The common Chinese greeting of “Ni chi le ma?” may soon be replaced by a new greeting: “Have you cleaned your plate?”
Over the Spring Festival holiday there was a big effort to get people to curb their habit of ordering too much food in restaurants because a lot of that food ended up being wasted. Holiday eaters were urged to “clean their plates” and were asked to take leftover food home in “doggy bags.”
The impetus behind the campaign was the startling government statistic that over 200 billion yuan is spent every year on food that ends up in the garbage bin. And in the midst of all this waste, statistics show that 128 million people are living below the poverty line and going hungry.
The “clean your plate” campaign is part of a worldwide effort to stop precious food from being wasted. The United Nations estimates that $1trillion (yes, that’s a very big number) worth of food is wasted each year. Most of that is lost during food production and transportation, but a significant percentage is attributed to waste by consumers. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has launched a campaign called “Think. Eat. Save.” to make people aware of the problem.
Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is an ambassador for UNEP and she encouraged people to upload pictures of their “clean plates” to show their support for the program. Thousands of people responded and demonstrated that they had a clear conscience to go along with their full stomachs.
Xi Jinping, the incoming Chinese president, is also urging people to be less wasteful and he told Party members to cut back on extravagant holiday banquets and to be more careful when spending the people’s money.
For some, though, Xi Jinping’s and Fan Bingbing’s admonitions don’t go far enough. Yuan Longping, an agricultural scientist, caused a stir by saying that wasting food should be treated as a crime. (Jail time for leftover chicken feet!?)
If not a crime, wasting food is certainly a sin and it goes against what Xi Jinping calls, “the Chinese tradition of being diligent and thrifty.” Having a “clean plate” is just a traditional and responsible thing to do.
小题1:Which statement is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A．Over 200 billion yuan is wasted every year on food around China.
B．It’s quite common for Chinese people to order more food than they need in restaurants.
C．It’s universally acknowledged that wasting food is a crime.
D．Fan did something to promote people’s awareness of saving food.小题2:What’ the best title for the passage?
A．Food is important.
B．Have you cleaned your plate?
C．Jail time for leftover chicken feet!?
D．Wasting food is crime.
小题1:C
小题2:B
题目分析：本文叙述了现在国家提倡节约，提出了光盘行动，文中有数字明确指出，由于每年浪费的食物中国有2000亿元，而有些人却生活在贫困线下，联合国也做了估计每年浪费了大约上万亿美元的钱，所以足以引起全社会的人的注意。因此提出浪费就是一种犯罪。
小题1:这是细节理解题。根据The “clean your plate” campaign is part of a worldwide effort to stop precious food from being wasted. 如果人们都意识到浪费是犯罪的话，就没有必要搞这种光盘战役了，故选C。
小题2:这是标题归纳题。根据“Have you cleaned your plate?”和 Having a “clean plate” is just a traditional and responsible thing to do. 可知应选B。
点评：文章标题是文章的点睛之笔。标题归纳题在英语阅读理解题中属深层理解题，它要求考生在通读全文的基础上，准确把握文章大意及作者的写作意图。一般说来，标题应该具有概括性、针对性、简洁性三个突出特点。其中概括性，是指标题应最大程度地覆盖全文，囊括文章的主要内容，体现文章的主题；针对性，是指标题的含义要直接指向文章的主要特点；而简洁性，则是指标题应言简意赅，能吸引读者的注意力，并唤起读者对文章的阅读兴趣等。