Here is an IELTS reading passage.
Remember that the IELTS reading test is a test of reading speed. It is important to time yourself when you do a reading passage. You should be able to complete a passage within 20 minutes.
LEGUMES
A The health benefit of legumes has been widely known for centuries. Also known as pulses or, more commonly, beans, they belong to an extremely large category of vegetables containing over 13,000 species. Only grains supply more calories and protein to the world’s population. Today, agricultural researchers and scientists are experimenting with varieties of legumes that are easier to harvest, more resistant to disease and yield better crops.
B Beans are often referred to as to ‘the poor person’s meat but this label is unfair-considering the health benefits of legumes, they should really be called ‘the healthy alternative to meat’. Beans contain a rich and varied supply of nutritional substances, which are vital for keeping in good health. Diets rich in beans are used to help with a variety of health issue including lowering cholesterol levels, improving blood sugar control diabetics, reducing the risk of many cancers, lowering the risk of heart disease and lowering blood pressure. Beans are a good source of protein but are often considered to be an ‘incomplete’ protein as they lack the essential amino acids that we need to complete our diet. Foods from animals (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products), on the other hand, contain protein and amino acids. However, many cultures combine beans with grains to form a complete protein that is a high quality substitute for meat-rice and soy in Japan, corn and beans in Mexico, rice and lentils in the Middle East. Beans are also a good source of fibre, giving a consumer between 5 and 8.6 grams of fibre per 100 grams eaten. Fibre is an important ingredient in a healthy diet with great benefits to our digestive system and in reducing cholesterol levels, which in turn reduces our risk of heart disease. Fibre also helps us to feel full and control our appetite.
C Why it is important to substitute meat as possible? First of all, because of the health implications-red meat in particular has a high fat content. Secondly, antibiotics and other chemicals are used in the raising of poultry and cattle. Thirdly, the cost to the environment is much greater in raising cattle than it is in growing crops. To produce a kilogram of beef, farmers need the cow 15 kilograms of grain and a further 30 kilograms of forage.
D Little wonder then that legumes have been used from ancient times. According to Trevor Brice in Life and Society in the Hittite World, the Hittites, an ancient people living in Anatolia from the eighteenth century BC, ate a wide variety of legumes including peas, beans, faba beans, chickpeas and lentils. And in ancient Egypt, Ramses II is known to have offered 11,998 jars of beans to the god of the Nile. Archaeologists have found the remains of legumes on land beneath Lake Assad in Syria dating back to 8,000 BC and, astonishingly, a 4,000-year-old lentil seed found during an excavation in Turkey has been germinated, allowing scientists to compare the ancient variety with the organic and genetically engineered varieties of today. Professor Nejat Bilgen from Dumlupinar University, who led the archaeological team, said that the lentils were found in a container dating from the Bronze age. The plant grow from the ancient lentil was found to be ‘pretty weak’ in comparison with modern varieties.
E Modern agricultural research has tended to focus on grain production, breeding new varieties of wheat and other crops rather than improving the varieties of legumes, which can suffer from low yields and unstable harvests. For this reason, farmers started to abandon them in favour of more dependable crops, which had had the benefits of scientific improvement. Recently, scientists have turned to legumes to identify desirable characteristics such as height, good crop production and resistance to pets in order to cross different plants with each other and produce a new improved variety. Using traditional breeding method agriculture scientists are transforming the faba bean into a variety that is easier to grow. Traditional varieties are un dependable as they rely on insects to pollinate them. But faba beans types that can self-fertilise naturally were discovered and this gene is being bred into new varieties. Other faba bean varieties have been found that produce higher yields or shorter crops. Faba bean plants tends to grow tall and fall over in the field making them difficult to harvest mechanically so breeding plants that are 50% shorter means they are more stable. Unlike the traditional plants, the new faba beans plants end in the flower this means that more of the plant’s energy is transformed into producing beans instead of unusable foliage.
F With the new varieties, farmers in some regions are achieving a marked rise in production – between 10 to 20% improvement. Scientists have also managed to develop a commercial faba bean able to resist the parasitic weed Orobanche, which has been known to destroy whole fields of the crop. The future of legumes and the farmers who grow them is becoming brighter. Legumes are an important source of nourishment for humans and also for the soil: the beans take nitrogen directly from the atmosphere and fix it into the soil to provide nutrients for other crops and save the farmer the cost of artificial fertilizer. Making legumes a profitable crop for the future may prove an essential factor in feeding growing populations.
Passage 1
Questions 1-5
Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-D and F from the list of headings below.
Questions 6-11
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
8. Antibiotics are used when farming animals for food.
9. Scientists have the opportunity to see how similar modern and ancient lentil plants are.
10.Agricultural scientists are making the faba beans easier to grow in dry areas.
11. New varieties of faba beans can destroy parasitic weeds
Question 12
What is the best title for Reading Passage 1?
Choose the correct letter A, B or C.
A.The health benefits of beans and pulses
B.Diet in ancient times
C.Agricultural scientists give legumes a new lease of life
B Beans are often referred to as to ‘the poor person’s meat but this label is unfair-considering the health benefits of legumes, they should really be called ‘the healthy alternative to meat’. Beans contain a rich and varied supply of nutritional substances, which are vital for keeping in good health. Diets rich in beans are used to help with a variety of health issue including lowering cholesterol levels, improving blood sugar control diabetics, reducing the risk of many cancers, lowering the risk of heart disease and lowering blood pressure. Beans are a good source of protein but are often considered to be an ‘incomplete’ protein as they lack the essential amino acids that we need to complete our diet. Foods from animals (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products), on the other hand, contain protein and amino acids. However, many cultures combine beans with grains to form a complete protein that is a high quality substitute for meat-rice and soy in Japan, corn and beans in Mexico, rice and lentils in the Middle East. Beans are also a good source of fibre, giving a consumer between 5 and 8.6 grams of fibre per 100 grams eaten. Fibre is an important ingredient in a healthy diet with great benefits to our digestive system and in reducing cholesterol levels, which in turn reduces our risk of heart disease. Fibre also helps us to feel full and control our appetite.
C Why it is important to substitute meat as possible? First of all, because of the health implications-red meat in particular has a high fat content. Secondly, antibiotics and other chemicals are used in the raising of poultry and cattle. Thirdly, the cost to the environment is much greater in raising cattle than it is in growing crops. To produce a kilogram of beef, farmers need the cow 15 kilograms of grain and a further 30 kilograms of forage.
D Little wonder then that legumes have been used from ancient times. According to Trevor Brice in Life and Society in the Hittite World, the Hittites, an ancient people living in Anatolia from the eighteenth century BC, ate a wide variety of legumes including peas, beans, faba beans, chickpeas and lentils. And in ancient Egypt, Ramses II is known to have offered 11,998 jars of beans to the god of the Nile. Archaeologists have found the remains of legumes on land beneath Lake Assad in Syria dating back to 8,000 BC and, astonishingly, a 4,000-year-old lentil seed found during an excavation in Turkey has been germinated, allowing scientists to compare the ancient variety with the organic and genetically engineered varieties of today. Professor Nejat Bilgen from Dumlupinar University, who led the archaeological team, said that the lentils were found in a container dating from the Bronze age. The plant grow from the ancient lentil was found to be ‘pretty weak’ in comparison with modern varieties.
E Modern agricultural research has tended to focus on grain production, breeding new varieties of wheat and other crops rather than improving the varieties of legumes, which can suffer from low yields and unstable harvests. For this reason, farmers started to abandon them in favour of more dependable crops, which had had the benefits of scientific improvement. Recently, scientists have turned to legumes to identify desirable characteristics such as height, good crop production and resistance to pets in order to cross different plants with each other and produce a new improved variety. Using traditional breeding method agriculture scientists are transforming the faba bean into a variety that is easier to grow. Traditional varieties are un dependable as they rely on insects to pollinate them. But faba beans types that can self-fertilise naturally were discovered and this gene is being bred into new varieties. Other faba bean varieties have been found that produce higher yields or shorter crops. Faba bean plants tends to grow tall and fall over in the field making them difficult to harvest mechanically so breeding plants that are 50% shorter means they are more stable. Unlike the traditional plants, the new faba beans plants end in the flower this means that more of the plant’s energy is transformed into producing beans instead of unusable foliage.
F With the new varieties, farmers in some regions are achieving a marked rise in production – between 10 to 20% improvement. Scientists have also managed to develop a commercial faba bean able to resist the parasitic weed Orobanche, which has been known to destroy whole fields of the crop. The future of legumes and the farmers who grow them is becoming brighter. Legumes are an important source of nourishment for humans and also for the soil: the beans take nitrogen directly from the atmosphere and fix it into the soil to provide nutrients for other crops and save the farmer the cost of artificial fertilizer. Making legumes a profitable crop for the future may prove an essential factor in feeding growing populations.
Passage 1
Questions 1-5
Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-D and F from the list of headings below.
List of Headings
i. Improvements to faba bean farming
ii. Increasing productivity to secure the future of legume farming
iii. The important of legumes
iv. The nutritional value of legumes
v. The effect of farming on the environment
vi. Legumes in the diet of ancient people
vii. The importance of reducing meat consumption
viii. Archaeological discoveries
ix. Legumes as a provider of protein
ii. Increasing productivity to secure the future of legume farming
iii. The important of legumes
iv. The nutritional value of legumes
v. The effect of farming on the environment
vi. Legumes in the diet of ancient people
vii. The importance of reducing meat consumption
viii. Archaeological discoveries
ix. Legumes as a provider of protein
- Paragraph A
- Paragraph B
- Paragraph C
- Paragraph D
- Paragraph F
Example Answer
Paragraph E i
Questions 6-11
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
7. Beans can help to cure health diseases.FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
8. Antibiotics are used when farming animals for food.
9. Scientists have the opportunity to see how similar modern and ancient lentil plants are.
10.Agricultural scientists are making the faba beans easier to grow in dry areas.
11. New varieties of faba beans can destroy parasitic weeds
Question 12
What is the best title for Reading Passage 1?
Choose the correct letter A, B or C.
A.The health benefits of beans and pulses
B.Diet in ancient times
C.Agricultural scientists give legumes a new lease of life
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