Cách làm bài thi READING của IELTS

Hôm nay, Bear xin nói về cách làm bài thi READING của IELTS.

1. Thời gian thi kỹ năng đọc hiểu trong kỳ thi IELTS là 60 phút.

2. Phải đọc tổng cộng là 3 PASSAGES .

3. Tổng cộng số câu hỏi phải trả lời là 40 câu.

4. Khi làm phải chia thời gian:
19 phút để trả lời các câu hỏi của 1 PASSAGE + 1 phút để chuyển đáp án từ trong đề sang tờ ANSWER SHEET
=> 1 PASSAGE = 20 phút

5. Cách tính điểm: 3 – 2 – 2:

38, 39, 40 câu	9.0
36, 37 câu	8.5
34, 35 câu	8.0
31, 32, 33 câu	7.5
29, 30 câu	7.0
27, 28 câu	6.5
24, 25, 26 câu	6.0
22, 23 câu	5.5
20, 21 câu	5.0
17, 18, 19 câu	4.5
15, 16 câu	4.0
12, 13, 14 câu	3.5
10, 11 câu	3.0
8 , 9 câu	2.5
5, 6 , 7 câu	2.0
3, 4 câu	1.5
1, 2 câu	1.0

6. Cách làm là:
- Đọc hết tất cả các câu hỏi liên quan đến PASSAGE đó trước rồi mới đọc PASSAGE + hiểu khoảng 50% y’ của câu hỏi + trí nhớ tốt.

- Gạch dưới từ khóa của câu hỏi => nhớ từ khóa => đọc đọan văn => quay lại đọan văn tìm và gạch dưới từ khóa, từ đồng nghĩa, trái nghĩa [ Hiểu trên 50% nội dung của đoạn văn]

Ví dụ:
Bước 1: đọc câu hỏi:
According to the writer, creative people
A. are usually born with their talents
B. are born with their talents.
C. are not born with their talents.
D. a well-trodden path.

Bước 2: gạch dưới key words
According to the writer, creative people
A. are usually born with their talents
B. are born with their talents.
C. are not born with their talents.
D. a well-trodden path

Bước 3: Đọc đoạn văn + gạch dưới từ khóa để xác định có thể đáp án nằm trong phần nào của đoạn văn:

It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents: gifts from God or nature. Creative genius is, in fact, latent within many of us, without our realising. But how far do we need to travel to find the path to creativity? For many people, long way…

Ví dụ: phần tô màu xanh ở trên là phần mình có thể đoán được đáp án chính là nằm ở đó, nhờ vào key words ở câu hỏi: creative people, born with talents..

Khi đã xác định phạm vi đáp án nằm ở đâu trong đoạn văn, tiếp tục đến bước 4.

Bước 4: đọc kỹ nguyên câu đó.

Trong ví dụ trên, nếu không đọc kỹ, mình sẽ chọn đáp án là B. Nhưng nếu đọc hết câu, sẽ thấy có chữ ‘myth’.

ð It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents: Thật là sai lầm khi nghĩ rằng những con người sáng tạo có tài năng bẩm sinh.
Note: myth = a commonly believed but false idea

Bước 5: chọn đáp án là câu C

According to the writer, creative people
A. are usually born with their talents
B. are born with their talents.
C. are not born with their talents.
D. a well-trodden path

Lời khuyên:
1. ‘Practice makes perfect’ => Hãy luyện tập giải đề thật nhiều thì mới nhanh nhạy đối phó với vấn đề về thời gian. Nhất định phải luyện tập cho mình thói quen: 19 phút là phải xong 1 PASSAGE. Không nên vì 1 câu tìm không ra đáp án, mà suy nghĩ hoài, mất thời gian. Thay vào đó, hãy làm những câu khác. Nếu tập trung vào 1 câu khó mà bỏ lỡ cơ hội trả lời đúng những câu dễ thì uổng lắm.

2. Học 3 từ vựng IELTS đều đặn mỗi ngày vì trong bài reading, những từ này xuất hiện như.. ‘cát trên sa mạc’ vậy. Ví von vậy để thấy sự lợi hại của quyển sách 22.000 từ này nhé.

3. Nếu không có thời gian, mọi ngừơi chỉ việc luyện quyển:

IELTS Reading Tests : nhà xuất bản trẻ - 15.000VND. Hoặc cũng là 10 reading tests này, nhưng khổ to hơn + phía sau mỗi bài, có phần từ vựng cho riêng bài đó (nhà xuất bản tổng hợp TPHCM) : 44.000VND

Phía sau quyển sách, có đáp án rất rõ ràng, giải thích vì sao nên chọn A, mà không phải là B..

[Mà Bear khuyến khích nên sử dụng cuốn khổ to, vì lúc Bear luyện cuốn sách khổ nhỏ, chữ nhỏ, Bear thấy đọc 1 chút là hết ngay cái passage. Đến lúc đi thi, Bear hơi choáng, vì tờ giấy to, chữ to.. cảm giác đọc hoài không hết! ]

4. Giai đoạn đầu, chỉ nên làm 1 PASSAGE (20 phút) rồi nghỉ ngơi. Khi nào thoải mái rồi làm tiếp. Không nên làm 1 lèo 60 phút (3 passages). Giải khoảng 5 đề như thế , thì bắt đầu tập làm quen với áp lực thời gian trong phòng thi, tức là giải luôn 3 passages trong vòng 60 phút.

Mỗi lần làm xong, phải tổng kết xem mình đúng bao nhiêu trên 40 câu. Tính điểm và ghi chú lại. Để mỗi đề, xem mình tiến bộ thế nào.

5. Làm thế nào mà 1 đề, khi giải xong, check đáp án xong, mình phải hiểu rõ tại sao chọn câu đó. Để khi giải lại, phải được từ 8.0 trở lên mới được.

Có nhiều bạn hỏi: Như vậy là học thuộc đáp án à?

Câu trả lời là không phải! Mà là: phải l‎y’ giải được tại sao mình lại chọn đáp án đó (do trong bài, đoạn mấy, dòng mấy..).

Cách luyện tập như vậy là để pratice cái mind của mình nhanh nhẹn trong việc xử l‎y’ dữ liệu thôi.

6. Có nhiều dạng câu hỏi lắm:

+ Matching the two parts of split sentences

+ Short answer to open questions

+ Multiple choice questions

+ Yes/ No/ Not Given Statements

+ Gap filling exercises

+ Matching paragraph headings

Mai, Bear sẽ post 1 PASSAGE và nói cách làm của từng dạng trong mỗi lần post nhé.

TEST 1 – READING PASSAGE 1:

Questions 1 - 5

Reading Passage 1 below has 5 paragraphs (A-E). Which paragraph focuses on the information below? Write the appropriate letters (A-E) in Boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1. The way parameters in the mind help people to be creative.

2. The need to learn rules in order to break them.

3. How habits restrict us and limit creativity.

4. How to train the mind to be creative.

5. How the mind is trapped by the desire for order.

THE CREATION MYTH

A. It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents: gifts from God or nature. Creative genius is, in fact, latent within many of us, without our realising. But how far do we need to travel to find the path to creativity? For many people, long way. In our everyday lives, we have to perform many acts out of habit to survive, like opening the door, shaving, getting dressed, walking to work, and so on. If this were not the case, we would, in all probability, become mentally unhinged. So strongly ingrained are our habits, though this varies from person to person, that, sometimes, when a conscious effort is made to be creative, automatic response takes over. We may try, for example, to walk to work following a different route, but end up on our usual path. By then it is too late to go back and change our minds. Another day, perhaps. The same applies to all other areas of our lives. When we are solving problems, for example, we may seek different answers, but, often as not, find ourselves walking along the same well-trodden paths.

B. So, for many people, their actions and behaviours are set in immovable blocks, their minds clogged with the cholesterol of habitual actions, preventing them from operating freely, and thereby stifling creation. Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggle for survival has become a tyranny – the obsessive desire to give order to the world is a case in point. Witness people’s attitude to time, social customs and the panoply of rules and regulations by which the human mind is now circumscribed.

C. The groundwork for keeping creative ability in check begins at school. School, later university and then work teach us to regulate our lives, imposing a continuous process of restriction, which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of technology. Is it surprising then that creative ability appears to be so rare? It is trapped in the prison that we have erected. Yet, even here in this hostile environment, the foundations for creativity are being laid; because setting off on the creative path is also partly about using rules and regulations. Such limitations are needed so that once they are learnt, they can be broken.

D. The truly creative mind is often seen as totally free and unfettered. But a better image is of a mind, which can be free when it wants, and one that recognises that rules and regulations are parameters, or barriers, to be raised and dropped again at will. An example of how the human kind can be trained to be creative might help here. People’s mind are just like tense muscles, that need to be freed up and the potential unlocked. One strategy is to erect artifitial barriers or hurdles in solving a problem. In this way, they are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory, which may led to some startling discoveries. Unfortunately, the difficulty in this exercise, and with creation itself, is convincing people that creation is possible, shrouded as it is so much myth and legend. There is also an element of fear involved, however subliminal, as deviating from the safety of one’s own thought patterns is very much akin to madness. But, open Pandora’s box, and a whole new world unfolds before your eyes.

E. Lifting barriers into place also plays a major part in helping the mind to control ideas rather than letting them collide at random. Parameterrs act as containers for ideas, and thus help the mind to fix on them. When the mind is thinking laterally, and two ideas from different areas of the brain come or are brought together, they form a new idea, just like atoms floating around and then forming a molecule. Once the idea has been formed, it needs to be contained or it will fly away, so fleeting is its passage. The mind needs to hold it in place for a time so that it can recognise it or call on it again. And then the parameters can act as channels along which the ideas can flow, developing and expanding. When the mind has brought the idea to fruition by thinking it through to its final conclusion, the parameters can be brought down and the idea allowed to float off and come in contact with other ideas.

Questions 6 – 10

6. According to the writer, creative people
A. are usually born with their talents
B. are born with their talents
C. are not born with their talents
D. are geniuses

7. According to the writer, creativity is
A. a gift from God or nature
B. an automatic response
C. difficult for many people to achieve
D. a well-trodden path

8. According to the writer :
A. the human race’s fight to live is becoming a tyranny
B. the human brain is blocked with cholesterol
C. the human race is now cicumbribed by talents
D. the human race’s fight to survive stifles creative ability

9. Advancing technology
A. holds creativity in check
B. improves creativity
C. enhances creativity
D. is a TYRANNY

10.According to the author, creativity…
A. is common
B. is increasingly common
C. is becoming rarer and rarer
D. is a rare commodity

Questions 11 – 15

Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 11 – 15, write:

Yes If the statement agrees with the information in the passage

No If the statement contradicts the information in the passage

Not given If there is no information about the statement in the passage

11.Rules and regulations are examples of parameters.

12.The truly creative mind is associated with the need for free speech and a totally free society.

13.One problem with creativity is that people think it is impossible.

14.The act of creation is linked to madness.

15.Parameters help the mind by holding the ideas and helping them to develop.

Mọi người thử làm, lần tới Bear post đáp án J Enjoy..

Hôm nay Bear post: answers + phần giải thích:

KEY TO TEST 1 – READING PASSAGE 1:

Questions 1 – 5:

This type of question is a variation of paragraph headings. There are no distracters in this section, which makes it much easier.

1. Answer: E. The paragraph is about the fact that parameters help our minds to be creative.

2. Answer: C. The answer lies in the key phrases: .. keeping creative ability in check (in the first sentence) and These limitations are needed so that once they are learnt, they can be broken (the last sentence of the paragraph). The focus sentence is a combination of these two ideas. Note how the word yet devides the paragraph. It indicates the focus of the paragraph against the background in the first part. It also marks the division of information in the whole passage.

3. Answer: A. The writer wrote the paragraph to show that habits limit our creativity and the habits we need to survive play a role in this limitation.

4. Answer: D. The theme of the paragraph is how creativity works.

5. Answer: B. The paragraph deals with how parameters help the mind to be creative.

Questions 6 - 10

6. Answer: C. The answer is in the first line of the passage: It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents. Here, it is a myth = are not.

7. Answer: C. The answer is in paragraph A. The actual words are not in the paragraph, but the meaning is clear. A is not correct, because this is a myth. B is not correct, because the passage states that when we try to be creative, our automatic response takes over. D is not correct, because the well-trodden paths prevent creativity. Compare number 13 below.

8. Answer: D. The answer is in paragraph B: Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggle for survival has become a tyranny. The answer paraphrases this statement. A is not correct, because the passage says the struggle has become i.e. is a tyranny, not that it is becoming so. B is not correct, because cholesterol is not mentioned in relationship to the brain, but the mind. C is incorrect, because it is the mind which is circumscribed.

9. Answer: A. The answer is in paragraph C: a continuous process of restriction, which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of techonology. The statement is a paraphrase of this section. Note B and C are basically the same; it is, therefore, not possible to have either of these two alternatives as your answer. Watch out for this feature in multiple choice questions.

10. Answer: D. The answer is in paragraph C: Is it surprising then that creative ability appears to be so rare? This is question and has the same meaning as the statement given, i.e. it is not surprising. Note C is not possible, because the passage doesn’t indicate whether the rarity is increasing or decreasing.

Questions 11 - 15

11. Answer: Yes. The answer is at the beginning of paragraph D: .. and one that recognises that rules and regulations are parameters..

12. Answer: Not Given. There is no reference to this statement in the passage.

13. Answer: Yes. The answer is in paragraph D: The difficulty in this exercise and with creation itself is convincing people that creation is possible. The answer is a paraphrase of this part of the text. Compare number 7 above.

14. Answer: Yes. The answer is at the end of paragraph D: leaving the safety of one’s own thought patterns is very much akin to madness; akin to = like.

15. Answer: Yes. The answer is in the latter half of paragraph E.

READING PASSAGE 2:

Nhớ: Khi làm phải chia thời gian:
19 phút để trả lời các câu hỏi của 1 PASSAGE + 1 phút để chuyển đáp án từ trong đề sang tờ ANSWER SHEET
=> 1 PASSAGE = 20 phút

Now.. enjoy..

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 16 – 30, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

LOCKED DOORS, OPEN ACCESS.

1. The word, ‘security’, has both positive and negative connotations. Most of us would say that we crave security for all its positve virtues, both physical and psychological – its evocation of the safefy of home, of undying love, or of freedom from need. More negatively, the word nowadays conjures up images of that huge industry which has developed to protect individuals and property from invasion by ‘outsider’, ostensibly malicious and intent on theft or wilful damage.

2. Increasingly, because they are situated in urban areas of escalating crime, those buildings which used to allow free-access to employees and other users (buildings such as offices, schools, colleges or hospitals) now do not. Entry areas which in another age were called ‘Reception’ are now manned by security staff. Receptionists, whose task it was to receive visitors and to make them welcome before passing them on to the person they had come to see, have been replaced by those who task it is to bar entry to the unauthorized, the unwanted or the plain unappealing.

3. Inside, these buildings are divided into ‘secure zones’ which often have all the trappings of combination locks and burglar alarms. These devices bar entry to the uninitiated, hinder circulation, and create parameters of time and space for user access. Within the spaces created by these zones, individual rooms are themselves under lock and key, which is a particular problem when it means that working space becomes compartmentalized.

4. To combat the consequent difficulty of access to people at a physical level, we have now developed technological access. Computers sit on every desk and are linked to one another, and in many cases to an external universe of other computers, so that messages can be passed to and fro. Here too security plays a part, since we must not be allowed access to messages destined for others. And so the password was invented. Now correspondence between individuals goes from desk to desk and can not be accessed by collegues. Library catalogues can be searched from one’s desk. Papers can be delivered to, and received from, other people at the press of a button.

5. And yet it seems that, just as work is isolating individuals more and more, organizations are recognizing the advantages of ‘team-work’; perhaps in order to encourage employees to talk to one another again. Yet, how can groups work in teams if the possibilities for communication are reduced? How can they work together if e-mail provides a convenient electronic shield behind which the blurring of public and private can be exploited by the less scrupulous? If voice-mail walls up messages behind a password? If I can’t leave a message on my colleagues’ desk because his office is locked?

6. Team-work conceals the fact that another kind of security, ‘job security’, is almost always not on offer. Just as organizations now recognize three kinds of physical resources: those they buy, those they lease long-term and those they rent short-term – so it is with their human resources. Some employees have permanent contracts, some have short-term contracts, and some are regarded simply as casual labour.

7. Telecomunication systems offer us the direct line, which means that individuals can be contacted without the caller having to talk to anyone else. Voice-mail and the anser-phone mean that individuals can communicate without ever actually talking to one another. If we are unfortunate enough to contact an organization with a sophisticated touch-tone dialling system, we can buy things and pay for them without ever speaking to a human being.

8. To combat this closing in on ourselves we have the Internet, which opens out communication channels more widely than anyone could possibly want or need. An individual’s electronic presence on the internet is known as the ‘Home Page’ – suggesting the safety and security of an electronic hearth. An elaborate system of 3-dimensional medium of ‘web sites’. The nomenclature itself creates the illusion of a geographical entity, that the person sitting before the computer is travelling, when it fact the ‘site’ is coming to him. ‘Addresses’ of one kind or another move to the individual, rather than the individual moving between them, now that location is no longer geographical.

9. An example of this is the mobile phone. I am now not available either at home or at work, but wherever I take my mobile phone. Yet, even now, we cannot escape the security of wanting to ‘locate’ the person at the other end. It is no coincidence that almost everyone we see answering or initiating a mobile phone-call in public begins by saying where he or she is.

Questions 16 – 19

Choose the appropriate letters A – D and write them in Boxes 16 – 19 on your answer sheet.

16. According to the author, one thing we long for is..

A. the saftey of the home

B. security

C. open access

D. positive virutes.

17. Access to many buildings..

A. is unauthorised

B. is becoming more difficult

C. is a cause of crime in many urban areas.

D. used to be called ‘Reception’.

18. Buildings used to permit access to any users,…

A. but now they do not

B. and still do now

C. especially offices and schols

D. especially in urban areas.

19. Secure zones…

A. don’t allow access to the user

B. compartmentalise the user

C. are often like traps

D. are not accessible to everybody.

Questions 20 – 27

Complete the text below, which is a summary of paragraphs 4 – 6. Choose your answers from the Word List below and write them in Boxes 20 – 27 on your answer sheet.

There are more words and phrases than spaces, so you will not be able to use them all. You may used any word or phrase more than once.

Example:

The problem of ___________ access to buildings..

Answer: physical

The problem of physical access to buildings has now been (20)________ by technology. Messages are sent between (21)___________, with passwords not allowing (22)_________ to read someone else’s messages. But, while individuals are becoming increasingly (23)_______ socially by the way they do their job, at the same time more value is being put on (24)_________. However, e-mail and voice-mail have led to a (25)___________ opportunities for person – to – person communication. And the fact that job-security is generally not available nowadays is hidden by the very concept of (26)__________. Human resources are now regarded in (27)__________ physical ones.

Word list

Just the same way as computer cut-off

Reducing of computers overcame

Decrease in combat isolating

Team-work developed physical

Similar other people

No different from solved

Questions 28 – 30

Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in Boxes 28 – 30 on your answer sheet.

28. The writer does not like_______________

29. An individual’s Home Page indicates their ___________ on the Internet.

30. Devices like mobile phones mean that location is ______________

KEY TO TEST 1 – READING PASSAGE 2

Questions 16 - 19

16. Answer: B. The answer is in the econd sentence of paragraph 1: we crave security.

17. Answer: B. The answer is in paragraph 2. The key word increasingly = becoming. A, C and D are all mentioned in the paragraph, but not in the correct context.

18. Answer: A. The answer is in the first sentence of paragraph 2: now do not. B is the opposite and C and D are just phrases lifted from the text.

19. Answer: D. the answer is in paragraph 3, the key phrase is bar entry to the uninitiated, which the answer parapharses. A is incorrect, because only some access is not allowed. B is not true, because it is the working space that is compartmentalised, not the user, and C is not correct, because ‘traps’ are not the same as ‘trappings’.

Questions 20 – 27

Before you start looking in the text for the words to complete the blank spaces, you should read the summary through quickly to get an idea of the overall meaning. As you read, you should work out what kind of word you need to find in each case. For example, doe the blank require a verb in the imperative form, a noun, an adjective or an adverb? You should also think of words that could fill the blanks so that when you look at the original passage the answers will come to you more easily.

20. Answer: solved. Although the word combat appears in the original, it does not fit here grammatically. The past participle is needed. Note overcame is the Simple Past, not Past participle.

21. Answer: computer. The plural is needed here.

22. Answer: other people.

23. Answer: cut-off. The word isolating does not fit grammatically. You need an adjective made from the past participle of the verb. Compare 20 above.

24. Answer: team-work

25. Answer: decrease in

26. Answer: team-work. As it says in the instructions, you may use a word or phrase more than once.

27. Answer: just the same way as. The answer is obviously not similar or no different from.

Questions 28 – 30.

28. Answer: touch-tone dialling systems. The answer is in paragraph 7: if we are unfortunate enough to contact an organization with a sophisticated touch-tone dialling system. The key word here is unfortunate, which shows that the writer is negative about the topic. The writer does not comment on the other means of communication in the same way.

29. Answer: electronic presence. The answer is in paragraph 8.

30. Answer: no longer geographical. The answer is in paragraphs 8 and 9:.. now that location is no longer geographical.. An example of this is the mobile phone. The important thing here is to recognise the link between the paragraphs.

READING PASSAGE 3:

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 31 – 40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

NATIONAL CUISINE AND TOURISM.

1. To an extent, agriculture dictates that every country should have a set of specific foods which are native to that country. They may even be unique. However, even allowing for the power of agriculture science, advances in food distribution and changes in food economics to alter the ethnocentric properties of food, it is still possible for a country ‘to be famous for’ a particular food even if it is widely available elsewhere.

The degree to which cuisine is embedded in national culture

2. Within the sociology of food literature two themes suggest that food is linked to social culture. The first relates food and eating to social relationships, (Finkelstein, Vissor, Wood), and the second establishes food as a reflection of the distribution of power within social structures, (Mennell). However, establishing a role for food in personal relationships and social structures is not a sufficient argument to place food at the centre of national culture. To do that it is necessary to prove a degree of embeddedness. It would be appropriate at this point to consider the nature of culture.

3. The distinction made by Pierce between a behavioural contingency and a cultural contingency is crucial to our understanding of culture. Whilst a piece of behaviour may take place very often, involve a network of people and be reproducible by other networks who do not know each other, the meaning of the behaviour does not go beyond the activity itself. A cultural practice, however, contains and represents ‘meta-contingencies’ that is, behavioural practices that have a social meaning greater than the activity itself and which, by their nature reinforce the culture which houses them. Celebrating birthdays is a cultural practice not because everybody does it but because it has a religious meaning. Contrast this with the practice in Britain of celebrating ‘Guy Fawkes Night’. It is essentially an excuse for a good time but if fireworks were banned, the occasion would gradually die away altogether or end up as cult to California. A smaller scale example might be more useful. In the British context, compare drinking in pubs with eating ‘fish and chips’. Both are common practices, yet the former reflects something of the social fabric of the country, particularly family, gender, class and age relationships whilst the latter is just a national habit. In other words, a constant, well populated pattern of behaviour is not necessarily cultural. However, it is also clear that a cultural practice needs behavioural reinforcement. Social culture is not immortal.

4. Finkelstein argues that ‘dining out’ is simply ‘action which supports a surface life’. For him it is the word ‘out’ that disconnects food from culture. This view of culture and food places the ‘home’ as the cultural centre. Continental European eating habits may contradict this notion by their general acceptance of eating out as part of family life. Following the principle that culture needs behavioural reinforcement, if everyone ‘eats’ out’ on a regular basis, irrespective of social and economic differentiation, then this might constitue behavioural support for cuisine being part of social culture. That aside, the significance of a behavioural practice being embedded in culture is that it naturally maintains an approved and accepted way of life and therefore has a tendency to resist change.

5. The thrust of the argument is that countries differ in the degree to which their food and eating habits have a social and cultural meaning beyond the behaviour itself. This argument, however, could be interpreted to imply that the country with the greatest proportion of meals taken outside the home would be the one in which the national cuisine is more embedded in social culture. This is a difficult position to maintain because it would bring America, with its fast-food culture to the fore. The fast-food culture of America raises the issue of whether there are qualitative criteria for the concept of cuisine. The key issue is not the extent of the common behaviour but whether or not it has a function in maintaining social cohesion and is appreciated and valued through social norms. French cuisine and ‘going down the pub’ are strange bedfellows but bedfellows nevertheless.

How homogenous is national cuisine?

6. Like languages, cuisine is not a static entity and whilst its fundamental character is unlikely to change in the short run it may evolve in different directions. Just as in a language there are dialects so in a cuisine there are variations. The two principal sources of diversity are the physical geography of the country and its social diversity.

7. The geographical dimensions work through agriculture to particularise and to limit locally produced ingredients. Ethnic diversity in the population works through the role of cuisine in social identity to create ethnically distinct cuisines which may not converge into a national cuisine. This raises the question of how far a national cuisine is related to national borders. To an ethnic group their cuisine is national. The greater the division of a society into classes, castes and status groups with their attendant ethnocentric properties, of which cuisine is a part, then the greater will be the diversity of the cuisines.

8. However, there is a case for convergence. Both these principal sources of diversity are, to an extent, influenced by the strength of their boundaries and the willingness of society to erode them. It is a question of isolation and intergration. Efficient transport and the application of chemistry can alter agricultural boundaries to make a wider range of foods available to a cuisine. Similarly, political and social intergration can erode ethnic boundaries. However, all these arguments mean nothing if the cuisine is not embedded in social culture. Riley argues that when a cuisine is not embedded in social culture it is suceptible to novelty and invasion by other cuisines.

Questions 31 – 36

Choose one phrase (A-K) from the List of phrases to complete each Key point below. Write the appropriate letters (A-K) in Boxes 31 – 36 on your answer sheet.

The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate summary of the points made by the writer.

There are more phrases (A-K) than sentences, so you will not need to use them all. You may use each phrase once only.

Key points

31. The native foods of a country,…

32. The ethnocentric properties of food…

33. Celebrating birthdays…

34. Cultural practice…

35. Drinking in pubs in Britain…

36. The link between language and cuisine…

List of phrases:

A. is a behavioural practice, not a cultural practice

B. are unique

C. varies

D. is that both are diverse

E. is a reflection of the social fabric

F. is a cultural practice

G. can be changed by economic and distribution factors

H. is fundamental

I. are not as common as behaviour

J. needs to be reinforced by behaviour

K. are, to a certain extent, dictated by agriculture

Question 37 – 40

Use the information in the text to match the Authors (A-D) with the Findings (37-40) below. Write the appropriate letters (A-D) in Boxes 37 – 40 on your answer sheet.

Authors

A. Finkelstein

B. Pierce

C. Mennell

D. Riley

Findings

37. There is a difference between behaviour and cultural practice.

38. The connection between social culture and food must be strong if national cuisine is to survive intact.

39. Distribution of power in society is reflected in food.

40. The link between culture and eating outside the home is not strong..