Reading 2026-08 Test 8 — 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: The life of Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter is one of the best-selling children’s authors of all time. Her popular series of books that includes The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first published over one hundred years ago and has never been out of print. Generations of children have enjoyed her many stories and illustrations, all of which celebrate the English way of life and rural landscape through the adventures of animals.

Born into a comfortable middle-class family in London in 1866, Potter spent much of her early life in her own company. She was educated at home by a governess and rarely saw her brother, Bertram, who was sent to boarding school. Having little social contact with children of her own age, Potter was drawn into a private world of writing. When she was 15, she began to keep a diary written in a secret code of her own invention. Even Beatrix herself, when she read back over it in later life, found it difficult to understand. It was not until 15 years after her death that the code was cracked. To the outside world Beatrix seemed shy and reserved, but in her diary she expressed herself freely and was critical of the work of several contemporary artists.

Potter was a naturally gifted artist, and with the aid of some art lessons she also learned the technical side of drawing. Throughout her childhood she looked after many animals—rabbits, frogs and even bats—and sketched them constantly, gradually improving her work by sketching in museums. She was also interested in natural history. She would spend many hours drawing wildlife such as fungi and flowers, and at one time she had an ambition to develop this scientific interest. An uncle tried to help her enrol at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, but she was rejected because of her gender. Nevertheless, she won respect from the scientific establishment for her illustrations and her contribution to mycology, the study of fungi.

When Potter was in her early twenties, her parents tried to arrange a husband for her. Many suitable suitors were found; however, Potter turned them all down. Fiercely independent, she disliked the idea of being tied to a domestic life that, at that time, consisted mostly of staying at home and raising children. Thus—unusually for British women of the period—she remained single and lived in her parents’ home.

For several years Potter tried to get her first children’s book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published. Her initial attempts were unsuccessful, but she persevered, and eventually Frederick Warne & Co. accepted the book. It was finally published in 1902, when Potter was 36, though the publishers did not expect it to sell many copies. The project was given to the youngest brother in the firm, Norman Warne, as his first assignment—essentially a test. Luckily, he warmed to both the book and its author. Determined to make it a success, he worked closely with Potter, poring over every detail. It was Norman who insisted that each illustration should be in colour, while Potter insisted the book remain small enough for children to hold easily. By the end of the year, 28,000 copies were in print.

The relationship between Warne and Potter blossomed, and they eventually became engaged. However, Potter’s parents disapproved because of his occupation. They relented only on condition that the couple live apart for six months to give Potter time to reconsider. Tragically, before the wedding could take place, Warne developed pernicious anaemia, a blood disease, and passed away. Potter was devastated and wrote to his sister, Millie, “He did not live long, but he fulfilled a useful, happy life. I must try to make a fresh beginning next year.”

After Warne’s death, Potter moved to the Lake District in northern England. In 1905 she bought a small farm there, and for the next eight years she busied herself writing more books, some set in or around the area. She remained there for the rest of her life, but failing eyesight eventually forced her to stop writing children’s books. Instead, she devoted herself to breeding sheep and helping to conserve farms in the district. Thanks to the proceeds from her successful books and a later inheritance, Potter was able to buy many working farms. On her death she left more than 4,000 acres to the National Trust, an organisation that protects historic buildings and countryside in England. As a result, her beloved landscape is now accessible to countless visitors.

1
She received lessons at home from a ______.
2
She wrote in her ______ in code.
3
She disliked the work of some ______ of the time.
4
She practised drawing things she saw when she visited ______.
5
Her ______ to have a career in natural history was not realised.
6
Her illustrations were recognised as assisting research into ______.
7
The life of a typical married woman at that time appealed to Potter.
- TRUE. TRUE
- FALSE. FALSE
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
8
Potter’s publishers insisted on changing the title of her first book.
9
The publishers doubted whether Potter’s first book would be successful.
10
Norman Warne suggested Potter include black- and-white illustrations in her first book.
11
At first, Potter’s parents disapproved of Norman Warne as a potential husband.
12
Potter continued writing children’s books until her death.
13
Potter’s gift to the National Trust was the largest in recent times.

Reading Passage 2: War of the Plants

Professor John Lovett from New England University, Australia, describes some of the ways in which plants ensure their own survival.

The general perception of plants is that they are defenceless when faced with threat from animals (including man), insects and other plants. This, however, is not the case. Plants are able to defend themselves against attack from their environment in many ways. There are two major features of plants that ensure their continuation as species. One of these relates to their physical attributes. Spinifex grass, a plant native to Australia, provides a notable example. Adapted to life in the hot, desert inland, spinifex has developed tightly rolled leaves which reduce the effects of drought stress. The hairs, or trichomes, which are found on the inner surface of the rolled-up spinifex leaf are believed to assist in minimising water loss. Trichomes also have defensive roles against predators. Many plants, such as the sunflower, have hairy leaves which are rough to the touch. When the plant is bitten by a grazing animal, the sensation is unpleasant on the tongue and the animal normally moves on to find more palatable food.

Some families of plants such as the Solanaceae, which includes the tomato, the potato and other food plants, feature glandular trichomes. In these structures a tiny sac is carried on the hair, which rises from the epidermis, or skin, of the plant. The sac contains chemicals which may perform a range of functions. For example, an insect landing on a tomato leaf and rupturing the sac is exposed to a toxic chemical which will deter it from feeding on that plant in future. In other plants of the same family, the sacs contain a natural adhesive and the unsuspecting insect landing on such a leaf and rupturing a trichome sac is held onto the plant, unable to depart. In the leaves of the nettle plant these trichomes resemble miniature hypodermic syringes. An irritant chemical is stored at the base of the "syringe". If an animal touches it, a shot of the chemical is discharged though the "needle" and into the skin of the animal. The irritation the chemical causes is a deterrent against future threat.

The poisons and glucosides of the Solanaceae and the irritant of the nettle indicate the other major method of plant survival: that some plants use chemicals to protect themselves, sometimes from each other. Chemical interactions that occur between plants are known as allelopathy, and in natural plant communities it is one of many factors which determine how plants grow in relation to one another. An example in Australia is the suppression of vegetation growth beneath eucalypt trees, an effect which decreases with increasing distance from the trunk of the tree.

The most detailed studies of allelopathy have generally been carried out on agricultural plant communities. In agriculture, allelopathy has been identified particularly with weeds, which compete with desired crop or pasture species, such as wheat, oats and grass, for environmental resources. Competition can be physical, where the growth of one plant maximises the use of water, nutrients and light to the disadvantage of another. Allelopathy, on the other hand, involves plant-produced chemicals which may poison a neighbouring plant. On the whole, weeds are far more physically and chemically aggressive than crop and pasture species. As an example, recent research on the common thorn apple, Datura stramonium, a weed found throughout Australia, has found that two powerful chemicals are released from the seed during the early stages of germination. In fact, it is necessary for the chemicals to be released from the seed coat so that the seed can germinate. Once released, the chemicals then provide a barrier that inhibits the growth of any potential plant competitor near the thorn apple seedling.

Allelopathic chemicals function in quite subtle ways. Generally they are active in small quantities, they are effective only with certain other plants, they act by disrupting the plant's natural process and they have no known residual effects. It has also been found that the activity of these chemicals may be synergistic, that is, two or more such substances may combine to produce an effect that is greater than the effects of the substances acting in isolation. These are the very attributes which are being sought in the current development of synthetic herbicides. Allelopathy is not restricted to weeds in agriculture, but allelopathic activity in crop and pasture plants appears to have diminished, possibly because plant breeders may have concentrated on improving aspects of crop quality and quantity rather than aspects of defence against natural enemies.

Allelopathic chemicals may be harvested for development as "natural herbicides", similar to the harvest of pyrethrins from the pyrethrum daisy for use as natural insecticides. Harnessing allelopathy is highly attractive to the farming industry, as at least half of the more than A$200-million annual cost of crop protection in Australia is spent on herbicides. Enhancing allelopathic activity in crop and pasture plants could reduce this enormous bill. Developing and harvesting natural herbicides might also offer advantages in addressing environmental concerns about the over-use of synthetic chemicals currently used in crop protection. In many parts of the world, communities are showing an increased willingness to pay a premium for products grown with few or no synthetic chemicals, and natural products are becoming increasingly attractive.

14
an example of a plant's use of chemicals in its reproductive process
15
how some plants use a kind of glue to discourage attack
16
two examples of non-chemical methods of defence in plants
17
a definition of the term allelopathy
18
descriptions of how plants use chemicals to discourage predators
19
benefits of using plant-based chemicals to control weeds in agricultural areas
20
a description of the characteristics of allelopathic chemicals
21
an example of a physical characteristic that helps one plant conserve water
22
The "hypodermic syringes" of the nettle plant are an example of glandular trichomes.
- TRUE. TRUE
- FALSE. FALSE
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
23
Allelopathic plants grow more successfully than plants that rely only on physical features.
24
New research into synthetic herbicides is largely focused on individual allelopathic chemicals.
25
Herbicides cost Australian farmers over A$200 million a year.
26
The two main points of this article are that plants can defend themselves in a number of ways, and that
- A. combating weeds is a major problem for Australian farmers.
- B. considerable research has been carried out into the use of plant chemicals.
- C. Australian plants have unique methods of self-protection.
- D. chemicals found in weeds can have practical benefits for agriculture.

Reading Passage 3: Voynich Manuscript

The starkly modern Beinecke Library at Yale University is home to some of the most valuable books in the world: first folios of Shakespeare, Gutenberg Bibles, and manuscripts from the early Middle Ages. Yet the library’s most controversial possession is an unprepossessing vellum manuscript about the size of a hardback book, containing 240-odd pages of drawings and text of unknown age and authorship. Catalogued as MS408, the manuscript would attract little attention were it not for the fact that the drawings hint at esoteric knowledge, while the text seems to be some sort of code—one that no one has been able to break. It’s known to scholars as the Voynich manuscript, after the American book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who bought the manuscript from a Jesuit college in Italy in 1912.

Over the years, the manuscript has attracted the attention of everyone from amateur dabblers to top codebreakers, all determined to succeed where countless others have failed. Academic research papers, books, and websites are devoted to making sense of the contents of the manuscript, which are freely available to all. ‘Most other mysteries involve secondhand reports,’ says Dr Gordon Rugg of Keele University, a leading Voynich expert. ‘But this is one that you can see for yourself.’

It is certainly strange: page after page of drawings of weird plants, astrological symbolism, and human figures, accompanied by a script that looks like some form of shorthand. What does it say and what are the drawings about? Voynich himself believed that the manuscript was the work of the 13th-century English monk Roger Bacon, famed for his knowledge of alchemy, philosophy, and science. In 1921, Voynich’s view that Bacon was the writer appeared to win support from the work of William Newbold, professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, who claimed to have found the key to the cipher system used by Bacon. According to Newbold, the manuscript proved that Bacon had access to microscopes centuries before they were supposedly first invented. The claim that this medieval monk had observed living cells created a sensation. It soon became clear, however, that Newbold had fallen victim to wishful thinking. Other scholars showed that his ‘decoding’ methods produced a host of possible interpretations. The Voynich manuscript has continued to defy the efforts of world-class experts. In 1944, a team was assembled to tackle the mystery, led by William Friedman, the renowned American codebreaker. They began with the most basic codebreaking task: analysing the relative frequencies of the characters making up the text, looking for signs of an underlying structure. Yet Friedman’s team soon found themselves in deep water. The precise size of the ‘alphabet’ of the Voynich manuscript was unclear: it’s possible to make out more than 70 distinct symbols among the 170,000-character text. Furthermore, Friedman discovered that some words and phrases appeared more often than expected in a standard language, casting doubt on claims that the manuscript concealed a real language, as encryption typically reduces word frequencies.

Friedman concluded that the most plausible resolution of this paradox was that “Voynichese” is some sort of specially created artificial language, whose words are devised from concepts, rather than linguistics. So, could the Voynich manuscript be the earliest known example of an artificial language? ‘Friedman’s hypothesis commands respect because of the lifetime of cryptanalytical expertise he brought to bear,’ says Rob Churchill, co-author of the Voynich Manuscript. That still leaves a host of questions unanswered, however, such as the identity of the author and the meaning of the bizarre drawings. ‘It does little to advance our understanding of the manuscript as a whole,’ says Churchill. Even though Friedman was working more than 60 years ago, he suspected that major insights would come from the device that had already transformed codebreaking: the computer. In this he was right—it is now the key tool for uncovering clues about the manuscript’s language.

The insights so far have been perplexing. For example, in 2001 another leading Voynich scholar, Dr Gabriel Landini of Birmingham University in the UK, published the results of his study of the manuscript using a pattern-detecting method called spectral analysis. This revealed evidence that the manuscript contains genuine words, rather than random nonsense, consistent with the existence of some underlying natural language. Yet the following year, Voynich expert Ren Zandbergen of the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany showed that the entropy of the text (a measure of the rate of transfer of information) was consistent with Friedman’s suspicions that an artificial language had been used.

Many are convinced that the Voynich manuscript isn’t a hoax. For how could a medieval hoaxer create so many telltale signs of a message from random nonsense? Yet even this has been challenged in new research by Rugg.

Using a system, first published by the Italian mathematician Girolamo Cardano in 1550, in which a specially constructed grille is used to pick out symbols from a table, Rugg found he could readily generate text with many of the basic traits of the Voynich manuscript. Publishing his results in 2004, Rugg stresses that he hadn’t set out to prove the manuscript was a hoax, but that it’s feasible to hoax something this complex in a few months, he says. Inevitably, others beg to differ. Some scholars, such as Zandbergen, still suspect the text has genuine meaning, though believe it may never be decipherable. Others, such as Churchill, have suggested that the sheer weirdness of the illustrations and text hint at an author who had lost touch with reality. What is clear is that the book-sized manuscript kept under lock and key at Yale University has none of its fascination. ‘Many derive great intellectual pleasure from solving puzzles,’ says Rugg. The Voynich manuscript is as challenging a puzzle as anyone could ask for.

27
It is uncertain when the Voynich manuscript was written.
28
Wilfrid Voynich donated the manuscript to the Beinecke Library.
29
Interest in the Voynich manuscript extends beyond that of academics and professional codebreakers.
30
The text of the Voynich manuscript contains just under 70 symbols.
31
The number of times that some words occur make it unlikely that the manuscript is based on an authentic language.
- A. Gordon Rugg
- B. Roger Bacon
- C. William Newbold
- D. William Friedman
- E. Rob Churchill
- F. Gabriel Landini
- G. Ren Zandbergen
- H. Girolamo Cardano
32
Unlike some other similar objects of fascination, people can gain direct access to the Voynich manuscript.
33
The person who wrote the manuscript may not have been entirely sane.
34
It is likely that the author of the manuscript is the same person as suggested by Wilfrid Voynich.
35
William Newbold believed that the author of the Voynich manuscript had been able to look at cells through a _______.
36
William Friedman concluded that the manuscript was written in an artificial language that was based on _______.
37
He couldn’t find out the meaning of this language but he believed that the _______ would continue to bring advances in code breaking.
38
Dr Gabriel Landini used a system known as _______ in his research, and claims to have demonstrated the presence of genuine words.
39
Dr Gordon Rugg’s system involved a grille that made it possible to quickly select symbols that appeared in a _______.
40
The writer’s main aim in this passage is to
- A. Explain the meaning of the manuscript
- B. Determine the true identity of the manuscript’s author
- C. Describe the numerous attempts to decode the manuscript
- D. Identify which research into the manuscript has had the most media coverage.

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1. governess
The answer is 'governess' because the passage says she received lessons at home from a governess, meaning a woman employed to teach children in a private household.
2. diary
The answer is 'diary' because the passage mentions she wrote in her diary in code, showing she kept her writing private.
3. artists
The answer is 'artists' because the passage states she disliked the work of some artists of the time, meaning she did not enjoy their style or subjects.
4. museums
The answer is 'museums' because the passage says she practised drawing things she saw when she visited museums, showing she used real objects for practice.
5. ambition
The answer is 'ambition' because the passage explains her ambition to have a career in natural history was not realised, meaning she wanted this job but did not achieve it.
6. mycology
The answer is 'mycology' because the passage says her illustrations were recognised as assisting research into mycology, which is the study of fungi.
7. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says the life of a typical married woman did not appeal to Potter, so she did not like that lifestyle.
8. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not mention if Potter’s publishers insisted on changing the title of her first book.
9. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says the publishers doubted whether Potter’s first book would be successful, showing they were unsure about its success.
10. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says Norman Warne suggested including colour illustrations, not black-and-white ones. The tempting wrong option fails because it mixes up the type of illustrations.
11. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says Potter’s parents at first disapproved of Norman Warne as a potential husband, showing they did not accept him initially.
12. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says Potter stopped writing children’s books before her death, so she did not continue until she died.
13. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say if Potter’s gift to the National Trust was the largest in recent times.
14. D
The answer is D because this section gives an example of a plant using chemicals in its reproductive process, showing how chemicals help with reproduction.
15. B
The answer is B because this part describes how some plants use a sticky substance, like glue, to stop animals from attacking them.
16. A
The answer is A because it gives two examples of plants using non-chemical methods, such as thorns or thick leaves, to defend themselves.
17. C
The answer is C because this section defines allelopathy, explaining what the term means.
18. B
The answer is B because this part describes how plants use chemicals to discourage predators, giving examples of chemical defences.
19. F
The answer is F because this section talks about the benefits of using plant-based chemicals to control weeds in farming areas.
20. E
The answer is E because this part describes the characteristics of allelopathic chemicals, explaining what makes them special.
21. A
The answer is A because it gives an example of a plant with a physical feature, like a thick skin, that helps it save water.
22. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says the 'hypodermic syringes' of the nettle plant are glandular trichomes, matching the statement.
23. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not compare the success of allelopathic plants to those with only physical features.
24. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says new research is not mainly focused on individual allelopathic chemicals, so the statement is incorrect.
25. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage does not say herbicides cost Australian farmers over A$200 million a year; it may give a different figure or not mention it.
26. D
The answer is D because the passage’s two main points are that plants defend themselves in many ways and that chemicals found in weeds can help agriculture. The tempting wrong option A fails because the main focus is not just on the problem for farmers.
27. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says it is uncertain when the Voynich manuscript was written, showing the date is not known.
28. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say Wilfrid Voynich donated the manuscript to the Beinecke Library.
29. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says interest in the Voynich manuscript goes beyond academics and codebreakers, meaning many people are interested.
30. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says the text contains more than 70 symbols, so the statement is incorrect.
31. D
The answer is D (William Friedman) because the passage says he thought the number of repeated words made it unlikely the manuscript was based on a real language.
32. A
The answer is A (Gordon Rugg) because the passage says unlike other objects, people can directly access the Voynich manuscript, which Rugg mentions.
33. E
The answer is E (Rob Churchill) because the passage says Churchill suggested the author may not have been entirely sane.
34. C
The answer is C (William Newbold) because the passage says Newbold believed the author was the same person suggested by Wilfrid Voynich.
35. microscope
The answer is 'microscope' because the passage says William Newbold believed the author had been able to look at cells through a microscope.
36. concepts
The answer is 'concepts' because the passage says William Friedman concluded the manuscript was written in an artificial language based on concepts.
37. computer
The answer is 'computer' because the passage says Friedman believed the computer would continue to bring advances in code breaking.
38. spectral analysis
The answer is 'spectral analysis' because the passage says Dr Gabriel Landini used spectral analysis in his research.
39. table
The answer is 'table' because the passage says Dr Gordon Rugg’s system used a grille to quickly select symbols that appeared in a table.
40. C
The answer is C because the writer’s main aim is to describe the many attempts to decode the manuscript, not to explain its meaning or focus on media coverage.

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