Vegetarianism|就『素』最好

by Owen Mckimm

Could you eliminate meat from your diet?

Succulent sausages, juicy steaks, and tender chicken legsould you give all these tasty treats up? More and more people in the US are doing just that. There are millions more vegetarians in the US now than there were a decade ago, and the number just keeps _(1)_. Why have so many made the _(2)_ from being carnivores to veggies?

The biggest reason is an increasing objection to killing animals. More than half a million animals are killed for meat every hour in the US alone, and many people consider this _(3)_ and wasteful. Facebook's creator and one of vegetarianism's latest converts, Mark Zuckerberg, has recently _(4)_ to eat only animals that he's killed himself in order to show new respect for animal life.

Since the world is going _(5)_, vegetarians have become the new poster children for saving the environment. Land that is used for farming sheep and cows now could be used far more _(6)_ to grow important crops like wheat. It is _(7)_ that the meat industry produces even more greenhouse gases than all the traffic in the world combined.

While giving up meat may be good news for the planet, can the same be said for the people who _(8)_ cut meat from their diets? According to most medical studies, the answer is yes. Vegetarians enjoy healthier hearts, a lower _(9)_ of cancer and diabetes, and lower cholesterol. In fact, former world-class athlete Carl Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals in track and field, claims that his best year of _(10)_ went hand in hand with his decision to start eating a vegan diet. One thing is for certainhen World Vegetarian Day comes around on October 1, there will be more people advocating going veggie than ever before.

(A) cruel   (B) risk    (C) green   (D) leap    (E) competing

(F) completely  (G) pledged (H) growing (I) estimated   (J) productively

就『素』最好

你有办法将肉类从饮食中剔除吗？

　　美味的香肠、多汁的牛排和软嫩的鸡腿──你能放弃这所有的美食吗？越来越多美国人正这么做。美国现在的素食者比 10 年前多了数百万名，而且人数还持续增加。为何有这么多人要从肉食者转成素食者？

　　最主要的原因是杀害动物的反对声浪不断升高。光在美国，每小时就有超过 50 万头牲畜被宰杀成为盘中飧，许多人认为这既残忍又浪费。Facebook的创办人、同时也是最近投向素食主义怀抱的马克‧查克博格，近日承诺他只会食用自己宰杀的动物，藉以表达对动物生命有别以往的尊重态度。

　　由于全世界越来越注重环保，素食者俨然成为拯救环境的新典范。把现在用来养殖牛羊的土地拿来种植像是小麦等重要作物，可以生产更多的粮食。据估计，肉品产业所制造的二氧化碳，比全世界运输业二氧化碳的总排放量高出许多。

　　虽然放弃吃肉对地球可能是件好事，但对于将肉类彻底从饮食中剔除的人来说也同样具有益处吗？根据大部分的医学研究，答案是肯定的。素食者的心脏较为健康，罹患癌症和糖尿病的机率较低，且体内的胆固醇也较低。事实上，前世界顶尖运动员、赢得 9 面奥运田径项目金牌的卡尔‧刘易斯宣称，他最具竞争力的黄金时期和他开始严守素食饮食的决定密切相关。可以确定的是，随着 10 月 1 日『世界素食日』的到来，会有比以往为数更多的人提倡素食主义。

答案：  1. (H)  2. (D)  3. (A)  4. (G)  5 . (C)

6. (J)  7. (I)  8. (F)  9. (B)  10. (E)

Facebook创办人马克‧查克博格每年都为自己订下自我挑战的目标，继前年学中文、去年每日打领带后，今年的挑战是只吃亲手宰杀动物的肉，令自己吃得更负责任。由于饮食习惯改变了，查克博格现在基本上成了素食者，但他强调自己不反对吃肉，只是他在吃肉前，须清楚知道那只被宰的动物来自何处，并由他下手宰杀。

他接受美国《财富》杂志访问时说：『很多人已忘记，你能吃肉，是因为有生物为你而死。所以我的挑战目标，是令自己不要忘记这一点，并为所拥有的一切感恩。每日都吃着好东西，很容易令我们感到理所当然。』

令查克博格有这项挑战念头的，是去年他家中一次朋友聚会。当时食物中包括一只烧猪，他的朋友都说，他们爱吃猪，却不会去想那只猪原本是活生生的。他听到后觉得这种想法不负责任，启发了他决定只吃自己宰杀的动物。（数据源：苹果日报）