All English 4U · Reading Skill Drill
Sentence & Summary Completion
Fill each gap with a word taken straight from the passage. This tests two things at once: finding the right sentence quickly, and copying the answer exactly – spelling, form and all.
How to fill the gaps
- Read around the blank first. Decide what kind of word is missing – a noun, a verb, an adjective? – before you look back at the text.
- Copy the word exactly. The answer must come from the passage. Match the spelling and don’t change a singular to a plural or a verb’s tense.
- Count your words. Stay inside the word limit. One word too many and a correct idea is still marked wrong.
Reading Passage
AToday salt is so cheap and common that we rarely give it a thought, yet for most of human history it was a treasure. In some ancient societies it was traded for its weight in gold, and control of the salt supply could make a city rich. Roman soldiers are said to have received an allowance to buy it, and many people believe that our English word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium, which is connected to salt.
BSalt is obtained in two main ways. In some places it is removed from the ground by mining: great beds of rock salt lie deep underground, left behind when ancient seas dried up long ago, and workers dig it out and bring it to the surface. Elsewhere it is produced from the sea itself. Shallow ponds are filled with seawater, and the sun and wind are left to do the work, slowly evaporating the water until only glittering white crystals remain.
CFor thousands of years salt was valued above all for one practical reason: it could preserve food. Before refrigeration existed, there was no reliable way to stop meat and fish from rotting. Packed in salt, however, they could be kept for months. Salt works because it draws the moisture out of food, and without moisture the bacteria that cause decay cannot grow.
DBecause it was so essential, salt became a source of power and profit. Traders carried it along famous routes across deserts and seas, and towns grew wealthy where these “salt roads” met. Rulers quickly saw an opportunity, and governments placed heavy taxes on salt. In France, a hated salt tax known as the gabelle lasted for centuries and helped to fuel public anger before the revolution.
EThe modern world has turned this former luxury into one of the cheapest substances on Earth. Industrial methods now produce salt in enormous quantities, and only a small part of it ever reaches our tables. Most is used in industry – to make chemicals, to soften water, and, in colder countries, to clear ice from winter roads. Yet salt remains something no human body can live without, a quiet reminder of why it was once worth its weight in gold.
Questions 1–6
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Salt through history
Salt has not always been cheap. Long ago it was extremely valuable, and Roman soldiers were given an allowance to buy it; in fact, the English word 1 may come from this custom. There are two chief sources of salt. It can be taken from rock deposits underground by 2, or it can be made by letting 3 dry up in shallow ponds. In the days before 4 had been invented, salt was essential because it could 5 meat and fish, keeping them edible for months by removing the moisture that bacteria need. Salt was so important that rulers were able to charge heavy 6 on it, a practice that often made ordinary people angry.
Answer key & explanations
| Gap | Answer | Where it is in the passage |
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