The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically(身体上).
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.From Paragraph 1, we learn that ________.
A.diet products fail to bring out people’s potential |
B.people are fed up with diet products |
C.people have difficulty in choosing diet products |
D.diet products are misleading people |
One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to _____.
A.hesitate before they enjoy diet foods |
B.pay attention to their own eating habits |
C.watch their weight rather than their diet |
D.try out a variety of diet foods |
In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ______.
A.losing weight is effortless |
B.diet products bring no pain |
C.it costs a lot to lose weight |
D.diet products are free from calories |
Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.
A.lack basic nutrients | B.are over-consumed |
C.are short of chemicals | D.provide too much energy |
Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling, or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be game of some kind football, hockey, golf, or tennis. It may be mountaineering.
Those who have a passion for 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 on high mountains? This astonishment is caused probably by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their relaxation.
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of a different kind which it would be dangerous to ignore (忽略), 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 and 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 skill year after year. A skier (滑雪者) is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is not unusual for man of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they probably climb with more skill and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment. The main difference between a sport and a game lies in ______.
A.activity | B.uniform | C.rules | D.skills |
Mountaineering can be called a team sport because ______.
A.mountaineers depend on each other while climbing | |
B.teams compete against each other | |
C.it is an Olympic event | D.there are five climbers on each team |
Mountaineers compete against ______.
A.each other | B.nature | C.other teams | D.international standards |
Which of the following might be the best title?
A.How to Climb High Mountains | B.Mountain Climbers |
C.Challenging Sports Activities | D.Mountaineering |
When we think of leadership, we often think of strength and power. But what are these really, and how do they operate?
Leadership today is not about forcing others to do things. If this is even possible, it is short-term. If you order someone to do something against their will, they may do it because they feel they must, but the anger they feel will do more harm in the long-term. They will also experience fear.
Fear causes the thinking brain to shut down, making the person unable to function(功能) at his or her best. If they connect you with this emotion of fear, they will become less functional around you, and you will have succeeded in not only shooting yourself in the foot, but possibly making a very good employee or partner unable to perform effectively. Fear has no place in leadership.
The way we affect people in a lasting way is by our own character, and our understanding and use of emotion. We can order someone to do something, which may be part of the work day, or we can employ them at the emotional level, so they become fully devoted to the projects and provide some of their own motivation(积极性). Today’s work place is all about relationships.
Anyone works harder in a positive environment in which they’re recognized and valued as a human being as well as a worker. Everyone produces just a bit more for someone they like. Leaders understand the way things work. They know money is not the only most motivating factor in the work life of most people.
The true strength of leadership is an inner strength that comes from the confidence of Emotional Intelligence — knowing your own emotions, and how to deal with them, and those of others. Developing your emotional intelligence is the best thing you can do if you want to develop your relationships with people around you, which is the key to the leadership skills.An employee may have a feeling of fear in the work place when ______.
A.he is forced to do things | B.he cannot work at his best |
C.he feels his brain shut down | D.he thinks of his work as too heavy |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.People like to connect leadership with fear. |
B.Working conditions affect people’s physical health. |
C.Good relationship is the key to business success. |
D.Smart people are more functional in the work place. |
To positively affect employees, a leader should first of all ______.
A.provide better suggestions | B.develop his own personality |
C.give his employees a pay raise | D.hide his own emotion of fear |
Good leadership is mainly seen in a leader’s ability to ______.
A.provide a variety of projects for employees |
B.help raise employees’ living standards |
C.give employees specific instructions |
D.deal wisely with employees’ emotions |
CBC is a famous air company which has over twenty planes carrying passengers and goods, flying along 12 fixed lines all over the world. Its service is very good but some passengers are still not satisfied with it and that is why in 2008 and 2009 the company received letters of complaints from consumers or passengers who pointed out over a dozen kinds of problems which are divided in groups in the following table. Those about passengers’ things carried by the plane are Baggage problems. Consumer service refers to service work which passengers are not satisfied with. Over sales of seats are about the fact that more seats are sold and as a result the plane is too crowded to be safe. Refund(退票)problems appear when passengers fail to receive the money paid back to them because of what they have lost. Fares are problems about the price of tickets.
Consumer Complaints Received by the CBC
Category |
2008 |
2009 |
Flight problems |
20.2% |
22.1% |
Baggage |
18.3% |
21.8% |
Customer service |
3.1% |
11.3% |
Over sales of seats |
10.5% |
11.8% |
Refund problems |
10.1% |
8.1% |
Fares |
6.4% |
6.0% |
Reservation & Ticketing |
5.8% |
5.6% |
Tours |
3.3% |
2.3% |
Smoking |
3.2% |
2.9% |
Advertising |
1.2% |
1.01% |
Credit |
1.0% |
0.8% |
Special passengers |
0.9% |
0.9% |
Others |
6.0% |
5.3% |
Total Number of Complaints |
2,998 |
1,792 |
By about what percent did the total number of complaints decrease from 2008 to 2009?
A.40% | B.60% | C.75% | D.100% |
If the circle graphs below show total consumer complaints for 2008, which graph shows a dark part that is about Flight problems and Refund problems together?
A. | B. | C. | D.![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
From the passage we can know that _____.
A.customers are not satisfied with CBC |
B.sometimes CBC sells more tickets than its plane’s most desirable seats |
C.CBC has more than twenty planes which fly to all the capital cities of the world |
D.customers can only buy tickets with ready money |
Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer (扫盲志愿者). The training I received, though excellent, didn't tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three children. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn't know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule, she told me it would not help because she couldn't read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket because she couldn't always remember what she needed. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.
As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie’s self-confidence. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarket. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.
As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.What did the writer do last summer?
A.She worked in the supermarket. |
B.She helped someone to learn to read. |
C.She helped some single mothers. |
D.She was trained by a literacy volunteer. |
Why didn't Marie go to the supermarket by bus at first?
A.Because she liked to walk to the supermarket. |
B.Because she didn't have a bus schedule. |
C.Because she couldn't afford the bus ticket. |
D.Because she couldn't find the right bus. |
How did Marie use to find the goods she wanted in the supermarket?
A.She knew where the goods were in the supermarket. |
B.She asked others to take her to the right place. |
C.She managed to find the goods by their looks. |
D.She remembered the names of the goods. |
Which of the statements is TRUE about Marie?
A.She could do many things she had not been able to before. |
B.She was able to read stories with the help of her son. |
C.She decided to continue her studies in school. |
D.She helped to build up my self-confidence. |
Traditional surgical procedures require surgeons to make large incisions(伤口) in a patient’s body in order to gain access to the internal organs. It was once common for heart surgeons, who perform highly specialized and complex procedures, to make long incisions in a patient’s chest and then split the breastbone to reach the heart. Patients who undergo surgery are often at the risk of infection, as bacteria can infect the cut in the skin. In addition, there is often a lengthy recovery period.
A surgical technique known as “keyhole surgery” has become more common in recent years. In general, the surgeon will make a couple of small incisions around the area where the operation is going to be performed. Tubes are pushed into the holes, and a tiny camera, which is called an endoscope, is put into the body. The camera is attached to a large monitor screen that is positioned so that the doctor can see it while he performs the operation. In addition to the camera, doctors also push their tiny surgical instruments through the tubes. The awkward part of keyhole surgery is that it is counterintuitive; that is to say, if a surgeon wants to move the tool to the left, he or she must push it to the right.
Other advancements in technology are also being used today in the OR (operation room). A new machine called the “da Vinci Surgical System” has been tested in hospitals in the U.S.. Unlike keyhole surgery, the da Vinci’s robot’s moving parts are designed to imitate the natural hand and wrist movement of a surgeon, thus providing better control and sensitivity. The system is controlled by a surgeon from a console(控制台). Sitting at a console a few feet from the patient, the surgeon can perform an operation by holding and moving highly sensitive pads that enable him or her to control the instruments. The area of the body on which the surgeon is working is enlarged on a screen, which is attached to the console. This gives surgeons a realistic three-dimensional view of the area — similar to what they would see during a traditional surgical procedure.
Although the da Vinci Surgical System is undergoing some trials for some procedures, it has been welcomed as revolutionary by many surgeons. Patients with serious illnesses must still undergo major surgery, but the smaller incisions and less invasive procedures typically mean that a shorter recovery time is needed. In some cases, the patient’s stay in the hospital has been cut in half when the da Vinci Surgical System was used. On the downside, some operations have taken up to fifty minutes longer because surgeons are inexperienced at using the new technology. As surgeons become more familiar with the machines, the time needed for surgical procedures is likely to decrease.What can be learned about the traditional surgery according to the passage?
A.The cost of the traditional surgery is very high. |
B.It often leaves a large wound in a person’s body. |
C.Long incisions are made in a patient’s chest. |
D.The incision is often infected after the operation. |
Which of the following is one DISADVANTAGE of keyhole surgery?
A.It requires the use of long, thin tools and a tiny camera. |
B.The doctor can not view the inside of the patient’s body clearly. |
C.The direction in which a doctor moves the surgical tools is reversed. |
D.An endoscope has to be inserted into the patient’s body in advance. |
The da Vinci Surgical System differs from keyhole surgery in that _______.
A.requires that a surgeon make more small incisions on a patient |
B.reduces the amount of time it takes to perform a surgical procedure |
C.allows the surgeon to use the surgical instruments more sensitively |
D.eliminates the need for surgeons to make large incisions on patients |
The passage mainly tells the reader ________.
A.the challenges brought about by new technology |
B.the benefits and drawbacks of the da Vinci Surgical System |
C.the reflections on the development in medical science |
D.the application of new technologies in modern surgery |