La rou, or preserved meat, is a winter season specialty(特产)in China. There are many kinds of preserved meat in China with
La rou in general refers to pork products.
Each region’s sausage has its own seasoning and flavor. The Cantonese variation is sweet,
2 . A Japanese candy company has been making national news headlines for its idea to produce gummy candy (软糖) that tastes like an “imaginary fruit” called Kiraspika.
Last year was a great one for gummy candy producers, and the market continued to expand throughout 2023 with fruit-flavored gummies being the most popular. While there are plenty of fruit flavors to choose from, including fascinating fruit combinations, companies are still limited to the fruits available in our world.
But what if someone broke down barriers and started making candy that tastes like imaginary fruits? That was the genius idea that Japanese sweets maker Kanro recently came up with.
Two months ago, the company launched a new type of gummy candy that tastes like ‘Kiraspika no Mi’, a made-up fruit with an original flavor, design and even an origin story. According to the Kanro official website, the star-shaped Kiraspika only grows in the mountainous region of Blue Knife, where temperatures drop to-50degrees Celsius in winter. It is very difficult to obtain, as when the fruit ripens, on a full-moon night around the winter solstice (冬至), the fruit explodes to spread its seeds.
Everything about Kiraspika was invented in Kanro’s fruit lab where its flavor experts combined various existing flavors to create an entirely original one that tastes like nothing you’ve ever eaten. According to its designers, the Kiraspika- flavored gummy candy has a mysterious sweetness combined with a sliced sourness, but many of those who have tried it have their own description of the taste.
Having been launched in September through the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, Kiraspika gummies have been selling out like hotcakes. Better yet, people also can enjoy favorable discount if they want to buy it. Now, the Japanese company is already working on new creations in its Fantasy Fruit Lab.
1. What did the author stress in paragraph 2?| A．The different flavors of gummy candy. |
| B．The current situation of gummy candy production. |
| C．The popularity of fruit flavors candy. |
| D．The development of gummy candy campany. |
| A．The high quality of the candy. |
| B．The effort of Kanro’s fruit lab. |
| C．The reasonable price of the candy. |
| D．The special flavour and design of the candy. |
| A．Expand the production of Kiraspika gummies. |
| B．Develop new fruit flavor gummy candy. |
| C．Cooperate with the 7-Eleven convenience store chain. |
| D．Improve the taste of Kiraspika gummies. |
| A．An Imaginary Fruit Gummy Candy. |
| B．Better Candy, Better Life. |
| C．Kiraspika Gummy Candy Delights Buyers. |
| D．A Japanese Candy Company: Kanro campany. |
1. For what occasion did the woman make the pumpkin dip?
| A．A birthday party. | B．Halloween. | C．A cooking competition. |
| A．Cream butter. | B．Some spices. | C．Powdered salt. |
4 . It’s been 20 years since a cookbook changed my life. Before reading every page in Nigella Lawson’s Feast, I didn’t give much thought lo what I ate. Cooking was a boring task I wasn’t particularly good at. Moreover, fear of calories and not being able to fit into my jeans left little room for enjoying things like “chocolate cake”. Nigella, the author of Nigella Lawson’s Feast transformed my relationship with food, changing it from a source of panic to one of limitless pleasure. Leafing through the pages of Feast, I began to think of the women who shaped my cooking. They not only influenced me strongly with their words, recipes and passion for the art of eating, but they also left their mark on the culinary (烹饪的) world.
Take Eugénie Brazier, for example, who grew up with barely enough to eat yet with plenty of determination to achieve great things. After years of hard work on farms and later as a humble cook, she used the little savings she had to open La Mère Brazier, a restaurant that would attract the likes of celebrities. A second location followed, and in 1933, she became the first chef ever to hold six Michelin stars simultaneously (同时地). Known as the mother of modern French cooking, Brazier’s simple yet elegant food changed the way Britain ate.
What Brazier did for the UK, the passionate Julia Child did for America. At a time when TV dinners and tinned foods were gaining popularity, she inspired home cooks to try elegant recipes, teaching them about the use of quality ingredients in an approachable way.
While Julia Child tempted us with her recipes, it was the American author Fisher who enlightened us with her fine cooking prose (散文). In her brilliant essays, she praised the pleasures of the table and explored connections between food and culture. One of my favorite books is Love in a Dish, a charming collection of culinary experiences that transport you to French villages and even describe how the love of food can potentially save a marriage!
1. How does the author introduce the topic?| A．By giving examples. | B．By raising a question. |
| C．By describing his experience. | D．By offering facts. |
| A．Friendly and determined. | B．Considerate and brave. |
| C．Generous and intelligent. | D．Ambitious and successful. |
| A．The ingredients of food. | B．The story behind food. |
| C．The significance of food. | D．The origin of food. |
| A．To motivate readers to cook at home. | B．To market high-quality cooking books. |
| C．To honor some exceptional women cooks. | D．To share his passion for cooking. |
5 . The tea that has delighted and fascinated the world for thousands of years has finally received top-level global recognition as a shared cultural treasure of mankind. China’s traditional tea-making was added on Tuesday to the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO.
The traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China consist of knowledge, skills and practices concerning the management of tea plantations, picking of tea leaves, manual(手工的)processing, drinking and sharing of tea. Since ancient times, Chinese people have been planting, picking, making and drinking tea. Tea producers have developed six categories of tea: green, yellow, dark, white, oolong and black teas. Together with reprocessed teas, such as flower-scented teas, there are over 2, 000 tea products in China.
Tea-related customs are not only found across the country, but also influence the rest of the world through the ancient Silk Road and trade routes. Tea is ubiquitous in Chinese people’s daily life, as steeped(浸泡)or boiled tea is served in families, workplaces, tea houses, restaurants and temples, etc. It is also an important part of socialization and ceremonies such as weddings and sacrifices. The practice of greeting guests and building relationships within families and among neighbors through tea- related activities is common to multiple ethnic groups, providing a sense of shared identity and continuity for the communities.
In China, 44 registered national-level intangible cultural heritage entries are related to tea. There are over 40 vocational colleges and 80 universities that have set up majors in tea science or tea culture, resulting in over 3,000 graduates specializing in tea production and art every year, according to the ministry.
China now has 43 items on the intangible cultural heritage list, continuing to be the most enlisted country in the world.
1. What can be learnt from the passage?| A．Chinese producers developed 44 categories of tea. |
| B．Tea is quite popular with people all over the country. |
| C．More than 2,000 tea products could be found in China. |
| D．There’ re about 300 graduates specializing in tea production every year. |
| A．rare | B．common | C．temporary | D．available |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By making definitions. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A travel journal. |
| C．A story book. | D．A cultural magazine. |
6 . Chocolate is good for your heart, skin and brain. Usually, people think that chocolate is bad for their health. They describe chocolate as “something to die for” or say “death by chocolate”. Now they should bite their tongues! Evidence (证据) is showing that some kinds of chocolate are actually good for you in the following ways:
A happier heart
Scientists at Harvard University recently examined 136 studies on cocoa — the main ingredient (成分) in chocolate and found that it does seem to strengthen the heart.
Better blood pressure
Jeffrey Blumberg from Tufts University recently found that people with high blood pressure who ate 3.5 ounces (盎司) of dark chocolate per day for two weeks saw their blood pressure drop quickly.
Muscle magic
Chocolate milk may help you recover after a hard workout (锻炼). In a small study at Indiana University, people who drank chocolate milk between workouts did better on a tiredness test than those who had some sports drinks.
Better for your skin
German researchers found that chocolate helped protect and increase blood flow to the skin, improving its appearance.
1. What’s the meaning of “bite their tongues” in the first paragraph?| A．Think of it. | B．Speak up. | C．Stop talking. | D．Listen to it. |
| A．Sports drinks are better than chocolate milk. |
| B．Sports drinks can make people easy to be tired. |
| C．Drinking chocolate milk can keep you energetic at work. |
| D．Milk is useful to fight against tiredness during our work. |
| A．Scientists at Harvard University believe. |
| B．Jeffrey Blumberg from Tufts University believes. |
| C．Scientists at Indiana University believe. |
| D．German researchers believe. |
| A．Chocolate, a Healthy Food. | B．More Chocolate, Less Health. |
| C．Chocolate and Blood Pressure. | D．Advice on Eating Chocolate. |
| A．a health magazine | B．a travel guide |
| C．a fiction book | D．a biology textbook |
7 . You know the feeling — your ears start to warm up, your tongue goes numb (麻木的), and you start sweating and taking deep breaths. You’ve just eaten something spicy, knowing it would be painful, but you chose to do it anyway. Are humans just masochistic (自讨苦吃的), or is there something else going on?
Spicy isn’t actually a taste like salty, sweet, sour and bitten — it’s a sensation.
This is what is happening chemically, but there is also a conscious side to choosing spicy food. Dr Tamara Rosenbaum, a Cognitive Neuroscientist, explains in an interview with the BBC that this is
Humans, one of the few mammals on Earth that developed a taste for capsaicin, started cultivating chilli peppers about six thousand years ago. Human intervention changed the chilli pepper to suit human tastes and needs — including the pepper’s colour, size and capsaicin content-helping to explain the many different types of chilli peppers now available.
| A．It lies in both science and history |
| B．where we get pleasure from a seemingly negative sensation |
| C．This is caused by a chemical compound called ‘capsaicin’ |
| D．It has something to do with human nature and body composition |
| E．why Steamed Fish Head with Chillies enjoys great popularity among Hunanese |
| F．Fast-forward to today, and our love affair with the chilli pepper is going strong |
| G．because we know that the burning sensation of chilli does not physically harm us |
8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Liupao tea, which originated in Wuzhou, has long been popular in overseas Chinese communities. It was donated as tributes (贡品) to Emperor Jiaqing during Qing Dynasty,
More younger consumers are taking to Liupao tea, and now they
| A．The food. | B．The service. | C．The price. |
1. Why did Amy go to the contest?
| A．To have some fun. | B．To win some money. | C．To prove her cooking skills. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Upset. | C．Happy. |
