The Best Way to Reduce Your Weight
You hear this:No wonder you are fat. All you ever do is eat. You feel sad:l skip my breakfast and supper. I run every morning and evening. What else can I do? Basically you can do nothing. Your genes, not your life habits, determine your weight and your body constantly tries to maintain it.
Albert Stunkard of the University of Pennsylvania found from experiments that, 80 percent of the children of two obese parents become obese,as compared with no more than 14 percent of the offspring of two parents of normal weight.
How can obese people become normal or even thin through dieting? Well,dieting can be effective, but the health costs are tremendous. Jules Hirsch, a research physician at Rockefeller University, did a study of eight fat people. They were given a liquid formula providing 600 calories a day.After more than 10 weeks,the subjects lost 45ka on average. But after leaving the hospital,they all regained weight. The results were surprising: by metabolic measurement, fat people who lost large amounts of weight seemed like they were starving. They had psychiatric problems. They dreamed of food or breaking their diet. They were anxious and depressed; some were suicidal. They hid food in their rooms. Researchers wam that it is possible that weight reduction doesnt result In normal weight,but in an abnormal state resembling that of starved non - obese people.
Thin people, however, suffer from the opposite: They have to make a great effort to gain weight. Ethan Sims, of the University of Vermont, got prisoners to volunteer to gain weight. In four to six months,they ate as much as they could. They succeeded in increasing their weight by 20 t0 25 percent. But months after the study ended they were back to normal weight and stayed there.
This did not mean that people are completely without hope in controlling their weight. It means that those who tend to be fat will have to constantly battle their genetic inheritance if they want to significantly lower their weight. The findings also provide evidence for something scientists thought was true - each person has a comfortable weight range. The range might be as much as 9kg. Someone might weigh 60-69kg without too much effort. But going above or below the natural weight range is difficult. The body resists by feeling hungry or full and changing the metabolism to pusb the weight back to the range it seeks.
36. The first paragraph tells us that our weight is determinede by __________.
A. Our eating habit
B. Our life style
C. Our work habit
D. Our genes
37. In Jules Hirschs study, the subjects __________.
A. showed no health problem
B. gained weight rapidly
C. were all very short
D. lived only on liquid food
38. After leaving the hospital, the eight fat people __________.
A. attempted suicide
B. were back to normal weight
C. went mad
D. followed the advice of Hirschs
39. In Ethan Sims study, the subjects were asked to__________.
A. stay in prison
B. eat as much as they could
C. battle their genetic inheritance
D. lower their weight
40. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Each person wants to eat to his hearts content.
B. Each. person has a weight range of 9kg.
C. Each person has a natural weight range.
D. Each person wants to control his weight.
参考答案：
36.D [解析]第一段的后面一句话提到Your genes，not your life habits，determine your weight由此可知是你的基因而非生活习惯决定你的体重。
37.D[解析]第三段中说到研究人员给参加实验的八位胖子每天提供只含600卡路里的流质食物。
38.B [解析]通过第三段But after leaving the hospital，they all regained weight.可以看出他们的体重最终又恢复到原来的状态，所以选B。
39.B [解析]文章第四段讲研究人员如何让瘦人增加体重。Ethan Sims从犯人中招募志愿者，让他们增加体重的办法就是让他们吃尽可能多的食物。
40.C [解析]文章最后一段，科学家们的发现证明了他们认为是正确的想法，即each person has a comfortable weight range，这个幅度可能是9公斤，但并非每个人都是同样的幅度，所以可以否定干扰项B。
参考译文
减肥的最佳途径
看你，就知道吃，难怪你这么胖。当你听到这样的话时，你会感到万分沮丧，心想：我不吃早餐也不吃晚饭，而且早晚跑步。我还能怎么办呢?对此，你基本上无能为力。因为是你的基因而不是你的生活习惯决定了你的体重，而且你的身体其实一直在努力维持着某个体重。
宾夕法尼亚大学的Albert Stunkard从实验中发现并指出：如果父母肥胖，那他们的孩子有80%也将肥胖，相比之下，如果父母的体重正常，他们的子女体重超标的可能性不超过14%。
那么，肥胖者如何才能通过节食使体重恢复正常甚至变瘦呢?自然，节食是有效的，但是，为此付出的健康代价却是巨大的。洛克菲勒大学的医学研究员 Jules Hirsch曾经做过一项针对8名肥胖者的实验。给予他们一种流食配方，每天给他们提供600卡的能量。十多周后，被调查对象平均减重45公斤。但是在他们离开医院以后，他们的体重又回升了。实验结果令人吃惊：通过干预身体的新陈代谢，减重的肥胖者过着挨饿一般的生活。他们的精神状态不佳，梦想着食物或打破这种饮食规定。他们精神紧张、压抑，有些人甚至有自杀倾向。他们在自己房间里收藏食物。研究人员警告说，体重的减轻有可能不会带来正常的体重，它的结果有可能类似于一个正常体重者挨饿之后的非正常身体状况。
体重过轻的人则遭受着相反的痛苦：他们得努力增加体重。Vermont大学的 Ethan Sims曾经在犯人中选取志愿者做增加体重的实验。在4到6个月里，他们吃下尽可能多的食物。结果，他们的体重都增加了20%到25%。但是实验结束数月之后，他们的体重又回到了正常水平，并且基本保持稳定。
这并不意味着人们对控制体重毫无办法。如果那些天生肥胖的人想减肥，那么他们将要不懈地与自己的基因做斗争。同时，这些实验结果为科学家认可的某个真理提供了佐证--每个人都有一个适合的体重范围，这个范围大概是9公斤。有些人可能在顺其自然的条件下就保持60到69公斤的体重，但是减轻或者增加体重却是比较困难的。身体会通过饥饿或者饱胀的感觉，并通过调节新陈代谢促使体重回到那个范围。