Q: Food waste has been a chronic problem for restaurants and grocery stores -- with millions of tons lost along the way as crops are hauled hundreds of miles, stored for weeks in refrigerators and prepared on busy restaurant assembly lines. But the historically high price of products is making it an even bigger drag on the bottom line.

Restaurants, colleges, hospitals and other institutions are compensating for the rising costs of waste in novel ways. Some are tracking their trash with software systems, making food in smaller packages or trying to compost (......) and cut down on trash-hauling costs.

"We have all come to work with this big elephant in the middle of kitchen, and the elephant is this 'It's okay to waste' belief system," said Andrew Shackman, president of LeanPath, a company that helps restaurants cut back food waste.

The interest in cutting food waste "has just rocketed in the last six to nine months," he said.

Roughly 30 percent of food in the United States goes to waste, costing some $48 billion annually, according to a Stockholm International Water Institute study. A University of Arizona study estimated that 40 to 50 percent of food in the United States is wasted. Wholesale food costs have risen more than 8 percent this year, the biggest jump in decades, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Freshman students at Virginia Tech were surprised this year when the two of the campus' biggest dining halls to find there were no trays.

"You have to go back and get your dishware and your drink, but it's not that different," said Caitlin Mewborn, a freshman. "It's not a big trouble. You take less food, and you don't eat more than you should."

Getting rid of trays has cut food waste by 38 percent at the dining halls, said Denny Cochrane, manager of Virginia Tech's sustainability program. Before the program began, students often grabbed whatever looked good at the buffet , only to find at the table that their eyes were bigger than their stomachs, he said.

Answer the following questions:
1. What is the big elephant in the middle of the kitchen?
2. Who said that?
3. What is his job?
4. What does that company do?
5. What was taken away from the dining halls and Virginia tech?
6. Why?
7. Was that an effective measure?
8. How much waste was cut by it?
9. Who said that?
10. What is his job?
11. How much food in the US is wasted?
12. Who says that?
13. What's another estimate?
14. By whom?
15. What is the cost of this by one estimate?
A: 1. It's okay to waste
2. Andrew Shackman
3. president of LeanPath
4. helps restaurants cut back food waste.
5. Trays
6. Cut food waste
7. Yes
8. 38 percent
9. Denny Cochrane
10. manager of Virginia Tech's sustainability program
11. Roughly 30 percent
12. a Stockholm International Water Institute study
13. 40 to 50 percent
14. University of Arizona
15. $48 billion annually
Q: Ben lived in the same house as I did, on the same floor, his door facing mine; we often saw each other, and I knew how he lived when he was at home. And at home it was the same story: dressing-gown, nightcap, closed windows, locked doors, and -'Oh, I hope nothing bad will happen!' Vegetarian food is not good for him, yet he could not eat meat, so he ate freshwater fish with butter--not a vegetarian dish, yet one could not say that it was meat. He did not keep a female servant for fear people might think evil of him, but had as cook an old man of sixty, called Alan, who had once been an officer's servant and could cook after a fashion. This Alan was usually standing at the door with his arms folded; with a deep sigh, he would _ always the same thing: "there are plenty of them about nowadays!"

Answer the following questions:
1. Where did Ben live?
2. What did he wear while at home?
3. What did he eat?
4. Did he eat meat?
5. Did he prepare the fish himself?
6. Who did?
7. Male or female?
8. What was the mans name?
9. How old was Alan?
10. Did he work anywhere before cooking for Ben?
11. Doing what?
A: 1. in the same house as I did
2. a dressing-gown
3. freshwater fish
4. no
5. no
6. a cook
7. a man
8. Alan
9. sixty
10. yes
11. as an officer's servant
Q: My brother, Michael, was born one month before his due date and he also had cerebral palsy . He was _ . He never lost his baby teeth, never grew taller than about 30 inches and never weighed more than 28 pounds. They did estimate, however, that he would not live to see his 12th birthday.

As a boy I learned to feed and clothe Mike. As a teenager, I babysat for my "big brother" and learned use the proper medicine to prevent the seizures that caused him to tremble.

Many people said he would never walk or talk . He never did learn to walk, but he did learn to talk --not even in complete sentences, but he had the basics down. If he was hungry, thirsty, happy or sad, we knew. He knew names too. I was Kagun, not Kevin. But that changed with a beard I grew during the summer before college. Family members said it was ugly. Mike heard it.

"Look who's at home. Who's that?" they'd say to Mike. "Ugly," he would respond with delight.

All of which--to me--was normal, for he was the only brother I knew. The only time I thought of the differences between us was when others pointed them out.

My circle of friends widened when I entered high school. One day Mom asked if my new friends would have a problem seeing Mike for the first time. "If they don't accept Mike, they don't accept me and they aren't welcome," I said.

And if I didn't think of him as different, I never thought about him dying either. On a warm fall night in 1998, Mike had a seizure. With this first seizure, Mike's life was beginning to fade.

On March 15, 1999, Mike died. Michael Patrick Harter--just 26 years old-- died in Mom's arms.

We never had those great talks other brothers have about women, work and parents. We never played catch or talked about our dreams. But Mike taught me compassion and strength. He taught me respect for those less fortunate than myself. And he taught me an appreciation of the beauty in the simplest things.

Physically and mentally, I was my brother's keeper. Spiritually, Mike was and is my keeper--a nearly silent guardian angel.

Answer the following questions:
1. Who was Michael?
2. What age did the not expect him to live to?
3. What age did he die?
4. How did he say Kevin's name?
5. What did he do to help Michael as a boy?
6. Did he learn to walk?
7. What about talk?
8. What did he call Kevin after hearing other family members sayit?
9. What did Kevin say about his friends accepting him?
10. What happened in the fall of 1998?
11. Was this his first?
12. What began because if it?
13. What was the date of his death?
14. What did he teach Kevin?
15. Anything else?
16. What else?
17. What did he teach him to appreciate?
18. What was he to kevin spiritually?
19. What kind of keeper was Kevin to his brother?
20. Who was with Mike when he passed?
A:
1. Kevin's brother
2. Age 12
3. 26
4. Kagun
5. Learned to feed and clothe him
6. No
7. Yes
8. Ugly
9. "If they don't accept Mike, they don't accept me and they aren't welcome"
10. Mike had a seizure.
11. Yes
12. His life was beginning to fade
13. 1999
14. Compassion and strength.
15. Yes
16. Respect for those less fortunate than himself
17. Beauty in the simplest things
18. His keeper
19. Guardian angel
20. His mom