Chinese restaurants began to open in America ...

试题详情

Chinese restaurants began to open in America in the mid-19th century, mainly on the west coast where the first immigrants landed. They mostly served an Americanized version of Cantonese cuisine, chop suey, egg fu yung and the like. In that century and much of the 20th,the immigrants largely came from China's south-east, mainly Guangdong province.

After the immigration reforms of 1965, Chinese migrants from other regions started to arrive. Restaurants began calling their food "Hunan” and “Sichuan". Though their food rarely resembled what was actually eaten in those regions, it was more diverse and boldly spiced than the sweet, fried stuff that defined the earliest Chinese menus. By the 1990s adventurous diners in cities with sizeable Chinese populations could choose from a variety of regional cuisines. A particular favorite was Sichuan food, with its addictively numbing fire due to peppercorn.

Yet over the decades, as Chinese food became universal, it also came to be standardized. There are almost three times as many Chinese restaurants in America (41,000)as McDonald's. Virtually every small town has one. And generally the menus are consistent: pork dumplings （steamed or fried);the same two soups(hot and sour, wonton);stir-fries listed by main ingredient, with a pepper icon or star indicating a slight trace of chilli-flakes. Dishes over$10 are grouped under "chef's specials".

Until recently, the prices varied as little as the menus and they were low. Eddie Huang, a Taiwanese-American restaurateur, recalls how his newly-arrived father kept his prices down because" immigrants can't sell anything full-price in America."

Americans have traditionally been willing to pay through the nose at French or Italian joints （where, in fact, Latinos often do most of the cooking).And every city has its pricey sushi bars and expensive tapas restaurants(tapas, as one joke goes, is Spanish for"$96 and still hungry").　

Mr. Huang is right that Americans have long expected Chinese food to be cheap and filling. One step up from the urban takeaway, with its fluorescent lighting, is the Chinese restaurant with　 its red doors and fake lions standing guard, exotic enough to be special, but still affordable enough for a family to visit once a week when nobody feels like cooking. Even the superior outlets were cheap for what they served.

But now things are changing. Mr. Huang sells delicious stuffed buns in New York and Los Angeles for$5.50 each and encourages other immigrants not to undervalue their work.

Meanwhile, although racism persists, the previous discrimination of earlier ages has been fading. Since the Chinese-American population is six times what was 40 years ago, Americans overall are much more familiar with Chinese people and their cooking, all of which means that the new fancy breed of Chinese restaurants draws a heartening mix of Chinese and non-Chinese diners.

1.We can learn from the first three paragraphs that_

A.Cantonese cuisine was well received by Americans in the 19th century

B.Those so-called Hunan or Sichuan food in America tasted just as what was actually eaten in those regions

C.Nowadays Chinese restaurants are almost twice more than McDonald's in America

D.Americans prefer Hunan food because they have been addicted to peppercorn

2.Why was Chinese food sold at a lower price?

A.Americans have long expected Chinese food to be cheap and filling.

B.Earlier immigrants couldn't sell anything full-price in America.

C.Americans prefer French and Italian food.

D.Chinese restaurants face fierce price competition from other restaurants.

3.In what order did the author write the passage?

A.In order of importance.

B.In order of place.

C.In order of time.

D.In order of position.

4.What is the best title of this passage?

A.Immigration on a plate.

B.Americans' favourite cuisine.

C.Prejudice against Chinese immigrants.

D.Route to success.

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