Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question (from A, B, C or D). Write your answers in ‘Your answers’ part.

        Centuries ago, man discovered that removing moisture from food helped to preserve it, and that the easiest way to do this was to expose the food to sun and wind. In this way the North American Indians produced pemmican (dried meat ground into powder and made into cakes), the Scandinavians made stockfish and the Arabs dried dates and apricots.

        All foods contain water - cabbage and other leaf vegetables contain as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean meat 75% and fish anything from 80% to 60% depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is checked.

        Fruit is sun-dried in Asia Minor, Greece, Spain and other Mediterranean countries, and also in California, South Africa and Australia. The methods used vary, but in general the fruit is spread out on trays in drying yards in the hot sun. In order to prevent darkening, pears, peaches and apricots are exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur before drying. Plums for making prunes, and certain varieties of grapes for making raisins and currants, are dipped in an alkaline solution in order to crack the skins of the fruit slightly and remove their wax coating, so increasing the rate of drying.

        Nowadays most foods are dried mechanically; the conventional method of such dehydration is to put food in chambers through which hot air is blown at temperatures of about 110°C at entry to about 45°C at exit. This is the usual method for drying such things as vegetables, minced meat, and fish.

        Liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, soups and eggs may be dried by pouring them over a heated horizontal steel cylinder or by spraying them into a chamber through which a current of hot air passes. In the first case, the dried material is scraped off the roller as a thin film which is then broken up into small, though still relatively coarse flakes. In the second process it falls to the bottom of the chamber as a fine powder. Where recognizable pieces of meat and vegetables are required, as in soup, the ingredients are dried separately and then mixed.

        Dried foods take up less room and weigh less than the same food packed in cans or frozen, and they do not need to be stored in special conditions. For these reasons they are invaluable to climbers, explorers and soldiers in battle, who have little storage space. They are also popular with housewives because it takes so little time to cook them.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Advantages of dried foods.                           B. Water: the main component of food.

C. Mechanization of drying foods.                    D. Different methods of drying foods.

2. The phrase “do this” in the first paragraph mostly means ______.

A. expose foods to sun and wind                       B. remove moisture from foods

C. produce pemmican                                         D. moisten foods

3. The word “checked” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A. reduced considerably                                     B. put a tick                 

C. examined carefully                                         D. motivated to develop

4. In the process of drying certain kinds of fruits, sulphur fumes help ______.

A. remove their wax coating                              B. kill off bacteria

C. maintain their color                                        D. crack their skin

5. Nowadays the common method for drying vegetables and minced meat is ______.

A. spreading them out on trays in drying yards                                     

B. dipping them in an alkaline solution

C. putting them in chambers and blowing hot air through

D. pouring them over a heated horizontal steel cylinder

6. What does the word “which” in the fourth paragraph refer to?

A. Vegetables                B. Foods                       C. Things                      D. Chambers

7. The final product of the process of drying liquids that uses the first method will be ______.

A. small flakes              B. fine powder             C. dried soup                D. recognizable pieces

8. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Liquids are not dried in the same way as fruits and vegetables.

B. Dried foods have several advantages over canned or frozen foods.

C. Fruit is usually dried by being laid out on trays in the sun.

D. People in India began to use drying methods centuries ago.

9. According to the passage, dried foods are most useful for ______.

A. explorers who are underweight                    B. soldiers who are not in battle

C. people who are on the move                          D. housewives who have little storage space

10. This passage is mainly ______.

            A. argumentative                  B. analytical              C. informative           D. fictional