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BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 211
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 211 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 211
READING PASSAGE – 3
How a Humble Vegetable Changed the World
A. A fashionable adornment, aphrodisiac or cause of fever, leprosy and widespread famine? The perceived attributes of a humble tuber, otherwise known as the potato, have certainly varied over historical eras and with shifts in belief systems. Accordingly, attitudes towards the potato have ranged from curiosity and acceptance to fear and suspicion and even downright hostility, as the British population took to the streets in the 18th century to denounce the tuber in public protests, rallying under the cry ‘No Potatoes, No Popery!’
B. So, why did a humble tuber excite so much suspicion and mistrust? One has but to look to the roots – if you will pardon the pun – of the controversial crop to understand how the potato managed to initially incite such distrust in many, despite saving millions from starvation in later centuries.
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C. The potato, together with the eggplant (aubergine) and tomato, originates from the same family as the deadly belladonna (also known as deadly nightshade) and equally toxic, henbane. Common to all these plants is the presence of the lethal toxin solanine, a neurological poison. Ingestion of the toxin may lead to paralysis and death. In addition, the presence of another toxin, tomatine, in potatoes is similarly potentially deadly. One might be forgiven in thinking, therefore, that the potato is not an attractive item to have on the menu.
Add to this the belief that the tuber was thought to be a source of leprosy too, then it is little wonder that the potato took time to win acceptance in European circles after ¡ts introduction in the 16th century.
D. Obviously, the potatoes we eat today bear little resemblance to the toxin-laden wild potatoes of Peru from where they originate. There, the potatoes in their natural form are so toxic that they can only be ingested if accompanied by clay particles. As far back as the 16th century, Peruvian Indians were utilising such knowledge, dipping the bitter potatoes in a gravy mix of water and clay particles. The latter served to absorb excess solanine thereby rendering the potato edible. Nowadays, centuries of crossbreeding between species has greatly diluted the toxin and its lethal potential.
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E. Today, the potato is hailed as a saviour. A French pharmacist named Parmentier is to be largely credited with the about-face in attitude towards the potato as a food source in the 17th century. Prior to this period, public repugnance towards the vegetable as much as reluctance to use it other than as cattle fodder prevented its appearance on the dining table. A prior ill-fated introduction of the tuber by Sir Walter Raleigh to the court of Elizabeth I had done the tuber no favours: the decision of the queen’s cook to serve up the plant’s indigestible leaves as opposed to the edible tubers had resulted in universal indigestion amongst court members on this occasion.
Parmentier, however, turned public opinion regarding the tuber by encouraging its addition to the menus of Louis XVI’s court. So successful was his personal campaign for the potato’s introduction that the queen, Marie Antoinette, enthusiastically adorned her hair with potato flowers, sparking off a fashionable trend amongst court circles.
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F. Parmentier’s intervention on behalf of the humble potato was timely and without doubt ultimately saved millions from starvation. Public acceptance of the potato, however, initially lagged significantly behind that of court circles. In fact, it took an edict from the Paris Faculty of Medicine in 1772, verifying that potatoes were edible, in addition to the famine of 1785 to bring the public around. Thereafter, the potato became a staple in the diet of the rich and the poor alike.
G. So significant a role is the potato thought to have played in world history, with regard to staving off famine and aiding population increase, that historian W.H. McNeill has attributed the building of empires to the humble tuber. The potato, he argues, fuelled the rise of the West between 1750 and 1950 as European nations became no longer beholden to famine and were able to take dominion over other countries.
H. The rise of the potato from maligned tuber to worldwide food source, becoming the fifth most important crop globally after wheat, corn, rice and sugar cane, also had its downside. The over-dependence of European countries on the potato, arising in a virtual monoculture, led to the Irish Famine and mass emigration when crops failed in 1845. Subsequently, increased knowledge of pesticides and more stringent controls over crop production have largely warded off the significant crop failures that were so devastating in the past.
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Questions 29-35
The text has eight paragraphs, A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 29-35 on your answer sheet
29. deadly relations
30. the potato as a catalyst for change
31. the authorities intervene
32. pioneers meet with varied success
33. prejudices incite public action
34. unsound agricultural practice brings about a demographic shift
35. historical and modern solutions to a common problem
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Questions 36-40
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
The potato polarised public opinion from the outset. Whilst the potato won (36)…….. with some, others reacted with extreme actions of prejudice. Unwillingness to accept the potato was perfectly understandable. Coming from the same family as its deadlier counterparts, belladonna and henbane, the potato was believed to be poisonous and certainly not (37)…….. .Those who did eat potatoes in the wild state had to neutralise the main (38)…….. resent in the tuber by the addition of clay particles.
Various attempts over the centuries were made by historical figures and authorities alike to try and encourage the public to eat potatoes. Only later did the potato become a (39)…….. European foodstuff. So important was the potato as a source of calories and nutrients to the Europeans that it is said to have sustained European populations to such an extent that they were able to build global empires. Unfortunately, (40)…….. on just one crop proved Ireland’s undoing. Many died after the Irish Famine whilst others were forced to migrate en masse in order to survive.
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ANSWERS ARE BELOW
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ANSWERS
29. C
30. G
31. F
32. E
33. A
34. H
35. D
36. ACCEPTANCE
37. EDIBLE
38. TOXIN
39. STAPLE
40. OVER-DEPENDENCE
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