Questions 21 to 30 are based on the following passage.
【真题来源:2015年12月大学英语四级真题(第二套)Part Ⅲ,Section B,第46-55题】
How to Eat Well
A) Why do so many Americans eat tons of processed food, the stuff that is correctly called junk(垃圾) and should really carry warning labels?
B) It's not because fresh ingredients are hard to come by Supermarkets offer more variety than ever, and there are over four times as many famers' markets in the U.S. as there were 20 years ago. Nor is it for lack of available information. There are plenty of recipes(食谱), how-to videos and cooking classes available to anyone who has a computer, smartphone or television. If anything the information is overwhelming.
C) And yet we aren't cooking. If you eat three meals a day and behave like most Americans, you probably get at least a third of your daily calories(卡路里) outsides the home. Nearly two-thirds of us grab fast food once a week, and we get almost 25% of our daily calories from snacks. So we're eating out or taking in, and we don't sit down—or we do, but hurry.
D) Shouldn't preparing—and consuming—food be a source of comfort, pride, health, well-being, relaxation, sociability? Something that connects us to other humans? Why should we want to outsource(外包) this basic task, especially when outsourcing it is so harmful?
E) When I talk about cooking, I'm not talking about creating elaborate dinner parties or three-day science projects. I'm talking about simple, easy, everyday meals. My mission is to encourage green hands and those lacking time or money to feed themselves. That means we need modest, realistic expectation, and we need to teach people to cook food that's good enough to share with family and friends.
F) Perhaps a return to real cooking needn't be far off. A recent Harris poll revealed that 79% of Americans say they enjoy cooking and 30% “love it”; 14% admit to not enjoying kitchen work and just 7% won't go near the stove at all. But this doesn't necessarily translate to real cooking and the result of this survey shouldn't surprise anyone; 52% of those 65 or older cook at home five or more times per week; only a third of young people do.
G) Back in the 1950s most of us grew up in households where Mom cooked virtually every night. The intention to put a home-cooked meal on the table was pretty much universal. Most people couldn't afford to do otherwise.
H) Although frozen dinners were invented in the 40s, their popularity didn't boom until televisions became popular a decade or so later. Since then packaged, pre-prepared meals have been what's for dinner. The microwave and fast-food chains were the biggest catalysts(催化剂),but the big food companies—which want to sell anything except the raw ingredients that go into cooking—made the home cook an endangered species.
I) Still, I find it strange that only a third of young people report preparing meals at home regularly. Isn't this the same crowd that rails against processed junk and champions craft cooking? And isn't this the generation who say they're concerned about their health and the wee-being of the planet? If these are truly the values of many young people, then tier behavior doesn't match their beliefs.
J) There have been half-hearted but well-publicized efforts by some food campaigns to reduce calories in their processed foods, but the Standard American Diet is still the polar opposite of the healthy, mostly plant-based diet that just about every expert says we should be eating. Considering that the governments standards are not nearly ambitious enough, the picture is clear: by nor cooking at home, we're not eating the right things, and the consequences are hard to overstate.
K) To help quantify(量化) the costs of a poor diet, I recently tried to estimate this impact in terms of a most famous food, the burger(汉堡包). I concluded that the profit from burgers is more than offset(抵消) by the damage they cause in health problems and environmental harm.
L) Cooking real food is the best defense —not to mention that any meal you're likely to eat at home contains about 200 fewer calories than one you would cat in a restaurant.
M) To those Americans for whom money is a concern, my advice is simple; Buy what you can afford, and cook it yourself. The common prescription is to primarily shop the grocery store, since that's where fresh produce, meat and seafood, and dairy are. And to save money and still eat well you don't need local organic ingredients; all you need is real food. I'm not saying local food isn't better, it is. But there is plenty of decent food in the grocery stores.
N) The other sections you should get to know are the frozen foods and the canned goods. Frozen produce is still produce; canned tomatoes are still tomatoes. Just make sure you're getting real food without tons of added salt or sugar. Ask yourself, Would Grandma consider this food? Does it look like something that might occur in nature? It's pretty much common sense: you want to buy food, not unidentifiable foodlike objects.
O) You don't have to hit the grocery store daily, nor do you need an abundance of skill. Since fewer than half of Americans say they cook at an intermediate level and only 20% describe their cooking skills as advanced, the crisis is one of confidence. And the only remedy for that is practice. There's nothing mysterious about cooking the evening meal. You just have to do a little thinking ahead and redefine what qualifies as dinner. Like any skill, cooking gets easier as you do it more; every time you cook, you advance your level of skills. Someday you won't even need recipes. My advice is that you not pay attention to the number of steps and ingredients, because they can be deceiving.
P) Time, I realize, is the biggest obstacle to cooking for most people. You must adjust you priorities to find time to cook. For instance, you can move a TV to the kitchen and watch your favorite shows while you're standing at the sink. No one is asking you to give up activities you like, but if you're watching food shows on TV, try cooking instead.
Cooking benefits people in many ways and enables them to connect with one another.
由connect with ode another定位到D段前两句。
细节归纳题。定位句都是反问句,这两句的真实意思是说,烹饪和享用食物会让人们感到舒适、骄傲、健康、幸福、休闲以及与人交往的快乐,能够将我们与他人联系在一起。题干是对这两句的归纳总结,故答案为D。
Abundant information about cooking is available either online or on TV.
由题干中的information,online和TV定位到B段后三句。
细节归纳题。B段前半部分说明,在美国,购买用于烹饪的食材非常方便。定位句提到,信息也是足够充足,只要有电脑、智能手机或电视,任何人都可以接触到大量的食谱、教学视频和烹饪课程,应该说,此类信息铺天盖地。题干是对这三句的归纳总结,故答案为B。
Young people do less cooking at home than the elderly these days.
由题干中的Young people和the elderly定位到F段末句。
同义转述题。F段中通过数据提示了目前美国人对于在家做饭这件事情的态度,最后涉及年轻人和上年纪的人做饭的不同频率:在65岁及以上年龄的人群中,有52%的人每周至少在家做五次饭;而年轻人中,只有三分之一的人这样做。不到三分之一与52%相比,明显要少。题干是对原文的同义转述,故答案为F。
Cooking skills can be improved with practice.
由题干中的practice定位到O段第三句。
细节推断题。定位段开头就指出,做饭不需要大量技巧,并在定位句中明确指出,唯一的办法就是实践。后面提到,每做一顿饭,烹饪水平就会有所上升,故答案为O。
In the mid-20th century, most families ate dinner at home instead of eating out.
由题干中的mid-20th century定位到G段。
细节归纳题。定位段中指出,20世纪50年代,在我们大多数人成长的家庭中,妈妈几乎每天晚上都会做饭。将家常饭菜摆上桌是非常普遍的想法。当时大多数人没有出去吃的经济能力。也就是说,那时大多数家庭都不会外出就餐,而是自己在家做饭吃。题干中的mid-20th century是对原文中1950s的同义转述,题干是对该段的归纳总结,故答案为G。
Even those short of time or money should be encouraged to cook for themselves and their family.
由题干中的short of time or money,encouraged和family定位到E段第三、四句。
同义转述题。由定位句可知,对于新手和那些没时间或没钱的人来说,也应该鼓励他们自己喂饱自己,学会烹饪,与家人和朋友分享做好的食物。题干中的short of是对原文中lacking的同义转述,故答案为E。
Eating food not cooked by ourselves can cause serious consequences.
由题干中的consequences定位到J段末句。
同义转述题。由定位句可知,政府对于食品安全的标准并不十分严格,如果人们再不注意,还是大量食用非家庭烹制的食品,其后果十分严重,即使再怎么强调后果的严重性都不算过分。也就是说,会造成极其严重的后果,题干中的cause serious consequences是对原文中the consequences are hard to overstate的同义转述,故答案为J。
To eat well and still save money, people should buy fresh food and cook it themselves.
由题干中的eat well,save money和cook it themselves定位到M段前三句。
细节归纳题。M段开头就指出,对于那些经济上不怎么宽裕的美国人来说,作者的建议很简单:购买那些能买得起的东西,自己做饭。接下来,作者向人们推荐了销售新鲜食材的小型杂货店,说想要既省钱又吃好,不见得要去购买有机食材,只要是真正的食物就可以了。题干是对这三句的归纳总结,故答案为M。
We get a fairly large portion of calories from fast food and snacks.
由题干中的calories和snacks定位到C段第二、三句。
同义转述题。C段中通过数字说明了快餐和零食所含的高热量。根据数据,人们每日卡路里摄入量中,可能至少有三分之一不是来自家常饭菜。有将近三分之二的人一周吃一次快餐,我们从零食中获取的卡路里几乎能达到日常卡路里摄入量的将近25%。题干是对定位句的同义转述,故答案为C。
The popularity of TV led to the popularity of frozen food.
由题干中的popularity,TV和frozen food定位到H段首句。
同义转述题。由定位句可知,虽然在40年代就发明了冷冻食品,但直到十几年之后,它们才在电视机普及后受到人们的大肆欢迎。题干是对原文their popularity didn"t boom until televisions became popular的同义转述,故答案为H。