“Sugar, alcohol and tobacco,” economist Adani Smith once wrote, “are commodities which are nowhere
necessaries of life, which have become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are, there¬fore, extremely popular subjects of taxation.”
Two and a half centuries on, most countries impose some sort of tax on alcohol and tobacco. With surging obesity levels putting increasing strain on public health systems, governments around the world have begun to toy with the idea of taxing sugar as well.
Whether such taxes work is a matter of debate. A preliminary review of Mexico’s taxation found a fall in purchases of taxed drinks as well as a rise in sales of untaxed and healthier drinks. By contrast, a Danish tax on foods high in fats was abandoned a year after its introduction, amid claims that con¬sumers were avoiding it by crossing the border to Germany to satisfy their desire for cheaper, fattier fare.
The food industry has, in general, been firmly opposed to such direct government action. Nonethe¬less, the renewed focus on waistlines means that industry groups are under pressure to demonstrate their products are healthy as well as tasty.
Over the past three decades, the industry has made some efforts to improve the quality of its offerings. For example, some drink manufacturers have cut the amount of sugar in their beverages.
Many of the reductions over the past 30 years have been achieved either by reducing the amount of sugar, salt or fat in a product, or by finding an alternative ingredient. More recently, however, some companies have been investing money in a more ambitious undertaking: learning how to adjust the fundamental make-up of the food they sell. For example, having salt on the outside, but none on the inside, reduces the salt content without changing the taste.
While reformulating recipes (配方)is one way to improve public health, it should be part of a multi¬sided approach. The key is to remember that there is not just one solution. To deal with obesity, a mixture of approaches—including reformulation, taxation and adjusting portion sizes—will be needed. There is no silver bullet.
What did Adam Smith say about sugar, alcohol and tobacco?
Why have many countries started to consider taxing sugar?
What do we learn about Danish taxation on fat-rich foods?
What is the more recent effort by food companies to make foods and drinks both healthy and tasty?
What does the author mean by saying, at the end of the passage, “There is no silver bullet” (Line 4,Para. 7)?
问题1选项
A.They were profitable to manufacture.
B.They were in ever-increasing demand.
C.They were subject to taxation almost everywhere.
D.They were no longer considered necessities of life.
问题2选项
A.They are under growing pressure to balance their national budgets.
B.They find it ever harder to cope with sugar-induced health problems.
C.The practice of taxing alcohol and tobacco has proved both popular and profitable.
D.The sugar industry is overtaking alcohol and tobacco business in generating profits.
问题3选项
A.It did not work out as well as was expected.
B.It gave rise to a lot of problems on the border.
C.It could not succeed without German cooperation.
D.It met with firm opposition from the food industry.
问题4选项
A.Replacing sugar or salt with alternative ingredients.
B.Setting a limit on the amount of sugar or salt in their products.
C.Investing in research to find ways to adapt to consumers’ needs.
D.Adjusting the physical composition of their products.
问题5选项
A.There is no single easy quick solution to the problem.
B.There is no hope of success without public cooperation.
C.There is no hurry in finding ways to solve the obesity problem.
D.There is no effective way to reduce people’s sugar consumption.
第1题:C
第2题:B
第3题:A
第4题:D
第5题:A
【定位】根据题干中的人名Adam Smith和sugar, alcohol and tobacco定位至第1段。
【解析】题目询问Adam Smith对糖烟酒的看法。文章一开始便引用Adam的话说到糖烟酒的特点，最后提到它们是税收的主要对象(extremely popular subjects of taxation)。 C项中的be subject to指“遭受到...”，subject to taxation指“遭到征税”，对文中的subjects of taxation“征税的对象”作了词性转换，表达意思一致，而选项中almost every where对应文章中的extremely popular，故可以判断C项为答案。
【定位】根据题干中的taxing sugar定位至第2段第2句。
【解析】题干中的 many countries (have) started to consider taxing sugar 与策 2 段末的 begun to toy with the idea of taxing sugar对应(toy with the idea of...指“漫不经心地考虑某事”)，故其原因应往前面找。句中的With之后的内容指出了原因：人们肥胖程度的不断上升(surging obesity levels)，公共卫生体系的压力越来越大(increasing strain) 。B项“他们发现越来越难处理糖分引起的健康问题”中的harder to cope with对应政府需应对的上升压力，sugar-induced health problem则对应文中提到的肥胖问题，B 项是对With之后内容的总结，故为答案。
【定位】根据题干中的Danish taxation定位至第3段第3句。
【解析】题目询问丹麦对高脂食物征税的情况。第3段谈到税收能否取得成效存在争议，第一个墨西哥的例子是正面的例子，第二个丹麦的例子则是反面的例子：丹麦推出了 一项对脂肪含量高的食品征税的条款，可 是在一年后就废弃了(Danish tax on foods high in fats was abandoned a year after...)，原因是消费者为了躲避征税，跑到了德国，可见A项“它不如预料的那样好”正确。
【定位】根据题干中的more recent、food companies和healthy and tasty定位至第4段和第6段。
【解析】注意题目询问的是more recent的情况。题干中的make foods and drinks both healthy and tasty 与第 4 段末的 demonstrate their products are healthy as well as tasty 对应，文章之后提到不同 的措施，而答案应在第6段第2句的More recently之后的内容中。该部分提到某些公司采取的措施是学习如何调整他们所销售食物的基本成分(fundamental make-up),随后举出只将食盐抹在食物表层并减少含盐量的例子加以说明。D项“调整产品的物理成分”中的physical composition对应文章的fundamental make-up,为答案。
【定位】直接定位到文章最后一句。
【解析】题目询问There is no silver bullet的含义在后一段，作者多次表明提高公众健康并不是只有一种方法(not just one solution),而是需要多种办法(multi-sided approach、a mixture of approaches)，由此可以推测，There is no silver bullet应该对应A项“并没有一个单一的快速解决方法” 。silver bullet是常用的一个习语，意思是“(解决问题的)快速方法，高招”。
