Paragraph Structure: The Hidden Costs of Cheap Meat 廉價肉類的隱藏代價（作文結構）

The Hidden Costs of Cheap Meat

{1} Meat produced by factory farming seems much cheaper than meat from traditional farms, but in the long run, are we really saving so much money? Let’s look at the hidden costs. {2-5} Factory farm animals are very crowded: artificial hormones make them grow faster and antibiotics are used to keep them healthy. Tons of farm waste pollute the water and the air, thereby sickening farm workers and people living nearby. What’s more, the water from these farms makes germs very strong, so many antibiotics have already stopped working. Incurable diseases are a heavy price to pay for cheap meat. {6-8} To further increase their profits, some farm companies feed parts of dead animals to the live ones. Sooner or later, crowding causes health problems. These bad conditions can lead to strange new kinds of sickness such as mad cow disease, H5N1 and other kinds of bird flu. {9-10} Nowadays, meat is certainly less expensive than it was 100 years ago, but  is a high price to pay. Viewed in this light, was meat from traditional farms really so expensive?

Some longer words above can be cut up into short, easy-to-understand parts:

antibiotic	ANTI	BIO	TIC	抗生素
	against	life	[NOUN]
artificial	ART	FIC	IAL	人工
	skill	make	[ADJ]
incurable	IN	CURE	ABLE	不可醫治
	not	make sickness OK	CAN
sicken	SICK	EN		使生病
	sick	make	~ darken, thicken …

Florida Chicken House (Public Domain Image)

Notice how this short persuasive composition begins and ends with questions to make the reader think. Sentence 1, the topic sentence, introduces the idea that "cheap" meat is not really cheap. Sentences 2-8 provide examples of hidden health costs, and the composition finishes by concluding that poor health makes "cheap" meat seem expensive. Perhaps the old ways were better.

Look below to see other ways that the writer makes different parts of this composition fit together:

“Meat produced by factory farming seems much cheaper than meat from traditional farms, but is it really so cheap? Let’s look at the hidden costs.”

(1) Factory farms use antibiotics to “keep [farm animals] healthy”, but the farm waste makes farm workers and farm neighbors get sick. This is the first hidden cost.

(2) The farm water is making antibiotics useless, so some disease cannot be cured. This is the second hidden cost.

(3) Bad conditions lead to strange new kinds of sickness. This is the third hidden cost.

Another group of words is used to discuss serious health problems: incurable diseases, antibiotics and strong germs”: “makes germs very strong, so many antibiotics have already stopped working. Incurable diseases … poor health”

These bad conditions can lead to strange new kinds of sickness such as mad cow disease, H5N1 and other kinds of bird flu.”

Notice how these bad conditions refers to two things:

(1) “… some farm companies feed parts of dead animals to the live ones.

(2) Sooner or later, crowding causes health problems.