We've reached a strange-some would say unusual-point. While fighting world hunger continues to be the matter of vital importance according to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), more people now die from being overweight, or say, from being extremely fat, than from being underweight. It's the good life that's more likely to kill us these days.
Worse, nearly l8 million children under the age of five around the world are estimated to be overweight. What's going on?
We really don't have many excuses for our weight problems. The dangers of the problem have been drilled into us by public-health campaigns since 2001 and the message is getting through-up to a point.
In the 1970s, Finland, for example, had the highest rate of heart disease in the world and being overweight was its main cause. Not any more. A public-health campaign has greatly reduced the number of heart disease deaths by 80 per cent over the past three decades.
Maybe that explains why the percentage of people in Finland taking diet pills doubled between 2001 and 2005, and doctors even offer surgery of removing fat inside and change the shape of the body. That has become a sort of fashion. No wonder it ranks as the world's most body-conscious country.
We know what we should be doing to lose weight-but actually doing it is another matter. By far the most popular excuse is not taking enough exercise. More than half of us admit we lack willpower.
Others blame good food. They say: it's just too inviting and it makes them overeat. Still others lay the blame on the Americans, complaining that pounds have piled on thanks to eating too much American-style fast food.
Some also blame their parents-their genes. But unfortunately, the parents are wronged because they're normal in shape, or rather slim.
It's a similar story around the world, although people are relatively unlikely to have tried to lose weight. Parents are eager to see their kids shape up. Do as I say-not as I do.
| 1． |
What is the "strange" point mentioned in the first sentence?
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| 2． |
Why does the author think that people have no excuse for being overweight?
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| 3． |
The example of Finland is used to illustrate.
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| 4． |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
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In their book Time to Eat the Dog : The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, Robort and Breanda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,0
00 km a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.
“We ‘re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog .We are just saying that we need to think about and know the ecological impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted.”
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41hectares of land ,while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares or 1.1hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.
Convincing flesh-eating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a non-starter,
The Vales say .Instead they recommend keeping greener, smaller, and more sustainable pets ,such as goldfish, chickens or rabbits.
The book ‘s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully recycled, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die ,may not appeal to animal fans .
Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert vale said.
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog . It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said
It about much more challenging and difficult issues, he added . Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things , you might decide to have the cat but not also to have two cars and three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.. The authors gave their book the playful title to .
A make it amusing B create a vivid image
C show writing skills D arouse people’s concern . In Paragraph 3 the writer mainly wants to tell us .
A the amou
nt of consumed land B the neglected ecological impact
C some familiar examples D some actual figures. What does “sustainability” mean according to the passage?
A Going vegetarian B Raising cats and dogs
C Using a cloth bag D Keeping a greener life. Who may not the idea of “recycling” pet animal?
A Manufactures B Drivers C Animal fans D The authorities. Wha
t do the authors thing of living a sustainable life?
A Challenging B Inspiring C Inviting D Touching
During my many contacts with people in China, I have been asked by two different people what I would recommend to them so that they could be happy. One of these people was my student and friend who began her question by saying I always appeared happy to her. She then asked how I could be this way and if I could teach her how to be happy all
the time. The other inquiry was basically the same and came from the secretary of a company for which I was doing some work.
The first one to ask was my student and in thinking about an answer I even explored in class the idea of optimism and pessimism, of people who feel the glass is always half full and those who think it is half empty. It was easy to show that different people react differently to the same situations and conditions but that didn’t bring me much closer to understanding why.
About two months later I was riding to the airport in a taxi with the company secretary who asked me the same question and it made me think. Why did both these ladies feel they needed help to become happy? Indeed, why did either of them think they were not happy? Why did they choose to ask this question of me? Why are some people generally happy while others are not?
Certainly if someone is healthy, it might be expected that they are happy, and this is probably true. However, some people hav
e money and health but have a miserable disposition that makes it difficult for them to have friends and meaningful relationships. Similarly, one would expect those who have little to complain about their fate and many do, but others are able to enjoy what they have and enjoy life. It seems the difference must lie within the people. What we may be looking at is acceptance of a personal set of circ
umstances and the contentment which flows from that. It should not mean, however, that those people cannot wish for something better.
If the difference between people who are happy and those who are not lies within the people themselves, can happiness be learned? I think there are things we can do, such as dreaming of the future, which can give us the sort of positive outlook which will generally make us happy people. According to the passage, which of the following is true?
| A．The author was once asked how to be healthy and wealthy by two people. |
| B．The author came to realize why people responded differently to happiness. |
| C．Those who think the glass is always half empty are optimistic. |
| D．Those who feel the glass is always half full are pessimistic. |
. The underlined word “disposition” in the fourth paragraph means .
| A．character | B．habit | C．reputation | D．fate |
The underlined word “it” in the fourth paragraph refers to .
| A．the idea of pessimism | B．the attitude towards happiness |
| C．the satisfaction within | D．the appearance of happiness |
. What will the author most probably talk about after the last paragraph?
| A．Learning how to be happy. | B．Accepting the present situation. |
| C．Developing meaningful relationships. | D．Going after the dream. |
This year Canada’s navy is one hundred years old. To mark the occasion, military ships from six different countries around the Pacific Ocean came to Canada for a four-day celebration. There were parades, parties and demonstrations of navy search and rescue aircraft and a show put on by the Snowbirds.
The Snowbirds, Canada’s aerobatic team, fly Tudor jet aircraft that are not particularly fast or particularly new but with amazing and sometimes hair-raising precision. They put a formation of nine aircraft into a space that would normally hold only one and they change the information in flight, roll it, loop it, break it and reform it in a dizzying ballet in the sky. The Snowbirds are one of the best aerobatic flying teams in the world and they are a readily recognized symbol of Canada just as the Great Wall is a recognized symbol of China. For a Canadian, watching the Snowbirds fly can bring tears. They make us very proud.
The Snowbirds have been flying since 1971. All of the pilots are serving members of the Canadian Air Force. They are all very young, all are highly-skilled and each is attached to the Snowbirds for two or three years. Each winter they practice in the cold, clear skies and each summer they put on more than fifty air-shows across the country and sometimes abroad. What they do is highly specialized. They often fly less than two meters from each other at speeds of about seven hundred and fifty kilometers an hour.
Flying is, by its nature, inherently risky and what the Snowbirds do increases that risk. While the pilots are all highly trained professionals, eight Snowbird pilots have been killed over the years. I have been fortunate enough to watch the Snowbirds fly probably fifteen or twenty times and if I know they are going to be flying I will go to see them again and again. This is not because I want to see someone do something dangerous, it is because I want to see something done so well—it is almost unbelievably precise and beautiful. I want to watch nine aircraft in an incredibly tight formation, each one painted in the red and white of my country’s flag, soaring through the cloudless blue sky. I want to feel that pride and that tear just behind my eyelids that comes from watching something uniquely and wonderfully Canadian..
Which of the following is TRUE about the Snowbirds?
| A．The aircraft they fly are particularly fast and new. |
| B．They are the best aerobatic flying team in the world. |
| C．They are regarded as a symbol of Canada. |
| D．Every year they put on more than fifty air-shows across the country. |
.
. The underlined word “inherently” in the last paragraph refers to .
| A．naturally | B．truly | C．entirely | D．nearly |
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Why does the author like to watch the Snowbirds fly?
A．Because he w ants to see someone do something dangerous. |
| B．Because the flying is unbelievably precise and beautiful. |
| C．Because his country’s flag is painted on each one. |
| D．Because watching them fly can make people cry. |
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Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Air-shows of the Snowbirds |
| B．A Four-day Celebration of Canada |
| C．The Training of Highly-skilled Pilots |
| D．A National Symbol -- the Snowbirds |
The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s interruption of our thoughts.
We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is in generally a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.
The concept of being unreachable is not new – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?
The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication. Until the recent mass use of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe. We came to take it for granted.
But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves. Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phones away, or curse this invention.
But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. That we have the right to take back our private time is a general social recognition.
In other words, we don’t have to pay too much attention to the rings of our own phones. Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don’t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later.
A cellphone call deserves no more importance than a word from the person next to us. Though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg–who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off, thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch. 
.
What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?
| A．It is a way to show that you don’t like the caller. |
| B．It is natural to tell lies about small things. |
| C．It is basically a good way to protect one’s privacy. |
| D．We should feel guilty when we can’t tell the truth. |
.
What is the meaning of the underlined word “devotees” in Paragraph 5?
| A．people who enjoy something. | B．people who are bothered. |
| C．people who hate something. | D．people who are interrupted. |
.
. According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cellphones?
| A．People are always thinking of the cellphone rings so that they fail to notice anything else. |
| B．Cellphones interrupt people’s private time. |
| C．People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cellphones. |
| D．With cellphones it is no longer possible to be unreachable. |
.
. What does the last paragraph suggest?
| A．A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention. |
| B．Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel. |
| C．You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cellphone. |
| D．Never let cellphones disturb your life too much. |
Do you ever wonder how some things came about? For instance, who figured out that there was something worth eating inside a banana peel? Or how astonishing do you have to be to discover that an artichoke has edible parts? Well, we may not know how either of those foods was discovered, but we do know how potato chips were invented.
Potato chips originated in New England as one man’s variation on the French-fried potatoes, and their production was the result not of a sudden inspiration of cooking invention but of a fit of annoyance.
It was the summer of 1853 and Commodore Vanderbilt, a wealthy railroad magnate, was vacationing at a hotel named Moon Lake Lodge in New York. On the restaurant menu were French-fried potatoes, prepared in the thick-cut French style that was popularized in France in the 1700s and enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson as ambassador to that country.
At dinner one night, Vanderbilt complained that his French-fried potatoes were cut too thick and sent them back to the kitchen. Offended by his snobbyguest, chef George Crum decided he would give Mr. Vanderbilt exactly what he asked for! He decided to annoy the guest by producing French fries too thin and crisp. The chef angrily gather
ed up some potatoes and sliced them paper-thin. He threw the slices into hot oil to fry, drained and salted them and then personally served the new dish to Mr. Vanderbilt.
Surprised to see the chef in the dining room, the other diners fell into silence and everyone held their breath, waiting for Vanderbilt’s reaction.
Vanderbilt immediately popped a crisp potato slice into his mouth and the loud “Crunch” broke the silence. He continued to crunch away, delighted with his new dish. The plan backfired. Vanderbilt was interested in the browned, paper-thin potatoes. Clapping a surprised Chef Crum on the back, Vanderbilt praised him on the impressive potatoes. And other diners requested Crum’s potato chips, which began to appear on the menu as “Saratoga Chips”, a house specialty. Soon they were packaged and sold, first locally, then throughout the New England area. Crum eventually opened his own restaurant, featuring chips. At that time, potatoes were peeled and sliced by hand. It was the invention of the mechanical potato peeler in the 1920s that paved the way for potato chips to rise quickly from a small specialty item to a top-selling snack food. .
The author wrote the first paragraph to .
| A．tell us how potato chips were invented |
| B．introduce the topic dealt with in the passage |
| C．give examples of how some things came about |
| D．explain why we do know how those foods were discovered |
.
. According to the passage, chef George Crum .
| A．invented potato chips by accident |
| B．opened his own restaurant, featuring potatoes |
| C．served the new dish to Mr. Vanderbilt in private |
| D．helped promote potato chips to a top-selling snack |
.
. The production of potato chips was the result of .
| A．Mr. Vanderbilt’s praise for the new dish |
| B．Thomas Jefferson’s appreciation of the French Fries |
| C．George Crum’s anger at Mr. Vanderbilt |
| D．the invention of the mechanical potato peeler |
.
The underlined word “backfired” in the 6th paragraph probably means .
| A．developed in a successful way | B．made a big difference |
| C．happened in a particular way | D．had an opposite result |
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