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WorksheetsE6B Prefinal Reading Passage 1: Origins of Coffee
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 5mins
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
A. The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 13th century, but the myths surrounding its first use date to earlier than this. One account involves a Yemenite traveller in Ethiopia. Here, he observed birds of unusual vitality, and, upon trying the berries that the birds had been eating, experienced the same vitality.
B. Another account attributes the discovery of coffee to a man called Omar, who was once exiled from Mocha to a desert cave near Ousab. Starving, he chewed berries from nearby plants, but found them to be bitter. He tried roasting the berries to improve their flavor, but they became hard. He then tried boiling the berries to soften them, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid, Omar was revitalized and sustained for days.
C. Perhaps the most interesting story involves a 9th-century Ethiopian goat-herder who, noticing the energizing effects when his flock ate the bright red berries of a certain bush, chewed on the fruit himself. His exhilaration prompted him to bring the berries to a monk in a nearby monastery. But the monk disapproved of their use and threw them into the fire, from which there was an extremely pleasing aroma and which caused the other monks to come out to investigate. The roasted beans were quickly separated from the embers, ground up and dissolved in hot water, producing the world's first cup of coffee.
D. The first use of coffee is thought to have been in Ethiopia, where the ancestors of today's Oromo ethnic group are thought to have been the first to have recognized the energizing effect of the native coffee plant. However, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it as a stimulant or known about it. The original domesticated coffee plant is said to have been from Harar, and the native plant population is thought to come from Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya.
E. The earliest mention of coffee is in the works of the 10th century Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, known as Rhazes in the West. However, more definite information on the preparation of a beverage from the roasted coffee berries dates from several centuries later. The earliest evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in Yemen. After it was first discovered, coffee was grown on the Arabian peninsula from the 14th century onwards.
F. By the 16th century, coffee had reached Persia, Turkey and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the rest of Europe, to East Asia, and then to the Americas. The word "coffee" entered English in 1582 from the Dutch koffie. This in turn came from the Turkish kahve, which in turn was borrowed from the Arabic qahwa.
You can guess from the passage that _______.
some people drink coffee to stay awake when they are tired
some coffee beans are sweet
coffee is illegal in many countries today
there are many different colors of coffee beans
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
A. The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 13th century, but the myths surrounding its first use date to earlier than this. One account involves a Yemenite traveller in Ethiopia. Here, he observed birds of unusual vitality, and, upon trying the berries that the birds had been eating, experienced the same vitality.
The underlined pronoun he in paragraph A refers to _______.
a Yemenite traveller
an Ethiopian traveler
a monk
a bird
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
A. The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 13th century, but the myths surrounding its first use date to earlier than this. One account involves a Yemenite traveller in Ethiopia. Here, he observed birds of unusual vitality, and, upon trying the berries that the birds had been eating, experienced the same vitality.
The underlined word vitality in paragraph A means _______.
capacity
energy
freedom
value
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
A. The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 13th century, but the myths surrounding its first use date to earlier than this. One account involves a Yemenite traveller in Ethiopia. Here, he observed birds of unusual vitality, and, upon trying the berries that the birds had been eating, experienced the same vitality
The history of coffee goes back to at least the _______.
eleventh century
twelfth century
thirteenth century
fourteenth century
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
C. Perhaps the most interesting story involves a 9th-century Ethiopian goat-herder who, noticing the energizing effects when his flock ate the bright red berries of a certain bush, chewed on the fruit himself. His exhilaration prompted him to bring the berries to a monk in a nearby monastery. But the monk disapproved of their use and threw them into the fire, from which there was an extremely pleasing aroma and which caused the other monks to come out to investigate. The roasted beans were quickly separated from the embers, ground up and dissolved in hot water, producing the world's first cup of coffee.
The underlined word aroma in paragraph C means _______.
a pleasant odor
a beautiful sight
a bad smell
a small bird
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
D. The first use of coffee is thought to have been in Ethiopia, where the ancestors of today's Oromo ethnic group are thought to have been the first to have recognized the energizing effect of the native coffee plant. However, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it as a stimulant or known about it. The original domesticated coffee plant is said to have been from Harar, and the native plant population is thought to come from Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya
The underlined pronoun it in paragraph D refers to _______.
the aroma
hot water
coffee
a cup
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
D. The first use of coffee is thought to have been in Ethiopia, where the ancestors of today's Oromo ethnic group are thought to have been the first to have recognized the energizing effect of the native coffee plant. However, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it as a stimulant or known about it. The original domesticated coffee plant is said to have been from Harar, and the native plant population is thought to come from Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya
Paragraph D is mainly about _______.
how coffee spread across the world
the history of coffee in Africa
why we have so many coffee shops today
myths about coffee
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
E. The earliest mention of coffee is in the works of the 10th century Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, known as Rhazes in the West. However, more definite information on the preparation of a beverage from the roasted coffee berries dates from several centuries later. The earliest evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in Yemen. After it was first discovered, coffee was grown on the Arabian peninsula from the 14th century onwards.
The Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi was also known as _____.
Harar
a monk
Rhazes
the man who discovered coffee
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
F. By the 16th century, coffee had reached Persia, Turkey and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the rest of Europe, to East Asia, and then to the Americas. The word "coffee" entered English in 1582 from the Dutch koffie. This in turn came from the Turkish kahve, which in turn was borrowed from the Arabic qahwa.
Paragraph F is mainly about _______.
why we have so many coffee shops today
myths about coffee
when the word “coffee” entered English
the spread of coffee across the world and where the word “coffee” comes from.
Passage 1: The Origin of Coffee
F. By the 16th century, coffee had reached Persia, Turkey and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the rest of Europe, to East Asia, and then to the Americas. The word "coffee" entered English in 1582 from the Dutch koffie. This in turn came from the Turkish kahve, which in turn was borrowed from the Arabic qahwa.
You can guess from the passage that _______.
coffee tasted better in the past
coffee is not popular in many parts of the world today
tea is a better drink than coffee
coffee is popular in many parts of the world today
