由于人口老齡化,年輕人和老年人對肉類的喜好不同,本是世界上人均魚類消費(fèi)量最大的國家,但2006年,日本餐桌上的肉類已超過海產(chǎn)品。
測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識:
Tuna 金槍魚,鮪魚['tju?n?]
sashimi 生魚片['s???m?]
capita 頭數(shù)(尤指牲口);總數(shù)['k?p?t?]
stagnant 停滯的;不景氣的['st?gn?nt]
commodity 貨物;日用品[k?'m?d?t?]
閱讀即將開始,建議您計(jì)算一下閱讀整篇文章所用時(shí)間,并對照我們在文章最后給出的參考值來估算您的閱讀速度。
By Emiko Terazono
* * *
The Japanese are scaling back their raw tuna sashimi and sushi consumption as burgers and steak continue to gain popularity.
The country’s landings — the amount of fish imported and brought in by its own fishermen — of raw and frozen tuna fell 3 per cent last year, according to annual figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The Japanese fish sector has been plagued by the long-term trend of falling consumption as the younger generation opt for meat. The weaker yen has made imports costly and competition from cheaper salmon has also contributed to the fall in tuna imports.
“The descending trend of Japan’s sashimi tuna imports continue,” said the FAO in its latest Globefish report on seafood. Supplies of fresh and frozen tuna in Japan fell to 353,000 tonnes in 2015, from 362,800 tonnes a year before. Supplies of air-flown tuna from overseas plummeted 21 per cent.
“The Japanese are eating less fish as its population ages,” said Gorjan Nikolik, analyst at Rabobank. “The older generation were once the largest fish consumers in the world, but they are eating less, and the younger population prefer meat.”
Japan remains the leading consumer of fish per capita, but the amount of meat on dinner tables overtook that of seafood in 2006, according to data from the fisheries agency. Latest figures from the health ministry show that meat consumption per person is almost 30 per cent higher than seafood, while that of raw fish fell 5 per cent in 2014 compared with 2011.
The FAO report also showed that fish prices fell by almost a tenth in 2015 as prices in shrimp, salmon and tuna, the highest value seafood groups, declined.
Shrimp prices fell despite lower production, due to weakening demand in international markets, while Chilean salmon prices lost ground on fierce competition from Norway. Tuna hit six-year lows in 2015 due to a combination of falling demand, including that of canned products, and oversupply.
The stagnant demand for seafood affected overall trade values in 2015 due to the strong dollar and economic weakness in emerging markets. Seafood is the highest traded food commodity by value, and while volumes were up 0.5 per cent to 60m tonnes, the global fish trade fell 10 per cent to $140bn.
The continued impact of the food import ban in Russia affected the salmon market, while recession in Brazil and slowing growth in China led to “a significant weakening in global demand”, said the FAO.
“These three countries have become some of the most important seafood markets in the world,” it added.
請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容,完成以下自測題目:
1. What kind of food fell 3 per cent last year by FAO?
a. raw and frozen tuna
b. raw and frozen salmon
c. shrimp
d. semi-finished tuna
2. Which one is not mentioned as the reason of the fall in tuna imports in Japan?
a. younger generation opt for meat
b. the weaker yen
c. pollution of the sea
d. competition from salmon
3. Which country is the leading consumer of fish per capita now?
a. Korea
b. Singapore
c. Portugal
d. Japan
4. Which country’s food import ban affected the salmon market as the FAO said?
a. China
b. Brazil
c. Russia
d. Japan
[1] 答案a. raw and frozen tuna
解釋:去年,日本生的和冷凍的金槍魚的上市量(進(jìn)口和本國漁民打撈的金槍魚數(shù)量)下降了3%。
[2] 答案c. pollution of the sea
解釋:文章并沒有提到海洋污染。
[3] 答案d. Japan
解釋:漁業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,日本仍是世界上人均魚類消費(fèi)量最大的國家,但2006年,餐桌上的肉類已超過海產(chǎn)品。
[4] 答案c. Russia
解釋:文章后兩段提到,是俄羅斯政府實(shí)施的食品進(jìn)口禁令。