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The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia.
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Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea.
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The fruit is encased in a flesh husk.
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When the fruit is ripe, this husk splits into two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit.
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Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages, and was used as a flavouring, medicinal, and preservative agent.
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They sold nutmeg for high prices to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity.
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Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch commercial fleet swiftly grew into one of the largest in the world.
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By 1617, the VOC was the richest commercial operation in the world.
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The company had 50,000 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men and a fleet of 200 ships.
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Doctors were desperate for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they decided nutmeg held the cure.
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Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on the streets of London.
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The only problem was the short supply.
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And that’s where the Dutch found their opportunity.
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Anyone caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the proper authority was severely punished.
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The Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade which would last for another century.
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The Dutch nutmeg monopoly was over.
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Basic Reading understanding part 2
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The automotive sector is well used to adapting to automation in manufacturing.
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Research projects on vehicle automation are not new.
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There are many reasons why technology is advancing so fast.
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Another aim is to free the time people spend driving for other purposes.
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Beyond these direct benefits, we can consider the wider implications for transport and society.
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At present, the average car spends more than 90 percent of its life parked.
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If a significant proportion of the population choose to use shared automated vehicles, mobility demand can be met by far fewer vehicles.
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Automation may prompt other changes in vehicle manufacture.
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There are a number of hurdles to overcome in delivering automated vehicles to our roads.
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It’s clear that there are many challenges that need to be addressed.
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Change is coming, and the need to be flexible in response to this will be vital.
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Mobility demand can be met by far fewer vehicles.
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Reading Part 3
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Our desire to discover, and then share that new-found knowledge, is part of what makes us human.
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This has played an important part in our success as a species.
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Our ancestors had learnt the value of sending out scouts to investigate the unknown..
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Over the years, we’ve come to think of explorers as a peculiar breed.
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I have confined myself to those whose travels were real and who also aimed at more than personal discovery.
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We have studied only 5 per cent of the species we know.
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We fully understand the workings of only 10 per cent of our brains.
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An explorer is someone who has done something that no human has done before.
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A traveller simply records information about some far-off world, and reports back.
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Each definition is slightly different.
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