What vocabulary does this B1 reading exercise teach?

It teaches practical work-related vocabulary in context — queue, canal, crane, unpleasant, and specialist — while introducing four real unusual jobs, from a professional queuer in London to an 'odour judge' who tests deodorant products for a living.

Is this reading suitable for B1 English learners?

Yes. The passage uses simple and compound sentences with everyday vocabulary, matching the B1 CEFR level. It practises scanning for facts, inferring meaning, and understanding a writer's main argument — core skills tested in B1 exams and IELTS.

Are professional queuers and odour judges real jobs?

Yes, these are genuine, paid occupations. Companies really do pay people to stand in queues for busy clients, and perfume and deodorant brands employ trained 'odour judges' to smell-test products before they reach the market.

What is an "odour judge" and why do companies need one?

An odour judge is trained to smell-test how well a deodorant or perfume works on real people. Companies need this real, human feedback before a product is sold.

What does "specialist" mean in this exercise?

A specialist is someone with special skill or training for one particular task. In the passage, companies pay a specialist — like an odour judge — instead of doing the task themselves.

Which work vocabulary does this B1 exercise cover?

It practises five everyday work words in context — queue, canal, crane, unpleasant, and specialist — so learners meet the vocabulary inside new sentences, not just as an isolated list.

Unusual and Wonderful Jobs (B1 English Reading Test)

Q: Why does Marek stand in a queue every Tuesday?

He is paid to hold someone else's place in line — he has no court case of his own. Busy people hire professional queuers like Marek so they don't have to wait themselves.

Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question.

Unusual and Wonderful Jobs: B1 Reading Comprehension — with Answers

Marek stands outside a London courtroom every Tuesday at six in the morning. He has no case of his own. Someone pays him £15 an hour to hold their place in the queue instead. "Professional queuer" is a real job. Busy lawyers, tourists, and fans of new phone releases hire people like Marek. They never have to wait in line themselves.

Around the world, thousands of people earn a living from jobs that sound made up. In Amsterdam, a small team fishes more than 12,000 bicycles out of the canals every year, using a crane mounted on a boat. In offices for perfume and deodorant companies, trained "odour judges" smell test a product on real people, then score how well it worked. Video game studios pay testers to play the same ten minutes of a game hundreds of times. They hunt for tiny bugs that most players would never notice.

These jobs share something in common: they exist because ordinary people do not want to do a specific, unpleasant, or time-consuming task themselves. Someone has to stand in the queue, clear the canal, judge the smell, or find the bug. Companies have learned it is cheaper to pay a specialist than to lose customers. Unusual does not mean unnecessary; behind almost every strange-sounding job is a real problem that needed solving.

Why does Marek stand in a queue every Tuesday morning?

About this reading

This B1 English reading explores four real jobs that most people have never heard of: a professional queuer, a canal bicycle-fisher, an odour judge, and a video-game bug-hunter. Behind each strange job title is a genuine, paid role that solves a real problem for a business or a busy customer.

As you read, notice how the writer moves from a specific example (Marek) to a wider pattern, then draws a conclusion about why unusual jobs exist. This structure — example, evidence, conclusion — is common in B1 and IELTS reading passages, so recognising it here will help you in other tests too.

Reading Comprehension Questions & Answers

All B1 reading questions for “Unusual and Wonderful Jobs: B1 Reading Comprehension — with Answers”, each with the correct answer and a short explanation. Read the passage above, try the interactive exercises, then check your answers here.

Exercise 1: Reading Comprehension

1. Why does Marek stand in a queue every Tuesday morning?
- A. He is waiting for his own court case
- B. He is paid to hold someone else's place in the queue ✓
- C. He is protesting outside the courthouse
- D. He is meeting friends there
Answer: He is paid to hold someone else's place in the queue
Correct. The text says he has no case of his own — someone pays him to hold their place in the queue instead. This directly rules out the court-case distractor.
2. Who, according to the text, typically hires a professional queuer like Marek?
- A. Only celebrities
- B. Busy lawyers, tourists, and fans of new phone releases ✓
- C. People who have lost their house keys
- D. Companies that make deodorant
Answer: Busy lawyers, tourists, and fans of new phone releases
Correct. Paragraph 1 names these three groups exactly. "Companies that make deodorant" is a distractor mixed in from a later paragraph about a different job.
3. What do the workers in Amsterdam mentioned in the text do?
- A. They build new canals
- B. They remove bicycles from the canals using a crane ✓
- C. They rent bicycles to tourists
- D. They repair broken bicycles for the city
Answer: They remove bicycles from the canals using a crane
Correct. The passage says the team "fishes... bicycles out of the canals... using a crane mounted on a boat." Repairing bicycles is never mentioned.
4. How many bicycles does the text say are pulled from Amsterdam's canals each year?
- A. About 1,200
- B. More than 12,000 ✓
- C. About 120,000
- D. The text does not give a number
Answer: More than 12,000
Correct. The exact figure "more than 12,000 bicycles" is stated in paragraph 2 — a scanning question with one clear, stated answer.
5. What does an "odour judge" do, according to the passage?
- A. Designs new perfume bottles
- B. Smell-tests a product on real people to score how well it worked ✓
- C. Cleans smelly clothes for a living
- D. Judges cooking competitions
Answer: Smell-tests a product on real people to score how well it worked
Correct. The text says odour judges "smell test a product on real people, then score how well it worked." The other options are plausible-sounding jobs that the text never describes.
6. Why do video game testers replay the same short section of a game many times?
- A. To improve their own gaming skills
- B. To find small bugs that most players would never notice ✓
- C. To make the game feel longer for players
- D. To train new employees at the studio
Answer: To find small bugs that most players would never notice
Correct. The text says testers "hunt for tiny bugs that most players would never notice." The distractor about training new staff is never stated.
7. According to the writer, why do jobs like these exist?
- A. Because robots are not yet able to do them
- B. Because ordinary people prefer not to do a specific unpleasant or time-consuming task themselves ✓
- C. Because governments require companies to create them by law
- D. Because they are the highest-paid jobs available
Answer: Because ordinary people prefer not to do a specific unpleasant or time-consuming task themselves
Correct. The final paragraph directly states this reason, then adds: "Companies have learned it is cheaper to pay a specialist than to lose customers." Pay level, robots, and government law are never mentioned — this question tests understanding of the writer's overall argument, not just one fact.

Exercise 2: Vocabulary in Context

1. People often wait in a long _____ outside the shop on the first day of a big sale.
- A. queue ✓
- B. canal
- C. crane
- D. specialist
Answer: queue
A queue is a line of people waiting for something — like Marek's job holding someone else's place in one.
2. Amsterdam has many beautiful _____s where people cycle and boats travel.
- A. canal ✓
- B. queue
- C. crane
- D. unpleasant
Answer: canal
A canal is a man-made waterway — the same canals the bicycle-fishing team clears every year.
3. A tall _____ lifted the shipping container onto the truck.
- A. crane ✓
- B. canal
- C. specialist
- D. queue
Answer: crane
A crane is a machine that lifts heavy objects — the same equipment used to pull bicycles out of the water.

Unusual and Wonderful Jobs: B1 Reading Comprehension — with Answers

Why does Marek stand in a queue every Tuesday morning?

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