короткий рассказ на английском языке

Ответ от JillySun[новичек]
текст не слишком маленький, но то, что есть. про индустрию гостеприимства.
HOSPITALITY THROUGH CENTURIES
The word hospitality comes from "hospice", an old French word meaning "to provide care and shelter". The first institutions of this kind, taverns, had existed long before the word was coined. In Ancient Rome they were located on the main roads, to provide food and fresh horses and overnight accommodation for officials and couriers of the government with special documents. The contemporaries proclaimed these inns to be "fit for a king". That is why such documents became a symbol of status and were subject to thefts and forgeries.
Some wealthy landowners built their own taverns on the edges of their estates. Nearer the cities, inns and taverns were run by freemen or by retired gladiators who would invest their savings in this business in the same way that many of today's retired athletes open restaurants. Innkeepers, as a whole, were hardly the Conrad Hiltons of their day. Inns for common folk were regarded as dens of vice, and often served as houses of pleasure. The owners were required to report any customers who planned crimes in their taverns. The penalty for not doing so was death. The death penalty could be imposed merely for watering the beer!
After the fall of the Roman Empire, public hospitality for thc ordinary travelers became the province of religious orders. In these days, the main purpose of traveling was pilgrimage to the holy place. The pilgrims preferred to stay in the inns located close to religious sites or even on the premises of the monasteries. Monks raised their own provisions on their own grounds, kitchens were cleaner and better organized than in private households. So the food was often of a qualify superior to that found elsewhere on the road.
As travel increased during the Middle Ages, so did the number of wayside inns. In England, the stagecoach became the favored method transportation. A journey from London to a city like Bath took three days, with several stopovers at inns or taverns that were also called "post houses". Guests often slept on mattresses put in what would be called the lobby, ate what they had brought with them or what they could purchase from the house. The fare was usually bread, meat, and beer, varied occasionally with fish. Frequently, the main dish served was a long-cooked, highly seasoned meat-and-vegetable stew. But the diners who were fre-quenters were not choosy, neither did they often question what they were eating.
Источник: библеотека ФСГУТиКД в Омске