dear student,welcome to this new oriental ielts preparation course and the reading book in particular.ielts, the international english language testing system, is one of the world's most popular english language tests for entry into university or higher education where english is the language of communication. in other words, it is your academic passport!the most difficult challenge you will face in the academic reading test is the enormous amount of unknown vocabulary. in this book, you will learn a lot of frequently used academic words but, more importantly, you will learn strategies for managing unknown vocabulary. each unit has extensive activities to help you develop your english vocabulary because a wide vocabulary base is one of the keys to success in the reading test.the exercises in this book have been designed to help you practise all essential reading skils as well as apply useful strategies you will need to answer different kinds of questions in the test.topics in this book have been chosen because they are interesting, appropriate, and typical. you will also study some common writing styles (narrative, description, and argument) which are often found in reading passeages of the ielts test.thank you for choosing to study for the ielts with new oriental.rod ellis.