题目内容
When milk arrived on the doorstep
When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note --- “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery” --- and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊). Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
56. Mr Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer ________.
A. to show his magical power B. to pay for the delivery
C. to satisfy his curiosity D. to please his mother
57. What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy’s house?
A. He wanted to have tea there. B. He was a respectable person.
C. He was treated as a family member. D. He was fully trusted by the family.
58. Why does home milk delivery no longer exist?
A. Nobody wants to be a milkman now. B. It has been driven out of the market.
C. Its service is getting poor. D. It is forbidden by law.
59. Why did the author bring back home an old milk box?
A. He missed the good old days. B. He wanted to tell interesting stories.
C. He missed it for his milk bottles. D. He planted flowers in it.
56. C 57. D 58. B 59. A
Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea.People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea.Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added.She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.
1.Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?
A.The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
B.Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
C.The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
D.It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
2.This passage mainly discusses_____________.
A.the history of tea drinking in Britain |
B.how tea became a popular drink in Britain |
C.how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea |
D.how tea-time was born |
3.Tea became a popular drink in Britain_____________.
A.in eighteenth century |
B.in sixteenth century |
C.in seventeenth century |
D.in the late seventeenth century |
4.People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because_____________.
A.it tasted like milk |
B.it tasted more pleasant |
C.it became a popular drink |
D.Madame de Sevigne was such a lady with great social influence that people tried to copy the way she drank tea |
5.We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly
due to the influence of ________.
A.a famous French lady |
B.the ancient Chinese |
C.the upper social class |
D.people in Holland |