Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home. Proper table mann

Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home. Proper table manners are likely to help you make a good impression. According to a US expert, Emily Post, “All rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness.”
While Henry Hitchings of the Los Angeles Times admits that good manners can reduce social conflict, he points out that mostly their purpose is protective - they turn our natural warrior-like selves into more elegant ones.
So where did table manners come from?
In medieval England, a writer named Petrus Alfonsi took the lead to urge people not to speak with their mouths full. And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).
Disappointingly, that idea never caught on. It was during the Renaissance, when there were real technical developments, opinions of correct behavior changed for good. “None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”
Forks were introduced to Britain in 1608 and 25 years later, the first table fork reached America. Yet while most of the essentials (基本要素) are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there are a few clear differences between what’s normal in the US and what holds true in the UK. For example, in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.
Though globalization has developed a new, simpler international standard of table manners, some people still stick with the American cut-and-switch method.The Los Angeles Times noted, “They are hanging on to a form of behavior that favors manners above efficiency.”
【小题1】What does the story mainly talk about?A．The importance of proper table manners .B．The development of table manners in Western countries.C．Some unwritten rules of table manners in the US and UK.D．Differences between American and British table manners.【小题2】The underlined phrase “caught on” in the passage probably means .A．worked in practiceB．became popularC．drew attentionD．had a positive effect【小题3】Which of the following events influenced people’s table manners most according to the article?A．The introduction of forks.B．The tax deduction policy.C．The rise of the Renaissance.D．Petrus Alfonsi’s efforts in promoting table manners.【小题4】What can we conclude from the article?A．British and American table manners are completely different from each other.B．American people pay more attention to their table manners than British people do.C．With globalization, the American cut-and-switch method has been abandoned in the US.D．British people’s way of using a knife and fork may be more efficient than American people’s.B

(答案→)B 解析：这篇文章讲的是餐桌礼仪的发展，介绍餐桌礼仪的重要性以及刀叉的引入对礼仪的影响，和美国和英国餐桌礼仪的差异。【小题1】主旨题：从全文和第三段的句子：可知这篇文章讲的是餐桌礼仪的发展，选B【小题2】猜词题：从第四段的句子：And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).可知苏格兰的国外大卫一世提议吃饭很干净的人可以减免税收，下文说Disappointingly, that idea never caught on.可知这个想法没有流行。选B【小题3】细节题：从第五段的句子：“None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”可知叉子的引入对人们餐桌礼仪影响最大，选A。【小题4】推理题：从倒数第二段的句子：in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.可知英国人对刀叉的使用比美国人更加有效。选D。

我学会了