【正文】 1 Text 1. Do we need extra vitamins? Many people believe that taking vitamin supplements is the best safeguard against the dangers of an inplete diet, but this should be ①a last resort ( 最后手段 )rather than a way out of a problem. Even if there is a genuine need for extra vitamins, then sooner or later the question arises which ones do I need, how much of them, and how often? There is really no simple answer to this question. The Food Standards Committee (guardians② 保護(hù)者 of our laws on food purity, labelling and advertising clams and descriptions) suggest in their recent report to the government that we do not need any extra vitamins. They say that they are not necessary for a healthy individual eating a normal diet. Whilst few of us would challenge their authority on the subject of nutrition it is, perhaps, pertinent to ask the question how many of us are healthy, and what is a normal diet? There is an element of doubt in many minds about these two aspects and though few people are familiar with the wording of the Food Standards Report they do wonder instinctively if they are eating the right things. The blame for faulty eating habits is often placed at the door of the ubiquitous③ （ a. being everywhere, esp. at the same time 普遍存在的） junk and convenience foods. As we have seen, some of these are not the criminals they are made out to be White bread is only slightly less nutritious than brown bread and frozen vegetables can be almost as fresh as fresh food. There are very few foods which can really be described as pure rubbish. Many prepacked goods contain too much sugar and we would all benefit by avoiding these, but most tinned, processed and dried foods contain useful amounts of fat, protein, carbohydrate④ （ n. 碳水化合物） , vitamins and minerals. The addition of a small amount of fruit or a side salad to convenience foods such as pizzas or hamburgers can turn a snack into a wellbalanced meal. 許多人認(rèn)為，服用維生互補(bǔ)劑是防止出現(xiàn)飲食營養(yǎng)不均衡情況的最好防范辦法，但這是解決這一問題的方法中最不可行的作法。即使真的需要補(bǔ)充維生素，遲早會出現(xiàn) ―我需要哪些維生素？需要多少？多久服一次？ ‖這樣的問題。對于這一問題，確實(shí)沒有簡單的答案。食品標(biāo)準(zhǔn) 委員會（我們在食品純度、標(biāo)識和食品廣告申請、宣傳方面的法律衛(wèi)士）在最近呈送給政府的報(bào)告中建議說，人們不需要補(bǔ)充維生素。他們說，―飲食正常的健康人不需要它們 ‖。盡管我們沒有幾個人對他們在營養(yǎng)方面的權(quán)威有什么異議，但或許會問―我們中多少人是健康的？正常的飲食是什么樣的飲食？ ‖這樣的問題。許多人心里對這兩個問題還有點(diǎn)拿不不準(zhǔn)盡管沒有多少人熟悉食品標(biāo)準(zhǔn)委員會所呈報(bào)告中的措辭，但人們確實(shí)不由得要問，他們的飲食是否合理。不良的飲食習(xí)慣常常歸咎到隨處出售的沒營養(yǎng)的食品和方面食品上。如我們所知，這些食品中的某些食品并不象人 們認(rèn)為的那要間（形成不良飲食習(xí)慣的）罪魁禍?zhǔn)住０酌姘群诿姘皇巧晕⑸倭它c(diǎn)兒營養(yǎng)，而冷凍的蔬菜幾乎和新鮮的食物一樣的 ―新鮮 ‖。真正可以說成是純粹沒有營養(yǎng)的食物是非常少的。許多包裝好的食品含糖太多，避開它們對我們都有好處，多數(shù)罐裝食品、加工食品和烘干食品含有大量的脂肪、蛋白質(zhì)、碳水化合物、維生素和礦物質(zhì)。往方便食品（如比薩餅或漢堡包）上加少許的水果或另外添加一道色拉會把快餐變成搭配均勻的營養(yǎng)餐。 39。Junk39。 food is difficult to define. White sugar is probably the nearest contender⑤（ n. rival, petitor）競爭者，對手 for the title. It contains plenty of calories for energy but not much else, and is often described as an empty calorie food. Alcohol is also high in calories, but beer and wine contain some of the B vitamins 2 and wine is a good source of iron, so even a teetotaler ⑥ （ a person who never drinks alcohol）滴酒不沾的人 could not describe all alcohol as useless, nutritionally speaking. Calories measure the energy we derive from the food we eat, and sugar and alcohol are sometimes described as having a high energy density. There is a limit to the amount of energy we need each day (2,0002,200 calories is the average for women and 2,5003,000 for men) and if we eat too much sugar and alcohol there is no appetite left for the vitaminrich foods we need fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. Buying vitamins can be predicted by psychological as well as nutritional motives and it is prudent to investigate why we think we need them and what benefits we expect from them before we rush off to the health shop to make our purchases. 給真正 ―沒營養(yǎng) ‖食品下定義并不容易。白糖可能是這一頭銜的最有力競爭者。它含有很多提供能量的大卡，但含別的營養(yǎng)不多，因而常常被稱為 ―只含大卡 ‖的食物。酒含大片也很高，但啤酒和果酒含有一些 B 族維生素，而果酒富含鐵質(zhì)。因而從營養(yǎng)角度說，甚至滴酒不沾的人也不能把酒都說成是毫無益處的東西。大卡測量我們吃食物所得到的能量，而糖和酒有時被說成是單位能量高的物質(zhì)。我們每天需要的熱量有一個限度（婦女平均為2020－２２ ００大卡，而男人為２５００－３０００大卡）。如果我們糖或酒用得太多，就留不下胃口去享用我們需要的含 維生閣下高的食物－－魚、肉、水果和蔬菜。具有諷刺意味的是，真正吃 ―沒營養(yǎng) ‖食物可能需要補(bǔ)充維生素的人幾乎從沒想到要補(bǔ)充維生素，而我們這些偶爾吃些食物的人卻覺得我們必須把所有能想到的維生素都用來去補(bǔ)充所缺的營養(yǎng)。購買維生素有的是出于營養(yǎng)方面的動機(jī)，有的是受心理因素的驅(qū)使。要認(rèn)真地考慮一下，我們?yōu)槭裁从X得我們需要維生素，我們希望它們給我們帶來什么益處，然后再跑到營養(yǎng)品商店去購買。 Most of us buy vitamins for one of three reasons. Either we believe that they are prophylactic⑦(a. 預(yù)防性的 ), that is they will ward off advancing ills, or they are therapeutic⑧(a. 治療的 ) and will deal with the ills we have already, or finally we may believe they are wonder drugs and will lift us into a state of super health, with all its attendant⑨ （ a. connected with）伴隨的，有聯(lián)系的 delights. We are protected from some of these wild imaginings by the laws which control advertising but even without false promise we still believe that vitamins will “do us good”. Belief is a very potent state of mind and the power of the placebo（ 10n. 安慰劑） pill is never underestimated in clinical trials used to test new drugs. A placebo is a harmless substance given to one group of patients in the trial and it is similar in taste and appearance to a new drug which is given to a second group of patients. Theoretically the drug should cure or relieve any symptoms and the placebo should have no effect. Often these trials produce surprising results and the placebo group recover as well as the group taking the new drug. This has been explained in the light of modern psychology because many of us react favourably to any kind of interest taken in our problems and derive as much benefit from that as we would from a medical drug. It is a “mind over matter” philosophy and for some of us it works. Vitamin pills can sometimes fall into this category. 我們多數(shù)人是基于三個原因之一購買維生素的。我們要么認(rèn)為維生互具有預(yù)防疾病功能，也就是它們會防止疾病的到來，要么以為它們具有治療功能，會醫(yī)治我們身上的病，或者最后一點(diǎn)，我們可能會認(rèn)為它們是特效藥，會使我們進(jìn)入最佳身體狀態(tài)，并隨之帶給我們各種快樂 。廣告法保護(hù)我們，使我們免受某些這類不切實(shí)際想象的危害。但即使沒有虛假的廣告承諾，我們?nèi)匀徽J(rèn)為對新藥進(jìn)行臨床試驗(yàn)中安慰藥的作用從未被低估過。安慰藥是一種在試驗(yàn)中給一組病人服用的無害物質(zhì)，它在味道和外觀上與給第二組病人服 3 用的新型藥物相似。從理論上講，新型藥物有治療或減輕各種病癥作用，而安慰藥應(yīng)該沒有效果