PTE Academic Reading Practice Test 16 (with Answers)

Type 1 · Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

Click each blank and choose the correct word from its dropdown menu.

The First Paper Money

Paper money first appeared in China during the Tang dynasty, when merchants who to carry heavy strings of copper coins began leaving them with trusted agents in exchange for written receipts. These receipts could be exchanged for coins later, and over time they as a form of payment in their own right. By the eleventh century, the government of the Song dynasty had taken control of the system and was printing official notes, made trade across the vast empire far easier. However, the temptation to print more notes than the economy could support to serious inflation. Europe, paper money did not become common until several centuries later.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

কাগজের টাকা প্রথম চীনের তাং রাজবংশের সময় আবির্ভূত হয়, যখন ব্যবসায়ীরা ভারী মুদ্রার বদলে লিখিত রসিদ নিতেন। পরে সং সরকার আনুষ্ঠানিক নোট ছাপতে শুরু করে, তবে অতিরিক্ত নোট ছাপার ফলে মুদ্রাস্ফীতি দেখা দেয়।

Type 2 · Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

Read each passage and select all the options that are correct — more than one answer may be right.

How Clever Is an Octopus?

Octopuses have surprised scientists with behaviour that suggests a high level of intelligence for an invertebrate. In laboratories, they have learned to unscrew jar lids to reach food and to find their way through simple mazes. Some wild octopuses carry coconut shells to use later as portable shelters, an example of tool use that was once thought to be limited to vertebrates. Unusually, about two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are located in its arms rather than its central brain, which may allow each arm to explore and react to its surroundings with a degree of independence. Their intelligence is all the more remarkable because most octopuses live for only one or two years and receive no care from their parents.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Most of an octopus's neurons are found in its arms. Octopuses are taught their skills by their parents. Some wild octopuses carry coconut shells to use as shelters. Octopuses have never been observed using tools. Octopuses usually live for several decades.

Trials of the Four-Day Working Week

In recent years, hundreds of companies in several countries have taken part in trials of a four-day working week, in which employees work around thirty-two hours for the same pay. In many of these trials, companies reported that productivity stayed the same or even rose slightly, as staff cut unnecessary meetings and concentrated harder during working hours. Employees commonly reported less stress and burnout and better sleep, and many firms found it easier to recruit and keep staff. However, the model is harder to apply in sectors such as healthcare, retail and manufacturing, where services must be available every day, and critics note that the companies volunteering for trials may have been those best suited to the change.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Employees in the trials received lower pay. The model is easiest to apply in hospitals and shops. Many companies in the trials reported unchanged or higher productivity. Companies that volunteered may have been especially suited to the change. Staff reported more stress during the trials.

Type 3 · Reorder Paragraphs

Drag the paragraphs into the correct order, or use the ▲▼ buttons.

The Building of the Taj Mahal

Soon afterwards, he ordered the construction of a magnificent white marble tomb in her memory on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra.

Today the Taj Mahal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracts millions of visitors every year.

In 1631, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was devastated by the death of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, during childbirth.

The project employed around twenty thousand workers, including masons and inlay craftsmen, and the main tomb took about a decade to complete.

How a Hurricane Forms

Warm, moist air rises from the ocean surface, and as it cools, its water vapour condenses into clouds, releasing heat.

This released heat warms the surrounding air, causing it to rise further and drawing in more moist air at the surface below.

As the Earth's rotation makes this system spin, it can strengthen into a hurricane with winds of more than one hundred and twenty kilometres per hour.

Hurricanes begin over warm tropical oceans, where the sea surface temperature is at least about twenty-six degrees Celsius.

Type 4 · Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop)

Click a word in the box below to select it, then click the blank where it fits (or drag it directly). Two extra words will not be used.

crops sunlight controlled ignored water gravel soil

Farming Upwards: Vertical Farms

Vertical farms grow crops in stacked layers inside buildings, often without any _____. Instead, plant roots sit in a nutrient-rich water solution, and LED lights replace the _____ that crops would normally receive outdoors. Because temperature and humidity are carefully _____, harvests are reliable throughout the year and pesticides are rarely needed. Vertical farms also use far less _____ than conventional fields, since moisture is recycled. Their main drawback is cost, especially the electricity needed for lighting, so most currently grow high-value _____ such as salad leaves and herbs.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

ভার্টিকাল ফার্মে ভবনের ভেতরে স্তরে স্তরে মাটি ছাড়াই ফসল ফলানো হয়। এলইডি আলো সূর্যালোকের কাজ করে এবং তাপমাত্রা নিয়ন্ত্রিত থাকে। পানি কম লাগে, তবে বিদ্যুৎ খরচ বেশি।

Type 5 · Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Read each passage and select the single best answer.

The Purpose of Yawning

Almost all vertebrates yawn, yet scientists still disagree about why. A popular explanation was that yawning increases oxygen in the blood, but experiments in which people breathed air with extra oxygen or carbon dioxide found no change in how often they yawned. A more recent theory suggests that yawning helps cool the brain: the deep intake of air and the stretching of the jaw increase blood flow and may carry heat away from the head. Supporting this idea, people tend to yawn less when they hold a cold pack to their forehead. Yawning is also contagious among humans and some other social animals, which may reflect a role in group communication.

What evidence is given against the idea that yawning increases oxygen in the blood?

Yawning is contagious among social animals. All vertebrates yawn at the same rate. Changing the oxygen or carbon dioxide in the air did not change how often people yawned. People yawn less when holding a cold pack to their forehead.

Why Bridges Expand and Contract

Large bridges are not completely rigid structures; they constantly change length as temperatures rise and fall. Steel and concrete expand when heated and contract when cooled, so a long steel bridge may be several centimetres longer on a hot summer afternoon than on a winter night. If engineers did not allow for this movement, the resulting forces could crack the concrete or buckle the steel. For this reason, bridges are built with expansion joints, gaps bridged by interlocking metal teeth or flexible materials, which allow sections to move without damaging the structure. Drivers often notice these joints as a series of regular bumps when crossing a bridge.

What is the purpose of expansion joints on a bridge?

They stop steel from expanding in hot weather. They make the bridge completely rigid. They are designed to slow down drivers. They let parts of the bridge move as temperatures change without damage.

PTE Reading Practice Test 16