BBC Take Away English (Who needs sugar? 我们才不稀罕甜食呢！)

不管你是不是甜品爱好者，都无法避免摄入日常饮食中所含的糖分。这是因为很多食物和饮料是含糖的。尽管人们都知道过度摄入糖类有害健康，但这并没有阻止一些人大量且无节制地吃甜食，从而患上肥胖、糖尿病和龋齿等疾病。那么，对食品征收 “糖税 sugar tax” 能否扼制人们购买甜食或甜饮料的欲望呢？

sugar

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article

There's no doubt that I have a sweet tooth – I crave cakes and biscuits and could happily finish off a bar of chocolate in minutes. I'm sure I'm not alone, the sweet sugary taste is addictive but the big question is, is it bad for me? I think I know the answer!

Sugar is everywhere. Even if sweet stuff isn't your thing it's hard to avoid. In the UK, we consume over two million tonnes of sugar every year but often we don’t know we’re eating it. There have been many health campaigns, telling us about the dangers of consuming too much sugar and we have probably learnt that it should be eaten in moderation but we may be unaware of the added sugar we consume that's found in the food and drink we think of as healthy or savoury, such as low-fat yoghurt and sauces.

The obvious negative effect of eating sugar is on our dental health – tooth decay is a big problem in children, partly caused by drinking too many sugary drinks. Public Health England claims a child in England has a tooth removed in hospital every 10 minutes due to preventable decay. But even if you can escape the dentist's drill, there are more worrying negative effects - repeatedly eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain and even obesity, leading to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and liver disease.

So what can we do to cut down on our sugar intake? Well, there are low-sugar recipes you can try and apparently there are alternative foods to help us beat the sweet cravings. But potentially the most effective method is to tax the sugar we consume. It's what several countries have been doing for a while and the UK has recently jumped on the bandwagon, by forcing manufacturers to pay a levy on the high-sugar drinks they sell. It's up to the manufacturers if they pass the cost on to consumers.

But will it work? University of Bedfordshire nutrition expert Dr Daniel Bailey told BBC Online that: "The increase in tax placed on soft drinks will make products more expensive, but will this actually discourage people from buying them?" Maybe if you're addicted to the stuff, you'd accept paying more to buy it. But in the UK at least, several soft drinks companies have already reduced the sugar content of their products to avoid the tax.

Obviously it's better to do something rather than nothing to help improve the well-being of everyone. But with so many temptations out there, I'm not sure how easy it will be to cure my sweet tooth.

vocabulary

There is no doubt that... 毫无疑问地...
sweet tooth 对甜食的渴望、喜爱
crave 渴求 sweet craving 甜食渴求症
consume（正式）消耗，大量地吃
health campaign 健康宣传活动
in moderation 适度
savoury 咸的

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alternative
adj. 替代的;另类的;备选的;其他的
n. 可供选择的事物

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dental health 牙齿健康
tooth decay 蛀牙，龋齿
preventable 可预防的
obesity 肥胖
diabetes 糖尿病
heart disease 心脏疾病
liver disease 肝病
low-sugar recipe 低糖食谱
jump on the bandwagon [ˈbændwægən] 紧跟潮流
levy 税款 pay a levy on... 交...的税
discourage 打消…的念头 discourage sb. from doing...
soft drink 汽水，软饮料
well-being 幸福安康
be addicted to... 对...上瘾 addictive 上瘾的
temptation 诱惑
cure 治愈

make sentences

1. When I was pregnant I used to crave oranges but now my baby is born, I can't eat them!

2. Some doctors say that drinking red wine in moderation could actually be good for your health.

3. A large levy on alcohol seems to be encouraging people to drink less.

4. Once our class started recycling our water bottles, the rest of the school jumped on the bandwagon and did the same!

5. Despite being an award-winning actor, he resisted the temptation to move to Hollywood.

question

Why have some drinks manufacturers reduced the sugar content in their drinks?

answer

Several soft drinks companies have reduced the sugar content of their products to avoid paying the sugar tax.