1 . Please sit down and enjoy your meal. Just don’t talk about it.

These are the requirements at a popular dining party that is known as “silent dinners”. It encourages people who take part in the dining party not to speak for one to two hours and not to use electronic devices. Instead, the idea is to just on the food.

“Silent dinner parties are fast growing, ” said Honi Ryan, who has hosted 32 silent dinner parties in 11 cities across eight countries, including Germany, Australia and the United States. “The way we communicate is changing so fast that we need to stop and think about it. ”

According to a 2013 nationwide survey, restaurant noise came in second only to poor service among customer (顾客) complaints. And 19 percent of diners who took part in the survey said noise and crowds disturbed them most while eating out.

Though silent dinners may seem curious, the idea is not a new one. Yogis (瑜伽信徒) have long enjoyed silent meals as part of a deepened practice. In fact, it was a trip to a temple (寺庙) in India by a man that encouraged one Brooklyn restaurant recently to add a silent dinner to its event programming.

“We’ll make a small speech at the beginning of the meal to make sure everyone understands what is happening and ask them not to speak or use their mobile phones for at least an hour, ” said EAT Greenpoint owner Jordan Colon. And background music will be turned off, too.

“It’s funny; when I first opened EAT, I didn’t play music for some time and people had very different reactions (反映) to that,” said Colon. “Some people who come out to eat are ready to party, but it was so quiet without music. But I wanted to create an environment that makes you relaxed. ”

Although personal reactions to a silent dinner may be various, in general they are more likely to get into a lot of talk afterwards, said Ryan. “At the end of the night people always have a lot to say about silence. But the most reaction is that there is always a good laugh.”

1. The first paragraph is written to be a(n)____ .

A．Conclusion	B．Introduction
C．Argument	D．warning

2. At silent dinner parties, people should not____.

A．leave before they finish eating	B．just pay attention to the food
C．use a mobile phone or listen to music	D．take electronic devices to the party

3. What does the writer try to tell us in Paragraph 5?

A．Silent meals help people live longer.

B．Yogis are the first to hold silent dinners.

C．More and more people like eating in silence.

D．The idea of eating in silence appeared long ago.

4. In Jordan Colon’s opinion, silent dinners ____.

A．make people comfortable and relaxed	B．are hard to be accepted by most people
C．can help him to attract more customers	D．provide a chance to get to know others

2 . A McDonald's restaurant has been rated one of the worst in the UK, out of 1,300 of the chain's outlets. The restaurant in question is in Kingswinford near Dudley, and Birmingham Live reports it has attracted a rating of just two.

    1     Birmingham Live Reporter Dayna Farrington found when she went to see it for herself…

Setting

As I walked into the restaurant itself. I noticed it was fairly busy for nearly 11：30 a. m. on a Tuesday in January. It looked clean and well organized. I didn't see any messy tables, or food left lying around. The outside was also tidy - no overflowing bins or rubbish dumped.     2     I'd definitely seen worse McDonald's in the past.

Service

There was no one serving behind the counter when I arrived at the restaurant, only those handing out the orders.     3     It might be a sign of the new Covid times as you have less interaction with others.

Having read reviews on TripAdvisor about items being missed from orders and cold food, I wasn't holding out too much hope.     4     Upon collecting my order, it looked as if everything was there. And it was—there was nothing missing from my order. So good start so far. I tried the large chips first which came with the main meal. These were piping hot. I also tried some hot chocolate. It wasn't the nicest drink I've ever tried, but it was ok.

Overall

So I headed to the Kingswinford branch full of fear of what might be in store after reading the overwhelmingly terrible reviews on TripAdvisor.     5     It was not as bad as the reviews made out.

A．But is it really that bad?

B．Would the restaurant be messy?

C．For first impressions, it didn't seem too bad.

D．But, I have to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised.

E．So I had to use the self-service screens, which was no big issue.

F．Even the most latest reviews from December are very negative.

G．Yet within minutes, I was being presented with a large tray of food.