British Vision Issue 48 校园健康饮食门可罗雀

(Healthy food)are proving so unpopular in some parts of the country. There is a warning that some catering¹ services are in danger of collapse². 60 percent of English secondary schools who responded to a BBC survey reported a fall in the number of pupils wanting cooked meals. Now our correspondent Collette McBeth is at Chater High School in Ipswich for us. How is it looking there then Collette?

Well, this was supposed to be the beginning of the school dinner's revolution. Out with fatty foods like chips and chicken nuggets, more things like chili³ vegetable pasta we can see on the menu here. But now that these healthy meals are on sale, many school caterers are asking exactly how many pupils want to eat them.

Lunch time at Barr's Hill School in Coventry and there is a new healthier menu to choose from. This was one of the first secondary schools this term to adopt the government's new guidelines limiting the amount of fried and fatty food. Good news you may think but the canteen here has seen a fall in demand. Some children are simply choosing to eat elsewhere.

I go out of school for meals here because I don't like healthy foods and I prefer chocolate and crisps.

I think I'd rather have a packed lunch because I can have anything I want and I know that I will actually eat it.

And it seems to be the same picture in many parts of the country. The BBC spoke⁵ to 59 of the 150 local authorities across England. Almost 60 percent of them said the number of children opting⁶ for school meals had fallen since last year. In Scotland too, the latest figures show a small drop in the number of secondary school pupils eating school meals. While in Wales, Denbighshire has become the first local authority to say its whole school meal service is under threat. Some local authorities say the changes were rushed in too quickly and even blame the so-called Jamie Oliver effect. His campaign may have got the government's attention but it seems many children remain unconvinced.

I think the government have got it wrong in as much as they did not give the caterers enough time to do this. They have not given the manufactures enough time to actually get the products needed to comply with the regulations and to actually give enough information to schools and to pupils about why we are doing it.

School food campaigners say there were always going to be teething problems and parents need to do more to encourage children to swap⁷ their chips and fizzy drinks for a healthier diet.

So there are many possible explanations for this downturn. Jamie Oliver, who spearheaded the campaign, says that the government still aren't giving enough money. They have pledged 220 million over the next 3 years. But when you take that down to each individual kitchen like this one, and each individual pupil, it amounts to very little. The other reason is this may have all happened too quickly. Some campaigners say if you and I as parents were to swap the baked beans, for say, mung beans on the kitchen table, we too would meet with some resistance, and that's exactly what's happening in schools. Back to you.


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VOCABULARY
1.nugget n. a small round piece of some types of food: chicken nuggets
2.chili also chile or chilli n. pl. chilies⁸ also chiles or chilis or chillies
(1). any of various pungent⁹ peppers related to the tomato. (2). a thick sauce of meat and chilies.
3. pasta n.[it]: 1.a paste in processed form (as macaroni) or in the form of fresh dough¹⁰ (as ravioli). 2. a dish of cooked pasta.
4. opt⁴ v. to make a choice; esp: to decide in favor of something
5. downturn n. a downward turn especially in economic activity.
6. spearhead n. a leading force, element, or influence.
spearhead v.

1 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

4 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

7 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

8 chilies   

n.红辣椒( chili的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some people like to harvest the plants, when the chilies are green. 一些人喜欢在辣椒长成绿色的时候就采摘。 来自互联网
• Sprinkle with scallions and sliced chilies and served hot. 洒上葱粒、辣椒丝，趁热上桌。 来自互联网

9 pungent   

adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a pungent style.文章写得泼辣。
• Its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hideouts.它的刺激性气味会令恐怖分子窒息，迫使他们从藏身地点逃脱出来。

10 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。