1 . No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess (公爵夫人) of Windsor represents much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is considered as such virtue.
The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have fantasies of slipping into narrow designer cloches. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the better or worse-part of my life. Being rich wouldn’t be bad either, but that won’t happen unless an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land, leaving me millions of dollars.
Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not upsetting? Until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation (救助) and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being.
Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is that being fat—or ever only somewhat overweight—is bad because it implies a lack of moral strength.
Our obsession with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that in many cases, being overweight is associated with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problem—too much fat and a lack of fiber—than a weight problem.
The real concern, then, is not that we weight too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who get (or already are) thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be pure vainglory.
1. In the eyes of the author, an odd phenomenon nowadays is that ________.| A．the Duchess of Windsor is regarded as a woman of virtue |
| B．looking slim is a symbol of having a large fortune |
| C．being thin is viewed as a much desired quality |
| D．religious people are not necessarily kind-hearted |
| A．were closely related to their religious beliefs | B．changed from time to time |
| C．varied between the poor and the rich | D．led to different moral standards |
| A．Great honour. | B．Outdated concept. | C．Self-reliance | D．Excessive pride. |
| A．from an economic and educational perspective |
| B．from sociological and medical points of view |
| C．from a historical and religious standpoint |
| D．in the light of moral principles |
2 . For anyone trying to lose weight, there’s a truth we can all universally acknowledge that better health is often positioned as a numbers game. Hit the right number, and all your health problems will magically resolve, so the logic goes. Yet increasingly, science is revealing that losing weight may not be a silver bullet after all. In a mouse study published in the journal Science, looking specifically at an inflammatory(炎症的) eye condition linked to obesity called macular degeneration(黄斑退化), researchers found the struggle for better health doesn’t necessarily begin and end with weight loss.
Researchers conducted experiments on mice that were fed a high-fat diet for 11 weeks, making them gain weight. The mice were then put on a diet of low-fat food for 9 weeks, making them lose weight. Another group of mice only ate the low-fat diet as a control. Researchers shot lasers into the eyes of both the yo-yo dieter mice and the control mice to encourage atypical blood vessel(非典型性血管) growth, a mark of macular degeneration.
Among the mice that had gained and then lost weight, there was about 40 percent more atypical blood vessel growth than their stable diet peers. Driving the growth appeared to be macrophages(巨噬细胞). In the yo-yo dieter mice, these cells had been reprogrammed to cause inflammation. Taken together, these cells appeared to have an outsize role in atypical blood vessel growth in the eyes. Meanwhile, in the mice fed only a low-fat diet, inflammatory changes were absent. The results suggest that eating a high-fat diet that causes weight gain, even if followed by weight loss, leaves an inflammatory mark on mouse macrophages.
The research comes during a period of renewed interest in anti-obesity drugs. But medicines that help people shed pounds do not treat inflammation linked to a history of weight gain. “How to engage these findings with medicine interventions is a challenge,” says Bapat, head of the research.
1. Which of the following best explains “a silver bullet” underlined in paragraph1?| A．A workable solution. | B．A tough choice. |
| C．An ultimate objective. | D．A major challenge. |
| A．By making comparison. | B．By listing examples. |
| C．By controling test methods. | D．By analyzing diet components. |
| A．Stable dieting drives the growth of macrophages. |
| B．Reprogrammed cells are to blame for weight gain. |
| C．Inflammatory changes are caused by the low-fat diet. |
| D．Losing weight doesn’t resolve the inflammation tied to weight gain. |
| A．Exploring ways of losing weight. | B．Tracking the history of weight loss. |
| C．Treating obesity-linked inflammation. | D．Boosting interest in anti-obesity drugs. |
