申論題

          In the not-so-distant past, most American and European cities reeked of death, decay, and waste. However, these are just some of the many smells, both foul and fragrant, that helped determine the course of history.
        William Tullett, a history professor at Anglia Ruskin University, thinks modern media may have exaggerated the stench of past centuries. Until recently, studies attempting to reconstruct past smells could rely only on descriptions in primary sources. This was always a (s)__1__(y) slope, as interpretation of smell, like any of the other five senses, is largely subjective. Nowadays, researchers employ biomolecular engineering to analyze “scent archives” in the form of incense burners, perfume flasks, cooking pots, storage vessels, mummified remains, and even street and floor surfaces.
         Such research yields insights that never could have been (e)__2__(ted) from previous books sometimes written off as “weird history” or collections of sensational, gross, or unusual bits of trivia. A biomolecular analysis of medieval resins from Yemen revealed the product was not cultivated locally but imported from Madagascar and East Africa. A chemical (b)__3__(n) of tree bark sap from numerous archaeological sites, meanwhile, indicates ancient humans may have used the material to freshen their breaths.
         Recent global research suggests that the current literature on smell in history is not only too simplistic but also too Eurocentric. While particular smells demarcated certain social standings in pre-revolutionary France, the same standards did not apply to other countries. In Aztec times, for example, most dignified adults refrained from chewing tree bark in public as the (p)__4__(e) was generally reserved for prostitutes.
        To truly comprehend the nuanced role smell played in past centuries, look no further than the funeral ceremonies of ancient Rome. When, in 1485, construction workers accidentally (s)__5__(ed) upon a Roman citizen’s grave while working on the Via Appia, they were amazed by the “strong odor of turpentine and myrrh” preserved inside the sarcophagus, alongside subtle hints of frankincense, aloe, and cedar oil.
         Historians who studied Roman funerals tended to focus on their visual and auditory aspects, reducing olfactory aspects to mechanical processes intended to (o)__6__(t) the stink of bodily decay. Historian David Clancy writes this approach is closer to that of modern-day people than ancient Romans, “who in their literature placed considerable emphasis on the presence of funerary odors, and spent considerable sums of money to treat their dead with the finest spices from across the empire.”
         As a relief on a famous tomb depicts, Romans treated their dead with perfumes, ointments, and incense when they lay in (s)__7__(e). However, the reasoning behind this tradition was more metaphysical than practical. These fragrances combated the “pollution” inside the corpse. Mourners, affected by this pollution, “refrained from washing” to signify their own impurity and placed branches of the pungent cypress plant outside their houses to alert fellow citizens of their status.
         “If the (d)__8__(ed) was to be cremated,” Clancy continues, “then the funeral reached its olfactory climax at the site of the pyre. Here a variety of fragrant substances (such as cinnamon, saffron, and myrrh) might be set alongside the corpse, and the pyre itself constructed of sweet-smelling woods. These materials joined the corpse in being reduced to ashes, their rich aromas (m)__9__(ling) in the air. After the pyre had burnt itself out, the bones and ashes would be… doused with perfumes.”
         Perfuming the dead was so important to ancient Romans that it often took precedence over the social customs (a)__10__(ed) to by the living. Pliny the Elder criticized the excessive use of funeral perfume, a material traditionally reserved for offerings to the gods. Cato the Elder, a senator, shunned his brother Caepio for using perfume, a habit he — like many other old-school Romans — considered effeminate. And yet, when Caepio died, Cato acquired huge amounts of incense, suggesting its sweet aroma was a “crucial component in giving Caepio the burial he deserved. 

Source: https://reurl.cc/lokloQ