阅读理解。
The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates. The best tea usually comes from plants grown
on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because it
encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.
Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they
are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant,
which are the parts used for processing (加工) tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw
their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually
new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.
Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill. There are various
methods of processing depending on the type of tea required. For black tea, the young green leaves are
first spread out on shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft.
After this, the leaves are passed through heavy rollers. This operation will press the leaves for juices
which give the tea both its colour and taste. Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment
(发酵)under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea. The fermented leaves are
then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves. The final step is to sort and
grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.
1. In the first paragraph, the word "pruning" means .
A. regular cutting of the plants
B. frequent watering
C. regular use of chemicals
D. growing the plants high in the mountain
2. One of the reasons why women are employed to do the picking is that .
A. they work harder than men do in the picking
B. they can throw their pickings more easily into the baskets
C. their fingers fit them better for the job
D. they can more easily find the twin leaves
3. How many processing steps for black tea are mentioned in the last paragraph?
A. Three.
B. Four.
C. Five.
D. Six.
4. What is the writer's purpose in writing the passage?
A. To introduce various methods of tea processing.
B. To persuade readers to buy tea from Sri Lanka.
C. To tell a story that had happened in the tea gardens.
D. To inform readers of tea growing, picking and processing.
