1 . Cooking has become a hobby and major recreation (娱乐) for many people in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s almost impossible nowadays to check social media without at least two or three photos of delicious meals popping up on our screens. But behind the fancy recipes and boastful (炫耀的) social media posts, many of us don’t realize how much we take food for granted.
“At the same time while dealing with a COVID-19 pandemic, we are also on the brink of a hunger pandemic,” David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), a United Nations agency, warned on April 20.
Around 135 million people had been facing food shortages before the coronavirus outbreak, but now 130 million more could go hungry in 2020, said Arif Husain, chief economist at the World Food Program. Altogether, 265 million people are being pushed to the brink of starvation (饥饿) by the COVID-19 crisis.
According to The New York Times, thousands of workers in India are lining up twice a day for bread and fried vegetables to fight against hunger. And across Colombia, poor families are hanging red clothing and flags from their windows to show that they are hungry.
“We don’t have any money, and now we need to survive,” said Pauline Karushi, who lost her job at a jewelry store in Nairobi. “That means not eating much.”
Lockdowns and social distancing measures contributed to loss of income for people worldwide and disrupted (打乱) agricultural production and supply routes (路线), leaving millions to worry how they will get enough to eat.
Money alone will not be enough, according to WFP. Also crucial is ensuring (保证) that transport and supply chains stay open in the face of lockdowns.
“There is no shortage of food globally – yet. But problems in planting, harvesting and transporting food will leave less developed countries facing even more difficult times in the coming months, especially those reliant (依赖的) on imports,” Johan Swinnen, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington told The New York Times.
However, for us, there’s no need for stockpiling (囤积) food, said Wei Baigang, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The reserves (储存) of rice and wheat in China are enough for the whole population for one year, according to Xinhua, and the prices remain stable.
“We have the confidence and determination to keep our rice bowls full,” said Pan Wenbo, another official from the ministry.
Past food shortages
Numbers of people in food crises in previous years (in millions)
2019 135M people in 55 countries
2018 113M people in 53 countries
2017 124M people in 51 countries
2016 108M people in 48 countries
1. What does the underlined phrase “on the brink of” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．in case of |
| B．in prevention of |
| C．on the edge of |
| D．on the way to |
| A．Causes of food crises in different countries. |
| B．The seriousness of the world’s hunger problem. |
| C．The negative effects of the coronavirus outbreak. |
| D．Ways to fight against food shortages in different countries. |
| A．Money is the key to food supply chains. |
| B．The food shortage is a global problem. |
| C．Self-reliant countries don’t have food shortages. |
| D．Lockdowns will cause food crises in many countries. |
| A．Stockpile enough food for emergencies. |
| B．Prepare themselves for high food prices. |
| C．Stay calm and confident in relation to food supplies. |
| D．Overcome any difficulties to transport food. |
2 . Pang Hui placed a few more pairs of chopsticks on the table for a family dinner, though she did not expect her big family of seven would use them as serving chopsticks.
Surprisingly, her 75-year-old father, who used to shrug off the idea of serving chopsticks, became a firm supporter this time, said Pang, 40, from Beihai, a coastal city of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Chinese people often share dishes, and diners use their own chopsticks to serve themselves food from the shared dishes, a tradition now being challenged by the outbreak of novel coronavirus.
“We feel a sense of crisis as well as the urge to desert our old habits when we see reports of family infections,” Pang said; pointing to the reports of the virus spreading via droplets (飞沫) and close contact.
Local governments are helping to encourage a shift, too. On Feb 10, local authorities of Beihai started a campaign promoting serving chopsticks and spoons, which will avoid cross-infections caused by the use of personal chopsticks.
Similar measures were also adopted in other cities like BeiJing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Taizhou city in east China's Jiangsu Province even standardized the colours of serving chopsticks and spoons to help diners differentiate (区分) them from personal ones.
The government is also targeting the practice of eating wild animals, which remains present in certain areas.
China stopped the illegal trading and transportation of wild animals shortly after the outbreak.
The move became a permanent ban on Feb 24, when the country made a decision on thoroughly prohibiting (禁止) the illegal trading of wildlife and the consumption of wild animals.
Li Bo, with the Hainan International Center for Wildlife' Protection, said wild animal consumption could lead to the faster extinction of particular species, damage the ecological balance and harm people's health.
“The epidemic (流行病) could become a turning point to eliminate the bad habit,” Li said.
1. What can we learn about Pang Hui’s family from the text?| A．Usually more than seven people dine together. |
| B．They have started to use serving chopsticks at table. |
| C．Pang Hui’s father opposes using serving chopsticks. |
| D．They don't know how to avoid being infected by the virus. |
| A．Sharing dishes has been abandoned. |
| B．Cross-infections have been prevented. |
| C．Eating wild animals has been forbidden. |
| D．Standard personal chopsticks have been adopted. |
| A．Explain. | B．Discover. |
| C．Form. | D．Remove. |
| A．Serving Chopsticks Promoted | B．Ways to Help People Stay Healthy |
| C．Corona virus Leads to Change | D．China Bans Trading of Wildlife |
