If you're a junk food lover, you will know this：No matter where you shop or what brand you buy, when you tear（open a bag of potato chips, it's almost always half filled. This can be quite disappointing. I always hope those bags are quite full. But there's actually a god reason for this--and no, the food companies are not pulling a fast one on you.
In the manufacturing industry. “slack fill” is the empty space that's placed around a product on purpose. The idea is that the extra room can "protect" your Lays or Tostitos（brands of chips）. The trip from the production machine to the market can be grille long and hard！If it weren't for "slack fill', your chips would probably look more like breadcrumbs（面包屑）.
But wait, there's more, Think that the bag of potato chips was filled up with air？It actually is nitrogen gas(氮气). Chips manufacturers fill bags with this gas to help kelp chips fresh If it were filled with regular air, the chips would likely turn wet and soft in 1994, scientists found that exposing chips to nitrogen not only heaped to prolong the shelf life（保质期）, but also made them stay crisp（脆的）What's more, nitrogen is a natural gas and completely harmless.
Still feel you are tricked by the empty bag？There's a way to tell the amount of potato chips in your snick bug before you break it open. In 1966, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act was passed. which requires manufacturers to show the net weight of their products' contents. When shopping for your next bag of potato chips, pay attention to the net weight that's printed on the bag. This way you'll be able to know if it is worth your money.
1.What does the underlined phrase in Paragraph 1 mean?
A.Doing a test. B.Playing a trick.
C.Changing its focus. D.Reaching an agreement.
2.What do we know about “slack fill”?
A.It makes the chips’ bag look empty. B.It can shorten the products' trip.
C.It is only used or Lays or Tostitos. D.It can prevent damage to the chips
3.Why do chips' manufacturers choose nitrogen to fill up the bag?
A.To keep chips tasting good. B.To make chips look good.
C.To reduce the products cost. D.To avoid causing harm to humans.
4.What are we advised to do in the last paragraph?
A.Value a product by its net weight. B.Work out the products net weight.
C.Notice the products' shelf life. D.Pay more attention to the empty bag.
New Year’s resolutions（决心）often fail, but now a new study may just provide motivation for you to stick to them. Scientists found that meeting goals — such as giving up drinking or smoking — can slash your risk of cancer.
The large-scale study — of half a million Britons — looked at the effects of quitting tobacco，limiting alcohol intake, maintaining a low body mass index (BMI), exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet. Each individual behaviour was found to bring a decrease in the chance of getting cancer of about eight per cent. But if people carried out all together the overall risk reduction was about a third — and likely a greater cut in deaths from the disease.
The researchers from Cardiff University examined data from 343,150 people from the UK Biobank to identify the five healthy behaviours and compare them to the risk of cancer. The subjects were aged 40 to 69 and 14,285 were diagnosed （诊断）with the disease during an average follow-up of just over five years. The team found that adopting（采用）all the studied healthy behaviours brought a 25 and 35 percent reduction in bowel and breast cancer respectively — two of the most common forms of the disease.
The team said the findings may not sound surprising — but they serve as a reminder of the importance behind turning resolutions into permanent lifestyle choices.
Professor Elwood, the lead researcher，said the real problem for people adopting resolutions was translating the unclear idea of lifestyle choices being “good” into useful evidence — which was what this study provided. “A healthy lifestyle has many additional benefits to cancer reduction — it costs nothing, has no undesirable side effects…and is better than any pill.”
1.What does the underlined word “slash” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
A. Cut. B. Increase.
C. Change. D. Keep.
2.What can be learnt from the passage?
A. Almost half of the subjects of the research got cancer.
B. Bowel cancer and breast cancer are the most common diseases.
C. A healthy habit will bring down the risk of cancer by 33%.
D. The research shows the benefits of carrying out New Year’s resolutions.
3.According to Professor Elwood, the research is mainly aimed at ______.
A. warning people of the risk of cancer
B. removing people’s doubts about healthy lifestyles
C. persuading people into sticking to healthy lifestyles
D. proving the relation between lifestyles and cancer
4.What would probably be the best title?
A. How to Choose Healthy Lifestyles?
B. Quit New Year’s Resolutions? Think Again!
C. Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Wisely!
D. Healthy Lifestyles Bring Down Cancer Risks!
There it was. A test of will power. I’m on a special diet with foods carefully selected for balanced nutrition and caloric value. A piece of cheese cake is not an option. So here was my dilemma: Should I not eat the cheese cake, feel dissatisfied and take out my frustration on the annoyingly skinny physical instructor at the gym? Or should I eat the cheese cake and work off the calories?
The latter seemed like a win-win solution. Not only would I get to enjoy the cheese cake, but I’d get an exercise session. And then it hit me: a delicate plan to use my cheese cake as an exercise incentive. I plated a thin slice of cheese cake and carefully walked it up the stairs and set it on my bedside table with a small fork. I put on my exercise outfit and went downstairs.
The appeal of the cheese cake got stronger so I launched my plan: I would run up and down the stairs and then back up again. My reward: one small bite of cheese cake. If I wanted another, I’d have to run down and up and down and up again. Off I went. Ah, creamy vanilla goodness without guilt. I wanted another bite so I quickly sprinted through another stair climbing run.
Admittedly, it is harder to enjoy the creaminess of the cheese cake when my tongue was dry from over-breathing. I placed a bottle of water next to the cake.
Down and up and down and up again. When I struggled over to the cheese cake, my hand bypassed the plate and went for the water instead. I didn’t want the cake any more. I wanted all this sweat and effort to do more than cancel the calories from cheese cake. I was exhausted and sure the cheese cake tasted fine but just not good enough to make me run up and down the stairs one more time.
My plan worked. Now, any time I felt tempted to indulge in a former favorite, I remembered my stairs trick.
1.What can we infer about the author from paragraph 1?
A.She has weak will power.
B.She is bad-tempered and very critical.
C.She needs assistance with making the choice.
D.She hesitated over eating something against her diet.
2.What does the underlined word “incentive” in paragraph 2 mean?
A.Motivation. B.Excuse.
C.Substitute. D.Companion.
3.What do we learn about the author’s plan?
A.It involved much energy consumption.
B.It rid the cake of the pleasant taste.
C.It changed the author’s preference for food.
D.It was exhausting and caused suffering.
4.What may be the best title for the passage?
A.A costly dilemma.
B.An evil cheese cake.
C.A trick that worked.
D.A sweating experience.
Eating red meat is linked to cancer and heart disease, but are the risks big enough to justify giving up juicy burgers and delicious steaks? Probably not, according to researchers who reviewed data from 12 clinical trials involving about 54,000 people. In a series of controversial papers, the researchers argue that the increased health risks tied to red meat are small and uncertain, and that cutting back likely wouldn't be worth it for people who enjoy meat.
Those conclusions go against established medical advice. They were swiftly attacked by a group of famous U.S. scientists who took the unusual step of trying to stop the papers from being published until their criticisms were addressed.
The new work does not say red or processed meats like hot dogs and bacon are healthy, or that people should eat more of them. The team’s reviews of past studies generally support the ties to cancer, heart disease and other bad health outcomes. But the authors say the evidence is weak, and that there’s not much certainty meat is really the cause, since other diet and lifestyle factors could be at play.
If the latest example of how divisive nutrition research has become, with its uncertainties leaving the door open for conflicting advice. Critics say findings often aren't backed by strong evidence. Defenders counter that nutrition studies can rarely be conclusive because of the difficulty of measuring the effects of any single food, but that methods have improved.
Based on their analyses, the researchers said people do not have to cut back for health reasons. But they noted that their own advice is weak, and acknowledged that they didn't consider factors such as animal welfare and the environment. Indeed, the case that meat production is bad for animal welfare and the environment is stronger than the case that it's bad for human health, according to an editorial that accompanies the report.
Not all of the report authors agreed with its conclusions. Three of the 14 researchers said they support reducing red and processed meats. A coauthor of one of the reviews is also among those who called for a publication delay.
Those who pushed to postpone publication also questioned why certain studies were included in the reviews while others were left out.
As for his own diet, Dr. Gordon Guyatt, a member of the international research team that conducted the reviews, said he no longer thinks red or processed meats have significant health risks. But he said he still avoids them out of habit, and for animal welfare and environmental reasons.
1.What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
A.To introduce a new relationship between health and eating red meat.
B.To urge more people to keep away from eating red meat regularly.
C.To present a new controversial view on impacts of eating red meat.
D.To criticize nutrition studies for lacking of conclusive evidence.
2.What is the author’s attitude towards the new research?
A.Doubtful. B.Positive.
C.Disapproving. D.Objective.
3.Guyatt’s avoiding red meats has the weakest connection with ________.
A.health risks B.diet habits
C.animal welfare D.environmental protection
4.What can we learn from the recent research?
A.Red meats don’t have significant health risks.
B.Reducing meat consumption will be worth it.
C.The report authors have reached a consensus.
D.Consuming red meat will do good to health.
Traveling by subway ______ sometimes be quite an adventure, especially during the rush hour.
A.must B.can C.shall D.should
Her companion_____ a trick on her, for she was not in the mood for everything that day.
A.can’t have played B.must have played
C.should have played D.needn’t have played
