Question and Passage Excerpt
Using your own words as far as possible, summarise the reasons why the century egg may be considered unappealing and why it continues to remain popular.
Use only information from Paragraphs 5 to 8.
Getting beyond the egg’s appearance is the first challenge. Instead of being white with bright orange yolks, these jelly-like delicacies take on a less appetising dark brown and swampy green hue. There’s also a pungent ammonia-like odour to contend with, which has earned the snack yet another nickname: the “horse urine egg”. Appearances aside, many children grow up eating this dish and learn to love the taste.
While century eggs were made by farmers and villagers for hundreds of years, they started appearing on menus in Hong Kong when a handful of renowned Chinese chefs fled to the city in the 1940s during the Chinese Civil War and brought regional dishes with them.
Because of the unpleasant odour, the taste is then totally unexpected. The egg is surprisingly creamy, velvety and succulent. While the century egg draws a following from older generations and curious travellers, the eggs have fallen out of favour with the younger set who are weary of China’s preserved and fermented foods.
The times are changing, and the younger generation is showing less and less interest in these traditional food,” said Kazu Leong, executive manager of Hang Heung’s cake shop. “From our experience, we have learned that these traditional Chinese pastries containing century eggs hold a special place for the post-70s and post-80s generation who had fewer snack options growing up.”
Original text source: BBC
Sample Summary
Century eggs are considered unappealing as they have unappetising dark brown and dirty green shades. It also has a foul ammonia-like stench, earning it the nickname of “horse urine egg”. They are unpopular with young generations who are cautious of China’s preserved and fermented foods.
Yet, many children grow up eating century eggs, becoming accustomed to the taste. It has appeared on Hong Kong menus. Its taste is unexpectedly creamy, smooth, and juicy. It also remains popular with older generations and curious tourists.
| Note: paragraphs were added to better differentiate the two halves of this summary. In your actual exam, please write this as a single paragraph. |
Summary Points
A: Why the century egg might be unappealing;
B: Why the century egg continues to remain popular
| No. | Passage | Rephrased |
| A: Why century eggs are considered unappealing | ||
| A1 | Instead of being white with bright orange yolks, these jelly-like delicacies take on a less appetising dark brown and swampy green hue | They have unappetising dark brown and dirty green colourations/shades. |
| A2 | There’s also a pungent ammonia-like odour to contend with | It also bears/has a foul ammonia-like stench/smell. Explanation: “to contend with” roughly means “to deal with”. This implies that the egg already has a bad smell. This last part therefore can be dropped from the summary. You just need to focus on the century egg itself. |
| A3 | Which has earned the snack yet another nickname: the “horse urine egg”. | Earning it the nickname of “horse urine egg”. Explanation: A small restructuring is all that is needed here. You cannot change the nickname itself because it will alter factual accuracy. |
| A4 | 1the eggs have fallen out of favour with the younger set who are wary of China’s preserved and fermented foods | They are unpopular with young people/generations who are cautious of China’s preserved and fermented foods. Explanation: The bolded words can be replaced with synonyms as shown above. Fallen out of favour = “no longer popular”. “Set” here is implied to refer to a “group”, in this case of people, specifically those of younger generations. I would not change “preserved and fermented foods”. It refers to a highly specific process of treating food. Changing this thus alters factual accuracy. |
| A5 | The times are changing, and the younger generation is showing less and less interest in these traditional foods | The younger generation is showing less interest in traditional food. Explanation: Restructure the sentence for simplicity. |
| B: Why century eggs continue to remain popular | ||
| B1 | Appearances aside, many children grow up eating this dish and learn to love the taste. | (Yet/However), many children grow up eating century eggs, becoming accustomed to/appreciative of the taste. Explanation Appreciative comes from “appreciate” > verb changed to adjective form. |
| B2 | While century eggs were made famous by farmers and villagers for hundreds of years, they started appearing on menus in Hong Kong when a handful of renowned Chinese chefs fled to the city in the 1940s during the Chinese Civil War and brought regional dishes with them. | It has appeared on menus in Hong Kong. Explanation: The excess information on how century eggs came to be served in HK can be discarded. Only the end result needs to be included. |
| B3 | Because of the unpleasant odour, the taste is then totally unexpected | Its taste is unexpected/surprising given its foul stench Explanation: Rearrange the sentence and swap out the words where appropriate. |
| B4 | The egg is surprisingly creamy, velvety and succulent. | It is unexpectedly creamy, smooth, and juicy. Explanation: Replace the bolded words with appropriate substitutes. |
| B5 | While the century egg draws a following from older generations and curious travellers | The century egg is popular with the older generations and curious tourists. Explanation: Replace the bolded words with appropriate substitutes. Draws a following = popular (think in terms of social media!) Travellers >> Tourists |
| B6 | From our experience, we have learned that these traditional Chinese pastries containing century eggs hold a special place for the post-70s and post-80s generation who had fewer snack options growing up | Traditional Chinese pastries with century eggs bear sentimental value for those with limited/restricted snack options growing up. Explanation: Rewrite this sentence with a clear subject in mind, such as “traditional Chinese pastries”. After that, replace the bolded words with appropriate substitutes. |
Side comment: I never could appreciate century eggs. There’s something about its gooey texture that repulses me. Well, I did try. 🤷♂️