IELTS Reading: vocabulary review

Let's review some vocabulary from the last few reading exercises that I've published here on the blog.

Would you have been able to match the keywords below?

Comments

[Welsa chy]

Hi Simon,
i wanted some clarifications concerning a True False Not Given exercise.

in the text it says "However this does not mean that children was neglected, forsaken or despised, he argued"

in the exercise it says "Children were generally unloved"

i have a tendency to think that the answer to this is "Not Given", because we don't know if the children were loved or unloved. but the answer is False.

[Simon]

Hi Welsa chy,

Where does this question come from? Is it in an official IELTS book?

[Welsa chy]

Hi Simon,
i think its from a 2017 ielts exam paper. the passage title is "The Concept of CHildhood in western countries"
and question 2 which says : "Working children during the middle ages were generally unloved".

[Simon]

Hi Welsa,

I think I need to see more of the passage in order to help you. What came before the word 'However'?

[Welsa chy]

Text:
One of the most hotly debated issues in the history of
childhood has been whether childhood is itself a recent invention. The historian
Philippe Aries argued that in Western Europe during the Middle Ages (up to
about the end of the fifteenth century) children were regarded as miniature
adults, with all the intellect and personality that this implies. He scrutinized
medieval pictures and diaries, and found no distinction between children and
adults as they shared similar leisure activities and often the same type of work.
Aries, however, pointed out that this is not to suggest that children were
neglected, forsaken or despised. The idea of childhood is not to be confused
with affection for children; it corresponds to an awareness of the
particular nature of childhood, that particular nature which distinguishes the
child from the adult, even the young adult.

Question : During the Middle Age, going to work necessarily means children were
unloved indicated by Aries

[Simon]

Hi Welsa,

Ok, the passage says: "Aries, however, pointed out that this is not to suggest that children were neglected, forsaken or despised."

So, Aries is saying that children were not necessarily unloved. The answer would therefore be false.

Please note: The passage looks well written (and therefore realistic) but the question contains grammatical errors. This suggests two possibilities: 1) It is NOT from a real IELTS test, or 2) Somebody has written the questions from memory.

I'm always suspicious about tests like this, which is why I'm reluctant to help with them. I hope you can see why.

[Den]

Hello. Please give some piece of advice how to manage the time in reading section effectively. Also how to learen paraphrasing. I mean what I have to do to learn how quickly match info in questions with info in text. What's the kicker? Sincerely Den.