According to legend, Marco Polo brought the secrets of ice cream with him from

the Orient, together with a lot of other savories. There is, however, no proof of
that, although there is some evidence that the Chinese indulged in iced drinks and
desserts, which gives some weight to the Marco Polo theory. The Chinese did,
however, teach Arab traders how to combine syrups and snow, to make an early
version of the sherbet. Arab traders proceeded to show Venetians, then Romans,
how to make this frozen delight. The Emperor Nero was quite fond of pureed fruit,
sweetened with honey, and then mixed with snow - so much so that he had special
cold rooms built underneath the imperial residence in order to store snow. In the
1500s, Catherine de Medici brought the concept of the sorbet to the French, who
were soon to make a great improvement on it. As you must have noted, the above
are frozen desserts, not ice cream. That invention awaited the development of the
custard, then the discovery that freezing it would create a heavenly dessert. This
notable event occurred in 1775 in France, and was shortly followed by the
invention of an ice cream machine, which did a much better job of creating a light
and fluffy frozen custard than beating by hand could do. Thomas Jefferson, who
imitated Nero in having a special cold room for storing snow, provided us with the
first recipe for ice cream found in the United States. Not to be outdone, George
Washington invested in one of the ice cream machines. Until 1851, ice cream (or,
more frequently, cream ice) was solely made at home. But a daring man from
Baltimore, named Jacob Fussell, changed all that by opening the first ice cream
factory. Near the turn of the century, the ice cream soda was created, although by
who seems to be in question - either James W. Tuff or Robert Green. It does seem
to have been done by accident, however, a scoop of ice cream falling in a glass of
flavored soda water. At any rate, the drink became a national craze, and many a
girl and boy went courting over an ice cream soda. So many, in fact, that many
municipalities passed laws forbidding the sale of soda water on Sunday. Quickly
afterwards, the 'sundae' was invented - it contained ice cream, syrup, and whipped
cream of the soda, but without the evil influence of soda water. Numerous
variations existed. The next ice cream craze came with the 1904 Louisiana
Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. Charles Menches was doing a lively business
selling scoops of ice cream in dishes, all the way up to the point that he ran out of
dishes. Frustrated, but determined to still find a way to make a profit, he lighted
upon his friend Ernest Hamwi, who was selling a wafer-like cookie called zalabia
(a Syrian treat). The combination proved irresistible. 6. Which of the following is
TRUE according to the passage? A The first ice cream was made of snow. В
Marco Polo added savories to ice cream. C The Chinese taught the Italians to make
ice cream. D Frenchmen played a great role in developing ice cream. 7. It is stated
in the passage that ........... . A Nero kept snow in a special basement В Catherine
de Medici was fond of frozen desserts C Thomas Jefferson created the first ice
cream recipe D George Washington invented a device for making ice cream 8. It is
NOT mentioned in the passage that ........... . A the Marco Polo version may be a
fiction В big amounts of ice cream and soda are unhealthy C people used to
combine snow with various ingredients D many great people have something to do
with the development of ice cream 9. It can be inferred from the passage
that ........... . A people prefer fluffy ice cream В ice cream developed from pureed
fruit C the history of ice cream has had several peaks D homemade ice cream is
tastier than industrially made 10. Charles Menches ........... . A made profit in 1900
В liked Syrian cookies C was upset not to be able to sell ice cream D didn't have
time to wash the dishes for his ice cream