Reading 2026-03 Test 7 — IELTS Reading Actual Test with Answers

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Reading Passage 1 - Charles Heaphy and the settlement of New Zealand

How did the work of an English artist influence European migration to New Zealand? A In the early 19th century, the London-based New Zealand Company was set up to promote the colonisation of the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It hoped to encourage British migrants to settle there and buy land. To do this, it needed to capture the public imagination, and used paintings and drawings of the landscape for this purpose. Eighteen was a young age for someone to become a hired artist and explorer for this kind of major land-trading company, but Charles Heaphy took on this role after 18 months producing technical drawings for a British railway company, and a further two years studying occasionally at the Royal Academy's school of painting. His family had possibly lacked the money to allow him to study full-time. The artist's role in the company was so important that the surveyor-general, having been dissatisfied with the artists on a previous expedition, specifically interviewed applicants for the post with the New Zealand Company. Heaphy was offered, and accepted, a position on 6 May 1839 - three days before the Company's ship, Tory, departed Plymouth for New Zealand with its cargo of settlers. B From his diaries, we can see that Heaphy was enthusiastic about this role. In addition to employment and position, it offered adventure. However, he said a larger attraction was the chance to try his hand at something new. He felt a sense of urgency to begin work for the young artist, as a large consignment of settlers was due to leave England a few months later, and so he needed to explore the country before they departed as efficiently as he could. His record of his travels through New Zealand is less a diary of personal experience than a detailed and often vivid impression of travelling through various parts of the country. C As is so often the case, though, his high expectations were dampened on arrival. On first sighting New Zealand's South Island, Heaphy commented that the high mountain ranges seemed to leave no space for farming, and that the country in general looked barren and devoid of inhabitants. His initial impression of the North Island was also not particularly favourable. Queen Charlotte Sound was the first place Heaphy visited. He remained unconvinced for years that the soils in the area were insufficient for a major settlement. From there, he went to Port Nicholson and was clearly impressed. In his journals, he writes of the luxuriant growth of the forest down to the water's edge, and the rich alluvial soil of the river valley. Even so, his enthusiasm was qualified by the lack of level ground for settlement. However, when he got to the Taranaki region of the North Island, he felt that he had discovered an area that was ripe for colonisation. His painting of a peaceful Maori settlement against a backdrop of Mount Taranaki, with settled weather and lush vegetation, is far removed from his earlier gloomy depictions of somewhere in the interior. Heaphy's painting of a scene in Taranaki was reproduced as a hand-coloured lithograph and widely distributed in England. The print shows a landscape of rolling hills and abundant vegetation, inhabited by contented Maori going about their daily life. It is a world away from the foggy, damp, and crowded cities of industrialising England.

Questions 1-5: True/False/Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1
The New Zealand Company was established by people already living in New Zealand.
2
Charles Heaphy studied painting full-time at the Royal Academy's school for two years.
3
The surveyor-general personally interviewed people who wanted to be the company artist.
4
Heaphy accepted the job with the New Zealand Company more than a week before the Tory was due to sail.
5
Heaphy's main motivation for taking the job was the promise of adventure.

Questions 6-13: Note Completion

Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.

Heaphy's observations of places in New Zealand Upon arrival First impression of the South Island: mountains left no room for 6 __________. He found the country looked barren and empty of 7 __________. Queen Charlotte Sound Was Heaphy's first destination. For years, he doubted the 8 __________ there were good enough for a large settlement. Port Nicholson He was very impressed by the dense forest and the rich 9 __________ soil. He noted a shortage of flat 10 __________ for building a town. The Taranaki region He felt this area was perfect for 11 __________. He painted a peaceful Maori settlement with good weather and thick 12 __________. This painting was later turned into a lithograph and sent throughout 13 __________. The scene contrasted sharply with the foggy, crowded cities of industrialising England.

6
First impression of the South Island: mountains left no room for 6 __________.
7
He found the country looked barren and empty of 7 __________.
8
For years, he doubted the 8 __________ there were good enough for a large settlement.
9
He was very impressed by the dense forest and the rich 9 __________ soil.
10
He noted a shortage of flat 10 __________ for building a town.
11
He felt this area was perfect for 11 __________.
12
He painted a peaceful Maori settlement with good weather and thick 12 __________.
13
This painting was later turned into a lithograph and sent throughout 13 __________.

Reading Passage 2 - The Plan to Bring an Asteroid to Earth

Scientists and engineers met last week at Caltech to discuss the possibility of capturing an asteroid and placing it in orbit near Earth to use as a base for manned space missions further into the solar system. PASADENA, Calif. - Send a robot into space. Grab an asteroid. Bring it back to Earth orbit. This may sound like a crazy plan, but it was discussed quite seriously last week by a group of scientists and engineers at the California Institute of Technology. The four-day workshop was dedicated to investigating the feasibility and requirements of capturing a near-Earth asteroid, bringing it closer to our planet and using it as a base for future manned spaceflight missions. This is not something the scientists are imagining could be done some day off in the future. This is possible with the technology we have today and could be accomplished within a decade. A robotic probe could anchor to an asteroid made mostly of nickel-iron with simple magnets or grab a rocky asteroid with a harpoon or specialized claws and then push the asteroid using solar-electric propulsion. For asteroids too big for a robot to handle, a large spacecraft could fly near the object to act as a gravity tractor that deflects the asteroid's trajectory, sending it toward Earth. "Once you get over the initial reaction - 'You want to do what?!' - it actually starts to seem like a reasonable idea," said engineer John Brophy from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who helped organize the workshop. In fact, many of these ideas have been on the drawing board for years as part of NASA's planetary defense program against large space-based objects that might threaten Earth. And there's no shortage of potential targets. NASA estimates there are 19,500 asteroids at least 330 feet wide - large enough to detect with telescopes - within 28 million miles of Earth. Though rearranging the heavens may seem an excessive undertaking, the mission has its merits. The Obama administration already plans to send astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid, a mission that would coop them up in a tiny capsule for three to six months, and involve all the risks of a long deep-space voyage. Instead, robots could shoulder some of that burden by bringing an asteroid close enough for astronauts to get there in just a month. Considering the resources available in any asteroid, private industry might be interested in getting involved. One possible mission would be to simply execute the first part of the plan - pushing the asteroid to near-Earth orbit - and then convene a commercial competition inviting anyone who wants to develop the capabilities to reach and mine the object. Though the undertaking might be scientifically exciting, this wouldn't be the primary motivation. An asteroid would provide great insight into the solar system's formation, but it's not enough to justify the expense of bringing one to Earth. Any interesting science can be done much cheaper with an unmanned robotic spacecraft, said chemist Joseph A Nuth from NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center. "Ultimately, we would be developing this target in order to help move out into the solar system," Brophy said. Though they did not reach a consensus on all the details, the group will reconvene in January to hammer out further specifications and potentially get the interest of NASA. In the end, many agreed that bringing an asteroid back to Earth could create an interesting destination for repeated manned missions and that the undertaking would help build up experience for future jaunts into space.

Questions 14-18: Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

14
Scientists and engineers met at Caltech for a __________ workshop to discuss capturing an asteroid.
15
The plan involves bringing an asteroid closer to Earth to use as a __________ for future manned missions.
16
The technology required to accomplish this plan is available today and could be implemented within a __________.
17
A robotic probe could anchor to a nickel-iron asteroid using simple __________.
18
For asteroids that are too large, a spacecraft could act as a __________ to alter the object's path.

Questions 19-22: True/False/Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

19
John Brophy initially thought the plan to capture an asteroid was unreasonable.
20
NASA's planetary defense program was created to find asteroids that could be mined for resources.
21
There are approximately 19,500 asteroids large enough to detect within 28 million miles of Earth.
22
The Obama administration's plan would send astronauts to an asteroid for a mission lasting one month.

Questions 23-26: Multiple Choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D. Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

23
What advantage does the asteroid-capture plan offer compared to sending astronauts on a long deep-space voyage?
- A. It would be cheaper to launch from Earth.
- B. It would reduce the travel time for astronauts.
- C. It would require no robotic assistance.
- D. It would eliminate all risks of space travel.
24
According to the passage, why might private industry be interested in the asteroid mission?
- A. To develop new propulsion technologies
- B. To win a government competition
- C. To access and extract valuable materials
- D. To conduct scientific research on solar system formation
25
What is Joseph A Nuth's view on the scientific value of bringing an asteroid to Earth?
- A. It would provide unique insights that justify the expense.
- B. It is less cost-effective than using robotic spacecraft for science.
- C. It is the only way to study the solar system's formation.
- D. It would be more scientifically valuable than manned missions.
26
What was the main outcome of the workshop at Caltech?
- A. A detailed budget was approved for the mission.
- B. NASA agreed to fund the project immediately.
- C. Participants agreed on all technical specifications.
- D. The group decided to meet again to develop the plan further.

Reading Passage 3 - Star Performers

Most organisations are looking for talent. But what if they've got it wrong, asks Jeffrey Pfeffer A. One widely held assumption about talent is that it is a reasonably fixed characteristic and it is therefore the job of organisations to identify, recruit and retain star performers. This belief affects the way people are managed in the workplace. Most recruitment decisions are influenced by the skills and abilities of an individual rather than their aptitude and attitude. In terms of career development, organisations invest in staff who have been selected to reach higher-level positions, while ignoring front-line employees and people with less perceived potential. This idea, that talent is a fixed, identifiable characteristic - and that those firms with the best people do the best - is both flawed and harmful to people and organisations. There is a lot of evidence on this point, and it is useful to highlight some of the most pertinent arguments. B. First, are there stars? There is no question that in every field, from sports to computer programming to music, there are people who are better than the rest. As psychologist Dean Keith Simonton, who has spent his career studying greatness, has said, 'Wherever you look, the same story can be told. Identify the ten per cent who have achieved the most in a certain endeavour. Count the accomplishments they have to their credit. Now tally the accomplishments of the remaining 90 per cent. The first tally will equal or surpass the second.' For instance, in music, 16 individuals have produced about 50 per cent of the Western classical music that is performed and recorded today, while another 235 composers have produced the remaining half. The more interesting questions concern not the existence of stars, but whether these stars can be reliably identified and, even more importantly, whether their talent is a fixed aspect or can be altered. C. Identifying the best people is tricky. Quality of performance changes over time and this is true whether we are talking about professors or footballers. If performance naturally varies, any measurement taken at a single point in time, such as when someone is being hired, will have error and imprecision. Therefore, single assessments of talent are likely to contain mistakes in their categorisation of people. Also, judgements about performance and ability depend on the standards used to judge what is good and bad. It should surprise no-one that for Bach to be considered a great musician, standards of music needed to change to embrace the qualities that his compositions possessed. Similarly, artists and art come in and out of fashion, which means that what is genius depends not only on a person's ability, but on the prevailing standards used to evaluate output. D. Finally, it is difficult to evaluate people and their abilities with precision. In the domain of work, research shows that the best predictors of job performance tend to be measures of intelligence. But even these measures correlate only loosely with performance, which means that more than 80 per cent of the variation in performance is unexplained by even the best predictors. Even in the sports arena, where one would think natural ability would be readily assessed because sports teams spend lots of resources on identifying talent, mistakes get made. Basketball star Michael Jordan was dropped by his high school basketball coach and a number of top American football quarterbacks were available early in their careers because they were not considered good enough by various teams. E. This leads on to the next question: is talent born or made? Should organisations assume that almost anyone can become a star performer, which implies that there ought to be a greater emphasis on motivation and development, or do they just figure out who is good and who isn't? Here the evidence is clear: talent is at least as much 'created' as inherent and, more importantly, the customary way companies think about identifying talent almost certainly works to destroy a lot of untapped potential. Decades of research by K. Anders Ericsson, professor of psychology at Florida State University, show that exceptional performance doesn't happen without around ten years of nearly daily, deliberate practice for about four hours a day, by people who, with the assistance of their coaches, have access to the best techniques. Once achieved, exceptional performance can't be maintained without relentless effort. So performance may be as much a consequence of training as it is of innate ability, which suggests that performance can be altered by how people are managed. F. Further research by Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck shows that the tendency of organisations to see performance results as an opportunity for an 'assessment' of ability, results in lower performance and poor motivation. Dweck identified two sets of goals that people bring to a performance context: 'performance goals, where the purpose is to validate one's ability or avoid demonstrating a lack of ability, and learning goals, where the aim is to acquire new knowledge and skills'. People with performance goals have been shown to be more prone to helpless behaviour and debilitation after a setback, while people with learning goals strive for higher performance. The implications for managing people and talent are clear. Seeing talent as fixed and job performance as a way of classifying people creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in which ability and intelligence do become fixed. By contrast, seeing ability as malleable leads to a different sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, in which individuals and their employers may invest in ways to enhance performance.

Questions 27-32: Matching Information

Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

27
disagreement with the view that employing talented people enables companies to achieve top performance
28
a description of what individuals have to do on a regular basis to improve their performance
29
the evidence that exceptional talent exists in all areas of life
30
how different ways of evaluating achievement at work can cause different reactions in employees
31
the belief that the time when an assessment is carried out affects its accuracy
32
the extent to which different talented individuals have contributed to their particular area of achievement

Questions 33-35: Short Answer

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.

33
How many Western classical composers are identified as exceptionally talented?
34
Which composer initially received little recognition for his work?
35
Who can help improve the performance of people practising daily?

Questions 36-40: True/False/Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

36
Companies usually hire people on the basis of their character.
37
There are some areas of sport that have a greater proportion of talent than others.
38
Measures of intelligence accurately predict performance at work.
39
There are cases in which talented sportspeople have been overlooked.
40
Newly formed organisations have the most highly motivated staff.

แสดงคำตอบ

1. FALSE
The passage says the New Zealand Company was 'London-based' and aimed to encourage British migrants, so it was not established by people already living in New Zealand.
2. FALSE
Heaphy studied 'occasionally at the Royal Academy's school of painting,' not full-time.
3. TRUE
It says the surveyor-general 'specifically interviewed applicants for the post,' showing he personally interviewed them.
4. FALSE
Heaphy was offered and accepted the job 'on 6 May 1839 - three days before the Company's ship, Tory, departed,' which is less than a week.
5. FALSE
Heaphy said adventure was a benefit, but 'a larger attraction was the chance to try his hand at something new,' so adventure was not his main motivation.
6. farming
Heaphy commented that the high mountain ranges 'seemed to leave no space for farming.'
7. inhabitants
He said the country looked 'barren and devoid of inhabitants.'
8. soils
He remained unconvinced for years that the 'soils in the area were insufficient for a major settlement.'
9. alluvial
He was impressed by 'the luxuriant growth of the forest down to the water's edge, and the rich alluvial soil of the river valley.'
10. ground
His enthusiasm was 'qualified by the lack of level ground for settlement.'
11. colonisation
In the Taranaki region, he felt he had discovered an area 'ripe for colonisation.'
12. vegetation
He painted a scene with 'settled weather and lush vegetation.'
13. England
His painting was 'reproduced as a hand-coloured lithograph and widely distributed in England.'
14. four-day
The meeting at Caltech was described as a 'four-day workshop.'
15. base
The plan is to use the asteroid 'as a base for future manned spaceflight missions.'
16. decade
It says the plan 'could be accomplished within a decade.'
17. magnets
A robotic probe could anchor to an asteroid 'with simple magnets.'
18. gravity tractor
A large spacecraft could act as a 'gravity tractor that deflects the asteroid's trajectory.'
19. FALSE
John Brophy said, 'Once you get over the initial reaction... it actually starts to seem like a reasonable idea,' showing he did not keep thinking it was unreasonable.
20. FALSE
NASA's planetary defense program is to protect against 'large space-based objects that might threaten Earth,' not to find asteroids to mine.
21. TRUE
NASA estimates 'there are 19,500 asteroids at least 330 feet wide... within 28 million miles of Earth.'
22. FALSE
The Obama administration's plan would send astronauts for 'three to six months,' not one month.
23. B
B is correct because the passage says bringing an asteroid closer would let astronauts 'get there in just a month,' reducing travel time. A is not supported; C is wrong because robots are needed; D is wrong because risks are not eliminated.
24. C
C is correct because the passage says private industry might want to 'reach and mine the object.' The other options are not mentioned as main reasons.
25. B
B is correct because Joseph A Nuth says 'Any interesting science can be done much cheaper with an unmanned robotic spacecraft.'
26. D
D is correct because the group will 'reconvene in January to hammer out further specifications,' meaning they decided to meet again. The other options did not happen.
27. A
Section A says the idea that firms with the best people do the best 'is both flawed and harmful,' showing disagreement with that view.
28. E
Section E describes that 'exceptional performance doesn't happen without around ten years of nearly daily, deliberate practice,' explaining what individuals must do to improve.
29. B
Section B gives evidence that stars exist in all fields, like music and sports, and gives examples.
30. F
Section F explains how seeing performance as an 'assessment' of ability leads to different reactions, like lower motivation or striving for higher performance.
31. C
Section C says 'Quality of performance changes over time,' so assessments at one time can be inaccurate.
32. B
Section B says 16 composers produced about 50% of the music, while 235 produced the rest, showing the extent of different contributions.
33. 16
The passage says '16 individuals have produced about 50 per cent of the Western classical music.'
34. Bach
It says 'for Bach to be considered a great musician, standards of music needed to change,' showing he was not recognized at first.
35. coaches
Section E says people improve with 'the assistance of their coaches.'
36. FALSE
Section A says recruitment is influenced by 'skills and abilities' rather than character.
37. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if some sports have a greater proportion of talent than others.
38. FALSE
Section D says intelligence measures 'correlate only loosely with performance,' so they do not accurately predict it.
39. TRUE
Section D gives examples like Michael Jordan being dropped by his coach, showing talented people have been overlooked.
40. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not mention anything about the motivation of staff in newly formed organisations.