Author Michael Pollan may have one of the hardest jobs: trying to help people make better food choices while battling junk-food marketers’ attempts to undermine his advice. The major problem he faces, as he told The Washington Post, is that marketers take his rules and use them against him.

Buy products with five ingredients or fewer. Pollan says he and others have repeated the rule, “Don’t buy anything with more than five ingredients,” in hopes that people will purchase fresh produce and lean meats. Feeding off of this advice, though, Haagen Dazs started its five campaign. While the ice creams in this line have only five ingredients, those ingredients are high in sugar, fat, and calories. Plus, says Pollan, “They didn’t change anything…it was the same five ingredients they had before.” Pollan also discusses a commercial in which a woman compares Pringles to Tostitos, choosing the Tostitos chips because they have fewer ingredients. Both, however, are high-calorie, high-fat foods. The result is that the consumer is completely confused by clever marketing

Shop the edges of the supermarket. The advice to shop around the edges of the supermarket is supposed to lead shoppers toward fresh produce and lean meats, avoiding the fat processed foods in the middle aisles. But now, claims Pollan, makers of packaged food want to sell their products in that part of the supermarket as well.

Supermarkets can make money by selling a variety of foods. “They can make as much money selling fresh produce as they can packaged goods,” Pollan says. Don’t buy anything advertised in commercials. “Anybody with that kind of marketing budget is selling packaged foods,” Pollan says. 

Pollan saw recently that Americans spend about 7 percent of their income on food. By contrast, China spends 33 percent of its income on food, France, 13.5 percent, and Japan, 14.2 percent. Americans seem to have this incapacity to spend more on food. He thinks it’s an enormous challenge. It wasn’t always this cheap. This was a matter of agriculture and technological breakthroughs.

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1.The underlined word “undermine” in the first paragraph probably means _______.

A weaken

B strengthen

C enrich

D support

解析：选A。A。细节理解题。从文章第一段最后一句...is that marketers take his rules and use them against him可知那些商家要弱化他的宣传。故该题的正确答案为A。

2.Why did Pollan suggest people buy products with five ingredients or fewer?

A He wanted people to buy healthy foods.

B He wanted people to buy nutritious foods.

C He wanted people to buy packaged foods.

D He wanted people to buy colorful foods.

解析：选A。A。细节理解题。根据文章第二段第二句的...in hopes that people will purchase fresh produce and lean meats可知他的目的就是想让人们买些健康的食品，所以此处要用healthy foods。故该题的正确答案为A。

3.When Pollan thought of the ice creams, he must feel ______.

A calm

B upset

C curious

D considerate

解析：选B。B。推理判断题。从文章第二段可知，冰淇淋虽然只有5种配料，但是这些配料含有极高的脂肪、糖和热量，而冰淇淋的成分从未发生过改变，据此可以推知一提到冰淇淋，他感到有些沮丧。

4.What does the clever marketing do in order to deal with Pollan’s strategies?

A They change the way of making food.

B They use fewer kinds of materials.

C They produce foods in many factories.

D They make the consumers believe them.

解析：选B。B。细节理解题。根据文章第二段倒数第二三句的choosing the Tostitos chips because they have fewer ingredients. Both, however, are high-calorie, high-fat foods可知聪明的商家选择用更少的原材料。故该题的正确答案为B。

5.According to the article, people can reduce the price foods by ______.

A shopping the edges of the supermarket

B buying a variety of goods in supermarket

C avoiding buying advertised foods

D improving agricultural technology

解析：选D。D。细节理解题。根据文章最后一段最后一句的This was a matter of agriculture and technological breakthroughs可知食品价格的降低要依赖科技进步。故该题的正确答案为D。