Reading 2026-07 Test 2

Exam month: 2026-07

In this test

Rebuilt from test-taker recalls — not official IELTS material. Audio and passages are recreations for practice.

Reading Passage 1 — Man or Machine

A
During July 2003, the Museum of Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts exhibited what Honda calls ‘the world’s most advanced humanoid robot’, ASIMO (the Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility). Honda’s brainchild is on tour in North America and delighting audiences wherever it goes. After 17 years in the making, ASIMO stands at four feet tall, weighs around 115 pounds and looks like a child in an astronaut’s suit. Though it is difficult to see ASIMO’s face at a distance, on closer inspection it has a smile and two large ‘eyes’ that conceal cameras. The robot cannot work autonomously – its actions are ‘remote-controlled’ by scientist through the computer in its backpack. Yet watching ASIMO perform at a show in Massachusetts it seemed uncannily human. The audience cheered as ASIMO walked forwards and backwards, side to side and up and downstairs. After the show, a number of people told me that they would like robots to play more of a role in daily life – one even said that the robot would be like ‘another person’.
B
While the Japanese have made huge strides in solving some of the engineering problems of human kinetics and bipedal movements, for the past 10 years scientists at MIT’s former Artificial Intelligence (AI) lab (recently renamed the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, CSAIL) have been making robots that can behave like humans and interact with humans. One of MIT’s robots, Kismet, is an anthropomorphic head and has two eyes (complete with eyelids), ears, a mouth, and eyebrows. It has several facial expressions, including happy, sad, frightened and disgusted. Human interlocutors are able to read some of the robot’s facial expressions, and often change their behavior towards the machine as a result – for example, playing with it when it appears ‘sad’. Kismet is now in MIT’s museum, but the ideas developed here continue to be explored in new robots.
C
Cog (short for Cognition) is another pioneering project from MIT’s former AI lab. Cog has a head, eyes, two arms, hands and a torso – and its proportions were originally measured from the body of a researcher in the lab. The work on Cog has been used to test theories of embodiment and developmental robotics, particularly getting a robot to develop intelligence by responding to its environment via sensors, and to learn through these types of interactions.
D
MIT is getting furthest down the road to creating human-like and interactive robots. Some scientists argue that ASIMO is a great engineering feat but not an intelligent machine – because it is unable to interact autonomously with unpredictabilities in its environment in meaningful ways, and learn from experience. Robots like Cog and Kismet and new robots at MIT’s CSAIL and media lab, however, are beginning to do this.
E
These are exciting developments. Creating a machine that can walk, make gestures and learn from its environment is an amazing achievement. And watch this space: these achievements are likely rapidly to be improved upon. Humanoid robots could have a plethora of uses in society, helping to free people from everyday tasks. In Japan, for example, there is an aim to create robots that can do the tasks similar to an average human and also act in more sophisticated situations as firefighters, astronauts or medical assistants to the elderly in the workplace and in homes – partly in order to counterbalance the effects of an ageing population.
F
Such robots say much about the way in which we view humanity, and they bring out the best and worst of us. On one hand, these developments express human creativity – our ability to invent, experiment, and to extend our control over the world. On the other hand, the aim to create a robot like a human being is spurred on by dehumanized ideas – by the sense that human companionship can be substituted by machines; that humans lose their humanity when they interact with technology; or that we a little more than surface and ritual behaviors, that can be simulated with metal and electrical circuits.

Questions 1–6

Reading passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

  1. 1

    different ways of using robots

  2. 2

    a robot whose body has the same proportion as that of an adult

  3. 3

    the fact that human can be copied and replaced by robots

  4. 4

    a comparison between ASIMO for Honda and other robots

  5. 5

    the pros and cons of creating robots

  6. 6

    a robot that has eyebrows

Questions 7–13

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage 1. Using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.

In 2003, Massachusetts displayed a robot named ASIMO which was invented by Honda, after a period of 7 _________ in the making. The operating information is stored in the computer in its 8 _________ so that scientists can control ASIMO’s movement. While Japan is making great progress, MIT is developing robots that are human-like and can 9 _________. What is special about Kismet is that it has different 10 _________ which can be read by human interlocutors. 11 _________ is another robot from MIT, whose body’s proportion is the same as an adult. By responding to the surroundings through 12 _________, it could develop its 13 _________.

Reading Passage 2 — How Do We Find Our Way?

A
Most modern navigation, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), relies primarily on positions determined electronically by receivers collecting information from satellites. Yet if the satellite service's digital maps become even slightly outdated, we can become lost. Then we have to rely on the ancient human skill of navigating in three dimensional space. Luckily, our biological finder has an important advantage over GPS: we can ask questions of people on the sidewalk, or follow a street that looks familiar, or rely on a navigational rubric. The human positioning system is flexible and capable of learning. Anyone who knows the way from point A to point B-and from A to C-can probably figure out how to get from B to C, too.
B
But how does this complex cognitive system really work? Researchers are looking at several strategies people use to orient themselves in space: guidance, path integration and route following. We may use all three or combinations thereof, and as experts learn more about these navigational skills, they are making the case that our abilities may underlie our powers of memory and logical thinking. For example, you come to New York City for the first time and you get off the train at Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan. You have a few hours to see popular spots you have been told about: Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You meander in and out of shops along the way. Suddenly, it is time to get back to the station. But how?
C
If you ask passersby for help, most likely you will receive information in many different forms. A person who orients herself by a prominent landmark would gesture southward: "Look down there. See the tall, broad MetLife Building? Head for that - the station is right below it." Neurologists call this navigational approach "guidance", meaning that a landmark visible from a distance serves as the marker for one's destination.
D
Another city dweller might say: "What places do you remember passing? ... Okay. Go toward the end of Central Park, then walk down to St. Patrick's Cathedral. A few more blocks, and Grand Central will be off to your left." In this case, you are pointed toward the most recent place you recall, and you aim for it. Once there you head for the next notable place and so on, retracing your path. Your brain is adding together the individual legs of your trek into a cumulative progress report. Researchers call this strategy "path integration." Many animals rely primarily on path integration to get around, including insects, spiders, crabs and rodents. The desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis employ this method to return from foraging as far as 100 yards away. They note the general direction they came from and retrace their steps, using the polarization of sunlight to orient themselves even under overcast skies. On their way back they are faithful to this inner homing vector. Even when a scientist picks up an ant and puts it in a totally different spot, the insect stubbornly proceeds in the originally determined direction until it has gone "back" all of the distance it wandered from its nest. Only then does the ant realize it has not succeeded, and it begins to walk in successively larger loops to find its way home.
E
Whether it is trying to get back to the anthill or the train station, any animal using path integration must keep track of its own movements so it knows, while returning, which segments it has already completed. As you move, your brain gathers data from your environment-sights, sounds, smells, lighting, muscle contractions, a sense of time passing-to determine which way your body has gone. The church spire, the sizzling sausages on that vendor's grill, the open courtyard, and the train station-all represent snapshots of memorable junctures during your journey.
F
In addition to guidance and path integration, we use a third method for finding our way. An office worker you approach for help on a Manhattan street corner might say: "Walk straight down Fifth, turn left on 47th, turn right on Park, go through the walkway under the Helmsley Building, then cross the street to the MetLife Building into Grand Central." This strategy, called route following, uses landmarks such as buildings and street names, plus directions straight, turn, go through - for reaching intermediate points. Route following is more precise than guidance or path integration, but if you forget the details and take a wrong turn, the only way to recover is to backtrack until you reach a familiar spot, because you do not know the general direction or have a reference landmark for your goal. The route following navigation strategy truly challenges the brain. We have to keep all the landmarks and intermediate directions in our head. It is the most detailed and therefore most reliable method, but it can be undone by routine memory lapses. With path integration, our cognitive memory is less burdened; it has to deal with only a few general instructions and the homing vector. Path integration works because it relies most fundamentally on our knowledge of our body's general direction of movement, and we always have access to these inputs. Nevertheless, people often choose to give route-following directions, in part because saying "Go straight that way!" just does not work in our complex, man made surroundings.
G
Road Map or Metaphor? On your next visit to Manhattan you will rely on your memory to get present geographic information for convenient visual obviously seductive: maps around. Most likely you will use guidance, path integration and route following in various combinations. But how exactly do these constructs deliver concrete directions? Do we humans have, as an image of the real world, a kind of road map in our heads? Neurobiologists and cognitive psychologists do call the portion of our memory that controls navigation a "cognitive map". The map metaphor is are the easiest way to inspection. Yet the notion of a literal map in our heads may be misleading; a growing body of research implies that the cognitive map is mostly a metaphor. It may be more like a hierarchical structure of relationships.

Questions 14–18

Use the information in the passage to match the category of each navigation method (listed A-C) with correct statement. Write the appropriate letters A-C in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. A guidance method B path integration method C route following method

  1. 14

    Split the route up into several smaller parts.

    • A. guidance method
    • B. path integration method
    • C. route following method
  2. 15

    When mistakes are made, a person needs to go back.

  3. 16

    Find a building that can be seen from far away.

  4. 17

    Recall all the details along the way.

  5. 18

    Memorize the buildings that you have passed by.

Questions 19–21

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.

  1. 19

    According to the passage, how does the Cataglyphis ant respond if it is taken to a different location?

    • A. changes its orientation sensors to adapt
    • B. releases biological scent for help from others
    • C. continues to move according to the original orientation
    • D. gets completely lost once disturbed
  2. 20

    What did the author say about the route following method?

    • A. dependent on directions to move on
    • B. dependent on memory and reasoning
    • C. dependent on man-made settings
    • D. dependent on the homing vector
  3. 21

    Which of the following is true about the "cognitive map" in this passage?

    • A. There is no obvious difference between it and a real map.
    • B. It exists in our heads and is always correct.
    • C. It only exists in some cultures.
    • D. It is managed by a portion of our memory.

Questions 22–26

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage.

  1. 22

    Biological navigation is flexible.

  2. 23

    Insects have many ways to navigate that are in common with many other animals.

  3. 24

    When someone follows a route, he or she collects comprehensive perceptual information in the mind along the way.

  4. 25

    The path integration method has a higher requirement of memory compared with the route following method.

  5. 26

    When people find their way, they have an exact map in their mind.

Reading Passage 3 — Seeing the colour of sounds, hearing the colour of numbers

A
What is the colour of five? What is the sound of blue? To most of us such questions are either meaningless or suitable only for poetry. But for some people these are questions to which very precise answers can be given. Five, for example, for some people is green, while others say the sound of a guitar is like someone blowing on their ankles. People who 'see' colour in numbers or letters of the alphabet and 'feel' sensation in sound have synesthesia – meaning literally 'joined sensation' – an extraordinary condition that causes certain senses to 'leak' into one another.
B
People whose senses behave in this way are called 'synesthetes'. Some synesthetes take pleasure in it. To me it's like other people see the world in black and white, says one, who sees every letter, number, sound and pain in colour. Others learn to keep it a secret for fear of people laughing at them. But to neurologists investigating the brain it is of great interest. 'When scientists study normal perception,' says Daniel Smilek of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, there are lots of things we don't question because most of us perceive in the same way. Synesthesia, because it's abnormal, can give us new insights into normal perception.
C
Seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke was the first westerner to describe synesthesia. He wrote about a man who experienced bright red as the sound of the trumpet. Later, the condition excited the imagination of nineteenth-century European painters, such as the non-synesthete Wassily Kandinsky, who believed synesthetes were like good, much-played violins, which vibrate in all their parts and fibres. But it proved impossible to research and people lost interest. Recently, however, advances in brain imaging have sparked renewed interest.
D
Early claims that the multi-sensory experiences of synesthesia were linked with the hallucinations of mental illness have long been disproved. Until 1993, many researchers dismissed it as another name for a vivid imagination, but then an experiment by Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University in the UK showed that synesthetes who, when tested, had linked particular colours or shapes to letters, gave the same answers in 92 per cent of instances when tested again a week later. Non-synesthetes, given similar examples to imagine, returned the same answers in only 37 per cent of instances.
E
Although there is some overlap between synesthetes as to what colour is linked to what – 56 per cent see the letter 'o' as white – most of the responses are individual. There are 30 possible sensory combinations, but links between sounds and colours are the most common. Women are between two and eight times more likely than men to have the condition.
F
As yet there is no explanation for any of this, but small pieces of the jigsaw are emerging. A brain scanning experiment by Baron-Cohen in 1995 found that when synesthetes were listening to words, areas of the brain lit up that are normally only active in response to vision and colour. From this comes the notion that we may all have synesthesia at birth, when many parts of the brain are linked, but, as we develop, connections are pruned, so our senses become separated and the synesthetic mechanism is no longer intact. Somehow, synesthetes have kept their synaptic connections intact. It's an idea that has been challenged, however, on the grounds that if you give people certain drugs they will have synesthetic experiences, which suggests the mechanism is intact in adults but repressed.
G
There are many more unanswered questions about synesthesia. For example, is the synesthete's colour response to a number five triggered by actually seeing the number five written on a page, or does the synesthete 'see' the colour just by thinking of the number five? The neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran came up with a test for synesthesia which seemed to suggest it was the sight of the number that was important. He asked people to look at a page made up of specially drawn twos and fives that were a mirror image of each other. The fives were placed at random on the page but the twos were placed to form shapes such as circles or triangles. To most people the numbers just looked like a jumble without order, but to synesthetes the patterns made by the twos were very obvious as a different colour from the fives. 'This shows they were really sensing colour in the numbers they saw,' says Ramachandran. 'Ideas don't form these kinds of patterns.'
H
However, Smilek subsequently came up with evidence that what really matters is the idea of a number rather than the sight of it on a page. He asked a synesthete to do some simple mental arithmetic while looking at different coloured papers. The subject did not write her answers, but only thought of them and said them aloud. Smilek found that when the colour of the paper clashed with the colour of the answer, the subject's response was slower than when the colours were the same. An actual colour (the colour of the paper) could interfere with the colour of a number that existed only in her head (the answer to the mental arithmetic question). 'My research suggests that colour experiences coincide with the processing of meaning,' says Smilek. 'It's the concept of a number that's coloured.'
I
So which is it? At present, we don't know, but in the future neurologists may be able to explain what's going on in the brains of people like the novelist Nabokov, who perceived the English 'a' as dark brown and the French 'e' as black.

Questions 27–30

Look at the following statements (Questions 27–30) and the list of people below. Match each finding with the correct academic, A, B, C or D. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 27–30. NB You may use any letter more than once. List of People A. Daniel Smilek B. John Locke C. Simon Baron-Cohen D. Vilayanur Ramachandran

  1. 27

    For synesthetes, hearing the names of things affects the brain in the same way that looking at things does.

    • A. Daniel Smilek
    • B. John Locke
    • C. Simon Baron-Cohen
    • D. Vilayanur Ramachandran
  2. 28

    Synesthetes are consistent in their association of a certain colour with a certain written symbol.

  3. 29

    One synesthete heard a particular musical instrument when he saw a certain colour.

  4. 30

    Because synesthetes experience things differently to other people, studying synesthesia can give fresh perspectives on how the senses usually work.

Questions 31–35

Reading Passage 3 has nine paragraphs, A–I. Which paragraph contains the following information? Choose the correct letter, A–I, in boxes 31–35. NB You may use any letter more than once.

  1. 31

    an investigation into synesthesia using modern medical technology

  2. 32

    a mention of a writer who was a synesthete

  3. 33

    a definition of synesthesia

  4. 34

    two different explanations of why synesthesia is uncommon in adults

  5. 35

    a reason why some synesthetes do not tell people about their experiences

Questions 36–40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage? In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text, FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

  1. 36

    The painter Kandinsky admired synesthetes.

  2. 37

    It is no longer believed that synesthesia is associated with mental illness.

  3. 38

    Equal numbers of men and women have synesthesia.

  4. 39

    Synesthetes have greater powers of logic than people with normal perception.

  5. 40

    It is possible that we are all born with synesthesia.

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Answer key

  1. 1. E

    Paragraph E talks about different uses for humanoid robots, such as helping with daily tasks, acting as firefighters, astronauts, or medical assistants.

  2. 2. C

    Paragraph C describes Cog, a robot whose body proportions were measured from an adult researcher, making it the robot with adult-like proportions.

  3. 3. F

    Paragraph F discusses the idea that humans can be copied and replaced by robots, mentioning the belief that 'human companionship can be substituted by machines.'

  4. 4. D

    Paragraph D compares ASIMO, which cannot interact autonomously, with MIT's robots like Cog and Kismet, which are starting to interact and learn.

  5. 5. F

    Paragraph F lists both the positive (human creativity) and negative (dehumanization) aspects of creating robots.

  6. 6. B

    Paragraph B says Kismet has 'two eyes (complete with eyelids), ears, a mouth, and eyebrows,' making it the robot with eyebrows.

  7. 7. 17 years

    Paragraph A says ASIMO was '17 years in the making,' so the answer is 17 years.

  8. 8. backpack

    Paragraph A states that ASIMO's actions are controlled by scientists through the computer in its 'backpack.'

  9. 9. interact with

    Paragraph D says MIT is making robots that 'can behave like humans and interact with humans,' so the answer is 'interact with.'

  10. 10. facial expressions

    Paragraph B explains that Kismet has 'several facial expressions' that humans can read, so the answer is 'facial expressions.'

  11. 11. Cog / Cognition

    Paragraph C introduces Cog (Cognition) as the robot with adult body proportions.

  12. 12. sensors

    Paragraph C says Cog develops intelligence by 'responding to its environment via sensors,' so the answer is 'sensors.'

  13. 13. intelligence

    Paragraph C says Cog learns and develops 'intelligence' through interaction with its environment, so the answer is 'intelligence.'

  14. 14. B

    Paragraph D of Passage 2 explains that path integration involves breaking the route into smaller parts, so the answer is B.

  15. 15. C

    Paragraph F of Passage 2 says that in route following, if you make a mistake, you must backtrack to a familiar spot, so the answer is C.

  16. 16. A

    Paragraph C of Passage 2 describes the guidance method as using a visible landmark from a distance, so the answer is A.

  17. 17. C

    Paragraph F of Passage 2 says route following requires remembering all landmarks and directions, so the answer is C.

  18. 18. B

    Paragraph D of Passage 2 describes path integration as remembering the places you passed, so the answer is B.

  19. 19. C

    Paragraph D of Passage 2 says the ant 'stubbornly proceeds in the originally determined direction' even when moved, so the answer is C. Option A is tempting but the ant does not adapt its orientation.

  20. 20. B

    Paragraph F of Passage 2 says route following 'challenges the brain' and requires keeping all directions in memory, so the answer is B. Option A is wrong because it is not just about following directions, but remembering them.

  21. 21. D

    Paragraph G of Passage 2 says the 'cognitive map' is a part of our memory that controls navigation, so the answer is D.

  22. 22. TRUE

    Paragraph A of Passage 2 says the human positioning system is 'flexible and capable of learning,' so the answer is TRUE.

  23. 23. TRUE

    Paragraph D of Passage 2 says many animals, including insects, use path integration, so the answer is TRUE.

  24. 24. TRUE

    Paragraph F of Passage 2 says route following requires keeping all landmarks and directions in mind, so the answer is TRUE.

  25. 25. FALSE

    Paragraph F of Passage 2 says route following is more demanding on memory than path integration, so the answer is FALSE.

  26. 26. FALSE

    Paragraph G of Passage 2 says the idea of a literal map in our heads is misleading, so the answer is FALSE.

  27. 27. C

    Paragraph F of Passage 3 says Simon Baron-Cohen found that listening to words activated brain areas for vision and colour in synesthetes, so the answer is C.

  28. 28. C

    Paragraph D of Passage 3 says Simon Baron-Cohen found synesthetes gave the same colour-symbol answers 92% of the time, so the answer is C.

  29. 29. B

    Paragraph C of Passage 3 says John Locke described a man who experienced bright red as the sound of a trumpet, so the answer is B.

  30. 30. A

    Paragraph B of Passage 3 quotes Daniel Smilek saying synesthesia can give new insights into normal perception, so the answer is A.

  31. 31. F

    Paragraph F of Passage 3 describes a brain scanning experiment using modern technology to study synesthesia.

  32. 32. I

    Paragraph I of Passage 3 mentions the novelist Nabokov, who was a synesthete.

  33. 33. A

    Paragraph A of Passage 3 defines synesthesia as 'joined sensation' where senses mix together.

  34. 34. F

    Paragraph F of Passage 3 gives two explanations: synesthesia may be present at birth but lost as we grow, or it may be repressed in adults but can return with drugs.

  35. 35. B

    Paragraph B of Passage 3 says some synesthetes keep it a secret 'for fear of people laughing at them.'

  36. 36. TRUE

    Paragraph C of Passage 3 says Kandinsky believed synesthetes were special, so the answer is TRUE.

  37. 37. TRUE

    Paragraph D of Passage 3 says early claims linking synesthesia to mental illness have been disproved, so the answer is TRUE.

  38. 38. FALSE

    Paragraph E of Passage 3 says women are more likely than men to have synesthesia, so the answer is FALSE.

  39. 39. NOT GIVEN

    There is no information in the passage about synesthetes having greater logic skills, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.

  40. 40. TRUE

    Paragraph F of Passage 3 suggests we may all have synesthesia at birth, so the answer is TRUE.

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