单选题 Banish soft drinks from school vending machines. Cut down on Happy Meals. Load school lunches with fruits and vegetables. Pull the plug on the television and shove kids outdoors. Those are some of the weapons that schools, doctors and parents wield to prevent overweight kids from packing on more pounds.
But there's another possibility: Surgically implant an inflatable silicone band around the top of the stomach to restrict food intake. That way, people eat smaller meals. Banding works for many adults. Now Allergan Inc. , a maker of the band, is asking the Food and Drug Administration to approve its device for morbidly obese adolescents as young as 14.
You may or may not find this hard to stomach. We suspect your response will depend on your view of the causes of obesity, teen and otherwise. If you think losing weight is only a matter of will power, then you probably will figure this is another stab at a quick-fix that can't work for long. But here's why we can't dismiss it. Chicago is a national epicenter for childhood obesity. From toddlers to teens, Chicago's children far exceed national averages for obesity. An obese teen faces a lifetime of increased health risks.
The band surgery wouldn't be for the girl who wants to shed 25 pounds to fit into a dancing party dress. This would be for the morbidly obese—adolescents 100 pounds or more overweight. The surgery is safe and effective for adults. In limited trials, it has helped obese teens. A 2010 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found banding surgery to be far more effective than diet and exercise programs in helping teens shed significant poundage. Of 25 patients who got the surgery, 21 lost more than half their excess weight. By contrast, only three of 25 teens on a supervised dieting and exercise program lost that much weight.
The prospect of such surgery on a teen should give pause to parents and doctors. But let's remember that this is envisioned as a last resort for teens who are 100 pounds or more overweight. Before they're cleared for surgery, kids would have to show they diligently tried other weight loss methods. That they could stabilize their weight in preparation for surgery. And that they're ready to follow through with psychological counseling and other after-surgery programs.
Parents and kids need to know: There is no quick, pain-free way around diet and exercise as a weight control. Pills, gastric surgery and other shortcuts may help some for a while. But even surgery likely won't be effective for long if you don't change the way you think about food and about controlling portions. Yes, we share concerns that once doctors start ratcheting up the numbers of these surgeries, they won't stop at the small numbers of extremely overweight teens. But that's for doctors and parents to monitor. The FDA should allow the band to be marketed for adolescents, to give them a chance at a normal, healthy life.

单选题 The purpose of surgical treatment is to
[A] urge overweight children to go on a diet.
[B] engage obese adolescents in more outdoors activities.
[C] reduce the amount of food intake of obese children.
[D] cut down the number of meals of obese children.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第一段提到，家长和学校等采取了各种方法，试图来控制肥胖儿童的体重(pack on more pounds这里指通过吃来增加体重)，但都无济于事。第二段提到，利用手术方法在胃的上方置入一个硅胶带可以控制食物的摄入(restrict food intake)，使肥胖儿童少进食。但是这一手术方法还没有获得FDA的批准，不能用于14岁以下的肥胖儿童身上。
单选题 You might dismiss the surgical implantation if
[A] it makes thing hard to children's stomach.
[B] it does not lead to a reduction in children obesity.
[C] you believe children become obese for lack of will power.
[D] you think the surgery poses health risks for children.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第三段提到，对于硅胶带的态度，取决于你如何看待造成肥胖症的原因。如果你认为人凭借意志力就能减肥，你肯定反对使用硅胶带这种的东西，因为你会认为这只不过是寻找快速解决肥胖问题的又一次尝试，而作者认为这类办法长期来讲不能解决问题。在这个句子中，stab这里意为“企图”，stab at意为企图做某事；quick-fix则指快速解决办法。
单选题 Band surgery is recommended for obese children for all the following reasons except that
[A] it has proved to be more effective in reducing weight.
[B] Chicago has an excessive number of obese children.
[C] overweight people are subjected to greater health risks.
[D] the band has proved to be harmless to children of all ages.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】这一点尚未得到证实，因此FDA尚没有批准这种手术方法可以用于14岁以下的儿童。另外，鉴于它对少儿的影响尚没有足够的临床研究证据(limited trials)，作者也建议这种手术方法被作为最后手段(last resort)使用，即在一切其他方法都证明无效的情况下使用。
单选题 The author warns that
[A] the band surgery should not be the first choice of obese kids.
[B] children who are morbidly obese should not try band surgery.
[C] children whose weight is still growing should not take the surgery.
[D] children with psychological problems should not take the surgery.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】作者在第四、五段提到，手术方法只能用于病态肥胖的儿童，虽然它被证明在减肥方面相当有效，但它最好目前只能作为不得已的手段使用，在其他手段已经被证明无效的情况下使用。
单选题 Once approved, there might be danger that band surgery
[A] might cause constant pains to overweight children.
[B] might be overused on overweight adolescents.
[C] might be marketed for effects which it does not produce.
[D] might cause psychological problems to obese children.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】最后一段提到，家长们都会担心，医生一旦开始逐渐大量使用(ratchet up意为“逐渐升高”)这种手术，他们不会停留在少量特别肥胖的儿童上：即他们会在那些不是特别肥胖的儿童身上使用这种手术方法，结果造成这种手术的滥用。但是，作者认为这只需要医生和家长去监督就行了，而FDA应该批准将这种手术用在儿童身上。