Question

【題目】In agrarian(農(nóng)業(yè)的), pre-industrial Europe, “you’d want to wake up early, start working with the sunrise, have a break to have the largest meal, and then you’d go back to work,” says Ken Albala, a professor of history at the University of the Pacific. “Later, at 5 or 6, you’d have a smaller supper.”

This comfortable cycle, in which the rhythms of the day helped shape the rhythms of the meals, gave rise to the custom of the large midday meal, eaten with the extended family. “Meals are the foundation of the family,” says Carole Couniban, a professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, “so there was a very important interconnection between eating together and strengthening family ties.”

Since industrialization, maintaining such a slow cultural metabolism has been much harder, with the long midday meal shrinking to whatever could be stuffed into a lunch bucket or bought at a food stand. Certainly, there were benefits. Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more energetic than our ancestors.

Yet plenty has been lost too, even in cultures that still live to eat. Take Italy. It’s no secret that the Mediterranean diet is healthy, but it was also a joy to prepare and eat. Italians, says Counihan, traditionally began the day with a small meal. The big meal came at around 1 p.m. In between the midday meal and a late, smaller dinner came a small snack. Today, when time zones have less and less meaning, there is little tolerance for offices’ closing for lunch, and worsening traffic in cities means workers can’t make it home and back fast enough anyway. So the formerly small supper after sundown becomes the big meal of the day, the only one at which the family has a chance to get together. “The evening meal carries the full burden that used to be spread over two meals,” says Counihan.

【1】What does Professor Carole Counihan say about pre-industrial European families eating meals together？

A. It was helpful to maintaining a nation’s tradition.

B. It brought family members closer to each other.

C. It was characteristic of the agrarian culture.

D. It enabled families to save a lot of money.

【2】What does “cultural metabolism”（Line 1, Para. 3) refer to？

A. Evolutionary adaptation. B. Changes in lifestyle.

C. Social progress. D. Pace of life.

【3】What does the author think of the food people eat today?

A. Its quality is usually guaranteed.

B. It is varied, abundant and nutritious.

C. It is more costly than what our ancestors ate.

D. Its production depends too much on technology.

【4】What does the author say about Italians of the old days?

A. They enjoyed cooking as well as eating.

B. They ate a big dinner late in the evening.

C. They ate three meals regularly every day.

D. They were expert at cooking meals.

Answer 1

【答案】D選項(xiàng)D. Pace of life生活的步伐。

【解析】本文主要講了在農(nóng)業(yè)時(shí)代，人們的生活步伐很慢。一家人經(jīng)�；ê荛L(zhǎng)時(shí)間在一起吃飯，家人之間的關(guān)系更加密切。而現(xiàn)在由于生活節(jié)奏的加快，雖然人們吃的比祖先吃的更有營(yíng)養(yǎng)，但是家人一起吃飯的時(shí)間縮短，家人之間的關(guān)系也變的淡了。

【1】B 推理判斷題。根據(jù)文中第二段的“Meals are the foundation of the family,” says Carole Couniban, a professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, “so there was a very important interconnection between eating together and strengthening family ties.”可知，在歐洲的前工業(yè)時(shí)代，家人一起吃飯使得人們之間的關(guān)系更加親密，增強(qiáng)了家的紐帶。故選B。

【2】D 詞義猜測(cè)題。根據(jù)文中倒數(shù)第二段可知，工業(yè)化以來(lái)，生活的步伐無(wú)法在像以前那樣慢了，午餐被收縮到可以裝進(jìn)午餐桶或是在食品攤上買的食物。所以cultural metabolism指的是“生活的步伐”。故選D。

【3】B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文中倒數(shù)第二段最后Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more energetic than our ancestors.可知，作者認(rèn)為現(xiàn)在的食物多種多樣，更加有營(yíng)養(yǎng)，故選B。

【4】A 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文中最后一段Take Italy. It’s no secret that the Mediterranean diet is healthy, but it was also a joy to prepare and eat可知，古代的意大利人既喜歡吃飯，也喜歡做飯。故選A。