Question

Culture and Cuisine

The United States is known for jazz and blue jeans．But travel to Paris and ask your average French citizen about American cuisine (烹飪) and he’s likely to answer，“ McDonalds．” Ask the same thing of any American citizen on any American street and I’m afraid you’d get the same answer，or something close to it．

Hamburgers and hotdogs and fries are all fine，but with American malls and other outlets standardizing everything from clothing to food，the sad truth is that American cuisine is becoming more homogeneous―all the same―no matter where you live．True，many Americans are eating more varied foods these days，but these are largely the cuisines of immigrant groups，and they are quite likely to be affected by homogenization of American cuisine．

So what exactly is American cuisine？ Well，to some extent it is a reflection of our melting pot culture，meaning that Europeans made huge contributions in the form of wheat，dairy products，pork，beef and poultry．But American cuisine also includes products that once were known only to the New World，including potatoes，corn，pumpkin，sweet potatoes，and peanuts．

The one region of the country where you still find all these things in daily use is the Deep South．The South lost the Civil War，but children of the southerners are winning the battle to preserve and advance their cooking traditions—and in this case one of the few cuisines can truly be called American，which is why we’re pleased to have Low Country cuisine in this issue of food creation．That’s right，grits and gravy are back in a big way in cities like Charleston and Savannah．Truth is，they never really left，but up until a decade ago Low Country cuisine was more common at home than in restaurants．

In fact，a large number of tourists now go to the lower Atlantic region in order to experience this extraordinary cuisine for themselves．Time will tell whether Low Country cuisine becomes popular in other regions of the country in the way that，say，Italian cuisine has，but it’s amazing and heartening to see one of our true cultural treasures enjoying renewed popularity in these increasingly homogeneous times．

1.According to the passage，American cuisine impresses people as being _______．

A．dull and changeless

B．rich and various

C．popular and delicious

D．disagreeable and unpleasant

2.It can be seen that the writer feels regretful that _______．

A．cuisines of other countries play a more important role in America

B．American cuisine has become increasingly lacking in variety

C．American cuisine tends to vary because of immigration

D．American cuisine is being changed by foreign cuisines

3.From the passage，we know that grits and gravy _______．

A．were cooked with new materials after the Civil War

B．a(chǎn)re gaining popularity in the south of America

C．were more popular over ten years ago

D．a(chǎn)re seldom served in restaurants

4.What’s the writer’s attitude towards the renewal of Low Country cuisine in America？

A．Concerned and cautious．

B．Hopeless and doubtful．

C．Positive and supportive．

D．Critical and disapproving．

Answer 1