Chinese Cannabis: Multiple Choice Grammar Test
The non-psychoactive form of cannabis was used (1) _______ a food crop by rural populations across Eurasia in ancient times, (2) _______ ancient Rome, Egypt, and China. Cannabis seeds were used to make oil and flour, which became porridge or (3) _______ desserts. One of the names for ancient China was “the land of hemp and mulberry.” Hemp, known as ma, began (4) _______ in seed form during the Chou dynasty. It was widely used as a food crop during spring and autumn, the Warring States Period, and during the Qin and Han dynasties, (5) _______ part of the Chinese diet until the 10th century AD.
The Li Qi placed hemp as one of the five great grains of ancient China. (6) _______ were barley, rice, wheat, and soybeans.) They were well aware of the psychoactive properties of marijuana, and they distinguished (7) _______ ma fen, or toxic cannabis, and ma ze, or nontoxic hemp. Ma fen was said to cause people to “see devils” and was used by necromancers, (8) _______ ginseng, in order to see the future. Second-century-AD physician Hua T’o is said to have (9) _______ cannabis with wine to make anaesthetic for operations. Some, however, believe that the ma referred to as a food crop in ancient texts was actually hu ma, or foreign hemp, also known as sesame seeds. But that’s (10) _______ fun.
by David Tormsen
A | B | C | D | |
1 | such as | so as | like | as |
2 | was included | included | including | to include |
3 | frying | fried | to be frying | fries |
4 | consumed | to be consuming | consuming | to be consumed |
5 | remaining | remained | to remain | remains |
6 | The others | Others | Another | The other |
7 | among | from | between | with |
8 | with | along with | along | alongside |
9 | to combine | combines | combined | combining |
10 | no | not | no any | no a |
1.D; 2.C; 3.B; 4.D; 5.A; 6.A; 7.C; 8.A; 9.C; 10.A