IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2025 - Q3 Test 4 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Luyện tập đề IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2025 - Q3 Test 4 được lấy từ cuốn sách Forcast Test 2025 - Q3 với trải nghiệm thi IELTS trên máy và giải thích đáp án chi tiết bằng Linearthinking, kèm answer key và list từ vựng IELTS cần học trong bài đọc.
IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2025 - Q3 Test 4 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 1
Question 1 - 8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1
Ochre was used in paintings before it was used in fabric dyes.
2
Natural dyes that need a mordant are rare.
3
In medieval times people sometimes wore fabric made of undyed wool.
4
Silk has always been more expensive than cotton and wool.
5
Cotton imported from India was dyed upon arrival in Europe.
6
Perkin became more famous than his teacher, Von Hofmann.
7
Very few synthetic dyes were produced in Europe in the second half of the 19th century.
8
Today the commercial production of natural dyes is limited to a small number of isolated communities.
Question 9 - 13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
The history of some dyes
Highly valued dyes
- Tyrian purple:mucus from
9.
found in the Mediterranean.
- Cochineal (a red dye): made from
10.
found in Latin America.
- Saffron (a yellow dye): initially made from crocuses found on the island of Crete.
- Indigo (a blue dye): made from plant leaves from India.
17th century Europe
- Dyes made by country people:
11.
had two uses: jam / blue dye.
Liquid from cleaning
12.
had two uses: making mead / yellow dye.
19th century Europe
- Progress in study of
13.
led to synthetic dyes.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 2
Question 14 - 18
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
14
All living animals can lie.
15
Some people tell lies for self-preservation.
16
Scientists have used computers to analyze which part of the brain is responsible for telling lies.
17
Lying as a survival skill is more important than detecting a lie.
18
To be a good liar, one has to understand other people's emotions.
Question 19 - 22
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
19
How does the lie detector work?
A
It detects whether one's emotional state is stable.
B
It detects one’s brain activity level.
C
It detects body behavior during one's verbal response.
D
It analyses one's verbal response word by word.
20
Lie detectors can't be used as evidence in a court of law because
A
Lights often cause lie detectors to malfunction.
B
They are based on too many verbal and non-verbal clues.
C
Polygraph tests are often inaccurate.
D
There may be many causes of certain body behavior.
21
Why does the author mention the paralyzed patients?
A
To demonstrate how a paralyzed patient smiles.
B
To show the relation between true emotions and body behavior.
C
To examine how they were paralyzed.
D
To show the importance of happiness from recovery.
22
The author uses politicians to exemplify that they can
A
have emotions.
B
imitate actors.
C
detect other people's lives.
D
mask their true feelings.
Question 23 - 26
Classify the following facial traits as referring to
List of Findings
A
sadness
B
anger
C
happiness
23
Inner corners of eyebrows raised
24
The whole eyebrows lowered
25
Lines formed around the eyes
26
Lines formed above eyebrows
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 3
Question 27 - 30
Which paragraph contains the following information?
27
Ancient stories around the pearl and customers
28
Difficulties in cultivating process.
29
Factors can decide the value of natural pearls.
30
Different growth mechanisms that distinguish the cultured pearls from natural ones.
Question 31 - 36
Complete the summary below.
Choose letter from A-K for each answer.
Summary
In ancient history, pearls have great importance within the rich and rulers, which was treated as gem for women in . And pearls were even used as medicine and sex drug for people in . There are essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. Most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China while the is famous for its imitation pearl industry. The country usually manufactures some of the glitteriest cultured ones while the nation such as produces the larger sized pearl due to the favorable environment along the coast line. In the past, one country of in Gulf produced the world's best pearls. Nowadays, the major remaining suppliers of the natural pearls belongs to India
A
America
B
Ancient Rome
C
Australia
D
Bahrain
E
China
F
Japan
G
India
H
Korea
I
Mexico
J
Persia
K
Spain
Question 37 - 40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in <Reading Passage Number>?
In following statements 27-32 below, choose
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
37
Often, cultured pearl’s center is significantly larger than in a natural pearl.
38
Cultivated cultured pearls are generally valued the same as natural ones.
39
The size of pearls produced in Japan is usually of a smaller size than those came from Australia.
40
Akoya pearls from Japan glows more deeply than the South Sea pearls of Australia
DOL IELTS Đình Lực
05/05/2026
📖 Bài đọc passage 1
Dyes and Fabric Dyeing
When primitive people began using their hands to be creative, they began to add color to their lives. They used natural materials like ochre to stain animal hides, decorate shells and feathers, and paint on the walls of caves. Ochre is a naturally occurring brownish yellow earth containing iron oxide. Scientists have been able to date the black, white, yellow, and reddish pigments made from ochre, used in cave paintings, to over 15,000 BCE. With the development of fixed settlements and agriculture, around 7,000 to 2,000 BCE, people began to produce fabrics and used natural substances such as ochre to color them.
Natural dyes, or dyes made from substances found in nature, can be broken down into two categories: substantive and adjective. Substantive, or direct dyes, become fixed to fibers without the aid of any other chemicals or additives. Adjective dyes require a mordant (usually a metal salt), which acts as a fixative and prevents the color from washing out or being bleached by sunlight. Most natural dyes are adjective dyes and require the application of a mordant solution to the fibers at some point in the dyeing process.
Historically, three natural fibers were used in making fabrics: wool, silk, and cotton. Wool fabric remains have been found in Europe dating back to 2,000 BCE. It was a common medieval fabric worn in both dyed and natural colors and was processed by both professional manufacturers and by people in their own homes. Silk was imported from China to Europe, and in the 14th to 16th centuries, major silk manufacturing centers were set up in France, Spain, and Italy. These silk production centers also became centers of dye technology, as most silk was dyed and required the highest quality dyes available. Cotton was considered a luxury fabric in Europe, as it was imported all the way from India and was dyed before it was shipped. Cotton was also valued because of the brightness and colorfastness of the dyes used to color it.
Dyes that gave fabrics a good bright color and were able to withstand washing and exposure to sunlight without losing their color were highly prized. The names of some of these valued and traded colors are still familiar today. The color known as Tyrian purple, for example, originated in the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago, and cochineal is the name given to the red dye from Latin America. Both of these colors came from animals; the mucus found in certain species of shellfish produced the deep rich Tyrian purple, and cochineal was extracted from insects. Two other natural sources of color were saffron and indigo. Saffron, the base of yellow dyes, comes from the flowers of a particular kind of crocus, which is thought to have first been cultivated on Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. The leaves of a plant native to India were used to produce indigo, which was the main source of the color blue.
As societies developed over the centuries, the demand for dyes and dyed fabric grew, and by the 17th century, a world-wide shipping and trading network was in place, allowing dyestuffs from all parts of the world to be brought to Europe. This meant that numerous dyestuffs could be blended to create a variety of colors for the rich and powerful. Fiber dyeing in the lower classes was a bit more restrictive. Without the money to buy exotic imported dyes, clothing in the countryside tended to be black, brown, grey, and tan. Country people had some resources they could use to get a wider range of colors. They had always used local plants as food, and many of these plants were also used as medicines and, in some cases, as sources of dyes. Home dyers used any plants they could find that would give a good color. People who picked blackberries to make jam soon recognized this wild fruit as a source for a blue dye. Washing beehives in preparation for making mead (a popular drink containing honey) yielded a liquid that could be used as a yellow dye. The mosses which grow in many parts of Europe were used to produce green dye.
With the tremendous rise of interest in chemistry in the mid-19th century, several important innovations in dyeing came about. W.H. Perkin, a student of celebrated European scientist Wilhelm von Hofmann, accidentally discovered the first synthetic dye, later called mauve. The color was so popular that Perkin was able to open a factory of his own and went on to develop more synthetic dye colors. Synthetic dye production grew in Europe, and hardly a year passed until the end of the century without a new synthetic dye being patented.
Eventually, the old natural dyes lost popularity in favor of the newer synthetic ones, and now the use of natural dyes on a commercial scale only exists in a few remote areas where people have either little access to synthetic dyes or a vested interest in retaining their ancient dyeing customs.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 1
1
True
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài True / False / Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: Ochre was used in paintings before it was used in fabric dyes .
Main idea: Cần so sánh thứ tự thời điểm sử dụng ochre -> dùngtrong hội họa trước, hay dùng làm thuốc nhuộm vải trước.
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Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “ochre”, “paintings”, “fabric dyes”, “before”.
-> Dựa vào từ khoá ở trên, tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “Scientists have been able to date the black, white, yellow, and reddish pigments made from ochre, used in cave paintings, to over 15,000 BCE. With the development of fixed settlements and agriculture, around 7,000 to 2,000 BCE, people began to produce fabrics and used natural substances such as ochre to color them.” (Đoạn 1)
Simplified: Ochre pigments in cave paintings date back to over 15,000 BCE. Later , people used ochre to dye fabrics around 7,000–2,000 BCE.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc:Ochre được dùng trong hội họa từ 15,000 TCN, và chỉ đến 7,000–2,000 TCN mới được dùng để nhuộm vải → Ochre dùng trong hội họa trước.
Trong câu hỏi:Ochre được dùng trong hội họa trước khi dùng trong nhuộm vải.
⇒ ✅ Chọn: TRUE
-------
Lưu ý:
Nếu đáp án là False: bài đọc phải nói rằng ochre được dùng để nhuộm vải trước khi dùng trong hội họa.
Nếu đáp án là Not Given: bài đọc phải không đề cập đến thứ tự thời gian sử dụng ochre trong hai lĩnh vực này.
However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally to all living things. Birds do it by feigning injury to lead hungry predators away from nesting young. Spider crabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with strips of kelp and other debris, they pretend to be something they are not—and so escape their enemies. Nature amply rewards successful deceivers by allowing them to survive long enough to mate and reproduce. So it may come as no surprise to learn that human beings-who, according to psychologist Gerald Johnson of the University of South California, are lied to about 200 times a day, roughly one untruth every 5 minutes-often deceive for exactly the same reasons: to save their own skins or to get something they can't get by other means.
But knowing how to catch deceit can be just as important a survival skill as knowing how to tell a lie and get away with it. A person able to spot falsehood quickly is unlikely to be swindled by an unscrupulous business associate or hoodwinked by a devious spouse. Luckily, nature provides more than enough clues to trap dissemblers in their own tangled webs—if you know where to look. By closely observing facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, practically anyone can recognize the tell-tale signs of lying. Researchers are even programming computers-like those used on Lie Detectors—to get at the truth by analyzing the same physical cues available to the naked eye and ear. "With the proper training, many people can learn to reliably detect lies," says Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, who has spent the past 15 years studying the secret art of deception.
In order to know what kind of lies work best, successful liars need to accurately assess other people's emotional states. Ekman's research shows that this same emotional intelligence is essential for good lie detectors, too. The emotional state to watch out for is stress, the conflict most liars feel between the truth and what they actually say and do.
Even high-tech lie detectors don't detect lies as such; they merely detect the physical cues of emotions, which may or may not correspond to what the person being tested is saying. Polygraphs, for instance, measure respiration, heart rate, and skin conductivity, which tend to increase when people are nervous—as they usually are when lying. Nervous people typically perspire, and the salts contained in perspiration conduct electricity. That's why a sudden leap in skin conductivity indicates nervousness-about getting caught, perhaps-which makes, in turn, suggest that someone is being economical with the truth. On the other hand, it might also mean that the lights in the television studio are too hot-which is one reason polygraph tests are inadmissible in court. "Good lie detectors don't rely on a single thing," says Ekman, "but interpret clusters of verbal and non-verbal clues that suggest someone might be lying."
The clues are written all over the face. Because the musculature of the face is directly connected to the areas of the brain that process emotion, the countenance can be a window to the soul. Neurological studies even suggest that genuine emotions travel different pathways through the brain than insincere ones. If a patient paralyzed by stroke on one side of the face, for example, is asked to smile deliberately, only the mobile side of the mouth is raised. But tell that same person a funny joke, and the patient breaks into a full and spontaneous smile. Very few people—most notably, actors and politicians-are able to consciously control all of their facial expressions. Lies can often be caught when the liar's true feelings briefly leak through the mask of deception. We don't think before we feel, Ekman says. "Expressions tend to show up on the face before we're even conscious of experiencing an emotion."
One of the most difficult facial expressions to fake—or conceal, if it's genuinely felt-is sadness. When someone is truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief, and the inner corners of the eyebrows are pulled up. Fewer than 15% of the people Ekman tested were able to produce this eyebrow movement voluntarily. By contrast, the lowering of the eyebrows associated with an angry scowl can be replicated at will by almost everybody. "If someone claims they are sad and the inner corners of their eyebrows don't go up," Ekman says, "the sadness is probably false."
The smile, on the other hand, is one of the easiest facial expressions to counterfeit. It takes just two muscles-the zygomaticus major muscles that extend from the cheekbones to the corners of the lips—to produce a grin. But there's a catch. A genuine smile affects not only the corners of the lips but also the orbicularis oculi, the muscle around the eve that produces the distinctive "crow's feet" associated with people who laugh a lot. A counterfeit grin can be unmasked if the corners of the lips go up, the eyes crinkle, but the inner corners of the eyebrows are not lowered, a movement controlled by the orbicularis oculi that is difficult to fake. The absence of lowered eyebrows is one reason why the smile looks so strained and stiff.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 2
14
Yes
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Yes / No / Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: All living animals can lie
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “living things”, “deception”, “animals”, “natural”.
-> Dựa vào các từ khoá ở trên, tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn:“However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally to all living things. Birds do it by feigning injury to lead hungry predators away from nesting young. Spider crabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with strips of kelp and other debris, they pretend to be something they are not—and so escape their enemies.” (Đoạn 1)
Simplified: Deception comes naturally to all living things .
Trong bài đọc: Tác giả khẳng định mọi sinh vật sống đều có hành vi lừa dối tự nhiên (deception), và đưa ra ví dụ về chim và cua để minh họa.
Trong câu hỏi: Tất cả sinh vật sống đều có khả năng nói dối.
→ Hai ý trùng khớp hoàn toàn.
⇒ ✅ Chọn: YES
-------
Lưu ý:
Nếu đáp án là NO: bài phải nói rằng chỉ một số loài mới có khả năng lừa dối.
Nếu đáp án là NOT GIVEN: bài không nói rõ “tất cả sinh vật” mà chỉ đề cập đến một vài ví dụ riêng lẻ.
→ Ở đây, câu mở đầu nêu rõ “deception comes naturally to all living things” → khẳng định rõ ràng → đáp án YES.
Throughout history, pearls have held a unique presence within the wealthy and powerful. For instance, the pearl was the favored gem of the wealthy during the Roman Empire. This gift from the sea had been brought back from the orient by the Roman conquests. Roman women wore pearls to bed so they could be reminded of their wealth immediately upon waking up. Before jewelers learned to cut gems, the pearl was of greater value than the diamond. In the Orient and Persia Empire, pearls were ground into powders to cure anything from heart disease to epilepsy, with possible aphrodisiac uses as well. Pearls were once considered an exclusive privilege for royalty. A law in 1612 drawn up by the Duke of Saxony prohibited the wearing of pearls by nobility, professors, doctors or their wives in an effort to further distinguish royal appearance. American Indians also used freshwater pearls from the Mississippi River as decorations and jewelry.
B
There are essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. A natural pearl (often called an Oriental pearl) forms when an irritant, such as a piece of sand, works its way into a particular species of oyster, mussel, or clam. As a defense mechanism, the mollusk secretes a fluid to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant until a lustrous pearl is formed.
C
The only difference natural pearls and cultured pearls is that the irritant is a surgically implanted bead or piece of shell called Mother of Pearl. Often, these shells are ground oyster shells that are worth significant amounts of money in their own rights as irritant-catalysts for quality pearls. The resulting core is, therefore, much larger than in a natural pearl. Yet, as long as there are enough layers of nacre (the secreted fluid covering the irritant) to result in a beautiful, gem-quality pearl, the size of the nucleus is of no consequence to beauty or durability.
D
Pearls can come from cither salt or freshwater sources. Typically, saltwater pearls tend to be higher quality, although there are several types of freshwater pearls that are considered high in quality as well. Freshwater pearls tend to be very irregular in shape, with a puffed rice appearance the most prevalent. Nevertheless, it is each individual pearls merits that determines value more than the source of the pearl. Saltwater pearl oysters are usually cultivated in protected lagoons or volcanic atolls. However, most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China. Cultured pearls are the response of the shell to a tissue implant. A tiny piece of mantle tissue from a donor shell is transplanted into a recipient shell. This graft will form a pearl sac and the tissue will precipitate calcium carbonate into this pocket. There are a number of options for producing cultured pearls: use freshwater or seawater shells, transplant the graft into the mantle or into the gonad, add a spherical bead or do it non-bcadcd. The majority of saltwater cultured pearls arc grown with beads. surface, orient and luster. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls, whereas imitation pearls almost have no value.
One way that jewelers can determine whether a pearl is cultured or natural is to have a gem lab perform an x-ray of the pearl. If the x-ray reveals a nucleus, the pearl is likely a bead-nucleated saltwater pearl. If no nucleus is present, but irregular and small dark inner spots indicating a cavity are visible, combined with concentric rings of organic substance, the pearl is likely a cultured freshwater. Cultured freshwater pearls can often be confused for natural pearls which present as homogeneous pictures which continuously darken toward the surface of the pearl. Natural pearls will often show larger cavities where organic matter has dried out and decomposed. Although imitation pearls look the part, they do not have the same weight or smoothness as real pearls, and their luster will also dim greatly. Among cultured pearls, Akoya pearls from Japan are some of the most lustrous. A good quality necklace of 40 Akoya pearls measuring 7mm in diameter sells for about $1,500, while a super- high quality strand sells for about $4,500. Size on the other hand, has to do with the age of the oyster that created the pearl (the more mature oysters produce larger pearls) and the location in which the pearl was cultured. The South Sea waters of Australia tend to produce the larger pearls; probably because the water along the coast line is supplied with rich nutrients from the ocean floor. Also, the type of mussel common to the area seems to possess a predilection for producing comparatively large pearls.
E
Regardless of the method used to acquire a pearl, the process usually takes several years. Mussels must reach a mature age, which can take up to 3 years, and then be implanted or naturally receive an irritant. Once the irritant is in place, it can take up to another 3 years for the pearl to reach its full size. Often, the irritant may be rejected, the pearl will be terrifically misshapen, or the oyster may simply die from disease or countless other complications. By the end of a 5 to 11) year cycle, only 50% of the oysters will have survived. And of the pearls produced, only approximately 5% arc of substantial quality for top jewelry makers. From the outset, a pearl farmer can figure on spending over $100 for every oyster that is fanned, of which many will produce nothing or die.
F
Imitation pearls are a different story altogether. In most cases, a glass bead is dipped into a solution made from fish scales This coating is thin and may eventually wear off. One can usually tell an imitation by biting on it. Fake pearls glide across your teeth, while the layers of nacre on real pearls feel gritty. The Island of Mallorca (in Spain) is known for its imitation pearl industry. Quality natural pearls are very rare jewels. The actual value of a natural pearl is determined in the same way as it would be for other "precious" gems. The valuation factors include size, shape, color, quality of surface, orient, and lustre. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls.
G
Historically, the world's best pearls came from the Persian Gulf, especially around what is now Bahrain. The pearls of the Persian Gulf were natural created and collected by breath-hold divers. The secret to the special luster of Gulf pearls probably derived from the unique mixture of sweet and salt water around the island. Unfortunately, the natural pearl industry of the Persian Gulf ended abruptly in the early 1930's with the discovery of large deposits of oil. Those who once dove for pearls sought prosperity in the economic boom ushered in by the oil industry. The water pollution resulting from spilled oil and indiscriminate over-fishing of oysters essentially ruined the once pristine pearl producing waters of the Gulf. Today, pearl diving is practiced only as a hobby. Still, Bahrain remains one of the foremost trading centers for high quality pearls. In fact,
cultured pearls are banned from the Bahrain pearl market, in an effort to preserve the location's heritage. Nowadays, the largest stock of natural pearls probably resides in India. Ironically, much of India's stock of natural pearls came originally from Bahrain. Unlike Bahrain, which has essentially lost its pearl resource, traditional pearl fishing is still practiced on a small scale in India.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 3
27
A
Giải thích chi tiết
Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Matching Information
📌 Dạng Matching Information chúng ta nên làm cuối cùng, sau khi đã làm các dạng câu hỏi khác nhé DOLBIES, bởi vì lúc này mình đã đọc và hiểu nội dung của bài rồi → sẽ nhanh chóng tìm được vị trí đáp án hơn!!
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Step 1: Phân tích câu hỏi (Matching Information) Ancient stories around the pearl and customers .
Dự đoán thông tin cần tìm (SPECIFY):
“Ancient stories” ⇒ đoạn đúng sẽ nói về thời xưa / lịch sử (ví dụ: Roman Empire, Orient/Persia, luật thời cổ, royalty, v.v.).
“Pearl and customers” ⇒ phải có ngọc trai + nhóm người dùng/ưa chuộng/được phép dùng (giàu có, quyền lực, phụ nữ La Mã, hoàng gia,…), thường là kiểu “ai dùng ngọc trai và dùng để làm gì”.
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Step 2: Locate bằng chứng
Đoạn A nói hoàn toàn về “lịch sử” và “nhóm người dùng ngọc trai”:
“Throughout history, pearls have held a unique presence within the wealthy and powerful. ”
“the pearl was the favored gem … during the Roman Empire.”
“Roman women wore pearls to bed …”
(đoạn A còn tiếp tục kể các ví dụ lịch sử khác: Orient/Persia, luật năm 1612, royalty, American Indians…)
⇒ Đây khớp với “ancient stories + customers”.
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Step 3: Đối chiếu paraphrasing (để chắc chắn match đúng)
Ancient stories ⇔ “Throughout history” + “during the Roman Empire” + các chi tiết lịch sử/luật lệ thời xưa trong đoạn A.
around the pearl ⇔ “pearls / the pearl / This gift from the sea” (các cách gọi khác nhau của pearl).
customers ⇔ “the wealthy and powerful” + “Roman women” (những nhóm người sử dụng/ưa chuộng ngọc trai).
⇒ Chọn: PARAGRAPH A.
❌ Những đáp án “bẫy” hay dính
Bẫy đoạn B/C: có nhiều từ về “pearl” nhưng nội dung chính là cách hình thành natural/cultured pearl (kỹ thuật/sinh học), không phải “ancient stories” hay “ai là khách hàng thời xưa”. Skim/scan thấy “pearl” là dễ chọn nhầm.
Bẫy đoạn G: cũng mang màu “historical”, nhưng trọng tâm là khu vực Persian Gulf/Bahrain, sự suy tàn ngành ngọc trai do dầu mỏ và ô nhiễm. Đề lại hỏi “ancient stories around the pearl and customers” (ai dùng/ưa chuộng), nên G không khớp bằng A.
When primitive people began using their hands to be creative, they began to add color to their lives. They used natural materials like ochre to stain animal hides, decorate shells and feathers, and paint on the walls of caves. Ochre is a naturally occurring brownish yellow earth containing iron oxide. Scientists have been able to date the black, white, yellow, and reddish pigments made from ochre, used in cave paintings, to over 15,000 BCE. With the development of fixed settlements and agriculture, around 7,000 to 2,000 BCE, people began to produce fabrics and used natural substances such as ochre to color them.
Natural dyes, or dyes made from substances found in nature, can be broken down into two categories: substantive and adjective. Substantive, or direct dyes, become fixed to fibers without the aid of any other chemicals or additives. Adjective dyes require a mordant (usually a metal salt), which acts as a fixative and prevents the color from washing out or being bleached by sunlight. Most natural dyes are adjective dyes and require the application of a mordant solution to the fibers at some point in the dyeing process.
Historically, three natural fibers were used in making fabrics: wool, silk, and cotton. Wool fabric remains have been found in Europe dating back to 2,000 BCE. It was a common medieval fabric worn in both dyed and natural colors and was processed by both professional manufacturers and by people in their own homes. Silk was imported from China to Europe, and in the 14th to 16th centuries, major silk manufacturing centers were set up in France, Spain, and Italy. These silk production centers also became centers of dye technology, as most silk was dyed and required the highest quality dyes available. Cotton was considered a luxury fabric in Europe, as it was imported all the way from India and was dyed before it was shipped. Cotton was also valued because of the brightness and colorfastness of the dyes used to color it.
Dyes that gave fabrics a good bright color and were able to withstand washing and exposure to sunlight without losing their color were highly prized. The names of some of these valued and traded colors are still familiar today. The color known as Tyrian purple, for example, originated in the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago, and cochineal is the name given to the red dye from Latin America. Both of these colors came from animals; the mucus found in certain species of shellfish produced the deep rich Tyrian purple, and cochineal was extracted from insects. Two other natural sources of color were saffron and indigo. Saffron, the base of yellow dyes, comes from the flowers of a particular kind of crocus, which is thought to have first been cultivated on Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. The leaves of a plant native to India were used to produce indigo, which was the main source of the color blue.
As societies developed over the centuries, the demand for dyes and dyed fabric grew, and by the 17th century, a world-wide shipping and trading network was in place, allowing dyestuffs from all parts of the world to be brought to Europe. This meant that numerous dyestuffs could be blended to create a variety of colors for the rich and powerful. Fiber dyeing in the lower classes was a bit more restrictive. Without the money to buy exotic imported dyes, clothing in the countryside tended to be black, brown, grey, and tan. Country people had some resources they could use to get a wider range of colors. They had always used local plants as food, and many of these plants were also used as medicines and, in some cases, as sources of dyes. Home dyers used any plants they could find that would give a good color. People who picked blackberries to make jam soon recognized this wild fruit as a source for a blue dye. Washing beehives in preparation for making mead (a popular drink containing honey) yielded a liquid that could be used as a yellow dye. The mosses which grow in many parts of Europe were used to produce green dye.
With the tremendous rise of interest in chemistry in the mid-19th century, several important innovations in dyeing came about. W.H. Perkin, a student of celebrated European scientist Wilhelm von Hofmann, accidentally discovered the first synthetic dye, later called mauve. The color was so popular that Perkin was able to open a factory of his own and went on to develop more synthetic dye colors. Synthetic dye production grew in Europe, and hardly a year passed until the end of the century without a new synthetic dye being patented.
Eventually, the old natural dyes lost popularity in favor of the newer synthetic ones, and now the use of natural dyes on a commercial scale only exists in a few remote areas where people have either little access to synthetic dyes or a vested interest in retaining their ancient dyeing customs.
over 15,000 BCE.
Later
people
used ochre to dye fabrics
around 7,000–2,000 BCE.
Trong bài đọc:Ochre được dùng trong hội họa từ 15,000 TCN, và chỉ đến 7,000–2,000 TCN mới được dùng để nhuộm vải → Ochre dùng trong hội họa trước.
However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally to all living things. Birds do it by feigning injury to lead hungry predators away from nesting young. Spider crabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with strips of kelp and other debris, they pretend to be something they are not—and so escape their enemies. Nature amply rewards successful deceivers by allowing them to survive long enough to mate and reproduce. So it may come as no surprise to learn that human beings-who, according to psychologist Gerald Johnson of the University of South California, are lied to about 200 times a day, roughly one untruth every 5 minutes-often deceive for exactly the same reasons: to save their own skins or to get something they can't get by other means.
But knowing how to catch deceit can be just as important a survival skill as knowing how to tell a lie and get away with it. A person able to spot falsehood quickly is unlikely to be swindled by an unscrupulous business associate or hoodwinked by a devious spouse. Luckily, nature provides more than enough clues to trap dissemblers in their own tangled webs—if you know where to look. By closely observing facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, practically anyone can recognize the tell-tale signs of lying. Researchers are even programming computers-like those used on Lie Detectors—to get at the truth by analyzing the same physical cues available to the naked eye and ear. "With the proper training, many people can learn to reliably detect lies," says Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, who has spent the past 15 years studying the secret art of deception.
In order to know what kind of lies work best, successful liars need to accurately assess other people's emotional states. Ekman's research shows that this same emotional intelligence is essential for good lie detectors, too. The emotional state to watch out for is stress, the conflict most liars feel between the truth and what they actually say and do.
Even high-tech lie detectors don't detect lies as such; they merely detect the physical cues of emotions, which may or may not correspond to what the person being tested is saying. Polygraphs, for instance, measure respiration, heart rate, and skin conductivity, which tend to increase when people are nervous—as they usually are when lying. Nervous people typically perspire, and the salts contained in perspiration conduct electricity. That's why a sudden leap in skin conductivity indicates nervousness-about getting caught, perhaps-which makes, in turn, suggest that someone is being economical with the truth. On the other hand, it might also mean that the lights in the television studio are too hot-which is one reason polygraph tests are inadmissible in court. "Good lie detectors don't rely on a single thing," says Ekman, "but interpret clusters of verbal and non-verbal clues that suggest someone might be lying."
The clues are written all over the face. Because the musculature of the face is directly connected to the areas of the brain that process emotion, the countenance can be a window to the soul. Neurological studies even suggest that genuine emotions travel different pathways through the brain than insincere ones. If a patient paralyzed by stroke on one side of the face, for example, is asked to smile deliberately, only the mobile side of the mouth is raised. But tell that same person a funny joke, and the patient breaks into a full and spontaneous smile. Very few people—most notably, actors and politicians-are able to consciously control all of their facial expressions. Lies can often be caught when the liar's true feelings briefly leak through the mask of deception. We don't think before we feel, Ekman says. "Expressions tend to show up on the face before we're even conscious of experiencing an emotion."
One of the most difficult facial expressions to fake—or conceal, if it's genuinely felt-is sadness. When someone is truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief, and the inner corners of the eyebrows are pulled up. Fewer than 15% of the people Ekman tested were able to produce this eyebrow movement voluntarily. By contrast, the lowering of the eyebrows associated with an angry scowl can be replicated at will by almost everybody. "If someone claims they are sad and the inner corners of their eyebrows don't go up," Ekman says, "the sadness is probably false."
The smile, on the other hand, is one of the easiest facial expressions to counterfeit. It takes just two muscles-the zygomaticus major muscles that extend from the cheekbones to the corners of the lips—to produce a grin. But there's a catch. A genuine smile affects not only the corners of the lips but also the orbicularis oculi, the muscle around the eve that produces the distinctive "crow's feet" associated with people who laugh a lot. A counterfeit grin can be unmasked if the corners of the lips go up, the eyes crinkle, but the inner corners of the eyebrows are not lowered, a movement controlled by the orbicularis oculi that is difficult to fake. The absence of lowered eyebrows is one reason why the smile looks so strained and stiff.
Spider crabs
disguise themselves
to avoid enemies
Throughout history, pearls have held a unique presence within the wealthy and powerful. For instance, the pearl was the favored gem of the wealthy during the Roman Empire. This gift from the sea had been brought back from the orient by the Roman conquests. Roman women wore pearls to bed so they could be reminded of their wealth immediately upon waking up. Before jewelers learned to cut gems, the pearl was of greater value than the diamond. In the Orient and Persia Empire, pearls were ground into powders to cure anything from heart disease to epilepsy, with possible aphrodisiac uses as well. Pearls were once considered an exclusive privilege for royalty. A law in 1612 drawn up by the Duke of Saxony prohibited the wearing of pearls by nobility, professors, doctors or their wives in an effort to further distinguish royal appearance. American Indians also used freshwater pearls from the Mississippi River as decorations and jewelry.
B. There are essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. A natural pearl (often called an Oriental pearl) forms when an irritant, such as a piece of sand, works its way into a particular species of oyster, mussel, or clam. As a defense mechanism, the mollusk secretes a fluid to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant until a lustrous pearl is formed.
C. The only difference natural pearls and cultured pearls is that the irritant is a surgically implanted bead or piece of shell called Mother of Pearl. Often, these shells are ground oyster shells that are worth significant amounts of money in their own rights as irritant-catalysts for quality pearls. The resulting core is, therefore, much larger than in a natural pearl. Yet, as long as there are enough layers of nacre (the secreted fluid covering the irritant) to result in a beautiful, gem-quality pearl, the size of the nucleus is of no consequence to beauty or durability.
D. Pearls can come from cither salt or freshwater sources. Typically, saltwater pearls tend to be higher quality, although there are several types of freshwater pearls that are considered high in quality as well. Freshwater pearls tend to be very irregular in shape, with a puffed rice appearance the most prevalent. Nevertheless, it is each individual pearls merits that determines value more than the source of the pearl. Saltwater pearl oysters are usually cultivated in protected lagoons or volcanic atolls. However, most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China. Cultured pearls are the response of the shell to a tissue implant. A tiny piece of mantle tissue from a donor shell is transplanted into a recipient shell. This graft will form a pearl sac and the tissue will precipitate calcium carbonate into this pocket. There are a number of options for producing cultured pearls: use freshwater or seawater shells, transplant the graft into the mantle or into the gonad, add a spherical bead or do it non-bcadcd. The majority of saltwater cultured pearls arc grown with beads. surface, orient and luster. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls, whereas imitation pearls almost have no value.
One way that jewelers can determine whether a pearl is cultured or natural is to have a gem lab perform an x-ray of the pearl. If the x-ray reveals a nucleus, the pearl is likely a bead-nucleated saltwater pearl. If no nucleus is present, but irregular and small dark inner spots indicating a cavity are visible, combined with concentric rings of organic substance, the pearl is likely a cultured freshwater. Cultured freshwater pearls can often be confused for natural pearls which present as homogeneous pictures which continuously darken toward the surface of the pearl. Natural pearls will often show larger cavities where organic matter has dried out and decomposed. Although imitation pearls look the part, they do not have the same weight or smoothness as real pearls, and their luster will also dim greatly. Among cultured pearls, Akoya pearls from Japan are some of the most lustrous. A good quality necklace of 40 Akoya pearls measuring 7mm in diameter sells for about $1,500, while a super- high quality strand sells for about $4,500. Size on the other hand, has to do with the age of the oyster that created the pearl (the more mature oysters produce larger pearls) and the location in which the pearl was cultured. The South Sea waters of Australia tend to produce the larger pearls; probably because the water along the coast line is supplied with rich nutrients from the ocean floor. Also, the type of mussel common to the area seems to possess a predilection for producing comparatively large pearls.
E. Regardless of the method used to acquire a pearl, the process usually takes several years. Mussels must reach a mature age, which can take up to 3 years, and then be implanted or naturally receive an irritant. Once the irritant is in place, it can take up to another 3 years for the pearl to reach its full size. Often, the irritant may be rejected, the pearl will be terrifically misshapen, or the oyster may simply die from disease or countless other complications. By the end of a 5 to 11) year cycle, only 50% of the oysters will have survived. And of the pearls produced, only approximately 5% arc of substantial quality for top jewelry makers. From the outset, a pearl farmer can figure on spending over $100 for every oyster that is fanned, of which many will produce nothing or die.
F. Imitation pearls are a different story altogether. In most cases, a glass bead is dipped into a solution made from fish scales This coating is thin and may eventually wear off. One can usually tell an imitation by biting on it. Fake pearls glide across your teeth, while the layers of nacre on real pearls feel gritty. The Island of Mallorca (in Spain) is known for its imitation pearl industry. Quality natural pearls are very rare jewels. The actual value of a natural pearl is determined in the same way as it would be for other "precious" gems. The valuation factors include size, shape, color, quality of surface, orient, and lustre. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls.
G. Historically, the world's best pearls came from the Persian Gulf, especially around what is now Bahrain. The pearls of the Persian Gulf were natural created and collected by breath-hold divers. The secret to the special luster of Gulf pearls probably derived from the unique mixture of sweet and salt water around the island. Unfortunately, the natural pearl industry of the Persian Gulf ended abruptly in the early 1930's with the discovery of large deposits of oil. Those who once dove for pearls sought prosperity in the economic boom ushered in by the oil industry. The water pollution resulting from spilled oil and indiscriminate over-fishing of oysters essentially ruined the once pristine pearl producing waters of the Gulf. Today, pearl diving is practiced only as a hobby. Still, Bahrain remains one of the foremost trading centers for high quality pearls. In fact,
cultured pearls are banned from the Bahrain pearl market, in an effort to preserve the location's heritage. Nowadays, the largest stock of natural pearls probably resides in India. Ironically, much of India's stock of natural pearls came originally from Bahrain. Unlike Bahrain, which has essentially lost its pearl resource, traditional pearl fishing is still practiced on a small scale in India.