Once considered a
fringe（非主流的）food by the U.S. culinary mainstream, sweet
potatoes are fast becoming popular everywhere from fast food chains to expensive
restaurants and the White House table.
Three years ago, the “Wall Street Journal”
wrote in a front page article that except for their use in a Thanksgiving dish,
sweet potatoes were a wholly uninteresting food. Yet over the past two years,
the number of restaurants offering a sweet potato-based side dish has increased
40 percent. Food giant ConAgra just spent $155 million to open the world's
first plant devoted entirely to frozen sweet potato products, and U.S. farmers
are planning to harvest a record-setting 2 billion pound crop.
“It’s not something we believe is a fashion,”said
Andy Johnston of ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston.
According to research conducted by ConAgra, 30 percent of
sweet potato eaters report consuming the vegetable several times per month.
Only 12 percent eat them only during the Thanksgiving and winter holiday
season.
Analysts attribute the sweet potato's growing popularity in
large part is due to sweet potato fries, which account for the majority of the
vegetable's presence in U.S. restaurants. In fact, Google searches for “sweet
potato fries” increased 40 percent over the past year.
Sweet potatoes have also become popular among more conscious
eaters, however, in part because they are high in vitamins and have a low
glycemic (血糖的) index in spite of their sweetness. Both Weight
Watchers and the South Beach Diet have recommended sweet potatoes, roasted in a
little oil rather than fried, and doctors are recommending them for diabetics.
“Within the diabetic community, it's become
pretty common knowledge that sweet potatoes are good for you, so there's a great
appeal because so many people have diabetes now,”said Chef Michel
Nischan, who helps host a TV show for people with diabetes.
59、From this reading passage we infer that ConAgra __________.
A、is one of the biggest food-making companies in the US
B、is one of the richest food-selling companies in the US
C、has asked American farmers to produce more sweet potatoes this year
D、has produced large quantities of sweet potato-based side dishes
60、According to the ConAgra research, the number of people who often eat sweet potatoes ______________.
A、is increasing very quickly B、is not very big
C、is falling a little bit D、has nearly doubled
61、Which of the following may NOT encourage the sweet potato’s popularity?
A、US restaurants recommend sweet potatoes to their customers as a vegetable.
B、Google searches show more and more people are becoming interested in sweet potatoes.
C、Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamins and low in glycemic index.
D、Sweet potatoes taste very sweet.
62、Chef Michel Nischan will certainly agree that _____________.
A、sweet potatoes should be fried
B、sweet potatoes should be roasted
C、sweet potatoes are good for diabetics
D、sweet potatoes can be made into many good dishes
知识点：社会现象类
59-62 ABDC
略