单选题 Fortunately there are still a few tasty things for us gourmands to enjoy in relative security. Their numbers, however, are depleted almost daily. It seems, by ruthless proclamations from the ever-vigilant Food and Drug Administration and its allies, our doctors. The latest felon to face prosecution is the salt of life, sodium chloride.
Ostensibly, overuse of salt muses high blood pressure and hypertension, the cause of half the deaths in the United States every year. A few years ago the anti-salt campaigners raised such a rumpus that salt was banned from baby food. Currently pressure is being applied to food manufacturers to oblige them to label their products to show sodium content. Bemuse doing so would cost mercenary manufacturers money, they argue that they have no idea how much salt remains on such things as potato chips and how much sticks to the bag. Furthermore, salt isn't the only harmful ingredient in food. If the manufacturer has to provide sodium content, why not require him to list every ingredient and specify which are detrimental to our health? Cigarettes have a warning printed on them. Shouldn't the same type of warning appear on canned foods that are notoriously over-salted?
There are endless ifs and buts in the controversy, but the most telling of these is the questionable proof of salt' s diabolic effect upon blood pressure. True, people who cut their salt intake lowered their blood pressure, but where is the scientific proof that something other than salt didn't do the trick? The most common means of providing dubious proof that salt causes hyper tension is to compare societies that use little salt with those that use mountains of salt in their daily diets. Which group has the higher rate of hypertension? Whose blood pressure is lower? What happens when salt is introduced into a group where salt is a novelty? Does the blood pressure rise significantly? Studies of the Japanese indicate that as the world's greatest salters, they suffer the most from hypertension. On the other hand, the simple, salt-free cuisine of several tribes in the Solomon Islands has kept older tribesmen and women from developing hypertension and high blood pressure, ailments traditionally killing their peers in America. No account is taken of the effects of inflation, recession, pollution, crime, and sundry other ills to which Americans unlike people on primitive islands, are exposed.
To salt or not to salt? That is the question. Now that the question has arisen, it must not be treated with levity but, rather, with searching scientific investigation so that those of us who are preoccupied with both savory food and longevity may decide which of the two is worth its salt.

单选题 What is the attitude of the author of this passage toward the salt controversy?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推断题。
题意为： “作者对关于食盐问题争论的态度什么?”可用排除法。选项A“我们必须立即停止吃食盐”过于武断，为错误选项。选项C“食品和药品管理局同医生合作得好”文中未提及，是错误的。选项D“很快将不再有美味的食品”也很荒谬，可排除。因此选项B“作者也难确定食盐是有害的”。
单选题 What is the author's attitude to the topic?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推断题。
题意为：“作者对主题的论述方法是什么?”请参考文章第二段第三句：…生产商辩解道他们不知道有多少盐在薯条上，有多少盐粘在塑料袋上。文章第四段首句把莎士比亚在《哈姆雷特)的名句To be or not to be，that is a question诙谐地改成To salt or not to salt? That is a question(到底吃盐还是不吃盐，这是一个问题)。由此可知作者的幽默，即选项B为正确答案。选项A“生气的”；选项C“科学的”；选项D“同情的”。
单选题 What does the word "felon" (Sentence 4, Paragraph 1) probably mean?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】词义猜测题。
题意为：“词felon的意思很可能是______。”请参考文章首段末句：最近面临起诉的felon是食盐……可知选项C“罪犯”为正确答案。选项A“食品”；选项B“添加剂”；选项D“喜美食的人”。
单选题 Food manufacturers do not want to label packages with sodium content because______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推断题。
题意为：“罐装食品应当像香烟一样附上警告标志因为______。”请参考文章第二段末句：罐装食品用盐量过多，不应当也一样附上警告标志吗?可知选项D“两者都对身体有害”为正确答案。选项A“两者都含盐”；选项B“作者喜欢抽烟，也好吃”；选项C“香烟的警告减少了吸烟的人数”。
单选题 Which of the following is the author's suggestion with regard to the salt controversy?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。
题意为：“下列哪句是作者对食盐的争论提出的建议?”请参考文章末段末句：既然问题提出来了，就不能轻率对待，而应进行科学的调查研究；这样我们这些既要享受美味食品，又要长寿的人可以决定到底该如何做。可知选项D“进行科学调查，让人们自己做决定”为正确答案。选项A“美国人应吸取日本人的教训”；选项． B“将日常饮食中摄人少量食盐的人与摄人大量食盐的人进行对比”；选项C“我们应尽可能少吃盐”。