Listening
& Language Activity - NPR (4.16 min)
PART 1: Listen
to the news story and answer whether the following statements are true or
false.
2)Lots
of people would pay considerably for good aparagus or spinach.
1)People
would be surprised to learn that healthier foods are not as expensive as they
think.
2)Lots
of people would pay considerably for good aparagus or spinach.
3)
Robert Williams tries to save money on groceries.
4)Most
people consider fruits and vegetables are expensive.
5) In
a study, economist Andrea Carlson discovered the cost of healthy food is about
as much as the cost of items high in sugar and fat that Americans routinely
eat.
6)Laura
Seman, a nutrition educator, says Robert can save money by buying the most
expensive turkey.
7)Seman
explains that a bag of lettuce is a good investment in the end.
8)The
reporter still thinks that getting a healthier cart makes you spend more money.
PART 2 : Expressing ideas
Read the complete dialog and choose a word from the
boxes below to write in the blanks. The missing words are divided in two
groups: from blanks 1 to 11 and from 12 to 22. When you finish, listen again to check your work.
1-11
think
assumes
translates
impression
conclusions thinking
agree says
analyzed
jumps compared
|
12-22
thought
catches find
becomes skeptical
recommended teaches
question tips
know happen
|
OK. That's what's on TV. What's for dinner? When
we're deciding what to eat, many of us have this (1)
........................ that healthier foods are often more
expensive. Well, a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has
(2)........................the costs of several thousand healthy and unhealthy
foods. And their (3)............................. could come as a surprise.
Here's NPR's Allison Aubrey.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Lots of us don't
(4).................................twice about reaching into our pocketbooks
every morning for the few bucks it takes to sustain a morning coffee habit. But
when we get into the grocery store and see asparagus at $3 a pound or a huge
bag of spinach for $4, we think, ah, the cost of produce is really high. Robert
Williams is familiar with this (5).......................................
ROBERT WILLIAMS: Exactly, I would definitely
(6)...........................that I will spend 6 bucks on a latte, but the
produce, too expensive.
AUBREY: Williams is single and 20-something, and he
(7)............................. in the grocery store, he gravitates towards
what he thinks are the best deals.
WILLIAMS: Like for me, I'm trying to race up and
down here before a big crowd gets in here. I'm just grabbing stuff. And again,
like I said, the most, the cheapest thing was the thing that
(8)...............................out at me, if anything.
AUBREY: Williams has no fresh produce in his cart
except for bananas, and he, like many of us,
(9)....................................... that lots of fruits and
vegetables will break the bank.
But economist Andrea Carlson, who is one of the
authors of the new report, says this is not necessarily the case. She analyzed
the costs of some 4,000 different items, in different ways. Not just in terms
of individual package price or price per calorie, but how that (10)
............................ into what ends up on your plate. She
(11).............................. the costs of sugary and fat-laden items that
Americans routinely eat with the costs of healthier foods, and the results were
clear.
ANDREA CARLSON: We
(12)............................. that fruits and vegetables, especially
vegetables, come out much less expensive than the less healthy food such as
potato chips, a lot of the ready-to-eat cereals or anything that has a lot of
fat in it - cookies and pies.
AUBREY: A lot of you are probably
(13)................................... But, let's see how this plays out with
our shopper Robert Williams. We'll take two examples.
And for a little help with we've brought in Laura
Seman. She a nutrition educator with the group Share Our Strength. She helps
direct a program called Cooking Matters that
(14)....................................... people how to shop for both value
and good nutrition.
LAURA SEMAN: It's complicated.
AUBREY: She
(15)................................ up with Robert and takes a quick
look in his cart...which makes him a little nervous.
WILLIAMS: I live by myself and I don't cook a lot,
so...
AUBREY: But she has (16)....................................
on how to get good deals on healthy food. Now the economists' study found that
some of the most affordable sources of protein tend to be legumes, such as
lentils and black beans. But lean meat can be a good option too, if you
(17)............................ what to look for.
SEMAN: So I just want to ask you a
(18).................................. We have here two different types of
ground turkey.
We have ground turkey that's 93 percent lean.
AUBREY: One costs $4.50 per package. And right next
to it, a more expensive option, six bucks for 99 percent lean turkey.
SEMAN: So, if you were to buy one of these, which
one would you buy?
WILLIAMS: The five dollar one.
SEMAN: Why is that?
WILLIAMS: Just most likely the price itself. I'd
just grab that one just to save a buck or two.
AUBREY: But wait a second. The cheaper one is
fattier, it's going to shrink down when you cook it.
SEMAN: Have you ever seen that
(19)..................................?
WILLIAMS: Oh yeah.
SEMAN: Yeah. So your meat shrinks down, whereas,
and when you take this meat and you cook it in the skillet, it's not going to
shrink down as much, right, because you're not melting that fat away.
AUBREY: So by buying the fattier grade, you're
really not saving anything at all.
WILLIAMS: Never
(20).................................... about it that way, really never
thought about it that way, but yeah, good point there.
AUBREY: The next example takes us to the produce
aisle.
SEMAN: We're standing in front of all of the bagged
lettuces.
AUBREY: Picking up a big $4 bag of greens, Semen
says think how many servings you can get out of this.
SEMAN: A portion of lettuce is about a couple of
cups.
AUBREY: Eat that much and the bag's not even a
third of the way gone. But you've consumed lots of vitamins and nutrients.
SEMAN: When you look at it that way, then actually,
lettuce (21)..................................... a lot more affordable.
AUBREY: Currently the typical American spends only
one-fifth of their food budget on fresh fruits and vegetables, compared to the
40 percent that's (22) ................................ What this report
shows is that with some strategic shopping, it's possible to get a healthier
cart without spending any more money.
Allison
Aubrey, NPR News.
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