TeaproductioninSriLankahasthrivedfordecades.Theteagarde...

问题详情：

Tea production in Sri Lanka has thrived for decades. The tea gardens in Hatton, Sri Lanka are actually large tea estates. The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one meter apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimeters high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.

Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilograms of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.

Processing tea shoots into our familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill. There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required. For black tea, the young green leaves are first spread out shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this, the leaves are passed through heavy rollers. This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its color and taste. Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment（发酵）under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea. The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves. The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.

29. The underlined word “pruning” means “           ”.

A. reasonable use of chemicals                      B. regular cutting of the plants  

C. frequent watering                                    D. loosening the soil

30. How many processing steps are mentioned in the last paragraph?

A. Six                B. Five                     C.  Four                     D. Three

31. What does the author imply in the passage?

   A. Fermentation is a must to enrich the flavour of black tea.

   B. Women pickers are welcomed because they can easily find the twin leaves.

C. Tea production has long been prosperous in Sri Lanka.

   D. Tea pickings can be done biweekly.

【回答】

BBC

知识点：*经济文化类

题型：完型填空