365个英语简短小故事-95. No Doughnuts for Old Folks

In New York, the residents at a senior center have been receiving free doughnuts and other baked goods for years. The sweets are donated by bakeries and other shops that have leftovers¹ that are not quite fresh enough to sell. The seniors devour² the sweets. But the city council has decided³ that these sweets are no good for the seniors. It just passed a law forbidding free day-old sweets for the senior center.

“We want our seniors to live as long as possible, and these sweets can only contribute to obesity⁴. With obesity come high blood pressure, circulation problems, and diabetes⁵. So we are doing this for their own good,” said Karl Rove, a city council member.

The senior citizens are having none of this. They immediately called Rove and other council members to protest this ban. “Who are these people to tell us what to eat?” asked Doug Fairbanks, a resident at the center. “I’ll bet every one of them has a doughnut several times a week. Where do they get this attitude? They act like they are our parents.

“Instead, they are elected officials who are supposed to do the will of the people. And there isn’t one person in this senior center who has complained about the free doughnuts. If they’re concerned about seniors, are they going to prohibit all the seniors in the whole town from eating doughnuts? They can’t just pick on us if they’re interested in the health of all seniors.

“People get a little bit of power and it goes straight to their heads. We are starting a petition to recall all the council members who voted for this law.”

 

1 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

2 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

5 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。