HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?
| A．The size of fat population. | B．The number of fast food restaurants. |
| C．The economic growth rate of the state. | D．Things related to unhealthy ways of life. |
Which city topped 2003 fattest cities list?
| A．Houston. | B．Dallas. | C．Detroit. | D．Philadelphia. |
By saying “living big” (in Paragraph 9), Boulton means people _________.
| A．are growing fatter | B．are living wastefully |
C．eat too many fatty foods | D．are spending too much time working |
Which of the following is best supported by the text?
| A．Texas has the most fat cities in the U.S. |
| B．Bill White is happy with the newspaper report. |
| C．People in Texas are the most hardworking in the U.S. |
| D．Most school children in Houston have weight problems. |
Years after throwing a bottle-up note into a lake for a class project and just one year after his death, a man’s childhood message was found and returned to his mother.
Eleven years ago, a then 10-year-old boy, Joshua Baker, wrote the message, folded and put it in an empty container, his mother, Maggie Holbrook said. He died last February in a motor vehicle accident in California. He had recently returned after a serving in the Middle East as a US marine.
“ I think he was just letting us know he was OK and keep doing what we are doing ,” Holbrook said.
The message surfaced in White Lake in late April, just days after the 11th anniversary of its being thrown into the lake. It was found by one of Baker’s closest friends, Steve Lieder, she said. Lieder and two friends were chatting near the lake when Lieder looked down and saw the bottle. He broke it open and found the note inside.
“My name is Joshua Baker. I am 10. If you find this, put it on the news. The date is 4/16/95.”
They immediately took it to Holbrook, who said she is now having the note preserved and will display it in her home.
She can remember when her son wrote the message for the school project. She said she always wondered why he didn’t put it in the nearby Wolf River, which has a much stronger current（水流）.
“I still remember the day he wrote it,” Holbrook said. “ I couldn’t understand why he threw it in the lake. No one would never see it again. Now I know.” What was Joshua Baker when he died in motor vehicle accident in California?
| A．An official | B．A soldier | C．A worker | D．A teacher |
Who found the bottle according to the passage?
| A．Joshua Baker’s mother | B．A fisherman |
| C．Joshua Baker’s friend | D．Joshua Baker’s mother’s friend |
What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A．The mother believes his son is still living with her in the house. |
| B．The mother thinks his son will come to see her one day |
| C．The mother thinks it’s foolish to throw the note in the lake |
| D．The mother thinks the bottle is her son’s gift only left to her after his death |
Which of the following statements is correct according to the passage?
| A．The man threw the bottle into the lake without any purpose. |
| B．The man didn’t put the bottle into the nearby river because it had a strong current. |
| C．Not until recently did his mother understand why he put the bottle into the lake instead of the nearby river. |
| D．The man made the bottle-up note so as to let his parents know he was OK. |
The best title for this passage would be ____.
| A．A man’s Bottle Message Found After His Death |
| B．A Ridiculous and Unbelivable Bottle Message |
| C．A Strange Bottle-up Note Appearing In a Lake |
| D．An Important Childhood Message 11 Years After His Death |
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Recently some American scientists have given a useful piece of advice to people in industrialized nations. They say people should eat more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago. ______
The scientists say that the human life has changed greatly. Our bodies have not been able to deal with these changes in lifestyle and this had led to new kinds of sickness. ______ So they are called “disease of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noticed that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol or tobacco, probably none. _____ However, a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of day.
Stone Age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic ones. They ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits. They did not have milk or any other dairy product, and they made very little use of grains.
______ We eat six times more salt than our ancestors(祖先). We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat b
ut only one third as much protein and much less vitamin C.
______ But scientists say that we would be much healthier if we eat much the same way as our ancestors did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food.
| A．These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times. |
| B．People today probably don’t want to live the way people thousands of years ago did. |
| C．Ancient people also lived in large groups. |
| D．But today, we eat a lot of these. |
E. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise.
F. In that case, they would live much healthier.
G. People today probably live the same life as people thousands of years ago did.
Many Chinese have been greatly shocked by the traffic accident caused by the drunk driver Sun Weiming, who has killed five and injured some others in Chengdu, Sichuan. However, such a case is not rare.
Today, the traffic accidents may have been regarded as a social problem. The car has killed and disabled more people in its brief history than any bomb or weapon ever invented. Much of the blood on the street flows actually from rude behavior of drivers who refuse to respect the legal and moral(道德的) rights of others. In fact, the enemies of society on wheels are rather harmless but just ordinary people acting carelessly, you might say. But it is a principle both of law and common morality that carelessness is no excuse when one's actions could bring death or damage to others. A minority of the killers go even far beyond carelessness that can be imagined.
Researchers have estimated 
that as many as 80 percent of all automobile accidents can be attributed to(归属于) the psychological condition of the driver. Emotional upsets can change drivers' reactions incorrectly, slow their judgment, and make them blind to the dangers that might otherwise be obvious. The experts warn that it is important for every driver to make a conscious effort to keep his/her emotions under control.
Yet the irresponsibility that accounts for much of the problem isn't only put upon drivers. Street walkers regularly ignore or break traffic regulations. They are blamed in most vehicle walker accidents, and many cyclists even believe that they are not subject（受…支配） to the basic rules of the road.
Significant legal advances have been made towards safer driving in the past few years. Safety standards for vehicles have been raised both at the point of manufacture and through regular road inspections. In addition, speed limits have been lowered. Due to these measures, the acci
dent rate has decreased. But the accident experts still worry because there has been little or no improvement in the way drivers behave. The only real and lasting solution, say the experts, is to make people believe that driving is a skilled task requiring constant care and concentration. Those who fail to do all these things present a threat to those with whom they share the road.Traffic accidents may be regarded as a social problem because .
| A．auto driving has become dangerous and harmful in today's society |
| B．people usually pay no attention to law and morality when driving |
| C．they have caused serious psychological problems among drivers |
| D．the car has killed and disabled more people than any weapon in history |
Who are NOT mentioned as being responsible for the road accidents?
| A．Careless bicycle-riders. | B．Careless people walking in the street. |
| C．Irresponsible auto drivers. | D．Irresponsible auto manufacturers. |
Discussing solutions to traffic accidents, the author seems to be .
| A．doubtful and hopeless |
| B．angry and disappointed |
| C．objective (客观的) and concerned |
| D．anxious and annoyed |
Many ___ choose to give up meat because they believe it is cruel to kill animals for food.
| A．vegans | B．vegetarian | C．fruitarians | D．researchers |
According to the text, “vegetarians” ref
er to people who choose ___.
| A．not to eat meat or fish | B．to eat meat or fish |
| C．not to eat protein | D．to eat vegetables |
____ only eat fruit and vegetables that have not been killed when harvested.
| A．Vegetarians | B．Veggies | C．Vegans | D．Fruitarians |
According to the text, which one of the following is not mentioned?
| A．Only in China, there are so many people eating meat. |
| B．There are many vegetarians in Europe. |
| C．Vegetarian diets are healthier than the average western diet. |
D．There are many reasons for people turning vege tarians. |
Mark was walking home from school one day when he saw the boy in front of him fall over and drop all of the book
s he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a basketball and a walkman（随身听）. Mark stopped and helped the boy pick up these things. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry some of his things. As they walked, Mark knew that the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved computer games, basketball and history, and that he was having lots of troubles with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed happily with a few laughs and some small talk, and then Mark went home. They often saw each other at school, had lunch together once or twice, and then they both finished middle school. They ended up in the same high school where they sometimes saw and talked with each other over the years. At last just three weeks before they finished high school, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill asked Mark if he still remembered the day years ago when they had first met. “Did you ever think why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker(锁柜) because I didn’t want to leave anything for anyone else. I had put away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to kill myself. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I began to 
understand that if I killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”When Mark met him the first time, Bill was going _______.
| A．to have a basketball game | B．to his classroom |
| C．to see Mark | D．back home |
From what Bill was carrying, we can know that he _______.
| A．was a good student | B．liked sports and music |
| C．liked all the subjects in school | D．was a good friend |
Mark and Bill _______.
| A．were in the same middle school and high school |
| B．were in the same middle school but not in the same high school |
| C．often had lunch together at school |
| D．had known each other before they began to study in middle school |
In this passage, the phrase “break up” means _______.
| A．相处很好 | B．和好如初 | C．关系破裂 | D．保持联系 |
When Mark helped Bill to pick up some of his things, he _______.
| A．knew he could save Bill’s life |
| B．knew who Bill was and wanted to help him |
| C．didn’t know why he was going to help him |
| D．didn’t know what he was doing was very important to Bill |
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