Section B: Information Matching

Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on your Answer Sheet.

The History of the Lunch Box

[A] It was made of shiny, bright pink plastic with a Little Mermaid sticker on the front, and I carried it with me nearly every single day. My lunch box was one of my first prized possessions, a proud statement to everyone in my kindergarten: “I love Mermaid-Ariel on my lunch box.”

[B] That bulky container served me well through my first and second grades, until the live-action version of 101 Dalmatians hit theaters, and I needed the newest red plastic box with characters like Pongo and Perdita on the front. I know I'm not alone here—I bet you loved your first lunch box, too.

[C] Lunch boxes have been connecting kids to cartoons and TV shows and super-heroes for decades. But it wasn't always that way. Once upon a time, they weren't even boxes. As schools have changed in the past century, the midday meal container has evolved right along with them.

[D] Let's start back at the beginning of the 20th century—the beginning of the lunch box story, really. While there were neighborhood schools in cities and suburbs, one-room schoolhouses were common in rural areas. As grandparents have been saying for generations, kids would travel miles to school in the countryside (often on foot).

[E] “You had kids in rural areas who couldn't go home from school for lunch, so bringing your lunch wrapped in a cloth, in oiled paper, in a little wooden box or something like that was a very longstanding rural tradition,” says Paula Johnson, head of food history section at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

[F] City kids, on the other hand, went home for lunch and came back. Since they rarely carried a meal, the few metal lunch buckets on the market were mainly for tradesmen and factory workers.

[G] After World War I, a bunch of changes reshaped schools—and lunches. More women joined the workforce. Small schools consolidated into larger ones, meaning more students were farther away from home. And the National School Lunch Act in 1946 made cafeterias much more common. Still, there wasn't much of a market for lunch containers—yet. Students who carried their lunch often did so in a re-purposed bucket or tin of some kind.

[H] And then everything changed in the year of 1950. You might as well call it the Year of the Lunch Box, thanks in large part to a genius move by a Nashville-based manufacturer, Aladdin Industries. The company already made square metal meal containers, the kind workers carried, and some had started to show up in the hands of school kids.

[I] But these containers were really durable, lasting years on end. That was great for the consumer, not so much for the manufacturer. So executives at Aladdin hit on an idea that would harness the newfound popularity of television. They covered lunch boxes with striking red paint and added a picture of TV and radio cowboy Hopalong Cassidy on the front.

[J] The company sold 600,000 units the first year. It was a major “Ah-ha!” moment, and a wave of other manufacturers jumped on board to capitalize on new TV shows and movies. “The Partridge Family, the Addams Family, the Six Million Dollar Man, the Bionic Woman—everything that was on television ended up on a lunch box,” says Allen Woodall. “It was a great marketing tool because kids were taking that TV show to school with them, and then when they got home they had them captured back on TV,” he says.

[K] And yes, you read that right: There is a lunch box museum, right near the Chattahoochee River. Woodall has more than 2,000 items on display. His favorite? The Green Hornet lunch box, because he used to listen to the radio show back in the 1940s.

[L] The new trend was also a great example of planned obsolescence, that is, to design a product so that it will soon become unfashionable or impossible to use and will need replacing. Kids would beg for a new lunch box every year to keep up with the newest characters, even if their old lunch box was perfectly usable.

[M] The metal lunch box craze lasted until the mid-1980s, when plastic took over. Two theories exist as to why. The first—and most likely—is that plastic had simply become cheaper. The second theory—possibly an urban myth—is that concerned parents in several states proposed bans on metal lunch boxes, claiming kids were using them as “weapons” to hit one another.

[N] The last few decades have brought a new lunch box revolution, of sorts. Plastic boxes changed to lined cloth sacks, and eventually, globalism brought tiffin containers from India and bento boxes from Japan. Even the old metal lunch boxes have regained popularity. “The days of the 'ready-made, you stick it in a lunch box and carry it to school' are kind of done.”

[O] The introduction of backpacks changed the lunch box scene a bit, he adds. Once kids started carrying book bags, that bulky traditional lunch box was hard to fit inside. “But you can't just throw a sandwich in a backpack,” Jayasekara says. “It still has to go into a container.” That is, in part, why smaller and softer containers have taken off—they fit into backpacks.

[P] And don't worry—whether it's a plastic bento box or a cloth bag, lunch containers can still easily be covered with popular culture. “We keep pace with the movie industries so we can predict which characters are going to be popular for the coming months,” Jayasekara says. “You know, kids are kids.”

36. Lunch containers were not necessary for school kids in cities.

37. Putting TV characters on lunch boxes proved an effective marketing strategy.

38. Smaller lunch boxes are preferred because they fit easily into backpacks.

39. Lunch boxes have evolved along with the transformation of schools.

40. Around the beginning of the nineteen fifties, some school kids started to use metal meal containers.

41. School kids are eager to get a new lunch box every year to stay in fashion.

42. Rural kids used to walk a long way to school in the old days.

43. The author was proud of using a lunch box in her childhood.

44. The most probable reason for the popularity of plastic lunch boxes is that they are less expensive.

45. The durability of metal meal containers benefited consumers.

Answers & Explanations

36. F。解析：题干中的 not necessary for school kids in cities 对应 [F] 段的 City kids... went home for lunch... rarely carried a meal（城市里的孩子回家吃午饭，所以很少带饭）。

37. J。解析：题干中的 effective marketing strategy 对应 [J] 段的 major “Ah-ha!” moment... It was a great marketing tool（重大的顿悟时刻...这是一个极好的营销工具）。

38. O。解析：题干中的 fit easily into backpacks 对应 [O] 段末尾的 smaller and softer containers have taken off—they fit into backpacks（更小、更软的容器流行起来——它们能装进背包里）。

39. C。解析：题干中的 evolved along with the transformation of schools 对应 [C] 段的 As schools have changed... the midday meal container has evolved right along with them（随着学校的变化，午餐容器也随之演变）。

40. H。解析：题干中的 Around the beginning of the nineteen fifties (即 1950 左右) 和 metal meal containers 对应 [H] 段的 changed in the year of 1950... square metal meal containers... started to show up in the hands of school kids（在1950年发生了改变...金属方形容器开始出现在学童手中）。

41. L。解析：题干中的 eager to get a new lunch box every year to stay in fashion 对应 [L] 段的 Kids would beg for a new lunch box every year to keep up with the newest characters（孩子们每年都会乞求换一个新午餐盒，以跟上最新的角色潮流）。

42. D。解析：题干中的 Rural kids used to walk a long way 对应 [D] 段的 kids would travel miles to school in the countryside (often on foot)（乡下的孩子们经常步行走好几英里去上学）。

43. A。解析：题干中的 proud of using a lunch box in her childhood 对应 [A] 段的 My lunch box was one of my first prized possessions, a proud statement（我的午餐盒是我最早的珍贵财产之一，是一份骄傲的宣言）。

44. M。解析：题干中的 The most probable reason... is that they are less expensive 对应 [M] 段的 The first—and most likely—is that plastic had simply become cheaper（第一个也是最可能的原因是塑料变得更便宜了）。

45. I。解析：题干中的 The durability... benefited consumers 对应 [I] 段的 But these containers were really durable, lasting years on end. That was great for the consumer（但这些容器非常耐用，能用好几年。这对消费者来说太棒了）。

核心搭配与高分句型

【核心搭配与高频短语】

• prized possession：珍贵的财产（one of my first prized possessions）
• hit theaters：上映（until the live-action version hit theaters）
• evolve along with：伴随...演变（evolved right along with them）
• once upon a time：曾几何时，从前
• on foot：步行（often on foot）
• re-purpose：改变...的用途（a re-purposed bucket）
• jump on board：加入，跟风（jumped on board to capitalize on new TV shows）
• capitalize on：利用...获利
• planned obsolescence：有计划的废止 / 计划性淘汰
• take over：接管，取代（when plastic took over）
• urban myth：都市传说
• keep pace with：齐头并进，跟上...的步伐

【亮点句型解析】

• The first is that... The second theory is that... (列举理论/观点)：
  "The first—and most likely—is that plastic had simply become cheaper. The second theory—possibly an urban myth—is that concerned parents in several states proposed bans..."
  （第一个也是最可能的原因是... 第二个理论，可能是一个都市传说，是...）在阐述原因或分析现象时，这种结构清晰且有层次，非常适合应用于四级作文中。
• Whether it's A or B... (无论A还是B...)：
  "...whether it's a plastic bento box or a cloth bag, lunch containers can still easily be covered with popular culture."
  （无论它是塑料便当盒还是布袋，午餐容器仍然可以很容易地覆盖上流行文化。）此句型可以用来表达“在各种情况下都不改变某一事实”，增强论述的包容性。