单选题 In a three-month period last year, two Brooklynites had to be cut out of their apartments and carried to hospital on stretchers designed for transporting small whales. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) argues that it was not their combined 900kg bulk that made them ill. Obesity, according to NAAFA, is not bad for you. And, even if it was, there is nothing to be done about it, because genes dictate weight. Attempting to eat less merely slows metabolism, having people as chubby as ever.
This is the fatlash movement that causes America's slimming industry so much pain. In his book Bin Fat Lies (Ballantine, 1996), Glenn Gaesser says that no study yet has convincingly shown that weight is an independent cause of health problems. Fatness does not kill people; things like hypertension, coronary heart diseases and cancer do. Michael Fumento, author of The Fat of the Land (Viking, 1997), an anti-fatlash diatribe, compares Dr Gaesser's logic with saying that the guillotine did not kill Louis XVI: Rather, it was the severing of his vertebrae, the cutting of all the blood vessels in his neck, and.., the trauma caused by his head dropping several feet into a wicker basket.
Being fat kills in several ways. It makes people far more likely to suffer from heart disease or high blood pressure. Even moderate obesity increases the chance of contracting diabetes. Being 40% overweight makes people 30%-50% more likely to die of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Extreme fatness makes patients so much less likely to survive surgery that many doctors refuse to operate until they slim.
The idea that being overweight is caused by obesity genes is not wholly false: researchers have found a number of genes that appear to make some people bum off energy at a slower rate. But genes are not destiny. The difference between someone with a genetic predisposition to gain weight and someone without appears to be roughly 40 calories—or a spoonful of mayonnaise—a day.
An alternative fatlash argument, advanced in books such as Dean Onrush's Eat More, Weight Less (Harper Collies, 1993) and Date Atrens's Don't Diet (William Morrow, 1978), is that fatness is not a matter of eating too much. They note that as Americans' weight has ballooned over the last few decades, their reported caloric intake has plunged. This simply explains people's own recollection of how much they eat is extremely unreliable. And as they grow fatter, people feel guilty and are more likely to fib about how much they eat. All reputable studies show that eating less and exercising reduce weight.
Certainly, the body's metabolism slows a little when you lose weight, because it takes less energy to carry less bulk around, and because dieting can make the body fear it is about to starve. But a sensible low-fat diet makes weight loss possible. The fatlash movement is dangerous, because slimmers will often find any excuse to give up. To tell people that it is healthy to be obese is to encourage them to live sick and die young.

单选题 The two Brooklynites in the first paragraph were ______.
A. members of the NAAFA
B. typical victims of overweight
C. members of the "fatlash" movement
D. proof that the fatlash movement is gaming strength
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是事实细节题,根据题干定位到全文第一段。第一段首句“...two Brooklynites had to be cut out of their apartments and carried to hospital on stretchers designed for transporting small whales”以及第二句“...their combined 900kg bulk”都指出这两个人超重,不得不用运送鲸鱼的设备将他们送至医院就医。
单选题 The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance holds that ______.
A. fat people should try to lose weight B. eating less is harmful to people's health
C. fat people were born that way D. obesity is good for people
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是事实细节题,根据题干定位到全文第一段。第一段第四句NAAFA称“there is nothing to be done about it, because genes dictate weight.”表明NAAFA认为体重超重的人对此无能为力,因为体重是由基因决定的。
单选题 What can be concluded according to the author's view of the "obesity genes"?
A. People with a genetic inclination to gain weight can slim.
B. People who are born fat will remain that way all life.
C. All efforts to lose weight will prove fruitless.
D. Fat people can live a very happy life, too.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是推理判断题,根据题干定位到全文第四段。第四段第二句作者指出“But genes are not destiny.”暗示基因的决定作用并不是绝对的,由此可以推知,即便是由易增重基因的人也可以通过努力让自己保持苗条身材。
单选题 The word "fib" in the fourth sentence of Paragraph 5, probably means ______.
A. to tell the truth B. to reduce
C. to increase D. to tell a small lie
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是语义理解题,根据题干定位到全文第五段。前文指出最近几十年间美国人的体重快速增加,然而他们上报的摄入热量却减少了,作者据此得出结论:人们自己记得的饮食数量是很不可靠的。紧接着作者指出as they grow fatter, people feel guilty...可以推测,由于人们体重不断增加,自己感到羞愧,就可能会对自己吃了多少东西“撒一点小谎”。
单选题 Which of the following statements is true?
A. Americans' caloric intake has dropped over the last few decades.
B. Many people who try to lose weight give up half way.
C. Americans are always aware of how much they eat.
D. Obesity does no harm to people's health.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是事实细节题,根据选项定位到全文第三至六段。第六段指出“...slimmers will often find any excuse to give up”说明减肥者半途而废的现象十分普遍。