Section Ⅲ Reading Comprehension
( 50 minutes)
Part A：Read the following texts and answer the questions which accompany them by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Text 1
In a three-month period last year, two Brooklynites had to be cut out of their apartments and carried to hospital on stretchers designed for transporting small whales. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance(NAAFA)argues that it was not their combined 900kg bulk that made them ill. Obesity, according to NAAFA, is not bad for you. And, even if it was, there is nothing to be done about it, because genes dictate weight. Attempting to eat less merely slows metabolism, having people as chubby as ever.
This is the fadash movement that causes America' s slimming industry so much pain. In his book Bin Fat Lies(Ballantine, 1996), Glenn Gaesser says that no study yet has convincingly shown that weight is an independent cause of health problems. Fatness does not kill people; things like hypertension, coronary heart diseases and cancer do. Mi-chael Fnmento, author of The Fat of the Land (Viking, 1997), an anti-fatlash diatribe, compares Dr Gaesser's logic with saying that the guillotine did not kill Louis XVI Rather, it was the severing of his vertebrae, the cutting of all the blood vessels in his neck, and.., the trauma caused by his head dropping several feet into a wicker basket.
Being fat kills in several ways. It makes people far more likely to suffer from heart disease or high blood pres-sure. Even moderate obesity increases the chance of contracting diabetes. Being 40% overweight makes people 30% - 50% more likely to die of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Extreme fatness makes patients so much less likely to survive surgery that many doctors refuse to operate until they slim.
The idea that being overweight is caused by obesity genes is not wholly false: researchers have found a number of genes that appear to make some people burn off energy at a slower rate. But genes are not destiny. The difference between someone with a genetic predisposition to gain weight and someone without appears to be roughly 40 calori-es-or a spoonful of mayonnaise--a day.
An alternative fatlash argument, advanced in books such as Dean Onrush' s Eat More, Weight Less ( Harper Collies, 1993 ) and Date Atrens' s Don' t Diet ( William Morrow, 1978), is that fatness is not a matter of eating too much. They note that as Americans' weight has ballooned over the last few decades, their reported caloric intake has plunged. This simply explains people' s own recollection of how much they eat is extremely unreliable. And as they grow fatter, people feel guilty and are more likely to fib about how much they eat. All reputable studies show that eating less and exercising reduce weight.
Certainly, the body' s metabolism slows a little when you lose weight, because it takes less energy to carry less bulk around, and because dieting can make the body fear it is about to starve. But a sensible low-fat diet makes weight loss possible. The fatlash movement is dangerous, because slimmers will often find any excuse to give up.To tell people that it is healthy to be obese is to encourage them to live sick and die young.
51. The two Brooklynites in the first paragraph were __
[A] members of the NAAFA
[B] typical victims of overweight
[ C] members of the "fatlash" movement
[ D] proof that the fatlash movement is gaining strength
52. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance holds that __
[A ] fat people should try to lose weight
[ B ] eating less is harmful to people' s health
[C ] fat people were horn that way
[ D ] obesity is good for people
53. What can be concluded according to the author's view of the "obesity genes"?
[A] People with a genetic inclination to gain weight Can slim.
[ B ] People who are horn fat will remain that way all life.
[ C ] All efforts to lose weight will prove fruitless.
[ D ] Fat people can live a very happy life, too.
54. The word "fib" in the fourth sentence of Paragraph 5, probably means __
[ A] to tell the truth
[ B ] to reduce
[ C] to increase
[ D ] to tell a small lie
55. Which of the following statements is true?
[ A ] Americans' caloric intake has dropped over the last few decades.
[ B ] Many people who try to lose weight give up half way.
[ C ] Americans are always aware of how much they eat.
[ D ] Obesity does no harm to people' s health.
