[問題]考古題 1995年8月 reading Q22-Q30

[molecular]

幾個問題想要請教
Are organically grown foods the best food choices?The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and marketed food products are now being debated. Advocates of organic foods ----- a term whose meaning varies greatly --- frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more nutritious than others.

The growing interest of consumers in the safety and nutritional quality of the typical North American diet is a welcome development. However, much of this in(1)terest (2)has been sparked by sweeping claims that the food supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional needs. Although most of these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, (3)the preponderance of written material advancing such claims makes it difficult for the general public to separate fact from fiction. As a result, claims that eating a diet consisting entirely of organically grown foods prevents or cures disease or provides other benefits to health have become widely publicized and form the basis for folklore.

Almost daily the public is besieged by claims for "no-aging" diets, new vitamins, and other wonder foods. There are numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural vitamins are superior to synthetic ones, that fertilized eggs are nutritionally superior to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better than fumigated grains, and the like.

One thing that most organically grown food products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown foods. But in many cases consumers are mislead if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. (4)So there is real cause for concern if consumers, particularly those with limited incomes,distrust the regular food supply and buy only expensive organic foods instead.

(1) a welcome development是什麼意思
(2) sparked by sweeping claims是什麼意思
(3) the preponderance of written material advancing such claims...是什麼意思? 其中advance作什麼意思解
(4) So there is real cause for concern 的意思是說"這是為什麼我們夜關心的原因"嗎? 為什麼is的後面沒有冠詞a呢? cause是單數不是嗎?

[micki]

幫你頂上來

[molecular]

求助友人後, 來自問自答一下:
(1)a wellcome development是受人歡迎的發展
(2)has been sparked by sweeping claims 是說這些興趣被一些廣泛性的聲明所點燃(引起)了
(3)求助高手
(4)我覺得這真的是題目的錯誤, 因為cause為可數名詞，前面應該要加冠詞，　經過做了這些題目後, 我覺得這個是題目的過失, 並非什麼新奇句法

重點: could someone answer Q3? Thanks

[molecular]

有人可以幫忙我解一下第三題嘛???
Thanks

[aaronmin]

Although most of these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, the preponderance of written material advancing such claims makes it difficult for the general public to separate fact from fiction.

the preponderance of written material advancing such claims
advancing是which advances的省略，在這裡應該是push的意思。

整句話是說：雖然這些claim大多沒有科學根據，但在許多的報導或文章推波助瀾之下，使得社會大眾無法判斷真假。

[molecular]

哇!! 感謝你的解釋!!
你怎麼能把preponderance翻得那麼好?
我查字典, 這個字是優勢的意思, 所以我覺得很不能理解
但是經你這麼解說, 就又覺得解通了
是不是要像你之前說的那種"好字典" (Ex: Longman, Webster等) 才會有這種解說呀!?
你查字典都是查這種的嗎?

[aaronmin]

電子字典的好處是快速，缺點是中文解釋有時無法完全表達英文原意；Longman等英英字典的好處是解釋清楚，例句多，我的習慣是搭配使用。
比如說preponderance電子字典只有解釋為優勢、優越，乍看之下如果沒有搭配例句，實在很難明白真正的意思，
轉查英英字典的解釋是：(formal) greater in influence, importance, quality, etc，原來preponderance是指影響力、重要性、數量等方面的優勢，而且是正式用法。
我自己習慣使用的是Oxford Advanced Learner's字典，這本例句很多，解釋也清楚，但有個很大的缺點就是很多新字都沒收錄。每個人使用工具書的習慣不同，所以A覺得好用的東西，B不見得喜歡，重點是一定要逼自己開使用，一開始會很不習慣，但只要上手了，下次只給你電子字典的解釋，便會開始覺得不滿足了。:PP
如果怕全部都是英英解釋有時會看不懂，可以考慮先從英英/英漢雙解的字典開始囉。

這兩個on-line dictionary是我平常習慣使用的，每本字典都難免有不足，搭配著參考多少會有幫助。

Merriam-Webster Online
http://www.m-w.com
Longman Online
http://pewebdic2.cw.idm.fr