BỔ TRỢ READING PRE-INTERMEDIATE

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1
below.

Tea and the Industrial Revolution

A
Alan Macfarlane, professor of anthropological science at King’s College, Cambridge has, like
other historians, spent decades wrestling with the enigma of the Industrial Revolution. Why did
this particular Big Bang – the world-changing birth of industry-happen in Britain? And why did it
strike at the end of the 18th century?

B
Macfarlane compares the puzzle to a combination lock. ‘There are about 20 different factors and
all of them need to be present before the revolution can happen,’ he says. For industry to take
off, there needs to be the technology and power to drive factories, large urban populations to
provide cheap labour, easy transport to move goods around, an affluent middle-class willing to
buy mass-produced objects, a market-driven economy and a political system that allows this to
happen. While this was the case for England, other nations, such as Japan, the Netherlands
and France also met some of these criteria but were not industrialising. All these factors must
have been necessary. But not sufficient to cause the revolution, says Macfarlane. ‘After all,
Holland had everything except coal while China also had many of these factors. Most historians
are convinced there are one or two missing factors that you need to open the lock.’

C
The missing factors, he proposes, are to be found in almost even kitchen cupboard. Tea and
beer, two of the nation’s favourite drinks, fuelled the revolution. The antiseptic properties of
tannin, the active ingredient in tea, and of hops in beer – plus the fact that both are made with
boiled water – allowed urban communities to flourish at close quarters without succumbing to
water-borne diseases such as dysentery. The theory sounds eccentric but once he starts to
explain the detective work that went into his deduction, the scepticism gives way to wary
admiration. Macfarlanes case has been strengthened by support from notable quarters – Roy
Porter, the distinguished medical historian, recently wrote a favourable appraisal of his research.

D
Macfarlane had wondered for a long time how the Industrial Revolution came about. Historians
had alighted on one interesting factor around the mid-18th century that required explanation.
Between about 1650 and 1740, the population in Britain was static. But then there was a burst
in population growth. Macfarlane says: ‘The infant mortality rate halved in the space of 20 years,
and this happened in both rural areas and cities, and across all classes. People suggested four
possible causes. Was there a sudden change in the viruses and bacteria around? Unlikely. Was
there a revolution in medical science? But this was a century before Lister’s revolution*. Was
there a change in environmental conditions? There were improvements in agriculture that wiped
out malaria, but these were small gains. Sanitation did not become widespread until the 19th
century. The only option left is food. But the height and weight statistics show a decline. So the
food must have got worse. Efforts to explain this sudden reduction in child deaths appeared to
draw a blank.’

E
This population burst seemed to happen at just the right time to provide labour for the Industrial
Revolution. ‘When you start moving towards an industrial revolution, it is economically efficient
to have people living close together,’ says Macfarlane. ‘But then you get disease, particularly
from human waste.’ Some digging around in historical records revealed that there was a change
in the incidence of water-borne disease at that time, especially dysentery. Macfarlane deduced
that whatever the British were drinking must have been important in regulating disease. He
says, ‘We drank beer. For a long time, the English were protected by the strong antibacterial
agent in hops, which were added to help preserve the beer. But in the late 17th century a tax
was introduced on malt, the basic ingredient of beer. The poor turned to water and gin and in
the 1720s the mortality rate began to rise again. Then it suddenly dropped again. What caused
this?’

F
Macfarlane looked to Japan, which was also developing large cities about the same time, and
also had no sanitation. Water-borne diseases had a much looser grip on the Japanese
population than those in Britain. Could it be the prevalence of tea in their culture? Macfarlane
then noted that the history of tea in Britain provided an extraordinary coincidence of dates. Tea
was relatively expensive until Britain started a direct clipper trade with China in the early 18th
century. By the 1740s, about the time that infant mortality was dipping, the drink was common.
Macfarlane guessed that the fact that water had to be boiled, together with the
stomach-purifying properties of tea meant that the breast milk provided by mothers was
healthier than it had ever been. No other European nation sipped tea like the British, which, by
Macfarlanes logic, pushed these other countries out of contention for the revolution.

G
But, if tea is a factor in the combination lock, why didn’t Japan forge ahead in a tea-soaked
industrial revolution of its own? Macfarlane notes that even though 17th-century Japan had
large cities, high literacy rates, even a futures market, it had turned its back on the essence of
any work-based revolution by giving up labour-saving devices such as animals, afraid that they
would put people out of work. So, the nation that we now think of as one of the most
technologically advanced entered the 19th century having ‘abandoned the wheel’.

——–
* Joseph Lister was the first doctor to use antiseptic techniques during surgical operations to
prevent infections.

Questions 1-7
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet

List of Headings
i The search for the reasons for an increase in population
ii Industrialisation and the fear of unemployment
iii The development of cities in Japan 4 The time and place of the Industrial Revolution
iv The time and place of the Industrial Revolution
v The cases of Holland, France and China
vi Changes in drinking habits in Britain
vii Two keys to Britain’s industrial revolution
viii Conditions required for industrialisation
ix Comparisons with Japan lead to the answer

1. Paragraph A
2. Paragraph B
3. Paragraph C
4. Paragraph D
5. Paragraph E
6. Paragraph F
7. Paragraph G

Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

8. China’s transport system was not suitable for industry in the 18th century.
9. Tea and beer both helped to prevent dysentery in Britain.
10. Roy Porter disagrees with Professor Macfarlane’s findings.
11. After 1740, there was a reduction in population in Britain.
12. People in Britain used to make beer at home.
13. The tax on malt indirectly caused a rise in the death rate.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage
2 below.
Gifted children and learning
A
Internationally, ‘giftedness’ is most frequently determined by a score on a general intelligence
test, known as an IQ test, which is above a chosen cutoff point, usually at around the top 2-5%.
Children’s educational environment contributes to the IQ score and the way intelligence is used.
For example, a very close positive relationship was found when children’s IQ scores were
compared with their home educational provision (Freeman, 2010). The higher the children’s IQ
scores, especially over IQ 130, the better the quality of their educational backup, measured in
terms of reported verbal interactions with parents, number of books and activities in their home
etc. Because IQ tests are decidedly influenced by what the child has learned, they are to some
extent measures of current achievement based on age-norms; that is, how well the children
have learned to manipulate their knowledge and know-how within the terms of the test. The
vocabulary aspect, for example, is dependent on having heard those words. But IQ tests can
neither identify the processes of learning and thinking nor predict creativity.

B
Excellence does not emerge without appropriate help. To reach an exceptionally high standard
in any area very able children need the means to learn, which includes material to work with and
focused challenging tuition -and the encouragement to follow their dream. There appears to be
a qualitative difference in the way the intellectually highly able think, compared with more
average-ability or older pupils, for whom external regulation by the teacher often compensates
for lack of internal regulation. To be at their most effective in their self-regulation, all children can
be helped to identify their own ways of learning – metacognition – which will include strategies
of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and choice of what to learn. Emotional awareness is also
part of metacognition, so children should be helped to be aware of their feelings around the area
to be learned, feelings of curiosity or confidence, for example.

C
High achievers have been found to use self-regulatory learning strategies more often and more
effectively than lower achievers, and are better able to transfer these strategies to deal with
unfamiliar tasks. This happens to such a high degree in some children that they appear to be
demonstrating talent in particular areas. Overviewing research on the thinking process of highly
able children, (Shore and Kanevsky, 1993) put the instructor’s problem succinctly: ‘If they [the
gifted] merely think more quickly, then .we need only teach more quickly. If they merely make
fewer errors, then we can shorten the practice’. But of course, this is not entirely the case;
adjustments have to be made in methods of learning and teaching, to take account of the many
ways individuals think.

D
Yet in order to learn by themselves, the gifted do need some support from their teachers.
Conversely, teachers who have a tendency to ‘overdirect’ can diminish their gifted pupils’
learning autonomy. Although ‘spoon-feeding’ can produce extremely high examination results,
these are not always followed by equally impressive life successes. Too much dependence on
the teachers risks loss of autonomy and motivation to discover. However, when teachers o
pupils to reflect on their own learning and thinking activities, they increase their pupils’
self-regulation. For a young child, it may be just the simple question ‘What have you learned
today?’ which helps them to recognise what they are doing. Given that a fundamental goal of
education is to transfer the control of learning from teachers to pupils, improving pupils’ learning
to learn techniques should be a major outcome of the school experience, especially for the
highly competent. There are quite a number of new methods which can help, such as child-
initiated learning, ability-peer tutoring, etc. Such practices have been found to be particularly
useful for bright children from deprived areas.

E
But scientific progress is not all theoretical, knowledge is a so vital to outstanding performance:
individuals who know a great deal about a specific domain will achieve at a higher level than
those who do not (Elshout, 1995). Research with creative scientists by Simonton (1988) brought
him to the conclusion that above a certain high level, characteristics such as independence
seemed to contribute more to reaching the highest levels of expertise than intellectual skills, due
to the great demands of effort and time needed for learning and practice. Creativity in all forms
can be seen as expertise se mixed with a high level of motivation (Weisberg, 1993).

F
To sum up, learning is affected by emotions of both the individual and significant others. Positive
emotions facilitate the creative aspects of earning and negative emotions inhibit it. Fear, for
example, can limit the development of curiosity, which is a strong force in scientific advance,
because it motivates problem-solving behaviour. In Boekaerts’ (1991) review of emotion the
learning of very high IQ and highly achieving children, she found emotional forces in harness.
They were not only curious, but often had a strong desire to control their environment, improve
their learning efficiency and increase their own learning resources.

Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet
NB You may use any letter more than once.

14. a reference to the influence of the domestic background on the gifted child.
15. reference to what can be lost if learners are given too much guidance.
16. a reference to the damaging effects of anxiety.
17. examples of classroom techniques which favour socially-disadvantaged children.

Questions 18-22
Look at the following statements (Questions 18-22) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person or people, A-E.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.
18. Less time can be spent on exercises with gifted pupils who produce accurate work.
19. Self-reliance is a valuable tool that helps gifted students reach their goals.
20. Gifted children know how to channel their feelings to assist their learning.
21. The very gifted child benefits from appropriate support from close relatives.
22. Really successful students have learnt a considerable amount about their subject.

List of People
A Freeman
B Shore and Kanevsky
C Elshout
D Simonton
E Boekaerts

Questions 23-26
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet
23. One study found a strong connection between children’s IQ and the availability of
……………… and ………………. at home.
24. Children of average ability seem to need more direction from teachers because they do
not have ……………… .
25. Meta-cognition involves children understanding their own learning strategies, as well as
developing ………………. .
26. Teachers who rely on what is known as ……………… often produce sets of impressive
grades in class tests.