1 / 42 句0 词已学
【阅读理解】Reading: From Shark Fins to Seaweed: A Shopkeeper's Turn
Ho Yin, 52, owned the only licensed shop in Sha Tau Kok selling shark cartilage tonics.
Her assistant, Wan, 19, arrived early one Tuesday to find a 3.2-metre shark on the concrete outside.
A single fin could sell for 1,800 Hong Kong dollars, but Ho Yin's tonic inventory had not moved in eleven weeks.
She had a reputation as a scrupulous businesswoman, a word that carried weight that morning.
The shop was on a lane that once belonged to fishing families, most indigenous to the bay.
In 1997, when the town had 4,000 residents and a busy retail strip, her mother had entrusted her with the lease.
Ho Yin studied Chinese medicine in Guangzhou, then returned to raise two children above the store.
She had seen the shark population crash: a 2009 survey put reef sharks at less than 8 per cent of their 1970 number.
Her suppliers in Sai Kung claimed the fins came from legal fisheries, but the paperwork never satisfied her.
By 2014, the town's population had fallen to 2,300, and primary school absenteeism reached 22 per cent.
Wan, born the year Ho Yin opened, used an app to check protected species lists and brought home shark anatomy diagrams.
One evening Wan half-jokingly suggested selling bones as a cholesterol supplement instead.
Ho Yin did not answer; the idea was radical and would demolish her last profitable category.
In March 2016, a food safety incident in Shenzhen traced bacteria to a warehouse that had supplied her dried fins.
A reporter called her a 'captive of her own trade', and she lost 40 per cent of her customers in a fortnight.
Her daughter, studying law in Hong Kong, texted: 'Mum, you can still choose.'
That night she could not sleep, hearing the tide against the embankment as plainly as her own heartbeat.
Over three years, she refurbished both the shop and herself, abandoning the shark fin market.
With a government retraining provision, she learned sustainable aquaculture and began growing edible seaweed.
Her new products included a herbal tea for cholesterol management, approved for local sale in 2019.
The shelves that once held fins now held jars of kelp, ocean literacy books, and a framed licences display.
She kept one shark tooth on the counter as a reference point, not an accessory.
Revenue dropped by half in the first year; two loyal customers accused her of betrayal.
Her elder brother, a fishing fleet veteran, stopped speaking to her for eight months.
Yet eco-tourists began arriving on weekends after Wan posted a short video of Ho Yin feeding sea cucumbers.
Membership in a local conservation cooperative grew from 11 to 96.
In 2021 she broke even, and by 2023 the shop was profitable again, modestly but genuinely.
Her brother, who had developed a heart condition, started buying her herbal tea; he never apologised, and he did not have to.
The shark that started all this now hangs in a museum in Sa
Questions
1. What was Ho Yin's initial reaction to Wan's suggestion about selling bones as a supplement?
A. She immediately agreed and started planning. B. She laughed and dismissed it as a joke. C. She did not answer because she thought it was too radical. D. She asked her daughter for advice.
2. What happened to Ho Yin's business after the 2016 food safety incident?
A. She lost 40 per cent of her customers in two weeks. B. She gained new customers from Shenzhen. C. She was forced to close the shop permanently. D. She received a government fine.
3. What does the word 'scrupulous' most likely mean in the passage?
A. Careful and honest B. Wealthy and influential C. Creative and ambitious D. Strict and unfriendly
4. What can be inferred about Ho Yin's brother from the passage?
A. He moved away from Sha Tau Kok. B. He eventually accepted her new business by buying her tea. C. He never spoke to her again. D. He helped her with the seaweed farming.
5. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. The Decline of Sha Tau Kok's Population B. How to Start a Sustainable Aquaculture Business C. The Shark Fin Trade in Hong Kong D. A Shopkeeper's Decision to Change