Originally, silkworm farming was solely restricted to women, and it was they who were responsible for the growing, harvesting and weaving. While it is unknown just how much of this is true, it is certainly known that silk cultivation has existed in China for several millennia. She also devised a special reel to draw the fibres from the cocoon into a single thread so that they would be strong enough to be woven into fabric. Subsequently, she persuaded her husband to allow her to rear silkworms on a grove of mulberry trees. Lei Tzu found that she could wind this thread around her fingers. It just so happened that while she was sipping some tea, one of the cocoons that she had collected landed in the hot tea and started to unravel into a fine thread. She collected a number of cocoons and sat down to have a rest. One account of the story goes that as she was taking a walk in her husband’s gardens, she discovered that silkworms were responsible for the destruction of several mulberry trees. Legend has it that it was Lei Tzu, wife of the Yellow Emperor, ruler of China in about 3000 BC, who discovered silkworms. Silk is a fine, smooth material produced from the cocoons – soft protective shells – that are made by mulberry silkworms (insect larvae). The history of the world’s most luxurious fabric, from ancient China to the present day You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
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