Questions 20 to 23 are based on the following passage.

The story of chocolate begins with the discovery of America. Until 1492, the Old Worldknew nothing at all about chocolate that was to become the favorite of millions.

During his conquest of Mexico, Cortez, the great Spanish explorer, found the Aztec Indiansusing cocoa beans in the preparation of the royal drink “chocolate ”, meaning warm liquid.However, the drink was very bitter, and the Spaniards did not find it to their taste. To make itmore agreeable to Europeans, Cortez and his countrymen invented the idea of sweetening it withsugar. The new drink quickly won friends, especially among the Spanish aristocracy ( 贵族).

Spain wisely continued to plant cocoa in its overseas colonies, which gave birth to a veryprofitable business. Remarkably enough, the Spanish succeeded in keeping the art of the cocoaindustry a secret from the rest of Europe for nearly a hundred years.

Later, the secret was let out. For a while chocolate was the drink at the fashionable Court ofFrance. Then it spread across the Channel to Great Britain, and 1657 the first of many famousEnglish chocolate houses appeared.

In the United States of America, the production of chocolate proceeded at a faster pace thananywhere else in the world. It was in pre -revolutionary New England ---1765, to be exact ---thatthe first chocolate factory was established in this country .

20. What made chocolate disagreeable to Spaniards?