【英语趣味课堂】警告标语-Warning Labels

Matthew: So these days there are warning labels on everything from CDs to cigarettes to fast food, everything. What do you think about that? Should people be warned all the time about everything or do they need to not really have that warning on it?

Kat: I think nowadays they are really overdoing² it. People are not little children and you don't need to warn them of everything. An intelligent person should be aware that fast food isn't healthy.

 

Matthew: But even though fast food isn't healthy so many people consume it and they know that it's unhealthy, putting a warning on it might change their minds at least a little bit.

 

Kat: I don't think that's going to work. Just putting a warning label on it didn't work out too well with cigarettes did it?

 

Matthew: I think it has. I think that there's many countries where they have increased the warning labels, the size of it, the degree of it, with some countries they even have pictures of horrible looking teeth and nasty³ lungs cut open and deformities on babies, I think those sorts of things actually do help. But I don't like those. Those are a little bit over the edge, a little bit too far. But I don't know, for example, when you go to McDonalds or you go to a fast food restaurant and you order a hamburger, wouldn't you like to know how much, how many calories you're ordering at one time rather than getting two or three hamburgers and then it turns out ooops there's two thousand calories right there?

 

Kat: I think the calorie information is important and should be printed on things, but a warning label like this burger might kill you I think that's a bit over the top.

 

Matthew: What about things other than calories? There are certain nutritional⁴ information that could be very damaging to you such as cholesterol⁵ levels or too much sodium⁶, too much salt but do you think that should at least be on there?

 

Kat: I think there should be a differentiation⁷ between warning labels and nutritional information. I think there is a difference.

 

Matthew: Then which one are you for? Do you think that, I can understand you saying warning labels are taking it too far and I can understand you eat this burger and you're going to die is a little bit too far but do you think having the nutritional information on it is a good solution?

 

Kat: I think having the nutritional information on it is a very good idea. People should be better informed about this.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

warned

 

Should people be warned all the time about everything?

 

When we warn someone, that means we tell them about a problem or possible danger. Notice the following:

 

There was almost no warning before the tsunami⁸ hit.

He was warned about coming to work late.

overdoing it

 

I think nowadays they are really overdoing it.

 

To overdo¹ something means to do too much. Notice the following:

 

I understand their anger, but I thought they were overdoing it.

Oh, stop overdoing it!

consume

 

Even though fast food isn't healthy so many people consume it.

 

Here, to consume means to eat or drink something. Notice the following:

 

Americans consume a lot of junk food.

The doctor told me to consume less sugar.

deformity

 

They even have pictures of horrible looking teeth and nasty lungs cut open and deformities on babies.

 

A deformity is when a part of the body does not develop in a normal way. Notice the following:

 

The surgeon skillfully repaired the deformity.

He was born with a slight deformity to his left foot.

nutritional information

 

I think there should be a differentiation between warning labels and nutritional information.

 

Nutritional information tells us the ingredients in the food we eat. Notice the following:

 

I never read the nutritional information.

Nutritional information must be printed on all food containers.

1 overdo   

vt.把...做得过头，演得过火

参考例句：

• Do not overdo your privilege of reproving me.不要过分使用责备我的特权。
• The taxi drivers' association is urging its members,who can work as many hours as they want,not to overdo it.出租车司机协会劝告那些工作时长不受限制的会员不要疲劳驾驶。

2 overdoing   

v.做得过分( overdo的现在分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度

参考例句：

• He's been overdoing things recently. 近来他做事过分努力。 来自辞典例句
• You think I've been overdoing it with the work thing? 你认为我对工作的关注太过分了吗？ 来自电影对白

3 nasty   

adj.令人讨厌的，困难的，恶劣的，下流的

参考例句：

• She got a nasty knock on the head when she fell.她跌倒时头部受到严重碰撞。
• When this material burns，it flings off a nasty smell.这种物质燃烧时发出一股难闻的气味。

4 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

5 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

6 sodium   

n.（化）钠

参考例句：

• Out over the town the sodium lights were lit.在外面，全城的钠光灯都亮了。
• Common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.食盐是钠和氯的复合物。

7 differentiation   

n.区别，区分

参考例句：

• There can be no differentiation without contrast. 有比较才有差别。
• The operation that is the inverse of differentiation is called integration. 与微分相反的运算叫做积分。

8 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。