The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas – or Spice Islands – in northeastern Indonesia. The tree is thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-shaped fruits. The fruit is encased in a flesh husk. When the fruit is ripe, this husk splits into two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2-3 cm long by about 2 cm across, surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called an ‘aril’. These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the former being produced from the dried seed and the latter from the aril.
Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages, and was used as a flavouring, medicinal, and preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg for high prices to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity. The Arab-Venetian dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.
Always in danger of competition from neighbouring Spain, the Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch…
Questions 1–4
Complete the notes below.
ONE WORD ONLY
1.the leaves of the tree are ___ in shape
2.the ___ surrounds the fruit and breaks open when the fruit is ripe
The automotive sector is well used to adapting to automation in manufacturing. The implementation of robotic car manufacture from the 1970s onwards led to significant cost savings and improvements in the reliability and flexibility of vehicle mass production. A new challenge to vehicle production is now on the horizon and, again, it comes from automation. However, this time it is not to do with the manufacturing process, but with the vehicles themselves.
Research projects on vehicle automation are not new. Vehicles with limited self-driving capabilities have been around for more than 50 years, resulting in significant contributions towards driver assistance systems. But since Google announced in 2010 that it had been trialling self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress in this field has quickly gathered pace.
There are many reasons why technology is advancing so fast. One frequently cited motive is safety; indeed, research at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory has demonstrated that more than 90 percent of road collisions involve human error as a contributory factor, and it is the primary cause in the vast majority. Automation may help to reduce the incidence of this.
Another aim is to free the time people spend driving for other purposes. If the vehicle can do some or all of the driving, it may be possible to be productive, to socialise or simply to relax while automation systems have responsibility for safe control of the vehicle. If the vehicle can do the driving, those who are challenged by existing mobility models – such as older or disabled…
Questions 14–18
The Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.
14.reference to the amount of time when a car is not in use
We are all explores. Our desire to discover, and then share that new-found knowledge, is part of what makes us human – indeed, this has played an important part in our success as a species. Long before the first caveman slumped down beside the fire and grunted news that there were plenty of wildebeest over yonder, our ancestors had learnt the value of sending out scouts to investigate the unknown. This questing nature of ours undoubtedly helped our species spread around the globe, just as it nowadays no doubt helps the last nomadic Penan maintain their existence in the depleted forests of Borneo, and a visitor negotiate the subways of New York.
Over the years, we’ve come to think of explorers as a peculiar breed – different from the rest of us, different from those of us who are merely ‘well travelled’, even; and perhaps there is a type of person more suited to seeking out the new, a type of caveman more inclined to risk venturing out. That, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that we all have this enquiring instinct, even today; and that in all sorts of professions – whether artist, marine biologist or astronomer – borders of the unknown are being tested each day.
Thomas Hardy set some of his novels in Egdon Heath, a fictional area of uncultivated land, and used the landscape to suggest the desires and fears of his characters. He is delving into matters we all recognise because they are common to humanity. This is surely an act of exploration, and into a world as remote as the author chooses. Explorer and travel writer Peter Fleming talks of the moment when the…
Questions 27–32
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
27.The writer refers to visitors to New York to illustrate the point that
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Answers & explanations
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40 answers3 explanations open
1
oval
The correct answer matches the description in the passage stating that the leaves of the nutmeg tree are oval in shape, indicating that they are slightly rounded with a curved edge, similar to the shape of an egg.
2
husk
The correct answer is 'husk' because it accurately describes the outer part of the fruit that breaks open as mentioned in the provided excerpt. The husk is the protective layer surrounding the nutmeg fruit which splits open when the fruit is ripe.
3
seed
The correct answer is 'seed' because the excerpt explicitly states that one product comes from the dried seed of the nutmeg tree, aligning perfectly with the context provided about the nutmeg tree and its fruit.
4
mace
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5
FALSE
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6
NOT GIVEN
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7
TRUE
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8
Arabs
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9
plague
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10
lime
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11
Run
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12
Mauritius
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13
tsunami
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14
C
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15
B
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16
E
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17
G
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18
D
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19
human error
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20
car sharing / car-sharing
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21
ownership
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22
mileage
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23
C
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24
D
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25
A
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26
E
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27
A
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28
C
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29
C
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30
D
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31
A
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32
B
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33
E
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34
A
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35
D
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36
E
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37
B
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38
expeditions / unique expeditions
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39
uncontacted / isolated
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40
surface / land surface
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Understand why, not only what.
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