A listener from China has written for advice about how to lose weight. Michael in Shanghai says he is 26 and has battled obesity for most of his life.
Obesity, a severe weight problem, is a complex condition. A doctor may advise taking medicine along with changing one's behaviors. Experts say that the most successful weight-loss plans include a wellbalanced diet and exercise.
People who want to avoid weight gain have to balance the number of calories they eat with the number of calories they use. To lose weight, you can reduce the number of calories you take in, increase the number you use, or both.
A recent study looked at four of the most popular dieting plans in the US. Researchers at Stanford University in California studied over 300 overweight women, mostly in their thirties and forties. Each woman went on one of the four plans: Atkins, The Zone, Ornish or LEARN. The women attended diet classes and received written information about the food plans.
At the end of the year, the women on the Atkins diet had lost the most, more than four and one-half kilograms on average. They also did better on tests for cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
Christopher Gardner, who led the study, says the Atkins diet may be more successful because of its simple message to eat less sugar. He also says that the advice to increase protein in the diet leads to more satisfying meals. He says that there was not enough money to study men, but that men would probably have similar results.
Last week, another report based on thirty-one studies suggested that only a small minority of people have long-term success with dieting. Most dieters regained their lost weight within five years and often they become more overweight. But those who kept the weight off generally were the ones who exercised.
Title: to lose weight
| Doctors' advice |
●take medicine along with |
| Experts' |
●a well-balanced diet: ● |
| Four of the most popular dieting plans in the US |
●Atkins: eat less sugar than usual and ●The Zone ● ●LEARN |
| From |
●have long-term success with dieting, otherwise most dieters will ●exercise is more important than dieting for |
Millions of words have been said about young people in the United States. There are reasons 31 this great interest in their ideas, 32 (feel) and actions. Today there are about eight million Americans in the colleges and universities. The young under twenty-five make 33 nearly half of the American population, many of 34 will be in power in the U.S. 35 (nature) their ideas are important to everyone in the country, and 36 is necessary for the older people to understand 37 they think and feel. College students today have strong 38 (opinion) about right and wrong. They are deeply interested in making a 39 (good) life for all the people, especially for those 40 _____ have never been given a fair chance before.
More American people take their troubles with them on holiday, according to a new survey. 31 40 percent said that the main reason for going away is to escape 32 (press) from work, almost all said they worry more 33 they do at home. Only four in every one hundred said that they are happy and free of care.
The most common worry is burglary（入室盗窃）, with four out of ten worrying about their homes 34 (break) into while they are abroad. More than a quarter feel they will feel crazy 35 some other noisy and rough holiday-makers and twenty-two percent worry they may be attacked 36 their possessions will be 37 (miss).
The survey also showed 38 the stay-at-home Americans are no more. Three out of every five want to have a holiday abroad, which was 39 increase from the figures only three years ago. The hotel holiday is still a winner, with about one third of all Americans 40 (prefer) to go on a self-catering（自助） holiday.
We may be very 31 (please) with the rapid progress we have made in every field of study, but we have almost done nothing to improve our present examination systems 32 focus on testing the students’ memory instead of their 33 ______ (able). As soon as a child begins school, he enters a world of examination 34 _________ will decide his future of job. In fact, a good examination system should encourage students to think 35 _________ themselves. But the examination now does nothing but that. It forces the students to remember 36 is taught to get high marks. Thus the students who come out first in the examination often many be the 37 (good) in their studies. In addition, such an examination system often 38 _____ (drive) teachers to cram all the time and forces them to train students what to do with the 39 ____ (come) examination.
There must be a better way to test a 40 (student) true ability as well as their knowledge.
Recently, a website has carried out a survey (31)________ the common view on graduates from Beijing University.
28% of the (32)__________(interview) companies think that they are quite (33)_______(satisfy) with the graduates from Beijing University. The graduates (34)______ their companies have a wide range of (35)________(know) and they learn things very quickly and easily.
(36)_________, most of the companies don’t think much (37)_________ graduates from Beijing University. In their eyes, the graduates always stick to their own opinions and lack the teamwork spirit (38)_________ working. Besides, they may not be satisfied with their jobs, even with big companies, and they usually ask for too much. (39)_______ a result, 34% of the companies insist that they will not employ graduates from Beijing University.
In brief, society and (40)________ the students themselves expect too much from graduates from Beijing University. That’s why a graduate claims that he is rubbish.
Many people keep small fish _31_______ pets. They keep them in a tank of water. The tank is made of glass. People can _32________ through it. They can see inside the tank and watch the fish.
The fish need room. They mustn’t be crowded. They need _33_______ to breathe.
__34_____ must be enough water for all fish. So the size of the tank is very important.
In the tank people put small plants __35________ are good for fish. They give oxygen to the water. Plants help in other ways, too. They can hide __36_______ the plants and sleep, lay eggs there.
The fish __37______ be kept in water all the time. Some can jump high. So the tank should be covered. This keeps the fish __38________ (jump) out.
The fish need food and should be fed every day. But __39____________ you give them too much food, it is very bad, for the extra food will fall to the bottom and make the water dirty. So the fish should get just enough food and finish __40___________ in ten minutes. Nothing should be left.