原版英文小故事 46. Nutrition “Facts”

Americans get confused when they try to understand the food labels (“Nutrition Facts”) on their packaged food. This is partly because the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture often seem more interested in the welfare of the food industry than in the health of consumers.

For example, even though health practitioners¹ and the federal government itself tell consumers to watch their salt intake², processors continue to add salt to packaged food. Salt occurs naturally in many foods, so why do processors add more? Perhaps processors think that extra salty food will make the consumers thirsty enough to buy more soda³ and other beverages⁴ that the processors also make.

“Serving Size” is supposed to be the amount an average adult would eat at one sitting as part of a regular meal. However, a 6-ounce container may have anywhere from 1 to 3 servings, depending on the food inside the container. A 6-ounce can of Crabmeat contains one serving, while a 6-ounce can of Pink Salmon⁵ Chunks⁶ contains 3 servings.

With the federal government’s approval, processors use labeling that helps to sell the product, regardless of how confusing or deceptive⁷ the label is to the consumer. If a consumer sees “200 calories” on a can of tuna fish, he might not buy it because 200 is a lot of calories. But if the consumer sees “20 calories” (because the can of tuna fish has 10 servings!), he doesn’t worry that the can contains too many calories. All he sees is the number 20. That makes him happy, and it makes the processor happy.

 

1 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

2 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

3 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

4 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

5 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

6 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

7 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。