首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Food and drink play a major role in Christmas celebrations in most countries,but in few more so than in Mexico. Many families ov
Food and drink play a major role in Christmas celebrations in most countries,but in few more so than in Mexico. Many families ov
admin
2015-01-09
26
问题
Food and drink play a major role in Christmas celebrations in most countries,but in few more so than in Mexico. Many families over the festive season will do little more than cook and ingest a seemingly constant cycle of tortillas,fried beans,meat both roasted and stewed,and sticky desserts for days on end. Thus does the extended family keep on extending—further and further over their collective waistlines.
Lucky them,you might think. Except that Mexico’s bad eating habits are leading to a health crisis that most Mexicans seem blissfully unaware of. Obesity and its related disorder,diabetes,are now major health concerns in a country where large rural regions are still concerned more with under—than with over—nourishment. In its perennial rivalry with the United States,Mexico has at last found an area in which it can match its northern neighbor—mouthful for mouthful.
The statistics are impressive,and alarming. According to the OECD,Mexico is now the second fattest nation in that group of 30 countries. A health poll in 1999 found that 35%of women were overweight,and another 24% technically obese. Juan Rivera,an official at the National Institute of Public Health,says that the combined figure for men would be about 55%, and that a similar poll to be carried out next year will show the fat quotient rising. Only the United States,with combined figures of over 60%,is a head.
That situation also varies geographically. Although Mexicans populate the north of their country more sparsely that the south,they make up for it weight-wise. A Study published by the Pan-American Health Organization a month ago showed that in the mostly Hispanic population that lives on either side of the American-Mexican border,fully 74% of men and 70%of women are either over weight or obese.
Moreover,even experts have been surprised by how rapidly the nation has swollen. Whereas the 1999 poll showed 59% of women overweight or obese,only 11 years previously that figure was just 33%. Nowhere is the transformation more noticeable than in the prevalence of diabetes,closely linked to overeating and obesity. In 1968,says Joel,Rodriguez of the Mexican Diabetes Federation,the disease was in 35th place as a direct cause of mortality in Mexico,but now it occupies first place,above both cancer and heart disease. With about 6. 5m diabetics out of a population of 100m,Mexico now has a higher rate than any other large country in the world. Not surprisingly,Mr. Rodriguez argues that Mexico is in the grip of an "epidemic".
Nor does it tax the brain much to work out that the causes of these explosions in obesity and diabetes are the Mexican diet and a lack of exercise. For most Mexicans,food consumption,not just at Christmas but all year round,is an unvarying combination of retried beans,tortillas,meat and refrescos.or fizzy drinks;they consume 101 liters of cola drinks per person per year,just a little less than Americans and three times as much as Brazilians.
Meanwhile,the lack of exercise,Mr. Rivera argues,is a symptom of rapid urbanization over the past 30 years. Obesity and diabetes rates remain slightly lower in rural areas,indicating that manual labor endures as an effective way to stave off weight gain. In Mexico City,though,pollution and crime have progressively driven people out of the parks and the streets,so most now walk as little as possible—preferably no further than from the valet-parking service to the restaurant. To combat the fat,health professionals say that the country must first realize that it is indeed in the grip of an epidemic. Other diseases,such as AIDS and cancer,have captured most of the publicity in recent years;obesity and diabetes have been comparatively neglected.
But these are also,as in other developing countries,mainly problems of the urban poor. It is a symp-tan of their growing prosperity that these parts of the population have,probably for the first time,almost unlimited access to the greatest amount of calories for the smallest amount of money. But with little knowledge of nutritional values,their diets are now unbalanced and unhealthy.
Low-carb products and other dietary imports from the United States have already made an appearance on the posher Mexican supermarket shelves. They may go into be shopping baskets of the rake-thin and utterly unrepresentative models who dominate the country’s advertising hoardings. But they are still comparatively expensive. For the heaving mass of the population,things may have to get worse before the government,doctors and consumers realize that things have got to start getting better.
Judging by the context,the word "perennial" in the second paragraph most probably means_____.
选项
A、perpetual
B、recurring
C、transient
D、perilous
答案
A
解析
题目问:第二段的单词"perennial"是什么意思?perpetual的意思是:“永久的”。各项的意思是:perennial“终年的,长期的,永久的”;recurring“再次发生的”;transient“一时的,转瞬即逝的”;perilous“非常危险的”。所以,答案是A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/NGLO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
LawyerhaveaterriblehabitofusingLatinandindustry______tomystifypeopleandthemselvesmorevaluable.
AlltherecentnewsonAIDSisbad.ThedeathofRockHudson【1】publicconcernaboutthe【2】almosttothepointofpanic.Nowgene
IntheUnitedStatesandinmanyothercountriesaroundtheworld,therearefourmainwaysforpeopletobe【1】aboutdevelopment
IntheUnitedStatesandinmanyothercountriesaroundtheworld,therearefourmainwaysforpeopletobe【1】aboutdevelopment
Thesmallbuildingwasmarkedwithamodestbrass______,statingthenameandthebusinessoftheoccupiers.
Nowadays,withplentifuliceandelectricchurning,fewpeoplerecallthesharedexcitementoftheerawhenmakingicecreamwasa
Ms.Rice,withcustomaryclass,simplyexpressedhopethatthisepisodewouldn’t_____thecharityinspiteofthepreviousscandals
Desperation,hunger,thirst,andresentmentallmakeitmorelikelythatpeoplewill______amorepowerfulfigurewhopromisesth
Mostpeopleseeksomedegreeofinnerpeaceatwork,anditcanbedifficulttoobtain.Workisstressful,andmostofustendt
ThewildlifeinAfricaisextremely______.
随机试题
A、Bothgroupsspendalotoftimeonmobiledevices.B、Bothgroupsattachimportancetosocialconnections.C、Theyareequallyc
A.胃泌酸腺壁细胞B.胃泌酸腺主细胞C.胃窦、上段小肠的G细胞D.十二指肠、空肠黏膜内的S细胞E.十二指肠、空肠黏膜中的I细胞分泌盐酸的是
清瘟败毒饮的药组中含有
患者,男性,56岁。车祸4h后急诊来院。检查发现骨盆骨折、左股骨干骨折,患者面色苍白,出冷汗,血压10/6kPa,脉搏104次/分。首选的治疗措施是()
大量饮酒中毒主要造成哪个系统功能抑制?
所谓“耕地”是指种植农业作物的土地,包括下列的()。
税收管理体制的核心内容是()。(2001年)
∫cos3xdx=________.
软件复用是使用已有的软件产品(如设计、代码、文档等)来开发新的软件系统的过程。软件复用的形式大体可分为垂直式复用和水平式复用。垂直式复用是指(66)中的复用,水平式复用是指(67)中的复用。为了提高构件的复用率,通常要求构件具有较好的(68)。为了将不同软
SQL语句中,能够判断“订购日期”字段是否为空值的表达式是
最新回复
(
0
)