The Walt Disney Company last week announced plans to restrict junk food commercials on its television programs aimed at children

admin2014-08-29  36

问题     The Walt Disney Company last week announced plans to restrict junk food commercials on its television programs aimed at children. A few days before, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took steps to restrict the sale of supersized sugary drinks in New York. But isolated changes may not make a substantial difference at a time when Americans are gaining weight as a nation. Reducing obesity will require a broader shift in the culture.
    For decades, people have treated obesity as a personal failure. They blame individuals and families for eating junk food and choosing television over exercise. But experts in this country and other industrialized nations have increasingly recognized that obesity is caused mostly by social and environmental factors that limit people’s ability to eat healthy foods and get enough exercise. Our modern society, with its enormous and diverse food supply and its host of labor-saving technologies, stacks the deck against them.
    The consensus of experts, in a report issued in May by the Institute of Medicine, is that only a nationwide, prevention-oriented approach will work. The causes of obesity are everywhere. Societal factors play a big role: the lack of safe places to play, walk or bike; less time devoted to cooking and more eating out; bigger portion sizes in packaged and prepared food; and endless marketing of junk foods that are high in calories. Sugar-sweetened drinks accounted for at least 20 percent of the increases in weight in the United States between 1977 and 2007, according to one study cited by the institute.
    The institute’s report suggests a number of remedies that it believes have been proved to work. In Somerville, Mass. , where some 40 percent of the younger elementary school children were overweight, there was a communitywide effort to offer healthier lunches in schools and restaurants, encourage walking and other physical activities, and change the small city’s culture. Children there gained less weight than their peers in other communities.
    In suggesting reductions in children’s exposure to junk-food marketing, the institute cites research showing a causal relationship between TV commercials and the food preferences of the very young. Other ideas are to increase physical activities in the schools to an hour a day and strengthen obesity prevention programs in the workplace.
    The institute says that a major cut in obesity rates will require multiple strategies on a population-wide scale. This will be even more challenging than the fight against smoking. But there isn’t any choice if we want to protect the public’s health, the strength of the economy and the government budget.
By saying "Our modern society...stacks the deck against them"(Lines 5-6, Para. 2), the author means______.

选项 A、our modem society makes it easier for people to gain weight
B、our modern society makes the situation more complicated
C、our modern society makes it more difficult for people to take exercise
D、our modern society makes people more inclined to get sick

答案A

解析 语义理解题。本句的理解难点在于短语stack the deck against sb.,意为“使情况对……不利”,上文提出导致人们肥胖的因素是多样的,社会因素起重要作用,因此定位句意为“现代社会提供大量且丰富的食物、掌握节省人力的技术,结果使情况对人们非常不利”。结合上下文可推断“使人们陷人不利情况”指人们增肥容易而减肥困难,故A)“现代社会使人们更易变胖”为本题答案。B)“现代社会使情况更加复杂”、C)“现代社会使人们更难进行锻炼”和D)“现代社会使人们更易生病”均与文意不符,故排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/8xv7777K
0

最新回复(0)