1 . Is It Worth Buying Organic Food?

Organic food, grown without artificial chemicals, is increasingly popular nowadays. Consumers have been willing to pay up to twice as much for goods with organic labels (标签). However, if you think paying a little more for organic food gets you a more nutritious (有营养的) and safer product, you might want to save your money. A study led by researchers at Stanford University says that organic products aren’t necessarily more nutritious, and they’re no less likely to suffer from disease-causing bacteria, either.

The latest results, published in the Annuals of Internal Medicine, suggest that buyers may be wasting their money. “We did not find strong evidence that organic food is more nutritious or healthier,” says Dr. Crystal Smith-Spangler from Stanford. “So consumers shouldn’t assume that one type of food has a lower risk or is safer.”

For their new study, Smith-Spangler and her colleagues conducted a review of two categories of research, including 17 studies that compared health outcomes between consumers of organic against traditional food products, and 223 studies that analyzed the nutritional content of the foods, including key vitamins, minerals and fats.

While the researchers found little difference in nutritional content, they did find that organic fruit and vegetables were 20% less likely to have chemicals remaining on the surfaces. Neither organic nor traditional foods showed levels of chemicals high enough to go beyond food safety standards. And both organic and traditional meats, such as chicken and pork, were equally likely to be harmed by bacteria at very low rates. The researchers did find that organic milk and chicken contained higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, a healthy fat also found in fish that can reduce the risk of heart disease. However, these nutritional differences were too small, and the researchers were unwilling to make much of them until further studies confirm the trends.

Organic food is produced with fewer chemicals and more natural-growing practices, but that doesn’t always translate into a more nutritious or healthier product. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that “Whether you buy organic or not, finding the freshest foods available may have the biggest effect on taste.” Fresh food is at least as good as anything marketed as organic.

1. The new research questions whether organic food ________.

A．should replace traditional food

B．has been overpriced by farmers

C．is grown with less harmful chemicals

D．is really more nutritious and healthier

2. Smith Spangler and her colleagues found that ________.

A．organic food could reduce the risk of heart disease

B．traditional food was grown with more natural methods

C．both organic and traditional food they examined were safe

D．there was not a presence of any forms of bacteria in organic food

3. Which of the following is relatively healthier according to the passage?

A．Organic chicken and pork.

B．Organic milk and chicken.

C．Traditional chicken and pork.

D．Traditional fruit and vegetables.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward organic food?

A．Doubtful.

B．Positive.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Approving.

2 . We all love eating out. But, is it bothering you because you are on a diet and have to dine with a friend? Sure, you will be concerned about the amount of calories, fat or salt in a restaurant’s menu items.    1    

Choose the right place.

Always plan ahead when you know that you have to dine out. Look for the restaurants that serve delicious meals that are low in fat.    2     You’re more likely to overeat there. Once you’ve decided the place, get familiar with their food menu.Decide what you’re going to order before you go.

Start with a soup.

One easy approach to stick to your diet when eating out is starting with a soup.    3     This will keep you from sitting hungry and filling you up. A soup is the first course that you order when eating out.

    4    

Salt improves food’s flavour and is often used heavily in restaurant meals. When you dine out, ask the attendant to prepare food without added salt. Ask about the ingredients to see if there are items that may be higher in salt. Moreover, it is better to limit the use of condiments (调料) such as mustard, ketchup, pickle and sauces as they may contain salt that you don’t need. Instead of salty appetisers (开胃小吃), choose fruit and vegetable salad.

Don’t eat it all.

    5     To avoid overeating, you can split a meal with a companion or put half the meal in a plate and leave the rest.

Sticking to a healthy diet doesn’t mean you have to turn down everyone’s offer when asked to eat out.

A．You have to be very particular about serving sizes when dining out.

B．Just make sure you make healthier choices.

C．Avoid eating at places that offer all-you-can-eat buffets (自助餐).

D．Here are four tips for eating out while you are on a diet.

E．Cut the salt intake.

F．Avoid eating too much.

G．Order vegetable or bean-based but avoid cream-based soups.

3 . 假定你是红星中学高二一班的学生李华。你校校刊正在开展以“健康饮食”为主题的英语征文活动。请你针对当前青少年饮食方面的不良习惯，按照以下提示写一篇英文稿件， 内容包括：
1. 列举至少三个不良饮食习惯并描述其危害；
2. 给出改正建议及建议理由。
注意: 1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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6 . A balanced diet comprising of diverse and healthy foods is the key to promoting good health. After all, we are what we eat — research continues to prove that eating healthy food promotes good health and unhealthy food habits lead to a diseased body. Foods contain vital nutrients that aid our body’s metabolic function. However, a lack of consumption of these nutrients or feeding upon the wrong kinds of food leads to an accumulation of toxins within the body, resulting in chronic (慢性的) diseases in the long run. 

A nutritious diet while ensuring overall well being, helps to maintain a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI), reduces the risk of several debilitating diseases like cancer, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke. Thus a nutritious and healthy diet is important in the prevention and cure of various diseases.

There are several health conditions that can be caused or aggravated (加重) by the food we eat. However, there are also several foods that you can include in your diet to help prevent or treat diseases. It is simplest to draw up a balanced diet chart as this will ensure that you get all the nutrients you require on a regular basis. A nutrition diet chart is a diet chart that helps you to keep a track of your nutritional diet requirements and is a very useful tool when drawing up a personalized diet plan.

However, it must be noted that all opathic medicine treats the symptoms rather than the root cause of the disease, which is usually caused by wrong eating habits leading to an accumulation of toxins within the system. Whereas a nutritious healthy diet can rectify underlying causes of diseases and restore one to wholeness of mind and body. Once we realize the connection between a wholesome balanced diet and good health, our food will be our medicine and maintaining good health will be a matter of making the right food choices and leading a healthy lifestyle.

1. According to the passage, what can we do to make sure we have the nutrients we need?

A．Curing diseases promptly.

B．Eating more nutritious food.

C．Drawing a nutrition diet chart.

D．Drawing a personalized diet plan.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．A constant lack of consumption of nutrients may lead to chronic diseases in the long run.

B．A balanced diet chart can help you carry out a personalized diet plan to mainly lose weight.

C．A nutritious diet can cure cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke.

D．A nutritious and healthy diet is the only key to preventing and curing diseases.

3. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．A nutritious diet.

B．A healthy lifestyle.

C．A nutritious diet chart.

D．A personalized diet plan.

8 . Not long ago, people could only buy organic food in small shops. Today it is common in most major supermarkets. The reason for the increase is that more and more people are demanding food grown without chemicals. Since the 1990s, organic farm production has gone up continuously. This pattern is expected to continue around the globe.

Australia leads the world in land used as for organic agriculture. It has four times as all of Asia. However, most of the land is not very fertile, and it only produces a modest amount of food. Argentina is a distant second, followed by Brazil, the United States and China. In Africa, only a very small amount of land is registered for organic farming. That does not mean Africa relies on chemicals. In fact, many farmers do not use chemicals because they cannot afford them. Yet there are no programmes for these farmers to prove they do not use chemicals. Without these programmes their food can never be approved organic.

India has had the most dramatic recent increase in organic farming. Like many other countries, India sees continual growth in organic food sales around the world. This, of course, leads to growth in profits. Sales of organic food were more than doubled from 2000 to 2005. Like India, many countries are trying to increase commercial organic farming to get a share of the sales. This has led to criticism. Some people believe that organic farming should not just be about making money. They think the goal is to help the environment. Others say organic farming will not continue if it is not profitable. They say that people should be able to make money while providing healthy food for mankind.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Organic food has become much more common.

B．Organic farming is growing around the world.

C．People do not want to eat food with chemicals in it.

D．Countries all want to make money from organic farming.

2. Why do people want to increase organic farming?

A．More and more people demand chemicals to grow food.

B．Organic food is good for Earth and the human beings.

C．There are fewer chemicals available to the human beings.

D．Profits from organic farming help make approval programmes.

3. From the passage, it can be said that__________.

A．India uses the least land to organic farming.

B．Brazil uses less land to organic farming than China.

C．the US is the fourth largest organic farming country.

D．China and India have the same amount of organic farmland.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that__________.

A．people who eat food with chemicals have shorter lifespan.

B．India will soon become the largest country of growing organic food.

C．more countries will farm organically as the environment gets worse.

D．there will be fewer organic farms if the demand for organic food goes down.

9 . Sugar-free cookies, sugar-free candy, and diet soda—are these better for you? After sugar became a no-no in the nutrition and wellness world, sugar-free food and drinks acted as a replacement for once beloved sweet drinks and snacks. Being claimed to be ZERO sugar means the food and drinks are healthier, better for diabetics, and help you slim down ... Right? Wrong. Sugar-free products aren’t better for you. In fact, they are worse. For most sugar-free products, it means that artificial sweeteners (甜味剂) are used instead of real sugar. The problem is that these sweeteners do not come from natural soures and they can do you more harm than good.

       Let’s get into what these artificial sweeteners actually are. Sugar-free sugar sounds wrong because there is no such thing as sugar-free sugar. Some of these sugar-free alternatives even contain sugar and the ones that have chemicals your body often does not know how to process. Most artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar so only a small quantity of them are needed. That’s why they can market sugar-free alternatives as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie’. It also means that you get no nutritional value from consuming them, which is why so many sugar-free replacements are classified as “non-nutritive”. These artificial sweeteners tend to hide under some names. Actually, they are 200-600 times sweeter than sugar.
       When you eat sweet stuff, your body continues to desire it and, even though your body cannot metabolize (代谢) these sugar-free alternatives, your brain does not know the difference. In turn sugar-free alternatives relate to weight gain and Type-2 diabetes. Besides, artificial sweeteners also damage your gut’s ability to break down sugar which impacts everything you eat. In other words, your body doesn’t know how to handle artificial sweeteners because they have nothing real to process.
       Here is a good rule of thumb: stay away from artificial sweeteners and look for non-sugar, natural sweeteners like stevia (甜叶菊) or date sugar. In the war against artificial sweeteners and real sugar, both lose. Satisfy your sweet tooth with natural sugar that comes from fruits and stay away from products claimed to be sugar-free.
1. What do most sugar-free products have in common?

A．They don’t taste sweet.	B．They are free of calories.
C．They are rich in nutrition.	D．They have artificial sweeteners.

2. What can be inferred about artificial sweeteners?

A．They are as sweet as sugar.	B．They pose a big risk to health.
C．They can be metabolized easily	D．They have long been added to food.

3. What does the author advise us to do?

A．To keep a balanced diet.	B．To stay away from sugary products.
C．To choose fewer artificial ingredients.	D．To take in sugar from natural sources

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Why are sugar-free products bad for your health?

B．How will sugar-free products affect your body?

C．What can be called sugar-free products?

D．Why are sugar-free products popular?