Question

    Would you eat a six-month-old yogurt? This is a question you may have asked if you read the recent story about a US grocer and his year-long experiment eating expired food.

It started in October 2016, when Scott Nash, founder of the Mom's Organic Market chain of grocery stores, wanted to make a smoothie (果昔). He likes his smoothie with yogurt. As he was at his holiday cabin in Virginia, though, the only pot he had to hand was one he had left behind on his last trip there by accident, six months earlier. He opened it. No bad smell. He decided to take the risk and dumped the yogurt in the smoothie. ''I drank and waited, '' he wrote on his blog. And nothing happened.

The first thing to point out is that Nash is based in the US, where regulations on food dating differ significantly from those in the UK. While British foods carry just one date-either ''use by'' or ''best before''– Nash was faced with ''quality guarantee period, use by, best by, sell by, best if used by …'' He sells food for a living, and even he doesn't understand the system.

Clearly, this lack of clarity has influence on both the health of the environment and the health of the nation. What you don't eat, you'll end up throwing it away, even if you could have safely eaten it; and what you don't know not to eat could make you sick. A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School in 2013 said that 40% of American food goes uneaten each year, and the confusing effect of the US date labeling system is in large part to blame.

1.The underlined phrase ''expired food'' probably means the food ______.

A.which is fresh

B.which is sour

C.which is not within the quality guarantee period

D.which is not cooked

2.What can we learn from para.2?

A.Nash hadn't eaten expired food before October 2016.

B.Nash left the yogurt in the cabin for his experiment.

C.Nash was sure the yogurt would do no harm to him.

D.Nash liked drinking six-month-old yogurt.

3.What does Nash think of the US's date labels on food?

A.They are clearer than the UK's.

B.They are more advanced than the UK's.

C.They are confusing to people.

D.They are concrete and helpful to the Americans.

4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A.The date labeled on the bag of food plays an important role in people's health.

B.The food you throw away can do harm to your health if eaten.

C.People often get sick for eating the expired food.

D.The lack of clarity of date labeling system leads to a large amount of waste of food.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇夹叙夹议的文章。本文通过叙述美国杂货商Nash食用过期食品的例子，来阐述因为食品上日期标签的不明确性导致美国每年有大量的食物被浪费，对国民和环境的健康造成了影响。

1.词意猜测题。根据第一段的Would you eat a six-month-old yogurt? This is a question you may have asked if you read the recent story about a US grocer and his year-long experiment eating expired food.(你会吃时长为6个月的酸奶吗？如果你读到最近一个美国的杂货商吃了近一年expired food的报道，你可能会问这个问题)结合句意，尤其是前文的six-month-old可推测划线部分的意思是“过期食品”。C. which is not within the quality guarantee period (没在质保时间内的)符合以上说法，故选C项。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段的It started in October 2016, when Scott Nash, founder of the Mom's Organic Market chain of grocery stores, wanted to make a smoothie .可知事情始于2016年10月，当时Nash是“妈妈的有机市场”连锁店的创始人，他想制作一个果昔。由此推断在2016年10月之前他没有吃过期食品。A. Nash hadn't eaten expired food before October 2016.(Nash在2016年10月前没有吃过期食品)符合以上推断，故选A项。

3.推理判断题。根据第三段的Nash was faced with ''quality guarantee period, use by, best by, sell by, best if used by …'' He sells food for a living, and even he doesn't understand the system. (Nash面临着“质量保证期间内，使用到什么时候，最好在什么时候使用，出售到什么时候”他以买食物为生，甚至连他自己也不了解这套系统)可推测Nash认为美国食品上的时间标签使人困惑，人们不知道能不能使用。 C. They are confusing to people.(它们使人们困惑)符合以上推测，故选C项。

4.细节理解题。根据最后一段的Clearly, this lack of clarity has influence on both the health of the environment and the health of the nation. (显然，这种缺乏明确性对国民和环境的健康都有影响)和A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School in 2013 said that 40% of American food goes uneaten each year, and the confusing effect of the US date labeling system is in large part to blame. (2013年，美国自然资源保护委员会和哈佛大学法学院联合发布的一份报道称，美国每年有40%的食品未被食用，而美国日期标签制度造成的混乱影响在很大程度上是罪魁祸首)可知美国日期标签的不明确性导致了食物的浪费。D. The lack of clarity of date labeling system leads to a large amount of waste of food. (食物日期标签的不明确性导致了大量的食物浪费)符合以上说法，故选D项。