Question

In Japan, Christmas just isn’t Christmas without butter. That’s because the Japanese love to celebrate Christmas Eve with "Christmas cakes," which are filled with whipped cream (生奶油) and topped with strawberries. Making this tasty treat requires some serious amounts of butter. But this year, the creamy golden spread is in short supply on the island nation.

In fact, many Japanese supermarkets are fresh out of dairy (milk) products entirely. Those that do still have butter often limit shoppers to one box apiece, and the price for that box is much higher than normal.

Northern Japan has been suffering unusually old winters in recent years, and all of Japan has had to endure (忍受) hotter summers. This extreme weather has stressed out the nation’s dairy cows. They have not been able to produce their expected amount of milk.

However, even before the bad weather, Japan’s butter supply was in trouble. The number of dairy farms in the country has been steadily shrinking. Not many young people in Japan want to become dairy farmers anymore.

The demand for dairy products in Japan has also been falling. The Japanese diet consists mainly of rice and seafood, and it often doesn’t require many milk products. So the government decided to cut back the number of the country’s dairy cows in 2007. This led to a butter shortage in 2008 as well as the current shortage.

The Japanese government has tried to increase the stock of butter by importing (进口) about 10,000 tons from overseas. But even this emergency supply has done little to end the shortage this Christmas season.

Blogger Audrey Akcasu says Japanese people are using substitutes in their cooking or paying more money for real butter.

"Some bakeries are choosing to replace butter with margarine (人造黄油) this year, claiming the slight change in taste will be less noticeable than the potential higher price we would see if they used imported butter," she writes in Nikkan Gendai, a Japanese newspaper. "But for many shoppers, it’11 have to be margarine or nothing this Christmas."

1.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A. The milk.    B. The butter.

C. The strawberry.    D. The Christmas cake.

2.Which of the following is probably very popular in Japan?

A. Being dairy farmers.

B. Enjoying various dairy products.

C. Eating cakes at Christmas.

D. Tasting margarine rather than real butter.

3.Which of the following is Japan actually facing now?

A. A cow crisis.    B. Much milder winter.

C. A shrinking population.    D. Continually falling food prices.

4.What does Audrey Akcasu think of the government’ s importing butter from overseas?

A. It’ s wise.    B. It’ s unnecessary.

C. It’ s ineffective.    D. It’ s unreasonable.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.C

【解析】这是一篇社会生活类文章。在日本过圣诞节黄油是必不可少的。但是，今年日本黄油短缺。文章分析了产生这一现象的原因。日本政府想通过进口黄油来解决这一问题，但是，此举可能不会产生什么作用。

1.词义猜测题。第一段第一句提到，日本的圣诞节黄油是必不可少的。第一段倒数第二句提到，制作圣诞蛋糕需要大量的黄油。承接该句可知，划线部分应指黄油。今年，日本黄油短缺。B选项正确。

2.细节理解题。由第一段中的“Japanese love to celebrate Christmas Eve with "Christmas cakes,"”可知，日本人喜欢用圣诞蛋糕来庆祝圣诞节。所以，圣诞节吃蛋糕在日本很流行。故C选项正确。

3.细节理解题。由第五段中的“So the government decided to cut back the number of the country’ s dairy cows in 2007. This led to a butter shortage in 2008 as well as the current shortage”可知，导致黄油短缺的原因是日本奶牛的减少。所以，日本真正面对的是奶牛危机。A选项正确。

【名师点睛】由第三段中的“Northern Japan has been suffering unusually old winters in recent years”可知，近年来，日本北部冬天特别冷。故B选项中的“mild（温和的）”错误。由第三段中的“The number of dairy farms in the country has been steadily shrinking”可知，日本牛奶场的数量下降，不是日本的人口下降，故C选项说法错误。由最后一段中的“the slight change in taste will be less noticeable than the potential higher price we would see if they used imported butter”可知，使用进口黄油会导致价格上升，故D选项说法错误。

4.细节理解题。由第六段中的“But even this emergency supply has done little to end the shortage this Christmas season”可知，政府进口奶油的举动对于结束黄油的短缺起不了作用，故C选项正确。