As for what is driving America’s chronic weight problem, there are no definite answers. But a lot of evidence points to the two causes most people already suspect: too much food and too little exercise.

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The US Department of Agriculture(USDA)reports that the average American ate almost 20% more calories in the year 2000 than they did in 1983, thanks, in part, to a boom in meat     2    . Today, each American puts away an     3    of 195 Ibs of meat every year, compared to just 138 Ibs in the 1950s. Consumption of added fats also shot up by around two-thirds over the same period, and grain consumption     4    by 45% since1970.

Inactivity is the new normal

Lack of exercise is also a major culprit in the obesity epidemic. It’s been decades since most Americans worked in fields and on factory floors. A far greater     5    of us are sitting throughout our working day. This means less exercise each day. According to one study, only 20% of today’s jobs require at least     6    physical activity, as opposed to 50% of jobs in 1960. Other research suggests Americans burn 120 to 140 fewer calories a day than they did 50 years ago. Add this to the higher amount of calories we are packing in, and we get a perfect recipe for weight gain.

But lethargy goes well beyond the workplace. It is also how we get to work and what we do after. Americans walk less than people in any other industrialized country,     7    to sit in cars to get around. And at the end of the day, 80% of Americans don’t get enough exercise, according to the CDC.

In the end, though, we can’t lose sight of the big picture. Over the past years, diet fads have come and gone, with people     8    to blame red meat, dairy, wheat, fat, sugar, etc. for making them fat, but in reality, the problem is much simpler. Genetics and age do strongly     9    metabolism, but as the CDC points out, weight gain and loss is primarily a formula of total calories     10    versus total calories used.

The arrival of     1    has shifted populations from rural areas into cities because they tend to     2     in urban areas. At present, 81 percent of the inhabitants in the US live in cities.

Cultural and ethnic     3    adds a unique flavour to cities that is expressed through distinct neighbourhoods, restaurants, places of worship, museums, nightlife and multicultural learning environments.

Unique musical forms, such as     4    , rock and roll, Chicano music, and the blues, grow in the US by mixing a variety of culturally distinct musical traditions to     5     a new form.

As colleges and universities nationwide revealed their admission decisions, news broke of a dramatic decline in acceptance rates-and not just at Ivy League schools. The shift meant that many high school students who pinned all their hopes on particular dream schools might find themselves     1     with real disappointment.

Why were admissions so low these years? It’s a number game. These years, colleges saw the number of applicants soar to record-high levels. But considering     2     budgets, the number of spots colleges could offer had to be     3    . As a result, both state schools and private colleges kept seeing their acceptance rates fall rapidly.

It’s not that most students won’t get into colleges at all. Instead, there are more than enough spots nationwide for every qualified applicant to find a place for study. But for many, the school they end up enrolling in may not have been their first, or even third choice. The     4     strike of rejection, in some cases, could be heartbreaking. These are kids who are used to being the best of the best.

But some of the pressure is     5    , without excuses, by students themselves, according to Laurence Steinberg, professor of Psychology. He thinks that Americans fall     6     to their own addiction to school rankings and fame. Students and their parents have formed strong commitments to particular schools long before admission decisions are made. “When they are rejected, it’s like being rejected by a boyfriend or girlfriend,” Steinberg says. “They     7     it: What’s the matter with me? What could I have done differently?”

That emotional     8     is often only about what school name students will paste on their parents’ cars but it may also lead to families’     9     of what may actually be the suitable school for the students.

Actually, painful as the rejection is, in the long run, getting into a high-ranking university doesn’t necessarily mean competitive     10     in terms of job prospects and earnings. A research shows that many students rejected by highly selective schools earn as much as Ivy League graduates. What really matters is how seriously students take their studies.