A
Cleaning your plate may not help feed hungry children today, but the old advice of mothers everywhere may help reduce food waste from the farm to the fork, help the environment and make it easier to feed the world's growing population.
Hard data is still being collected, but experts in Chicago say about 30% to 50% of the food produced in the world goes uneaten. The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month—about $40 worth, which means each person throws away almost 400 pounds of food every year. The US Department of Agriculture says that 23% of eggs and an even higher rate of produce end up in the trash(垃圾).
“We forget we have all these fresh fruit—and vegetables, and at the end of the week we have to throw them away,” said Esther Gove, a mother of three young children in South Berwick, Maine. “Now, I don't buy as much fresh produce as I used to.”
But the effect of food waste arrives far beyond the kitchen. Agriculture (农业) is the world's largest user of water, a big consumer of energy and major emitter of greenhouse gases during production. Experts say reducing waste is a simple way to cut stress on the environment and can ease pressure on farmers, who will be called on to feed an expected 9 billion people around the world in 2050, compared with about 7 billion today.
No matter how sustainable (可持续的) farming is, if the food's not getting eaten, it's not sustainable and it's not a good use of our resources. In richer nations, fruit and vegetables end up in the trash because they aren't pretty enough to meet companies' standards, and have gone bad in a home refrigerator or aren't eaten at a restaurant. In developing countries, much food goes wrong before it gets to the market because of poor roads and lack of refrigeration. High food prices are another reason, because some people can't afford the food that's produced.
1.From the first paragraph. we know that cleaning your plate ________.
A.is your mother's best advice for you
B.can help solve certain problems in the world
C.can help feed hungry children all over the world
D.helps meet the growing population's needs
2.The underlined word “emitter” in Paragraph 4 means “________”.
A.user B.finder
C.protector D.producer
3.Which of the following topics may follow the text?
A.More examples of food waste.
B.Ways to reduce food waste.
C.Experts' ideas on the environment.
D.Advice for food with high prices.