IELTS Short Answer Questions: Reading Practice

IELTS short answer questions for reading require you to locate answers in the passage. Skim read the passage and then spend time preparing the questions. Pay attention to question words which will help you understand what type of words you need for your answer. The answers for short answer questions always come in order in the passage. This is a reading practice lesson created for IELTS students.

The History of Easter Eggs

Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. The practice of decorating eggshell is ancient. Ostrich eggs with engraved decoration that are 60,000 years old have been found in Africa. In Europe, it was traditional to use dyed and painted chicken eggs at Easter, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans.

Easter eggs are a widely popular symbol of new life in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and other Central European countries where they are concealed in the garden for children to find. Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility and rebirth. Some magic rituals, these days, often use eggs to promote fertility and restore virility (of the body and mind); and to foresee the future.

Questions 1-3

Answer the questions below. Choose no more than two words from the passage for each answer.

1.  What is another name for Easter Eggs?
2. What type of eggs were formerly used at Easter  in Europe?
3. What did eggs represent on the whole?

Click below to reveal the answers:

Vocab Builder

•  another name = also called
• oldest tradition = many generations ago
• in general = on the whole
• were a symbol of = represent