18．Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s．The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong．People watched him，and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach．Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before!Spinach became a necessary part of many people's diets．Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable．
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong，but this is not true．Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable．
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake．In the 1890s，a group of people studied what was inside vegetables．This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did．The group wrote the number wrong，and everyone accepted it．
Today，we know that the little iron that is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is．However，spinach does have something else which the body needs-folic acid．
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong．Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along．
50．A good title for this reading passage isB．
A．Popeye the Sailor
B．The Truth About Spinach
C．A Mistake with Numbers
D．Folic Acid Makes You Strong
51．Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor？A
A．They thought spinach made them strong．
B．They thought Popeye was funny．
C．Spinach had a lot of iron．
D．People liked folic acid．
52．A research group told people that spinachD．
A．made Popeye strong
B．was a green vegetable
C．had less iron than other green vegetables
D．had more iron than other green vegetables
53．The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength fromB．
A．iron
B．folic acid
C．spinach
D．exercise．
分析 本文屬于說明文閱讀，作者通過這篇文章主要向我們描述了介紹了菠菜使人強壯的秘訣，上世紀看過"大力水手"卡通影片讓人們愛上菠菜，認為吃了菠菜就能像"大力水手"一樣強壯，菠菜的銷量劇增，連討厭吃菠菜的小孩也愛上吃菠菜．人們認為由于菠菜中含有的大量的鐵使他們強壯，然而在今天這些經證實是錯誤的，人們發現真正的原因是菠菜中的葉酸使人變得強壯．
解答 50．B．標題推斷題．通讀全文，可知文章主要介紹了菠菜使人強壯的秘訣，上世紀的人們認為這是由于菠菜中含有大量的鐵，然而經證實這是錯誤的，人們發現真正的原因是菠菜中的葉酸使人變得強壯；因此最佳標題為菠菜的真相；故選B．
51．A．推理判斷題．根據文章第一段"The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong．People watched him，and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach"吃了不少的菠菜使大力水手變得強壯．人們看著他，他們開始購買和多吃菠菜；可知人們吃菠菜是因為認為菠菜使人強壯；故選A．
52．D．細節理解題．根據文章第三段"This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did"可知研究小組告訴人們菠菜含有比其他蔬菜多十倍的鐵；故選D．
53．B．細節理解題．根據文章最后一段"Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along"可知文章指出了是葉酸幫助這個水手變得強壯；故選B．
點評 考察學生的細節理解和推理判斷能力，做細節理解題時一定要找到文章中的原句，和題干進行比較，再做出正確的選擇．在做推理判斷題不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實，要根據文章事實進行合乎邏輯的推理判斷．
