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Part One: Reading (Score: 11)

Read the following article, and then answer the questions that follow.

Child Slavery
Hershey, Nestle and Mars use Child Slaves to Make Your Chocolate
by LJ Vanier
1 What was one of the better-kept secrets of the 21st century is now blown totally open.
The three corporations, Nestle, Hershey, and Mars are responsible for much of the world’s
chocolate influx, 60% of which comes out of West Africa, a place where child slavery is
prevalent.
2 In a shocking 2000 documentary titled Slavery: A Global Investigation, a British
organization called True Vision Entertainment reported on the chocolate industry’s alleged
connection to cocoa harvested by child slaves. The award-winning documentary opens on stick-
thin adolescent boys in the Ivory Coast slinging hundred-pound bags of cocoa pods on their
backs, followed by an interview in which the boys express their confusion over not being paid.
The documentary revealed that the harvesting and processing of the cacao plant was indeed left
to children, often unpaid and living in slavery. Imprisoned, forced to go to the bathroom on the
roof or in a cup and malnourished, children would either be sold into it for $30 or be kidnapped,
thinking they were applying for some sort of paying job.
3 The rules and regulations are so lax there that there is no government to step in and stop
the atrocities. This horrific state of child slavery is also the perfect cheap labor for candy
companies that want to sell chocolate for dirt cheap prices. Why do you think it only costs $1 for
a chocolate bar?
4 The companies mentioned above are not the only ones involved in using children on
cocoa plantations. On 14 July 2005, three individuals from Mali and Global Exchange (a human
rights organization) filed a class action lawsuit in California federal court against Nestlé, Archer
Daniels Midland and Cargill. The individuals alleged they had been trafficked from Mali as child
slaves and forced to work harvesting and/or cultivating cocoa beans on farms in Côte d’Ivoire.
The plaintiffs alleged that they were forced to work long hours without pay, kept in locked
rooms when not working and suffered severe physical abuse by those guarding them. They
allege that the companies aided, abetted or failed to prevent the torture, forced labor and arbitrary
detention that they had suffered as child slaves.
5 The gruesome depictions of first-hand accounts of slavery: children with whipped backs,
afraid for their lives and beaten for months, into submission, was met with immediate
congressional action.
6 The chocolate companies pleaded ignorance (no surprise there); Hershey senior vice
president Robert M. Reese told Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Bob Fernandez that “no one,
repeat, no one, had ever heard of this” (as if he could somehow know that).
7 After confirmation that the slavery was indeed happening and that it was as bad as the
documentary depicted, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel quickly drafted US legislation commanding the
FDA to introduce “slave free” labeling on chocolate, similar to organic labeling. The bill
immediately gained approval in the House of Representatives and was on its way to the Senate
where people were ready to draft it into law. It was then that the chocolate companies stepped
in, promising to self regulate the issue, stating that there would be no more child slavery by
2008.
8 It turned out, they didn’t do much. It’s 2015 and there are now more child slaves than
there were in 2001. 51% more, in fact. There are now 1.4 million children carrying back-
breaking sacks of cacao, having their bodies whipped and beaten and crushing themselves from
dawn to dusk for no pay.
9 The worst form of irony is the case of Hershey. The Milton Hershey School in
Pennsylvania is one of the wealthiest education centers in the world. Founded in 1909 as an
orphanage for “male Caucasian” boys, it was awarded 30 percent of the company’s future
earnings by Milton S. Hershey upon his death. Thanks to the success of Kit-Kats, Reese’s, and
Whoppers, the school is worth a staggering $7.8 billion. Now home to more than 2,000 students,
it owns a controlling interest in the $22.3 billion Hershey company—a chocolate maker with
roots in child protection and education.
10 Now that it has become evident that Hershey, Nestle and Mars have no way of handling
the issue (besides pushing back the date of completion to 2011, then 2020), California residents
have filed a class-action lawsuit, requiring the companies to pay damages to people that have
purchased the product “unwittingly” supporting child slave trade, and also that they print new
labels that indicate the product was made with child slave labor.
11 “America’s largest and most profitable food conglomerates should not tolerate child
labor, much less child slave labor, anywhere in their supply chains,” the California-residents
complaint reads. “These companies should not turn a blind eye to known human rights abuses…
especially when the companies consistently and affirmatively represent that they act in a socially
and ethically responsible manner.”
12 Towards the end of the 2000 documentary, asked what he’d say to the billions who eat
chocolate worldwide (most of the boys have never tried it), one boy replies, “They enjoy
something I suffered to make; I worked hard for them but saw no benefit. They are eating my
flesh.”
- From The Guardian, October, 2015
 Questions
A.
1. Describe the conditions under which the children who work the fields live. (Score :01)
2. Based on paragraphs 6 and 7, does the author believe the claims of the companies? Support
your answer with evidence.(Score: 01)
3. Why is Hershey’s case the most ironic? Explain.(Score: 01)
4. Do you support the lawsuit filed by Californian residents in paragraph 10? Why or why not?
(Score: 01)
B.
1. What type of introduction does the author use to introduce his article in paragraph 1? What
purpose(s) does this method serve?(Score: 01)
2. What is the purpose of paragraph 4? Justify your answer.(Score: 01)
3. Explain the thematic relation between paragraphs 2 and 3.(Score: 01)
4. Describe tone in paragraph 8. Support your answer with evidence.(Score: 01)
5. Comment on the way the author ends his article. Do you think it is functional? (Score: 01)
C.
1. Select from the text words that are closest in meaning to the following.
(Score: 01)
1.lenient; permissive (paragraph 3)
2.supported; encouraged (paragraph 4)
3.horrible; shocking (paragraph 5)
4.corporations; businesses (paragraph 11)
D. Paraphrase paragraph 5.(Score: 01)
Part Two: Writing (Score: 09)
The boy’s words in the last paragraph of the article seem to make an indirect accusation against
the millions of consumers who enjoy chocolate every day. Do you believe consumers are
culpable in this and in similar cases wherein the labor force is abused? Why or why not? How
culpable is it? What can consumers do to make this and other industries better and more
ethical? Write an essay of 250-300 words to explain your position.
See that, in your introduction, you put your reader in the general atmosphere of your topic and
clearly provide a thesis statement, and that each of your body paragraphs starts with a topic
sentence which you back up with relevant supporting details. Draft, revise and proofread your
essay. Your writing will be assessed for both ideas and form. (Score: 05 for ideas; 03 for
language and style; 01 for neatness)

Answer key

A.
1. The children who work the fields live in horrible conditions. To begin with, they are not paid
for their work. They are brutally beaten at first so they won’t resist orders. They are forced to
work all day till dusk, and then, they are locked altogether in a small shack.(Score: 01)
2. Based on paragraphs 6 and 7, the author is very doubtful of the claims of the companies
involved. To start with, he doesn’t believe that the companies had no idea such a practice was
present on their farms. He writes “no surprise here” and “as if he could somehow know that”
in response to the companies’ claims. Moreover, the author states in paragraph 7 that the
companies stepped forward and promised to make some serious changes only when they were
about to be culpable by law.(Score: 01)
3. Hershey’s case is the most ironic because the Milton Hershey School which provides
education to thousands of students owns a large share in the companythat is involved in
enslaving children just like the ones who go to this school. SO the institution that is supposed
to promote education and the conditions of children is actually inadvertently abusing children.
(Score: 01)
4. Answers vary. (Score: 01)
B.
1. The author uses a shocking/ startling fact to introduce his article. The author states that a
secret, about the chocolate trade using children, that had been hidden for a long time is finally
revealed. The purpose of this type of introduction is to grab the reader’s attention and to give
background information about the topic. (Score: 01)
2. Paragraph 4 reinforces the idea that child slavery is not uncommon. Besides Mars, Hershey
and Nestle, other international companies are using children in their farms. It repeats the idea
that children on these farms are treated very badly.(Score: 01)
3. The thematic relation between paragraphs 2 and 3 is that of cause-effect. Paragraph 2
describes the terrible conditions that children on cocoa field live in and how they are cheated
or trafficked. Paragraph 3 explains that the laws are not strict enough to make this practice
stop.(Score: 01)
4. The tone in paragraph 8 is critical and angry. The author criticizes the companies for having
promised to eliminate child slavery on their farms in West Africa by 2008, but they have so
far failed miserably at that. The author describes how the boys are still mistreated. The words
and phrases “they didn’t do much”, “…there are now more child slaves”, and “ whipped and
beaten” all convey the tone.
5. The author ends the article with an effective conclusion. A child slave tells the world that he
has paid for what it enjoys oblivious to his suffering. This personal testimony adds to the
effectiveness of the author’s overall article and encourages readers to reconsider what they
know and what they do.(Score: 01)

C. Select from the text words that are closest in meaning to the following.(Score: 01)
1.lax 2. abetted
3. gruesome 4.
conglomerates
D. (Score: 01)
In paragraph 5 of the article, “Hershey, Nestle and Mars use Child Slaves to Make Your
Chocolate”, the author states that congress took action as soon as it was informed/ was made
aware of dreadful and horrid circumstances that child slaves were facing. This information came
from former child slaves who had experienced all these horrors.

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