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In seventeenth-century colonial North America, all day-to-day cooking was done in the fireplace. Generally large, fireplaces were planned for cooking as well as for warmth. Those in the Northeast were usually four or five feet high, and in the South, they were often high enough for a person to walk into. A heavy timber called the mantel tree was used as a lintel to support the stonework above the fireplace opening. This timber might be scorched occasionally, but it was far enough in front of the rising column of heat to be safe from catching fire.
Two ledges were built across from each other on the inside of the chimney. On these rested the ends of a "lug pole" from which pots were suspended when cooking. Wood from a freshly cut tree was used for the lug pole, so it would resist heat, but it had to be replaced frequently because it dried out and charred, and was thus weakened. Sometimes the pole broke and the dinner fell into the fire. When iron became easier to obtain, it was used instead of wood for lug poles, and later fireplaces had pivoting metal rods to hang pots from.
Beside the fireplace and built as part of it was the oven. It was made like a small, secondary fireplace with a flue leading into the main chimney to draw out smoke. Sometimes the door of the oven faced the room, but most ovens were built with the opening facing into the fireplace. On baking days (usually once or twice a week) a roaring fire of "oven wood," consisting of brown maple sticks, was maintained in the oven until its walls were extremely hot. The embers were later removed, bread dough was put into the oven, and the oven was sealed shut until the bread was fully baked.
Not all baking was done in a big oven, however. Also used was an iron "bake kettle," which looked like a stewpot on legs and which had an iron lid. This is said to have worked well when it was placed in the fireplace, surrounded by glowing wood embers, with more embers piled on its lid.
1. Which of the following aspects of domestic life in colonial North America does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) methods of baking bread
(B) fireplace cooking
(C) the use of iron kettles in a typical kitchen
(D) the types of wood used in preparing meals
2. The author mentions the fireplaces built in the South to illustrate
(A) how the materials used were similar to the materials used in northeastern fireplaces
(B) that they served diverse functions
(C) that they were usually larger than northeastern fireplaces
(D) how they were safer than northeastern fireplaces
3. The word "scorched" in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A) burned
(B) cut
(C) enlarged
(D) bent
4. The word "it" in line 6 refers to
(A) the stonework
(B) the fireplace opening
(C) the mantel tree
(D) the rising column of heat
5. According to the passage , how was food usually cooked in a pot in the seventeenth century?
(A) By placing the pot directly into the fire
(B) By putting the pot in the oven
(C) By filling the pot with hot water
(D) By hanging the pot on a pole over the fire
6. The word "obtain" in line 12 is closest in meaning to
(A) maintain
(B) reinforce
(C) manufacture
(D) acquire
7. Which of the following is mentioned in paragraph 2 as a disadvantage of using a wooden lug pole?
(A) It was made of wood not readily available.
(B) It was difficult to move or rotate.
(C) It occasionally broke.
(D) It became too hot to touch.
8. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that, compared to other firewood, "oven wood" produced
(A) less smoke
(B) more heat
(C) fewer embers
(D) lower flames
9. According to paragraph 3, all of the following were true of a colonial oven EXCEPT:
(A) It was used to heat the kitchen every day.
(B) It was built as part of the main fireplace.
(C) The smoke it generated went out through the main chimney.
(D) It was heated with maple sticks.
10. According to the passage , which of the following was an advantage of a "bake kettle"?
(A) It did not take up a lot of space in the fireplace.
(B) It did not need to be tightly closed.
(C) It could be used in addition to or instead of the oven.
(D) It could be used to cook several foods at one time.
