Cultural Reflections in Art and Artifacts — Test

Question 2 • English IV

Which excerpt from Early Victorian Tea Set best expresses MacGregor’s viewpoint about tea?

Answer

“[W]hat could be less British than a cup of tea, given that tea is made from plants grown in India or China and often sweetened by sugar from the Caribbean.”

“[T]he drink which has become the worldwide caricature of Britishness has nothing indigenous about it, but is the result of centuries of global trade and a complex imperial history.”

“[R]uling classes had a real interest in promoting tea drinking among the growing urban population, who were poor, vulnerable to disease and perceived as prone to disorderly drunkenness.”

“[S]laves in the Americas worked on sugar plantations, the start of the long and terrible triangular trade that carried European goods to Africa.”

Explanation

B best captures the broad point that tea’s association with British identity grew out of global trade and imperial history, rather than from tea being native to Britain. The other excerpts focus on particular aspects of that history, such as tea’s ingredients, social control, or plantation slavery, rather than stating the overall viewpoint as directly.

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