Reading 2026-07 Test 15 — 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: Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was born in 1888, into a prominent family in Wellington, New Zealand. She became one of New Zealand's best-known writers, using the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. The daughter of a banker, and born into a middle-class family, she was also a first cousin of Countess Elizabeth von Arnim, a distinguished novelist in her time. Mansfield had two older sisters and a younger brother. Her father, Harold Beauchamp, went on to become the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand. In 1893, the Mansfield family moved to Karori, a suburb of Wellington, where Mansfield would spend the happiest years of her childhood; she later used her memories of this time as an inspiration for her Prelude story.

Her first published stories appeared in the High School Reporter and the Wellington Girls' High School magazine in 1898 and 1899. In 1902, she developed strong feelings for a musician who played the cello, Arnold Trowell, although her feelings were not, for the most part, returned. Mansfield herself was an accomplished cellist, having received lessons from Trowell's father. Mansfield wrote in her journals of feeling isolated to some extent in New Zealand, and, in general terms, of her interest in the Maori people (New Zealand's native people), who were often portrayed in a sympathetic light in her later stories, such as How Pearl Button was Kidnapped.

She moved to London in 1903, where she attended Queen's College, along with her two sisters. Mansfield recommenced playing the cello, an occupation that she believed, during her time at Queen's, she would take up professionally. She also began contributing to the college newspaper, with such a dedication to it that she eventually became its editor. She was particularly interested in the works of the French writers of this period and on the 19th-century British writer, Oscar Wilde, and she was appreciated amongst fellow students at Queen's for her lively and charismatic approach to life and work. She met fellow writer Ida Baker, a South African, at the college, and the pair became lifelong friends. Mansfield did not actively support the suffragette movement in the UK. Women in New Zealand had gained the right to vote in 1893.

Mansfield first began journeying into the other parts of Europe in the period 1903-1906, mainly to Belgium and Germany. After finishing her schooling in England, she returned to her New Zealand home in 1906, only then beginning to write short stories in a serious way. She had several works published in Australia in a magazine called Native Comparison, which was her first paid writing work, and by this time she had her mind set on becoming a professional writer. It was also the first occasion on which she used the pseudonym "k.Mansfield".

Mansfield rapidly grew discontented with the provincial New Zealand lifestyle, and with her family. Two years later she headed again to London. Her father sent her an annual subsidy of £100 for the rest of her life. In later years, she would express both admiration and disdain for New Zealand in her journals.

In 1911, Mansfield met John Middleton Murry, the Oxford scholar and editor of the literary magazine Rhythm. They were later to marry in 1918. Mansfield became a co-editor of Rhythm, which was subsequently called The Blue Review, in which more of her works were published. She and Murry lived in various houses in England and briefly in Paris. The Blue Review failed to gain enough readers and was no longer published. Their attempt to set up as writers in Paris was cut short by Murry's bankruptcy, which resulted from the failure of this and other journals. Life back in England meant frequently changed addresses and very limited funds.

Between 1915 and 1918, Mansfield moved between England and Bandol, France. She and Murry developed close contact with other well-known writers of the time such as D.H. Lawrence, Bertrand Russell and Aldous Huxley. By October 1918 Mansfield had become seriously ill; she had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and was advised to enter a sanatorium. She could no longer spend time with writers in London. In the autumn of 1918 she was so ill that she decided to go to Ospedale in Italy. It was the publication of Bliss and Other Stories in 1920 that was to solidify Mansfield's reputation as a writer.

Mansfield also spent time in Menton, France, as the tenant of her father's cousin at "The Villa Isola Bella". There she wrote what she pronounced to be "...the only story that satisfies me to any extent".

Mansfield produced a great deal of work in the final years of her life, and much of her prose and poetry remained unpublished at her death in 1923. After her death, her husband, Murry, took on the task of editing and publishing her works. His efforts resulted in two additional volumes of short stories, The Doves' Nest and Something Childish, published in 1923 and 1924 respectively, the publication of her Poems as well as a collection of critical writings (Novels and Novelists) and a number of editions of Mansfield's previously unpublished letters and journals.

1
The name Katherine Mansfield, that appears on the writer's book, was exactly the same as her origin name.
2
Mansfield won a prize for a story she wrote for the High School Reporter.
3
How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped portrayed Maori people in a favorable way.
4
When Mansfield was at Queen's college, she planned to be a professional writer.
5
Mansfield was unpopular with the other students at Queen's college.
6
In London, Mansfield showed little interest in politics.
7
moved from England back to New Zealand (year)
8
first paid writing work was in a publication based in
9
her _____ and the New Zealand way of life made her feel dissatisfied
10
_____ prevented Mansfield and Murry from staying together in Paris
11
spent time with distinguished _____
12
her _____ was consolidated when Bliss and Other Stories was published
13
Mansfield's _____ published more of her works after her death

Reading Passage 2: The Seedhunters

With a quarter of the world's plants set to vanish within the next 50 years, Dough Alexander reports on the scientists working against the clock to preserve the Earth's botanical heritage. They travel the four corners of the globe, scouring jungles, forests and savannas. But they're not looking for ancient artefacts, lost treasure or undiscovered tombs. Just pods. It may lack the romantic allure of archaeology, or the whiff of danger that accompanies going after big game, but seed hunting is an increasingly serious business. Some seek seeds for profit—hunters in the employ of biotechnology firms, pharmaceutical companies and private corporations on the lookout for species that will yield the drugs or crops of the future. Others collect to conserve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction facing so many plant species.

Among the pioneers of this botanical treasure hunt was John Tradescant, an English royal gardener who brought back plants and seeds from his journeys abroad in the early 1600s. Later, the English botanist Sir Joseph Banks—who was the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and travelled with Captain James Cook on his voyages near the end of the 18th century—was so driven to expand his collections that he sent botanists around the world at his own expense.

Those heady days of exploration and discovery may be over, but they have been replaced by a pressing need to preserve our natural history for the future. This modern mission drives hunters such as Dr Michiel van Slageren, a good-natured Dutchman who often sports a wide-brimmed hat in the field—he could easily be mistaken for the cinematic hero Indiana Jones. He and three other seed hunters work at the Millennium Seed Bank, an £80 million international conservation project that aims to protect the world's most endangered wild plant species.

The group's headquarters are in a modern glass-and-concrete structure on a 200-hectare estate at Wakehurst Place in the West Sussex countryside. Within its underground vaults are 260 million dried seeds from 122 countries, all stored at -20 Celsius to survive for centuries. Among the 5,100 species represented are virtually all of Britain's 1,400 native seed-bearing plants, the most complete such collection of any country's flora.

Overseen by the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Millennium Seed Bank is the world's largest wild-plant depository. It aims to collect 24,000 species by 2010. The reason is simple: thanks to humanity's efforts, an estimated 25 per cent of the world's plants are on the verge of extinction and may vanish within 50 years. We're currently responsible for habitat destruction on an unprecedented scale, and during the past 400 years, plant species extinction rates have been about 70 times greater than those indicated by the geological record as being 'normal'. Experts predict that during the next 50 years a further one billion hectares of wilderness will be converted to farmland in developing countries alone.

The implications of this loss are enormous. Besides providing staple food crops, plants are a source of many medicines and the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world. They also protect soil and help regulate the climate. Yet, across the globe, plant species are being driven to extinction before their potential benefits are discovered.

The World Conservation Union has listed 5,714 threatened plant species worldwide, but it admits this is only scratching the surface. With only four per cent of the world's described plants having been evaluated, the true number of threatened species is sure to be much higher. In the UK alone, 300 wild plant species are classified as endangered. The Millennium Seed Bank aims to ensure that even if a plant becomes extinct in the wild, it won't be lost forever. Stored seeds can be used to help restore damaged or destroyed environments or in scientific research to find new benefits for society—in medicine, agriculture or local industry—that would otherwise be lost.

Seed banks are an 'insurance policy' to protect the world's plant heritage for the future, explains Dr Paul Smith, another Kew seed hunter. "Seed conservation techniques were originally developed by farmers," he says. "Storage is the basis of what we do, conserving seeds until you can use them—just as in farming." Smith says there's no reason why any plant species should become extinct, given today's technology. But he admits that the biggest challenge is finding, naming and categorising all the world's plants. And someone has to gather these seeds before it's too late. "There aren't a lot of people out there doing this," he says. "The key is to know the flora from a particular area, and that knowledge takes years to acquire."

There are about 1,470 seed banks scattered around the globe, with a combined total of 5.4 million samples, of which perhaps two million are distinct non-duplicates. Most preserve genetic material for agricultural use in order to ensure crop diversity; others aim to conserve wild species, although only 15 per cent of all banked plants are wild.

Many seed banks are themselves under threat due to a lack of funds. Last year, Imperial College, London, examined crop collections from 151 countries and found that while the number of plant samples had increased in two thirds of the countries, budgets had been cut in a quarter and remained static in another 35 per cent. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research has since set up the Global Conservation Trust, which aims to raise US$260 million (£156 million) to protect seed banks in perpetuity.

14
People collect seeds for different purposes: some collect to protect certain species from ________; others collect seeds for their potential to produce ________. They are called the seed hunters. The ________ of them included both gardeners and botanists, such as ________, who sponsored collectors out of his own pocket. The seeds collected are often stored in seed banks. The most famous among them is known as the Millennium Seed Bank, where seeds are all stored in the ________ at low temperature.
15
The reason to collect seeds is different from the past.
16
The Millennium Seed Bank is one of the earliest seed banks.
17
A major reason for plant species extinction is farmland expansion.
18
The method scientists use to store seeds is similar to that used by farmers.
19
Technological development is the only hope to save plant species.
20
The works of seed conservation are often limited by insufficient financial resources.
21
Which TWO of the following are provided by plants to the human world?
- A. food
- B. artefact
- C. treasure
- D. energy
- E. clothes

Reading Passage 3: Termite Mounds

To most of us, termites are destructive insects which can cause damage on a devastating scale. But according to Dr Rupert Soar of Loughborough University’s School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, these pests may serve a useful purpose for us after all. His multidisciplinary team of British and American engineers and biologists has set out to investigate the giant mounds built by termites in Namibia, in sub-Saharan Africa, as part of the most extensive study of these structures ever taken.

Termite mounds are impressive for their size alone; typically they are three metres high, and some as tall as eight metres have been found. They also reach far into the earth, where the insects ‘mine’ their building materials, carefully selecting each grain of sand they use. The termite’s nest is contained in the central cavity of the mound, safely protected from the harsh environment outside. The mound itself is formed of an intricate lattice of tunnels, which split into smaller and smaller tunnels, much like a person’s blood vessels.

This complex system of tunnels draws in air from the outside, capturing wind energy to drive it through the mound. It also serves to expel spent respiratory gases from the nest to prevent the termites from suffocating, so ensuring them a continuous provision of fresh, breathable air. So detailed is the design that the nest stays within three degrees of a constant temperature, despite variations on the outside of up to 50 °C, from blistering heat in the daytime to below freezing on the coldest nights. The mound also automatically regulates moisture in the air, by means of both its underground ‘cellar’, and evaporation from the top of the mound. Some colonies even had ‘chimneys’ at a height of 20 m to control moisture loss in the hottest regions of sub-Saharan Africa.

Furthermore, the termites have evolved in such a way as to outsource some of their biological functions. Part of their digestive process is carried out by a fungus, which they ‘farm’ inside the mound. This fungus, which is found nowhere else on earth, thrives in the constant and optimum environment of the mound. The termites feed the fungus with slightly chewed wood pulp, which the fungus then breaks down into a digestible sugary food to provide the insects with energy, and cellulose which they use for building. And, although the termites must generate waste, none ever leaves the structure, indicating that there is also some kind of internal waste-recycling system.

Scientists are so excited by the mounds that they have labelled them a ‘super organism’ because, in Soar’s words, “They dance on the edge of what we would perceive to be cool or, if you’re too cold, you need to thrive: that’s called homeostasis.” What the termites have done is to move homeostatic function away from their body, into the structure in which they live. “As more information comes to light about the unique features of termite mounds, we may ultimately need to redefine our understanding of what constitutes a ‘living’ organism.”

To reveal the structure of the mounds, Soar’s team begins by filling and covering their plaster of Paris, a chalky white paste based on the mineral gypsum, which becomes rock-solid when dry. The researcher then carves the plaster of Paris into half-millimetre-thick slices, and photographs them sequentially. Once the pictures are digitally scanned, computer technology is able to recreate complex three-dimensional images of the mounds. These models have enabled the team to map termite architecture at a level of detail never before attained.

Soar hopes that the models will explain how termite mounds create a self-regulating living environment which manages to respond to changing internal and external conditions without drawing on any outside source of power. If they do, the findings could be invaluable in informing future architectural design, and could inspire buildings that are self-sufficient, environmentally friendly, and cheap to run. “As we approach a world of climate change and temperatures rise,” he explains, “there will not be enough fuel to drive air conditioners around the world.” It is hoped, says Soar, “that the findings will provide clues that aid the ultimate development of new kinds of human habitats, suitable for a variety of arid, hostile environments not only on the earth but maybe one day on the moon and beyond.”

22
Paragraph A
- i. methods used to investigate termite mound formation
- ii. challenging our assumptions about the nature of life
- iii. reconsidering the termite’s reputation
- iv. principal functions of the termite mound
- v. distribution of termite mounds in sub-Saharan Africa
- vi. some potential benefits of understanding termite architecture
- vii. the astonishing physical dimensions of the termite mound
- viii. termite mounds under threat from global climate change
- ix. a mutually beneficial relationship
23
Paragraph B
24
Paragraph C
25
Paragraph D
26
Paragraph E
27
Paragraph F
28
Paragraph G
29
network of 34 ______ helps to give the termites a constant 35 ______ supply and to maintain a limited temperature range cellar to aid control of 36 ______ levels in mound top of the mound permits 37 ______ Innermost chamber containing termites’ nest
30
The termite mound appears to process its refuse material internally.
- YES. YES
- NO. NO
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
31
Dr Soar’s reconstruction involves scanning a single photograph of a complete mound into a computer.
32
New information about termite architecture could help people deal with future energy crises.

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1. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says Katherine Mansfield was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, so her book name is not exactly the same as her original name.
2. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information in the passage about Mansfield winning a prize for a story in the High School Reporter.
3. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says 'How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped' showed the Maori people in a positive or favorable way.
4. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says Mansfield did not plan to be a professional writer while at Queen's college.
5. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says she was popular with other students at Queen's college.
6. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says Mansfield showed little interest in politics while in London.
7. 1906
The answer is 1906 because the passage says she moved from England back to New Zealand in that year.
8. Australia
The answer is Australia because the passage says her first paid writing work was published in an Australian publication.
9. family
The answer is family because the passage says her family and the New Zealand way of life made her feel dissatisfied.
10. bankruptcy
The answer is bankruptcy because the passage says bankruptcy prevented Mansfield and Murry from staying together in Paris.
11. writers
The answer is writers because the passage says she spent time with distinguished writers.
12. reputation
The answer is reputation because the passage says her reputation was consolidated when Bliss and Other Stories was published.
13. husband
The answer is husband because the passage says her husband published more of her works after her death.
14. extinction / drugs / crops / pioneers / Sir Joseph Banks / underground vaults
The answers are extinction / drugs / crops / pioneers / Sir Joseph Banks / underground vaults because the passage says people collect seeds to protect species from extinction, for drugs and crops, pioneers like Sir Joseph Banks sponsored collectors, and the Millennium Seed Bank stores seeds in underground vaults.
15. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says the reason to collect seeds is different from the past.
16. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say whether the Millennium Seed Bank is one of the earliest seed banks.
17. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says farmland expansion is a major reason for plant species extinction.
18. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says scientists use a method similar to that used by farmers to store seeds.
19. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says technological development is not the only hope to save plant species; there are other ways too.
20. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says seed conservation work is often limited by insufficient financial resources.
21. A / D
The answers are A (food) and D (energy) because the passage says plants provide food and energy to humans. Options like artefact, treasure, and clothes are not mentioned as provided by plants.
22. iii
The answer is iii (reconsidering the termite’s reputation) because Paragraph A discusses changing how people think about termites.
23. vii
The answer is vii (the astonishing physical dimensions of the termite mound) because Paragraph B describes the large size of termite mounds.
24. iv
The answer is iv (principal functions of the termite mound) because Paragraph C explains what the termite mound does.
25. ix
The answer is ix (a mutually beneficial relationship) because Paragraph D talks about the relationship between termites and other organisms.
26. ii
The answer is ii (challenging our assumptions about the nature of life) because Paragraph E discusses how termite mounds make us rethink life.
27. i
The answer is i (methods used to investigate termite mound formation) because Paragraph F describes how scientists study termite mounds.
28. vi
The answer is vi (some potential benefits of understanding termite architecture) because Paragraph G talks about how learning from termites can help humans.
29. tunnels / air / moisture / evaporation
The answers are tunnels, air, moisture, evaporation because the passage says a network of 34 tunnels helps give a constant air supply, maintain moisture levels, and the top of the mound permits evaporation.
30. YES
The answer is YES because the passage says the termite mound processes its refuse material inside.
31. NO
The answer is NO because the passage says Dr Soar’s reconstruction uses more than just a single photograph.
32. YES
The answer is YES because the passage says new information about termite architecture could help people with future energy problems.

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