IELTS Reading – Practice Test 4

Section 1
Adam's Wine
A Water is the giver and, at the same time, the taker of life. It covers most of the surface of the planet we live on
and features large in the development of the human race. On present predictions, it is an element that is set to assume
even greater significance.
B Throughout history, water has had a huge impact on our lives. Humankind has always had a rather ambiguous
relationship with water, on the one hand receiving enormous benefit from it, not just as a drinking source, but as a
provider of food and a means whereby to travel and to trade. But forced to live close to water in order to survive and
to develop, the relationship has not always been peaceful or beneficial. In fact, it has been quite the contrary. What
has essentially been a necessity for survival has turned out in many instances to have a very destructive and life-
threatening side.
C Through the ages, great floods alternated with long periods of drought have assaulted people and their
environment, hampering their fragile fight for survival. The dramatic changes to the environment that are now a
feature of our daily news are not exactly new: fields that were once lush and fertile are now barren; lakes and rivers
that were once teeming with life are now long gone; savannah has been turned to desert. What perhaps is new is our
naive wonder when faced with the forces of nature.
D Today, we are more aware of climatic changes around the world. Floods in far-flung places are instant news
for the whole world. Perhaps these events make us feel better as we face the destruction of our own property by
floods and other natural disasters.
E In 2002, many parts of Europe suffered severe flood damage running into billions of euros. Properties across
the continent collapsed into the sea as waves pounded the coastline wreaking havoc with sea defences. But it was not
just the seas. Rivers swollen by heavy rains and by the effects of deforestation carried large volumes of water that
wrecked many communities.
F Building stronger and more sophisticated river defences against flooding is the expensive short-term answer.
There are simpler ways. Planting trees in highland areas, not just in Europe but in places like the Himalayas, to
protect people living in low-lying regions like the Ganges Delta, is a cheaper and more attractive solution. Progress
is already being made in convincing countries that the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is
causing considerable damage to the environment. But more effort is needed in this direction.
G And the future? If we are to believe the forecasts, it is predicted that two-thirds of the world population will
be without fresh water by 2025. But for a growing number of regions of the world the future is already with us.
While some areas are devastated by flooding, scarcity of water in many other places is causing conflict. The state of
Texas in the United States of America is suffering a shortage of water with the Rio Grande failing to reach the Gulf
of Mexico for the first time in 50 years in the spring of 2002, pitting region against region as they vie for water
sources. With many parts of the globe running dry through drought and increased water consumption, there is now
talk of water being the new oil.
H Other doom-laden estimates suggest that, while tropical areas will become drier and uninhabitable, coastal
regions and some low-lying islands will in all probability be submerged by the sea as the polar ice caps melt. Popular
exotic destinations now visited by countless tourists will become no-go areas. Today's holiday hotspots of southern

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Europe and elsewhere will literally become hotspots - too hot to live in or visit. With the current erratic behaviour of
the weather, it is difficult not to subscribe to such despair.
I Some might say that this despondency is ill-founded, but we have had ample proof that there is something not
quite right with the climate. Many parts of the world have experienced devastating flooding. As the seasons revolve,
the focus of the destruction moves from one continent to another. The impact on the environment is alarming and the
cost to life depressing. It is a picture to which we will need to become accustomed.
Questions 1-8
Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs labelled A-I.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-I from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-xiii) in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
One of the headings has been done for you as an example.
Note: There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them.
Example: Paragraph A — Answer vii
List of Headings
I Environmental change has always been with us
II The scarcity of water
III Rivers and seas cause damage
IV Should we be despondent? Or realistic?
V Disasters caused by the climate make us feel better
VI Water, the provider of food
VII What is water?
VIII How to solve flooding
IX Far-flung flooding
X Humans' relationship with water
XI The destructive force of water in former times
XII Flooding in the future
XIII A pessimistic view of the future
1 Paragraph B
2 Paragraph C
3 Paragraph D
4 Paragraph E
5 Paragraph F
6 Paragraph G
7 Paragraph H
8 Paragraph I

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Questions 9-15
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 9-15 on your answer sheet.
9 The writer believes that water
A is gradually becoming of greater importance.
B will have little impact on our lives in future.
C is something we will need more than anything else.
D will have even greater importance in our lives in the future.
10 Humankind's relationship with water has been
A two-sided.
B one-sided.
C purely one of great benefit.
D fairly frightening.
11 The writer suggests that
A we are in awe of the news we read and see on TV every day.
B change to the environment leaves us speechless.
C we should not be in awe of the news we read and see on TV every day.
D our surprise at the environmental change brought about by nature is something new.
12 According to the text, planting trees
A has to be coordinated internationally.
B is more expensive than building sea and river defences.
C is a less expensive answer to flooding than building river defences.
D is not an answer to the problem of flooding in all regions.
13 By 2025, it is projected that
A at least half the world population will have fresh water.
B the majority of the world population will have fresh water.
C one-third of the world population will have fresh water.
D fresh water will only be available to half of the world population.
14 According to the text, in the future low-lying islands
A will still be habitable.
B will not be under water.
C are likely to be under water.
D will probably not be under water.
15 According to the writer,
A people do not need to get used to environmental damage.
B people will need to get used to climate changes that cause environmental damage.
C people are now more used to environmental damage than they have been in the past.
D the general despondency about environmental changes is ill-founded.

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Section 2
Is it any wonder that there are teacher shortages? Daily, the press carries reports of schools going on four-day weeks
simply because they cannot recruit enough teachers. But why? There is no straightforward answer. For a start, fewer
students are entering teacher-training courses when they leave school. But can you blame young people after the
barracking faced by the teaching profession in the UK over the last decade? The attack, relentless in the extreme, has
been on several fronts. Government inspectors, by accident or design, have been feeding the media a constant stream
of negative information about the teaching establishments in this country. Teachers also come in for a lot of flak from
politicians. And the government wonders why there are problems in schools.
The government's obvious contempt for the teaching profession was recently revealed by one of the most powerful
people in government when she referred to schools as 'bog standard comprehensives'. Hardly the sort of comment to
inspire parents or careers advisers seeking to direct young people's future. Would you want to spend your working
life in a dead-end profession? The government doesn't seem to want you to either.
On the administrative side, most teachers are weighed down by an increasing flow of bureaucracy. Cynicism would
have me believe that this stops teachers from fomenting dissent as they are worn out by useless administrative
exercises. Most teachers must then also be cynics!
Teacher bashing has, unfortunately, spread to youngsters in schools as the recent catalogue of physical attacks on
teachers will testify. If grown-ups have no respect for the teaching profession, young people can hardly be expected
to think any differently. The circle is then squared when, as well as experienced, competent teachers being driven out
of the profession by the increased pressure and stress; fewer students are applying for teacher-training courses.
Increased salaries are certainly welcome, but they are not the complete answer to a sector in crisis. Addressing the
standing of the profession in the eyes of the public is crucial to encourage experienced teachers to remain in the
classroom and to make it an attractive career option for potential teachers once again. It might also be a good idea for
the relevant ministers to go on a fact-finding mission and find out from teachers in schools, rather than relying
overmuch on advisers, as to what changes could be brought about to improve the quality of the education service.
Initiatives in the educational field surprisingly come from either politicians who know little about classroom practice
or educational theorists who know even less, but are more dangerous because they work in the rarefied air of
universities largely ignorant of classroom practice.
Making sure that nobody without recent classroom experience is employed as a teacher-trainer at any tertiary
institution would further enhance the teaching profession. If someone does not have practical experience in the
classroom, they cannot in all seriousness propound theories about it. Instead of being given sabbaticals to write
books or papers, lecturers in teacher-training establishments should be made to spend a year at the blackboard or,
these days, the whiteboard. This would give them practical insights into current classroom practice. Student teachers
could then be given the chance to come and watch the specialists in the classroom: a much more worthwhile
experience than the latter sitting thinking up ideas far removed from the classroom. Then we would have fewer
initiatives like the recent government proposal to teach thinking in school. Prima facie, this is a laudable
recommendation. But, as any practising teacher will tell you, this is done in every class. Perhaps someone needs to
point out to the academic who thought up the scheme that the wheel has been around for some time.
In the educational field, there is surprisingly constant tension between the educational theorists and government
officials on the one hand, who would like to see teachers marching in unison to some greater Utopian abstraction

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and, on the other, practising teachers. Any experienced classroom practitioner knows that the series of initiatives on
teaching and learning that successive governments have tried to foist on schools and colleges do not work.
Questions 16-22
Complete the summary below of the first four paragraphs of Reading Passage 2.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 16-22 on your answer sheet.
Is it surprising that there is a 16______ of teachers? Schools do not have enough teachers, but what are the reasons
for this? To begin with, fewer students are going into 17______ after finishing school. But this is not young people's
fault. The 18 ______ of teaching has been under constant attack over the last ten years. The government's lack of
respect for the profession is 19______ . Moreover, administratively, the flow of bureaucracy is 20______. Even
pupils in schools have no respect for those who teach them, as a 21______ series of assaults on teachers shows. The
growing strain and stress means that, as well as fewer applications for teacher-training courses, teachers who have
experience and are 22______ are also being driven out.
Questions 23-29
In boxes 23-29 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
23 More students are entering teacher-training courses.
24 The government is right to be surprised that there are problems in schools.
25 Teachers are too weighed down by administrative duties to stir up trouble.
26 All teachers are cynics.
27 Politicians are not as dangerous as educational theorists, who know even less than the former about educational
theory.
28 Any experienced classroom practitioner knows that the initiatives on teaching and learning that governments have
tried to impose on schools do not work.
29 The government's attitude with regard to teachers is of great interest to the general public.
Question 30
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 30 on your answer sheet.
30 Which one of the following is the most suitable title for the passage?
A Politicians and teachers.
B A profession undervalued.
C Recruitment difficulties in the teaching profession.
D Teacher-training needs improvement.

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Section 3
In one corner of the room is a mass of tangled rope suspended from the ceiling with some sections dangling to the
floor; the first of three encountered pieces of work that have a resounding impact on the viewing public.
It stops one in one's tracks: how dare it be there - this mess of nothing! It is like arranged chaos: that is, the confused
mixture of varying sizes of rope, dipped in latex, looks as though it might collapse in a heap on the floor at any
moment. At the same time, it is held up and in place by a series of fine wires and hooks, giving it a strange sense of...
order.
A deliberate challenge to the forces of gravity. It is a shambles. It makes one laugh. It is play. It is drawing in the air!
Maybe it can move or dance about! Yet, it is hardly there, like something imagined.
The materials are cheap and disposable. Impermanent, like ... the people looking at it. But it is very definitely
present! It has a presence. You can see that people want to walk into it and become a part of it - but alas! The gallery
guard is hovering nearby.
To the left of this piece, running along the wall, in two rows on top of each other, is a long series of lid-less boxes.
They are mounted at average nose height and are made of fibreglass which gives them a shiny, almost moist,
appearance. They are the colour of murky water, absorbing the gallery light with an opacity similar to that of mucus
or tree gum.
They look as though they might be soft and malleable to touch, with their irregular edges and non-conforming sides.
This gives the overall impression that they could fall in on themselves or slide down the wall. The structure is
puzzlingly familiar, similar to things in the world, and yet it is not like anything in particular.
In the adjacent corner is the third piece, consisting of a collection of nine cylindrical open-ended objects, slit part
way from end to end. They give the appearance of being randomly placed - some lying, some leaning on the wall or
on each other-all seeming somehow to be related. Like the boxes, they are a multiple of each other. Made of
fibreglass with a shiny surface they look almost like abandoned pods that had once been alive. The associations seem
to jump around in one's head, running between sensations of delight and pleasure, violence and discomfort.
One has to bend down to be with them more. Driven by the desire to physically interact, one is almost forced to
stoop further so that one can touch, or indeed taste, this intriguing surface; but no, the guard is there.
The visual language apparent in these artworks is unfamiliar, as is the artist, Eva Hesse. Her work is as exciting as it
is disturbing. For many, Hesse's sculpture refers essentially to the body. This, perhaps, does not seem surprising
when it is in relation to the body that women are generally assessed. Hesse died of a brain tumour in 1970 at the age
of 34. It must be an inescapable inevitability, therefore, that her work was read in the context of its time where it has,
until recently, been largely abandoned.
Given the influence of feminism on our cultural consciousness since that period, it seems paramount that we avoid,
or at the very least attempt to avoid, those dramatic facts about her life and family history. We may then be freed
from a limited and narrow translation of her art.
Hesse's work is much more ambiguous and funny than some rather literal readings would have us believe. Perhaps it
is precisely because her use of metaphor in her work is so subtle that it escapes the one-line definitions we so love to
employ.

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We are now, more than ever, hungry for the cult of 'personality'. While Hesse and others before and since can more
than fill that demand, we seem in danger of focusing on the life of the artist and not on the life of the art.
When looking at Hesse's sculpture, drawings and paintings, the most interesting and challenging aspects lie just there
- within the work. And this must be the starting point for any interpretation, not her complex life or untimely death.
Questions 31-36
In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Example answer:
The Guggenheim Art Gallery is in New York. Yes
31 The first piece of Hesse's art has little effect on visitors to the gallery.
32 The order inherent in the first piece of Hesse's art is essential to the understanding of her work.
33 The second piece of art by Hesse is inferior in several significant ways to the first.
34 The second piece by Hesse has several design faults that attract the public.
35 The third piece of work arouses different emotions.
36 Of the three pieces of Hesse's work described, the first is the writer's favourite.
Question 37-40
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 30 on your answer sheet.
37 According to the writer, Eva Hesse
A is not a well-known artist.
B is very familiar, as is her work.
C is not a good artist.
D is strongly attracted by visual language.
38 The writer concludes that
A Hesse's work is timeless.
B the understanding of Hesse's work has until recently been interpreted only in the context of its time.
C Hesse's work is a product of her time and is not relevant to the modern world.
D Hesse's work is easy to read.
39 The writer thinks that it is .................. to define Hesse's work.
A not difficult
B essential
C not important.
D not easy
40 In the present climate,
A we may lose sight of Hesse's art and focus on her life.
B personality is very important.
C art cults are in vogue.
D we may lose sight of Hesse's life and focus on her art.

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Answer Keys
IELTS Reading Section 1
1. X. The paragraph gives a short record of human-water interaction. Note that title XI doesn’t fit — even
though it tells us about destructive force of water in the past, Present Perfect tense is used. This means that
this keeps on going. See note on tenses for clarification
2. I. The paragraph talks about changes to the environment and how said changes affected our lives. The phrase
“are not exactly new” is a paraphrase of “always”.
3. V. The last sentence best describes the general idea of the paragraph. Heading IX doesn’t fit as it is not the
topical idea, even though it is mentioned.
4. III. Both seas and rivers are mentioned as causing serious damage. Even though it sounds simplistic, this
heading is the most appropriate. XI doesn’t fit because the phrase “former times” has a meaning of times long
gone. The events described in the paragraph took place fairly recently.
5. VIII. This paragraph suggests several ways of solving the current problem of floods.
6. II. The main idea is lack of water rather that flooding, even though it is mentioned briefly so we can’t use
XII. You should also not be confused by the first sentence. The paragraph talks about both the future and the
present situation, so XIII doesn’t fit.
7. XIII. The paragraph is about “doom-laden estimates” — pessimistic forecasts. This title fits the paragraph
perfectly.
8. IV. This paragraph reasons whether we should we hopeful about the future.
9. D. Last sentence of first paragraph. It is going to have even greater importance. Don’t forget that relevant
information goes in a certain order, see IELTS Reading tips for clarification.
10.A. The key to this questions is the word “ambiguous” which means that it could be seen in more than one
way. Down the paragraph the idea is expanded, bringing up examples of good and bad relationship with
water. The suffix ambi- is a Latin prefix meaning “both, around” (e.g. ambivalence, ambient)
11.D. Second sentence of paragraph “D” says that the catastrophes are instant news, meaning that this comes as
a surprise, as something new to us. Other paragraphs state the contrary of what is in the text — learning about
the destruction makes us feel better, not frightened.
12.C. Sentence three in paragraph “F”. Tree-planting is described as being more affordable and therefore a better
decision. “A” talks about international approach to the problem, which is mentioned in the text. However,
there is nothing about coordinating their efforts.
13.C. Second sentence of paragraph “G”. It states that two-thirds of people will have no access to drinking
water. This means that only one-third of population will have such access.
14.C. First sentence of paragraph “H”. It clearly states the probability of lowlands submerging underwater.
15.B. Last sentence of paragraph “I”. “Accustomed” is a synonym of “get used to”. Answer “D” is wrong
because it is the opinion of “some” people, not the author’s.

IELTS Reading Section 2

16.Shortage. Note that the word is in singular, even though it is plural in the original text. We should use
singular form because of the indefinite article “a” before the gap.

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17.Teacher-training. This compound word is counted as one, because there is a hyphen (“-“ symbol) between
them. Note that if you spell them without that symbol it will be seen as a mistake because the tasks states one
word limit for answers.
18.Profession. Ten years in English is a decade. Finding the word in the original text makes it easy to guess the
right word for the gap.
19.Obvious. Sentence one of the second paragraph has the word “contempt” which is has the same meaning as
“lack of respect”.
20.Increasing. First sentence of paragraph three. Note how the original text and task texts have this word as
different parts of speech (adjective in the text, continuous verb in the task)
21.Recent. Sentence one of fourth paragraph mentions a series of “recent bashing”, which is another word for
assaults or attacks.
22.Competent. Last sentence of the same paragraph four. As can be seen from the sentence structure there
should be an adjective in the gap. Experienced is one adjective to describe the teachers, it is used as a noun in
the task. It means we have to use the other adjective.
23.False. The opposite is stated in first paragraph, sentence five.
24.False. Last sentence of paragraph one states that the government is surprised. However irony can be easily
seen because the previous sentences named the reasons for such poor state of affairs with teacher’s profession
popularity. Government has no right to be surprised, the situation is natural.
25.Not given. Beginning of paragraph three. The author makes an assumption, a guess that the teachers have no
time to complain because of the administrative hurdles. It doesn’t mean that this is so in reality. Don’t be
misled by the similar wording of the question and the sentence in the text.
26.Not given. Paragraph three, sentences two and three. The author is again using irony — he doesn’t mean that
other teachers and cynical. However he doesn’t state that they aren’t, so we can’t answer FALSE in this case.
We have no actual information whether teacher are cynical or not.
27.True. Paragraph five, sentence starting with “Initiatives in …”. The question statement means that theorists
are more dangerous than politicians. This is true, as stated in the sentence: “they know even less, but are more
dangerous”. This refers to the educational theorists.
28.True. Last paragraph, last sentence. It is clearly stated that the forced government initiatives do not work.
Word “foist” is used which can confuse you.
29.Not given. No such information is present in the text, nothing even remotely related.
30.B. The main notion throughout the text is how teachers are underappreciated. “A” is simplistic and is too
general. “C” and “D” mention some of the issues in the text, not all of them, so they cannot be used as title.

IELTS Reading Section 3

31.No. Paragraph one, second part. The work has “resounding” or a very strong effect on the visitors. The
opposite is true, so the answer is “No”.
32.Not given. No relevant information on this statement can be found in the text.
33.Not given. Even though it is stated that the materials are “cheap and disposable” it is meant to describe the
first work. Not to mention that it doesn’t mean that the artistic value of this piece is lower because of its
materials.
34.Not given. Some design faults are mentioned in paragraphs five and six. However there is not information on
whether they attract any additional attention.

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35.Yes. Paragraph two states that the first work gives a sense of “order”. The last sentence of paragraph seven
states that the third work gives a sensation of “violence and discomfort”. These emotions are different; the
answer is “Yes”.
36.Not given. The author does not state their preference in the listed works. Nothing is mentioned about which
of the three works is author’s “favourite”.
37.A. Paragraph nine, first sentence. The author states that the “visual language is unfamiliar, as is the author”.
The comparison makes it clear that the author is fairly unknown to the public.
38.B. Paragraph nine, the last sentence. As the author states, her work had been largely ignored “until recently”
— it is no longer seen within the context of its time. It is also natural to put conclusions in the end of a
paragraph.
39.D. Paragraph 11, first sentence. It states that Hesse’s work is more than the obvious “readings”, or
interpretations, make us think. Therefore it is not easy to read, or to understand it’s meaning.
40.A. Paragraph 10, both sentences. The information there suggests the importance of her life being greater than
her work because of “influence of feminism … since that period”. Note how this question defies the
paradigm of answers in the text following one another — we had to return to the previous paragraph to
answer it.

IELTS Reading Score Reference Table

Band 9.0 8.5 8.0 7.5 7.0 6.5 6.0 5.5 5.0
Score/40 39,40 37,38 35,36 33,34 30-32 27-29 23-26 19-22 15-18

Vocabulary
Section 1
n. scarcity – state of being scarce (very rare, hard to find)
adj. despondent – pessimistic
n. flood – a disaster involving water
adj. far-flung — distant, far-away
adj. frightening — scary
n. awe — strong fear of something.
n. pl. defences — protection against something.
adj. habitable — populated by people, animals or other living beings
adj. ill-founded — without reason, false, groundless
adj. ambiguous — dubious, having double meaning, two-sided
v. hamper — to constrain, to prevent somebody from doing something
ph. v. teem with — to be swarmed, to have something in abundance.
adj. doom-laden — catastrophic, grim

Section 2
n. shortage — lack of something.
adj. relentless — having no mercy
v. testify — to give description of events you witnessed (legal term)
adj. crucial — very important

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v. encourage — to promote
adj. relevant — having relation to something.
n. sabbatical – a period of leave given to teachers every seventh year of service.
lat. prima facie — at first sight, as it seems as first
adj. undervalued — underappreciated, given too little importance to
v. foist — to sell or to give by force.

Section 3
adj. inherent — having relation to, intrinsic
adj. resounding — here: having strong effect on somebody.
adj. deliberate — something with a purpose

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