疯狂英语阅读：THESTORIESofROME！

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:06:08 11:29:55
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

These 1)skyscrapers are built of mud there in the Yemen. Theyre over 400 years old. The reason theyre so tightly packed together is not because of the cost of 2)real estate, its a protection against the fierce heat. The 3)Yemeni have been building high rises like this for over a thousand years.

But the Romans got there first. Nobody can be quite sure how high the department lots went up. but a letter found in one ancient Roman city gives directions to an apartment on the 8th floor. The Roman architect, Vetruvious wrote “in view of Romes unlimited number of citizens, necessity has driven us to build high. By the use of stone, brick andconcrete, buildings are raised with several stories. producing very convenient apartments.”

Well there it was. As soon as you start building high, the city becomes a more dangerous place to live in. As the great Roman historian, Livy, recorded, “I sincerely regret that I have to report that an ox fell from the 4th story of an apartment block on the forum floorarium.” Look out below!

Who invented cooking? Well we dont know, but God bless him anyway. Although another thing that makes city life more 4)convivial is being able to eat good food without necessarily havingto cook it yourself. And in ancient times this was often vital for city 5)dwellers. In Rome, for example, none of those people 6)crammed together in high-rise apartment lots had chimneys and very few had pot fires to cook on. So they relied on being able to eat out or else another great invention of ancient times -- take away.

There were dozens of 7)snack bars like this in Roman cities serving anything from cheesecake and 8)custard to 9)sterile 10)sows 11)wombs and stuffed door mice.

The Roman writer, Armeanus Masolines, has left us with a description of what these Roman snack bars were actually like. “Even concoction,” he tells us, “People led by the odor of cooking but want to stand on 12)tiptoe beside the pots 13)gnawing the ends of their fingers as they wait for the dishes to cool. Others hang over the 14)nauseous mass of half raw meat while it is cooking watching intently.”

Heres an ancient Roman recipe from the first century A.D. Its from a very early cook book by a 15)chap named Pigleus. The dish is called Pesicia Arman Tarta. You take some ground beef and a little salt and some pine 16)kernels and a little croak -- I dontknow how you pronounce it -- its a sort of sticky white wine, and you mix it all together. Its even better if youre doing this in a bowl. Then you put it all together and make it into a sort of pate. I know its a bit crude using your hands but its actually the best way of doing it. You make it into a little pate like that and then put it in the pan. Heres one I cooked up earlier, 2000 years earlier. To serve it you put it in between two pieces of bread. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the ancient Romans apparently invented the hamburger.