Passage Two

Increasingly, over the past ten years, people especially young people have become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed foods, is not good for the health. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods.

Natural foods, for example, are vegetable, fruit and grain which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic (有機的) matter. In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished (滋養) by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins (維生素) and minerals. This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the quantity but not the quality of foods grown in commercial farming areas.

Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move freely in healthy farms. Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry, there are battery farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than rubbish. Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food; they also produce eggs which lack important vitamins.

There are other aspects of healthy eating which are now receiving increasing attention from experts on diet. Take, for example, the question of sugar. This is actually a non-essential food. Although a natural alternative, such as honey, can be used to sweeten food if this is necessary, we can in fact do without it. It is not that sugar is harmful in itself. But the problem is that the quantity we use has grown steadily over the last two centuries and in Britain today each person consumes an average of 200 pounds a year! Yet all it does is provide us with energy, in the form. of calories. There are no vitamins in it, no minerals, and no fiber.

Why do people now prefer natural foods？

A．Because they grow fast and cost less.

B．Because they fit people's eating habits.

C．Because they are good to people's health.

D．Because they are simply processed foods.

ited States as the maturing baby-boom generation looks for a more varied menu. Fast food still represents a .$ 102 billion a year industry, but growth has turned sluggish recently amid tough competition from retail food stores and a more affluent population willing to try new things and spend more, analysts say. Signs of trouble in fast food include price-cutting by industry leaders, including efforts by McDonald's to attract customers with a 55 cent hamburger, and major players pulling out or selling. O'Pepsico, for example, is selling its fast-food restaurant division that includes Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.

"It's becoming harder and harder for these firms to grow," said Jim Brown, a professor of marketing at Virginia Tech University. "I think in the United States fast food has reached a saturation (飽和) point because of the number of competitors and the number of outlets."

Fast-food restaurant revenues grew 2. 5 percent in 1996, according to industry figures, the slowest since the recession of 1991. That is for cry from(大不相同于)the levels of the 1970s and 1980s. According to the Food Marketing Institute, consumers are using supermarkets for 21 percent of take-home food, nearly double the level of a year ago. While fast-food restaurants still lead, their share slipped significantly, from 48 percent in 1996 to 41 percent in 1997.

"Consumers have never been more demanding than they are today," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Supermarket Trade Group. "They are pressed for time. Money is still an issue…but their tastes are increasingly diverse--whether it's gourmet foods, ethnic foods or organic offerings."

Meanwhile, the aging of the baby-boom population--and the growth in the number of so-called "empty nesters" with grown children--has meant a surge in the number of people willing to spend more for upscale items. This generation "will have the luxury of being more discriminating" as their children leave home, notes Harry Balzer, vice president of the Chicago-based NPD consulting group. Balzer said some 18 million baby boomers will become empty-nesters in the next l 0 years, leaving them with more disposable income to spend on dining out. "Fast and cheap will still be driving factors.., but our definitions of fast and cheap may be changing."

Various reports suggest industry leader McDonald's is struggling, losing market share, with lower same-store sales while cutting back the number of new outlets in the United States, partly due to pressure from franchisers who don't want to be squeezed. The company replaced the head of its 12,000 US restaurant chain last October amid a slump in US market share.

What does the passage mainly tell about？

A．Fast food disappoints consumers.

B．People prefer less expensive food.

C．McDonald's dominates the market of fast food.

D．Fast food is losing its attraction.

ing at the rate of more than 89 million a year.

The population is growing more quickly in some parts of the world than others. The continents with the fastest growth rates are Latin America and Africa. Asia comes third but because its present population is so large it is there that by far the greatest number of people will be added before the end of the century.

The main reason for the population explosion is not so much a rise in birth rates as a fall in death rates as a result of improvements in public health services and medical care.

The sudden increase in the population of the developing countries has come at a difficult time. Even if their population had not grown so fast they would have been facing a desperate struggle to bring the standard of living of their people to the point at which there was enough food, housing, education, medical care and employment for everyone to have a reasonable life.

The most pressing problem created by the rapid increase in population is a shortage of food. Over the past two years the total amount of food has decreased, and of course the total amount of food per person has decreased even more sharply.

As more and more babies born in developing countries have been surviving infancy, there is a shortage of schools and teachers, hospitals and doctors. Farming land is becoming scarce, and there are too few jobs and unemployment leads to further poverty.

This talk covers each of the following topics EXCEPT ______

A．a comparison of growth rates by continent

B．family planning education

C．problems resulting from the population explosion

D．causes of the population explosion

Section B

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.

Fast food, a mainstay of American eating for decades, may have reached a plateau in the United States as the maturing baby-boom generation looks for a more varied menu. Fast food still represents a＄102 billion a year industry, but growth has turned sluggish recently amid tough competition from retail food stores and a more affluent population willing to try new things and spend more, analysts say. Signs of trouble in fast food include price-cutting by industry leaders, including efforts by McDonald's to attract customers with a 55 cent hamburger, and major players pulling out or selling. O'Pepsico, for example, is selling its fast-food restaurant division that includes Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.

"It's becoming harder and harder for these firms to grow," said Jim Brown, a professor of marketing at Virginia Tech University. "I think in the United States fast food has reached a saturation (飽和) point because of the number of competitors and the number of outlets."

Fast-food restaurant revenues grew 2.5 per cent in 1996, according to industry figures, the slowest since the recession of 1991. That is a far cry from (大不相同于) the levels of the 1970s and 1980s. According to the Food Marketing Institute, consumers are using supermarkets for 21 per cent of take-home food, nearly double the level of a year ago. While fast-food restaurants still lead, their sham slipped significantly, from 48 per cent in 1996 to 41 per cent in 1997.

"Consumers have never been more demanding than they are today," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Supermarket Trade Group. "They are pressed for time. Money is still an issue... but their tastes are increasingly diverse --whether it's gourmet foods, ethnic foods or organic offerings."

Meanwhile, the aging of the baby-boom population-- and the growth in the number of so-called "empty nesters" with grown children --has meant a surge in the number of people willing to spend more for upscale items. This generation "will have the luxury of being more discriminating" as their children leave home, notes Harry Balzer, vice president of the Chicago-based NPD consulting group. Balzer said some 18 million baby boomers will become empty-nesters in the next 10 years, leaving them with more disposable income to spend on dining out. "Fast and cheap will still be driving factors... but our definitions of fast and cheap may be changing."

Various reports suggest industry leader McDonald's is struggling, losing market share with lower same-store sales while cutting back the number of new outlets in the United States, partly due to pressure from franchisers who don't want to be squeezed. The company replaced the head of its 12,000 US restaurant chain last October amid a slump in US market share.

What does the passage mainly tell about？

A．Fast food disappoints consumers.

B．People prefer less expensive food.

C．McDonald's dominates the market of fast food.

D．Fast food is losing its attraction.

Section B

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.

Fast food, a mainstay of American eating for decades, may have reached a plateau in the United States as the maturing baby-boom generation looks for a more varied menu. Fast foxed still represents a $102 billion a year industry, but growth has turned sluggish recently amid tough competition from retail food stores and a more affluent population willing to try new things and spend more, analysts say. Signs of trouble in fast food include price-cutting by industry leaders, including efforts by McDonald's to attract customers with a 55 cent hamburger, and major players pulling out or selling. O'Pepsico, for example, is selling its fast-food restaurant division that includes Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.

"It's becoming harder and harder for these firms to grow," said Jim Brown, a professor of marketing at Virginia Tech University. "I think in the United States fast food has reached a saturation (飽和) point because of the number of competitors and the number of outlets."

Fast-food restaurant revenues grew 2.5 per cent in 1996, according to industry figures, the slowest since the recession of 1991. That is a far cry from (大不相同于) the levels of the 1970s and 1980s. According to the Food Marketing Institute, consumers are using supermarkets for 21 per cent of take-home food, nearly double the level of a year ago. While fast-food restaurants still lead, their share slipped significantly, from 48 per cent in 1996 to 41 per cent in 1997.

"Consumers have never been more demanding than they are today," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Supermarket Trade Group. "They are pressed for time. Money is still an issue... but their tastes are increasingly diverse — whether it's gourmet foods, ethnic foods or organic offerings."

Meanwhile, the aging of the baby-boom population — and the growth in the number of so-called "empty nesters" with grown children — has meant a surge in the number of people willing to spend more for upscale items. This generation "will have the luxury of being more discriminating" as their children leave home, notes Harry Balzer, vice president of the Chicago-based NPD consulting group. Balzer said some 18 million baby boomers will become empty-nesters in the next 10 years, leaving them with more disposable income to spend on dining out. "Fast and cheap will still be driving factors... but our definitions of fast and cheap may be changing."

Various reports suggest industry leader McDonald's is straggling, losing market share with lower same-store sales while cutting back the number of new outlets in the United States, partly due to pressure from franchisers who don't want to be squeezed. The company replaced the head of its 12,000 US restaurant chain last October amid a slump in US market share.

What does the passage mainly tall about？

A．Fast food disappoints consumers.

B．People prefer less expensive food.

C．McDonald's dominates the market of fast food.

D．Fast food is losing its attraction.

Britain is facing a 【C1】______ rise in its rat population 【C2】______ growing numbers of people leave fast food scraps in the street, an environment group warned. Keep Britain Tidy said the rodents were 【C3】______ their traditional haunts underground and were roaming the streets, enticed 【C4】______ discarded remnants of burgers, pizzas and crisps. "The rat population is 【C5】______ the rise and soon it' 11 be as common to see a rodent on our street 【C6】______ it is to see a dog or a cat," said group Director, Sue Nelson. The practice of dumping fast food fitter and scraps on the street 【C7】______ in the trash—with young men the worst offenders—was behind the rise. 【C8】______ to the National Rodent Survey in 2001, Britain's rat population has grown by nearly one quarter since 1998 and is now 【C9】______ at 60 million, two million more than the 【C10】______ population. On 【C11】______ a rat can give 【C12】______ every 24-28 days and just a single pair of rats can 【C13】______ a colony of 2,000 a year. Around 200 Britons a year 【C14】______ Weft's Disease—an infection which can 【C15】______ kidney or liver 【C16】______ and eventually 【C17】______ and which is carried in rat's urine. To 【C18】______ the issue, Keep Britain Tidy launched a cinema 【C19】______ entitled "How Close do You Want Them to Get？" The ad culminates in a shocking image of a young woman sleeping in a bed of rats-echoing the nightmare scenario from James Herbert' s classic horror tale The Rats, in which mutant rodents begin to prey 【C20】______ humans.

【C1】

A．high

B．sharp

C．steep

D．slight

A.people

B.service

C.food

D.atmosphere

he market in 1990.

A．so far

B．in the end

C．year by year

D．sooner or later

ite page.

&8226;Which section (A, B, C, or D) does each statement 1--7 refer to？

&8226;For each statement 1--7, mark one letter (A, B, C, or D) on your Answer Sheet.

&8226;You will need to use some of these letters more than once.

A

The soybean is a legume native to China. For 5000 years, China has been using soybeans as a source of food and medicine. As one of the five sacred grains in China, soybeans were extensively cultivated and highly valued. In the eighteenth century, soybeans were introduced in Europe for the first time and were regarded merely as an object of botanical curiosity. It was only in the 1930's when the United States began exploring and developing soybean varieties through hybridization. Today, as a main source of protein, soybeans are a regular component of human diet in countries such as China, Japan and Indonesia.

B

Many countries around the world produce as well as consume soybeans for different reasons. In Asia, the soybean is grown chiefly for the beans, which is consumed fresh, fermented, or dried. As a source of protein and oil, soybean milk is made with the whole soybeans. Bean curd is made from soymilk and tofu is seasoned or cooked together with other dishes. In the West, soybeans are produced primarily for the soybean meal used as livestock feed. As more investigative results of research have unveiled the health benefits of soybean food products, soy foods are gaining more popularity as a health product.

C

Soy has been available for more than two decades in health food stores, specialty markets and restaurants that serve healthy, hot meals. But now it's poised to become the food of the next millennium, available soon in nearly everything, everywhere. Some people believe the soy protein business will triple over the next two years because of the FDA announcement (The FDA is now letting companies advertise a connection between soy protein and a healthy heart, and it is sure to mean healthy profits).

D

Today the one-billion-dollar-a-year soybean business is dominated by companies that produce soy burgers, soymilk and tofu, but the future is in new products like soy pizza, soy peanut butter, even soy breakfast cereal. But experience has shown that unless healthy food tastes good, it fails in the marketplace. And many consumers consider the taste of soy, in this case tofu, bland or at best, bean-like. In Boca Burger in Chicago they won't say how they make their soy burgers taste like meat, but they're convincing enough to be featured in school cafeterias and fast food restaurants.

In food industry sales volume is determined by nothing other than flavor.

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