VOA慢速英语2015 美国人吃更多的快速休闲食品

AS IT IS 2015-02-15 Americans Eating More 'Fast Casual¹,' Less Fast Food. 美国人吃更多的快速休闲食品

“Plain Cheeseburger. Give me two of them."

That is Ted² Mistretta ordering food in Washington D.C. before boarding a train with his daughter Kim. They were heading home to New York City. But, first they stopped at the Shake Shack³ restaurant to get a bite to eat.

“Any fries? Anything to drink?  Are you dining in or to go? Go.”

Shake Shack is a new kind of restaurant becoming more popular in the U.S. The restaurants are not “fast food.” They are known as “fast casual.”

Observers⁴ say Americans want more choices and fresh food when choosing where and what to eat. This trend is one reason why the fast food restaurant McDonald’s has struggled financially.

McDonald’s is one of the best-known restaurants in the U.S. and even around the world. Their ads say “I’m lovin’ it.” But these days the company leaders are seeing numbers they probably do not like. 

In the last quarter of 2014, McDonald's net income dropped by about $300 million. The January earnings⁵ report brought more bad news. Worldwide sales dropped for the eighth month in a row and even more than expected.

McDonald’s is working hard to get their customers back. In January, the company ran an advertisement during the Super Bowl. The football game is the most watched TV event every year in the U.S. McDonald's wanted to reach those viewers.

While McDonald's is struggling to get their customers back, Shake Shack, is doing well financially. The New York-based burger chain had a very successful IPO, or initial⁶ public offering, of shares at the end of January. On its first day of trading, Shake Shack went from $21 a share to just under $46 a share.

Ted Mistretta wishes he had bought the stock⁷ that day. He explains why he likes Shake Shack:

“It’s a quality hamburger. It’s you know, they make it well, great taste. It’s better than most. It’s certainly better than, it’s fast food, but not ‘fast food’ food.”

And, Mr. Mistretta added, he never goes to fast food restaurants.

Being part of the “fast casual” trend has helped Shake Shack. Other fast casual restaurants in the U.S. include Chipotle, and Panera.

Bonnie Riggs is a restaurant expert with NPD. She has followed Americans’ restaurant habits for almost 30 years. She says one reason Americans like fast casual food is because it’s new.

“They are creative, they are innovative⁸, they are something different and we like to try new things.”

Ms. Riggs says Americans made 61 billion visits to restaurants last year. Three out of four visits were to fast food restaurants, like McDonald’s. “They’ve been holding on,” she says, but traffic has stayed at the same level.  Fast casual is still a small percentage of restaurant visits. She says it’s “growing by leaps and bounds,” because they meet consumers’ needs.

“They know it’s being prepared while they wait, it’s fresh, uh, fresh ingredients⁹, quality food, good tasting food at what they say are reasonable and affordable¹⁰ prices.”

Many Americans still like their fast food, Ms. Riggs says, they just are not going as often.  And, she says, Americans are finding¹¹ other ways to have a meal.

Some people buy prepared foods at stores and take them home to eat. Others like to cook at home, especially the millennials. Millennials are people born between 1981 and 2000 and this year they are expected to become the largest group of Americans.

Ms. Riggs says that half of this generation is cooking at home, and loving it. Some of the new eating trends include farm-to-table restaurants and gluten-free food.

Words in This Story

A bite to eat – informal expression. something people say when they want to get something to eat, or have a meal.

fast food – adj. the kind of food served at restaurants that have quick service and little wait time.

fast casual – adj. food that is supposed to be higher quality than fast food. Using fresher, less processed food and less frozen¹² parts than regular fast food.

trend – n. a general direction of change, a way of behaving that is developing and becoming more common

farm-to-table –adj. restaurants where the food being served comes from certain, or identified, farms.

gluten-free – adj. food  that excludes¹³ the protein gluten, which is found in some kinds of grains.

1 casual   

adj.漠不关心，冷漠的；随便的，非正式的；偶然的，碰巧的

参考例句：

• He earns a living by casual labour.他靠做临时工为生。
• The guests wore casual clothes.客人们穿着便服。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

4 observers   

n.观察者( observer的名词复数 )；遵守者；观测者；目击者

参考例句：

• According to observers, the plane exploded shortly after take-off. 据目击者说，飞机起飞后不久就爆炸了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 initial   

adj.最初的，开始的，词首的；n.首字母，姓名的开头字母；vt.标注姓名的首字母于

参考例句：

• After she'd overcome her initial shyness,she became very friendly.她克服了起初的羞怯之后，变得十分友善。
• The experiments have given initial results eventually.那些试验总算初见成效了。

7 stock   

n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货

参考例句：

• The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。

8 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

9 ingredients   

n.（混合物的）组成部分( ingredient的名词复数 )；（烹调的）原料；（构成）要素；因素

参考例句：

• All ingredients are readily available from your local store. 所有的原料都可以方便地从你当地的商店买到。
• We never use second quality ingredients to build building. 我们决不使用次等材料用于建筑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

11 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

12 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

13 excludes   

v.排除，不包括在内( exclude的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Closing the windows excludes street noises. 关窗使街上吵闹的声音不能进来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This figure includes the liquid component but excludes the intercellular cement. 这个数值包括类脂物成份在内，但不包括细胞间粒接剂。 来自辞典例句