1 . 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 |
2 . “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 |
3 . 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. |
4 . When margarine (人造黄油) was first sold in the 1800s, plentiful alarmist words were uttered about it. However, it was simply a cream of vegetable oil and water, a processed, more sustainable and healthier alternative to an animal product. Anxiety about new foods and how they are produced continues today. Public discussions are full of concerns that “ultra-processed foods” or “UPFs” are downright unhealthy. One particular category in a fierce spotlight is plant-based meats. But how and where food is made doesn’t determine how safe or nutritious it is.
The term UPFs was first used in 2009 by Carlos Monteiro, a nutritionist. In a 2017 paper, he said he was worried that the shared experience of cooking was being increasingly lost and people weren’t eating together. In particular, he was seeing rising rates of diabetes and obesity. Keen to identify the root cause of these issues, he focused on food not made at home, but in factories. But the thing is, as Monteiro has stated openly, the UPF categorisation was never designed to group foods on the basis of nutrition.
Just like pork sausages and chicken popcorn, plant-based alternatives are made in factories, so are considered UPFs. But unlike those animal products, they don’t require antibiotics (抗生素) or hormones during production, require up to 96 percent less land, have carbon emissions up to 98 percent lower, need up to 99 percent less water and result in 100 percent fewer animals dying.
And side by side, they are almost always healthier than the over-processed animal meat products they replace, especially on fat and fibre content. Just compare the labels on the packets next time you are in the supermarket.
Many loud voices are raising concerns, suggesting that all UPFs, especially plant-based meats, are “unnatural”, “fake” and “full of chemicals”. We are seeing history repeat itself, and a fear of new foods being aroused all over again. But the science is unmistakably clear: diets rich in plant-based options are better for both people and the planet, factory or no factory.
1. Why does the author mention margarine in paragraph 1?| A．To stress the sales dilemma margarine faced before. |
| B．To illustrate people’s misunderstanding about margarine. |
| C．To show the ignored benefits of margarine to people’s health. |
| D．To emphasize people’s longstanding worry about novel foods. |
| A．To classify the food made at home. |
| B．To encourage people to cook and eat together. |
| C．To discover the cause of some rising health problems. |
| D．To determine the nutrition level of factory-produced food. |
| A．Plant-based meats are more ecofriendly. |
| B．Plant-based meats shouldn’t be considered as UPFs. |
| C．Plant-based meats will replace UPF animal meat products. |
| D．Plant-based meats are healthier than sausages and popcorn. |
| A．Unnecessary. | B．Temporary. | C．Reasonable. | D．Alarming. |
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 . A recent citizen science study suggests that eating really wild food could improve gut (消化道) health, blood sugar and BMI.
Richard Mawby, who lived entirely on wild food for three months, lost 20kg in the process. Mawby is one of 26 UK foragers (觅食者) who took part in The Wildbiome Project, which was set up by foraging expert Monica Wilde, who got the idea after surviving on foraged foods for the whole of 2021.
It measured the impact on blood sugar, BMI and gut health — with exhilarating results. Participants of the project who were fat at the beginning lost an average of 5.6kg, and 16% of their body weight. One, foraging teacher Matthew Rooney, said he reduced his blood sugar level from 65 to a normal 40 within 10 days.
Though at least one participant mentioned being more tired than usual while on the diet, generally speaking, the foragers appeared to be healthier, reporting having increased energy and improved mental wellbeing. Gut health also improved. Wilde suggests this is due to the diversity of a wild diet. lt should be pointed out that all participants had food like fruits, seaweed in their freezers. They also added rabbit and fish and organic chicken eggs.
Of course, Wilde doesn’t expect everyone to adopt a 100%-foraged diet. “Even integrating a few wild foods could be beneficial,” she said. Indeed, Wilde points out that wild foods are often more nutritional than farmed ones, which are raised for size rather than nutritional value. “Eating wild also means eating seasonally. Following the advice that nature gives us is bound to be good for us — and the planet.”
Mawby agreed. “The project was a breath of fresh air,” he said. “I felt in harmony with my surroundings, seeing a noticeable improvement. Now, I’m more in tune with my body, and though I’ve reintroduced cacao and spices, really wild diets are still firmly on the menu.”
1. What is the purpose of the project?| A．To ensure foragers’ healthy lifestyle. | B．To provide 100%-foraged diet |
| C．To collect money for foraging research. | D．To promote eating wild food. |
| A．Disappointing. | B．Exciting. | C．Interesting. | D．Disastrous. |
| A．It has serious side effects. |
| B．It needs to be completely adopted. |
| C．It is highly recommended. |
| D．It is produced for size and diversity |
| A．Really wild diets are found to boost foragers’ health. |
| B．Foraged foods are more nutritional than farmed ones. |
| C．A UK foraging expert survive on really wild food. |
| D．Improved wild diets are still firmly on the menu. |
7 . Super Size Me
Fast food, otherwise known as junk food, is a huge passion for a large number of people across the Western world. But what would happen if you ate lots of junk food every day? Would it seriously damage your health? These were the questions which led Morgan Spurlock, an independent film-maker, to do an experiment, which he came into a documentary film entitled Super Size Me.
The main basis of his experiment was that Spurlock promised to eat three McDonald’s meals a day, every day, for a month. He could only eat food from McDonald’s and every time an employee asked if he would like to ‘super size’ the meal, he had to agree. ‘Super sizing’ refers to the fact that with this type of meal you get a considerably larger portion of everything for only a very small price increase.
Before he started, three doctors certified that Spurlock weighed about 84kg and was in good health. Although both Spurlock and his doctors knew he would put on a bit of weight, and that this diet was unhealthy, none of them were quite prepared for just how unhealthy it turned out to be. The changes in his body were horrifying. In the first week, he put on 4.5 kilos and by the end of the thirty days he had gained nearly 14 kilos, bringing his total weight to 98 kg.
Weight gain was only one of the negative effects, however. When all three doctors saw the severe damage to his liver, they all recommended stopping the experiment after 20 days. Spurlock continued to follow the diet, however, because he wanted to show people what this kind of diet can do to you. Watching the film, you begin to realize that it could be a fast-forward picture of your life: in 30 days you go to see what could happen to you over 20 or 30 years of overconsumption.
Junk food is exactly what it says it is -- junk. Spurlock says, ‘I’d love people to walk out of the movie and say, “Next time I’m not going to ‘super size’. Maybe I’m not going to have any junk food at all. I’m going to sit down and eat dinner with my kids, with the TV off, so that we can eat healthy food, talk about what we’re eating and have a relationship with each other.”’ Food for thought indeed.
1. In the one-month experiment, Spurlock ______.| A．ate three McDonald’s meals every day | B．could choose to “super size” his meal |
| C．got extra-large meals at a lower price | D．pretended to eat for better visual effect |
| A．He gained one sixth of his body weight in one week. |
| B．Doctors suggested him stopping the experiment halfway. |
| C．He fast-forwarded the video past the medical examination. |
| D．He turned out to be 20 or 30 years older than people of his age. |
| A．human nature often drives us to desire more |
| B．how we eat is far more important than what we eat |
| C．overconsumption for a short time does little harm to the body |
| D．if we eat too much junk food, we ourselves will be supersized |
8 . 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. |
9 . 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. |
10 . Despite the fact that burgers, chips and fries are known as some of the most unhealthy food we can eat, they are still the most popular food.
There are a few reasons behind that. First, junk food is generally easy to get and take with you. This convenience is a major draw for many, especially people who are always on the go. Restaurants like McDonald’s and KFC can be found outside many schools and workplaces, providing meals in under a minute.
Secondly, junk food contains a lot of added sugar and fat. This kind of food causes our brain to send out certain chemicals, which produce the feeling of relaxation, pleasure and enjoyment. That’s why such food is called “comfort food”.
Thirdly, our ancestors didn’t have such easy access to the huge variety of food we come across every day. They didn’t have the convenience of having food as easily as we do. So they made it a habit to eat as much as they could to survive and protect themselves from the hard natural conditions. The cave mentality (心理) is passed down to us, which makes us believe that we can never have enough food that is high in sugar and fat, no matter how crazily we eat.
Besides, when we are too worried and tired to relax, our body produces cortisol (皮质醇), which increases the sugar content in the blood, so it can be used as energy to aid in fat and carbohydrate metabolism (碳水化合物代谢). Additionally, it is also found to increase hunger. That’s the reason why when we’re thinking about unpleasant things, we prefer foods that are high in sugar, fat and carbohydrate, that is to say unhealthy food.
1. Why are McDonald’s and KFC mentioned?| A．To show they take up the best site. | B．To show they provide good service. |
| C．To show they are famous for their taste. | D．To show they make junk food easy to get. |
| A．We need all kinds of food. | B．Our ancestors lived a hard life. |
| C．We are born to eat more than we need. | D．It is difficult for us to change our habits. |
| A．Too much stress. | B．A wish for food. |
| C．A fast metabolic rate. | D．Not having enough energy. |
| A．How harmful junk food is. | B．Why fast food is so delicious. |
| C．How we can develop a healthy lifestyle. | D．Why we love unhealthy food so much. |
