Updated 2026-08-23easy

TOEFL Reading Practice #003 — The Smile That Can't Be Faked

Free TOEFL Reading practice: The Smile That Can't Be Faked. 11 questions with a full passage and answer key.

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How to use this practice: Read the passage once without a dictionary, then answer the questions on your own. Tap “Answer” under each question to reveal just the correct letter — no explanations, so you can keep testing yourself.
1

Passage

Read the full passage. Bracketed letters like [A] mark the four positions for the insert-text question.

The Smile That Can't Be Faked

¶1 A photograph can capture a smile, but it cannot always capture happiness. Scientists who study faces have found that people make two very different kinds of smiles. At first, the two smiles can look almost the same. One kind appears on its own, without any planning. The other kind is made on purpose, usually just to be polite. Researchers call the first kind a Duchenne smile and the second kind a social smile. The real difference between them is not in the mouth. It is in the eyes.

¶2 The Duchenne smile is named after Guillaume Duchenne, a French scientist from the 1800s. It appears when a person feels real joy, like watching a favorite team score a goal. Two things happen at the same time. The mouth corners pull upward, and the eye muscles tighten too. Because those eye muscles are difficult to control on purpose, most people cannot fake a Duchenne smile even when they try very hard. Small lines appear at the corners of the eyes, and the eyes seem to narrow slightly. This automatic quality is why scientists treat the Duchenne smile as the clearest sign of true happiness.

¶3 A social smile works in a very different way. [A] Only the muscles around the mouth move, while the muscles around the eyes stay still. A person might wear this smile while greeting a stranger or posing for a photo. [B] It can also appear when someone thanks a friend for a gift they do not really like. [C] Unlike the Duchenne smile, a social smile can be switched on and off whenever a person wants. [D] That control makes it a useful social tool, but it also makes it easy to fake.

¶4 Scientists have studied whether people can sense this difference without knowing why. In a 2009 study, researchers showed volunteers photos of both kinds of smiles without labeling them. Most volunteers picked the Duchenne smiles as more genuine, even though they could not say exactly why. This suggests that the eyes send an honest signal that the mouth alone does not.

  • automatic: happening by itself, without a person choosing to do it
  • genuine: real and true, not fake
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Questions

11 questions — every TOEFL Reading question type, in test order.

Q1 · Vocabulary
The word capture in paragraph 1 (as in "capture a smile") is closest in meaning to
  1. A. improve
  2. B. record
  3. C. hide
  4. D. create
Answer
Correct: B
Q2 · Reference
The word It in paragraph 2 ("It appears when a person feels real joy, like watching a favorite team score a goal") refers to
  1. A. Guillaume Duchenne
  2. B. real joy
  3. C. a favorite team
  4. D. the Duchenne smile
Answer
Correct: D
Q3 · Essential Term
Based on the information in the passage, the term Duchenne smile can best be explained as
  1. A. a smile that happens automatically when a person feels real joy, moving both the mouth and the muscles around the eyes
  2. B. any smile that appears in a photograph
  3. C. the exact moment when scientists can prove a person is happy
  4. D. a smile that uses only the muscles around the mouth, without involving the eyes
Answer
Correct: A
Q4 · Factual Information
According to paragraph 2, what happens to the muscles around the eyes when a person produces a Duchenne smile?
  1. A. They stay completely still
  2. B. They relax completely
  3. C. They tighten along with the corners of the mouth
  4. D. They close the eyes fully
Answer
Correct: C
Q5 · Negative Fact
According to paragraph 1, all of the following are true EXCEPT
  1. A. People produce two very different kinds of smiles
  2. B. The real difference between the two smiles is in the mouth
  3. C. The two kinds of smiles can look almost the same at first
  4. D. Researchers gave each kind of smile its own name
Answer
Correct: B
Q6 · Sentence Simplification
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 2? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

Highlighted: "Because those eye muscles are difficult to control on purpose, most people cannot fake a Duchenne smile even when they try very hard."
  1. A. The eye muscles are difficult to control on purpose.
  2. B. Because most people cannot fake a Duchenne smile, their eye muscles become difficult to control.
  3. C. Only professional actors find it difficult to control their eye muscles, so no one else can ever fake a Duchenne smile.
  4. D. Since it is hard to control the eye muscles on purpose, most people cannot fake a Duchenne smile no matter how hard they try.
Answer
Correct: D
Q7 · Inference
Based on the information in paragraph 2, what can be inferred about a person whose eyes do not wrinkle at all while they are smiling in a photograph?
  1. A. The person is probably not feeling real joy at that moment
  2. B. The person is a professional photographer
  3. C. The photograph must have been taken in poor lighting
  4. D. The person always smiles exactly the same way in every photo
Answer
Correct: A
Q8 · Rhetorical Purpose
The author mentions the 2009 study in order to
  1. A. explain how photographers should take better pictures
  2. B. give scientific support for the idea that people can sense which smile is more genuine, even without knowing why
  3. C. compare Duchenne smiles across different countries
  4. D. describe how volunteers were selected for the study
Answer
Correct: B
Q9 · Paragraph Relation
How does paragraph 4 relate to paragraphs 2 and 3?
  1. A. It argues that the distinction described earlier is incorrect
  2. B. It repeats the description of eye muscles in more detail
  3. C. It provides a real study that supports the distinction between the two kinds of smiles described earlier
  4. D. It introduces a completely new, third kind of smile
Answer
Correct: C
Q10 · Insert Text
Look at the four squares [■] in paragraph 3 that indicate where the following sentence could be added.

None of these three situations require the person to feel any real happiness at all.

Where would the sentence best fit?
  1. A. Square A
  2. B. Square B
  3. C. Square C
  4. D. Square D
Answer
Correct: C
Q11 · Schematic Table 3 pts
Directions: Complete the table by matching the phrases below to the category they belong to. Two of the answer choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 3 points.

Duchenne smile social smile

  1. A. Happens automatically when a person feels real joy
  2. B. The muscles around the eyes tighten along with the mouth
  3. C. Creates small wrinkles at the corners of the eyes
  4. D. Only the muscles around the mouth move
  5. E. Can be switched on and off whenever a person wants, such as when posing for a photo
  6. F. Appears only in babies younger than one year old
  7. G. Happens only when a person is completely alone
Answer
Correct: Duchenne smile: A, B, C · social smile: D, E