Reading 2026-09 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: The History Of The Chicken

Chicken as the universal food of our era, crossing cultural boundaries with ease. With its mild taste and uniform texture, chicken presents a blank canvas for the national flavours of almost any cuisine. However, until the introduction of large-scale industrial production in the 20th century, the economic and nutritional contribution of chickens was small. Chickens were considered as domestic birds that were useful to humanity, but unlike other animals such as the horse or the ox, they did little to change the course of history. Nonetheless, the chicken has inspired contributions to culture, art, cuisine, science and religion over the millennia. Chickens were, and still are, a sacred animal in some cultures. The hen is a worldwide symbol of nurturing and fertility. The rooster is a universal sign of masculinity.

The domesticated chicken has a complicated family tree, stretching back 10,000 years. Recent DNA testing has shown that the chicken's wild ancestor is the red junglefowl. The bird's resemblance to modern chickens is seen in the red feathers on top of its head, the red flesh around its mouth, and its distinctive call in the morning. The females of this breed protect their eggs in the same way modern-day chickens do, and they make the same clucking sounds. In its habitat, which stretches from northeastern India to the Philippines, the red junglefowl looks on the forest floor for insects, seeds and fruit and flies up to nest in the trees at night. That's about as much flying as it can manage, a trait that made it relatively easy for humans to capture and domesticate it. But the red junglefowl is not the sole ancestor of the modern chicken. Scientists have identified three closely related species that might have bred with the red junglefowl. Precisely how much genetic material these other birds contributed to the DNA of domesticated chickens is unknown. However, recent research suggests that modern chickens inherited at least one trait, their yellow skin, from the grey junglefowl of southern India.

Once chickens were domesticated, cultural contacts, trade, migration and territorial conquest resulted in their introduction to different regions around the world over several thousand years. Chickens arrived in Egypt in around 1750 BC, as fighting birds and additions to zoos. Drawings of the birds decorated royal tombs, which contained the treasures that the kings and queens would take to the afterlife. Yet it would be another 100 years before the bird became popular among ordinary Egyptians.

It was in that era that Egyptians mastered the technique of artificial incubation, which freed hens to lay more eggs. This was not easy. Most chicken eggs will hatch in three weeks, but only if the temperature remains at around 38 degrees Celsius. The eggs must also be turned three to five times a day, and the humidity must remain stable at about 55 percent, otherwise physical deformities can result, or the eggs won't hatch. The Egyptians constructed vast complexes of large rooms, which were essentially ovens, and these were connected to a series of corridors and vents that allowed attendants to regulate the heat from fires. The egg attendants kept their methods a secret from outsiders for centuries.

Around the Mediterranean, archaeologists have uncovered chicken bones from about 800 BC. Chickens were a delicacy among the Romans, whose culinary innovations included the omelette, and the practice of stuffing birds for cooking. European farmers began developing methods to fatten the birds, such as feeding them bread which had been soaked in wine. But the chicken's status in Europe appears to have diminished with the collapse of Rome. In the period after the fall of the Roman Empire, chicken farms vanished and the birds returned to the size they had been 1,000 years earlier.

Well into the 20th century chickens, although valued as a source of eggs, played a relatively minor role in diet and the economy. Long after cattle had entered the industrial age of centralized and mechanized large-scale production, chicken production was still mostly a small-scale local enterprise. The breakthrough that made today's huge bird farms possible was the inclusion of antibiotics, along with a mixture of different vitamins, in the food chickens ate. This allowed chickens to be raised indoors and be protected from cold temperatures and heavy rain as well as predators. This factory farming represents the chicken's final step in its transformation into a big protein-producing business.

Factory farms turning out an increasing amount of chicken have resulted in an increasing demand. Modern chickens are cogs in a system designed to convert grain into protein with staggering efficiency. It takes less than 1 kilogram of feed to produce 400 grams of chicken. By comparison, around 3 kilograms of feed are required to produce 400 grams of beef. A day-old chick can be turned into a 2 kilogram bird in six weeks - half the time it took two generations ago.

Chickens also make wonderful pets, as breeders will tell you. They are as colourful as tropical fish but more affectionate, as cute as guinea pigs and better at catching mice than cats. In the USA, exotic and heritage breeds of chicken are being sold for considerable sums of money as the fashion for keeping chickens in the backyard becomes more popular.

All in all, the globe-spanning chicken is an epic story of evolutionary, agricultural and culinary success, outnumbering human beings on the planet by nearly three to one.

1
Chicken is globally popular because it can be used for different styles of cooking.
- A. TRUE
- B. FALSE
- C. NOT GIVEN
2
Chickens have poor capacity for flight compared to junglefowl.
3
Scientists believe that the domestic chicken has more than one ancestor.
4
A modern chicken has the same skin colour as the grey junglefowl.
5
After the Roman Empire ended, chicken consumption in Europe declined.
6
Some people criticise the methods involved in factory farming chickens.
7
In the USA, fewer people are keeping expensive breeds of chicken at home.
8
In 1750 BC the first chickens were seen in Egyptian ____ and used in fights.
9
Pictures of chickens were used on the ____ of kings and queens.
10
Egyptians developed a method of egg ____ that didn’t involve hens.
11
For eggs to hatch, heat and ____ levels had to stay the same.
12
The eggs were hatched in rooms that functioned as ____.
13
Chickens were kept inside, safe from bad weather and ____.

Reading Passage 2: Playing Soccer

There are many differences between playing soccer in the street and joining a youth team in an organized league in the USA.

A Street soccer, as its name implies, is an informal variation of the sport, often played on the street, particularly in urban areas. There are many reasons for the widespread popularity of street soccer. Unlike youth soccer, its more formally organized counterpart, no large space is needed, and goal posts, corner markers, and marked lines, associated with the formal game, are typically absent, as are game officials or referees. Another attraction of street soccer is that it is played frequently and competitively, but does not necessarily require standard 11-a-side teams or fixed playing positions. Unlike in youth soccer, inexperienced street soccer players rarely learn from repetitive technical and tactical drills. Instead, they learn from their poor performance in competition, unconscious of the skills they are nonetheless developing, and without older adults or coaches present. Players learn without effort through playing the game, and soon attain an almost natural feeling for the sport.

B However, there are lots of cities in the world today where conditions are such that street soccer is no longer possible. Congested traffic now dominates where games were once played. Parks and open fields are used as hangouts for older teenagers with other interests. Add to this the requirement in many localities for official permits to use public spaces and the managed schedules that many young people have today, and spontaneous play of any kind is hard to imagine.

C In spite of all these obstacles, which are probably solvable in most instances, there is another sociological explanation of why in many places street soccer doesn’t enjoy the same popularity it once did. In his book How Soccer Explains the World, US writer Franklin Foer observes: But for all the talk of freedom, the 1960s parenting style had a far less relaxed side too. Like the 1960s consumer movement which brought seat belts and airbags to cars, the (youth) soccer movement felt like it could create a set of ... regulations that would protect both the child’s body and mind from damage. Soccer leagues like the one I played in as a child handed out ‘participation’ prizes to every player, no matter how few games his (or her) team won. Where most of the world accepts the practice of using your head to hit the ball as an essential element of the game, some (youth) soccer parents have worried over the potential for injury to the brain. An entire industry grew up to manufacture protective headgear. Even though very little medical evidence supports this fear, some youth leagues prohibited heading the ball altogether.

D A growing body of people don’t believe street soccer involves a legitimate educational method. They argue that children need to be taught by experts. Youth soccer instruction now begins with four-year-olds, so that they will have an advantage as six-year-olds. This need to get ahead brings with it a fear of falling behind that only expert instruction can prevent. This type of instruction leaves no room for the trial-and-error approach of street soccer.

E One of the basic ideas of street soccer is that young players are assigned a particular role by a better player and are expected to play for the good of the team. Such an assignment runs counter to the idea of youth soccer that every child needs to learn every position and will benefit from doing so. In street soccer, you fill the role that you are best able to at a particular time. While this role assignment can change from game to game, the purpose is always the same: to get the best out of each individual at any given moment.

F In street soccer, children have to learn patience, to wait their turn, to realize that they are not entitled to make decisions, or even be listened to simply because they show up. Positions of responsibility are earned through competition within the team. Younger players in street soccer must wait to attain those positions. In youth soccer, however, with its overly democratic values, youngsters are guaranteed their time in the spotlight. Whether it’s their turn to be captain, to play a central position or to take a crucial shot, youth soccer players come to believe that hard work and patience aren’t really necessary.

G Not only does every youth soccer player get a chance, it is assumed that each individual has played well. ‘Everyone’s a winner; no one’s a loser’ is a guiding principle of youth soccer. This ensures each individual goes away positive about themselves. No one can leave a game or a practice feeling bad. But, if there really are no losers, then why try at all? Since giving less than your best receives the same reward as giving your best, why go to any extra effort? In street soccer, every game results in a winner and a loser and everyone knows who is who. Losing a game is a common experience and players learn early on how to handle this. As a result, unlike most youth soccer players, they acquire resilience. A further difference between these two strands of soccer is that in street soccer a formal record is not kept. You can lose one day and win the next. The results are only temporary and are forgotten within minutes of the end of the match. But in organized youth soccer, the position each person plays and the results are formally noted and maintained throughout a season.

14
a contrast between the ways young players gain experience of playing different positions
15
examples outside of sport greater emphasis on individual safety
16
a description of methods of selection for leadership on soccer teams
17
details of urban changes that discourage street soccer
18
a mention of the lesson that failure teaches street soccer players
19
an explanation of why youth soccer emphasises the need for coaches
20
Which TWO of these reasons are mentioned by the writer of the text?
- A. Many famous soccer players got their start in street soccer.
- B. Young people can begin playing street soccer at a very early age.
- C. You do not need elaborate facilities to play street soccer.
- D. Inexperienced street soccer players are not criticised for mistakes.
- E. Street soccer teams can have varying numbers of players.
21
Which TWO of these results are mentioned by Franklin Foer in the excerpt from How Soccer Explains the World?
- A. Participation in youth soccer became much more expensive.
- B. Some youth soccer leagues adopted more restrictive rules of play.
- C. Fewer young people joined youth soccer teams.
- D. Youth soccer players were sometimes rewarded for simply playing in games.
- E. Soccer equipment manufacturers directed advertising towards parents.
22
For youth soccer players, a key ____ is that they should always come away from the game with a positive attitude. In this respect, regardless of the effort the players make, they get some kind of ____ at the end of a game. In street soccer, however, players gain resilience because they have to learn to cope with failure. But the outcome of a match isn’t remembered for long. In fact, no-one ever keeps a ____ of the results of games. (Complete the summary with ONE WORD ONLY for each blank.)

Reading Passage 3: The Animal Connection

Professor of anthropology Pat Shipman looks at the ways in which our relationships with animals have shaped our own human evolution.

(A) Travel anywhere and you see something so common it may not even catch your attention. Wherever there are people, animals are being walked, herded and fed. Many, such as dogs, cats and sheep, are domesticated, but you will also find people living alongside wild creatures like monkeys and wolves. Close contact with animals is not confined to one particular culture, region or ethnic group but is a universal human trait.

(B) On the face of it this makes little sense. No other mammal adopts individuals from another species, with good reason. Since the ultimate prize in evolution is perpetuating your genes, providing food for another species is counterproductive to success. Even if pets offer friendship, that cannot explain why our bond with other species arose in the first place. Who would bring a ferocious wolf into their home in the hope that thousands of years later it would become a loving pet?

(C) As an anthropologist I have tried to understand this puzzle by looking to the past for the origins of our link with animals. What I found was a long and unbroken evolutionary trail of evidence I call the ‘animal connection’. This trail links to three important developments in human evolution: tool making, language and domestication. If I am correct, and I believe that further research will conclusively show that I am, the animal connection is a hugely significant force instrumental in our global success.

(D) The trail begins at least 2.6 million years ago. That is when the first tools appear in the archaeological record. This development required the intellectual breakthrough of realizing that the properties of an object can be altered. Man learnt how to turn stone into small, sharp items that could cut up animal carcasses, providing them with an evolutionary shortcut to becoming predators.

(E) There were many consequences of the new hunting lifestyle. On the plus side, eating more meat and fat was a requirement for the increase in relative brain size. And since meat tends to come in bigger packages than leaves and roots, meat eaters could spend less time finding food and more on activities like learning and social interaction. On the minus side, preying on animals put our ancestors into direct competition with the other predators that shared their ecosystem, animals such as lions and hyenas. To get the upper hand, they needed more than just tools, and that is where the animal connection comes in. What made it possible for our ancestors to compete successfully with true carnivores was the ability to pay very close attention to the habits of both potential prey and competitors. Knowledge was power, so we acquired a deep understanding of the minds of other animals. Another significant consequence of becoming more predatory was the need to live at lower densities, as successful predators soon exhaust food supplies. The record of the geographic distribution of our ancestors provides further support for my idea that the animal connection has shaped our evolution. Early man lived in Africa and nowhere else, but then underwent a dramatic expansion in territory, forced by the search for new hunting grounds.

(F) Throughout the period of these enormous changes in the lifestyle of our ancestors, gathering, sharing and recording knowledge became increasingly advantageous, and examples of prehistoric art that appear in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia allow us to eavesdrop on their conversations. Through the art, we realize the main topic was animals: their colours, shapes, postures and habits. This focus is even more striking considering that scenes of human life are rarely depicted. Pictures of people, social interaction and ceremonies are rare.

(G) This leads me on to the development of language. Nobody doubts this proved a major adaptive advantage to our ancestors in developing complex behaviours. How it arose, however, remains a mystery. I believe I am the first to propose a continuity between the strong human-animal link that appeared 2.6 million years ago and the origin of language. The complexity and importance of animal-related information, indicated in the predominance of animal images, spurred early humans to move beyond what other species could achieve. Vervet monkeys, for example, have different cries for eagles and snakes, but they cannot discuss what threats might appear tomorrow. The property of full language is that it is comprised of vocabulary and grammatical rules that can be combined in an infinite number of ways to convey fine shades of meaning.

(H) As our ancestors became more involved with animals, the third product of the animal connection appeared: domestication, which has long been linked with the keeping of animals like sheep. Domestic animals are usually considered as ‘walking larders’, or easy food sources, reflecting the idea that the basis of this change was a drive for greater food security. Looking at the origins of domestication for clues to its underlying reasons, I found fundamental flaws in this idea. Instead, my analysis suggests domestication emerged as a natural progression of our close association with, and understanding of, other species. If domestication was about knowing where your next meal was coming from, the first domesticate ought to have been a food source, yet analysis of fossils shows that the domestication of dogs pre-dated that of any other species, even plants, from wolves. Furthermore, if the objective was to have meat to eat, you wouldn’t select an animal that eats two kilograms of meat a day. It was familiarity with this species that led to eventual domestication.

23
Travellers are more likely to notice wild animals than domesticated ones.
- A. YES
- B. NO
- C. NOT GIVEN
24
All cultures demonstrate a need to have close contact with animals.
25
Animals benefit from allowing other animal species to share food resources.
26
It is unlikely that people initially domesticated wolves for future companionship.
27
There are periods of human evolution for which we have little information about man’s relationship with animals.
28
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below. Hunting and the animal connection Around 2.6 million years ago, humans became predators after they realized the possibility of object ____ (32) ____. Once humans were hunters, they benefited from better ____ (33) ____ and extra time which could be spent on non-physical activities. However, the more humans came to depend on meat as a food source, the more ____ (34) ____ there was between them and other predators. Humans needed to find an advantage over animals such as lions and hyenas. It wasn’t a spear or knife that gave them this advantage, but the ____ (35) ____ skills that humans began to develop. Then, because humans were such successful predators, they required more ____ (36) ____ and this led to groups of people moving away from Africa. A. nutrition B. competition C. leadership D. adaptation E. territory F. trade G. connection H. observation I. behavior J. worship
29
What is the writer’s main argument in the sixth paragraph?
- A. Prehistoric art allows us to date human migration patterns.
- B. Early man valued the communication of knowledge about animal behaviour and appearance.
- C. There is evidence of big lifestyle differences between early humans in different regions.
- D. There was little spoken interaction between different groups of people.
30
What is the writer doing in the seventh paragraph?
- A. rejecting an established theory about human evolution.
- B. emphasizing the value of art in language development.
- C. expressing doubt about the initial purpose of communication.
- D. making a claim about the way that language developed.
31
The writer refers to vervet monkeys in order to:
- A. indicate which animal species have a kind of basic language.
- B. show how danger is a significant motivation for human communication.
- C. highlight the sophistication of human communication.
- D. suggest a possible influence on the way early humans interacted.
32
The writer says that the ‘walking larder’ idea
- A. fails to explain the purpose of domestication.
- B. is true only for domesticated animals.
- C. supports the idea the writer proposes.
- D. is based on research the writer has carried out.

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1. A
The answer is TRUE because the passage says chicken is popular worldwide as it can be cooked in many different ways.
2. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information in the passage comparing the flight ability of chickens and junglefowl.
3. A
The answer is TRUE because the passage mentions that scientists think the domestic chicken has more than one ancestor.
4. A
The answer is TRUE because the passage says modern chickens have the same skin colour as the grey junglefowl.
5. A
The answer is TRUE because the passage states that after the Roman Empire ended, people in Europe ate less chicken.
6. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not mention any criticism of factory farming methods.
7. B
The answer is FALSE because the passage says more, not fewer, people in the USA are keeping expensive chicken breeds at home.
8. zoos
The answer is 'zoos' because the passage says the first chickens in Egypt were seen in zoos and used for fighting.
9. tombs / royal tombs
The answer is 'tombs' or 'royal tombs' because the passage says pictures of chickens were found on the tombs of kings and queens.
10. incubation / artificial incubation
The answer is 'incubation' or 'artificial incubation' because the passage says Egyptians developed a way to hatch eggs without hens.
11. humidity
The answer is 'humidity' because the passage says both heat and humidity had to be kept the same for eggs to hatch.
12. ovens
The answer is 'ovens' because the passage says eggs were hatched in rooms that acted like ovens.
13. predators
The answer is 'predators' because the passage says chickens were kept inside to protect them from bad weather and predators.
14. E
The answer is E because this section contrasts how young players learn different positions in street soccer and organised soccer.
15. C
The answer is C because this part gives examples from outside sport where individual safety is more important.
16. F
The answer is F because this section describes how leaders are chosen for soccer teams.
17. B
The answer is B because this part gives details about changes in cities that make street soccer harder to play.
18. G
The answer is G because this section mentions that street soccer players learn from failure.
19. D
The answer is D because this part explains why youth soccer needs coaches.
20. C / E
The answers are C and E because the passage says you do not need special facilities for street soccer and that team sizes can change; option A is tempting but not directly mentioned.
21. B / D
The answers are B and D because Franklin Foer mentions stricter rules and that players are sometimes rewarded just for playing; option A is tempting but not stated.
22. principle / reward / record
The answers are 'principle', 'reward', and 'record' because the passage says youth soccer focuses on a positive principle, gives a reward, and that street soccer does not keep a record of results.
23. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say if travellers notice wild or domesticated animals more.
24. A
The answer is YES because the passage says all cultures need close contact with animals.
25. B
The answer is NO because the passage says animals do not benefit from sharing food with other species.
26. A
The answer is YES because the passage says it is unlikely people first domesticated wolves just for companionship.
27. B
The answer is NO because the passage says we have a lot of information about human-animal relationships in all periods.
28. D / A / B / H / E
The answers are D (adaptation), A (nutrition), B (competition), H (observation), and E (territory) because the passage explains that humans adapted, got better nutrition, faced more competition, used observation skills, and needed more territory.
29. B
The answer is B because the writer argues that early humans valued sharing knowledge about animal behaviour and appearance.
30. D
The answer is D because the writer claims how language developed among early humans.
31. C
The answer is C because the writer uses vervet monkeys to show that human communication is more advanced.
32. A
The answer is A because the writer says the 'walking larder' idea does not explain why people domesticated animals.

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