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
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Ambergris What is it and where d
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Ambergris What is it and where d
admin
2015-05-04
25
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.
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://kaotiyun.com/show/wrNO777K
本试题收录于:
雅思阅读题库雅思(IELTS)分类
0
雅思阅读
雅思(IELTS)
相关试题推荐
Peopleworshipcapital,adoreitsaura,______beforePorschesandTokyolandvalues.
African-Americanfilmmakersshouldbeinanenviableposition,forsincetheearly1990stherehasbeenasteadywaveof
Mostpeoplechoosealawyeronthebasisofsuch______considerationsashiscost,hisfieldofexpertise,andthefeeshecharge
Itisdifficulttoconceivehow,evenforthosepeoplewelldisposedtorulethemselves,theattempttoachievehappinessshould
Akeyfeatureofquantuminformationscienceistheunderstandingthatgroupsoftwoormorequantumobjectscanhavesta
Akeyfeatureofquantuminformationscienceistheunderstandingthatgroupsoftwoormorequantumobjectscanhavesta
ThispassageisadaptedfromTheAmericanRepublic:Constitution,Tendencies,andDestinybyO.A.Brownson,1866.Thean
ThispassageisadaptedfromTheAmericanRepublic:Constitution,Tendencies,andDestinybyO.A.Brownson,1866.Thean
Howisanewbornstarformed?Fortheanswertothisquestion,wemustlooktothefamiliarphysicalconceptofgravitat
WhetherthelanguagesoftheancientAmericanpeopleswereusedforexpressingabstractuniversalconceptscanbeclearlyanswer
随机试题
女,月经过少,不孕就诊,超声图像可提示
女性,38岁,右乳头和乳晕皮肤发红变硬、轻度糜烂,病变与周围界限清楚:乳头表面覆盖有黄褐色鳞屑状痂皮,轻按右侧乳房可见乳头有浆液性液体溢出。双侧乳房内未及肿物,双腋窝未及肿大淋巴结该患者最可能的诊断是
患者,男,65岁。肝区疼痛数月,近来疼痛加重,到医院就诊后建议行腹部CT平扫+增强检查,报告显示肝右叶巨块型肝癌,综合评价后考虑行介入治疗。胆囊动脉来源于
男,32岁。2天前饮酒后出现右上腹疼痛,向右肩部放射。查体:右上腹肌紧张,压痛(+),Murphy征(+)。最可能的诊断是()
手术室面积20m2,高3m,用40%甲醛熏蒸法进行空气消毒,其用量正确的是
监理工程师有效开展监理工作需要( )的信息。
根据《2000年国际贸易术语解释通则》的解释,CIF条件成交的卖方应承担相应的责任。根据此规定,下列选项中属于卖方的责任是()。
利用比较研究法可以直观和方便地观察行业的发展状态和比较优势,在进行行业增长横向比较时,可以取得某行业历年的销售额或营业收入的可靠数据并计算出年变动率,与国民生产总值增长率、国内生产总值增长率进行比较,可以判断该行业是否为增长型行业。()
校园网内的一台计算机无法使用域名而只能使用IP地址访问某个外部服务器,造成这种情况的原因不可能是()。
PassageThreeWhatarethefactorsthatmayleadtoaphysicalheartattack?(Pleaselistnomorethanthreefactors.)
最新回复
(
0
)