Well over half of the average diet in the UK and US now consists of ultra-processed food (UPF) — or, as one scientist prefers to put it, industrially produced edible (可食用的) substances. Though defining it technically is complex, the simple explanation is that it contains items you wouldn’t normally find in a kitchen.
Sometimes UPF looks like junk food obviously artificial and high in salt, fat and sugar. But it often comes in reliable forms such as soup, muesli or yogurt. Unfortunately, almost every food that comes with a health claim on the packet is UPF. And a vast body of data has emerged in support of the theory that UPF damages the human body and increases rates of cancer, mental illness, etc.
Produced by a handful of multinational companies, UPF is created to be cheap to produce and transport, with industrially derived (提取的) substances replacing costlier ingredients (原料) and ensuring long shelf lives. It is also designed to make us buy more — essential in a system where businesses must keep growing to satisfy their shareholders each quarter. Global consumption is rising fast, especially in middle-income countries.
The impact is firstly on individual bodies, but through them on health services. This is a social problem that cannot be solved by telling consumers to check product labels. UPF consumption is not propelled by laziness or greed, but poverty, intensive marketing and foods designed to make us keep eating:
Taking on big food is harder than tackling big tobacco has been. It requires addressing a broad range of products that many people cannot simply cut out. But it is possible and necessary. Addressing poverty is central: when people can afford to eat more healthily, they generally do. The government should ensure that people learn not only about the risks of UPF, but also about how to eat well. Measures should be taken to ensure that the food consumption is pushed by nutritional needs and appetites — not by financialised growth.
1. What can we know about UPF?| A．It can’t be found in a kitchen. | B．It looks like junk food but is healthy. |
| C．It is most popular in rich countries. | D．It may harm physical and mental health. |
| A．Forbidden. | B．Proved. | C．Driven. | D．Assessed. |
| A．To handle the tobacco problem first. | B．To limit the production of UPF. |
| C．To ban people from consuming UPF. | D．To raise people’s awareness of healthy diet. |
| A．UPF: Blame Businesses, Not Consumers | B．UPF: Convenience Food |
| C．UPF: Time to Reach More People | D．UPF: A Sensitive Issue |
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【推荐1】There is more of a connection between food and culture than you may think. On an individual level, we grow up eating the food of our culture. It becomes a part of who we are. Many associate food from our childhood with warm feelings and good memories and it ties us to our families, holding a special and personal value for us. Food from our family often becomes the comfort food we seek as adults in times of frustration and stress.
On a large scale, traditional food is an important part of culture. It also operates as an expression of culture identity. Immigrants （移民）bring it wherever they go, and it is a symbol of pride for their culture and means of coping with homesickness.
Many immigrants open their own restaurants and serve traditional dishes. However, the food does not remain exactly the same. Some materials needed to make traditional dishes may not be readily available, so the taste and flavor can be different from what they would prepare in their home countries. Additionally, immigrants do not only sell dishes to people from the same countries as them, but to people from different countries. Therefore, they have to make small changes about the original dishes to cater to a wider range of customers. Those changes can create new flavors that still keep the cultural significance of the dishes.
We should embrace our heritage（传统）through our culture’s food but also become more informed about other cultures by trying their food. It is important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and is special to those who prepare it. Food is a window into culture, and it should be treated as such.
1. What’s the function of food mentioned in the article?| A．To help motivate homesickness. | B．To show national identity. |
| C．To reflect a country’s history. | D．To show a community’s superiority. |
| A．All of the immigrants open their own restaurants. |
| B．Traditional food is a symbol of pride |
| C．We often connect food from our childhood with warmth. |
| D．All of the dishes have their own special places of belonging.. |
| A．To attach cultural importance to their dishes. |
| B．To announce the beginning of their life on foreign soil. |
| C．To make the dishes popular among customers. |
| D．To present their own food culture in a new way. |
| A．Negative. | B．Balanced. |
| C．Unfair. | D．Unchangeable. |
【推荐2】You might easily gain access to fresh fruit and vegetables, but this isn’t the case in some parts of America. The U. S. has many areas that are considered as food deserts, which are defined as parts of the country short of fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy food, usually found in poor areas.
Food deserts are urban areas where the nearest grocery store is more than 1 mile away, and rural areas where the nearest grocery store is more than 10 miles away. According to the USDA, 19 million Americans or 6.2% of the population-live in places that can be considered as food deserts.
The issue isn’t necessarily about the difference in cost between healthy and unhealthy foods in these areas but it’s about a lack of access to healthy choices at all. And, with the lack of healthy food choices, these areas typically have a large supply of unhealthy foods sold at fast-food companies and convenience stores.
Eating unhealthy foods can lead to overweight, which puts people at risk for all kinds of major health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and some cancers.
But some people, especially those who cannot afford a car, are stuck with eating what’s readily available. In the case of food deserts, it’s usually the type of food that can lead to over-weight. Studies have shown that this is likely to be a problem in low-income areas. When money is not enough, people tend to buy foods that last longer and remove food waste, which is a waste of their limited income.
Lack of access is only one part of the problem, however. A study published in 2018 found that food inequality wasn’t removed. The bigger issue was likely the lack of education and nutritional knowledge in these communities, which prevents people with lower incomes from understanding the benefits of healthy eating.
While overweight is a significant issue in these communities, the cost of unhealthy eating isn’t just physical. A study found that 71 billion dollars in healthcare costs due to chronic diseases could be saved through healthier eating.
1. What can we infer from the first two paragraphs?| A．6.2% of the Americans live in poor areas. |
| B．Some parts of the USA lack fresh vegetables. |
| C．Some people in America don’t need fresh fruit. |
| D．People in the food deserts buy fresh vegetables easily. |
| A．These areas are rich in unhealthy food materials. |
| B．Fast-food companies want to make a larger profit. |
| C．Healthy food choices are unavailable in these areas. |
| D．People in these areas prefer unhealthy food to healthy food. |
| A．They are less likely to have overweight problems. |
| B．They are delighted to prepare food for themselves. |
| C．They have to buy food that can be preserved longer. |
| D．They are used to eating food donated by food companies. |
| A．Lack of government financial support. |
| B．Lack of knowledge of disease prevention. |
| C．Lack of social promotion of healthy eating. |
| D．Lack of education and knowledge in nutrition. |
【推荐3】A good vegan milk (纯素奶) needs to look like milk and taste like milk, whether it contains fat or not. Vegan milk is only one example in the growing types of plant-based alternatives (替代品) to animal products, such as meat, cheese, eggs and fish. Burger King and McDonald’s sell vegan pies. Last year the world’s largest producer of canned tuna, Thai Union, began to sell a plant-based product. Growing sales show the growing taste for this type of food, which means alternative proteins have come a long way since 1980s.
Producing techniques have been improved, resulting in better products and lower prices of them, which meet the needs of a growing number of people. Some vegetarians say no to meat, but yes to fish. Some people are trying to cut fat for health reasons. Fitness lovers want to develop muscular mass and strength without building up fat. Concerns about animal rights and greenhouse gas from raising livestock (家畜) are driving the environmentalists to limit their intake of animal-based proteins. As is reported, producing a gram of beef gives off 25 times the amount of greenhouse gas as producing a gram of tofu.
However, plant-based proteins are a tough sell in giant markets like India, where diets are already plant-rich, or Nigeria, where meat-eating is a sign of being rich. That limits their global popularity. What’s more, animal products, including milk and meat, are better for children’s bone development, though lab-grown meat and dairy are becoming more nutritious.
All this suggests that alternative proteins have far to go to replace the animal kind. Plant-based foods may no longer be only a side dish in diets, but their makers’ place as the main dish is another matter.
1. Why does the author mention vegan milk in the first paragraph?| A．To encourage a healthy diet. |
| B．To show people’s growing taste. |
| C．To stress the importance of milk. |
| D．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| A．Ways to meet the needs of people. |
| B．Benefits of animal-based products. |
| C．Results of improved producing techniques. |
| D．Reasons for choosing plant-based products. |
| A．Indian Diets are rich in plant. |
| B．Eating meat means being rich. |
| C．Plant-based products are produced in labs. |
| D．Plant-based products are bad for children. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Objective. | D．Unclear. |
【推荐1】A growing number of people are using ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) program, to create books for sale. Although sales have so far been slow, human writers are worried that ChatGPT-created books might hurt the writing and publishing industry.
Until recently, Brett Schickler never imagined he could be a published author. But after learning about the ChatGPT AI program, Schickler decided that he had a good chance.
“The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible,” said Schickler, a salesman in Rochester, New York. “I thought ‘I can do this.’”
Using the AI software, Schickler created a 30-page illustrated children’s e-book in a few hours. He offered it for sale in January through Amazon’s self-publishing department. The e-book, which is named The Wise Little Squirrel: A Tale of Saving and Investing, has made Schickler less than $100.
While that may not sound like much, it is enough to make him want to create other books using the software. “I could see people making a whole career out of this,” said Schickler.
There were over 200 e-books in Amazon’s Kindle store as of mid-February that say ChatGPT is a writer or co-writer. And the number is rising daily. But because of the nature of ChatGPT and the fact that many writers didn’t concede that they had used it, it is nearly impossible to get a full count of how many e-books may have been written by AI.
Some professional writers are becoming worried about the effects that ChatGPT could have on the book publishing industry. Mary Rasenberger is the executive director of the Authors Guild, a writer’s group. She said, “This is something we really need to be worried about — these books will flood the market and a lot of authors are going to be out of work.”
1. What can we learn from Schickler’s story?| A．He has always dreamed of becoming a writer. |
| B．ChatGPT is making writing easier than before. |
| C．ChatGPT has produced more books than humans. |
| D．He plans to make a whole career out of writing. |
| A．Promise. | B．Remember. | C．Admit. | D．Appreciate. |
| A．They may lose their job. |
| B．ChatGPT will reduce their creativity. |
| C．People will lose interest in reading books. |
| D．People will not take writing seriously. |
| A．ChatGPT Has Become Friends of Authors |
| B．More People Have Taken Up Writing as a Career |
| C．AI Technology Is Controlling the Publishing Industry |
| D．More People Use ChatGPT to Create and Publish Books |
【推荐2】With less than 55,000 grizzly bears left in the wild across North America, the sighting of even one is a cause for celebration.
Mike Gibeau, a specialist says the Clarksons and other motorists who have met the white bear—now called Nakoda are truly lucky. For, though there are a few variations of white bears to be found, such as the Kermode bears in British Columbia and the polar bears in the Arctic, white grizzly bears are extremely rare. “I have never in all my time working with grizzly bears—since the early 1980s—seen a white grizzly bear. I’ve seen a really, really blond grizzly, but never white one,” Gibeau told St. Albert Today. 1.
Though this is the first time the world has seen the white grizzly, park keepers have known of Nakoda’s existence since 2018. Jon Stuart-Smith says his team first spotted the bear and its sibling (兄弟姐妹) as babies traveling with their mother.
Nakoda and its sibling were seen again in 2019. This time the smart bears returned to the area earlier this year but left after realizing the grains had been cleared, and there was nothing left to eat. The park officials never publicized the unique bear due to fear that it would be chased by fans eager to catch glimpse. As it turns out, the experts were right. Nakoda’s photos and videos, which have gone viral, have led to people rushing to the bear’s current location and resulted in unsafe parking and traffic jams. To protect the animals, on June 18. 2020, the concerned officials imposed a 10-kilometer no-stopping zone along the section of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Violators (违反者) will be fined anywhere from $85 to as much as $18.500. “We hope this informs visitors to travel through the area safely and to prevent these bears from getting hit on the highway,” said Stuart-Smith. Meanwhile wildlife experts are trying to keep the young grizzlies away from the highway as much as they can.
1. What’s the best title for the text?| A．Grizzly Bears Increasing Survival Ability |
| B．Measures Taken to Protect Grizzly Bears |
| C．Grizzly Bears Well Protected in Canada |
| D．Rare White Grizzly Bear Sighted in Canada |
| A．while driving a car | B．on competition |
| C．during a hunting | D．working in the Arctic |
| A．A specialist. | B．park keeper. |
| C．A photographer. | D．A volunteer. |
| A．turned over | B．set up |
| C．adapted to | D．called for |
【推荐3】Declining in the past several decades, the multigenerational household seems to find its way back in recent years. Different generations of the same family live together in one household for a whole range of reasons. The most popular belief is that multigenerational households today come about because young adults won't fly the nest. While there is some truth in this, “adult children yet to leave home” was only the third-most-common driver.
Grandparents are now moving across town to be closer or to live with their grandchildren so they can provide childcare during the day. Likewise, some people are inviting their elderly parents to live with them so they could take care of them. “Care arrangement support” was the second-most-common driver for multigenerational living.
Finance pressure in getting higher education, workforce employment and the cost of housing encourage the younger generation to delay leaving the parental home. Changes in government policies on child, aged and disability care can also have impacts on people's decisions. This is actually the last straw which breaks them.
There are admittedly problems with multigenerational living. One of the bigger complaints about it is that not everyone helps. While adult children do help out with chores, they simply do housework for themselves, instead of being responsible for the whole family. Complaints about chores, however, pale in comparison to those about lack of privacy in the family home. This is the result of a combination of family members not respecting personal boundaries but also of many housing designs that are not suitable for multigenerational needs.
Despite the attention given by the public to this household form, little is known about it, particularly the experiences of those who choose to live in them. Whatever it is, there are pros and cons to multigenerational living, just like living alone.
1. Why do different generations live together according to the most popular opinion?| A．Elderly parents can't get plenty of care. |
| B．Young adults can take good care of parents. |
| C．Adult children wouldn't like to leave home. |
| D．People are tired with so much childcare now. |
| A．The education background. |
| B．The advantages of a big family. |
| C．The rising concern about parenting, |
| D．The government policies related. |
| A．It ruins the people's independence. |
| B．It is a threat to the modern society. |
| C．It affects the privacy of family members. |
| D．It encourages young adults to live alone. |
| A．Narrowing the generation gap |
| B．Having to live under one roof |
| C．Finding a multigenerational family |
| D．Keeping traditions from dying out |
【推荐1】Exercise plays a very important role in a healthy lifestyle. But you may not have time or money to go to a gym on a regular basis. The good news is that today’s technology lets you access fitness classes from the comfort of your home. A quick Internet search will turn up thousands of online fitness classes. You can watch videos on your phone, computer or tablet and do the exercises right where you are. All you need is an Internet connection and a space large enough to move around in.
Online fitness classes take a wide variety of forms. Some focus on stretches and slow movements. Other classes involve fast aerobic (有氧的) activity, while others build muscle strength. Some require equipment such as weights, but others use only your body. This means that you can choose a class that does what you like. And you can try a different one whenever you like.
Anyone can post a fitness video on the Internet. Not everyone knows what they are doing. So it is important to think about who is teaching the class. Try to find teachers who are certified (认证) by an organization with a good reputation. I tried some virtual fitness classes several years ago. The reason was simple: convenience. I could do a fitness class at any time of day. I didn’t need to travel to a gym and back, which saved me a lot of time. But being able to work out any time may mean putting it off and doing everything else first and then the day will be over. So, you have to make a plan, if you want to get around to exercising.
Anyhow, if the gym isn’t for you, you may want to give an online fitness class a try.
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about online fitness classes?| A．They have similar equipment. | B．They have wide attraction. |
| C．They have different movements. | D．They have various forms. |
| A．Positive. | B．Uninterested. | C．Unclear. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Online fitness classes meet all your needs. |
| B．It’s difficult to take online fitness classes on time. |
| C．Online fitness classes may save you time and money. |
| D．You can not attend online fitness classes if you are not certified. |
The list is entertaining but there is a more serious issue hidden in this story. Federal law does not require private employers to give any paid sick leave, making the US the only one of the world’s wealthiest nations that doesn’tguarantee workers this right. Since 2006, cities and states have been adopting their own paid sick leave laws. California, Washington. DC and 13 cities including New York now require many employers to provide some sort of paid sick leave. But according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 39% of private employees still have no access to paid days off. In the CareerBuilder survey, 38% of respondents said they go to work when they’re sick because they can’t afford to miss a day’s pay. The survey also shows that workers are taking a risk when they come up with far-fetched excuses. Nearly one in five employers says they have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse. If you’re spending the day at the beach while pretending to be ill, don’t post about it on Facebook. Nearly one in four employers (24%) has caught an employee lying about being sick by checking social media.
The motto of this story: If you really are sick, don’t come to work and spread your bacteria around the office. But if you just want to stay home, go with “I’m running a fever.” rather than one of these ridiculous excuses.
1. The underlined word “far-fetched” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
| A．impossible to find | B．likely to be true |
| C．difficult to believe | D．easy to believe |
| A．Many employees have no access to paid sick leave. |
| B．Private employers make their workers work extra hours. |
| C．Some employees are not satisfied with their boss. |
| D．Private employers sometimes break the Federal law. |
| A．asks for sick leave |
| B．lies about being sick |
| C．posts his holiday on Facebook |
| D．spreads bacteria around the office |
| A．A list of survey data. |
| B．A list of serious issues. |
| C．A list of reasonable facts. |
| D．A list of ridiculous excuses. |
【推荐3】Pandas only consume bamboo — a poor quality diet low in fat. But they appear to have evolved to get the most out of what they eat, according to a new study.
Their gut bacteria (肠道细菌) change in late spring and early summer when bamboo is at its most nutritious — while it’s sprouting protein-rich green shoots. The bacteria make the pandas gain more weight and store more fat, which researchers said may compensate for a lack of nutrients later in the year, when bamboo plants have only fibrous leaves.
“We’ve known these pandas have a different set of gut microbiota during the shoot-eating season for a long time, and it’s very obvious that they are chubbier during this time of the year,” said lead study author Guangping Huang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
To investigate how the gut bacteria could affect a panda’s metabolism (新陈代谢), the team first collected the fees (排泄物) of eight wild giant pandas during both leaf-eating season and shoot-eating season and then examined how the feces samples differed. They found that a bacterium called Clostridium butyricum was more abundant in the pandas’ guts during the season when they enjoy the fresh bamboo shoots. Then, the researchers put the panda feces into lab mice. Then they fed the mice for three weeks with a bamboo-based diet that was similar to what pandas eat.
While mice are very different from pandas, it wasn’t possible to run such tests on endangered animals, said Wei Fuwen, a co-author of the study. “Mice have proven to be an effective model for studying the function of the gut microbiota,” Wei said. Researchers found mice with panda feces collected during shoot-eating season gained significantly more weight, despite consuming the same amount of food. “The gut bacteria were the only variable (变量) in this research,” Wei explained.
Felix Sommer, a scientist in Germany, noted that the number of pandas involved in the study was small and the experiment had only been performed once. Sommer, who has conducted similar research on hibernating brown bears, also stressed the researchers had not found a cause-and-effect relationship between the bacteria and weigh gain.
1. The bacteria in panda’s gut change in early summer to ______.| A．make pandas get the most out of their food | B．increase pandas’ physical desire for food |
| C．help pandas digest food high in fat | D．make pandas develop slower |
| A．Taller. | B．Friendlier. | C．Smarter. | D．Fatter. |
| A．They will become endangered. | B．They are very similar to pandas. |
| C．They were variables in the research. | D．They were a good substitute for pandas. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncaring. | D．Unclear. |
