2024年4月7日发(作者：)

圣才电子书

十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台

⊙ 风土人情类

Passage 1

Coffee is a powerful drink. On a personal level, it helps keep US awake and

active. On a much general level, it has helped shape our history and continues to

shape our culture.

Coffee plants grow wild in parts of Africa and were probably used by travelling

tribes (部落) for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the l400s that people

figured out they could roast its seeds. “Then it really took off,” said historian Mark

Pendergrast—author of

Uncommon Grounds: the History of coffee and How It

Transformed Our World

. By the l500s, the drink had spread to coffeehouses across

the Arab world. Within another l50 years, it took Europe by storm. “It actually had

a major impact on the rise of business,” Pendergrast says. Coffeehouses became a

spot not just to enjoy a cup but to exchange ideas.

The insurance industry was founded hundreds of years ago in one of

London’s 2,000 coffeehouses. Literature, newspapers and even the works of great

composers like Bach and Beethoven were also inspired in coffeehouses.

It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of l773, when American colonists

(殖民者) attacked British tea ships and threw large boxes of tea into the harbor,

Americans everywhere switched over to drinking coffee. “There’s a lot of truth to

the story, I found.” Pendergrast says. He mentions a letter John Adams wrote to his

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圣才电子书

十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台

wife, Abigail, in which the Founding Father declares his love of tea but says he will

have to learn to accept coffee instead, because drinking tea had become

unpatriotic (不爱国的).

For all the upsides coffee has brought the modem world, it also brought its fair

share of downsides, too. Europeans carried coffee with them as they colonized

various parts of the world, and this frequently meant they made people into slaves

in order to grow it.

1. According to the passage, which of the following has nothing to do with coffee?

A. Literature.

B. Newspapers.

C. The insurance industry.

D. The oil industry.

2. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT TRUE?

A. The Boston Tea Party took place in l773.

B. Europeans figured out ways to use coffee during the 1670s.

C. During the l770s, more and more Americans began to drink coffee.

D. Coffee is a refreshing drink.

3. The author of the book believes that_____.

A. drinking coffee was unpatriotic

B. 2,000 insurance companies were set up hundreds of years ago

C. Europeans were responsible for the existence of slavery

D. coffee actually influenced the rise of business

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圣才电子书

十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台

4. The phrase “tool off” in the second paragraph means “_____”.

A. dropped to the ground

B. became very successful

C. removed its coat

D. went away suddenly

5. Which of the following is an appropriate title for this passage?

A. When Coffee Became Popular

B. Coffee Is a Powerful Drink

C. How Coffee Influenced the Course of History

D. What Impact Coffee Has on Human Behavior

【答案及解析】

1

【答案】D

【解析】结合选项，在原文里我们发现文中第三段提到受到咖啡影响的行业，其中有

insurance industry（保险业），literature（文学），newspapers（报纸），works of

great composers（作曲家的工作），唯独没有提到石油工业，因此D项与咖啡无关，

故答案选D。

2

【答案】B

【解析】根据文中第四段第一行提到“It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of

l773”可知，“波士顿倾茶事件”在1773年发生，A选项正确。接着文章又说道

“Americans everywhere switched over to drinking coffee.”即，1773年“波

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圣才电子书

十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台

士顿倾茶事件”之后，人们开始从喝茶转向喝咖啡，C选项正确。由文章第一行“Coffee

is a powerful drink.… it helps keep US awake and active”可知，咖啡能使人保

持清醒和活跃，D选项正确。根据文章中第二段内容可得：14世纪时，有人发现了

咖啡使用方法，15世纪传遍阿拉伯世界，之后又过了150年，即17世纪60年代，

它才席卷了欧洲，其中并没有直接提到是欧洲人发明出了使用咖啡的方法，而且时间

也不是在17世纪80年代，因此B项描述不符，故答案选B。

3

【答案】D

【解析】文章中提到的书的作者即Pendergrast。根据文中第二段他说的话“It actually had

a major impact on the rise of business”可知，该作者认为咖啡饮品对商业的兴

起占有主要作用，故D项正确。

4

【答案】B

【解析】took off在文章第二段出现“Then it really took off”，上文提到：咖啡植株生长

在非洲部分地区的野外，在外漂泊的部族很有可能已经使用了数千年，但是直到l5

世纪人们才发现他们可以烘烤咖啡的种子，接着下文就提到了：咖啡在世界范围内的

传播并且产生了深远的影响。所以此处过渡表示的意思应该是：然后它真的成功了。

take off除了“起飞，脱下”的意思以外，还有“突然成功”的意思。

5

【答案】C

【解析】综合全文，我们不难发现第一段的最后一句是中心句，即咖啡塑造了我们的历史和

文化，也就是C选项。A选项只是在第二段涉及，B选项是文章的引子，文章并不是

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圣才电子书

十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台

围绕咖啡非常有力量写的，D选项也只是在第一段on a personal level那一句话中

涉及。因此C项为正确答案。

Passage 2

If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find

how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz

with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver

to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then

walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of

anxiety.

The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve

outside diners.

Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining

rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to

wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily

use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as

soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate. From then on they just say how

many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven

to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi

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圣才电子书

十万种考研考证电子书、题库视频学习平台

passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to

their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining

rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in.

As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society

has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”. In a society of such high moral

practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?

1. While taking a taxi in Finland, __________.

A. a passenger can go anywhere without having to pay the driver

B. a passenger pays two US dollars for a taxi ride

C. a passenger can never be turned down by the taxi driver wherever he wants to

go

D. a passenger needs to provide good faith demonstration before they leave

without paying

2. We know from the passage that big hotels in Finland __________.

A. provide meal for only those who live in the hotels

B. provide meals for any diners

C. provide free wine and charge for food

D. are mostly poorly managed

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The workers in Finland are paid by the hour.

B. The bosses in Finland are too busy to check the working hours of their

employees.

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