Question

【题目】In agrarian(农业的), 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选项D. Pace of life生活的步伐。

【解析】本文主要讲了在农业时代，人们的生活步伐很慢。一家人经常花很长时间在一起吃饭，家人之间的关系更加密切。而现在由于生活节奏的加快，虽然人们吃的比祖先吃的更有营养，但是家人一起吃饭的时间缩短，家人之间的关系也变的淡了。

【1】B 推理判断题。根据文中第二段的“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，在欧洲的前工业时代，家人一起吃饭使得人们之间的关系更加亲密，增强了家的纽带。故选B。

【2】D 词义猜测题。根据文中倒数第二段可知，工业化以来，生活的步伐无法在像以前那样慢了，午餐被收缩到可以装进午餐桶或是在食品摊上买的食物。所以cultural metabolism指的是“生活的步伐”。故选D。

【3】B 细节理解题。根据文中倒数第二段最后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，作者认为现在的食物多种多样，更加有营养，故选B。

【4】A 细节理解题。根据文中最后一段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欢吃饭，也喜欢做饭。故选A。