The Story of Chewing-Gum

People have enjoyed chewing-gum from very early times. The first American settlers learned how to chew gum from the Indians. The Indians taught them how to cut the bark of special trees so that the juice came out. When this juice became hard they used to chew it. The first modern kind of chewing-gum was sold at the markets in the eastern United States in the 1880s. Here you could buy small pieces of something that was Iike gum to chew. Later on "chicle" was used to make chewing-gum. Chicle is the white juice from gum trees which grow in the rain forests in Central America. It made the gum nicer and easier to chew. This chewing-gum became very popular, so they started to make it in factories in the USA. Chewing-gum often helps people to concentrate on their work. Truck drivers say it helps to keep them awake. It can help to keep your teeth clean, too. You can chew it after meals if there isn't a toothbrush at hand! Now it is sold all over the world. Every day millions of people chew different kinds of gum from peppermint to juicy fruit.

Erweiterte Textaufgabe, Hauptschulabschluss Baden-Württemberg, 1994