Reasoning: The paragraph begins by discussing the discovery of Penicillin in 1928 and calls it a "medical triumph."
Questions 1–3: Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the passage? Write: if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information.
Strategy: Look for synonyms. If the statement mentions "financial cost," look for paragraphs discussing "expenditure," "economic burden," or "funding." 3. Sentence Completion / Summary Completion Reasoning: The paragraph begins by discussing the discovery
The overuse and misuse of antibiotics in human medicine and agriculture are key drivers of antibiotic resistance. In human medicine, antibiotics are often prescribed unnecessarily or used incorrectly, which accelerates the development of resistance. In agriculture, antibiotics are used to promote growth and prevent disease in livestock, which also contributes to the emergence of resistant bacteria.
IELTS texts often focus on the reasons behind this crisis. Key contributing factors include: If the statement mentions "financial cost," look for
The crisis extends beyond hospitals and into the food chain. Livestock are frequently fed antibiotics, which has turned farms and abattoirs into breeding grounds for inter-species infection. Resistant bacteria can survive on animal carcasses, contaminating meat purchased by consumers. Furthermore, animal faeces used as manure can spread these resilient bacteria to crops, creating a cycle of contamination that is difficult to break.
Compounding the dilemma is a stagnant pharmaceutical pipeline. Developing a new antibiotic is a notoriously high-risk, low-reward venture for pharmaceutical corporations. Unlike chronic disease medications that patients take for decades, antibiotics are used for short durations. Furthermore, any newly discovered drug is intentionally held in reserve by doctors to prevent resistance, severely limiting its market volume. As a result, major drug companies have largely abandoned antibiotic research, leaving scientists with an evaporating arsenal of effective treatments. IELTS Reading Practice Questions Questions 1–5 In agriculture, antibiotics are used to promote growth
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spreads through global travel, improper sanitation, and the consumption of infected meat. Resistant bacteria can spread from person-to-person and through the food chain, making it difficult to treat common infections that were once easily cured.
Some bacterial infections now have no effective antibiotic treatment.
Reasoning: The paragraph discusses the implications of a "post-antibiotic era," describing how routine procedures would become risky and infections could become fatal again.