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
62
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
JeffBezosTakingthelongviewA)JeffBezos,thefoundera
Whyisshelookingatme______(像是她认识我似的)?I’veneverseenherbe-foreinmyl
人防中心医院第一主要出入口的门洞净宽最小尺寸,哪个正确?( )A.1.0m
某保险公司,2018年1~11月财产保险费收入合计60000万元;12月,取得财
拟接受超出范围的押品办理授信业务的,应直接报送有权行审批部门在信贷审批时一并决策
麦芽发芽工艺不包括()A、取大麦清水浸至6~7成透 B、置透气漏水容器
下列关于平台脚手板铺设的说法正确的是()。A、脚手板应满铺,与墙面距离不得大于
有5个正方形如右图叠放。已知每个正方形的边长都是5cm,它们所覆盖住的面积为11
给定资料 1.山西是我国重要的煤炭工业生产基地,承担着保证国家能源供应,保证矿
(2019年真题)下列经营行为中,属于增值税混合销售行为的是()。A.商场
最新回复
(
0
)