媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 有好几家大参观和食品服务连锁企业宣布今后将在他们的菜单上标明食品热量卡路里。由于肥胖症在英国越来越严重，所以这种做法的目的是帮助人们更健康地饮食。两年前纽约首先开始了类似做法。

Sixteen companies - including the fast food chains 快餐连锁店 Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, several supermarket cafes and caterers （餐饮）服务企业 serving food 提供食品 in colleges and military barracks 军营, have signed up to 签字 the calorie labelling scheme 标明卡路里的计划. The idea is that people who want to, will now have the information, to choose the healthy option.

Researchers in New York - where calorie labelling was made compulsory 强制性的 - say people regularly underestimate 低估 how many calories, and how much fat, is in their food. And restaurant meals can be misleading 误导的 - hidden salt and sugar, and rich salad dressings 油腻的沙拉酱, can often make a meal that appears to be healthy - far higher in calories than diners 就餐者 expect. That makes it hard for people to know what they're eating - and easy to eat more than you need.

According to the latest figures, a quarter of adults in England are obese 肥胖 - and that worries the British government - as the cost of treating obesity-related 同肥胖症有关的 health problems on the National Health Service 国家医疗服务, is rising. Unlike in New York, however, the British caloriescheme is voluntary 志愿的 - its members are hoping that diners will vote with their forks 就餐者将用他们的餐叉去投票 - and choose to go where they know exactly what they're eating.

• background [´bækgraund]   n.背景；经历；幕后   (初中英语单词)
• scheme [ski:m]   n.计划；阴谋，诡计   (初中英语单词)
• healthy [´helθi]   a.健康的   (初中英语单词)
• restaurant [´restərɔnt]   n.饭店，菜馆   (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n]   hide 的过去分词   (初中英语单词)
• unlike [,ʌn´laik]   a.不同的 prep.不象...   (初中英语单词)
• kentucky [kən´tʌki]   n.肯塔基   (高中英语单词)
• compulsory [kəm´pʌlsəri]   a.强迫的；义务的   (高中英语单词)
• regularly [´regjuləli]   ad.有规律地；经常地   (高中英语单词)
• voluntary [´vɔləntəri]   a.自愿的；义务的   (英语四级单词)
• calorie [´kæləri]   n.卡(热量单位)   (英语六级单词)