IELTS Reading practice: "The history of tea" - Dịch nghĩa và giải thích chi tiết

IELTS Reading practice: “The history of tea” – Dịch nghĩa và giải thích chi tiết

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IELTS Reading practice The history of tea

Bài đọc The history of tea

The History of Tea

The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water. Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created. The tree was a Camellia sinensis, and the resulting drink was what we now call tea. It is impossible to know whether there is any truth in this story. But tea drinking certainly became established in China many centuries before it had even been heard of in the West. Containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC—220 AD) but it was under the Tang Dynasty (618—906 AD), that tea became firmly established as the national drink of China.

 

It became such a favourite that during the late eighth century a writer called Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely about tea, the Ch’a Ching, or Tea Classic. It was shortly after this that tea was first introduced to Japan, by Japanese Buddhist monks who had travelled to China to study. Tea received almost instant imperial sponsorship and spread rapidly from the royal court and monasteries to the other sections of Japanese society.

 

So at this stage in the history of tea, Europe was rather lagging behind. In the latter half of the sixteenth century there are the first brief mentions of tea as a drink among Europeans. These are mostly from Portuguese who were living in the East as traders and missionaries. But although some of these individuals may have brought back samples of tea to their native country, it was not the Portuguese who were the first to ship back tea as a commercial import. This was done by the Dutch, who in the last years of the sixteenth century began to encroach on Portuguese trading routes in the East. By the turn of the century they had established a trading post on the island of Java, and it was via Java that in 1606 the first consignment of tea was shipped from China to Holland. Tea soon became a fashionable drink among the Dutch, and from there spread to other countries in continental western Europe, but because of its high price it remained a drink for the wealthy.

 

Britain, always a little suspicious of continental trends, had yet to become the nation of tea drinkers that it is today. Starting in 1600, the British East India Company had a monopoly on importing goods from outside Europe, and it is likely that sailors on these ships brought tea home as gifts. The first coffee house had been established in London in 1652, and tea was still somewhat unfamiliar to most readers, so it is fair to assume that the drink was still something of a curiosity. Gradually, it became a popular drink in coffee houses, which were as many locations for the transaction of business as they were for relaxation or pleasure. They were though the preserve of middle- and upper-class men; women drank tea in their own homes, and as yet tea was still too expensive to be widespread among the working classes. In part, its high price was due to a punitive system of taxation.

 

One unforeseen consequence of the taxation of tea was the growth of methods to avoid taxation—smuggling and adulteration. By the eighteenth century many Britons wanted to drink tea but could not afford the high prices, and their enthusiasm for the drink was matched by the enthusiasm of criminal gangs to smuggle it in. What began as a small time illegal trade, selling a few pounds of tea to personal contacts, developed by die late eighteenth century into an astonishing organised crime network, perhaps importing as much as 7 million lbs annually, compared to a legal import of 5 million lbs! Worse for die drinkers was that taxation also encouraged the adulteration of tea, particularly of smuggled tea which was not quality controlled through customs and excise. Leaves from other plants, or leaves which had already been brewed and then dried, were added to tea leaves. By 1784, the government realised that enough was enough, and that heavy taxation was creating more problems than it was words. The new Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, slashed the tax from 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Suddenly legal tea was affordable, and smuggling stopped virtually overnight.

 

Another great impetus to tea drinking resulted from the end of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade with China, in 1834. Before that date, China was the country of origin of the vast majority of the tea imported to Britain, but the end of its monopoly stimulated the East India Company to consider growing tea outside China. India had always been the centre of the Company’s operations, which led to the increased cultivation of tea in India, beginning in Assam. There were a few false starts, including the destruction by cattle of one of the earliest tea nurseries, but by 1888 British tea imports from India were for the first time greater than those from China.

 

The end of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade with China also had another result, which was more dramatic though less important in the long term: it ushered in the era of the tea clippers. While the Company had had the monopoly on trade, there was no rush to bring the tea from China to Britain, but after 1834 the tea trade became a virtual free for all. Individual merchants and sea captains with their own ships raced to bring home the tea and make the most money, using fast new clippers which had sleek lines, tall masts and huge sails. In particular there was a competition between British and American merchants, leading to the famous clipper races of the 1860s. But these races soon came to an end with the opening of the Suez Canal, which made the trade routes to China viable for steamships for the first time.

Bài tập

Questions 1-7

Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 1

Use ONE WORD for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

1. Researchers believed the tea containers detected in 1 from the Han Dynasty was the first evidence of the use of tea.
2. Lu Yu wrote a 2 about tea before anyone else in the eighth century.
3. It was 3 from Japan who brought tea to their native country from China.
4. Tea was carried from China to Europe actually by the 4
5. The British government had to cut down the taxation on tea due to the serious crime of 5_
6. Tea was planted in 6 besides China in the 19th century.
7. In order to compete in shipping speed, traders used 7 for the race.

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. Tea was popular in Britain in the 16th century
9. Tea was more fashionable than coffee in Europe in the late 16th century
10. Tea was enjoyed by all classes in Britain in the seventeenth century
11. The adulteration of tea also prompted William Pitt the Younger to reduce the tax
12. Initial problems occurred when tea was planted outside China by the East India Company
13. The fastest vessels were owned by America during the 19th century clipper races.

Điểm số của bạn là % - đúng / câu

Giải thích đáp án chi tiết The history of tea

PASSAGE: The history of tea

Questions 1- 7: Dạng Summary Completion without a wordlist 

Cách làm: 

  • B1: Khoanh tròn giới hạn từ được điền và xác định từ loại (danh, động, tính, trạng) và loại thông tin (con người, con số) cho mỗi chỗ trống 

  • B2: Xác định các đoạn văn chứa thông tin cần tóm tắt (tìm paraphrase điểm bắt đầu và điểm kết thúc) 

  • B3: Scan đoạn văn và tìm ra nét nghĩa tương đồng 

  • B4: Điền đáp án vào chỗ trống, chú ý giới hạn từ cho phép 

1. Researchers believed the tea containers detected in 1.________  from the Han Dynasty was the first evidence of the use of tea. 

Từ cần điền vào có thể là một danh từ, có thể là danh từ địa điểm, do có giới từ in (sau giới từ thì cần có một danh từ/đại từ). 

Các nhà nghiên cứu tin rằng hộp đựng trà được tìm thấy ở các khu mộ có từ triều nhà Hán. 

→ Đáp án là tombs 

Đoạn 1: Containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC—220 AD).  

2. Lu Yu wrote a 2_________ about tea before anyone else in the eighth century. 

Từ cần điền là một danh từ, do có mạo từ a đứng trước. (Sau mạo từ a/an/the thì cần có danh từ/cụm danh từ, tuy nhiên trong trường hợp này do giới hạn từ, nên chỉ có thể là một danh từ). 

Lu Yu đã viết một cuốn sách vào cuối thế kỷ thứ 8, đây là cuốn sách đầu tiên nói về trà. 

→ Đáp án là book 

Đoạn 2: It became such a favorite that during the late eighth century a writer called Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely about tea, the Ch’a Ching, or Tea Classic.  

3. It was 3_________ from Japan who brought tea to their native country from China

Từ cần điền là một danh từ, cụ thể hơn là một danh từ chỉ người (do có đại từ quan hệ who ở sau) 

Trà được đưa đến Nhật Bản từ Trung Quốc bởi những phật tử người Nhật. 

→ Đáp án là monks 

Đoạn 2: It was shortly after this that tea was first introduced to Japan, by Japanese Buddhist monks who had traveled to China to study.  

4. Tea was carried from China to Europe actually by the 4__________  

Từ cần điền là một danh từ, do có mạo từ the đứng trước. (Sau mạo từ a/an/the thì cần có danh từ/cụm danh từ, tuy nhiên trong trường hợp này do giới hạn từ, nên chỉ có thể là một danh từ). 

Trà được vận chuyển từ Trung Quốc đến Hà Lan (thuộc Châu Âu) bởi người Hà Lan (the Dutch)

→ Đáp án là Dutch  

Đoạn 3: […] But although some of these individuals may have brought back samples of tea to their native country, it was not the Portuguese who were the first to ship back tea as a commercial import. This was done by the Dutch, who in the last years of the sixteenth century began to encroach on Portuguese trading routes in the East. By the turn of the century they had established a trading post on the island of Java, and it was via Java that in 1606 the first consignment of tea was shipped from China to Holland.  

5. The British government had to cut down the taxation on tea due to the serious crime of 5_________  

Từ cần điền vào có thể là một danh từ do có giới từ of (sau giới từ thì cần có một danh từ/đại từ). Chính phủ Anh đã phải cắt giảm thuế lên mặt hàng là trà, do tội buôn lậu (smuggling) nghiêm trọng. 

→ Đáp án là smuggling 

Lưu ý: Trong bài có đề cập đến 2 loại tội là: buôn lậu (smuggling) và pha trộn (adulteration), thì tội buôn lậu có được được giải thích về tầm nghiêm trọng như nào (từ việc buôn lậu nhỏ – chỉ bán vài pounds (1pound ~ 0.5kg) trà, nhưng về sau đã trở thành 1 mạng lưới tội phạm có tổ chức, và buôn lậu 7 triệu pounds hàng năm). Trong khi đó tội pha trộn (adulteration) thì không được nhắc đến việc nghiêm trọng như nào → đáp án không thể là adulteration. 

Đoạn 5: One unforeseen consequence of the taxation of tea was the growth of methods to avoid taxation—smuggling and adulteration. By the eighteenth century many Britons wanted to drink tea but could not afford the high prices, and their enthusiasm for the drink was matched by the enthusiasm of criminal gangs to smuggle it in. What began as a small-time illegal trade, selling a few pounds of tea to personal contacts, developed by the late eighteenth century into an astonishing organized crime network, perhaps importing as much as 7 million lbs annually, compared to a legal import of 5 million lbs! Worse for die drinkers was that taxation also encouraged the adulteration of tea, particularly of smuggled tea which was not quality controlled through customs and excise. Leaves from other plants, or leaves which had already been brewed and then dried, were added to tea leaves. By 1784, the government realized that enough was enough, and that heavy taxation was creating more problems than it was words. The new Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, slashed the tax from 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Suddenly legal tea was affordable, and smuggling stopped virtually overnight. 

6. Tea was planted in 6__________ besides China in the 19th century

Từ cần điền vào có thể là một danh từ, có thể là danh từ địa điểm, do có giới từ in (sau giới từ thì cần có một danh từ/đại từ). Ngoài Trung Quốc thì trà được trồng ở Ấn Độ vào thế kỷ 19. 

→ Đáp án là India 

Lưu ý: Nhiều bạn có thể phân vân đáp án Assam, vì đây cũng là một bang ở Ấn Độ. Tuy nhiên, nếu để ý thì trong câu hỏi có hỏi rằng ngoài Trung Quốc (1 quốc gia), thì trà còn được trồng ở đâu → theo logic thì ngoài quốc gia này, thì trà còn được trồng ở quốc gia nào? → Đáp án sẽ là tên một quốc gia chứ không phải là 1 tỉnh/thành phố/bang của nó. 

Đoạn 6: Another great impetus to tea drinking resulted from the end of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade with China, in 1834. Before that date, China was the country of origin of the vast majority of the tea imported to Britain, but the end of its monopoly stimulated the East India Company to consider growing tea outside China. India had always been the center of the Company’s operations, which led to the increased cultivation of tea in India, beginning in Assam. 

7. In order to compete in shipping speed, traders used 7_________ for the race

Từ cần điền là một danh từ. 

Để cạnh tranh về tốc độ vận chuyển thì những thương nhân đã sử dụng các con thuyền cao tốc (clipper) cho các cuộc đua

→ Đáp án là clippers

Đoạn 7:  […]. Individual merchants and sea captains with their own ships raced to bring home the tea and make the most money, using fast new clippers which had sleek lines, tall masts and huge sails

Questions 8 – 13: Dạng TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN

Cách làm:

  • B1: Đọc kĩ câu hỏi và gạch chân từ khóa

  • B2: Scan từ khóa đã gạch trong bài đọc

  • B3: Chú ý tới controlling words (not, only, the majority etc.)

  • B4: Chọn đáp án phù hợp

-> Nếu toàn bộ nội dung chính của câu hỏi có thể tìm thấy trong bài đọc: đáp án là TRUE

> Nếu nội dung trong câu hỏi có ít nhất một lỗi sai so với nội dung bài đọc: đáp án là FALSE

> Nếu không tìm đủ toàn bộ nội dung tương ứng trong đoạn văn (ví dụ: câu hỏi có 3 nội dung chính, nhưng đoạn văn chỉ nhắc đến 2/3) hoặc không có bất cứ thông tin nào trong câu hỏi được nhắc đến trong đoạn văn: đáp án là NOT GIVEN.

8. Tea was popular in Britain in the 16th century

Theo nội dung bài đọc, đến năm 1652 (thuộc thế kỷ 17) thì trà vẫn còn chưa được nhiều người biết đến (somewhat unfamiliar to most readers), hay nói cách khác là chưa phổ biến, điều này ngược lại với nội dung câu hỏi (trà đã phổ biến ở Anh ở thế kỷ 16).

→ Đáp án là FALSE

Đoạn 4: Britain, always a little suspicious of continental trends, had yet to become the nation of tea drinkers that it is today. Starting in 1600, the British East India Company had a monopoly on importing goods from outside Europe, and it is likely that sailors on these ships brought tea home as gifts. The first coffee house had been established in London in 1652, and tea was still somewhat unfamiliar to most readers, so it is fair to assume that the drink was still something of a curiosity. 

9. Tea was more fashionable than coffee in Europe in the late 16th century.

Trong bài đọc không đề cập đến thông tin trà phổ biến hơn cà phê.

→ Đáp án là NOT GIVEN

Lưu ý: Nhiều bạn tìm thấy từ coffee, tuy nhiên các bạn cần chú ý rằng từ coffee này nằm trong coffee house (tiệm cà phê), chứ không đứng độc lập. 

Coffee coffee house là 2 đối tượng hoàn toàn khác nhau.

Đoạn 4: The first coffee house had been established in London in 1652, and tea was still somewhat unfamiliar to most readers, so it is fair to assume that the drink was still something of a curiosity. 

10. Tea was enjoyed by all classes in Britain in the seventeenth century

Theo nội dung bài đọc vào thế kỷ 17, thì trà vẫn còn quá đắt với tầng lớp lao động → trà không phổ biến với tầng lớp lao động, điều này ngược với thông tin câu hỏi là được yêu thích bởi tất cả các tầng lớp xã hội.

→ Đáp án là FALSE

Đoạn 4: […] The first coffee house had been established in London in 1652, and tea was still somewhat unfamiliar to most readers, so it is fair to assume that the drink was still something of a curiosity. Gradually, it became a popular drink in coffee houses, which were as many locations for the transaction of business as they were for relaxation or pleasure They were though the preserve of middle- and upper-class men; women drank tea in their own homes, and as yet tea was still too expensive to be widespread among the working classes

11. The adulteration of tea also prompted William Pitt the Younger to reduce the tax

Theo nội dung bài đọc, bên cạnh việc buôn lậu (smuggling), thì việc pha trộn tạp chất (adulteration), cũng là một nguyên nhân khiến thủ tướng nước Anh là William Pitt the Younger phải ra quyết định cắt giảm thuế.

→ Đáp án là TRUE

Đoạn 5: […] By the eighteenth century many Britons wanted to drink tea but could not afford the high prices, and their enthusiasm for the drink was matched by the enthusiasm of criminal gangs to smuggle it in. What began as a small-time illegal trade, selling a few pounds of tea to personal contacts, developed by the late eighteenth century into an astonishing organized crime network, perhaps importing as much as 7 million lbs annually, compared to a legal import of 5 million lbs! Worse for die drinkers was that taxation also encouraged the adulteration of tea, particularly of smuggled tea which was not quality controlled through customs and excise. Leaves from other plants, or leaves which had already been brewed and then dried, were added to tea leaves. By 1784, the government realized that enough was enough, and that heavy taxation was creating more problems than it was words. The new Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, slashed the tax from 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

12. Initial problems occurred when tea was planted outside China by the East India Company.

Theo nội dung bài đọc, sau khi công ty Đông Ấn bắt đầu trồng trà ở Ấn Độ thì có 1 vài vấn đề xảy ra, trong đó kể đến sự phá hoại vườn ươm chè bởi gia súc.

→ Đáp án là TRUE

Đoạn 6: Another great impetus to tea drinking resulted from the end of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade with China, in 1834. Before that date, China was the country of origin of the vast majority of the tea imported to Britain, but the end of its monopoly stimulated the East India Company to consider growing tea outside China. India had always been the center of the Company’s operations, which led to the increased cultivation of tea in India, beginning in Assam.  There were a few false starts, including the destruction by cattle of one of the earliest tea nurseries, but by 1888 British tea imports from India were for the first time greater than those from China.

13. The fastest vessels were owned by America during the 19th century clipper races.

Trong bài có đề cập đến việc những người thương nhân sử dụng các con thuyền cao tốc (fast new clippers), chứ không nói con thuyền có tốc độ nhanh nhất được sở hữu bởi ai

→ Đáp án là NOT GIVEN

Đoạn 7: Individual merchants and sea captains with their own ships raced to bring home the tea and make the most money, using fast new clippers which had sleek lines, tall masts and huge sails. In particular there was a competition between British and American merchants, leading to the famous clipper races of the 1860s.

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