IELTS Reading Passages with Answers and Explanations
Browse IELTS reading passages with full answer keys, per-question explanations, and exam-style practice links.
- All in the family
We can choose our friends, the saying goes, but we cannot choose our family of origin. Our parents provide the genetic material and make powerful early role models, but even more influential in determining what kind o...
- Nanotechnology: the science of the very small
Nanoscience and nanotechnology have become very fashionable in recent times. Their prominence has inspired science fiction and raised a lot of hope and hype about the possibilities. But what exactly is nanotechnology?...
- Learning from the Romans
In a quest to make concrete more durable and sustainable, an international team of geologists and engineers has found inspiration in the concrete used by the ancient Romans. The chemical secrets of Roman concrete have...
- Unlocking the mystery of dreams
Thousands of years ago, dreams were seen as messages from the gods, and in many cultures, they are still considered prophetic, foretelling things to come. In ancient Greece, sick people slept at the temples of Asclepi...
- What is social history?
Ever since its elevation to the status of an academic discipline, history has been very largely concerned with problems of its own making. These may be gaps which the young researcher is advised by supervisors to fill...
- Creative Problem-Solving
In a recent study, researchers at Northwestern University in the United States found that people were more likely to solve word puzzles with sudden insight when they were amused, having just seen a short comedy routin...
- The Baobabs of Madagascar
The island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean is the best place in the world to see baobabs. These spectacular trees, with their massive trunks and distinctive horizontal root-like branches, can live over 800 years. Of...
- War of the Plants
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...
- Star Performers
One widely held assumption about talent is that it is a reasonably fixed characteristic and it is therefore the job of organisations to identify, recruit and retain star performers. This belief affects the way people...
- John Ray and the Study of Plants
The 17th-century English scholar and botanist John Ray was well aware that he lived through, and participated in, a profound revolution in the way people interacted with nature. In the preface to his Synopsis of Briti...
- A Brief History of Ballet
Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century. The nobility were treated to extravagant events, especially wedding celebrations, where dancing and music created a detailed and fascinating spectacle....
- Ambergris - what is it and where does it come from?
In the ancient world, the waxy grey substance we now refer to as ambergris was highly prized for its medicinal properties, and was widely used as a spice, which was believed to be an aphrodisiac when added to food or...
- Socotra Island
When scientists began the first substantial exploration of the islands 30 years ago, they found a fascinating collection of unusual plants and animals - a unique combination of 'relict' populations (organisms that hav...
- Public art programs: research update
Researcher Howard Spector suggests that active art experiences benefit all age groups by providing individuals with the means to freely and creatively express themselves. Self-expression, in turn, promotes individuali...
- Sign, Baby, Sign!
Language is a powerful tool that humans use for a wide variety of purposes—from expressing emotions and sharing ideas to passing down cultural values and acquiring knowledge. It is not limited to spoken words; gesture...
- Growing more for less
For farmers, working out the optimal amount of seed, fertiliser, pesticide and water to scatter on a field can make, or break, the subsequent harvest. Regular laboratory analyses of soil and plant samples from various...
- What makes a musical expert?
Does that class of people acknowledged to be musical experts just have more of the same basic skills we are all endowed with, or do they have a set of abilities or neural structures that are totally different from tho...
- Learning to be bilingual
Few people would consider mastering more than one language a bad idea. Consequently, parents who speak different languages from each other are generally keen for their children to learn both. They understand that the...
- The Future of Food Packaging
Food companies spend a lot of time thinking about packaging as a way to represent their brand and make consumers love their products. More than cosmetic details like labels or logos, a food container can suggest playf...
- In Deep Water
While we know that the sea is a big place, few of us realise just how big it really is. More than 66% of the world's surface is covered by ocean, and the sea makes up 97% of the environments on Earth that can support...
- The fashion industry
The fashion industry is a multibillion-dollar global enterprise devoted to the business of making and selling clothes. It encompasses all types of garments, from designer fashions to ordinary everyday clothing. Becaus...
- Sleep Study on Modern-Day Hunter-Gatherers Dispels Popular Notions
The sleep troubles common in modern life have long been blamed on our industrial society, from the city lights, long work hours and commutes, to caffeine and the Internet. Sleep researchers often look back on a time w...
- A Brief History of Humans and Food
During the journey from our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the present day, there have been three seismic changes that have impacted the food we eat: the discovery of cooking, the emergence of agriculture, and the inven...
- The strange world of sight
Two of the great British men of the 17th century, the philosopher John Locke and the physicist Isaac Newton, were both aware that objects are not coloured, and that against all appearances light is not coloured either...
- Coins - the first form of money
Few people pay much attention to coins; we take them for granted. Since the advent of paper currency and the abandonment of a monetary system based on intrinsic or actual value, they have been demoted to the status of...
- Children's literature studies today
Who studies children's literature and what is it that they study? The answers to this question are complex and messy, because of the many confounding factors which exist in this field.
- The importance of being playful
While it has long been recognized that play affords benefits that last through adulthood, psychologists in the US are now becoming concerned that lack of play could actually be harming their country's kids. In the pas...
- The history of colours and the meanings people have given them
The use of colours has a long history in human development. Prehistoric paintings in caves were found to contain yellow and red earth, white chalk, and a black made from the soot of burned animal fat. Over time, new c...
- Investing in the Future
The founding and development of many universities has been dependent on philanthropy*. This has been true from some of the oldest universities such as Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge in the twelfth century, to relative...
- Memory Decoding
Try this memory test: Study each face and compose a vivid image for the person's first and last name. Rose Leo, for example, could be a rosebud and a lion. Fill in the blanks on the next page. The Examinations School...