Coffee has a
history dating back to at least the 9th century and has been a catalyst for
social interaction across cultures and eras. Originally discovered in Ethiopia, coffee beans were brought into the Middle East by Arab traders, spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Persia, Turkey, and North Africa by the 15th century. Muslim merchants eventually
brought the beans to the thriving port city of Venice, where they sold them to
wealthy Italian buyers. Soon, the Dutch began importing and growing coffee in
places like Java and Ceylon (largely through slave labor), and the British East
India Trading Company was popularizing the beverage in England. Coffee spread across Europe and even reached America.
Where there has been coffee, there has been the coffeehouse. From
the 15th century Middle Eastern establishments where men gathered to listen to
music, play chess, and hear recitations from works of literature, to Paris'
Cafe le Procope where luminaries of the French Enlightenment such as Voltaire,
Rousseau, and Diderot came to enjoy a hot cup of joe, coffeehouses have
traditionally served as centers of social interaction, places where people can
come to relax, chat, and exchange ideas.
The modern coffee shop is modeled on the espresso and
pastry-centered Italian coffeehouses that arose with the establishment of
Italian-American immigrant communities in major US cities such as New York City's Little Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston's North End, and San Francisco's North Beach. New York coffee shops were often frequented by the Beats in
the 1950's. It wasn't long before Seattle and other parts of the Pacific Northwest were developing coffee shops as part of a thriving counterculture scene.
The Seattle-based Starbucks took this model and brought it into mainstream
culture.
Although coffeehouses today continue to serve their traditional
purpose as lively social hubs in many communities, they have noticeably adapted
to the times. Rediscovering their purpose as centers of information exchange
and communication, many coffee shops now provide their customers with internet
access and newspapers. It has become extremely common to see someone sitting at
a Starbucks listening to music or surfing the web on his or her laptop. Coffee
stores today also maintain a fairly identifiable, yet unique aesthetic: wooden
furniture and plush couches, paintings and murals drawn on walls, and
soft-lighting combine to give coffee shops the cozy feeling of a home away from
home.
Today, big business retail coffee shops are expanding quickly all
over the world. Starbucks alone has stores in over 40 countries and plans to
add more. Despite its popularity, Starbucks has been criticized and labeled by
many as a blood-sucking corporate machine, driving smaller coffee shops out of
business through unfair practices. This has even spawned an anti-corporate
coffee counterculture, with those subscribing to this culture boycotting big
business coffee chains. Increasingly popular coffee stores such as The Coffee
Bean and Tea Leaf are also giving Starbucks some stiff competition. In any
case, it seems pretty clear that coffee has weaved itself into the fabric of
our consumer-oriented culture.
1.
Which of
the following is the correct order of coffee spreading in history?
①Egypt ②America ③the Middle East ④Netherlands ⑤Venice
A. ①③④②⑤ B.
③①⑤④② C.
①⑤④③② D.
③②⑤④①
2.
We can infer
from the passage ________.
A.
Starbucks has beaten all the competitors
B. there are no changes in the development of coffee culture
C. the taste of coffee has changed a lot
D. Starbucks has some effect on the development of coffee culture
3.
The famous
coffeehouse “Starbucks” originally come from _______.
A.
Seattle B.
Ethiopia C.
Java D.
France
4.
Nowadays, if you
come to a coffeehouse, you can _______.
A.
play chess with other customers
B. enjoy delicious dishes from South America
C.
surf the internet
D. watch a TV play