Question

Potatoes are very popular today. But in the past this was not true. Potatoes grew in South America 5,000 years ago. But they only became popular in other places 200 years ago.

In the 16th century, the Spanish took the potato from South America to Europe. But the people didn’t like this strange vegetable. Some people thought that their skins would look like the skin of the plant if they ate the potato. So they only ate the leaves. This made them sick because there is poison (毒藥) in the leaves.

In the 1800s, people started to eat potatoes. Potatoes became the main food in Ireland. Then something unlucky happened. In 1845, a disease killed all the potatoes in Ireland. Two million people died of hunger.

Today each country has its potato dish. Germans eat potato salad, and the USA has the baked potato. Of course, the French invented French fries.

Fill in the blanks according to the passage. Only one word for each blank.

Potatoes were1.____in South America 5,000 years ago. But they weren’t popular in other places2.___200 years ago. In the 16th century, the Spanish took them to Europe. They ate leaves 3. of having potatoes. As a result, people were badly ill because of the poison in the leaves. In the 1800s, people started to eat potatoes. 4.___, there was something wrong with the potatoes. Two million people died because of the shortage (缺少) of potatoes in 1845. But now there are many 5.___of potato dishes in the world.

 

Answer 1

1.grown

2.until

3.instead

4.However

5.kinds

【解析】

試題分析：這篇短文主要講述人們對(duì)馬鈴薯的認(rèn)識(shí)過程。文章介紹，16世紀(jì)，西班牙人把馬鈴薯從南美洲帶到歐洲。當(dāng)時(shí)歐洲人并不喜歡這個(gè)奇特的蔬菜。19世紀(jì)，人們開始吃馬鈴薯。在愛爾蘭，馬鈴薯成了主食。今天，各個(gè)國家都有各自的馬鈴薯佳肴。

1.第一段Potatoes grew in South America 5,000 years ago.的描述可知，5000年前馬鈴薯被種植于南美。結(jié)合語境可知應(yīng)用被動(dòng)語態(tài)，故填：grown。

2. they only became popular in other places 200 years ago.的描述可知，馬鈴薯直到兩百年前才開始在各地受到歡迎。結(jié)合語境可知應(yīng)填：until。

3.下文people were badly ill because of the poison in the leaves.的描述可知，當(dāng)時(shí)人們只吃它的葉子，而不是吃馬鈴薯。結(jié)合語境可知應(yīng)填：instead，instead of而不是。

4.聯(lián)系上下文的描述可知，19世紀(jì)，人們開始吃馬鈴薯。然而，由于全愛爾蘭的馬鈴薯受到了侵害，有兩百萬人因此餓死。結(jié)合語境可知，這里存在轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系，故填：However。

5. each country has its potato dish.的描述可知，現(xiàn)在世界上有各種各樣的馬鈴薯佳肴。結(jié)合用酒精可知應(yīng)填：kinds。

考點(diǎn)：經(jīng)濟(jì)文化類短文閱讀。