What makes Americans spend nearly half their food dollars on meals away from home The answers lie in the way Americans live today. During the first few decades of the twentieth century, canned and other convenience foods freed the family cook from full-time duty at the kitchen range.
Then, in the 1940s, work in the wartime defense plants took more women out of the home than ever before, setting the pattern of the working wife and mother. Unless family members pitch in with food preparation, women are not fully liberated from that chore.
It’s easier to pick up a bucket of fried chicken on the way home from work or take the family out for pizzas or burgers than to start opening cans or heating up frozen dinners after a long, hard day. Also nowadays, the rising divorce rate means that there are more single working parents with children to feed. And many young adults and elderly people, as well as unmarried and divorced mature people, live alone rather than as a part of a family unit and don’t want to bother cooking for one. Fast food is appealing because it is fast, it doesn’t require tiny dressing up, it offers a "fun" break in the daily routine, and the outlay of money seems small. It can be eaten in the car--sometimes picked up at a drive-in window without even getting out--or on the nm. Even if it is brought home to eat, there will never be any dirty dishes to wash because of the handy disposable wrappings. Children, especially, love fast food because it’s finger food, no struggling With knives and forks, no annoying instructions from adults about table manners.
The expression "pitch in with" (Line 2, Para. 2) probably means ______.

[A] She’ll go to the concert.
C. She’ll watch her neighbor’s children.
B. She’ll have a meeting.
D. She’ll visit her neighbor.

A "sanitized" description of a hacking attempt or other incident--one that doesn’t reveal the name or information about the victim--can be shared with the other members to spot trends. Then a mote detailed description also can be sent to the FBI’s computer crimes unit to interfere if there are grounds for an investigation. Cyber crime has jumped in recent years across the nation, particularly in hotbeds of financial commerce and technology like Charlotte. "Ten years ago, all you needed to protect yourself was a safe, a fence and security officers," said Chris Swecker, who is in charge of the FBI’s Charlotte office. "Now any business with a modem is subject to attack." FBI agents investigate computer hacking that disrupted popular Web sites including Amazon. com, CNN and Yahoo!Several North Carolina victims have been identified this year. The investigation has also identified computer systems in North Carolina used by hackers to commit such attacks. Prosecutions of hackers have been hampered by the reluctance of companies to report security intrusions for fear of bad publicity and lost business. Meanwhile, too many corporations have made it too easy for criminals by sacrificing security for speed and accessibility. Jack Wiles, who will lead the local InfraGard chapter’s board, said a recent report estimated 97 percent of all cyber crime goes undetected. Wiles, a computer security expert, has a firewall on his personal computer to prevent hackers from getting into his files. "I get at least one report a day that somebody was trying to get into my computer," he said, "the Net is a wonderful place, but it’s also a dangerous one.’