Reading 2026-05 Test 24 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

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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: Brunel noticed how a kind of ______ made its tunnels in wood.
10
Brunel planned to build a shallow tunnel so the earth would have a higher content of ______.
11
The miners suffered from ______ because of pollution in the tunnels.
12
Lighting problems led to several ______.
13
Brunel did not have enough money to repay his debt to the ______.

Reading Passage 2: Mind Music

A Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them ‘involuntary musical images’, or ‘earworms’, and a wave of new research is shining light on why they occur and what can be learned from them. Some neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists are studying earworms to explore the mysteries of memory and the part of the brain that is beyond our conscious control. ‘The idea that we have full control over our thought processes is an illusion,’ says psychologist Lauren Stewart, who founded the master’s program in music, mind and brain at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, where recent research has taken place. Researchers haven’t been able to watch what happens in the brain when earworms occur, because they happen unpredictably. Much of what is known about them comes from surveys, questionnaires, diaries and lab experiments.

B A Goldsmiths study published in the journal Memory and Cognition this year showed that the singing we hear in our heads tends to be true to actual recordings. Researchers had 17 volunteers tap to the beat of any earworm they heard during a four-day period while a device attached to their wrist recorded their movements. The tapping tempos were within 10% of the tempos of the original recordings. Another Goldsmiths study, published this year in Consciousness and Cognition, found that people who report hearing earworms often, and find them most intrusive, have slightly different brain structures, with more gray matter in areas associated with processing emotions.

C Studies also show that the music in our heads often starts playing during times of ‘low cognitive load’, such as while showering, getting dressed, walking, or doing chores. Dr Stewart likens earworms to ‘sonic screen savers’ that keep the mind entertained while it is otherwise unoccupied. She and her colleagues tested that theory by having volunteers listen to songs and giving them various tasks afterwards. The volunteers who sat idly for the next five minutes were the most likely to report hearing the music in their heads. Dr Stewart observed that the more challenging the activity, the less likely the volunteers were to hear the music. Diary studies also show songs tend to match people’s moods and therefore they are not random. If you are energized and upbeat, an earworm that occurs is likely to be uptempo too.

D Songs the brain fixates on are usually those it has been exposed to recently, surveys show, which is why tunes getting heavy radio play frequently top the earworm charts. Even tunes you may have heard but didn’t pay attention to can worm their way into your subconscious, says Ira Hyman, a psychologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, USA. In an unpublished study there, participants who listened to music while doing other tasks were more likely to report that the songs returned as earworms later on, compared with participants who simply listened.

E Some earworms are just fragments of a song that repeat like a broken record. So, when the mind hits a part of a song it can’t remember, it loops back rather than moving on. That could make an earworm even more entrenched, Dr Hyman says. According to a theory known as the Zeigarnik effect, named for a Soviet psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, unfinished thoughts and activities weigh on the mind more heavily than those that are completed, although experiments exposing students to interrupted songs have yielded mixed results.

F Researchers say they can’t pinpoint a spot in the brain where earworms live. Imaging studies by Andrea Halpern at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, USA, have shown that deliberately imagining music and actually listening to music activate many of the same neurological networks. Dr Halpern’s earlier studies showed that when subjects listened to the first few notes of familiar music, areas in the right frontal and superior temporal portions of the brain became activated, along with the supplementary motor area at the top, which is typically involved in remembering sequences. When the same subjects listened to unfamiliar music and were asked to recall it, there was activity in the left frontal portions of the brain instead.

G One factor that makes some songs stick might be repetition. ‘Repetition leads to familiarity which leads to anticipation, which is satisfied by hearing the song,’ says John Seabrook, author of The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory, about how producers pump pop songs full of aural ‘hooks’, the punchy melodic phrases designed to target the brain and leave it wanting more. The researchers are comparing the melodic structure of 100 often mentioned songs with 100 similarly popular songs that weren’t cited as earworms, to assess the difference. Songs with earworm potential appear to share certain features: a repeating pattern of ups and downs in pitch, and irregular musical intervals.

H The researchers plan next to test their results in reverse, and play ringtones from songs of both the earworm and non-earworm variety for volunteers several times a day to see which ones get stuck. Drs Stewart and Halpern are now working together to recruit survey participants for a study looking at whether people at different stages of life experience earworms differently. ‘You can argue that older people might get them more often because they know more songs,’ Dr Halpern says. ‘But the few responses we have so far indicate that they have earworms less often. It could be that they don’t play music as often as younger people do.’

14
a description of the characteristics common to songs with earworms
15
a justification for research into earworms
16
a description of the brain’s reaction to known and unknown songs
17
details of proposed research into the frequency with which earworms occur in different age groups
18
Researchers had 17 volunteers tap to the beat of any earworm they heard during a four-day period while a device attached to their ________ recorded their movements.
19
People who report hearing earworms often, and find them most intrusive, have slightly different brain structures, with more gray matter in areas associated with processing ________.
20
Dr Stewart also believes that the brain is ________ by earworms when it is not focused on a task.
21
A reduction in the occurrence of earworms was found to be directly related to how ________ the task was.
22
Some musicians create music that is intentionally memorable.
- A. Lauren Stewart
- B. Ira Hyman
- C. Andrea Halpern
- D. John Seabrook
23
People are unable to completely regulate how they think.
24
We can remember songs without knowing that we have heard them.
25
Thinking about music has a similar effect on the brain to hearing music.
26
Earworms are more persistent when only a short section of the song is constantly replayed.

Reading Passage 3: The New Zealand writer Margaret Mahy

In a career spanning some fifty years, Margaret Mahy has come to occupy a unique place in New Zealand writing with innovative fiction and original characterisation. In our solidly realist tradition, the linguistic fireworks of Mahy’s children’s fiction and the explorations of human behaviour at the heart of her supernatural teenage fiction stand gloriously alone. Mahy’s clearest heir, I have always thought, is Elizabeth Knox — and maybe the true inheritance there is sheer singularity. Just as there is no one else like Knox in New Zealand writing, Mahy, too, has ventured into imaginative territory unknown to other local writers. So it was with great pleasure that I visited Mahy recently at her Governor’s Bay home to talk about her new book. As with all journalists, she is generous to a fault with her time and attention; and, as always — despite her careful consideration of questions and thoughtful answers — I’m reminded she isn’t truly comfortable making herself or her life the heart of any conversation.

Certainly, any consideration of the style of Mahy’s novels and picture books throws up some irresistible theories. As a writer committed to supporting herself through her art, she has seldom had the time for formal research. Rather, it has been a matter of going out and finding inspiration from her immediate environment: the writing on the side of a bus; a spelling mistake in a note to herself; the similarity between a cat and a fur hat. But despite these sometimes mundane origins, the settings for her stories are delightfully varied, as these books celebrate the dramatic plot twists and unpredictability of adventures on the high seas or in Antarctica, and also in quite unassuming places like the library or even down the back of a chair at home. Mahy has a lifelong affection for characters who are agents of upheaval and disturbance. Her junior and picture books are peppered with pirates, robbers and lions, though they appear alongside librarians, mothers and children, working against comfortable stereotype. Her fictions often have at their heart a young adult burdened with special powers, such as the ability to cast spells in order to transform their world in supernatural and fantastical ways. Another common feature is that, while the conclusions of her tales are usually predictable, they leave the reader feeling absolutely complete, the moral questions resulting from our hero’s powers having been resolved.

Many of these themes can be found in her new novel, The Magician of Hoad. The book was begun more than 15 years ago and envisioned as an ‘entire’ fantasy — one set in a fully imagined world with detailed history and complex tribal inter-relationships, a classical hero quest at its heart. The story ballooned at one point to 800 pages and has been through at least two substantial rewrites. Now half its original size, it is a fascinating read — an adventure, a romance, and a gold mine of Mahy literary preoccupations.

The other splendid Mahy publication this year is a re-issue of Bubble Trouble in a now-illustrated edition. This tongue-twister tale first appeared in 1991, was included in 100 New Zealand Poems (1993) and has been recited by Mahy at countless private and public functions. Perhaps more than any other work, Bubble Trouble is the Mahy that New Zealand children and their parents know so well, the rollicking story of a clown who serves up a joyous torrent of word-play and unexpected rhyme.

Those connections are four or five deep now. I read The Lion in the Meadow in the School Journal in the late 1960s; my step-daughter listened to The Boy Who Was Followed Home over and over in the 1970s; my own children sat very still mouthing The Great White Man-Eating Shark in the 80s and 90s; now, in the 21st century, my grandchildren have heard Down the Dragon’s Tongue, A Summery Saturday Morning and Dashing Dog many times.

Of course, readers are important to any working writer, but Mahy’s espousal of the act of reading goes beyond that: a book is not properly finished, she has often said, until it has been read, because a reader brings something important to the book. So, doubtless out of need to build a market — she’s not ignorant of her popularity — but also out of genuine care for that other dynamic part of the author-reader relationship, Mahy has, until recently, kept up a punishing schedule of public appearances.

Private conversation with Mahy has always been a wild ride — marvellous, in the true sense of the word, the product of a hungry head and an infinite capacity to be astonished. She races away at one stage to consult an encyclopaedia for L. M. Montgomery’s date of death, and speculates about the ‘real’ Montgomery, creator of the ever-popular Anne of Green Gables. Although I’d come to talk about her new book, I couldn’t help but be captivated by her infectious curiosity.

A few years ago, the writer David Hill told a funny story. Though his writing was, he conceded, very different from Mahy’s, he had been affected by her peculiarly alert way of looking at the world, particularly the mad, slippery life of language. Once, Hill said, in a motel room, a sign on a door caught his eye: ‘This door is alarmed.’ Mahy would like that, thought Hill. She would enjoy the comedy just below the surface of the formal warning; she would leap immediately to the possibilities for story and language play: ‘Yes, and this window is concerned, this light fitting is irritated.’ His story was a wonderful comment on Mahy’s vision.

27
Mahy explores the traditional themes of New Zealand literature.
28
Mahy’s children’s books have been more popular than her teenage books.
29
Mahy and Knox have sometimes criticised each other’s work.
30
Mahy is welcoming to interviewers.
31
Mahy is at ease speaking about her experiences.
32
Mahy’s determination to earn a living from writing has encouraged her to find the ideas for her work in ________ places.
- A. disruptive and unpredictable
- B. everyday
- C. loveable
- D. controversial
- E. exotic and ordinary
- F. isolated
- G. unconfident
- H. unsurprising but satisfying
- I. magical
33
The stories themselves are set in locations that are ________.
34
In terms of characterisation, almost all of her books feature unruly people, and very often an adolescent who possesses ________ abilities.
35
Finally, the endings of the stories tend to be ________.
36
What does the writer say about The Magician of Hoad?
- A. It is partly based on true history.
- B. It was restructured in the writing process.
- C. It is quite different from conventional stories.
- D. It does not reflect the usual themes of Mahy’s work.
37
According to the writer, Bubble Trouble
- A. was first illustrated in 1991.
- B. is written in plain language.
- C. is an old favourite for many families.
- D. has not been read aloud by Mahy before.
38
The writer’s purpose in the fifth paragraph is to
- A. show how Mahy’s style has changed through generations.
- B. criticise Mahy’s children’s stories for being repetitive.
- C. describe how new media have changed entertainment.
- D. illustrate Mahy’s popularity with generations of children.
39
According to the sixth paragraph, which of the following is true?
- A. Readers sometimes do not finish Mahy’s books.
- B. Mahy actively encourages feedback from readers.
- C. Readers are necessary in order to complete a book.
- D. Mahy does not realise how important she is to some readers.
40
What is the writer doing in the final paragraph?
- A. illustrating Mahy’s view of the world
- B. comparing Mahy with another writer
- C. correcting a misconception about Mahy
- D. suggesting reasons for Mahy’s approach

Phiếu trả lời

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Hiện đáp án

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 says London Bridge was a 'bottleneck' and 'slowed down' cargo, so it did not provide quick access for cargo to southern Britain.
3. TRUE
The passage states that 'many believed' a new river crossing would be profitable, showing it was a common belief.
4. FALSE
The passage explains that building a second bridge was not the first idea; other solutions were considered first.
5. NOT GIVEN
There is no mention in the passage about people believing coal could be found under the River Thames.
6. TRUE
The passage says the Thames Archway Company was the first to try tunnelling below the Thames.
7. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if any of Trevithick's men were injured during a mudslide at his tunnel.
8. TRUE
The passage states the Thames Archway Company 'ran out of money' to finance the tunnel project.
9. worm
Brunel noticed how a 'worm' made its tunnels in wood, which inspired his tunnel design.
10. clay
Brunel planned 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' in the tunnel.
13. government
Brunel did not have enough money to repay his debt to the 'government.'
14. G
Passage G describes the characteristics common to songs with earworms, such as being catchy and repetitive.
15. A
Passage A gives reasons why research into earworms is important, justifying the study.
16. F
Passage F describes how the brain reacts differently to known and unknown songs.
17. H
Passage H gives details of proposed research into how often earworms occur in different age groups.
18. wrist
Volunteers had a device attached to their 'wrist' to record their movements while they tapped to earworms.
19. emotions
People with more earworms have more gray matter in brain areas linked to processing 'emotions.'
20. entertained
Dr Stewart believes the brain is 'entertained' by earworms when not focused on a task.
21. challenging
A reduction in earworms was directly related to how 'challenging' the task was; harder tasks meant fewer earworms.
22. D
John Seabrook (D) is mentioned as someone who discusses musicians creating intentionally memorable music. The other options do not mention this.
23. A
Lauren Stewart (A) says people cannot completely control their thoughts, which matches this statement. The other options do not discuss this idea.
24. B
Ira Hyman (B) explains that people can remember songs without knowing they have heard them. The other options do not mention this.
25. C
Andrea Halpern (C) states that thinking about music has a similar effect on the brain as hearing music. The other options do not mention this.
26. B
Ira Hyman (B) says earworms are more persistent when only a short section of the song is repeated. The other options do not discuss this.
27. NO
The passage says Mahy does not explore traditional New Zealand literature themes, so the answer is 'No.'
28. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage comparing the popularity of Mahy's children's books and teenage books.
29. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not mention Mahy and Knox criticising each other's work.
30. YES
The passage says Mahy is welcoming to interviewers, so the answer is 'Yes.'
31. NO
The passage states Mahy is not at ease speaking about her experiences, so the answer is 'No.'
32. B
Mahy finds ideas for her work in 'everyday' places, as the passage says she draws inspiration from daily life.
33. E
The stories are set in locations that are both 'exotic and ordinary,' according to the passage.
34. I
Almost all her books feature an adolescent with 'magical' abilities, as described in the passage.
35. H
The endings of the stories are described as 'unsurprising but satisfying' in the passage.
36. B
The writer says The Magician of Hoad was 'restructured' during the writing process, so B is correct. The other options do not match the passage.
37. C
Bubble Trouble is described as an old favourite for many families, making C correct. The other options are not supported by the passage.
38. D
The fifth paragraph is used to illustrate Mahy's popularity with generations of children, so D is correct. The other options do not fit the paragraph's purpose.
39. C
The sixth paragraph says readers are necessary to complete a book, so C is correct. The other options are not supported by the passage.
40. A
In the final paragraph, the writer is illustrating Mahy's view of the world, so A is correct.

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Reading Passage 1: Tunnelling under the Thames

Reading Passage 2: Mind Music

Reading Passage 3: The New Zealand writer Margaret Mahy

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