阅读理解   Hunger is no novelty. We can discount legends of golden ages, lands of Cockayne, and Megasthenes' statement that before Alexander's invasion of India, there had never been famine or food shortage there. Trustworthy historical records show that during the Renaissance one year in ten in Britain, and one in five in Europe, was a famine year. China, with a greater area and more diverse climate, had a famine in some region every year.
    Famine is a state of affairs in which people are dying in the streets. It therefore attracts the notice of historians and is recorded. The fact that it strikes people who are aware of having been properly fed and well is more important. Not only are the survivors more adjustable, they are also angry at the breakdown of the system and eager to do something about it though it is obvious from the record that they do not always have the means. Malnutrition is much more underhanded. It is a chronic state in which the total food supply or, more often, the supply of certain components such as protein or some of the vitamins, is inadequate. It seems probable that, either constantly or seasonally, it used to be the usual condition of mankind and was regarded as normal. The unhealthy appearance of the figures in medieval paintings and drawings is often put down to the incompetence of the artist: it is as likely that most people really did look like that. The plentifulness with which poets greeted the 'merry month of May' may, in our dull climate, have had a climatic basis: it is just as likely that in May, after six months' shortage, there was now an adequate vitamin supply. The promptness with which some sailors died of scurvy after leaving port suggests that they were normally on the edge of scurvy and needed only a slight worsening of conditions to get it acutely. Others will think of other examples. Hunger and malnutrition are components of a classic example of a vicious circle. They lead to enfeeblement or unfeelingness in which nothing either can be done, or seems to be worth doing, to alter the state of affairs, this leads to more hunger and malnutrition. There is good reason to think that, in much of the developing world, if the circle could once be broken, it need never return.
单选题     According to the text, hunger in the past ______
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】事实细节题。由第一段的历史记载可知，饥饿问题在世界范围内经常发生。而且第一句明确提到饥饿并不是什么新鲜事，故答案选D。同时可排除B、C；从上述内容可知，英国发生饥饿的情况并不比其他国家地区更频繁，A错误。
单选题     Famine is different from malnutrition because ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】事实细节题。题干问的是饥荒与营养不良之所以不同的原因，因此需要知道饥荒是什么情况，营养不良又是什么情况。第二段前四句在讲饥荒是什么；第四句指出那些饥荒灾难的幸存者希望能采取行动，期待政府能改善饥荒状况；接下来讲的是营养不良的情况；第七句指出人们通常认为营养不良现象的存在是一种正常现象。故答案为C。饥饿与营养不良都是普遍存在的社会现象，A不足以说明这两种问题的区别；B陈述的论据不充分；D的叙述与事实相反。
单选题     What is malnutrition according to the author? ______
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。作者以中世纪的绘画作品为例说明中世纪时便存在营养不良现象。当时绘画作品中人们孱弱憔悴的面容通常被归咎于艺术家的水平有限，其实很可能当时的人们长的就是那副模样，故答案为A。第二段第五句指出同饥荒相比，营养不良更为隐秘，B、D的叙述与原文不符；C曲解了原文的含义。
单选题     Why did many sailors in the past die rapidly of scurvy? ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】事实细节题。由题干的关键词sailors和scurvy可将答案定位于第二段The promptness with which some sailors died of scurvy...这句话。作者举船员的例子也是为了说明长期营养不良的危害，因此可知答案为C。原文未明确提到水手们的食品供应不足及他们不习惯在海上生活，故A、B错误；坏血病并非由其他水手传染所致，D错误。
单选题     The vicious circle of malnutrition in developing countries ______
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】事实细节题。由文章的段尾处“在大部分发展中国家，一旦这种恶性循环被打破，就应该让它永远不复存在”可知，答案为B，选项中for good表示“永久地，一劳永逸地”。A的论断偏绝对；C原文未提及；作者也未预言这种恶性循环将来会蔓延到发达国家，故D错误。