IELTS Reading 1: The last village that still makes brooms by hand

Benchmarked against Cambridge: synonym replacement, TFNG cause-effect traps, heading distractors, original-word traps.

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Reading Passage

[A] In a village in Transylvania, Romania, a broom-maker named Mihai Popescu still makes brooms by hand from birch twigs. He is the last broom-maker in the region.

[B] Machine-made brooms arrived in the 1960s. Popescu kept the trade alive because villagers wanted hand-made brooms for their yards.

[C] A broom takes about an hour. It costs ten lei — about two euros. A machine broom costs fifty pence.

[D] Not all craft researchers romanticise the work. Dr Elena Ionescu, who studies Romanian crafts, argues that hand-made brooms sweep no better than machine ones. "The twigs are the same," she says. "People buy them because they look rustic, not because they clean."

[E] Popescu, who is sixty-nine, has no apprentice. When he stops, the broom-making will end. The birch groves, which he harvests, will grow wild.

Questions 1–4

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B, C, D and E.

1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D
4. Paragraph E

Questions 5–8

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

5. A broom takes:

   • A. 10 minutes | about an hour
   • 1 day
   • 1 minute

6. Machine brooms arrived in the:

   • A. 1990s | 1960s
   • 1920s
   • 2020s

7. Ionescu says hand brooms:

   • A. sweep better | sweep no better
   • last longer
   • are cheaper

8. Popescu is:

   • A. 49 | 69
   • 89
   • 59

Questions 9–12

Do the following statements agree with the information? Write TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN.

9. A machine broom costs 50 pence.
10. Popescu has an apprentice.
11. Ionescu is Popescu's wife.
12. The twigs are birch.

Questions 13–14

Complete the summary. ONE WORD ONLY.

Hand brooms look (33) ______. The birch groves will grow (34) ______.

Answers & Explanations

Heading

1. i — shrank
2. ii — makes
3. iii — sweeping
4. iv — end

Multiple Choice

5. B — an hour
6. B — 1960s
7. B — no better
8. B — 69

TFNG

9. TRUE
10. FALSE — no apprentice
11. FALSE — craft researcher
12. TRUE

Summary

13. rustic
14. wild

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