Thefridgeisconsiderednecessary.Ithasbeensosincethe1960swhenpackagedfoodlistappearedwiththelabel:"Storeintherefrigerator."
InmyfridgelessFiftieschildhood,1wasfedwellandhealthy.Themilkmancameeveryday,thegrocer,thebutcher(肉商),thebaker,andtheice-creammandeliveredtwoorthreetimeseachweek.TheSundaymeatwouldlastuntilWednesdayandsurplus(剩余的)breadandmilkbecameallkindsofcakes.Nothingwaswasted,andwewerenevertroubledbyrottenfood.Thirtyyearsonfooddeliverieshaveceased,freshvegetablesarealmostunobtainableinthecountry.
Theinventionofthefridgecontributedcomparativelylittletotheartoffoodpreservation.Manywell-triedtechniquesalreadyexisted--naturalcooling,drying,smoking,salting,sugaring,bottling...
Whatrefrigerationdidpromotewasmarketing---marketinghardwareandelectricity,marketingsoftdrinks,marketingdeadbodiesofanimalsaroundtheworldinsearchofagoodprice.
Consequently,mostoftheworld'sfridgesaretobefound,notinthetropicswheretheymightproveuseful,butintherichcountrieswithmildtemperatureswheretheyareclimaticallyalmostunnecessary.Everywinter,millionsoffridgeshumawaycontinuously,andatvastexpense,busilymaintaininganartificially-cooledspaceinsideanartificially-heatedhouse--whileoutside,natureprovidesthedesiredtemperaturefreeofcharge.
Thefridge'seffectupontheenvironmenthasbeenevident,whileitscontributiontohumanhappinesshasbeennotimportant.Ifyoudon'tbelieveme,tryityourself,investinafoodcabinetandmmoffyourfridgenextwinter.Youmaynoteatthehamburgers(汉堡包),butatleastyou'llgetridofthatterriblehum.
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.Thestatement"Inmyfridgelessfiftieschildhood,Iwasfedwellandhealthily."suggeststhat______.
A.theauthorwaswell-fedandhealthyevenwithoutafridgeinhisfifties.
B.theauthorwasnotaccustomedtofridgeseveninhisfifties.
C.therewasnofridgeintheauthor'shomeinthe1950s.
D.thefridgewasinitsearlystageofdevelopmentinthe1950s.
2.Whydoestheauthorsaythatnothingwaswastedbeforetheinventionoffridges?
A.Peoplewouldnotbuymorefoodthanwasnecessary.
B.Foodwasdeliveredtopeopletwoorthreetimesaweek.
C.Foodwassoldfreshanddidnotgetrotteneasily.
D.Peoplehadeffectivewaystopreservetheirfood.
3.Whobenefitedtheleastfromfridgesaccordingtotheauthor?
4.Whichofthefollowingphrasesinthefifthparagraphindicatesthefridge'snegativeeffectontheenvironment?
B.“Climaticallyalmostunnecessary”.
C.“Artificially-cooledspace”.
D.“Withmildtemperatures”.
5.Whatistheauthor'soverallattitudetowardfridges?
1.[C]句意理解题。由句中的childhood可知，fifties指的应该是50年代，而不可能是50多岁，据此可排除A、B;fridgeless是合成词，由词根fridge"冰箱”和表示否定的后缀-less组成，由可推断其意为“无冰箱的"，故C正确。
2.[D]事实细节题。在第2段中，说到“不会浪费东西”前，作者指出把吃剩的面包和牛奶做成蛋糕，以防止浪费，故D正确。A、C在文中并未提及，排除;B所述并非不浪费食物的原因，也可排除。
3.[B]观点态度题。综观全文，作者对认为冰箱不是必备品，最后一段更明确指出，它对人类幸福的贡献微不足道，故可推断，消费者从冰箱中获益最少，故B正确。
4.[A]词义理解题。A中的hum指"发出嗡嗡声",表明冰箱产生的嗓音，是对环境的负面作用，故正确。B、D只是指出冰箱在实际上没有必要使用的地区却被广泛使用;C仅说明冰箱是对人工加热房间的影响，并不能说明其对环境的影响，故排除。
5.[B]观点态度题。考査作者的观点，可根据文中细节得出答案。第3段首提到，冰箱对保存食物没有多大贡献，最后一段首则指出它对环境的影响已是显而易见的，这些细节都表明作者对冰箱持批评态度。
