PTE Reading: Practice Questions - 2 | Practice Tests for PTE PDF Download

Reading & Writing: Fill In The Blanks

Q1: Below is a text with blanks. Fill the appropriate answer choice from the given options for each blank.

The French are hardly _____(1)_____ in believing that their language is especially poetic, emotional, logical, precise, accessible or rich. But it turns ___(2)____ that the things people prize in their own languages can often be the same things foreign learners hate. Take the formal-informal distinction in words for 'you'. German and French have one word to refer to friends and family, and ___(3)____ for unknown adults and formal speech. Natives of those languages miss that distinction when speaking English. Those whose languages (like English) don't make it in the first place often ___(4)____ having this choice forced on them in French or German.
Given below are the answer choices for the blanks in the passage. Choose one option for each blank.
1. alone / true / wrong / known
2. out / up / down / in
3. other / another / except / post
4. resent / respect / restore / respond

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Q2: Below is a text with blanks. Fill the appropriate answer choice from the given options for each blank.

In part, Japan's preoccupation with cleanliness is _____(1)_____ out of practical concerns. In a hot, humid environment like Japan's, food goes off quickly. Bacteria flourish. Bug life abounds. So good hygiene means good health. But it goes deeper than that. Cleanliness is a central part of Buddhism, which arrived between the 6th and 8th Centuries. In fact, in the Zen version of Buddhism, daily ___(2)____ like cleaning and cooking are considered spiritual exercises, no different from meditating. Well, long before the arrival of Buddhism, Japan already had its own ___(3)____ religion with cleanliness at the heart of it. So, Buddhism's emphasis on cleanliness merely ___(4)____ what the Japanese already practiced.
Given below are the answer choices for the blanks in the passage. Choose one option for each blank.
1. born / start / designed / found
2. briefs / routines / occupations / paths
3. primitive / indigenous / pure / ancient
4. reinforced / sanctioned / survived / banished

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Q3: Below is a text with blanks. Fill the appropriate answer choice from the given options for each blank.

Throughout history, people have viewed springs as mystical. From the warm pools of Roman Bath, whence sheets of lead inscribed with prayers have been recovered, to the gassy waters beneath the Oracle of Delphi that are thought to have stimulated the visions experienced by sacred priestesses, these _____(1)_____ have been sought out for purposes of divination. Researchers think the ___(2)____ of ancient springs can be used to help monitor climates of the past by dating when warm and cold periods occurred. As ice ages end and the world ___(3)____ up, underground water flows will increase simultaneously all around the planet. Moreover, as water travels through the ground it dissolves and picks up minerals, particularly calcium carbonate. When it subsequently bubbles to the surface, it ___(4)____ these minerals as a type of limestone called travertine, which has bands in it that reveal by their thickness approximately how long the water which created them was flowing.
Given below are the answer choices for the blanks in the passage. Choose one option for each blank.
1. sites / memories / spirits / prayers
2. remnants / mysteries / purpose / experiences
3. freezes / thaws / dries / warms
4. streams / restores / deposits / channels

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Q4: Below is a text with blanks. Fill the appropriate answer choice from the given options for each blank.

Most full-time _____(1)_____ spend about 40 hours each week on the job, accounting for roughly 35 percent of their waking moments. That's a huge emotional, physical, and mental ___(2)____. Accordingly, greater numbers of employees are seeking jobs at places where they can feel at home and forge real relationships. As a leader, you should keep this at the forefront of your mind. Improving rapport among your employees is a ___(3)____ strategy for enhancing engagement, and good communication plays a major role in that effort. It might seem odd to think that adults need help talking with their ___(4)____, but strong communication skills may not always come naturally. Office environment can play a part, especially if you have multiple locations.
Given below are the answer choices for the blanks in the passage. Choose one option for each blank.

1. people / tasks / adults / workers
2. commitment / breakdown / balance / opportunity
3. advantage / notorious / desperate / valuable
4. colleagues / therapists / partners / children

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Q5: Below is a text with blanks. Fill the appropriate answer choice from the given options for each blank.
The wind blows more strongly at higher altitudes. That is why wind turbines have grown ever _____(1)_____. The blade tips of today's biggest now reach up a dizzying 260 metres, the height of the Transamerica building in San Francisco. Many dream of capturing stronger winds even higher up than that, but building taller turbine masts and constructing blades able to ___(2)____ the terrifying stresses involved in high-altitude wind gathering are costly. A number of firms are therefore developing a different and, they hope, ultimately cheaper approach to ___(3)____ electricity at great heights. Their idea is to skip the mast altogether. Instead, they propose to ___(4)____ kites. The kite developed by a German firm is a rectangular parachute-like structure attached to an 800-metre-long tether. This tether starts off coiled around a horizontal drum that is mounted on an axle which is anchored at each end in the shipping container in which the system's generator is housed.
Given below are the answer choices for the blanks in the passage. Choose one option for each blank.
1. taller / better / wider / longer
2. course / resume / create / withstand
3. generating / finding / making / irrigating
4. fly / launch / catapult / merge

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Reading: Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers

Q6: Read the text and answer the question by choosing correct options. More than one option is correct.
Which of these are true according to the passage?
Question Passage
Ink, fluid or paste of various colours, but usually black or dark blue, is used for writing and printing. It is composed of a pigment or dye dissolved or dispersed in a liquid called the vehicle.
Writing inks date from about 2500 BC and were used in ancient Egypt and China. They consisted of lampblack ground with a solution of glue or gums, molded into sticks, and allowed to dry. Before use, the sticks were mixed with water. Various coloured juices, extracts, and suspensions of substances from plants, animals, and minerals also have been used as inks. For many centuries, a mixture of a soluble iron salt with an extract of tannin was used as a writing ink and is the basis of modern blue-black inks. The modern inks usually contain an iron salt with a small amount of mineral organic acid. The resulting solution is light bluish black and, if used alone on paper, appears only faintly. After standing it becomes darker and insoluble in water, which gives it a permanent quality. To make the writing darker and more legible at the outset, dyes are added. Modern coloured inks and washable inks contain soluble synthetic dyes as the sole colouring matter. The writing fades in strong light and rinses out of washable fabrics but lasts for many years if not subjected to such effects.
The Chinese experimented with printing at least as early as AD 500, with inks from plant substances mixed with coloured earths and soot or lampblack. When the printing press was invented in Germany in about 1440, inks were made by mixing varnish or boiled linseed oil with lampblack. For more than 300 years such inks continued to be used with little modification in their composition.
Options:
1. Soluble dyes are what give modern washable inks their colour.
2. For centuries after the printing press was invented, ink was made with plant substances.
3. The blueish-black colour of ink is due to the mixing of an iron salt with tannin.
4. The vehicle refers to the intensity of the pigment in modern ink.
5. Soluble sticks of lampblack and glue were used as ink in ancient China.

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Reading: Re-order Paragraphs

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Q8: The text items below have been placed in a random order. Restore the original order by selecting the correct sequence.
1. Whereas self-esteem entails competence, confidence, achievement and self-satisfaction.
2. Respect from others entails recognition, acceptance, status and appreciation.
3. These needs are basic in human life, and all rational individuals want these needs to be fulfilled otherwise they may feel neglected, weak and inferior.
4. Maslow in his famous need hierarchy describes two kinds of self-esteem, first is the need of getting respect from others and the other is the need for self-respect.

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Q9: The text items below have been placed in a random order. Restore the original order by selecting the correct sequence.
Options:
1. Aryabhatta was also the first to explain the systematic pattern that leads to the eclipses - both lunar and solar.
2. Developments in the field of astronomy and metaphysics that took place in India at the time of Aryabhatta had an impact on the works of many scientists in the times to come.
3. By giving the world, the decimal system and trigonometry, India influenced the Arab way of thinking in the most varied realm of
astronomy.
4. His book, when translated into Arabic, proved to be of great significance in the Arab exploration of the astronomical conundrum.
5. The importance of his findings and explanations can be adjudged by the fact that his theories hold good even in the present times.

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Reading: Fill In The Blanks

Q10: In the text below some words are missing. choose words from the given options appropriate place in the text.
Most online fraud involves identity _____(1)_____, which is why businesses that operate on the web have a keen interest in distinguishing impersonators from genuine customers. Passwords help. But many can be guessed or are jotted ___(2)____ imprudently. Newer phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers often have beefed-up ___(3)____ with fingerprint and facial recognition. But these can be spoofed. To overcome these shortcomings, the ___(4)____ level of security is likely to identify people using things which are harder to copy, such as the way they walk.

Options: (down, scrutiny, theft, next, security, up, mobility)

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Q11: In the text below some words are missing. choose words from the given options appropriate place in the text.
During the Second World War, American troops in the Far East were said to have two foes. The first was _____(1)_____ soldiers. One propaganda poster depicted an enemy's sabre, slick with blood. The second adversary had no sword but was terrifying all the ___(2)____. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes ___(3)____ around 60% of Americans stationed in the Pacific at least once. Some drugs could help, but nasty side-effects meant that some soldiers shunned their daily ___(4)____ -with predictable consequences.

Options: (same, gigantic, effects, burned, dose, infected, enemy)

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Q12: In the text below some words are missing. choose words from the given options appropriate place in the text.
A professor of linguistics reckons a conservative _____(1)_____ of the number of grammatical, 20-word sentences a human might ___(2)____ is at least a hundred million trillion - far more than the number of grains of sand on Earth. Most can easily be made longer. In theory, the only thing ___(3)____ this power from being literally infinite is the human lifespan: some possible sentences would be too long to say even in three score ___(4)____ and ten.

Options: (years, times, preventing, produce, estimate, number, enhancing)

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Q13: In the text below some words are missing. choose words from the given options appropriate place in the text.

Ornithologists apprehend that climate change will throw the nesting activities of _____(1)_____ out of sync with the availability of food for the raising of chicks. One species, however, is proving to be remarkably adaptable. Upon returning to Europe from their African wintering ___(2)____, the birds time their egg-laying to the short period when juicy caterpillars are ___(3)____ abundant. During the past three decades this caterpillar peak has advanced by three weeks. The birds initially had difficulty adjusting, but over time, they have started ___(4)____ their eggs earlier to grab the caterpillars.

Options: (least, laying, animals, snow, grounds, birds, most)

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Reading: Multiple Choice, Choose Single Answer

Q14: Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.
According to the passage, which of these impacts do cattle have on the environment?
Question Passage
Cattle have always had an impact on their environment. But in New Zealand the situation is particularly noxious. Bovine burps have contributed to a 23% rise in Kiwi greenhouse-gas emissions since 1990. The nitrogen-rich cow urine leaches off soil into waterways, where it acts like a fertiliser. Together with phosphorus, which is carried into rivers in soil particles, it can cause slime and toxic algae to grow. Toxic algae have killed at least 70 dogs since 2006. Too much nitrogen is toxic to fish, and excessive growth of algae depletes the oxygen in the water. Further damage comes from manure, which carries nasty bacteria such as E. coli. Cows have an unfortunate fondness for wading, which means that their faeces are often deposited in water.
Options:
1. The need for grazing pasture has led to large-scale deforestation to make way for grasslands.
2. Cattle burp out nitrogen which deteriorates air quality.
3. The leaching of cattle faeces into the soil disrupts the quality of river water.
4. Cattle attack and kill other wildlife like dogs and fish.

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