Forks trace their origins back to the ancient Greeks. Forks at that time were fairly large with two tines that aided in the carving of meat in the kitchen. The tines prevented meat from twisting or moving during carving and allowed food to slide off more easily than it would with a knife.
By the 7th century A.D., royal courts of the Middle East began to use forks at the table for dining. From the 10th through the 13th centuries, forks were fairly common among the wealthy in Byzantium. In the 11th century, a Byzantine wife brought forks to Italy; however, they were not widely adopted there until the 16th century. Then in 1533, forks were brought from Italy to France. The French were also slow to accept forks, for using them was thought to be awkward.
In 1608, forks were brought to England by Thomas Coryate, who saw them during his travels in Italy. The English first ridiculed forks as being unnecessary. “Why should a person need a fork when God had given him hands?” they asked. Slowly, however, forks came to be adopted by the wealthy as a symbol of their social status. They were prized possessions made of expensive materials intended to impress guests. By the mid-1600s, eating with forks was considered fashionable among the wealthy British.
Early table forks were modeled after kitchen forks, but small pieces of food often fell through the two tines or slipped off easily. In late 17th century France, larger forks with four curved tines were developed. The additional tines made diners less likely to drop food, and the curved tines served as a scoop so people did not have to constantly switch to a spoon while eating. By the early 19th century, four-tined forks had also been developed in Germany and England and slowly began to spread to America.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．The different designs of forks. |
| B．The spread of fork-aided cooking. |
| C．The history of using forks for dining. |
| D．The development of fork-related table manners. |
| A．Middle EastGreeceEnglandItalyFrance |
| B．GreeceMiddle EastItalyFranceEngland |
| C．GreeceMiddle EastFranceItalyGermany |
| D．Middle EastFranceEnglandItalyGermany |
| A．Wealthy British were impressed by the design of forks. |
| B．Wealthy British thought it awkward to use their hands to eat. |
| C．Wealthy British gave special forks to the nobles as luxurious gifts. |
| D．Wealthy British considered dining with forks a sign of social status. |
| A．They could be used to scoop food as well. |
| B．They looked more fashionable in this way. |
| C．They were designed in this way for export to the US. |
| D．They ensured the meat would not twist while being cut. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Have you ever wondered why people drive on a different side of the road? It might seem bizarre that U. K. Drivers stay on the left, but they’re not the only ones. Around 35 percent of the world population do the same, including people in Ireland, Japan, and some Caribbean islands.
Originally, almost everybody traveled on the left side of the road. However their way of transport was quite different from today: Think about four legs instead of four wheels. For Medieval swordsmen on horseback, it made sense to keep to the left to have their right arms closer to their enemies. Getting on or off was also easier from the left side of the horse, and safer done by the side of the road than in the center.
So why did people stop traveling on the left? Things changed in the late 1700s when large wagons (货车) pulled by several pairs of horses were used to transport farm products in France and the United States. The wagon driver sat behind the left horse, with his right arm free to use his whip to keep the horses moving. Since he was sitting on the left position, he wanted other wagons to pass on his left, so he kept to the right side of the road.
The British Government refused to give up their left-hand driving ways, and in 1773 introduced the General Highways Act, which encouraged driving on the left. This was later made law thanks to The Highway Act of 1835.
When Henry Ford showed his Model T in 1908, the driver’s seat was on the left, meaning that cars would have to drive on the right hand side of the road to allow front and back passengers to exit the car onto the roadside. However, British drivers remain on the left, and this is highly unlikely to change.
1. What does the underlined word “bizarre” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Funny. | B．Strange. |
| C．Wrong. | D．Difficult |
| A．It was safer to keep on the left |
| B．It was easier to carry goods. |
| C．It was easier for them to fight. |
| D．It was necessary to control the horse. |
| A．Their sitting position. |
| B．The road conditions. |
| C．The number of horses. |
| D．The products in the wagons. |
| A．UK Drivers Still Go On The Left |
| B．Why People Like Sitting On The Left Side |
| C．The History Of Transportation Means |
| D．The Reasons For Different Driving Sides |
【推荐2】Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea. People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained rare and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea. Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added. She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o'clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her, and so tea-time was born.
1. Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?| A．The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
| B．Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
| C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
| D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
| A．How tea-time was born in Holland. |
| B．The history of tea drinking in Britain. |
| C．How tea became a popular drink in France. |
| D．How the Britons got the habit of drinking afternoon tea. |
| A．In the eighteenth century. | B．In the sixteenth century. |
| C．In the seventeenth century. | D．In the late seventeenth century. |
| A．It tasted like milk. |
| B．It was good for health. |
| C．It became a popular drink. |
| D．They tried to copy the way Madame de Sevigne drank tea. |
【推荐3】For centuries, generations of clothing designers and garment makers in China have been devoted to building the “Garment Kingdom”, making the garments an important component of Chinese culture.
♦Origin of Chinese clothing
In primitive society, the Chinese lived in caves. To keep warm, they covered themselves with natural materials like leaves, grasses and animal furs.
About 18,000 years ago, the Chinese invented sewing. Animal skins were cut to fit the human body using sharpened stone and bone tools and then sewn together using bone needles.
♦
Chinese rules of etiquette regarding garments and ornaments started taking shape in the Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period, the idea of fashion reached new heights. Qin Shihuang established many social systems, including that of uniforms to distinguish people’s ranks and social positions. In the Tang dynasty, clothing was more varied than before because the state was more open to the outside world.
Today, some people in China follow world fashion, but individuality has become the main trend. More and more people can enjoy beautiful fashions with traditional features and the modern chic.
| A．it influenced people’s lives. |
| B．Development of clothing. |
| C．Chinese garments of the 20th century ranged greatly in style. |
| D．thus bringing vigor (活力) and life force to clothing culture. |
| E．The invention of sewing allowed the early Chinese to make better fitting clothes to protect them from harsh conditions. |
| F．What is worth special mention is that women of the Tang dynasty did not have to abide by the traditional dress code. |
| G．Fashion designers today are finding new ways to combine modern fashion trends with traditional Chinese symbols of good fortune. |
【推荐1】No one likes interruption. We are born to seek balance and order. No matter what it is that you are doing, being interrupted involves a forceful stop midway and then having to re-enter your former state, sometimes with great difficulty. Popular belief has it that interruption breaks the flow of your thinking and affects productivity negatively, and so it is advisable that you have an uninterrupted session of intensive work before your next break.
However, a Russian psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, might tell you otherwise. The connection between interruption and memory drew her attention when she was dining in a restaurant. She noticed how the waitresses had an amazing memory of the detailed orders yet to be paid for, but little memory of the orders that were already completed.
Back in her laboratory, she conducted studies in which subjects were required to complete various puzzles. Some of the subjects were interrupted during the tasks. All the subjects were then asked to describe what tasks they had done. It turns out that adults remembered the interrupted tasks 90% better than the completed tasks, and that children were even more likely to recall the uncompleted tasks. To put it another way, uncompleted tasks will stay on your mind until you finish them!
In comparison to tasks that were already finished and ones that we haven’t even started, half-done projects are highlighted in the mental to-do list our brains draw up for us. Zeigarnik described this finding in the late 1920s, which was later called Zeigarnik effect. One possible explanation is that with interrupted tasks, we are longing for them to be completed, in order to regain a sense of balance. Finishing them also means that we can finally clear up the mental backlog and give the space to more upcoming tasks.
Zeigarnik’s effect can be found everywhere, especially used in media and advertising. Have you ever wondered why cliffhangers work so well or why you just can’t get yourself to stop watching that series on Netflix? Ernest Hemingway once said about writing a novel, “It is the wait until the next day that is hard to get through.” So next time, when you are interrupted, appreciate it and take advantage of it to promote your productivity.
1. What is a common practice to finish a task?| A．Working in a focused period. | B．Working with uncommon breaks. |
| C．Working with a stop midway. | D．Working in an interrupted session. |
| A．Interruption recalls details. | B．Interruption betters memory. |
| C．Interruption breaks balance. | D．Interruption reduces efficiency. |
| A．The physical backlog. | B．The desire for balance. |
| C．The outside pressure. | D．The upcoming tasks. |
| A．Fashion shows. | B．Talk shows. | C．Online news. | D．TV series. |
【推荐2】If carbon dioxide(CO2) were a politician, it would be worried about its bad press. This greenhouse gas is the primary pollutant responsible for global warming. Scientists, leaders, and activists are trying to stop its production. This gas, however, also plays a key role in life on Earth.
Carbon helps form the protein and DNA found in living things. In the atmosphere, it combines with two oxygen atoms (原子) to form carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis (光合作用) . In the process, plants use energy from the sun to turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar. In return, plants give off oxygen. As carbon dioxide concentrations increase in the atmosphere, scientists are trying to employ photosynthesis to promote plant growth. Laboratory studies show a higher concentration of the gas is making some plants grow more quickly in certain conditions, but in the wild and on outdoor farms the overall benefit is unclear. In the Netherlands, some commercial greenhouses are experimenting with ways to send carbon dioxide released from industry into greenhouses along a particular way where plants use the extra gas as fertilizer (肥料).
The first person to assume the existence of carbon dioxide was 16th-century Belgian scientist Jan Baptist van Helmont. After coal was burned, he noted, the weight of the remains was lower than the coal’s initial weight, which means some mass had been lost in the process. He was the first scientist to recognize different gases present in the air we breathe. It wasn’t until 1896 that Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius linked the carbon dioxide released from burning coal and oil to atmospheric warming.
Yet, despite its being plentiful in the atmosphere, we have been light on commercially produced carbon dioxide because of rising energy costs. As a result, carbonated drink (碳酸饮料) companies have had to raise prices or reduce production.
1. What function does CO2 have according to paragraph 2?| A．Saving energy. | B．Increasing fertilizer. |
| C．Supporting life. | D．Commercializing agriculture. |
| A．To clarify the origins of CO2. | B．To tell an unknown story. |
| C．To explain the applications of CO2. | D．To show an early discovery. |
| A．Commercial CO2 is in short supply. | B．Sales of their drinks are extremely poor. |
| C．It’s difficult to increase their production. | D．There’s too much CO2 in the atmosphere. |
| A．Climate Change: Affected by CO2 | B．CO2: Both an Enemy and Friend |
| C．Greenhouse Gas: Having a Bad Press | D．Carbon: Misunderstood Substance |
【推荐3】You probably like blue, and you’re not alone. Across the globe, a majority of people tend to select blue as their favourite colour. A new study from University of Wisconsin found that not only do we adore blue, but we start to give meaning to colours as we age.
During the study conducted by psychology professor Karen Schloss at the University of Wisconsin in 2019, the researchers investigated the science of how different people perceive colour. They noted that subjects with a preference for a sports team found their favourite team’s colours more favourable. The more they valued their team, the more they favoured the specific colour. “It tells us that our experiences with the world are constantly influencing the way we view colour,” Schloss says.
So, why does blue dominate lists of favourites? From previous surveys the researchers found that blue has been a favourite colour. Even the earliest-recorded colour studies from the 1800s show that blue is universally loved, due at least in part to our fondness for blues in nature. Many colours in nature that we love are blue, especially a blue sky, the sea and many flowers. A blue sky is enough to make many people very happy. It’s possible then, that blue offer plenty of positive experiences, which we unconsciously link to our favourite colour.
But blue isn’t the only attention-grabbing colour. The other finding of the research was that our colour interests change as we gain new experiences. The younger you are, for instance, the more likely you are to enjoy a brighter colour. As you age, you’re more likely to take on darker colours as your favourites; younger women, according to the researchers, tend to enjoy purples and reds, while younger men may lean toward green or yellow-green. The studies showed that dark yellowish-brown was the world’s least liked colour.
Simply put, the things we enjoy most in our lives will drive our colour preferences.
1. What does the underlined word “It” refer to in paragraph 2?| A．The specific sports team. | B．A subject’s personality. |
| C．People’s preference of a colour. | D．The feature of colours. |
| A．Human beings are fully linked to nature. |
| B．Our preference for blue is longstanding. |
| C．It’s a coincidence that blue is our favourite. |
| D．Blue is associated to the sky and the sea. |
| A．Our colour preferences may shift over time. |
| B．We may prefer brighter colours as we age. |
| C．We tend to stick with just one colour in our lives. |
| D．Blue is a top choice for favourite colour in the world. |
| A．Older people can understand the colours better. |
| B．More mysteries remain to be seen about colour. |
| C．Colour preferences change our view of the world. |
| D．Colour preferences are shaped by our experiences. |
