2 . One of the presents in my house this Christmas was a late 18th-century volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (大英百科全书). It is a window into the discoveries and thinking of the time. The encyclopaedia is an entertaining reminder of how _______ some of our current truths are bound to be. Certainties in areas we haven’t yet understood will look just as ridiculous as some of these in centuries to come. And one of those we are still remarkably _______ is the effect of food and exercise on our bodies. We’re surrounded by confident _______ on how to eat, how to avoid or reverse obesity (肥胖), and yet the advice seems pointless while the world gets fatter. Much of what we think we know is a pile of assumptions rather than _______ .

Our confusion is the theme of Spoon-Fed, a book by one of Britain’s leading nutrition researchers, Tim Spector of King’s College London. Its subtitle is: “Why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong.” It is a call for us to _______ more.

One by one Spector offers answers to recent food _______. Coffee can save our lives, he says. Three to four cups a day reduces the risk of heart disease and may cut the risk of death by 8 per cent. Butter does not damage our hearts, Spector argues, and salt is vital. Eggs have gone “from heroes to villains and back again”. Don’t say no to all red meat on _______ grounds; occasional small quantities of high-quality unprocessed meat provide important vitamins and iron and are “probably good for you“. Exercise is so good for longevity and happiness that it should be considered our No 1 drug, but the one thing for which it’s _______ useless is losing weight. Vitamin pills are a multibillion-pound industry with almost no proven _______ but which can cause real harm. Even vitamin D, which Spector used to study and believe in, he now _______.

Spector also offers more than a set of currently _______ tips. The science of nutrition has not been solved by him, as he would be the first to admit. His most _______ point is that there is no one size that fits all. Our bodies are complex, and our reactions are _______: yet nobody wants to pay for the research that might explain why.

Some combination of food choices, genes, environment and the chemical reactions generated by our microbiome — the unique microbe (微生物的) combinations in our body ― yes different _______ for each of us, leaving some lean and two thirds of us too fat. This is the territory Spector wants to explore further and which might just allow us to _______ the global trend to obesity, with all the risks we’ve witnessed this year.

3 . As a teenager, I hated sports and physical education classes. I was always making up _________ to get out of them.

However, when I started university, I decided to _________ kung fu. To my _________, I loved it! It was a friendly and casual club. I used to go two or three times a week to _________. Because it is not a team sport, I didn't feel _________ about not being very good. And because it is a combat sport, you train in pairs, which means that you get to _________ people and talk to them. I also _________ that the focus of the classes was on getting better at kung fu, _________ exercising to change my body. I think that advertising puts us under an unhealthy pressure to change our _________. When I was doing kung fu, my body did change — I got __________ and quicker — but the __________ were a side effect of the sport, instead of the goal. __________, in the last year of university I was too busy to do kung fu most of the time.

When I moved to Italy this year I wanted to start doing a __________ sport again. I found a great local __________ that does mixed martial arts. The club is more __________ than the one at my university and we do lots of sparring (practice fights). I think that sparring is like chess, but much faster and much more fun! If your sparring partner tries to __________ you, you have to decide in an instant how to __________. You could dodge (巧妙躲避), block or even __________ their arm and then throw them to the mat.

When I was a teenager, I never __________ that I would like sports. Now I think that everyone should try as many __________ as possible because I believe there is something out there for everyone!

4 . 81-year-old Erika lives in Langenfeld, Germany, with her husband. She never used to be ________, but after her two kids grew up and left the ________, she found herself bored.

________, her daughter signed her up for a gym membership. “The first five years, I was not as ________. Then, I slowly started to do more and ________ took part in rowing competitions,” Erika said.

It has been 20 years since Erika first ________ that gym. These days, she works out twice a day. When COVID-19 began, she had to find a new way to ________ her workout desire. That's when her daughter ________ some technology-related apps to her!

She ________ participating in various workout challenges online, and it didn't take long before people ________ her. As her Internet followers grew, Erika has become a perfect ________ for the young to keep active for the benefit of their ________.

“If I can change people's stereotypes(刻板印象) about the old, it makes me very happy,” she said. Meanwhile, she often ________ younger folks through her social networks, trying hard to ________ the joy of fitness.

“I would have never ________ to get this many inspiring ________ and followers,” Erika added. “These apps have helped me to stay up-to-date with ________ and what the younger generations are ________ these days.”

Erika is showing everyone how ________ it is to grow and evolve in our lifetimes. Twenty years ago, she ________ imagined that she would be motivating people half her age on social media Now she's made it.