Dangerous aspartame

2023-11-23陕西张文慧

疯狂英语·新策略 2023年10期

陕西张文慧

据世界卫生组织官网消息：国际癌症研究机构援引对人类致癌性的“有限证据”，将阿斯巴甜归为可能对人类致癌的物质之列，食品添加剂联合专家委员会重申阿斯巴甜每日允许摄入量为每千克体重40毫克。

主题语境：饮食与健康篇幅：332词建议用时：6分钟

1 Assessments of the health impacts of the non-sugar sweetener aspartame are released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives(JECFA).Citing“limited evidence”for carcinogenicity (致癌性) in humans, IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans and JECFA reaffirmed (重申) the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg/kg body weight.

2 Aspartame is an artificial (chemical) sweetener widely used in various food and products since the 1980s,including diet drinks,ice cream and so on.

3 “Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally.Science is continuously expanding to assess the possible factors of cancer in the hope of reducing these numbers and the human deaths,”said Dr Francesco Branca,Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, WHO.“The assessments of aspartame have indicated that, while safety is not a major concern at the doses (剂量) which are commonly used, potential effects need to be investigated by more and better studies.”

4 The two bodies conducted independent reviews to assess the potential carcinogenic dangers and other health risks associated with aspartame consumption.

5 After reviewing the available scientific literature, both evaluations noted limitations in the available evidence for cancer and other health effects.

6 “JECFA also considered the evidence on cancer risk, in animal and human studies,and concluded that the evidence of an association between aspartame consumption and cancer in humans is not convincing,”said Dr Moez Sanaa, WHO's Head of the Standards and Scientific Advice on Food and Nutrition Unit.

7 The IARC and JECFA evaluations of the impact of aspartame were based on scientific data collected from a range of sources.The studies have been reviewed by independent experts, and both committees have taken steps to ensure the independence and reliability of their evaluations.

8 IARC and WHO will continue to monitor new evidence and encourage independent research groups to develop further studies.

Reading Check

Detail1.What do we know about aspartame from the first two paragraphs?

A.Its assessments of the health impacts are released by three bodies.

B.Scientists have enough evidence for its carcinogenicity in humans.

C.JECFA reaffirmed its acceptable daily intake of 40 g/kg body weight.

D.It has been in use in various food and products for about forty years.

Detail2.Which of the following statements would Dr Francesco Branca agree with?

A.Science hopes to find out the possible factors of cancer.

B.Aspartame's potential effects have been proved.

C.Cancer is the leading cause of death globally.

D.Aspartame's safety is a major concern.

Inference3.What's Dr Moez Sanaa's attitude towards the link between aspartame consumption and cancer?

A.Unclear.B.Careful.

C.Doubtful.D.Approved.

Inference 4.How are the IARC and JECFA evaluations carried out?

A.By reminding people of risks.

B.By collecting scientific data.

C.By monitoring new evidence.

D.By promoting advanced strategies.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

Citing“limited evidence”for carcinogenicity in humans, IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans and JECFA reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg/kg body weight.国际癌症研究机构援引对人类致癌性的“有限证据”，将阿斯巴甜归为可能对人类致癌的物质之列，食品添加剂联合专家委员会重申其每日允许摄入量为每千克体重40毫克。

【点石成金】本句是一个并列句。Citing...in humans为现在分词短语作伴随状语；and连接两个并列分句。