Passage Five

Most of us lead unhealthy lives: we spend far too much time sitting down. If, in addition, we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become flabby and our system sluggish. The guilt feelings start: "I must go on a diet", "I must try to lose weigh", "I must get more fresh air and exercise", "I must stop smoking", "I must try to keep fit". There are some aspects of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. 

I am thinking of such features of modem urban life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to minimize the effects of these evils. 

The usual suggestion for a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and tennis in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them. It is an illusion to think that you will get fit by going to watch the football match every Saturday, [unless you count the effort required to fight your way through the crowds to get to  the best seats. ] 

For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports —and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them—there are such solitary activities as cycling, walking and swimming. What often happens, though, is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, apart from the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair. Of course you can be very thorough about exercises. Many ports shops now sell frightening pieces of [apparatus], chest-expanders and other mysterious gadgets of shiny spring steel, which, according to the advertisements, will bring you up to an Olympic standard of fitness, provided programs generally involve long periods of time bending these curious bits of metal into improbable shapes.  

It all strikes me as utterly boring and also time-consuming. Somebody suggested recently that all such effort was pointless anyway because if you spend half an hour every day jogging round the local park, you will add to your life exactly the number of hours that you wasted during the "jogging" in the first place. The argument is false even if the facts are correct, but there is no doubt that exercise in itself can be boring.  

Even after you have found a routine for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation. Now this does not mean snoozing in the armchair or going dancing. It has something to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts,  medication and so on.   

Questions 21-25 are based on Passage Five.

If you want to keep fit, you should______.

Girls are overly concerned about weight and body shape. (46. hey strive for the "perfect" body and judge themselves by their looks, appearance, and above all thinness. But boys don't escape either. They are concerned with the size and strength of their body. There has been a shift in the male body image. Boys live in a culture that showcases males as glamorous “macho”figures who have to be “tough", build muscles and sculpt their bodies— if they want to ft in. They think they have to be a“real”man, but many admit being confused as to what that means or what's expected of them. This confusion can make it harder than ever to feel good about themselves.

Most of our cues about what we should look like come from the media, our parents, and our peers. This constant obsession with weight, the size of our bodies and longing for a different shape or size can be painful. 

Where do these negative perceptions come from?  

The media plays a big part. (47. Surrounded by thin models and TV stars, teenage girls are taught to achieve an impossible goal. As a result, many teenage girls intensely dislike their bodies and can tell you down to the minutest detail what's wrong with it.) Most teens watch an average of 22 hours of TV a week and are deluged with images of fat-free bodies in the pages of health, fashion and teen magazines. The "standard" is impossible to achieve. A female should look like, and have the same dimensions as Barbie, and a male should look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

(48. Western society places a high value upon appearance. Self-worth is enhanced for those who are judged attractive. Those who are deemed unattractive can feel at a disadvantage.) The message from the media, fashion and our peers can create a longing to win the approval of our culture and fit in at any cost. And that can be disastrous to our self-esteem. 

Parents can give mixed messages, too. Especially if they're constantly dieting or have body or food issues of their own. How we perceive and internalize these childhood messages about our bodies determines our ability to build self-esteem and confidence in our appearance.

(49. Why is a positive body image so important? Psychologists and counselors agree that a negative body image is directly related to self-esteem. The more negative the perception of our bodies. the more negative we feel about ourselves.)

When most people think about body image they think about aspects of physical appearance, attractiveness, and beauty. But body image is much more. It is the mental picture a person has of his/her body as well as their thoughts, feelings, judgments, sensations, awareness and behavior. Body image is developed through interactions with people and the social world. It's our mental picture of ourselves, it's what allows us to become ourselves.

(50. Body image influences behavior. self-esteem, and our psyche. When we feel bad about our body, our satisfaction and mood plummets. If we are constantly trying to push, reshape or remake our bodies, our sense of self becomes unhealthy.) We lose confidence in our abilities. It's not uncommon for people who think poorly of their bodies to have problems in other areas of their lives, including sexuality, careers and relationships.

Paragraph Ten

On your interview day, you should arrive at least half an hour earlier. Tell the secretary at the reception desk about your arranged interview as soon as you get there, and wait in the lounge just to relax. But while waiting, watch your posture. When you name is called, let your interviewer see a candidate full of confidence and ready for nothing else but the interview.

T______ for interviews.

Paragraph Nine

Soil conservation methods help farmers protect their land from the damage caused by farming and the forces of nature. One method of soil conservation is the use of windbreaks. Windbreaks are barriers formed by trees and other plants. Farmers plant these barriers around their fields.

Windbreaks may stop the wind from b_____ soil away.

Paragraph Eight

One of the most influential studies of human performance find that one less hour of sleep is not equal to an extra hour of achievement. In many cases the opposite occurs. When you lose an hour of sleep, it decreases your well-being, productivity, health, and ability to think the following day.

Insufficient sleep, p_______ performance.

Paragraph Seven

Researchers found that of all the forms of inactivity they examined, television-viewing was the worst. It was linked to significantly higher blood pressure in children一the more TV kids watched, the higher their blood pressure一and the effect held true regardless of whether a child was heavy or at a healthy weight.

The c________ between TV watching and high blood pressure in children.

Paragraph Six

Change is the most changeless thing in the universe. We need to accept all changes— welcome or unwelcome — with the understanding that nothing comes to stay, but only to pass. As two things can never occupy the same space at the same time, one change makes way for the next.

Change is i_____.

Paragraph Five

Quite a number of people believe that women's abilities are not so good as men's. As a result, most employers do not choose women to be in charge of important projects. But I think such a view is ridiculous. Everyone is born equal and the ability is cultivated later through education, social action and communication.

The a_______ towards working women should be changed attitude

Paragraph Four

High salaries in the electricity, telecommunications and other monopoly industries have drawn strong criticism in China, where the Gini coefficient now stands at 0.46, exceeding the internationally recognized alarm level of 0.45. So China is considering cutting wages in monopoly industries to reduce the country's widening income gap. A draft directive document has been worked out for this purpose.

A measure taken to n______ the income gap.

Paragraph Three

Researchers tested obese men before and after they joined a one-year modest walking plan. The result: Their blood pressure improved and the amount of body fat around their abdomen一the dangerous kind of fat that leads to higher rates 01 heart disease and diabetes一significantly decreased. 

The amazing e____ of modest walking on health.

Paragraph One

The term "Grit”first appeared on the Canadian political scene in 1849 to describe the more progressive members of the Upper Canada Reform Party. They saw themselves as genuine reformers "ll sand and no dirt, clear grit all the way through," as David Christie, one of the reformers, put it.

O______ of a political term.