Reading 2026-03 Test 4 — IELTS Reading Actual Test with Answers

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Reading Passage 1 - How to Spot a Liar

However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally to all living things. Birds do it by feigning injury to lead hungry predators away from nesting young. Spider crabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with strips of kelp and other debris, they pretend to be something they are not - and so escape their enemies. Nature amply rewards successful deceivers by allowing them to survive long enough to mate and reproduce. So it may come as no surprise to learn that human beings- who, according to psychologist Gerald Johnson of the University of South California, are lied to about 200 times a day, roughly one untruth every 5 minutes- often deceive for exactly the same reasons: to save their own skins or to get something they can't get by other means. But knowing how to catch deceit can be just as important a survival skill as knowing how to tell a lie and get away with it. A person able to spot falsehood quickly is unlikely to be swindled by an unscrupulous business associate or hoodwinked by a devious spouse. Luckily, nature provides more than enough clues to trap dissemblers in their own tangled webs- if you know where to look. By closely observing facial expressions, body language and tone of voice, practically anyone can recognise the tell-tale signs of lying. Researchers are even programming computers - like those used on Lie Detector -to get at the truth by analysing the same physical cues available to the naked eye and ear. 'With the proper training, many people can learn to reliably detect lies,' says Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, who has spent the past 15 years studying the secret art of deception. In order to know what kind of Lies work best, successful liars need to accurately assess other people's emotional states. Ackman's research shows that this same emotional intelligence is essential for good lie detectors, too. The emotional state to watch out for is stress, the conflict most liars feel between the truth and what they actually say and do. Even high-tech lie detectors don't detect lies as such; they merely detect the physical cues of emotions, which may or may not correspond to what the person being tested is saying. Polygraphs, for instance, measure respiration, heart rate and skin conductivity, which tend to increase when people are nervous - as they usually are when lying. Nervous people typically perspire, and the salts contained in perspiration conducts electricity. That's why sudden leap in skin conductivity indicates nervousness -about getting caught, perhaps -which makes, in turn, suggest that someone is being economical with the truth. On the other hand, it might also mean that the lights in the television Studio are too hot- which is one reason polygraph tests are inadmissible in court. 'Good lie detectors don't rely on a single thing' says Ekman, but interpret clusters of verbal and non-verbal clues that suggest someone might be lying.' The clues are written all over the face. Because the musculature of the face is directly connected to the areas of the brain that processes emotion, the countenance can be a window to the soul. Neurological studies even suggest that genuine emotions travel different pathways through the brain than insincere ones. If a patient paralyzed by stroke on one side of the face, for example, is asked to smile deliberately, only the mobile side of the mouth is raised. But tell that same person a funny joke, and the patient breaks into a full and spontaneous smile. Very few people -most notably, actors and politicians- are able to consciously control all of their facial expressions. Lies can often be caught when the liar's true feelings briefly leak through the mask of deception. We don't think before we feel, Ekman says. 'Expressions tend to show up on the face before we're even conscious of experiencing an emotion.' One of the most difficult facial expressions to fake- or conceal, if it's genuinely felt - is sadness. When someone is truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief and the inner corners of the eyebrows are pulled up. Fewer than 15% of the people Ekman tested were able to produce this eyebrow movement voluntarily. By contrast, the lowering of the eyebrows associated with an angry scowl can be replicated at will by almost everybody. 'If someone claims they are sad and the inner corners of their eyebrows don't go up,' Ekman says, 'the sadness is probably false.' The smile, on the other hand, is one of the easiest facial expressions to counterfeit. It takes just two muscles -the zygomaticus major muscles that extend from the cheekbones to the corners of the lips- to produce a grin. But there's a catch. A genuine smile affects not only the corners of the lips but also the orbicularis oculi, the muscle around the eye that produces the distinctive 'crow's feet' associated with people who laugh a lot. A counterfeit grin can be unmasked if the corners of the lips go up, the eyes crinkle, but the inner corners of the eyebrows are not lowered, a movement controlled by the orbicularis oculi that is difficult to fake. The absence of lowered eyebrows is one reason why the smile looks so strained and stiff.

Questions 1-5: Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write: YES - if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO - if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NOT GIVEN - if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1
All living animals can lie.
2
Some people tell lies for self-preservation.
3
Scientists have used computers to analyze which part of the brain is responsible for telling lies.
4
Lying as a survival skill is more important than detecting a lie.
5
To be a good liar, one has to understand other people's emotions.

Questions 6-9: Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 6-9.

6
How does the lie detector work?
- A. It detects whether one's emotional state is stable.
- B. It detects one's brain activity level.
- C. It detects body behavior during one's verbal response.
- D. It analyses one's verbal response word by word.
7
Lie detectors can't be used as evidence in a court of law because
- A. Lights often cause lie detectors to malfunction.
- B. They are based on too many verbal and non-verbal clues.
- C. Polygraph tests are often inaccurate.
- D. There may be many causes of certain body behavior.
8
Why does the author mention the paralyzed patients?
- A. To demonstrate how a paralyzed patient smiles
- B. To show the relation between true emotions and body behavior
- C. To examine how they were paralyzed
- D. To show the importance of happiness from recovery
9
The author uses politicians to exemplify that they can
- A. Have emotions.
- B. Imitate actors.
- C. Detect other people's lives.
- D. Mask their true feelings.

Questions 10-13: Classify the following facial traits as referring to

A. sadness B. anger C. happiness Write the correct letter A, B or C in boxes 10-13.

10
Inner corners of eyebrows raised
- A. sadness
- B. anger
- C. happiness
11
The whole eyebrows lowered
- A. sadness
- B. anger
- C. happiness
12
Lines formed around
- A. sadness
- B. anger
- C. happiness
13
Lines form above eyebrows
- A. sadness
- B. anger
- C. happiness

Reading Passage 2 - Food for Thought

There are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school's purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter. Msekeni is in one of the poorer parts of Malawi, a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty and great poverty. No war lays waste Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowded or infertile, but Malawians still have trouble finding enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, so the country is as good a place as any to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa. The headmaster at Msekeni, Bernard Kumanda, has strong views on the subject. He thinks food is a priceless teaching aid. Since 1999, his pupils have received free school lunches. Donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soya bean flour, enriched with vitamin A) in that converted classroom. Local volunteers do the cooking - turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious slop and spooning it out on to plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called 'We are getting porridge'. When the school's feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free porridge, but most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work. These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when set against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. One plate of porridge a day completely altered the calculation. A child fed at school will not howl so plaintively for food at home. Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home. When a school takes in a horde of extra students from the poorest homes, you would expect standards to drop. Anywhere in the world, poor kids tend to perform worse than their better-off classmates. When the influx of new pupils is not accompanied by an increase in the number of teachers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. But they have not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. Although this was an exceptional example, the nationwide results of school feeding programmes were still pretty good. On average, after a Malawian school started handing out free food it attracted 38% more girls and 24% more boys. The pass rate for boys stayed about the same, while for girls it improved by 9.5%. Better nutrition makes for brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus the mind on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. Mr. Kumanda says that it used to be easy to spot the kids who were really undernourished. 'They were the ones who stared into space and didn't respond when you asked the question,' he says. More crucially, though, more and better food helps brains grow and develop. Like any other organ in the body, the brain needs nutrition and exercise. But if it is starved of the necessary calories, proteins and micronutrients, it is stunted, perhaps not as severely as a muscle would be, but stunted nonetheless. That is why feeding children at schools works so well. And the fact that the effect of feeding was more pronounced in girls than in boys gives a clue to who eats first in rural Malawian households. It isn't the girls. On a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was more or less universal. Now, it is extremely rare in rich countries. In developing countries, where most people live, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever before. The proportion of children under five in the developing world who are malnourished to the point of stunting fell from 39% in 1990 to 30% in 2000, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). In other places, the battle against hunger is steadily being won. Better nutrition is making people cleverer and more energetic, which will help them grow more prosperous. And when they eventually join the ranks of the well off, they can start fretting about growing too fast.

Questions 14-20: Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below.

Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings i. Why better food helps students' learning ii. A song for getting porridge iii. Surprising use of school premises iv. Global perspective v. Brains can be starved vi. Surprising academics outcome vii. Girls are specially treated in the program viii. How food program is operated ix. How food program affects school attendance x. None of the usual reasons xi. How to maintain an academic standard

14
Paragraph A
15
Paragraph B
16
Paragraph C
17
Paragraph D
18
Paragraph E
19
Paragraph F
20
Paragraph G

Questions 21-24: Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage.

21
………………….. are exclusively offered to girls in the feeding programme.
22
Instead of going to school, many children in poverty are sent to collect ……………………. in the fields.
23
The pass rate as Msekeni has risen to …………………….. with the help of the feeding programme.
24
Since the industrial revolution, the size of the modern human has grown by …………………….

Questions 25-26: Which TWO of the following statements are true?

Choose TWO letters, A-F. Write your answers in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.

25
Which TWO of the following statements are true?
26
Which TWO of the following statements are true?

Reading Passage 3 - Mapping the Mind

Dr. Simon Hanson reviews Rita Carter's book Mapping the Mind. The often-used phrase 'I believe it when I see it' betrays a very intimate fact of human nature. We are visual creatures and rely on sight to serve as a judge of what is real and what is not. When discussing the intricacies of the human mind, for most of society's existence, things have not been visible; we have, for the most part, relied on intangible concepts, metaphors, and words to explore our inner psyche. I have no idea what my ego looks like. I must have one because it can be hurt or appeased by how others treat me. But how do I know it really exists? Recent progress in brain research and neuroimaging is changing all of this. With our modern technology of functional imaging, we can now look at the brain as it is working and attribute activation in certain areas of the brain to behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. In essence, our new tools are prompting new thoughts on who we are and how we are organized. Rita Carter's book, Mapping the Mind, explores these issues and exploits science's ability to look into our heads as a tool to examine who we are. In its most basic form, Carter's book serves as a very accessible introduction to the subject of neuroanatomy, a subject most of us would not appreciate fully without investing in a semester of medical school. Mapping the Mind uses beautifully rendered three-dimensional computer images of the brain to explain anatomical structures and pathways. The presentation style acknowledges our natural bias towards perceiving and learning information visually. Presenting the concept of a brain area devoted to maintaining attention by calling it the 'anterior cingulate cortex' would probably put most readers to sleep while their brains struggled to use that area to focus on what the name meant. Showing the reader a three-dimensionally-oriented area that easily translates to a place we can point to on our skulls grounds the anatomical vocabulary in something we can all understand- our own heads. In spite of the title, however, the book is not an exact map or a reference guide. Its chapters cover concepts such as perception, emotions, memory, and higher consciousness, and are best read rather than referenced. The book, beautifully accented with brain-oriented artwork of both pure aesthetic and illustrative value, walks a pleasing line between college textbook and coffee table art book, describing the subtle nuances of vision, language, thought, and feeling with science and art. While the art requires no explanations, Carter uses her background as a journalist to keep the reader engaged in the science. Factual support in the form of documented cases is liberally employed to show the abstract concepts in recognizable behaviors and consequences we can all relate to. For example, in describing brain circuitry involved in controlling anger, Carter uses familiar situations, like suppressing anger when we feel we have been insulted, to illustrate the neuroscience involved. She follows with a discussion of children's emotional maturity, pointing out that in children, the areas involved in inhibition of anger are not as well developed as in adults, providing an explanation for the tantrums of a six-year-old. Carter presents the science in an engaging yet factual manner, allowing people to draw their own conclusions and connect the dots between scientific discovery and what it means in our daily lives. By presenting neuroscience in this manner, Mapping the Mind seems to aim itself at an audience that is often forgotten: the general reader who wants to know more about a specific area of scientific study. From a scientific perspective, danger often lurks when writing for a general audience as scientific credibility can be sacrificed in order to keep readers engaged. Carter circumvents this problem by including the participation of research scientists in the writing. The book is littered with short directed essays written by specialists in specific areas of brain research. One of my favorite features of the book is the optical illusions. As a teacher, I am always searching for ways to make information relevant to the reader. Mapping the Mind does this by peppering appropriate chapters with optical illusions that illustrate how the brain processes information. These delicious enigmas do not stand alone as supplementary information or unrelated facts but are accompanied by textual explanations and insights into what causes the perceptual incongruities. I found many of these explanations so good at conveying basic brain principles that I borrowed some of them for use in lectures. From our unique place in history, we can, at present, use our overly developed neo-cortex in combination with the tools of science to examine our own minds at work. Our journey is to try and figure out who we are. Rather than providing us with an academic textbook, Mapping the Mind serves as a sort of kiosk map saying 'you are here' with a big red dot. Mapping the Mind shows us where we are by giving us a snapshot of how we work. There are many books out there that explain the mind. The unique perspective of this book is that it uses the brain itself to guide the journey.

Questions 27-32: Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet, write: YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

27
Our sense of what is real is independent of what we can see
28
The ego must exist because its reaction can be felt.
29
The illustrations in Mapping the Mind are in vibrant colours.
30
People prefer to learn facts that are presented visually.
31
Mapping the Mind is primarily a decorative book.
32
Mapping the Mind leaves the readers to interpret the facts.

Questions 33-37: Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 33-37 on your answer sheet.

33
According to the writer, Carter's background in journalism means that:
- A. she has easy access to relevant sources.
- B. she cannot explain complex medical ideas.
- C. her writing style maintains the reader's interest.
- D. her presentation of information is more suited to newspapers.
34
When discussing how the brain works in controlling anger, Carter:
- A. gives guidance to parents of young children.
- B. uses examples readers can relate to.
- C. admires the control shown by adults.
- D. criticizes the behaviour of children.
35
The writer feels that the way neuroscience is presented in Mapping the Mind:
- A. will not give readers any new information.
- B. could make readers doubt scientific claims.
- C. will encourage more people to study neuroscience.
- D. will appeal to readers with no knowledge of the topic.
36
The writer especially likes the optical illusions in Mapping the Mind because they:
- A. help people relate to the topic.
- B. are a long-standing scientific mystery.
- C. can teach us about the function of the eye.
- D. show something people have never seen before.
37
The writer says that Mapping the Mind operates as a 'kiosk map' because:
- A. it reveals our current position in terms of our knowledge of the brain.
- B. the reader can become lost in other textbooks about the brain.
- C. it describes specific areas of the brain such as the neo-cortex.
- D. its illustrations are particularly clear and accurate.

Questions 38-40: Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.

A. makes a background in science essential for comprehension. B. adds academic integrity to a popular approach. C. is not helpful for checking particular data about the brain. D. bores and confuses people. E. generates more interest in the field of study and promotes research. F. solves the difficulty of people's negative reactions to technical language. G. has no clear purpose.

38
A book that uses terms such as 'anterior cingulate cortex'...
39
The use of three-dimensional illustrations in the book...
40
The inclusion of essays by research scientists in Mapping the Mind...

แสดงคำตอบ

1. YES
The passage says 'deception comes naturally to all living things,' giving examples like birds and spider crabs, so all animals can lie.
2. YES
It states humans 'often deceive for exactly the same reasons: to save their own skins,' showing people lie for self-preservation.
3. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not mention scientists using computers to analyze which part of the brain is responsible for lying.
4. NO
It says catching deceit is 'just as important a survival skill as knowing how to tell a lie,' so lying is not more important than detecting lies.
5. YES
It says 'successful liars need to accurately assess other people's emotional states,' so understanding emotions is needed to be a good liar.
6. C
Option C is correct because lie detectors 'detect the physical cues of emotions,' like heart rate and skin conductivity, which are body behaviors during verbal response. Option A is tempting but too general, as it is not just about emotional stability.
7. D
Option D is correct because the passage says increased skin conductivity 'might also mean that the lights in the television studio are too hot,' so body behavior can have many causes. Option C is tempting but the main reason is not just inaccuracy, but multiple possible causes.
8. B
Option B is correct because the example of paralyzed patients is used to 'show the relation between true emotions and body behavior,' as genuine emotions cause a full smile even if half the face is paralyzed.
9. D
Option D is correct because it says 'very few people - most notably, actors and politicians - are able to consciously control all of their facial expressions,' meaning they can mask true feelings.
10. A
A is correct because 'when someone is truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief and the inner corners of the eyebrows are pulled up.'
11. B
B is correct because 'the lowering of the eyebrows associated with an angry scowl can be replicated at will by almost everybody.'
12. C
C is correct because a genuine smile 'affects...the muscle around the eye that produces the distinctive 'crow's feet',' which are lines formed around the eyes.
13. A
A is correct because 'when someone is truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief,' so lines form above the eyebrows.
14. iii
Paragraph A is about the naturalness of deception in animals and humans, matching heading iii.
15. x
Paragraph B discusses the importance of detecting lies, matching heading x.
16. viii
Paragraph C is about emotional intelligence and detecting stress, matching heading viii.
17. ix
Paragraph D explains how lie detectors work, matching heading ix.
18. vi
Paragraph E discusses facial expressions and emotions, matching heading vi.
19. i
Paragraph F focuses on sadness and facial expressions, matching heading i.
20. iv
Paragraph G explains smiles and how to spot fake ones, matching heading iv.
21. extra snaks
The passage says 'Girls...are given extra snacks to take home,' so extra snacks are offered to girls.
22. firewood
It says poor families kept children at home 'to gather firewood or help in the fields,' so the answer is firewood.
23. 85%
The passage says 'Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%,' so the answer is 85%.
24. 50%
It says 'Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution,' so the answer is 50%.
25. A
A is correct because it matches a true statement from the passage.
26. C
C is correct because it matches a true statement from the passage.
27. No
The passage says 'We are visual creatures and rely on sight to serve as a judge of what is real,' so our sense of reality depends on what we see.
28. Yes
It says 'I must have [an ego] because it can be hurt or appeased,' so the ego must exist because its reaction can be felt.
29. Not given
The passage does not mention the colors of the illustrations in Mapping the Mind.
30. Yes
It says 'the presentation style acknowledges our natural bias towards perceiving and learning information visually,' so people prefer facts shown visually.
31. No
It says the book is 'a very accessible introduction to the subject of neuroanatomy,' not just decorative.
32. Yes
It says Carter 'allows people to draw their own conclusions and connect the dots,' so readers interpret the facts themselves.
33. C
C is correct because it says Carter 'uses her background as a journalist to keep the reader engaged,' so her writing style maintains interest.
34. B
B is correct because Carter 'uses familiar situations, like suppressing anger when we feel we have been insulted, to illustrate the neuroscience involved,' so she uses relatable examples.
35. D
D is correct because it says the book 'aims itself at an audience that is often forgotten: the general reader who wants to know more,' so it appeals to those with no prior knowledge.
36. A
A is correct because the writer says the optical illusions 'make information relevant to the reader,' helping people relate to the topic.
37. B
B is correct because the writer says Mapping the Mind 'serves as a sort of kiosk map saying 'you are here' with a big red dot,' helping readers not get lost like in other textbooks.
38. D
D is correct because the passage says using terms like 'anterior cingulate cortex' would 'put most readers to sleep,' so such terms are hard to understand.
39. F
F is correct because the book 'uses beautifully rendered three-dimensional computer images of the brain to explain anatomical structures,' making it easier to understand.
40. B
B is correct because the passage says the book includes 'short directed essays written by specialists in specific areas of brain research,' so it includes expert contributions.