# Tea and the Industrial Revolution: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 10, Test 2, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 10, Test 2, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | iv | 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? |
| 2 | viii | For industry to take off, there needs to be the technology and power to drive factories |
| 3 | vii | Tea and beer, two of the nation's favourite drinks, fuelled the revolution. |
| 4 | i | Efforts to explain this sudden reduction in child deaths appeared to draw a blank. |
| 5 | vi | The poor turned to water and gin and in the 1720s the mortality rate began to rise again. |
| 6 | ix | Could it be the prevalence of tea in their culture? |
| 7 | ii | afraid that they would put people out of work |
| 8 | NOT GIVEN | After all, Holland had everything except coal, while China also had many of these factors. |
| 9 | TRUE | allowed urban communities to flourish at close quarters without succumbing to water-borne diseases such as dysentery |
| 10 | FALSE | Roy Porter, the distinguished medical historian, recently wrote a favourable appraisal of his research |
| 11 | FALSE | Between about 1650 and 1740, the population in Britain was static. But then there was a burst in population growth. |
| 12 | NOT GIVEN | We drank beer. For a long time, the English were protected by the strong antibacterial agent in hops |
| 13 | TRUE | But 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. |

## Why these answers are right

**1. iv.** Paragraph A introduces Macfarlane and ends with two questions: why the Industrial Revolution happened in Britain, and why at the end of the 18th century. One question is about place and the other about time, so heading iv, the time and place of the revolution, sums it up.

**2. viii.** Paragraph B compares the puzzle to a combination lock and lists what industry needs to take off: power, large urban populations, transport, an affluent middle class and a suitable economy and political system. A list of things that must be present matches heading viii, conditions required for industrialisation.

**3. vii.** Paragraph C reveals the missing factors: tea and beer, whose antiseptic properties and boiled water let crowded towns avoid diseases like dysentery. Two drinks offered as the missing parts of the lock are the two keys in heading vii, which links back to the lock image in paragraph B.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/tea-and-the-industrial-revolution/answers).

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