首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Mexico Puts Its Children on a Diet Mexico puts its schoolchildren on a diet at the beginning of the year. But as often happe
Mexico Puts Its Children on a Diet Mexico puts its schoolchildren on a diet at the beginning of the year. But as often happe
admin
2012-06-20
64
问题
Mexico Puts Its Children on a Diet
Mexico puts its schoolchildren on a diet at the beginning of the year. But as often happens with New Year’s resolutions, there are many ways to cheat. Here is some of what is allowed for sale in schools under new guidelines that are intended to combat childhood obesity: lollipops, potato and corn chips in multiple guises (外观), and cookies complemented by marshmallow or chocolate filling.
But the message is getting through, sort of. Portions verge on the miniature (小型); sugar is limited; the chips are baked, not fried; and soft drinks are banned in elementary schools.
"My doctor told me that I had to drink water to look after my health," said Santiago Daniel Torres, a bulky 14-year-old. Gone are the grease-drenched sandwiches and fried pork rinds that he used to buy. "They banned them," he said as classmates wandered by clutching foil packets of cookies and chips. "More water, that’s better."
By all measures, Mexico is one of the fattest countries in the world, and the obesity starts early. One in three children is overweight or obese, according to the government. So the nation’s health and education officials stepped in last year to limit what schools could sell at recess.
The officials quickly became snared (诱使......上当) in a web of special interests led by Mexico’s powerful snack food companies, which found support from regulators in the Ministry of the Economy. The result was a knot of rules that went into effect on Jan. 1.
"What’s left is a regulatory Frankenstein," said Alejandro Calvillo, Mexico’s most vocal opponent of junk food, particularly soft drinks, in the schools. "They are surrendering a captive market to the companies to generate consumers at a young age. "
Mexican officials argue that the new rules are successful, even though parts of the original proposal have been relaxed. "We managed to do the most important things, which was to pull out the soft drinks and to get the composition of foods changed," said Dr. Jose Angel Cordova, Mexico’s health minister. He estimates that one-third of Mexico’s health care spending goes to fight diseases related to obesity.
The snack food companies’ concerns may go beyond their sales in Mexican schools, Dr. Cordova said. If Mexico sets a precedent, he said, other governments may follow. "We had to negotiate and negotiate, and it suddenly got complicated," Dr. Cordova said. "They tried to drag out the timing until finally we just imposed and we applied the rules."
The education minister, Alonso Lujambio, said the new rules had removed 90 percent of fried foods from schools. "That is a very aggressive change," he said. But he stopped short at a suggestion that all junk food should be banned from schools. "The central issue is to educate children to exercise moderation in what they eat and emphasize healthier products," Mr. Lujambio said.
It is a high-minded approach at odds with the scene during a recent recess period at a downtown Mexico City middle school.
When the bell rang at 10:50 a. m. , children streamed onto a tiny patio, where Marisela Beltran was selling chicken sandwiches. Mindful of the new guidelines, Ms. Beltran has been experimenting with healthier foods, bringing oranges and once offering a salad of chopped nuts, raisins, lettuce and apples. It was not a popular offering, said her nephew Francisco Peralta, who sells the school’s packaged snack food.
"When we bring things like that to the patio, they attack me in there," he said gesturing at his closetlike store, where cookies, bran bars and juices were displayed on wooden shelves.
The food companies, including multinationals in Europe and the United States, say their new portfolio of school snacks are evidence that they are committed to combating the problem. But they also complain that they are forced to compete with street vendors (小贩) who gather outside school gates to sell inexpensive junk food to children as they head home.
"It isn’t an issue of just a moment; it is many moments in many days," said Luis Rene Martinez Souverveille, director of corporate affairs for Grupo Bimbo, a Mexican baked goods and snack company that owns several brands in the United States, including Entenmann’s.
Industry officials argue that they are easy targets. "I think in some sense this is a very difficult problem, and the population, society, wants to have a magic wand and wants to blame somebody for something that at the end of the day is related to personal responsibility and personal lifestyles," said Jaime Zabludovsky, the executive president of ConMexico, the consumer products trade association.
Difficult as the problem may be, at least one school principal has found a simple solution. The snack food salesmen "come knocking at the door, and we just say no," said the principal, Maria Teresa Zamorano.
Since she took over at Estado de Quintana Roo Elementary School in a working-class neighborhood of Mexico City in August, Ms. Zamorano has remade the recess menu.
On one day recently, there was a hot meal of rice and tortillas, prickly (多刺的) pear leaves with eggs and onions, and squash with soft white cheese. Her students could choose among fresh cucumber, jicama, watermelon slices and cooked corn kernels. For dessert, there were popsicles and miniature cups of gelatin.
"The most important thing is that the children learn for themselves, that they talk to their parents themselves," Ms. Zamorano said.
It seems to be working at her school. Veronica Cruz Hernandez now sends her 6-year-old daughter, Fatima, to class with a packed lunch of a ham sandwich, sliced mango, cucumber sticks and water. No more soft drinks. "She doesn’t want to be fat like me," Ms. Cruz said.
At the end of the school day, the children poured out of the gates onto a narrow street cluttered with vendors selling candy, chips, nachos and ice cream. Many bought a snack for the walk home. Still, they have not forgotten the lessons from school.
"Almost all of the girls eat fruit," said Leticia Garcia Gutierrez, 11. Then she added: "Sometimes we eat candy. But that’s because we’re kids."
Why are Ms. Beltran’s chicken sandwiches healthier?
选项
A、Because she provides fruits and vegetables.
B、Because she provides cookies and juice.
C、Because she provides chips and bran bars.
D、Because she provides chocolate and lollipops.
答案
A
解析
细节推断题。由定位句可知,Beltr6n女士通过提供橙子和蔬菜水果沙拉使得自己的三明治更为健康,由此可得出答案为A)。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/WMf7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
A、Sheholdsthatonedollarforeachyearoftheageisfarfromenough.B、Shebelievesthatchildrenshouldbegivenmorethan
Childrennowenjoy______(更好的医疗服务)thanbefore.
Infact,thegapbetweenchildrenandtheirparentsisnotsowide______.(我们想像的)
MostAmericansstartschoolattheageoffivewhentheyenter【B1】______Childrendonotreallystudyatthistime.Theyonly【B2】
MostAmericansstartschoolattheageoffivewhentheyenter【B1】______Childrendonotreallystudyatthistime.Theyonly【B2】
MostAmericansstartschoolattheageoffivewhentheyenter【B1】______Childrendonotreallystudyatthistime.Theyonly【B2】
ThevastmajorityofchildreninBritain(87%)attendstate(localauthority)schoolswhichprovide【S1】______educationfromtheage
随机试题
有“辛凉轻剂”之称的方药是
根据《城市规划编制办法》,编制城市规划,应当坚持()的原则。
背景资料:某公司承接一座城市跨河桥A标,为上、下行分离的两幅桥,上部结构为现浇预应力混凝土连续箱梁结构,跨径为70m+120m+70m。建设中的轻轨交通工程B标高架桥在A标两幅桥梁中间修建,结构形式为现浇变截面预应力混凝土连续箱梁,跨径为87.5
设备在闲置过程中,由于自然力的作用而腐蚀,或由于管理不善和缺乏必要的维护而自然丧失精度和工作能力的磨损属于()。
证券市场的形成主要归因于()。Ⅰ.股份制的发展Ⅱ.信用制度的发展Ⅲ.宏观调控的需要Ⅳ.社会化大生产和商品经济的发展
根据我国《民事诉讼法》的规定,下列不属于人民法院专属管辖的是:
行政法律关系是指由行政法律规范所调整的国家行政机关在行政管理活动中所发生的国家行政机关同其他主体之间的权利义务关系,是由行政机关行使国家行政权力而与其管理对象所发生的社会关系。其中积极行政法律关系是指为实现国家行政职能,兴办各种事业、管理各种行政事务而与有
互联网新的运营模式不断出现,技术发展______,这对版权保护也提出了更多挑战。从当前的司法实践来看,各地法院对网络运营商的责任认定也常常存在差异。著作权法的立法宗旨是“尊重智慧,鼓励创作和传播”,这在网络时代也应该______。填入画横线部分最恰当的一
截至2017年底,我国共有30个省(区、市)投产了747个生物质发电项目,并网装机容量1476.2万千瓦(不含自备电厂),年发电量794.5亿千瓦时。其中农林生物质发电项目271个,累计并网装机700.9万千瓦,年发电量397.3亿千瓦时;生活垃圾焚烧发电
Millionsofteenagersareindangerofputtingtheirhealthatriskbygettinghookedone-cigarettes,expertswarn.Leadinghea
最新回复
(
0
)