阅读理解

　　Raymond Schneider politely elbowed his way through crowds of customers as he made for the candy bins at Dylan's Candy Bar in Manhattan．Since he was laid off in December, Mr．Schneider, a 33-year-old designer, says he has become a “gummy junkie,” buying a lot of sweets every time he shops for groceries．

　　“Sugar is comforting,” he said．“There's nothing more stressful than growing financial insecurity everywhere．”

　　The recession (经济衰退) seems to have a sweet tooth．As unemployment has risen, Americans, particularly adults, have been consuming growing amounts of candy, say candy makers, store owners and industry experts．

　　Theories vary on exactly why．For many, sugar lifts spirits dragged low by the economy．For others, candy also provides a reminder of better times．And not insignificantly, it is relatively cheap．

　　At Candyality, a store in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, business has jumped by nearly 80 percent compared with this time last year, and the owner, Terese McDonald, said she was struggling to keep up with the demand for Bit-O-Honeys, Swedish Fish and Sour Balls．

　　“They put candy in their actual budget,” she said．

　　Many big candy makers are also reporting rising sales and surprising profits．

　　“Candy companies are relatively recession-proof,” said Peter Liebhold, chairman of the Smithsonian Institution's work and industry division．“During the Great Depression, candy companies stayed in business．”

阅读理解

　　WASHINGTON(Reuters)－People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer(胰腺癌), an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday．

　　People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found．

　　Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study．

　　"The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin(胰岛素)in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth," Pereira said in a statement．

　　Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Pereira and colleagues said they followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years．

　　Over that time, 140 of the volunteers developed pancreatic cancer．Those who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87 percent higher risk of being among those who got pancreatic cancer．

　　Pereira said he believed the findings would apply elsewhere．

　　"Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent healthcare．Favorite pastimes(消遣)are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other western countries," he said．

　　But Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale University in Connecticut was cautious．

　　"Although this study found a risk, the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and it remains unclear whether it is a causal(因果的)connection or not," said Mayne, who serves on the board of the journal, which is published by the American Association for Cancer Research．

　　Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 230,000 cases globally．In the United States, 37,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a year and 34,290 die of it．