Question

Men are spending more and more time in the kitchen encouraged by celebrity (名人) chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, according to a report from Oxford University.

The effect of the celebrity role models, who have given cooking a more manly picture, has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality and men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they did in 1961.

According to the research by Prof. Jonatahn Gershuny, who runs the Centre for Time Research at Oxford, men now spend more than half an hour a day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961.

Prof. Gershuny said, “The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of sexual equality, but there is another 40 years probably to come.”

Women, who a generation ago spent nearly two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes—a great fall, but they still spend far more time in the kitchen than men.

Some experts have named these men in aprons as “Gastrosexuals (men using cooking skills to impress friends)”, who have been inspired to pick up a kitchen knife by the success of Ramsay, Oliver as well as other male celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marco Pierre White and Keith Floyd.

“I was married in 1974. When my father came to visit me a few weeks later, I was wearing an apron when I opened the door. He laughed,” said Prof. Gershuny. “That would never happen now.”

Two-thirds of adults say that they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table. Prof. Gershuny pointed out that the family meal was now rarely eaten by all of its members around a table—with many “family meals” in fact taken on the sofa in the sitting room, and shared by family members. “The family meal has changed a lot, and few of us eat—as I did when I was a child—at least two meals a day together as a family. But it has survived in a different format.”

1.What is one reason behind the trend that men spend more time cooking than before?

A. The improvement of cooks’ status.

B. The influence of popular female chefs.

C. The change of female’s view on cooking.

D. The development of sexual equality campaign.

2.What does the author think about the time men and women spend on cooking?

A. Men spend more time cooking than women nowadays.

B. Women spend much less time on cooking than before.

C. It will take 40 years before men spend more time at the stove than women.

D. There is a sharp decline in the time men spend on cooking compared with 1961.

3.How did Prof. Gershuny see the family meal according to the passage?

A. It has become a thing of the past.

B. It is very different from what it used to be.

C. It shouldn’t be advocated in modern times.

D. It is beneficial to the stability of the family.

4.Which is the best title for the passage?

A. The Changes of Family Meals

B. Equality between Men and Women

C. Cooking into a New Trend for Men

D. Cooking—a Thing of the Past for Women

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】

试题分析：牛津大学的一篇报道提到，男性下厨的时间比以前多多了。一方面的原因是男性名厨师的影响，另一方面是对男女平等的观点影响更多。

1.D 细节理解题。根据第二段The effect of the celebrity role models, who have given cooking a more manly picture, has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality可知男性名人在电视上展示厨艺和更多受到性别平等的心理驱使，导致男性在做饭上花得时间更多了。故选D。

2.B 细节理解题。 根据第五段的Women, who a generation ago spent nearly two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes—a great fall,可知，女性下厨的时间比以前少了，但是还是比男性多，and men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they did in 1961.说明现在男性在厨房的时间多。故选B。

3.B 细节理解题。根据最后一段的The family meal has changed a lot, and few of us eat可知，现在家人在一起聚餐的变化主要是吃饭退居其次，故选B。

4.C 主旨大意题。根据第一段的意思可知，本文的大意是男人下厨做饭成为新潮流。故选C。

考点：社会生活类短文阅读。