I.Reading

Vegetarians

The word Vegetarian¹ was coined in about 1840 to mean people who lived without killing for food, either for moral or health reasons, or both. But the practice is much older than that. Greek philosophers recommended vegetarianism and famous people who had practised it in the past include Leonardo da Vinci, Tolstoy and Voltaire, Milton, Newton and Bernard Shaw. Surely this proves that mental activity does not depend on flesh foods. What are the arguments that might stop us from eating meat?

Man's body is more like those of fruit-eating animals (such as our 'cousins' the apes) than like those of flesh- eating animals. For millions of years man must have lived on fruit, nuts and leaves and so developed a digestive system. Perhaps the more we move away from this diet towards meat-eating, the less likely we are to be healthy. Cancer, tuberculosis and heart disease are certainly more common in meat-eating communities. Man may have started eating the flesh of animals during the Ice Age when most of the vegetation was destroyed.

A diet of vegetables, fruit, grains and nuts together with a few dairy products can give us all the vitamins and minerals we need. By eating meat we are getting the basic food elements secondhand after they have been digested by the animal. It is worth considering how wasteful meat-eaters are with land. A meat-eater needs about three times as much land to support himself and his animals as a vegetarian does. For every 45 kilos of dry food eaten by cattle only 1,8 - 7,3 kilos come back as food for us humans — an expensive method of producing food.

1. When was the word Vegetarian' coined

A in 1842 C in 1840

Bin 1845 D in 1848

2. What did it mean?

A people who ate flesh foods C people who ate vegetables

B people who didn't eat flesh foods D people who ate fruit

3. Who recommended vegetarianism in ancient times?

A Greek philosophers C Roman philosophers

B Latin philosophers D French philosophers

4. What famous English people practised vegetarianism in the past?

A Tolstoy and Voltaire C Jane Fonda and S. Stallone

B Newton, Milton and B. Show D Leo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet

5. What are the main arguments that might stop us from eating meat?

A healthy digestive system C healthy heart

B ill heart D ill digestive system

6. What terrible diseases are certainly more common in meat-eating communities?

A cancer, TB, heart disease C pneumonia

B AIDS, influenza D neuritis

7. When did the man start eating the flesh of animals?

A during the Bronze Age C during Renaissance

B during the Ice Age D during the World War I

8. Why did we start eating meat then?

A because of the destroying of vegetation

B because of many diseases

C because there were no fruit and nuts

D because there were no vegetables and grains

9. What does the diet of a vegetarian consist of?

A vegetables, fruit

B vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts and a few dairy products

C grains and nuts

D grains arid leaves

10.What do we get by eating meat?

A We are getting the basic food elements secondhand.

B We are getting the physical discomfort.

C We are getting the psychological discomfort.

D We are getting healthy digestive system.