FACTS ABOUT RICE

The technique of making parboiled rice spread from India to the rest of the world. First, the rice is
soaked in water and the excess water is drained off. Then the grain is steamed or heated and dried.
After this, it is pounded to remove the husk. In this way, the outer layer of the grain turns hard and does
not break during milling. It retains better shape b ut is also more nutritious than other rice. Now a fifth
of the world’s rice is parboiled.

The world understood the importance of the Indian art of making parboiled rice only after paying a
heavy price. In 1882, when a Japanese ship returned after a nine-month voyage, twenty-five of its 276
crew were dead, and the rest were listless. It was discovered that they had eaten boiled rice three times
a day but this polished rice from a mill and had its nutritive layer removed. The same disease was
noticed in Malaysian and Javanese sailors, and it was called ‘beri beri’, which means extreme weakness
in Sinhalese. In beri-beri, the arm and leg muscles become so weak that it is difficult even to move about.
In ppolishingh and makin g rice glossy, vitamins are lost. These vitamins were given the name ‘Vitamin
B’. Before this discovery, nobody knew about vitamins. The Dutch scientist Dr. Eijkman was the first to
do research on this, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1929.

- Ramesh Dutt Sharma from ‘The Story of Rice’

COMPREHENSION EXERCISES

1. Which country do the following people come from?

a) Javanese: ________________________________________________

b) Japanese: ________________________________________________

c) Malaysian: _______________________________________________

d) Dutch: ____________________________________________________

2. Complete the following sentences:

a) Parboiled rice is more

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b) When rice is polished in a mill the
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c) The word beri-beri means _______________________________and it is an illness.

3. List below the three stages in the making of parboiled rice.

a) first,
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b) next,
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c) after this,
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4. In what way did Japanese sailors pay a heavy price?

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5. Why was Dr. Eijkman awarded the Nobel Prize?

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6. Rewrite the sentences in present tense:

a) Rahul went to Goa.

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b) She stayed at home all day.
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c) I wrote to my mother once a week.
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d) The baby cried today.
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7. Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:

a) method of doing something: ____________________________________________

b) smooth and shiny: ________________________________________________________
c) lacking energy: ____________________________________________________________

 Essay WRITING: Do deadlines destroy creativity? 100-150 words (15 mins)