PTE Academic Reading Practice Test 10 (with Answers)

Type 1 · Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

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

The Spread of Coffee Cultivation

Coffee cultivation is thought to in the highlands of Ethiopia, where, according to popular legend, a goat herder first noticed his animals becoming unusually energetic after eating berries from a certain shrub. By the fifteenth century, coffee cultivation and trade to the Arabian Peninsula, where coffeehouses soon became important centres of social and intellectual life. Coffee later Europe through Venetian trade routes in the seventeenth century, initially provoking suspicion among some religious authorities before gaining widespread acceptance. European colonial powers later established coffee plantations across Latin America, Asia and Africa, global coffee production today remains concentrated in a relatively small number of tropical and subtropical countries. Brazil the world's largest coffee producer for well over a century.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

কফি চাষের উৎপত্তি ইথিওপিয়ার পার্বত্য অঞ্চলে বলে মনে করা হয়। পঞ্চদশ শতাব্দীর মধ্যে কফি চাষ ও বাণিজ্য আরব উপদ্বীপে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে, যেখানে কফিহাউসগুলো সামাজিক ও বুদ্ধিবৃত্তিক জীবনের গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কেন্দ্র হয়ে ওঠে। ব্রাজিল এক শতাব্দীরও বেশি সময় ধরে বিশ্বের বৃহত্তম কফি উৎপাদনকারী দেশ।

Type 2 · Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

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

Coral Bleaching and Ocean Warming

Coral reefs derive both their vivid colour and much of their energy from microscopic algae, called zooxanthellae, that live symbiotically within coral tissue, providing the coral with nutrients produced through photosynthesis in exchange for shelter and access to sunlight. When ocean water becomes unusually warm, even by just one or two degrees above typical seasonal maximums for a sustained period, corals become stressed and expel these algae, a process known as coral bleaching, which leaves the coral's white, calcium-carbonate skeleton visible through its now-transparent tissue. Bleached coral is not necessarily dead, and can recover its algae and colour if water temperatures return to normal relatively quickly, but prolonged or repeated bleaching events, increasingly common as global ocean temperatures rise, leave coral significantly more vulnerable to disease and considerably less likely to survive. Because coral reefs support an estimated quarter of all marine species despite covering less than one percent of the ocean floor, widespread bleaching events pose a serious threat to overall marine biodiversity.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Bleached coral is not necessarily dead and can recover if temperatures return to normal quickly. Coral reefs support an estimated quarter of all marine species despite covering under one percent of the ocean floor. Zooxanthellae algae harm coral tissue and provide no nutritional benefit. Coral bleaching only ever occurs when ocean temperatures drop below normal. Repeated bleaching events have no effect on coral's vulnerability to disease.

Underwater Noise Pollution and Marine Life

Human activities such as shipping, seismic surveys for oil and gas exploration, and sonar use have dramatically increased underwater noise levels in many parts of the world's oceans over the past century, a form of pollution that has received considerably less public attention than chemical or plastic pollution despite its serious effects on marine life. Many marine species, particularly whales and dolphins, rely heavily on sound for essential activities including communication, navigation and locating prey, since sound travels much farther underwater than light does, and excessive background noise can interfere with or completely mask these crucial acoustic signals. Some researchers have documented whales altering their vocalisation patterns, calling more loudly or at different frequencies, in an apparent attempt to be heard over increased background noise, while other studies have linked certain naval sonar exercises to mass whale strandings in affected coastal areas. Encouragingly, underwater noise pollution, unlike many other forms of pollution, can potentially be reduced relatively quickly once shipping or industrial noise sources are addressed, since sound does not persist in the environment the way chemical pollutants often do.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Whales and dolphins rely heavily on sound for communication, navigation and locating prey. Underwater noise pollution can potentially be reduced relatively quickly once sources are addressed. Underwater noise pollution has received more public attention than chemical or plastic pollution. Sound travels a much shorter distance underwater than it does through air. No study has ever linked naval sonar exercises to whale strandings.

Type 3 · Reorder Paragraphs

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

The Discovery of Penicillin

Upon returning from holiday in 1928, Fleming noticed that one of his discarded bacterial culture plates had become accidentally contaminated with a mould, and that bacteria near the mould had been killed off.

Alexander Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist working in London, was studying Staphylococcus bacteria in his laboratory when he made what would become one of the most consequential accidental discoveries in medical history.

Widespread production only became possible over a decade later, when other researchers developed methods to extract and mass-produce the active compound, making it available in time to treat wounded soldiers during the Second World War.

Intrigued rather than annoyed by this apparent contamination, Fleming investigated further and identified the mould as a Penicillium species, eventually isolating the antibacterial substance it produced, which he named penicillin.

The Spread of the Printing Press Across Europe

Around 1450, the German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing method using movable metal type, allowing individual letters to be arranged, reused and rearranged for different texts far more efficiently than earlier printing methods.

Within decades, printing workshops had been established in cities across most of Europe, dramatically reducing the cost of producing books compared to the laborious process of copying manuscripts entirely by hand.

This innovation was first put to significant use in printing the Gutenberg Bible, a project that demonstrated both the technical feasibility and commercial potential of movable-type printing.

This dramatic fall in cost, combined with rising literacy rates, helped accelerate the spread of new ideas throughout Europe, a development historians now regard as a major contributing factor to the Renaissance and Reformation.

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.

insulation stormwater rooftops vegetation expensive pollinators mandatory

The Growing Popularity of Green Roofs

Green roofs, building _____ partially or entirely covered with soil and living _____, have become an increasingly popular feature of urban buildings seeking to reduce their environmental footprint. Beyond their visual appeal, green roofs provide practical benefits, including natural _____ that can reduce heating and cooling costs, and improved absorption of _____ runoff, which can help ease pressure on urban drainage systems during heavy rainfall. Green roofs can also create small habitats for birds, insects and _____ such as bees, offering limited but meaningful support for urban biodiversity in otherwise built-up areas.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

গ্রিন রুফ, অর্থাৎ মাটি ও গাছপালা দিয়ে ঢাকা ভবনের ছাদ, শহুরে ভবনগুলোর মধ্যে ক্রমশ জনপ্রিয় হয়ে উঠছে। এগুলো প্রাকৃতিক নিরোধন প্রদান করে এবং ঝড়ের পানি শোষণ করে শহুরে নিষ্কাশন ব্যবস্থার উপর চাপ কমাতে সাহায্য করে।

Type 5 · Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Read each passage and select the single best answer.

The Function of the Human Liver

The liver, the largest internal organ in the human body, performs several hundred distinct essential functions, making it one of the body's most metabolically active and versatile organs. Among its most important roles is filtering blood arriving from the digestive tract, removing toxins, processing nutrients absorbed from food, and regulating blood sugar levels by storing excess glucose as glycogen and releasing it again when blood sugar drops. The liver also produces bile, a fluid essential for digesting and absorbing dietary fats, and manufactures many of the proteins responsible for blood clotting. Remarkably, the liver possesses a substantial capacity for regeneration, and can often regrow to a functional size even after a significant portion has been surgically removed or damaged, a property that makes certain liver transplant procedures, using only a portion of a donor's liver, medically possible.

According to the passage, what is notable about the liver's regenerative capacity?

It can often regrow to a functional size even after a significant portion is removed or damaged. It cannot regenerate under any circumstances once damaged. It only regenerates in young children, never in adults. It regenerates completely within twenty-four hours of any damage.

The Purpose of Contour Plowing

Contour plowing, an agricultural technique in which farmers plough and plant crops along the natural contour lines of sloped land rather than in straight rows running up and down a slope, has been used for generations to reduce soil erosion on hilly farmland. When crops are planted in straight rows running down a slope, rainwater tends to flow rapidly downhill along these furrows, carrying valuable topsoil away with it and potentially causing significant erosion over time. By instead following the natural contours of the land, farmers create a series of ridges that run roughly horizontally across the slope, which slow the downhill flow of rainwater, allowing more of it to soak into the soil rather than running off, while also trapping loose soil particles that might otherwise be washed away. Although contour plowing requires more careful initial planning than simply plowing in straight lines, many farmers consider the long-term soil conservation benefits well worth this additional effort, particularly on steeper or more erosion-prone land.

According to the passage, how does contour plowing help reduce soil erosion?

It creates ridges that slow downhill water flow and trap loose soil particles. It eliminates the need for any rainfall on sloped farmland entirely. It requires planting crops in straight rows running directly down the slope. It has no measurable effect on rainwater flow or soil retention.

PTE Reading Practice Test 10