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Text A
Honey for money
Honey, golden and sweet, has always been held in the highest regard. Almost every society on
earth has traditionally known and used it. One example of this is in the prehistoric cave
paintings near Valencia, in Spain, dating back 15,000 years which depict men gathering honey
for food.
Where honey comes from
Flowers need bees to visit them so that plants will be pollinated. To attract the bees, flowers 5
supply nectar, which is a solution of sugars that bees collect, and then concentrate into honey.
The aroma, taste and colour of honey are determined by the plants from which the bees have
gathered nectar. Sunflowers, for example, give a golden-yellow honey; clover gives a sweet,
white honey; agave species give honey a bitter taste that is popular in some societies. Dark
honey usually has a strong flavour and often has a high mineral content; pale honey has a more 10
delicate flavour.
How honey is made
Honey contains a wide range of sugars. It also contains small amounts of other substances
such as minerals, vitamins, proteins and amino acids. The temperature in a bees nest, where
honey is stored, is usually about 35°C. This temperature, and the ventilation produced by bees
fanning their wings, cause water to evaporate from the honey. When the water content is 15
reduced to about 20 per cent, the honey is ripe. Then, the bees seal the cell with a wax cap,
known as propolis, so the honey will not ferment. In this way, the bees prepare for themselves a
concentrated food source. This nourishment sustains them through periods when there are no
flowers.
When honey is harvested
Honey inside the sealed cell is regarded by beekeepers as ready for harvest. Honey at this 20
stage is pure and perfect: whether it is in a wild nest, a homemade hive or the most expensive
factory-made hive. The subsequent harvesting and processing of honey determine whether this
quality is retained. If the beekeepers are working far away from roads and industry, they can
command a premium price for the honey because it can be certified as organic.
The financial value of honey
Beekeeping has skyrocketed in popularity and profitability in recent years for both hobbyists and 25
professionals. While honey is the obvious source of income for beekeepers, there are many
other streams of revenue connected to beekeeping: selling the beeswax to use in products such
as candles and lip balms; selling the pollen granules as a superfood; selling propolis to use in
commercial products such as chewing gum.
© UCLES 2020 E/S9/INSERT/01
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Section A: Reading
Spend 30 minutes on this section.
Read Text A in the Insert, and answer questions 19.
1 What literary technique is the title an example of?
Tick ( ) one box.
onomatopoeia
rhyme
alliteration
1 min
personification
[1]
2 Give one word from the first paragraph (lines 14) that means show.
Depict [1]
50 sec
3 Look at the second paragraph (lines 511).
(a) In the second sentence, the words, To attract the bees... link the first and second sentences.
What kind of connective is this?
Tick ( ) one box.
a comparison
an example
an addition 80 sec
an explanation
[1]
© UCLES 2020 E/S9/01
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(b) Why does the writer use semicolons ( ; )?
Tick ( ) one box.
to introduce a list
15 sec
to separate items on a list
to show emphasis
to connect separate ideas
[1]
4 Look at the third paragraph (lines 1219).
(a) Give one example of scientific language.
[1]
substances such as minerals, vitamins, proteins and amino acids.
(b) Give one example of a passive verb form.
Is made 3m 20 sec [1]
(c) Give one word that means food.
Nourishment [1]
5 What idea links the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth paragraph?
The idea linking the two paragraphs is the honey being ready for harvest. 10 sec [1]
6 Why do you think beekeepers want to produce organic honey?
Beekeepers produce organic honey to sell at a higher price. 30 sec [1]
7 Give one word that means increased (lines 2529).
Skyrocketed
15 sec [1]
8 Beekeepers sell honey.
What other ways can they earn money from keeping bees? Give one way.
Beekeepers can also sell beeswax 18 sec [1]
© UCLES 2020 E/S9/01 [Turn over
