单选题 Passage 1 British food has a good reputation, but English cooking has a bad one. It is difficult to explain the reason for this. Unfortunately, however, superb raw ingredients are often mined from the kitchen so that they come to the table without any of the natural flavor and goodness. This bad reputation discourages a lot of people from eating in an English restaurant. If they do go to one, they are usually full of prejudice against the food. It is a pity, because there are excellent cooks in England, excellent restaurants, and excellent home-cooking. How, then, has the bad reputation been built up? Perhaps one reason is that Britain' s Industrial Revolution occurred very early, in the middle of the nineteenth century. As a result, the quality of food changed too. This was because Britain stopped being a largely agricultural country. The population of the towns increased enormously between 1840 and 1870, and people could no longer grow their own food, or buy it fresh from a farm. Huge quantities of food had to be taken to the towns, and a lot of it lost its freshness on the way. This lack of freshness was disguised by "dressing up" the food. The rich middle classes ate long elaborate meals which were cooked for them by French chefs. French became, and has remained, the official language of the dining room. Out-of-season delicacies were served in spite of their expense, for there were a large number of extremely wealthy people who wanted to establish themselves socially. The "look" of the food was more important than its taste. In the 1930s, the supply of servant began to decrease. People still tried to produce complicated dishes, however, but they economized on the preparation time. The Second World War made things even worse by making raw ingredients extremely scarce. As a result, there were many women who never had the opportunity to choose a piece of meat from a well-stocked butcher' s shop, but were content and grateful to accept anything that was offered to them. Food rationing continued in Britain until the early 1950s. It was only after this had stopped, and butter, eggs and cream became more plentiful, and it was possible to travel abroad again and taste other ways of preparing food, that the English difference to eating became replaced by a new enthusiasm for it.

单选题 According to the author, it is difficult to explain ______.

单选题 The negative effect of Britain' s Industrial Revolution on English cooking is that ______.

单选题 As a result of the Industrial Revolution, ______.

单选题 The Second World War worsened the problem because ______.

单选题 A new enthusiasm for eating emerged in Britain ______.