Part A   American Kitchens Are a Wasteland of Food

 

 

Vocabulary Preparation:

 

squander    v. to waste (something, especially money or time) in a reckless andfoolish manner 浪费；挥霍（某物，尤指时间或金钱）

checkbook   n. a book of blank checks with a register for recording checks written 支票簿

toss   v. to throw (something) somewhere lightly, easily, orcasually 随意地扔；轻抛

to be on a par to be at the same level or standard 与…平分秋色；与…不分上下

rival   v. to be or seem to be equal or comparable to 与…匹敌；比得上

landfill   n. a place where waste is buried underthe ground 垃圾掩埋地

beat   n. a subject or area of a city that someoneis responsible for as their job负责采访的领域；抢先报道的新闻

 

 

Exercise1: Listen to the news report and get the main idea.

      

What is the main pointof the report?

A.The Dickenses couldn’t manage their daily expense of meals.

B.The Dickenses have the same lifestyle as other American families.

C.American families generally waste a lot of food in their daily meals.

D.Uneaten food is the number one material wasted nowadays.

 

Exercise2: Listen to the news report again and fill in the blanks with the exact wordsor phrases.

 

Diane Sawyer: There is a new headline about   1   is wasted in this country. Here's the big number. 40% of all food, wasted,a lot of it in our own kitchens. So tonight ABC's Amy Robach is back in thekitchen with cameras to show us   2   we're squandering food and a lot ofmoney.

Amy Robach: The Dickenses, like families all over America, are  3   food,filling up garbage cans while emptying their checkbooks.

Amy Robach:   4   your weekly food bill is?

Mrs. Dickens: $300.

Mr. Dickens: All in?

Mrs. Dickens: Probably.

Mr. Dickens: Yeah.

Amy Robach: So you're looking at about $1200 to—

Mrs. Dickens: $1500—

Mr. Dickens: $1400.

Mrs. Dickens: Yeah.

Amy Robach: to $1400, $1500 a month.

Amy Robach: They're part of   5  . Americans today waste   6   fourdecades ago. We followed the Dickenses for an   7   week,grocery shopping, making dinner, to see what they bought, what they used and whatthey threw away. What we found they were buying more than they could eat,throwing away those untouched vegetables,   8   bigportions and tossing what was left on the plate.

Amy Robach: Don't feel bad because this is right   9   therest of America. But you threw out 13 pounds of food in a week.

Mrs. Dickens: Oh, my god.

Mr. Dickens: Oh, my god. I—

Mrs. Dickens: That's pretty ridiculous.

Amy Robach: 4,000 dollars a year they could   10   theirpockets instead of in the trash.

Amy Robach: And the study found that the average family throwsout 20 pounds of food every month. And Diane, this study also found it uneatenfood now rivals paper, plastic, and other trash as the number one materialfound in landfills in this country. That is staggering.

Diane Sawyer: Uneaten food?

Amy Robach: Uneaten food.

Diane Sawyer: All right, Amy, it’s greatto have you on this beat again tonight, thank you.