单选题
For three decades we"ve heard endlessly about the virtues of aerobic (increasing oxygen consumption) exercise. Medical authorities have praised running and jumping as the key to good health, and millions of Americans have taken to the treadmill (踏车) to reap the rewards. But the story is changing. Everyone from the American Heart Association to the surgeon general"s office has recently embraced strength training as a complement to aerobics. And as weight lifting has gone mainstream, so has the once obscure practice known as "Super Slow" training. Enthusiasts claim that by pumping iron at a snail"s pace—making each "rep" (repeat) last 14 seconds instead of the usual seven—you can safely place extraordinary demands on your muscles, and call forth an extraordinary response. Slow lifting may not be the only exercise you need, as some advocates believe, but the benefits are often dramatic.
Almost anyone can handle this routine. The only requirements are complete focus and a tolerance for deep muscular burn. For each exercise—leg press, bench press, shoulder press and so on—you set the machine to provide only moderate resistance. But as you draw out each rep, depriving yourself of impetus, the weight soon feels unbearable. Defying the impulse to stop, you keep going until you can"t complete a rep. Then you sustain your vain effort for 10 more seconds while the weight sinks gradually toward its cradle. Intense? Uncomfortable? Totally. But once you embrace muscle failure as the goal of the workout, it can become almost pleasure.
The goal is not to burn calories while you"re exercising but to make your body burn them all the time. Running a few miles may make you sweat, but it expends only 100 calories per mile, and it doesn"t stimulate much bone or muscle development. Strength training doesn"t burn many calories, either. But when you push a muscle to failure, you set off a pour of physiological changes. As the muscle recovers over several days, it will thicken and the new muscle tissue will demand sustenance. By the time you add three pounds of muscle, your body requires an extra 9,000 calories a month just to break even. Hold your diet steady and, very quickly, you are vaporizing body fat.
One might have benefited from any strength-training program. But advocates insist that the slow technique is safer and more effective than traditional methods.
单选题
Many Americans have taken to treadmill for years by virtue of ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节推断题。采用排除法。A、B两项中的its应指treadmill,它本身只是一种器械,不可能“消耗更多氧气”,故可排除;C中的compliment(赞扬)在原文句中指的是running and jumping,而非treadmill,也可排除。第一段第二句Medical authorities have praised running and jumping as the key to good health, and millions of Americans have taken to the treadmill to reap the rewards表明,美国人喜欢练treadmill是要reap the rewards,即有益于健康,所以D符合句意。
单选题
According to the author, "Super Slow" training ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节推断题。根据第一段第五句And as weight lifting has gone mainstream, so has the once obscure practice known as "Super Slow" training(同举重运动一样,一度默默无闻的“超慢速”训练也已成为主流),推断B最恰当。
单选题
In practicing slow lifting, one has to ______.
单选题
Slow weight lifters are required to make each rep ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 细节推断题。采用排除法。B文中未提;C、D是这种锻炼产生的效果,而非对锻炼的要求。第二段第四句:But as you draw out each rep, depriving yourself of impetus, the weight soon feels unbearable. A与原句中depriving yourself of impetus(强制自己不用推力)相符,因此A为应选答案。
单选题
The phrase "to break even" (Line 7, Para. 3) most probably means ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 词汇释义题。本题需根据它所在的句意和上下文进行推断,文中第三段倒数第二句By the time you add three pounds of muscle, your body requires an extra 9,000 calories a month just to break even的大概意思是,增加三磅的肌肉就需要额外的9000卡路里来弥补。break even这一惯用短语在词典里释义为“打成平手;得失相当;不盈不亏”。很明显D正确。