Magy's English Edu. Club
Cambridge 17 Academic Reading Test Four Passage Two
Does education fuel economic growth?
Which section contains the following information?
14. an explanation of the need for research to focus on individuals with a fairly consistent income.
The answer is E.
In paragraph six, one way to look at whether education causes economic growth is to ‘hold wealth constant’. This involves following the lives of different people with the same level of wealth over a period of time. If wealth is constant, it is possible to discover whether education was, for example, linked to the cultivation of new crops, or to the adoption of industrial innovations like sewing machines.
15. examples of the sources the database has been compiled from
The answer is A.
In paragraph one, it includes records, guild ledgers, parish registers, village censuses, tax lists, and, the most recent edition, 9000 handwritten inventories listing over a million personal possessions belonging to ordinary women and men across three centuries.
16. an account of one individual’s refusal to obey an order
The answer is D.
In paragraph five, the database also reveals the case of Juliana Schweickherdt, a 50-year-old spinster living in the small Black Forest community of Wildberg, who was reprimanded in 1752 by the local weavers’ guild for ‘weaving cloth and combing wool, counter to the guild ordinance’. When Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild members, she was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a fine equivalent to one-third of a servant’s annual wage. It’s a small act of defiance by today’s standards, but it reflects a time when laws in Germany and elsewhere regulated people’s access to labor markets.
17. a reference to a region being particularly suited to research into the link between education and economic growth
The answer is F.
In paragraph seven, ‘German-speaking Central Europe is an excellent laboratory for testing theories of economic growth’, she explains.
18. examples of the items included in a list of personal possessions
The answer is C.
In paragraph three, from badger skins to Bibles, sewing machines to scarlet bodices, the villagers’ entire worldly goods are included. Inventories of agricultural equipment and craft tools reveal economic activities; ownership of books and education-related objects like pens and slates suggested how people learned.
Complete the summary.
Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
Demographic reconstruction of two German communities
19. The database that Oglivie and her team has compiled sheds light on the lives of a range of individuals, as well as those of their ….., over a 300-year period.
The answer is DESCENDANTS.
In paragraph five, we can follow the same people, and their descendants, across 300 years of educational and economic change.
20. For example, Ana Regina and Magdalena Riethmüllerin were reprimanded for reading while they should have been paying attention to a ………..
The answer is SERMON.
In paragraph five, stories like that of the 24-year-olds Ana Regina and Magdalena Riethmüllerin, who were chastised in 1807 for reading books in church instead of listening to the sermon.
21. There was also Juliana Schweickherdt, who came to the notice of the weavers’ guild in the year 1752 for breaking guild rules. As a punishment, she was later given a …….
The answer is FINE.
In paragraph five, when Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild members, she was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a fine equivalent to one-third of a servant’s annual wage.
22. Cases like this illustrate how the guild could prevent ….. and stop skilled people from working.
The answer is INNOVATION.
In paragraph five, the dominance of guilds not only prevented people from using their skills, but also held back even the simplest industrial innovation.
Choose two letters, A-E.
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about literacy rates in Section B?
23. The answer is B. > Literacy rates in Germany between 1600 and 1900 were very good.
In paragraph two, during this period, Germany and Scandinavia had excellent literacy rates, but their economies grew slowly and they industrialized late.
24. The answer is E. > Economic growth can help to improve literacy rates.
In paragraph two, ‘Modern cross-country analyses have also struggled to find evidence that education causes economic growth, even though there is plenty of evidence that growth increases education,’ she adds.
Choose two letters, A-E.
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make in Section F about guilds in German-speaking Central Europe between 1600 and 1700?
25. The answer is B. > They were opposed to people moving to an area for work.
In paragraph seven, in villages throughout the region, guilds blocked labor migration and resisted changes that might reduce their influence.
26. The answer is D. > They opposed practices that threatened their control over a trade.
In paragraph seven, it was the case that local guilds and merchant associations were extremely powerful and legislated against anything that undermined their monopolies.