Like most of us, I try to be mindful of food that goes to waste. The arugula (芝麻菜) was to make a nice green salad, rounding out a roast chicken dinner. But I ended up working late. Then friends called with a dinner invitation. I stuck the chicken in the freezer. But as days passed, the arugula went bad. Even worse, I had unthinkingly bought way too much; I could have made six salads with what I threw out.
像大多数人一样，我尽量不浪费食物。芝麻菜原本是要做成一份美味的绿色沙拉，搭配烤鸡晚餐。但是我工作到很晚。然后朋友打电话邀请我吃晚餐。我把鸡冷冻起来了。但是随着时间的推移，芝麻菜变坏了。更糟糕的是，我买得太多，根本可以做六份沙拉，而我扔掉了很多。

In a world where nearly 800 million people a year go hungry, “food waste goes against the moral grain,” as Elizabeth Royte writes in this month’s cover story. It’s jaw-dropping how much perfectly good food is thrown away - from “ugly” (but quite eatable) vegetables rejected by grocers to large amounts of uneaten dishes thrown into restaurant garbage cans.
在一个有近8亿人一年挨饿的世界里，“食物浪费违背了道德准则”，正如伊丽莎白·罗伊特在本月的封面报道中所写的那样。令人瞠目结舌的是，有多少完全可以吃的食物被扔掉 - 从杂货店拒绝的“丑陋”（但相当可以吃的）蔬菜到餐馆垃圾桶中丢弃的大量未食用的菜肴。

Producing food that no one eats wastes the water, fuel, and other resources used to grow it. That makes food waste an environmental problem. In fact, Royte writes, “if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world.”
生产食物却无人食用浪费了用于种植的水、燃料和其他资源。这使得食物浪费成为一个环境问题。事实上，罗伊特写道：“如果食物浪费是一个国家，它将是世界上第三大产生温室气体的国家。”

If that’s hard to understand, let’s keep it as simple as the arugula at the back of my refrigerator. Mike Curtin sees my arugula story all the time - but for him, it’s more like 12 boxes of donated strawberries nearing their last days. Curtin is CEO of DC Central Kitchen in Washington. D.C., which recovers food and turns it into healthy meals. Last year it recovered more than 807,500 pounds of food by taking donations and collecting blemished (有瑕疵的) produce that otherwise would have rotted in fields. And the strawberries? Volunteers will wash, cut, and freeze or dry them for use in meals down the road.
如果这个难以理解，那么就简单点，就像我冰箱后面的芝麻菜一样简单。迈克·科廷经常看到我的芝麻菜故事 - 但对他来说，他更像是看到了12盒快要过期的草莓。科廷是华盛顿特区中央厨房的首席执行官，他们回收食物并将其制成健康餐。去年，他们通过接受捐赠和收集有瑕疵的农产品，回收了超过80.75万磅的食物，这些食物本来会在田地里腐烂。至于那些草莓？志愿者们将清洗、切割、冷冻或晒干它们，以备将来用在餐食中。

Such methods seem obvious, yer so often we just don’t think. “Everyone can play a part in reducing waste, whether by not purchasing more food than necessary in your weekly shopping or by asking restaurants to not include the side dish you won’t eat.” Curtin says.
这样的方法看起来显而易见，但我们往往没有意识到。“每个人都可以在减少浪费方面发挥作用，无论是在每周购物时不购买比必需更多的食物，还是在要求餐馆不要搭配你不吃的配菜。”Curtin表示。

1. What does the author want to show by telling the arugula story?
   A. We pay little attention to food waste.
   B. We waste food unintentionally at times.
   C. We waste more vegetables than meat.
   D. We have good reasons for wasting food.
   答案：B

2. What is a consequence of food waste according to the text?
   A. Moral decline.
   B. Environmental harm.
   C. Energy shortage.
   D. Worldwide starvation.
   答案：B

3. What does Curtin’s company do?
   A. It produces kitchen equipment.
   B. It turns rotten arugula into clean fuel.
   C. It helps local farmers grow fruits.
   D. It makes meals out of unwanted food.
   答案：D

4. What does Curtin suggest people do?
   A. Buy only what is needed.
   B. Reduce food consumption.
   C. Go shopping once a week.
   D. Eat in restaurants less often.
   答案：A