阅读试题

Over the past century or so, as rood production in the West, but particularly in Britain and America. has become more industrialised and the population has become more urban, cured and dried products have become scarcer. The salami or chorizo you buy in a supermarket will probably have been cooked or irradiated rather than cured, which is a less foolproof method of killing pathogens (病原体). Other reasons for the decline in proper meat-curing include the disappearance of the neighbourhood butcher; the downward trend in meatconsumption; and, in the United States, the assimilation of the European immigrants who originally broughttheir sausage-making traditions with them-particularly the Italians, but also the Hungarians, Polish and Portuguese.

Americans with a taste for imported sausages cannot easily indulge it.Anyone wanting to export cured meal lo the United States must have a representative from the United States Department of Agriculture at the site of production and must follow the same severe procedures that have been felling American sausage-makers.Producers must keep voluminous logs on everything from the temperature of the storage mom-measured and recorded every four Hours-to the meat products' pH level, che proportion of water in dry-cured sausages and the cleanliness of their employees' shoes and clothing.

Jamon iberico-without question the most glorious use to which a pig can be put on this planet-has not beenlegally available in che United States until now. but will become so from 2007 because the Department of Agriculture has at long last decided that the methods used by Spanish artisans for millennia are unlikely to poison American citizens. Stealthy Americans have always packed sausages in their luggage when returningfrom European holidays. but customs inspections are surprisingly frequent and intrusive. Confiscated（没收）products are usually eaten. as they should be: your correspondent, returning to Washington from southernFrance, tried to hide a couple of saucissons de Lyon in his luggage. which made a policeman's German shepherd dog very happy.

Whatever one may think of the benefits or detriments of agricultural and culinary (烹饪的) industrialisation. it seems clear that it has contributed a lot of dull-tasting products. Given a choice. eaters vote with their palate: there really is no comparison between an artisan-made sausage pulled down from a butcher'sceiling and a shrink-wrapped salami on a supermarket shelf. The proper stuff is gaining ground, but it hasbecome a luxury item, appealing to taste and refinement rather than convenience or economy.

参考译文

大约在过去的100年间，在西方，尤其是在英国和美国，食品生产越来越工业化，人口越来越集中在城市，熏制和风干的产品越来越少了。[l]在超市购买的意大利腊肠或西班牙辣香肠很可能是煮过或者用射线消毒过，而不是熏制过，因为熏制方法在杀死病原体方面没有那么安会。[2]严格意义上的肉类熏制手段使用得越来越少，其原因还包括：居家附近的肉贩消失了；肉类消费呈减少的趋势；在美国，还有欧洲移民的同化作用，尤其是意大利人，以及匈牙利人、波兰人、葡萄牙人——他们带来了各地传统的制作香肠的方法。

喜欢进口香肠的美国人若想要纵情地享用这些进口香肠可不是件容易的事。[3]任何想要出口熏制食品到美国的厂家都必须要有美国农业部的一名代表在其生产现场加以监督。而且它必须要遵照令美国本地的香肠生产商都叫苦不迭的同样严格的操作程序。生产厂家必须对每一样东西做大量的记录，包括储藏室的温度（每隔四个小时就测量并记录一次）、肉制品的pH值、熏干的香肠中的含水量、甚至企业员工的鞋子、衣物的干净程度等等。

伊此利生火腿（用西班牙南部珍贵的伊比利猪肉制作的火腿）毫无疑问是这个星球上猪肉中的极品，然而迄今在美国还不能够合法地买到；但是，因为农业部终于已经认定，西班牙工匠们几千年来使用的制作技术不可能会毒害美国公民。所以2007年开始，这种火腿可以进入美国市场了。有些美国人从欧洲度假回来时总是偷偷摸摸地在他们的行李中塞一些香肠，可是海关检查频繁得让人吃惊，总会从中作梗。[4]被没收的香肠通常被吃掉了——它们当然是应该吃掉的：当你的客户从法国南部回华盛顿的时候想要在行李中塞两根里昂香肠，结果却取悦了警察养的德国牧羊犬。

[5]不管人们会怎样看待农艺以及烹饪的工业化的种种好处或不足，但是有一点似乎很清楚，那就是它要为很多索然无味的食物负责。若给人们以选择的机会，食客们用自己的味觉投票吧：从屠夫家天花板上取下来的手工制作的香肠实在是超市货架上用热缩塑料包装的意大利腊肠所没法比的。那种原汁原味的东西开始慢慢地被人认可，但是它已经成为了一种奢侈品，它讲究品味和精致。而不是方便或经济。

测试题

1.Which kind of food is safer, cured food or irradiated food?

2.What is the result of the assimilation of European immigrants in the United States?

3.The United States makes it difficult for European sausages to enter its market by a set of___________________.

4.The sausages packed in the luggage, which cannot escape customs' inspections,will most probably end up being eaten by___________________.

5.The author thinks the taste of the shrink-wrapped salamis on a supermarket shelf is_______________________.

答案详解

1.[Irradiated food./The latter.]
[定位]根据irradiated查找到首段第2句。

解析：原文该句中的非限制性定语从句的先行词应为cured (food)，less foolproof 表明cured food在安全性方面不如irradiated food。

2.[The decline in proper meat-curing.]
[定位]根据European immigrants查找到首段末句。

解析：原文该句先指出肉类熏制手段越来越少这一结果，然后列举了3个原因，本题题干就是该段末提到的第3个原因，由此可见，该句开头提到的the decline in proper meat-curing就是本题答案。

3.[severe procedures]
[定位]根据United States查找到第2段第2句。

解析：第2段重点指出了美国对进口香肠有一套严格的制度，这就是欧洲香肠难以进入美国市场的原因。

4.[police dogs]
[定位]根据1uggage查找到第3段末句。

解析：原文该段末句表明没收的香肠最终会被a policeman's German shepherd dog吃掉，但它并非本题答案，因为这只是一个特殊例子里提到的特殊信息。而并非所有警犬的品种都是德国牧羊犬，因此，本题答案应为“警犬”，即police dogs。

5.[dull]
[定位]根据shrink-wrapped查找到末段。

解析：末段首句指出工业化使食物变得毫无味道，第2句通过对比手工制作的香肠和超市出售的香肠，主要为了说明前者美味无比，而后者就是工业化制作的产物，因此要形容这种食物的味道，最好的形容词就是首句提到过的dull-tasting，因为题干中已出现了taste一词，因此本题答案为dull。