阅读判断分析 实战演练 四

（四）A new start

After Christmas comes the anti-Christmas. If the festive season is all about filling up on the things you like that are bad for you, then the new year is the "detox season" — when people across the western world adopt special diets to lose weight and get rid of the vague feeling that they have spent the last few weeks poisoning themselves.

But are detox diets really necessary? After all, the body itself gets rid of unwanted substances. That's what the liver and kidney are for.

The detox fad—or fads, as there are many methods—is an example of the capacity of people to believe in and pay for magic despite the lack of any sound evidence, says Martin Wiseman, professor of human nutrition at the University of Southampaton in the UK.

Most of the pills, juices, teas and oils that are sold for their detoxifying effects on the body have no scientific foundation for their claims, according to the research. People would be better off having a glass of water and going to bed early.

Detox diets may be magic rather than science, but they are the kind of magic which many people want to perform. That may have something to do with the western diet in general.

Scientists and dieticians argue that the benefits people feel are not due to their body getting rid of excessive toxins but are due to changing from what is likely to have been a "poor" diet.

Having fewer headaches, for example, is probably the result of being fully hydrated due to drinking so much water and better skin may be due to eating more fruit and vegetables.

Detox diets may also be dangerous, as they may deprive vulnerable groups—pregnant women, for instance, or growing teenagers—of the kind of nutrients they need.

Yet their popularity continues to rise. This may be something to do with the way that food works within many western cultures. Generally, a country's food develops along with its economy and society. Food becomes part of a person's cultural identity.

In some countries, this link has been broken. In the UK, for example, rapid industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries saw millions of people move from the countryside to the towns interrupting the development of a national cuisine. The United States, a country of immigrants from many different places, have found it hard to develop a national cuisine. In both places, comparatively few people cook for themselves and food supply is dominated by big processing and agribusiness companies.

Detox diets are more popular in these countries than in places like France and Italy, where strong links between food and national culture remain, and where far more people regularly cook for themselves instead of buying processed foods.

Perhaps detox diets are successful because many westerners have lost trust in what they eat. On the other hand, they may help re-introduce people to the kind of food that is necessary for a healthy diet. And after learning that, they won't poison themselves in the first place.

This would mean radical changes in the way that people eat across the west. And that would be an unwelcome development for the food industry. From the business point of view, it is much better to sell people the problem and then sell them the solution.

1. Detox begins after Christmas when people think they have been overeating during the Christmas season and have taken in many substances that are bad for their health.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

2. Many pregnant women and growing teenagers are suffering from mal-nutrition because of the detox-diets they take.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

3. Both the UK and the USA lack a national cuisine as a result of similar historical development.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

4. The French and the Italians cook for themselves more often than the British and the Americans, which helps them to keep the link between food and their culture.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

5. On the whole the eastern people like the Chinese and the Japanese have a stronger link between their food and their culture than the western people.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

6. A positive effect of detox diets is that it helps people to see what food are good for the health.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

7. Food industry would make even greater profits if people should all start to eat healthy foods and stop poisoning themselves.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

［答案解析］

1．B。［解析］题干大意：圣诞节过后，人们开始认为，他们在圣诞节期间吃了过多对健康有害的物质。文章第二句主要提到新年是排毒减肥的季节，故判断文章主题为：从新年开始排毒减肥。故答案为B。

2．B。［解析］题干大意：孕妇和正在发育的青少年正在遭受由于排毒饮食所造成的营养不良。第八段提到排毒饮食可能也有危险，因为它可能会使那些较脆弱的人群，例如孕妇和正在发育的青少年丧失他们需要的营养，故答案为B。

3．B。［解析］题干大意：英国和美国由于相同的历史发展背景都缺少国家美食。文章第九段和第十段提到造成英美两国缺乏民族美食的主要原因不是因为这两个国家的历史发展过程类似，而是分别由于不同的原因：英国是因为工业化，同时这两个国家食品供应被大型食品加工公司和农业综合企业控制。

4．A。［解析］题干大意：法国人和意大利人经常自己烹饪，这有助于他们保持食物和文化之间的关系。文章第十段和十一段提到在法国和意大利食物和民族文化之间存在着强烈的联系，在这两个国家人们会经常自己做饭而不是去购买加工食品，故答案选A。

5．C。［解析］题干大意：大体上，在东方，像中国和日本，食物和文化的联系比西方更强烈。文章并未体现这方面的说法，故答案为C。

6．A。［解析］题干大意：排毒饮食的积极影响是它能帮助人们认清什么食物对健康是有益的。文章倒数第二段提到：或许排毒饮食是有成效的，因为许多西方人已经不再相信他们吃的东西。而另一方面，它可能帮助人们重新认识健康的饮食所必需的食物。故选A。

7．B。［解析］题干大意：如果人们都开始吃有益于健康的食物，停止毒害他们自己，食品业将获得更大的利润。文章最后一段提到：这可能意味着西方人的饮食方式发生根本的变化，而这对食品工业来说不是一个受欢迎的变化，故答案为B。