阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

　　A third of Britons are overweight, states a report published in January by the Royal College of Physicians, the result of an 18－month study．About five per cent of children weigh too much, and are likely to stay that way for life; in the mid－twenties－age－long group the proportion(比例)of the middle－aged population half are overweight．

　　Fat people risk severe health problems, says the report, including high blood pressure, breathlessness and various forms of heart disease．Smoking is particularly risky for overweight people．

　　The safest way to lose weight is to eat cereals, bread, fruit and vegetables, and cut down on fatty meals, butter and sweet foods．Fad(目前流行的)diets so far more than good; slimming machines that vibrate muscles have not been proved useful; saunas merely remove a little body water, and health farms, says the report, serve as expensive holidays．

　　Exercise is most important to health, the report emphasizes; though it doesn't necessarily reduce weight; it keeps the correct proportion of body muscle．And it isn't only for the young; from middle age a minimum of 20 minutes of gentle physical jerks should be practiced three times a week．

　　The report advocates several public health measures to fight the common existence of overweight in this country．They include an increase of tax on alcohol to reduce its increasing, and dangerously fattening, consumption; and the provision of more sports facilities by local authorities．Britain's doctors, the report concludes, must learn to be more sympathetic and specific in their advice to the overweight, encouraging a change in eating habits on a long－term basis and taking into account the many－often－complex－reasons why fat people are fat．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

　　It was shortly before midnight, and Dr．Patricia was getting ready for bed．The phone rang．On the other end of the line was a woman about to break a promise．

　　The woman was her mother's neighbor．Flora Harris had made the neighbor swear(发誓)she wouldn't tell her daughter she'd had a heart attack and was in the hospital, for fear her daughter would worry．The neighbor wisely decided to disobey orders．

　　Harris desperately wanted to get to the hospital immediately, but she couldn't．She lives in Washington,D．C．, and her mother lives in California．

　　For the past year and a half, Harris has gone to Los Angeles every other month to take care of her mother．Flora Harris takes care of her husband, James, who's 91 and has Alzheimer's disease．They live in their own home, and caregiver comes to help them a few hours a day．

　　Harris is one of many Americans facing the heartache of how to take care of aging parents from afar．She's often worried, not to mention extremely busy with a demanding job, two teenage daughters and the frequent trips to California．

　　In some ways, Harris is lucky, She has the resources to make the trips to Los Angeles．

　　Plus, Harris is a doctor who treats the elderly．

　　“But it's still tough, ”she says．“I can foresee what the next few years are going to look like, and it's not a pretty picture．My father's going to need diapers(尿布)．There will come a time when he won't recognize me and he's easily excited．I worry he's going to be violent and hurt my mother．”

　　So what do you do when you live a continent away from your aging, sick parents? There are no magic answers．You can hire someone to help, but you can't outsource it completely．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

　　A newspaper reporter's job can be very interesting．He meets all types of people and lives quite a busy life．He is on the rush for news all the time, then after several years he may get a desk job, and life becomes a bit more settled．Let's look at his work a little more closely．In a day he may have to interview the prime minister of a foreign country, and the next day he may be writing about a football match．Sometimes he may be so busy that he has hardly any time to sleep．And at other times he may go on for days looking out for news materials yet return empty－handed．

　　In the beginning, a reporter has to cover a very wide field．After the early years he becomes more specialized in his work．For example, he may finally be asked to write only on court cases or politics or sports．Some reporters may become so specialized that they are asked only to write on a special thing： horse racing, for example．In most newspaper houses there is at least one special racing correspondent．Some newspapers have book reviews．Their job is delightful．They read the latest book and then write reviews on the ones they like．Then there are those who write on films, so they get to see them even before they are shown in the cinema．How lucky, you would say!

　　A reporter's job can also be very dangerous．A number of them have died rushing from one assignment to another, and if there is a flood or a riot(暴乱)they may get hurt or even be killed．Three years ago there was a reporter whose camera was smashed by a group of men, because they were angry with him for taking their picture．Dangerous or not, one thing is certain, and that is, their job is never dull!

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　　In 1977, a dead author of detective stories saved the life of a 19-month-old baby in a most unusual way．The author was Agatha Christie, one of the most successful writers of detective stories in the world．

　　In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Qatar, near Saudi Arabia．Doctors were unable to find out the cause of her illness with confidence, so she was sent to Hammersmith Hospital in London．She was then only semi-conscious and on the "Dangerously Ill" list．A team of doctors hurried to examine the baby only to discover that they, too, were confused by the very unusual symptoms(症状)．While they were discussing the baby's case, a nurse asked to speak to them．

　　"Excuse me," said Nurse Marsha Maitlan, "but I think the baby is suffering from thallium(铊)poisoning．"

　　"What makes you think that?" Dr．Brown asked．"Thallium poisoning is extremely rare．"

　　"A few days ago, I was reading a novel called A Pale Horse by Agatha Christie," Nurse Maitlan explained．"In the book, somebody uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are described．They're exactly the same as the baby's．"

　　"You're very thoughtful and you may be right," another doctor said．"We'll carry out some tests and find out whether it's thallium or not．"

　　Tests showed that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium, a rare metallic substance used in making special glass．Once they knew the cause of the illness, the doctors were able to give the baby the correct treatment．She soon recovered and was sent back to Qatar．Later it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide(杀虫剂)used in Qatar．

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Body and Food

　　Your body, which has close relations with the food you eat, is the most important thing you own, so it needs proper treatment and proper nourishment(营养)．The old saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is not as silly as some people think．The body needs fruit and vegetables because they contain vitaminC．Many people take extra vitamins in pill form, believing that these will make them healthy．

　　But a good diet is made up of nourishing food and this gives all the vitamins you need．The body doesn't need or use extra vitamins, so why waste money on them?

　　In the modern western world, many people are too busy to bother about eating properly．They throw anything into their stomachs, eating hurriedly and carelessly．The list of illnesses caused or made worse by bad eating habits is frightening,

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　　Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s．The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong．People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach．Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before!Spinach became a necessary part of many people's diets．Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable．

　　Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true．Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable．

　　People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake．In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables．This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did．The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it．

　　Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is．However, spinach does have something else which the body needs－folic acid．

　　It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong．Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along．

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A traveller was staying in an Egyptian village．One day, she held up her camera to take pictures of the children．Suddenly the young ones began to shout at her．The traveller's face turned red and she apologized to the head for what she was doing, and told him she had forgotten that people in some places believed a person would lose his soul(灵魂)if his picture was taken．She explained to him the operation of a camera for a long time．Several times the head tried to say something, but he couldn't．When she believed that the head didn't fear any longer, the traveller then let him speak．With a smile, he said, "The children were trying to tell you that you forgot to take off the lens(镜头)cap!"

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　　From bankers to factory staff, employees in the West face a cold prospect of losing their jobs as a global recession(衰退)starts to bite．For colleagues in the East, the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut．

　　Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian companies try harder to preserve jobs in difficult times, which will prevent unemployment and may help Asian economies survive at a time of slowing exports．The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for companies to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, but build up a more loyal and devoted group．

　　“In the Confucian mindset(儒家思想), the right thing to do is to share the burden, which is the sense of collective(集体的)responsibility．While in the West, it's more about individual survival,” said Michael Benoliel, associate professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University(SMU)．

　　In contrast, local Western companies from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousands, but at the Asian units of Western multinationals or western units of Asian groups, job cuts will probably be less severe．

　　Japan's jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong's was flat at 3.4 percent．But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January．

　　Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals from abroad．

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　　As I grew older, Dad was to build all sorts of things for me as I explored a variety of interests：magic tricks, a toy circus, neighborhood shows and science projects．

　　From as early as I can remember to the time I left home for college, I continued to come to him with a design or an idea, and he would figure out how to build it．

　　In fifth grade, a schoolmate and I wrote a puppet(木偶)show that we wanted to perform for our class．I made the puppet heads myself, and I made the costumes and curtains with Mon－who was as expert designing and sewing with cloth as my father was designing and working with wood and metal．With Dad I made the puppet stage, in our own invented style between kid and adult with me saying something like, “ It has to be this high, and it needs to come apart and fold up so it can fit in the backseat of the car, and it needs to set up fast, and it needs to have different colored lights on top with switches you can reach to control them and a curtain you can pull from under it, even if you still have a puppet on your hand．” Dad figured out how to make it all work, making plans as we went along．Then with the tools in his shop he built it, and I helped．

　　Dad also spent a lot of time out in the garage or in the driveway working on the family car．I don't remember that he ever took it to a professional auto-repair shop．Maybe to save money, but also because he could usually figure out what needed fixing, just by taking it apart and looking．Though not trained as an auto mechanic, he could look under the engine cover and take parts and pieces out, spread them on a tarp(油布)to catch the oil and figure out what was supposed to happen to the machine and then figure out what wasn't happening and then replace the worn-out part or whatever and then put everything back together again．

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　　Outside our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a seemingly ancient woman waited beside the door with her hand outstretched．Every day I put my hand in hers as our eyes met．She never failed to return my smile, my grasp, and my greeting．

　　On the last day of our visit, I found myself alone on a busy corner across the street from our hotel．Bicycles and motorbikes rushed in front of me．As I hesitated on the sidewalk, I felt a hand on my elbow and looked down to see the smile of my small beggar friend looking up at me．She nodded her head toward the street, indicating that she would take me across．Together, we moved slowly into the chaos．

　　Then we moved on toward the sidewalk, where she pulled my face down to hers, kissed me on both cheeks, and then left, still smiling and waving back to me．

　　Traveling in poorer nations, I have witnessed a variety of ways to deal with beggars．The most common response of tourists faced with the poverty-stricken is to ignore them and focus their eyes elsewhere．I have seen people push away an outstretched hand in angry annoyance．A few may drop a few coins into the hand in a hurry, hoping that other ragged pursuers won't immediately appear on the scene．

　　For many reasons, giving money is not the best response to an outstretched hand．Many world travelers have discovered that the greatest gift they can give is their time and respect．Everyone needs recognition, to be seen as worthy of being known, to feel appreciated and loved．And I believe that everyone is worthy and worth knowing．

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