Recent technological advancements have changed the way people live radically. They have also made food easier to prepare - fast foods and preserved foods are everywhere. The days when cooking of food was a major errand (поручение, задание; командировка) of the day have long become the past (давно уже стали прошлым). Nowadays it's only a matter of minutes to cook food. to run (on) errands — быть на посылках to do an errand — выполнять поручение However this improvement does not come without a price. The most important loss we suffer due to these fast foods is quality. These fast foods are lower in nutritional value and contain less minerals and vitamins. Further they have (fə:ðə далее, Кроме того, они обладают) high calories that result in weight gain, and that in turn leads to (свою очередь, приводит) heart diseases and other problems. Further, they have added flavors (ароматизатор), colors and preservatives that are not always very helpful to our health. These preserved food have also taken away the natural taste and benefits of fresh foods from our lives. We now depend upon artificial flavorings to make a fish taste like a fish. However we cannot get the natural taste of fresh foods from preserved foods.
We have lost the fun of cooking because of these fast foods. Cooking used to be an art and people enjoyed cooking and the satisfactions they got by cooking a tasty meal. Further, cooking is the time when family members gathered and enjoyed their time together. However with less time devoted to cooking, the chances for such meals are now rare.
complete / total neglect — полное пренебрежение parental neglect — отсутствие заботы родителей о детях
All these illustrations (примеры) point out that (указывают на то, что) although fast foods and preserved foods (консервированные продукты) are unavoidable in today's busy world, we must not totally neglect (игнорировать) the advantages of fresh foods. We must sometimes take time with our families to prepare a delicious meal and enjoy it together with the ones we love the most.
