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 foods, is not good for the health. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods: foods which do not contain chemical additives and which have not been affected by chemical fertilizers, widely used in farming to- day.
Natural foods, for example, vegetables, fruits and grains which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic matter. In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins 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 amount—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 pastures. Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry: there are battery farms, for ex- ample, 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 it does seem to be an additive: 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 fibre.
It is significant that nowadays fibre is considered to be an important part of a healthy diet. In white bread, for example, the fibre has been removed. But it is present in unrefined flour and of course in vegetable. It is interesting to note that in countries where the national diet contains large quantities of unrefined flour and vegetable, certain diseases are comparatively rare. Hence the emphasis placed on the eating of wholemeal bread and more vegetables by modern experts on healthy eating.
Recently, some people are interested in natural foods because ______.
A.these foods are fresh and sweet
B.they want to change their eating habits
C.these foods do not contain chemical additives and have not been affected by chemical fertilizers
D.they don't like the processed foods
When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get a good score on a certain kind of test, or even the ability to do well in school. These are at best only indicators of something larger, deeper, and far more important. By intelligence we mean a style. of life, a way of behaving in various situations. The true test of intelligence is not how much we know what to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.
The intelligent person, young or old, meeting a new situation or problem, opens himself up to it. He tries to take in with mind and senses everything he can about it. He thinks about it, instead of about himself or what it might cause to happen to him. He grapples (努力克服) with it boldly, imaginatively, resourcefully (机智地), and if not confidently, at least hopefully: if he fails to master it, he looks without fear or shame at his mistakes and learns what he can from them. This is intelligence. Clearly its roots lie in a certain feeling about life, and one’s self with respect to life. Just as clearly, unintelligence is not what most psychologists seem to suppose, the same thing as intelligence, only less of it. It is an entirely different style. of behavior, arising out of entirely different set of attitudes.
Years of watching and comparing bright children with the not-bright, or less bright, have shown that they are very different kinds of people. The bright child is curious about life and reality, eager to get in touch with it, embrace (捉住机会) it, unite himself with it. There is no wall; no barrier, between himself and life. On the other hand, the dull child is far less curious, far less interested in what goes on and what is real, more inclined (倾向于) to live in a world of fantasy. The bright child likes to experiment, to try things out. He lives by the maxim (格言) that there is more than one way to skin a cat. If he can’t do something one way, he’ll try another. The dull child is usually afraid to try at all. It takes a great deal of urging to get him to try even once; if that try fails, he is through.
Nobody starts off stupi
D.Hardly an adult in a thousand, or ten thousand, could in any three years of his life learn as much, grow as much in his understanding of the world around him, as every infant (婴儿) learns and grows in his first three years. But what happens, as we grow older, to this extraordinary capacity for learning and intellectual growth? What happens is that it is destroyed, and more than by any other one thing, it is destroyed by the process that we misname education – a process that goes on in most homes and schools.
11. The writer believes that intelligence is doing well on some examinations.
A.True
B.False
12. The writer believes that “unintelligence” is a particular way of looking at the world.
A.True
B.False
13. Why does the writer say that education is misnamed?
A.Because it takes place more in homes than in school.
B.Because it discourages intellectual growth.
C.Because it helps dull children with their problems.
D.Because it helps children understand the world around them.
14. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Which of the following maxims has a similar meaning to this one?
A.If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.
B.All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.
C.Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other is gold.
D.Make hay while the sun shines.
15. “It is an entirely different style. of behavior, arising out of an entirely different set of attitudes.” “It” in this sentence refers to () .
A.intelligence
B.behavior
C.life
D.unintelligence