Updated 2026-09-12upper

New TOEFL Reading: Read in Daily Life Practice #014 — Library Loans, a Course Refund, a First Harvest, and a Campus Shuttle

Free practice for the new TOEFL Reading section's short daily-life texts: 4 everyday texts and 12 questions with an answer key.

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How to use this practice: Each text is something you could actually receive — an email, a notice, a memo, a post. Read it once at normal speed, then answer the three questions under it. Watch the options that reuse a word from the text: matching words are the most common trap in this part.
1

Text 1 — Notice

Read the text, then answer the three questions below it.

Notice: Changes to borrowing, from 1 October

Thornbury Public Library

We are removing overdue fines on all items except the ones people queue for. Fines have been a poor way of getting books back: our own figures show the items returned latest are borrowed by the people least able to pay.

From 1 October there is no charge for a late return of a standard book. Your card is blocked once an item is 28 days overdue, and unblocked the moment it comes back. Nothing accumulates while it is blocked.

Reserved items and the seven-day express collection keep their charge of 50 cents a day. These are the items with a waiting list, where a late return costs another reader their turn rather than costing the library money.

Lost items are still charged at replacement cost, which is not a fine. If an item is found within three months of payment we refund it; after that we do not, because by then we have bought a replacement.

Existing fines on accounts are written off on 1 October. You do not need to come in and ask, and staff cannot process it early.

Children's cards have carried no fines since 2019, so nothing changes for them.

Q1 · Purpose
Why does the library keep a charge on reserved items?
  1. A. Because those items cost more to replace
  2. B. Because a late return costs another reader their turn
  3. C. Because express loans are lent for only seven days
  4. D. Because children's cards have never carried fines
Answer
Correct: B
Q2 · Inference
A borrower returns a standard book 40 days late on 3 November. What happens?
  1. A. They owe forty days of charges at 50 cents a day
  2. B. Their card stays blocked for another 28 days
  3. C. Their card is unblocked and nothing is owed
  4. D. They are charged the replacement cost of the book
Answer
Correct: C
Q3 · Inference
Someone pays for a lost book in January and finds it in June. What does the notice indicate?
  1. A. The payment is refunded in full
  2. B. The payment is converted into credit on the card
  3. C. The payment is not refunded, as a replacement has been bought
  4. D. The book counts as a donation and the card is unblocked
Answer
Correct: C
2

Text 2 — Email

Read the text, then answer the three questions below it.

Subject: Your withdrawal from Data Foundations (cohort 12)

From: Bellhouse Online Learning

To: T. Achebe

We have received your request to withdraw. What you are owed depends on when you asked, and on which of two dates counts, so here is your case specifically.

The refund schedule runs from the cohort start date, not from your enrolment date. Cohort 12 started on 6 January. A full refund applies within 14 days of that, half within 28 days, and nothing after. Your request arrived on day 26, so half the fee is refunded.

The materials you have downloaded stay yours. Access to the discussion forum and to the graded assignments ends seven days after a withdrawal is processed, which gives you time to save anything you wrote.

You asked about transferring to cohort 13 instead. A transfer preserves the whole fee, and the deadline for transferring is also day 28, so it is still open for two days. If you transfer, this refund is cancelled rather than paid and then re-charged.

One thing to weigh: cohort 13 uses the revised syllabus, which replaces two of the six modules. Learners who transfer mid-course sometimes find the first weeks repeat material they have already done.

Reply by Thursday either way. Silence is treated as confirming the withdrawal, because the refund cannot be held open beyond day 28.

Q4 · Detail
Which date does the refund schedule run from?
  1. A. The date the learner enrolled
  2. B. The date the cohort started
  3. C. The date the withdrawal request arrived
  4. D. The date the revised syllabus was published
Answer
Correct: B
Q5 · Inference
Why does transferring preserve more money than withdrawing?
  1. A. The whole fee carries over instead of half being refunded
  2. B. Transfers are processed after day 28
  3. C. The revised syllabus costs less than the original
  4. D. Downloaded materials are refunded separately
Answer
Correct: A
Q6 · Inference
What happens if the learner does not reply by Thursday?
  1. A. The transfer to cohort 13 goes ahead by default
  2. B. The full fee is refunded automatically
  3. C. The withdrawal is confirmed and half the fee refunded
  4. D. Forum access continues until the cohort ends
Answer
Correct: C
3

Text 3 — Social Media Post

Read the text, then answer the three questions below it.

clay_and_kale @clayandkale - 16h

First year with an allotment is over. I grew about twelve kilos of food and spent roughly three hundred on the plot, tools, and compost, so nobody should start this to save money in year one.

What went right was boring: potatoes, chard, and beans. What went wrong was everything I was excited about. Six tomato plants gave me four tomatoes because I planted them out three weeks too early and a late frost took them.

The neighbouring plot holder watched me do it and said nothing at the time. When I asked her later she said new people do not want advice in April, only in August, and she is right, which is annoying.

The real cost was not money, it was the three weeks in June when I did not go. Weeds do not wait. What took an hour a week in May took a full weekend to undo in July.

Year two plan: half the plot in the crops that worked, a third under green manure to rest it, and one raised bed for the ambitious things so that when they fail they fail in a small area.

89 replies - 31 reposts - 1.1K likes

Q7 · Inference
What does the writer suggest about the tomato failure?
  1. A. The variety was unsuited to the soil
  2. B. Weeds in June crowded them out
  3. C. The neighbour's advice was wrong
  4. D. Planting out too early left them exposed to frost
Answer
Correct: D
Q8 · Inference
What does the writer mean by calling the three missed weeks the real cost?
  1. A. The plot rent was charged during those weeks
  2. B. The neighbour took over the plot temporarily
  3. C. It was the period when the frost arrived
  4. D. Missing them multiplied the work needed later
Answer
Correct: D
Q9 · Purpose
Why does the year-two plan put ambitious crops in one raised bed?
  1. A. So that a failure is contained in a small area
  2. B. Because raised beds resist frost better
  3. C. Because the rest of the plot is rented out
  4. D. So that the neighbour can advise on them in April
Answer
Correct: A
4

Text 4 — Schedule

Read the text, then answer the three questions below it.

Campus shuttle - term-time timetable

Valid 23 September to 13 December. Student card required.

Two routes. Both start at the main gate and both are free.

  • Route 1 (West): main gate - library - halls of residence - sports centre. Every 15 minutes, 07:30 to 19:00.
  • Route 2 (Hospital): main gate - medical school - hospital - park and ride. Every 30 minutes, 06:45 to 22:15.
  • Late service: main gate - halls only, hourly from 19:00 to 23:00, Monday to Friday.

Route 2 is timed against lecture start times rather than clock times, so the published minutes shift by up to five minutes in either direction during the first and last weeks of term.

The park and ride stop is outside the campus boundary. Your student card is still required to board there, and drivers have been asked not to make exceptions, because the stop is shared with a commercial service that looks similar.

Bicycles are carried on Route 2 only, two at a time, on the rack at the rear. The rack cannot be used on the late service because it is unlit.

During examination weeks Route 1 runs every 10 minutes between 08:00 and 10:00 and every 20 minutes after 16:00. The sports centre stop is suspended in those weeks.

Q10 · Inference
A student wants to take a bicycle to the hospital at 21:00 on a Wednesday. What does the timetable indicate?
  1. A. Route 2 is running and the rack can be used
  2. B. Only the late service runs, and it does not go to the hospital
  3. C. Bicycles are carried on Route 1 at that hour instead
  4. D. The park and ride stop must be used instead
Answer
Correct: A
Q11 · Purpose
Why must a student card be shown at the park and ride stop?
  1. A. Because that stop lies outside the campus boundary
  2. B. Because a similar commercial service uses the same stop
  3. C. Because Route 2 times shift by five minutes there
  4. D. Because bicycles are loaded at that stop
Answer
Correct: B
Q12 · Inference
What changes for someone who uses the sports centre stop during examination weeks?
  1. A. It is served every 10 minutes in the morning
  2. B. It moves to the late service timetable
  3. C. It is served by Route 2 instead
  4. D. It is not served at all in those weeks
Answer
Correct: D