考研教育网：2011年考研英语二真题总体分析

B部分

文章取自The Observer（观察家报），文章标题为UK doctors declare war on junk food（英医学界号召打击垃圾食品）。选的是大纲中第一种备选题型：多项对应。背景知识：英国两家皇家医学院的院长敦促政府对不健康食物的广告和赞助宣传进行限制。他们建议英国政府对垃圾食品征收“脂肪税”，同时向儿童发出同“吸烟有害健康”同等级的垃圾食物食用警告。

 

 

UK doctors declare war on junk food

 

Leading doctors in Britain will today demand tough government action to curb the nation's addiction to unhealthy food, and so help halt spiralling rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

 

Senior medical figures want to stop fast-food outlets opening near schools, restrict the advertising of products high in fat, salt or sugar and limit sponsorship of sports events by fast-food producers such as McDonald's.

 

They also want "fat taxes" to be imposed on foods that cause the most dietary harm and introduce cigarette-style warnings for schoolchildren about the dangers of a bad diet.

 

Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the consumption of unhealthy food should be seen to be just as damaging as smoking or binge drinking.

 

"Thirty years ago, it would have been inconceivable to have imagined a ban on smoking in the workplace or in pubs, and yet that is what we have now. Are we willing to be just as courageous in respect of obesity? I would suggest that we should be.".

 

Professor Stephenson's comments will reignite the debate over the role of regulation in tackling public health problems.

 

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said last week that "no Government campaign or programme can force people to make healthy choices. We want to free business from the burden of regulation, but we don't want, in doing that, to sacrifice public health outcomes".

 

Mr Lansley has alarmed health campaigners by saying manufacturers of potato crisps and sweets could play a central role in the Change4Life campaign, the centrepiece of government efforts to boost healthy eating and fitness.

 

He has also criticised chef Jamie Oliver's high-profile attempt to improve the quality of school lunches in England as an example of how "lecturing" people was not the best way to change their behaviour.

 

Professor Stephenson suggested potential curbs could include banning TV ads for foods high in fat, salt or sugar before the 9pm watershed and limiting them on billboards or in cinemas.

 

"If we were really bold, we might even begin to think of high-calorie fast food in the same way as cigarettes - by setting stringent limits on advertising, product placement and sponsorship of sports events."

 

Professor Dinesh Bhugra, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: "Some types of processed foods are harmful to the physical, and consequently mental, health of individuals.

 

"There ought to be serious consideration given to banning advertising of certain foods and certain processed foods and to levying tax on fatty, unhealthy foods."

 

He said school pupils needed to be told more about the effects of bad diet. He also urged councils to impose "fast-food free zones" around schools and hospitals.

 

Mr Lansley received unexpected support from Professor Stephenson and Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, who said he was right to stress the importance of personal responsibility, as well as government action, in ending the country's dysfunctional relationship with food.

 

Both strongly criticised parents for setting their children a bad example by overeating, serving poor-quality food and exercising too little.

 

"Parents are role models for their children. It's crucial that they set the tone for what the children eat and their physical activity," said Professor Stephenson.

 

"The fact that one-third of our children are now overweight ... must mean their parents are allowing them to eat excessive amounts of food and not ensuring they take enough exercise."

 

Professor Field, a family doctor in Birmingham, said: "Too many parents show too little responsibility in the vital business of passing on good eating and drinking habits to their children."

 

A Health Department spokesperson said: "We need to create a new vision for public health where all of society works together to get healthy and live longer. This includes creating a new 'responsibility deal' with business, built on social responsibility, not state regulation."

 

 

第三部分：英译汉

文章取自New Statesmen（新政治家），原文标题为The green IT myth，作者为Jason Stamper。出题者在原文基础上稍作了改写。涉及的还是热点环境问题，在难度上与2010年持平。

 

 

The green IT myth

Who would have thought that, globally, the IT industry produces about the same volume of greenhouse gases as the world's airlines do - roughly 2 per cent of all CO2 emissions?

 

　　Many everyday tasks take a surprising toll on the environment. A Google search can leak between 0.2 and 7.0 grams of CO2, depending on how many attempts are needed to get the "right" answer. At the upper end of the scale, two searches create roughly the same emissions as boiling a kettle.

　　To deliver results to its users quickly, Google has to maintain vast data centres around the world, packed with powerful computers. As well as producing large quantities of CO2, these computers emit a great deal of heat, so the centres need to be well air-conditioned - which uses even more energy.

 

　　However, Google and other big tech providers such as BT, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon monitor their efficiency closely and make improvements. (Google claims to be more efficient than most.) Recently, industry and government agencies from the US, Europe and Japan reached an agreement, orchestrated by the Green Grid, an American industry consortium, on how to benchmark the energy efficiency of data centres. Monitoring is the first step on the road to reduction, but there's much more to be done, and not just by big companies.

 

　　Simple things - such as turning devices off when they are not in use - can help to reduce the impact of our love affair with all things digital. Research from the National Energy Foundation in the UK found that nearly 20 per cent of workers don't turn their PCs off at the end of the day, wasting 1.5 billion kWh of electricity per year - which equates to the annual CO2 produced by 200,000 small family cars.

 

　　Technology could have a huge role to play in reducing energy consumption - just think of the number of car and bus journeys saved by something as simple as online banking. But the sector must still work harder to get its own house in order.

 

　　Jason Stamper is NS technology correspondent and editor of Computer Business Review.