劍橋雅思13Test2Passage1閱讀原文翻譯 Bring cinnamon to Europe

劍橋雅思13Test2Passage1閱讀原文翻譯 Bring cinnamon to Europe

劍橋雅思13 Test2 Passage1閱讀原文翻譯

第1段

Cinnamon is a sweet, fragrant spice produced from the inner bark of trees of the genus Cinnamomum, which is native to the Indian sub-continent. It was known in biblical times, and is mentioned in several books of the Bible, both as an ingredient that was mixed with oils for anointing people’s bodies, and also as a token indicating friendship among lovers and friends. In ancient Rome, mourners attending funerals burnt cinnamon to create a pleasant scent. Most often, however, the spice found its primary use as an additive to food and drink. In the Middle Ages, Europeans who could afford the spice used it to flavour food, particularly meat, and to impress those around them with their ability to purchase an expensive condiment from the ‘exotic’ East. At a banquet, a host would offer guests a plate with various spices piled upon it as a sign of the wealth at his or her disposal. Cinnamon was also reported to have health benefits, and was thought to cure various ailments, such as indigestion.

肉桂是一種帶有甜味、富有芳香的香料，產(chǎn)自樟屬樹木的內(nèi)層樹皮，原產(chǎn)地為印度次大陸。它在圣經(jīng)時(shí)代就廣為人知，并在圣經(jīng)的多個(gè)章節(jié)被提及。它即可以作為原料跟油混在一起涂抹人們的身體，也被當(dāng)作愛人和朋友之間情誼的象征。在古代羅馬，參加葬禮的吊唁者會(huì)焚燒肉桂以創(chuàng)造怡人的氣味。然而，這種香料最常見的用途還是作為食物和飲料的添加劑。在中世紀(jì)，買的起香料的歐洲人用它來(lái)給食物，尤其是肉類調(diào)味，并利用它向周圍的人炫耀他們能夠買得起來(lái)自奇異東方的昂貴調(diào)料。在宴會(huì)中，主人會(huì)向客人提供堆滿香料的盤子，作為其可支配財(cái)富的象征。肉桂還被認(rèn)為有益于健康，可以治療各種小病，比如消化不良。

第2段

Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the European middle classes began to desire the lifestyle of the elite, including their consumption of spices. This led to a growth in demand for cinnamon and other spices. At that time, cinnamon was transported by Arab merchants, who closely guarded the secret of the source of the spice from potential rivals. They took it from India, where it was grown, on camels via an overland route to the Mediterranean. Their journey ended when they reached Alexandria. European traders sailed there to purchase their supply of cinnamon, then brought it back to Venice. The spice then travelled from that great trading city to markets all around Europe. Because the overland trade route allowed for only small quantities of the spice to reach Europe, and because Venice had a virtual monopoly of the trade, the Venetians could set the price of cinnamon exorbitantly high. These prices, coupled with the increasing demand, spurred the search for new routes to Asia by Europeans eager to take part in the spice trade.

到了中世紀(jì)末期，歐洲中產(chǎn)階級(jí)家庭開始渴望上層人物的生活方式，其中就包括他們對(duì)香料的消費(fèi)。這導(dǎo)致對(duì)肉桂和其他香料需求的增長(zhǎng)。那時(shí)，肉桂由阿拉伯商人負(fù)責(zé)運(yùn)輸。他們對(duì)可能的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者嚴(yán)格保守香料來(lái)源的秘密。他們將它從印度這一生長(zhǎng)地帶走，利用駱駝經(jīng)由陸路運(yùn)至地中海。他們的旅程在到達(dá)亞歷山大港時(shí)終止。歐洲商人會(huì)乘船到那里購(gòu)買他們所提供的肉桂，然后將它帶回威尼斯。之后香料再?gòu)倪@一大型貿(mào)易城市運(yùn)往全歐洲的市場(chǎng)。因?yàn)殛懮腺Q(mào)易路線只能夠運(yùn)輸少量香料到達(dá)歐洲，同時(shí)也因?yàn)橥崴箤?duì)該貿(mào)易的實(shí)際壟斷，威尼斯人可以將肉桂的價(jià)格定的十分離譜。這樣的價(jià)位，再加上日益增長(zhǎng)的需求刺激那些急于在香料貿(mào)易中分一杯羹的歐洲人尋找到達(dá)亞洲的新路線。

第3段

Seeking the high profits promised by the cinnamon market, Portuguese traders arrived on the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean toward the end of the 15th century. Before Europeans arrived on the island, the state had organized the cultivation of cinnamon. People belonging to the ethnic group called the Salagama would peel the bark off young shoots of the cinnamon plant in the rainy season, when the wet bark was more pliable. During the peeling process, they curled the bark into the ‘stick’ shape still associated with the spice today. The Salagama then gave the finished product to the king as a form of tribute. When the Portuguese arrived, they needed to increase production significantly, and so enslaved many other members of the Ceylonese native population, forcing them to work in cinnamon harvesting. In 1518, the Portuguese built a fort on Ceylon, which enabled them to protect the island, so helping them to develop a monopoly in the cinnamon trade and generate very high profits. In the late 16th century, for example, they enjoyed a tenfold profit when shipping cinnamon over a journey of eight days from Ceylon to India.

追逐肉桂市場(chǎng)所帶來(lái)的高額利潤(rùn)，葡萄牙商人在15世紀(jì)末時(shí)來(lái)到了印度洋的錫蘭島。在歐洲人到達(dá)該島嶼之前，其統(tǒng)治者已經(jīng)開始有組織地栽培肉桂。被稱為Salagama的少數(shù)民族會(huì)在雨季期間剝掉肉桂樹嫩枝的樹皮。此時(shí)潮濕的樹皮更為柔韌。在剝皮過程中，他們會(huì)將樹皮卷成棍子的形狀。這一香料形狀一直延續(xù)到今天。隨后，Salagama人會(huì)將制成的產(chǎn)品作為貢品獻(xiàn)給國(guó)王。在葡萄牙人到達(dá)之后，他們需要大幅提升產(chǎn)量，因此奴役了錫蘭島上許多其他的原住民，逼迫他們從事肉桂采集的工作。1518年，葡萄牙人在錫蘭島上建造了一座堡壘，以便他們能夠守衛(wèi)該島，從而幫助他們?nèi)〉萌夤鹳Q(mào)易中的壟斷地位，并產(chǎn)生高額利潤(rùn)。例如，在16世紀(jì)末期，當(dāng)肉桂從錫蘭經(jīng)過8天的旅程到達(dá)印度之后，他們可以賺取10倍的利潤(rùn)。

第4段

When the Dutch arrived off the coast of southern Asia at the very beginning of the 17th century, they set their sights on displacing the Portuguese as kings of cinnamon. The Dutch allied themselves with Kandy, an inland kingdom on Ceylon. In return for payments of elephants and cinnamon, they protected the native king from the Portuguese. By 1640, the Dutch broke the 150-year Portuguese monopoly when they overran and occupied their factories. By 1658, they had permanently expelled the Portuguese from the island, thereby gaining control of the lucrative cinnamon trade.

當(dāng)荷蘭人在17世紀(jì)之初到達(dá)南亞海岸時(shí)，他們期待取代葡萄牙人肉桂之王的地位。荷蘭人與錫蘭島上的一個(gè)內(nèi)陸國(guó)家Kandy結(jié)盟。作為對(duì)方支付大象和肉桂的報(bào)酬，他們保護(hù)當(dāng)?shù)貒?guó)王免受葡萄牙人的侵害。到了1640年，荷蘭人推翻并占領(lǐng)葡萄牙人的工廠，打破了其長(zhǎng)達(dá)150年的壟斷地位。到了1658年，他們永久性地將葡萄牙人驅(qū)逐出該島，并因此控制了一本萬(wàn)利的肉桂貿(mào)易。

第5段

In order to protect their hold on the market, the Dutch, like the Portuguese before them, treated the native inhabitants harshly. Because of the need to boost production and satisfy Europe’s ever-increasing appetite for cinnamon, the Dutch began to alter the harvesting practices of the Ceylonese. Over time, the supply of cinnamon trees on the island became nearly exhausted, due to systematic stripping of the bark. Eventually, the Dutch began cultivating their own cinnamon trees to supplement the diminishing number of wild trees available for use.

為了保護(hù)自己對(duì)市場(chǎng)的掌控，荷蘭人像之前的葡萄牙人一樣，對(duì)待島上居民十分嚴(yán)苛。為了提升產(chǎn)量，滿足歐洲對(duì)肉桂不斷增長(zhǎng)的胃口，荷蘭人開始改變錫蘭人的采集方法。隨著時(shí)間的推移，島上肉桂樹的供應(yīng)因?yàn)樵撓到y(tǒng)性的剝皮而接近枯竭。最終，荷蘭人開始培育他們自己的肉桂樹以彌補(bǔ)可供使用的野生樹木數(shù)量的減少。

第6段

Then, in 1796, the English arrived on Ceylon, thereby displacing the Dutch from their control of the cinnamon monopoly. By the middle of the 19th century, production of cinnamon reached 1,000 tons a year, after a lower grade quality of the spice became acceptable to European tastes. By that time, cinnamon was being grown in other parts of the Indian Ocean region and in the West Indies, Brazil, and Guyana. Not only was a monopoly of cinnamon becoming impossible, but the spice trade overall was diminishing in economic potential, and was eventually superseded by the rise of trade in coffee, tea, chocolate, and sugar.

隨后，1796年時(shí)，英國(guó)人來(lái)到了錫蘭島，就此取代荷蘭人對(duì)肉桂的壟斷地位。19世紀(jì)中葉，在一種品質(zhì)稍低的香料得到歐洲人口味的認(rèn)可之后，肉桂產(chǎn)量達(dá)到每年1000噸。那時(shí)，肉桂在印度洋其他地區(qū)，以及西印度群島、巴西和圭亞那都有種植。不僅壟斷肉桂成為一件不可能的事情，而且整個(gè)香料貿(mào)易的經(jīng)濟(jì)潛力也在縮減，最終被咖啡、茶葉、巧克力和糖的貿(mào)易增長(zhǎng)所超越。

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