The Lowdown on Gum|口香糖解密

The Lowdown on Gum

by Marcus Maurice

For more than 5,000 years, people have been putting things in their mouths and chewing them.

　　Greeks, Mayans, and Native Americans used to chomp on tree resin. The Curtis family in Maine learned how to harvest resin from Native Americans. They added flavor to it and then started to sell their _(1)_ of gum for a penny in 1848.

　　In 1860, a substitute for rubber known as chicle (树胶) was made _(2)_ chewing gum. While chicle never _(3)_ as a replacement for rubber, it became very popular as gum. Another milestone in the gum world came in 1928, when Walter Diemer, an accountant at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, _(4)_ with new recipes. His gum was pink and less sticky than chewing gum. Diemer taught all his salespeople how to blow bubbles with the gum. Soon, the first bubble gum called Double Bubble was invented. Bubble gum is now available in every _(5)_ flavor. There's even a world's record of 23 inches for the biggest bubble ever measured.

　　One strange fact about gum is that its popularity _(6)_ because of the military. During World War II, an image of a soldier was used to sell Wrigley's gum. This was because Wrigley's donated a lot of gum to the military to be used as a stress reliever as well as a safer _(7)_ to smoking. If you ever need to wake up while doing a boring assignment or to relax in a stressful environment, gum can help.

1. (A) loan (B) version      (C) issue   (D) remedy

2. (A) about     (B) of   (C) into      (D) over

3. (A) put off    (B) caught on  (C) paid off      (D) got by

4. (A) experiments      (B) to experiment  (C) experimenting (D) experimented

5. (A) imaginable  (B) persuasive (C) tremendous     (D) complex

6. (A) glided    (B) soared (C) declined    (D) tumbled

7. (A) determination    (B) enlargement    (C) motivation (D) alternative

口香糖解密

五千多年来，人们一直把一些东西放进嘴里咀嚼。

　　希腊人、马雅人和印第安人过去都会咀嚼树脂。美国缅因州的柯蒂斯家族向印第安人学到了采集树脂的方式。1848 年，他们为树脂添加了风味，并开始贩卖价值一分钱的自创口香糖。

　　1860 年，一种称为树胶的橡胶替代品被制成了口香糖。虽然树胶从未以橡胶替代品而盛行，但它却以成为了口香糖而大受欢迎。口香糖世界的另一项里程碑建立于1928 年，当时服务于美国宾州费城 Fleer 口香糖公司的一位会计师瓦尔特．迪耶梅实验出了新配方。他的口香糖是粉红色的，而且没有一般口香糖那么黏。迪耶梅教导他旗下的业务员如何用这种口香糖吹出泡泡。不久，首批名为 Double Bubble 的泡泡糖就问世了。现今，你可以买到各种想象得到口味的泡泡糖。而有史以来测量过最大的泡泡糖有 23 英寸，甚至写下了世界纪录。

　　说来也怪，口香糖的人气竟因军方的关系而急速攀升。第二次世界大战期间，一名士兵的肖像被用来销售箭牌公司的口香糖。这是因为箭牌公司捐赠了许多口香糖给军方，这些口香糖被用来当作一种纾解压力的方法，此外，口香糖也是比吸烟更安全的替代物。如果你在从事无趣的任务时需要清醒一下，或置身于充满压力的环境下想要放松一下，口香糖会帮得上忙。

答案： 1.   B   2.   C   3.   B   4.   D   5.   A

      6.   B   7.   D

 

　　口香糖通常以蔗糖为甜味剂，使用过量可能会引致蛀牙。不过，一些以代糖如木糖醇等作为甜味剂的口香糖能减低蛀牙风险，而且咀嚼过程中分泌的唾液更有助牙齿健康。另外，在飞机上咀嚼口香糖可帮助减轻身体因气压改变而引起的不适。口香糖的成份一般以不会黏到内脏的物质构成，即使不慎吞下口香糖，身体也能将其排出体外。不过，吞入一些质量不佳的口香糖可能会引起身体不适。无糖口香糖内所含的木糖醇不能被细菌代谢，而咀嚼口香糖能够刺激唾液腺分泌口水，口水呈碱性能够中和口腔的酸，所以在进食后咀嚼口香糖能防止蛀牙。