Question

    What consumers expect when they see a food makes the palate（额）taste certain flavors. The strong associations between color and flavor are well established in the scientific community. Research on the subject dates back to the 1970s. For example, consumers expect yellow foods to be sour and black foods to be bitter.

Branding, packaging and color quality of the product itself play a big part in creating and maintaining expectations. Food brands have long understood this and worked to establish standards. Federal regulations grade the color of orange juice. Businesses provide color- matching services for companies to select the right color for a particular product. In some cases, color can overpower other senses and convince people they taste flavors that aren't there.

The Penn State researchers set out to confirm long-standing research into the relationship between color and taste. And they found what consumers see when they eat matters as much as—if not more than—what they taste, and the links could be more flexible than many thought in some cases.

"This might have potential impacts in the food industry if a company were to launch a new flavoured product with a color. Some consumers might not learn or accept a new color and flavor pairing（配对）as well as others Penn State Food Science doctoral candidate Molly J. Higgins said in a written statement.

Although it may be possible to completely change food colors, it may not be advisable. According to this study, 40% of consumers would be left behind, stuck on familiar patterns. That's a big risk for food brands to take. Consumers tend to want to know what they're in for when they select a product—and color is a big part of that. While it's interesting that consumer expectations of colors could change, the risk of unexpected colors is high for any company.

Many food brands rely on visual expectations to pull customers into unfamiliar products. A hamburger that copies the appearance and color of a beef patty （小馅饼）will cause a different reaction than a green-colored veggie（素食者）--dense alternative. But while today's consumers have expectations of flavors of items with different colors, they also have expectations that natural materials are used. While these materials are often preferable, they present a challenge. General Mills changed artificial dyes （染料）to natural ones in Trix cereal. Consumer anger followed. Many found the earthier tones depressing, despite no change in flavor. Chemicals and all, they wanted the original back. The company eventually switched back, choosing to treat color as being more important than other things.

1.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as for creating and maintaining expectations for products?

A.Color quality. B.Branding.

C.Packaging. D.Shape.

2.What do Molly J. Higgins' words suggest in Para. 4?

A.An expected food color attracts consumers more.

B.Most people choose foods based on their colors.

C.Companies should release new products regularly.

D.Not all consumers welcome a new color-taste pairing.

3.Why is General Mills mentioned in the last paragraph?

A.To stress the challenges facing food companies.

B.To stress the difficulty in using natural materials.

C.To stress the importance of color in food selection.

D.To stress the difference between color and taste.

4.What can be the theme of the text?

A.Why do foods have different colors?

B.How deep are color-taste associations?

C.What factors affect the flavors of food?

D.Do different colors mean different responses?

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文，颜色和味道之间的强烈联系已经在科学界得到了很好的证实。

1.

细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Branding, packaging and color quality of the product itself play a big part in creating and maintaining expectations”产品本身的品牌、包装和色彩质量在创造和维持人们的期望方面发挥着重要作用。可知，“Branding”、“packaging”和“color quality”在创造和维持人们的期望方面发挥作用。故选D项。

2.

细节理解题。根据第四段中的“This might have potential impacts in the food industry if a company were to launch a new flavoured product with a color. Some consumers might not learn or accept a new color and flavor pairing as well as others”这可能会对食品行业产生潜在的影响，如果一个公司要推出一种带有颜色的新调味产品。一些消费者可能不会像其他人一样学习或接受一种新的颜色和味道搭配。可知Molly J. Higgins暗示了并不是所有的消费者都欢迎新的颜色和口味搭配。故选D项。

3.

细节理解题。最后一段中General Mills将食品的人工染料改为自然的颜色，使消费者感到愤怒，想要原来的东西。根据最后一句的“The company eventually switched back, choosing to treat color as being more important than other things”该公司最终又恢复了原样，选择把颜色看得比其他东西更重要。强调了颜色在食物选择中的重要性。故选C项。

4.

主旨大意题。文章第一段中的“The strong associations between color and flavor are well established in the scientific community.”颜色和味道之间的强烈联系已经在科学界得到了很好的证实；第三段中的“the relationship between color… and taste the links could be more flexible than many thought in some cases.”说明了颜色和味道有关联；根据全文可知，人吃食物看到的外表与他们品尝的味道同样重要，甚至更为重要，而且这种相关性在某种情况下比许多人想象的更加灵活。由此可知，这篇文章的主题是“颜色和味道的关联有多深?”故选B项。