Can People Change ? Reading Answers

Jan 10, 2025

Can People Change? Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic for the IELTS Exam. Can People Change? Reading Answers consists of 13 IELTS questions in total. In the given set of questions (Questions No 14-18), write the correct letter that satisfies the given statements from the passage. For Questions No. 19-22, complete each sentence with the correct ending from the given passage. Finally, for the remaining questions (Questions No. 23-26), you have to provide the answers in TRUE/ FALSE/ NOT GIVEN for the given statement.

The IELTS Reading section is an influential aspect of the IELTS exam. It is highly structured to assess a candidate's ability to understand and analyze a variety of passages. The purpose of this task is to improve your reading skills in identifying main ideas, extracting specific information, and drawing conclusions. Whether preparing for academic or general training modules, practicing these IELTS reading practice questions will help you become familiar with the format and increase your confidence for the real exam.

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Section 1 Can People Change? Reading Answers

Can people change the question may sound somewhat abstract and disinterested, as if one were asking for a friend or the universe, but it is likely to be a good deal more personally and painfully motivated than that. We ask, typically and acutely, when we're in a relationship with someone who is inflicting a great deal of pain on us: someone who is refusing to open their hearts or can never stop lying, someone who is aggressive or detached, someone who is harming themselves or managing to devastate us. We ask too because the one immediately obvious response to frustration isn't in this case open to us: we're not able to simply get up and go. Furthermore, we are too emotionally or practically invested to give up, something roots us to the spot. And so, with the example of one troublesome human in mind, we start to wonder outwards about human nature in general, what it might be made of, and how malleable it could turn out to be.

One thing is likely already to be evident to us: even if people can change, they certainly don't change easily. Maybe they flare up every time we raise an issue and accuse us of being cruel or dogmatic, maybe they break down late at night and admit they have a problem but, by morning, vehemently deny that there could ever be anything amiss. Perhaps they say yes, they get it now, but then don't ever deploy understanding where it matters. We can at best conclude that by the time we've had to raise the question of a change in our minds, someone around us has managed not to change either very straightforwardly or very gracefully.

We might ask a prior question: is it even OK to want someone to change? The implication from those who generate trouble for us is, most often, an indignant 'no'. 'Love me for who I am' is their mantra. But considered more imaginatively, only a perfect human would ever deny that they might need to grow a little to deserve the love of another. For the rest of us, all moderately well-meaning decent requests for change should be heard with goodwill and in certain cases acted upon with immense seriousness. Those who bristle at the suggestion that they might need to change are paradoxically giving off the clearest evidence that they may be in grave need of inner evolution.

Why might change be so hard? It isn't as if the change-resistant person is merely unsure what is amiss, and will manage to alter course once an issue is pointed out, as someone might if their attention were drawn to a strand of spinach in their teeth. The refusal to change is more tenacious than this, more “willed” than we thought. A person's entire character may be structured around an active aspiration not to know or feel particular things, the possibility of insight will be aggressively warded off through drink, compulsive work routines, or offended irritation with all those who attempt to spark it.

In other words, the unchanging person doesn't only lack knowledge, they are vigorously committed to not acquiring it. They resist it because they are fleeing from something extraordinarily painful in their past that they were originally too weak or helpless to face — and still haven't found the wherewithal to confront. One isn't so much dealing with an unchanging person as, first and foremost, with a traumatized one.

Part of the problem, when one is on the outside, is realizing what one is up against. The lack of change can seem so frustrating because one can't apprehend why it should be so hard. Couldn't they simply move an inch or two in the right direction? But if we considered, at that moment, the full scale of what this person once faced, and the conditions in which their mind was formed, we might be more realistic and more compassionate. “Couldn't they just… would no longer quite make sense.

At the same time, very importantly, we might not stick around as long as we often do. We should at this juncture perhaps ask ourselves a question that may feel at once unfair and rather tough: given how clear the evidence is of a lack of change in a certain person, and hence of a lack of realistic hope that our needs are going to be met any time soon, why are we still here? Why are we trying to open a door that can't open and returning to a recurring frustration and hoping for a different result? What bit of our story is being re-enacted in a drama of continuously dashed hopes?

And, if we are talking of change, might we one day change into characters who don't sit around waiting without end for other people to change? Might we become better at sifting through options and allowing through only those who can already meet the lion's share of our needs? In addition, might we become better at deploying a dash of life-sustaining ruthlessness to leave those who tirelessly rebuff us? We may need to rebuild our minds — in order — with time to change into people who don't wonder for too long if, and when, people might change.

Section 2

Solutions and Explanations

Questions 14-18

Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-H.

14. The impact of past traumas on people who are stubborn to make a change

Answer: Paragraph E

Supporting statement: “.......They resist it because they are fleeing from something extraordinarily painful in their past that they were originally too weak or helpless to face — and still haven't found the wherewithal to confront........”

Keywords: Resist, Past, Traumas, Stubborn

Keyword Location: para 5, Line 2-5

Explanation: Paragraph E discusses how incarcerated individuals are often traumatized and actively resist gaining insight because they are running from traumatic experiences from their past.

15. Questions that we should ask ourselves to know why our relationships are going nowhere

Answer: Paragraph G

Supporting statement: “.......why are we still here? Why are we trying to open a door that can't open and returning to a recurring frustration and hoping for a different result? ........”

Keywords: Relationships, Recurring, Frustration

Keyword Location: para 7, Line 5-7

Explanation: Paragraph G discusses the importance of considering why we remain in relationships that seem unproductive or irreversible. It entails questioning our reasons for persisting despite repeated disappointments and lack of hope.

16. Overreactions of people to a situation where they are facing a problem raised by others

Answer: Paragraph B

Supporting statement: “.......Maybe they flare up every time we raise an issue and accuse us of being cruel or dogmatic, maybe they break down late at night and admit they have a problem but, by morning, vehemently deny that there could ever be anything amiss.........”

Keywords: Overreactions, Dogmatic, Vehemently

Keyword Location: para 2, Line 2-5

Explanation: Paragraph B discusses how people often overreact when faced with a problem raised by others. It describes behaviors such as outbursts, accusing others of cruelty, or denying issues. These are examples of overreacting to feedback.

17. A phrase that expresses unchanging people's pride in themselves against the suggestion that they might need to change

Answer: Paragraph C

Supporting statement: “.......The implication from those who generate trouble for us is, most typically, an indignant 'no'. 'Love me for who I am' is their mantra..........”

Keywords: Phrase, Implication, Indignant

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 2-3

Explanation: Paragraph C addresses the defensive attitude of irrepressible people with the phrase, “Love me for who I am.” This reflects their pride in resisting change and rejecting the notion of reform.

18. The need to rebuild our minds by giving up on waiting for other people to change

Answer: Paragraph H

Supporting statement: “.......We may need to rebuild our minds — in order — with time to change into people who don't wonder for too long if, and when, people might change...........”

Keywords: Rebuild, Minds, People, Change

Keyword Location: para 8, Line 2-3

Questions 19-22

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F.

A. are not ready to alter course when change is needed.

B. lack both knowledge and willingness to gain more.

C. is more hardwired than we thought.

D. paradoxically, admit that their need for inner progress is urgent.

E. would refuse to change more maturely to meet others' love and needs.

19. Perfect human beings

Answer: E (Would refuse to change more maturely to meet others' love and needs)

Supporting statement: “........But considered more imaginatively, only a perfect human would ever deny that they might need to grow a little to deserve the love of another..........”

Keywords: Perfect, Human, Deserve, Love

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 3-5

Explanation: Perfect humans deny any need for growth or change because they believe they are already worthy of love without adjustment.

20. People who react angrily to requests for change

Answer: D (paradoxically, admit that their need for inner progress is urgent.)

Supporting statement: “........Those who bristle at the suggestion that they might need to change are paradoxically giving off the clearest evidence that they may be in grave need of inner evolution...........”

Keywords: Change, Requests, Paradoxically

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 8-10

Explanation: Angry reactions to change requests often indicate the individual's resistance to accepting their own need for growth, ironically confirming their need for internal growth.

21. Resistance to change of people

Answer: B (lack both knowledge and willingness to gain more.)

Supporting statement: “........In other words, the unchanging person doesn't only lack knowledge, they are vigorously committed to not acquiring it. ...........”

Keywords: Lack, Knowledge, Vigorously

Keyword Location: para 5, Line 1-2

Explanation: The passage suggests that unconverted people are not only unaware of their issues but are actively committed to avoiding the insight contained in unresolved trauma.

22. Change-resistant people

Answer: C (is more hardwired than we thought.)

Supporting statement: “.........The refusal to change is more tenacious than this, more “willed” than we thought. A person's entire character may be structured around an active aspiration not to know or feel particular things...........”

Keywords: Refusal, Change, Tenacious, Willed

Keyword Location: para 4, Line 4-6

Explanation: Resistance to change stems from deep structural issues in their character, which are not easily changed.

Questions 23-26

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? Write the answer in:

YES, if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

No, If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

23. Being disappointed by another person would raise the question of a change in our minds.

Answer: Yes

Supporting statement: “.........And so, with the example of one troublesome human in mind, we start to wonder outwards about human nature in general, what it might be made of, and how malleable it could turn out to be............”

Keywords: Troublesome, Wonder, Nature, Malleable

Keyword Location: para 1, Line 11-14

Explanation: The passage states that disappointment in a relationship often leads us to question human nature and change. Disappointment triggers this reflection because we wonder if people can change.

24. It is believed that human nature is easily influenced and controlled.

Answer: No

Supporting statement: “.........One thing is likely already to be evident to us: even if people can change, they certainly don't change easily. Maybe they flare up every time we raise an issue and accuse us of being cruel or dogmatic............”

Keywords: Influenced, Evident, Flare, Dogmatic

Keyword Location: para 2, Line 1-3

Explanation: The passage states that people do not change easily and are resistant to insight because of deep trauma or ingrained habits. This refutes the claim that human nature is easily influenced.

25. It is unlikely that people would stubbornly when we ask them to change.

Answer: No

Keywords: Refusal, Tenacious, Willed, Active

Keyword Location: para 4, Line 4-6

Explanation: The author of the above passage argues that people often stubbornly resist change, actively avoiding insight or growth.

26. Each of us should be attentive to and often follow, halfway-intentioned suggestions for change.

Answer: No

Supporting statement: “.........For the rest of us, all moderately well-meaning decent requests for change should be heard with goodwill and in certain cases acted upon with immense seriousness. ............”

Keywords: Change, Moderately, Goodwill, Immense

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 5-7

Explanation: The passage argues that only a perfect person would deny the need for change. This suggests that well-intentioned requests for change should be seriously considered, not half-hearted ones.

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