IELTS Reading Test Task.docx – IELTS Reading Test – 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading | Course Hero

IELTS Reading Test – 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage

below.

The History of the Guitar

The word ‘guitar’ was brought into English as an adaptation of the Spanish word ‘guitarra; which was,

in turn, derived from the Greek ‘kithara’ Tracing the roots of the word further back into linguistic

history, it seems to have been a combination of the Indo-European stem

‘guit-; meaning music, and the

root -tar; meaning chord or string. The

root -tar’ is actually common to a number of languages, and

can also be found in the word ‘sitar; also a stringed musical instrument. Although the spelling and

pronunciation differ between languages, these key elements have been present in most words for

‘guitar’ throughout history.

While the guitar may have gained most of its popularity as a musical instrument during the modern

era,

guitar-like instruments have been in existence in numerous cultures throughout the world for

more than 5,000 years. The earliest instruments that the modern eye and ear would recognize as a

‘normal’ acoustic guitar date

from about 500 years ago. Prior to this time, stringed instruments were in

use throughout the world, but these early instruments are known primarily from

visual depictions, not

from the continued existence of music written for them. The majority of these depictions show simple