A review of a global history of sugar. It covers cane and beet, who did the work, how rich sugar interests shaped government policy, the industrial side of refining, and the health damage as consumption exploded. The reviewer likes the book a lot.
The multiple choice (27-30) points you to named paragraphs: the first, second, third and last. The summary (31-36) lives in paragraphs D and E. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (37-40) is all paragraph G.
Multiple choice
Questions 27-30
How to attack this block: Each question tells you which paragraph to read, so read that one paragraph closely and nothing else. The wrong options are true-sounding statements about sugar in general. The right one is what that paragraph actually does.
Question 27
Answer: BParagraph A, last two sentences
What point does the opening paragraph make about how sugar is grown and traded?
It has also been massively subsidised and sold at artificially low prices on world markets, threatening the livelihood of producers of cane sugar.
Question says → Passage says
Beet sugarbeet sugar… Beet sugar is grown mainly in Europe
made more internationally competitivemassively subsidised and sold at artificially low prices on world markets
Why: Subsidies let beet sugar be sold cheaply on world markets, cheap enough to threaten cane growers' income. That is what 'made more internationally competitive' means, so B.
The trap: A sounds like a big-picture summary of a 'global history', but the paragraph never talks about relations between countries. C invents a quality comparison the passage never makes, and D twists the mention of Cuba and Java, which are named as big exporters, not as new locations.
Question 28
Answer: AParagraph B
What does the paragraph on Britain's sugar market emphasise?
first bought cane sugar from their own slavery-dependent colonial plantations… Towards the end of the 19th century, the British started to import beet sugar from continental Europe.
Question says → Passage says
sources usedcolonial plantations / Cuba and Brazil / continental Europe / a national beet sugar industry
changed over timefirst… Following the abolition of slavery… Towards the end of the 19th century… Only in the 20th century
Why: The paragraph is a timeline of where Britain got its sugar: its own colonies, then Cuba and Brazil, then European beet, then home-grown beet. The time markers ('first', 'following', 'towards the end', 'only in the 20th century') show the stress is on change in sources, so A.
The trap: D is tempting because slavery and its abolition are mentioned, but the passage doesn't say Britain moved towards ethical sugar. In fact it kept importing from places that 'retained the practice'. C picks up 'sweet-toothed', but nothing is said about demand rising.
Question 29
Answer: CParagraph C, second sentence
What is the reviewer doing in paragraph C?
Contrary to popular belief, cane sugar production was never just restricted to large, dedicated plantations owned by rich men.
Question says → Passage says
addressing a misconceptionContrary to popular belief
the growing of sugar canecane sugar production / sugar cane was grown
Why: 'Contrary to popular belief' is the signal: the reviewer is correcting something people wrongly think, namely that cane was only grown on big plantations. The Java example then proves the point, so C.
The trap: A fails because the Java method is described as 'extraordinarily labour-intensive', which is the opposite of efficient. B is wrong too: the paragraph never says plantations declined, only that they weren't the whole story.
Question 30
Answer: AParagraph H, last two sentences
What does the reviewer say is the book's overall message in the last paragraph?
the multiple tragedies involving sugar… He shows that we could always have done without sugar and that today we have many alternative sources of sweetness.
Question says → Passage says
harmfulthe multiple tragedies involving sugar
unnecessarywe could always have done without sugar / many alternative sources of sweetness
Why: 'We could always have done without sugar' means sugar was never needed, and 'the multiple tragedies involving sugar' shows the damage it has done. Harmful plus unnecessary is A.
The trap: D is the strongest distractor, but marketing and promotion belong to paragraph G, not the final paragraph. C picks up the point about poor people depending on sugar, but the paragraph doesn't call for better working conditions.
Summary completion (word list A-I)
Questions 31-36
How to attack this block: Nine options, six gaps, so three are decoys. Two of the decoys sound like the passage: 'outdated methods' and 'untrained workers'. The passage says 'traditional' and says nothing about training. Fill each gap by grammar first (a group of people? a place? a type of policy?) and then by meaning.
Question 31
Answer: HParagraph D, second and third sentences
Who did the big German and US sugar industries rely on?
imported labour has been used for much large-scale production. German beet fields employed Polish workers; Mexicans and many others, including Sicilians, were vital to US sugar production.
Question says → Passage says
big industrieslarge-scale production
depended onwere vital to
migrant workersimported labour / Polish workers / Mexicans
Why: Workers brought in from other countries are migrant workers. Polish people in Germany and Mexicans and Sicilians in the US are all 'imported labour', so H.
The trap: D, 'untrained workers', is the decoy. The passage says where the workers came from, not anything about their training.
Question 32
Answer: EParagraph D, last two sentences
What carried on in South Asia and Latin America?
the continuity of the use of traditional methods on small farms. In the mid 20th-century, this type of sugar production dominated in South Asia and Latin America.
Question says → Passage says
continuedthe continuity of
small-scale cultivationtraditional methods on small farms
Why: Farming on small farms is small-scale cultivation, and 'continuity' gives you 'continued'. 'This type of sugar production' points straight back to the small farms, so E.
The trap: F, 'outdated methods', looks like 'traditional methods', but traditional isn't the same as outdated. The passage presents these methods as still dominant, not as old-fashioned.
Question 33
Answer: IParagraph E, first two sentences
Who in sugar production wanted to protect their markets?
This is also a history of capitalists and sugar dynasties, as well as corporations… Great firms and great interests have had profound influence on the policies of states.
Question says → Passage says
powerful individualscapitalists and sugar dynasties / a powerful sugar bourgeoisie
businessescorporations / Great firms
eager to protect their marketstheir interests were consequently protected
Why: The gap needs people with something to protect. Capitalists, dynasties and the 'sugar bourgeoisie' are powerful individuals, and corporations and firms are businesses, so I.
The trap: A, 'national governments', is tempting because states are mentioned, but governments are the ones being influenced, not the ones with markets to defend.
Question 34
Answer: AParagraph E, second and third sentences
What did the sugar industry strongly influence in places like Cuba?
Great firms and great interests have had profound influence on the policies of states. In many places… a powerful sugar bourgeoisie played a major role in politics
Question says → Passage says
had a major influence onhad profound influence on / played a major role in
national governmentsthe policies of states / politics
Why: 'The policies of states' and 'politics' both describe what national governments do. The sugar interests shaped them, so A.
The trap: C, 'less wealthy nations', is about countries too, but the passage puts the poor countries at the end of the story as the losers, which is gap 36, not the thing influenced.
Question 35
Answer: GParagraph E, third sentence
What was set up to support sugar producers' interests?
their interests were consequently protected by trade barriers and subsidies
Question says → Passage says
to support the intereststheir interests were consequently protected
financial controlstrade barriers and subsidies
Why: Trade barriers (like tariffs) and subsidies are both money-based rules imposed by governments. That makes them financial controls, so G.
The trap: B, 'agricultural developments', might pull you towards the farming theme, but barriers and subsidies are economic policy, not farming progress.
Question 36
Answer: CParagraph E, fourth sentence
Who lost out as a result?
In the battle for control of the industry, it was inevitably the poor countries which came off worse.
Question says → Passage says
were penalisedcame off worse
less wealthy nationsthe poor countries
Why: 'Poor countries' is 'less wealthy nations', and 'came off worse' means they suffered, which is what 'penalised' is getting at. So C.
The trap: H, 'migrant workers', feels like a group that might suffer, and paragraph D does call cane cutting poorly paid and brutal. But this sentence is about countries losing the battle for control.
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (writer's views)
Questions 37-40
How to attack this block: All four sit in paragraph G, in order. It's the reviewer's opinion you are checking, and G is where the reviewer stops summarising and starts judging. Words like 'appalling' and 'worrying' are your signal.
Question 37
Answer: YESParagraph G, first sentence
Does the writer say farming advances are why sugar is now plentiful?
Where once only tiny quantities of sugar could be produced, now new techniques, varieties, fertilisers, irrigation systems and much more have turned gleaming white sugar into a ubiquitous chemical.
Question says → Passage says
available in large quantitiesa ubiquitous chemical
a range of agricultural developmentsnew techniques, varieties, fertilisers, irrigation systems and much more
Why: The sentence contrasts 'tiny quantities' then with sugar being 'ubiquitous' (everywhere) now, and gives the cause: new techniques, plant varieties, fertilisers and irrigation. Those are agricultural developments, so YES.
The trap: If you don't know 'ubiquitous', you might call this NOT GIVEN. The contrast with 'only tiny quantities' tells you it means the opposite: huge amounts, everywhere.
Question 38
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph G, third sentence
Does the writer say advertisers first sold sugar as a luxury?
Once regarded as a luxury, sugar came to be promoted as a valuable source of energy.
Question says → Passage says
a luxury productOnce regarded as a luxury
marketedpromoted as a valuable source of energy
Why: Sugar was 'regarded as' a luxury, which is how people saw it, not how anyone advertised it. The only promotion mentioned is as an energy source, and that came later. Who called it a luxury, and whether advertisers did, is never stated, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: This is the most-missed question in the passage. 'Luxury' and 'promoted' sit in one sentence, so your brain joins them up. Read the verbs: 'regarded as' a luxury, 'promoted as' energy.
Question 39
Answer: NOParagraph G, sixth to last sentences
Does the writer see high-fructose corn syrup as a good thing?
And the recent past has seen worrying new developments in mass sweetening.
Question says → Passage says
a positive developmentworrying new developments
high-fructose corn syrupHigh-fructose corn syrup made from maize
Why: The writer introduces corn syrup as one of the 'worrying new developments', and ends by calling it 'a leading cause of obesity'. That's a negative view, the opposite of positive, so NO.
The trap: The syrup is 'far cheaper to produce', which can sound like a plus. Cheapness is a fact the writer reports; the writer's own judgement is 'worrying'.
Question 40
Answer: YESParagraph G, last sentence
Is high-fructose corn syrup used in lots of processed foods?
It is now widely consumed, having been adopted in the making of soft drinks and a large number of processed foods
Question says → Passage says
an ingredient inadopted in the making of
many processed foodsa large number of processed foods
Why: 'Adopted in the making of' means it is used to make them, so it's an ingredient. 'A large number of' is 'many'. YES.
G says sugar was once regarded as a luxury and later promoted as an energy source. It never says advertisers sold it as a luxury. NOT GIVEN, and the most-missed answer in this passage.
'Outdated methods' is tempting, but the passage says traditional methods on small farms continued. Traditional is not outdated. The answer is small-scale cultivation (E).
The last paragraph says we could always have done without sugar and lists its tragedies, so the book's message is that sugar is harmful and unnecessary (A). The marketing option describes paragraph G, not the final one.
Words from this passage worth keeping
subsidise(A)
pay part of the cost of something so it can be sold more cheaply
livelihood(A)
the way a person earns the money they need to live
abolition(B)
the official ending of a system or practice
labour-intensive(C)
needing a lot of human work
dynasty(E)
a family that keeps power or wealth over several generations
come off worse(E)
lose or suffer more than others in a situation
diffusion(F)
the spreading of something over a wide area
ubiquitous(G)
found everywhere
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 21 Test 1 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 21, Test 1, Reading Passage 3. 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.
FAQ
Book review: The World of Sugar by Ulbe Bosma: quick answers
"Book review: The World of Sugar by Ulbe Bosma" is Reading Passage 3 of Cambridge IELTS 21, Test 1. It covers questions 27-40 (14 marks).
Questions 27-30: Multiple choice, questions 31-36: Summary completion and questions 37-40: YES / NO / NOT GIVEN.
2 YES, 1 NO and 1 NOT GIVEN.
Our review highlights questions 38, 32 and 30. Each one is explained in "Questions worth a second look" above.
