Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Does the word “imperfect” always convey negative feeling? Have you ever walked to the local grocery store’s produce(农产品) section, only 【小题1】 (see) a basket full of “imperfect produce”? There’s 【小题2】 wrong with a tomato that isn’t perfectly rounded or peaches in different sizes; they still carry the same benefits and flavors as the versions we’re used to seeing in grocery stores. Farmers usually throw away these imperfect items, as many grocery chains won’t accept them for fear 【小题3】 they are unsellable. However, a growing group of grocery chains are fighting to make these deserted fruits and vegetables part of consumers’ buying habits.
One such business is Imperfect Produce, a start-up that delivers fresh ugly produce to consumers, with 【小题4】 service, you can get up to 20 pounds of fruit and veggies for around $20 a week. This is about a 30 percent discount compared to 【小题5】 is currently sold in stores. So far, the company 【小题6】 (accept) as partnership by several big chain wholesale giants, such as Whole Foods Company, to sell the misshapen produce.
While this movement might be a new trend here in the US, it’s already gained serious popularity in Europe. In 2014, the European Union announced the Year Against Food Waste, with a French grocery chain 【小题7】 (launch) a very successful campaign called Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables. In Portugal, a similar company to Imperfect Produce called Fruta Feia has also taken off.
Buying these unfortunate-looking foods should be appealing to consumers not only 【小题8】 the affordability, but also for the support it gives to farmers and the direct impact it has on decreasing food waste and the environmental pollution. It is believed that when the discarded(丢弃的) fruits and vegetables decompose(分解) they release methane, a greenhouse gas that, when 【小题9】 (release) into the atmosphere, is about 86 times as powerful as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
The growing amount of food waste is a major global problem. Each year, some 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. Waste is, in fact, 【小题10】 (ugly) thing of all.
