ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SPORT
The first sports game was televised in the USA more than fifty years ago. Over the following decades television provided sports coaches with a wealth of information to analyse. By viewing recordings, they could study the number of passes received, tackles avoided, distances covered, speeds achieved and a host of (26) factors relating to the performance of their teams or athletes. Most of this data, (27) , consisted of bare statistics without any meaningful context. However, the use of artificial intelligence (Al) is now enabling an alternative (28) to coaching. Al means the development of computer systems that can perform tasks usually associated with human intelligence, such as decision making.
Al doesn't get tired, has extraordinary powers of vision, particularly for objects moving at speed, and is capable of making complex (29) very quickly. Research has shown that, particularly over a whole day's worth of events, computers are just as reliable as human judges when it comes to giving gymnasts a score. However, computer scientist Henri Simeonson has been quick to warn about some potential difficulties. In particular, Simeonson is concerned that Al is vulnerable to hackers, (30) might be able to influence the outcome of a tournament.
(Adapted from IELTS TRAINER 2 by Cambridge University Press)

In the 1970s, many people became concerned about energy. People had to face up to the fact that they used too much energy, and energy sources were not going to last forever. One architect, Michael Reynolds, decided to do something. He set out to design homes that were cheaper to build and more energy efficient. In addition, he wanted to do something about all the garbage. Finally, he came up with the idea of “earthships.”
Although it sounds like a boat, an earthship is a house. However, unlike regular houses, earthships are constructed from garbage and are built using only ten percent of the energy needed to build a typical house. Moreover, after they are built, earthships use only ten percent of the energy required to heat, light, and cool a regular home. Although earthships sound unique, they can actually be built to look just like any other house.
One of the big benefits of earthships is that they are made from recycled materials. The main construction material of an earthship is used tires that are filled with dirt. The dirt-filled tires are then laid flat and stacked like bricks. Because the tires are round, there is lots of extra space between the columns of tires. These spaces are filled with used cardboard. The tires and cardboard form the outside walls of an earthship. Another benefit of an earthship is that it saves energy and natural resources. For example, an earthship uses less water. Rain water, which is collected on the roof, is used for drinking and bathing.
All of these features make earthships very environmentally friendly. That’s one of the reasons they have become popular throughout the world. Earthships have been built in Bolivia, Australia, Mexico, Japan, Canada, England, Scotland, and all over the US. Maybe in the near future, an earthship will be landing near you!
(Adapted from Reading Challenge 3 by Casey Malarcher and Andrea Janzen)

Until relatively recently, newspapers were our primary source of daily news. They must now compete, however, with online news, social media and television in a progressively digital age. The internet is changing the way people get their news, leaving a dwindling audience willing to pay for their daily paper. But given that the form first emerged in early-17th century Europe, it’s probably about time the medium got overhauled. Newspapers have witnessed an extraordinary era of change: from the evolution of democratic institutions and political parties to the reshaping of whole countries and continents.
By the end of the 19th century, newspapers were using a visual template not unlike those of today, and had become the source of not only large profits but also unaccountable political and social influence for their owners – a trend that has continued to the present day. Newspapers prospered in this form for more than 150 years, and in many countries, daily life would have been inconceivable without access to one. But in many places, the continuing existence of newspapers is under threat.
Circulation figures for all types of newspapers, local, regional and national, bear out the fact that, in many Western nations at least, sales of printed newspapers had been falling for many years prior to the emergence of the internet. What is also beyond question, though, is that the arrival and exponential growth of the World Wide Web, leading to near-universal coverage, has accelerated this process greatly. Observing the rapidity and extent of this process around the world provides a fascinating insight into social change.
We now live in an age where speed and convenience have gained precedence over reliability and quality in most aspects of our existence. Regarding the former, newspapers only allow readers to get updated about events some considerable time after they have actually happened, while online users can access them more or less at the moment at which they occur. Printed newspapers, therefore, provide a less efficient source of news and, furthermore, do so in a less environmentally-friendly way than the internet, and at a direct cost to the consumer. Moreover, with news also available on tap through social media, consumers are continually bombarded from all sides, and therefore may not wish to have each story explained in great detail, as is the case in much of the printed media. Social media sites have also proven to be one of the most effective means of getting information out rapidly, and on a huge scale: news can now be tweeted before the mainstream media have even started their coverage.
(Adapted from Exam Booster Advanced by Carole Allsop, Mark Little and Anne Robinson)