Reading 2026-08 Test 9 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

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Reading Passage 1: The development of travel under the ocean

For millennia, humans have been intrigued by what lies beneath the sea and although submarine travel was attempted from time to time, it did not become commonplace until the middle of last century. Several clever and innovative people had experimented with designs for submersible boats before then, but there was much loss of life and little success.

There had long been use of a primitive diving bell for exploratory purposes, but it was as a war machine that the submarine came into its own. The first development in the history of American submarines was a small submersible with a hand-cranked screw-like oar and a crew of one. It was built before the American Revolutionary War (1775—1783) but was adapted for use against the British during this war. Although its pilot twice failed to fasten explosive devices to British ships before losing control of his vessel, he escaped harm.

In 1800, an American inventor, Robert Fulton, designed an underwater machine that he called the Nautilus. This version brought in features that can still be found in some modern submarines, notably adjustable diving planes for better underwater manoeuvring, dual systems of propulsion, and a compressed air system that allowed it to stay down for about four hours without surfacing.

Development of submersible vessels lagged a long way behind the continued progress in the design of surface ships until the American Civil War (1861-1865) when both sides tried out various designs. One of those, called the Hunley—named after its financier rather than its inventor, sank twice during training missions with 11 crew members losing their lives including Hunley himself. Notwithstanding these failures, it was commissioned again in 1864 to attack a ship in Charleston Harbor. A torpedo was used to strike and scuttle the ship – a first in naval history, but the submarine never reappeared, and once again the whole crew perished. Its potential had been recognised, but there still remained the challenge of operating safely under the water.

The US Navy could appreciate the strategic benefits of having submarines in its fleet and held a competition to encourage design and construction of these underwater craft. The inventor, John Holland, won the competition and it was his sixth prototype, the Holland, that the navy bought and added to its fleet in 1900. This submarine was quite different from previous designs. It was propelled by a gasoline engine that turned a propeller while the vessel was on the surface. When it submerged, the engine ran a generator to charge batteries to operate an electric motor. The improved propulsion methods were, unfortunately, highly dangerous. Not only is gasoline flammable and unstable, using it in the restricted environment of a submarine posed quite a hazard for the crewmen. There was another problem, too: the batteries were not only heavy, cumbersome and inefficient, but they were also extremely volatile.

During the same period as Holland's efforts were being trialled, a German scientist by the name of Rudolf Diesel created an engine which used a fuel less explosive than gasoline and which would consequently be stored safely. Another advantage was that there was no necessity for an electric spark to ignite the fuel. These safety improvements combined with better fuel economy allowed Diesel engines to power a submarine for longer on the surface; however, batteries were still needed to supply energy for underwater operation.

Although diesel-powered submarines were successful and used by the US Navy for almost 50 years, the search for a single power source carried on. It wasn't long before the concept of nuclear power was realised in Germany and taken up by an American physicist, Ross Gunn, who could envisage its potential in submersibles. A research team was put together to adapt the concept of nuclear power for use in submarines. In effect, modern nuclear submarines have on board a small nuclear power plant which produces a great amount of energy. This is used to heat water and create steam which drives a huge turbine which turns the propeller.

There have been many adaptations and technological improvements made to submarines over the years, but the shape is basically the same. Obviously, it is a totally enclosed craft, cigar shaped with narrowed ends. The outer hull is the largest part of the boat and forms the body. The inner hull is designed to resist the considerable water pressure and insulates the crew from the cold. This is where the crew works, eats and sleeps. It also contains the engine room and the apparatus that makes clean air and clean water. Between the hulls are the ballast tanks for controlling buoyancy. There is a tall fin-shaped sail that comes up out of the hull. Inside the sail is the conning tower and extending from this, to the fore, there is a periscope (through which the captain can see the sea and sky when the submarine is near the surface of the water). Sonar is used for navigation deep below the surface. The other projection from the conning tower is the radio antenna.

Underwater, there are two controls for steering the submarine. The rudder (like a tail fin) controls side-to-side movement, and diving planes influence rise and descent. There are two sets of diving planes: the forward sailplanes and the stem planes, which are located at the back with the rudder and propeller.

Advancing technology will undoubtedly result in different shapes and modes of operation, and it is quite possible that, in the future, submarines will be manned by robots or computer technology that communicates information to land bases via satellite.

1
What kind of underwater device was used to investigate the ocean before submersible boats were invented?
2
What was the crewman of the first American-built submarine trying to do before his mission failed?
3
What gave the Nautilus the ability to remain submerged for a long time?
4
When was a submarine first used successfully to sink an enemy boat?
5
What new type of propulsion did the Holland use on top of the water?
6
For what reason was Diesel’s fuel considered safer than Holland’s?
7
Label the diagram: 7.
8
Label the diagram: 8.
9
Label the diagram: 9.
10
Label the diagram: 10.
11
Label the diagram: 11.
12
Label the diagram: 12.
13
Label the diagram: 13.

Reading Passage 2: How to be Happy: Some recent developments in the science of happiness

A Psychiatrist Tony Fernando was walking down the street when he saw a group of young homeless men sitting on the footpath. As Fernando handed out gifts of food, he tried to video the men's reactions in his mind, recording how their gratitude lifted him in return. 'I felt warm, content, meaningful,' he says. Fernando believes the brain can be trained to make us happy and that his video method is one way to achieve this. In fact, a growing body of scientific research internationally is showing how we can learn happiness in the same way we can learn to play the piano. In the soft tissue that forms the brain, there are approximately ten trillion synapses connecting roughly a hundred billion neurons. Active synapses become more sensitive, less active synapses die but new ones grow quickly. This is relatively new thinking - just 30 years ago, neuroscientists believed that adult brain cells couldn't regenerate. One of the pioneers in this field is University of Wisconsin professor Richard Davidson. He studied Buddhist monks using brain scans in his research facility, and found that those trained in meditation had higher levels of activity in the left prefrontal cortex— the area associated with happiness. Davidson believes that the trained brain is physically different from the untrained one.

B The idea that we can train our brains to find more happiness has been called 'mindfulness' by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness. It was in college that Hanson, quite unintentionally, first recognised the importance of something that would become his life's work. As an unconfident teenager, he discovered he could turn a small event, a young woman smiling at me, into a good feeling he could hold on to. To do this, Hanson employs exactly the same imaginary 'video method' as psychiatrist Tony Fernando. The brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon,' says Hanson. If you keep resting your mind on self-criticism and worries, he argues, your brain will be shaped by that. Hanson explains that resting it on pleasant feelings and the things you have accomplished means that over time your brain will take on a different shape, with strength and optimism hard-wired into it.

C In New Zealand, the Mental Health Foundation runs mindfulness programmes in 14 schools. Foundation CEO Judi Clements says, 'it's a valuable approach because children are told to pay attention, but aren't told how to pay attention.' Preliminary results on the outcomes found that children had sustained increases in well-being. The Foundation recognises five pathways to happiness— being active, connecting with others, taking notice, learning and giving. And, says Clements, "We're detecting a hunger for it from different organisations and professions as well, so the Foundation is soon going to pilot an online 'well-being game' in several workplaces."

The project leader is psychologist Carsten Grimm, who is interested in whether some pathways to happiness are more effective than others. In a study, Grimm recorded the activities and corresponding happiness scores of 173 people. What he found was that people who used several pathways to happiness achieved the best results, suggesting it's better to have a balance than concentrate on the single pathway you most identify with.

D However, Associate Professor of Psychological Medicine Nathan Consedine greets our relentless search for the secrets to happiness with a tired sigh. "The more you chase it, the less you get it," he says, quoting studies showing those who value contentment and well-being are, in fact, less happy. The big question, he says, is whether there's any benefit in actively seeking happiness. He cites a study, for example, which showed that people who were happier were less inclined to show sympathy. Consedine says that's probably because happy people are strongly motivated to stay happy, but engaging sympathetically with others typically involves engaging with their distress, and that's going to reduce their own happiness. Consedine's not disagreeing with the theory of mindfulness, but believes there's more work to be done.

E Some of that work is being conducted at Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research. Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery has been studying Hanson's theory that altering our brain activity at a synaptic level affects our behaviour. She accepts that it's a logical explanation based on studies from animals, but we haven't yet got the technology to prove it scientifically in humans. It's true that MRI scans certainly do indicate an increased flow of blood to different areas of the brain which are experiencing positive stimuli. However, she warns that this is a long way from confirming that the brain itself is developing or strengthening.

F Nonetheless, Montgomery believes she is making progress. In the laboratory, when scientists want to experiment with synaptic connections, they stimulate the brain with electricity, as this copies the high-frequency firings that happen normally in the brain every second. Using this technique, Montgomery has made a number of findings. For example, the hormones that are released routinely in response to good or bad situations — such as adrenaline— act to regulate the brain, in the same way that weather has a regulating effect on human activity more generally. But scientists understand some of these stimuli better than others. More is known about the impact on brain activity of prolonged periods of fear than the effects of 'happiness' hormones that are released by positive events in life. This is one potentially important area that she hopes to investigate further in future.

14
a reference to a fact that two scientists use the same technique to promote their own happiness
15
the suggestion that scientific opinion about an aspect of brain function has changed over a given time period
16
an estimate of how numerous some brain components are
17
the reason why some educational courses were set up
18
It's better to look for a variety of ways to increase happiness than focus on just one.
- A. Tony Fernando
- B. Richard Davidson
- C. Rick Hanson
- D. Judi Clements
- E. Carsten Grimm
- F. Nathan Consedine
19
Focusing on personal achievements rather than negative experiences will make people happier.
20
Happy people might have a reason not to display one favourable characteristic.
21
A range of groups are becoming more interested in learning techniques to improve happiness.
22
Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery says that current research into brain activity and behaviour only relates to ________ so Hanson's theories have not been proved correct. While scans do show that positive stimuli result in more ________ reaching parts of the brain, this isn't proof that the brain is getting stronger. But Montgomery is making progress. In laboratory experiments, scientists use ________ to initiate brain activity, because it's similar to natural processes. One finding is that hormones can be compared to the ________ because both can change human behaviour. But scientists understand some stimuli, such as ________ better than they understand more positive stimuli.

Reading Passage 3: Can Hurricanes be Moderated or Diverted?

A Each year, massive swirling storms bringing along winds greater than 74 miles per hour wipe across tropical oceans and land on shorelines—usually devastating vast swaths of territory. When these roiling tempests strike densely inhabited territories, they have the power to kill thousands and cause property damage worth billions of dollars. Besides, absolutely nothing stands in their way. But can we ever find a way to control these formidable forces of nature?

B To see why hurricanes and other severe tropical storms may be susceptible to human intervention, a researcher must first learn about their nature and origins. Hurricanes grow in the form of thunderstorm clusters above the tropical seas. Oceans in low-latitude areas never stop giving out heat and moisture to the atmosphere, which brings about warm, wet air above the sea surface. When this kind of air rises, the water vapour in it condenses to form clouds and precipitation. Condensation gives out heat in the process—the solar heat is used to evaporate the water at the ocean surface. This so-called invisible heat of condensation makes the air more buoyant, leading to it ascending higher while reinforcing itself in the feedback process. At last, the tropical depression starts to form and grow stronger, creating the familiar eye—the calm centre hub that a hurricane spins around. When reaching the land, the hurricane no longer has a continuous supply of warm water, which causes it to swiftly weaken.

C Our current studies are inspired by my past intuition when I was learning about chaos theory 30 years ago. The reason why long-range forecasting is complicated is that the atmosphere is highly sensitive to small influences and tiny mistakes can compound fast in the weather-forecasting models. However, this sensitivity also made me realise a possibility: if we intentionally applied some slight inputs to a hurricane, we might create a strong influence that could affect the storms, either by steering them away from densely populated areas or by slowing them down. Back then, I was not able to test my ideas, but thanks to the advancement of computer simulation and remote-sensing technologies over the last 10 years, I can now renew my enthusiasm in large-scale weather control.

D To find out whether the sensitivity of the atmospheric system could be exploited to adjust such robust atmospheric phenomena as hurricanes, our research team ran simulation experiments on computers for a hurricane named Iniki that occurred in 1992. The current forecasting technologies were far from perfect, so it took us by surprise that our first simulation turned out to be an immediate success. With the goal of altering the path of Iniki in mind, we first picked the spot where we wanted the storm to stop after six hours. Then we used this target to generate artificial observations and put these into the computer model.

E The most significant alteration turned out to be the initial temperatures and winds. Usually, the temperature changes across the grid were only tenths of a degree, but the most noteworthy change, which was an increase of almost two degrees Celsius, took place in the lowest model layer to the west of the storm centre. The calculations produced wind-speed changes of two or three miles per hour. However, in several spots, the rates shifted by as much as 20 mph due to minor redirections of the winds close to the storm’s centre. In terms of structure, the initial and altered versions of Hurricane Iniki seemed almost the same, but the changes in critical variables were so substantial that the latter one went off the track to the west during the first six hours of the simulation and then travelled due north, leaving Kauai untouched.

F Future earth-orbiting solar power stations, equipped with large mirrors to focus the sun’s rays and panels of photovoltaic cells to gather and send energy to the Earth, might be adapted to beam microwaves which turn to be absorbed by water vapour molecules inside or around the storm. The microwaves would cause the water molecules to vibrate and heat up the surrounding air, which then leads to the hurricane slowing down or moving in a preferred direction.

G Simulations of hurricanes conducted on a computer have implied that by changing the precipitation, evaporation and air temperature, we could make a difference to a storm’s route or abate its winds. Intervention could be in many different forms: exquisitely targeted clouds bearing silver iodide or other rainfall-inducing elements might deprive a hurricane of the water it needs to grow and multiply from its formidable eyewall, which is the essential characteristic of a severe tropical storm.

23
27. Paragraph A
- i. Hurricanes in history
- ii. How hurricanes form
- iii. How a laboratory exercise re-routed a hurricane
- iv. Exciting ways to utilise future technologies
- v. Are hurricanes unbeatable?
- vi. Re-visiting earlier ideas
- vii. How lives might have been saved
- viii. A range of low-tech methods
24
28. Paragraph B
25
29. Paragraph C
26
30. Paragraph D
27
31. Paragraph E
28
32. Paragraph F
29
33. Paragraph G
30
34. Hurricanes originate as groups of ______ over the tropical oceans.
31
35. ______ releases heat - the solar heat it took to evaporate the water at the ocean surface.
32
36. This so-called latent ______ of condensation makes the air more buoyant.
33
37. Eventually, the tropical depression begins to organise and strengthen, forming the familiar ______ - the calm central hub around which a hurricane spins.
34
38. On passing over ______, the hurricane’s sustaining source of warm water is cut off, which leads to the storm’s rapid weakening.
35
39. What encouraged the writer to restart researching hurricane control?
- A. the huge damage hurricane trigger
- B. the developments in computer technologies
- C. the requirement of some local people
- D. the chaos theory learnt as a student
36
40. What was the writer’s reaction after their first experiment?
- A. surprised that their intervention had not achieved a lot
- B. ecstatic with the achievement the first experiment had
- C. surprised that their intervention had the intended effect
- D. regretful about the impending success

Phiếu trả lời

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Hiện đáp án

1. diving bell
The answer is 'diving bell' because the passage says this device was used to investigate the ocean before submersible boats existed.
2. fasten explosive devices
The crewman was trying to 'fasten explosive devices' as the passage explains his mission was to attach explosives before it failed.
3. compressed air system
The Nautilus could stay underwater for a long time because it had a 'compressed air system,' which the passage says allowed it to remain submerged.
4. 1864
A submarine was first used successfully to sink an enemy boat in '1864,' as stated directly in the passage.
5. gasoline engine
The Holland used a 'gasoline engine' for propulsion on top of the water, which the passage mentions as a new feature.
6. less explosive
Diesel’s fuel was considered safer than Holland’s because it was 'less explosive,' as explained in the passage.
7. sailplanes
Number 7 on the diagram is 'sailplanes,' which are mentioned in the passage as control surfaces on a submarine.
8. periscope
Number 8 is 'periscope,' which the passage describes as the device used to see above the water.
9. radio antenna
Number 9 is 'radio antenna,' which is used for communication as stated in the passage.
10. rudder
Number 10 is 'rudder,' which the passage says is used to steer the submarine.
11. propeller
Number 11 is 'propeller,' which moves the submarine forward, as described in the passage.
12. stem planes
Number 12 is 'stem planes,' which the passage says help control the depth of the submarine.
13. outer hull
Number 13 is 'outer hull,' which is the outside layer of the submarine, as mentioned in the passage.
14. B
The answer is B because the passage refers to two scientists using the same technique to promote their own happiness.
15. A
The answer is A because the passage suggests scientific opinion about brain function has changed over time.
16. A
The answer is A because the passage gives an estimate of how many brain components there are.
17. C
The answer is C because the passage explains that some educational courses were set up for a specific reason.
18. E
The answer is E (Carsten Grimm) because the passage says it's better to look for many ways to increase happiness, not just one. Option C (Rick Hanson) is tempting but he focuses on personal achievements, not variety.
19. C
The answer is C (Rick Hanson) because the passage says focusing on achievements rather than negatives makes people happier. Option E (Carsten Grimm) talks about variety, not focus on achievements.
20. F
The answer is F (Nathan Consedine) because the passage says happy people might not always show one good characteristic. Option D (Judi Clements) is tempting but she talks about groups learning happiness, not hiding characteristics.
21. D
The answer is D (Judi Clements) because the passage says many groups are interested in learning happiness techniques. Option B (Richard Davidson) is tempting but he focuses on brain function, not groups.
22. animals / blood / electricity / weather / fear
The answers are: animals (research relates to animals), blood (positive stimuli send more blood to parts of the brain), electricity (used in lab experiments to start brain activity), weather (hormones compared to weather), fear (scientists understand fear better than positive stimuli).
23. v
Paragraph A is about whether hurricanes can be beaten, so the answer is v. 'Are hurricanes unbeatable?'.
24. ii
Paragraph B explains how hurricanes form, so the answer is ii.
25. vi
Paragraph C revisits earlier ideas, so the answer is vi.
26. iii
Paragraph D describes a laboratory exercise that re-routed a hurricane, so the answer is iii.
27. vii
Paragraph E discusses how lives might have been saved, so the answer is vii.
28. iv
Paragraph F talks about exciting ways to use future technologies, so the answer is iv.
29. viii
Paragraph G lists a range of low-tech methods, so the answer is viii.
30. thunderstorms
Hurricanes start as groups of 'thunderstorms' over tropical oceans, as the passage states.
31. condensation
'Condensation' releases heat, which the passage says is the solar heat taken from the ocean surface.
32. heat
The 'latent heat' of condensation makes the air more buoyant, as explained in the passage.
33. eye
The tropical depression forms the 'eye,' which is the calm center of a hurricane, as described in the passage.
34. land
When a hurricane passes over 'land,' it loses its warm water source and weakens, as the passage explains.
35. B
The answer is B (the developments in computer technologies) because the passage says new computer technology encouraged the writer to restart hurricane control research. Option A is tempting but the key reason given is technology, not damage.
36. C
The answer is C (surprised that their intervention had the intended effect) because the passage says the writer was surprised their action worked as planned. Option A is tempting but the intervention did have an effect.

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Reading Passage 1: The development of travel under the ocean

Reading Passage 2: How to be Happy: Some recent developments in the science of happiness

Reading Passage 3: Can Hurricanes be Moderated or Diverted?

Phiếu trả lời

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