阅读理解A few common misconceptions. Beauty is only skin-deep. One''s physical assets and liabilities don''t count all that much in a managerial career. A woman should always try to look her best. Over the last 30 years, social scientists have conducted more than 1,000 studies of how we react to beautiful and not-so-beautiful people. The virtually unanimous conclusion: looks do matter, more than most of us realize. The data suggest, for example, that physically attractive individuals are more likely to be treated well by their parents, sought out as friends, and pursued romantically. With the possible exception of women seeking managerial jobs, they are also more likely to be hired, paid well, and promoted. Un-American, you say, unfair and extremely unbelievable? Once again, the scientists have caught us mouthing pieties (虔诚) while acting just the contrary. Their typical experiment works something like this. They give each member of a group -- college students, perhaps, or teachers or corporate personnel managers -- a piece of paper relating an individual''s accomplishments. Attached to the paper is a photograph. While the papers all say exactly the same thing the pictures are different. Some show a strikingly attractive person, some an average-looking character, and some an unusually unattractive human being. Group members are asked to rate the individual on certain attributes, anything from personal warmth to the likelihood that he or she will be promoted. Almost invariably, the better looking the person in the picture, the higher the person is rated. In the phrase, borrowed from Sappho, that the social scientists use to sum up the common perception, what is beautiful is good. In business, however, good looks cut both ways for women, and deeper than for men. A Utah State University professor, who is an authority on the subject, explains: In terms of their careers, the impact of physical attractiveness on males is only modest. But its potential impact on females can be tremendous, making it easier, for example, for the more attractive to get jobs where they are in the public eye. On another note, though, there is enough literature now for us to conclude that attractive women who aspire (追求) to managerial positions do not get on as well as women who may be less attractive.

阅读理解German Chancellor (首相) Otto Von Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy (遗产) includes many of today''s social insurance programs. During the middle of the 19th century, Germany, along with other European nations, experienced an unprecedented rash of workplace deaths and accidents as a result of growing industrialization. Motivated in part by Christian compassion (怜悯) for the helpless as well as a practical political impulse to undercut the support of the socialist labor movement, Chancellor Bismarck created the world''s first workers'' compensation law in 1884. By 1908, the United States was the only industrial nation in the world that lacked workers'' compensation insurance. America''s injured workers could sue for damages in a court of law, but they still faced a number of tough legal barriers. For example, employees bad to prove that their injuries directly resulted from employer negligence and that they themselves were ignorant about potential hazards in the workplace. The first state workers'' compensation law in this country passed in 1911, and the program soon spread throughout the nation. After World War II, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers'' compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100 percent of the states'' average weekly wages. In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55 percent of the states'' average weekly wages in 1972 to 97 percent today. But, as most studies show, every 10 percent increase in compensation benefits results in a 5 percent increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims. And with so much more money floating in the workers'' compensation system, it''s not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie.

阅读理解whos really addicting you to Technology? A

阅读理解Sex prejudices are based on and justified by the ideology that biology is destiny. According to this ideology, basic biological and psychological differences exist between the sexes. These differences require each sex to play a separate role in social life. Women are the weaker sex—both physically and emotionally. Thus, they are naturally suited much more so than men, to the performance of domestic duties. A woman''s place, under normal circumstance, is within the protective environment of the home. Nature has determined that women play care-taker roles, such as wife and mother and homemaker. On the other hand, men are best suited to go out into the competitive world of work and politics, where serious responsibilities must be taken on. Men are to be the providers; women and children are dependents. The ideology also holds that women who wish to work outside the household should naturally fill these jobs that are in line with the special capabilities of their sex. It is thus appropriate for women, not men, to be employed as nurses, social workers, elementary school teachers, household helpers, and clerks and secretaries. These positions are simply an extension of women''s domestic role. Informal distinctions between "women''s work" and "men''s work" in the labor force, according to the ideology, are simply a functional reflection of the basic differences between sexes. Finally, the ideology suggests that nature has worked her will in another significant way. For the human species to survive over time, its members must regularly reproduce. Thus, women must, whether at home or in the labor force, make the most of their physical appearance. So goes the ideology. It is, of course, not true that basic biological and psychological differences between the sexes require each to play sex-defined roles in social life. There is ample evidence that sex roles vary from society to society, and those role differences that do exist are largely learned. But to the degree people actually believe that biology is destiny and that nature intends for men and women to make different contributions to society, sex-defined roles will be seen as totally acceptable.

阅读理解For boys of all ages— and increasing numbers of women— the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) provides a peek at the latest videogames and the new machines that will run them. Here''s a look at what''s coming later this year and beyond. Sony. The videogame leader announced that its long-awaited PlayStation 3 console will hit the U.S. market Nov. 17 in two flavors: a $499 model with a 20-gigabyte hard drive, and a $599 deluxe version that ships with an 80-gigabyte hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi and a few other bells and whistles. How does Sony expect to succeed in the face of the already-released Xbox 360 ($399 with a 20-gigabyte hard drive, $299 without) and Nintendo''s upcoming Wii (not yet priced, but expected to cost less than $250)? The answer lies in Blu-Ray, the high-definition DVD format that launches next month and is backed by five of the six major movie studios. Both PS3 versions include a Blu-Ray drive, while its rivals don''t — and since the cheapest Blu-Ray player will initially cost $999, Sony hopes that you''ll think of PS3 as an inexpensive Blu-Ray machine and home entertainment center, rather than a costly videogame machine. Still, games are key, and Sony showed some early standouts. Heavenly Sword looks like a Wu Xia epic (think "House of Flying Daggers"). Microsoft. Bill Gates made his first appearance at E3 to tout the Xbox 360 . Microsoft put on its best show yet. Epic''s Gears of War replaces the run-and-gun style of most shooters with a more deliberate "stop-and-pop" approach, where players run from cover to cover. Capcom''s Lost Planet transports gamers to a world of giant robot suits and snow-swept cityscapes. Microsoft also showed an add-on drive for Xbox 360 that plays movies on HD-DVD (the rival format to Blu-Ray). Nintendo. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, whose machines are evaluated primarily on the quality of their graphics, Nintendo has focused on the interface rather than image quality. The forthcoming Wii console (pronounced "we"; price and date not yet determined) uses a controller that follows your movements. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, you aim weapons by literally pointing at the bad guyson the screen. But the truerevelation was Super Mario Universe, in which you wiggle the controller back and forth to launch Mario from planet to planet and to trigger attacks against his enemies.

阅读理解In India, critics attribute the destruction of Indian crop diversity to _______.

阅读理解Why More Farmers are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy [A] Though he didnt come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land

阅读理解What do we learn about American politics from the passage?

阅读理解We all have offensive breath at one time or another. In most cases, offensive breath emanates from bacteria in the mouth, although there are other, more surprising causes. Until a few years ago, the most doctors could do was to counsel patients with bad breath about oral cleanliness. Now they are finding new ways to treat the usually curable condition. Bad breath can happen whenever the normal flow of saliva slows. Our mouths are full of bacteria feeding on protein in bits of food and shed tissue. The bacteria emit evil-smelling gases, the worst of which is hydrogen sulfide. Mouth bacteria thrive in airless conditions. Oxygen-rich saliva keeps their numbers down. When we sleep, for example, the saliva stream slows, and sulfide-producing bacteria gain the upper hand, producing classic " morning breath". Alcohol, hunger, too much talking , breathing through the mouth during exercise — anything that dries the mouth produces bad breath. So can stress, though it''s not understood why. Some people''s breath turns sour every time they go no a job interview. Saliva flow gradually shows with age, which explains why the elderly have more bad-breath trouble than younger people do. Babies, however, who make plenty of saliva and whose mouths contain relatively few bacteria have characteristically sweet breath. For most of us, the simple, dry-mouth variety of bad breath is easily cured. Eating or drinking starts saliva and sweeps away many of the bacteria. Breakfast often stops morning breath. Those with chronic dry mouth find that it helps to keep gum, hard candy, or a bottle of water or juice around. Brushing the teeth wipes out dry mouth bad breath because it clears away many of the offending bacteria. Surprisingly, one thing that rarely works is mouthwash. The liquid can mask bad-breath odor with its own smell, but the effect lasts no more than an hour. Some mouthwashes claim to kill the bacteria responsible for bad breath. The trouble is, they don''t necessarily reach all offending germs. Most bacteria are well protected from mouthwash under thick layers of mucus. If the mouthwash contains alcohol — as most do — it can intensify the problem by drying out the mouth.

阅读理解PassageTwo Ifyouveeverstartedasentencewith, IfIwereyou

阅读理解Why is the author skeptical of the data revolution?

阅读理解In spite of the controversy, the new study may help people see more clearly____.

阅读理解What does the author want to say by quoting Daniel Moynihan?

阅读理解Designs on life Even if you''re thinking big, you usually have to start small. It is especially true for a group of Swiss students who found that big means counting to infinity. The team was drawing up a blueprint for the world''s first counting machine made entirely of biological parts. Although they had their sights on loftier numbers, they opted to go no higher than two. If the plan worked, it would be a proof-of-principle for a much larger tallying device(计算装置). The group, from the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, was one of 17 teams presenting their projects at the first international Intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine (IGEM) competition, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge on 5 and 6 November. The event attracted students from all over the world to design and build machines made entirely from biological components such as genes and proteins. They drew up grand designs for bacterial Etch-a-Sketches, photosensitive t-shirts, thermometers and sensors. And if none of the designs succeeded completely, that was more because of the limitations of the new-born science of synthetic biology than any lack of enthusiasm, creativity or hard work. Synthetic biology Synthetic biology aims to merge engineering approaches with biology. Researchers working at the most basic level are copying simple biological processes, such as the production of a protein from a gene. They break the process down into its component elements, such as a gene and the pieces of DNA and other molecules that control its activity. They then string these elements together to build a module they know will behave in a particular way — say, oscillate between producing and not producing a protein, or produce a protein that can switch another module on or off. It is these kinds of components— oscillators (震荡器) and switches— that engineers order from suppliers and link together to build more complex electronic circuits and machines. Synthetic biologists are trying to develop a similar armoury of biological components, dubbed BioBricks, that can be inserted into any genetic circuit to carry out a particular function. Scientists at MIT have established a Registry of Standard Biological Parts, a catalogue of BioBricks that theoretically can be ordered and plugged into a cell, just as resistors and transistors can be ordered and plugged into electronic circuitry. But it is hard to find scientists who are trained and interested in both biology and engineering to fuel the development of this new science. So, like true engineers, the founding synthetic biologists are trying to build their future colleagues from the ground up. To do so, they have commandeered a time-honoured engineering tradition: the student competition. The IGEM event began life as a project class for MIT students in 2003. Last year, it was thrown open to other US universities, and this year it went international. The organizers hope to attract 30 to 50 teams next year, including some from Asia. Competitive culture Much like the robot competitions that tap into students'' desire to build something cool, the IGEM jamborees (国际性少年大会) fire the participants'' natural curiosity — hopefully encouraging biologists to learn something from engineers, and vice versa. "If you want to make something in this field, you can''t just get some glue out and stick two cells together," says Randy Rettberg of MIT, who organized the competition. "You have to learn some biology to do it, and it''s easy to do that during the competition because you know exactly why you''re doing it." This year, the teams presented an eclectic selection of designs. Students from the University of Cambridge, UK, tried to make a circuit that could control the movement of Escherichia coli bacteria. They aimed to engineer the bacteria to contain a switch governing their sensitivity to the sugar maltose. With the switch off, the microbes would ignore the sugar. Tripping the switch would make the bacteria sensitive to the sugar and induce them to move towards it. In the end, the group — like almost every other entrant — had trouble completing assembly of its genetic parts in time. Many of the other students also tackled problems related to bacterial communication and motion. The team from Pennsylvania State University designed a bacterial relay race, which it hoped would bring synthetic biology into the realm of sports — an innovation that won it an award for the Best New Sport at the end of the competition. A team from the University of Oklahoma''s Advanced Center for Genome Technology in Norman tried to exploit the sugar arabinose as an engine to drive bacterial motion. Teams from the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Francisco, built concepts for bacterial thermometers; and groups from Harvard, Toronto and Princeton designed bacterial illustrators and Etch-a-Sketches. Detection and sensing were also popular, with groups from Davidson College and MIT focusing in this area. And a lab at the California Institute of Technology tackled a problem raised at last year''s event: designing biological memory. Students from the University of Texas demonstrated the world''s first bacterial photography system. The team engineered a plate of E. coli so that they would respond to light and has since used the invention to take numerous photos, including shots of the group''s adviser, Andrew Ellington. Piece by piece As well as helping students to bridge the divide between disciplines, the competition gave them firsthand experience of life in the lab. All hit obstacles assembling their parts into coherent devices. It is still difficult to dissect the different genetic components of the circuits, stitch them together and get them to work in live cells. As Emanuel Nazareth reported, the students all learned one hard truth: "You can never allocate enough time for assembly." This hints at a larger problem in synthetic biology. The field aims to build up a library of parts that can be interchanged in circuits with minimal effort. But that goal is not yet a reality as DNA sequencing and assembling technologies are still a bit too expensive and complex. "We''re not organized at the community level around fabrication," says MIT''s Drew Endy, one of the founders of the field and of the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. These difficulties need to be overcome before biological components will be as easy to deploy as their engineering counterparts. Another learning experience was the reminder that, even stripped down to its basic components, biology can be complex and unpredictable. A team from the University of California, Berkeley, for instance, tried to design an entirely new way for cells to communicate. This is a potentially important because it would enable cells to send and receive information, forming interlocking cell circuits instead of relying on simple gene circuits built in single cells. The team hoped to exploit a natural method used by bacteria to exchange genetic information. In this, two bacteria connect their respective cell walls together using a structure called a pilus(菌毛). The group managed to trigger the connection response with synthetic circuits. But the bacteria turned out to be so eager to join up that they did so in huge bunches— and once they did, it was hard to separate them. "They don''t really conjugate one at a time," said team spokeswoman Melissa Li. "They can go, but they can''t stop." The living end As Rettberg points out, there are a lot of sceptics. "There''s a big question, which is: can you build simple biological systems out of interchangeable parts and make them work in living cells?" he says. "We think you can, but there''s a lot of people who think the other way and say biology is simply so complex you can''t do it." Given these concerns, it is no surprise that researchers have decided to keep things as simple as possible. As Robin Künzler said in introducing the project: "In the beginning we talked about counting to infinity, but we thought maybe we''d start by counting to two." Despite this narrowed scope, the students faced a formidable challenge. They designed a series of devices: the first takes in a signal, which is then passed to an event processor. This processor — a genetic circuit — splits the signal into two components. A third circuit does the counting and generates a read-out.

阅读理解In a Digital Age, Students Still Cling to Paper Textbooks They text their friends all day long. At night, they do research for their term papers on laptops and commune with their parents on Skype. But as they walk the paths of Hamilton College, a poster-perfect liberal arts school in this upstate village, students are still hauling around bulky, old-fashioned textbooks-and loving it. "The screen won't go blank," said Faton Begolli, a junior from Boston. "There can't be a virus. It wouldn't be the same without books. They've defined 'academia' (学术) for a thousand years." Though the world of print is receding before a tide of digital books, blogs and other Web sites, a generation of college students growing up with technology appears to be holding fast to traditional textbooks. That loyalty comes at a price. Textbooks are expensive-a year's worth can cost $700 to $900-and students' frustrations with the expense, as well as the emergence of new technology, have produced a perplexing array of options for obtaining them. Internet retailers like Amazon and Textbooks.com are selling new and used books. They have been joined by several Web services that rent textbooks to students by the semester. Some 1500 college bookstores are also offering rentals this fall, up from 300 last year. Here at Hamilton, students this year have a new way to avoid the middleman: a nonprofit Web site, created by the college's Entrepreneur Club, that lets them sell used books directly to one another. The explosion of outlets and formats-including digital books, which are rapidly becoming more sophisticated-has left some students bewildered. After completing the difficult job of course selection, they are forced to weigh cost versus convenience, analyze their own study habits and guess which texts they will want for years to come and which they will not miss. "It depends on the course," said Victoria Adesoba, a student at New York University who was standing outside that school's bookstore, a powder-blue book bag slung over her shoulder "Last semester, I rented for psychology, and it was cheaper. But for something like organic chemistry, I need to keep the book. E-textbooks are good, but it's tempting to go on Facebook, and it can ." For all the talk that her generation is the most technologically knowledgeable in history, paper-and-ink textbooks do not seem destined to disappear anytime soon According to the National Association of College Stores, digital books make up just under 3% of , although the association expects that share to grow to 10-15% by 2012 as more titles are made available as e-books. In two recent studies-one by the association and another by the Student Public Interest Research Groups-three-quarters of the students surveyed said they still preferred a bound book to a digital version. Many students are reluctant to give up the ability to flip quickly between chapters, write in the margins and highlight passages, although new software applications are beginning to allow students to use e-textbooks that way. "Students grew up learning from print books." said Nicole Allen, the textbooks campaign director for the research groups, "so as they transition to higher education, it's not surprising that they prefer a format that they are most accustomed to." Indeed, many Hamilton students grow passionate about the weighty volumes they still carry from dorm room to lecture hall to library, even as they compulsively(克制不住地) check their smartphones for text messages and c-mails. "I believe that the codex is one of mankind's best inventions," said Jonathan Piskor, a junior from North Carolina, using the Latin term for book. That passion may be one reason that Barnes & Noble College Booksellers is working so hard to market its new software application, NOOK study, which allows students to navigate e-textbooks on Macs and PCs. The company, which operates 636 campus bookstores nationwide, introduced the free application last summer in hopes of luring more students to buy its electronic textbooks. "The real obstacle is getting them to try it," said Tracey Weber, the company's executive vice president. The company is giving away "College Kick-Start Kits" to students who download NOOK study in the fall semester, with a dozen classic e-books like The Canterbury Tales and The Scarlet Letter. CourseSrnart is letting students try any c-textbook free for two weeks. But not every textbook is available in digital or rental format. At Hamilton, for instance, only about one-fifth of the titles are sold as e-textbooks this fall. A stroll through the campus store revealed the price difference. A book on constitutional law, for instance, was $189.85 new, $142.40 used and $85.45 for rent. (Typically, an e-textbook is cheaper than a used book, though more expensive than a rental.) The expense of college textbooks, which is estimated to have risen four times the inflation rate in recent years, has become such a concern that some politicians are taking up the cause. Last month, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York urged more college stores to rent books, after a survey of 38 campus bookstores in New York City and on Long Island by his office found that 16 did not offer the option. On Thursday, students at more than 40 colleges nationwide are planning an Affordable Textbooks Day of Action to encourage faculty members to assign texts that are less expensive, or offered free online. For now, buying books the old-fashioned way-new or used-prevails. Charles Schmidt, the spokesman for the National Association of College Stores, said that if a campus store sold a new book for $100, it would typically buy the book back for $50 at semester's end and sell it to the next student for $75. The buy-back price plunges, however, if the professor drops the book from the syllabus or if the bookstore has bought enough books to meet demand. When Louis Boguchwal, majoring in economics and math, tried to sell a $100 linear algebra(线性代数) textbook back to the college bookstore, he was offered $15. "It was insulting," he said. "They give you next to nothing." Thus, the creation of Hamilton's new nonprofit Web site, get my textbooks.org. So far, traffic has been light: only about 70 books have been sold this fall. But Jason Mariasis, president of the Entrepreneur Club, said he expected sales to pick up as word spread. Mr. Begolli, a member of the club, recently sold three German novels for $17 on the site. "If I had sold them back to the bookstore, I would have gotten $7 or $8,"he said. "The bookstore is king when it comes to . We felt there should be something for students, by students." Yet some students have to go it alone. Rosemary Rocha, an N.Y.U. student pursuing a degree in hospitality and tourism management, added up her required reading for the semester: $600. "It's harsh," she said. "I'm currently collecting unemployment, so that's not going to happen." Instead, she waits to borrow the few copies her professors leave on reserve at the library, or relies on the kindness of classmates. "My friends will let me borrow their books in exchange for coffee or a slice of pizza," she said. "I very seldom buy the textbooks, but I'm always like a chicken without a head."

阅读理解Researchers generally agree that acid rain arises primarily from the burning of coal and oil. The emissions contain oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, which can be carried hundreds of miles on the prevailing westernly winds. They eventually return to earth as dry gases and particulates and react with ground waters to form nitride or sulfuric acid. They may also be converted to the acids in the atmosphere by chemical processes that are still not fully understood. However the acids are formed, they have already been charged with a substantial list of damages. Corrosion of metal structures in windward areas of the country has been well-documented, but is a relatively minor entry on the list. Other forms of damage are far more insidious and longer-lasting. There is evidence, for example, that the acids leach heavy metals--aluminum, lead, and mercury-from the soil, which then poison plant roots and deprive them of vital nutrients. In lakes and rivers the acid alters the blood chemistry in fish. The metals, meanwhile, irreversibly damage the gill systems of certain species, such as bass and walleye. As the concentration of poison rises, egg hatching is reduced and the number of deformed embryos increases. Effects of acid rain are more severe in the eastern part of the country, for two reasons. First, most coal burning occurs in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, according to Eville Gorham, professor of ecology and botany at the University of Minnesota and a modern pioneer in the study of acid rain. These states pro- duce about a quarter of all U. S. sulfur oxide emissions, he told this year''s American Chemical society meeting in Las Vegas, and the airborne particulates tend to wind up in the Northeast. The second reason is the varying chemical makeup of North American soils. Western soils are relatively rich in neutralizing compounds like magnesium and calcium carbonates, but the coarse, shallow eastern soils have much less of this buffering capacity. Together, these factors explain what Gorham calls a "pool of acid air pollution" over the Northeast that is strongly suspected of having killed or injured aquatic life in more than 200 lakes in New York''s Adirondack region.

阅读理解What did Cameron say about chocolate oranges at supermarket checkouts?

阅读理解In the 1950s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But as useful as computers are, they''re nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations for humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid. A growing group of A1 researchers think they know where the field went wrong. The problem, the scientists say, is that Al has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by-step programs. A new movement in Al, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional computer programs. Rather than digital computers and transistors, some want to work with brain cells and proteins. The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based Al movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field. Imitating the brain''s neural (神经的)network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still misses an important aspect of natural intelligence. "People tend to treat the brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors," he explains, "but it''s not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves." Specifically, Conrad believes that many of the brain''s capabilities stem from the pattern-recognition proficiency of the individual molecules that make up each brain cell. The best way to build an artificially intelligent device, he claims, would be to build it around the same sort of molecular skills. Right now, the notion that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town.

阅读理解Passage One Last year, a child was born at a hospital in the UK with her heart outside her body

阅读理解No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is deemed as such virtue. The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have fantasies of slipping into narrow designer clothes. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the better— or worse—part of my life. Being rich wouldn''t be bad either, but that won''t happen unless an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land leaving me millions of dollars. Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not repellent? All religions have certain days when people refrain from eating, and excessive eating is one of Christianity''s seven deadly sins. However until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being. Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is that being fat—or even only somewhat overweight—is bad because it implies a lack of moral strength. Our obsession with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that, in many cases, being overweight correlates with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problem—too much fat and a lack of fiber—than a weight problem. The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who get (or already are) thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall lifestyle. Thinness can be pure vainglory (虚荣).