Read Aloud · Part 1: Speaking & Writing

Imagine living all your life as the only family on…

87 students marked "I sat this"Added 14 Mar 2020Question #010216
Practise this question with AI scoring

Read the text aloud.

Imagine living all your life as the only family on your street. Then, one morning, you open the front door and discover houses all around you. You see neighbors tending their gardens and children walking to school. Where did all the people come from? What if the answer turned out to be that they had always been there—you just hadn't seen them?

Practise this question with AI scoringAll questions · Read Aloud (493)

Opens question #010216 in the RealPTE practice screen.

How to read it

Imagine living all your life|as the only family on your street.‖Then, one morning,|you open the front door|and discover houses all around you.‖You see neighbors tending their gardens|and children walking to school.‖Where did all the people come from?‖What if the answer turned out to be|that they had always been there—you just hadn't seen them?

| short pause   ‖ breathe

Aim for 24–28 seconds.

Words to stress correctly

discoverdis·CO·ver/dɪˈskʌvɚ/
imaginei·MA·gine/ɪˈmædʒən/
familyFA·mi·ly/ˈfæməli/
arounda·ROUND/ɚˈaʊnd/

62 words, aim 24–28 seconds. No numbers. Breathe after street, after around you, after school and after come from; short pauses after life, Then, morning, door, gardens and to be.

Where marks are usually lost

Stress: i·MA·gine, dis·CO·ver, a·ROUND, FA·mi·ly. Rushing the long final question after the dash. Dropping endings: houses, neighbors, gardens, them (-z/-m), turned, hadn't.

General tip: make the two questions sound like questions — a clear fall on from and a rise-then-fall on seen them. Treat the dash in there—you as a tiny pause, not a full stop.

What it means: 中文 · हिन्दी · नेपाली · Tiếng Việt

中文: 想象一下,你一生都是街上唯一的一户人家。然后,有一天早上,你打开前门,发现四周都是房子。你看到邻居在打理花园,孩子们步行去上学。这些人都是从哪里来的?如果答案是他们其实一直都在那里——只是你从未看见他们呢?

हिन्दी: कल्पना कीजिए कि आप पूरी ज़िंदगी अपनी सड़क पर अकेले परिवार के रूप में रहे हैं। फिर, एक सुबह, आप सामने का दरवाज़ा खोलते हैं और अपने चारों ओर घर पाते हैं। आप पड़ोसियों को बगीचे सँवारते और बच्चों को स्कूल जाते देखते हैं। ये सब लोग कहाँ से आए? अगर जवाब यह निकले कि वे हमेशा से वहीं थे—बस आपने उन्हें देखा नहीं था?

नेपाली: कल्पना गर्नुहोस्, तपाईं जीवनभर आफ्नो सडकमा एक्लो परिवार भएर बस्नुभयो। अनि, एक बिहान, तपाईं अगाडिको ढोका खोल्नुहुन्छ र वरिपरि घरै घर देख्नुहुन्छ। छिमेकीहरू बगैँचा गोडमेल गर्दै र केटाकेटीहरू स्कुल हिँड्दै गरेको देख्नुहुन्छ। यी सबै मानिस कहाँबाट आए? यदि उत्तर यस्तो निस्कियो भने—उनीहरू सधैं त्यहीँ थिए, तपाईंले मात्र देख्नुभएको थिएन?

Tiếng Việt: Hãy tưởng tượng bạn sống cả đời như gia đình duy nhất trên con phố của mình. Rồi một buổi sáng, bạn mở cửa trước và phát hiện nhà cửa ở khắp xung quanh. Bạn thấy hàng xóm chăm sóc vườn và trẻ em đi bộ đến trường. Tất cả những người này từ đâu đến? Nếu câu trả lời hóa ra là họ vẫn luôn ở đó—chỉ là bạn chưa từng nhìn thấy họ thì sao?

More Read Aloud questions

Read Aloud format (Pearson)

PromptText up to 60 words
Preparation30–40 seconds
Time to answerDepends on the length of the text
Skills assessedSpeaking
Scored onContent; Pronunciation; Oral fluency

How it is scored

  • Content is scored by counting the correct words in your response.
  • If you stay silent for more than 3 seconds, the recording stops.
  • You can record your response only once.

Source: Pearson, PTE Academic & UKVI test format, Part 1: Speaking & Writing, checked 9 October 2026.