Kerala: Answer Key

Kerala

1.    General description: 300 km south of Goa, Kerala is a paradise found, one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations, known as God’s Own Country, with elephants, martial arts, temple dances, fishing, backwaters, hills and rice paddies.

backwater /ˈbæk.wɔː.tə r / /-wɑː.t ̬ɚ/ noun [ C ]

1. a part of a river where the water does not flow

We tied the boat up in a quiet backwater overnight.

2. disapproving a place which is not influenced by new ideas or events that happen in other places, and which does not change

He grew up in a rural backwater.

Compare jerkwater

ˈ     rice ˌ paddy noun [ C ]

a field full of water in which rice is grown

2.    Fishing: main way of life on the coast

3.    Cochin city: Fishing, port town with five-hundred-year old Chinese fishing nets. The backwaters: rivers channels streams. Riceboats converted for luxury cruises

4.    The highlands: sprawling The hills: emerald The waterfalls and the lakes: sparkling

sprawl /sprɔːl/ /sprɑːl/ noun disapproving CITY

2. [ C usually singular ] a large area of land covered with buildings which have been added at different times so that it looks untidy

     the urban sprawl of South Florida

       sparkling /ˈspɑː.klɪŋ/ /ˈspɑːr-/ adjective BRIGHT

1. shining brightly

sparkling white teeth

      sparkling /ˈspɑː.klɪŋ/ /ˈspɑːr-/ adjective INTERESTING

2. energetic and interesting

a sparkling performance

sparkling conversation/wit

      sparkling /ˈspɑː.klɪŋ/ /ˈspɑːr-/ adjective BUBBLES

3. A sparkling drink is one which is fizzy (= contains many small bubbles of gas)

Champagne is a sparkling wine.

Compare still

5.    Moonsah is a colonial town, a former a hill station

6.    The Elephant orphanage: en route to Moonah, the visit is a must

7.    The plantations coffee cardamon tea

8.    Ayurveda: oil poured over the forehead. 5,000 years old

9.    Tellicherry: cotton weaving, on the coast; vegetable and fish market

weave /wiːv/ verb MAKE

1. [ I or T ] wove or US ALSO weaved , woven or US ALSO weaved to make cloth by repeatedly crossing a single thread through two sets of long threads on a loom (= special frame)

This type of wool is woven into fabric which will make jackets.

2. [ T ] wove or US ALSO weaved , woven or US ALSO weaved to twist long objects together, or to make something by doing this

We were shown how to roughly weave ferns and grass together to make a temporary shelter.

It takes great skill to weave a basket from/out of rushes.

3. [ T ] wove or US ALSO weaved , woven or US ALSO weaved literary to form something from several different things or to combine several different things, in a complicated or skilled way

The biography is woven from the many accounts which exist of things she did.

10.Calicut: Boatmaking: the boats, called dhows,  exported to the Middle East

Martial arts: unforgettable

Internationally-renowned cuisine. Cookery classes