Activity of text interpretation, aimed at students in the seventh year of elementary school, about chewing gum. Do you know the origin of gum? According to the author of the text, Long before it became an icon of youth culture, gum already had primitive equivalents to satisfy the instinctive desire to chew – whether to cheat hunger or clean teeth. Well, folks, gum has been around for many, many years! Let's get to know your story? so read the text Do you know how gum came about? Then answer the proposed interpretive questions!
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SCHOOL: DATE:
PROF: CLASS:
NAME:
Read:
The eternally “adolescent” custom is thousands of years old. and deserves respect
Long before it became an icon of youth culture, gum had primitive equivalents to satisfy the instinctive urge to chew – whether to cheat hunger or clean teeth. Something vaguely similar to our idea of chewing gum existed in the Neolithic – and was discovered in Finland in 2007. The gum was made from birch bark tar, and the result was multipurpose: it served as an antiseptic, to treat gum infection, and as a glue to fix pans.
Next were the Mayans and Aztecs. They used gum, a gum from a tree, to make a sticky substance – in addition to chewing it to freshen their breath. And the ancient Greeks had gum mastic, made from aroeira resin, which also had antiseptic properties.
Jumping into the 19th century, New England colonists discovered the product with the Indians, who chewed resins made from tree saps. They liked it so much that they turned the material into a new business. In 1848, the first American gum was sold as The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. The gum had a base of fir resin, beeswax and flavoring. But in 1850, a paraffin wax gum became more popular. To sweeten these resins, the chewer used a dish with powdered sugar – the gum was dipped in there to renew the sweetness.
The first flavored gum appeared in 1860, when American pharmacist John Colgan mixed powdered sugar with a tree extract flavoring. Initially with the format of chewing sticks, the product would gain automatic cutting. That same year, a piece of gum as we know it today was delivered by the then president of Mexico to his secretary, American Thomas Adams. This entrepreneur decided to cut the natural product into strips and flavor it. It was the missing detail for worldwide success.
Adams was the founder, in 1900, of one of the first companies to produce and sell chewing gum, the American Bubble Company. His product did not take long to dominate the market and is marketed to this day: o chewing gum.
Alana Sousa. Available in: .
Question 1 - It can be said that the text intends to:
( ) tell the origin of the gum.
( ) disclose a company that produces gum.
( ) explain the chewing gum manufacturing process.
question 2– “The eternally 'teenager' custom is thousands of years old. and deserves respect”. In the highlighted excerpt, the author of the text:
( ) explains the previous fact.
( ) complements the previous fact.
( ) exposes an opinion about the previous fact.
question 3– In “[…] it served as an antiseptic, to treat gum infection, and as a glue to fix pan.”, the author presents the purposes:
( ) of “gum made from birch bark tar”.
( ) from the “mastic gum, made from aroeira resin”.
( ) of “fir resin gum, beeswax and flavoring”.
Question 4 – In the passage “They used the chicle, a tree gum, to make a sticky substance […]”, the underlined term expresses:
( ) a continuous action of the Indians in the past.
( ) a continuous action of the ancient Greeks in the past.
( ) a continuous action of the Aztecs and Maya in the past.
question 5– According to the text, the gum as we know it today emerged:
( ) in 1848.
( ) in 1860.
( ) in 1900.
question 6– In the period "this entrepreneur decided to cut the natural product into strips and flavor it.”, the underlined part resumes:
( ) “the American pharmacist John Colgan”.
( ) “the then president of Mexico”.
( ) “the American Thomas Adams”.
Question 7 – In the segment “Your product did not take long to dominate the market and is still marketed today […]”, which product does the text refer to?
A:
Per Denyse Lage Fonseca
Graduated in Languages and specialist in distance education.
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