Reading 2026-07 Test 18 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

About this set: compiled and lightly cleaned up from real test material that test-takers recalled. IELTS draws from a global question pool, so this material circulates worldwide. To give you a complete, sittable test, material reported around the same period is assembled together — so a set may combine content from several exam dates, not one single sitting. Any audio is a recreation for practice. Organized for study convenience. Based on test-taker recalls — not official IELTS material.

Reading Passage 1: The Origin of Writing

Writing was first invented by the Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia before 3,000 BC. It was also independently invented in Meso-America before 600 BC and probably independently invented in China before 1,300 BC. It may have been independently invented in Egypt around 3,000 BC although given the geographical proximity between Egypt and Mesopotamia the Egyptians may have learnt writing from the Sumerians.

There are three basic types of writing systems. The written signs used by the writing system could represent either a whole word, a syllable or an individual sound. Where the written sign represents a word the system is known as logographic as it uses logograms which are written signs that represent a word. The earliest writing systems such as the Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mayan glyphs are predominantly logographics as are modern Chinese and Japanese writing systems. Where the written sign represents a syllable the writing system is known as syllabic. Syllabic writing systems were more common in the ancient world than they are today. The Linear A and B writing systems of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece are syllabic. The most common writing systems today are alphabetical. These involve the written sign (a letter) representing a single sound (known as a phoneme). The earliest known alphabetical systems were developed by speakers of Semitic languages around 1700 BC in the area of modern day Israel and Palestine. All written languages will predominately use one or other of the above systems. They may however partly use the other systems. No written language is purely alphabetic, syllabic or logographic but may use elements from any or all systems.

Such fully developed writing only emerged after development from simpler systems. Talley sticks with notches on them to represent a number of sheep or to record a debt have been used in the past. Knotted strings have been used as a form of record keeping particularly in the area around the Pacific rim. They reached their greatest development with the Inca quipus where they were used to record payment of tribute and to record commercial transactions. A specially trained group of quipu makers and readers managed the whole system. The use of pictures for the purpose of communication was used by native Americans and by the Ashanti and Ewe people in Africa. Pictures can show qualities and characteristics which cannot be shown by tally sticks and knot records. They do not however amount to writing as they do not bear a conventional relationship to language.

An alternative idea was that a system by which tokens, which represented objects like sheep, were placed in containers and the containers were marked on the outside indicating the number and type of tokens within the container gave rise to writing in Mesopotamia. The marks on the outside of the container were a direct symbolic representation of the tokens inside the container and an indirect symbolic representation of the object the token represented. The marks on the outside of the containers were graphically identical to some of the earliest pictograms used in Sumerian cuneiform, the world's first written language. However cuneiform has approximately 1,500 signs and the marks on the outside of the containers can only explain the origins of a few of those signs.

The first written language was the Sumerian cuneiform. Writing mainly consisted of records of numbers of sheep, goats and cattle and quantities of grain. Eventually clay tablets were used as a writing surface and were marked with a reed stylus to produce the writing. Thousands of such clay tablets have been found in the Sumerian city of Uruk. The earliest Sumerian writing consists of pictures of the objects mentioned such as sheep or cattle. Eventually the pictures became more abstract and were to consist of straight lines that looked like wedges.

The earliest cuneiform was an accounting system consisting of pictograms representing commodities such as sheep and a number. The clay tablets found might for example simply state “ten sheep”. Such writing obviously has its limitations and would not be regarded as a complete writing system. A complete writing system only developed with the process of phonctization. This occurs when the symbol ceases to represent an object and begins to represent a spoken sound, which in early cuneiform would be a word. This process was assisted when the symbols which initially looked very like the object they represented gradually became more abstract and less clearly related to an object. However while the symbol became more closely connected to words, it was words dealing with objects, such as sheep, bird or pot. It was still not possible to write more abstract ideas such as father, running, speech or foreigner.

The solution to this problem was known as the rebus principle. Words with the same or similar pronunciation to an abstract word could be used to represent the abstract word. The sign for eye could be used to represent the word “I”. The sign for deer could represent the word “dear”. Which word is referred to by the picture is decided by an additional sign. Pictographs which originally represented a word began to represent the sound of the word. The rebus principle is used to represent abstract words in all word writing systems in Sumer, Egypt, China and in the Aztec and Mayan writing in central America.

The Rebus principle led to cuneiform becoming a form of logo-syllabic writing consisting of both logograms and syllabic writing. The effect of the change from logographic to logo-syllabic writing was substantial. Logographic writing cannot produce normal prose and is restricted to nouns, numbers, names and adjectives. The vast majority of early Sumerian writing consisted of bureaucratic records of products received or products distributed. Only when syllabic writing was introduced into cuneiform did it become possible to write prose such as myths and royal propaganda.

The next major development in writing in the old world was the development of the alphabet. The alphabet was developed out of Egyptian hieroglyphs which contained 24 signs for 24 Egyptian consonants. About 1700 BC Semites who knew Egyptian hieroglyphs began making certain changes in their writing system. They put the letters in a particular sequence and gave them simple names to assist learning and ease of memory. They also dropped the logograms and other signs used in hieroglyphs and just kept the Egyptian consonants and restricted the signs to those for individual consonants. Finally, they introduced vowels into their alphabet. Alphabets were soon to spread over most of the world as they provide both flexibility and simplicity for a writing system.

1
There are three types of writing systems. Logography utilizes written signs representing a ________. Syllabic writing systems were more common in the ancient world, as they adopt written sign symbolizing a ________. The most common alphabetical systems use a letter to represent a ________.
2
There is no language that adopts elements from only one writing system.
3
Inca quipus used talley sticks to track payments and commercial transactions.
4
The marks on the outside of the containers originated from pictograms used in Sumerian cuneiform.
5
The first written language was created to document the quantities and types of livestock and food.
6
Cuneiform could not express abstract concepts at all.
7
Affected by the rebus principle, cuneiform combined the elements of both logograms and syllabic writing.
8
Most countries adopt alphabetical writing systems due to their flexibility and simplicity.
9
Who developed the alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphs?
- A. Egyptians
- B. Native Americans
- C. Semites
- D. Chinese
- E. Sumerians
10
Who used pictures for the purpose of communication?
11
Who invented a written language which consisted of signs looked like wedges?
12
Who might have independently invented writing 5,000 years ago?

Reading Passage 2: Australia's Camouflaged Creatures

Most species use camouflage to some extent. If they are convincing, they survive to pass their genes on to future generations. After generations of natural selection, animals can develop astonishingly complex camouflage techniques, manipulating shape, colour and movement. ‘The principle of camouflage is to make it economically unviable for a predator to pursue a particular species of prey,’ explains Professor Mark Elgar, of the University of Melbourne. ‘Camouflage increases the search time and, as a consequence, the predator will simply target another species, either because it doesn’t see the camouflaged individual or it just finds something more obvious to do.’

The easiest way for an animal to disguise itself is to be invisible in its surroundings. To that end, stick and leaf insects have evolved complex camouflage to hide themselves from predators. Many have the texture of sticks or dry leaves, while others imitate living foliage, even the veins in a leaf. Some insects develop blemishes to match the spots caused by disease. A convincing appearance only works if its owner also acts the part, so during the day the creature using this type of camouflage keeps motionless, or sways like a dead leaf in the breeze. If disturbed, it falls to the ground and stays still. Entomologist Paul Zborowski, who has spent decades photographing inconspicuous creatures, rates the desert insects of Central Australia as the most convincingly disguised creatures he's seen. ‘It's an incredibly old habitat so the creatures have had a long time to adapt,’ Zborowski explains. Most of them behave like stones and don't move all day, feeding only at night.

A tawny frogmouth sitting motionless on a stump also illustrates the importance of pairing a persuasive costume with behaviour. Professor Gisela Kaplan of the University of New England, in Australia, says the frogmouth's skill at camouflaging is learned behaviour. While adopting a pose may be a reflex of the bird, and can be observed in a hatchling’s first week, the ability to choose a backdrop which matches its colouration does not develop for 4-6 months. When the chicks land they are usually highly conspicuous, and their parents try to signal to them to move to a safe location.

Fixed camouflage is only good against a relatively unchanging environment, so some animals, such as the cuttlefish, have evolved an adaptable disguise. The cuttlefish can almost instantly change its colour, pattern and texture to match its surroundings, using specialised cells and muscles. On Queensland's reefs, scientists have been studying another ocean dweller that uses colour change, although not to blend into the surroundings. Dr Karen Cheney, from the University of Queensland, says the bluestriped fangblenny alters its colouration to mimic other species of fish, allowing it to travel with them and benefit from safety in numbers. Its most impressive impersonation is of the black-with-neon-blue striped cleaner wrasse which eats the parasites on larger fish. Not only does the fangblenny benefit from the reduced predation that comes with the wrasse’s beneficial relationships with other fish, but the disguise also lets it get closer to prey. It darts out from the safety of the wrasse’s cleaning station to nip at unsuspecting fish passing by but doesn't attack those coming to be cleaned.

The most famous form of mimicry, however, is for defence, not attack. Batesian mimicry refers to animals that gain protection from predators by imitating a dangerous organism, often using conspicuous colours. The nineteenth-century naturalist Henry Bates first suggested this camouflage technique after noticing that several Amazonian butterfly species looked the same. The technique was later called after him. In Australian waters, the harmless harlequin snake eel sports the same black and white bandings as the highly toxic, yellow-lipped sea krait, ensuring no predator will attack. However, the success of Batesian mimicry depends on the ratio of mimics to originals. If a predator encounters too many that are edible, it will just assume none of the animals with those markings are dangerous, explains Martyn Robinson, an educational naturalist with the Australian Museum.

An imitation of a more dangerous creature needn’t be exact, just enough to make potential predators hesitate. The hawk moth caterpillar has markings resembling a snake’s eyes on its abdomen. When confronted, the caterpillar pulls its head in and the ‘eyes’ flash open. Whether the potential predator thinks it has seen a snake, or is simply startled is unclear, but the outcome is that the caterpillar lives to see another day.

In Queensland's tablelands, the chameleon gecko has another way of making predators hesitate. Its body is brown, but its tail is banded in black and white. Robinson explains that if attacked, the chameleon gecko will drop off its tail, which will wriggle around on the ground. Many lizards do this, but in the case of the chameleon gecko the tail bones actually rub against one another, so it squeaks. ‘The predator is, of course, thoroughly absorbed by this black-and-white-striped, wriggling, squeaking thing on the ground, and the gecko can sneak away,’ Robinson says. It's a one-time-only trick: the regrown tail is brown, the same as the gecko's body. Such precise disguise and elaborate trickery illustrate the limitless possibilities of nature. But, as Robinson points out, only the most successful illusionists are here to tell the tale.

13
14 a species that indicates to its young to move to a place where they are less visible
14
15 an instance where sound is used to help an animal escape
15
16 a creature that can use camouflage to match a range of different backgrounds
16
17 a claim that the majority of animals disguise themselves in some way
17
18 examples of animals that use camouflage to look like plants
18
19 one species has a camouflage tactic that is not present from birth. (Match to person)
- A. Professor Mark Elgar
- B. Paul Zborowski
- C. Professor Gisela Kaplan
- D. Dr Karen Cheney
- E. Henry Bates
- F. Martyn Robinson
19
20 Species that live in an ancient environment have become very effective at camouflaging themselves. (Match to person)
20
21 Part of an animal is left behind to distract predators. (Match to person)
21
22 If it takes too long to find one kind of prey, animals will look for an alternative source of food. (Match to person)
22
23 Camouflage can involve copying a threatening type of animal. (Match to person)
23
24 Dr Karen Cheney studies the bluestriped fangblenny on ________ off Queensland's coast.
24
25 She found that the fangblenny was able to make itself resemble other fish by adjusting its colouration. The fangblenny impersonates the striped cleaner wrasse, a fish that is welcomed by other species as it gets rid of their ________.
25
26 The fangblenny can approach its ________ without drawing the attention of predators or disturbing the work of the striped cleaner wrasse.

Reading Passage 3: Inside the mind of a fan: How watching sport affects the brain

At about the same time that the poet Homer invented the epic there, the ancient Greeks started a festival in which men competed in a single race, about 200 metres long. The winner received a branch of wild olives. The Greeks called this celebration the Olympics. Though the ancient sprint remains, today the Olympics are far more than that. Indeed, the Games seem to celebrate the dream of progress as embodied in the human form. That the Games are intoxicating to watch is beyond question. During the Athens Olympics in 2004, 3.4 billion people, half the world, watched them on television. Certainly, being a spectator is a thrilling experience—but why?

In 1996, three Italian neuroscientists, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese, examined the premotor cortex of monkeys. They discovered that inside these primate brains there were groups of cells that ‘store vocabularies of motor actions’, just as there are grammars of movement. These networks of cells are the bodily ‘sentences’ we use every day, the ones our brain has chosen to retain and refine. Think, for example, about a golf swing. To those who have only watched the Masters Tournament on TV, golfing seems easy. To the novice, however, the skill of casting a smooth arc with a lopsided metal stick is virtually impossible. This is because most novices swing with their consciousness, using an area of the brain next to the premotor cortex. To the expert, on the other hand, a perfectly balanced stroke is second nature. For him, the motor action has become memorized, and the movements are embedded in the neurons of his premotor cortex. He hits the ball with the tranquility of his perfected autopilot.

These neurons in the premotor cortex, besides explaining why certain athletes seem to possess almost unbelievable levels of skill, have an even more amazing characteristic, one that caused Rizzolatti, Fogassi and Gallese to give them the lofty title ‘mirror neurons’. They note that ‘the main functional characteristic of mirror neurons is that they become active both when the monkey performs a particular action (for example, grasping an object or holding it) and, astonishingly, when it sees another individual performing a similar action’. Humans have an even more elaborate mirror neuron system. These peculiar cells mirror, inside the brain, the outside world: they enable us to internalize the actions of another. In order to be activated, though, these cells require what the scientists call ‘goal-orientated movements’. If we are staring at a photograph, a fixed image of a runner mid-stride, our mirror neurons are totally silent. They only fire when the runner is active: running, moving or sprinting.

What these electrophysiological studies indicate is that when we watch a golfer or a runner in action, the mirror neurons in our own premotor cortex light up as if we were the ones competing. This phenomenon of neural mirroring was first discovered in 1954, when two French physiologists, Gastaut and Bert, found that the brains of humans vibrate with two distinct wavelengths, alpha and mu. The mu system is involved in neural mirroring. It is active when our bodies are still, and disappears whenever we do something active, like playing a sport or changing the TV channel. The surprising fact is that the mu signal is also quiet when we watch someone else being active, as on TV. These results are the effect of mirror neurons.

Rizzolatti, Fogassi and Gallese call the idea of mirror neurons the ‘direct matching hypothesis’. They believe that we only understand the movement of sports stars when we ‘map the visual representation of the observed action onto our motor representation of the same action’. According to this theory, watching an Olympic athlete ‘causes the motor system of the observer to resonate. The ‘motor knowledge’ of the observer is used to understand the observed action.’ But mirror neurons are more than just the neural basis for our attitude to sport. It turns out that watching a great golfer makes us better golfers, and watching a great sprinter actually makes us run faster. This ability to learn by watching is a crucial skill. From the acquisition of language as infants to learning facial expressions, mimesis (copying) is an essential part of being conscious. The best athletes are those with a premotor cortex capable of imagining the movements of victory, together with the physical properties to make those movements real.

But how many of us regularly watch sports in order to be a better athlete? Rather, we watch sport for the feeling, the human drama. This feeling also derives from mirror neurons. By letting spectators share in the motions of victory, they also allow us to share in its feelings. This is because they are directly connected to the amygdala, one of the main brain regions involved in emotion. During the Olympics, the mirror neurons of whole nations will be electrically identical, their athletes causing spectators to feel, just for a second or two, the same thing. Watching sports brings people together. Most of us will never run a mile in under four minutes, or hit a home run. Our consolation comes in watching. When we gather around the TV, we all feel, just for a moment, what it is to do something perfectly.

26
27 an explanation of why watching sport may be emotionally satisfying
27
28 an explanation of why beginners find sporting tasks difficult
28
29 a factor that needs to combine with mirroring to attain sporting excellence
29
30 a comparison of human and animal mirror neurons
30
31 the first discovery of brain activity related to mirror neurons
31
32 a claim linking observation to improvement in performance
32
33 The writer uses the term ‘grammar of movement’ to mean
- A. a level of sporting skill.
- B. a system of words about movement.
- C. a pattern of connected cells.
- D. a type of golf swing.
33
34 The writer states that expert players perform their actions
- A. without conscious thought.
- B. by planning each phase of movement.
- C. without regular practice.
- D. by thinking about the actions of others.
34
35 The writer states that the most common motive for watching sport is to
- A. improve personal performance.
- B. feel linked with people of different nationalities.
- C. experience strong positive emotions.
- D. realize what skill consists of.
35
36 Inexpert sports players are too aware of what they are doing.
36
37 Monkeys have a more complex mirror neuron system than humans.
37
38 Looking at a photograph can activate mirror neurons.
38
39 Gastaut and Bert were both researchers and sports players.
39
40 The mu system is at rest when we are engaged in an activity.

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1. word / syllable / single sound
The passage explains that logography uses signs for a word, syllabic systems use signs for a syllable, and alphabetic systems use letters for a single sound.
2. TRUE
It says no language uses only one writing system, meaning all languages mix elements from different systems.
3. FALSE
The passage says Inca quipus used knotted strings, not talley sticks, so this statement is false.
4. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage about the marks on containers coming from Sumerian pictograms, so the answer is not given.
5. TRUE
The passage states the first written language was made to record quantities and types of livestock and food.
6. FALSE
It says cuneiform could express some abstract concepts, so it is false that it could not express them at all.
7. TRUE
The passage explains that cuneiform, influenced by the rebus principle, mixed logograms and syllabic writing.
8. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about why most countries use alphabetical systems, so the answer is not given.
9. C
The passage says Semites developed the alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egyptians is tempting, but they only had hieroglyphs, not the alphabet.
10. B
It says Native Americans used pictures to communicate. Egyptians is tempting, but their hieroglyphs were a writing system, not just pictures.
11. E
Sumerians invented cuneiform, which used wedge-shaped signs.
12. A
The passage says Egyptians might have invented writing independently 5,000 years ago.
13. C
C is correct because it describes a species that signals its young to move to a safer, less visible place.
14. G
G is correct as it gives an example where sound helps an animal escape from danger.
15. D
D is correct because it describes a creature that can change its camouflage to match different backgrounds.
16. A
A is correct as it claims most animals use some form of disguise.
17. B
B is correct because it gives examples of animals camouflaging as plants.
18. C
C is correct as Professor Gisela Kaplan describes a species whose camouflage develops after birth.
19. B
B is correct because Paul Zborowski talks about species in ancient environments being very good at camouflage.
20. F
F is correct as Martyn Robinson describes animals that leave behind a body part to distract predators.
21. A
A is correct because Professor Mark Elgar explains that if it takes too long to find one prey, animals look for other food.
22. E
E is correct as Henry Bates describes animals copying dangerous species as a camouflage tactic.
23. reefs
Dr Karen Cheney studies the bluestriped fangblenny on reefs off Queensland's coast.
24. parasites
The fangblenny copies the striped cleaner wrasse, which removes parasites from other fish.
25. prey
The fangblenny can get close to its prey without being noticed by predators or disturbing the cleaner wrasse.
26. F
F is correct because it explains why watching sport is emotionally satisfying.
27. B
B is correct as it explains beginners find sports hard because they are too aware of their actions.
28. E
E is correct because it says mirroring must combine with practice to reach excellence.
29. C
C is correct as it compares human and animal mirror neurons.
30. D
D is correct because it describes the first discovery of brain activity related to mirror neurons.
31. E
E is correct as it links watching others to improving performance.
32. C
C is correct because 'grammar of movement' refers to a pattern of connected cells, not skill or words.
33. A
A is correct as expert players act without thinking about each step.
34. C
C is correct because the main reason people watch sport is to feel strong positive emotions. Improving performance is tempting, but the passage says emotions are the main motive.
35. YES
YES is correct because the passage says beginners are too conscious of their movements.
36. NO
NO is correct as it says humans have a more complex mirror neuron system than monkeys, not the other way around.
37. NO
NO is correct because the passage says looking at a photo does not activate mirror neurons.
38. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN is correct as there is no information about Gastaut and Bert being both researchers and sports players.
39. YES
YES is correct because the mu system is only at rest when we are active, according to the passage.

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Reading Passage 1: The Origin of Writing

Reading Passage 2: Australia's Camouflaged Creatures

Reading Passage 3: Inside the mind of a fan: How watching sport affects the brain

Answer sheet

Answer key