新奇事件簿 三分之一的食物被浪费

The British government has said that a third of the food the world produces is wasted. It said the high level of food waste in the UK is "unacceptable". Over 7 million tons of food is wasted in the UK every year. A British politician, Neil Parish, said: "One-third of food produced for human consumption¹ is lost or wasted globally." The government said there were many solutions to the problem of food waste. First, schools could raise children's awareness² of food waste from a young age. Secondly³, supermarkets could sell vegetables that are thrown away because they are the "wrong" shape. Finally, 'sell-by' dates, "use-by" dates and "best before" labels need to change. Perfectly⁴ good food is thrown away because of these labels.

英国政府表示，全世界生产的三分之一的食物被浪费掉了。英国高水平的食物浪费令人难以接受。英国每年有超过700万吨的食物被浪费。英国政客Neil Parish表示：“全球供人类食用的三分之一的食物消失或被浪费掉了。”政府表示，关于食品浪费的问题有许多解决方法。首先，学校可以从小增强孩子的食物浪费意识。第二，超市可以出售因为形状“不佳”而被丢弃的蔬菜。最后，“某个日期前出售”，“某个日期前使用”，“某日期前使用最佳”的标签应该更改。许多状态完好的食物因为这些标签而被丢弃。

Neil Parish said the fact that so much food is thrown away is both socially and environmentally unacceptable. He said: "Socially, it is a scandal⁵ that people are going hungry and using food banks when so much produce is being wasted." He added that: "Environmentally, it is a disaster, because energy and resources are wasted in production, only for the food to end up rotting in landfills where it produces methane⁶ - a potent⁷ climate-changing gas." He called on supermarkets to help by selling vegetables that have a funny shape. He said: "It's ridiculous that perfectly good vegetables are wasted simply because they're a funny shape." He said these vegetables, "don't cook or taste any different".

Neil Parish表示，无论从社会角度讲，还是从环境角度讲，如此多的食物被丢弃都是不可接受的。他说：“从社会角度讲，一方面，许多人处于饥饿状态，必须动用食物银行，另一方面，许多农产品却被浪费。”他补充说：“从环境角度讲，这是一个灾难，因为生产过程中耗费了能源，最终这些食物却在垃圾堆中腐烂，产生甲烷气体，造成气候变化。”他呼吁超市帮助出售形状古怪的蔬菜。他说：“有些完好的蔬菜仅仅因为形状古怪而被丢弃，这是非常讽刺的。”他说，这些蔬菜烹煮起来，吃起来都没有任何不同。

1 consumption   

n.消费，消耗，消费额，消耗量，结核病

参考例句：

• Consumption of oil has declined in recent years.石油消耗量在最近几年下降了。
• The meat was condemned as unfit for human consumption.这种肉已被宣布不适宜人们食用。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 scandal   

n.丑事，丑闻，流言蜚语，反感，愤慨

参考例句：

• Scandal and gossip are meat and drink to him.各种丑闻和流言蜚语是他最感兴趣的事。
• His theft from the shop caused scandal in the village.他因偷商店的东西引起全村的公愤。

6 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

7 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。