To an extent, agriculture dictates that every country should have a set of specific foods which are native tothat country. They may even be unique. However, even allowing for the power of agricultural science,advances in food distribution and changes in food economics to alter the ethnocentric properties of food , itis still possible for a country to be famous for ~ ;:articular food even ifit is widely available elsewhere.Th e degree to which cuisine Lli embedded in lIational cultureWithin the sociology of food litemture two themes suggest that food is linked to social culture. The firstrelates food. and eating to social relationships, (Finkelstein, Vissor, Wood), and the second establishes foodas a reflection ofthe distribution of power wi thin social structures, (Mennell). However, establishing a rolefor food in personal relationships and social structures is not a sufficient argument to place food at the centreofnational culture. To do thai it is necessary to prove a degree ofembcddedness. } would be appropriate atthis point to consider the M tme ofculture.The di stinction made by Pi erc~ between a behavioural contingency and a cultural contingency is crucial toour underslnnding ofculture. Whilst a piece of behaviour may take place very often, involve a network ofpeople and be reproducible by other networks who do nor know each other, the meaning of the behaviourdoe~ not go beyond the nctivity itself. A cultural practice, however, contains and represents metacontingencies that is, behavioural practices that have D social meaning greater than the activity itself andwhich, by their nature reinforce the culture which houses them. Celebrating bilthdays is ~ cultural practicenot because everybody does it but bcc~use it has a religious meaning. Contrast this with the practice inBritain ofcelebrating Guy Fawkes Nigh t . It is essentially an excuse for a good time but jf fi reworks werebnnned, the occasion would gradunUy die away altogether or end up as cult to California. A smaller scaleexumple might be more useful. 1n the British context, compare drinking in pubs with eating fish and chips .Both are common practices, yet the former reflects something ofthe social fabric ofthe country, particularlyfam il y, gender, ci3SS and age relationships whilst the hItler is just a national habit. In other words, a constant,well populated pattern of behaviour is not necessarily cultural. However, it is also clear that a culturalpractice needs behavioural reinforcement. Social culture is not immortal.Finkelstein argu ef> that dining oul is simply action which supports a surface life. For him it is the wordom that disconnect Sam McCarter & Judith Ash '" IELTS Reading Tests i , Test 3 1 ; ,I J ,I 1 I ,I , I , o S~m McCarter & Judith Ash 11 IELTS Reading Testl Reading Passage 1 You should... and London Symphony (No 104), This is public music, full of high spirits expansive gestures and orchestral surprises Haydn knew how to please his audience And in 1796 following his return to Vienna, he began work on his largest and most famous choral work the oratorio, 'The Creation' In the succeeding years, till 1802, he was to write a series of other large scale religious choral works including several... the appropriate letters A-D and write them in Boxes 30-32 on your answer sheet 30 Which one of the following statements is true? A Haydn wrote the London Symphony in England B We do not know where Haydn wrote the London Symphony C Haydn wrote the London Symphony in Vienna D Haydn wrote the Drum Roll Symphony in England 31 Like symphonies 103 and 104, the oratorios and masses were A wriuen in the eighteenth... taught how to w:nte an essay, this is what you are being taught to do For more informalion see a book Ort writing by Sam McCarter and the reading exercises in A book/or IELTS by McCaner easton & Ash Matching information to paragraphs This type of exercise is a variation of the previolls exercise type The exerc ise asks you to decide why the writer wrote the pnragraphs This, in effect, is part of the... -'"," - - ' .' IELTS Reading Ted, H Tea drinking in India remains an important part of daily life There, tea made entirely with milk is popul~r 'Chai' is made by boili~g milk and addi~g tea, sugar and some spices This form of tea making has cross.ed the Indian Ocean and IS 8.150 popular in East Africa where tea is considered best when it is either very milky or made with water only Curiously, this 'milk... into disuse, () Sam MCC:lftcr & Judith Ash 27 IELTS Reading Teds decayed and was eventually pu lled down Occasional fragments of rubble and brick still surface in the garden of the remaining cottage In 1933, this cottage was sold to the manager of the newly-opened gravel works to the north-west of Pebmarsh village He converted these two dwellings into one This, then, is the only remaining habitation... creative ability in check begins at school School, later university and then work teach us to regulate our lives, imposing a continuous process of restrictions, which is i~creasing exponentially with the advancement of technology Is it surprising then that creative ability appears to be so rare? It is.trapped in the prison that we have erected Yet, even here in this hostile environment, the foundations... full of the energy and grace we associate with Haydn, but with far less conscious humour and more detnchment than in earlier qunltets But it is in the slow movements that Haydn is most innovative and most unsettling In No.1 the cello and the ', ~ first violin embark on a series of brusque dialogues No.4 is a subdued meditation based on the hushed opening chords The slow movements of ~0.5 and No.6 are... not the works of an old man whose powers are fading, or who 'Simply consolidates ground already covered Once again Haydn innovates The opening movement of Opus 77 No.2 is as 30 o Sam McC.nt r & Judith Ash i j r I IELTS Reading rests structurally complex and emotionally unsettling as anything he ever wrote, alternating between a laconic opening theme and a tense and threatening CouDter theme which comes . IE L TS Reading Tests Contents Page Reading Test 1 . 13 Reading Test 2 23 Reading Test 3 : . 33 Reading Test. marking [he [ext. Sam McCarter and Judith Ash October 2000 6 ' . o Sam McCarter & Judith Ash - , IELTS Reading Tells The IELTS Academic Reading Madule The R ea ding. Test 4 43 Reading Test 5 53 Reading Test 6 63 Reading Test 7 73 Reading Test 8 83 Reading Test 9