高考英语时文阅读材料(十六)

英语高考时文阅读材料（十六）

编者：如今的英语高考、模拟考的阅读材料（完形填空、阅读理解、任务型阅读）大都选自中国、欧美等主流媒体的最新时鲜文章，与最新人文科技、政治文化接轨。作为一名考生，在接触阅读世界最新潮流的同时也应该积累素材，并培养相关英语文章的阅读能力。

下面摘取了最新的来自中国日报网（CHINA DAILY）的两篇文章，并做了必要的批注，且于文章末尾增添了几个小习题，可自行按照所附的参考答案检测阅读效果。

为什么情人节要送巧克力？

Why do we give chocolate for Valentine‘s Day?

2020-02-14

Photo by Jessica Johnston on Unsplash

It's impossible to navigate （驾驶，路过）virtually any kind of retail store（零售店）in February without seeing displays of pink and red chocolate boxes around every corner. Chocolate has become a standard Valentine's Day gift, right up there with flowers and jewelry, but the treat didn't develop its romantic reputation（名声）overnight. It took centuries of myths, marketing, and traditions to write chocolate into Valentine's Day history.

The first people to connect love and chocolate were the Mayans（玛雅人）. They started brewing（酿造）drinks made from cocoa beans around 500 BC—centuries before the first Feast of St. Valentine. This early hot chocolate was an important part of Mayan wedding rituals（仪式）. The bride and groom would exchange sips of the beverage（饮料）during the ceremony, foreshadowing （预示）chocolate's future status as a universal expression of love.

The Aztecs（阿兹特克人）had a less wholesome（健康的，纯洁的）view of the ingredient（要素）. According to legend, the emperor Montezuma II binged huge quantities of cocoa beans to fuel his romantic affairs. Chocolate does contain small amounts of tryptophan（色氨酸）

and phenylethylamine（苯基乙胺）, two chemicals associated with feelings love and desire, but scientists say there isn't enough of either substance to make chocolate a strong aphrodisiac.

aphrodisiac[ˌæfrəˈdɪziæk]: n. 春药；催欲剂

Stories of chocolate's effects in the bedroom persisted（流传）nonetheless, which might explain why candy-sellers embraced the sweet treats when Valentine's Day became popular. Cadbury debuted the first heart-shaped box of chocolates in 1861, and it was an instant success. The package was embellished（装饰）with cupids and roses to appeal to customers shopping for Valentine's Day gifts. And once the box was empty,

it could be used to store keepsakes like love letters and locks of hair.

尽管如此，巧克力对房事效果的传说故事还是流传了下来，这也许可以解释为什么情人节兴起时糖果商会卖这种甜食。1861年吉百利推出了首款心形盒装巧克力，立刻大获成功。这种心形盒子装饰了爱神丘比特的图案和玫瑰花来吸引采购情人节礼品的顾客。如果盒子里的巧克力吃光了，还可以用来装情书和头发等纪念品。

keepsake[ˈkiːpseɪk]: n. 纪念品

Photo by FreeModels Agency on Unsplash

Cadbury didn't patent（申请专利）the heart-shaped chocolate box, so the

rest of the candy industry started manufacturing similar packaging of their own. It wasn't long before chocolates became synonymous（商业化）

with the newly-commercialized holiday.

Valentine's Day chocolates are exchanged around the world, but they're attached to interesting traditions in some countries. Thanks to a successful marketing campaign, women in Japan have to give "obligation chocolates" to all the men they know on February 14.