Reading 2026-03 Test 18 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

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Reading Passage 1: Inside the mind of a fan: How watching sport affects the brain

At about the same time that the poet Homer invented the epic here, 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 Forgassi 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 Master’s Tournament on TV, golfing seems easy. To the novice, however, the skill of casting a smooth arc with a lop-side metal stick is virtually impossible. This is because most novices swing with their consciousness, using an area of 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, 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 mirror was first discovered in 1954, when two French physiologists, Gastaut and Berf, 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 your 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 for 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 amygdale, 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.

1
An explanation of why watching sport may be emotionally satisfying
2
An explanation of why beginners find sporting tasks difficult
3
A factor that needs to combine with mirroring to attain sporting excellence
4
A comparison of human and animal mirror neurons
5
The first discovery of brain activity related to mirror neurons
6
A claim linking observation to improvement in performance
7
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.
8
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.
9
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.
10
Inexpert sports players are too aware of what they are doing.
11
Monkeys have a more complex mirror neuron system than humans.
12
Looking at a photograph can activate mirror neurons.
13
Gastaut and Bert were both researchers and sports players.
14
The mu system is at rest when we are engaged in an activity.

Reading Passage 2: New filter promises clean water for millions

An ingenious invention is set to bring clean water to developing countries, and while the science may be cutting edge, the materials are extremely down to earth.

A handful of clay, yesterday’s coffee grounds and some cow manure are the ingredients that could bring clean, safe drinking water to many developing countries. The simple new technology, developed by Australian National University (ANU) materials scientist and potter Tony Flynn, allows water filters to be made from commonly available materials and fired (or baked) using cow manure as the source of heat, without the need for a kiln (an oven for baking or drying pottery). The filters have been tested and shown to remove common pathogens (disease-producing organisms) including E. coli.

The invention was born out of a project involving the Manatuto community in East Timor. A charity operating there wanted to help set up a small industrial site manufacturing water filters, but initial research found the local clay to be too fine — a problem solved by the addition of organic material. While the problems of producing a working ceramic filter in East Timor were overcome, the solution was kiln-based and particular to that community’s materials and couldn’t be applied elsewhere. Flynn’s technique for manure firing, with no requirement for a kiln, has made this zero-technology approach available anywhere it is needed.

Other commercial clay filters do exist, but, even if available, with prices starting at US$5 each, they are often outside the budgets of most people in the developing world. Unlike other water filtering devices, Flynn’s filters are inexpensive and simple to produce. Take a handful of clay, mix it with a handful of organic material such as used tea leaves, coffee grounds or rice hulls, add water in a sufficient quantity to make a stiff mixture and form a cylindrical pot that has one end closed, then dry it in the sun. According to Flynn, used coffee grounds have given the best results to date. The walls of the filter can be measured using the width of an adult finger as the standard. Next, surround the pots with straw, put them in a mound of cow manure, light the straw and then top up the burning manure as required. The filters are finished in 45 to 60 minutes.

The properties of cow manure are vital, as the fuel can reach a temperature of 700 degrees in half an hour, and will be up to 950 degrees after another 20 to 30 minutes. The manure makes a good fuel because it is very high in organic material that burns readily and quickly. The manure has to be dry and is best used exactly as found in the field; there is no need to break it up or process it any further. In contrast, a potter’s kiln is an expensive item and can take up to four or five hours to get up to 800 degrees. It needs expensive, scarce fuel, such as gas or wood to heat it, and experience to use it. With no technology, no insulation and nothing other than a pile of cow manure and a match, none of these requirements apply.

It is also helpful that, like clay and organic material, cow manure is freely available across the developing world. A cow is a natural fuel factory. Manure is a mixture of vegetable materials of different sizes, and cow manure as a fuel is the same wherever it is found. Just as using manure as a fuel for domestic use is not a new idea, the fact that liquid can pass through clay objects is something that potters have always known, and clay’s porous nature is something that, as a former ceramics lecturer in the ANU School of Art, Flynn is well aware of. The difference is that, rather than viewing the porous nature of the material as a problem — after all, not many people want a pot that won’t hold water — his filters capitalize on this property.

The filtration process is simple, but effective. The basic principle is that there are passages through the filter that are wide enough for water droplets to pass through, but too narrow for pathogens. Tests with the deadly E. coli bacterium have seen the filters remove 96.4 to 99.8 per cent of the pathogen — well within safe levels. The thickness of the clay container needs to be the same thickness as an adult finger for the process to be effective. If this is the case, using only one filter, a liter of water can be obtained in two hours.

The use of organic material, which burns away leaving cavities after firing, helps produce the structure in which pathogens will become trapped. It overcomes the potential problems of finer clays that may not let water through and also means that cracks are soon halted. And like clay and cow manure, organic material is universally available in the developing communities that need the most assistance, as tea, coffee and rice are grown in these areas.

With all the components being widely available, Flynn says there is no reason the technology couldn’t be applied throughout the developing world. He has no plans to exploit his idea financially by registering ownership through a patent. If he did, any commercial copying would legally entitle him to a share in any profits made. Without a patent, there will be no illegality in it being adopted in any community that needs it. “Everyone has a right to clean water, and these filters have the potential to enable anyone in the world to drink water safely,” says Flynn.

15
Make the mixture for the filter from organic material (e.g., tea, coffee, rice), 14 ______ and ______
16
Shape into pots and place them in a fire made from ______ and 17 ______
17
Fuel the fire to reach a maximum temperature of 18 ______
18
Remove the filters from the fire. Bake the filters in the fire for a maximum period of 19 ______
19
The clay in the Manatuto project was initially unsuitable for the purpose of the project.
20
Coffee grounds produce filters that are twice as efficient as those using other organic materials.
21
It takes half an hour for a cow manure fire to reach 950 degrees.
22
E. coli is the most difficult bacterium to remove from water by filtration.
23
The Manatuto project aimed to set up a
- A. charitable trust.
- B. filtration experiment.
- C. water filter factory.
- D. community kiln.
24
To be effective, the Flynn filters must
- A. remove all dangerous pathogens.
- B. be a particular thickness.
- C. filter water as quickly as possible.
- D. be made from 100 per cent clay.
25
Flynn does not intend to patent his filter because he
- A. wants it to be freely available.
- B. has produced a very simple design.
- C. cannot make a profit in poor countries.
- D. has already given the idea to a charity.

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 hero, 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 lop-side metal stick is virtually impossible. This is because most novices swing with their consciousness, using an area of 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. 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 internalise 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 mirror was first discovered in 1954, when two French physiologists, Gastaut and Berf, 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 your bodies are still, and disappears whenever we do something active, like playing 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.

26
an explanation of why watching sport may be emotionally satisfying
27
an explanation of why beginners find sporting tasks difficult
28
a factor that needs to combine with mirroring to attain sporting excellence
29
a comparison of human and animal mirror neurons
30
the first discovery of brain activity related to mirror neurons
31
a claim linking observation to improvement in performance
32
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
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
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
Inexpert sports players are too aware of what they are doing.
- YES. YES
- NO. NO
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
36
Monkeys have a more complex mirror neuron system than humans.
37
Looking at a photograph can activate mirror neurons.
38
Gastaut and Bert were both researchers and sports players.
39
The mu system is at rest when we are engaged in an activity.

Phiếu trả lời

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Hiện đáp án

1. F
F explains that watching sport can be emotionally satisfying because it allows people to feel excitement and joy as if they were participating themselves.
2. B
B says beginners find sporting tasks difficult because they have to think about every movement, which makes actions slow and awkward.
3. E
E states that to reach sporting excellence, mirroring must be combined with practice and feedback.
4. C
C compares human and animal mirror neurons by saying that humans have a more developed system, allowing for more complex actions.
5. D
D describes the first discovery of brain activity related to mirror neurons, mentioning the initial experiments and findings.
6. E
E claims that observing skilled performers can help improve your own performance, as watching activates similar brain areas.
7. C
The passage uses 'grammar of movement' to mean a pattern of connected cells (C), showing how movements are organized in the brain. Option A is wrong because it refers to skill level, not brain patterns.
8. A
The passage states expert players perform actions without conscious thought (A), as their movements become automatic. Option B is wrong because experts do not plan each phase.
9. C
The passage says the most common reason for watching sport is to experience strong positive emotions (C), not to improve performance or feel linked to others.
10. YES
YES. The passage says inexpert players are too aware of their actions, which makes movements less smooth.
11. NO
NO. The passage says humans have a more complex mirror neuron system than monkeys, not the other way around.
12. NO
NO. The passage says looking at a photograph does not activate mirror neurons, only watching real movement does.
13. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN. The passage does not say whether Gastaut and Bert were both researchers and sports players.
14. YES
YES. The passage says the mu system is at rest when we are engaged in an activity, meaning it is not active during movement.
15. clay / water
The answer is clay / water because the passage says to mix organic material with clay and water to make the filter.
16. straw / cow manure
The answer is straw / cow manure because the passage says to place the pots in a fire made from straw and cow manure.
17. 950 degrees
The answer is 950 degrees because the passage says the fire must reach a maximum temperature of 950 degrees.
18. 60 minutes
The answer is 60 minutes because the passage says to bake the filters in the fire for a maximum period of 60 minutes.
19. TRUE
TRUE. The passage says the clay in the Manatuto project was initially unsuitable and needed to be improved.
20. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN. The passage does not say coffee grounds produce filters that are twice as efficient as others.
21. FALSE
FALSE. The passage says it takes longer than half an hour for a cow manure fire to reach 950 degrees.
22. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN. The passage does not say E. coli is the most difficult bacterium to remove by filtration.
23. C
C is correct because the passage says the Manatuto project aimed to set up a water filter factory.
24. B
B is correct because the passage says the filters must be a particular thickness to work well. Option A is wrong because it does not mention removing all pathogens.
25. A
A is correct because the passage says Flynn does not want to patent his filter so it can be freely available. Option C is wrong because profit is not mentioned.
26. F
F explains that watching sport can be emotionally satisfying because it allows people to feel excitement and joy as if they were participating themselves.
27. B
B says beginners find sporting tasks difficult because they have to think about every movement, which makes actions slow and awkward.
28. E
E states that to reach sporting excellence, mirroring must be combined with practice and feedback.
29. C
C compares human and animal mirror neurons by saying that humans have a more developed system, allowing for more complex actions.
30. D
D describes the first discovery of brain activity related to mirror neurons, mentioning the initial experiments and findings.
31. E
E claims that observing skilled performers can help improve your own performance, as watching activates similar brain areas.
32. C
The passage uses 'grammar of movement' to mean a pattern of connected cells (C), showing how movements are organized in the brain. Option A is wrong because it refers to skill level, not brain patterns.
33. A
The passage states expert players perform actions without conscious thought (A), as their movements become automatic. Option B is wrong because experts do not plan each phase.
34. C
The passage says the most common reason for watching sport is to experience strong positive emotions (C), not to improve performance or feel linked to others.
35. YES
YES. The passage says inexpert players are too aware of their actions, which makes movements less smooth.
36. NO
NO. The passage says humans have a more complex mirror neuron system than monkeys, not the other way around.
37. NO
NO. The passage says looking at a photograph does not activate mirror neurons, only watching real movement does.
38. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN. The passage does not say whether Gastaut and Bert were both researchers and sports players.
39. YES
YES. The passage says the mu system is at rest when we are engaged in an activity, meaning it is not active during movement.

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Reading Passage 1: Inside the mind of a fan: How watching sport affects the brain

Reading Passage 2: New filter promises clean water for millions

Reading Passage 3: Inside the Mind of a Fan: How Watching Sport Affects the Brain

Phiếu trả lời

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