My wife and I have always enjoyed travelling by ship, and last year decided to go a Mediterranean cruise（地中海航游）.Although our holiday was rather expensive, we thought that the first class food and many interesting places we saw were well worth the price we 1 .

    We found that most of the other passengers were friendly and interesting 2 one man , a Mr.James, who 3 the same table at dinner with us and several others. Whatever subject we talked about , it seemed that he was 4 on it . He had obviously read more books ,visited more countries, and studied more languages 5 anyone else. After a few days ,we ate our meals in silence, because nobody wanted to begin a talk that would soon be taken over by this man .

    Then my wife had an idea. 6 the huge ship had a library ,and she suggested that we think of an 7 subject ,look it up in all kinds of special books and then talk about it at dinner. If it were unusual enough, Mr.James could not possibly know anything about it . The subject we 8 was “English Farming in the Eleventh Century.”At dinner that night we discussed this subject with great interest . Mr.James was silent. We realized we had at last 9 to find something he did not know 10 about.

If you stay in an Indian home, bring something from your home country as a gift. It would be muchappreciated. But find out the social position and religion of your hosts before you choose a gift. Abottle of foreign whisky would be the perfect gift for some, and not at all appropriate for others. If youknow the people you are going to stay with, it is a good idea to ask them what they would like. Somethings are just not available in India.   It is not necessary to bring a gift when you are invited to dinner. After all, you are the honouredguest. Until recently, it would have been almost insulting to bring sweets or a bottle of wine. But this isnot true today. Nowadays it is a custom which is becoming popular with many Indians. Fruit, flowersor a box of sweets are perfect gifts on such occasions, and will offend(冒犯) no one.   In all classes of society, both urban and rural, food is only taken to the mouth with the right hand.This is the most important part of the manners of eating in India. Once you have started eating, andhave food in your right hand, it is all right to serve yourself, using the serving spoon with the left hand.When you watch Indians eat you will see that they keep their left hand on their lap.  If you are stuck for a conversation topic in India, talk about families. Another useful subject to startwith is cricket. But once you get to know a person better, any topic is acceptable. Indians love to talkabout politics and religion. They enjoy opinionated discussions and not just polite conversations.Conversation is an art form and people take the time to really talk.

1. If you stay with an Indian family,___________.

A. you are expected to take a gift               B. you should take flowers

C. you are not expected to take a gift           D. take a souvenir from your country

2. If you are invited for a meal at an Indian home, __________.

A. you should offer to pay for your food        

B. you will offend your hosts if you take anything

C. it is fashionable to take flowers or sweets    

D. it is traditional to take a dish

3. Indians love interesting discussions but they________.

A. only talk about family matters             B. avoid religion and politics

C. don't like talking about themselves        D. don' t appreciate polite conversation

4. The sentence "Some things are just not available" in the first paragraph means

A. You can buy these things in India        B. They don't make these things in India

C. They have never seen these things      D. You can't get these things in India

Recently I was invited to a friend’s house for supper—and had a meal I have never had before.

All the friends invited were a little surprised. It’s not that Ben is unsociable, or a bad cook, but it’s just that he never 21more than he has to. So how come he was inviting us round for a meal? Had he bought something 22for his friends? He greeted us at the door and showed us into his dining room where a 23_ -table was waiting for us.“Nothing but the best for my friends!”said Ben. We all sat down and looked 24 at each other—what was he up to?

Ben returned with four bowls of hot soup.“It’s a mixture of carrots, potatoes and tomatoes,”said Ben. The next 25was also a little strange in that we didn’t quite know what it was again. It’s just another mixture of vegetable.

As we ate we chatted and finally the 26 turned back to what we were eating.“Was there a recipe(食谱) for this,”asked Marina,“or did you 27 it up?”Ben put his fork down.“What I cooked depended on what I could find.”Marina was surprised.“But you can find anything in supermarkets these days.”“But there’s 28 choice in what you can find outside supermarkets,”he replied.

Seeing that we had all finished the food, Ben decided to tell the truth. He had read recently that supermarkets usually throw away 5 percent of their food every day. So Ben decided to look inside his local supermarket bins. There he found food that was slightly out of __29, boxes of throw-away vegetables and fruit.

So Ben had successfully provided a decent(体面的) meal for his friends, and made us aware of the fact that there are many poor people who need the food, but the amount of food thrown away is enough to 30 millions of people.

21.A.takes  B. spends   C. uses D. does

22.A.cheap  B. special  C. practical    D. usual

23.A.new    B. separate C. booked   D. laid

24.A.nervously  B. carefully    C. sadly    D. happily

25.A.course B. food C. soup D. salad

26.A.dinner B. idea C. food D. subject

27.A.pick   B. look C. make D. take

28.A.less   B. more C. some D. any

29.A.order  B. place    C. season   D. date

30.A.enrich B. please   C. affect   D. feed

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

Recently I was invited to a friend’s house for supper —and had a meal I have never had before.

All the friends invited were a little surprised. It’s not that Ben is unsociable, or a bad cook, but it’s just that he never   21   more than he has to. So how come he was inviting us round for a meal? Had he bought something   22   for his friends? He greeted us at the door and showed us into his dining room where a   23 _ table was waiting for us.“Nothing but the best for my friends!”said Ben. We all sat down and looked   24   at each other —what was he up to?

Ben returned with four bowls of hot soup. “It’s a mixture of carrots, potatoes and tomatoes,”said Ben. The next   25   was also a little strange in that we didn’t quite know what it was again. It’s just another mixture of vegetable.

As we ate we chatted and finally the   26   turned back to what we were eating. ”Was there a recipe (食谱) for this,” asked Marina, “or did you   27   it up?” Ben put his fork down. “What I cooked depended on what I could find.” Marina was surprised. “But you can find anything in supermarkets these days.” “But there’s  28   choice in what you can find outside supermarkets,” he replied.

Seeing that we had all finished the food, Ben decided to tell the truth. He had read recently that supermarkets usually throw away 5 percent of their food every day. So Ben decided to look inside his local supermarket bins. There he found food that was slightly out of __29  , boxes of throw-away vegetables and fruit.

So Ben had successfully provided a decent (体面的) meal for his friends, and made us aware of the fact that there are many poor people who need the food, but the amount of food thrown away is enough to   30   millions of people.