英语听力精选进阶版 6377

Victory for the lawyers who took on the big US tobacco companies and won has whet¹ their appetite for more. Now they are challenging the food industry.

About ten years ago, Don Barrett and his colleagues forced the tobacco companies to admit they knew cigarettes were addictive² and pay the medical costs of victims. The settlement cost the industry $200bn.

Now he is among more than a dozen lawyers who have filed cases against some of the US food industry's biggest players.

Mr Barrett's case is that companies are misrepresenting their products, promoting them as "natural" or "healthy", when in fact, he says, they are no such thing.

In an interview with the BBC's Susan Watts³, he says: "People assume that if a product is legal to sell, then these people are telling the truth about this product... that's what they thought about cigarettes."

The lawyer's mission is to make companies stick to the letter of existing laws which, he says, regulators have been too weak to enforce. He says that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has merely been writing warning letters.

Around two thirds of Americans over the age of 20 are now obese⁴ or overweight, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Hidden sugars in processed food, Mr Barrett says, are part of that problem, and mis-labelling is key. He cites one example: yoghurt from a food company which lists "evaporated cane⁵ juice" as an ingredient, a euphemism⁶ for "sugar".

His lawsuits⁷ are class actions, where the class is defined as every person who purchased one of the misbranded products in the previous four years.

"If it cost a dollar and 25 cents, then the customer is entitled to his dollar and 25 cents back," he explains. "And there's a four-year statute⁸ of limitations, so the damages in each of these cases is how much have they sold of this misbranded junk in the last four years."

Barrett claims that some 25% of products are misbranded in the US. So the scale of damages in these casescould easily match the many billions of the tobacco suits.

Quiz 测验

1. What did the US tobacco companies had to admit about a decade ago?

That they knew cigarettes were addictive.

2. Look at the article. What does Mr Barrett say companies do wrong?

The lawyer says that they misrepresent their products when they say that these are 'natural' and 'healthy'.

3. Is the following statement true, false or not given? Two thirds of Americans are now obese or overweight.

False. The data is about Americans over 20 years old and excludes children and teenagers.

4. What expression in the article means the use of a mild word instead of one that could be hurtful, offensive or, in the case in the article, too revealing?

Euphemism.

5. What expression means 'to have the right to' something?

To be entitled to.

Glossary 词汇表

to take on (someone or something) 挑战

to whet (their) appetite 刺激食欲

addictive 上瘾的，使成瘾的

medical costs 医疗费用

a settlement 和解协议

to file 递交

a case 一个案子

a player 一个选手（这里指食品公司）

to misrepresent 误导，歪曲

to assume 认为

legal 合法的

the letter of the law 法律条文

regulator 监管机构

to enforce 执行

to mis-label 贴错标签

an euphemism 委婉语

a lawsuit 诉讼

a class action 集体诉讼

misbranded 贴错标签的

to be entitled to 有权要求

the statute of limitations 诉讼时效

the damages 损失

to claim 声称

1 whet   

v.磨快，刺激

参考例句：

• I've read only the fIrst few pages of her book,but It was enough to whet my appetIte.她的书我只看了开头几页，但已经引起我极大的兴趣。
• A really good catalogue can also whet customers' appetites for merchandise.一份真正好的商品目录也可以激起顾客购买的欲望。

2 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

3 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

4 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

5 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

6 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

7 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

8 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。