Question

The wave of panic buying   抢盐风波

Many people in China rushed to store as much iodized salt（含碘食盐）as possible. This trend has led to grocery store shelves being ransacked over the past several days.

"I went looking for salt in the supermarket, stores and street markets, and it's all sold out."

It all stems from the rumor that iodized salt could help ward off radiation poisoning spreading from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Consumers also worried that the nuclear plumes might spread to China by air and sea, contaminating food sources, including salt taken from the sea.

The wave of panic buying spread quickly throughout the country, driving up salt prices by five to ten fold（涨到五到十倍）in some cities.

Even regions rich in salt production, like Jiangxi Province face sudden shortages.

Local authorities have stepped in to stabilize the market. As well, state-owned salt companies have been urged to increase their supply.

Facing expanding market demand, distribution centers like this one in Beijing have taken extra measures to ensure they are well-prepared.

Wang Yun, Beijing Salt Industry Corporation, said, "Our storage reserves can guarantee a two-month supply for the Beijing market."

Measures are being taken to prevent panic buying. Health authorities and experts have begun informing the public that the rumor of salt's protection against radiation is "totally unfounded"（完全是无稽之谈）. The public is being urged to be more rational when buying salt.

 [写作内容]

1．以约 30 个词概括这篇短文的主要内容；

2．以约120词写一篇读后感，说明“国民素质的提高和科学知识的普及等问题的重要性”，内容包括：

  （1）议论“抢盐心态”，发人深思。透过现象，从中折射出若干问题的感受；

  （2）以你或他人的经历说明；

  （3）谈谈你从中悟出的道理。

[写作要求]

   1．在作文中可以使用亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子。

   2．作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。

[评分标准]

概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

From the passage we know many Chinese rushed to stores to buy as much iodized salt as they could, causing salt prices driving up. But all about these panic buying is just because of the rumor of salt's protection against radiation.

What a foolish thing they did! The blind following of trends reflect a widespread lack of basic scientific knowledge. Rumor said the consumption of iodized salt would help safeguard against the effect of radiation. But actually an adult would probably need to eat up 3 kilograms of salt at a radiation if it is to have any effect against radiation-----meaning that they would likely die quicker from consuming that much salt than from any minimal exposure to radiation. Rumors are sometimes more catastrophic than the disasters themselves. What’s more, what they did not realize was that only 20% of China’s salt comes from the ocean, and most salt on sale is mined rock salt.

The same thing happened in 2003. One of my relatives heard someone saying that smoking was a cure for SARS, so he became habitual smoker. At the same time, people rushed to buy vinegar, so did he. When he didn’t use those vinegar, he rushed to the end of queue to buy high-priced salt.

The outdated Chinese way of looking at this was best described by Confucian philosopher Xun Zi, who said more than 2,200 years ago: “Rumors stop at the wise.” And anyone can be wise, as Mencius put it, all men can become a sage（哲人）. So what we want to do now is to improve our personal qualities.

【解析】略