Unit 7 Reading and Writing Revision

1  Read the text about chillies.

Chillies are Cool!

The chilli from South America dates back to prehistoric times. It’s a unique food. Some people think it’s delicious, others think it’s horrible. But everyone agrees about one thing: it’s spicy! People don’t usually eat chillies on their own, but they can be a tasty addition to soups, hamburgers, rice and more. Chillies can also be useful because of their active component, capsaicin.

Capsaicin protects chillies and because of capsaicin, chillies can help preserve food. In the past, there weren’t any fridges, but there were chillies to keep food safe and clean. Capsaicin is also an excellent insecticide. Organic farmers use chillies to deter insects. Many bigger animals hate the capsaicin in chillies, too. In Zambia, farmers use chillies to deter elephants.

Capsaicin was an ingredient in many ancient Indian medicines because it’s good for pain. The modern world is just beginning to discover the potential of capsaicin. At the moment, scientists are doing research on capsaicin as a cancer medicine. Capsaicin is also an ingredient in some medicines for diabetes, arthritis and sinusitis.

Chillies are useful for one other thing. They help you stay cool on a hot day. Spicy food makes you feel hot, so you perspire. When you perspire, you feel cool again. So the next time it’s hot outside, do something cool. Eat a chilli!

2  Complete the sentences with the correct form of was, were, there was or there were.

    1.   Chillies ……………………………… originally from Europe.

    2.   ……………………………… chillies thousands of years ago.

    3.   In the past, capsaicin ………………………… useful because …………………………… fridges.

    4.   ……………………………… capsaicin in medicine before the 20th century.

3  Complete the sentences.

    1.   People put chillies in ................................................................................  .

    2.   Capsaicin is ............................................................................................  .

    3.   People use capsaicin as an insecticide because .........................................  .

    4.   Elephants don’t like .................................................................................  .

    5.   Scientists are trying to use capsaicin ........................................................  .

    6.   Spicy food makes you feel cool because ...................................................  .

4 Write a paragraph about onions. Use the information below.

The Onion • food item since 5000 BC • popular gift in the Middle Ages (5th-15th centuries) • often an ingredient in soups, meat, pies and other cooked food • good for heart problems, diabetes and some forms of cancer • good on mosquito bites • eradicates odour of paint in a room