The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates. The best tea usually co

The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually largeestates(种植园). The best tea usually comes from plantsgrown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. Theplants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remainsonly 60 to 90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because itencourages the growth of tender hoots, or young leaves. It is from these shootsthat the best in got.

Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estateslike to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingerscan easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are theparts used for processing(加工)tea. The pickers carrylarge baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker canharvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots canbe picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.

Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leavesrequires great care and skill. There are various methods of processingdepending on the type of tea required. For black tea, the young green leavesare first spread out on shelves to dry. This process removes much of its waterand the leaves become soft. After this, the leaves are passed through heavyrollers. This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the teaboth its colour and taste. Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left toferment(发酵)under wet conditions. Fermentationdevelops the rich taste of black tea. The fermented leaves are then dried witha hot­air blower until they become rolled­up black leaves. The final step is tosort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries allover the world.

1.In the first paragraph, theword“pruning”means______.

A．regularcutting of the plants.               B．frequentwatering

C．regular useof chemicals                  D．growing theplants high in the mountain

2.One of the reasons why women are employed to do thepicking is that________.

A．they workharder than men do in picking

B．they canthrow their picking more easily into the baskets

C．their fingersfit them better for the job

D．they can moveeasily find the twin leaves

3.How many processing steps are mentioned in the lastparagraph?

A．Three.　          B．Four.             C．Five.　           D．Six.

4.What's the writer's purpose in writing the passage?

A．To introducevarious methods of tea processing.

B．To persuadereaders to buy tea from Sri Lanka.

C．To tell astory that had happened in the tea gardens.

D．To informreaders of tea growing, picking and processing.

试题答案

【答案】

1.A

2.C

3.C

4.D

【解析】

试题