8th GRADE WEEKEND HOMEWORK 24th December

READING:The Real Color of Food You're off to your Aunt Betty's for Sunday brunch, and you're not exactly thrilled. You see, Aunt Betty's meals are experimental in the worst way possible. She puts together weird food combinations and adds spices you've never heard of. She thinks up side dishes that even the dog won't touch. Today's menu is a strange marriage of mozzarella cheese, salmon, and eggs. On top of everything else, it looks pretty gross. The mozzarella is beige. The salmon looks like the pink has been sucked out of it. And the egg yolks are closer to sunset orange than sunrise yellow. OK, the color thing isn't Aunt Betty's fault.The colors of some foods are in fact changing as Americans try to eat healthier foods.As part of this health trend, more and more U.S. food producers are removing the artificial colors from their products.For many people, artificial color is, well, too artificial.Judging from the odd hues of her brunch, Aunt Betty agrees.That "weird" beige mozzarella, for example, issupposedto be beige.Mozzarella is an Italian cheese.In Italy, it's made using water buffalo milk, which is white.American mozzarella makers use cow's milk, which has more of a cream color.To whiten American mozzarella, cheesemakers often add a chemical called titanium dioxide.Without it, mozzarella made with cow's milk ends up being beige or off-white.Some people find this unappetizing.Apparently, Aunt Betty isn't one of them.Not a mozzarella fan?Then consider cheddar cheese.It's often orange—and not because it's naturally that color.Some cheddar cheese is made with annatto, a plant extract used for its orange color.Let's move on to Aunt Betty's faded salmon.To many salmon lovers, a bright pink flesh means the fish is fresh and high-quality.Like whiteness in mozzarella, pinkness in salmon is what people have come to expect and desire.In fact, darker-colored salmon usually costs more than salmon that isn't as bright.But salmon isn't naturally bright pink.A pale pink-red color develops when wild salmon eat shrimp and krill.Farm-raised salmon, which is often what we buy in the supermarket, isn't fed crustaceans or krill, so its flesh is grey.But farmers found a way around this.They feed their salmon a chemical compound called astaxanthin.It turns the fish bright pink.But color variations in foods aren't always the result of added ingredients.Take those orange egg yolks Aunt Betty served up.The hens that laid those eggs probably ate plants like marigold petals and alfalfa.These plants have plenty of carotenoids—naturally occurring pigments.Change a hen's diet, and the color of her egg yolks changes accordingly.Some people think eggs with orange yolks are more jam-packed with nutrients.On the other hand, makers of egg-based products like mayonnaise and pasta prefer paler yolks.After all, who wants orange mayo?Speaking of weird colors, think about multi-colored cereal.It may sound better to you than Aunt Betty's cooking.But how can cereal be yellow, red, and orange?You guessed it:artificial colors.At one point, General Mills tried to remove the artificial colors from its Trix cereal.But the public tends to like what's familiar.Complaints poured in.The company had no choice but to bring back a "classics" version of Trix, with its familiar blend of colors that don't exist in the natural world.As for Aunt Betty, she's planning a new menu for next week: snake eggs and lizard meat. Who knows what colors they're supposed to be? 1. Based on the Article, which best replaces the question mark in the diagram above? She chooses salmon that wasn't fed a chemical compound to make it brighter. Her breakfasts typically include cereal with water buffalo milk instead of cow's milk. She puts together weird food combinations and uses spices no one's heard of. Her meals are usually spicy and include ingredients like marigold petals and alfalfa. 2. Suppose you were writing a summary of the Article. Which of these would be most important to put in the summary? Cereal is often filled with artificial colors to make it brightly colored. Some people don't mind eating beige mozzarella made without titanium dioxide. The color of egg yolks changes according to a hen's diet. The colors of some foods are changing as people try to make healthier choices. 3. Look at the 1st paragraph, which is the closest synonym for the word 'experimental'? Enjoyable Gross Inventive Boring 4. Allison wants to learn more about choosing foods that are good for you. She would find most of her information by _. Searching a website that shows photos of colorful foods Reading a book about how cheese is made around the world Searching a website about healthy eating and living Reading an article about the benefits of titanium dioxide 5. Which two words are the closest antonyms, as they're used in the Article? Prefer and desire Artificial and natural Pigment and color Weird and strange 6. Based on the Article, the reader can predict that _. Salmon farmers will likely choose to color their salmon something other than pink so that they no longer need to use astaxanthin. Americans will likely become used to naturally colored foods as more companies remove artificial colors from products. Most Americans will start buying food in its natural state so that they can color it with their own choice of artificial colors. Italian cheesemakers will begin adding titanium dioxide to mozzarella to make it the whitest cheese in the world. VOCABULARY:Put the words in the correct group. NOUN REVOLUTION IGNORANCE NUTRITION CONSUMER CONSUMPTION AWARENESS URGENCY PARTICIPATION ADJECTIVE REVOLUTIONARY NUTRITIOUS CONSUMING AWARE PARTICIPATIVE VERB REVOLUTIONIZE IGNORE CONSUME URGE PARTICIPATE Click the blanks and choose the correct words. 1. She didn't understand the urgency of the situation.2. Party leaders urged her to run for Congress.3. He was arrested for taking part inrevolutionaryactivities.4. Penicillin produced arevolutionin medicine.5. Heconsumeshuge amounts of bread with every meal.6.Consumptionof electricity is always higher during the summer months.7. Americanconsumersare becoming informed about the safety of products made for children.8. She neverparticipatesin any of our discussions9. Fullparticipationby all members is compulsory.10. Goodnutritionis essential if patients are to make a quick recovery.11. Raw spinach is especiallynutritious.12. Were youawareof the risks at the time?13. Publicawarenessof the problem will make politicians take it seriously.14. I smiled at her but she justignoredme.15. Public ignorance about the disease is still a cause for concern. WRITING:"We are what we eat"Do you agree with this statement?Support your ideas by giving examples. Write 100-150 words.