Directions (Q. No’s. 1-4): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Almost everyone in the world drinks tea. No one knows when tea was first discovered, or how it came to be such a popular drink. The beverage is generally accepted to have originated in China hundreds of years ago. Records going back to the fourth century A.D refer to tea. By the eighth century A.D. most Chinese were drinking tea, both because they liked it as a beverage and for its medicinal value. Tea was so popular that one of the most distinguished poets of the T’ang dynasty, a man called Lu Yu, even wrote a Holy Scripture about it. It was called Cha Ching, which, translated, means Tea Scripture.
Over the years the habit of drinking tea spread around the world as explorers and travellers went to China and then returned to their own countries with some of the leaves. Gradually, as the trade routes of the world developed and more supplies were imported, the price of tea went down and, by the middle of the 18th century, it had become the popular family drink. It is now trying to oust its great rival, coffee, which had arrived earlier in Europe.
The British introduced tea culture into India in 1836. India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but was displaced by China as the top tea producer in the 21st century. Of course, India is the largest consumer of tea worldwide now.
1. According to the passage, which of the following statements is definitely true?
A. Coffee had existed all over the world before tea was discovered
B. Everyone in the world drinks tea
C. The price of tea went down because the habit of drinking tea spread around the world
D. India is the largest producer of tea worldwide now
1) B and C
2) A and B
3) C only
4) B only
2. The main point expressed in the first paragraph
1) T’ang dynasty
2) Tea Scripture
3) The medicinal value of tea
4) The evolution of tea
3. Chinese were drinking tea because
A. they liked it as a beverage
B. it had medicinal value
C. it was discovered in their country
1) A only
2) B only
3) A and B
4) A, B and C
4. The British introduced tea culture into India in 1836. Here ‘culture’ means
1) Way of life
2) Cultivation
3) Customs and beliefs
4) Aesthetic sense
