Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes

Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 7 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 70 of the history 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 ✗

Leo asks how obsidian got hundreds of km before cars. What does it show?

1. The Romans drove it there in carts — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It was made in a factory just nearby — no support
3. It flew there all by itself in the wind — no support
4. People traded long before cities — ✓ 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

Test 2 · wrong ✗

«silk road = one long motorway» says Mei's mate. Mei: nah, that's cap. Why?

1. It went only round Rome and never reached China — no support
2. It was one road, but with petrol stations every few km — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. It was a sea route only, with no roads on land at all — score 5
4. It was many routes, with goods passed hand to hand — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 70, line 1: «Mei's friend says the Silk Road was one long road like a motorway. Charlie reads that pepper was worth its weight in gold. Amina from Mali says Mansa Musa was…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same doer «silk road» (+2); the same thing acted on «one long road» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

Amina says Mansa Musa was the richest man ever, innit. What do we know for sure?

1. He was famously rich; his gold reportedly lowered its price in Cairo — ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. Nobody has ever heard of him outside Mali, so we know nothing — no support
3. He was actually poor and borrowed all his gold from Egypt — ← Mova's choice · score 8
4. He lived in 2020 and his money is in a bank — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 70, line 8: «Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire; on his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 he gave away so much gold in Cairo that its value there reportedly fell.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «much gold» (+3); the same doer «mansa» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · right ✓

Hassan's uncle says his ancestors sailed with the monsoon winds. What would happen if a sailor ignored the season?

1. The winds would blow against him — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The whole sea would freeze over — no support
3. Nothing at all would happen — no support
4. He would arrive there much faster — 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 5 · wrong ✗

Finn asks why Lübeck is so fancy. What is the best answer?

1. It was the Roman capital of all Germany and Denmark — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Rich merchants of the Hanseatic League built it — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It was all built last year for tourists — no support
4. A dragon left a big pile of gold there — 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 6 · right ✓

Zeynep says the Grand Bazaar is older than America as a country. Right?

1. Yes, it is about 10,000 years old, older than cities — no support
2. Yes, it was started in the 1450s, before the US existed — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. No, it only opened in 1990, so it's younger — no support
4. No, it's a modern shopping mall built in 2000 — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 70, line 12: «The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul was started in the 1450s and is one of the oldest and biggest covered markets in the world.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «start» (+2); the same thing acted on «grand bazaar» (+2); the same place «1450s» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

Charlie reads that spices hid rotten meat. What would his mum say?

1. Meat never went off in the past, so it's a myth — no support
2. Yes, spices made rotten meat totally safe and tasty to eat — score -2
3. Spices were only for medicine, never for cooking — no support
4. People who could buy spices could buy fresh meat too — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 4, against -2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 70, line 13: «Spices were expensive in medieval Europe but not usually worth their weight in gold, and they were not used to hide rotten meat.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «spices» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

Josh has loads of Messi, Leo loads of Ronaldo. What happens if they swap?

1. Both always lose — no support
2. Only Josh wins — no support
3. Both can end up happier — ✓ the right answer · score 3
4. Only Leo wins — ← Mova's choice · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 70, line 3: «Think of Josh and Leo swapping football stickers: Josh has loads of Messi, Leo has loads of Ronaldo, and after the swap both are happier. That is the heart of…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «leo» (+4). The right option, 3, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · right ✓

In EU4 trade just flows between nodes on the map. In real life, how do most goods move today?

1. In standard containers on huge ships — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. In the pockets of travellers — score 5
3. On camels across the great deserts — score 5
4. In planes only, because they're fastest — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 10, line 8: «Along the Silk Road travelled not only goods but also ideas, religions and inventions.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «travel» (+3); the same doer «goods» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · wrong ✗

Mia's T-shirt says Made in Bangladesh, but the cotton came from India. What is true?

1. Labels are always wrong about where things come from — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Bangladesh did nothing to it at all — no support
3. Cotton grows only in Bangladesh, so the label is a lie — no support
4. One thing can be made in several countries — ✓ 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

Test 11 · wrong ✗

Oliver asks if Fairtrade fixes everything. What is fair to say?

1. It solves all the problems of poor farmers for good — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It helps some farmers, and how much is debated — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It makes all chocolate free for everyone — no support
4. It is a kind of football sticker — 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 substance traded over long distances more than ten thousand years ago, prior to the emergence of cities.

1. Paper money — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Obsidian, a volcanic glass — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Plastic goods — no support
4. Porcelain from China — 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 · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the so-called Silk Road?

1. A network of routes along which goods passed through many hands — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. A single paved highway travelled end to end by each merchant — no support
3. A railway constructed in 1877 between Beijing and Venice — no support
4. A canal conveying silk from China to Rome by barge — 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 · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the Indian Ocean trade.

1. Voyages were possible only by steamship, from the nineteenth century — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Voyages were timed in accordance with the seasonal monsoon winds — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It commenced with European arrival in the twentieth century — no support
4. It was confined to a single port on the coast of Arabia — 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 · right ✓

Ascertain the innovation introduced by Malcom McLean in 1956 that greatly reduced the cost of shipping.

1. The Fairtrade label — no support
2. The standard shipping container — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. The secret ballot for dock workers — no support
4. The steam-powered cargo ship — 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 70, line 15: «In 1956 Malcom McLean started using standard shipping containers; today about four in five tonnes of world trade go by sea.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+3); the same thing acted on «standard shipping containers» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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