1 . In an effort to control the nation’s growing problem with food wastage, the South Korean government has started a unique new plan—“Pay as You Trash (丢弃)”. Residents are required to separate their food waste from the rest of their rubbish and throw it separately into a centralized dustbin. And to access the bin, they actually need to pay by the kilo!
As of now, the South Korean government has three methods in place to charge citizens for the food thrown away. One is through an RFID (Radio Frequency identification) card—when users tap this card over a specially designed food waste bin, the lid (盖子) will open. This waste is automatically weighed and recorded in the user’s account. The user needs to settle this bill on a monthly basis.
The second billing method is through pre-paid garbage bags. For example, in Seoul, a 10-liter garbage bag costs around 1dollar. There’s also a bar code management system in place, in which citizens throw food waste directly into compost bins (堆肥桶) and pay for it by purchasing barcode stickers (条形码贴条) attached to the bin.
Nearly every suburban area in the nation is equipped with one of these three payment systems. Even before the pay-by-weight system was introduced, South Koreans were still being charged for food waste—the cost was simply divided equally among the residents of each apartment block. The new system is not only fair, but is also designed to make consumers feel the pinch of excessive (过度的) waste. The more food they throw out, the more they end up paying.
Citizens1ike Seoul housewife Ms Kwan are now adopting creative methods to avoid food waste. She makes sure to remove all the liquid out of leftover food before throwing it away. While preparing vegetables, she tries to use as much as the eatable parts as possible.
“Because I’m worried about the fees, I’m more careful about food waste now,” Ms Kwan said. “Our food waste has become much less than before.”
1. What do we know about the three payment systems?| A．A compost bin costs about 1 dollar. |
| B．All of them can weight the rubbish automatically. |
| C．The pre-paid garbage bags are charged on a monthly basis. |
| D．RFID cards can record the weight of rubbish users throw. |
| A．didn’t pay for their food waste | B．shared the waste cost equally |
| C．paid for their food waste by weight | D．had to pay for their food garbage bags |
| A．Suffer from financial stress. | B．Blame themselves. |
| C．Change their behavior. | D．Figure out the cost. |
| A．It is quite expensive to carry out. | B．It was thought to be unfair at first. |
| C．It is working effectively. | D．It is being tried out in some areas. |
2 . America has more than enough food for everyone to eat. But each year, billions of pounds of perfectly good food go to waste. Meanwhile, 34 million face hunger in the United States.
As the country’s largest food rescue organization, Feeding America partners with food manufacturers, grocery stores, restaurants, and farmers to rescue food and deliver it to food banks serving our neighbors.
Each year, 108 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $ 408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.
Food goes to waste at every stage of food production and distribution from farmers to packers and shippers, from manufacturers to retailers to our homes. Food waste in our homes makes up about 39% of all food waste—about 42 billion pounds of food waste, and commercial food waste makes up about 61% of all food waste or 66 billion pounds of food waste. Feeding America focuses on reducing food waste on farms and in food service, manufacturing, and retail.
Last year, the Feeding America network and our partners rescued 4.7 billion pounds of groceries. That food went directly to meals for people facing hunger. This makes Feeding America the largest food rescue organization in the country.
Food rescue, or food recovery, is the practice of collecting high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to people facing hunger. We work with manufacturers, retailers, and farmers to reduce food waste and get rescued food to people in need.
We identify food at risk of going to waste, offer rescued food to food banks, safely ship food over long distances and keep food fresh longer once it reaches a food bank.
1. What do we know about the food in America?| A．It is barely enough. | B．It is quite abundant. |
| C．It is easily available. | D．It is increasingly insufficient. |
| A．Consumes. | B．Multiplies. | C．Wastes. | D．Equals. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By listing reasons. |
| C．By presenting data. | D．By offering examples. |
| A．It teaches people how to grow food. | B．It saves food from being wasted. |
| C．It urges government to take action. | D．It aims to relieve world hunger. |
3 . Like most of us, I try to be mindful of food that goes to waste. The arugula (芝麻菜)was to make a nice green salad, rounding out a roast chicken dinner. But I ended up working late. Then friends called with a dinner invitation. I stuck the chicken in the freezer. But as days passed, the arugula went bad. Even worse, I had unthinkingly bought way too much; I could have made six salads with what I threw out.
In a world where nearly 800 million people a year go hungry, “food waste goes against the moral grain,” as Elizabeth Royte writes in this month’s cover story. It’s jaw-dropping how much perfectly good food is thrown away — from “ugly” (but quite eatable) vegetables rejected by grocers to large amounts of uneaten dishes thrown into restaurant garbage cans.
Producing food that no one eats wastes the water, fuel, and other resources used to grow it. That makes food waste an environmental problem. In fact, Royte writes, “if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world.”
If that’s hard to understand, let’s keep it as simple as the arugula at the back of my refrigerator. Mike Curtin sees my arugula story all the time — but for him, it's more like 12 bones of donated strawberries nearing their last days. Curtin is CEO of DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., which recovers food and turns it into healthy meals. Last year it recovered more than 807,500 pounds of food by taking donations and collecting blemished (有瑕疵的) produce that otherwise would have rotted in fields. And the strawberries? Volunteers will wash, cut, and freeze or dry them for use in meals down the road.
Such methods seem obvious, yet so often we just don’t think. “Everyone can play a part in reducing waste, whether by not purchasing more food than necessary in your weekly shopping or by asking restaurants to not include the side dish you won’t eat,” Curtin says.
1. What does the author want to show by telling the arugula story?| A．We pay little attention to food waste. | B．We waste food unintentionally at times. |
| C．We waste more vegetables than meat. | D．We have good reasons for wasting food. |
| A．Moral decline. | B．Environmental harm. |
| C．Energy shortage. | D．Worldwide starvation. |
| A．It produces kitchen equipment. | B．It turns rotten arugula into clean fuel. |
| C．It helps local farmers grow fruits. | D．It makes meals out of unwanted food. |
| A．Buy only what is needed. | B．Reduce food consumption. |
| C．Go shopping once a week. | D．Eat in restaurants less often. |
