Wasting things is a nightmare (噩梦) for the environment, especially food waste, which does double harm to the environment. A plenty of resources go into the food and the food system also produces lots of greenhouse gases and pollution.

In our homes, restaurants, and food shops, 17 percent of all our food is thrown away—that’s about a sixth of all of the food we have. If you add on the food lost in production, about a third of all food produced never reaches a mouth. At the same time, nearly 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2019, while 3 billion still struggle to afford healthy food. It is mostly households that are to blame: 11 percent of the food ends up in the trash of our homes, compared to a mere 5 and 2 percent from stores and restaurants.

The reasons why food goes to waste are probably familiar to you: dinner party leftovers that never get eaten, food going bad before you cook it, or simply confusion over sell-by and use-by dates that leads to totally fine food ending up in the garbage.

The UN aims to cut food waste in half at the consumer and sale levels by late 2022. Luckily, there’s actually a lot we can do as individuals and governments can make policies to help people and the environment a lot. For individuals, something important is being more thoughtful and prepared when going to the grocery store. Make a list of meals you want to cook, and then only buy fresh produce that you will 100 percent be eating in the next few days. In social aspect, improving education on how to preserve food and understand tricky labels (标签), encouraging food recycling and pushing companies to sell smaller quantities of healthy, fresh food for one or two people could all play a helpful role in bringing down the massive pile of eatable waste.

【小题1】Which of the following contributes most to food waste?

A．Food shops.

B．Restaurants.

C．Households.

D．Food production.

【小题2】What is partly responsible for food waste?

A．People eat less than before.	B．The food price is low.
C．Food spoils easily during the summer.	D．People are confused about the shelf life of food.

【小题3】What is the author’s advice on how to deal with food waste?

A．Grocery stores should supply limited food.

B．People should raise their awareness of food conservation.

C．Everyone should consume as little food as possible.

D．Governments should distribute food resources fairly.

【小题4】In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Health.

B．Fashion.

C．Environment.

D．Science.