IELTSwithJurabek

PASSAGE 2

Read the text and answer questions 14-26

THE FASHION INDUSTRY

14 A. The fashion industry is a multibillion-dollar global enterprise devoted to the business of making and selling clothes. It encompasses all types of garments, from designer fashions to ordinary everyday clothing. Because data on the industry are typically reported for national economies, and expressed in terms of its many separate sectors, total figures for world production of textiles and clothing are difficult to obtain. However, by any measure, the industry accounts for a significant share of world economic output.

15 B. The fashion industry is a product of the modern age. Prior to the mid-19th century, virtually all clothing was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the beginning of the 20th century, with the development of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the development of the factory system of production, and the growth of department stores and other retail outlets, clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes, and sold at fixed prices. Although the fashion industry developed first in Europe, today it is highly globalised, with garments often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold in a third. For example, an American fashion company might source fabric in China and have the clothes manufactured in Vietnam, finished in Italy, and shipped to a warehouse in the United States for distribution to retail outlets internationally.

16 C. One of the first accomplishments of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century was the partial automation of the spinning and weaving of wool, cotton, silk and other natural fibres. Today, these processes are highly automated and carried out by computer-controlled, high-speed machinery, and fabrics made from both natural fibres and synthetic fibres (such as nylon, acrylic, and polyester) are produced. A growing interest in sustainable fashion (or eco-fashion) has led to greater use of environmentally friendly fibres, such as hemp. In addition, high-tech synthetic fabrics confer such properties as moisture absorption, stain resistance, retention or dissipation of body heat, and protection against fire, weapons, cold, ultraviolet radiation, and other hazards. Fabrics are also produced with a wide range of visual effects through dyeing, weaving, printing, and other processes. Together with fashion forecasters, fabric manufacturers work well in advance of the clothing production cycle, to create fabrics with colours, textures, and other qualities that anticipate consumer demand.

17 D. Historically, very few fashion designers have become famous brands such as Coco Chanel or Calvin Klein, who have been responsible for prestigious high-fashion collections. These designers are influential in the fashion world, but, contrary to popular belief, they do not dictate new fashions; rather, they endeavour to design clothes that will meet consumer demand. The vast majority of designers work in anonymity for manufacturers, as part of design teams, adapting designs into marketable garments for average consumers. They draw inspiration from a wide range of sources, including film and television costumes, street clothing, and active sportswear.

18 E. The fashion industry's traditional design methods such as paper sketching and the draping of fabric on mannequins, have been supplemented or replaced by computer-assisted design techniques. These allow designers to rapidly make changes to a proposed design, and instantaneously share the proposed changes with colleagues - whether they are in the next room or on another continent. An important stage in garment production is the translation of the clothing design into templates, in a range of sizes, for cutting the cloth. Because the proportions of the human body change with increases or decreases in weight, templates cannot simply be scaled up or down. Template making was traditionally a highly skilled profession. Today, despite innovations in computer programming, designs in larger sizes are difficult to adjust for every body shape. Whatever the size, the template - whether drawn on paper or programmed as a set of computer instructions - determines how fabric is cut into the pieces that will be joined to make a garment. For all but the most expensive clothing, fabric cutting is accomplished by computer-guided knives or high-intensity lasers that can cut many layers of fabric at once.

19 F. The next stage of production is the assembly process. Some companies use their own production facilities for some or all of the manufacturing process, but the majority rely on separately owned manufacturing firms or contractors to produce garments to their specifications. In the field of women's clothing, manufacturers typically produce several product lines a year, which they deliver to retailers on predetermined dates. Technological innovation, including the development of computer-guided machinery, has resulted in the automation of some stages of assembly. Nevertheless, the fundamental process of sewing remains labour-intensive. In the late 20th century, China emerged as the world's largest producer of clothing because of its low labour costs and highly disciplined workforce. Assembled items then go through various processes collectively known as finishing. These include the addition of decorative elements, fasteners, brand-name labels, and other labels specifying fibre content, laundry instructions, and country of manufacture. Finished items are then pressed and packed for shipment.

20 G. For much of the period following World War II, trade in textiles and garments was strictly regulated by purchasing countries, which imposed quotas and tariffs. Since the 1980s, these protectionist measures, which were intended (ultimately without success) to prevent textile and clothing production from moving from high-wage to low-wage countries, have gradually been abandoned. They have been replaced by a free-trade approach, under the regulatory control of global organisations. The advent of metal shipping containers and relatively inexpensive air freight have also made it possible for production to be closely tied to market conditions, even across globe-spanning distances.

textiles: varieties of cloth made from natural or man-made fibres

PASSAGE 3

Read the text and answer questions 27-40

HOW A PREHISTORIC PREDATOR TOOK TO THE SKIES

Is that a bird in the sky? A plane? No, it is a pterosaur. Kate Thomas meets Professor Matthew Wilkinson, who built a life-size model to find out how this prehistoric predator ever got off the ground.

Pterosaurs existed from the Triassic period, 220 million years ago, to the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, when South America pulled away from Africa and the South Atlantic was formed. They are among the least understood of all the extinct reptiles that once spent their lives in the skies while the dinosaurs dominated the land. Pterosaurs had no feathers, but at least part of their bodies was covered in hair, not unlike bats. Some believe this is an indication they were warm-blooded. Researchers also debate whether pterosaurs travelled on the ground by walking on their hind legs, like birds, or by using all fours, relying on their three-toed front feet as well as their four-toed rear feet.

Pterosaurs were vertebrates, meaning they were the first species possessing backbones to become airborne, but scientists have never quite understood their flight technique. How, they wondered, did such a heavy creature ever manage to take off? How could a wing that appears to have been supported by fine, hollow bones have carried one into the sky? Then came the discovery of a site in Brazil's Araripe basin. Here, not only were hundreds of fossils of amphibians and other reptiles found, but archaeologists unearthed a number of very well-preserved pterosaurs.

The anhanguera - a fish-eating sub-species of pterosaur that ruled the skies in the Cretaceous period - was among them. With a wingspan of up to 12 metres, they would have made an amazing sight in the sky - had any human been there to witness it. "I have been studying pterosaurs for about eight years now," says Dr Matthew Wilkinson, a professor of zoology at Cambridge University. With an anhanguera fossil as his model, Wilkinson began gradually reconstructing its skeletal structure in his Cambridge studio. The probability of finding three-dimensional pterosaur fossils anywhere is slim. "That was quite a find," he says.

"Their bones are usually crushed to dust." Once the structure was complete, it inspired him to make a robot version as a way to understand the animal's locomotion. With a team of model-makers, he has built a remote-controlled pterosaur in his studio. "Fossils show just how large these creatures were. I have always been interested in how they managed to launch themselves, so I thought the real test would be to actually build one and fly it."

Wilkinson has not been alone in his desire to recreate a prehistoric beast. Swiss scientists recently announced they had built an amphibious robot that could walk on land and swim in water using the sort of backbone movements that must have been employed by the first creatures to crawl from the sea. But Wilkinson had the added complication of working out his beast's flight technique. Unlike those of bats or flying squirrels, pterosaur wings - soft, stretchy membranes of skin tissue - are thought to have reached from the chest right to the ankle, reinforced by fibres that stiffened the wing and prevented tearing.

Smaller subspecies flapped their wings during takeoff. That may have explained the creatures' flexibility, but it did not answer the most pressing question: how did such heavy animals manage to launch themselves into the sky? Working with researchers in London and Berlin, Wilkinson began to piece together the puzzle.

It emerged that the anhanguera had an elongated limb called the pteroid. It had previously been thought the pteroid pointed towards the shoulder of the creature and supported a soft forewing in front of the arm. But if that were the case, the forewing would have been too small and ineffectual for flight. However, to the surprise of many scientists, fossils from the Araripe basin showed the pteroid possibly faced the opposite way, creating a much greater forewing that would have caught the air, working in the same way as the flaps on the wings of an aeroplane.

So, with both feet on the ground, the anhanguera might have simply faced into the wind, spread its wings and risen up into the sky. Initial trials in wind tunnels proved the point - models of pterosaurs with forward-facing pteroids were not only adept at gliding, but were agile flyers in spite of their size. "This high-lift capability would have significantly reduced the minimum flight speed, allowing even the largest forms to take off without difficulty," Wilkinson says. "It would have enabled them to glide very slowly and may have been instrumental in the evolution of large size by the pterosaurs."

Resting in the grass at the test site near Cambridge, the robot-model's wings ripple in the wind. In flight, the flexible membrane, while much stiffer than the real thing, allows for a smooth takeoff and landing. But the model has been troubled by other mechanical problems. "Unlike an aircraft, which is stabilised by the tail wing at the back, the model is stabilised by its head, which means it can start spinning around. That is the most problematic bit as far as we are concerned," Wilkinson says. "We have had to take it flying without the head so far." When it flies with its head attached, Wilkinson will finally have proved his point.

So what is next for the zoologist - perhaps a full-size Tyrannosaurus rex? "No," he tells me: "We are desperate to build really big pterosaurs. I am talking creatures with even greater wingspans, weighing a quarter of a ton. But," he adds, just as one begins to fear for the safety and stress levels of pilots landing nearby at Cambridge City Airport, "it is more likely we will start off with one of the smaller, flapping pterosaurs." This is certainly more reassuring. Let us hope he is content to leave it at that.

amphibians: animals that can live both in water and on land