For hundreds of years China produced the only teas known to the western world. Tea came in two basic types: Green and Black. Black tea is oxidised whereas green tea is unoxidised. Each type of tea, whether black or green, was available in a number of different quantities, qualities and from a varied number of growing regions within China. Teas were given anglicised Chinese names for consumption in Europe and America.
Some of the teas carried by ships like "Cutty Sark" are still readily available today. Lapsang Souchong, literally "small plant from Lapu Mountain", is renowned for its tarry taste, acquired through drying over pine wood fires. A legend states that this black tea acquired its unique taste by accident. It's said that the Chinese army camped in a tea factory that was full of drying leaves which had to be moved to accommodate the soldiers. When the soldiers left, the leaves needed to be dried quickly, so the workers lit open fires of pine wood to speed up the drying. The tea reached the market on time and a new flavour had been created.
The real reason this black tea originally acquired its smoky flavour is due to the 17th-century preservation methods used by Chinese tea producers when they began to export their teas to Europe and America. Their traditional green teas did not travel as well and quickly lost quality during the 15-18-month journey across land and sea. By the time «Cutty Sark was sailing, this jour ney time had been cut to 6 months.
The producers developed a method of rolling, oxidising and drying their teas so that they would hold their quality for longer. Once the teas had been oxidised, they were spread on bamboo baskets whích were placed on racks in the drying room. This was built over ovens that allowed the heat to rise up through vents in the ceiling and into the drying room above. To fire the ovens, the tea manufacturers used the local pine wood from the forests that surrounded (and still surround) the factories, and as the wood slowly burned, it gave off a certain amount of smoke that was absorbed by the drying tea and gave it a lightly smoked, sappy, pine character.
The factories that made those lightly smoked black teas in Fujian province still manufacture lightly smoked Lapsangs in exactly the same way as they did 400 years ago.
To get the tea safely to Europe in as fresh condition as possible, it was packed into softwood chests which were lined inside with lead foil and covered on the outside with bamboo or rush matting for protection. The tea chests were constructed in a variety of sizes and occasionally irregular shapes to enable the cargo to conform to the finely curved hulls of the tea clippers. The chests were separated at each layer by wooden battens known as dunnage to give rigidity to the stowage of cargo and also to allow the air to circulate. The Tween Deck and the lower hold of "Cutty Sark" would have been packed solidly with such tea chests.
6. According to the text, which of the following statements is true?
A. All the tea from China was carried to England by the ship "Cutty Sark".
B. Lapsang Souchong is the name of a tea producer.
C. Both black tea and green tea are combined chemically with oxygen.
D. The black tea Lapsang Souchong acquired its smoky flavour by chane.
7. As a legend says, the soldersof the Chines army _____
A. lit open fires of pine wood to speed up the tea leaves drying.
B. moved the raw tea leaves aside in order to accommodate themselves for a night.
C. brought the tea to the market on time.
D. created a new tea flavour.
8. The new technique of producing tea with a unique smoky flavour was developed ______
A. in order to make the tea tastier.
B. as a result of creating a new preservation method.
C. because the new tea lost its quality during the 15-18-month journey.
D. by European producers.
9. What can we say from the text about the method of producing tea with the unique smoked taste?
A. The tea was dried on bamboo baskets and after that oxidized.
B. The drying room was located next to the ovens.
C. The tea manufacturers used bamboo wood in order to fire the ovens.
D. The drying tea got its lightly smoked taste from the pine wood used to fire the ovens.
10. Which of the following can be inferred from the text?
A. The method of making those lightly smoked black teas in Fujian province hasn't changed for 40 years already. B. While being transported to Europe, the tea was packed into bamboo chests.
C. The tea chests were of the same size and shape.
D. Dunnage was the wooden battens which separated the tea chests.