Tea bag drinking is most Westerns’ favorite way of drinking tea. Do you know how it came about?
The tea bag was invented in 1908 by Thomas Sullivan, an American tea seller. He was sending out free tea in silk (丝绸) bags for people to try. People put the bags together with the tea leaves into the cup and added hot water. The tea tasted good, and people thought it was easy to clean the cup. They were not happy when Sullivan started sending them loose (散的) tea again.
Sullivan realized that he had a hot new thing in his hands, and he built a machine to pack the bags. As tea bags became popular, they were changed from silk to gauze (薄纱) and later paper. In 1952, Lipton Tea made the tea bag even more popular with its invention of the four-sided tea bag. Tea bags were soon a hit in the UK, and today 85% of the tea in the UK is packed in paper bags.
However, many people still prefer loose-leaf tea. This is because some tea companies put not very good tea in their tea bags. But for most drinkers, tea bags are still the easy, tasty way to go.
1. Who invented the tea bag?
A. An English tea seller. B. Chinese. C. Lipton. D. Thomas Sullivan.
2. The tea in silk bags was welcome because ________.
A. the tea in bags was free and very good
B. the tea tasted good and the cup was easy to wash
C. people were happy with the loose tea
D. people didn’t know any better way to enjoy the tea
3. The material of the tea bags is usually __________ now.
A. silk B. gauze C. paper D. plastic
4. The underlined sentence “Tea bags were soon a hit in the UK” probably means “__ in the UK”.
A. Tea bags soon became popular
B. Tea bags surprised everyone very much
C. Tea bags kicked (踢) the loose-leaf tea out of the market
D. Tea bags weren’t allowed to be sold
5. The reading mainly talks about ___________.
A. the invention of tea B. the way of drinking tea
C. the history of tea bags D. people’s favorite tea in the world