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 thousands 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 aperson named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the "wide-awake" 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?
A．Food. B．Clothing.
C．Ideology. D．Language.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】Food：食物。答案在第一段第一个句子：在过去的500年中，就人而言，没有比吃的东西变化更大的了，衣着、思想、语言方面的变化都比不上吃的变化大。
单选题 "Some" in the last sentence of the first paragraph refers to
A．some cocoa trees. B．some chocolate drinks.
C．some shops. D．some South American Indians.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】some shops：一些商店。指代一般遵守邻近原则。与some邻近的是：In London, shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. 在伦敦，供应巧克力饮料的商店已经变成了约会的场所。因此some应指some shops。或许有些读者会问：chocolate drinks离some不是更近吗?确实如此。不过，chocolate drinks处于修饰shop的子句之中，从结构上说跟some不是对应的。结构平行性也是决定指代关系的一个原则。
单选题 Thousands of Irish people starved during the "Potato Famine" because
A．they were so dependent on potatoes that they refused to eat anything else.
B．they were forced to leave their homeland and move to America.
C．the weather conditions in Ireland were not suitable for growing potatoes.
D．the potato harvest was bad.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】the potato harvest was bad：土豆收成不好。题目问的是：成千上万的爱尔兰人在“土豆饥荒”的岁月里挨饿的原因是什么?第二段说到crop failed(作物歉收)。这跟D说的是一回事。
单选题 Which country is the largest coffee producer?
A．Brazil. B．Colombia.
C．Ethiopia. D．Egypt.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】Brazil：巴西。该题问的是：哪个国家是最大的咖啡生产国?第三段第三句是这么说的：巴西是当今世界上最大的咖啡种植国。
单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to the passage?
A．One third of the world's population drinks coffee.
B．Coffee is native to Colombia.
C．Coffee can keep one awake.
D．Coffee drinks were first made by Arabs.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】Coffee is native to Colombia：咖啡原产于哥伦比亚。第三段的倒数第二句是这么说的：但是它(咖啡)原产于埃塞俄比亚，一个非洲国家。