中国美食在美国：年逾古稀华裔的寻根之旅

Many people in America love Chinese food, but perhaps nobody can match David R Chan. Mr Chan, a 72-year-old former tax lawyer based in Los Angeles, claims to have dined at nearly 8,000 Chinese restaurants across the US and counting. If you visit one Chinese restaurant per day, it would take more than 20 years to reach his current count — 7,812 restaurants.

Though he is the descendant of grandparents who immigrated to California from China’s Guangdong province, Mr Chan did not eat Chinese food as a child. And when he first tried Chinese food, he was not impressed at all.

Chinese food was cooked in the US for the first time by Chinese immigrants who came dreaming of wealth during the California Gold Rush in the mid 19th century. “Early American-Chinese food tended to be localized, had to adapt for local ingredients and catered to Americans’ taste,” said Mr Chan.

But things started to change in the late 1960s. As a new law removed restrictions on immigration from Asia, the US began to receive an increasing number of immigrants from China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, bringing in not only modern Cantonese food but also a variety of regional cuisines from across China.

In the 1970s, he started to dine at Chinese restaurants listed on the local yellow pages. “At the beginning, it was just a search for identity,” Mr Chan said. “My interest in the history of Chinese in the US led me to eat Chinese food and see what it was like to be Chinese in different parts of the country.” Through this, he learnt of the diversity of the cuisine. He had previously had no idea how varied it was, he said.

“The best place to find the most varied authentic Chinese foods in America is the San Gabriel Valley in LA, where many Chinese immigrants live,” he said. “But for dim sum, San Francisco is the best bet.”

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1.What did David R Chan do?

A He was a food critic.

B He was a media person.

C He was a legal professional.

D He was a businessman.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据第一段可知陈先生之前是一名税务律师，即法律工作者，故选C。

2.What is TRUE about early American-Chinese food?

A It was really authentic.

B It used ingredients from China.

C It met Americans’ taste.

D It was first cooked by Americans.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据题目定位到第三段。根据该段内容可知，早期的美式中餐由中国移民烹制，是本土化了的(即不是地道正宗的中国菜)，使用的原材料是美国当地的，并且要满足美国人的口味，只有C项符合原文。故选C。

3.Why were increasing Chinese cuisines appearing in the US?

A Restaurants were required by laws to bring in Chinese food.

B Numerous Chinese people immigrated to the US with them.

C Local Americans liked all kinds of regional cuisines from China.

D Guangdong Province was not far away from the US.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据题干定位到第四段，可知20世界60年代末，一项新的法律取消了对亚洲移民的限制，美国开始接收越来越多包括香港和台湾在内的中国移民，带来的不仅是现代粤菜，还有来自中国各地的地方菜系，即当时大量中国移民去到美国，随即也带去了大量的中国菜，故选B。

4.What do we know about David R Chan?

A He enjoyed Chinese meals since young.

B He used to find restaurant information online.

C He began to try Chinese food to search for identity.

D He thought the most delicious dim sum was in LA.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据第五段的“At the beginning, it was just a search for identity”可知，陈先生最初吃中国菜是为了寻求自己作为中国人的身份(寻根)，故选C。