Question

    In 2011, during his freshman year at the University of Maryland, Simon was struck by how much food was thrown away in the college cafeteria. " I was shocked to see someone buy a full sandwich, eat half of it, and throw the other half out," said Simon. "It was not the values I grew up with. " To him, discarded food was a "natural goldmine” he could source to do good.

Four years later, Simon cofounded Imperfect Produce, a subscription-based home-delivery service for discounted “ugly" fruits and vegetables that are perfectly good on the inside, but otherwise rejected from the food supply chain for their looks.

“Up to 20% of the fruits and vegetables grown on farms in America are thrown away because the produce doesn't meet grocery stores" standards," said Simon. "It's often for discoloration, scarring on the surface caused by the fruit rubbing against a tree limb or an atypical shape,” he said. "Sometimes it's the size. " Simon, 29, and Chesler, 27, decided to source this "ugly" produce directly from farms and deliver it to customers for about 30% less than conventional grocery store prices.

"The reason why we created Imperfect Produce as a direct-to-consumer business is because grocery stores didn't want to partner with us,” said Simon. “So we became our own store. " The San Francisco-based　service launched in August 2015. Today, Imperfect Produce has more than 200,000 subscribers in 22 cities. The company sources its produce from 250 growers nationwide, and slightly more than half of it is organic. To date, Simon said the service has helped recover 40 million pounds of food from going to waste.

Simon declined to disclose income but said this year's sales are expected to double last year's. The business is not yet profitable, but he hopes to expand the service to 40 cities by the end of 2019 and eventually take the company public at some point.

1.What does the underlined word “discarded” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A.Wasted. B.Rejected.

C.Disliked. D.Eaten.

2.Why are many fruits and vegetables wasted?

A.They are not tasty. B.They are not nutritious.

C.They are poorly looking. D.They are not good inside.

3.What made Simon create Imperfect Produce as a direct-to-consumer business?

A.High price offered by him.

B.The wish to set up his own business.

C.His desire to offer service to others.

D.Grocery stores" unwillingness to cooperate with him.

4.What can be inferred about Simon?

A.He wants to help the poor.

B.He thinks a lot about the wasted food.

C.He has expanded his service to 40 cities.

D.He expects to make profits from his business.

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】

本文是一篇记叙文。文章主要讲述了Simon创建Imperfect Produce的过程及意义。

1.词句猜测题。A .wasted被浪费的；B. rejected被拒绝的；C. disliked 不喜欢的；D. eaten 被吃掉的。根据第一段的“Simon was struck by how much food was thrown away in the college cafeteria. I was shocked to see someone buy a full sandwich, eat half of it, and throw the other half out.(Simon被大学食堂扔掉的食物感到惊讶。当我看到有人买了一个完整的三明治，吃了一半，把另一半扔掉时，我很震惊。)”可知，Simon是反对浪费食物的。根据选项的意思可推知，应选择wasted修饰food表示“浪费的食物”，在他看来浪费的食物是“宝物”，他可以利用它们做些善事。故选A。

2.细节理解题。根据第三段中的“Up to 20% of the fruits and vegetables grown on farms in America are thrown away because the produce doesn’t meet grocery stores ‘ standards’. It's often for discoloration, scarring on the surface caused by the fruit rubbing against a tree limb or an atypical shape.( 美国农场种植的水果和蔬菜中有20%被丢弃，因为这些水果和蔬菜不符合食品杂货店的标准。通常是因为水果变色、水果摩擦树枝而引起的表面结疤或不正常的形状。)”可知，很多水果和蔬菜由于外表不够美观而被浪费。故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段中的“The reason why we created Imperfect Produce as a direct-to-consumer business is because grocery stores didn’t want to partner with us. (我们之所以创造出Imperfect Produce直接面向消费者服务，是因为杂货店不想与我们合作。)”可知，Simon直接面向消费者进行销售是因为杂货店的商家们都不愿与Simon的团队合作。故选D。

4.推理判断题。通读全文可知，文中没有提到任何关于穷人的内容，A不正确；根据倒数第二段最后一句 “The business is not yet profitable, but he hopes to expand the service to 40 cities by the end of 2019”可知， 这项业务目前还没有盈利，但他希望在2019年底将这项服务扩展到40个城市，故C和D不正确。根据第一段的分析，Simon看到很多人浪费食物，使他后来通过创建Imperfect Produce对有可能被浪费掉的水果和蔬菜进行售卖。由此可推知，他对于被浪费的食物思考了很多。故选B。