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
After World War Ⅱ the glorification of an ever-larger GNP formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligation for all Japanese governments, businesses and trade unions. Anyone who mentioned the undesirable by-products of rapid economic growth was treated as a heretic. Consequently, everything possible was done to make conditions easy for the manufacturers. Few dared question the wisdom of discharging untreated waste into the nearest water body or untreated smoke into the atmosphere. This silence was maintained by union leaders as well as by most of the country's radicals; except for a few isolated voices, no one protested. An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would have necessitated expenditures on treatment equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs. Obviously, this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods, and ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP.
The pursuit of nothing but economic growth is illustrated by the response of the Japanese government to the American educational mission that visited Japan in 1947. After surveying Japan's educational program, the Americans suggested that the Japanese fill in their curriculum gap by creating departments in chemical and sanitary engineering. Immediately, chemical engineering departments were established in all the country's universities and technical institutions. In contrast, the recommendation to form. sanitary engineering departments was more or less ignored, because they could bring no profit. By 1960, only two second-rate universities, Kyoto and Hokkaido, were interested enough to open such departments.
The reluctance to divert funds from production to conservation is explanation enough for a certain degree of pollution, but the situation was made worse by the type of technology the Japanese chose to adopt for their industrial expansion. For the most part, they simply copied American industrial methods. This meant that methods originally designed for use in a country that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific with lots of air and water to use as sewage receptacles were adopted for an area a fraction of the size. Moreover, the Japanese diet was much more dependent on water as a source of fish and as an input in the irrigation of rice; consequently discharged wastes built up much more rapidly, in the food chain.
Notes: heretic 异教徒。sanitary 卫生的。for the most part 基本上。receptacle 储存地。
According to the text, no measures were resorted to in environmental protection after World War Ⅱ in Japan because _____.
A．they were reckoned to be unnecessary.
B．they would check economic development.
C．no one was much interested in them.
D．pollution was held as inevitable at that time.
The increase in international business and in foreign investment has created a need for executives with knowledge of foreign languages and skills in cross-cultural communication. Americans, however, have not been well trained in either area and, consequently, have not enjoyed the same level of success in negotiation in an international arena as have their foreign counterparts.
Negotiating is the process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching an agreement. It involves persuasion and compromise, but in order to participate in either one, the negotiators must understand the ways in which people are persuaded and how compromise is reached within the culture of the negotiation.
In many international business negotiations abroad, Americans are perceived as wealthy and impersonal. It often appears to the foreign negotiator that the American represents a large multi-million-dollar corporation that can afford to pay the price without bargaining further. The American negotiator's role becomes that of an impersonal supplier of information and cash.
In studies of American negotiators abroad, several traits have been identified that may serve to confirm this stereotypical perception, while undermining the negotiator's position. Two traits in particular that cause cross-cultural misunderst anding are directness and impatience on the part of the American negotiator. Furthermore, American negotiators often insist on realizing short-term goals. Foreign negotiators, on the other hand, may value the relationship established between negotiators and may be willing to invest time in it for long-term benefits. In order to solidify the relationship, they may opt for indirect interactions without regard for the time involved in getting to know the other negotiator.
Clearly, perceptions and differences in values affect the outcomes of negotiations and the success of negotiators. For Americans to play a more effective role in international business negotiations, they must put forth more effort to improve cross-cultural understanding.
(1) What kind of manager is needed in present international business and foreign investment？
A、The man who represents a large multi-million-dollar corporation.
B、The man with knowledge of foreign languages and skills in cross-cultural communication.
C、The man who is wealthy and impersonal.
D、The man who can negotiate with his foreign counterparts.
(2) According to the passage, international business negotiation involves.
A、short-term goals
B、long-term benefits
C、information and cash
D、persuasion and compromise
(3) In the foreign negotiators’eyes their American counterparts are.
A、impersonal suppliers of information and cash
B、skillful in negotiation
C、good at establishing relationship between negotiators
D、indirect and impatient
(4) Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage？
A、Foreign negotiators are willing to invest time in relationship between negotiators.
B、American negotiator's directness and impatience cause cross-cultural misunderstanding.
C、Americans has played a more effective role in international business negotiations.
D、Foreign negotiators think that American can afford to pay the price without bargaining
(5) What is the topic of this passage？
A、The differences between American negotiators and foreign negotiators
B、Negotiation skills
C、International business and cross-cultural communication
D、Cross-cultural understanding
