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　　PALOALTO, California--Turning off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter, even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount of their exercise.”US researchers said last week.

　　A study of 192 third and fourth graders, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds, or 0.91 kilogram less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.

　　“The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of the reducing of watching TV and not any other activity,”said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician (儿科专家)at Stanford University.

　　“American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos and playing video games, and rates of childhood being fat have doubled over the past 20 years,”Robinson said.

　　In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.

　　Children watching fewer hours of television showed a smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet nor took part in any extra exercise.

　　“One explanation for the weight loss could be the children unattracted to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories.”said Robinson.

　　“Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals than in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more,”Robinson said.

1．In the first two paragraphs the writer tells us that ________.

[　　]

A．children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV

B．children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV

C．children will get fatter if they eat too much

D．children will get thinner only if they take extra exercises

2．According to the passage, the time American children usually spend watching TV ________.

[　　]

A．is more than four hours a day

B．is more than on any other activities

C．is less than four hours a day

D．doubled in the last twenty years

3．It is suggested that the time children spend watching every day should be about ________.

[　　]

4．Why can watching TV increase kids' weight according to the passage?

[　　]

A．They usually burn off fewer calories though they eat less.

B．They usually eat more when they are watching television.

C．They change their diet while watching TV.

D．They have been moving around.

 Though ________ in San Francisco, Dave Mitchell had always preferred to record the plain facts of small-town life.

A．raised

B．grown

C．developed

D．cultivated

 

PALO AITO, California—“Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter—even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise,” US researchers said last week.

A study of 192 third and fourth grades, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds(0.91 kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.

“The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television viewing and not any other activity,” said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician(儿科专家) at Stanford University.

“American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos or playing games, and rates of childhood being very fat have doubled over the past 20 years,” Robinson said.

In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.

Children watching fewer hours of television showed a significantly smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continue their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet nor took part in any extra exercise.

“One explanation for the weight loss could be the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around and burning off calories,” Robinson said.

“Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more,” Robinson added.

The purpose of the first two paragraphs is ______.

A. to report the time children spend watching TV

B. to show that more TV time leads to getting fatter

C. to tell us the best way to reduce weight

D. to introduce the background of the research

According to the passage, the time American children usually spend on watching TV ____.

A. is more than four hours a day       B. is less than four hours a day

C. doubled in the last twenty years      D. is more than on any other activities

The time the 100 children spend on TV every day is about _______ in the study.

A. a quarter of an hour  B. four hours         C. three hours        D. one hour

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage ?

A. Weight increase owes to the result of a reduction in TV viewing.

B. The percentage of children getting fatter has doubled in the last 20 years.

C. Children usually eat less while watching TV.

D. Children usually eat nothing while watching TV.

The main idea of the passage would be ______.

A. less TV time helps reduce children’s weight

B. fewer meals is a must in reducing children’s weight

C. the less you eat, the thinner you will be

D. more exercise is of great benefit to reduce weight

Monty Roberts, owner of a horse ranch (牧场) in San Ysidro, once told us a story. “When a young man was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to __ 36__  and do when he grew up. In his seven-page paper he described his __37__ of someday owning a horse ranch. He drew a __ 38__ floor plan（平面图）for a 4,000-square-foot house that would __ 39__ on a 200-acre dream ranch. Two days later he received his__40__back. On the front page was a __41__red F. The teacher said, “This is an __42__dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. ” Then the teacher__43 __, “If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your __44__.” The boy asked his father what he should do. His father said, “Look, son, you have to make up your own__45__on this. However, I think it is a very__46__decision for you.” __47__, after a week, the boy__48__the same paper, making no__49__at all. He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my __50__.”

Monty then turned to us and said, “I tell you this story__51__you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed (装框) over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the __52__is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. When the teacher was leaving, he said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was __53__of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. __54__you had enough determination not to give up on yours.”

      Don’t let anyone__55__ your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

 A. be                 B. find            C. learn               D. see

A. reason              B. goal            C. purpose            D. way

A. rough               B. new            C. secret              D. detailed

A. live                B. locate           C. sit                 D. run

A. mark               B. paper           C. plan               D. idea

A. large               B. tiny             C. beautiful            D. long

A. old                 B. imaginative      C. impractical          D. interesting

A. shouted             B. smiled           C. replied             D. added

A. grade               B. need            C. honesty            D. ability

A. time               B. energy           C. mind              D. money

A. urgent              B. quick            C. important         D. good

 A. Actually            B. Finally           C. Gradually         D. Usually

A. turned down         B. turned around      C. turned to          D. turned in

 A. comments           B. changes          C. judgment          D. answer

A. dream              B. courage           C. interest           D. spirit

A. though              B. because          C. until             D. if

A. incident             B. event            C. story             D. lesson

A. anything             B. nothing          C. everything        D. something

 A. Fortunately          B. Strangely         C. Curiously        D. Probably

A. forget               B. steal             C. know            D. realize

 

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Experts debunk Maya doomsday（末日） predictions -- But that hasn't stopped books, movies from cashing in.

If the ancient Maya and filmmaker Roland Emmerich are correct, the apocalypse（大灾变） will happen very fast, maybe quicker than his new 2½-hour movie.

Predictions of global ruination are rippling around the globe with seismic（地震的） force, all loosely based on a 5,000-year Maya calendar that ends Dec. 21, 2012. Countless Web sites and blogs anticipate(预料) the end of days, as do various New Age groups and would-be prophets(预言者) offering guidance and how-to tips. On Amazon.com , you can read hundreds of book titles combining the year 2012 with terms such as “apocalypse,” “catastrophe” and “end of the world.”

As always, doomsday sells — and a lot of people are buying it.

“There's the psychobabble(心理呓语) aspect,” said Robert Epstein, former editor of Psychology Today magazine and a lecturer at the University of California San Diego. “It's the Sigmund Freud/death wish idea: People glom onto（对…感兴趣） doomsday predictions because there's some small part of them that wants to die, and die spectacularly（壮观的）. I don't believe it, but it's one way to look at this.”

It's Emmerich's way. The German director specializes in wreaking havoc on an epic scale, from climatic cataclysm in 2004's “The Day After Tomorrow” to angry aliens and reptiles in “Independence Day” and “Godzilla.”  In “2012,” he finishes the job.

The digitized disasters of “2012” are oversized, overwrought and sometimes literally over the top, as when a humongous tsunami washes over the Himalayan mountains, whose average height exceeds 20,000 feet. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, a 10.5-magnitude earthquake — a temblor at least 30 times more powerful than any real quake ever recorded — yanks the city apart like a giant zipper, sending chunks sliding into the Pacific Ocean.

That's not physically possible, of course. Nor is a 10.5-magnitude quake, said Thomas Rockwell, a geologist at San Diego State University. To generate that much energy, “you'd need a rupture that extends all around the planet.”

All of that other stuff “is pure Hollywood bunk,” said Bernard Jackson at the UCSD Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences.

Entertaining, though, unless you happen to believe the Maya really predicted the end of the world. They didn't, said Geoff Braswell, a UCSD anthropologist. The long-count calendar doesn't signal the end of anything except the end of that particular calendar. “It's just like a car odometer. Unfortunately, hardly anybody reads ancient Mayan. Modern media hype（骗局）, on the other hand, is almost inescapable.

Nicholas Christenfeld, a professor of psychology at UCSD, suggests a more elemental human need. Being swallowed by the Earth or incinerated in a giant fireball “fits neatly with the idea that people want to believe there's a plan, that existence isn't random and pointless,” Christenfeld said.

“We all missed creation, but if we can bear witness at the other end, be part of some grand cosmic destruction, that gives life meaning,” he said. 

It helps, too, not to think very hard about the facts, said Lou Manza, a professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. “These claims have been around forever, and they have all been false, 100 percent wrong,” Manza said.

Of course, prognosticators（预言者, 占卜者） usually have an explanation for that, Christenfeld said.

“They might say it was a misinterpretation,” he said. “They got the date wrong. They might claim humanity acted in time to prevent the destruction. Or faith came to the rescue because people believed something bad was going to happen, it didn't have to happen.”