An Accidental Invention Did you know that tea, the most popular drink in the world (after water), was invented by accident? Many people believe that tea was first drunk about 5, 000 years ago. It is said that a Chinese ruler called Shen Nong was the first to discover tea as a drink. One day Shen Nong was boiling drinking water over an open fire. Some leaves from a tea plant fell into the water and remained there for some time. It produced a nice smell so he tasted the brown water. It was quite delicious, and so, one of the world’s favorite drinks was invented. A few thousand years later, Lu Yu, “the saint of tea”, mentioned Shen Nong in his book Cha Jing. The book describes how tea plants were grown and used to make tea. It also discusses where the finest tea leaves were produced and what kinds of water were used. It is believed that tea was brought to Korea and Japan during the 6th and 7th centuries. In England, tea didn’t appear until around 1660, but in less than 100 years, it had become the national drink. The tea trade from China to Western countries took place in the 19th century. This helped to spread the popularity of tea and the tea plant to more places around the world. Even though many people now know about tea culture, the Chinese are without doubt the ones who best understand the nature of tea. |
2. How was tea invented?
3. Who is called “the saint of tea”?
4. What is Cha Jing about?
5. When was tea brought to other countries?
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Do you like eating instant noodles (方便面)? The food is easy to make and cheap to buy. This year is the 60th birthday of the invention of instant noodles. It was invented by Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando in 1958.
China is the biggest market for instant noodles. It can be a snack for students, a meal on a train, or just a good choice for hungry workers. More than 46.2 billion instant noodle packets were sold on the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong in 2013, a BBC article reported. But by 2016, those sales had dropped to 38.5 billion packets, according to the World Instant Noodle Association.
The biggest reason for the drop is the rise of online food delivery services (外卖服务). They can bring you food no matter where you are. They also offer more choices and tastier food. According to a 2016 survey by China Youth Daily, about 70 percent of young people order meals online at least once a week.
This shows that Chinese people now expect higher for the quality of their food, according to Shen Hongbing, a professor from Chongqing Technology and Business University.
Facing this challenge, instant food companies are trying to do something to increase sales. For example, Kangshifu, one of the largest instant noodle companies, puts more natural food and fewer man-made tastes into the noodles and it also tries to make its noodles non-fried (非油炸), which can cut the calories (卡路里) and bring less fat. Another big company, Tangdaren, takes actions, too. It changes the price from 9 yuan to 7 yuan for each bowl. There are many other instant food companies following them to improve their products to meet people’s needs.
Will instant noodles disappear one day? We don’t know. But they have surely left a mark on dining history.
1. Were the instant noodles invented by a Chinese businessman?2. According to the passage, what is the biggest reason for the drop of instant noodle sales in China?
3. What do instant food companies do to increase sales?
4. Do you think instant noodles will still disappear one day after the improvement? Why or why not?
A: Where does the rain come from？
B: It comes from the clouds.
A: Where does the cloud come from？
B: It comes from the vapour.
A: Where does the vapour come from？
B: It comes from the water in the river
Climate (气候) change brings not only hot days and heavy rain but also more extreme (极端的) weather. The world’s food may be in greater danger. And more and more people will live with food crisis (危机).
In some countries in Europe (欧洲), warmer weather helps plants grow better. There is more carbon dioxide (二氧化碳), so the plants can grow faster. But if the Earth keeps getting warm, it will be too hot for those plants and they may die.
Climate change also causes disasters like droughts (干旱) and floods. Millions of people may lose their homes and not have enough to eat. According to the World Bank, people in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia are in the biggest danger.
A new report on the global food crisis came out in May, 2023. It shows that a larger number of people are facing food crisis and global warming makes it worse. According to the report, about 258 million people in 58 countries and regions (地区) faced big food problems in 2022. The report also says extreme weather caused around 56 million people to face hunger problems in 2022.
The warming Earth and the food crisis | |
| The warming Earth | Climate change brings hot and It also brings |
| Good and bad | In some countries in Europe, plants grow better because of the More carbon dioxide makes plants there grow more The plants may not stay |
| Other | Disasters including droughts and Millions of people may become |
| World’s hunger | A report says more people are facing food crisis. And one In 2022, about 258 million people faced big |
【推荐1】Can dolphins talk? Maybe they can't talk with words but they talk with sounds. They show their feelings with sounds.
Dolphins travel in a group. We call a group of fish a "school. They don't study, but they travel together. Dolphins are mammals (哺乳动物), not fish, but they swim together in a school.
Dolphins talk to the other dolphins in the school. They give information. They tell when they are happy or sad or afraid. They say "Welcome" when a dolphin comes back to the school. They talk when they play.
They make a few sounds above water. They make many more sounds under water. People cannot hear these sounds because the sounds are very, very high. Scientists make tapes of the sounds and study them.
Sometimes people catch dolphins for a large aquarium (An aquarium is a zoo for fish). People can watch the dolphins in a show. Dolphins don't like to be away from their school in an aquarium. They are sad and lonely.
There are many stories about dolphins. They help people. Sometimes they save somebody's life, Dolphin meat is good, but people don t like to kill them. They say that dolphins bring good luck. Many people believe this.
1. How can dolphins express their feeling?2. What is a school of dolphins?
3. Why cannot people hear these sounds the dolphins make?
4. How does a dolphin feel in an aquarium?
5. Why don’t people like to kill dolphins?
World Book Day is an event organized by the United Nations to encourage book reading, publishing and copyright. The first World Book Day was 23rd April, 1995 and it is celebrated every year on that day. It changes people’s lives through the love of books and reading. Every year on World Book Day, children around the world get together and read their favorite books. Some organizations work hard to give every child a book of their own. Reading for pleasure is important for a young person’s future success—more important than their parents’ educational background or the money they make.
World Book Day | |
| What is World Book Day | An |
| What is World Book Day for? | To |
| When is the first World Book Day? | |
| How does World Book Day change people’s lives? | Through the |
| What does the writer think of reading for pleasure? | Reading for pleasure is important for a young person’s |
Now, people’s life is full of choices. I want to choose this, wait! That one seems better than this one. I should make a decision after looking through all of them. As a result, they often spend much time deciding what to buy. In the end, they usually lose the happiness of getting new things and forget what’s truly important.
The situation is quite normal for humans. And psychologists (心理学家) call it paradox (矛盾) of choice. These words first appeared in a book by an American psychologist Barry.
In the book, he found that many people were getting happier when they knew there were many products for them to choose. However, as the number of choices went up, people got more worried because they spend more time telling the differences between the products. The more time they spent, the more unhappy they seemed to be.
To solve the problem, Barry gave some advice in his book for shopping. Firstly, it’s important to know what we need a product for. Before we know it, if we have different needs at the same time, place them from the most important to the least important. Secondly, take the look of the products more seriously. Finally, if you have a few possible choices at hand, just choose any one. Stop thinking of how your life will be different if you choose.
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Tea-bag drinking is most Westerners’ favorite way of drinking tea. Do you know how it came about?
The tea bag was invented in 1908 by Thomas Sullivan, an American tea seller. He was sending out free tea in silk bags for people to try, which made it taste better. People put the bags together with the tea leaves into the cup and added hot water. And after drinking, they just needed to throw the tea bag. So, they were not happy when Sullivan started sending them loose (散的) tea again.
Sullivan realized that he had a hot new thing in his hands, and he built a machine to pack the bags. As tea bags became popular, they were changed from silk to gauze(薄纱)and later paper. In 1952, Lipton Tea made the tea bag even more popular with its invention of the four-sided tea bag. Tea bags were soon a hit in the UK, and today 85 % of tea in the UK is packed in paper bags.
However, some people still prefer loose leaf tea. This is because some tea companies put not very good tea in their tea bags. But for most drinkers, tea bags are still their best choice.
1. Do most Westerners enjoy tea-bag drinking?2. Who invented the tea bag?
3. Why was the tea in silk bags popular?
4. Do you prefer tea with bags or loose leaf tea? Why?
【推荐2】“The taste of tea is soft, but it can reach far.” This special idea into Chinese tea culture comes from Ngoc, a student from Vietnam. Now a college student at Yunnan University, she has been in Kunming, Yunnan, for three years.
During her time in China, Ngoc likes Chinese tea culture because of her strong interest in Chinese history and culture. “I was trying to connect with Chinese society through observation (观察) and study to learn about modern China,” she said.
As an agricultural country, Vietnam has been growing tea for more than 3,000 years. Drinking tea is a big custom in the country. Usually, Ngoc likes to drink tea while chatting with friends. Over the years, she gradually learned the differences in tea culture between China and Vietnam. “People usually drink Pu’er tea in Yunnan, but in Vietnam, dark tea and black tea are more popular,” she said. Ngoc also found that in China, people like to drink tea in nice tea shops. But in Vietnam, people often just drink tea on the street. It’s quite casual (随意的).
For her, tasting a pot of good tea, just like tasting life, is both bitter (苦涩的) and sweet. “The tea tastes bitter at first, but when the bitterness goes away, the sweetness comes. I also hope that my life is like tea, after the bitter comes the sweet.” she said.
根据短文内容回答问题（每小题答案不超过10个单词）。
1. What is Ngoc according to the passage?The weather is getting hotter. You are thirsty after playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful of what you are drinking. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health.
There are plenty of “energy drinks” on the market. Most of them have beautiful colors and cool names. The lists on them tell you they are helpful to your health. Sounds great! But after a careful check, you may find that most energy drinks have lots of caffeine in them. These drinks are especially aimed at young people, students, busy people and sports players. Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much.
Caffeine makes your heart beat fast. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee has limited (限制) its use. Caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as strong as that in a cup of coffee or tea. Possible health dangers have something to do with energy drinks. Just one box of energy drink may make you nervous. Scientists say that teenagers should be discouraged from taking drinks with a lot of caffeine in them.
1. What would you like most when you are thirsty after playing basketball in the hot weather according to the passage?2. Who are the main consumer group (消费群体) of the energy drinks?
3. What will happen if you drink a bottle of energy drinks?
4. What would you do in your daily life after reading this passage?
