More than one-third of adults in the United States are obese(肥胖). In fact, over obesity has reached such proportions that one big-city mayor has gone about banning large-sized, sugary soft drinks and the First Lady has been on a campaign to control the dietary offerings in public schools.
Even many adults who do not fit the clinic definition of obesity are still overweight, and a large percentage are looking for the best ways to lose weight.
Reducing pounds largely comes down to the two-sided factors of diet and exercise. Not carrying out the first one enough, and not getting enough of the second one, ends up giving the individual a recipe for being overweight.
Advising someone to eat less and exercise more might be the easiest advice possible, but it’s also, partially, an oversimplification. Dieting has more to do with the types of food you eat than how much you eat. Reduce the amount of red meat in your diet. If you don’t want to eliminate red meat altogether, choose cuts of meat with less fat content. Limit your intake of salt and starches. If you’ve got to have potato chips alongside your sandwich at lunch, choose the baked potato chips that contain less fat than the deep-fried chips. You might find you’re really not sacrificing that much in terms of taste.
A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, egg whites, fish and nonfat dairy products will certainly aid in the mission of losing weight. Drink more water and less sugary drinks. If you have to have a soda, a diet soda is a better option, but seltzer is an even better choice than that.
It’s important—if not always easy—to make sure you get at least some physical activity each and every day. If your feet won’t allow for a regular jogging regimen, then make sure you take lots of walks. Next time you need to mail a letter, walk to the mailbox instead of driving. Try to work in a daily walk in your neighborhood. You should when you want to lose weight
| A．try not to fit the clinic definition of obesity |
| B．diet as well as exercise enough |
| C．get little exercise every day |
| D．focus your attention on diet only |
The First Lady has started a movement to .
| A．raise people’s awareness of healthy diet |
| B．control the public school dietary supplying |
| C．ban the sugary soft drinks |
| D．realise the importance of dieting |
What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?
| A．We must keep far away from fat and ignore our taste. |
| B．The simplest and best way to lose weight is to eat and exercise more. |
| C．We should remove the red meat in our diet completely to reduce weight. |
| D．When it comes to diet, no one needs to starve themselves in order to lose weight. |
The last paragraph is mainly about .
| A．walk | B．diet |
| C．exercise | D．jog |
Many people go to school for an education. They learn languages, history, geography, physics, chemistry and mathematics. Others go to school to learn a skill so that they can make a living. School education is very important and useful. Yet no one can learn everything from school. A teacher, no matter how much he knows, cannot teach his students everything they want to know. The teacher’s job is to show his students how to learn. He teaches them how to read and how to think. So, much more is to be learned outside school by the students themselves.
It is always more important to know how to study by oneself than to memorize (记住) some facts or a formula (公式). It is usually quite easy to learn a certain fact in history or a formula in mathematics. But it is very difficult to use a formula in working out a maths problem. Great scientists, such as Einstein, Newton and Galileo didn’t get everything from school. But they were all so successful. They invented so many things for mankind. Above all, they knew how to use their brains. Whether he is more ________or less, a teacher can’t teach his students everything they want to know.
| A．important | B．useful | C．difficulty | D．knowledgeable (有知识的) |
A teacher’s job is mainly to train his students to master the ability of __________.
| A．learning by themselves | B．making a living |
| C．reading and thinking | D．studying all the subjects |
The reason for scientists’ success is that _______.
| A．they read books that were not taught at school | B．they worked all their lives |
| C．they wasted not a single moment | D．they knew how to use their brains |
Tired of telling students to ask questions and to think about what they were doing, Damien Hynes, a high school geography teacher in Australia, decided to do an experiment to test what he had long been thinking．He wrote some well-organized nonsense （something untrue） on the blackboard．The students simply copied it but very few asked any questions．This shows that students are willing to believe anything given by teachers．The story is repeated in support of the Project for Enhancing Effective Learning （PEEL）．
PEEL was carried out by some teachers and researchers in Melbourne who had concluded that normal teaching methods seldom achieve their intended goals; what the teachers think they are teaching is one thing and what the students actually learn is something else．Students’ lack of an over-all view of learning goals and their concentration on test scores make them see each lesson as a separate activity．
Researchers realized that many students do not come into class empty-headed but have their own explanations of how the world works．Their own ideas can remain important to them even when they differ from scientific explanations that are learned later．In fact such ideas are hardly affected by traditional teaching．Students accept the teacher’s scientific explanation, but do not drop their own．They simply keep both and use them practically: in a class test, they copy the teacher’s idea, but in real life they use their own．
Clearly what was needed was to make students understand their learning process（过程）, and this is what the PEEL teachers set out to deal with．On the surface,（表面） a class being taught by PEEL methods only differs from an ordinary class in being a little noisier, because more people are talking．But there are some meaningful changes．Students are given much more time to express their views, and teachers don’t make immediate judgment．The students are allowed to guide what is done in class and their own ideas are always respected．This draws their attention to the actual learning process, and they become responsible for their own progress．The aim of Hynes’ experiment was to ______．
| A．show that students didn’t think about what they learnt |
| B．prove the effectiveness of the project known as PEEL |
| C．test students’ general knowledge about geography |
| D．encourage students to ask more questions in class |
Why did some teachers and researchers carry out PEEL?
| A．To ensure teachers do scientific work． |
| B．To help students get higher test scores． |
| C．To find the differences between what is taught and learnt． |
| D．To help normal teaching methods achieve their goals． |
An important difference between PEEL and non-PEEL classes is that in the PEEL classes ______．
| A．the teacher does not give the usual scientific explanations |
| B．students always have their own knowledge of the subject |
| C．more attention is paid to the students’ own ideas |
| D．the best explanations are given by the students |
What is Damien Hynes？
| A．He is a teacher who teaches geography in a high school in Australia |
| B．He is a geography teacher and a researcher in Australia |
| C．He is a teacher teaching geography in a high school in Austria |
| D．He is a high school geography teacher in Austria． |
This is time of year when we think about giving and receiving presents．Can you find a little extra to give? On this page we suggest a few organizations you might like to help．
Littleton Children’s Home
We don’t want your money, but children’s toys, books and clothes in good condition would be very welcome．
Also, we are looking for friendly families who would take our children into their homes for a few hours or days as guests．You have so much—will you share it?
Phone Sister Thomas on 55671．
Children’s Hospice
We look after a small number of very sick children．This important work needs skill and love．We cannot continue without gifts of money to pay for more nursing staff．We also need story books and toys suitable for quiet games．
Please contact The Secretary, Little Children’s Hospice, Newby Road．
Street Food
In the winter weather, it’s no fun being homeless．It’s even worse if you’re hungry．We give hot food to at least fifty people every night．It’s hard work, but necessary．Can you come and help? If not, can you find a little money? We use a very old kitchen, and we badly need some new saucepans．Money for new ones would be most welcome indeed．
Contact Street Food, c/o Mary’s House, Elming Way, Littleton．Phone 27713．
Littleton Youth Club
Have you got an unwanted chair?—a record player?—a pot of paint?
Because we can use them!
We want to get to work on our meeting room!
Please phone 66231 and we’ll be happy to collect anything you can give us．
Thank you!
The Night Shelter
We offer a warm bed for the night to anyone who has nowhere to go．We rent the former Commercial Hotel on Green Street．Although it is not expensive, we never seem to have quite enough money．Can you let us have a few pounds? Any amount, however small, will be such a help．
Send it to us at 15, Green St, Littleton．Please make check payable to Night Shelter．Reading the passage, you might like to help these organizations which work for
| A．homeless and sick children |
| B．less fortunate members of our society |
| C．hungry people who have no beds to sleep in |
| D．friendly members of our society to help others |
We can infer that．
| A．there are too many social problems in this country |
| B．people are very poor during the time for giving presents |
| C．warm-hearted people like to give away money |
| D．this passage is taken from a local newspaper |
If your child has grown up, you may take the child’s things to．
| A．Children’s Home and Children’s Hospice |
| B．Youth Club and Children’s Home |
| C．Children’s Hospice and Night Shelter |
| D．Youth Club and Night Shelter |
Sarah Williams went to a boarding school．Here is one of the letters she wrote to her parents from the school:
Wentworth Girls’ school
Beachside
July 20th
Dearest Mom and Dad,
I’m afraid I have some very surprising news for you．I have been very naughty and the school headmaster is very angry with me．She is going to write to you．You must come and take me away from here．She does not want me in the school any longer．
The trouble started last night when I was smoking in bed．This is against the rules, of course．We are not supposed to smoke at all．
As I was smoking, I heard footsteps coming towards the room．I did not want a teacher to catch me smoking, so I threw the cigarette away．
Unfortunately, the cigarette fell into the waste-paper basket, which caught fire．
There was a curtain near the waste-paper basket which caught fire, too．Soon the whole room was burning．
The headmaster phoned the fire department．The school is a long way from the town and by the time the fire department arrived, the whole school was on fire．Many of the girls are in hospital．
The headmaster says that the fire was all my fault and you must pay for the damage．She will send you a bill for about a million dollars．
I’m very sorry about this．
Much love,
Sarah
P．S．None of the above is true, but I have failed my exams．I just want you to know how bad things could have been．Why did Sarah tell her parents the story about the fire?
| A．She wanted to worry them |
| B．She wanted to make them laugh |
| C．She wanted to make them less angry at the real news |
| D．She wanted to warn them about what the headmaster was going to do |
The letter before the P．S．was __________．
| A．mostly true | B．partly true |
| C．all true | D．completely untrue |
Sarah said the headmaster was angry because________
| A．she had failed her exams | B．it was her fault that had caused the fire |
| C．he had not made the phone call in time | D．she had been caught smoking in bed |
Labor force is defined as being the total number of people who are available to work and earn income. This definition includes everyone who is employed or seeking paid employment, so it includes employers and the self-employed. Labor is one of the country's resources which can be combined with other resources to produce the goods and services wanted by the community.
Although the size of the workforce depends a great deal on the size of the total population, there are several other influences which also affect it. The age distribution (分布) of the total population has a very marked effect on the available workforce. If the population has a high proportion of very young people or of those too old to work, then the available workforce would be lower than if there were a balanced spread age distribution. If the population naturally grows rapidly, the number of births greatly exceeds (超出) the number of deaths then as a total population increases proportion of the workforce declines.
Sometimes a po
pulation is described as aging which means that the birth rate is either falling or growing very slowly, and as people retire from the workforce there are insufficient numbers of young people entering it to replace those who are leaving it. In that situation the population is top-heavy with older people. So the percentage of the population in the workforce declines when there is either a rapid increase in births or a falling birth rate.
The age distribution of the population has several important effects on the economy. If the population is aging and there is an increase in the number of people retiring without a corresponding increase in the number entering the workforce, this raises the problem of the ability of the economy to provide a reasonable level of social services to the retired group. If the aged are to be cared for in special homes, finance must be available for that purpose. If the size of the workforce is small relative to the total population, then the government tax revenue (税收) is relatively low and either the government has less money available to it or the workforce members have to be taxed more heavily. In the passage “labor
force” is defined as ___________.
| A．people who are available to work and earn income |
| B．self-employed people only |
| C．people who are looking for an employment |
| D．employers who create job opportunities |
The conclusion which can be drawn from the second paragraph is that___________.
| A．a natural growth of population leads to a balanced workforce |
| B．a large population does not necessarily mean a higher proportion of workforce |
| C．the larger the population, the higher the proportion of the workforce |
| D．the workforce will be lower, if the population has a balanced age distribution， |
When a population is said to be aging，___________.
| A．there are more people retiring than those entering the workforce |
| B．the birth rate must be growing |
| C．there should be an oversupply of workforce |
| D．There are more people entering the workforce than those retiring |
The population which is top-heavy with older people ___________ of a country.
| A．leads to the high rate of unemployment |
| B．results in low tax on the workforce members |
| C．affects employees’ incomes |
| D．places pressure on the economy |