Question

Are Happy Meals Really Happy?

Don’t we all know a “Happy Meal” when we see one--the famous boxed meal that includes a hamburger, kid-sized French fries, fruits and milk, served with a toy that’s extremely popular with children who love to collect them?

A Happy Meal is a form of kids’ meal sold at a certain fast-food chain since 1979. A toy is included in the meal, both of which are usually contained in a box or paper bag. However, collectors of these little toys will not get them any longer, since the company will replace toys with books and each of these books will mainly pass on nutritional messages.

Happy Meals are extremely popular with kids, especially for their collectable toys, when you consider that over 1.3 billion of these packages are sold each year. These packages have been very controversial. Health supporters believe that drawing kids to these meals with toys is a clever way of promoting unhealthy food choices. They see it as an advertising a strategy of “catching its customers young”--a move that has paid off very well for the fast-food company.

Child development experts say that food habits get formed in children by age six and continue through to their adult life. Fatty and sugary foods such as those served in Happy Meals are believed to play a big role in growing health problems such as obesity and diabetes. Public health care costs have gone up and untold amounts of money have been spent on coping with these health problems. On November 2, 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law requiring that children’s meals sold in restaurants must meet certain nutritional standards before they could be sold with toys, to overcome the problem of childhood obesity--in other words, the State of California tried to ban the toys in Happy Meals. However, it was strongly opposed by some as being heavy-handed, and the ban was thrown out by the government.

While some people believe that the fast-food company, with its large following of children, can create a powerful message through the books, others believe its actions are contradictory. Anyway, the company is trying to spread the message of nutrition while it is serving food that is anything but healthy.

1.The aim of the question raised in Paragraph 1 is______.

A. give a surprise to the toy lovers    B. get readers’ attention to the article

C. call on readers to buy boxed meals    D. make readers think about the answer

2.Books will be added into Happy Meals to ______.

A. introduce the use of the toys    B. increase the cost of the meals

C. help kids learn about nutrition    D. spread the message of fast food

3.According to Paragraph 3, Happy Meals_______.

A. have achieved the desired result

B. help the customers stay young

C. cost more money than ordinary meals

D. receive approval from health supporters

4.What is the author’s opinion about Happy Meals?

A. They bring much fun to children.

B. They teach children a lot about nutrition

C. They do no actual good to children’s health.

D. They are popular with the young and the old.

Answer

1. B

2. C

3. A

4. C

【解析】

本文为议论文。本文主要针对麦当劳的开心乐园餐是否有益健康进行了探讨。

1.推理判断题。根据文章第一段的疑问句可以判断出，作者提出这个问题的目的是引起读者的兴趣和注意，因为以前开心乐园餐中含有一些儿童玩具，而第二段说要用书代替这些玩具。故B选项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段中的each of these books will mainly pass on nutritional messages.可知,每一本这样的书均可以给孩子传递一些营养方面的信息，也就是帮助孩子学到更多的关于营养的知识。故C选项正确。

3.。推理判断题。根据第三段中的They see it as an advertising a strategy of “catching its customers young”--a move that has paid off very well for the fast-food company.可知，人们认为这是一种广告策略，旨在“吸引年轻顾客”——此举对这家快餐公司来说收获颇丰。开心乐园餐应该是达到了预期的效果。故A选项正确。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段中作者所说的the company is trying to spread the message of nutrition while it is serving food that is anything but healthy.可知，作者认为麦当劳的开心乐园餐实际上对儿童健康无益。故C选项正确。