Despite the popularity of dieting and exercising, more people are bigger than they used to be.
The US is the (overweight) country in the world. But many people's surprise, China ranks second, with 46 million obese (肥胖的) adults and 300 million overweight.
So why are so many Chinese getting overweight?
According to The Wall Street Journal, China's weight has grown with its economy. With incomes growing, families afford to eat a lot more food —especially fatty foods like meat. From 1980 to 2013, the average Chinese's meat consumption (increase) from 12.7kg to 60kg per year.
Unhealthy lifestyles also contribute to China's obesity problems. Many Chinese families are eating more deep-fried and junk food while exercising little.
It is also likely the family planning policy has created a land of little emperors, are spoiled by their parents and not asked to do any labor at home, commented The Wall Street Journal.
The trend could lead to big problems, as obesity can have severe health consequences. According to the World Health Organization, around 2,8 million adults die each year obesity-related diseases such as diabetes(糖尿病), heart diseases and cancer.
(encourage) exercise among Chinese, the government is working to increase the nation'public sporting areas to 1.5 square meters per capita by 2015, Xinhua reported. It is also considering adding PE to the national college entrance examination.
The illegal ivory trade (象牙贸易) has been a major problem in Africa for decades. Poachers (偷猎者) and hunters have killed hundreds of thousands of elephants to obtain this precious material. Now the areas in which they do it are taking action. The International Union for Conservation (保护) of Nature (IUCN）announced on Dec 3 that key states poaching takes place have made a promise to stop the ivory trade and protect Africa's elephants.
Recently, top officials and experts from 30 states met to discuss how to protect Africa elephants. The conference, (organize) by the IUCN and the government of Botswana, was held in Gaborone, Botswana's capital city.
In 1980s, as many as 1 million elephants across Africa were killed for ivory. The ivory (use) to make jewelry and other items. This continued until 1989, the convention (大会) on International Trade in Species voted to ban all trade in ivory. Then, elephants'population slowly began to increase.
According to the IUCN, 2011 saw the highest levels of poaching and illegal ivory trading in at least 16 years. Around 25,000 elephants were killed in Africa that year. "With an estimated 22,000 elephants illegally (kill) in 2012, we continue to face a critical situation," said John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary- General.
At the meeting, key Africa states where elephants make home agreed to develop a "zero-tolerance approach" to poaching. The deal calls for tough sentences for poachers and hunters, and increased cooperation between states where poaching and hunting is a big problem. All participants at the conference agreed to sign the deal. With these states (come) together, there may be hope for elephants.
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A. marriage B. hesitation C. complicated D. happening E. guilty F. celebrating G. duty H. performed I. famous J. disrespectful K. profited |
Hamlet is the most of William Shakespeare's plays. While you read this article, somewhere there is an actor on a stage pouring out his heart to the audience.
The character of Hamlet has a personal, painful quality that still draws readers and playgoers today as it did 400 years ago. The problems he faces, such as what is and how he should respond to events, are ones we all face in our lives.
Hamlet is the young prince of Denmark. At the beginning, he is sad about his dead father. Everyone else around him is the marriage of his mother Gertrude to her brother-in-law Claudius, the new king. Hamlet thinks that the short time between the death of his father and the marriage of his mother and uncle is .
Hamlet is told that a spirit has been walking around Elsinore castle. He meets it and it says that his father was killed, and by his brother Claudius— it was "murder most horrid (可怕的)"! Now, the ghost instructs him, it is his to avenge (报仇) .
Hamlet is in a terrible position. He does not know whether the ghost is who he says he is, or a being sent by the devil (魔鬼). Matters are because Claudius is suspicious of his nephew. There is a cat-and-mouse game played between the king and Hamlet.
Hamlet has a play performed for the king which stages the way the ghost told him of his father's murder. Claudius reacts with horror, proving to hamlet that he is . But Hamlet misses the opportunity to take his revenge.
He tells Gertrude he hates her to Claudius. During their meeting he kills Polonius, who is the father of his love, Ophelia. Then, Lacerates comes back to the court. He's heard that his father, Polonius, has been killed, so he wants to kill Hamlet.
Cunning (奸诈的) Claudius attempts to play Lacerates and Hamlet against each other, and in the final scene it all goes horribly wrong.
One speech in the play begins "to be or not to be": it is about how Hamlet can't decide whether to get out of his bad situation by killing himself. Hamlet is a thinking man. One who thinks too much in the world where others, like Claudius, show no .
For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, interoffice communications, not to mention newspapers and magazines; a never-ending flood of words. In getting a job advancing, the ability to read and comprehend 1 can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are 2 readers. Most of us develop poor reading habits at an early age, and never 3 them. The main shortage lies in the actual stuff of language itself – words. Taken individually, words have little4 until they are combined together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs. Unfortunately, 5 , the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He read one word at a time with difficulty, often regressing to 6 words or passages. Regression, namely, the tendency to look back over what you have just read, is a common 7 habit in reading. Another bad habit which 8 the speed of reading is vocalization –sounding each word either 9 or mentally as one reads.
To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an accelerator, which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined speed. The bar is set a slightly 10 rate than the reader finds comfortable, in order to "11 " him. The accelerator forces the reader to read fast, making word-by-word reading, regression and sub-vocalization, practically 12 . At first comprehension is 13 speed. But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster, but your comprehension will improve. Many people have found their reading skill 14 improved after some training. Take Charles Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute before the training, now it is an excellent 1,378 words a minute. He is delighted that now he can go through a lot more reading material in a(n)15 period of time.
Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are over concerned with their own appearance and actions. Worrisome thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: what kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes?
It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must affect people unfavorably. A person's self concept is reflected in the way he or she behaves and the way a person behaves affects other people's reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a deep affect on all areas of their lives. Shy people ,have low self-esteem(自尊),are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need reassurance that they are doing "the right thing". Shy people are very sensitive to criticism. It makes them feel inferior(自卑).They also find it difficult to be pleased by praises because they believe they are unworthy of praise .A shy person may respond to praise with a statement like this one:" You're just saying that to make me feel good .I know it's not true." It is clear that, while self-awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful. Can shyness be completely got rid of, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determination. It is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths, for example, not fair for them to label themselves inferior because they have to be realistic. Living on the impossible leads to absence of inferiority. Each one of us has his or her own characteristics. We are interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our chances for a rich and fulfilling life.
It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I'd read the signs: "Don't give money to beggars as most of them are swindlers." So I shook my head and kept walking.
I wasn't prepared for a reply, but with no hesitation, he followed me and said, "I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!" But I kept on walking.
The incident kept bothering me for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he hadn't been a real beggar. On a freezing cold night, no less, I assumed the worst of a fellow human being.
Flying back to Anchorage, I couldn't help thinking of him. I tried to reason my failure to help by supposing government agencies, churches and charities were there to feed him. Besides, you're not supposed to give money to beggars.
Somewhere over Seattle, I started to write my weekly garden column for The Anchorage Daily News. Out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean's Cafe, a local charity service kitchen, feeds hundreds of hungry local people every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row of vegetables or flowers in their gardens for Bean's? Plant a row for Bean's. It's clean and simple.
We didn't keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. Folks would fax me or call when they took something in. It's food for the spirit and comfort for my conscience.
In April 1995, the Garden Writers Association of America(GWAA) held their annual meeting in Anchorage and after learning our program, Plant a Row for Bean'sbecame Plant a Row For The Hungry. The idea then was to have every member write or talk about planting a row for the hungry, which brought the program to national attention.
As more and more people participated, new variations cropped up. Many companies gave free seeds to customers and displayed the logo for the program. Donations poured in. It was then that I could really stop feeling guilty.
The decline in moral standards—which has long concerned social analysts—has at last captured the attention of average Americans. And Jean Bethke Elshtain, for one, is glad.
The fact the ordinary citizens are now starting to think seriously about the nation's moral climate, says thisethics (伦理学) professor at the University of Chicago, is reason to hope that new ideas will come forward to improve it.
But the challenge is not to be underestimated. Materialism and individualism in American society are the biggest obstacles. "The thought that ‘I'm in it for me'has become deeply rooted in the national consciousness," Ms. Elshtain says.
Some of this can be attributed to the disintegration of traditional communities, in which neighbors looked out for one another, she says. With today's greater mobility and with so many couples working, those bonds have been weakened, replaced by a greater emphasis on self.
In a 1996 poll of Americans, loss of morality topped the list of the biggest problems facing the U.S. and Elshtain says the public is correct to sense that: Data show that Americans are struggling with problems unheard of in the 1950s, such as classroom violence and a high rate of births to unmarried mothers.
The desire for a higher moral standard is not alament (挽歌) for some nonexistent "golden age," Elshtain says, nor is it awishfullonging for a time that denied opportunities to women and minorities. Most people, in fact, favor the lessening of prejudice.
Moral decline will not be reversed until people find ways to counter the materialism in society, she says. "Slowly, you recognize that the things that matter are those that cant'be bought."
There are thousands of coral reefs(珊瑚礁) in the world; Unfortunately, however, they are now in serious danger. More than one-third are in such bad shape that they could die within ten years. Here are the three main causes discovered.
The first cause is pollution on land. The pollutants run with rainwater into rivers and streams, which carry the poisons into the ocean. So they will be easily infected(感染) with diseases.
Higher ocean temperatures kill the important food source(来源) for the coral—the algae, the tiny greenish-gold water plants that live on coral. This process has happened more and more frequently in recent years.
The last factor contributing to the disappearance of coral reefs is people. People sometimes crash into reefs with their boats, breaking off large blocks of coral. Moreover, some people even break coral off to collect for souvenirs since it is so colorful and pretty.
A. Global warming is another reason.
B. Many might not even last that long!
C. Divers who walk on reefs can also do serious damage.
D. Reefs provide a home for 25% of the fish in the ocean.
E. Chemicals from the poisons kill reefs or make them weak.
F. Steps must be taken now to stop over-fishing and pollution of the oceans.
G. When the algae die, the coral loses its color and it also dies in the end.
