1 . Beejhy Barhany, growing up in an Ethiopian-Jewish community in Israel, has been cooking for her family as long as she can remember. Now a chef and owner of Tsion Café in Harlem, New York, Barhany continues to pull from cooking traditions, including one that has become the source of much controversy in recent decades: washing raw meat before cooking.
For Barhany, submerging raw chicken in salt and lemon water is both functional and ceremonial, as soaking or rinsing raw meat in salt water and acid-such as lemon juice or vinegar-is a common form of “washing” required by Jewish Kosher rules. And a 2015 survey of over 1, 500 American consumers found that nearly 70 percent rinse or wash their poultry before cooking it, though the U. S. Department of Agriculture( USDA) started telling consumers not to wash raw poultry in the 1990s. Experts including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly warned that rather than reducing the risk of foodborne illness (食源性疾病), washing meat increases the likelihood of spreading unwanted pathogens (病原体), like salmonella and campylobacter, around the kitchen.
“Washing meat before cooking is not really helping,” says Betty Feng, associate professor of food science at Purdue University. “The only thing it does is splashing (飞溅) and could cross-contaminate a lot of your kitchen items-your sink, probably your clothes, whatever you have by the sink.” Moreover, Feng cautions against using saltwater, vinegar, or lemon juice, which simply isn’t strong enough to effectively kill foodborne pathogens. “If the acidity is high enough to kill bacteria, then it’s not really likely you can use your bare hand to wash,” she says.
And a 2022 study showed that submerging meat in a bowl of water reduced the splashing but not the spread of germs. “I would treat the entire sink just like the outside of the chicken——it’s a biological hazard,” says Benjamin Chapman, one of the study authors and associate professor in North Carolina State University’s agricultural and human sciences department. “The way that we make meat safe is through cooking, not through the removal of pathogens.”
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To broaden the readers’ horizons. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To state the author’s opinion. |
| A．Nearly 70 percent of American consumers follow the rules. |
| B．The rules pay attention to functional and ceremonial aspects. |
| C．Uncooked meat is submerged in water with salt and vinegar. |
| D．It warns people of the risk of foodborne illness. |
| A．It has sparked a lot of controversy in recent years. |
| B．It has decreased the risk of foodborne illness. |
| C．It can not be directly done/with your bare hands. |
| D．It may do a favor/ to the transfer of pathogens. |
| A．To emphasize that chickens pose a level/of threat to humans’ life. |
| B．To show that sinks can be a way to increase splashing. |
| C．To prove that cooking is a good way to kill pathogens. |
| D．To stress that the practice people follow is not advisable. |
2 . Cordero is the farm manager at Ollin Farms, not far from Boulder, Colorado. The locally grown vegetables on the farm aren’t just pretty. “We play an important role in public health nutrition programs,” says Cordero’s dad, Mark Guttridge, who started this farm with his wife, Kena, 17 years ago.
At a meeting with about a dozen local farmers, two state representatives, and the Colorado officials of agriculture, Guttridge explains how Boulder county has made creative investments in his farm that could be spread to the state or even national level. Before the meeting, Guttridge shows them one of those investments.
A dozen sheep, which Guttridge raises for wool, feed on root vegetables like radishes that have been leftover for them. “So these guys are out fertilizing the vegetable field,” Guttridge laughs. “They’ll be out here a couple more weeks, and then we’ll get our next summer vegetables planted right there.” Around the field is a special moveable type of fencing that Ollin Farms bought using financial aid from the Boulder County Sustainability Office. It allows them to move the sheep from one field to another, fertilizing as they go. The goal of these investments is “really building up our soil health,” he explains. “That relates directly to the nutrient quality of the food-healthy soil grows healthy food.”
The county also makes an effort to get that healthy food out to different communities to boost public health. That’s where the Boulder County Public Health department comes in. It created a coupon program to give discounts to people buying fruits and vegetables from Ollin Farms. Nutrition incentive programs, like those public health fruit and vegetable coupons, are spreading all over the country, and most are funded through the federal farm bill. Amy Yaroch, executive director at the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, says “It’s a trip le win. It’s basically good for the consumers who live in that particular community because they’re getting the healthy food, it’s good for the farmer, and then it’s good for the economy.”
1. What does Ollin Farms do?| A．It makes public nutrition health plans. |
| B．It offers financial aid to other farms. |
| C．It provides cheap food to the local community. |
| D．It grows fruits and vegetables rich in nutrition. |
| A．By raising sheep on radishes. | B．By buying fences for farmhouses. |
| C．By funding the farm’s soil health. | D．By giving advice about fertilizing fields. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Dismissive. | C．Unclear. | D．Approving. |
| A．Couponing for Health: Stimulating Nutrition Choices |
| B．Growing Health: Innovations in Farm and Public Health Initiatives |
| C．Fertile Fields and Furry Friends: A Farming Fairy Tale |
| D．Local Produce, Global Impact: The Nutrition Choices of Ollin Farms |
3 . While it is known that parents control the dietary choices of their children during early childhood, the increasing independence experienced during adolescence brings with it more freedom when it comes to food choices. This time of life also brings enormous physical and emotional changes in a young person, which is often associated with an increase in comfort eating, or eating as a means to relieve stress. A recent study investigates how various feeding practices used by parents impact the emotional eating behavior of adolescents.
The initial study was conducted in 2017 with 218 families. Additionally, data collected in 2013 were also available. One parent from each family completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire, as well as the Child Feeding Practices Questionnaire, and both adolescent and parent completed the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. The adolescent’s body weight and height were measured by researchers. The four years between 2013 — 2017 covered the years from late childhood to mid-teens.
The study found that when parents used food as a reward, or restricted and monitored an adolescent’s access to food, this was associated with an increased tendency by the adolescent to use emotional eating as a strategy to deal with their emotions. On the other hand, involving a child in meal preparations had the opposite effect — it was associated with higher levels of emotional regulation and lower levels of emotional eating in the adolescent participants.
Additionally, the researchers found a negative link between the extent to which parents restrained (克制) their own eating behavior and the use of emotional eating by their adolescent children. This means that the more a parent limited his or her own consumption of food for the purpose of health or dietary goals, the less the adolescent child used emotional eating as a means of regulating his or her own emotions.
According to study lead author Joanna Klosowska, restrictive parenting was most damaging, whereas restrained eating by the parent seemed to be the most beneficial. “Additional research is required to understand the way in which restrained eating demonstrated by a parent impacts the emotional eating of a child,” said Klosowska.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Parents’ dietary choice. | B．Parents’ eating behavior. |
| C．Children’s way of relieving stress. | D．Children’s increasing independence. |
| A．They studied parents’ body weight and height. |
| B．They investigated children’s eating behaviors. |
| C．They interviewed parents about their emotional health. |
| D．They assessed parents’ understanding of children’s care needs. |
| A．Restrained eating by parents is bad for their children. |
| B．Emotional eating by teens is influenced by their parents. |
| C．Parents seldom engage their children in family meal preparations. |
| D．Using food as a reward can help children form good eating habits. |
| A．Factors resulting in parents’ and adolescents’ food choices. |
| B．The underlying logic behind parents’ restrictive parenting. |
| C．What effect emotional eating can generate on children’s health. |
| D．How parents’ restrained eating influences children’s emotional eating. |
4 . A diet high in protein is often promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle, and many diets encourage consumers to reduce fats in favor of protein to lose weight and gain lean muscle.
For the study in Nature Metabolism, Bettina Mittendorfer and colleagues found that while increasing the proportion of protein in daily calorie intake is beneficial, consuming protein too much not only doesn’t add to the development of lean muscle but can cause unintended negative health effects.
“Consumers are being led to believe that they can never get too much protein in their diet,” says Mittendorfer. “However, our research shows that specific amino acids (氨基酸), which are the building blocks of protein, can trigger heart disease through a signaling mechanism at the cellular level in the blood.”
An amino acid found in animal-protein foods, such as beef, eggs, and milk, was found to be responsible for signaling activity in cells that typically clear away rubbish in blood vessels. As consumption of dietary protein increases, so does the consumption of leucine (亮氨酸), the specific amino acid responsible for triggering this cellular activity in the blood.
When functioning normally, these cells work to keep blood vessels free from plaque (血小板) buildup. When their production becomes overactive, the resulting accumulation of spent cells in the vascular system can cause the plaque buildup and blockages they are supposed to prevent. The resulting hardening of the arteries (动脉) is a leading risk factor for heart attack and stroke.
“Our hope is to eventually find the Goldilocks approach for maximizing the health benefits of dietary protein, such as building lean muscle, while avoiding the health drawbacks from overconsumption.” says Mittendorfer.
The researchers found that consuming more than 22% of daily calories from protein carries more downside risk than dietary benefit. For a normal adult, 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal, or 60 to 90 grams of protein per day is adequate to support health.
The study combined human trials with experiments in mice and cells.
1. Which of the following is the finding of the research?| A．It is beneficial to take in protein in daily diets. |
| B．A diet high in protein is always considered as a healthy lifestyle. |
| C．Many consumers are in favor of protein to lose weight and gain muscle. |
| D．Consuming protein too much doesn’t do good to the lean muscle development. |
| A．The plaque buildup. | B．Animal-protein foods. |
| C．The hardening of the arteries. | D．Overactive cellular activity in the blood. |
| A．To take in proper amount of protein per meal. |
| B．To exercise everyday in order to build lean muscle. |
| C．To consume more than 22% of daily calories from protein. |
| D．To do more experiments in mice and cells to provide evidence. |
| A．It is conducted in a relatively scientific way. |
| B．It finally finds a proper approach to keep fit. |
| C．It is totally against what people have believed. |
| D．It offers a diet standard for people of all ages all over the world. |
5 . Over the last half century, obesity (肥胖症) rates have skyrocketed. In 1962, 46 percent of adults in the US were considered overweight. By 2010, that figure had jumped to 75 percent.
Obesity is a complex problem with many causes. But among the likely suspects, sugar is high on the list. A variety of research has drawn a link (联系) between sugar consumption (消耗) and overweight. As sugar consumption has increased, so has our waistline.
“I don’t think we have enough evidence yet to suggest that sugar is the reason for obesity,” says Johns Hopkins, a cardiologist. “But there is enough evidence to say that too much sugar consumption is an important contributor to weight gain.”
All those sweet snacks seem to be affecting the heart as well. In a study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine in 2014, researchers compared people who consumed a lot of added sugar accounting for 17 to 21 percent of their total daily calories with people who ate less sugar — just 8 percent of their total calories. Those in the high-sugar group had a 38 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease.
Excess weight increases the risk of many diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes. Research by the team of Ndumele has shown that those factors usually explain the link between obesity and heart disease. “All of those factors make it more likely that someone will develop heart disease,” says Ndumele.
In other words, there are many reasons to aim for a healthy weight. And cutting back on sugar is a good place to start.
1. What does the underlined word “skyrocketed” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Risen quickly. | B．Dropped rapidly. |
| C．Led to many diseases. | D．Caught much attention. |
| A．Unsure. | B．Negative. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Obesity can cause heart disease. | B．Sugar contributes to weight gain. |
| C．Heart disease is linked to sugar intake. | D．Overweight increases high blood pressure. |
| A．Obesity—The Heart Killer | B．Less Sugar—A Good Start for Health |
| C．What to Do with Disease | D．How to Take Care of Your Sweet Teeth |
6 . Labels placed on fast food items stressing their high climate impact may influence consumers to make more sustainable (可持续的) choices, new study results show.
Food accounts for around one-third of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions, while animal-based foods like red meat and dairy products make up a large part of these emissions.
Researchers carried out a randomized clinical trial with more than 5,000 participants to determine whether calling attention to red meat’s climate impact could change consumer menu selections.
Individuals were shown a simple online fast food menu and asked to select an item for dinner. A control group received a menu with a quick response code label on all items and no climate labels. Another group received a menu with green low-climate impact labels, positively framing choices like fish, chicken, or vegetarian choices. The third group received a menu with red high-climate labels on items containing red meat, negatively framing the choices.
Results showed 23 percent more participants in the high climate label group ordered a sustainable, non-red meat choice, and 10 percent more in the low-climate group ordered a sustainable choice, compared with controls.
“In the United States, meat consumption, red meat consumption in particular, often exceeds (超过) recommended levels based on national dietary guidelines,” researchers wrote in the study. “Shifting current dietary patterns toward more sustainable diets with lower amounts of red meat consumed could reduce diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to 55 percent.”
Extra red meat consumption can also be harmful to human health and has been linked with increased risks of diabetes and certain cancers. Fast food restaurants are a key source of red meat in many Americans’ diets, authors noted, adding more than one-third of U.S. individuals consume fast food on a given day.
“These results suggest that menu labeling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” said lead study author Julia Wolfson, an associate professor from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
1. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?| A．The research objects. | B．The research findings. |
| C．The research purpose. | D．The research process. |
| A．Changing. | B．Removing. | C．Gathering. | D．Searching. |
| A．Consumers prefer labeled menus. | B．Red meat can result in many diseases. |
| C．Menu labeling helps reduce climate impact. | D．Two-thirds of Americans like to eat fast food. |
| A．Fast Food and Climate Change | B．Menu Labeling for Greener Choices |
| C．Increasingly Popular Menu Labeling | D．Red Meat Consumption and Health Risks |
7 . Adding salt to already prepared meals is linked to dying prematurely, according to a new study. Researchers found always adding salt to food knocks 2.3 years off life expectancy for men and 1.5years for women.
The study did not rule out other factors, but researchers said the evidence was compelling enough that people should consider avoiding seasoning their meals. The findings were based on research involving over 500,000 participants, who were followed for an average of 9 years. Compared with those who never added salt, those who always seasoned their food had a 28% increased risk of dying earlier. “To my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relation between adding salt to foods and earlier death,” said Prof Lu Qi, who led the work. “Even a modest reduction in sodium (钠) intake can result in remarkable health benefits.”
Salt intake is difficult to accurately track because many processed foods contain high levels of salt. Roughly 70% of sodium intake in western populations comes from processed foods, with 8-20% from salt added at the table. However, adding salt is a very good indicator of a person’s preference for salty tasting foods, so the team focused their analysis on this measurement.
Prof Annika Rosengren, a researcher who was not involved with the research, said that there is an ideal level for salt to different people. It’s hard to figure out the best level in terms of health for any given individual. “So far, what the evidence seems to indicate is that healthy people consuming normal levels of salt need not worry too much about their salt intake,” she said. However, those at high risk of heart disease should probably cut down. “Not adding extra salt to already prepared foods is one way of achieving this.”
1. What does the underlined word “compelling” probably mean?| A．Interesting. | B．Convincing. | C．Fascinating. | D．Stimulating. |
| A．Adding salt can suggest a person’s favor. |
| B．Western populations prefer salty foods relatively. |
| C．The study centered on tracking salt intake accurately. |
| D．More than 70% of sodium intake comes from processed foods. |
| A．There is an ideal level for salt to all people. |
| B．It’s appropriate to add more salt while cooking. |
| C．Occasional addition of salt has no effect on health. |
| D．Patients with heart disease should control their salt intake. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．An official report. | C．A health magazine. | D．A science fiction. |
8 . Sensory-based food education given to 3-5 year-old children in the kindergarten increases their willingness to choose vegetables and fruit, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland.
The researchers used the sensory-based food education method Sapere, which makes use of children’s natural way of relying on all of the five senses when learning new things. In the Sapere method, children are given an active role around food, and they are encouraged to share their sensory experiences. For example, kindergartens can introduce different vegetables and fruit to children in hands-on sessions, they can involve children in baking and cooking, and they can offer children opportunities for growing their own vegetables in the kindergarten backyard. Food-related themes can also be included in books and games.
“There are several different ways to do this. However, it always starts from sensory-based learning and child engagement. Doing and experiencing things together is also an important aspect,” says Kaisa Kähkönen, a researcher and nutritionist from the University of Eastern Finland.
The researchers compared children in different kindergarten groups. Some were offered sensory-based food education, while others weren’t. Children were offered a snack buffet containing different vegetables and fruit to choose from, and the researchers took photos of their plates to analyse their willingness to choose and eat these food items.
The findings show that sensory-based food education increased children’s willingness to choose vegetables and fruit, especially among children whose mothers have a lower educational background. On average, children of lower educated parents tend to eat less vegetables and fruit. This is how food education given in the kindergarten can help even out dietary gap between families.
“Another interesting finding is that the Sapere food education method also seems to improve the eating atmosphere in kindergarten groups. This encouraged children who were picky eaters to choose a more diverse selection on their plate,” Kähkönen explains.
Positive and personal food-related experiences gained in the kindergarten can help adjust dietary preferences in a direction that is beneficial for health. Dietary preferences learned in early childhood often stick with a person all the way to adolescence and adulthood.
1. What can we know about the Sapere method?| A．It improves kids’ five senses. |
| B．It enables kids to read more books. |
| C．It supplies various healthy food to kids. |
| D．It involves kids in active food-related activities. |
| A．The research purpose. | B．The research process. |
| C．The research findings. | D．The research evaluation. |
| A．Narrow. | B．Identify. |
| C．Analyze. | D．Examine. |
| A．Benefits of eating fruit and vegetables. |
| B．Differences in family dietary preferences. |
| C．Necessity for kids to form learning habits. |
| D．New method to promote kids’ healthy eating. |
9 . Farm to school events are happening all over the country this month. The events are aimed at bringing fresh food to students’ plates. And, after a decline in nutrition education in U. S. schools in recent decades, there’s new momentum (势头), to weave food and cooking into the curriculum again.
“I’d love to see it brought back and have the science around healthy eating integrated,” says Stacy Dean, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Dean told me she was inspired by a visit to Watkins Elementary, in Washington, D. C. where this idea is germinating. Students grow vegetables in their school garden. They also roll up their sleeves in the school’s kitchen to participate in a FRESHFARM FoodPrints class, which integrates cooking and nutrition education.
Evaluations show participation in FRESHFARM programs is associated with increased preference for fruits and vegetables. And, the CDC points to evidence that nutrition education may help students maintain a healthy weight and can also help students recognize the connection between food and emotional wellbeing. Given the key role diet plays in preventing chronic (慢性的) disease, the agency says it would be ideal to offer more nutrition education.
At a time when diet-related disease is a leading cause of death, and unhealthy eating habits are entrenched (根深蒂固的) in U. S. culture, it’s unrealistic to think that a cooking curriculum could overcome such a sweeping, societal problem. “We know from years of evidence that we need multiple things to come together to support healthy eating,” says Angela Odoms-Young, a professor of maternal and child nutrition at Cornell University.
At a time when the U. S. spends billions of dollars on diet-related disease, an investment in nutrition education makes sense, says the USDA’s Stacy Dean. “Food is so fundamental to life and good health and it is absolutely worthy of some time in the basic curriculum,” she says. The hope is that integrating nutrition and cooking into a school program will give kids the skills and inspiration to eat well, and help put them on a healthy path.
1. Where did Stacy Dean’s idea come from?| A．Her visit to Watkins Elementary. |
| B．Her work at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. |
| C．The decline in nutrition education in U. S. schools. |
| D．The new trend to bring back cooking into school curriculum. |
| A．Students can raise animals in school. |
| B．It can protect students from chronic disease. |
| C．Students become more interested in fruits and vegetables. |
| D．Students can do some gardening and cooking in the program. |
| A．Cooking curriculum can solve the diet-related disease problem. |
| B．We need to work together in order to keep a healthy diet. |
| C．People have changed their unhealthy eating habits nowadays. |
| D．Diet-related disease used to be a cause of death in U. S. culture. |
| A．Cooking is fundamental in school education. |
| B．Add nutrition education in school curriculum. |
| C．Investment in nutrition education makes sense. |
| D．Cooking and gardening at school inspire better nutrition. |
10 . “White people food” is trending on Chinese social media platforms as large numbers of users are confused by the typical Western packed lunch. The trend started on the social media platforms Weibo and Xiaohongshu with too many users shocked by quick and easy meals such as cold sandwiches and raw vegetables. Many posts are from international students surprised by the simple meals their peers eat. Similarly, overseas workers and expatriates (侨民) have posted their shock at their co-workers’ repetitive lunches.
Photos of the bland (淡而无味的) lunches have quickly spread through global social media platforms including TikTok and Twitter. Many social media users have promoted the health benefits of the simple “white people lunch“. In response to this, a commenter on Xiaohongshu suggested, “If such a meal is to extend life, what is the meaning of life?”
“White people food” made it beyond the Chinese social media platforms and found itself trending on Twitter. Hundreds of users shared their own experiences of low-maintenance lunches in the US, Australia and across Europe. “When I first came to Australia, I saw a woman who bought raw sliced mushrooms in the supermarket and sat down to eat them,” Marcelo Wang explained in a TikTok video. “Fascination with these meals has spread as many Chinese people are used to cooking with lots of different ingredients.”
A Western user said, “As a white person, I didn’t know we were all packing lunches like this. I thought it was just me being lazy.”Another commented, “It’s literally because we don’t get lunch breaks.” Others warned international TikTokers against making“white people lunches”. They said,“Don’t do it to yourself willingly! We do it because we don’t know any better. Don’t do this to yourself.“
1. What surprised overseas workers and expatriates?| A．The simplicity of typical Western packed lunches. |
| B．The diverse dietary structures of international students. |
| C．The rapid development of Chinese social media platforms. |
| D．The influence of Chinese cuisine on Western eating habits. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Worried. | C．Dismissive. | D．Negative |
| A．They learn how to cook from TikTok videos. |
| B．They have a tolerant attitude towards diverse diets. |
| C．They are more than happy to share their packed lunches. |
| D．They discourage people from adopting their dietary habits. |
| A．A lunchtime surprise encountered by visitors in China |
| B．Unpacking“white people food”: a wealth of cultural insights |
| C．Surprising cooking trends on Western social media platforms |
| D．Improving“white people food”: a growing emphasis on health |
