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TEA and The British

Reading Comprehension for students trying to work on their reading skills at a pre-intermediate/ intermediate level.

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483 views4 pages

TEA and The British

Reading Comprehension for students trying to work on their reading skills at a pre-intermediate/ intermediate level.

Uploaded by

Mar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TEA and the British

The father of modern economics, Adam Smith, once described the British as a
"nation of shopkeepers". He might just as easily have described them as a nation
of tea-drinkers, since tea has long been a national favourite. The image of the
tea-drinking British is not just a myth; it is a reflection of reality. Today, tea
accounts for 43% of all the drink consumed in Britain, excluding plain water

Tea-time in a traditional English


tea-room involves tea, scones and
cream, and cake.
There was a time in the
1960's and 1970's when some
people believed that coffee would
replace tea as Britain's favourite
beverage. That did not occur and
today tea remains firmly anchored
as
Britain's
favourite
drink,
accounting for over two fifths of
all the drink consumed in Britain
with the exception of water.
To say that the British are
fond of tea is something of an
understatement. From the Royal
Family down to the humblest of
the homeless and the out-of-work,
tea is more than just a pleasure; it
is an essential part of life! It is
one
of
those
things
that
distinguishes life in Britain from
life anywhere else.
The average Briton over the
age of 10 drinks three and a half
cups of tea per day, or 1,355 cups
per year mostly tea with milk in
it which puts Britain miles
ahead of any other country in the
international
league
of
tea-

drinking nations! Second and


third in the league are the New
Zealanders (889 cups) and the
Australians (642 cups); in Europe,
the nearest rival to Britain is
Russia,
where
people
only
consume on average 325 cups of
tea per year.
The popularity of tea in the
United Kingdom has a long
history, reflecting the nation's
development
since
the
seventeenth century. It was in
1657 that Thomas Garway, the
owner of a coffee house, sold the
first tea in London. The drink soon
became popular as an alternative
to coffee, and by the year 1700,
there were over 500 coffee
houses in the British capital
selling the new drink.

In those days, however, it


was not something for anyone;
the cost of a pound of tea in the
year 1700 (up to 36 shillings a

pound) was almost the same as it


was in 1985 but in 1700, a
working man earned one shilling a
week, compared to 140 in 1985!

For a century and a half, tea


remained an expensive drink;
many employers served a cup of
it to their workers in the middle of
the morning, thus inventing a
lasting British institution, the "tea
break"; but as a social drink
outside the workplace, tea was
reserved for the nobility and for
the growing middle classes.
Among those who had the means,
it became very popular as a drink
to be enjoyed in cafs and "tea
gardens".

As
tea
became
much
cheaper during the nineteenth
century, its popularity spread
right through British society, and
before long, it had become
Britain's
favourite
drink

promoted by the Victorians as an


economical, warming, stimulating
non-alcoholic drink. In workingclass households, it was served
with the main meal of the day,
eaten when workers returned
home after a day's labour. This
meal has become known as "high
tea".

It was the 7th Duchess of


Bedford who, in around the
1800s,
started
the
popular
fashion of "afternoon tea", a
ceremony taking place at about
four o'clock. Until then, people did
not usually eat or drink anything
between lunch and dinner. At
approximately the same time, the
Earl of Sandwich popularised a
new way of eating bread in thin
slices, with something (e.g. jam or
cucumbers) between them, and
before long, a small meal at the
end of the afternoon, involving
tea and sandwiches had become
part of a way of life.

Today, tea can be drunk at


any time of day. The large
majority of people in Britain drink
tea for breakfast: the midmorning "tea break" is an
institution in British offices and
factories (though some people
prefer coffee at this time of day);
and for anyone working outdoors,
a thermos of tea is almost an
essential part of the day's
equipment. Later in the day,
"afternoon tea" is still a way of life
in the south of England and
among
the
middle
classes,
whereas "high tea" has remained
a tradition in the north of Britain.

1. Read the text and match the words with their meaning

1. Beverage
2. Understatement
3. Shilling
4. to last
5. labour
6. cuppa
a. cup of tea

b. to continue
c. 0.05 pounds (5 modern
pence)
d. drink
e. work
f. the opposite of an
exaggeration

2. Here is a summary of the article on tea. However, it contains 10


errors of fact. Can you find them, and correct them.

After

doing this, try to rewrite the summary, changing as much of


the expression as you can, without changing the meaning.
Tea is the most popular drink in Britain, accounting for almost half
the liquid consumed by people in Britain; furthermore, the British
are the world's biggest tea drinkers having been so ever since
Thomas Garway became the first person to sell tea in London, in
the year 1567.
Three hundred years ago, however, tea was a very expensive drink.
Nevertheless, the great British tradition of the "tea break" began
very early on, as employees got into the habit of serving tea to
their workers in the middle of the day. As a social drink, tea was
initially reserved for the middle classes and the nobility, who could
not afford it.
The ceremony of "afternoon tea", a snack of tea and sandwiches
between lunch and dinner, was invented by the Earl of Sandwich in
the early eighteenth century; then the drink became very popular
with the Victorians, who preferred it to alcoholic beverages.
Today, tea is still extremely popular, since it can be drunk at
mealtimes at any time of the day

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