托福听力短文 II-12-2

(MA) Okay, as you look at this next exhibit, you'll notice something quite common --- an ordinary bar of soap. Now, soap has been around a long time --- in fact, the ancient Phoenicians produced soap as a substance for washing the body way back in 600 B.C. They made it by blending goat's fat with wood ash. The Phoenicians, as you may know, regularly traded along the Mediterranean¹, and they were the ones who introduced soap to the Greeks and Romans.

Now, soap was not something welcomed by all countries. In fact, during the superstitious² Middle Ages, many people were afraid to bathe their whole body too frequently. They thought it could be dangerous for their health --- that it could even kill them. And even after the production of soap became common in some European countries in the eleventh and twelfth centuries --- even then some people in the hear of Europe refused to use it. You'll find it interesting that when a duchess was given a box of soap as a present in 1549 she was so insulted that she had the gift --- giver thrown off her estate!

But by the nineteenth century the attitude toward soap had changed drastically. In some regions of Europe the tax on soap was so high that people secretly made their own. A baron³ went so far as to suggest that the wealth of a nation could be judged according to the amount of soap it used.

Now, if you turn your attention to the next exhibit, you can see how soap is manufactured today.

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

3 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。