【明報專訊】TONI-ANN SINGH, a Jamaican woman, has won the 2019 Miss World beauty pageant. She and the other four black women, who also won major world pageants, will certainly go down in the annals. This is the first time black women have won all of the five major pageants, which were long dominated by white people. Scholars have said that their wins may change public perception of beauty worldwide. However, some still deem the contests discriminatory, as natural curls (天然鬈髮) are still a disadvantage. And some think the contests seem to favour black people. It takes time to change all this. (photo.1)

Coming food crises

AGerman research team has released a report, estimating the global food demand increase in the late 21th century at about 80%. This will be due to a growing human population, which is expected to total 11 billion in 2100. People will grow bigger also, having higher body mass indices, thereby needing more calories. That will add 253 kcal into each person's daily diet, which equals two bananas or a helping (一份) of French fries. If we fail to deal with the issue, food crises will follow and global poverty will be exacerbated.

Copycat

IS the winner of the Dalian (大連市) tourism logo competition a copycat? Netizens were quick to point out that the ''D'' in the word ''DALIAN'' looks almost exactly the same as that in ''Disney''. The two logos' overall designs are similar too. The authorities have launched an investigation into the matter. If confirmed to have plagiarised Disney's logo, the winner will be stripped of his or her honour and reward.

■Gear up

According to the passages on p 1 and p 2, answer the following questions.

(1) It is against the law to buy electric scooters.

( True / False / Not given )

(2) Toni-Ann Singh has won five beauty pageants.

( True / False / Not given )

(3) People in the future will need more energy.

( True / False / Not given )

(Answers on next text)

■Glossary

go down in the annals (idiom) 載入史冊

perception (n) 觀感

exacerbate (v) 使惡化

copycat (n) 抄襲者

[Smarties' Power English 第266期]