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  3. Is it any wonder that America is also a country of dangerously overweight pe

Is it any wonder that America is also a country of dangerously overweight pe

游客2023-08-23  30
问题     Is it any wonder that America is also a country of dangerously overweight people?
    According to a recent study by the National Centre for Health Statistics, the number of adults characterized as overweight in the United States has jumped to an astonishing one-third of the population. Overweight in this case means being about 20 percent or more above a person’s desirable weight. Since the figures for "desirable weight" have moved upward over the last decade or so, total poundage—even at 20 percent over— may be considerable.
    So are the attendant health risks. Excess weight has been linked to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, adult-onset diabetes and some forms of cancer, among other diseases.
    Once, when work and school and the grocery store were a two-mile hike away, Americans could afford the calories they consume. But not now, not when millions spend four or five hours a day in front of a TV set—along with a bag of chips, a bowl of buttered popcorn and a six-pack—and there’ s a car or two in every driveway.
    "There is no commitment to obesity as a public health problem," said Dr. William Dietz, director of clinical nutrition at the New England Medical Centre in Boston. "We’ ve ignored it, and blamed it on gluttony and sloth."
    If one definition of a public health problem is its cost to the nation, then obesity qualifies. According to a study done by Dr. Graham A. Colditz, who teaches at Harvard Medical School, it cost America an estimated $68.8 billion in 1990. But what’s wrong blaming it on gluttony and sloth? True, some unfortunate overweight people have an underlying physical or genetic problem. But for most Americans, the problem is with two of the seven deadly sins.
    Losing weight is a desperately difficult business. Preventing gain, however, is not. Consumer information is everywhere and there can be few adults who truly believe that hot dogs, fries, a soda and a couple of Twinkies make a good lunch. But they eat them anyway.
    As more and more Americans became educated to the risks of smoking, more and more Americans gave up the habit. Now it appears that Americans need an intensive education in the risks of stuffing themselves and failing to exercise as well.
    Given the seductiveness of chocolate and cheese, the couch and the car, that habit will be hard to break. But if an ounce of prevention can obviate a pound of fat, it is well worth the struggle. [br] The author setting up the standard of overweight people based on the fact that______.
选项 A、the number of overweight people has astonishingly increased
B、people have a different idea about their desirable weight now
C、overweight becomes a threat to people’ s health
D、the overweight problem has long been studied
答案 B
解析 细节题。根据第二段Overweight in this case means being about 20 percent ormore above a person’s desirable weight．Since the figures for“desirable weight”havemoved upward over the last decade or so，total poundage--even at 20 percent over——may be considerable．可知超重的定义是指体重超过理想体重的20％及以上．但是对于理想体重的定义也随着时代的前进提高了，所以现在人们对于理想体重的标准改变了，和B选项表达一致。
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