IELTS Real Reading Test Pre 2025 - Vol 2 Test 2 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Luyện tập đề IELTS Real Reading Test Pre 2025 - Vol 2 Test 2 được lấy từ cuốn sách Real Test Pre 2025 - Vol 2 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 Pre 2025 - Vol 2 Test 2 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 1
Question 1 - 6
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
Animals form herds as a way of defending themselves from being attacked.
2
Land used by nomadic herders is also suitable for producing a large amount of crops.
3
Sheep are the most common animals herded by nomadic herders.
4
The Fulani people frequently eat the animals which they herd.
5
In the tundra, reindeer are generally more valuable than other animals.
6
Animals provide a source of income for nomadic herders.
Question 7 - 13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Semi-nomadic and transhumance herding
Semi-nomadic herders
- Almost all Bedouin are now semi-nomadic because of
7.
and oil production.
- Many young members of Mongolian semi-nomadic tribes now prefer to live in the
8.
.
- Sami have survived by herding,
9.
and catching wild animals.
- Traditional Sami land is being exploited for its wood and
10.
.
Transhumance herding
- Takes place in areas which are
11.
.
- Herders stay in permanent
12.
.
- Cattle and sheep spend the
13.
in the middle pastures.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 2
Question 14 - 19
Reading Passage has six paragraphs A-F
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F
14
A mission impossible
15
An extremely worrying trend for one main part of the Aral Sea
16
An uncompleted project because of political reasons
17
A promising recovery in the future
18
A strongly affected populated district
19
The disclosure of a big secret
Question 20 - 22
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
20
In response to the increasingly growing number in the population, not all nations near the Aral Sea consider plans which will enhance the severity of the problems the Aral Sea is faced with.
21
The willingness for Kazakhstan to take the restoration action to save the Small Aral Sea is somehow not certain.
22
The western basin seems to have a destined future regardless of the influx of the groundwater.
Question 23 - 26
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
The produced by the floodwaters, which were ceased because of the decrease in of the Aral Sea, are main sources to keep the survival of the wetlands. The types of fishes living in it experienced a devastating tragedy out of the increase in and decrease in spots for , with a good example of the extinction of a specific fish. What is more, fisheries and shipping suffered greatly from these vast changes.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 3
Question 27 - 30
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
27
The growth of European towns in the medieval era had to follow strictly organised plans.
28
Ensuring the safety of inhabitants was a vital consideration in the design and location of medieval towns.
29
In medieval times, the challenges of transporting heavy goods over long distances made it necessary to build houses out of local materials.
30
The function of the central square of medieval towns represented two key aspects of urban society.
Question 31 - 34
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes on your answer sheet.
31
In the third paragraph, what do we learn about the International Style?
A
It relied on building materials that were regarded as unattractive.
B
It became very fashionable only after an initially sceptical reaction.
C
It proposed a solution to the post-war shortage of accommodation.
D
It incorporated a few of the best features of traditional urban design.
32
In the fourth paragraph, the writer praises International Style architects for
A
attempting to minimise cultural differences.
B
avoiding designs that were over-complicated.
C
challenging conservative attitudes to architecture.
D
making full use of modern technological advances.
33
The writer is critical of architects in the 1960s and 1970s because they
A
consistently ignored the objections of local people.
B
based their designs on ideas that were impractical.
C
used only a limited number of very predictable forms.
D
wasted money by removing long-established districts.
34
What impact of trends in building style in post-war Britain does the writer mention?
A
An increase in the range of construction techniques used.
B
A significant expansion in the number of residential streets.
C
The creation of areas where people could escape the traffic.
D
The loss of architectural details that had made towns unique.
Question 35 - 40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes on your answer sheet.
Taking a new approach to urban planning
New buildings should be in with their location and they should be constructed using . As well as being attractive, homes should have a similar to that of the surrounding properties. In addition, there should be certain that a new building shares with older buildings in the area. Fortunately, there is now often a considerable amount of to the proposals of urban planners. Increasingly, people are realising that focusing purely on a building's is undesirable, and that more importance should be attached to its appearance and cultural value.
A
visual appeal
B
basic function
C
organised opposition
D
essential meaning
E
sharp contrast
F
relative harmony
G
traditional methods
H
underlying principles
DOL IELTS Đình Lực
05/05/2026
📖 Bài đọc passage 1
Herding
Many animals naturally live and travel together in groups called herds as a form of protection against predators. They move from one fertile grassland to another without an organized direction. Herding is the practice of caring for these roaming groups of livestock over a large area. Herding developed about 10,000 years ago, as prehistoric hunters domesticated wild animals such as cows and goats. Hunters learned that by controlling animals they once pursued, they could have reliable sources not only of meat, but also of milk and milk products, as well as animal hides for tents and clothing.
There are several different types of herding. One of the most ancient forms is nomadic herding, which involves tribal or extended-family groups moving with their animals from one grazing area to another. Nomads live in arid and semi-arid parts of Africa, Asia and Europe, and in the tundra regions of Asia and Europe, where land is not fertile enough for intensive agricultural farming. In Africa, nomadic tribes herd various animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and camels. The Fulani people of Nigeria are a typical example: their animals are used for producing milk and are rarely slaughtered for meat. In the polar tundra, in the northernmost part of Europe, nomads usually herd domesticated reindeer, horses, musk-oxen and yaks.
Nomadic herding is sometimes considered a form of subsistence agriculture. However, unlike subsistence farmers, herders are traditionally wage-earners: they sell their herds' materials for goods and services, or herd other people's animals for a fee. Often, this trade is part of the informal economy, not accounted for by the government of a region. In Africa, the United Nations estimates that herders are responsible for more than $100 million in economic activity every year.
Nomadic herding as a way of life is declining because of natural disasters, loss of land area due to development, and climate change, as well as pressure from governments to lead a settled existence. Permanent residence allows members of a nomadic community to have access to education and healthcare facilities. However, the complex social structure of herding communities is lost as they are absorbed into mainstream culture. The unique language and customs of nomads become redundant in settled urban or suburban life.
Another form of herding is semi-nomadic herding. These herders live a more settled life than nomads, but many still follow their herds for long periods of time. Prior to the 20th century, the Bedouin people of the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East were mostly nomads, herding sheep and goats. However, recurring drought throughout Western Asia in the 1960s limited fertile areas; plus oil production in Egypt and Saudi Arabia further limited land available for grazing. Bedouins are now almost entirely semi-nomadic or settled.
Today, about a quarter of Mongolia's population continues to live a semi-nomadic herding lifestyle, herding sheep, goats, horses and camels. However, young people have recently been rejecting this way of life and are instead moving to the city in search of an easier life.
The Sami are semi-nomadic herders indigenous to the Arctic. They live throughout northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and on the Kola Peninsula of Russia. For centuries, the Sami have herded reindeer as a principal means of livelihood, supplemented by fishing and trapping. Land development has made it difficult for these semi-nomadic herders to sustain their traditional way of life. State and national borders, for example, have divided traditional Sami land. Trees are also being cut down for the timber industry, and mines dug to extract minerals, which is all having a serious impact on grazing land. There are laws to protect the Sami and their grazing rights, but conflicts still exist.
Another type of herding in mountainous regions is called transhumance. Transhumance herders follow a seasonal migration pattern, usually to highlands in the summer and lowlands in the winter. Unlike nomads, these herders move their animals between the same areas, and live in fixed settlements.
Transhumance has had an enormous impact on the landscape. In the European Alps, for instance, thousands of years of transhumance have transformed forests into grassland. Swiss and German herders traditionally led sheep, cattle and pigs to pastures at elevations above 2,000 meters.
Transhumance in the Alps has traditionally involved three herding grounds. The lowest elevation is where livestock are kept sheltered during the cold and snowy winter months. Shepherds lead herds to the middle pastures during the spring. During the summer and fall, shepherds lead sheep and cattle to the highest pastures, while pigs are kept in the middle area. Transhumance is still widely practiced throughout agricultural areas in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia.
🔥 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: Animals form herds as a way of defending themselves from being attacked .
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “animals”, “herds”, “defending/protection against”.
=> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên -> Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1 câu đầu tiên.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “Many animals naturally live and travel together in groups called herds as a form of protection against predators.”
Simplified: Many animals live + travel together in herds as protection against predators
Main idea: Nhiều loài động vật sống và di chuyển theo đàn để bảo vệ khỏi kẻ săn mồi.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc: Động vật sống và di chuyển thành đàn để tự bảo vệ trước kẻ săn mồi.
Trong câu hỏi: Động vật tập hợp thành bầy đàn như cách tự vệ khỏi bị tấn công.
⇒ Hai ý trùng khớp -> ✅ Chọn: TRUE
-------
Lưu ý chung:
Nếu đáp án là FALSE: Bài đọc phải nói rằng động vật tụ tập đàn vì lý do khác, ví dụ tìm thức ăn hay di chuyển dễ dàng, chứ không phải để phòng thủ.
Nếu đáp án là NOT GIVEN: Bài đọc chỉ nói về việc động vật sống thành đàn mà không giải thích lý do liên quan đến sự bảo vệ.
The Aral Sea gets almost all its water from the Amu and Syr rivers. Over millennium the Amu’s course has drifted away from the sea, causing it to shrink. But the lake always rebounded as the Amu shifted back again. Today heavy irrigation for crops such as cotton and rice siphons off much of the two rivers, severely cutting flow into their deltas and thus into the sea. Evaporation vastly outpaces any rainfall, snowmelt or groundwater supply, reducing water volume and raising salinity. The Soviet Union hid the sea’s demise for decades until 1985, when leader Mikhail Gorbachev revealed the great environmental and human tragedy. By the late 1980s the sea’s level had dropped so much that the water had separated into two distinct bodies: the Small Aral (north) and the Large Aral (south). By 2007 the south had split into a deep western basin, a shallow eastern basin and a small, isolated gulf. The Large Aral’s volume had dropped from 708 to only 75 cubic kilometers (km3), and salinity had risen from 14 to more than 100 grams per liter (g/1). The 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union divided the lake between newly formed Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, ending a grand Soviet plan to channel in water from distant Siberian rivers and establishing competition for the dwindling resource.
B
Desiccation of the Aral Sea has wrought severe consequences. Greatly reduced river flows ended the spring floods that sustained wetlands with freshwater and enriched sediment. Fish species in the lakes dropped from 32 to 6 because of rising salinity and loss of spawning and feeding grounds (most survived in the river deltas). Commercial fisheries, which caught 40,000 metric tons of fish in 1960, were gone by the mid-1980s; more than 60,000 related jobs were lost. The most common remaining lake occupant was the Black Sea flounder, a saltwater fish introduced in the 1970s, but by 2003 it had disappeared from the southern lakes because salinity was more than 70 g/1, double that of a typical ocean. Shipping on the Aral also ceased because the water receded many kilometers from the major ports of Aralsk to the north and Moynak in the south; keeping increasingly long channels open to the cities became too costly. Groundwater levels dropped with falling lake levels, intensifying desertification.
C
The receding sea has exposed and dried 54,000 square kilometers of seabed, which is choked with salt and in some places laced with pesticides and other agricultural chemicals deposited by runoff from area farming. Strong windstorms blow salt, dust and contaminants as far as 500 km. Winds from the north and northeast drive the most severe storms, seriously impacting the Amu delta to the south—the most densely settled and most economically and ecologically important area in the region. Afrbome sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate kill or retard the growth of natural vegetation and crops—a cruel irony given that irrigating those crops starves the sea. Health experts say the local population suffers from high levels of respiratory illnesses, throat and esophageal cancer, and digestive disorders caused by breathing and ingesting salt-laden air and water. Liver and kidney ailments, as well as eye problems, are common. The loss of fish has also greatly reduced dietary variety, worsening malnutrition and anemia, particularly in pregnant women.
D
Returning the entire Aral Sea to its 1960s state is unrealistic. The annual inflow from the Syr and Amu rivers would have to be quadrupled from the recent average of 13 km3. The only means would be to curtail irrigation, which accounts for 92 percent of water withdrawals. Yet four of the five former Soviet republics in the Aral Sea basin (Kazakhstan is the exception) intend to expand irrigation, mainly to feed growing populations. Switching to less water- intensive crops, such as replacing cotton with winter wheat, could help, but the two primary irrigating nations, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, intend to keep cotton to earn foreign currency. The extensive irrigation canals could be greatly improved; many are simply cuts through sand, and they allow enormous quantities of water to seep away. Modernizing the entire system could save 12 km3 a year but would cost at least $16 billion. The basin states do not have the money or the political will. Kazakhstan has nonetheless tried to partially restore the northern Aral.
E
We expect salinities in the Small Aral to settle at three to 14 g/1, depending on location. At these levels many more indigenous species should return, although the saltwater kambala would disappear from most places. Further restoration is possible. For example, if irrigation improvements raised the average annual inflow from the Syr to 4.5 km3, which is entirely feasible, the lake’s level could stabilize at about 47 meters. This change would bring the shoreline to within eight kilometers of Aralsk, the former major port city, close enough to allow recovery of an earlier channel that connected the city to the receding waters. The channel would give large commercial fishing vessels access to the sea, and shipping could restart. Marshlands and fish populations would improve even more because of a further reduction in salinity. Outflow to the southern lakes could also increase, helping then restoration. Such a plan would require a much longer and higher dike, as well as reconstruction of the gate facility, and it is not clear that Kazakhstan has the means or desire to pursue it. The country is, however, now discussing more modest proposals to bring water closer to Aralsk.
F
The Large Aral faces a difficult future; it continues to shrink rapidly. Only a long, narrow channel connects the shallow eastern basin and the deeper western basin, and this could close altogether. If countries along the Amu make no changes, we estimate that at current rates of groundwater in and evaporation out, an isolated eastern basin would stabilize at an area of 4,300 square kilometers (km2). But it would average only 2.5 meters deep. Salinity would exceed 100 g/1, possibly reaching 200 g/1; the only creatures that could live in it would be brine shrimp and bacteria. The western basin’s fate depends on ground- water inflow, estimates for which are uncertain. Someone has noted numerous fresh- water springs on the western cliffs. The most reliable calculations indicate that the basin would settle at about 2,100 km2. The lake would still be relatively deep, reaching 37 meters in spots, but salinity would rise well above 100 g/1.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 2
14
D
Giải thích chi tiết
Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Matching Information
📌 Dạng Matching Information chúng ta nên làm cuối cùng, sau khi đã làm các dạng câu hỏi khác nhé DOLBIES, bởi vì lúc này mình đã đọc và hiểu nội dung của bài rồi → sẽ nhanh chóng tìm được vị trí đáp án hơn!!
-------
✅ Step 1: Phân tích câu hỏi (Matching Information) A mission impossible .
Dự đoán thông tin cần tìm (SPECIFY):
Mục tiêu không thể đạt được / không thực tế.
Và có rào cản/ lí do khiến bất khả thi như: thiếu tiền, thiếu quyết tâm chính trị, yêu cầu quá lớn (ví dụ “phải tăng gấp nhiều lần”, “không có cách nào khả thi”).
-------
✅ Step 2: Locate bằng chứng
Đọc các đoạn để tìm nơi nào nói “khôi phục Aral Sea là bất khả thi/không thực tế” + nêu lý do.
→ Đoạn D nổi bật ngay câu mở đầu:
“Returning the entire Aral Sea to its 1960s state is unrealistic.”
Và đoạn này giải thích hàng loạt rào cản (phải tăng inflow gấp 4 lần, phải giảm tưới tiêu, chi phí cực lớn, thiếu tiền/thiếu political will).
-------
✅ Step 3: Đối chiếu paraphrasing (chứng minh match đúng)
A mission ⇔ Returning the entire Aral Sea to its 1960s state
impossible ⇔ unrealistic .
Lý do “impossible” (bài nêu rất rõ):
inflow … would have to be quadrupled (phải tăng lượng nước chảy vào gấp 4)
The only means would be to curtail irrigation (cách duy nhất là giảm tưới tiêu)
Yet … intend to expand irrigation (nhưng các nước lại muốn mở rộng tưới tiêu)
would cost at least $16 billion + do not have the money or the political will .
⇒ Chọn đoạn D.
-------
❌ Những đáp án “bẫy” hay dính
Bẫy đoạn F/C/B: các đoạn này mô tả hậu quả hoặc tương lai “tồi” của biển Aral (salinity cao, sinh vật chết, bụi muối, bệnh tật…). Skim/scan dễ thấy “tệ quá → chắc impossible”. Nhưng các đoạn đó không tập trung vào ‘nhiệm vụ khôi phục là không thể’ và không lập luận kiểu: muốn làm thì phải X nhưng không có tiền/không có political will như đoạn D.
Bẫy đoạn E: nói “further restoration is possible” (khôi phục thêm là có thể), nên trái nghĩa với “mission impossible”.
An expert on architectural history expresses his views on trends in urban planning
In the medieval period (5th-15th centuries), the towns and cities of Europe spread in a natural, organic and sometimes haphazard way, according to the social, economic and political needs of the people who lived there. Fortifying towns with high city walls for protection was essential, as was situating them on high ground, giving the residents advance knowledge of any attack. Houses were built from local materials with decorated doorways and windows, usually in a style that reflected a long-standing consensus about architecture. Shops, workshops, schools and communal buildings were inserted between the houses, and streets would converge on a square in the middle of the town where a church and marketplace together symbolised the forces that held the community together.
This traditional urban design continued for many centuries, but was disrupted in the early twentieth century in the United States, where the new 'zoning concept' was introduced. This involved the introduction of the 'downtown plus suburbs' template, in which the downtown area was a place dedicated entirely to commerce, and the residential suburbs were where people escaped to after work. Soon afterwards, when cars arrived on the scene, they smashed their way through the narrow streets of the towns and laid for themselves a carpet of tarmac into the surrounding countryside. The result has been an environmental, aesthetic and social disaster, which can continue unchecked in the US only because of the abundance of land there. Europeans, on the other hand, when faced with the suburbanisation of their ancient towns, tend to dedicate themselves to preventing it.
But the fight to retain the original character of European towns was complicated by two major events: the First World War of 1914-18 and the rise of the International Style in architecture in the 1920s. The two events were connected. Following the war, Europe experienced the first of many housing crises, as displaced populations and returning soldiers wanted to settle in cities that were already crowded. Meanwhile, the rural population took advantage of improved transport links and greater social mobility and began to migrate to the towns. It was also at this time that the architects of the innovative International Style, such as le Corbusier, celebrated clean, simple lines created out of concrete, steel and glass. The supporters of this new architectural style rapidly took over the architecture schools and the professional journals, and presented themselves as the only ones who could deal with a housing challenge on a scale that politicians had not encountered before.
The International Style started out as revolutionary, with its emphasis on simplicity and industrialised mass-production techniques. It arose from an admirable if rather idealistic desire to soften and blur the barriers between different countries after years of conflict. The style was considered universal because it had no association with any particular culture or nation, and by the 1950s it had become accepted as the only viable one for modem cities. However, by this time it had become less imaginative and varied. Endless demands for new buildings in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s meant that there was increasing reliance on a few standard templates, none of them particularly popular with local residents, and many requiring the demolition of much-loved neighbourhoods with a long history.
The reconstruction and redevelopment of many British towns in the decades after the Second World War (1939-1945) involved not only the necessary widening of roads but also the destruction of the old fabric of rows of small houses and local shops, sloping roofs, alleyways and interesting little corners and quiet spots. All the colourful, distinctive features of individual urban areas were swept away and replaced with identical high-rise blocks and anonymous shopping malls, glass boxes and concrete squares, none of which had any cultural association with the places where they were built.
There is overwhelming evidence that bleak impersonal environments such as these can lead to depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation. The ideal is to have an environment that actively encourages people to come across one another in their local area. This means creating and sustaining a neighbourhood in which it is possible for residents to pass in the street, greet one another, and feel secure because they share a pleasant environment which is cared for reasonably well. Our sense of beauty is rooted in these feelings, and it is the principal reason why people fight to preserve the character of their local area.
So what new approach do urban planners need to take? Firstly, new architecture must be of a style which suits the aesthetics of the location and fits in well with the appearance of existing buildings, taking account of the ways in which buildings in that area have been constructed for hundreds of years. What matters as much as an aesthetically pleasing home is having neighbouring houses that conform to similar ideas about what is beautiful; ideally the design of all the buildings in an area should be based on similar architectural values. Fortunately, in many parts of the world there is now increasing pressure being exerted on urban planners and architects to shift their approach towards this ideal. Nowadays, coordinated campaigns against standard ways of building are so common that it has become difficult in some places to build anything new at all, let alone to build in the quantities required. But at least the appearance of a building, rather than just its function, has moved to the top of the agenda.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 3
27
No
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Yes / No / Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: The growth of European towns had to follow strictly organised plans in the medieval era
Main idea: Sự phát triển của các thị trấn ở châu Âu thời trung cổ → phải tuân theo kế hoạch được tổ chức nghiêm ngặt.
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “European towns”, “medieval era”, “strictly organised plans”
=> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên -> Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1 câu đầu tiên.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: "In the medieval period (5th-15th centuries), the towns and cities of Europe spread in a natural, organic and sometimes haphazard way"
Simplified: The towns and cities of Europe spread in a natural, organic and haphazard way.
Main idea: Thị trấn và thành phố châu Âu thời trung cổ → phát triển một cách tự nhiên, hữu cơ và đôi khi lộn xộn → không theo kế hoạch chặt chẽ.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc: Thị trấn châu Âu phát triển tự nhiên và đôi khi lộn xộn.
Trong câu hỏi: Thị trấn châu Âu phát triển theo kế hoạch nghiêm ngặt.
⇒ Hai ý trái ngược -> ✅ Chọn: NO
-------
Lưu ý chung:
Nếu đáp án là YES: Bài phải khẳng định thị trấn được xây dựng theo kế hoạch chặt chẽ.
Nếu đáp án là NOT GIVEN: Bài chỉ nói về sự phát triển nhưng không nêu rõ theo kế hoạch hay không.
Many animals naturally live and travel together in groups called herds as a form of protection against predators. They move from one fertile grassland to another without an organized direction. Herding is the practice of caring for these roaming groups of livestock over a large area. Herding developed about 10,000 years ago, as prehistoric hunters domesticated wild animals such as cows and goats. Hunters learned that by controlling animals they once pursued, they could have reliable sources not only of meat, but also of milk and milk products, as well as animal hides for tents and clothing.
There are several different types of herding. One of the most ancient forms is nomadic herding, which involves tribal or extended-family groups moving with their animals from one grazing area to another. Nomads live in arid and semi-arid parts of Africa, Asia and Europe, and in the tundra regions of Asia and Europe, where land is not fertile enough for intensive agricultural farming. In Africa, nomadic tribes herd various animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and camels. The Fulani people of Nigeria are a typical example: their animals are used for producing milk and are rarely slaughtered for meat. In the polar tundra, in the northernmost part of Europe, nomads usually herd domesticated reindeer, horses, musk-oxen and yaks.
Nomadic herding is sometimes considered a form of subsistence agriculture. However, unlike subsistence farmers, herders are traditionally wage-earners: they sell their herds' materials for goods and services, or herd other people's animals for a fee. Often, this trade is part of the informal economy, not accounted for by the government of a region. In Africa, the United Nations estimates that herders are responsible for more than $100 million in economic activity every year.
Nomadic herding as a way of life is declining because of natural disasters, loss of land area due to development, and climate change, as well as pressure from governments to lead a settled existence. Permanent residence allows members of a nomadic community to have access to education and healthcare facilities. However, the complex social structure of herding communities is lost as they are absorbed into mainstream culture. The unique language and customs of nomads become redundant in settled urban or suburban life.
Another form of herding is semi-nomadic herding. These herders live a more settled life than nomads, but many still follow their herds for long periods of time. Prior to the 20th century, the Bedouin people of the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East were mostly nomads, herding sheep and goats. However, recurring drought throughout Western Asia in the 1960s limited fertile areas; plus oil production in Egypt and Saudi Arabia further limited land available for grazing. Bedouins are now almost entirely semi-nomadic or settled.
Today, about a quarter of Mongolia's population continues to live a semi-nomadic herding lifestyle, herding sheep, goats, horses and camels. However, young people have recently been rejecting this way of life and are instead moving to the city in search of an easier life.
The Sami are semi-nomadic herders indigenous to the Arctic. They live throughout northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and on the Kola Peninsula of Russia. For centuries, the Sami have herded reindeer as a principal means of livelihood, supplemented by fishing and trapping. Land development has made it difficult for these semi-nomadic herders to sustain their traditional way of life. State and national borders, for example, have divided traditional Sami land. Trees are also being cut down for the timber industry, and mines dug to extract minerals, which is all having a serious impact on grazing land. There are laws to protect the Sami and their grazing rights, but conflicts still exist.
Another type of herding in mountainous regions is called transhumance. Transhumance herders follow a seasonal migration pattern, usually to highlands in the summer and lowlands in the winter. Unlike nomads, these herders move their animals between the same areas, and live in fixed settlements.
Transhumance has had an enormous impact on the landscape. In the European Alps, for instance, thousands of years of transhumance have transformed forests into grassland. Swiss and German herders traditionally led sheep, cattle and pigs to pastures at elevations above 2,000 meters.
Transhumance in the Alps has traditionally involved three herding grounds. The lowest elevation is where livestock are kept sheltered during the cold and snowy winter months. Shepherds lead herds to the middle pastures during the spring. During the summer and fall, shepherds lead sheep and cattle to the highest pastures, while pigs are kept in the middle area. Transhumance is still widely practiced throughout agricultural areas in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia.
The Aral Sea gets almost all its water from the Amu and Syr rivers. Over millennium the Amu’s course has drifted away from the sea, causing it to shrink. But the lake always rebounded as the Amu shifted back again. Today heavy irrigation for crops such as cotton and rice siphons off much of the two rivers, severely cutting flow into their deltas and thus into the sea. Evaporation vastly outpaces any rainfall, snowmelt or groundwater supply, reducing water volume and raising salinity. The Soviet Union hid the sea’s demise for decades until 1985, when leader Mikhail Gorbachev revealed the great environmental and human tragedy. By the late 1980s the sea’s level had dropped so much that the water had separated into two distinct bodies: the Small Aral (north) and the Large Aral (south). By 2007 the south had split into a deep western basin, a shallow eastern basin and a small, isolated gulf. The Large Aral’s volume had dropped from 708 to only 75 cubic kilometers (km3), and salinity had risen from 14 to more than 100 grams per liter (g/1). The 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union divided the lake between newly formed Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, ending a grand Soviet plan to channel in water from distant Siberian rivers and establishing competition for the dwindling resource.
B. Desiccation of the Aral Sea has wrought severe consequences. Greatly reduced river flows ended the spring floods that sustained wetlands with freshwater and enriched sediment. Fish species in the lakes dropped from 32 to 6 because of rising salinity and loss of spawning and feeding grounds (most survived in the river deltas). Commercial fisheries, which caught 40,000 metric tons of fish in 1960, were gone by the mid-1980s; more than 60,000 related jobs were lost. The most common remaining lake occupant was the Black Sea flounder, a saltwater fish introduced in the 1970s, but by 2003 it had disappeared from the southern lakes because salinity was more than 70 g/1, double that of a typical ocean. Shipping on the Aral also ceased because the water receded many kilometers from the major ports of Aralsk to the north and Moynak in the south; keeping increasingly long channels open to the cities became too costly. Groundwater levels dropped with falling lake levels, intensifying desertification.
C. The receding sea has exposed and dried 54,000 square kilometers of seabed, which is choked with salt and in some places laced with pesticides and other agricultural chemicals deposited by runoff from area farming. Strong windstorms blow salt, dust and contaminants as far as 500 km. Winds from the north and northeast drive the most severe storms, seriously impacting the Amu delta to the south—the most densely settled and most economically and ecologically important area in the region. Afrbome sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate kill or retard the growth of natural vegetation and crops—a cruel irony given that irrigating those crops starves the sea. Health experts say the local population suffers from high levels of respiratory illnesses, throat and esophageal cancer, and digestive disorders caused by breathing and ingesting salt-laden air and water. Liver and kidney ailments, as well as eye problems, are common. The loss of fish has also greatly reduced dietary variety, worsening malnutrition and anemia, particularly in pregnant women.
D. Returning the entire Aral Sea to its 1960s state is unrealistic. The annual inflow from the Syr and Amu rivers would have to be quadrupled from the recent average of 13 km3. The only means would be to curtail irrigation, which accounts for 92 percent of water withdrawals. Yet four of the five former Soviet republics in the Aral Sea basin (Kazakhstan is the exception) intend to expand irrigation, mainly to feed growing populations. Switching to less water- intensive crops, such as replacing cotton with winter wheat, could help, but the two primary irrigating nations, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, intend to keep cotton to earn foreign currency. The extensive irrigation canals could be greatly improved; many are simply cuts through sand, and they allow enormous quantities of water to seep away. Modernizing the entire system could save 12 km3 a year but would cost at least $16 billion. The basin states do not have the money or the political will. Kazakhstan has nonetheless tried to partially restore the northern Aral.
E. We expect salinities in the Small Aral to settle at three to 14 g/1, depending on location. At these levels many more indigenous species should return, although the saltwater kambala would disappear from most places. Further restoration is possible. For example, if irrigation improvements raised the average annual inflow from the Syr to 4.5 km3, which is entirely feasible, the lake’s level could stabilize at about 47 meters. This change would bring the shoreline to within eight kilometers of Aralsk, the former major port city, close enough to allow recovery of an earlier channel that connected the city to the receding waters. The channel would give large commercial fishing vessels access to the sea, and shipping could restart. Marshlands and fish populations would improve even more because of a further reduction in salinity. Outflow to the southern lakes could also increase, helping then restoration. Such a plan would require a much longer and higher dike, as well as reconstruction of the gate facility, and it is not clear that Kazakhstan has the means or desire to pursue it. The country is, however, now discussing more modest proposals to bring water closer to Aralsk.
F. The Large Aral faces a difficult future; it continues to shrink rapidly. Only a long, narrow channel connects the shallow eastern basin and the deeper western basin, and this could close altogether. If countries along the Amu make no changes, we estimate that at current rates of groundwater in and evaporation out, an isolated eastern basin would stabilize at an area of 4,300 square kilometers (km2). But it would average only 2.5 meters deep. Salinity would exceed 100 g/1, possibly reaching 200 g/1; the only creatures that could live in it would be brine shrimp and bacteria. The western basin’s fate depends on ground- water inflow, estimates for which are uncertain. Someone has noted numerous fresh- water springs on the western cliffs. The most reliable calculations indicate that the basin would settle at about 2,100 km2. The lake would still be relatively deep, reaching 37 meters in spots, but salinity would rise well above 100 g/1.
The only means would be to curtail irrigation
Yet … intend to expand irrigation
would cost at least $16 billion
do not have the money or the political will
Bẫy đoạn F/C/B: các đoạn này mô tả hậu quả hoặc tương lai “tồi” của biển Aral (salinity cao, sinh vật chết, bụi muối, bệnh tật…). Skim/scan dễ thấy “tệ quá → chắc impossible”. Nhưng các đoạn đó không tập trung vào ‘nhiệm vụ khôi phục là không thể’ và không lập luận kiểu: muốn làm thì phải X nhưng không có tiền/không có political will như đoạn D.
Bẫy đoạn E: nói “further restoration is possible” (khôi phục thêm là có thể), nên trái nghĩa với “mission impossible”.
In the medieval period (5th-15th centuries), the towns and cities of Europe spread in a natural, organic and sometimes haphazard way, according to the social, economic and political needs of the people who lived there. Fortifying towns with high city walls for protection was essential, as was situating them on high ground, giving the residents advance knowledge of any attack. Houses were built from local materials with decorated doorways and windows, usually in a style that reflected a long-standing consensus about architecture. Shops, workshops, schools and communal buildings were inserted between the houses, and streets would converge on a square in the middle of the town where a church and marketplace together symbolised the forces that held the community together.
This traditional urban design continued for many centuries, but was disrupted in the early twentieth century in the United States, where the new 'zoning concept' was introduced. This involved the introduction of the 'downtown plus suburbs' template, in which the downtown area was a place dedicated entirely to commerce, and the residential suburbs were where people escaped to after work. Soon afterwards, when cars arrived on the scene, they smashed their way through the narrow streets of the towns and laid for themselves a carpet of tarmac into the surrounding countryside. The result has been an environmental, aesthetic and social disaster, which can continue unchecked in the US only because of the abundance of land there. Europeans, on the other hand, when faced with the suburbanisation of their ancient towns, tend to dedicate themselves to preventing it.
But the fight to retain the original character of European towns was complicated by two major events: the First World War of 1914-18 and the rise of the International Style in architecture in the 1920s. The two events were connected. Following the war, Europe experienced the first of many housing crises, as displaced populations and returning soldiers wanted to settle in cities that were already crowded. Meanwhile, the rural population took advantage of improved transport links and greater social mobility and began to migrate to the towns. It was also at this time that the architects of the innovative International Style, such as le Corbusier, celebrated clean, simple lines created out of concrete, steel and glass. The supporters of this new architectural style rapidly took over the architecture schools and the professional journals, and presented themselves as the only ones who could deal with a housing challenge on a scale that politicians had not encountered before.
The International Style started out as revolutionary, with its emphasis on simplicity and industrialised mass-production techniques. It arose from an admirable if rather idealistic desire to soften and blur the barriers between different countries after years of conflict. The style was considered universal because it had no association with any particular culture or nation, and by the 1950s it had become accepted as the only viable one for modem cities. However, by this time it had become less imaginative and varied. Endless demands for new buildings in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s meant that there was increasing reliance on a few standard templates, none of them particularly popular with local residents, and many requiring the demolition of much-loved neighbourhoods with a long history.
The reconstruction and redevelopment of many British towns in the decades after the Second World War (1939-1945) involved not only the necessary widening of roads but also the destruction of the old fabric of rows of small houses and local shops, sloping roofs, alleyways and interesting little corners and quiet spots. All the colourful, distinctive features of individual urban areas were swept away and replaced with identical high-rise blocks and anonymous shopping malls, glass boxes and concrete squares, none of which had any cultural association with the places where they were built.
There is overwhelming evidence that bleak impersonal environments such as these can lead to depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation. The ideal is to have an environment that actively encourages people to come across one another in their local area. This means creating and sustaining a neighbourhood in which it is possible for residents to pass in the street, greet one another, and feel secure because they share a pleasant environment which is cared for reasonably well. Our sense of beauty is rooted in these feelings, and it is the principal reason why people fight to preserve the character of their local area.
So what new approach do urban planners need to take? Firstly, new architecture must be of a style which suits the aesthetics of the location and fits in well with the appearance of existing buildings, taking account of the ways in which buildings in that area have been constructed for hundreds of years. What matters as much as an aesthetically pleasing home is having neighbouring houses that conform to similar ideas about what is beautiful; ideally the design of all the buildings in an area should be based on similar architectural values. Fortunately, in many parts of the world there is now increasing pressure being exerted on urban planners and architects to shift their approach towards this ideal. Nowadays, coordinated campaigns against standard ways of building are so common that it has become difficult in some places to build anything new at all, let alone to build in the quantities required. But at least the appearance of a building, rather than just its function, has moved to the top of the agenda.
