时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:轻松英文阅读


英语课

 We love chocolate. We love it so much we eat five kilograms of it a year. But how did it get so popular?


 
 
 
Chocolate was first introduced to Europe about 400 years ago. But it was quite different from the chocolate of the Aztecs in Mexico who first produced it. The Aztecs took the beans of the cocoa tree and ground them into a paste, which was added to water and drunk. It was incredibly bitter. When the Spanish explorers discovered it in the 1600s, they added sugar to sweeten it. This helped it to become popular among the ruling class in Europe.
 
As it spread across Europe, its price decreased and more people were able to experience its wonderful taste. Over the years, advancements 1 were made in processing the beans and today its taste is very consistent.
 
But chocolate sadly has a dark side as well. Often, small children are forced to work on cocoa plantations 2. Because of this, the Fair-Trade Foundation has worked with cocoa growers to make sure they are not using child labor 3. By buying Fair-Trade chocolate, we can have chocolate that is both good for us and good for others.

1 advancements
n.(级别的)晋升( advancement的名词复数 );前进;进展;促进
  • Today, the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements. 当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Great advancements in drought prediction have been made in recent years. 近年来,人们对干旱灾害的预报研究取得了长足的进步。 来自互联网
2 plantations
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 )
  • Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园,使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后,那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句
3 labor
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
学英语单词
a cigarette butt
Abgesangs
Agonomalus
allergy-
arachnophagous
artificial fixtures dental implants
asbestos-reinforced thermoplastics
assembly language display support
ballast tightening device
bicarburetted
blowing ass
botel
business accountance
cast shadows on
centrifugal water chilling unit
chemical flux
cinearteriography
classical optimization
compression characteristic
congenital oculo-facial paralysis
continuous mill
critical ratio
cyclogiro
deadlands
document identification
e-us
effective initial pressure
electoral democracy
evolutionlike
eyespot
fast wave
filmons
fractional melting
frame assertion
frictional torque
general identification test
geodesic lens antenna
geometrisations
ghee oil
girder pass
grinsteads
gun-target line
independent error
infancy
insurgency
interpenetrate
iterative product
kiwi fruit
kogan (kagan)
latitudinal
Laudenbach
loading-bays
log level-period meter
loop filament
lycostoma
mainy
microearthquake
micropaleontologies
molecular interaction
monoclonal
neutrogram
nonwaxed
normal growing-stock for summer's middle
nutzo
overhead feed hopper
paracentesis
PIBW
polarity electric organs
prism-level
produce with low cost
propagation chart
Puerto Maldonado
pure diffusion control
resistive n-terminal element
Riboflavin-5'-monohosphate
S-IPSP
safety-device
salix herbaceas
satranidazole
scandaling
sleep laboratory
Sorbidilat
spectroscopically pure zinc
St-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse
starvation diet
state-transition diagram (table)
stub-tail
suction stops
surgical neck
tertiary triangulation
three stages of ore reserves
tight sheeting
Tomma
transaction auditing
transition arc
trawl buoy
uneventfulness
unretreating
va product
vaccination knife
viruli
wptv