[b]Writing Practice Drill #1-- Princeton TOEFL cracking 2007.
Writing 1
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The reading claims that bread is the first grain-based food. However, in the lecture, the professor confronts this idea by stating that it is beer, not bread because of the following reasons.
First, in order to make beer, wheat does not need to be grinded. Therefore, making beer is easier than making bread because it eliminates this step. And this point opposes to the reading point that bread was the first grain-based food because people knew how to grind wheat.
Secondly, in the lecture, the professor mention that wheat lerments in a natural way to become beer. Because of this, beer is obviously soft and also contains a lot of nutrition. So this confronts the point in the reading that because people found out the fermentation, they started make bread as the first grain-based food.
Finally, the professor shows that making beer does not require fire. But in order to make tasty bread, fire is very important. Moreover, fire is a turing point in the human society and before discovering fire, human beings for sure had eaten some other kinds of food. As a result, beer obviously was the grain-based food that had appeared before bread as beer is still good without being treated by fire.
In short, the three above points in the lecture run against the idea that bread is the first grain-based food in human society. The first one must be beer.
How much can i get with an essay like this one in the actual test? (5 scale) Anybody tells me plzzz.
My listening is not good that i didnt understand all the info in the lecture and maybe i also write wrongly in my essay.
Anyway, please help me to check it. I would be very grateful for any comment.
(I completed this one in 16mins as i did not know what more to do :-(( )
TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture on Modern World History
