阅读理解

Passage One

　　The new year brought new desks for students at Vallecito ElementarySchool, in San Rafael, California. The last three of the school's 22 classroomsswitched from seated desks to standing desks. “It's now the first all-standingschool,” Juliet Starrett told TFK. She started the group StandUp Kids. Her goalis to have every U.S. public school kid using a standing desk within the next10 years.

　　Starrett's daughters—Georgia, 10, and Caroline, 7—attend Vallecito.They are thrilled with their desks. “You feel happier, you're less tired, andyou're more active,” Georgia says.

　　Some of the desks have wheels and fidget bars. The bars let kidsmove in a way that doesn't disturb the class. Wheels allow the desks to bemoved easily. The desks also adjust to different heights. Kids take breaks bysitting on the floor or on stools.

　　There is the trend of designing things to make them easy and safe touse. According to Mark Benden, director of the Texas A&M Center, standingworkers are more focused and healthier. He says his research shows that kidsusing standing desks are more engaged and burn more calories (卡路里). InDecember, researchers in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdomreleased similar findings. But not everyone is convinced standing is betterthan sitting. Some parents and teachers worry that kids will get tired and thatstanding for long periods of time may be harmful. And standing desks are moreexpensive.

　　Benden says both sitting and standing desks can cause problems ifthey are not the proper height. “Our message should not be ‘Sit less, standmore,'” he says, “but ‘Sit less, move more.'”