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Wild carrots probably evolved with the other flowering plants, about 360 million years ago.
在大约3.6亿年前，野生胡萝卜也许是和其它可以开花植物一起进化的。
Like apples, carrots are native to Central Asia.
和苹果一样，胡萝卜也是中亚的本土植物。
That's why horses, which also come from Central Asia, like both apples and carrots so much.
这就是为什么同样来自中亚的马，那么喜欢胡萝卜和苹果的原因。
With wild carrots, the roots are white, small and skinny, so we have to pick a lot of wild carrots to get enough to eat.
因为野生胡萝卜的根是白色的，且又小又细，所以我们需要采很多野生胡萝卜才够吃。
Doctors used carrot seeds and roots as medicine, on the theory that foods that taste bad must be good for you.
医生把胡萝卜的种子和根做成药，是基于“良药苦口”这个理论的。
Around 800 AD, people in Central Asia, managed to develop a new kind of carrot-a purple carrot that attracted more interest from international traders.
在公元800年，中亚的人们成功地研发出一种新的胡萝卜，一种更吸引国际贸易者的紫色胡萝卜。
Then in the late 1500s, food scientists in the Netherlands cultivated large, straight, sweet, red carrots like the ones we eat today,
随后，在16世纪后期，荷兰的食物科学家培育出了又大又直又甜的红色胡萝卜，与我们今天吃的胡萝卜类似，
but people still mostly fed carrots to horses,donkeys and pigs, and didn't eat them themselves.
但是当时的人基本上都用胡萝卜喂马、驴和猪，而不是他们自己吃。
In the 1600, people in China used carrots as medicine, but they also ate carrots boiled in soup.
在17世纪，中国人把胡萝卜当作药，但是他们也用胡萝卜煮汤。
The red color was popular for Chinese New Year celebrations.
红色是中国春节时很流行的一种颜色。
But carrots got their biggest boost during the two World Wars
但在两次世界大战期间，胡萝卜得到了最大的推广，
when food shortages force people to eat them and governments told everyone how healthy carrots were.
因为食物短缺迫使人们食用它们，而且政府告诉每个人，胡萝卜是多么健康。
Today, cooler countries grow most of the world's carrots.
如今，气候更凉爽的国家种植了世界上大部分的胡萝卜。
Machines do most of the planting and picking.
其中大多数是由机器种植和采摘的。
And carrots are easy to store and ship, so they are cheap almost everywhere.
并且由于胡萝卜易于储存和运输，所以它们在任何地方都很便宜。
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
请根据你刚刚听到的文章回答问题16至问题18。
Question 16: What do we learn from the talk about wild carrots?
问题16：我们从关于野生胡萝卜的讨论中获悉了什么?
Question 17: What does the speaker say about carrots in the late 1500s?
问题17：对16世纪末期的胡萝卜，发言人提到了什么？
Question 18: Why did people turn to carrots for food during the two world wars?
问题18：在两次世界大战期间，人们为什么转而将胡萝卜当作食物？
