【高校英語】共通テストの英文解釈 vol.1006≪2021年第１日程第6問B≫本文内容

□--■--□--■--□--■--□--------------------------------------------◆ 　　　【高校英語】共通テストの英文解釈 vol.1006 　　　　　　　≪2021年第１日程共通テスト第6問B≫　　　2021/3/8配信 ◆----------------------------------------□--■--□--■--□--■--□--■ 目次・・・■　問題　■　全文訳　■　解答・解説　■　語句　■　解答一覧 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 今回は2021年第１日程共通テスト第６問Ｂを解説します。 ■　問題 Ｂ　You are studying nutrition in heath class. You are going to read the following passage from a textbook to learn more about various sweeteners. ―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――― ｜　Cake, candy, soft drinks--most of us love sweet things. In fact, 　　｜ ｜young people say "Sweet!" to mean something is "good" in English. When ｜ ｜we think of sweetness, we imagine ordinary white sugar from sugar cane ｜ ｜or sugar beet plants. Scientific discoveries, however, have changed the｜ ｜world of sweeteners. We can now extract sugars from many other plants. ｜ ｜The most obvious example is corn. Corn is abundant, inexpensive, and 　｜ ｜easy to process. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is about 1.2 times　　｜ ｜sweeter than regular sugar, but quite high in calories. Taking science ｜ ｜one step further, over the past 70 years scientists have developed a 　｜ ｜wide variety of artificial sweeteners.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ｜ ｜　A recent US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 　　　　｜ ｜concluded that 14.6% of the average American's energy intake is from 　｜ ｜"added sugar," which refers to sugar that is not derived from whole　　｜ ｜foods. A banana, for example, is a whole food, while a cookie contains ｜ ｜added sugar. More than half of added sugar calories are from sweetened ｜ ｜drinks and desserts. Lots of added sugar can have negative effects on　｜ ｜our bodies, including excessive weight gain and other health problems. ｜ ｜For this reason, many choose low-calorie substitutes for drinks, 　　　｜ ｜snacks, and desserts.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　｜ ｜　Natural alternatives to white sugar include brown sugar, honey, and　｜ ｜maple syrup, but they also tend to be high in calories. Consequently,　｜ ｜alternative "low-calorie sweeteners" (LCSs), mostly artificial chemical｜ ｜combinations, have become popular. The most common LCSs today are　　　｜ ｜aspartame, Ace-K, stevia, and sucralose. Not all LCSs are artificial-- ｜ ｜stevia comes from plant leaves.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　｜ ｜　Alternative sweeteners can be hard to use in cooking because some　　｜ ｜cannot be heated and most are far sweeter than white sugar. Aspartame　｜ ｜and Ace-K are 200 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia is 300 times　　　　｜ ｜sweeter, and sucralose has twice the sweetness of stevia. Some new 　　｜ ｜sweeteners are even more intense. A Japanese company recently developed｜ ｜"Advantame," which is 20,000 times sweeter than sugar. Only a tiny 　　｜ ｜amount of this substance is required to sweeten something. 　　　　　　｜ ｜　When choosing sweeteners, it is important to consider health issues. ｜ ｜Making desserts with lots of white sugar, for example, results in high-｜ ｜calorie dishes that could lead to weight gain. There are those who 　　｜ ｜prefer LCSs for this very reason. Apart from calories, however, some 　｜ ｜research links consuming artificial LCSs with various other health 　　｜ ｜concerns. Some LCSs contain strong chemicals suspected of causing　　　｜ ｜cancer, while other have been shown to affect memory and brain 　　　　｜ ｜development, so they can be dangerous, especially for young children,　｜ ｜pregnant women, and the elderly. There are a few relatively natural　　｜ ｜alternative sweeteners, like xylitol and sorbitol, which are low in　　｜ ｜calories. Unfortunately, these move through the body extremely slowly, ｜ ｜so consuming large amounts can cause stomach trouble.　　　　　　　　　｜ ｜　When people want something sweet, even with all the information, it　｜ ｜is difficult for them to decide whether to stick to common higher　　　｜ ｜calorie sweeteners like sugar or to use LCSs. Many varieties of gum and｜ ｜candy today contain one or more artificial sweeteners, nonetheless,　　｜ ｜some people who would not put artificial sweeteners in hot drinks may　｜ ｜still buy such items. Individuals need to weigh the options and then 　｜ ｜choose the sweeteners that best suit their needs and circumstances.　　｜ ――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――