Snake Oil — IELTS Reading Answers

Section C

“Native to North America, the roots of Echinacea, or purple coneflower, had been used by the Plains Indians for all kinds of ailments long before Meyer came along”

Heading v fits Section C: Echinacea's roots treated 'all kinds of ailments' among the Plains Indians 'long before Meyer came along', so the section stresses its long history.

Section D

“Lloyd was eventually converted after a colleague, John King, tested the herb and successfully used it to treat bee stings and nasal congestion”

Heading vii: Lloyd was 'eventually converted' only after John King 'tested the herb' and successfully treated bee stings and nasal congestion, so testing changed his mind.

Section E

“It was a different story in Europe, where both French and German herbalists and homeopaths continued to make extensive use of it. It had been introduced there by Gerhard Madaus, who travelled from Germany to America in 1937, returning with seed to establish commercial plots of Echinacea”

Heading ix: Europe is 'a different story', where Madaus carried seed home from America in 1937 and established 'commercial plots' of Echinacea.

Section F

“modern science has put 'his' herb. He might not be surprised that science has confirmed Echinacea's role as a treatment for wounds, or that it has been found to be helpful in relieving arthritis, both claims Meyer made for the herb”

Heading x: 'modern science' has confirmed Echinacea's role in wound healing and arthritis relief, 'both claims Meyer made', showing science vindicating his claims.

Section G

“Echinacea is a dry prairie plant, drought-resistant and pretty tolerant of most soils, although it does best in good soil with plenty of sun. Plants are usually grown from seed but they are sometimes available from nurseries”

Heading iii: Section G covers growing conditions - 'drought-resistant', 'tolerant of most soils' and best in 'good soil with plenty of sun'.

Section H

“For the home grower, the roots of all species seem equally effective. Dig them up in autumn after the tops have died back after the first frost. Wash and dry them carefully and store them in glass containers. You can harvest the tops throughout the summer and even eat small amounts of leaf straight from the plant”

Heading iv: Section H advises the 'home grower' to dig, wash, dry and store roots and to harvest the tops through summer.

'Snake oil' sellers believed their product was effective.

“you might be run out of town if your particular medicine, as you realised it would, failed to live up to its claims”

FALSE: sellers 'realised' their medicine 'would' fail to live up to its claims, so they knew it was ineffective rather than believing in it.

Most people in the Wild West mistrusted 'snake oil'.

“It was a dismissive term for the patent medicines, often useless, sold by travelling traders who always claimed miraculous cures for everything from baldness to snakebite Consequently, the smarter 'snake oil' sellers left town before their customers had much chance to evaluate the 'cure' they had just bought”

NOT GIVEN: the term is called 'dismissive' and buyers had little chance to 'evaluate' the cure, but no majority opinion in the Wild West is stated.

Some 'snake oils' were mostly water.

“those that weren't harmless coloured water could be positively dangerous”

TRUE: 'harmless coloured water' describes some of these medicines, confirming that certain snake oils were essentially coloured water.

All 'snake oils' contained Echinacea.

“The remarkable thing about many of the medicines dismissed then as 'snake oil' is not so much that they failed to live up to the outrageous claims made for them – those that weren't harmless coloured water could be positively dangerous One, Echinacea,”

FALSE: the text singles out 'One, Echinacea' as the potent example, which contradicts the claim that all snake oils contained it.

Echinacea has been proven to kill microbes.

“German researchers had used it successfully to treat a range of infections and found it to be effective against bacteria and protozoa”

TRUE: German researchers found it 'effective against bacteria and protozoa', both microbes, so the claim that it kills microbes is supported.

The highest quality Echinacea is grown in America.

“Today most manufacturers blend both, sometimes adding flowers and seeds to improve the quality”

NOT GIVEN: nothing compares American-grown Echinacea with elsewhere; blending species and adding flowers and seeds 'to improve the quality' is all that is said.

More than one part of the Echinacea plant has a medicinal use.

“Most European studies have used liquid concentrates extracted from the tops of plants, whereas extraction in the USA has usually been from the roots”

TRUE: studies extracted concentrates from 'the tops of plants' in Europe and from 'the roots' in the USA, so two parts are used medicinally.