Free IELTS Reading Exam Questions and Answers

Read the passage and answer the question. Tardigrades, microscopic animals less than one millimetre long, can survive being dried out for years by entering a state known as cryptobiosis. In this state, their metabolism falls to less than 0.01 per cent of its normal rate. Researchers have found that the animals replace much of the water in their bodies with a sugar called trehalose, which appears to protect the cell structures from damage as the tissues dry. Question 1 Complete the sentence below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for the answer. For each question, write your answer in the gap. The substance that takes the place of much of the water in a tardigrade's body is called ______ .

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Questions 15–18 The staff induction booklet below explains who to contact about different problems. Match each situation (15–18) with the correct person or office (A–E). Click and drag the correct answer into each box. Each answer may be used once only. There is one more answer than you need. Extract from the Harlow Distribution warehouse induction booklet: Reporting problems. Damaged stock must be reported to the shift supervisor before it is moved. Faulty equipment should be tagged and reported to the maintenance office. Injuries, however minor, go to the first-aid officer, who will complete the accident book. Questions about pay or holiday entitlement should be taken to the payroll clerk in the main office. The security desk deals only with lost passes and visitor access. Situations: 15. The brake lever on a pallet truck feels loose. 16. A packer cuts a finger on a wooden crate. 17. A pallet of mugs has been crushed during unloading. 18. Overtime hours have been left off a payslip. People and offices: A Shift supervisor B Maintenance office C First-aid officer D Payroll clerk E Security desk

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Academic Reading, Passage 3 Read the following extract and answer Question 27. Proponents of automated translation often point to its speed. Yet speed was never the main difficulty for human translators. A novelist's sentence may carry a rhythm, a pun or an allusion that has no counterpart in the target language, and deciding what to sacrifice requires judgement about the reader. Software trained on millions of existing translations tends to choose the most common rendering, which means that unusual choices, precisely those that make literary prose memorable, are smoothed away. This does not make the technology useless; for instruction manuals, where consistency is the aim, the same tendency is an advantage. Question 27 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. What does the writer say about the software's tendency to choose the most common rendering?

• AA. It is the main reason novelists refuse to work with translation technology.
• BB. It is a drawback for literary writing but a benefit for technical writing.
• CC. It makes the software slower than human translators when handling novels.
• DD. It results from the software having been trained on too few translated texts.

General Training Reading Read the following extract from a community newsletter and answer Question 8. Last month the car park behind the Eastgate Community Centre was resurfaced. The work took nine days, three more than planned, because of rain. Users will notice that the new bays are slightly narrower, a change the council says allows 12 extra spaces. Anyone with concerns about the new layout is invited to attend the residents' meeting on 14 March. Question 8 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. What is the writer's main purpose in this extract?

• AA. To explain why heavy rain made the resurfacing work more expensive
• BB. To apologise to users for the delay in completing the resurfacing work
• CC. To inform residents about changes to the car park and where to raise concerns
• DD. To persuade the council to make the parking bays wider again

General Training Reading, Section 1 A HARBOUR SWIM CLUB Evening lessons, Monday and Wednesday, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Adults only. Beginners welcome. 40 pounds per month. B LITTLE FINS Saturday morning swimming lessons for children aged 4 to 10, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. 25 pounds per month. C AQUA FIT AT RIVERSIDE LEISURE CENTRE Water exercise classes on weekdays at 10 a.m. and 12 noon. Suitable for all fitness levels. 6 pounds per class. D LIFEGUARD TRAINING COURSE Two-weekend course for people aged 16 and over. Applicants must be able to swim 200 metres. 120 pounds. Questions 1-3 Look at the four advertisements, A-D. For which advertisement is each statement true? Drag the correct letter to each person. You may use any letter more than once, and you will not need all of the letters. Helen works until 6 p.m. on weekdays and has never learned to swim. Mr Osei wants his seven-year-old daughter to have lessons at the weekend. Priya, aged 17, is a strong swimmer and wants a qualification for a summer job.

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General Training Reading, Section 1 LOCAL SERVICES: ADVERTISEMENTS Advert A: Greenfield Dental. New patients welcome. Evening appointments until 8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Advert B: Swift Movers. Man and van for local moves from £40 per hour. Packing boxes supplied free. Advert C: Pageturners Book Club. Meets in Library Room 2 on the first Monday of each month. Free to join. Advert D: Kelso Laundrette. Self-service machines open 24 hours a day. Ironing service available. Advert E: Bright Start Tutors. Maths and English lessons for ages 7 to 16, given in your own home. Advert F: Lena's Cleaning. Weekly house cleaning with all equipment provided. Questions 1–4 The advertisements are labelled A–F. Which advertisement would be most useful to each person below? There are more advertisements than people, so you will not use them all. Drag the correct advertisement to each person. Person 1: Marta works until 6 pm every weekday and needs a check-up. Person 2: Joel is moving to a flat across town and has no boxes. Person 3: Anita finishes a night shift at midnight and has no washing machine at home. Person 4: Kofi's 12-year-old daughter is struggling with maths and he cannot take her anywhere after school.

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Read the extract from a staff handbook and answer Questions 1–4. HAZARD REPORTING, Fernside Distribution Centre Any employee who notices a spill, damaged racking or a blocked fire exit must tell the shift supervisor immediately. The supervisor records the hazard on Form H1 within one hour. Spills and blocked exits are dealt with by the supervisor's team during the same shift. Damaged racking is reported by the supervisor to the Facilities Manager, who decides whether the aisle should be closed. If a hazard causes an injury, the Health and Safety Officer must also be told, and will notify the regulator if the injured person is absent from work for more than three days. Employees must not attempt to repair racking themselves. Questions 1–4 Match each action (Questions 1–4) with the correct person or group (A–E) responsible for it. You may use each letter only once. Actions 1. Deciding whether an aisle with damaged racking should be closed 2. Writing up a hazard on Form H1 3. Informing the regulator after an employee is absent for four days because of an injury 4. Dealing with a spill on the warehouse floor People A. Facilities Manager B. Health and Safety Officer C. Shift supervisor D. The supervisor's team E. The employee who noticed the hazard

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General Training Reading, Section 3 Read the article extract and answer Question 33. When Priya Nair started a choir in her local library in 2019, she expected a dozen people to turn up. Forty-three came. Since then the group has grown into three choirs with a waiting list. None of the singers needs to read music or audition. 'The only rule is that you turn up and try,' says Nair. Research from a nearby university suggests that regular singing in a group can lift mood, though Nair is cautious about such claims. 'I just see people leave happier than they arrived,' she says, 'and some of them have not sung since school.' Question 33 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. What is Nair's attitude to the research on group singing?

• AA. She prefers to rely on what she observes among her singers.
• BB. She doubts that it applies to people who cannot read music.
• CC. She is pleased that it was carried out at a local university.
• DD. She thinks it should be repeated with a much larger group.

General Training Reading, Section 2 Read the following job descriptions from a distribution company and answer Questions 15–18. A Stock Controller: counts deliveries against orders and updates the inventory system each morning. B Shift Supervisor: draws up weekly rotas and approves requests for overtime. C Health and Safety Officer: investigates accidents and delivers fire-safety training to new starters. D Customer Liaison Assistant: answers written complaints and logs them in the case register. E Maintenance Technician: repairs faulty equipment and carries out monthly checks on the forklift trucks. Questions 15–18 Match each task (15–18) with the correct job title, A–E. Drag the correct letter to each task. There is one job title you do not need. 15 Agree a colleague's request to work extra hours 16 Teach newly hired staff what to do in an emergency 17 Check that goods arriving match what was ordered 18 Write back to a customer who is unhappy with a delivery

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Academic Reading, Passage 1 Read the extract and answer Question 1. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened in 2008 to store duplicates of seed samples from gene banks around the world. It was built deep inside a sandstone mountain because the surrounding permafrost keeps the seeds frozen even if the cooling equipment stops working. In 2017, meltwater from unusually warm weather entered the entrance tunnel, but it did not reach the seed chambers. Question 1 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Click on the correct answer. According to the passage, why was the vault built inside a mountain?

• AA. to stop water in the entrance tunnel from reaching the seeds
• BB. to hide the seed collection from people who might try to steal it
• CC. to use the sandstone as natural insulation for the cooling equipment
• DD. to let the frozen ground protect the samples if the refrigeration failed