Reading 2026-05 Test 57 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

基于考生回忆投稿及材料收集整理 — 非官方 IELTS 资料。

Reading Passage 1: Fragrant Memories

A You probably pay more attention to a newspaper with your eyes than with your nose. But lift the paper to your nostrils and inhale. The smell of newsprint might carry you back to your childhood, when your parents perused the paper on Sunday mornings. Or maybe some other smell takes you back—the scent of your mother’s perfume, the pungency of a driftwood campfire. Specific odours can spark a flood of reminiscences. Psychologists call it the “Proustian phenomenon” after French novelist Marcel Proust. Near the beginning of the masterpiece In Search of Lost Time, Proust’s narrator dunks a madeleine cookie into a cup of tea and the scent and taste unleash a torrent of childhood memories for 3000 pages.

B Now, this phenomenon is getting the scientific treatment. Neuroscientists Rachel Herz, a cognitive neuroscientist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, have discovered, for instance, how sensory memories are shared across the brain, with different brain regions remembering the sights, smells, tastes and sounds of a particular experience. Meanwhile, psychologists have demonstrated that memories triggered by smells can be more emotional, as well as more detailed, than memories not related to smells. When you inhale, odour molecules set brain cells dancing within a region known as the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps control emotion. In contrast, the other senses, such as taste or touch, get routed through other parts of the brain before reaching the amygdala. The direct link between odours and the amygdala may help explain the emotional potency of smells. “There is this unique connection between the sense of smell and the part of the brain that processes emotion,” says Rachel Herz.

C But the links don’t stop there. Like an octopus reaching its tentacles outward, the memory of smells affects other brain regions as well. In recent experiments, neuroscientists at University College London (UCL) asked 15 volunteers to look at pictures while smelling unrelated odours. For instance, the subjects might see a photo of a duck paired with the scent of a rose, and then be asked to create a story linking the two. Brain scans taken at the time revealed that the volunteers’ brains were particularly active in a region known as the olfactory cortex, which is known to be involved in processing smells. Five minutes later, the volunteers were shown the duck photo again, but without the rose smell. And in their brains, the olfactory cortex lit up again, the scientists reported recently. The fact that the olfactory cortex became active in the absence of the odour suggests that people’s sensory memory of events is spread across different brain regions. Imagine going on a seaside holiday, says UCL team leader, Jay Gottfried. The sight of the waves becomes stored in one area, whereas the crash of the surf goes elsewhere, and the smell of seaweed in yet another place. There could be advantages to having memories spread around the brain. “You can reawaken that memory from any one of the sensory triggers,” says Gottfried. “Maybe the smell of the sun lotion, or a particular sound from that day, or the sight of a rock formation.” Or—in the case of an early hunter and gatherer out on a plain—the sight of a lion might be enough to trigger the urge to flee, rather than having to wait for the sound of its roar and the stench of its hide to kick in as well.

D Remembered smells may also carry extra emotional baggage, says Herz. Her research suggests that memories triggered by odours are more emotional than memories triggered by other cues. In one recent study, Herz recruited five volunteers who had vivid memories associated with a particular perfume, such as Opium for Women and Juniper Breeze from Bath and Body Works. She took images of the volunteers’ brains as they sniffed that perfume and an unrelated perfume without knowing which was which. (They were also shown photos of each perfume bottle.) Smelling the specified perfume activated the volunteers’ brains the most, particularly in the amygdala, and in a region called the hippocampus which helps in memory formation. Herz published the work earlier this year in the journal Neuropsychologia.

E But she couldn’t be sure that the other senses wouldn’t also elicit a strong response. So in another study Herz compared smells with sounds and pictures. She had 70 people describe an emotional memory involving three items—popcorn, fresh-cut grass and a campfire. Then they compared the items through sights, sounds and smells. For instance, the person might see a picture of a lawnmower, then sniff the scent of grass and finally listen to the lawnmower’s sound. Memories triggered by smell were more evocative than memories triggered by either sights or sounds.

F Odour-evoked memories may be not only more emotional, but more detailed as well. Working with colleague John Downes, psychologist Simon Chu of the University of Liverpool started researching odour and memory partly because of his grandmother’s stories about Chinese culture. As generations gathered to share oral histories, they would pass a small pot of spice or incense around; later, when they wanted to remember the story in as much detail as possible, they would pass the same smell around again. “It kind of fits with a lot of anecdotal evidence on how smells can be really good reminders of past experiences,” Chu says. And scientific research seems to bear out the anecdotes. In one experiment, Chu and Downes asked 42 volunteers to tell a life story, then tested to see whether odours such as coffee and cinnamon could help them remember more detail in the story. They could.

G Despite such studies, not everyone is convinced that Proust can be scientifically analysed. In the June issue of Chemical Senses, Chu and Downes exchanged critiques with renowned perfumer and chemist J. Stephan Jellinek. Jellinek chided the Liverpool researchers for, among other things, presenting the smells and asking the volunteers to think of memories, rather than seeing what memories were spontaneously evoked by the odours. But there’s only so much science can do to test a phenomenon that’s inherently different for each person, Chu says. Meanwhile, Jellinek has also been collecting anecdotal accounts of Proustian experiences, hoping to find some common links between the experiences. “I think there is a case to be made that surprise may be a major aspect of the Proust phenomenon,” he says. “That’s why people are so struck by these memories.” No one knows whether Proust ever experienced such a transcendental moment. But his notions of memory, written as fiction nearly a century ago, continue to inspire scientists of today.

1
Found pattern of different sensory memories stored in various zones of a brain.
- A. Rachel Herz
- B. Simon Chu
- C. Jay Gottfried
2
Smell brings detailed event under a smell of certain substance.
3
Connection of smell and certain zones of brain is different with that of other senses.
4
Diverse locations of stored information help us keep away the hazard.
5
There is no necessary correlation between smell and processing zone of brain.
6
In paragraph B, what do the experiments conducted by Herz and other scientists show?
- A. Women are more easily addicted to opium medicine
- B. Smell is superior to other senses in connection to the brain
- C. Smell is more important than other senses
- D. certain part of brain relates the emotion to the sense of smell
7
What does the second experiment conducted by Herz suggest?
- A. Result directly conflicts with the first one
- B. Result of her first experiment is correct
- C. Sights and sounds trigger memories at an equal level
- D. Lawnmower is a perfect example in the experiment
8
What is the outcome of experiment conducted by Chu and Downes?
- A. smell is the only functional under Chinese tradition
- B. half of volunteers told detailed stories
- C. smells of certain odours assist story tellers
- D. odours of cinnamon is stronger than that of coffee
9
What is the comment of Jellinek to Chu and Downes in the issue of Chemical Senses?
- A. Jellinek accused their experiment of being unscientific
- B. Jellinek thought Liverpool is not a suitable place for experiment
- C. Jellinek suggested that there was no further clue of what specific memories aroused
- D. Jellinek stated that experiment could be remedied
10
In the experiments conducted by UCL, participants were asked to look at a picture with a scent of a flower, then in the next stage, everyone would have to ________ for a connection. A method called ________ suggested that specific area of brain named ________ were quite active. Then in another parallelled experiment about Chinese elders, storytellers could recall detailed anecdotes when smelling a bowl of ________ or incense around.

Reading Passage 2: Dark Chocolate's Health Benefits

A. Dark chocolate is gaining a reputation as a heart-healthy food, and research suggests that there might be some substance behind those claims. Ginger Hultin, owner of Champagne Nutrition in Seattle and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says 'Cocoa contains antioxidants in addition to magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iron. Plus, studies have shown that there could be some benefit to consuming chocolate or cocoa for the cardiovascular system, including potentially lowering blood pressure.'

B. Dark chocolate's health benefits come from its cocoa -- specifically its cocoa flavanols. Flavanols are a type of polyphenol, and polyphenols are one group of phytochemicals. Many fruits and vegetables contain flavanols, but they are especially rich in tea, wine, and cocoa. During digestion, cocoa is broken down into smaller chemical compounds. Some research suggests that these compounds have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and may, for example, research has found that even two weeks of eating dark chocolate or other flavanol-rich cocoa products is better than a placebo for lowering blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure, although not to normal levels. In 2013, the European Food Safety Authority approved the claim that cocoa flavanols help maintain normal blood pressure, which means that the cost involved in future medical treatment may be less than scientists previously predicted.

C. Researchers have also pointed out that people may digest cocoa differently. Variations in gut bacteria can influence how flavanols are processed and absorbed in the body. As a result, the health effects of cocoa may differ from person to person, depending on individual digestive systems and dietary habits.

D. Data from the long-running Physicians' Health Study suggests that chocolate intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in younger and normal-weight men. However, take those findings with a grain of salt, because they were based on a single question about average yearly intake of chocolate that didn't ask what type of chocolate --white, milk, or dark--says Howard Sesso, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Brigham and Wechat Straightledge Hospital in Boston. 'If we assume that any benefits from cocoa are attributable to its flavanol content, then dark chocolate should in theory confer greater benefits than milk chocolate.' Sesso and other researchers are investigating whether taking daily supplements of 600 mg of cocoa flavanols--not chocolate itself--reduces the risk for developing heart disease and stroke, as well as cancer. However, they have yet to determine how much people need to consume to reap benefits.

E. What does that mean for the average person who enjoys chocolate and hopes they're getting some health benefit from it? Sadly, results from the large European Prospective Investigation of Cancer, EPIC-Norfolk study suggest that the amount of flavanols that the average person in Europe or the United States consumes is unlikely to do much to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease compared with taking medicine. The research also suggests that certain groups, particularly overweight individuals, may not receive the same protective effects from chocolate consumption as younger and normal-weight men.

F. Even though cocoa is a key ingredient in milk and dark chocolate, you can't really be sure how many flavanols you're getting. 'Product packaging does not specify amounts of cocoa flavanols, only percent cacao,' Sesso says. 'Variable processing of the cocoa bean makes it difficult to equate percent cacao with cocoa flavanol content.' White chocolate contains no cocoa solids, milk chocolate contains relatively small amounts of cocoa, while dark chocolate contains a much higher percentage of cocoa. Cocoa may also appear in the form of cocoa powder, cocoa butter, or concentrated cocoa extracts.

G. In the meantime, remember that chocolate products are typically high in calories and fat. Therefore, Sesso says it's best not to think of dark chocolate as a health food. 'Moderation is key; if someone enjoys eating chocolate, it should be done in moderation along with other foods.' So far, it's best not to put all your flavanol eggs in a dark chocolate basket. 'We get different phytochemicals and antioxidants from a wide variety of foods,' Hultin says. 'Including different colors of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans is the best way to gain access to fiber that could support health.' That said, she does recommend enjoying a bit of chocolate or cocoa. 'I put cocoa powder in my smoothies for an added boost of flavor, nutrients and antioxidants.'

11
14. a description of different kinds of cocoa used in chocolate production
12
15. an explanation that chemicals produced during cocoa digestion may reduce the risks of diseases
13
16. a reference to a group of people who may not benefit from eating chocolate
14
17. an example of a specific way cocoa can be added into beverage
15
18. information about differences in the way people digest cocoa
16
19. Eating cocoa together with dietary fiber may improve health.
- A. Ginger Hultin
- B. European Food Safety Authority
- C. Howard Sesso
- D. EPIC-Norfolk
17
20. Dark chocolate consumption could reduce medical spending in the future.
18
21. Dark chocolate should not be considered a replacement for medicine.
19
22. The amount of cocoa required for health benefits remains uncertain.
20
23. The digestive process turns cocoa into less complex chemical _________.
21
24. The _________ would vary according to chocolate type with dark chocolate outperforming milk chocolate.
22
25. Dark chocolate should not be regarded as healthy due to its richness of calories and _________.
23
26. In Hultin's view, dietary diversity is the best strategy for acquiring _________.

Reading Passage 3: Child’s Play in Medieval England

A ‘Play up! Play up! And play the game!’ The ringing chorus of Sir Henry Newbolt’s celebrated cricket poem ‘Vitai Lampada’ (1908) sums up views about play in 19th- and early 20th-century Britain. Children’s play was important, and adults should regulate and direct it. Games promoted endurance, self-discipline and team spirit – qualities needed for the health of society and government. Newbolt was one in a long line of people who thought in this way. The notion that children’s play should be used for educational and social purposes goes back at least to the ancient Greeks and the toys and games of medieval England tell us much about how adults then saw childhood. But they also reveal a good deal about children themselves, and cast light on what has recently become a controversial issue.

Forty years ago, the French historian Philippe Aries argued, in Centuries of Childhood, that childhood in the Middle Ages did not exist in its modern sense. Children were regarded by adults with relatively little affection and followed a way of life not very different from that of their elders. More recent historians have disputed this, pointing to plentiful signs of parental affection and arguing that childhood, by its very nature, must always have been much the same.

In this debate play is crucial. Did adults encourage it? If so, did they see it as recreational (by providing toys, for example) or as educational (making children play in particular ways)? Did children play as their elders told them, or did they invent their own games, away from adults and even against their wishes? These questions can be answered from a rich body of evidence including actual toys of the period, pictures of children’s activities in contemporary manuscripts and literary sources such as religious works and dictionaries. We know not only how medieval English children played but what their elders thought on the subject.

We know, for example, that adults gave children toys from infancy onwards. In 1398 the writer John Trevisa describes babies playing with ‘a child’s brooch’, an object similar in function to the bright plastic toys given to babies today to bite and handle. William Horman, 16th-century author of a Latin textbook, talks of buying a rattle to stop a baby crying. Indeed, by 1300 it appears there was a toy industry in England. Boys’ toys often took military forms, such as the two metal soldiers of that date, found in London, and made from a mould. Girls had dolls, known before the 17th century as ‘poppets’ or puppets, commercially manufactured, imported and, in 1582, taxed at a halfpenny each. Not that children were by any means dependent on things that were bought for them. Gerald of Wales recalls how he and his brothers built towns, palaces, churches and monasteries from sand at Manorbier Castle in about 1150 (perhaps on the nearby beach).

Active games were universal. In his English-to-Latin dictionary of 1440, a mysterious recluse known as Geoffrey mentions children playing ‘tennis’ and swinging on what he calls a ‘totter’ or ‘merrytotter’. Children chased each other, swam and played ball games. Boys in the later Middle Ages shot arrows with bows, and archery is an example of a sport encouraged by adults, who wanted boys to grow up to play their part in what was, for most men, a warrior society.

However, by no means all children’s military activity was directed by adults. In 1400, six months after King Richard II had been overthrown by Henry IV, the children of London gathered together and chose themselves kings. Adam of Usk tells us they congregated ‘in thousands … and made war upon each other … whereby many died’. The new king had to order their parents and masters to stop them.

This willingness of children to take the initiative in play, not just to wait for adults to direct them, is evident in the way they observed the calendar. Medieval life was regulated by light, weather, crops and the Church’s cycle of fasts and festivals. Children shared in the adult round of religious festivals, but had their own observances as well, semi-detached from their elders. In the 1200s, the priest Thomas Docking remarked that in spring a child ‘follows the ploughman; in autumn he accompanies the grape-gatherers’. In 1518, the poet Alexander Barclay records children playing with tops in March, looking for fruit in summer and making footballs by filling pigs’ bladders with dried peas in autumn.

It is clear from this evidence that the relationship between adults and children in medieval society was, in major respects, a modern one. Parents took an indulgent interest in their children, providing them with toys and giving them time to play. Children played in a wide variety of ways – imaginatively, skilfully, athletically and violently – developing their minds, bodies and social skills. Adults tried at times to direct play – partly to keep children in order, partly to give them skills for adult life – but children gravitated to one another and formed a culture of their own. We can answer Aries’s thesis, then, with a resounding ‘No!’. Childhood has always been much the same.

24
27 economic evidence for play in medieval England
25
28 an example of how children created their own toys
26
29 an example of warlike play approved by grown-ups
27
30 a political event mirrored in children’s play
28
31 the origin of an academic debate about medieval life
29
32 1400
- A. invention of cricket
- B. children picking grapes
- C. poem about value of games
- D. early toy manufacturing in England
- E. puppets first imported into England
- F. dolls taxed in England
- G. death of Adam of Usk
- H. children playing tennis
- I. children’s gang warfare
- J. a description of seasonal activities
30
33 1518
31
34 1582
32
35 1908
33
36 Little is known about adult attitudes to children’s play in the Middle Ages.
- YES. YES
- NO. NO
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
34
37 Most toys were imported into England before 1300.
35
38 Medieval children celebrated the seasons in their own ways.
36
39 Medieval children made presents for their parents on special occasions.
37
40 Parents and children in the Middle Ages behaved much as they do today.

答题卡

边做边填 — 即时本地判分，所有错题自动记录到错题本，并附带对应讲解。

数据保存在本设备 — 无需账号。如需同步进度，请在进度页登录。

显示答案

1. A
A is correct because Rachel Herz found that different sensory memories are stored in various zones of the brain, as described in the passage.
2. B
B is correct because Simon Chu showed that a smell can bring back a detailed event when someone smells a certain substance. Option A is wrong because Herz focused on brain zones, not detailed events.
3. A
A is correct because Rachel Herz explained that the connection between smell and certain brain zones is different from other senses.
4. C
C is correct because Jay Gottfried said that having information stored in diverse locations helps us avoid danger.
5. C
C is correct because Jay Gottfried stated that there is no necessary link between a smell and the brain area that processes it.
6. D
D is correct because the passage says Herz and other scientists' experiments show that a certain part of the brain connects emotion to the sense of smell.
7. B
B is correct because the second experiment by Herz supports the result of her first experiment. Option A is wrong because the results do not conflict.
8. C
C is correct because Chu and Downes found that certain smells help storytellers recall detailed stories.
9. C
C is correct because Jellinek commented that Chu and Downes' experiment did not give more clues about which specific memories were aroused.
10. create a story / brain scans / olfactory cortex / spice
The answers are 'create a story', 'brain scans', 'olfactory cortex', and 'spice' because the passage describes participants making up stories, using brain scans to see activity in the olfactory cortex, and Chinese elders recalling stories when smelling spice or incense.
11. F
F is correct because this section describes different kinds of cocoa used in making chocolate.
12. B
B is correct because this part explains that chemicals made during cocoa digestion may help lower disease risks.
13. E
E is correct because this section mentions a group of people who may not benefit from eating chocolate.
14. G
G is correct because it gives an example of how cocoa can be added to a drink.
15. C
C is correct because this section talks about how people digest cocoa differently.
16. A
A is correct because Ginger Hultin said that eating cocoa with dietary fiber may improve health.
17. B
B is correct because the European Food Safety Authority said eating dark chocolate could lower future medical costs.
18. D
D is correct because EPIC-Norfolk stated that dark chocolate should not replace medicine.
19. C
C is correct because Howard Sesso said it is still not clear how much cocoa is needed for health benefits.
20. compounds
'compounds' is correct because the passage says cocoa is broken down into less complex chemical compounds during digestion.
21. benefits
'benefits' is correct because the passage says the benefits vary depending on the type of chocolate, with dark chocolate being better than milk chocolate.
22. fat
'fat' is correct because the passage says dark chocolate is not always healthy because it is high in calories and fat.
23. fiber
'fiber' is correct because Hultin believes the best way to get fiber is by eating a variety of foods.
24. D
D is correct because this section gives economic evidence for play in medieval England.
25. G
G is correct because this part gives an example of children making their own toys.
26. E
E is correct because this section describes warlike play that adults approved of.
27. F
F is correct because this part talks about a political event that children copied in their play.
28. B
B is correct because this section explains where the academic debate about medieval life began.
29. I
I is correct because in 1400, there is a record of children's gang warfare.
30. J
J is correct because in 1518, there is a description of seasonal activities.
31. F
F is correct because in 1582, dolls were taxed in England.
32. C
C is correct because in 1908, there was a poem about the value of games.
33. NO
NO is correct because the passage gives information about adult attitudes to children's play in the Middle Ages.
34. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN is correct because the passage does not say if most toys were imported into England before 1300.
35. YES
YES is correct because the passage says medieval children celebrated the seasons in their own ways.
36. NOT GIVEN
NOT GIVEN is correct because the passage does not mention if medieval children made presents for their parents on special occasions.
37. YES
YES is correct because the passage says parents and children in the Middle Ages acted much like they do today.

想要完整的限时体验？试试免费的完整模拟考试——真实考生回忆的考题，真实机考界面。

开始模拟考试 →