PTE Academic Reading Practice Test 9 (with Answers)

Type 1 · Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

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

The Invention of Paper

Paper is generally to Cai Lun, a Chinese court official who, in the early second century CE, refined a process for producing a lightweight writing material from mulberry bark, hemp waste and old fishing nets. Before this innovation, Chinese scribes on heavier and more expensive materials, including bamboo strips and silk, for written records. The technique of papermaking gradually westward along trade routes over the following centuries, reaching the Islamic world by the eighth century and Europe by the twelfth. papermaking technology reached a new region, it typically transformed local record-keeping, education and eventually printing practices. Today, paper an essential material despite the rise of digital technology.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

কাগজ সাধারণত চীনা রাজদরবারের কর্মকর্তা কাই লুনের কৃতিত্ব হিসেবে ধরা হয়, যিনি দ্বিতীয় শতাব্দীর শুরুতে তুঁত গাছের ছাল, শণ ও পুরনো মাছ ধরার জাল থেকে হালকা লেখার উপকরণ তৈরির প্রক্রিয়া উন্নত করেছিলেন। কাগজ তৈরির প্রযুক্তি ধীরে ধীরে পশ্চিমে বাণিজ্য পথ ধরে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে।

Type 2 · Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

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

Life Around Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal vents, fissures on the ocean floor where geothermally heated, mineral-rich water escapes from beneath the Earth's crust, support entire ecosystems that survive without any sunlight, a discovery that surprised scientists when vents were first explored in the 1970s. Rather than depending on photosynthesis, organisms living near these vents rely on chemosynthesis, a process in which specialised bacteria convert chemicals dissolved in the vent water, particularly hydrogen sulfide, into usable energy. Many vent species, including giant tube worms lacking mouths or digestive systems, host these chemosynthetic bacteria directly within their own bodies, receiving nutrients produced by the bacteria in exchange for providing them a stable, chemical-rich habitat. Because vent ecosystems depend entirely on geological activity rather than sunlight, they can exist at ocean depths where light never penetrates, and individual vents can appear or disappear entirely as underlying volcanic activity shifts over time.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Vent ecosystems rely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis for energy. Giant tube worms host chemosynthetic bacteria directly within their own bodies. Hydrothermal vents were first discovered and explored in the nineteenth century. All vent organisms depend entirely on direct sunlight to survive. Individual hydrothermal vents remain permanently fixed and never change over time.

Engineering Challenges of Offshore Wind Turbines

Offshore wind turbines, installed in coastal waters where wind speeds tend to be stronger and more consistent than on land, present engineering challenges considerably more complex than those faced by land-based turbines. Foundations must be engineered to withstand not only powerful winds but also constant wave action, occasional storms, and, in colder regions, seasonal sea ice, all while resisting corrosion from prolonged exposure to saltwater. Installation itself requires specialised vessels capable of transporting and positioning enormous turbine components, sometimes weighing hundreds of tonnes, in open water, a logistical challenge considerably more demanding than assembling a similar turbine on solid ground. Despite these additional costs and complexities, offshore wind farms can generate substantially more electricity per turbine than onshore installations, since offshore locations typically offer stronger, steadier wind resources largely uninterrupted by nearby buildings, hills or trees.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Offshore turbine foundations must withstand wave action and, in some regions, sea ice. Offshore wind farms can generate substantially more electricity per turbine than onshore ones. Offshore turbine installation is always simpler and cheaper than onshore installation. Offshore locations always have weaker, less consistent wind than land locations. Saltwater exposure has no effect whatsoever on offshore turbine foundations.

Type 3 · Reorder Paragraphs

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

The Search for the Wreck of the Antikythera Ship

Among the recovered items was a heavily corroded lump of bronze that initially attracted little scientific attention, since divers had already brought up numerous impressive statues and pottery from the same site.

In 1900, Greek sponge divers exploring waters near the island of Antikythera discovered the wreck of an ancient Roman-era cargo ship, prompting an early underwater archaeological recovery effort.

Modern researchers have continued periodic excavations of the wreck site in the decades since, hoping additional fragments might further clarify the mechanism's exact original purpose and construction.

Only years later did researchers realise this unassuming bronze fragment was actually part of an extraordinarily sophisticated ancient astronomical calculating device, now known as the Antikythera mechanism.

How Volcanic Ash Affects Air Travel

When a volcano erupts explosively, it can eject enormous quantities of fine ash particles high into the atmosphere, where powerful winds can carry the resulting cloud thousands of kilometres from the eruption site.

This risk became widely apparent in 2010, when ash from an Icelandic volcanic eruption forced the closure of much of European airspace for several days, stranding millions of travellers worldwide.

Volcanic ash poses a serious danger to jet aircraft, since the fine particles can melt inside a jet engine's extremely hot combustion chamber and then resolidify on cooler internal components, potentially causing complete engine failure.

Since this widely publicised incident, aviation authorities have significantly improved international systems for tracking ash clouds and issuing timely flight restrictions to reduce future disruption.

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.

stigma awareness disclose workplace accommodations mandatory ignored

Mental Health Support in the Modern Workplace

Employers in many industries have begun taking mental health more seriously as a _____ issue, partly in response to growing research linking employee wellbeing to productivity and staff retention. Increased public _____ around mental health conditions has gradually reduced the social _____ once strongly associated with discussing such issues openly at work, though many employees still hesitate to _____ a mental health condition to their employer out of concern for how the information might be used. Some organisations now offer flexible working arrangements or other reasonable _____ for employees managing mental health conditions, similar to accommodations traditionally offered for physical disabilities.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

অনেক শিল্পের নিয়োগকর্তারা মানসিক স্বাস্থ্যকে কর্মক্ষেত্রের গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বিষয় হিসেবে গ্রহণ করছেন। সচেতনতা বৃদ্ধি সামাজিক কলঙ্ক কমিয়েছে, যদিও অনেক কর্মী এখনও নিয়োগকর্তার কাছে প্রকাশ করতে দ্বিধা বোধ করেন। কিছু প্রতিষ্ঠান নমনীয় কাজের ব্যবস্থা প্রদান করে।

Type 5 · Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Read each passage and select the single best answer.

The Function of a Kidney's Nephrons

Each human kidney contains approximately one million tiny filtering units called nephrons, each responsible for removing waste products and excess substances from the blood while carefully retaining water, salts and nutrients the body still needs. As blood passes through a nephron's initial filtering structure, a cluster of tiny blood vessels called a glomerulus, water and small dissolved substances are filtered out into a collecting tubule, while blood cells and larger proteins remain in the bloodstream. As the filtered fluid travels through the remaining length of the nephron's tubule, most of the water and useful substances are carefully reabsorbed back into the bloodstream, leaving behind a concentrated waste solution that eventually becomes urine. Because nephrons cannot be regenerated once damaged, conditions that progressively destroy nephrons, such as prolonged uncontrolled diabetes or high blood pressure, can eventually lead to serious, irreversible kidney disease if left untreated.

According to the passage, what happens as filtered fluid travels through a nephron's tubule?

Most of the water and useful substances are reabsorbed back into the bloodstream. All fluid immediately becomes urine without any further processing. Blood cells and proteins pass freely into the collecting tubule. Damaged nephrons regenerate completely within a few weeks.

The Purpose of Crop Rotation

Crop rotation, the practice of systematically growing different types of crops in the same field across successive growing seasons rather than planting the same crop repeatedly, has been used by farmers for thousands of years to maintain soil fertility. Different crops draw varying amounts and types of nutrients from the soil, so continuously growing the same crop can rapidly deplete specific nutrients while leaving others largely untouched, whereas alternating between crops with different nutrient needs allows soil fertility to recover more naturally between plantings. Rotation also helps interrupt the life cycles of pests and diseases that tend to specialise in attacking a single crop species, since a pest that thrives on one year's crop may find nothing suitable to feed on the following year if a different, unrelated crop is planted instead. Modern industrial agriculture, which frequently favours continuous single-crop planting for efficiency, has increasingly reintroduced rotation practices in response to declining soil health and rising pest resistance to chemical treatments.

According to the passage, how does crop rotation help manage pests and diseases?

It interrupts pest and disease life cycles that specialise in attacking a single crop species. It guarantees complete elimination of all agricultural pests permanently. It requires farmers to grow only a single crop species every single year. It has no measurable effect on pest or disease populations whatsoever.

PTE Reading Practice Test 9