2006年VOA标准英语-Food and Drug Administration Says Restaura

By Crystal Park
Washington, DC
07 June 2006
 
watch FDA Obesity¹ report

A new report released by theU.S. Food and Drug Administration, the F.D.A., says restaurants should be doing more to help Americans fight what has been described as a national obesity epidemic². Although the government cannot regulate what the restaurants serve, the report has several suggestions the F.D.A. thinks restaurants should follow.

---------------------------------------------------

  
  

The federal government says 64 percent of Americans are overweight and 30 percent are obese³. That has prompted the Food and Drug Administration, the F.D.A., to issue a report urging restaurants to help control obesity.

The report claims that Americans get one-third of their daily calories outside the home. F.D.A.  Acting⁴ Commissioner⁵ Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach said, "Foods away from home are an important part of our dietary intake⁶, and we need to begin to think how we're going to manage that effectively."

Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach   
  
The F.D.A. suggests several ways. At the top of the list is reducing portion size. The report also says restaurants should offer more low-calorie options on their menus. 

 
Fast food
  
Some fast-food chains now feature a variety of salads and other more healthful food choices, which consumers can substitute for French fries and soft drinks. The F.D.A. also calls on restaurants to promote these lower-calorie foods. 

Steven Anderson  
  
Perhaps most controversially, the F.D.A. is asking restaurants to provide calorie information. Steven Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Association, says that is an expensive and unrealistic task. "If you go into a sandwich place and you order a sandwich, and you have 15 different choices to put between two slices of bread, you have 1.3 trillion possible combinations that you'd have to nutritionally label,” he said. “I think that shows how impractical⁷ that recommendation is.”
 
The restaurant industry says both consumers and restaurants have a responsibility for healthful eating.

"At the end of the day, this is all about personal responsibility that we all have to take for our own diet and our own health,” Anderson said. “I think restaurants do a good job and I think have an obligation to provide choices to people, and we've been doing that in greater and greater numbers."
 
The report said the work needed to calculate the calorie content for one item could cost $100. An entire menu could cost up to $46,000

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

3 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

6 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

7 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。