1、大学英语六级-165 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)Building a Better LabelA. At a Bravo supermarket on a recent weekday evening in Brooklyn, N. Y, shopper Jamilya Shroud Garrett looks for a breakfast cereal for her son. She points to a box of Cheerios, which has a banner-style label bearing the message, “Can hel
2、p lower cholesterol (胆固醇),“ and dismisses it as ridiculous. “It“s common sense. If you have high cholesterol, it“s not going to help to eat two bowls of cereal,“ she says. B. Shroud Garrett is an unusually conscious brand of consumer, not easily swayed by so-called “front-of-pack“ labelingthe carefu
3、lly worded, attention-getting health and nutrition claims, which appear on so many processed-food packages and which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now seeking to rein in. While Shroud Garrett scanned the more detailed dietary information contained in the Nutrition Facts panel on the side
4、 of the box, most other shoppers who paused for an interview in the cereal aisle that evening said their choices were guided either by past purchases or front-of-the-box labels. C. Nutritionists and obesity researchers say such blind food-buying habits have gotten dicier (更危险的) in recent years, with
5、 the explosion of increasingly aggressive front-of-package labels and logos that are designed to mislead, confuse and distract consumers. “People tend to assume, mistakenly, that what“s stated on the front of the pack has the explicit or at least the tacit approval of the government,“ says Dr. David
6、 Ludwig, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children“s Hospital Boston, yet many products“ labeling efforts actually violate government regulations. D. As part of its effort to improve labeling practices, on Friday the
7、 FDA began asking for public comment on “ways to enhance the usefulness to consumers and identify information on the principal display panel of food products (“front-of-pack“ labeling) or on shelf tags in retail stores.“ In particular, the agency wants to know how consumers read and use such nutriti
8、onal information, and whether there“s a way to standardize its presentation to help people make better choices. Some observers say the FDA is readying what will be the most extensive food-labeling reform since 1990. Tricks of the trade E. Reform is overdue. Under current lawthe 1990 Nutrition Labeli
9、ng and Education Actall packaged foods must display nutrients and ingredients in a consistent format. That law spawned the now familiar Nutrition Facts label, which is printed on virtually every processed food product in the Western world. The legislation also authorized the FDA to officially define
10、 marketing terms such as “light“ and “low fat,“ created guidelines for nutrient claims and set up a regulatory framework for approving any health claims used on the front of packaging. F. But since then, food makers have devised all sorts of creative ways to circumvent (规避) labeling regulationsand t
11、o confuse and seduce consumers. One common strategy: to misuse what is known as the nutrient content claim. A package of Dreyer“s Dibs bite-size ice cream snacks, for instance, declares that it contains “0g Trans Fat,“ but fails to mention that the product also has 28 grams of total fat and 20 grams
12、 of saturated (饱和的) fat per serving. Regarding fat-content information, federal law has an all-or-nothing stipulation: if food manufacturers choose to tout trans fat information on the front of the package, they must disclose the amount of saturated and total fats as well. G. Another standard bit of
13、 hucksterism (强行推销) is to add a micronutrient or two to a food, then label the product “Rich source of antioxidants (抗氧化物)“ or “Contains added vitamins and minerals.“ Historically, foods were fortified to compensate for nutrients lost during processing and to curb malnutrition within the population.
14、 Today, with vitamin deficiencies in the US at an all-time low, the tactic is largely a marketing gimmick. “Most of our nutritional problems are problems of excess not deficiency,“ says Karen Glanz, professor of epidemiology and nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, noting that fortification cl
15、aims distract consumers“ attention from more important information, including calorie, fiber and sodium content. H. And then there“s the almighty health claimlabeling that suggests a food component or nutrient helps fight a diseasewhich is perhaps surrounded by the most front-of-the-box hand waving.
16、 That“s because companies need regulatory approval for straightforward health claims such as, “Calcium reduces the risk of osteoporosis (骨质疏松).“ To get around the obstacle of approval, which can take more than 500 days to acquire, food makers subtly craft such statements into what is known as a stru
17、cture or function claim: “Calcium builds strong bones.“ Ask your average shopper, however, and chances are, he or she could not distinguish between the two. Healthier reform I. In addition to its systematic review of current labeling and marking practices, the FDA has been cracking down on violators
18、 in recent months: In February, the agency sent warning letters to 17 companies, including Dreyers, demanding corrections to obvious cases of misleading product labels. It is unclear, however, whether the agency will go so far as to eliminate certain labeling loopholes, such as the structure or func
19、tion claim. In an e-mail statement to TIME , Siobhan DeLancey, a spokeswoman for the FDA, writes that “existing regulations already require that claims be truthful and not misleading, and we have taken enforcement action against manufacturers who are not in compliance.“ J. Meanwhile, Congress has pl
20、edged $500000 to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for a detailed study of various front-of-package nutrient-profiling systems used worldwide. One promising program, called Traffic Light, which was developed in the UK by the national Food Standards Agency, uses a color-coded scheme to indicate at a gl
21、ance the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt contained in a food (red for high, amber for medium and green for low). British supermarkets that have instituted the labeling system report that shoppers tend to purchase products bearing more green dots than red. K. A similarly uniform system
22、could be put into place in the US. “We at FDA have been spearheading an effort with our colleagues in government and outside to develop a system for front-of-pack nutrition labeling that will be evidence-based, easy to read and can provide clear and consistent guidance for making healthy food choice
23、s,“ said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg in a speech on Wednesday. The IOM“s final report expected in 2010as well as public commentwill inform the agency“s decision. If it“s broke, don“t fix it L. By developing a voluntary national system for package-front labels, the FDA intends to make healthy e
24、ating easier. “For better or for worse, I think we all want to be able to scan and absorb nuanced information about our food as quickly as we scroll through e-mail on our BlackBerrys,“ Hamburg said. But some experts argue that simplified labeling may do more harm than good in the long run. M. At-a-g
25、lance labels assume that the consumer is too ignorant to make an informed decision, says Harvard“s Ludwig. The solution should be to offer more, not less, information. Ludwig says improved nutrition education would help consumers fully understand Nutrition Facts panels and choose better foods. “It“s
26、 good to be simple, but not too simple,“ says Ludwig. “Food choices are too complicated to be reduced to simply green, amber or red.“ N. Ludwig and New York University professor of nutrition Marion Nestle go further, suggesting an outright ban on all front-of-package claims. That would “encourage th
27、e public to eat whole or minimally processed foods and to read the ingredient lists on processed foods,“ the coauthors wrote in a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February.（分数：25.00）(1).In order to avoid the obstacle of approval, many food makers modify stra
28、ightforward health claims into a structure claim.（分数：2.50）(2).Nutritionists and obesity researchers believe that blind food-buying habits have something to do with the increase of aggressive, misleading labels and logos.（分数：2.50）(3).Dreyers violates the regulations of the FDA for its misleading prod
29、uct labels.（分数：2.50）(4).The 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act causes the Nutrition Facts label to appear in abundance.（分数：2.50）(5).According to Ludwig, consumers may fully understand Nutrition Facts panels through improved nutrition education.（分数：2.50）(6).“Front-of-pack“ labeling refers to h
30、ealth and nutrition claims that are always well designed to attract shoppers.（分数：2.50）(7).FDA has been striving to develop a new system which can assist people in making healthy food choices.（分数：2.50）(8).The nutrient content claim is often misused by food makers to tempt consumers to buy their produ
31、cts.（分数：2.50）(9).Karen Glanz holds that most of nutritional problems at present are problems of the excess of nutrition.（分数：2.50）(10).Traffic Light is a program which indicates the amount of certain ingredients contained in a food by using a color-coded scheme.（分数：2.50）Is There an Obesity Tipping Po
32、int in Infancy?A. If there is any reason for hope among the data on national obesity rates in the US (the numbers should be familiar by now. two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children are overweight or obese in the country), it is that they finally seem to be levelling off. According to t
33、he most recently published reports by epidemiologists (流行病学家) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long-term federal obesity data suggest that after decades of ballooning in size, American adults and children may have gotten about as fat as they“re ever going to get. B. Of course
34、 that still means that the majority of Americans are currently overweight and at high risk of chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes (糖尿病) and certain cancers. These risks continue to propel several national campaigns aiming at preventing obesity, particularly in children, includin
35、g those spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton. But some researchers say such programs, which involve school-age children, may begin too late to benefit all children. C. Increasingly, evidence suggests that obesity-prevention measures need to be taken earlier, in
36、infancy or even before birth. According to the CDC“s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, rates of obesity in youngsters ages 2 to 5 have more than doubled since 1980, from 5.0% to 12.4%. And once a child sets down the road to an unhealthy weight, it becomes increasingly difficult for h
37、im to change course, according to one study, 80% of children who are overweight between ages 10 and 15 grow up to become obese at age 25. D. In November 2009, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) formed the Committee on Obesity Prevention Policies for
38、 Young Children, whose members will for the first time review evidence on obesity risk factors and health effects in children from birth to 5 years old and identify potential opportunities for intervention in this age group. The committee“s first report is expected in early 2011. Early warning signs
39、 E. In a recent study of more than 1800 children, who were tracked from before birth to age 4, Harvard researchers identified several risk factors for obesity that began in pregnancy or early childhood. They included pre-pregnancy obesity; gestational (妊娠的) diabetes; low birth weight and rapid weigh
40、t gain in infancy; stopping breast-feeding early; introducing solid foods before 4 months; short sleep in infancy; TV in children“s bedrooms; and higher consumption of fast food and sugary beverages (饮料) in childhood. In many cases, these early risk factors were more common in black or Hispanic fami
41、lies than in white families, regardless of income. F. The findings, first published online on March 1 by the journal Paediatrics , help explain why minority children are at higher risk for obesity early on: 16.7% of Mexican-American children ages 2 to 5 are obese, compared with 14.9% of black childr
42、en and 10.7% of white children, according to CDC data. The authors emphasize that obesity prevention must not only begin early, but also address cultural issues and include education targeted to specific groups. The good news, says study author Dr. Elsie Taveras, an assistant professor of paediatric
43、s and prevention at Harvard Medical School and a member of the IOM obesity committee, is that many risk factors involve behaviors that can be modified and are not due only to socioeconomic inequalities. “As a paediatrician, it“s frustrating for me to think how I am going to change this person“s hous
44、ehold income. But a hopeful message is knowing that it“s actually not the case,“ she says. A tipping point for obesity G. How early in life that prevention efforts need to target children is quickly becoming a central question to childhood-obesity research. One intriguing notion is that there exists
45、 an obesity thresholdor tipping pointin infancy, before which a chubby child may be safely steered away from a lifetime of obesity. A small study led by Dr. John Harrington, an associate professor of paediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Children“s Hospital of The King“s Daughters, anal
46、yzed childhood medical records of 111 obese children and adolescentsthose with a body mass index (BMI) equal to or higher than 85% of their same-age peersin order to determine the age at which children first became overweight. H. On average, researchers found, overweight individuals first crossed th
47、e threshold into overweight territory before 22 months of age. In some kids it was even earlier, with about 25% of children already having gained more weight than recommended for their age and height at 3 months. The trajectory (发展轨迹) typically began early and remained consistent: the BMI of overwei
48、ght children continuously diverged from that of normal-weight children, the difference increasing by 0.072 units per month starting at birth and crossing the 85th-percentile mark at about 21 months. Within the small sample, half of the overweight children became overweight before age 2, and 90% beca
49、me overweight by age 5. “You“ve got to look at it in terms of intervention and prevention,“ Harrington says. “If you“re trying to intervene at age 5, you“ve already missed the boat.“ I. Part of the problem is that parents and paediatricians tend to overlook early signs of obesity. Many people view children with excess baby fat as healthy, and believe they“ll shed the weight as they grow. Harrington advises physicians to start screening babies earlier for immoderate weight gain and to broach the topic sooner with parents. There“s a lot parents can do at home to encourage healthy wei
