The Mandarin Chinese word for “cha is pronounced “t'e in certain Chinese dialect

The Mandarin Chinese word for “cha” is pronounced “t'e” in certain Chinesedialects(方言). Also the Malay word for the leaf is“the”. This word “the” was used to describeboth the drink and the leaf. The Japanese character for tea is writtenexactly the same as the Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference; sothese may be the origins of our word tea in the western world.

Tea may have been discovered in 2737 BC by Shen Nong,a Chinese Emperor of the San Huang Period（3,000 - 2,700BC）. He was a scholar, the father ofagriculture and the inventor of Chinese herbal medicine. One summer day, whilevisiting a distant place, he and the court stopped to rest and his servantsbegan to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the nearby bushfell into the boiling water, and made it a brown liquid. The Emperor wasinterested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. Thetree was a wild tea tree, and so, tea was created.

The first samples(样品) of teareached England between 1652 and 1654. Tea was referred to as the China drink,tcha, chaw, tay, tee, and tea and was at first regarded more as a medicine thana fashionable drink. The original English pronunciation of the word tea was “tay” and can be traced backto around 1655 when the Dutch introduced both word and beverage（饮料）to England. The pronunciation “tee” also originated inthe 1600's but only gained predominance（主导地位）afterthe late 18th century.

By 1650 the Dutch were actively involved in tradethroughout the Western world. During that year Peter Stuyvesant brought thefirst tea to America to the colonists（殖民地定居者）in theDutch settlement of New Amsterdam （laterre-named New York）.

1.The following information is true EXCEPT ________.

A. The Japanese write the character for tea the sameway as we Chinese.

B. It was a Chinese Emperor who first found tea veryrefreshing.

C. The word “the” was used to describe only the leaf.

D. Tea was discovered quite by chance in history.

2.Paragraph 2 mainly tells us ________.

A. that Shen Nong, was a famous inventor of Chineseherbal medicine

B. why the Emperor was brave and dared to run risks

C. whether Shen Nong liked drinking boiled wateroutside the court

D. the way in which tea was created outdoors 

3.Which of the following information is FALSEaccording to the text?

① Teawas at first regarded just as a fashionable drink in England.

② Tea haddifferent names during the early days it reached England.

③ The pronunciation“tee”originated in 1600.

④ PeterStuyvesant introduced both word “tay” and beverage（饮料）toEngland.

⑤ Thepronunciation“tee”becamepopular after the late 18th century.

A. ①②    B. ②③     C. ④⑤     D. ①④   

4.From Paragraph 3 we know ________.

A. that the leaf tea should be put in hot water fordrinking 

B. that tea was calledthe China drink, tcha, chaw, tay, tee, t'e and tea in England

C. what the early situation of tea was like in theWestern world  

D. that tea was first brought to America in the late 16thcentury

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.D

3.D

4.C

【解析】

试题