EXERCISE

04 READING COMPREHENSION

TEXT

1 The potato is still one of the most important crops in the United States, both in terms of its economy and
in terms of land devoted to farming it. Although the potato was first farmed in the mountainous regions
of South America –there are records of Incas cultivating the potato in Peru as far back as 200 A.D.– in the
United States it is referred to as the Irish potato. This is probably because of the widespread cultivation
of the potato in Ireland in the 1600s, where it supplied practically all of the population with the food they
needed for survival. Naturally, the large inflow of Irish immigrants to the United States meant that the
potato, too, made the journey back across the Atlantic Ocean, this time to North America. But while
the potato was traveling from east to west, the blight disease was going in the other direction, affecting
nearly 100% of the potato crop in Ireland in the mid 19th century. The destruction of the crop resulted in
the starvation of thousands in Ireland and in the increased prominence of potato farming in the United
States.

EXCERCISE

2 1. This paragraph is mainly about 1. a) the origins of the potato,

2. The potato
3. The potato was the primary source of food for
the Irish prior to the famine.
4. The paragraph implies that the potato was
introduced to the United States after the great
potato famine in Ireland.
5. Why is the word “back” (underlined) used?
6. The blight disease
7. Concerns about the blight disease caused
potato farming to decrease in the United
States.
b) the introduction of potatoes to Ireland,
c) the connection between the Irish and the
potato,
d) the Irish potato famine.
2. a) is native to Ireland,
b) provided most of the calories Americans
needed for survival,
c) was introduced to the United States by the
Incas,
d) was first cultivated in the second century
after Christ.
3. X True False
4. True X False
5. a) because the potato had been exported from
the United States into Ireland,
b) because the potato had originated in the
Americas,
c) because thousands of Irish immigrants
sailed across the Atlantic many times,
d) because the famine in Ireland caused
potatoes to be re-introduced into the United
States.
6. a) affected nearly all of the potato crop in the
United States,
b) was introduced to Ireland from America,
c) infected and killed thousands of Irish,
d) forever eliminated potato farming in Ireland.
7. True X False

4 · COMPRENSIÓN ESCRITA · NIVEL INTERMEDIO