4 . White chocolate, German chocolate, ice cream: There are hundreds of types of birthday cake in the world, each beautiful in its own sugary way. You are likely to enjoy one during at least one (hopefully all) of your birthday parties. But in between delicious bites of cake, have you ever stopped and wondered, “Why am I eating this? What makes this dessert fit to celebrate the day of my birth?”
It’s because you are as important and beloved as the gods. Kind of.
The ancient Egyptians are thought to have “invented” the celebration of birthdays. They believed when pharaohs (法老) were crowned, they became gods, so their coronation (加冕) day was a pretty big deal. That was their “birth” as a god.
Ancient Greeks borrowed the tradition, but realized that a dessert would make the celebration all the more meaningful. So they baked moon-shaped cakes to offer up to Artemis, goddess of the moon. They decorated them with lighted candles to make the cakes shine like the moon. Hence, it is the reason why we light our birthday cakes on fire.
Modern birthday parties are said to get their roots from the 18th century German celebration “Kinderfeste”. On the morning of a child’s birthday, he or she would receive a cake with lighted candles that added up to the kid’s age, plus one. This extra candle was called the “light of life,” representing the hope of another full year lived.
And then, torture — because no one could eat the cake until after dinner. The family replaced the candles as they burned out throughout the day. Finally, when the moment came, the birthday child would make a wish, try to blow out all the candles in one breath, and dig in. Like modern tradition, the birthday girl or boy wouldn’t tell anyone the wish so it would come true.
Since the ingredients (原料) to make cakes were pretty expensive, this birthday custom didn’t become popular until the Industrial Revolution. More ingredients were available, which made them cheaper, and bakeries even started selling pre-baked cakes.
1. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The origin of birthday cakes. | B．The significance of birthday cakes. |
| C．The history of birthday parties. | D．The introduction of cake production. |
2. Who established the tradition of celebrating birthdays with cakes according to the passage?
| A．Germans. | B．Pharaohs. |
| C．Ancient Greeks. | D．Ancient Egyptians. |
3. The underlined word “
torture” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to ________.
| A．pleasure | B．replacement |
| C．sharing | D．suffering |
4. Why was the birthday cake custom unpopular before the Industrial Revolution?
| A．The transport was inconvenient. |
| B．The ingredients of cakes were expensive. |
| C．The cake could not be eaten before dinner. |
| D．The bakeries would not sell pre-baked cakes. |
