IELTS Reading 練習義大利麵的起源（含題目+詳解）

The Origins of Pasta

IELTS · 雅思備考 · 11 min read · 2026-04-25

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閱讀前先看 Before you read

主題: The history of pasta
文章重點: Pasta did not simply come from China through Marco Polo. Its history is older and more complicated than the popular legend suggests.
難度: 中等 · Intermediate
建議時間: 18 分鐘

重要單字

legend — a popular story that may not be entirely true / 傳說、流傳的故事
rejected — not accepted / 被拒絕、不接受
documents — official written records / 文件、紀錄
possession — the state of owning / 擁有、所有權
independently — separately, without influence from another / 獨立地、各自地
civilisation — an organised, advanced human society / 文明

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

Many people believe Marco Polo brought pasta from China to Italy in the 13th century. Historians now reject this story because Italian documents mentioning pasta are older than Marco Polo's journey. Different civilisations developed noodle-like foods independently, so pasta's real origin is more complicated than one simple legend.

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — The Marco Polo myth

For centuries, a popular legend has claimed that Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy from his travels in China at the end of the 13th century. This story is repeated in books, films and even some textbooks. However, modern food historians have quietly rejected the legend. They point to a number of older Italian documents that already mention pasta-like foods well before Marco Polo returned home.

本段重要單字 (3)

legend — a popular story that may not be true / 傳說
rejected — not accepted / 否定、拒絕
documents — official written records / 文件

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What is the main point of this paragraph?

Marco Polo invented pasta during his travels.
The Marco Polo pasta legend is probably not true.
Pasta was eaten only in China before the 13th century.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — The Marco Polo pasta legend is probably not true.

The paragraph says historians "have quietly rejected the legend" and points to older Italian documents — so the popular Marco Polo story is probably false.

2 段落 2 — Older Italian records

One of the most often cited pieces of evidence is a 1279 will from Genoa, written more than a decade before Marco Polo finished his journey. The document lists a basket of dried pasta among the deceased man's possessions, suggesting that pasta was familiar enough in Italy by that time to be considered ordinary household property. Other records from Sicily, dating from the 12th century, describe an industry producing long strings of dried pasta for export.

本段重要單字 (3)

will — a legal document about a person's belongings after death / 遺囑
possession — an item that someone owns / 財產
export — to send goods to another country / 出口

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

Why is the 1279 Genoa will important?

It proves that pasta was invented by a man from Genoa.
It shows pasta existed in Italy before Marco Polo returned.
It shows that Italians did not own pasta in the 13th century.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — It shows pasta existed in Italy before Marco Polo returned.

The will is dated 1279 — over ten years before Marco Polo finished his journey. The pasta in the basket therefore existed in Italy before he could have brought it back.

3 段落 3 — Independent invention

Most historians now believe that several civilisations developed noodle-like foods independently. Archaeologists have found 4,000-year-old noodles made from millet at a site in north-west China, while the Greeks and Romans wrote about a thin sheet of dough called laganum, which is sometimes described as the ancestor of lasagne. The truth is that wherever wheat or grain was processed and water was available, somebody, sooner or later, was likely to invent something pasta-shaped.

本段重要單字 (3)

civilisation — an organised, advanced society / 文明
independently — separately, without influence from another / 獨立地
ancestor — an earlier form from which something later developed / 祖先、前身

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What does the writer suggest about the origin of pasta?

It was invented by one civilisation and spread to others.
It was invented many times in many places, separately.
It is impossible to know anything about pasta's history.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — It was invented many times in many places, separately.

The paragraph says civilisations "developed noodle-like foods independently" and gives examples from China, Greece and Rome — multiple, separate inventions.

4 段落 4 — Why the legend survives

If the Marco Polo story is so weak, why is it still repeated? Part of the reason is simply that it is a good story: a famous traveller, a long journey, and a familiar food at the end of it. A better, more accurate version — pasta probably arose in several places at once and slowly became central to Italian cuisine — is harder to summarise in a single sentence. Yet that more complicated truth tells us something important about food: that what we eat today usually has many parents, not one.

本段重要單字 (3)

survive — to continue to exist / 生存、流傳
accurate — correct in detail / 準確
cuisine — a style of cooking / 料理、菜餚

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

According to the writer, why does the Marco Polo legend survive?

Because it is the most accurate explanation.
Because the true history is harder to tell as a simple story.
Because no other explanation has ever been proposed.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — Because the true history is harder to tell as a simple story.

The writer says the truth is "harder to summarise in a single sentence" — i.e. the Marco Polo myth lives on partly because it is simpler and more dramatic than the truth.

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閱讀前先看 Before you read

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — The Marco Polo myth

2 段落 2 — Older Italian records

3 段落 3 — Independent invention

4 段落 4 — Why the legend survives

每天 5 分鐘的系統練習

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