【题目】Nowadays, food has become easier to prepare. Has this change improved the way people live? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

　　【范文】

　　Changing Food Changing Lives

　　In the past, preparing a meal was a long and laborious process. The raw ingredients had to be found and purchased, often from a variety of places and often from far away. Some ingredients were not always available, and when they were, it was often a painstaking process to prepare them. Chickens had to be killed and plucked, fish had to be cleaned and peas had to be shelled. When it came time to cook the food, there were no labor-saving devices such as food processors and dishwashers available. Everything had to be done by hand. As a result, preparing three meals for a large family was almost a full -time job. It certainly required a lot of skill and knowledge.

　　Now, all that has changed. There are many convenience foods such as instant soups and even entire frozen meals ready for the microwave oven, and they are all available in nearby supermarkets. Meals can now be prepared in a matter of minutes rather than hours, which means that a family's cook, usually the mother, no longer has to spend hours in the kitchen. As a result, many women work outside the home or pursue other interests. Furthermore, cooking is no longer a mystery and many more people feel competent in the kitchen. Even children can prepare simple meals for themselves. Most importantly, because food preparation is no longer such a time -consuming process, people have more time for other things.