首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Bananas There are so many aspects to this strange and wonderful fruit. Even its shape is a bit mysterious, conjuring images
Bananas There are so many aspects to this strange and wonderful fruit. Even its shape is a bit mysterious, conjuring images
admin
2010-04-12
36
问题
Bananas
There are so many aspects to this strange and wonderful fruit. Even its shape is a bit mysterious, conjuring images of tropical islands and sun-filled days. Did you know that the word" banana" originates from the Arabic and means finger?
The banana is so popular in America today that four million tons of them are imported every year. One banana has less water, fifty percent more food energy, four times the protein, half the fat, twice the carbohydrate, almost three times the phosphorus, five times the Vitamin C and iron and at least twice the other vitamins and minerals as an apple! The average American eats 33 pounds of bananas a year. An excellent source of potassium and carbohydrates, they can be eaten any time of the day because of their digestive properties. Natural sugar provides energy for those sports requiring endurance and low proportions of sodium chloride are a good recommendation for salt free diets. Eat at least one banana a day, they are said to contain everything a human needs.
That is all quite impressive but where did the banana come from in the first place? Buddhist texts from 600BC mention the banana for the first time in history. Alexander The Great tasted bananas in the Indus Valley in 327BC and in his day they were called "pala". China records the presence of banana plantations as far back as 200AD. In 650AD Islamic conquerors brought bananas back to Palestine and through trade spread them all over Africa. Wild forms of the banana plant come originally from the Indo-Malaysian area and are now cultivated all over the tropical and sub-tropical continents. They were unknown to the New World until 1516 when Spanish missionary, Father Tomas de Berlanger, brought the first plants there.
How do they grow? The whole matter is extremely confusing. The banana tree itself (even though it is not a tree but a giant plant)is by definition a herb. What is a herb? It is a flowering plant with a fleshy, rather than woody, stem. Each stem consists of ten to fourteen hands, each carrying from eighteen to twenty bananas. The stem however is a false one, formed by tightly wrapped overlapping leaves, resembling stalks of celery. The plant belongs to the same family as lilies, orchids and palms and the fruit is a berry. By definition, a berry is a simple fruit having a skin surrounding one or more seeds in a fleshy pulp. A banana cut lengthwise will reveal very tiny black seeds within its center. Therefore, a banana is a fruit, herb, berry and plant all at the same time. Maybe that is where the expression" going bananas" meaning" going crazy" comes as people tried to decide what a banana really was!
There are about four hundred different varieties of this fabulous fruit. At this moment there are five different types of bananas common on the market. Red bananas have a green/red peel and pink fruit flesh. They taste the same as yellow bananas. The redder a fruit, the more carotene it contains. Carotene is commonly found in carrots and thought to be very healthy, although too much will turn your skin orange! Fruit-bananas are the normal, yellow bananas of about 15-30 cm whilst apple-bananas are smaller, 8-10 cm, and ripen faster. They are also yellow. The baby-banana(pisang susa) is yellow as well and measures 6-8 cm. It is the sweetest of the banana family. Finally baking-bananas are large, 30 to 40 cm. and arc green, yellow or red-like. They cannot be eaten raw. They fulfill the role of the potato in the tropical countries.
The three most important brands are Chiquita, Bonita and Fyffe. The Chiquita’s production sites are located in Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and Columbia. The Bonita banana hails from Ecuador and is the cheapest of the three, but only because it is never advertised. Fyffe was founded in 1888 and has the distinction of being the oldest fruit brand in the world. These bananas are produced in Belize, Columbia, Honduras, Suriname, Jamaica and the Windward Islands.
Harvesting is a race against time that starts while the banana is still green. From harvest to delivery at the supermarket twenty days remain before the banana spoils. Transportation is done with specialized refrigerated cargo ships; each containing some 250,000 boxes of bananas collected the day before. The bananas are stocked in "ripening rooms" for six to eight days at a temperature that cannot exceed 14.5C. This temperature allows a homogenous ripening of the bananas of different sizes.
The colour of a banana’s skin indicates its degree of ripeness, but here is a more precise guide. Green bananas are not ripe, but can be safely used in soups and stews. Yellow with green tips indicates the fruit is partially ripe and it can be broiled, baked or fried. All yellow bananas are ripe and are best eaten raw or baked into cakes or pies. Yellow bananas with brown freckles are fully ripe and can be eaten raw, in a salad or in any other dishes calling for uncooked fruit. All brown bananas are over ripe, but if the flesh is firm they are still in prime eating condition. Blackened areas indicate bruised fruit and should be avoided.
Bananas can be utilized in hundreds of dishes prepared in as many ways. Roasted, fried, broiled, parboiled, baked, sauteed or eaten raw, the results are always delicious. They can serve as relishes, stuffing for goose, duck, turkey or chicken, sauces, spreads, jellies, jams, candies, cake and pie filling, flour for breads and fresh fruit in salads. In Eastern Africa you can buy banana beer. This beer is brewed from bananas.
Wild bananas originally grew in Central America.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
B
解析
文章第三段最后两句,讲述了野生香蕉最早生长在马来群岛区域,直到 1516年被西班牙传教士Tomas de Berlanger带到美洲。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/GKk7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
A、Anunusualschool.B、Astrangeeducationalapproach.C、Anunusualperson.D、Whyaspecificschoolwasestablished.A文章讨论的是一个学校
TheLanguageLearningTheorycourseisanoptionduringthethirdsemesterofyourprogram.Itisanintroductiontoaspectsof
WhichofthefollowingisTRUEaboutmemory?Accordingtothepassage,memoryishelpfulinone’slifeinthefollowingaspects
Lessonsfromthe1918FluThelasttimeanowinfluenzavirusreachedpandemiclevelswasin1968,buttheepisodewasnots
A、Thatdrugsshouldnotbeusedwithoutdoctors’advice.B、Thatdrugsandsubstancesaredifferent.C、Thatsubstancesshouldbe
Notmanyoftheelementsoccurinnatureaspuresubstances,lyingaroundwaitingforsomeonetopickthemup.Afewdo,andit
Thefourbloodtypesare【C1】______asA,B,AB,andO.BloodtypeA【C2】______redbloodcellsthathaveasubstanceAontheirsur
随机试题
男,重体力劳动工人,腰腿痛,并向左下肢放射,咳嗽、打喷嚏时加重。检查腰部活动明显受限,并向左倾斜,直腿抬高试验阳性。病程中无低热、盗汗、消瘦症状。为明确诊断。最有意义的检查是
下面哪项不是甲状腺功能亢进症的常见表现()
牙体缺损修复时.牙体预备的要求哪项不正确
经游标卡尺实测检查,翻盖式灭火器箱箱盖在正面突出不超过()mm,在侧面不超过45mm,且均不小于()mm。
会计电算化起到的作用是减轻了财会人员的(),提高了会计工作的效率。
某市区的一个工业企业2009年底将未开发的土地使用权进行转让,取得收入720万元,签订了转让合同。年初取得该土地使用权时支付金额530万元,转让时发生相关费用16万元。转让该土地行为应缴纳土地增值税为()万元。
年鉴的特点不包括()。
我国刑事强制工作的基本依据是()。
南京彭某将跌倒的老太太扶起来。结果老太太家人对彭某起诉医疗赔偿,法院判处彭某赔偿老太太费用4万多元。此事发生后.各地出现有人晕倒、摔伤.都没有人主动上前搀扶的现象。甚至发生昏迷者无人送医而致死的事件。针对此事你有什么看法?
IcametoAfricawithonepurpose:IwantedtoseetheworldoutsidetheperspectiveofEuropeanegocentricity.Thesimplestway
最新回复
(
0
)