“Fingers were made before forks.” When a person gives up good manners, put aside knife and fork, and dives into his food, someone is likely to repeat that saying.

The fork was an ancient agricultural tool, but for centuries no one thought of eating with it. Not until the eleventh century, when a young lady from Constantinople brought her fork to Italy, did the custom reach Europe.

By the fifteenth century the use of the fork was wide-spread in Italy. The English explanation was that Italians were unwilling to eat food touched with fingers, “seeing all men’s fingers are not alike clean.

Anyone who used a fork to eat with was laughed at in England for the next hundred years. Not until the late 1600’s did using a fork become a common custom.

60. The custom of eating with a fork was ________.

A. brought to Europe from America B. begun when forks first invented

C. brought to Europe from Constantinople D. thought of by the Italians

61. By the fifteenth century, forks were used________.

A. all over Italy B. only in Constantinople

C. by the kings and queens of Europe D. in England

62. The English thought that Italians used forks in order to________.

A. imitate(模仿)the people of the East B. keep their food clean

C. impress visitors with their good manners D. amuse (逗笑) the English

63. The best title of the passage is “_________’.

A. Eating with a Fork B. The History of Eating with a Fork

C. A Way of Eating D. A Custom of Eating

答案：

小题1:C

小题2:A

小题3:B

小题4:B

解析：

考点名称：日常生活类阅读

日常生活类阅读的概念：

日常生活这一话题主要涉及人们衣食住行等方面的活动。这一话题的选材主要针对人们日常的工作，生活以及学习情况。做这一类题时，最主要的是要把握好人物的活动内容，时间和地点。

日常生活类阅读题答题技巧：

【题型说明】

该类文章内容涉及到人们的言谈举止、生活习惯、饮食起居、服饰仪表、恋爱婚姻、消遣娱乐、节日起源、家庭生活等。文章篇幅短小，追根溯源，探索各项风俗的历史渊源，内容有趣。命题也以送分题为主，如事实细节题、语义转换题、词义猜测题和简单推理判断题等。虽然这类文章读起来感觉轻松，试题做起来比较顺手，但绝不能掉以轻心。因为稍不留神，就会丢分。

【备考提醒】

为了保证较高准确率，建议同学们做好以下几点：

1、保持正常的考试心态。笔者在教学中发现，越是容易的试题，同学们越是容易失分。为什么呢?因为在这种情况下，同学们极易产生麻痹思想，认为题目好做，就不引起高度重视，于是思维不发散、不周密。而命题人就是利用同学们的这一弱点，设计陷阱题。所以，无论试题难易与否，我们都要保持正常的考试心态。试题容易，不欣喜;试题难，不悲观。

2、根据前面讲到的方法，认认真真、细细心心做好事实细节题。

3、做好语义转换题。这类题是根据英语中一词多义和某些词语在文中能表达一定的修辞意义的原则而设计的。要求同学们解释某生词的含义，确定多义词或短语在文中的意思，确认文中的某个代词所指代的对象，或者对英语中特有的表达、格言、谚语进行解释。这种题要求同学们一定要根据上下文猜测词义或理解句子，切不可望文生义。

4、做好简单推理判断题。简单推理判断题要以表面文字为前提，以具体事实为依据进行推理，做出判断。这种推理方式比较直接，只要弄清事实，即可结合常识推断出合理的结论。