题目内容

If you bought some candy months ago but never ate it, how can you tell whether it’s still safe to eat? The easiest way is to check the “expiration date (保质期)” printed on the wrapper. If that date has already passed, you’re likely to throw the candy away. But is that really necessary?

According to a new report from the US Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), tons of food is wasted each year, largely because people don’t fully understand what expiration dates, or “use-by dates”, actually mean.

Food dating was introduced in 1970s because customers wanted more information about the things that they were eating. When they first showed up, use-by dates were only supposed to indicate freshness because producers wanted their products to be tasted in their best conditions.

But the truth is that these dates aren’t related to the risk of food poisoning or food-born illness, according to Time News. However, most customers misinterpreted use-by dates and related them to the safety of the food, and they still largely do now.

Eggs, for example, can still be eaten three to five weeks after purchase even though the use-by date is much earlier. When their use-by dates pass, strawberry juice may lose its red color and biscuits may lose their crunch(松脆的口感), but they are not harmful.

“It’s a confusing subject, the difference between food quality and food safety,” said Jena Roberts, vice president of National Food Lab, a US food testing company. “Even in the food industry I have colleagues who get confused.”

This is why scientists are calling for a standard explanation to be printed following the use-by dates. “We want this to be clearly communicated so customers are not misinterpreting the date and contributing to a lot of waste,” said Dana Gunders, a staff scientist with the NRDC.

But this won’t be a mistake that is easy to correct since people have believed it for so long. Another problem is that the quality levels of different foods change differently-some are still eatable long after their use-by date while others are not.

As a result, food industry officials are now thinking of changing the use-by date to a date indicating when food is most likely to throw away.

1.According to the text, use-by date was first intended to ________.

A. reduce the waste of food

B. show whether the food was fresh

C. show the safety of food

D. give a warming of food poisoning

2.Which of following is TRUE?

A. Most customers understand what use-by date mean.

B. Biscuits can’t be eaten when not as crunchy as they were bought.

C. “ Use-by dates” have existed for more than 50 years.

D. Even after their use-by dates pass, some food are still safe to eat.

3.Scientists are calling for a standard explanation to be printed together with the use-by dates because________.

A. Most consumers often misunderstand use-by dates

B. use-by dates are not helpful or reliable

C. more consumers get worried about food safety

D. the quality level of different foods changes differently

练习册系列答案
相关题目

任务型阅读

注意:每空只填一个单词。

Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, which is a nonprofit organization that conducts research on many public issues. He says that a long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.

Can American students afford to take a summer vacation? In a summer vacation, millions of kids spend valuable time sending messages, watching TV, playing video games and doing shopping in the mall. They will also be putting their academic futures at risk.

Summer vacation once made sense in the past when you didn’t need an education to get a good job. But now things have changed. For today’s students, academic skills are important to students’future success, but such skills are affected in the summertime. Many nations don’t give kids an American-style summer vacation. They offer no more than seven consecutive(连续的) weeks of vacation. Most American school districts offer up to thirteen weeks. To compete in the global marketplace, Americans must be prepared to go up against international competitors.

Summer vacation also causes challenges for today’s families. In the 1960s, more than 60% of families had a stay-at-home Mom. Now two-thirds of American children live in households where every adult works. For these families, summer vacation can be more burden than break. Someone must watch the kids.

But the biggest problem may be how summer vacation hurts academic achievement. Researchers have found that disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime.

A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work. Rather, it should allow time-pressed teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons. Schools would have more time to devote to athletics, languages, music and the arts. Summer vacation can be a grand thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.

Title: Summer Vacation

Theme

A long summer vacation isn’t 1. in today’s world.

Basic Information

2. length

13 weeks in most American schools

Students’ 3.

·Sending messages and watching TV

·Playing video games

·Doing shopping

Disadvantages

· 4. student’s academic skills and putting academic futures at risk.

·Being a 5. to families for they have to watch kids.

·Hurting students’ academic achievement and resulting in 6. significant ground.

Suggestion

A longer school year does not have to 7. to hard boring work. Richer and more imaginative lessons should be 8. , such as athletics, languages, music and the arts.

9.

Though being a ground thing, summer vacation might be out of

10. in the 21st century.

完形填空

阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填人空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

“I love myself.” That sounds a bit _____ and I doubt if anyone would ever say it out loud, but finding the confidence to succeed is very _____ if you don’t love yourself. If you’re ready to love yourself, keep on reading.

Think Positively

Focus on your ______ instead of your weaknesses. Leap out of bed; don’t ______ out of it. Look at every day as a new _____, not the same old story.

Be Thankful

Be ______of all the things you should be thankful for. Make a note of the people, places, things and ______ that bring you the most joy. If you ______, you’ll realize you have an awful lot to be thankful for.

Learn and Grow

Developing your ______ and skills will help you develop ______ that you can do anything.

Accept Your Flaws (缺点)

My handwriting looks ______, I can’t ride a bike, and I have an unexplained _____ of bees, which is so bad that I once drove my car into a stop sign after____flew into my car through an open window on a summer day. And you know what? I wouldn’t ____ any of them. Be confident in yourself, no matter how “weird” (interesting and unique) you____be.

Use Your Strengths

Think about the top three ______ in your life. I don’t care how big or little they are. It could be graduating from college, landing a sweet job, losing weight, or ______. Now write down the strengths you used to accomplish those three things, and do you see any common threads that ______ achievement? If so, the path to more success is right in front of you.

No More Comparisons

Forget about the celebrities you ______ your body to, the relationships you contrast yours with. Life is not a ______. Your only goal is to become a better version of yourself.

1.A. comfortable B. silly C. enthusiastic D. impressive

2.A. convenient B. difficult C. pleasant D. probable

3.A. behavior B. energy C. hobbies D. strengths

4.A. drop B. roll C. crawl D. pull

5.A. possibility B. fortune C. advantage D. opportunity

6.A. aware B. careful C. certain D. sensible

7.A. desires B. characters C. activities D. gatherings

8.A. slow down B. speed up C. rise up D. fix on

9.A. ability B. knowledge C. emotions D. information

10.A. Responsibility B. appreciation C. imagination D. confidence

11.A. terrible B. attractive C. creative D. outstanding

12.A. fancy B. fear C. preference D. fright

13.A. one B. something C. it D. such

14.A. accept B. believe C. change D. continue

15.A. must B. may C. should D. could

16.A. Experiences B. memories C. accomplishmentsD. expectations

17.A. however B. wherever C. whichever D. whatever

18.A. led to B. referred to C. took to D. stuck to

19.A. Imitate B. compare C. prefer D. adapt

20.A. struggle B. campaign C. competition D. Challenge

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the U.K. has about 7.7 million families with dependent children, of which 3.7 million have just one child, compared to 3 million with two and 1.1 million with three children or more. The number of families today with just one dependent child is now 47 percent and will likely rise to more than 50 percent in a decade. As the ONS confirms, “It appears that families are getting smaller.”

One obvious reason for this could be that women are putting off having children until they have established careers when they are bound to be less fertile. But it could just as well be a matter of choice. Parents must consider the rising cost of living, combined with economic uncertainty and an increasingly difficult job market. And this trend may continue growing as having an only child becomes more normal, which seems to be the mood on the mothers’ online forum Mumsnet, where one member announced that she “just wanted to start a positive thread about how fab it is to have an only child”.

She had received 231 replies, overwhelmingly in the same upbeat spirit. Parents of only children insist there are plenty of benefits. Nicola Kelly, a writer and lecturer who grew up as an only child and is now a married mother of one, says her 15-year-old son seems more grown-up in many ways than his contemporaries.

Not all products of single-child families are as keen to repeat the experience. In a moving recent account journalist Janice Turner wrote about her own keenness to “squeeze out two sons just 22 months apart” as a reaction to her only-child upbringing.

She was placed on a pedestal by her doting parents, whom she punished with a “brattish, wilful” rejection of everything they stood for. Desperate for a close friend she was repeatedly shattered by rejection and refers to her childhood as being “misery”.

Writer and clinician Dr. Dorothy Rowe, a member of the British Psychological Society, says that we all interpret events in our own individual way and there are some children who no matter what their circumstances feel slighted, while other children see the advantages of their situation.

However, the one part of life that is unlikely to get any easier for only children is when they grow up and find themselves looking after their own parents as they become older.

1.The passage is written with the purpose of ________.

A. illustrating the strength and weakness of having an only child

B. analyzing the reasons why having an only child becomes popular

C. presenting us with different opinions about having an only child

D. guiding people to look at the same issue from different perspectives

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Nearly half of families intend to have just one child.

B. All people don’t stand for the idea of having an only child.

C. Some people fail to recognize the advantage of having an only child.

D. People brought up in an only child family resist downsizing the family.

3.From what Dr. Dorothy Rowe said, we know that ________.

A. journalist Janice Turner experienced a miserable childhood

B. she has a positive attitude towards Janice Turner’s reaction

C. it’s necessary for us to look at the event from our own angle

D. some are unable to make an objective assessment of their conditions

4.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. It’s normal to see the imperfection in character in only children.

B. Mumsnet is an online forum which promotes having an only child.

C. Economic development plays a determining role in the family size.

D. Only children will have difficulty in attending to their parents.

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网