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Unit 9 Chinese Food
Key to the Exercises
Text comprehension
I.
Decide which of
the following best states the main idea of the
passage.
B
(This essay is by
and large an illustration of a proposition raised
by Kenneth Lo that
food will determine
one's physical strength and ultimately one's
spiritual and moral fiber
and
well-being.
Its
aim
and
conclusion
rest
with
the
philosophy
expressed
in
Chinese
food.)
II.
Judge, according to the text, whether
the following statements are true or false.
1.
T (Refer to Paragraph 1.)
2.
T
(Refer to Paragraph 2.)
3.
T
(Refer to Paragraph 6.)
4.
F (Refer to Paragraph 7. According to
Helen Burke, the cooking itself takes only 10%
of the actual preparation but it is not
a simple matter as indicated by the percentage of
time it consumes.)
5.
T (Refer to Paragraph 9.)
III.
A
nswer the following
questions.
1.
Food and
eating, according to Kenneth Lo, determines not
only one's physical health
but also
one's spiritual and moral soundness and his
ultimate well-being.
2.
Refer to Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.
According to the author, many people in the West
are
gourmets and gluttons, while a
large number of others are pretty indifferent to
food. On
the contrary, Fu Tong, a
London restaurateur, maintains that to Chinese
people food is of
primary importance
and is one of the ecstasies of life. Also, when
they go to a restaurant,
Westerners
care more about the table than the food, while the
Chinese aim to eat with a
capital E, or
take the food with the utmost earnest.
3.
Refer to Paragraph 5.
Literally, Chinese food is ubiquitous. Chinese
restaurants have
sprung up almost
everywhere in the world. At the root of the
phenomenal rise of Chinese
food in the
world is a strong interest in Chinese food in the
West. There is an increase in
sensuality
in
the
Western
world
and
coincidentally
Chinese
food
is
very
sensual
in
its
combination of color, texture and
taste.
4.
Refer
to Paragraphs 7 and 8. For Chinese people, the
traditional high-quality Chinese
meal
is
a
serious
matter.
It
is
fastidiously
prepared
and
fastidiously
enjoyed.
Both
the
preparation
and
enjoyment
of
a
Chinese
meal
can
last
hours
and
make
a
shared
experience
which
is
well
planned.
The
meal
must
not
only
meet
the
challenge
of
the
palate but
also that of the eye.
5.
Refer
to
Paragraph
9.
A
good
traditional
Chinese
meal
must
be
well
planned
and
balanced in order to
meet the demand of the palate and the eye alike.
So, according to
Emily Hahn, there is
moral excellence in good cooking, which implies
the combination of
all
life,
all
action
and
all
knowledge.
So
important
is
a
meal
that
it
is
not
simply
the
product of a recipe; it
expresses the basic assumptions of life, among
which is harmony
and balance.
IV.
Explain in your own words the following sentences.
1.
Food to us Chinese is one
of the greatest joys in life: it is thought about
before being
prepared;
it
is
treated
with
lots
of
love
and
care
while
being
prepared;
and
when
it
is
ready, a great deal of
time is devoted to enjoying it.
2.
The
main
reason
for
the
sudden
and
tremendous
popularity
of
Chinese
food
throughout
the
whole
Western
world
lies
in
two
facts:
one
is
the
increased
desire
for
sensual
pleasures
(which
is
abundant
in
Chinese
food)
and
freedom
from
age-
old
customs
in
the
West;
the
other
is
the
notion
of
physical
pleasure
provided
by
Chinese
food, which is
always ready to satisfy the taste of the eater.
Structural analysis of the
text
Paragraphs 7-9 constitute the
third part of the text.
Paragraph
7:
The
traditional
quality
Chinese
meal
is
a
serious
matter,
fastidiously
prepared and
fastidiously enjoyed.
Paragraph 8: The
enjoyment must match the preparation.
Paragraph
9:
The
smooth
harmonies
and
piquant
contrasts
in
Chinese
food
are
an
expression of basic
assumptions about life itself.
Rhetorical features of the
text
1.
All
these
have
become
much
more
part
and
parcel
of
the
average
person's
life?
(Paragraph 6)
2.
Meat and fish, solids and soups, sweet
and sour sauces? (Paragraph 8)
Vocabulary exercises
I.
Explain the
underlined part in each sentence in your own
words.
1.
emotional strength to do what one
believes to be right
2.
material used to produce power; sth.
used to keep the body functioning
3.
lower-class type
4.
a number of
dishes that are served one after another in an
orderly way
5.
by themselves
II.
Fill in the
blank in each sentence with a word taken from the
box in its appropriate
form.
1. fastidious
2. ecstasies
3.
lavish
4.
elusive
5. phenomenal
6. proceeding
7.
enterprise
8. contrived
III.
F
ill in the blanks with the
appropriate forms of the given words.
1. disregard
2.
authoritative
3. ubiquity
4. desirable
5. piquancy
6. ceremonially
7. gluttonous
8. derivation
IV.
Fill in the
blank(s) in each sentence with an appropriate
phrasal verb or collocation
taken from
the text.
1. come off
2. conform to
3.
derives/derived, from
4. attend to
5. sprung up
6. came about
7.
proceed with
8. lavishing ... on
V.
Give a synonym or an antonym of the
word underlined in each sentence in the sense
it is used.
1.
Antonym: distantly (indifferently)
2.
Synonym:
epicure
3.
Synonym: fundamental (primary,
principal)
4.
Antonym: produce (make)
5.
Synonym: affirm (state)
6.
Synonym: mix
(intermingle, combine)
7.
Synonym: change (modify, adjust)
8.
Synonym:
provocative (sharp, pungent)
VI.
Explain the underlined
phrasal verbs in your own words.
1.
explains
2.
accidentally found
3.
discuss with