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。

Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brains 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. 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 chemicals 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 and physical harm that comes from using them.

1. From Paragraph 1, we learn that __________.

   A. diet products are misleading people

B. people have difficulty in choosing diet products

   C. diet products fail to bring out people’s possibility

D. people are fed up with diet products

2.One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to ______.

   A. try out a variety of diet foods   B. watch their weight rather than their diet

C. pay attention to their own eating habits            D. hesitate before they enjoy diet foods

3. In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ________.

   A. diet products bring no pain       B. it costs a lot to lose weight

   C. losing weight is effortless       D. diet products are free from calories

4. Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.

   A. are over-consumed                 B. provide too much energy

C. are short of chemicals            D. lack basic nutrients

 

　短文改錯（共10小題；每小題1分，滿分10分）

此題要求改正所給短文的錯誤。對標(biāo)有題號的每一行作出判斷：如無錯誤，在該行右邊橫線上畫一個勾（√）；如有錯誤（每行只有一個錯誤），則按下列情況改正：

該行多一個詞：把多余的詞用斜線（＼）劃掉；在該行右邊橫線上寫出該詞，并也用斜線劃掉；該行缺一個詞：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號（∧）；在該行右邊橫線上寫出該加的詞；該行錯一個詞，在錯的詞下劃一個橫線；在該行右邊橫線上寫出改正后的詞。注意：原行沒有錯的不要改。

   When we feel sad or happily, a good cry is almost            1.______

impossible to resist. But do you know why we cry?             2. ______

Experts have found that tear contain some chemicals        3. ______

like hormone. When one is feeling stressed, it set free,       4.______

tears will come down. So crying is a way of get                5. ______

rid of the stress and you will often feel better before a     6. ______

good cry. Of course sex has nothing to do to crying.      7. ______

Women cry more often just because of they have more           8. ______

of this hormone than men. But next time you feel like      9. ______

bursting into tears, go ahead. It won't be good to your health. 10. ______

                                  

Sports shoes that work out whether their owner has done enough exercise to warrant time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.

The shoes — named Square Eyes — contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter(傳話器) passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves, based on the day’s efforts.

The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University to London, UK. “We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out,” she says. “And I wanted to tackle that with my design.”

Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps.

Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals precisely one minute of TV time.

Existing pedometers （計(jì)步器） normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. “It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort,” she says. “That was one of my main design considerations.”

51.According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to ________.

A.keep a record of the steps of the wearer                     

B.deal with overweight among teenagers

C.enable children to resist the temptation of TV

D.prevent children from being tricked by TV programs

52.Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?

A.They regulate a child’s evening TV viewing time.       

B.They determine a child’s daily pocket money.

C.They have raised the hot issue of overweight.

D.They contain information of the receiver.

53.What is stressed（強(qiáng)調(diào)）by health experts in their suggestion?

A.The exact number of steps to be taken.

B.The precise number of hours spent on TV.

C.The proper amount of daily exercise and TV time.

D.The way of changing steps into TV watching time.

54.Compared with other similar products, the new design ________.

A.makes it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat

B.counts the wearer’s steps through shaking

C.records the sudden movement of the wearer

D.sends teenagers’ health data to the receiver

55.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A.Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time               B.Smart Shoes Guarantee More Exercise

C.Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise               D.Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight

 

Global warming threatens to hold back human progress, and make unachievable all UN targets to reduce poverty, according to some of the world’s leading international development groups.

In a report published today, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, WWF and 15 other groups say rich governments must immediately address climate change to avoid even “unbearable levels” of worldwide poverty.

“Food production, water supplies, public health and people’s living environment are already being damaged,” the report says. “The world must meet its promise to achieve poverty reduction and also deal with climate change.”

The report, which draws on UN predictions of the effects of climate change in poor countries over the next 50 years, says poor countries will experience more flooding, declining food production, more disease and the worsening or disappearing of entire ecosystems on which many of the world’s poorest people depend.

“Climate change needs to be addressed now. The poor will bear the burden of it. The frontline experience of many of us working in international development indicates that communities are having to fight against more extreme weather conditions.”

Climate change will play havoc (浩劫) with agriculture and water supplies and will increase diseases. “By 2025 the proportion of the world’s population living in countries of great water stress will almost double, to 6 billion people. Tropical and sub-tropical areas will be hardest hit — those countries already suffering from food shortage”.

Poor countries mostly do not need high-tech solutions, but would most benefit from education, research and being shown how to farm better. The report says unchecked global warming, more than wars or political confusion, will displace millions of people and destabilize (不安定) many countries.

Who should play a leading role in resisting the more extreme weather conditions?

A. International groups.       

B. Rich countries.

C. Poor countries.            

D. Tropical and sub-tropical countries.

Which of the following is not true according to the text?

A. Poverty and climate change are closely linked.

B. More and more people will suffer from the water stress and food shortage.

C. What the poor countries need badly is high technology.

D. International communities have to take steps to resist the bad climate.

What is the best title of the passage?

A. International Development Brings in Climate Change

B. Global Warming Is a Bigger Threat to the Poor

C. International Groups Work Together to Reduce Poverty

D. Worldwide Poverty Shall Be Avoided

Last year, two days after Christmas, we kicked China out of the house. Not the country obviously, but bits of plastic, metal, and wood with the words “Made in China”. We kept what we already had, but stopped bringing any more in. because it had coated our lives with toys, and useless stuff. Sometimes I worried about jobs sent overseas, but price triumphed over virtue at our house. We couldn’t resist what China was selling.

But on that dark Monday last year, an unease feeling washed over me as I sat on the sofa. It wasn’t until then that I noticed a fact: China was taking over the place.

It stared back at me from the empty screen of the television. I spied it in the pile of tennis shoes by the door. It glowed in the lights on the Christmas tree and watched me in the eyes of a doll lying on the floor, I slipped off the couch and sorted gifts into two piles: China and non-China. The count came to China, 25, the world, 14. Christmas, I realized, had become a holiday made by the Chinese. Suddenly I wanted China out.

I persuaded my husband, and on Jan. 1 st, we started a-year-long household embargo on Chinese imports. The idea wasn’t to punish China. And we didn’t fool ourselves into thinking because we wanted to measure how far it had pushed in. We wanted to know what it would take in time, money, and worry to kick our China habit!

In the spring, our 4-year-old son started a campaign to support “China things”. “It’s too long without China,” he cried. He kept at me all day. I have discovered for myself that China doesn’t control every aspect of our daily lives, but if you take a close look at the underside of boxes in the toy department, I promise it will give you pause. “When we can buy China things again? Let’s never stop.” My son said.

After a year without China I can tell you this: You can still live without it, but it’s getting costlier by the day. And a decade from now I may not be brave enough to try it again.

1. The best title for the text could be _______.

A．China Free Living: A Trouble One

B．A Year without “Made in China”

C．Why I Choose “Made in China”

D．“Made in China”: Good or Bad

2. According to the passage, why did the author stop bringing in things “Made in China”?

A．Because she wanted to bring back job opportunities for her natives.

B．Because she has a strong sense of nationalism against “Made in China”.

C．Because she wanted to learn what life would be like without “Made in China”.

D．Because too much stuff made in China was take over her house.

3. The Underlined word “embargo” in the forth paragraph means ________.

A．reaction                              B．ban

C．restriction                             D．cancellation

4.The writer’s purpose in writing this passage is ________.

A．to tell the readers an interesting experience

B．to describe the trouble facing a housewife

C．to explain the importance of Chinese goods

D．to show the difficulty without Chinese goods