Read to improve
Articles
Real reading passages to practise on. Select any word while reading to save it to your word bank.
350 articles in IELTS · page 10 of 15
The Attraction of Video Games
A. Video games, it is often claimed, are about wasting time. It is a misunderstanding that players and game makers have been trying to correct for many years. While movie…
The Baobabs of Madagascar
A. The island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean is the best place in the world to see baobabs. These spectacular trees, with their massive trunks and distinctive horizont…
The Baobabs of Madagascar
The ancient baobabs of Madagascar are some of the largest and most distinctive trees in the world, but they face an uncertain future. The island of Madagascar in the Indi…
The Beginning of Intelligence
The Beginning of Intelligence How artificial intelligence moved from a theoretical idea to one of the most transformative technologies in human history A. The idea that m…
The Bite That Heals
A. The bites and stings of insects, spiders, and other invertebrates have been the source of human pain, death, and fear throughout history. Yet the same toxic compounds …
The Blockbuster Phenomenon: a new museum trend
A. Since the 1980s, the term ‘blockbuster’ has become the fashionable word for spectacular, high-profile museum exhibitions that have the ability to attract large crowds.…
The Blockbuster Phenomenon: a new museum trend
Museums in Australia, like other pleasure-giving public organizations, are adapting their activities so that they more closely reflect the marketplace A Since the 1980s, …
The Cane Toad in Australia
The Cane Toad in Australia How a well-intentioned biological control measure became one of the most damaging invasive species introductions in history A. The cane toad, R…
The Cane Toad in Australia
A. The cane toad was introduced into Australia in 1935 to control sugar cane pests in Queensland. One hundred and one cane toads arrived at Edmonton in June in 1935. Bree…
The Cassava Revolution
The Cassava Revolution C assava -- a starchy root crop native to South America -- has quietly become one of the most important food plants on Earth. Cultivated across tro…
The Clipper Races: An Era of Competition
The Clipper Races: An Era of Competition Between Cargo Ships How the fastest sailing ships ever built turned ocean trade into high-speed competition he era of the clipper…
The Clipper Races: an era of competition between cargo ships
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British East India Company had the monopoly on trade with China and India. This meant that because no rival could leg…
The Constant Evolution of the Humble Tomato
Heirloom tomatoes – varieties passed down through generations of a family for their good flavour – are really no more 'natural' than grocery-store varieties. New studies …
The Dark Side of the Technological Boom
What are the effects on the individual of working in modern technological workplaces? Changes in the way we work and how our offices are structured come at us faster and …
The Davies Sisters
Between 1908 and 1924, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies amassed one of the largest collections of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century French paintings in Britain. G…
The Development of the Silk Industry
The Development of the Silk Industry How the world's most prized fabric shaped trade, technology, and geopolitics across three millennia A. Silk is one of the oldest and …
The Developmental Tasks of Adolescence
The Developmental Tasks of Adolescence What adolescents must achieve -- and why the process is more complex than it appears A Adolescence -- the transitional period betwe…
The Digital Diet
The Digital Diet How the explosion of digital media is changing the way we think, learn, and relate to one another — and what to do about it A. In 2007, the average Ameri…
The Discovery of Uranus
The Discovery of Uranus How William Herschel accidentally doubled the known size of the solar system — and transformed astronomy forever A. On the night of 13 March 1781,…
The Dugong: Sea Cow
The Dugong: Sea Cow The biology, behaviour, and conservation challenges facing the world's last truly herbivorous marine mammal he dugong (Dugong dugon) is the sole livin…
The Dunedin study
A The New Zealand city of Dunedin in the early 1970s can easily be made to sound idyllic. There was next to no unemployment and people left their doors unlocked at night.…
The Ecological Importance of Bees
The Ecological Importance of Bees How the world's most important pollinators sustain both natural ecosystems and human food supplies A The relationship between bees and f…
The Economic Effect of Climate
A. Dr William Masters was reading a book about mosquitoes when an idea struck him. 'There was this anecdote about the yellow fever epidemic that hit Philadelphia in 1793.…
The Effectiveness of an Online Course
A. As access to the internet has continued to grow, web-based learning has continued to expand. With approximately half of the households in the United States (or 150 mil…