READING PASSAGE 3- thi ngày 20.5.

2023

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 on pages 10 and 11.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales

A. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, named their story collection Children‟s and

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Household Tales and published the first of its seven editions in Germany in 1812. The
table of contents reads like an A-list of fairy-tale celebrities: Cinderella, Sleeping

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Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and
Gretel, the Frog King. Drawn mostly from oral narratives, the 210 stories in die
Grimm‟s‟ collection represent an anthology of fairy tales, animal fables, rustic farces,

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and religious allegories that remain unrivalled to this day.

B. Such lasting fame would have shocked the humble Grimms. During their lifetimes

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the collection sold modestly in Germany, at first only a few hundred copies a year.
The early editions were not even aimed at children. The brothers initially refused to
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consider illustrations, and scholarly footnotes took up almost as much space as the
talcs themselves. Jacob and Wilhelm viewed themselves as patriotic folklorists, not as
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entertainers of children. They began their work at a time when Germany had been
overrun by the French under Napoleon, who were intent on suppressing local culture.
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As young, workaholic scholars, single and sharing a cramped flat, the Brothers Grimm
undertook the fairy-tale collection with the goal of serving the endangered oral
tradition of German
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C. For much of the 19th century teachers, parents, and religious figures, particularly in
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the United States, deplored the Grimms‟ collection for its raw, uncivilized content.
Offended adults objected to the gruesome punishments inflicted on the stories‟
villains. In the original “Snow White” the evil stepmother is forced to dance in red-hot
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iron shoes until she falls down dead. Even today some protective parents shy from
the Grimms‟ talcs because of their reputation for violence.

D. Despite its sometimes rocky reception, Children‟s and Household Tales gradually
took root with the public. The brothers had not foreseen that the appearance of their
work would coincide with a great flowering of children‟s literature in Europe. English

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 publishers led the way, issuing high-quality picture books such as Jack and the
Beanstalk and handsome folktale collections, all to satisfy a newly literate audience
seeking virtuous material for the nursery. Once the Brothers Grimm sighted this new
public, they set about refining and softening their tales, which had originated centuries
earlier as earthy peasant fare. In the Grimms‟ hands, cruel mothers became nasty
stepmothers, unmarried lovers were made chaste, and the incestuous father was
recast as the devil.

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E. In the 20th century the Grimms‟ fairy tales have come to rule the bookshelves of

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children‟s bedrooms. The stories read like dreams come true: handsome lads and
beautiful damsels, armed with magic, triumph over giants and witches and wild beasts.
They outwit mean, selfish adults. Inevitably the boy and girl fall in love and live happily

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ever after. And parents keep reading because they approve of the finger-wagging lessons
inserted into the stories: keep your promises, don‟t talk to strangers, work hard, obey your
parents. According to the Grimms, the collection served as “a manual of manners”.
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F. Altogether some 40 persons delivered tales to the Grimms. Many of the storytellers
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came to the Grimms‟ house in Kassel. The brothers particularly welcomed the visits of
Dorothea Viehmann, a widow who walked to town to sell produce from her garden. An
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innkeeper daughter, Viehmann had grown up listening to stories from travellers on the
road to Frankfurt.
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Among her treasure was “Aschenputtel” -Cinderella. Marie Hassenpflug was a 20-year-
old friend of their sister, Charlotte, from a well-bred, French-speaking family. Marie‟s
wonderful stories blended motifs from the oral tradition and from Perrault‟s influential
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1697 book, Tales of My Mother Goose, which contained elaborate versions of “Little Red
Riding Hood”, “Snow White”, and “Sleeping Beauty”, among others. Many of these had
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been adapted from earlier Italian tales.

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G. Given that the origins of many of the Grimm fairy tales reach throughout Europe and
into the Middle East and Orient, the question must be asked: How German are the Grimm
tales? Very, says scholar Heinz Rolleke. Love of the underdog, rustic simplicity, creative
energy—these are Teutonic traits. The coarse texture of life during medieval times in
Germany, when many of the tales entered the oral tradition, also coloured the narratives.
Throughout Europe children were often neglected and abandoned, like Hansel and
Gretel. Accused witches were burned at the stake, like the evil mother-in-law in “The Six

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 Swans”. “The cruelty in the stories was not the Grimm‟s fantasy”, Rolleke points out” It
reflected the law-and-order system of the old times”.

H. The editorial fingerprints left by the Grimms betray the specific values of 19th-century
Christian, bourgeois German society. But that has not stopped the tales from being
embraced by almost every culture and nationality in the world. What accounts for this
widespread, enduring popularity? Bernhard Lauer points to the “universal style” of the

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writing, you have no concrete descriptions of the land, or the clothes, or the forest, or the

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castles. It makes the stories timeless and placeless,” The tales allow us to express „our
utopian longings‟,” says Jack Zipes of the University of Minnesota, whose 1987
translation of the complete fairy tales captures the rustic vigour of the original text. They

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show a striving for happiness that none of us knows but that we sense is possible. We
can identify with the heroes of the tales and become in our mind the masters and
mistresses of our own destinies.”

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I. Fairy tales provide a workout for the unconscious, psychoanalysts maintain. Bruno
Bettelheim famously promoted the therapeutic of the Grimms‟ stories, calling fairy tales
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the “great comforters. By confronting fears and phobias, symbolized by witches, heartless
stepmothers, and hungry wolves, children find they can master their anxieties.
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Bettelheim‟s theory continues to be hotly debated. But most young readers aren‟t
interested in exercising their unconsciousness. The Grimm tales in fact please in an
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infinite number of ways, something about them seems to mirror whatever moods or
interests we bring to our reading of them. The flexibility of interpretation suits them for
almost any time and any culture.
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 Questions 27-32
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In
boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement is true

NO if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

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27. The Grimm brothers believed they would achieve international fame.
28. The Grimm brothers were forced to work in secret.
29. Some parents today still think Grimmfairy tales are not suitable for children.

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30. The first edition of Grimm‟s fairy tales sold more widely in England than in Germany.

31. Adults like reading Grimm‟s fairy tales for reasons different from those of children.
32. The Grimm brothers based the story “Cinderella” on the life of Dorothea Viehmann

Questions 33-35
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Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.
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33. In paragraph 4, what changes happened at that time in Europe?

A. Literacy levels of the population increased.
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B. The development of printing technology made it easier to publish.

C. Schools were open to children.
D. People were fond of collecting superb picture books.
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34. What changes did the Grimm Brothers make in later editions?
A. They made the stories shorter.
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B. They used more oral language.

C. The content of the tales became less violent.
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D. They found other origins of the tales.

35. What did Marie Hassenpflug contribute to the Grimm‟s Fairy tales?
A. She wrote stories.
B. She discussed the stories with them.
C. She translated a popular book for the brothers using her talent for languages.
D. She told the oral stories that were based on traditional Italian stories.

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 Questions 36-40
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more
than two words from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

36. Heinz rolleke said the Grimm‟s tales are “German”because the tales

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37. Heinz Rolleke said the abandoned children in tales

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38. Bernhard Lauer said the writing style of the Grimm brothers is universal because they
39. Jack Zipes said the pursuit of happiness in the tales means they
40. Bruno Bettelheim said the therapeutic value of the tales means that the fairy tales
A. reflect what life was like at that time

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B. help children deal with their problems
C. demonstrate the outdated system
D. tell of the simplicity of life in the German countryside
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E. encourage people to believe that they can do anything
F. recognize the heroes in the real life
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G. contribute to the belief in nature power
H. avoid details about characters‟ social settings.
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Group: ORIGINAL EXAMS- DỰ ĐOÁN ĐỀ THI IELTS 2023