Question

By the mid-nineteenth century, the “icebox” had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families of their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursors of modern refrigerator, had been invented.
Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary. The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.
But as early as 1803, an ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium(獎金) price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.
【小題1】What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．The influence of ice on the diet.

B．The development of refrigeration.

C．The transportation of goods to market.

D．Sources of ice in the nineteenth century.

【小題2】According to the passage, when did the word “icebox” become part of the language of the United States?

A．in 1803	B．sometime bore 1850
C．during the civil war	D．near the end of the nineteenth century.

【小題3】The phrase “forward-looking” in line 3 is closest in meaning to______.

A．progressive

B．popular

C．thrifty

D．well-established

【小題4】The author mentions “fish” in the passage because _____.

A．many fish dealers also sold ice.

B．fish was shipped in refrigerated freight cars.

C．fish dealers were among the early commercial users of ice

D．fish was not part of the ordinary person’s diet before the invention of the icebox.

Answer 1

【小題1】B
【小題2】B
【小題3】A
【小題4】C

解析試題分析：本文主要講述的就是冰箱這一現時代的事物的發展過程。
【小題1】B 主旨大意題。根據文章第一段最后一句This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursors of modern refrigerator, had been invented.說明本文主要就是關于冰箱的發展過程，故B正確。
【小題2】B 細節題。根據文章第一句By the mid-nineteenth century, the “icebox” had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States.說明是在19世紀中葉“icebox”進入了英語，故B正確。
【小題3】A 推理題。根據本句The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter.說明冰的貿易很流行，有一些有遠見的人把冰用在了肉，魚和黃油的保險方面，故該詞是指不段前進的，向前發展的。故A正確。
【小題4】C 細節題。根據The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter.說明魚的保鮮也是在冰的商業用途之一，故C正確。
考點：考查社會知識類短文閱讀
點評：本文主要講述的就是冰箱這一現時代的事物的發展過程。本文細節題居多，答題時在文章找到對應的地方，用筆進行標記，這有利于后期有時間檢查時可以立刻找到答案的位置。仔細理解作者所講的意思，再結合選項，通過排除法和自己對全文的把握，選出正確答案。