单选题
New Foods and the New World

In the last 500 years, nothing about people—not their clothes, ideas, or languages has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree (可可树)by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500's. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London, shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the "Potato Famine(饥荒)" of 1845—1846, and thou- sands more were forced to leave their homeland and move to America.
There are many other foods that have traveled from South America to the Old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world's largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia, a country in Africa. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400's.
According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a person named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the "wideawake" feeling that one-third of the world's population now starts the day with.

单选题 According to the passage, which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文章,近500年来以下哪种事情改变最大?根据文章第1段,“在近500年期间,对于人类来说,包括他们的服装、观念、语言,没有比他们的食品的变化更大的了。”因此,选项A食品是正确答案。
单选题 "some" in the last sentence of the first paragraph refers to______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 第1段最后一句“some”指的是什么?第1段最后一句中的some指的是前句中所提到的有巧克力饮料出售的商店。因此,选择C为答案。
单选题 Thousands of Irish people starved during the "Potato Famine" because______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 在“土豆饥荒”时期,数千爱尔兰人挨饿的原因是什么?文章第2段提到:爱尔兰人如此依赖土豆,以至于在1845年到1846年“土豆饥荒”期间,土豆歉收时,数以千计的爱尔兰面临饥饿。由此可见,答案应与土豆的歉收有关。所以,选择D土豆的收成不好。
单选题 Which country is the largest coffee producer?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 哪个国家是最大的咖啡生产国?文章第3段指出:巴西现在是世界最大的咖啡生产国,在哥伦比亚和其他南美国家,咖啡是重要的作物。所以,选择A巴西。
单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to the passage?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文章,以下哪一项的叙述是错误的?文章第3段提到:但是它的原产地是一个非洲国家,埃塞俄比亚。因此,选项B咖啡原产于哥伦比亚与文章内容不一致。