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  3. On July 16th at least 23 children in the Indian state of Bihar died after eating a midday meal that was provided for free by the

On July 16th at least 23 children in the Indian state of Bihar died after eating a midday meal that was provided for free by the

admin2016-10-15  53
问题     On July 16th at least 23 children in the Indian state of Bihar died after eating a midday meal that was provided for free by their school. Nearly as many are in critical condition in a local hospital. Tests have revealed that adulterated cooking oil, perhaps containing pesticides, is likely to blame. A government inquiry has determined that the principal of the school, who is in hiding, must be held responsible for the bad ingredients or unsafe methods used in preparing these meals.
    This event is horrific, without a doubt. Yet its damage could be even worse, if it raises too many doubts about the value of a largely successful program. The midday-meal scheme, which began on a small scale decades earlier, received the support of India’s Supreme Court in 2001. Since then most Indian states have adopted it, offering free meals to children in state-run or state-assisted schools. More than 120m children, including many who would otherwise go hungry, receive these meals every school day.
    According to a recent analysis by Farzana Afridi of Syracuse University and the Delhi School of Economics, at a cost of three cents per child per school day, the scheme "reduced the daily protein deficiency of a primary-school student by 100% , the calorie deficiency by almost 30% and the daily iron deficiency by nearly 10%. " Ms Afridi also found that, after controlling for all other factors, the meals scheme has boosted the school attendance of girls by 12%. Abhijeet Singh of Oxford University found that, in some parts of India where children were born during a drought, the health of those who had been brought into the meals scheme before the age of six was compensated for earlier nutritional deficits.
    What the disaster in Bihar has done, at the very least, is to highlight some of the pitfalls of the scheme. As with any programme of this size in a country rife with corruption, the meals scheme is riddled with problems. The corruptible state is not alone in funding the programme; it is joined by private companies and NGOs. Corruption exists not just among state entities but among the supporting agencies too, as was demonstrated in 2006 when a Delhi NGO was caught dipping into rice that was meant for midday meals. In the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where the levels of malnutrition are among the highest in the country, it was found that only three-fourths of the food meant for children reached them. Food is often stolen by the administrators’ faking their students’ attendance. Beyond that, reports of adulteration—not only with shoddy or unsafe foodstuffs, but including finding worms, lizards and snakes—are common.
    Next month, the Indian government will be voting on a food security bill which aims to provide food to 60% of the entire population, by means of a public distribution system. This one school’s tragedy comes at an especially crucial moment, when officials ought to be forced to inspect the leaky pipeline of distribution. At the same time it will be important to bear in mind: This scheme has done a lot more good than harm.
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that
选项 A、the advantages of the food security bill which aims to provide food to 60% of the entire population will outweigh its disadvantages
B、the food security bill which aims to provide food to 60% of the entire population will pass by a large majority
C、the distribution system of this food security program which aims to provide food to 60% of the entire population were corrupt
D、the food security bill which aims to provide food to 60% of the entire population will not pass due to its leaky pipeline of distribution
答案A
解析 本题考查考生对最后一段内容的理解。最后一段引入了一个新的话题——旨在向全部人口的60%提供食物的食品安全法案。这一项目与全文所述的印度午餐计划有着类似之处，既有好的一面，也有存在的问题。作者指出应该对这一项目存在的问题进行检查，但是要记住，这个计划，功远大于过。这最后一句话非常重要，亮明了作者的态度，就是说，这个计划和之前讨论的午餐计划一样存在种种问题，但是更应该看到的是它带来的好处，因此[A]是正确答案。[B]属于过度推断，作者显然是希望这一法案得以通过，但是并不能得知绝大多数人都会支持并通过．[C]也属于过度推断，文章提到的午餐计划存在着食物供给系统腐败的问题，因此官员们也不得不对这一旨在向全部人口的60％提供食物的食品安全项目的食物供给系统进行检查，这并不能说明这一食物供给系统是腐败的；[D]也属于过度推断，食物供给渠道的疏漏并不能推出这一计划将不会被通过。
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