The devices are designed to record your physical activity. They are usually worn around the wrist, where they measure a person’s heart rate. The research team looked at two groups of individuals. The first wore a fitness tracker and took part in health counseling (咨询) with experts to consider the best weight-loss plan. The researchers compared this group with people who only got health counseling.
The study found that those only speaking with the health experts lost nearly 6 kilograms, but those using a fitness tracker lost only 3.5 kilograms. John Jakicic, the lead researcher, questioned the use of electronic devices for weight control in place of “effective behavioral counseling for physical activity and diet. ”
The study involved 470 subjects aged between 18 and 35. Some of them were overweight, while others were considered obese (肥胖的). Over three fourths of the subjects were women. All the subjects were told to increase physical activity and start on a low-calorie diet. They had their weight measured once every six months. After six months, researchers divided the group into two parts: one continued with monthly counseling, while members of the other group were given a fitness tracker. Eighteen months later, both groups “showed significant improvements in fitness, physical activity, and diet,” with no major difference between groups. However, when it came to losing weight, the people who only spoke with experts lost nearly twice as much weight.
Jakicic said, “the study’s findings are important because effective long-term treatments are needed to address America’s obesity. ” More information is needed, he added, to learn how to best use these devices to change “physical activity and diet behaviors” in adults who want to lose weight.
1. All the subjects in the study were asked to ________.| A．start on a high-calorie diet | B．wear a fitness tracker |
| C．increase physical activities | D．record their heart rates |
| A．Wearing fitness trackers hardly helps people lose weight. |
| B．Physical activity and diet have no effect on weight loss. |
| C．Handling obesity requires effective long-term treatments. |
| D．There are great differences in fitness between both groups. |
| A．The study went on for about two years. |
| B．More than 120 men took part in the study. |
| C．Health counseling helps lose almost 6 kilograms. |
| D．Wearing a fitness tracker is useful for keeping slim. |
| A．describe how the researchers were conducting the study |
| B．indicate regular counseling for weight control is necessary |
| C．convince readers to wear fitness trackers for weight control |
| D．warn women are more likely to suffer from weight problems |
Personalized Exercise
As the start of every year, many of us promise ourselves that a certain number of times a week we will go to the gym or attend an exercise class. But finally many of us just struggle to fit exercise into our lives, or start off well and then give up. Why do we have a good plan at the beginning and fail to achieve it in the end? How can we deal with the problem?
It is important to determine your motivation first. Are you mainly interested in de-stressing or in getting fitter? If your goal is relaxation, then ask yourself if you want to do it energetically.
As you see, everything counts when you are doing exercise. Whatever your lifestyle is, you will be able to have something that suits you.
| A．Good exercise is necessary for physical health. |
| B．The key could be to find the right type of exercise. |
| C．If it is fitness you are after, group activities will be suitable. |
| D．You’d better create a personalized plan to get you into shape. |
| E．In this case, a type of exercise based on boxing may be right for you. |
| F．In other words, you can always find personalized exercise by yourself. |
| G．For people who are extremely busy, it is easier to fit exercise into daily lives. |
We all need physical exercise. Exercise uses up the food we eat and keeps the body energetic. It works your muscles and makes your heart work hard so as to send blood to your muscles. So exercise makes your heart and muscles strong. Exercise also makes you feel refreshed. If you take regular exercise, you will stay happy and healthy.
Some Western countries, such as the United States, have problems with exercise. In the US, many people lack exercise because it is hard for them. People have to work from dawn till dusk, so they don’t have time to take exercise. They work in office buildings sitting in chairs all day long in front of computers. They cannot get much exercise sitting at desk passively.
Some Westerners can get exercise by walking from their homes to workplaces. However, the majority of people cannot do this. It is too far from their homes to their offices. They have no choice but to drive to work. In fact, some have to drive one or two hours to their offices. This is unfavorable in two ways. First, these people don’t have a chance to exercise because they are sitting in their cars for two to four hours each day. Second, driving is challenging especially in rush hours and calls for too much attention. It makes a person very tired. So when these people arrive home at night, they don’t have the desire to take exercise after work.
Today, many people in the West are overweight, which causes health problems for them. Doctors say exercise can help people both lose weight and improve their health. So many people are trying to get more exercise. But it takes time to change, and when people don’t see a difference right away, they will be discouraged and stop exercising.
Title | Westerners |
The | ● Keep your body ● Make you feel good. ● Help you stay healthy and happy if you exercise ● Help you lose weight and get your health |
| One | ● Some people at work are too |
| The difficulty those who drive to work have in exercising | ● Some live too ● After driving back at night, they are too |
| The wrong attitude to exercise some people have | ● Some would |
4 . I regularly train at a local boxing gym and I’m lucky enough to meet an amazing man, Adrian Charter. Adrian comes to the gym to train, just like me. The difference is, I’m 31 years old, and Adrian is 72!
I watched Adrian as he was training, early on a Sunday morning, and he was hitting the punching bag harder and quicker than most men in their twenties would. Adrian was a former boxer whose last professional fight was in 1972. Even though he has stopped competing as a boxer, his discipline(纪律) still makes him stick to a training rule.
It simply amazed me as to how a 72-year-old man could train so hard. Believe me, boxing is one of the most difficult sports on the earth, needing much patience,skill, and effort.
What surprised me even more was that a few days earlier he did some running. He ran 9 kilometers. He does this on a regular basis. For me, I can run 5 kilometers at most.
When I questioned him about how he kept such discipline, he calmly replied, “It is all in my mind.”
I thought about it for a moment. If discipline can push a 72-year-old man to train so hard and enjoy it, could I imagine how discipline could serve every single human being on the earth? Right at this point, as you read this story, please pause and ask yourself, “What is my level of discipline?”
Adrian’s example told me that the power of discipline will get us to the finishing line!The bigger the challenge is, the more our discipline can serve us and the sweeter the taste of success will be!
1. The author noticed Adrian Charter mostly because Adrian Charter _______ .| A．was a famous former boxer |
| B．was the oldest in the boxing gym |
| C．acted faster even than young people |
| D．didn’t want to compete any longer |
| A．It has high requirements. |
| B．It has strict training rules. |
| C．It has a limit to people’s age. |
| D．It makes people become quick and strong. |
| A．Rome was not built in a day |
| B．no pains, no gains |
| C．failure is the mother of success |
| D．early birds can catch worms |
| A．Grasp every chance to keep fit |
| B．An unforgotten experience |
| C．The power of discipline |
| D．An amazing boxer |
5 . Recently a study, led by Pedro Hallal of the Federal University of Pelotas, suggests that nearly a third of adults,31%, are not getting enough exercise. That rates of exercise have declined is hardly a new discovery. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, technology and economic growth have helped to create a world in which taking exercise is more and more an option rather than a necessity. But only recently has enough good data been collected from enough places to carry out the sort of analysis Dr Hallal and his colleagues have engaged in.
There are common themes in different places. Unsurprisingly, people in rich countries are less active than those in poor ones, and old people are less active than young ones. Less obviously, women tend to exercise less than men-34% are inactive, compared with 28% of men. But there are exceptions. The women of Croatia, Finland, Iraq and Luxembourg, for example, exercise more than their male countrymen.
Malta wins the race for the most slothful country, with 72%of adults getting too little exercise，and Swaziland and Saudi Arabia are in close behind，with 69%.In Bangladesh，just 5%of adults fail to exercise enough. Surprisingly，six in ten Americans are active enough according to Dr Hallal's study，compared with fewer than four in ten British men.
These high rates of inactivity are worrying. Human beings seem to have evolved（进化）to benefit from exercise while deliberately avoiding it whenever they can. In a state of nature it would be impossible to live a life that did not provide enough of it. Actually lack of enough activity these days has nearly the same effect on lifespan（寿命）as smoking.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1？| A．The decline of the rates of exercise is newly discovered. |
| B．The study suggests 31%of female adults get too little exercise. |
| C．The enough good data has been collected from only one country. |
| D．The industrial revolution has changed the way people live to some degree. |
| A．have little time to exercise |
| B．hate to get regular exercise |
| C．take more exercise to lose weight |
| D．exercise more than men in their country |
| A．powerful | B．rich |
| C．lazy | D．unpopular |
| A．Worldwide Lack of Enough Exercise |
| B．A New Health Discovery |
| C．Evolvement of Human Beings |
| D．Benefits of Taking Exercise |
6 . Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, dancing, walking or any of dozens of other activities can help your heart.
●Choose activities that are fun and add variety. Develop several activities that you can enjoy.
●Wear comfortable, properly fitted shoes and comfortable, loose-fitting clothing appropriate for the weather and the activity.
●Find a convenient time and place to do activities.
●Use music to keep yourself entertained.
●
●Don’t overdo it, especially at first. You can slowly increase the time and intensity (强度) of your activities as you become more fit.
●Keep a record of your activities. Reward yourself at times. Nothing will inspire you more than success!
| A．Try to make it a habit, but be flexible. |
| B．They all cause you to feel warm and breathe heavily without being out of breath. |
| C．Be an active role model for your children. |
| D．That way, exercise will never seem boring. |
| E．If you are overweight or have a high risk of heart disease, see your doctor for medical advice before exercising. |
| F．Surround yourself with supportive people. |
| G．Gradually, work up to exercising on most days of the week for 30-60 minutes. |
Those who have apassionfor climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks in high mountains? This astonishment is caused, probably, by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as others, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of different kinds which would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.
If we compare mountaineering with other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team game”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no “matches” between “teams” of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.
The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.
A mountain climber continues to improve in skills year by year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty. But it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they perhaps climb with more skills and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.
1. What sports are popular among people in winter in the passage?
| A．Soccer and golf. | B．Skiing and skating. |
| C．Cycling and hockey. | D．Mountaineering. |
| A．strong emotion | B．good way |
| C．better feeling | D．enough affection |
| A．it has man-made rules |
| B．it is too dangerous for climbers |
| C．it is free for climbers to use their own methods |
| D．it can’t bring people joy or leisure |
| A．mountaineering has no appeal for people |
| B．physical quality is more important than mental one for climbers |
| C．a mountain climber passes his best by the age of thirty |
| D．it is possible for an old man of fifty or sixty to climb the Alps |
| A．Sports in winter | B．Team work in climbing |
| C．Mountaineering | D．The quality for mountaineering |
8 . Throw the bottles and boxes of drugs out of your house. A new theory suggests that medicine could be bad for your health, which should at least come as good news to people who cannot afford to buy expensive medicine. This new theory argues that healing is at our fingertips: we can be healthy by doing Yoga on a regular basis.
Supporters of medical treatment argue that medicine should be trusted since it is effective and scientifically proven. They say that there is no need for spiritual methods such as Yoga. These waste our time, something which is quite precious in our material world. There is medicine that can kill our pain, Xrays that show us our bones or MRI that scans our brain for tumors (肿瘤)．
We must admit that these methods are very effective in the examples that they provide. However, there are some “everyday complaints” such as back pains, headaches and insomnia, which are treated currently with medicine. When you have a headache, you take an Aspirin; when you cannot sleep, you take Xanax without thinking of the side effects of these. When you use these pills for a long period, you become addicted to them; you cannot sleep without them. We pay huge amounts of money and become addicted instead of getting better. How about a safer and more economical way of healing? When doing Yoga, you do not need anything except your energy so it is very economical. Its popularity has spread particularly throughout America and Western Europe. In quantum (量子) physics, energy is recognized as the fundamental substance (物质) which the universe consists of.Yoga depends on the energy within our bodies. It is a simple and effective way of restoring the energy flow. There are no side effects and it is scientifically explained.
Opponents of alternative healing methods also claim that serious illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancer cannot be treated without drugs. They think so because these patients spend the rest of their lives in the hospital taking medicine. How can Yoga make these people healthy again？It is very unfortunate that these patients have to live in the hospital losing their hair because of chemotherapy (化疗), losing weight because of the side effects of the medicine they take. Actually, it is common knowledge that when the cancer is recognized at an early stage, drugs also cannot treat AIDS or cancer. Most of the medicines these patients use are to ease their pain and their sufferings. Instead of drugs which are expensive and have many side effects, you can use your energy to overcome the hardships of life, find an emotional balance, leave the stress of everyday life and let go of the everyday worries. We should definitely start learning Yoga and avoid illnesses before it is too late.
Title: Health and Healing at Your Fingertips | |
to a new theory | A new theory argues that doing Yoga |
Support of medical treatment | ●People should ●Medicine is effective and scientifically proven while Yoga is a kind of spiritual method and doing Yoga is only a ●Illnesses |
Support of Yoga | ●Doing Yoga is safer and not as ●Most of the medicines that patients with some ●Yoga has no side effects and also there is a |
9 . It’s 5:00 in the morning when the alarm(闹钟)rings in my ears. I roll out of bed and walk blindly through the dark into the bathroom. I turn on the light and put on my glasses. The house is still as I walk downstairs while my husband and three kids sleep peacefully. Usually I go for a long run, but today I choose my favorite exercise DVD, Insanity. Sweat pours down my face and into my eyes. My heart races as I force my body to finish each movement. As I near the end of the exercise, I feel extremely tired, but a smile is on my face. It’s not a smile because the DVD is over, but a smile of success from pushing my body to its extreme limit.
Some people enjoy shopping, smoking, food, work, or even chocolate. But I need exercise to get through each day. Some shake heads when they see me run through the town. Others get hurt when I refuse to try just one bite of their grandmother’s chocolate cake. They raise their eyebrows, surprised by my ＂no thank you＂, or by my choice to have a salad. Over the years, I have learned it’s okay to just say ＂no＂. I shouldn’t feel sorry for refusing food that I don’t want to eat.
So what drives me to roll out of bed at 5:00 a.m.? What gives me the reason to just say no to ice cream? Commitment. A commitment to change my life with a way that reduces daily anxiety, increases self-confidence and energy, extends life and above all improves my body shape. This is the point where a smile appears on my face as I look at myself in the mirror or try on my favorite pair of jeans that now fit just right. It’s through commitment and sweat that I can make a difference within myself inside and out.
1. Why is there a smile on the author’s face in the morning?| A．Because she sees her family sleeping peacefully. |
| B．Because she finishes her favorite exercise. |
| C．Because she enjoys the interesting DVD |
| D．Because she feels a sense of achievement. |
| A．She doesn’t treat others politely. |
| B．She likes to make others surprised. |
| C．Others don’t understand what she does. |
| D．Others try to help her by offering her food. |
| A．Good health. | B．Firm belief. |
| C．A strong power. | D．A regular habit. |
| A．She acts in a strange way. |
| B．She wants to look different from others. |
| C．She aims to develop a good body shape. |
| D．She has difficulty getting along with others. |
