Reading 2026-05 Test 25 — 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: Tunnelling under the Thames

At the beginning of the 19th century, the port of London was the busiest in the world. Cargoes that had travelled thousands of miles and survived all the hazards of the sea were unloaded on the banks of the Thames, only for their owners to discover that the most frustrating portion of their journey lay ahead. Consignments intended for the southern parts of Britain had to be lifted onto horse carts, pulled through the docks and across London Bridge, built in the 12th century and as impractical as its early date implies. By 1820, London Bridge had become the centre of the world's largest traffic jam.

It was an intolerable situation, and it was clear that if private enterprise could build another crossing closer to the docks, there would be good money to be made in tolls paid by users. Another bridge was out of the question, as this would deny sailing ships access to the city centre and ambitious men turned their thoughts to tunnelling beneath the Thames instead. This was not such an obvious idea as it might appear. Although increasing demand for coal had meant a great many tunnels had been dug in mines in Britain, working methods remained primitive. Tunnels were dug by men with simple tools, by candlelight. However, in 1807, a group of businessmen set themselves up as the Thames Archway Company. Their ambition was to tunnel below the Thames, but there was little to guide them as there had been no previous attempt to do this. Their chief engineer was Richard Trevithick, designer of the world's first high-pressure steam engine. His men made progress at the beginning, but then things began to go disastrously wrong, with muddy soil pouring into the tunnel. Eventually, the Thames Archway Company had had enough. Its funds were exhausted. Trevithick was sick from exposure to the river water, and its efforts had proved only that a passage under the river exceeded the limits of contemporary mining technology.

At that time, the only machines used in mines were pumps. It took a man of genius to recognise that a different sort of machine was needed, a machine that could prevent the roof and walls of a tunnel from collapsing. This man was Marc Brunel, a Frenchman who had become one of the most prominent engineers in Britain. Not long after the failure of the Thames Archway Company, Brunel saw a rotten piece of wood lying on the riverbank. Examining the wood through a magnifying glass, he observed it was infested with something that looked like a worm. Brunel realised that as it tunnelled through the wood, it would push chewed wood into its mouth and digest it, then excrete a hard substance that lined the new tunnel. Brunel realised that the worm's digging technique could be adapted to produce a new way of tunnelling. His realisation led him to invent a device that has been used in one form or another in most major tunnels built since: the tunnelling shield. It consisted of a heavy iron frame that could be pushed forward a few inches at a time. The front of the frame was made up of a series of iron frames that could be folded back to allow miners to dig the ground ahead. Behind these frames was a wall consisting of a series of iron plates pressed against the tunnel face and supported on a set of horizontal wooden planks, that would prevent the face from collapsing. It was a complex and rather cumbersome machine and not easy to use, but it seemed that it would protect the miners from the worst of the river's water. Brunel's team carefully examined earth samples taken from beneath the riverbed, and subsequently decided to dig the tunnel close to the muddy river bottom, where he could expect to find clay. This would be a more solid and safe substance to dig through than the sand that was found deeper down.

Brunel began work on his tunnel in 1825, but the problems of such an operation soon became apparent. Although the shield itself worked well, water began to drip into the tunnel. This was more of an annoyance than a danger while the pump was working, but this machine proved unreliable and sometimes failed altogether. When the pump broke down, work had to stop as the tunnel quickly flooded. There were occasions when the miners had to abandon their tools and flee for their lives. Even when Brunel's men were able to work, they had to run the constant risk of the pumps failing. They also complained of frequent headaches and dizziness, caused by the poor air quality. The air underground was dirty and stale, contaminated due to the lack of an adequate ventilation system. There were lighting problems too. Illuminating the tunnels by candlelight was a constant challenge. Lamps give off only a very weak glow, and there were a number of accidents because the miners could not see what they were doing. Lastly, a number of Brunel's miners walked off the job because they could not tolerate the excessive temperatures that developed in the cramped conditions underground.

Despite all these setbacks, the tunnel finally emerged on the opposite river bank on August 12, 1841. Brunel's triumph, however, was only partial. The small payment per person made by the thousands of visitors who flocked to see the marvel hardly paid even a penny per foot of the tunnel's construction costs. Brunel had gone bankrupt long before the project was completed, and the government loan he had required to complete the project had to be paid back with interest. As a result, there was not enough funding to make it accessible to horse-drawn vehicles, as intended. Instead, the passageways were filled with souvenir sellers and entertainers. In the end, the tunnel was closed two years later, used at night, before it was finally closed entirely and fell into dereliction for decades.

It was only when the underground railway came to London in the 1880s that the Thames Tunnel found and achieved a measure of real usefulness. It was bought in 1869 by the East London Railway, who found it to be in such excellent condition that it was immediately pressed into service as a route for passenger trains heading east. The tunnel became, and remains, part of the London Underground network.

1
In the early 19th century, the port of London was considered a safer destination than other ports.
2
London Bridge provided quick access for cargo being sent to southern Britain.
3
It was generally believed that a new river crossing would be profitable.
4
Building a second bridge crossing was initially considered to be the best solution.
5
It was believed that coal could be found under the River Thames.
6
The Thames Archway Company was the first group to try tunnelling below the Thames.
7
Some of Trevithick's men were injured during a mudslide at his tunnel.
8
The Thames Archway Company ran out of money to finance the tunnel project.
9
Marc Brunel's tunnel: Preparing to build the tunnel: Brunel noticed how a kind of ______ made its tunnels in wood.
10
Marc Brunel's tunnel: Preparing to build the tunnel: Brunel planned to build a shallow tunnel so the earth would have a higher content of ______.
11
Marc Brunel's tunnel: Problems faced by miners: The miners suffered from ______ because of pollution in the tunnels.
12
Marc Brunel's tunnel: Problems faced by miners: Lighting problems led to several ______.
13
Marc Brunel's tunnel: After the tunnel was finished: Brunel did not have enough money to repay his debt to the ______.

Reading Passage 2: Animal Minds: Parrot Alex

In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”

When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs’ eyes and know that, of course, they have thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking – that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it? “That’s why I started my studies with Alex,” Pepperberg said. They were seated – she at her desk, he on top of his cage – in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar, at Brandeis University. Newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team – and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful.

Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others’ motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned out to be a surprisingly good talker.

Thirty years after the Alex studies began, Pepperberg and a changing collection of assistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with two younger parrots, also served as Alex’s flock, providing the social input all parrots crave. Like any flock, this one – as small as it was – had its share of drama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times around Pepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a male assistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago pet store where she let the store’s assistant pick him out because she didn’t want other scientists saying later that she’d particularly chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alex’s brain was the size of a shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperberg’s interspecies communication study would be futile.

“Some people actually called me crazy for trying this,” she said. “Scientists thought that chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps can’t speak.” Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can “talk” to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperberg’s patient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although he calls an apple a “beanery.” “Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, Alex made up that word for them,” Pepperberg said.

It sounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willingly doing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to argue with Pepperberg’s explanation for his behaviors. She wasn’t handing him treats for the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say the sounds. “He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitate them,” Pepperberg said, after pronouncing “seven” for Alex a good dozen times in a row. “I’m not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language,” she added. “That’s never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitative skills to get a better understanding of avian cognition.”

In other words, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a bird’s basic understanding of the world. She couldn’t ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his knowledge of numbers, shapes, and colors. To demonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in the middle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alex’s eye. “What’s same?” she asked. Without hesitation, Alex’s beak opened: “Color.” “What’s different?” Pepperberg asked. “Shape,” Alex said. His voice had the digitized sound of a cartoon character. Since parrots lack lips (another reason it was difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemed to come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But the words – and what can only be called the thoughts – were entirely his.

For the next 20 minutes, Alex ran through his tests, distinguishing colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, such as counting the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then, as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his bird’s brain, Alex spoke up. “Talk clearly!” he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also teaching talked with wrong pronunciation. “Talk clearly!” “Don’t be a smart aleck,” Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. “He knows all this, and he gets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just to be obstinate. At this stage, he’s like a teenager; he’s moody, and I’m never sure what he’ll do.”

14
1. Firstly, Alex has grasped quite a lot of vocabulary.
15
2. At the beginning of study, Alex felt frightened in the presence of humans.
16
3. Previously, many scientists realized that animals possess the ability of thinking.
17
4. It has taken a long time before people get to know cognition existing in animals.
18
5. As Alex could approximately imitate the sounds of English words, he was capable of roughly answering Irene's questions regarding the world.
19
6. By breaking in other parrots as well as producing the incorrect answers, he tried to be focused.
20
After the training of Irene, Parrot Alex can use his vocal tract to pronounce more than ________, while other scientists believe that animals have no this advanced ability of thinking, they would rather teach ________. Pepperberg clarified that she wanted to conduct a study concerning ________ but not to teach him to talk. The store's assistant picked out a bird at random for her for the sake of avoiding other scientists saying that the bird is ________ afterwards.
21
What did Alex reply regarding the similarity of the subjects showed to him?
22
What is the problem of the young parrots except Alex?
23
To some extent, through the way he behaved what we can call him?

Reading Passage 3: The Origin of Mass Production

A Despite its obvious connection, mass production was not a corollary to the modern Industrial Revolution. Various mass production techniques had been practiced in ancient times, from ceramic production in the Orient to manufacturing in ancient Greece. The British were most likely the first modern economy to adapt water-powered, then steam-powered, machinery to industrial production methods, most notably in the textiles industry. Yet it is generally agreed that modern mass production techniques came into widespread use through the innovation of an assortment of Americans who substantially improved the ancient techniques. Indeed, this modern mass production was called the American System and its early successes are often attributed to Eli Whitney, who adapted mass production techniques and the interchangeability of parts to the manufacture of muskets for the U.S. government in the late 1790s.

B In the late 18th century, French General Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, promoted standardized weapons, which became known as the Systeme Gribeauval after it was issued as a royal order in 1765. (Its focus at the time was artillery more than muskets or handguns.) The crucial step toward interchangeability in metal parts was taken by Simeon North, working only a few miles from Eli Terry. North created one of the world's first true milling machines to do metal shaping that previously was done by hand with a file. Diana Muir believes that North's milling machine was online around 1816. While Whitney was certainly an innovator of the American System, others maintain that Whitney's parts were not truly interchangeable and that credit should more appropriately go to John Hall, the New England gunsmith who built Muskets with flintlock for the United States government at the Harper's Ferry armory. Flintlock, as it was implied meant people used it to trigger the gun. Hall, born in Maine in 1769, built many of the machine tools needed for precision manufacturing and instituted a system that employed accurate gauges for measuring every aspect and piece of work his factory produced. Consequently, he achieved a much higher level of interchangeability and precision than did Whitney.

C Still others maintain that the credit for these modern innovations should go to a French gunsmith whose methods and results predated those of Whitney and Hall by at least a decade. In Britain, and somewhat simultaneously with Whitney, the Frenchman Marc Isambard Brunei adapted steam-driven machinery and assembly-line techniques to the production of 130,000 pulleys for the marine industry in just one year. Brunei's achievements were made possible by the design and manufacture of several machine tools by the noted British inventor, Henry Maudslay.

D Maudslay's contribution to modern mass production was the invention of precision machine tools capable of producing the identical parts necessary for mass production techniques which made producing guns cheaper. It is generally conceded that the British machine tool industry was far more advanced than that of the Americans in these early stages of mass production development. Simultaneous with Whitney's innovations in the United States were those of Oliver Evans, whose many inventions in the flour milling process led to an automated mill that could be run by a single miller.

E Samuel Colt and Elisha King Root were also very successful innovators in the development of industrial processes that could mass produce interchangeable parts for the assembly-line production of firearms. Colt and Root wished to advance the machining of parts so that even the most minute of tasks could be performed with the precision that they believed only machines could achieve. In these endeavors, Colt and Root were largely successful.

F Eli Terry also adapted mass production methods to clockmaking in the early 1800s, and George Eastman made innovations to assembly-line techniques in the manufacture and the developing of photographic film later in the century. Credit for the development of large scale, assembly-line, mass production techniques is usually given to Henry Ford and his innovative Model T production methods. Henry Ford had his workers standing in one place while parts were brought by on conveyor belts, and the car itself moved past the workers on another conveyor belt. Bodies were built on one line and the chassis and drive train were built on another. When both were essentially complete, the body was lowered onto the chassis for final assembly. Around the same time, production of guns also entered into the assembly line.

G Despite the fact that he was not the first, Ford can certainly be viewed as the most successful of these early innovators due to one simple fact — Ford envisioned and fostered mass consumption as a corollary to mass production. Ford's techniques lessened the time needed to build a Model T from about twelve and a half hours to an hour and a half; the price was reduced as well — from $850 for the first Model T in 1908, to only $290 in 1927 after assembly-line techniques were introduced in 1913. The automobile was no longer a luxury for the rich, the Model T fast became a necessity for nearly everyone. Indeed, Ford sold almost half of all of the automobiles bought worldwide from 1908 to 1927 — the years of Model T production. Apart from this, people showed different views over whether guns should be involved in mass production. The expense opposition to ammunition was the first one to trigger the debate. Other equipment involved in war or preparation for war was also against. Let alone all these required a lot of workforce to accomplish.

H Assembly-line techniques also required that the manual skills necessary to build a product be altered. Previous to mass production techniques, as seen in the early manufacture of firearms, each workman was responsible for the complete manufacture and assembly of all of the component parts needed to build any single product. Mass production and parts interchangeability demanded that all parts be identical and the individual worker no longer be allowed the luxury of building a complete product based on his personal skills and inclinations. Machines came to dictate the production process, and each part — once created individually by hand— was now duplicated by a machine process that was merely guided by human control. The craft tradition, dominant in human endeavor for centuries, was abandoned in favor of a process that created parts by machine. Furthermore, assembly of these machine-made parts was divided into a series of small repetitive steps that required much less skill than traditional craftsmanship. Consequently, modern mass production techniques, while certainly increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing process and bringing industrial products within the reach of virtually all of humanity, apart from manufacturing ballpoint pens, making of gun is also part of it. But safety is also a factor to consider. People succeeded in restrain the production of guns resulting only 4 manufactures were permitted to produce guns in mass production.

24
27. Paragraph C
- i. The appearance of precision machine tools
- ii. Different techniques applied to mass production
- iii. Prominent researchers' work dedicated to mass production of firearm making
- iv. The disagreement on the first person who invented real interchangeable parts instead of Whitney
- v. Successful elements for imposing restrictions on the production of guns
- vi. Controversy on the permission of guns production
- vii. The use of mass production to manufacture guns
- viii. The significant role of interchangeable parts
25
28. Paragraph D
26
29. Paragraph E
27
30. Paragraph F
28
31. Paragraph G
29
32. Paragraph H
30
33. Why was John Hall’s production more precise than Whitney’s?
- A. He used a new type of milling machine
- B. He employed accurate measuring gauges
- C. He focused on muskets instead of handguns
- D. He predated the French gunsmith’s methods
31
34. What is the function of flintlock as mentioned in the passage?
- A. Grind the gun
- B. Decorate the gun
- C. Fire the gun
- D. Maintain the gun
32
35. Why does the author quote an example concerning Ford?
- A. To demonstrate that mass production needed detailed techniques
- B. To show that every object could be detached into several parts
- C. To emphasize that Ford was a successful enterprise
- D. To stress that cars were popular at that time in the U.S.
33
36. What is the main contribution of Maudslay?
- A. Introduced assembly line for producing interchangeable parts of guns
- B. Created useful tools for manufacture of guns with economic feasibility
- C. Lessened the time for making guns
- D. Set a standard of making guns and the standard of interchangeable parts
34
37. Which might be the best subtitle for the passage?
- A. The origin of auto assembly line
- B. A marvelous advancement in firearm production
- C. The origin of mass production
- D. The significance of producing interchangeable parts
35
38. People mainly expressed ______ to buying ammunition after the success of applying assembly line to the production of automobiles which led to the same practice for guns followed by a heated debate over this application.
36
39. Besides, other ______ were needed in the war which demanded a big ______ to support.
37
40. Besides, other equipment were needed in the war which demanded a big ______ to support.

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1. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage about whether the port of London was considered safer than other ports in the early 19th century.
2. FALSE
The passage states that London Bridge was a bottleneck and did not provide quick access for cargo to southern Britain, so this statement is false.
3. TRUE
The passage mentions that many people believed a new river crossing would be profitable, so this statement is true.
4. FALSE
The passage says that building a second bridge was not seen as the best solution at first, so this statement is false.
5. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about people believing coal could be found under the River Thames.
6. TRUE
The passage states that the Thames Archway Company was the first to try tunnelling below the Thames, so this statement is true.
7. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about Trevithick's men being injured during a mudslide at his tunnel.
8. TRUE
The passage says the Thames Archway Company ran out of money to finance the tunnel project, so this statement is true.
9. worm
Brunel noticed how a kind of worm made its tunnels in wood, which inspired his tunnel design.
10. clay
Brunel planned to build a shallow tunnel so the earth would have a higher content of clay, making it easier to dig.
11. headaches
The miners suffered from headaches because of pollution in the tunnels.
12. accidents
Lighting problems led to several accidents for the miners.
13. government
After the tunnel was finished, Brunel did not have enough money to repay his debt to the government.
14. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about how much vocabulary Alex has grasped.
15. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about Alex feeling frightened in the presence of humans at the beginning of study.
16. FALSE
The passage says that previously, many scientists did not realize animals could think, so this statement is false.
17. TRUE
It took a long time before people recognized that animals have cognition, so this statement is true.
18. TRUE
Alex could roughly answer Irene's questions because he could approximately imitate the sounds of English words, so this statement is true.
19. FALSE
The passage says Alex broke in on other parrots and gave wrong answers to get attention, not to be focused, so this statement is false.
20. 100 English words / chimpanzees / avian cognition / particularly chosen
After Irene's training, Alex could pronounce more than 100 English words; other scientists preferred to teach chimpanzees; Pepperberg wanted to study avian cognition; the store assistant picked a bird at random to avoid claims it was particularly chosen.
21. color
Alex replied 'color' when asked about the similarity of the subjects shown to him.
22. wrong pronunciation
The problem of the young parrots except Alex was wrong pronunciation.
23. teenager
Based on his behavior, Alex could be called a teenager.
24. iv
Paragraph C is about the disagreement on who invented real interchangeable parts instead of Whitney.
25. i
Paragraph D discusses the appearance of precision machine tools.
26. iii
Paragraph E is about prominent researchers' work dedicated to mass production of firearm making.
27. vii
Paragraph F discusses the use of mass production to manufacture guns.
28. vi
Paragraph G is about the controversy on the permission of guns production.
29. v
Paragraph H discusses successful elements for imposing restrictions on the production of guns.
30. B
John Hall’s production was more precise than Whitney’s because he employed accurate measuring gauges. The tempting wrong option A (new type of milling machine) is not mentioned as the main reason.
31. C
The function of the flintlock is to fire the gun, as stated in the passage.
32. B
The author quotes Ford to show that every object could be detached into several parts, not just to show Ford's success or car popularity.
33. B
Maudslay's main contribution was creating useful tools for manufacture of guns with economic feasibility.
34. C
The best subtitle for the passage is 'The origin of mass production' because the passage discusses how mass production started and developed.
35. opposition
People mainly expressed opposition to buying ammunition after the assembly line was used for guns, leading to debate.
36. equipment
Besides, other equipment were needed in the war which demanded a big workforce to support.
37. workforce
A big workforce was needed to support the production of equipment for the war.

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Reading Passage 1: Tunnelling under the Thames

Reading Passage 2: Animal Minds: Parrot Alex

Reading Passage 3: The Origin of Mass Production

Answer sheet

Answer key