Reading Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on
Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.
THE TYPES OF PEARLS
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A
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Throughout
history, pearls have held a unique presence within the wealthy and
powerful. For instance, the pearl was the favoured 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
jewellers 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 the 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 jewellery.
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B
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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. The
layer upon layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant until a
lustrous pearl is formed.
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C
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The only
difference between 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 right 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.
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D
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Pearls can come from either
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 pearl’s 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 the gonad, add a spherical bead or do it non-beaded. The
majority of saltwater cultured pearls are grown with beads.
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E
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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 terrifically misshapen,
or the oyster may simply die from disease or countless other complications.
By the end of a 5 to 10-year cycle, only 50% of the oysters will have
survived. And of the pearls produced, only approximately 5% are of
substantial quality for top jewellery makers. From the outset, a pearl
farmer can figure on spending over $100 for every oyster that is farmed, of
which many will produce nothing or die.
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F
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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, and colour,
quality of surface, orient, and lustre. In general, cultured pearls are
less valuable than natural pearls, whereas imitation pearls almost have no
value. One way that jewellers 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
that 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 7 mm 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 coastline 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.
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G
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Historically,
the world’s best pearls came from the Persian Gulf, especially around what
is now Bahrain. The pearls of the Persian Gulf were naturally created and
collected by breath-hold divers. The secret to the special lustre of Gulf
pearls probably derived from the unique mixture of sweet and saltwater
around the island. Unfortunately, the natural pearl industry of the Persian
Gulf ended abruptly in the early 1930s 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 spilt
oil and indiscriminate over-fishing of oysters essentially ruined the once
pristine pearl-producing waters of the Gulf. Today, pearl diving is
practised only as a hobby. Still, Bahrain remains one of the foremost
trading centres 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 practised on a small
scale in India.
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Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs,
A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes
1-4 on your answer sheet.
14. ancient stories around the pearl and customers
15. Difficulties in the cultivating process.
16. Factors can decide the value of natural pearls.
17. Different growth mechanisms that distinguish the cultured pearls
from natural ones.
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Questions 18
– 23
Complete
the summary below
Choose
a letter from A-K for each answer. Write them in boxes 5-10 on your answer
sheet.
In ancient history, pearls have great importance within the rich and
rulers, which was treated as a gem for women in 18……………….. And pearls were
even used as medicine and sex drug for people in 19……………….. There are
essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. Most
freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China while the 20………………..
is famous for its imitation pearl industry. The country 21…………………… usually
manufactures some of the glitteriest cultured ones while the nation such as
22……………….. produces the larger sized pearl due to the favourable
environment along the coastline. In the past, one country of 23
……………….. in the Gulf produced the
world’s best pearls. Nowadays, the maJor remaining suppliers of the natural
pearls belong to India
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A. America
B. Ancient
Rome
C. Australia
D. Bahrain
E. China
F. Japan
G. India
H. Korea
I. Mexico
J. Persia
K. Spain
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Questions 24 – 27
Do the following statements
agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet,
write
TRUE
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if the statement is true
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FALSE
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if the statement is false
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NOT GIVEN
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if the
information is not given in the passage
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24. Often cultured pearl’s centre is significantly larger than in a
natural pearl.
25. Cultivated cultured pearls are generally valued the same as
natural ones.
26. The size of pearls produced in Japan is usually of a smaller size
than those who came from Australia.
27. Akoya pearls from Japan Glows more deeply than the South Sea
pearls of Australia
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