English Essay by Brian Southwick, Niigata City ALT

57 A Short Essay about Olives ＲＥＡＤＩＮＧ (slow) (fast)

Recently I have been reading a book about olives. I have learned some interesting informations about the fruit from reading the book. For example, the word “oil” comes from the Latin word for olive. I have also learned that olive trees are very strong and can live for thousands of years.

Olives grow well in places that are warm and dry. A temperature below -10 degrees Celsius is not good for the trees. For this reason, most of the olives in the world are grown near the Mediterranean Sea, in places such as Spain, Italy, Greece, and North Africa. Spain is the world’s largest grower of olives. Italy is second, and Greece is third.

Olives are either green or black. When they are picked from the tree they are quite bitter. So, they are usually put in salt or salt water before they are eaten, like Japanese tsukemono. Olives are not only eaten, but they are also used to make olive oil for cooking. And olive oil that cannot be eaten is sometimes burned in lamps. In fact, the fire of the original Olympic Games was made from burning olive oil.

High quality olive oil is used in cooking, in salad dressings, and so on. How much oil do people around the world use? The people of Greece use the most, about 26 liters per person each year. The Spanish and the Italians use about 13 liters per person. In the rest of the world, people are beginning to use more olive oil. Why don’t you try some “extra virgin” olive oil on fresh tomatoes or as a salad dressing? It’s healthy, and it’s delicious.

＜注＞
Recently（最近），olives（オリーブ），For example（例えば），Latin word(ラテン語)，
A temperature below -10 degrees Celsius（摂氏マイナス10度以下の気温）
are grown（栽培される），the Mediterranean Sea（地中海），such as（～のような）
the world’s largest grower（世界最大の栽培地），either green or black（緑か黒のどちらか）
quite bitter(本当に苦い)，are eaten（食べられる），not only～ , but…（～だけでなく…）
are also used（使われてもいる），olive oil that cannot be eaten（食べられないオリーブオイル）
is burned（燃やされる），In fact（実際），was made（作られた），is used（使われる）
and so on（…など），26 liters per person each year（1年に一人当たり26リットル）
Why don’t you try～（～してみてはどうですか）
extra virgin” olive oil（特別新鮮なオリーブオイル）

Question and Answers:　Please answer the following questions
in English in a complete sentence, with a subject and　a verb.

Q1. Where does the word “oil” come from?
A1.

Q2. What temperature is not good for olive trees?
A2.

Q3. Which country in the world grows the most olives?
A3.

Q4. How was olive oil used in the original Olympic Games?
A4.

Q5. Who uses the most olive oil?
A5.

＜解答例＞

A1. It comes from the Latin word for olive.

A2. A temperature below-10 degrees Celsius is not good for them.

A3. Spain does.

A4. It was used as the fire.

A5. The people of Greece do.