GT IELTS Collection 1 Reading Test 18

Fantastic cycling trails

A. Kirkstone Water to Ravenscraig Castle, Dundee

Enjoy a relaxed ride from Kirkstone Water to the impressive Ravenscraig Castle along a route that remains almost entirely flat. Along the way, you will pass several notable sights, including striking views of three bridges crossing the River Tay. Once you reach the castle, either retrace your route or continue towards Broughty Ferry for a longer adventure.

B. The Ashford Canal Cycle Path, Cornwall

Follow the peaceful Ashford Canal and keep watch for dragonflies, swans, buzzards, fish and other local wildlife. The well-maintained path is broad enough for families to cycle together safely and comfortably. For an added cultural stop, take a short detour to explore the gardens and historic surroundings of the 13th-century Trelowen Castle.

C. Alder Brook Walking and Cycling Path, Manchester

Escape the noise of Manchester on this surprisingly tranquil route beside the Alder Brook. The path is mostly level and suitable for several types of bicycle, although riders are advised to walk across the single hump-backed bridge. Follow the signs for another two kilometres to Hollybank Valley Country Park, where you can enjoy a picnic and visit a popular family attraction famous for its sheep.

D. Kielder Forest Cycle Trail, Northumberland

Discover the heritage of Northumberland on a trail following a former railway line once used during the region’s coal-mining era. Historical landmarks, beautiful woodland scenery and numerous picnic areas make the journey both fascinating and relaxing. The route is circular, clearly signposted and suitable for families, while dogs are also welcome to join the adventure.

E. The Solway Trail, Carlisle

The Solway Trail offers safe, level cycling with plenty of cafés available whenever you need a break. Enjoy sweeping views towards southern Scotland and have a rest on the beach at Allonby or Silloth. More ambitious cyclists can continue towards Gretna, with direct train services from either Wigton or Gretna providing a convenient return journey to Carlisle.

How to Launch a Career in Fashion Design

The first step for any aspiring designer is to investigate where genuine job openings actually exist. Rather than gravitating automatically towards womenswear — a notoriously oversubscribed sector — it is wiser to explore branches of the industry where competition is thinner. Menswear, athletic clothing and accessories frequently offer far better prospects for newcomers, simply because fewer graduates target them.

When applying for internships, consider both what the company can offer you and what you can contribute in return. Ask whether the placement will help you develop skills that support your long-term career goals, and identify the abilities and experience you can bring to meet the organisation’s needs. By seeking a company that is the right fit for you, you are also more likely to have the qualities it is looking for in an intern.

A bolder tactic is to approach established designers directly. Since countless hopefuls compete for their attention, you must go further than the average applicant: hand-delivering a portfolio, an independent design project and a CV creates a far stronger impression than an email. Some determined candidates even go abroad to major fashion capitals such as New York or Milan to do this. Although the expense can be considerable, it can lead to unexpected opportunities.

The internet provides another powerful route into the industry. Set up profiles on fashion-specific and professional networking sites, and keep them current so that prospective employers can locate you easily. At the same time, submit applications to as many specialist recruitment agencies as possible — even those that claim not to take on recent graduates, since persistence occasionally opens unexpected doors.

Technical ability matters just as much as ambition. Audit your training honestly and pinpoint any gaps in your skill set, particularly in computer-aided design, which employers increasingly regard as essential. If you find this among the weaknesses that could be holding you back, online learning platforms offer an affordable way to catch up.

Finally, remember that raw talent alone rarely guarantees success. Designers who thrive tend to be those who publicise their work energetically and refuse to be discouraged by early setbacks. Cultivate fresh professional relationships wherever you can, and draw fully on the ones you already possess. In an industry built on visibility, self-promotion is not optional — it is a core professional skill.

The Sunflower Training Institute

Welcome

Welcome to The Sunflower Training Institute. We are delighted that you have chosen to study with us. This booklet introduces the Institute and outlines the key features, facilities and regulations associated with our programmes.

Courses

The Sunflower was established to provide high-quality, short-term professional training across a broad range of career fields. Our teaching staff are exceptionally well qualified, and all have gained teaching experience abroad at some point in their careers.

Programmes at The Sunflower are divided into modules. Most modules last ten weeks, although some are shorter. The majority of programmes, including Office Management, Librarianship and Medical Records Organisation, consist of two modules. Others, such as Biotechnology and Computer Analysis, comprise three or four modules.

There is a two-week break between modules. As no coursework or assignments are due during these periods, students are encouraged to take a holiday and return refreshed for the next stage of their programme.

Class hours vary according to the requirements of each programme and are therefore not standardised across the Institute. Students should consult the timetable printed at the beginning of their course handbook.

The Sunflower cannot award attendance or achievement certificates to students who miss parts of their programme because they have failed to check their timetable carefully. However, genuine reasons for absence, such as illness, will be considered when appropriate supporting documentation is provided.

Students may still qualify for an attendance certificate and, subject to meeting the relevant academic requirements, an achievement certificate if they have attended at least 80 per cent of their scheduled classes and submit a medical certificate covering the period of absence.

Facilities

The opening hours of the snack bar, coffee lounge and restaurant are listed below your course timetable. Please note that the coffee lounge is closed after 4 p.m.

Reservations are not required at any of the Institute’s dining facilities, except at the restaurant on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The coffee lounge and restaurant are normally closed on public holidays. However, groups of twenty or more may reserve the restaurant for dinner on these days. A non-refundable deposit is required when making a booking.

The Institute also has an excellent sports complex. The swimming pool is open daily from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm and is reserved exclusively free of charge to Sunflower students who present a valid enrolment card. Students with a valid enrolment card may reserve a squash court for $4.50 per half-hour. Gymnasium access is available under the following payment options:

a ten-week membership for $40.00;

casual admission for $5.00 per session; or

an annual membership for $100.00.

Security

Please do not leave valuables unattended in classrooms or other teaching areas. Percil Training Institute accepts no responsibility for the loss of or damage to students’ belongings resulting from their own negligence.

The Institute’s main entrance is locked after 10 p.m. Anyone requiring access after this time should press the doorbell and speak to the security staff via the intercom and present a valid student card. Entry will be permitted only in cases of genuine emergency.

Medical Care

Minor injuries and illnesses can usually be treated free of charge at the Health Centre, which is located on the third floor. Painkillers and other basic remedies are also available for purchase at standard retail prices.

Sunflower Training Scholarships

Three scholarships are awarded each year.

The Sunflower offers scholarships to overseas applicants who plan to settle in Australia and require professional retraining. Scholarships are available only for full-time study and cannot be awarded for programmes lasting fewer than 32 weeks.

Requirements and Eligibility

Applicants must demonstrate outstanding academic achievement through qualifications obtained in their country of origin. Alternatively, they may qualify on the basis of at least five years of substantial professional experience in their chosen field. In such cases, applications must be supported by written references from at least two employers or supervisors.

Scholarship Benefits

Successful applicants are entitled to return airfares between their home country and Australia, provided that the flying distance between their nearest international airport and Sydney exceeds 2,500 kilometres. Applicants travelling a shorter distance will be provided with airline vouchers.

The scholarship also covers transport between the scholarship holder’s home and the airport for both the outward and return journeys. In addition, scholarship holders are granted an excess baggage allowance of up to 120 kilograms.

The Institute does not cover scholarship holders’ personal removal expenses. Nor does it contribute towards the travel or relocation costs of family members. The scholarship holder is therefore fully responsible for the expenses associated with transporting a spouse or dependent children.

Scholarship holders may receive assistance in finding accommodation within metropolitan Sydney. However, family accommodation is not available on The Sunflower campus. As demand for campus residences is consistently high, applicants are strongly advised to submit their accommodation requests at least ten weeks before their intended arrival date.

Starting school later has positive effects on teens

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that adolescents benefit substantially from additional sleep. When school districts postpone the start of the academic day, measurable improvements tend to follow. With lessons that commence as early as 7 a.m. and buses that arrive well before sunrise, roughly 80 per cent of US children in grades 6 through 12 fail to obtain the recommended quantity of sleep during term time, according to research by the National Sleep Foundation, a sleep advocacy organisation. These premature start times appear to contribute to a multitude of difficulties. Exhausted children, studies indicate, not only struggle with irritability, but also with symptoms of depression. They tend to gain weight, their academic grades deteriorate, and many resort to caffeine, with dubious consequences for productivity and uncertain effects upon the development of immature brains.

Now, propelled by accumulating research suggesting that adolescents are biologically predisposed to sleep late, and that delaying school start times by even a mere 30 minutes generates a pronounced difference in how well teenagers feel and perform, an increasing number of institutions across the United States are beginning the school day later than they formerly did. Many more are deliberating the question. Simultaneously, however, there remain entrenched pockets of resistance from administrators and parents who contend that bus schedules will become excessively complicated, that a later commencement will interfere with extracurricular programmes, or that children will simply remain awake later if they realise they can sleep in somewhat longer.

According to Kyla Wahlstrom, director of the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the University of Minnesota, although the two districts she examined could not have been more different in terms of race, socioeconomic status and other factors, beneficial changes in both places became apparent almost immediately.

Several of the outcomes were notably significant. For instance, students were perceptibly more alert during the first two periods of the day. Furthermore, the cafeteria was calmer, and fewer altercations erupted in the corridors. Students, who were now obtaining nearly an additional hour of sleep each night, reported that they felt less depressed. Even parents informed teachers that they considered their children easier to live with than before.

The melatonin shift

Biology, rather than laziness, should be held responsible for adolescents’ reluctance to rise in the morning. As children mature and approach puberty, a phase of profound biological transformation, their bodies begin to circulate melatonin—the hormone that induces sleepiness—approximately two hours later than they previously did.

Consequently, teenagers find it virtually impossible to fall asleep before roughly 11 p.m., even when they make a deliberate attempt to retire earlier. Yet adolescents nonetheless require an average of 9.25 hours of slumber each night. Superimposed upon this shift in natural sleeping and waking rhythms lies a second factor: a phase of intense drowsiness that afflicts both adults and adolescents during the early-morning hours. In adults, this trough in alertness occurs between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.; in adolescents, it descends between approximately 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. The implication is that, while their alarm clocks instruct teenagers to leave their beds and demand that their brains perform, their bodies are simultaneously signalling them to continue sleeping.

Beyond these mood, behavioural and learning consequences, scientists are progressively uncovering more subtle mechanisms through which such chronic sleep deprivation can damage children. Certain studies, for example, demonstrate that insufficient sleep compromises the immune system. Others suggest that, when sleep is inadequate, the body secretes elevated quantities of the hormones that trigger hunger, a process that may plausibly contribute to escalating rates of obesity.

In order to remain awake, young people frequently resort to coffee, soda and other caffeinated beverages. At one public high school in the eastern US state of Massachusetts, 95 per cent of the students surveyed reported consuming caffeine within the preceding fortnight—predominantly in the form of soda rather than coffee, and most commonly during the afternoon and evening hours—Dr Amy Wolfson and a colleague reported in the journal Health Education and Behavior. According to Dr Wolfson, no published guidelines currently specify how much caffeine constitutes an excessive amount for adolescents. The substance, however, persists within the body for up to five hours—three hours longer than was originally assumed—thereby depriving teenagers of an indeterminate number of hours of sleep. Even when caffeinated teenagers do manage to fall asleep, caffeine demonstrably renders the quality of that sleep worse. Finally, no one yet understands how caffeine may influence developing brains, although numerous experts remain concerned about the apparent connection between the sugar contained in soda and consequent weight gain.

Schools respond

As the body of sleep research continues to accumulate, an expanding number of schools are gravitating towards later start times. No one has formally documented precisely how many institutions have implemented the change, yet experts report that they are receiving a steadily increasing volume of enquiries from districts throughout the US, requesting advice on whether and how to adopt a later schedule. Whatever the practical obstacles, adolescents need to obtain sufficient sleep, and altering school start times has proven to be one effective means of achieving that objective.

Starting school later has positive effects on teens

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that adolescents benefit substantially from additional sleep. When school districts postpone the start of the academic day, measurable improvements tend to follow. With lessons that commence as early as 7 a.m. and buses that arrive well before sunrise, roughly 80 per cent of US children in grades 6 through 12 fail to obtain the recommended quantity of sleep during term time, according to research by the National Sleep Foundation, a sleep advocacy organisation. These premature start times appear to contribute to a multitude of difficulties. Exhausted children, studies indicate, not only struggle with irritability, but also with symptoms of depression. They tend to gain weight, their academic grades deteriorate, and many resort to caffeine, with dubious consequences for productivity and uncertain effects upon the development of immature brains.

Now, propelled by accumulating research suggesting that adolescents are biologically predisposed to sleep late, and that delaying school start times by even a mere 30 minutes generates a pronounced difference in how well teenagers feel and perform, an increasing number of institutions across the United States are beginning the school day later than they formerly did. Many more are deliberating the question. Simultaneously, however, there remain entrenched pockets of resistance from administrators and parents who contend that bus schedules will become excessively complicated, that a later commencement will interfere with extracurricular programmes, or that children will simply remain awake later if they realise they can sleep in somewhat longer.

According to Kyla Wahlstrom, director of the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the University of Minnesota, although the two districts she examined could not have been more different in terms of race, socioeconomic status and other factors, beneficial changes in both places became apparent almost immediately.

Several of the outcomes were notably significant. For instance, students were perceptibly more alert during the first two periods of the day. Furthermore, the cafeteria was calmer, and fewer altercations erupted in the corridors. Students, who were now obtaining nearly an additional hour of sleep each night, reported that they felt less depressed. Even parents informed teachers that they considered their children easier to live with than before.

The melatonin shift

Biology, rather than laziness, should be held responsible for adolescents’ reluctance to rise in the morning. As children mature and approach puberty, a phase of profound biological transformation, their bodies begin to circulate melatonin—the hormone that induces sleepiness—approximately two hours later than they previously did.

Consequently, teenagers find it virtually impossible to fall asleep before roughly 11 p.m., even when they make a deliberate attempt to retire earlier. Yet adolescents nonetheless require an average of 9.25 hours of slumber each night. Superimposed upon this shift in natural sleeping and waking rhythms lies a second factor: a phase of intense drowsiness that afflicts both adults and adolescents during the early-morning hours. In adults, this trough in alertness occurs between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.; in adolescents, it descends between approximately 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. The implication is that, while their alarm clocks instruct teenagers to leave their beds and demand that their brains perform, their bodies are simultaneously signalling them to continue sleeping.

Beyond these mood, behavioural and learning consequences, scientists are progressively uncovering more subtle mechanisms through which such chronic sleep deprivation can damage children. Certain studies, for example, demonstrate that insufficient sleep compromises the immune system. Others suggest that, when sleep is inadequate, the body secretes elevated quantities of the hormones that trigger hunger, a process that may plausibly contribute to escalating rates of obesity.

In order to remain awake, young people frequently resort to coffee, soda and other caffeinated beverages. At one public high school in the eastern US state of Massachusetts, 95 per cent of the students surveyed reported consuming caffeine within the preceding fortnight—predominantly in the form of soda rather than coffee, and most commonly during the afternoon and evening hours—Dr Amy Wolfson and a colleague reported in the journal Health Education and Behavior. According to Dr Wolfson, no published guidelines currently specify how much caffeine constitutes an excessive amount for adolescents. The substance, however, persists within the body for up to five hours—three hours longer than was originally assumed—thereby depriving teenagers of an indeterminate number of hours of sleep. Even when caffeinated teenagers do manage to fall asleep, caffeine demonstrably renders the quality of that sleep worse. Finally, no one yet understands how caffeine may influence developing brains, although numerous experts remain concerned about the apparent connection between the sugar contained in soda and consequent weight gain.

Schools respond

As the body of sleep research continues to accumulate, an expanding number of schools are gravitating towards later start times. No one has formally documented precisely how many institutions have implemented the change, yet experts report that they are receiving a steadily increasing volume of enquiries from districts throughout the US, requesting advice on whether and how to adopt a later schedule. Whatever the practical obstacles, adolescents need to obtain sufficient sleep, and altering school start times has proven to be one effective means of achieving that objective.