During McDonald's early years French fries were made from scratch every day. Russet Burbank potatoes were【C1】______, cut into shoestrings, and fried in its kitchens.【C2】______the chain expanded nationwide, in the mid-1960s, it sought to cut labour costs, reduce the number of suppliers, and【C3】______that its fries tasted the same at every restaurant. McDonald's began【C4】______to frozen French fries in 1966—and few customers noticed the difference.【C5】______, the change had a profound effect on the nation's agriculture and diet. A familiar food had been transformed into a highly processed industrial【C6】______. McDonald's fries now come from huge manufacturing plants【C7】______can process two million pounds of potatoes a day. The expansion【C8】______McDonald's and the popularity of its low-cost, mass-produced fries changed the way Americans eat.
The taste of McDonald's French fries played a crucial role in the chain's success—fries are much more profitable than hamburgers—and was【C9】______praised by customers, competitors, and even food critics. Their【C10】______taste does not stem from the kind of potatoes that McDonald's【C11】______, the technology that processes them, or the restaurant equipment that fries them: other chains use Russet Burbank, buy their French fries from the【C12】______large processing companies, and have similar【C13】______in their restaurant kitchens. The taste of a French fry is【C14】______determined by the cooking oil. For decades McDonald's cooked its French fries in a mixture of about 7 per cent cottonseed oil and 93 per cent beef fat. The mixture gave the fries their unique【C15】______."

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】此处指削去土豆的外皮，因此要用peel.它表示“剥去或削去……的皮或外皮，剥落或脱落表皮、树皮或其他覆盖物”，如：These potatoes don’t peel easily．(这些土豆的皮很难剥。)其余三个词语的意思分别为：“刮去……鳞，剥去……的介壳，除去……积垢，给……去锈”；“脱掉(衣服等)”；“把…切成薄片”。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】ensure意为“保证，确保”，后常接that引导的宾语从句，如：If you wantto ensure that you get the diploma，you have to work harder and take all these curriculaand pass them．(如果你想确保获得文凭，就得努力些，选修所有这些课程并通过考试。)可见，ensure从句意和结构上看均适合。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】switch意为“改变，变化，交换”，如：I used to cook on electricity，but I’veswitched to gas．(我过去用电烧饭，但现已换成用煤气了。)divert指“转向(如道路、方向)，转移……的注意力”；modify表示“更改，修改”；alter侧重指“变更或改变而使之不同”。原文指薯片从现做改为冷冻过的，因此选A。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】此处是将麦当劳的炸薯条和其他连锁店的相比较，从该空所在句冒号后的“use Russet Burbank”和“similar”，可知三个分句构成并列关系。此处选择的词应意为“相同的，同样的”。identical和same均可表达此义，但前者后常与介词in或with等连用。因而本题选C。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】该空所在句的上一句排除了影响炸薯条口味的三个因素，再联系义章最后一句话，可推知混合油在很大程度上起到了决定性作用。largely表示“主要地，很大程度地”，符合题意。如：His failure is largely due to timidity．(他的失败主要是由于胆小。)