今天，您的胃安全嗎？

我們生活的世界究竟有多安全？從我們吃進(jìn)口中的食品安全程度就可以略見(jiàn)一二。近年來(lái)，關(guān)于食品安全的討論不絕于耳。瘋牛病、禽流感、毒牛奶、毒豬肉輪番轟炸；三聚氰胺、二惡英這類冷門陌生的化學(xué)名詞也開(kāi)始成為熱點(diǎn)。俗話說(shuō)，民以食為天。今天，我們就一起來(lái)關(guān)注一下這個(gè)“天”大的問(wèn)題！

First we had 1)BSE; then we had 2)Foot and Mouth followed by bird flu， and now there is another food scare—this time involving pigs. Anyone who has bought Irish bacons， sausages or other pork products over the past two months has been told to destroy them amid fears they could be poisoned.

Ireland’s Food Safety Authority is recalling all pork products made in the country since 1st September because super high level of 3)dioxins have been found at 9 farms across Ireland; some are as much as 200 times the recommended amount. And it’s thought it 4)contaminated animal feed， which may be sold to more than 40 farms is to blame.

The main message to consumers is if you have any Irish pork products in your fridges， get rid of them. But don’t panic. The risk here isn’t thought to be great. Dioxins are harmful if you are exposed to them over a long period of time， but as this 5)outbreak only started two months ago， the danger is very slight. Plus the UK gets most of its pork products from countries other than Ireland. So， the amount of affected meat on the market here is minimal.

It’s a different story in Ireland though. Britain may not rely on Irish pork but the UK is still one of Ireland’s biggest customers. Not only that， all bacons， hams， sausages and even things like meat pizzas are having to be destroyed. And it could spell disaster for Ireland’s 400 pig farmers in the 6)run-up to Christmas. Their representatives insist this scare affects less than 10 percent of the products on the market at the moment; and that all meat produced from now on will be perfectly safe. Still， it’s likely to

7)dent consumer confidence on both sides of the Irish Sea at one of the most important times of year for the meat industry.

先是瘋牛病，然后是口蹄疫，緊跟著禽流感，現(xiàn)在又有另外一場(chǎng)食品危機(jī)——這一次，與豬有關(guān)。在過(guò)去兩個(gè)月間購(gòu)買了愛(ài)爾蘭熏肉、香腸或其他豬肉制品的顧客已經(jīng)被告知要徹底銷毀這些豬肉制品，以防中毒。

愛(ài)爾蘭食品安全部門宣布招回9月1號(hào)以后本國(guó)生產(chǎn)的所有豬肉制品，因?yàn)樵趷?ài)爾蘭9個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)中查出豬肉內(nèi)含有超高含量的二惡英（致癌物質(zhì)），有的甚至達(dá)到了推薦含量的200倍。據(jù)悉，賣往超過(guò)40多家農(nóng)場(chǎng)的動(dòng)物飼料受到了污染有可能是這次事件的起因。

對(duì)消費(fèi)者來(lái)說(shuō)，該事件的最主要信息是，如果你冰箱里還有愛(ài)爾蘭豬肉制品，請(qǐng)馬上扔掉它們。但是不必驚慌，這次事件并不會(huì)對(duì)人體構(gòu)成很大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。二惡英需要在體內(nèi)長(zhǎng)期積聚才會(huì)散發(fā)毒性，由于這次事件僅僅發(fā)生在兩個(gè)月前，它對(duì)人體的影響是相當(dāng)輕微的。加上英國(guó)還從除愛(ài)爾蘭之外的多個(gè)國(guó)家進(jìn)口豬肉制品，因此英國(guó)市場(chǎng)上的問(wèn)題豬肉數(shù)量并不多。

但是在愛(ài)爾蘭，情況卻大不一樣。英國(guó)或許可以不依賴于愛(ài)爾蘭的豬肉進(jìn)口，但英國(guó)確是愛(ài)爾蘭豬肉制品市場(chǎng)的最大客戶之一。不僅如此，所有熏肉、火腿、香腸，甚至像肉類比薩這些東西都必須銷毀掉。對(duì)于正在為圣誕來(lái)臨做準(zhǔn)備的全愛(ài)爾蘭400多位農(nóng)場(chǎng)主來(lái)說(shuō)，這可謂災(zāi)難。養(yǎng)豬場(chǎng)代表堅(jiān)稱到目前為止，這次事件受影響的豬肉不到市場(chǎng)的百分之十，而在這之后生產(chǎn)的肉制品將會(huì)百分百安全。然而，在這個(gè)全年最重要的時(shí)刻，愛(ài)爾蘭海峽兩岸的消費(fèi)者對(duì)于肉制品產(chǎn)業(yè)的信心卻依然低下。

Discussion Forum

七嘴八舌討論區(qū)

您如何看待當(dāng)前的食品安全問(wèn)題？

What do you think of current food safety?

Opinion 1

I really don’t care. All food tastes good to me. The more you know， the less you wanna eat. Ignorance is bliss for me. I just enjoy pigging out with my chums at our favorite pizza house.

Tips:

說(shuō)話者一點(diǎn)也不擔(dān)心食物安全問(wèn)題。他認(rèn)為要是人知道得越多，吃得就越少。在他看來(lái)，無(wú)知是一種幸福（Ignorance is bliss for me.）。所以他照樣快樂(lè)地跟好友們（chums）在比薩餅店大吃一頓（pig out）。你認(rèn)同他的觀點(diǎn)嗎？大家都知道豬是貪吃的動(dòng)物，那么俚語(yǔ)pig out意思就是“狼吞虎咽地大吃”。

Opinion 2

I don’t think we should jump to a conclusion before we test the water.I have total trust in our government to fix the problem. I just want to be a good-time Charlie.

Tips:

看來(lái)說(shuō)話者很謹(jǐn)慎，而且很有信心政府能解決問(wèn)題。習(xí)語(yǔ)jump to a conclusion指“跳向一個(gè)結(jié)論”，也就是說(shuō)，沒(méi)有經(jīng)過(guò)仔細(xì)推敲、深思熟慮而草率下結(jié)論。俚語(yǔ)test the water(s)意思是“探索可能采取的行動(dòng)”。說(shuō)話者認(rèn)為在沒(méi)有對(duì)食物安全問(wèn)題調(diào)查清楚之前不要匆匆地下結(jié)論。她只想做個(gè)快樂(lè)的普通人（a good-time Charlie）。

Opinion 3

Boy! What do you think? I guess I am going to be on a diet in order to avoid food safety problems.

For the sake of our health， we should keep our eyes peeled and our fingers crossed when we select our food.

Tips:

感嘆語(yǔ)“我的天?。　庇泻芏啾磉_(dá)方式?！癇oy!”就是其中之一。詞組for the sake of意思是“為了……的利益；為了……起見(jiàn)”，它在口語(yǔ)中很常用。keep one’s eyes peeled就是指“讓眼睛睜開(kāi)”，比喻保持警惕；多加小心。原來(lái)基督教信徒除了會(huì)在胸口劃十字來(lái)祈禱，也會(huì)把手指打成十字（cross one’s fingers）求上帝保佑，喻指“希望好的結(jié)果會(huì)發(fā)生”。說(shuō)話者為了逃避食物安全問(wèn)題打算節(jié)食減肥，她還建議在選擇食物的時(shí)候要多留神，提高警惕。

Opinion 4

I am glad the government is not keeping the problems under their hat.Actually， solutions should be given before the cat is let out of the bag. Otherwise the problems snowball.

Tips:

說(shuō)話者很高興政府沒(méi)有把問(wèn)題隱瞞著（keep something under one’s hat），但解決方法應(yīng)該在問(wèn)題還沒(méi)浮上水面前就得有所交代，否則問(wèn)題只會(huì)像滾雪球（snowball）那樣，越滾越大。習(xí)語(yǔ)let the cat out of the bag意為“泄漏秘密”；相反，keep something under one’s hat就是指“將某物藏在帽子里”，喻指“保守秘密”。

Opinion 5

Well， it’s hard not to be worried. Now whenever I am having my grub， the question will pop into my head， “Is this safe?” Food companies should definitely face the music and the government gotta punish the bad eggs right away.

Tips:

說(shuō)話者在這兒用了好幾個(gè)非?？谡Z(yǔ)化的俚語(yǔ)，“grub”相當(dāng)于“food”；“pop into”相當(dāng)于“appear”；“bad eggs”相當(dāng)于“bad guys”。而face the music字面意思是“面對(duì)樂(lè)器”，喻指“面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)，承擔(dān)后果”。說(shuō)話者每逢吃東西的時(shí)候，都會(huì)擔(dān)心食物的安全問(wèn)題。她認(rèn)為政府要馬上嚴(yán)懲食品行業(yè)里的那些大壞蛋。

Opinion 6

Come on! Don’t make such a fuss. It’s not the end of the world. If something is wrong with the pork， eat something else. In fact， it’s a good time to lose weight as our choices of safe food are limited now. Don’t be a baby!

Tips:

說(shuō)話者很不客氣地批評(píng)了人們過(guò)度緊張的態(tài)度。Don’t make such a fuss.意為“不要這么大驚小怪。”她認(rèn)為既然現(xiàn)在安全的食物少了，便是個(gè)減肥的好時(shí)機(jī)。當(dāng)勸告別人不要像個(gè)孩子那樣發(fā)牢騷時(shí)，就可以說(shuō) Don’t be a baby!

Opinion 7

All I want to say is: be aware， food makers! We will know where the bodies are buried with the aid of advance technology if you continue to put our healthy lives on the back burner. It’s never too late to confront the problem and prevent it from happening again.

Tips:

說(shuō)話者在這里對(duì)食品制造商提出了警告，指出如果食物制造商繼續(xù)把人們的生命健康擱置在一邊（put sth. on the back burner），人們可以利用先進(jìn)的技術(shù)知道內(nèi)情（know where the bodies are buried）。習(xí)語(yǔ)know where the bodies are buried字面意思是“知道尸體埋在哪里”，喻指“知道內(nèi)情，了解內(nèi)幕”。句式It’s never too late to do sth.就是指“做某事永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)太晚”。

Opinion 8

I am licking my chops to experience an unpolluted life. Global warming， contaminated environment and now poisonous food， what’s next? The government ought to go all out to rebuild our customers’ confidence.

Tips:

說(shuō)話者似乎對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)有點(diǎn)失望了。全球變暖、環(huán)境污染，還有現(xiàn)在的有毒食品，下一個(gè)壞消息將會(huì)是什么呢？因此說(shuō)話者切盼（lick one’s chops）體驗(yàn)無(wú)污染的生活，并且認(rèn)為政府應(yīng)當(dāng)全力以赴（go all out）重振消費(fèi)者的信心。