Food and farming around the world

Tests: 7 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 6 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 26 of the geography course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · wrong ✗

My mate says potatoes are an old Irish food, been there forever. True?

1. Yes, the Romans brought them to Ireland — no support
2. No, they came from the Andes and reached Europe after 1492 — ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. No, they came from China along the Silk Road — score 6
4. Yes, the potato was first farmed in Ireland — ← Mova's choice · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 26, line 10: «The potato was first farmed in the Andes of South America and became a staple food in Europe, from Ireland to Russia, by the 1700s and 1800s.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+3); the same action «farm» (+2); the same thing acted on «potato» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · right ✓

Why did the Inca use llamas, not horses, to carry goods?

1. There were no horses in the Americas before Europeans brought them — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Llamas are much faster than horses — no support
3. Horses cannot walk on any mountain — no support
4. Horses were banned by the Inca king because he was afraid of them — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

Why was relying on one crop so dangerous for Ireland?

1. Other crops were illegal in Ireland — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Potatoes cannot grow in rain — no support
3. One disease could wipe out almost all the food — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Potatoes give no energy at all, so people grew weak — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

In the game, sugar is just a pricey trade good from the Caribbean. What does that leave out?

1. Sugar was grown by well-paid workers who chose to sail out from Europe — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Sugar grew wild and nobody had to work — no support
3. Sugar was grown by enslaved Africans in brutal conditions — ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. Sugar came only from Europe — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 10, line 3: «The game shows sugar islands as rich prizes, but it hides the people forced to grow the sugar: most Jamaicans today descend from Africans enslaved on British p…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «grow» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+2); the same thing acted on «sugar» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · right ✓

Why do farmers cut terraces into steep slopes?

1. Terraces make the hill grow taller every year — no support
2. Flat steps hold water and stop soil washing away — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
3. Terraces keep the cold mountain wind off the farmers — no support
4. Steps are easier to paint — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 15: «Farmers in hilly places cut steps called terraces into the slopes, so the flat steps hold water and stop soil washing away, as in the rice terraces of the Phil…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «flat steps» (+3); the same action «wash away» (+2); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · right ✓

Why could the steppe not be farmed like France?

1. The soil there is made of salt — no support
2. Steppe peoples did not know about plants — no support
3. The steppe is covered in thick, dark forests that cannot be cleared — no support
4. It is too dry, so people herded animals over the grass — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 2: «Three grains feed much of humanity: rice, wheat and maize. Rice loves hot, wet river plains with flooded fields; wheat likes cooler, drier lands; and where lan…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «herd» (+2); the same thing acted on «animals» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

why do rice farmers flood their fields, seems mental

1. To stop the rice from getting thirsty in winter — no support
2. Rice grows well in water, which also holds back weeds — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. To keep the fish away from the plants — no support
4. To wash the rice before they eat it — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 7: «Rice grows best in hot, wet places with flooded fields (the water also holds back weeds), especially in the river plains and deltas of China, India and South-E…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «grow» (+2); the same doer «rice» (+2); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · right ✓

Dad says everyone in Britain still works on farms like in the old days. Put him right.

1. Only about 1 percent do, thanks to machines — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. About half of Britons work on farms — no support
3. He is right, most Britons are still farmers today — no support
4. Nobody at all works on farms in Britain — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · wrong ✗

Why does farming in deserts need irrigation?

1. Desert crops need salt water — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. There is too little rain to water the crops — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Desert sun makes plants grow too fast — no support
4. Irrigation keeps animals off the fields — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 5: «Today machines, fertilisers and better seeds let a few farmers feed many, but farming still drinks about 70 percent of the fresh water people take.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «take» (+2); the same thing acted on «fresh water» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · right ✓

Name two foods that came from the Americas to Europe.

1. Maize and chillies — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Coffee and black pepper — no support
3. Rice and tea leaves — no support
4. Wheat and sugar cane — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · right ✓

What would a pizza look like without the Columbian Exchange?

1. It would have no tomato sauce — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It would have no cheese — no support
3. It would look exactly the same — no support
4. It would have no bread base — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · wrong ✗

The port of Mocha in Yemen gave its name to a coffee drink. Why there?

1. Yemen is where tea comes from — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Coffee was first drunk widely in Yemen — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Mocha was where coffee was invented in a factory — no support
4. Coffee was first grown in Italy — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal consequence of the transfer of plants and animals across the Atlantic subsequent to 1492.

1. The cultivation of rice ceased throughout Asia — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The trade in all foodstuffs between the continents was thereupon abolished entirely — no support
3. The horse became extinct in Europe — no support
4. Crops such as the potato and maize entered the diet of the Old World — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises nomadic pastoralism?

1. The cultivation of rice in flooded fields upon fixed estates throughout the year — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The purchase of all foodstuffs in permanent urban markets — no support
3. The construction of terraces upon steep slopes for grain — no support
4. The movement of herders with their livestock in search of pasture and water — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the use of fresh water.

1. Agriculture accounts for approximately seventy per cent of human withdrawals — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Domestic washing accounts for the greater part of withdrawals — no support
3. Fresh water is not employed in agriculture to any degree — no support
4. Agriculture accounts for approximately one per cent of human withdrawals — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

It is given that the sugar plantations of Brazil and the Caribbean required great quantities of labour. Ascertain by whom this labour was principally performed.

1. Nomadic herders from the Asian steppe — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Steam-driven machinery introduced in 1492 — no support
3. Salaried agricultural labourers who emigrated from Europe — no support
4. Enslaved persons forcibly transported from Africa — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/26-food-and-farming-around-the-world/