READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 which are based on Reading Passage 1
below.

The Cacao: a Sweet History

A Chapter 1
Most people today think of chocolate as something sweet to eat or drink that can be easily found
in stores around the world. It might surprise you that chocolate was once highly treasured. The
tasty secret of the cacao (Kah Kow) tree was discovered 2,000 years ago in the tropical
rainforests of the Americas. The story of how chocolate grew from a local Mesoamerican
beverage into a global sweet encompasses many cultures and continents.
B Chapter 2
Historians believe the Maya people of Central America first learned to farm cacao plants around
two thousand years ago. The Maya took cacao trees from the rainforests and grew them in their
gardens. They cooked cacao seeds, the crushed them into a soft paste. They mixed the paste with
water and flavorful spices to make an unsweetened chocolate drink. The Maya poured the
chocolate drink back and forth between two containers so that the liquid would have a layer of
bubbles or foam.
Cacao and chocolate were an important part of Maya culture. There are often images of cacao
plants on Maya buildings and art objects. Ruling families drank chocolate at special ceremonies.
And, even poorer members of society could enjoy the drink once in a while. Historians believe
that cacao seeds were also used in marriage ceremonies as a sign of the union between a husband
and a wife.
The Aztec culture in current-day Mexico also prized chocolate. But, cacao plants could not grow
in the area where the Aztecs lived. So, they traded to get cacao. They even used cacao seeds as a
form of money to pay taxes. Chocolate also played a special role in both Maya and Aztec royal
and religious events. Priests presented cacao seeds and offerings to the gods and served
chocolate drinks during sacred ceremonies. Only the very wealthy in Aztec societies could afford
to drink chocolate because cacao was so valuable. The Aztec ruler Montezuma was believed to
drink fifty cups of chocolate every day. Some experts believe the word for chocolate came from
the Aztec word “xocolatl” which in the Nahuatl language means “bitter water.” Others believe
the word “chocolate” was created by combining Mayan and Nahuatl words.
C Chapter 3
The explorer Christopher Columbus brought cacao seeds to Spain after his trip to Central
America in 1502. But it was the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes who understood that
chocolate could be a valuable investment. In 1519, Cortes arrived in current-day Mexico. He
believed the chocolate drink would become popular with Spaniards. After the Spanish soldiers
defeated the Aztec empire, they were able to seize the supplies of cacao and send them home.
Spain later began planting cacao in its colonies in the Americans in order to satisfy the large
demand for chocolate. The wealthy people of Spain first enjoyed a sweetened version of
chocolate drink. Later, the popularity of the drink spread throughout Europe. The English, Dutch
and French began to plant cacao trees in their own colonies. Chocolate remained a drink that
only wealthy people could afford to drink until the eighteenth century. During the period known
as the Industrial Revolution, new technologies helped make chocolate less costly to produce.
D Chapter 4
Farmers grow cacao trees in many countries in Africa, Central and South America. The trees
grow in the shady areas of the rainforests near the Earth’s equator. But these trees can be difficult
to grow. They require an exact amount of water, warmth, soil and protection. After about five
years, cacao trees start producing large fruits called pods, which grow near the trunk of the tree.
The seeds inside the pods are harvested to make chocolate. There are several kinds of cacao
trees. Most of the world’s chocolate is made from the seed of the forastero tree. But farmers can
also grow criollo or trinitario cacao plants. Cacao trees grown on farms are much more easily
threatened by diseases and insects than wild trees. Growing cacao is very hard work for farmers.
They sell their harvest on a futures market. This means that economic conditions beyond their
control can affect the amount of money they will earn. Today, chocolate industry officials,
activists, and scientists are working with farmers. They are trying to make sure that cacao can be
grown in a way that is fair to the timers and safe for the environment.
E Chapter 5
To become chocolate, cacao seeds go through a long production process in a factory. Workers
must sort, clean and cook the seeds. Then they break off the covering of the seeds so that only
the inside fruit, or nibs, remain. Workers crush the nibs into a soft substance called chocolate
liquor. This gets separated into cocoa solids and fat called cocoa butter. Chocolate makers have
their own special recipes in which they combine chocolate liquor with exact amounts of sugar,
milk and cocoa fat. They finely crush this “crumb” mixture in order to make it smooth. The
mixture then goes through two more processes before it is shaped into a mold form.
Chocolate making is big business. The market value of the yearly cacao crop around the world is
more than five billion dollars. Chocolate is especially popular in Europe and the United States.
For example, in 2005, the United States bought 1.4 billion dollars worth of cocoa products. Each
year, Americans eat an average of more than five kilograms of chocolate per person. Speciality
shops that sell costly chocolates are also very popular. Many offer chocolate lovers the chance to
taste chocolates grown in different areas of the world.

Questions 1-5
Reading passage 1 has 5 chapters. Which chapter contains the following information?
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet
1 the part of cacao trees used to produce chocolate
2 average chocolate consumption by people in the US per person per year
3 risks faced by fanners in the cacao business
4 where the first sweetened chocolate drink appeared
5 how ancient American civilizations obtained cacao

Questions 6-10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
6 use cacao and chocolate in ceremonies were restricted Maya royal families
7 The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes invested in chocolate and chocolate drinks.
8 The forastero tree produces the best chocolate.
9 some parts in cacao seed are get rid of during the chocolate process
10 Chocolate is welcomed more in some countries or continents than other parts around the
world.

Questions 11-14
The flow chart below shows the steps in chocolate making.
Complete the flow chart using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each
blank
Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.
Cacao seeds
↓ sorting, cleaning and cooking ridding seeds of their 11…………………..
Nibs
↓ crushing
12…………………
↓ Add sugar, milk and 13………………..
Crumb mixture
↓ Crush finely then come into a shape in a 14……………….
chocolate

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27 which are based on Reading Passage 2
below.

Cosmetics in Ancient Past

A
Since cosmetics and perfumes are still in wide use today, it is interesting to compare the
attitudes, customs and beliefs related to them in ancient times to those of our own day and age.
Cosmetics and perfumes have been popular since the dawn of civilization; it is shown by the
discovery of a great deal of pertinent archaeological material, dating from the third millennium
BC. Mosaics, glass perfume flasks, stone vessels, ovens, cooking-pots, clay jars, etc., some
inscribed by the hand of the artisan. Evidence also appears in the Bible and other classical
writings, where it is written that spices and perfumes were prestigious products known
throughout the ancient world and coveted by kings and princes. The written and pictorial
descriptions, as well as archaeological findings, all show how important body care and aesthetic
appearance were in the lives of the ancient people. The chain of evidence spans many centuries,
detailing the usage of cosmetics in various cultures from the earliest period of recorded history.
B
In antiquity, however, at least in the onset, cosmetics served in religious ceremonies and for
healing purposes. Cosmetics were also connected with cultic worship and witchcraft: to appease
the various gods, fragrant ointments were applied to the statuary images and even to their
attendants. From this, in the course of time, developed the custom of personal use, to enhance the
beauty of the face and the body, and to conceal defects.
C
Perfumes and fragrant spices were precious commodities in antiquity, very much in demand, and
at times even exceeded silver and gold in value. Therefore they were luxury products, used
mainly in the temples and in the homes of the noble and wealthy. The Judean kings kept them in
treasure houses (2 Kings 20:13). And the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon “camels laden
with spices, gold in great quantity and precious stones.” (1 Kings 10:2, 10). However, within
time, the use of cosmetics became the custom of that period. The use of cosmetics became
widespread among the lower classes as well as among the wealthy; in the same way, they
washed the body, so they used to care for the body with substances that softened the skin and
anoint it with fragrant oils and ointments.
D
Facial treatment was highly developed and women devoted many hours to it. They used to
spread various scented creams on the face and to apply makeup in vivid and contrasting colors.
An Egyptian papyrus from the 16th century BC contains detailed recipes to remove blemishes,
wrinkles, and other signs of age. Greek and Roman women would cover their faces in the
evening with a “beauty mask” to remove blemishes, which consisted mainly of flour mixed with
fragrant spices, leaving it on their face all night. The next morning they would wash it off with
asses’ milk. The very common creams used by women in the ancient Far East, particularly
important in the hot climate and prevalent in that area of the globe, were made up of oils and
aromatic scents. Sometimes the oil in these creams was extracted from olives, almonds, gourds,
sesame, or from trees and plants; but, for those of limited means, scented animal and fish fats
were commonly used.
E
Women in the ancient past commonly put colors around their eyes. Besides beautification, its
purpose was also medicinal as covering the sensitive skin of the lids with colored ointments that
prevented dryness and eye diseases: the eye-paint repelled the little flies that transmitted eye
inflammations. Egyptian women colored the upper eyelid black and the lower one green and
painted the space between the upper lid and the eyebrow gray and blue. The women of
Mesopotamia favored yellows and reds. The use of kohl for painting the eyes is mentioned three
times in the Bible, always with disapproval by the sages (2 Kings, 9:30; Jeremiah 4:30; Ezekiel
23:40). In contrast, Job named one of his daughters “Keren Happukh”- “horn of eye paint” (Job
42:14)
F
Great importance was attached to the care for hair in ancient times. Long hair was always
considered a symbol of beauty, and kings, nobles and dignitaries grew their hair long and kept it
well-groomed and cared for. Women devoted much time to the style of the hair; while no cutting,
they would apply much care to it by arranging it skillfully in plaits and “building it up”
sometimes with the help of wigs. Egyptian women generally wore their hair flowing down to
their shoulders or even longer. In Mesopotamia, women cherished long hair as a part of their
beauty, and hair flowing down their backs in a thick plait and tied with a ribbon is seen in art.
Assyrian women wore their hair shorter, braiding and binding it in a bun at the back. In Ancient
Israel, brides would wear their hair long on the wedding day as a sign of their virginity. Ordinary
people and slaves, however, usually wore their hair short, mainly for hygienic reasons, since they
could not afford to invest in the kind of treatment that long hair required.
G
From the Bible and Egyptian and Assyrian sources, as well as the words of classical authors, it
appears that the centers of the trade-in aromatic resins and incense were located in the kingdoms
of southern Arabia, and even as far as India, where some of these precious aromatic plants were
grown. “Dealers from Sheba and Rammah dealt with you, offering the choicest spices…”
(Ezekiel 27:22). The Nabateans functioned as the important middlemen in this trade; Palestine
also served as a very important component, as the trade routes crisscrossed the country. It is
known that the Egyptian Queen Hatsheput (15th century BC) sent a royal expedition to the Land
of Punt (Somalia) in order to bring back myrrh seedlings to plant in her temple. In Assyrian
records of tribute and spoils of war, perfumes and resins are mentioned; the text from the time of
Tukulti-Ninurta II (890-884 BC) refers to balls of myrrh as a part of the tribute brought to the
Assyrian king by the Aramaean kings. The trade-in spices and perfumes are also mentioned in
the Bible as written in Genesis (37:25-26), “Camels carrying gum tragacanth and balm and
myrrh”.

Questions 15-21
Reading Passage 2 has 7 paragraphs A-G
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write your answers in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet.
15 recipes to conceal facial defects caused by aging
16 perfumes were presented to conquerors in war
17 long hair of girls had special meanings in marriage
18 evidence exists in abundance showing cosmetics use in ancient times
19 protecting eyes from fly-transmitted diseases
20 from witchcraft to beautification
21 more expensive than gold

Question 22-27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
22 The written record for cosmetics and perfumes dates back to the third millennium BC.
23 Since perfumes and spices were luxury products, their use was exclusive to the noble and the
wealthy.
24 In the ancient Far East, fish fats were used as a cream by a woman from poor households.
25 The teachings in the Bible were repeatedly against the use of kohl for painting the eyes.
26 Long hair as a symbol of beauty was worn solely by women of ancient cultures
27 The Egyptian Queen Hatsheput sent a royal expedition to Punt to establish a trade route for
myrrh