Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
| A．The reasons for the problematic food situation in Britain. | | B．The effect of the situation on farmers. | | C．The variety of British food. | | D．The surface richness of food and questions it brings. |
E. The different situations at home and abroad.
F. The recent reason for the huge supply of food.
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The long years of food shortage in Britain have suddenly given way to huge food supply. Stores and shops are crowded with food. Rationing(定量供应) has already seemed too distant to today’s Britons. Even overseas suppliers have been asked to hold back deliveries. Yet, instead of joy, there is widespread uneasiness and worries. Why do food prices keep on rising, when there seems to be so much more food about? Is the surface huge amount of food only temporary, or has it come to stay? Does it mean that we need to think less now about producing more food at home?
The recent growth of food supply on the world food market has certainly been unexpectedly great, partly because two continuous big grain harvests in North America are now being followed by a third. Most of Britain’s overseas suppliers of meat, too, are offering more this year and home production has also risen.
Then why is the food situation in Britain still faulty? On the one hand, The Br
itish government has gradually cut down support for food. On the other hand, the shops are ov
erstocked with food not only because there is more food available, but also because people, frightened by high prices, are buying less of it.
Moreover, the rise in food prices at home has come at a time when world prices have begun to fall, with the result that imported food, with the exception of grain, is often cheaper than the home-produced variety. And now grain prices, too, are falling internationally. British consumers are beginning to ask why they should not be able to benefit from this trend.
The signifi
cance of these developments is not lost on farmers. The older generation have seen it all happen before. Despite the present price and market guarantees, farmers fear they are about to be squeezed between cheap food imports and a smaller home market. Present production is running quickly compared with years ago. However, farmers haven’t shared any benefit from the change.
