Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
If you' re someone who has turned to snacking on junk food more in the pandemic (大流行病), you' re not alone. Investigative reporter Michael Moss says processed food is engineered to hook you, not unlike alcohol, cigarettes, or other harmful substances. His 2013 book, Salt Sugar Fat, explored food companies' aggressive marketing of those products and their impact on our health. In his new book, Hooked, Moss updates the food giants' efforts to keep us eating what they serve, and how they' re responding to complaints from consumers and health advocates.
Processed food is inexpensive, it's legal, and it's everywhere. Companies' advertising is cueing us to remember those products and we want those products constantly. So the food environment is one of those key things that makes food even more problematic for so many people. Memory, nostalgia (怀旧) in particular, plays a big role in the foods we crave. Soda companies discovered that if they put a soda in the hands of a child when they' re at a ball game with their parents, that soda will forever be associated with that joyous moment. Later in life, when that child wants to experience a joyous moment, they' re going to think of soda. Many people seek comfort in the snacks they remember from childhood.
Moss examines the way companies capitalize on our memories, cravings and brain chemistry to keep us snacking.
One of the reasons I came to think that some of these food products are even more powerful, more troublesome than drugs can be is memory. What we eat is all about memory. And we begin forming memories for food at a really early age. And we keep those memories for a lifetime. Knowing this, the food industry spends lots of time trying to shape the memories that we have for their products. One of the features of addiction that scientists studying drug addiction discovered back in the 1990s was that the faster a substance hits the brain, the more apt we are as a result to act impulsively. There's nothing faster than food in its ability to hit the brain. For Moss, this puts the notion of“fast food” in an entirely new light as this isn't limited to fast food chains—almost 90% of food products in grocery stores are processed foods. Everything in the industry is about speed, from manufacturing to packaging.
Overall, Moss outlines the industry's dependence on making their products inexpensive, super delicious, and incredibly convenient for consumers. Now that more and more people care about what they put in their bodies and are wanting to eat healthier, these companies are finding it really difficult to meet that new demand because of their own addiction to making these convenience foods.
46. In what way does Michael Moss think processed food is comparable to alcohol and cigarettes?
A) They are all addictive.
B) They are all necessary evils.
C) They are all engineered to be enjoyed.
D) They are all in increasingly great demand.
47. What does the author say plays a key role in the foods we crave?
A) The food environment.
B) Aggressive marketing.
C) Convenience.
D) Memory.
48. What do food companies do to capitalize on consumers' association with their food products?
A) They strive to influence how consumers remember their products.
B) They attempt to use consumers' long-term memories to promote addiction.
C) They try to exploit consumers' memories for their products as early as possible.
D) They endeavor to find what consumers remember about their products.
49. How does the food industry operate from manufacturing to packaging, according to Moss?
A) Placing the idea of fast food in an entirely new light.
B) Setting no limit to the number of fast food chains.
C) Focusing on how quickly the work is done.
D) Prioritizing the quality of their products.
50. Why are companies finding it difficult to satisfy consumers' demand for healthier food products?
A) They think speed of production outweighs consumers' health.
B) They believe their industry would perish without fast foods.
C) They have to strike a balance between taste and nutrition.
D) They are hooked on manufacturing convenience foods.
答案解析：
46. 由题干定位到第一段。文中提到Michael Moss说加工食品被设计用来吸引人，就像酒精、香烟或其他有害物质一样，意味着它们都容易让人上瘾，所以选A。
47. 由题干中的关键词“plays a key role in the foods we crave”定位到第二段。文中提到“Memory, nostalgia (怀旧) in particular, plays a big role in the foods we crave.”，即记忆尤其是怀旧在我们渴望的食物中起着重要作用，所以选D。
48. 由题干中的关键词“capitalize on consumers' association with their food products”定位到第三段。文中提到“Knowing this, the food industry spends lots of time trying to shape the memories that we have for their products.”，即食品行业花大量时间试图塑造我们对他们产品的记忆，也就是努力影响消费者对他们产品的记忆，所以选A。
49. 由题干定位到第三段。文中提到“Everything in the industry is about speed, from manufacturing to packaging.”，即从生产到包装，行业里的一切都与速度有关，所以选C。
50. 由题干定位到最后一段。文中提到“these companies are finding it really difficult to meet that new demand because of their own addiction to making these convenience foods.”，即这些公司发现很难满足新需求是因为他们自己沉迷于制造这些方便食品，所以选D。
