Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about it. People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained scarce (稀少的) and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it directly from China early in the 17th century. During the next few year so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea. Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added. She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. She was such a great lady that her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o'clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, teatime was born.
【小题1】What do we know about the introduction of tea into Britain?| A．Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
| B．The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
| C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
| D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
| A．In the late 19th century. | B．In the 18th century. |
| C．In the 17th century. | D．In the 16th century. |
| A．drinking tea with milk in it | B．drinking tea without milk in it |
| C．drinking tea after dinner | D．drinking tea in the afternoon |
| A．The history of tea. | B．The ways of making tea. |
| C．The birth of teatime. | D．The habit of drinking tea. |
