Question

People in developed countries are increasingly suffering from illnesses resulting from overeating. While starvation and hunger are still big problems in many poor countries in the world, more than 25 percent of the population in America and other western countries are obese. This doesn’t just mean you are a little bit fat. It means you are more than 20 kilos overweight.

Dr. John Colon from Ohio State University says the problem is only going to get worse.”As more women have gone out to work, you find that parents in general have less time to spend on preparing food. That’s not just cooking, but also planning what to eat, doing the shopping and buying the fresh food. Families, therefore, increasingly rely on ready-made and frozen meals, which tends to be high in fat and contain a lot of additives(materials added to food to improve its taste) and sugar. The other thing is that parents seem to feel guilty about not spending so much time with their kids, so they tend to give more quickly to children’s demands for things like sweets and chocolate.”

Ben Brown. who is a British Member of Parliament, blames the big food companies. He wants to ban any food advertising that is aimed at children. "The problem is that these companies spend millions of pounds selling food to children. It's all crisps (薯片) in the shape of dinosaurs and chocolate in the shape of Mickey Mouse. I mean__what's going to be more fun to an sight-year-old ---an ice cream with a free toy or an apple?"

One food company thinks it has an answer to this: it has invented cheese-flavored cabbage and chocolate-flavored carrots. It developed the "Whacky Veg" with money donated by a cancer research charity, which found that a diet containing lots of fruit and vegetables helps reduce cancer. However, today’s sweet-toothed kids need to be bribed(贿赂)into a healthy diet, and will only cat their greens if they taste different.

1.The underlined word "obese" in Paragraph 1 probably means____.

A. Fit    B. slim

C. overweight    D. unhealthy

2.What can we infer from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3?

A. Food companies sell too much food to children.

B. Food advertising is responsible for the overeating problem of children.

C. An eight-year-old boy prefers an ice cream to a free toy.

D. Children like crisps in the shape of dinosaurs and chocolate in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

3.In order to solve the overeating problem,___ .

A. parents should bribe their children

B. green food should be invented for the children

C. parents should force their children to eat more vegetables and fruit

D. food companies should invent healthy food with special taste

4.What does the passage intend to tell us?

A. To warn us of the danger of overeating.

B. To tell us that most people in developed countries are overweight.

C. To show us that food companies are responsible for the overeating problem.

D. To report the overeating problem in developed countries and its possible causes and solutions.

Answer

1. C

2. B

3. D

4. D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，主要介绍了美国等一些西方发达国家所面临的儿童饮食过量问题，并分析了原因——食品广告，还提出了解决办法——食品公司应该发明有特殊口味的健康食品。

1.词义猜测题。根据画线词前的“While starvation and hunger are still big problems in many poor countries in the world, more than 25 percent of the population in America and other western countries are”可知，虽然饥饿在世界上的很多贫穷国家仍是个大问题，但是美国和其他西方国家仍有超过四分之一的肥胖人口，由此可知画线词词义为“过重的”，故C项正确。

2.推理判断题。上文说Ben Brown希望禁止任何针对儿童的食品广告，因为把食品做成玩具形状对孩子更有吸引力，会让他们吃得更多，由此可知，食品广告是造成儿童饮食过量的重要原因，故B项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据最后一段内容，特别是“today’s sweet-toothed kids need to be bribed into a healthy diet, and will only cat their greens if they taste different.”可知，现在的孩子都喜欢甜食，我们需要“贿赂”他们，让他们养成健康的饮食习惯，由此可知，食品公司应该发明有特殊口味的健康食品，故D项正确。

4.主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文主要介绍了美国等一些西方发达国家所面临的儿童饮食过量问题，并分析了原因——食品广告，还提出了解决办法——食品公司应该发明有特殊口味的健康食品，故D项正确。