3. In the text find as many passive constructions as you can. Translate them into Ukrainian.

4. Answer the questions.

Which plant (or plants) …

- has been grown for thousands of years? - was the main American export until 1820?

- was known as white gold? - became the main American export after 1820?

- was once thought to be a luxury? - was harvested by slaves?

- caused the American Civil War? Why? - has caused the death of many people?

5. What do you think?

- Which of the three plants has most changed history? How?

- Which plant has done the greatest good? Which has done the greatest harm?

Plant life

TEA

British people don’t drink as much tea as they used to, but Great Britain still takes almost twenty-five per cent of all world exports of the commodity. The world’s largest producers of tea are India, China, and Sri Lanka, with Kenia and Malawi increasing in importance.

The quality of tea is affected by the climate, by the attitude at which it is grown and also by which part of the tea bush is plucked. In fact, as tea tasters say, flavour can even depend on which day the leaf is plucked.

Processing tea is a complicated procedure. After the green tea leaf has been plucked, it is processed in a tea factory. Slowly and carefully, the tea is reduced to a small brittle particle, which is then dried and looks like the tea you see in a packet. The tea companies then rely on tasters to value the tea. This has to be done on a day-to-day basis because of the fluctuations in quality. Having to taste up to six hundred cups of tea a day certainly makes the job an unusual one!

Vocabulary

commodity – товар

affect – впливати

pluck – зривати, збирати

flavour – аромат, запах

brittle – крихкий, ламкий

fluctuation – коливання

Comprehension check

Look at the list below. Say which of these considerations are important to the taste of the tea:

- the climate - the tea taster

- the packet - the part of the bush

- where it is grown - the day it is plucked

- who plucks the leaf - the factory

Sunflower

Sunflower is a common name for annual and perennial herbs of a genus of the family of composite flowers. The genus, which contains about 67 species, is thought to be native to South America originally, although sunflowers are now distributed almost worldwide. Some of the tall-growing forms may attain a height of 3 m. The large, solitary blossom, sometimes as large as a meter in diameter, is composed of yellow ray flowers and a central disk of either yellow, brown, or purple flowers, depending on the species. The daily orientation of the flower to the sun is a direct result of differential growth of the stem. A plant-growth regulator, or auxin, accumulates on the shaded side of a plant when conditions of unequal light prevail. Because of this accumulation, the darker side grows faster than the sunlit side. Thus, the stem bends toward the sun.

The plants are cultivated for their seeds. Refined sunflower-seed oil is edible and considered by many equal in quality to olive oil. Cruder sunflower oil is used for making soap and candles. The oil cakes (solid residues after oil is expressed) are used as cattle feed. The raw seeds are used in poultry mixes and are consumed by humans as well. The roots of one species, also called Jerusalem artichoke may be eaten boiled, stewed, or baked.