The number of people who die as a result of starvation is increasing
every day; People don't always die just because they don't eat; they die because they are so weakened from lack of food that they get ill very easily. Very few people die of measles in Great Britain. Measles is 5 just a childhood disease that most of us experience and shake off in a week or two. For those whose bodies are weakened by starvation, however, measles is a killer. And so are hundreds of other diseases. Last year about 30,000,000 people died of such minor diseases. That's the equivalent of the majority of the population of Great Britain. There 10 can be no doubt that if those people had gotten proper food, many of
tiiem would still be alive today.
Firms in this country are currently spending millions of pounds manufacturing meat. Not meat from cows but completely synthetic, artificial meat. They are making it out of a certain kind of fungus and 15 from other vegetable matter. By adding flavour and other constituents,
this 'meat' is said to be indistinguishable from the meat taken from animals. It has the same protein and other beneficial elements that a pound of steak or chicken contains and we are assured that within a few years we will be eating it as readily as we now eat lamb or beef. 20 A large number of us will be extremely hesitant about this synthetic
foodstuff and therefore, the firms involved will have to spend many more millions on persuading us, through advertising, that we really need the new food. So, by the time the first vegetable sausage sizzles in our frying pans, millions of pounds will have been spent on the 25 research, manufacture and selling of the new product.
If it is true that such meat can be produced, if it is true that it really is as good as the real thing, and if it is going to be cheap, these products should not be directed at those who already have enough food but at those who have none. Let the major firms forget about 30 spending millions trying to persuade us to eat it and use their
marvellous new invention to feed the vast mass of the world's population who have never even seen meat. Haifa loaf of bread is better than none: synthetic meat is better than an occasional handful of rice.
Every year the major agricultural countries of the world produce 35 too much of certain products - the quantity is beyond what is needed
or consumed. Milk, vegetables and the like go off quickly as they cannot be efficiently stored. Modern food technology has presented us with the ability to freeze and to dehydrate (or freeze-dry) food. Could we hot be sensible and make use of this surplus of products by
40 processing them to give them longer life and flying them out to where they are needed?
Those countries which sometimes have too much should make their surplus available in some form to those which have too little. Don't tell me that it would cost too much money. If a tenth of what is spent 45 on advertising, packaging, and distributing food is creamed off and spent on processing it for the starving, we would save a great many lives.
A. Mark the best choice.
1. To shake off (line 5) means .
a) to recover from b) to die of c) to have d) to protect against 2. Line 14, 'fungus' is probably a kind of .
a) meat b) vegetable c) synthetic fiber d) fruit
3. Line 27, 'the real thing' probably refers to . a) synthetic meat D) artificial food
c) natural meat <j) manufactured products
4. Lines 32-33, 'Half a loaf of bread is better, than none' probably means . a) it is better to give the starving people real meat rather than synthetic meat
b) it is better to give the starving people synthetic food rather than no food at all c) half a loaf of bread is better than a handful of rice
d) half a loaf of bread is better than half a pound of synthetic meat 5. Line 43, 'those' refers to .
a) countries b) surplus products c) poor people d) many lives 6. Which statement summarises the first paragraph?
a) Very few people die of measles in the world today. b) 30 million people died of measles last year.
c) More people would survive minor diseases with proper food.
d) A few children in Great Britain die of measles because of poor food. 7. Tne producers of synthetic meat will .
a) supply those who are starving with the surplus of products b) have to spend millions on advertising
c) find it difficult to sell it to those who have never seen meat d) be hesitant about eating it
8. Which of the following states the main idea of the text? .
a) The people in developed countries are not keen on eating synthetic foods. b) More could be done to help the starving people of the world.
c) Synthetic meat has greater nutritional value than lamb or beef. • d) Modern food technology enables us to store food efficiently. B. Mark the statements as True (T) or False (F).
r
1. It would cost less to save the lives of starving people than to persuade people in the West to eat synthetic meat.
2. One tenth of what is spent on advertising, packaging and distributing is spent on helping the starving masses of the world.
3. Surplus food could be processed and sent to poor countries.
4. Modern food technology is being used to make life easier for poor people. 5. Today, the majority of the starving population eat dehydrated food
products.