For years experts have argued that poor households are consuming less nourishing food than the rest of the population.
But a survey of some of the lowest earners in Britain shows the nutritional value of what they eat is little different to everyone else.
In fact, the same deficiencies in diet were shared by all the population and the findings suggest that poor eating choices are far more widespread than previously suspected - affecting many wealthier families.
These included low fruit and vegetable consumption, not eating enough oily fish and eating too much saturated fat and sugar.
“This is a large and significant study and it shows we are all eating just as bad a diet as each other,” said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University.
The poorest families were eating only slightly more sugar and slightly less fruit and vegetables, according to the study of 3,728 respondents in the bottom of the population.
Alison Tedstone, head of nutritional science at the Food Standard Agency, said: “Overall, people on low incomes have less than ideal diets, but their diets are only slightly worse than those of the rest of the population.”
The study also showed that low earners are choosing to eat unhealthily. Their food choices were not linked to their income, their access to shops or their cooking skills.
The findings appear to contradict assumptions that the poor cannot afford healthier foods or are too far away from shops that sell them.
The Low Income Nutrition and Diet Survey showed that like the rest of the population, the poor's daily fruit and vegetable intake on average is below the recommended five portions. Fewer than 10 per cent of respondents hit this target, while around 20 per cent ate less than a portion per day.
More than three quarters (76 per cent) of men and 81 per cent of women did less than one 30-minute session of moderate or vigorous exercise per week.
Some 45 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women were smokers.
This compares with 28 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women in the general population.
【小题1】
According to the passage, which of the following is true?

For years experts have argued that poor households are consuming less nourishing food than the rest of the population.
But a survey of some of the lowest earners in Britain shows the nutritional value of what they eat is little different to everyone else.
In fact, the same deficiencies in diet were shared by all the population and the findings suggest that poor eating choices are far more widespread than previously suspected - affecting many wealthier families.
These included low fruit and vegetable consumption, not eating enough oily fish and eating too much saturated fat and sugar.
“This is a large and significant study and it shows we are all eating just as bad a diet as each other,” said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University.
The poorest families were eating only slightly more sugar and slightly less fruit and vegetables, according to the study of 3,728 respondents in the bottom of the population.
Alison Tedstone, head of nutritional science at the Food Standard Agency, said: “ Overall, people on low incomes have less than ideal diets, but their diets are only slightly worse than those of the rest of the population.”
The study also showed that low earners are choosing to eat unhealthily. Their food choices were not linked to their income, their access to shops or their cooking skills.
The findings appear to contradict assumptions that the poor cannot afford healthier foods or are too far away from shops that sell them.
The Low Income Nutrition and Diet Survey showed that like the rest of the population, the poor's daily fruit and vegetable intake on average is below the recommended five portions. Fewer than 10 per cent of respondents hit this target, while around 20 per cent ate less than a portion per day.
More than three quarters (76 per cent) of men and 81 per cent of women did less than one 30-minute session of moderate or vigorous exercise per week.
Some 45 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women were smokers.
This compares with 28 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women in the general population.
【小题1】 According to the passage, which of the following is true?

More than half of all pupils failed to achieve five good GCSEs（General Certificate of Secondary Education）that included English and math this year，according to official figures published today．

The statistics suggest that record increases year-on-year in the overall pass rate mask continued potential failures in basic qualifications for most children．

Only 47.2% of all those who took GCSEs this summer—including children at private school —managed to get a C or above in math，English and three other subjects，an increase of just 0.7% on last year．

Girls continue to outshine boys，with 51.9% achieving five good GCSEs including English and math，compared to 42.8% of boys reaching that standard．

Educational inequality is highlighted（突出）by an analysis，which indicates a vast gulf in achievement between children from rich and poor areas．In the top 10% of highest achieving local authorities，61.3% of pupils get five good GCSEs on average．But in the bottom10% that figure falls to 34.8%．

Michael Gove，the Shadow Schools Secretary said：“Once again we see that children in the weakest areas are not getting the same opportunities as others．The gap between the fortunate and the forgotten remains stubbornly wide as the lucky ones pull away from the rest as they progress through school．Overall，fewer than half of children leave school aged 16 with the basic level of qualifications．The government has ploughed money into education，and rightly so，but they have not achieved the improvements to match”．

Concerning the problem，Jim Knight，the Schools Minister，said：“The bottom line is that more young people than ever before have now got a firm foundation for further education or the work-based training that they want to do．”

1．We can learn from the statistics that _________．

A．secondary education has suffered a great failure

B．the basic qualifications for most children have been improved

C．English and math are difficult for students to learn well

D．the number of the students achieving GCSEs is slightly increasing

2．According to the passage，compared with boys，_________．

A．girls have more advantages in learning English and math

B．girls perform much better in achieving good GCSEs

C．girls are more diligent when learning at school

D．girls live a more successful life at school

3．It can be inferred from the fifth paragraph that _________．

A．secondary education doesn’t achieve balanced development

B．wealth determines the success of secondary education

C．pupils in rich areas have more abilities to learn well

D．students from rich and poor areas haven’t communicated well

4．Which of the following statements might Michael Gove agree with?

A．The phenomenon of education inequality can be avoided entirely．

B．All the students are supposed to reach the level of qualifications．

C．The government is responsible for educational inequality．

D．The government shouldn't invest so much money in education．

5．What's Jim Knight's attitude towards secondary education?

A．Indifferent．        B．Supportive．        C．Negative．              D．Unknown．