IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 16 with Answers

This IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test consists of three reading passages. Passage 1 is titled "Frozen Food"; Passage 2 covers "  Can The Planet’s Coral Reefs Be Saved?"; and Passage 3 focuses on "  Robots And Us". The test includes a variety of question types, such as True/False/Not Given, Note Completion, Sentence Completion, Matching Features, Matching Sentence Ending, Multiple Choice, Match the Following and Matching Headings. You have 60 minutes to complete the entire test.

Passage 1 {Q1–Q13}

Frozen Food
Q1–7 Note Completion
Q8–13 True / False / Not Given

Passage 2 {Q14–Q26}

Can The Planet’s Coral Reefs Be Saved?
Q14–19 Matching Headings
Q20–23 Multiple Choice Questions
Q24–26 Sentence Completion

Passage 3 {Q27–Q40}

Robots And Us
Q27–33 Matching Features
Q34–36 Matching Sentence Endings
Q37–40 Multiple Choice Questions

READING ACADEMIC: TEST PAPER 16

Passage 1

Read the text and answer questions 1-13

Frozen Food

A US perspective on the development of the frozen food industry

At some point in history, humans discovered that ice preserved food. There is evidence that winter ice was stored to preserve food in the summer as far back as 10,000 years ago. Two thousand years ago, the inhabitants of South America’s Andean mountains had a unique means of conserving potatoes for later consumption. They froze them overnight, then trampled them to squeeze out the moisture, and finally dried them in the sun. This process preserved their nutritional value, even if it reduced their aesthetic appeal.

Natural ice remained the main form of refrigeration until the late 19th century. In the early 1800s, ship owners from Boston, United States, had enormous blocks of Arctic ice towed across the Atlantic to preserve food. In 1851, railroads began placing blocks of ice in insulated rail cars to transport butter from Ogdensburg, New York, to Boston.

In 1870, Australian inventors developed a method of producing “mechanical ice.” They used a compressor to force a gas—initially ammonia, later Freon — through a condenser. As the gas moved through the condenser, it released heat. It was then rapidly released into a low-pressure evaporator coil, where it became cold. Air blown over the evaporator coil cooled and was directed into an insulated compartment, reducing the temperature to freezing point.

This invention was first intended to keep Australian beer cool in hot weather. However, Australian cattle farmers quickly realised that the technology could allow them to export frozen meat overseas. In 1880, a shipment of frozen Australian beef and mutton was sent to England. Although the meat remained edible, its flavour and texture were damaged because ice crystals formed within the food’s cells. As the ice expanded, the cells burst, causing deterioration.

The modern frozen food industry began with the indigenous Inuit people of Canada. In 1912, a biology student from Massachusetts named Clarence Birdseye travelled to Labrador to trap and trade furs. While there, he observed how the Inuit quickly froze fish in the Arctic air. Remarkably, the fish retained their fresh appearance and taste even months later.

Birdseye returned to the United States in 1917 and began developing mechanical freezers capable of quick-freezing food. Over time, he improved his methods and built a business selling frozen fish from Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1929, his company was sold and became part of General Foods, where he continued as director of research and maintained innovation in frozen food technology.

Birdseye introduced several key advancements. He perfected quick-freezing methods that minimised damage from ice crystals. He also pioneered freezing food in its retail packaging and introduced cellophane, the first transparent food packaging material, allowing customers to see the product. His products were packaged in convenient sizes that required minimal preparation.

Despite these innovations, challenges remained. In the 1930s, few grocery stores could afford freezers for an unproven market. Birdseye addressed this by leasing inexpensive freezer cases and insulated railroad cars to distribute products nationwide. However, many households still lacked sufficiently large or efficient home freezers.

Sales rose significantly in the early 1940s during World War II. Tin was needed for munitions, so canned foods were rationed, while frozen foods were plentiful and affordable. By the 1950s, refrigerator technology had improved and become affordable for average families. By 1953, 33 million American households owned a refrigerator, and freezer compartments were steadily increasing in size.

Families in the 1950s also sought convenience in meal preparation. In 1954, Swanson Foods introduced the first “TV Dinner,” using some of Birdseye’s freezing techniques. The meal—frozen turkey, potatoes, and vegetables—was served in a segmented aluminium tray similar to those used by airlines. With strong advertising and an appealing name, the product achieved immediate success. Within a year, 13 million units were sold. By 1959, Americans were spending $2.7 billion annually on frozen foods, including half a billion dollars on ready-prepared meals like the TV Dinner.

Today, the United States frozen food industry generates more than $67 billion annually. Of this, $26.6 billion comes from consumer purchases for home use, while the remaining $40 billion comes from restaurants, cafeterias, hospitals, and schools, accounting for roughly one-third of total food service sales.

Questions 1–7

Complete the notes below.

The history of frozen food

• 2,000 years ago, South America

  • People conserved the nutritional value of 1. __________, using a method of freezing then drying.

• 1851, USA

  • 2. __________ was kept cool by ice during transportation in specially adapted trains.

• 1880, Australia
  • Two kinds of 3. __________ were the first frozen food shipped to England.
• 1917 onwards, USA
  • Clarence Birdseye introduced innovations, including:
  • quick-freezing methods, so that 4. __________ did not spoil the food.
  • packaging products with 5. __________, so the product was visible.
• Early 1940s, USA
  • Frozen food became popular because of a shortage of 6. __________.
• 1950s, USA
  • A large number of homes now had a 7. __________.

Questions 8–13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

Write:

8. The ice transportation business made some Boston ship owners very wealthy in the early 1800s.

9. A disadvantage of the freezing process invented in Australia was that it affected the taste of food.

10. Clarence Birdseye travelled to Labrador in order to learn how the Inuit people freeze fish.

11. Swanson Foods invested a great deal of money in the promotion of the TV Dinner.

12. Swanson Foods developed a new style of container for the launch of the TV Dinner.

13. The US frozen food industry is currently the largest in the world.

Section 2

Read the text and answer questions 14-26

Can The Planet’s Coral Reefs Be Saved?

A. Conservationists have put the final touches on a giant artificial reef they have been assembling at the world-renowned Zoological Society of London (London Zoo). Samples of the planet’s most spectacular corals – vivid green branching coral, yellow scroll, blue ridge and many more species – have been added to the giant tank along with fish that thrive in their presence: blue tang, clownfish and many others. The reef is in the zoo’s new gallery, Tiny Giants, which is dedicated to the minuscule invertebrate creatures that sustain life across the planet. The coral reef tank and its seven-metre-wide window form the core of the exhibition.

‘Coral reefs are the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, and we want to show people how wonderful they are,’ said Paul Pearce-Kelly, senior curator of invertebrates and fish at the Zoological Society of London. ‘However, we also want to highlight the research and conservation efforts that are now being carried out to try to save them from the threat of global warming.’ They want people to see what is being done to try to save these wonders.

B. Corals are composed of tiny animals, known as polyps, with tentacles for capturing small marine creatures in the seawater. These polyps are transparent but get their brilliant tones of pink, orange, blue, green, etc. from algae that live within them, which in turn get protection, while their photosynthesising of the sun’s rays provides nutrients for the polyps. This comfortable symbiotic relationship has led to the growth of coral reefs that cover 0.1% of the planet’s ocean bed while providing homes for more than 25% of marine species, including fish, molluscs, sponges and shellfish.

C. As a result, coral reefs are often described as the ‘rainforests of the sea’, though the comparison is dismissed by some naturalists, including David Attenborough. ‘People say you cannot beat the rainforest,’ Attenborough has stated. ‘But that is simply not true. You go there, and the first thing you think is: where are the birds? Where are the animals? They are hiding in the trees, of course. No, if you want beauty and wildlife, you want a coral reef. Put on a mask and stick your head under the water. The sight is mindblowing.’

D. Unfortunately, these majestic sights are now under very serious threat, with the most immediate problem coming in the form of thermal stress. Rising ocean temperatures are triggering bleaching events that strip reefs of their colour and eventually kill them. And that is just the start. Other menaces include ocean acidification, sea level increase, pollution by humans, deoxygenation and ocean current changes, while the climate crisis is also increasing habitat destruction. As a result, vast areas – including massive chunks of the Great Barrier Reef – have already been destroyed, and scientists advise that more than 90% of reefs could be lost by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to tackle global heating and greenhouse gas emissions.

Pearce-Kelly says that coral reefs have to survive really harsh conditions – wave erosion and other factors. And when things start to go wrong in the oceans, then corals will be the first to react. And that is exactly what we are seeing now. Coral reefs are dying, and they are telling us that all is not well with our planet.’

E. However, scientists are trying to pinpoint hardy types of coral that could survive our overheated oceans, and some of this research will be carried out at London Zoo. ‘Behind our … coral reef tank, we have built laboratories where scientists will be studying coral species,’ said Pearce-Kelly. One aim will be to carry out research on species to find those that can survive best in warm, acidic waters. Another will be to try to increase coral breeding rates. ‘Coral spawn just once a year,’ he added. However, aquarium-based research has enabled some corals to spawn artificially, which can assist coral reef restoration efforts. And if this can be extended for all species, we could consider the launching of coral-spawning programmes several times a year. That would be a big help in restoring blighted reefs.’

F. Research in these fields is being conducted in laboratories around the world, with the London Zoo centre linked to this global network. Studies carried out in one centre can then be tested in others. The resulting young coral can then be displayed in the tank in Tiny Giants. ‘The crucial point is that the progress we make in making coral better able to survive in a warming world can be shown to the public and encourage them to believe that we can do something to save the planet’s reefs,’ said Pearce-Kelly. ‘Saving our coral reefs is now a critically important ecological goal.’

Questions 14–19

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

i) Tried and tested solutions

ii) Cooperation beneath the waves

iii) Working to lessen the problems

iv) Disagreement about the accuracy of a certain phrase

v) Two clear educational goals

vi) Promoting hope

vii) A warning of further trouble ahead

14. Paragraph A ______

15. Paragraph B ______

16. Paragraph C ______

17. Paragraph D ______

18. Paragraph E ______

19. Paragraph F ______

Questions 20–21

Choose TWO letters, A–E.

Which TWO of these causes of damage to coral reefs are mentioned by the writer of the text?

A. a rising number of extreme storms

B. the removal of too many fish from the sea

C. the contamination of the sea from waste

D. increased disease among marine species

E. alterations in the usual flow of water in the seas

Questions 22–23

Choose TWO letters, A–E.

Which TWO of the following statements are true of the researchers at London Zoo?

A. They are hoping to expand the number of different corals being bred in laboratories.

B. They want to identify corals that can cope well with the changed sea conditions.

C. They are looking at ways of creating artificial reefs that corals could grow on.

D. They are trying out methods that would speed up reproduction in some corals.

E. They are investigating materials that might protect reefs from higher temperatures.

Questions 24–26

Complete the sentences below.

Corals have a number of 24. ______ which they use to collect their food.

Algae gain 25. ______ from being inside the coral.

Increases in the warmth of the sea water can remove the 26. ______ from coral.

Section 3

Read the text and answer questions 27-40

Robots And Us

Three leaders in their fields answer questions about our relationships with robots. When asked, ‘Should robots be used to colonise other planets?’, cosmology and astrophysics Professor Martin Rees said he believed the solar system would be mapped by robotic craft by the end of the century. ‘The next step would be mining of asteroids, enabling fabrication of large structures in space without having to bring all the raw materials from Earth…. I think this is more realistic and benign than the … “terraforming”* of planets.’ He maintains that colonised planets should be preserved with a status that is analogous to Antarctica here on Earth.’

On the question of using robots to colonise other planets and exploit mineral resources, engineering Professor Daniel Wolpert replied, ‘I don’t see a pressing need to colonise other planets unless we can bring [these] resources back to Earth. The vast majority of Earth is currently inaccessible to us. Using robots to gather resources nearer to home would seem to be a better use of our robotic tools.’

Meanwhile, for anthropology Professor Kathleen Richardson, the idea of ‘colonisation’ of other planets seemed morally dubious: ‘I think whether we do something on Earth or on Mars we should always do it in the spirit of a genuine interest in “the Other”, not to impose a particular model, but to meet “the Other”.’

In response to the second question, ‘How soon will machine intelligence outstrip human intelligence?’, Rees mentions robots that are advanced enough to beat humans at chess, but then goes on to say, ‘Robots are still limited in their ability to sense their environment: they can’t yet recognise and move the pieces on a real chessboard as cleverly as a child can. Later this century, however, their more advanced successors may relate to their surroundings and to people as adeptly as we do. Moral questions then arise. … Should we feel guilty about exploiting [sophisticated robots]? Should we fret if they are underemployed, frustrated, or bored?’

Wolpert’s response to the question about machine intelligence outstripping human intelligence was this: ‘In a limited sense, it already has. Machines can already navigate, remember and search for items with an ability that far outstrips humans. However, there is no machine that can identify visual objects or speech with the reliability and flexibility of humans…. Expecting a machine close to the creative intelligence of a human within the next 50 years would be highly ambitious.’

Richardson believes that our fear of machines becoming too advanced has more to do with human nature than anything intrinsic to the machines themselves. In her view, it stems from humans’ tendency to personify inanimate objects: we create machines based on representations of ourselves, imagine that machines think and behave as we do, and therefore see them as an autonomous threat. ‘One of the consequences of thinking that the problem lies with machines is that we tend to imagine they are greater and more powerful than they really are, and subsequently they become so.’

This led on to the third question, ‘Should we be scared by advances in artificial intelligence?’ To this question, Rees replied, ‘Those who should be worried are the futurologists who believe in the so-called “singularity”.** … And another worry is that we are increasingly dependent on computer networks, and that these could behave like a single “brain” with a mind of its own, and with goals that may be contrary to human welfare. I think we should ensure that robots remain as no more than “idiot savants” lacking the capacity to outwit us, even though they may greatly surpass us in the ability to calculate and process information.’

Wolpert’s response was to say that we have already seen the damaging effects of artificial intelligence in the form of computer viruses. ‘But in this case,’ he says, ‘the real intelligence is the malicious designer. Critically, the benefits of computers outweigh the damage that computer viruses cause. Similarly, while there may be misuses of robotics in the near future, the benefits that they will bring are likely to outweigh these negative aspects.’

Richardson’s response to this question was this: ‘We need to ask why fears of artificial intelligence and robots persist; none have in fact risen up and challenged human supremacy.’ She believes that, as robots have never shown themselves to be a threat to humans, it seems unlikely that they ever will. In fact, she went on, ‘Not all fear [robots]; many people welcome machine intelligence.’

In answer to the fourth question, ‘What can science fiction tell us about robotics?’, Rees replied, ‘I sometimes advise students that it’s better to read first-rate science fiction than second-rate science — more stimulating, and perhaps no more likely to be wrong.’

As his response, Wolpert commented, ‘Science fiction has often been remarkable at predicting the future. Science fiction has painted a vivid spectrum of possible futures, from cute and helpful robots to dystopian robotic societies. Interestingly, almost no science fiction envisages a future without robots.’ Finally, on the question of science fiction, Richardson pointed out that in modern society, people tend to think there is reality on the one hand, and fiction and fantasy on the other. She then explained that the division did not always exist, and that scientists and technologists made this separation because they wanted to carve out the sphere of their work. ‘But the divide is not so clear cut, and that is why the worlds seem to collide at times,’ she said. ‘In some cases, we need to bring these different understandings together to get a whole perspective. Perhaps then, we won’t be so frightened that something we create as a copy of ourselves will be a threat to us.’

* terraforming: modifying a planet’s atmosphere to suit human needs
** singularity: the point when robots will be able to start creating ever more sophisticated versions of themselves

Questions 27–33

Match each statement with the correct expert, A, B or C.

List of Experts

A. Martin Rees

B. Daniel Wolpert

C. Kathleen Richardson

27. For our own safety, humans will need to restrict the abilities of robots.

28. The risk of robots harming us is less serious than humans believe it to be.

29. It will take many decades for robot intelligence to be as imaginative as human intelligence.

30. We may have to start considering whether we are treating robots fairly.

31. Robots are probably of more help to us on Earth than in space.

32. The ideas in high-quality science fiction may prove to be just as accurate as those found in the work of mediocre scientists.

33. There are those who look forward to robots developing greater intelligence.

Questions 34–36

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–D, below.

A. Robots to explore outer space.

B. Advances made in machine intelligence so far.

C. Changes made to other planets for our own benefit.

D. The harm already done by artificial intelligence.

34. Richardson and Rees express similar views regarding the ethical aspect of ______

35. Rees and Wolpert share an opinion about the extent of ______

36. Wolpert disagrees with Richardson on the question of ______

Questions 37–40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

37. What point does Richardson make about fear of machines?

A. It has grown alongside the development of ever more advanced robots.

B. It is the result of our inclination to attribute human characteristics to non-human entities.

C. It has its origins in basic misunderstandings about how inanimate objects function.

D. It demonstrates a key difference between human intelligence and machine intelligence.

38. What potential advance does Rees see as a cause for concern?

A. Robots outnumbering people

B. Robots having abilities which humans do not have

C. Artificial intelligence is developing independent thought

D. Artificial intelligence is taking over every aspect of our lives

39. What does Wolpert emphasise in his response to the question about science fiction?

A. How science fiction influences our attitudes to robots

B. How fundamental robots are to the science fiction genre

C. How the image of robots in science fiction has changed over time

D. How reactions to similar portrayals of robots in science fiction may vary

40. What is Richardson doing in her comment about reality and fantasy?

A. Warning people not to confuse one with the other

B. Outlining ways in which one has impacted the other

C. Recommending a change of approach in how people view them

D. Explaining why scientists have a different perspective on them from other people

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