Legends about the development of coffee are varied and interesting, involving chance occurrences, political tricks, and the pursuit of wealth and power.
According to one story, a sheepherder named Kaldi, as he tended his sheep, noticed the effect of coffee beans. He noticed that the sheep became excited after eating the red “cherries" from a certain plant when they changed pastures (牧场). He tried it himself, and was soon as overactive as his sheep. Another story relates that a monk happened to discover that this fruit from the shiny green plant could help him stay awake.
Another legend gives us the name for coffee, “mocha”. Omar, an Arabian was thrown to the desert with his followers to die of starvation. In desperation, Omar had his friends boil and eat the fruit from an unknown plant. Not only did the soup save the group, but the residents of the nearest town, Mocha, took their survival as a religious sign. The plant and its beverage (饮料) were named Mocha to honor this event.
Coffee was introduced much later to countries beyond Arabia, whose inhabitants believed it to be a tasty thing and guarded its secret as if they were top secret military plans. The government forbade transportation of the plant out of the Moslem nations. The actual spread of coffee was started illegally. One Arab named Baba Budan smuggled (走私) beans to some mountains near Mysore, India, and started a farm there. Early in this century, some of those original plants were found still growing fruitfully in the region.
Coffee today is grown and enjoyed worldwide, and is one of the few crops that small farmers in third-world countries can profitably export.
小题1:What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?
A．A sheepherder used coffee beans to keep sheep excited.
B．Coffee was a special kind of red cherry from a certain plant.
C．A sheepherder and a monk accidently discovered coffee’s effect.
D．Sheep ate a lot of coffee beans while they changed pastures.小题2:Which of the following involves political tricks?
A．Kaldi’s story.
B．The monk’s story.
C．Omar’s story.
D．Baba Budan’s story.小题3:Mocha is originally the name of ______.
A．a town
B．an Arabian
C．a kind of coffee
D．a sheepherder小题4:What can be the best title for the text?
A．The Secret of Coffee
B．The Tales of Coffee
C．People’s Love for Coffee
D．The Function of Coffee