Question

We’ve reached a strange—some would say unusual—point. While fighting world hunger continues to be the matter of vital importance according to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), more people now die from being overweight, or say, from being extremely fat, than from being underweight. It’s the good life that’s more likely to kill us these days.

　　Worse, nearly l8 million children under the age of five around the world are estimated to be overweight. What’s going on?

　　We really don’t have many excuses for our weight problems. The dangers of the problem have been drilled into us by public-health campaigns since 2001 and the message is getting through—up to a point.

　　In the 1970s, Finland, for example, had the highest rate of heart disease in the world and being overweight was its main cause. Not any more. A public-health campaign has greatly reduced the number of heart disease deaths by 80 per cent over the past three decades.

　　Maybe that explains why the percentage of people in Finland taking diet pills doubled between 2001 and 2005, and doctors even offer surgery of removing fat inside and change the shape of the body. That has become a sort of fashion. No wonder it ranks as the world’s most body-conscious country.

　　We know what we should be doing to lose weight—but actually doing it is another matter. By far the most popular excuse is not taking enough exercise. More than half of us admit we lack willpower.

　　Others blame good food. They say: it’s just too inviting and it makes them overeat. Still others lay the blame on the Americans, complaining that pounds have piled on thanks to eating too much American-style fast food.

　　Some also blame their parents—their genes. But unfortunately, the parents are wronged because they’re normal in shape, or rather slim.

　　It’s a similar story around the world, although people are relatively unlikely to have tried to lose weight. Parents are eager to see their kids shape up. Do as I say—not as I do.

　　59. What is the “strange” point mentioned in the first sentence?  A

　　A. The good life is a greater risk than the bad life.

　　B. Starvation is taking more people’s lives in the world.

　　C. WHO report shows people’s unawareness of food safety.

　　D. Overweight issue remains unresolved despite WHO’s efforts.

　　60. Why does the author think that people have no excuse for being overweight?

　　A. A lot of effective diet pills are available.

　　B. Body image has nothing to do with good food.

　　C. They have been made fully aware of its dangers. C

　　D. There are too many overweight people in the world.

　　61. The example of Finland is used to illustrate ______. C

　　A. the cause of heart disease

　　B. the fashion of body shaping

　　C. the effectiveness of a campaign

　　D. the history of a body-conscious country

　　62. Which would be the best title for the passage? A

　　A. Actions or Excuses?

　　B. Overweight or Underweight?

　　C. WHO in a Dilemma

　　D. No Longer Dying of Hunger

　　

Answer 1

【語篇解讀】本文是一篇議論文，題材是關(guān)于肥胖的科普文章。作者開篇通過和饑餓的對比點出肥胖的話題，繼而用大篇幅批駁肥胖的不是理由的理由，指出社會宣傳已到位，關(guān)鍵在個人意志力，父母基因更不是理由，最后作者強調(diào)“要去做”才是根本。

段落	關(guān)鍵詞、句	大意推測
第一部分（Para. 1-2）	fighting world hunger；die from being overweight；good life；under the age of five; overweight	提出話題：盡管饑餓是個重要問題，一個奇怪的問題是許多人過于肥胖，甚至死于肥胖。
第二部分（Para. 3-8）	excuses; dangers; drilled; public-health campaigns; heart disease; diet pills; lack will power; good food; parents, genes	話題論證：肥胖無借口，不自知其危害，好食物，父母基因都不是；通過公共健康運動，加強意志力是可以減肥的。
第三部分（Para. 9）	similar story; world; shape up	解決問題：盡管世界范圍內(nèi)存在肥胖現(xiàn)象，但要去“做”，去減肥。

【解析】

59. A。細(xì)節(jié)理解題。難度：較難。閱讀第一段不容易準(zhǔn)確做出此題，須通讀全文才知道being overweight帶來的問題是文章的主題。從“more people now die from being overweight, or say, from being extremely fat, than from being underweight.”意即“死于超重或極度肥胖的人多于身體偏瘦的”，下文“It’s the good life that’s more likely to kill us these days.”是強調(diào)句，意即“近期以來，很可能是好生活置我們于死地”，這就解釋了第一句“We’ve reached a strange—some would say unusual—point.”，

為什么我們到了一個strange“奇怪”的時刻，所以選A，即“好生活比糟糕生活有更大的風(fēng)險”。

解題思路： 瀏覽全文更容易理解第一段，特別是第二句，作者強調(diào)的是“超重的比饑餓有更大的危險性”，第三句“It’s the good life that’s more likely to kill us these days”點題。

干擾項排除：B選項指“饑餓正在世界范圍內(nèi)奪取更多人的生命”，其實文中只提到“fighting world hunger continues to be the matter of vital importance”“和世界上的饑餓作戰(zhàn)斗依然是極重要的事情”，而未提及“饑餓奪命”之事；C選項較易排除，關(guān)于“people’s unawareness of food safety”即人們對食品安全的無意識，文章中未涉及；D選項提到“盡管世界衛(wèi)生組織努力了，超重問題依然未解決”，此選項錯在世界衛(wèi)生組織沒有去努力解決超重問題，而是解決world hunger即世界溫飽問題。

60. C。推理判斷題。難度：中等。題目出自第三段第一句“We really don’t have many excuses for our weight problems.”，為什么？下文“The dangers of the problem have been drilled into us by public-health campaigns since 2001 and the message is getting through—up to a point.”，“自2001年以來，公共健康活動已讓大眾深入理解肥胖帶來的危險問題”，C選項“They have been made fully aware of its dangers.”他們已被宣傳，深入意識到肥胖帶來的危險，意義相近，故選C。

干擾項排除：A選項干擾較大，但“A lot of effective diet pills are available.”是意識到肥胖危險后帶來的行為，答案排在C選項之后。B選項“體形和好食物無關(guān)”與“作者為什么認(rèn)為肥胖毫無借口”沒有關(guān)聯(lián)；D選項“世界上有太多的肥胖者”是肥胖者的借口，文中為提及。

61. C。推理判斷題。難度：較易。第四段第二句“A public-health campaign has greatly reduced the number of heart disease deaths by 80 per cent over the past three decades.”，“在過去三十年中，公共衛(wèi)生運動已大大降低了心臟病死亡率80%”，可知芬蘭的例子來證明活動非常有效；不是心臟病的原因，排除A；不是追求體形的時尚，這是減肥有效帶來的副產(chǎn)品，排除B；而文中“No wonder it ranks as the world’s most body-conscious country.”“難怪芬蘭是世界上最有身體意識的國家”，也是公共衛(wèi)生運動有效性帶來的副產(chǎn)品。

62. C。主旨大意題。難度：中等。文章第一、二段提出有關(guān)overweight的話題，第三段到第八段主要是強調(diào)肥胖無借口，最后一段強調(diào)“Do as I say”，去行動，所以文章的題目選A選項，Actions or Excuses?

行動還是借口？既符合文章主題，又有吸引力；B選項概括不全面，只涉及超重；C選項講到WHO只是引出論題，并未提及WHO所處境地；D選項文中未提及。

【難句學(xué)習(xí)】

Maybe that explains why the percentage of people in Finland taking diet pills doubled between 2001 and 2005, and doctors even offer surgery of removing fat inside and change the shape of the body. 也許那（減肥宣傳降低心臟病死亡率80%）就解釋了問什么在2001到2005年間芬蘭吃減肥藥人的比率翻了一番并且醫(yī)生們甚至提供外科手術(shù)移除體內(nèi)的脂肪，改變身體的形狀，到達減肥的目的。

分析： 本句由兩個句子構(gòu)成，前句的主句是that，謂語是explains，后面是why引導(dǎo)的賓語從句，賓語從句中taking diet pills作后置定語來修飾people，其邏輯主語是people；第二句主語是doctors，謂語有兩個，offer和change.