Tea and the Industrial Revolution: reading answers and analysis
Historian Alan Macfarlane asks why the Industrial Revolution happened in Britain in the late 18th century. He argues that tea and beer, both antiseptic and made with boiled water, cut water-borne disease, so infant deaths fell and the population grew. Japan had tea but gave up labour-saving devices, so it didn't industrialise.
How to attack this block: Follow the argument: the question (A), the conditions (B), the two missing keys (C), the hunt for why the population grew (D), what the British drank (E), the Japan comparison (F), and why Japan didn't industrialise (G). Two headings about Japan and one listing countries are traps built from single details.
Question 1
Answer: ivParagraph A, last two sentences
Which heading fits Paragraph A?
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?
Question says → Passage says
the placehappen in Britain
the timeat the end of the 18th century
Why: A sets up the whole article with two questions: why Britain, and why the late 18th century. Place and time together is heading iv.
The trap: Heading viii (conditions for industrialisation) is about the factors needed, which only come in B. A asks the question; it doesn't list any conditions.
Question 2
Answer: viiiParagraph B
Which heading fits Paragraph B?
There are about 20 different factors and all of them need to be present before the revolution can happen
Question says → Passage says
conditions requiredabout 20 different factors and all of them need to be present
for industrialisationFor industry to take off, there needs to be
Why: B lists what industry needs: technology and power, cheap urban labour, transport, a middle class, a market economy and the right politics. A list of necessary conditions is heading viii.
The trap: Heading v names Holland, France and China, and B does mention Holland and China. They're brief examples of countries that had some factors; the paragraph's real subject is the full set of conditions.
Question 3
Answer: viiParagraph C, first two sentences
Which heading fits Paragraph C?
The missing factors, he proposes, are to be found in almost every kitchen cupboard. Tea and beer, two of the nation's favourite drinks, fuelled the revolution.
Question says → Passage says
two keysThe missing factors / Tea and beer
Britain's industrial revolutionfuelled the revolution
Why: B ended with the image of a lock missing one or two factors. C names them: tea and beer. Two missing factors that open the lock are 'two keys', so vii.
The trap: Heading vi (changes in drinking habits) mentions drinks too, but C doesn't describe any change. The change from beer to gin and tea comes in E.
Question 4
Answer: iParagraph D
Which heading fits Paragraph D?
But then there was a burst in population growth… People suggested four possible causes.
Question says → Passage says
an increase in populationa burst in population growth
the search for the reasonsfour possible causes / Efforts to explain this sudden reduction in child deaths
Why: D describes the population jump and then works through possible causes one by one (germs, medicine, environment, food), rejecting each. That search for an explanation is heading i.
The trap: D is full of other topics (malaria, sanitation, height and weight), which can tempt you to pick a narrow heading. They're all candidate causes inside the one search.
Question 5
Answer: viParagraph E, second half
Which heading fits Paragraph E?
But in the late 17th century a tax was introduced on malt, the basic ingredient of beer. The poor turned to water and gin
Question says → Passage says
drinking habits in BritainWe drank beer
changesThe poor turned to water and gin
Why: E traces what the English drank: beer protected them, the malt tax pushed the poor towards water and gin, and death rates moved with it. That's heading vi.
The trap: E opens with the population providing labour, which can pull you towards a population heading. The bulk of the paragraph is about what people drank and how it changed.
Question 6
Answer: ixParagraph F
Which heading fits Paragraph F?
Macfarlane looked to Japan, which was also developing large cities about the same time, and also had no sanitation.
Question says → Passage says
comparisons with JapanMacfarlane looked to Japan
lead to the answerCould it be the prevalence of tea in their culture?
Why: Comparing Britain with Japan, where water-borne disease was weaker, leads Macfarlane to tea, and then to tea's timing in Britain. A comparison that produces the solution is heading ix.
The trap: Heading iii (the development of cities in Japan) uses the first sentence's detail, but Japan's cities are only background. The paragraph is about what the comparison revealed.
Question 7
Answer: iiParagraph G, second sentence
Which heading fits Paragraph G?
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
Question says → Passage says
the fear of unemploymentafraid that they would put people out of work
industrialisationthe essence of any work-based revolution
Why: G explains why Japan didn't industrialise despite its tea: it gave up labour-saving devices for fear of putting people out of work. That's heading ii.
The trap: Heading iii again tempts, because G mentions Japan's large cities. They're listed as advantages Japan had; the paragraph's point is the fear of job losses.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
Questions 8-13
How to attack this block: The FALSEs reverse clear facts: Porter's review was favourable, and the population rose after 1740. The NOT GIVENs take a familiar idea (China's transport, home brewing) the passage never mentions. The last TRUE depends on following a chain of cause and effect.
Question 8
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph B, second half
Was China's transport system unsuitable for industry in the 18th century?
After all, Holland had everything except coal, while China also had many of these factors.
Question says → Passage says
ChinaChina also had many of these factors
Why: China is said to have had many of the factors, but the passage never says which ones it lacked. Its transport system isn't mentioned, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'Easy transport' is one of the factors listed, and Holland's missing factor is named (coal). People then assume China's gap was transport. The passage doesn't say so.
Question 9
Answer: TRUEParagraph C, third sentence
Did both tea and beer help stop dysentery in Britain?
allowed urban communities to flourish at close quarters without succumbing to water-borne diseases such as dysentery
Question says → Passage says
tea and beer bothThe antiseptic properties of tannin… and of hops in beer
helped to prevent dysenterywithout succumbing to water-borne diseases such as dysentery
Why: Tannin in tea and hops in beer were both antiseptic, and both were made with boiled water. Together they let people live close together 'without succumbing' to diseases like dysentery. TRUE.
Question 10
Answer: FALSEParagraph C, last sentence
Does Roy Porter disagree with Macfarlane?
Roy Porter, the distinguished medical historian, recently wrote a favourable appraisal of his research.
Question says → Passage says
Roy PorterRoy Porter, the distinguished medical historian
disagrees withwrote a favourable appraisal
Why: A 'favourable appraisal' is a positive review, and the sentence says his support strengthened Macfarlane's case. Supporting is the opposite of disagreeing: FALSE.
The trap: The sentence before mentions 'scepticism' and the theory sounding 'eccentric'. That's how readers first react, not Porter's view.
Question 11
Answer: FALSEParagraph D, third and fourth sentences
Did Britain's population fall after 1740?
Between about 1650 and 1740, the population in Britain was static. But then there was a burst in population growth.
Question says → Passage says
after 1740But then
a reduction in populationa burst in population growth
Why: Until 1740 the population was flat, then it grew fast. A 'burst in population growth' contradicts a reduction, so FALSE.
The trap: The paragraph talks about infant mortality halving, a 'reduction in child deaths'. The reduction was in deaths, which is why the population went up.
Question 12
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph E, middle
Did people in Britain once brew beer at home?
We drank beer. For a long time, the English were protected by the strong antibacterial agent in hops
Question says → Passage says
people in Britain used toFor a long time, the English
Why: The passage says the English drank beer and that hops were added to preserve it. Where or by whom it was made is never mentioned, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: Kitchen cupboards in C and hops 'added to help preserve the beer' both suggest home life. Neither says anyone brewed at home.
Question 13
Answer: TRUEParagraph E, last three sentences
Did the malt tax lead, indirectly, to more deaths?
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.
Question says → Passage says
the tax on malta tax was introduced on malt
indirectlyThe poor turned to water and gin
a rise in the death ratethe mortality rate began to rise again
Why: The tax didn't kill anyone directly. It made beer dearer, so the poor drank water and gin instead, and then the death rate rose. That chain of cause and effect is 'indirectly': TRUE.
The trap: Some people choose NOT GIVEN because the passage never says 'the tax caused deaths'. The sequence (tax, change of drink, rising mortality) is exactly what 'indirectly' describes.
NOT GIVEN. China 'had many of these factors', but nothing says which ones it lacked, so transport isn't covered.
Words from this passage worth keeping
enigma(A)
a puzzle that is hard to understand
affluent(B)
wealthy
succumbing to(C)
falling ill with or being defeated by
appraisal(C)
a judgement or review of how good something is
static(D)
not changing
draw a blank(D)
fail to find an answer
prevalence(F)
how common or widespread something is
out of contention(F)
no longer with a chance of winning
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The full Cambridge 10 Test 2 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 10, Test 2, Reading Passage 1. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
The rest of Cambridge 10 Test 2
Passage 1 · Questions 1-13 · You're hereTea and the Industrial Revolution
