2008年职称英语考试阅读理解习题(四十九)
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Obesity: the Scourge of the Western World Obesity is rapidly becoming a new scourge of the western world, delegates agreed at the 11th European Conference on the issue in Vienna Wednesday to Saturday. According to statements before the opening of the conference—of 2,000 specialists from more than 50 countries—1.2 billion people worldwide are overweight, and 250 million are obese. Professor Bernhard Ludvik of Vienna General Hospital said: “Obesity is a chronic illness. In Germany, 20 per cent of the people are already affected, but in Japan only one per cent. ” But he said that there was hope for sufferers thanks to the new scientific discoveries and medication. Professor Friedrich Hopichler of Salzberg said: “We are living in the new age (but) with the metabolism of a stone-age man.” “I have just been to the United States. It is really terrible. A pizza shop is springing up on every corner. We have been overrun by fast food and Coca-Cola-ization.” Many of the experts stressed that obesity was a potential killer. Hopichler said: “Eighty percent of all diabetics are obese, also fifty per cent of all patients with high blood pressure and fifty per cent with adipose tissue complaints. ” “Ten per cent more weight means thirteen per cent more risk of heart disease. Reducing one’s weight by ten per cent leads to thirteen per cent lower blood pressure.” Another expert Hermann Toplak said that the state health services should improve their financing of preventive programs. “Though the health insurance pays for surgery (such as reducing the size of the stomach) when the body-mass index is more than 40. That is equivalent to a weight of 116 kilograms for a height of 1.70 meters. One should start earlier.” Ludvik said that prevention should begin in school. “Child obesity (fat deposits ) correlates with the time which children spend in front of TV sets.” The consequences were only apparent later on. No more than fifteen per cent of obese people lived to the average life expectancy for their population group. 1. it is estimated that there are _____ people suffering from obesity in the world. A. 250,000,000 B. 1,200,000,000 C. 1,450,000,000 D. 950,000,000 2. It seems that the _____ people are least affected by obesity among the developed countries and areas mentioned in the passage. A. European B. German C. American D. Japanese 3. Which of the following is most often accompanied by obesity? A. high blood pressure. B. Fatty tissue complaints. C. Diabetes. D. Stomach-ache. 4. What is the correlation between body weight and heart disease and blood pressure? A. Ten per cent less body weight means ten per cent less risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. B. Thirteen per cent more body weight means ten per cent more risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. C. The more body weight one gains, the more risk of heart disease and high blood pressure he has. D. The less body weight one gains, the more risk of heart disease and the less risk of high blood pressure he has. 5. From the last paragraph we may infer that one of the effective measures suggested by Ludnik to prevent children from being obese would be A. not to permit them to watch TV at all. B. to tell them to spend less time watching TV. C. to turn off TV when they are in front of TV sets. D. to calculate accurately the time that a child spends watching TV. |
