首页
登录
职称英语
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading P
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading P
游客
2024-01-08
47
管理
问题
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Ambergris
What is it and where does it come from ?
Ambergris was used to perfume cosmetics in the days of ancient Mesopotamia and almost every civilization on the earth has a brush with ambergris. Before 1,000 AD, the Chinese names ambergris as lung sien hiang, "dragon’s spittle perfume." as they think that it was produced from the drooling of dragons sleeping on rocks at the edge of a sea. The Arabs knew ambergris as anbar, believing that it is produced from springs near seas. It also gets its name from here. For centuries, this substance has also been used as a flavouring for food.
During the Middle Ages, Europeans used ambergris as a remedy for headaches, colds, epilepsy, and other ailments. In the 1851 whaling novel Moby-Dick, Herman Melville claimed that ambergris was "largely used in perfumery." But nobody ever knew where it really came from. Experts were still guessing its origin thousands of years later, until the long ages of guesswork ended in the 1720’s, when Nantucket whalers found gobs of the costly material inside the stomachs of sperm whales. Industrial whaling quickly burgeoned. By 20th century ambergris is mainly recovered from inside the carcasses of sperm whales.
Through countless ages, people have found pieces of ambergris on sandy beaches. It was named grey amber to distinguish it from golden amber, another rare treasure. Both of them were among the most sought-after substances in the world, almost as valuable as gold.(Ambergris sells for roughly $20 a gram, slightly less than gold at $30 a gram.)Amber floats in salt water, and in old times the origin of both these substances was mysterious. But it turned out that amber and ambergris have little in common. Amber is a fossilized resin from trees that was quite familiar to Europeans long before the discovery of the New World, and prized as jewelry. Although considered a gem, amber is a hard, transparent, wholly-organic material derived from the resin of extinct species of trees, mainly pines.
To the earliest Western chroniclers, ambergris was variously thought to come from the same bituminous sea founts as amber, from the sperm of fishes or whales, from the droppings of strange sea birds(probably because of confusion over the included beaks of squid)or from the large hives of bees living near the sea. Marco Polo was the first Western chronicler who correctly attributed ambergris to sperm whales and its vomit.
As sperm whales navigate in the oceans, they often dive down to 2 km or more below the sea level to prey on squid, most famously the Giant Squid. It’s commonly accepted that ambergris forms in the whale’s gut or intestines as the creature attempts to "deal" with squid beaks. Sperm whales are rather partial to squid, but seemingly struggle to digest the hard, sharp, parrot-like beaks. It is thought their stomach juices become hyper-active trying to process the irritants, and eventually hard, resinous lumps are formed around the beaks, and then expelled from their innards by vomiting. When a whale initially vomits up ambergris, it is soft and has a terrible smell. Some marine biologists compare it to the unpleasant smell of cow dung. But after floating on the salty ocean for about a decade, the substance hardens with air and sun into a smooth, waxy, usually rounded piece of nostril heaven. The dung smell is gone, replaced by a sweet, smooth, musky and pleasant earthy aroma.
Since ambergris is derived from animals, naturally a question of ethics arises, and in the case of ambergris, it is very important to consider. Sperm whales are an endangered species, whose populations started to decline as far back as the 19th century due to the high demand for their highly emollient oil, and today their stocks still have not recovered. During the 1970’s, the Save the Whales movement brought the plight of whales to international recognition. Many people now believe that whales are "saved". This couldn’t be further from the truth. All around the world, whaling still exists. Many countries continue to hunt whales, in spite of international treaties to protect them. Many marine researchers are concerned that even the trade in naturally found ambergris can be harmful by creating further incentives to hunt whales for this valuable substance.
One of the forms ambergris is used today is as a valuable fixative in perfumes to enhance and prolong the scent. But nowadays, since ambergris is rare and expensive, and big fragrance suppliers that make most of the fragrances on the market today do not deal in it for reasons of cost, availability and murky legal issues, most perfumeries prefer to add a chemical derivative which mimics the properties of ambergris. As a fragrance consumer, you can assume that there is no natural ambergris in your perfume bottle, unless the company advertises this fact and unless you own vintage fragrances created before the 1980s. If you are wondering if you have been wearing a perfume with this legendary ingredient, you may want to review your scent collection. Here are a few of some of the top ambergris containing perfumes: Givenchy Amarige, Chanel No. 5, and Gucci Guilty.
Questions 1-6
Classify the following information as referring to
A ambergris only
B amber only
C both ambergris and amber
D neither ambergris nor amber
Write the correct letter, A, B, C, or D in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet. [br] being see-through
选项
答案
B
解析
该题目信息对应文章第三段最后一句话“Although considered a gem,amber is a hard,transparent,wholly—organic material derived from the resin of extinct species of trees,mainly pines”,这里“transparent”对应题目信息“see-through”,而原文却未提及“ambergris”是否透明,所以正确答案为B。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3344008.html
相关试题推荐
ReadingPassage2hassixsectionsA-F.Choosethemostsuitableheadingsforse
LookatFigures1,2,3and4inReadingPassage3.Choosethemostappropriate
LookatFigures1,2,3and4inReadingPassage3.Choosethemostappropriate
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEwordfromReadingPassage3foreachansw
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEwordfromReadingPassage3foreachansw
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEwordfromReadingPassage3foreachansw
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEwordfromReadingPassage3foreachansw
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEwordfromReadingPassage3foreachansw
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEwordfromReadingPassage3foreachansw
Completethenotesbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfromReadingPassage2
随机试题
A…………filmindustryB……………movietheatreC…………first—runcinema
WhowontheWorldCup1994footballgame?WhathappenedattheUnitedNa
SincetheUSAgencyforInternationalDevelopment(USAID)beganitsfirstHI
无排卵型月经,首选促排卵的药物为:()A.人工周期疗法 B.雌激素
从所给的四个选项中,选择最合适的一个填入问号处,使之呈现一定的规律性:
地黄饮子主治的病证是A阴虚火旺证 B肝肾阴虚,肝气郁滞证 C肾阳不足证 D
组成普通地图的主体要素部分是()A:数学要素B:地理要素C:辅助要素D:补
国家统计局每年发布的统计公报运用许多重要统计指标和数据反映一年来国民经济和社会发
某市商务中心区两座相邻的高层写字楼,建筑高度分别为68m和54m,耐火等级均为一
下列哪项不是急性糜烂出血性胃炎的常见病因A.非甾体抗炎药 B.脑外伤 C.乙
最新回复
(
0
)