篇 16
New York May Never Win Its War on Rats
Video of rats scampering across a New York City restaurant floor may have disturbed viewers worldwide but some experts say the rodents are less dangerous than other creatures drawn to restaurants — humans.
The video broadcast on television a week ago showed rats running wild at a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant just one day after the outlet had passed a city Health Department inspection.
It took a bite out of the share price of parent netpany Yum Brands Inc. and forced a city Health Department shake-up that removed the inspector who conducted the review from duty and led to 13 more restaurant closures on Thursday.
The owner of the KFC/Taco Bell franchise, ADF Companies, has closed 10 of its restaurants until they pass inspections, and the city closed three other restaurants because of unsanitary conditions or mice, the Health Department said.
Yum Brands on Friday hired an urban pest control expert to review standards at its New York City restaurants.
The Health Department warned that greater threats to public health include restaurant employees who fail to wash their hands or food stored at improper temperatures. One epidemiologist agreed. Still, the incident reinforces New York’s reputation of having a more severe rat problem than other big cities.
New York’s crowded quarters force restaurants to store trash indoors until it can be collected, providing rats with an indoor food source. In addition, New York’s real estate boom means construction is pervasive, scattering rats to a wider geographic area.
篇 17
Beauty Industry
With a bit of “physical preparation” — artificial breast implants, a nose job and a little trimming of fat from the hips — you too can aspire to be Miss World. So says Venezuela’s latest candidate for the world beauty contest. Andreina Prieto admitted that were it not for the help of cosmetic surgery, she probably would not have made the line-up. The raven-haired 19-year-old was chosen from among 40 other contestants to represent the South American country at the Miss World netpetition in South Africa. Prieto, wearing a blue bikini, told reporters that prior to entering the netpetition, she had three separate operations: one to improve the shape of her nose, a liposuction to remove fat from her hips and breast implants. “If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t be here,” she said. She displayed a brilliant smile, but did not say if that too was the result of surgery. Oil-rich Venezuela takes the beauty industry very seriously and has gained a reputation as a “factory” of international beauty contest winners. Venezuelan women have won five Miss World titles and four Miss Universe crowns. A private netpany, the Miss Venezuela Organization, specializes in preparing candidates for the Miss World and Miss Universe contests, and spends around $72,000 on each contender, in clothes, diets and, of course, cosmetic surgery.
篇 18
Population Growth
The growth of population during the past few centuries is no proof that population will continue to grow straight upward toward infinity and doom. On the contrary, demographic history offers evidence that population growth has not been at all constant. According to paleoecologist Edward Deevey, the past million years show three momentous changes. The first, a rapid increase in population around one million B. C., followed the innovations of tool-making and tool-using. But when the new power from the use of tools has been exploited, the rate of world population growth fell and became almost stable.
The next rapid jump in population started perhaps 10,000 years ago, when mankind began to keep herds, plow and plant the earth. Once again when initial productivity gains had been absorbed, the rate of population growth abated.
These two episodes suggest that the third great change, the present rapid growth, which began in the West between 250 and 350 years ago, may also slow down when, or if , technology begins to yield fewer innovations. Of course, the current knowledge revolution may continue without foreseeable end. Either way — contrary to popular belief in constant geometric growth — population can be expected in the long run to adjust to productivity. And when one takes this view, population growth is seen to represent economic progress and human triumph rather than social failure.
篇 19
Food and Health
The food we eat seems to have a profound impact on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has, at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to diet and forty percent of cancer is related to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more prone to contract certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. That food is related to illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, government researchers realized that nitrates and nitrites, netmonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic additives remain in our food, and it benetes more difficult all the time to know which things in the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and poultry, and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cows. Sometimes similar drugs are administered to animals not for medicinal purposes, but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.
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