1 . Many of us eat purely to satisfy our appetite for delicious food. But due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), many Chinese people are changing their eating habits.
Due to busy work schedules, ordering simple and quick meals online used to be commonplace (寻常的) for many young people in China. Zhang Xiaoyan, a 30-year-old from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, was one of them. She typically ate in the office and seldom cooked at home on weekdays. Even on weekends, she would prefer takeout food. But amid the NCP outbreak, being trapped at home for an extended (延长的) period has changed her eating habit. Now, she rolls up her sleeves and cooks for herself. “Cooking by myself sometimes is quite time-demanding, but it helps me have a healthy diet,” Zhang told China Daily.
Instead of eating at fast food chains or restaurants, cooking at home has become a nationwide trend. Some even regard sharing food videos on their WeChat Moments at meal times as “a special way to say hello to each other when face-to-face dinner is not possible,” noted China Daily.
Apart from cooking at home, many also eat separately and adopt (采用) the habit of using serving chopsticks and spoons, or gongkuai and gongshao in Chinese.
Influenced by collectivism (集体主义), communal eating habits have been a part of Chinese culture for centuries. For Chinese people, eating one’s own dish would be considered rude during a social gathering. They typically share several dishes laid out in the center of a table and sometimes share utensils (餐具) in the meals to show their respect and closeness.
Though it seems polite, it’s indeed risky. According to World Health Organization, foodborne (食物传播的) diseases are quite common, and saliva (唾液) is one of the most common ways for them to spread. So many cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, have already launched initiatives (倡议) for people to order separate meals.
“Healthy eating habits and maintaining good order have become real issues for us. It’s related to people’s health and safety, and it’s also a personal responsibility during the pandemic (大流行),” noted Guangming Daily. These are habits formed amid the pandemic, but as long as they are good for our health, perhaps we should keep them from now on.
1. How has Zhang Xiaoyan’s eating habit changed?| A．She eats simple and quick meals more often. | B．She cooks meals by herself at home. |
| C．She now orders more takeout food. | D．She often copies the meals her friends post on WeChat. |
| A．How to change communal eating habits. |
| B．Why changing communal eating habits helps. |
| C．The relationship between culture and eating habits. |
| D．The role collectivism plays in Chinese eating habits. |
| A．Eating habits have a lot to do with our health. |
| B．Safety always comes first in every situation. |
| C．People are warned that foodborne diseases are on the rise. |
| D．It’s difficult for Chinese people to break bad eating habit |
2 . Prashant Mandal shares a small hut with his wife and four kids, lives on less than $2 a day and recently suffered medical debts of more than $4,000 after his teenage son got sick last year. Yet, despite Mandal’s modest earnings, he spends 20 percent of his income on solar energy, an expense which is key to drawing in customers and helping his children to study. Across the globe, about 1.2 billion people live without electricity. Such limitations are not only inconvenient, but they put people in low-income countries at a greater risk of developing serious health condition. People living without electricity typically rely on kerosene lamps and other harmful light sources, which can lead to burns, injuries, poisoning and other risks .
Realizing the need for a more efficient energy source, a handful of for-profit companies have developed business models that enable under-served people to purchase (购买) solar energy, and, in turn, protect themselves and the environment in the process. Simpa Networks, which focuses its efforts on rural India, is such a company that has found a way to make solar energy affordable and accessible to people in need. Customers are charged a small down payment. Then, through its “progressive purchase” model, they pay in advance for a designated (指定的) amount of energy consumption. A number of other companies have found ways to get solar energy into the hands, and homes, of people who typically can’t afford electricity. MPOWERD, a New York-based company, invented an inflatable solar light that is powered by the sun, and is also able to store that energy.
The Luci, which can provide light for up to about 12 hours, is marketed in the developed world as an efficient camping light. Those sales allow the company to keep its production costs down so that they’re actually affordable in low-income countries. “Energy poverty is discouraging but solvable if we all work together,” said John Salzinger, MPOWERD’s co-founder. “Every single consumer’s purchase helps us reduce costs, and then we pass those savings on to those who need affordable lights the most.”
1. Why does the text mention Prashant Mandal in Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce Prashant Mandal’s family. | B．To introduce the topic of the article. |
| C．To show that the electricity is expensive. | D．To state Prashant Mandal’s sufferings. |
| A．Those who live without enough electricity. |
| B．Those who have enough electricity. |
| C．Those who can produce their own electricity. |
| D．Those who are not willing to use electricity. |
| A．It is paid step by step. | B．It is just paid later. |
| C．It is fully paid ahead. | D．It is sold at a discount. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Hopeless. |
| C．Disappointed. | D．Optimistic. |
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch (沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said, “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot (汽车行李箱). Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew(拧开…的螺丝) the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench(扳钳) and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had.
His hands and arms were cut and bruised (擦伤). Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “The thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible(can be seen), police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.
1. What is the best title for this newspaper article?
| A．The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
| B．Car Boot Serve As The Best Escape Route |
| C．Driver Escaped Through Car Boot |
| D．The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
| A．The hammer. | B．The coin. |
| C．The screw. | D．The horn. |
| A．luckily the door was torn away in the end |
| B．at last the wrench went broken |
| C．the lock came open after all his efforts |
| D．the chance was lost at the last minute |
| A．the ditch was along a quiet country road |
| B．the accident happened on a rainy cold day |
| C．Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down |
| D．the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch |
