.
as building tombs in the city was forbidden.
- Emperor Aurelian ordered that a wall had to be built around it.
Restoration of Cestius' pyramid in the 1660s
- In the 1660s, some broken
24.
were found next to it.
- The
25.
inside the tomb suggests that robbers had been there.
- The frescoes show mythological scenes, and images of vases.
Restoration of Cestius' pyramid today
- A Japanese businessman paid for its restoration.
- Climbers are helping to get rid of signs of
26.
.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 3
Question 27 - 30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes on your answer sheet.
27
The broken windows theory states that
A
poor neighbourhoods have high crime rates.
B
crime rates rise unless small offences are dealt with.
C
the destruction of property is a serious form of crime.
D
authorities should prioritise crimes where people are physically hurt.
28
The writer states that graffiti started in New York because
A
more people came to live in the city.
B
young people were competing to be the best graffiti artist.
C
people realized that graffiti was less harmful than advertising.
D
young people adopted the publicity tactics of companies.
29
According to Pat Dilillo, what is the answer to New York’s graffiti problem?
A
designating special areas for graffiti
B
showing people the artistic elements of graffiti
C
giving teenagers activities other than graffiti
D
covering up illegal graffiti as soon as it appears
30
In the final paragraph, the writer recommends that the city authorities should
A
examine the real causes of graffiti
B
develop a connection with graffiti artists
C
work with young gang members to prevent crime
D
consider the problems that are faced by graffiti artists
Question 31 - 35
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In following statements below, choose
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
31
There is clear proof that the application of the ‘broken windows’ theory led to a lower crime rate in New York.
32
City administrators fail to distinguish between graffiti as vandalism and graffiti-art.
33
The graffiti-art that can be found in New York is of the highest standard in the world.
34
Graffiti might be an important way of raising New York 's profile as a unique city.
35
Graffiti has had minimal impact on the art world.
Question 36 - 40
Look at the following sentences and the list of statements below.
Match each statement with the correct sentence, A-H.
List of Endings
A
graffiti has the capacity to transform a dull city environment.
B
graffiti creates an impression that the law is not being obeyed in the community.
C
graffiti will never be accepted by the public as a real form of art.
D
those who create illegal graffiti should be forced to remove it.
E
some individuals do not see the beauty of graffiti because of their backgrounds.
F
teenage lack suitable ways to spend their time.
G
graffiti artists are motivated by the need to have their work acknowledged.
H
graffiti results in great monetary cost to New York and its citizens.
Lieutenant Steve Mona holds the opinion that
36
The Mayor of New York states that
37
Graffiti artist Dmitri Wright thinks that
38
King Bee is a New York graffiti artist who believes
39
Pat DiLiio of the Phun Phactory claims
40
DOL IELTS Đình Lực
05/05/2026
📖 Bài đọc passage 1
Salt
Salt is the common name for the substance sodium chloride (NaCl), which occurs in the form of transparent cubic crystals. Although salt is most familiar as a food supplement, less than 5% of the salt produced worldwide is used for that purpose. About 70% is utilized by the chemical industry, mostly as a source of chlorine. Salt is also used for countless other purposes, such as removing snow and ice from roads, softening water, preserving food, and stabilizing soils for construction.
The earliest humans obtained their salt from natural salt concentrations, as well as from meat. Those people who lived near the ocean may have also obtained it by chewing seaweed or from the natural evaporation of small pools of seawater. Meat became a more important source of salt as hunting was developed, as did milk when sheep, goats, horses, camels, reindeer, and cattle were domesticated. Even today, certain peoples such as the Bedouin of the Middle Eastern deserts and the Maasai of East Africause no other forms of salt.
As agriculture developed, leading to a diet consisting mostly of plants, it became necessary to devise ways of obtaining salt in greater amounts. The earliest method of salt production employed by mankind was the evaporation of seawater using the heat of the sun. This method was particularly suited to hot, arid regions near the ocean or near salty lakes, and is still used in those areas. Solar evaporation was soon followed by the quarrying of exposed masses of rock salt, which quickly developed into the mining of underground deposits of salt. Two thousand years ago, the Chinese began using wells to reach underground pools of salt water, some of which were more than one kilometer deep.
In areas where the climate did not allow solar evaporation, salt water was poured on burning wood or heated rocks to boil it. The salt left behind was then scraped off. During the time of the Roman Empire, shallow lead pans were used to boil salt water over open fires to extract the salt. Later, in the Middle Ages, these were replaced with iron pans which were heated with coal. In the 1860s, a procedure known as the Michigan process was invented, in which salt water was heated by steam running through pipes immersed in the water. This process is still used to produce certain types of salt. Nowadays, salt is collected from two sources: rock salt and brine. Rock salt is simply crystallized salt, also known as halite. It is the result of the evaporation of ancient oceans millions of years ago. Underground salt deposits are usually discovered by prospectors searching for water or oil. When salt is detected, a diamond-tipped, hollow drill is used to take several regularly spaced core samples throughout the area. These are analyzed to determine if salt mining would be profitable. If the site is thought to be suitable, vertical tunnels are sunk into the center of the salt deposit. Then a machine resembling a gigantic chain saw is used to cut a long horizontal slot through the salt, in a procedure known as undercutting. A series of holes are then drilled into the salt with an electric drill, and the holes are filled with explosives such as dynamite.
Cutting and blasting are repeated in a pattern that leaves salt pillars standing to support the roof of the mining area. This is known as the room-and-pillar method and is also used in coal mines. Once blasted, chunks of the rock salt are transported to an underground crushing area where smaller pieces are collected via a metal grill and larger pieces are crushed in a rotating cylinder. Finally, redundant matter is extracted from the rock salt, in what is known as picking.
Brine is water containing a high concentration of salt. The most obvious source of brine is the ocean, but it can also be obtained from salty lakes such as the Dead Sea and from underground pools of salt water. Most brine is processed by a multi-effect vacuum evaporator. This device consists of three or more closed metal cylinders. Brine is first treated to remove chemical compounds. It then fills the bottom of the cylinders. The brine in the first cylinder passes through tubes heated by steam. The brine boils and its steam enters the next cylinder. In each cylinder, the condensation of steam causes the pressure inside to drop. A material called slurry forms at the bottom of the cylinders and goes into a tank. The slurry is then filtered to remove excess brine, dried and passed through screens to sort the salt particles according to how large they are.
Specifications for salt vary widely according to the intended use. Salt intended for human consumption must be much purer than salt used for melting snow and ice on roads, but salt used for certain scientific purposes may need to be even purer.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 1
1
True
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài True / False / Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: The chemical industry makes use of the majority of salt produced globally
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “chemical industry”, “majority of salt produced”, ”globally/worldwide”
-> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên -> Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “Although salt is most familiar as a food supplement, less than 5% of the salt produced worldwide is used for that purpose. About 70% is utilized by the chemical industry, mostly as a source of chlorine.”
Simplified: less than 5% of salt is used for food // about 70% of salt is utilized by the chemical industry
Main idea: < 5% dùng cho thực phẩm – ~70% dùng trong công nghiệp hóa chất → công nghiệp hóa chất chiếm phần lớn.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc: ~70% muối được dùng cho công nghiệp hóa chất → chiếm phần lớn so với các mục đích khác.
Trong câu hỏi: Ngành công nghiệp hóa chất sử dụng phần lớn muối.
⇒ Hai ý khớp nhau -> ✅ Chọn: TRUE
-------
Lưu ý chung:
Nếu đáp án là False: Bài đọc phải nói chemical industry dùng ít hơn phần lớn (ví dụ chỉ 10%). Nhưng thực tế là 70% → không phù hợp.
Nếu đáp án là Not Given: Bài đọc không đưa ra số liệu hoặc so sánh tỉ lệ. Nhưng thực tế bài có nêu rõ 70%.
A 2000-year-old pyramid in the city of Rome has been restored by archaeologists.
Though Rome draws tourists from around the world to its many impressive sites, one notable monument there has never attracted nearly as much interest: The Pyramid of Cestius. But why would there be a pyramid in Italy? After the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C., Egyptian architectural style became the fashion in Rome.
Though obelisks and other monuments inspired by Egypt's great pyramids sprung up around the city, only two actual pyramids are known to have been built. The only one left standing, the Pyramid of Cestius, was designed as the burial pyramid for a Roman politician named Caius Cestius, who ordered that the building work be completed within a period of 330 days.
Construction took place at some point between 18 B.C. and 12 B.C. Cestius' pyramid had a layer of white Carrara marble on the outside, and was constructed from brick held together by a basic kind of cement on the inside. One of the things that strikes you when you look at the pyramid is how steep it is, so that the shape of Cestius' pyramid is quite unlike that of typical Egyptian ones. This is a difference that could have been the result of inaccurate information sent back to Rome by soldiers who saw the pyramids in person in Egypt. Alternatively, Roman builders could have drawn inspiration from the pyramids in Nubia, a region located in what is today northern Sudan and southern Egypt.
At the time of its construction, since there was a strict Roman law prohibiting the placement of tombs within the city itself, the Pyramid of Cestius would have stood in countryside. Rome grew enormously during the next two centuries, and, by the 3rd century A.D., the pyramid would have been surrounded by buildings. We also know that in the 3rd century A.D., the Pyramid of Cestius was hidden behind a high wall on the orders of Emperor Aurelian; this probably helped it survive throughout the centuries to come, even as other ancient monuments disappeared.
By the Middle Ages, the pyramid was covered in vegetation and thick dirt, and popular myth had developed that it might be a tomb for one of the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who were regarded as the men who had established the city of Rome. Cestius' actual tomb within the pyramid and the inscription identifying the pyramid as his, weren't rediscovered until the 1660s, when the pyramid underwent restoration. During excavations, when trees and plants were cleared away, two marble bases were found in front of the pyramid, as well as fragments of bronze statues that had once stood on them on either side of the pyramid. The people employed to excavate the pyramid did not find the urn that would have contained Cestius' remains, but they did come across a tunnel. It was quite possible, therefore, that robbers had at some earlier time removed the contents of the tomb. But while some of the features of Cestius' tomb no longer exist, at least the pyramid itself has survived.
Today, the foundations of Cestius' pyramid rest below street level near an intersection with heavy traffic, so that passing tourists and residents could easily fail to notice its full height of 119 feet. Across the intersection is the Piramide station, located on Line B of the Rome Metro. In 2011, the Japanese clothing company entrepreneur Yuzo Yagi, president of Yagi Tsusho Ltd, announced his intention to help the Italian government pay for an ambitious renovation of the Pyramid of Cestius. "It's an act of gratitude," he later told journalists. "Our company has grown thanks to Italy." Work began at the site shortly after Yagi signed an official agreement with the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Rome, and was completed ahead of schedule thanks to his 2-million-euro contribution.
As archaeologist Leonardo Guarnieri explained to journalists, officials are now conducting tours of the newly renovated pyramid twice a month by reservation. Visitors who take advantage of the tour can make their way through a narrow corridor in order to enter the burial chamber itself. It is within these walls that they can admire the frescoes: watercolour paintings typical of the time. In the chamber, it is possible to make out four frescoes of the winged Roman goddess of war, Victoria, a figure from Roman legend, as well as of a series of vases, the type that would have been used for special rituals and purification purposes. We know from the writings of earlier visitors that there used to be more here, but the majority have disappeared over time.
Only one problem remains now that the restoration is complete. The white exterior of the Pyramid of Cestius will have to be cleaned every few months to remove the layer of urban pollution. A team of free-climbers will be employed to do the job, in order to avoid placing builder's scaffolding around the newly welcoming monument.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 2
14
False
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài True / False / Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: The Pyramid of Cestius has always been one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “The Pyramid of Cestius”, “tourists”, “attractions”
-> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên, có thể tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “Though Rome draws tourists from around the world to its many impressive sites, one notable monument there has never attracted nearly as much interest: The Pyramid of Cestius.” (Đoạn 1)
Simplified: Rome draws tourists to many impressive sites >< but
The Pyramid of Cestius has never attracted nearly as much interest
Main idea: Kim tự tháp Cestius chưa bao giờ thu hút nhiều sự quan tâm bằng các di tích khác.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc: Kim tự tháp Cestius chưa bao giờ thu hút nhiều sự quan tâm bằng các di tích khác.
Trong câu hỏi: Kim tự tháp Cestius luôn luôn là một trong những điểm du lịch nổi tiếng nhất.
⇒ ✅ Chọn: FALSE
-------
Lưu ý chung:
Nếu là True: Bài phải khẳng định nó thực sự đứng trong “most popular attractions” → nhưng không có.
Nếu là Not given: Bài phải không nhắc đến mức độ nổi tiếng của kim tự tháp → nhưng bài có nói rõ "never attracted nearly as much interest"
Spray-painted graffiti can be seen on city walls or on trains in many cities, and New York is no exception. Since the late eighties, New York City’s policy on graffiti has been based on the broken windows thesis. This theory, introduced in 1982 In Atlantic Monthly by James Q Wilson and George L Kelling, argues that petty non-violent crimes such as the creation of graffiti increase overall crime. The theory reasons that if minor signs of disorder such as broken windows and graffiti are left unfixed, potential criminals assume that chaos reigns, and commit more crimes. As Lieutenant Steve Mona of the New York City Vandal Squad state in his anti-graffiti program, ‘Graffiti gives the look of disorder, as if nobody is in control. Graffiti is the first sign that a neighborhood is falling apart.’
New York has spent a large amount of time and money fighting graffiti in the belief that these efforts will send a message that there is someone in charge, and overall crime will fall. However, while the application of the ‘broken windows' thesis is credited by some as causing the fall in crime in New York, there is little evidence supporting this. Instead, many criminologists attribute the reduction in crime to a collection of causes, only one of which is the attention to small, visible crime by the police. However, of these small crimes, graffiti still gets a particularly bad rap from the New York City Transit Authority. According to its website, 'Graffiti has long been viewed as the most obvious sign of urban blight.' Reasons for concern expressed by the Mayor of New York about the presence of graffiti include the belief that graffiti is a threat to the quality of life in the city, and that it leads to greater acts of crime. The Mayor also argues that it causes millions of dollars of damage to property holders and to the city, and that graffiti tags (decorated initials) are a means of communication for gangs.
While the Mayor's contentions are valid, they only apply to the most degenerate types of graffiti. City administrators lump together all forms of graffiti: artistic, meaningful, and gang-or drug-related, into one undesirable group. This oversimplifies the realities of street art. Graffiti artist Dmitri Wright comments: 'Graft has a multitude of forms and meanings but a lot of the connotations of the art form and how it is linked to street culture create a divide. All its opponents need to do is look at some of it. It is absolutely spectacular, but sometimes people can't get past their own culture.'
The beautiful graffiti-art that can be found today throughout the city, on commissioned walls and in art galleries, is an expression of New York like no other art form. Its artists either come from the city itself or are drawn to the city from around the world. Surely, in the right context, graffiti-art can become a powerful tool to promote New York City’s identity and originality. Although graffiti first emerged as an illegal form of expression, its influence on the art world is increasingly present, and many large-scale pieces are impressive not only in their size, but also in their artistic themes and techniques. Today, New York graffiti-art on canvas can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Graffiti New York-style has its roots in a social movement of young people in the seventies and eighties, and the themes in graffiti-art were undeniably a reflection of social factors at play in New York. The city's youths wanted to speak out about the issues that affected them and have their messages heard. Kids with nothing more than ingenuity could gain recognition as minor celebrities. Graffiti artist King Bee explains: 'In the world of graffiti, every writer or artist, one way or another, participates in the fame game. They all seek recognition for their creativity in the who's who in the graffiti game.'
Graffiti grew in part out of a reaction to the fact that the city was becoming covered in advertisements. City administrators did not see the connection between the rise of advertising saturating the landscape, and the increasing saturation of the city with graffiti. It was a natural progression that the youth of the day would use the same tools to sell themselves that the corporations were using to sell products to the public.
When considering approaches to the graffiti issue, there should be more productive ways to combat graffiti than simply banning it. The most common alternative suggested is creating a legitimate outlet for the graffiti urges of young people. Private groups such as The Phun Phactony have put this concept into action. Pat DiLillo, founder of The Phun Phactory, explains the logic behind his organization: 'I figured if I created a place for the young people to paint [graffiti], then it would eliminate the legal graffiti. Many of these artists start out as vandals. There is nothing for them to do; there's no youth program or anything.’
Many graffiti pieces in the city, far from being related to juvenile delinquency, are dedicated to powerful social issues. Though their messages may be the same, ties between the city and graffiti artists are rarely sought and never formed, although many socially influenced pieces display the potential for creating such bonds. By providing a legal medium for the artistic impulses of the city’s youth, the city could form a relationship with that generation as well as gain a beautified urban environment.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 3
27
B
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Multiple Choice
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: The broken windows theory states that …
Main idea: Câu hỏi yêu cầu xác định nội dung cốt lõi mà học thuyết “broken windows” khẳng định.
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khoá: “broken windows”, “crime rates”
=> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên -> Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “The theory reasons that if minor signs of disorder such as broken windows and graffiti are left unfixed, potential criminals assume that chaos reigns, and commit more crimes.”
Simplified: if minor signs of disorder are left unfixed, potential criminals commit more crimes
Main idea: Bỏ qua những vi phạm nhỏ → tạo cảm giác vô trật tự → dẫn đến gia tăng tội phạm.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
❌ A. poor neighbourhoods have high crime rates.: đoạn không nói nghèo là nguyên nhân; trọng tâm là việc không xử lý các vi phạm nhỏ, không phải điều kiện kinh tế.
✅ B. crime rates rise unless small offences are dealt with.: khớp hoàn toàn với lập luận “if minor signs of disorder are left unfixed … commit more crimes” → không xử lý vi phạm nhỏ thì tội phạm tăng.
❌ C. the destruction of property is a serious form of crime.: học thuyết không đánh giá mức độ nghiêm trọng của phá hoại tài sản, mà dùng nó như dấu hiệu ban đầu của sự vô trật tự.
❌ D. authorities should prioritise crimes where people are physically hurt.: đây là chính sách ưu tiên, không phải nội dung mà học thuyết đề cập.
-------
➡️ Đáp án: B. crime rates rise unless small offences are dealt with.
Salt is the common name for the substance sodium chloride (NaCl), which occurs in the form of transparent cubic crystals. Although salt is most familiar as a food supplement, less than 5% of the salt produced worldwide is used for that purpose. About 70% is utilized by the chemical industry, mostly as a source of chlorine. Salt is also used for countless other purposes, such as removing snow and ice from roads, softening water, preserving food, and stabilizing soils for construction.
The earliest humans obtained their salt from natural salt concentrations, as well as from meat. Those people who lived near the ocean may have also obtained it by chewing seaweed or from the natural evaporation of small pools of seawater. Meat became a more important source of salt as hunting was developed, as did milk when sheep, goats, horses, camels, reindeer, and cattle were domesticated. Even today, certain peoples such as the Bedouin of the Middle Eastern deserts and the Maasai of East Africause no other forms of salt.
As agriculture developed, leading to a diet consisting mostly of plants, it became necessary to devise ways of obtaining salt in greater amounts. The earliest method of salt production employed by mankind was the evaporation of seawater using the heat of the sun. This method was particularly suited to hot, arid regions near the ocean or near salty lakes, and is still used in those areas. Solar evaporation was soon followed by the quarrying of exposed masses of rock salt, which quickly developed into the mining of underground deposits of salt. Two thousand years ago, the Chinese began using wells to reach underground pools of salt water, some of which were more than one kilometer deep.
In areas where the climate did not allow solar evaporation, salt water was poured on burning wood or heated rocks to boil it. The salt left behind was then scraped off. During the time of the Roman Empire, shallow lead pans were used to boil salt water over open fires to extract the salt. Later, in the Middle Ages, these were replaced with iron pans which were heated with coal. In the 1860s, a procedure known as the Michigan process was invented, in which salt water was heated by steam running through pipes immersed in the water. This process is still used to produce certain types of salt. Nowadays, salt is collected from two sources: rock salt and brine. Rock salt is simply crystallized salt, also known as halite. It is the result of the evaporation of ancient oceans millions of years ago. Underground salt deposits are usually discovered by prospectors searching for water or oil. When salt is detected, a diamond-tipped, hollow drill is used to take several regularly spaced core samples throughout the area. These are analyzed to determine if salt mining would be profitable. If the site is thought to be suitable, vertical tunnels are sunk into the center of the salt deposit. Then a machine resembling a gigantic chain saw is used to cut a long horizontal slot through the salt, in a procedure known as undercutting. A series of holes are then drilled into the salt with an electric drill, and the holes are filled with explosives such as dynamite.
Cutting and blasting are repeated in a pattern that leaves salt pillars standing to support the roof of the mining area. This is known as the room-and-pillar method and is also used in coal mines. Once blasted, chunks of the rock salt are transported to an underground crushing area where smaller pieces are collected via a metal grill and larger pieces are crushed in a rotating cylinder. Finally, redundant matter is extracted from the rock salt, in what is known as picking.
Brine is water containing a high concentration of salt. The most obvious source of brine is the ocean, but it can also be obtained from salty lakes such as the Dead Sea and from underground pools of salt water. Most brine is processed by a multi-effect vacuum evaporator. This device consists of three or more closed metal cylinders. Brine is first treated to remove chemical compounds. It then fills the bottom of the cylinders. The brine in the first cylinder passes through tubes heated by steam. The brine boils and its steam enters the next cylinder. In each cylinder, the condensation of steam causes the pressure inside to drop. A material called slurry forms at the bottom of the cylinders and goes into a tank. The slurry is then filtered to remove excess brine, dried and passed through screens to sort the salt particles according to how large they are.
Specifications for salt vary widely according to the intended use. Salt intended for human consumption must be much purer than salt used for melting snow and ice on roads, but salt used for certain scientific purposes may need to be even purer.
about 70% of salt
is utilized by
the chemical industry
Though Rome draws tourists from around the world to its many impressive sites, one notable monument there has never attracted nearly as much interest: The Pyramid of Cestius. But why would there be a pyramid in Italy? After the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C., Egyptian architectural style became the fashion in Rome.
Though obelisks and other monuments inspired by Egypt's great pyramids sprung up around the city, only two actual pyramids are known to have been built. The only one left standing, the Pyramid of Cestius, was designed as the burial pyramid for a Roman politician named Caius Cestius, who ordered that the building work be completed within a period of 330 days.
Construction took place at some point between 18 B.C. and 12 B.C. Cestius' pyramid had a layer of white Carrara marble on the outside, and was constructed from brick held together by a basic kind of cement on the inside. One of the things that strikes you when you look at the pyramid is how steep it is, so that the shape of Cestius' pyramid is quite unlike that of typical Egyptian ones. This is a difference that could have been the result of inaccurate information sent back to Rome by soldiers who saw the pyramids in person in Egypt. Alternatively, Roman builders could have drawn inspiration from the pyramids in Nubia, a region located in what is today northern Sudan and southern Egypt.
At the time of its construction, since there was a strict Roman law prohibiting the placement of tombs within the city itself, the Pyramid of Cestius would have stood in countryside. Rome grew enormously during the next two centuries, and, by the 3rd century A.D., the pyramid would have been surrounded by buildings. We also know that in the 3rd century A.D., the Pyramid of Cestius was hidden behind a high wall on the orders of Emperor Aurelian; this probably helped it survive throughout the centuries to come, even as other ancient monuments disappeared.
By the Middle Ages, the pyramid was covered in vegetation and thick dirt, and popular myth had developed that it might be a tomb for one of the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who were regarded as the men who had established the city of Rome. Cestius' actual tomb within the pyramid and the inscription identifying the pyramid as his, weren't rediscovered until the 1660s, when the pyramid underwent restoration. During excavations, when trees and plants were cleared away, two marble bases were found in front of the pyramid, as well as fragments of bronze statues that had once stood on them on either side of the pyramid. The people employed to excavate the pyramid did not find the urn that would have contained Cestius' remains, but they did come across a tunnel. It was quite possible, therefore, that robbers had at some earlier time removed the contents of the tomb. But while some of the features of Cestius' tomb no longer exist, at least the pyramid itself has survived.
Today, the foundations of Cestius' pyramid rest below street level near an intersection with heavy traffic, so that passing tourists and residents could easily fail to notice its full height of 119 feet. Across the intersection is the Piramide station, located on Line B of the Rome Metro. In 2011, the Japanese clothing company entrepreneur Yuzo Yagi, president of Yagi Tsusho Ltd, announced his intention to help the Italian government pay for an ambitious renovation of the Pyramid of Cestius. "It's an act of gratitude," he later told journalists. "Our company has grown thanks to Italy." Work began at the site shortly after Yagi signed an official agreement with the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Rome, and was completed ahead of schedule thanks to his 2-million-euro contribution.
As archaeologist Leonardo Guarnieri explained to journalists, officials are now conducting tours of the newly renovated pyramid twice a month by reservation. Visitors who take advantage of the tour can make their way through a narrow corridor in order to enter the burial chamber itself. It is within these walls that they can admire the frescoes: watercolour paintings typical of the time. In the chamber, it is possible to make out four frescoes of the winged Roman goddess of war, Victoria, a figure from Roman legend, as well as of a series of vases, the type that would have been used for special rituals and purification purposes. We know from the writings of earlier visitors that there used to be more here, but the majority have disappeared over time.
Only one problem remains now that the restoration is complete. The white exterior of the Pyramid of Cestius will have to be cleaned every few months to remove the layer of urban pollution. A team of free-climbers will be employed to do the job, in order to avoid placing builder's scaffolding around the newly welcoming monument.
nearly as much interest
Spray-painted graffiti can be seen on city walls or on trains in many cities, and New York is no exception. Since the late eighties, New York City’s policy on graffiti has been based on the broken windows thesis. This theory, introduced in 1982 In Atlantic Monthly by James Q Wilson and George L Kelling, argues that petty non-violent crimes such as the creation of graffiti increase overall crime. The theory reasons that if minor signs of disorder such as broken windows and graffiti are left unfixed, potential criminals assume that chaos reigns, and commit more crimes. As Lieutenant Steve Mona of the New York City Vandal Squad state in his anti-graffiti program, ‘Graffiti gives the look of disorder, as if nobody is in control. Graffiti is the first sign that a neighborhood is falling apart.’
New York has spent a large amount of time and money fighting graffiti in the belief that these efforts will send a message that there is someone in charge, and overall crime will fall. However, while the application of the ‘broken windows' thesis is credited by some as causing the fall in crime in New York, there is little evidence supporting this. Instead, many criminologists attribute the reduction in crime to a collection of causes, only one of which is the attention to small, visible crime by the police. However, of these small crimes, graffiti still gets a particularly bad rap from the New York City Transit Authority. According to its website, 'Graffiti has long been viewed as the most obvious sign of urban blight.' Reasons for concern expressed by the Mayor of New York about the presence of graffiti include the belief that graffiti is a threat to the quality of life in the city, and that it leads to greater acts of crime. The Mayor also argues that it causes millions of dollars of damage to property holders and to the city, and that graffiti tags (decorated initials) are a means of communication for gangs.
While the Mayor's contentions are valid, they only apply to the most degenerate types of graffiti. City administrators lump together all forms of graffiti: artistic, meaningful, and gang-or drug-related, into one undesirable group. This oversimplifies the realities of street art. Graffiti artist Dmitri Wright comments: 'Graft has a multitude of forms and meanings but a lot of the connotations of the art form and how it is linked to street culture create a divide. All its opponents need to do is look at some of it. It is absolutely spectacular, but sometimes people can't get past their own culture.'
The beautiful graffiti-art that can be found today throughout the city, on commissioned walls and in art galleries, is an expression of New York like no other art form. Its artists either come from the city itself or are drawn to the city from around the world. Surely, in the right context, graffiti-art can become a powerful tool to promote New York City’s identity and originality. Although graffiti first emerged as an illegal form of expression, its influence on the art world is increasingly present, and many large-scale pieces are impressive not only in their size, but also in their artistic themes and techniques. Today, New York graffiti-art on canvas can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Graffiti New York-style has its roots in a social movement of young people in the seventies and eighties, and the themes in graffiti-art were undeniably a reflection of social factors at play in New York. The city's youths wanted to speak out about the issues that affected them and have their messages heard. Kids with nothing more than ingenuity could gain recognition as minor celebrities. Graffiti artist King Bee explains: 'In the world of graffiti, every writer or artist, one way or another, participates in the fame game. They all seek recognition for their creativity in the who's who in the graffiti game.'
Graffiti grew in part out of a reaction to the fact that the city was becoming covered in advertisements. City administrators did not see the connection between the rise of advertising saturating the landscape, and the increasing saturation of the city with graffiti. It was a natural progression that the youth of the day would use the same tools to sell themselves that the corporations were using to sell products to the public.
When considering approaches to the graffiti issue, there should be more productive ways to combat graffiti than simply banning it. The most common alternative suggested is creating a legitimate outlet for the graffiti urges of young people. Private groups such as The Phun Phactony have put this concept into action. Pat DiLillo, founder of The Phun Phactory, explains the logic behind his organization: 'I figured if I created a place for the young people to paint [graffiti], then it would eliminate the legal graffiti. Many of these artists start out as vandals. There is nothing for them to do; there's no youth program or anything.’
Many graffiti pieces in the city, far from being related to juvenile delinquency, are dedicated to powerful social issues. Though their messages may be the same, ties between the city and graffiti artists are rarely sought and never formed, although many socially influenced pieces display the potential for creating such bonds. By providing a legal medium for the artistic impulses of the city’s youth, the city could form a relationship with that generation as well as gain a beautified urban environment.
commit more crimes
Main idea: Bỏ qua những vi phạm nhỏ → tạo cảm giác vô trật tự → dẫn đến gia tăng tội phạm.
