Early Occupations Around the River Thames Reading Answers

Dec 31, 2022

Early Occupations Around the River Thames Reading Answers is a topic of discussion about the previous occupations of workers around the river Thames. The given IELTS topic has originated from the book named “The Complete Guide to IELTS with DVD-ROM and Intensive Revision Guide Access Code”. The topic named Early Occupations Around the River Thames Reading Answers comes with 13 sets of questions. There are three questions on this topic, like, match the headings, choose the correct letter, and complete the following sentences. The candidates should read thoroughly the IELTS reading passage in order to recognize the synonyms and identify the keywords and for answering the questions below. Similar kinds of topics like Early Occupations Around the River Thames Reading Answers are included in the IELTS reading practice papers, which the candidates can take into their consideration for performing a good score in this section.

Section 1

Read the passage to answer the following questions

Early Occupations Around the River Thames Reading Answers

In her pioneering survey, Sources of London English, Laura Wright has listed the variety of medieval workers who took their livings from the river Thames. The baillies of Queenhithe and Billingsgate acted as customs officers. There were conservators, who were responsible for maintaining the embankments and the weirs, and there were the garthmen who worked in the fish garths (enclosures). Then there were galleymen and lightermen and shoutmen, called after the names of their boats, and there were hookers who were named after the manner in which they caught their fish. The searcher patrolled the Thames in search of illegal fish weirs, and the tideman worked on its banks and foreshores whenever the tide permitted him to do so.

All of these occupations persisted for many centuries, as did those jobs that depended upon the trade of the river. Yet, it was not easy work for any of the workers. They carried most goods upon their backs, since the rough surfaces of the quays and nearby streets were not suitable for wagons or large carts; the merchandise characteristically arrived in barrels which could be rolled from the ship along each quay. If the burden was too great to be carried by a single man, then the goods were slung on poles resting on the shoulders of two men. It was a slow and expensive method of business.

However, up to the eighteenth century, river work was seen in a generally favourable light. For Langland, writing in the fourteenth century, the labourers working on river merchandise were relatively prosperous. And the porters of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were, if anything, aristocrats of labour, enjoying high status. However, in the years from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century, there was a marked change in attitude. This was in part because the working river was within the region of the East End of London, which in this period acquired an unenviable reputation. By now, dockside labour was considered to be the most disreputable, and certainly the least desirable form of work.

It could be said that the first industrial community in England grew up around the Thames. With the host of river workers themselves, as well as the vast assembly of ancillary trades such as tavern-keepers and laundresses, food-sellers and street-hawkers, shopkeepers and marine store dealers - there was a workforce of many thousands congregated in a relatively small area. There were more varieties of business to be observed by the riverside than, in any other part of the city. As a result, with the possible exception of the area known as Seven Dials, the East End was also the most intensively inhabited region of London.

It was a world apart, with its own language and its own laws. From the sailors in the opium dens of Limehouse to the smugglers on the malarial flats of the estuary, the workers of the river were not part of any civilised society. The alien world of the river had entered them. That alienation was also expressed in the slang of the docks, which essentially amounted to backslang, or the reversal of ordinary words. This backslang also helped in the formulation of Cockney rhyming slang, so that the vocabulary of Londoners was directly'affected by the life of the Thames.

The reports in the nineteenth-century press reveal a heterogeneous world of dock labour, in which the crowds of casuals waiting for work at the dock gates at 7.45 a.m. include penniless refugees, bankrupts, old soldiers, broken-down gentlemen, discharged servants, and ex-convicts. There were some 400-500 permanent workers who earned a regular wage and who were considered to be the patricians of dockside labour. However, there were some 2,500 casual workers who were hired by the shift. The work for which they competed fiercely had become ever more unpleasant. Steam power could not be used for the cranes, for example, because of the danger of fire. So the cranes were powered by treadmills. Six to eight men entered a wooden cylinder and, laying hold of ropes, would tread the wheel round. They could lift nearly 20 tonnes to an average height of 27 feet (8.2 metres), forty times in an hour. This was part of the life of the river unknown to those who were intent upon its more picturesque aspects.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 319 has SIX paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading, A-F, from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

A mixture of languages and nationalities
The creation of an exclusive identity
The duties involved in various occupations
An unprecedented population density
Imports and exports transported by river
Transporting heavy loads manually
Temporary work for large numbers of people
Hazards associated with riverside work

The changing status of riverside occupations
Paragraph A
Paragraph B
Paragraph C
Paragraph D
Paragraph E
Paragraph F

Question 14:

Answer: iii
Supporting Sentence: In her pioneering survey, Sources of London English, Laura Wright has listed the variety of medieval workers who took their livings from the river Thames.
Keyword: pioneering, medieval workers, livings
Keyword Location: line 1, paragraph A
Explanation: The several medieval artisans who made their living from the Thames are documented in Laura Wright's ground-breaking study, Sources of London English.

Question 15:

Answer: vi
Supporting Sentence: They carried most goods upon their backs, since the rough surfaces of the quays and nearby streets were not suitable for wagons or large carts
Keyword: carried, goods, rough surfaces
Keyword Location: line 3, paragraph B
Explanation: The majority of the workers’ cargo was carried on their backs because the local streets and quays' uneven terrain were unsuitable for huge carriages or waggons.

Question 16:

Answer: ix
Supporting Sentence: However, up to the eighteenth century, river work was seen in a generally favourable light.
Keyword: eighteenth century, river work, favourable light
Keyword Location: line 1, paragraph C
Explanation: River work was, nevertheless, generally seen favourably up to the eighteenth century.

Question 17:

Answer: iv
Supporting Sentence: With the host of river workers themselves, as well as the vast assembly of ancillary trades such as tavern-keepers and laundresses, food-sellers and street-hawkers, shopkeepers and marine store dealers - there was a
workforce of many thousands congregated in a relatively small area.
Keyword: river workers, vast assembly, ancillary trades
Keyword Location: line 2, paragraph D
Explanation: A large number of ancillary trades were there. Those were pub owners and laundresses, food vendors and street vendors, and shop owners. They also include maritime store dealers, as well as the large number of river workers themselves, clustered in a very limited area.

Question 18:

Answer: ii
Supporting Sentence: It was a world apart, with its own language and its own laws.
Keyword: world, own language, own laws
Keyword Location: line 1, paragraph E
Explanation: Line 1 of paragraph E portrays that it had its own laws and language, and it was a world unto itself.

Question 19:

Answer: vii
Supporting Sentence: The reports in the nineteenth-century press reveal a heterogeneous world of dock labour, in which the crowds of casuals waiting for work at the dock gates at 7.45 a.m. include penniless refugees, bankrupts, old soldiers,
broken-down gentlemen, discharged servants, and ex-convicts.
Keyword: heterogeneous world, work, 7.45 a.m.
Keyword Location: line 1, paragraph F
Explanation: According to reports in the nineteenth-century press, the crowds of casual workers waiting for work at the dock gates at 7.45 a.m. It had homeless refugees, bankrupts, elderly men in need of assistance, broken-down gentlemen, dismissed slaves, and ex-convicts.

Questions 20-21

Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters, A-E, in boxes 20 & 21 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO statements are made about work by the River Thames before the eighteenth century?

Goods were transported from the river by cart.
The workforce was very poorly paid.
Occupations were specialised.
Workers were generally looked down upon.
Physical strength was required.

Question 20:

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Sources of London English, Laura Wright has listed the variety of medieval workers who took their livings from the river Thames.
Keyword: London English, medieval workers, livings
Keyword Location: line 1, paragraph A
Explanation: According to sources in London English, Laura Wright has compiled a list of several medieval laborers who made a living off the Thames.

Question 21:

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: They carried most goods upon their backs, since the rough surfaces of the quays and nearby streets were not suitable for wagons or large carts
Keyword: carried, goods, backs
Keyword Location: line 3, paragraph B
Explanation: The majority of their goods were carried on their backs because the local streets and quays' uneven terrain were unsuitable for huge carriages or wagons.

Questions 22-23

Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters, A-E, in boxes 22 & 23 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO statements are made about life by the River Thames in the early nineteenth century?

The area was very crowded.
There was an absence of crime.
Casual work was in great demand.
Several different languages were in use.
Inhabitants were known for their friendliness.

Question 22:

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: with the possible exception of the area known as Seven Dials, the East End was also the most intensively inhabited region of London.
Keyword: intensively, inhabited, region
Keyword Location: last line, paragraph D
Explanation: The East End was also the part of London with the most densely populated population, perhaps with the exception of the Seven Dials neighborhood.

Question 23:

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: The reports in the nineteenth-century press reveal a heterogeneous world of dock labour, in which the crowds of casuals waiting for work at the dock gates at 7.45 a.m
Keyword: crowds, casuals, work
Keyword Location: line 1, paragraph F
Explanation: The reports from the nineteenth-century press portray a diverse dock labor world, with the throngs of opportunists waiting for work. They waited at the dock gates at 7.45 a.m. early in the morning.

Questions 24-26

Complete the sentences below.

Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

In the nineteenth century, only a minority of dock workers received a ....................... .
Cranes were operated manually because ....................... created a risk of fire.
Observers who were unfamiliar with London’s docks found the River Thames ....................... .

Question 24:

Answer: regular wage
Supporting Sentence: There were some 400-500 permanent workers who earned a regular wage and who were considered to be the patricians of dockside labour.
Keyword: permanent workers, earned, regular wage
Keyword Location: line 2, paragraph F
Explanation: About 400–500 permanent employees were paid a regular income and were regarded as the patricians of dockside labor.

Question 25:

Answer: steam power
Supporting Sentence: Steam power could not be used for the cranes, for example, because of the danger of fire.
Keyword: Steam power, cranes, danger of fire
Keyword Location: line 5, paragraph F
Explanation: The risk of fire prevented the use of steam power, for example, on the cranes.

Question 26:

Answer: picturesque
Supporting Sentence: This was part of the life of the river unknown to those who were intent upon its more picturesque aspects.
Keyword: intent, picturesque, aspects
Keyword Location: last line, paragraph F
Explanation: Those who were focused on the river's more attractive features were unaware of this facet of the river's life.

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