Open an app, place your order, and wait for your food to be delivered (递送) to your home—this is how people eat in China these days. According to the latest report from the China Internet Information Center, 421 million Chinese people use online food delivery services. That’s half of the total number of Internet users in China.

Which group of people is ordering food online the most? Unsurprisingly, it’s mainly young people. A recent report from Meituan, a food delivery service, showed that 86.3 percent of the service’s users are between 20 and 34 years old. These people are the main force making the development of the food delivery industry (行业).

Small families depend greatly on food delivery services. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese families have changed in size over the past ten years. In 2004, only 7.7 percent of people lived alone. But this number added up to 15.6 percent in 2019. For small families, cooking takes more time, so ordering food online has become more popular.

The improvement of China’s food delivery services has also attracted (吸引) more customers. According to Meituan’s report, the time it takes to make a food delivery dropped from 38 minutes in 2016 to 29 minutes in 2019. Meituan is also offering more services, delivering products such as fruit, vegetables, medicine and flowers. As its services improve, it’s likely that the food delivery industry will keep growing.

Run! Lunch-delivery Men!

【小题1】

He dashes into a downtown high-rise, carrying a plastic container of hot beef noodles. 【小题2】He hops(跳) into the first one that opens, jumps out at the last stop and begins running up the stairs. After a quick handoff to the customer, he races down stairs. One order down, six to go.

【小题3】The arrival of food-delivery(食物运送)apps has changed the country's lunchtime culture.

Meals appear with just a few taps on a smart phone. With the major delivery services offering similar pricing strategies and food choices, the burden(负担)of competition has fallen largely on the speed of the delivery people, popularly known as "Waimai Xiaoge" or "brother Takeaway".

Guo works around Shanghai's central business district. 【小题4】 But he has memorized the layouts(布局)of all the buildings in his area. With a food-warmer box tied to his scooter(小型摩托车), he has made stops at a hospital, a hair salon, a hotel room and several high-rises in less than two hours, 【小题5】 "That's really difficult, and if you arrive late, customers get angry. You just have to apologize," he said.

However, Guo said he thrives(茁壮成长)on deadline(最后期限)pressure. "I'm the kind of person who likes challenging work," he added.

Ordering takeouts is very popular nowadays because it is convenient. More than 60 percent of the people in China order takeout food at least twice a week. If people don’t want to eat out, they can just order takeouts on the smart phone and wait for it to be delivered (送达).

What about people living in ancient times? Did they eat takeouts?

In fact, there was takeout as far back as the Song Dynasty. According to history books, Emperor Xiaozong (1127—1194) liked to order takeouts late at night. His servants then went around the city to pick up the dishes and bring them back to the palace.

Ordinary (普通的) people also ordered takeouts. Restaurant waiters would go out into the streets and yell out which dishes could be ordered that day. After hearing the waiters, people could then place an order. Later, delivery workers would bring food to their homes. In the famous Song Dynasty painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival (《清明上河图》), a takeout worker can be seen on a delivery with food in hand.

People at that time even had a special meal box for takeout dishes. It was a long wooden box with several layers. People also used warming plates made of two layers of porcelain (瓷). Hot water could be put between them to keep dishes warm.

A．	B．
C．	D．