Reading 2026-06 Test 10 — 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: A river reveals its Roman past

2,000 years ago the town of Arles, in what is now south-western France, was a busy gateway to the area of the Roman Empire known as Gaul. Goods from all over the Mediterranean were transferred there to barges – long, shallow riverboats – then pulled up the Rhone river to supply the northern half of the great empire. Today, Arles is a small, quiet place, and the Rhone is polluted and mostly ignored.

In 1986, a friend persuaded Luc Long, a keen diver, to dive for the first time in his home river. Long reluctantly agreed. The two men entered the river on a chilly November morning, when the water was around 8°C, thick, cloudy and foul-smelling. They could see no more than a metre ahead through the murky water. At a depth of about six metres, Long saw a sunken truck. To his surprise, he discovered an ancient Roman jar known as an amphora on the driver's seat. These containers were used throughout the Roman Empire to transport olive oil, fish sauce, and other products. When empty, they would simply be discarded. Within a short time the divers had located dozens more amphorae, and he has been mapping this Roman rubbish dump ever since.

For the first 20 years or so, no one paid much attention to what Long was doing. In 2004, one of his colleagues came across a 34-metre-long Roman barge. Long doubted that there would ever be enough money available to raise it. In 2007, Long handed over the study of this barge to a young archaeologist, Sabrina Marlier, and concentrated on a survey of the rest of the dump, around 50 metres upstream. This was where he started finding pieces of the Roman town of Arles, including statues. Word began to leak out. The French customs police warned Long that antiquities thieves might be watching his operation. So when a rare marble bust of the Roman emperor Caesar was found, Long hid it in a friend's garage.

Before the diving season was over, divers had discovered a rare marble bust of the Roman emperor Caesar. News of the find spread around the world. The exhibition's success was astonishing,' said Claude Sintes, director of Arles' local antiquities museum, where the exhibition was held. 'When a modest town like ours got 400,000 visitors, the politicians understood that the economic return was strong.' By the autumn of 2010, the Caesar exhibition was nearing its end, and those same politicians were looking for more culture to invest in, because the European Union had designated the region around Arles a 2013 European Capital of Culture. Suddenly nine million euros became available to build a new wing on the museum and put a Roman barge into it. There was just one problem. The project would need to be completed by 2013. That meant the barge needed to be extracted during the one diving season in 2011. This was because although the wood of the boat had suffered no microbial decay, water had filled its cells, leaving the whole structure soft and spongy. If that water were to evaporate, the boat would collapse. The solution was to leave the boat in water, gradually infusing it with a polymer before extracting the water. The process would take nearly two years.

So there was only one diving season to extract the boat from the Rhone. 'We all thought the deadline was impossible,' said Benoit Poinard, who led the diving team. Normally, Poinard explained, the Rhone is safe for diving only from late June to October; otherwise the current is too strong. Three or four months would not be enough to excavate Arles-Rhone 3. Then 2011 arrived. It hardly snowed in the Alps that winter and that spring it barely rained. The Rhone's current was so gentle that the team got in the water by early May. The team worked straight into November, losing only a single week to bad weather and completed the job. 'Two hours after we finished,' Poinard said, 'the Rhone became undiveable for the whole winter.'

When Arles-Rhone 3 sank, it was carrying 33 tons of stone for building work. It had come from a quarry just north of Arles, and was probably heading towards a construction site further down the river. The boat was pointed upstream, though, rather than downstream, indicating it had been moored at the quay when it sank. A flash flood had probably swamped it. As soon as the flood subsided, the barge would have been covered in a coating of fine clay no more than 20 cm thick. This was where the archaeologists discovered the personal effects that the crew had left on the boat, including cooking utensils and plates. When the restorers were taking the boat apart, they found a silver coin dated to 30 BCE – the year before the battle of Actium – under the floorboards. They guessed someone had left it there to bring good luck. And it did – 2,000 years later. Arles-Rhone 3 was able to take its place in the new wing of the museum, on schedule, just over two years after re-emerging from the cloudy depths of the Rhone.

1
In 1986 Luc Long had been looking for an opportunity to dive in the Rhone for some time.
2
Long and his friend were the first divers to find Roman remains in the Rhone.
3
Long's work in the Rhone attracted immediate interest.
4
It was thought that the Neptune statue would be of interest to thieves.
5
Benoit Poinard doubted that the barge could be raised in one diving season.
6
The restorers were surprised to discover a silver coin in the barge.
7
The barge was 34 metres long and was found by one of Long’s _________ in 2004.
8
The wood had not decayed, but water had filled its cells, making the structure soft and _________.
9
Normally, the Rhone is safe for diving only from late June to _________.
10
In 2011, because it hardly snowed in the Alps, the river’s _________ was very gentle.
11
The diving team lost only one _________ to bad weather.
12
The barge was carrying 33 tons of _________ for building work.
13
Under the floorboards, restorers found a silver _________ dated to 30 BCE.

Reading Passage 2: Jellyfish - The Dominant Species

Jellyfish have become the curse of beach holidays, permeating every ocean on the globe, thriving in the Arctic and the tropics. In an ever-changing world where other species struggle to endure, jellyfish populations are on the rise.

To the untrained eye, these creatures drift aimlessly on the oceans' currents and appear benign. In addition, they lack sharp claws, piercing teeth or even a brain. Despite this, they are armed with an amazing arsenal of weapons, especially the stinging power of their tentacles. As a result, jellyfish are among the most-feared, least-understood creatures in the seas.

According to Dr Monty Graham, a jellyfish scientist at the University of South Alabama, US, 'Jellyfish are a pretty good group of animals to track coastal ecosystems. When you start to see jellyfish numbers grow, that usually indicates a stressed system.' While populations appear to be down this year, Dr Graham sees 'a statistically solid increase' over the longer term.

This increase first gained attention in the 1980s when a huge number of jellyfish, Atlantic Ocean natives named Mnemiopsis leidyi, devastated the Black Sea, an ecosystem already weakened by overfishing of anchovies. Scientists believe that this species of jellyfish came in on the bottom of a ship and then rapidly multiplied, feeding on anchovy eggs and the plankton that young fish rely on.

Dense jellyfish aggregations can be a natural feature of healthy ocean ecosystems, but a clear picture is now emerging of more severe and frequent jellyfish outbreaks worldwide. Dr Anthony Richardson, from the University of Queensland, Australia, explains that once jellyfish gain a foothold, if conditions are right they can establish a massive population at the expense of other ocean life. The problem is that parts of the ocean might switch from being dominated by fish to being dominated by jellyfish.

A study done by Richardson and his colleagues explores the causes behind jellyfish infestation, and the need for swift, decisive action to stem jellyfish takeover. Jellyfish outbreaks are linked directly to human actions, including overfishing, the input of fertilizer and sewage into the ocean, and climate change.

Overfishing has removed fish from marine ecosystems at astounding rates. According to Richardson, this has made it possible for jellyfish to take their place. 'This is because small fish appear to keep jellyfish in check by predation (on jellyfish when they are very small) and competition (when feeding). So, once we remove fish, jellyfish can proliferate.'

Eutrophication is another human-caused change in the ocean that has likely contributed to jellyfish explosions. Eutrophication is an increase of nitrogen and phosphorus in the ocean, largely caused by fertilizer and waste run-off. This leads to algae blooms, which lower oxygen in the marine ecosystem, creating so-called 'dead zones', which have been increasing dramatically around the world. According to Richardson, these low-oxygen waters give jellyfish the advantage. 'Fish avoid low-oxygen waters but jellyfish, having lower oxygen demands, not only survive but can thrive in these conditions as there is less predation and competition from fish.'

Furthermore, Richardson and his colleagues speculate that climate change may expand the traditional geographical range of jellyfish. 'As water warms, tropical species are moving towards the poles. Many venomous jellyfish species are tropical and could move into more densely populated subtropical and temperate regions.'

Once jellyfish appear en masse in an ecosystem they can make it very difficult for fish to stage a comeback. By feeding on fish, the jellyfish successfully prevent fish from returning to their normal population numbers, says Richardson. 'One can thus think of two alternate states with each being stable: one dominated by fish and the other by jellyfish. Unfortunately, where there is a jellyfish-dominated state then this does not support the nutritional needs of other fish, marine mammals, and seabirds.' In other words an ecosystem that loses fish also loses the species that depend on fish for survival.

This state has been defined as a 'monoculture of jellyfish', an apt analogy since the situation shares similarities with other monocultures. When the rich biodiversity of tropical forests is replaced by plantations growing a single species of tree, an area of rich variety becomes a desert in terms of biodiversity, as do ocean ecosystems when jellyfish become the dominant species.

One result of large jellyfish populations is the economic effect it has had on the fishing industry. In the Gulf of Mexico, shrimp fishermen are struggling with a jellyfish boom that fills nets, causing them to break and resulting in millions of dollars in losses.

Experts say that a greater understanding of jellyfish, including their ideal water temperature and feeding habits, is necessary to determine with certainty what is causing the recent massive invasion, and to come up with ways to combat it.

Due to the difficulty of turning ecosystems around once jellyfish have become dominant, Richardson and his colleagues propose focusing on 'prevention rather than cure'. They recommend a halt to overfishing small fish that are vital to keeping jellyfish in check, reducing the amount of fertilizer and sewage running off into the oceans, and finally, if possible, confronting climate change.

14
a prediction as to the direction in which the jellyfish population may spread
15
a description of some physical characteristics of jellyfish
16
an account of the consequences of jellyfish as lone survivors
17
suggestions on how to avoid further jellyfish invasions
18
The list below gives some effects that jellyfish have had on the world. Which TWO of these effects are mentioned by the writer of the text?
- A. They have damaged the tourism industry in some areas.
- B. They have led to a reduction in the oceans' oxygen levels.
- C. They have contributed to the decline in the Black Sea anchovy population.
- D. They have caused the shrimp business in the Gulf of Mexico to shut down.
- E. They have created financial hardship in the fishing industry.
19
Which TWO of the following are possible causes of an increase in jellyfish numbers?
- A. a shortage of small fish in the oceans
- B. the dumping of chemicals into the oceans
- C. a decline in biodiversity in the oceans
- D. more competition among other fish in the oceans
- E. a decrease in seabird populations
20
Some fish in the oceans may be unable to sustain their population as the jellyfish eat their __________.
21
The state of jellyfish becoming the main ocean species has been named __________.
22
Increasing numbers of jellyfish can damage __________ used for commercial fishing.
23
Understanding basic facts about jellyfish, such as the __________ of the ocean which suits them best, may help control their numbers.
24
Richardson believes it is better to direct attention to __________, instead of just trying to solve existing problems.

Reading Passage 3: The Future of the World’s Language

Of the world’s 6,500 living languages, around half are expected to be out by the end of this century, according to UNESCO. Just 11 are spoken by more than half of the earth’s population, so it is little wonder that those used by only a few are being left behind as we become a more homogenous, global society. In short, 95 percent of the world’s languages are spoken by only five percent of its population—a remarkable level of linguistic diversity stored in tiny pockets of speakers around the world. Mark Turin, a university professor, has launched WOLP (World Oral Language Project) to prevent the language from the brink of extinction.

He is trying to encourage indigenous communities to collaborate with anthropologists around the world to record what he calls “oral literature” through video cameras, voice recorders and other multimedia tools by awarding grants from a £30,000 pot that the project has secured this year. The idea is to collate this literature in a digital archive that can be accessed on demand and will make the nuts and bolts of lost cultures readily available.

For many of these communities, the oral tradition is at the heart of their culture. The stories they tell are creative as well as communicative. Unlike the languages with celebrated written traditions, such as Sanskrit, Hebrew and Ancient Greek, few indigenous communities have recorded their own languages or ever had them recorded until now.

The project suggested itself when Turin was teaching in Nepal. He wanted to study for a PhD in endangered languages and, while discussing it with his professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, was drawn to a map on his tutor’s wall. The map was full of pins of a variety of colours which represented all the world’s languages that were completely undocumented.

At random, Turin chose a “pin” to document. It happened to belong to the Thangmi tribe, an indigenous community in the hills east of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. “Many of the choices anthropologists and linguists who work on these traditional field-work projects are quite random,” he admits.

Continuing his work with the Thangmi community in the 1990s, Turin began to record the language he was hearing, realising that not only was this language and its culture entirely undocumented, it was known to few outside the tiny community. He set about trying to record their language and myth of origins. “I wrote 1,000 pages of grammar in English that nobody could use - but I realised that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough for me, it wasn’t enough for them. It simply wasn’t going to work as something for the community. So then I produced this trilingual word list in Thangmi, Nepali and English.”

In short, it was the first ever publication of that language. That small dictionary is still sold in local schools for a modest 20 rupees, and used as part of a wider cultural regeneration process to educate children about their heritage and language. The task is no small undertaking: Nepal itself is a country of massive ethnic and linguistic diversity, home to 100 languages from four different language families. What’s more, even fewer ethnic Thangmi speak the Thangmi language. Many of the community members have taken to speaking Nepali, the national language taught in schools and spread through the media, and community elders are dying without passing on their knowledge.

Despite Turin’s enthusiasm for his subject, he is baffled by many linguists’ refusal to engage in the issue he is working on. “Of the 6,500 languages spoken on Earth, many do not have written traditions and many of these spoken forms are endangered,” he says. “There are more linguists in universities around the world than there are spoken languages - but most of them aren’t working on this issue. To me it’s amazing that in this day and age, we still have an entirely incomplete image of the world’s linguistic diversity. People do PhDs on the apostrophe in French, yet we still don’t know how many languages are spoken.”

“When a language becomes endangered, so too does a cultural world view. We want to engage with indigenous people to document their myths and folklore, which can be harder to find funding for if you are based outside Western universities.”

Yet, despite the struggles facing initiatives such as the World Oral Literature Project, there are historical examples that point to the possibility that language restoration is no mere academic pipe dream. The revival of a modern form of Hebrew in the 19th century is often cited as one of the best proofs that languages long dead, belonging to small communities, can be resurrected and embraced by a large number of people. By the 20th century, Hebrew was well on its way to becoming the main language of the Jewish population of both Ottoman and British Palestine. It is now spoken by more than seven million people in Israel.

Yet, despite the difficulties these communities face in saving their languages, Dr Turin believes that the fate of the world’s endangered languages is not sealed, and globalisation is not necessarily the nefarious perpetrator of evil it is often presented to be. “I call it the globalisation paradox: on the one hand globalisation and rapid socio-economic change are the things that are eroding and challenging diversity. But on the other, globalisation is providing us with new and very exciting tools and facilities to get to places to document those things that globalisation is eroding. Also, the communities at the coal-face of change are excited by what globalisation has to offer.”

In the meantime, the race is on to collect and protect as many of the languages as possible, so that the Rai Shaman in eastern Nepal and those in the generations that follow him can continue their traditions and have a sense of identity. And it certainly is a race: Turin knows his project’s limits and believes it inevitable that a large number of those languages will disappear. “We have to be wholly realistic. A project like ours is in no position, and was not designed, to keep languages alive. The only people who can help languages survive are the people in those communities themselves. They need to be reminded that it’s good to speak their own language and I think we can help them do that—becoming modern doesn’t mean you have to lose your language.”

25
Of the world’s 6,500 living languages, about half of them are expected to be extinct. Most of the world’s languages are spoken by a 27…………….. of people. However, Professor Turin set up a project WOLP to prevent 28…………….. of the languages. The project provides the community with 29…………….. to enable people to record their endangered languages. The oral tradition has a great cultural 30……………… An important 31…………….. between languages spoken by few people and languages with celebrated written documents existed in many communities.
- A. similarity
- B. significance
- C. funding
- D. minority
- E. education
- F. difference
- G. education
- H. diversity
- I. majority
- J. disappearance
26
32 Turin argued that anthropologists and linguists usually think carefully before selecting an area to research.
27
33 Turin concluded that the Thangmi language had few similarities with other languages.
28
34 Turin has written that 1000-page document was inappropriate for the Thangmi community.
29
35 Some Nepalese schools lack resources to devote to language teaching.
30
36 Why does Turin say people do PhDs on the apostrophe in French?
- A. He believes that researchers have a limited role in the research of languages.
- B. He compares the methods of research into languages.
- C. He thinks research should result in a diverse cultural outlook.
- D. He holds that research into French should focus on more general aspects.
31
37 What is discussed in the ninth paragraph?
- A. Forces driving people to believe endangered languages can survive.
- B. The community where people distrust language revival.
- C. The methods of research that have improved language restoration.
- D. Initiatives the World Oral Literature Project is bringing to Israel.
32
38 How is the WOLP’s prospect?
- A. It would not raise enough funds to achieve its aims.
- B. It will help keep languages alive.
- C. It will be embraced by a large number of people.
- D. It has a chance to succeed to protect the engendered languages.
33
39 What is Turin’s main point of globalisation?
- A. Globalisation is the main reason for endangered languages.
- B. Globalisation has both advantages and disadvantages.
- C. We should have a more critical view of globalisation.
- D. We should foremost protect our identity in face of globalisation.
34
40 What does Turin suggest that community people should do?
- A. Learn other languages.
- B. Only have a sense of identity.
- C. Keep up with the modern society without losing their language.
- D. Join the race to protect as many languages as possible but be realistic.

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1. FALSE
The passage says Luc Long was not looking for a chance to dive in the Rhone in 1986, so the answer is FALSE.
2. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage about whether Long and his friend were the first to find Roman remains in the Rhone, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
3. FALSE
The passage explains that Long's work did not attract immediate interest, so the answer is FALSE.
4. TRUE
It was believed that the Neptune statue could attract thieves, so the answer is TRUE.
5. TRUE
Benoit Poinard thought it would be difficult to raise the barge in one diving season, so the answer is TRUE.
6. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if the restorers were surprised to find a silver coin, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
7. colleagues
The barge was found by one of Long’s colleagues in 2004, as stated in the passage.
8. spongy
The wood had not decayed, but water made it soft and spongy, as described in the passage.
9. October
The passage says the Rhone is usually safe for diving from late June to October.
10. current
In 2011, because there was little snow in the Alps, the river’s current was very gentle.
11. week
The diving team lost only one week to bad weather, according to the passage.
12. stone
The barge was carrying 33 tons of stone for building work, as mentioned in the passage.
13. coin
Restorers found a silver coin dated to 30 BCE under the floorboards.
14. E
Section E gives a prediction about where the jellyfish population may spread.
15. A
Section A describes the physical characteristics of jellyfish.
16. F
Section F explains what happens if jellyfish are the only survivors.
17. G
Section G gives suggestions to avoid more jellyfish invasions.
18. C / E
The passage mentions that jellyfish caused the decline of the Black Sea anchovy population (C) and created financial hardship in the fishing industry (E). Option A is tempting but not mentioned.
19. A / B
The passage says a shortage of small fish (A) and dumping chemicals (B) can increase jellyfish numbers. Option C is tempting but not directly stated.
20. eggs
Jellyfish eat the eggs of some fish, making it hard for those fish to keep their population.
21. monoculture of jellyfish
The state where jellyfish become the main species is called a monoculture of jellyfish.
22. nets
Jellyfish can damage nets used for commercial fishing.
23. water temperature
Knowing the water temperature that suits jellyfish may help control their numbers.
24. prevention
Richardson says it is better to focus on prevention rather than just solving problems.
25. D / J / C / B / F
Most languages are spoken by a minority (D) of people. Turin set up WOLP to prevent disappearance (J) of languages. The project gives funding (C) to help record languages. Oral tradition has great significance (B). There is a difference (F) between languages spoken by few and those with written documents.
26. FALSE
Turin argued that anthropologists and linguists do not always think carefully before choosing a research area, so the answer is FALSE.
27. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if Turin concluded that Thangmi had few similarities with other languages, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
28. TRUE
Turin wrote that a 1000-page document was not suitable for the Thangmi community, so the answer is TRUE.
29. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about whether some Nepalese schools lack resources for language teaching, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
30. A
Turin says people do PhDs on the apostrophe in French because researchers have a limited role in language research, so A is correct. Option B is tempting but does not match his point.
31. A
The ninth paragraph discusses the forces that make people believe endangered languages can survive, so A is correct.
32. D
The WOLP has a chance to succeed in protecting endangered languages, so D is correct.
33. B
Turin’s main point is that globalisation has both advantages and disadvantages, so B is correct.
34. C
Turin suggests people should keep up with modern society without losing their language, so C is correct.

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