EigoPro 1級読解 — The Meat Without the Murder

Cultured meat—flesh grown from animal cells in gleaming steel bioreactors rather than harvested from slaughtered bodies—has long been heralded as the technology that will let carnivores keep their appetites while quietly shedding their guilt. The promise is seductive: chemically identical protein, no abattoir, no methane-belching herds, and a mere fraction of the land. Yet the closer this innovation creeps to the supermarket shelf, the clearer it becomes that the laboratory was never the hardest obstacle to overcome. The real battlegrounds, it turns out, are the human gut and the power grid. Consider first the so-called "yuck factor." Surveys conducted across continents repeatedly find that consumers recoil from meat they perceive as unnatural, however indistinguishable it may be from the carcass-derived original. This visceral aversion is not mere irrational squeamishness to be patiently educated away; it is a deep cultural reflex about what counts as food at all, and such reflexes seldom yield to peer-reviewed reassurance. Marketing that dwells on the science, far from soothing, merely amplifies the unease it hopes to dissolve, for the very language of cells and cultures conjures the clinic rather than the kitchen. The energy argument cuts deeper still. Advocates trumpet the slashing of methane and the sparing of pastureland, but they conveniently elide the colossal electricity that bioreactors devour, and the relentless, pharmaceutical-grade sterility they demand. Should that power flow from fossil fuels, the carbon ledger may prove no kinder than the very cow it was meant to redeem—and, on some accountings, considerably worse. None of this condemns the enterprise outright. It simply punctures the comforting fiction that biology alone will decide its fate. A protein that nobody will willingly swallow, manufactured by a process the planet cannot afford, is not a solution but an expensive rebuke dressed as progress. The cell line, in the end, was always the easy part; persuading wary appetites and decarbonising stubborn grids is the harder, slower labour that remains. Whether that labour is worth undertaking is a question of values and infrastructure, not of cell culture, and pretending otherwise serves no one.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the central argument of the passage?

Consumer disgust toward cultured meat is irrational and will disappear after public education.
Cultured meat is certain to displace slaughtered meat once its production costs fall.
Cultured meat is technically impossible to produce at a scale that could replace conventional farming.
The chief obstacles to cultured meat are now consumer disgust and energy demands rather than the underlying biotechnology.

Phrase

the laboratory was never the hardest obstacle

1級読解主旨把握論旨

⚡ひとことで

技術より消費者心理とエネルギーが真の障壁、という論旨。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「The chief obstacles to cultured meat are now consumer disgust and energy demands rather than the underlying biotechnology.」

正解

筆者は "the laboratory was never the hardest obstacle. The real battlegrounds are the human gut and the power grid" と述べ、技術は解決済みだと示唆する。中心は嫌悪感(yuck factor)とエネルギーコストという二つの障壁である。よってこの選択肢が主旨を正確に捉えている。

「Cultured meat is technically impossible to produce at a scale that could replace conventional farming.」
= 培養肉は大規模生産が技術的に不可能だ ━ 筆者は技術(laboratory/cell line)を "the easy part" と呼び、不可能とは述べていない。
「Cultured meat is certain to displace slaughtered meat once its production costs fall.」
= コストが下がれば必ず従来肉に取って代わる ━ 筆者は "comforting fiction" を否定し、生物学だけで運命は決まらないと述べる。
「Consumer disgust toward cultured meat is irrational and will disappear after public education.」
= 消費者の嫌悪は非合理で教育で消える ━ 本文は "not irrational squeamishness to be educated away" と明確に反対している。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
herald as	〜として喧伝される	The drug was heralded as a cure.
creep closer to	〜に徐々に近づく	Deadlines creep closer to the team.
the hardest obstacle	最大の障害	Funding was the hardest obstacle.
battleground	争点・主戦場	Privacy is a new battleground.
shed one's guilt	罪悪感を捨てる	He could not shed his guilt.

❝例文

The plan was heralded as revolutionary but stalled.
その計画は革新的と喧伝されたが頓挫した。
The real battleground is public trust, not engineering.
真の争点は技術ではなく社会の信頼だ。
Costs were the hardest obstacle to scaling up.
コストが拡大の最大の障害だった。
Consumers want pleasure without the guilt.
消費者は罪悪感なしの快楽を求める。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨問題は本文中の対比語(real vs perceived, technology vs psychology)に注目すると正解の核が見える。

問 2

According to the passage, why does marketing that emphasises the science of cultured meat backfire?

It fails to mention the lower price relative to slaughtered meat.
It overstates the nutritional similarity to conventional protein.
It draws attention to the very unnaturalness that triggers consumers' instinctive aversion.
It exaggerates the environmental benefits and thereby invites scientific scrutiny.

Phrase

merely amplifies the unease

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

科学を強調すると不自然さが際立ち嫌悪が増す。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「It draws attention to the very unnaturalness that triggers consumers' instinctive aversion.」

正解

本文は "Marketing that dwells on the science merely amplifies the unease" と述べる。直前で嫌悪は "meat they perceive as unnatural" への反射だと説明されており、科学を語ることは不自然さの印象を強め嫌悪を増幅させる。よってこの選択肢が正しい。

「It exaggerates the environmental benefits and thereby invites scientific scrutiny.」
= 環境利益を誇張し科学的精査を招く ━ 本文は環境誇張ではなく不自然さの強調を逆効果の理由としている。
「It fails to mention the lower price relative to slaughtered meat.」
= 従来肉より安い点に触れない ━ 価格の言及不足は本文の論点ではない。
「It overstates the nutritional similarity to conventional protein.」
= 栄養の類似性を誇張している ━ 栄養の誇張ではなく不自然さの印象が問題だと述べている。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
dwell on	〜を長々と語る	She dwelt on the past too much.
amplify the unease	不安を増幅する	Rumours amplified the unease.
recoil from	〜に身を引く	They recoil from change.
yield to	〜に屈する・応じる	Reflexes seldom yield to logic.
visceral aversion	本能的嫌悪	He felt a visceral aversion to it.

❝例文

Dwelling on the chemistry only deepened distrust.
化学の話に終始したことが不信を深めた。
The campaign amplified the very fear it sought to calm.
その宣伝は鎮めようとした恐怖を逆に増幅した。
Many recoil from food they deem artificial.
人工的と見なす食品から多くが身を引く。
Such reflexes rarely yield to argument.
そうした反射は理屈に屈しにくい。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

"merely" や "only" の後ろには筆者が皮肉る『逆効果』が来やすい。

問 3

What does the passage identify as a hidden cost that advocates tend to downplay?

The enormous electricity consumption and sterile conditions that bioreactors require.
The high cost of recruiting skilled laboratory technicians.
The expense of marketing cultured meat to sceptical consumers.
The methane and pastureland associated with conventional cattle.

Phrase

the colossal electricity that bioreactors devour

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

擁護者が電力消費と無菌条件を見過ごす。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「The enormous electricity consumption and sterile conditions that bioreactors require.」

正解

本文は擁護者が "conveniently elide the colossal electricity that bioreactors devour, and the pharmaceutical-grade sterility they demand" と述べる。化石燃料由来なら炭素収支は牛より悪化しうるとも警告する。よって電力消費と無菌条件が隠れたコストである。

「The high cost of recruiting skilled laboratory technicians.」
= 熟練技術者の採用費が高い ━ 本文は人件費ではなく電力と無菌条件を挙げている。
「The methane and the pastureland associated with conventional cattle farming.」
= 従来牛のメタンと牧草地 ━ これは擁護者が『削減』を誇る点で、隠れたコストではない。
「The expense of marketing cultured meat to sceptical consumers.」
= 懐疑的消費者への宣伝費 ━ 嫌悪は別段落の論点で、エネルギー段落の隠れコストではない。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
elide	〜を省略・隠す	They elide the risks.
devour electricity	電力を貪り食う	Servers devour electricity.
pharmaceutical-grade	医薬品級の	It needs pharmaceutical-grade purity.
carbon ledger	炭素収支	The carbon ledger looks grim.
prove no kinder	少しも優しくないと判明する	The new method proved no kinder.

❝例文

Advocates elide the power the process consumes.
擁護者はその工程が消費する電力を隠す。
Data centres devour electricity around the clock.
データセンターは昼夜電力を貪る。
The clean room demands pharmaceutical
grade air. — そのクリーンルームは医薬品級の空気を要する。
On a fossil grid the carbon ledger worsens.
化石燃料の電網では炭素収支は悪化する。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

"conveniently elide" のように副詞が筆者の批判的態度を漏らす。

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EigoPro 1級 読解 — The Meat Without the Murder

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

the laboratory was never the hardest obstacle

merely amplifies the unease

the colossal electricity that bioreactors devour

EigoPro 1級読解 — The Meat Without the Murder