单选题 Stop Eating Too Much
"Clean your plate!" and "Be a member of the clean-plate club!" Just about every kid in the US has heard this from a parent or grandparent. Often, it's accompanied by an appeal: "Just think about those starving orphans (孤儿) in Africa! " Sure, we should be grateful for every bite of food. Unfortunately, many people in the US take too many bites. Instead of staying "clean the plate", perhaps we should save some food for tomorrow.
According to news reports, US restaurants are partly to blame for the growing bellies (肚子). A waiter puts a plate of food in front of each customer, with two to four times the amount recommended by the government, according to a USA Today story. Americans traditionally associate quantity with value and most restaurants try to give them that. They prefer to have customers complain about too much food rather than too little.
Barbara Rolls, a nutrition (营养) professor at Pennsylvania State University, told USA Today that restaurant portion sizes began to grow in the 1970s, the same time that the American waistline (腰围) began to expand.
Health experts have tried to get many restaurants to serve smaller portions. Now, apparently, some customers are calling for this too. The restaurant industry trade magazine QSR reported last month that 57 percent of more than 4,000 people surveyed believed restaurants served portions that were too large; 23 percent had no opinion; 20 percent disagreed. But a closer look at the survey indicates that many Americans who can't afford fine dining still prefer large portions. Seventy percent of those earning at least ＄150,000 per year prefer smaller portions; but only 45 percent of those earning less than ＄25,000 want smaller.
It's not that working class Americans don't want to eat healthy. It's just that, after long hours at low-paying jobs, getting less on their plate hardly seems like a good deal. They live from paycheck (薪金支票) to paycheck, happy to save a little money for next year's
Christmas presents.

单选题 Parents in the United States tend to ask their children
A. to save food for tomorrow.
B. to wash the dishes.
C. not to waste food.
D. not to eat too much.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】文章的开头就说美国的父母总是教育自己的孩子要把盘子里的食物吃干净，他们常常会对孩子说“想想那些挨饿的孤儿”。因此，答案是C，美国的父母总是教育孩子不要浪费食物。
单选题 Why do American restaurants serve large portions?
A. Because Americans associate quantity with value.
B. Because Americans have big bellies.
C. Because Americans are good eaters.
D. Because Americans are too weak.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第二段里有一句话很明确地回答了这个问题，即：Americans traditionally associate quantity with value and most restaurants try to give them that．(美国人传统上把量和价值联系在一起，于是餐馆就设法满足他们对量的要求)。
单选题 What happened in the 1970s?
A. The US government called on its people to reduce their weight.
B. Health experts persuaded restaurants to serve smaller portions.
C. The United States produced more grain than needed.
D. The American waistline started to expand.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】这个问题的答案可见第三段，据一位营养学教授说，在二十世纪七十年代，餐馆每客饭菜的量开始增加，美国人的腰围也随即增大。
单选题 What does the survey indicate?
A. Many low-income Americans want large portions.
B. Twenty percent of Americans want smaller portions.
C. Fifty-seven percent of Americans want large portions.
D. Forty-five percent of Americans want smaller portions.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】本题问的是关于一个调查的结果，问题的答案可以从第四段的最后两句推断出来。根据调查，许多吃不起精美饭菜的美国人更喜欢量大的食物。本段的最后一句讲得更具体：年收入不低于150，000美元的人中间，百分之七十的人喜欢量少的饮食，而在年收入低于 25，000美元的人中间，只有百分之四十五的人喜欢量少的饮食。
单选题 Which of the following is NOT true of working class Americans?
A. They work long hours.
B. They live from paycheck to paycheck.
C. They don't want to be healthy eaters.
D. They want to save money for presents.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】答案可见最后一段的第一句：It's not that working class Americans don't want to eat healthy．(美国的工人阶级并非不想吃得健康些。)据此可以得出结论They don't want to be healthy eaters是不正确的。原句中的eat healthy的用法有点特殊，它的意思相当于eat and be healthy。类似的表达还有He died young．(他年纪轻轻就死了)，相当于：He was young when he died。其余的三个选项文中都明确讲到。