单选题 What makes Americans spend nearly half their food dollars on meals away from home? The answers lie in the way Americans live today. During the first few decades of the twentieth century, canned and other convenience foods freed the family cook from full-time duty at the kitchen range.
Then, in the 1940s, work in the wartime defense plants took more women out of the home than ever before, setting the pattern of the working wife and mother. Unless family members pitch in with food preparation, women are not fully liberated from that chore.
It's easier to pick up a bucket of fried chicken on the way home from work or take the family out for pizzas or burgers than to start opening cans or heating up frozen dinners after a long, hard day. Also nowadays, the rising divorce rate means that there are more single working parents with children to feed. And many young adults and elderly people, as well as unmarried and divorced mature people, live alone rather than as a part of a family unit and don't want to bother cooking for one. Fast food is appealing because it is fast, it doesn't require any dressing up, it offers a "fun" break in the daily routine, and the outlay of money seems small. It can be eaten in the car--sometimes picked up at a drive-in window without even getting out--or on the run. Even if it is brought home to eat, there will never be any dirty dishes to wash because of the handy disposable wrappings. Children, especially, love fast food because it's finger food, no struggling with knives and forks, no annoying instructions from adults about table manners.

单选题 Americans enjoy fast food mainly because ______ .

A、 it can be eaten in the car
B、 it is much more tasty than home-made food
C、 one only uses his fingers while eating it
D、 it is time-saying and convenient

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】细节题。由文章第三段第四句提到的fast food is appealing because it is fast，it doesn't require any dressing up...可知，D正确。

单选题 It can be inferred that children ______ .

A、 want to have freedom at table
B、 wash dishes after each meal
C、 are not good at using forks and knives while eating
D、 take eating time as a fun break

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推断题。文章第三段最后一句提到no struggling with knives and forks，由straggling一词可推断，孩子们不擅长使用刀叉吃饭，所以C正确。

单选题 Many Americans are eating out and not cooking at home nowadays because ______ .

A、 they want to make a change after eating the same food for years at home
B、 the food made outside home tastes better than food cooked at home
C、 many of them live alone or don't like taking trouble to cook
D、 American women refuse to cook at home due to women's liberation movement

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推断题。文章第三段提到，现在很多人都独自居住，他们不愿意为自己一个人烹制食物，所以C正确。由于题目问的是nowadays的情况，所以可排除强干扰项D。

单选题 According to the text, a drive-in window is a ______ .

A、 car window from which you can see the driver
B、 window in the restaurant from which you get your meal in the car
C、 place where you check the mechanic condition of your car
D、 entrance where you return the used plates after eating

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】推断题。文章第三段倒数第三句提到sometimes picked up at a drive-in window without even getting out，由句中的without even getting out可以推断，drive-in window是免下车窗口，即司机可以不用下车就能拿到食物，所以B正确。

单选题 The expression "pitch in with" (Line 2, Para. 2) probably means ______ .

A、 complain
B、 enjoy
C、 help
D、 deny

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】语义题。文章第二段第二句意为“只要家庭成员不______准备食物，妇女们就无法完全从家务杂事中解放出来。”由此推断，pitch in with应意为“帮助”，故选C。