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A

Childhood obesity (肥胖) is a serious problem in the US, and it’s getting worse.

Obesity now affects 17 percent of all non-adults in the United States. That means approximately 12.5 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

This condition will continue to hurt their health into their adult years, say health care professionals.

Childhood obesity is the result of eating too much and not exercising enough.

Imagine if you could grow all of your own food. You’d get exercise and eat healthier.

That’s the clever plan of one young man who launched an ambitious project encouraging youngsters to grow good food while learning about its nutritional value. A cheeseburger may be a quick fix for hunger, but a roasted ear of corn (玉米穗) is far better for young, growing bodies.

Zackary Gerald gets that. This 15-year-old Eagle Scout from Indiana recently organized a project to build garden beds for the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes at his school. The theme of his project is “Growing for a Healthier Lifestyle.” Its goal is to teach children about the benefits of growing and maintaining their own gardens.

Zackary also arranged for extra produce to be given to the local soup kitchen to help feed the homeless.

One early challenge was convincing local businesses and individuals to donate money and supplies. He was able to raise about $1,000 to go on with his project. Members of the community even donated seeds and a shovel (铲子) to help as well. Zackary was thus able to buy storage space for the school so they could keep their supplies nearby. He and the students planted vegetables such as broccoli, lettuce, carrots and corn in their gardens. Zackary also instructed the children on how to manage water, make new soil and keep out harmful plants and pests.

“My goal is to teach kids how to grow their own food, and to get them thinking about how food is made and how foods with all the chemicals and color added to them can be unhealthy,” said Zackary.

1. How did the writer support the argument that the problem of obesity has gotten worse in the US?

A. With comparisons. B. With examples.

C. With statistics. D. With quotes from experts.

2. The purpose of the “Growing for a Healthier Lifestyle” project is to ______.

A. make kids more familiar with various types of food

B. teach kids to grow and understand their own food

C. encourage kids to exercise through farming and gardening

D. teach kids the value of labor and the skills of modern gardening

3. Which of the following are examples of difficulties that Zackary met with during his farming project?

a. shortage of storage space b. lack of seeds and tools

c. doubts from parents and teachers d. difficulty in finding land for farming

A. ab B. bc C. ac D. cd

4. It can be inferred that Zackary ______.

A. got ideas for his project from healthcare professionals

B. has been worried about financial problems with his project

C. makes money by selling extra produce to local businesses

D. thinks it’s important to teach children about food directly in order to tackle childhood obesity

B

Up to two-fifths of a food crop is often wasted because it is “ugly”, a report on food waste has shown.

Produce grown in the UK that does not meet retailer (零售商) standards on appearance is often given to animals or thrown out even though it is healthy to eat.

The report from the UK’s global food security program also showed that the average household throws away more than 5kg of food a week, and nearly two-thirds of that waste is avoidable.

The waste costs ￡480 a year per household on average, and ￡680 per family.

Households throw away a fifth of the food they buy, wasting it for reasons ranging from cooking too much to not using it before it goes bad, the study showed.

Consumption is the top area where food is wasted in the UK, the study said.

Farmers respond to consumer demands for high-quality food with standards that can lead to the crop being wasted. Some supermarkets have started marketing “odd shapes and sizes” of fruit and vegetables, though.

Also, more UK consumers are prepared to accept “ugly” fruit and vegetables, amid concerns over sustainability (可持续发展) and food prices, the research said.

In developing countries, much of the loss of food occurs during post-harvesting storage, processing and packaging.

Tackling waste globally is necessary to feed a growing world population sustainably. One in eight people worldwide doesn’t have enough food, the report said.

Around a third of food produced globally is lost or wasted.

Professor Tim Benton, an expert on food security at the University of Leeds, said: “Over 5 million people in the UK live in poverty, where basic food provision is a daily challenge.”

Nearly 400,000 people used food banks last year, according to the Trussell Trust.

“At the same time, 15 million tons of food is wasted annually, with nearly half thrown away within UK households. Reducing the scale (范围) of losses and waste throughout the food system is a crucial step.”

The report highlights priorities (优先事项) for research to help reduce food waste, including improving harvesting and packaging technologies and seasonal weather prediction.

5. Food waste in developing nations is mainly due to ______.

A. fast growing populations B. huge demand for high-quality foods

C. poor technology in food industries

D. people’s lack of concern about food shortages

6. We can conclude from the article that ______.

A. over half of the food produce in the UK is wasted within households

B. “ugly” fruits and vegetables are becoming more and more popular in the UK

C. avoiding food waste could, by itself, solve food shortage problems around the world

D. developing better farming and packaging technologies is key to reducing food waste

7. Which of the following statements might Professor Tim Benton agree with?

A. British farmers should keep up with their high growing standards.

B. The number of people living in poverty is growing too fast in Britain.

C. There is still much to do to improve British people’s awareness of food sustainability.

D. British supermarkets should be encouraged to sell food of odd shapes and sizes.

8. What is suggested in the report?

A. Cutting food prices. B. Using different approaches to reduce food waste.

C. Improving the appearance of food.

D. Cooking at home more often.

C

Phantom vibrations – that phenomenon where you think your phone is vibrating (震动) but it’s not – have been around since the mobile age. Today, they’re so common that researchers have devoted studies to them.

For Valerie Kusler, who works on a cattle farm, the feeling is complicated by the cows. “The cows’ moo is very muffled (沉闷的), it kinda sounds like ... errrrrr,” she says. “So that’s very similar to what my phone sounds like when it vibrates on my desk or in my purse.”

Other people may not confuse cows for their phones, but research shows phantom vibration syndrome is a near-universal experience for people with smartphones.

Nearly 90 percent of college undergraduates in a 2012 study said they felt phantom vibrations. The number was just as high for a survey of hospital workers, who reported feeling phantom vibrations on either a weekly or monthly basis.

“Something in your brain is being triggered (触发) that’s different than what was triggered just a few short years ago,” says Dr Larry Rosen, a research psychologist who studies how technology affects our minds.

“If you’d asked me 10 years ago, or maybe even five years ago if I felt an itch (痒) beneath where my pocket of my jeans was, and asked me what I would do, I’d reach down and scratch (搔痒) it because it was probably a little itch caused by the neurons firing (神经元刺激),” he says.

Now, of course, the itch triggers him to reach for his phone. Rosen says it’s an example of how our devices are changing how our brains process information.

“We’re seeing a lot of what looks like obsessive (强迫性的) behavior. People who are constantly picking up their phone look like they have an obsession. They don’t look much different from someone who’s constantly washing their hands. I’m not saying that it is an obsession, but I’m saying that it could turn into one, very easily,” Rosen says.

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