PTE Practice Paper

PTE Reading Practice Paper

PTE Reading and Writing Fill in the blanks

For this item type, you need to select the most appropriate words from a drop-down list to
restore the text.
There is a passage with some missing words. Beside each gap, there is a button with a drop-
down list. Left-click on this button to reveal the drop-down list of options for that gap. Select
the option you think best fills the gap.

1. While it’s no wonder that dogs are (1) ______ as man’s best friends, little is known about
the origins of this friendship. It is presumed that dogs were one of the first animals to be
(2) ______ by humans. One notable effect of this long relationship with humans is that
unlike other canine species, dogs can (3) ______ on a carbohydrate-rich diet.
Historically, dogs have been helping us in many ways, but recently they are also assisting
people with disabilities and (4) ______ in therapy. Patients who were administered dog
therapy demonstrated decreased stress, increased happiness, and (5) ______ energy
levels.

1. ( a) boring (b)popular ( c) danger (d) laziness

2. ( a) encounter (b) ridicule ( c) safe (d) domesticated
3. ( a) master (b) flourish ( c) worried (d) prejudice
4. ( a) aiding (b) mercurial ( c) tremendous (d) carnivore
5. ( a) jostle (b) kind ( c) improved (d) neighbourly

Answer key:
1(b) popular
2(d) domesticated
3(b) flourish
4( a) aiding
5( c) improved

2. Despite progress over the last two (1) _____________, still more than 35 per cent of the urban
population of the less developed regions was living in slums in 2005-2007. In the least developed
countries 71 per cent of the urban dwellers lived in slums. This proportion is very high in sub-
Saharan Africa , (2) _____________ from 61 per cent in Western Africa to 71 per cent in
Middle Africa. It is also very high in Sudan, where 94 per cent of the urban dwellers live in
slums. In Asia this proportion is 33 per cent, close to the average of the less developed (3)
_____________, and 22 percentage points lower than in Africa. Twenty five per cent of the
urban population of Western Asia lives in slums, a percentage significantly lower than the world
average. Lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are typical characteristics
of urban slums. Access to safe water and adequate sanitation are among the indicators used to
monitor progress toward (4)_____________sustainability. Globally, 134 million urban dwellers
(4 per cent) lacked (5)_____________ to an improved water supply in 2008 and 806 million (24
per cent) lacked adequate sanitation services. Most of these people lived in informal,
overcrowded urban settlements in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia

1. ( a) time (b) visit ( c) equity (d) decades

2. ( a) infrastructure (b) ranging ( c) hover (d) knowledge
3. ( a) regions (b) luxury ( c) prevalent (d) courtesy
4. ( a) collude (b) environmental ( c) magnificient (d) enormously
5. ( a) negotiations (b) housing ( c) relent (d) access

Answer key:
1(d) decades
2(b) ranging
3(a) regions
4( b) environmental
5( d) access

3. In the second century of the Christian era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part
of the earth and the most civilized _________ (1) of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive
monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but powerful
_________ (2) of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their
peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a
free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the
sovereign _________ (3) and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government.
During a happy period of more than fourscore years, the public _________ (4) was conducted by
the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this,
and of the two succeeding _________, (5) to describe the prosperous condition of their empire;
and afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most important _________
(6) of its decline and fall; a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the
nations of the earth.

1. ( a) achieved (b) portion ( c) introduce (d) relinquish

2. ( a) doubtful (b) difficult ( c) peace (d) influence
3. ( a) authority (b) arrows ( c) easy (d) taken
4. ( a) administration (b) honorable ( c) secure (d) exposing
5. ( a) collude (b) environmental ( c) chapters (d) enormously
6. ( a) weight (b) circumstances ( c) preserving (d) seven

Answer key:
1 portion
2 influence
3 authority
4 administration
5 chapters
6 circumstances
4.Thousands of babies are born deaf or hard of hearing in the United States each year. It’s
important that they are ________ (1) early and receive appropriate support services in a timely
manner. Two Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs are providing essential
services to these children and their families during COVID-19.
About 1 in 500 babies in the United States are born deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). When
identified at birth, babies who are DHH can begin intervention early and are more likely to
________ (2) language, cognitive and social development on par with typically developing
peers. Every state has an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program that works
to ________ (3) that babies who are DHH are diagnosed early and receive the services they
need on time.
Amid the concerns and changes that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, EHDI
programs are finding ________ (4) and successful ways to use technology to provide access to
the resources and services needed by the children and families they serve. These efforts are
helping children to achieve their full ________ (5) in language, cognitive, and social
development and keeping their families informed during this time

1. ( a) identified (b) working ( c) beamed (d) dedicate

2. ( a) spoken (b) class ( c) achieve (d) attend
3. ( a) necessary (b) ensure ( c) routines (d) chores
4. ( a) guide (b) learn ( c) secure (d) creative
5. ( a) bright (b) potential ( c) stories (d) weave

Answer key:
1 (a) identified
2 (c) achieve
3 (b) ensure
4 (d) creative
5 (b) potential

5. Radiation is the energy that comes from a ________ (1)and travels through space at the
speed of ________. (2) This energy has an electric field and a magnetic field associated with it
and has wave-like properties. You could also call radiation “electromagnetic waves”.
This radiation is characterized in two forms—ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.
Ionizing radiation is a form of energy that acts by ________ (3) electrons from atoms and
molecules of materials that include air, water, and living tissue. Ionizing radiation can ________
(4) unseen and pass through these materials.
Non-ionizing radiation is a form of radiation with less energy than ionizing radiation. Unlike
ionizing radiation, non-ionizing radiation does not remove electrons from atoms or molecules of
materials that ________ (5)air, water, and living tissue.
1. ( a) identified (b) source ( c) beamed (d) dedicate
2. ( a) spoken (b) class ( c) light (d) attend
3. ( a) removing (b) ensure ( c) routines (d) chores
4. ( a) guide (b) learn ( c) secure (d) travel
5. ( a)include (b) potential ( c) stories (d) weave

Answer key:
1 (b) source
2 (c) light
3 (a) removing
4 (d) travel
5 (a) include

6. Particle pollution — also called particulate matter (PM) — is made up of particles of solids or
liquids that are in the air. Particle pollution can come from two different kinds of ________
(1)— primary or secondary. Primary sources cause particle pollution on their own. For example,
wood stoves and forest fires are primary sources.
Secondary sources let off gases that can form particles. Power plants and coal fires are examples
of secondary sources. Some other common sources of particle pollution can be either ________
(2)or secondary — for example, factories, cars and trucks, and construction sites.
Smoke from fires and emissions from power plants, industrial facilities, and cars and trucks
contain PM2.5. Breathing in particle pollution can be ________ (3)to your health. Coarse
particles, called PM10, can irritate your eyes, nose, and throat. Dust from roads, farms, dry
riverbeds, construction ________, (4) and mines are types of PM10.
Fine particles, called PM2.5, are more ________ (5) because they can get into the deep parts of
your lungs — or even into your blood.
1. ( a) limit (b) news ( c) contact (d)sources
2. ( a) irritation (b) asthma ( c) primary (d) anyone
3. ( a) harmful (b) truth ( c) existence (d) invent
4. ( a) sites (b) persist ( c) outdoor (d) controlling
5. ( a)include (b) dangerous ( c) releases (d) inevitable

Answer key:
1 (d) sources
2 (c) primary
3 (a) harmful
4 (a) sites
5 (b) dangerous

7. Considerations of a practical nature give us the most ________ (1)possible grounds for a
belief that human desires, feelings, etc., are homogeneous and communicable. The fact is that we
all have back of us many millions of years of evolutionary history in the same general
environment. In the past, with relatively minor ________ , (2)the same influences have played
upon our ancestors from the beginnings of life on our planet. And then, we are born into the
same society, and it has given us, not, to be sure, the power of ________, (3)but certainly all of
our most essential stimuli. Further, we do get along in society. We laugh together, and we play
together, we share each other’s sorrows, we love and hate each other, in a way that would be
wholly impossible if we did not in practice ________ (4)the correctness of our “inferences”
about one another’s motives and desires. And the fact that these “inferences” are in the main
correct is the one thing that makes social life possible. We can, and do, understand one another’s
motives, desires, wants, emotions. We can, and do, ________ (5) communicate our feelings to
one another.
1. ( a) reliable (b) copy ( c) question (d) speaking
 2. ( a) desire (b) vision ( c) variations (d) complete
3. ( a) revolution (b) manifest ( c) clarity (d) reaction
4. ( a) assume (b) company ( c) adorn (d) venerate
5. ( a) consistently (b) nostalgic ( c) concerted (d) limits

Answer key:
1 (a) reliable
2 (c) variations
3 (d) reaction
4 (a) assume
5 (d) consistently

8. Some interesting facts about the great reptilian fossils recently discovered in Wyoming and
Colorado have come to light. The bones ______ represent reptiles of many sizes, from that of a
cat up to one sixty feet high. The latter, found at Como, Wyoming, belonged to the crocodile
order; but the remains give ______ that the animal stood up on its hind legs, like a kangaroo.
Another found in Colorado is estimated to have been 100 feet long. A great many remains of the
same general class, but belonging to different species, have been collected and sent East. Among
them from three to four hundred specimens of the dinosaur, and about a thousand pterodactyls,
have been shipped from Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas. The wings of one of the latter were
from thirty to forty feet from tip to tip. Seventeen different species of these flying dragons have
been found in the chalk of western Kansas. There have also been found six species of toothed
birds. Comparatively little has been done toward classifying the late finds, and the task is such an
_______ one. Great importance is attached to them, however, since nothing of the kind had been
found in America until a little over a year ago and great ______ had been laid by certain
geologists on their absence. Another remarkable feature of the discovery was that the fossils
which had been reported as not existing in this country had hardly been brought to light in one
locality before thousands of tons of them were simultaneously discovered in half a dozen
different________.
1. ( a) study (b) found ( c) probe (d) level
2. ( a) evidence (b) sight ( c) aberration (d) whole
3. ( a) apparent (b) clear ( c) vision (d) enormous
4. ( a) decide (b) process ( c) design (d) stress
5. ( a)comprise (b) memory ( c) places (d) sequence

Answer key:
1 (b) found
2 (a) evidence
3 (d) enormous
4 (d) stress
5 (c) places