C: However, it is recognized that this definition is limited as it does not take into account such variables as age, gender and ethnic origin, the latter being important as different ethnic groups have very different fat distributions. Another shortcoming is that it is not applicable to certain very muscular people such as athletes and bodybuilders, who can also have artificially high BMIs. Agencies such as the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) in the USA and the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) are starting to define obesity in adults simply in terms of waist circumference.

　　Health Effects of Obesity

　　D: Over 2000 years ago, the Greek physician Hippocrates wrote that "persons who are naturally very fat are apt to die earlier than those who are slender". This observation remains very true today. Obesity has a major impact on a person's physical, social and emotional well-being. It increases the risk of developing diabetes mellitus type 2 ("mature onset diabetes") and also makes Type 2 diabetes more difficult to control. Thus weight loss improves the levels of blood glucose and blood fats, and reduces blood pressure. The association between obesity and coronary heart disease is also well-known.

　　Cancer

　　E: Furthermore, in 2001 medical researchers established a link between being overweight and certain forms of cancer, and estimated that nearly 10,000 Britons per year develop cancer as a result of being overweight. This figure was made up of 5,893 women and 3,220 men, with the strongest associations being with breast and colon cancers. However, it is thought that being overweight may also increase the risk of cancer in the reproductive organs for women and in the prostate gland for men.

　　F: The link between breast cancer and nutritional status is thought to be due to the steroid hormones oestrogen and progesterone, which are produced by the ovaries, and govern a woman's menstrual cycle. Researchers have found that the more a woman eats, or the more sedentary her lifestyle, the higher are the concentrations of progesterone. This link could explain why women from less affluent countries have lower rates of breast cancer. Women from less affluent nations tend to eat less food and to lead lifestyles which involve more daily movement. This lowers their progesterone level, resulting in lower predisposition to breast cancer.

　　G: The Times newspaper, in 2002 reported that obesity was the main avoidable cause of cancer among non-smokers in the Western world!

　　Aging

　　H: Research published by St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK in 2005 showed a correlation between body fat and aging, to the extent that being obese added 8.8 years to a woman's biological age. The effect was exacerbated by smoking, and a non-overweight woman who smokes 20 cigarettes a day for 20 years added 7.4 years to their biological age. The combination of being obese and a smoker added at least ten years to a woman’s biological age, and although the study only involved women, the lead researcher Professor Tim Spector believes the finding would also apply to men.

　　I: The aging effect was determined by measuring the length of telomeres, tiny "caps" on the ends of chromosomes, which help protect the DNA from the ageing process. Indeed, telomeres have been dubbed the "chromosomal clock" because, as an organism ages, they become progressively shorter, and can be used to determine the age of the organism. Beyond a certain point, the telomere becomes so short that it is no longer able to prevent the DNA of the chromosome from falling apart. It is believed that excess body fat, and the chemicals present in tobacco smoke release free radicals which trigger inflammation. Inflammation causes the production of white blood cells which increases the rate of erosion of telomeres.

　　Dementia

　　J: Recent research (2005) conducted in the USA shows that obesity in middle age is linked to an increased risk of dementia, with obese people in their 40s being 74% more likely to develop dementia compared to those of normal weight. For those who are merely overweight, the lifetime risk of dementia risk was 35% higher.

　　K: Scientists from the Aging Research Centre at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have been able to take information such as age, number of years in education, gender, body mass index, blood pressure level, physical activity and genetic factors, assigning each a risk score. They then used this information to devise a predictive test for dementia. This test will enable people at risk, for the first time, to be able to affect lifestyle changes which will reduce their risk of contracting dementia.

　　Other Problems

　　L: The world-wide upsurge in obesity, particularly in children, is of major economic concern, liable to drain economies. Of further concern is that research conducted in Australia and published in 2006, shows that up to one third of breech pregnancies were undetected by the traditional "palpation" examination, the danger being greatest for those women who are overweight or obese—a growing proportion of mothers. This means that such women are not getting the treatment required to turn the baby around in time for the birth, and in many cases require an emergency Caesarean section.

　　M: This is a true health-care crisis, far bigger than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and ultimately, even bigger than AIDS.

　　1. You can judge whether one is simply overweight or has passed into the obese stage according to the height-weight table.

　　2. Using the "Body Mass Index"to define a person's weight ideal is limited, because it does not takes into account many variables such as age, gender and ethnic origin.

　　3. A person's emotional well-being would be affected by obesity.

　　4. Obesity has something to do with cancer in the prostate gland for man.

　　5. Women from less affluent nations tend to have much less breast cancer.

　　6. A non-overweight woman who smokes 20 cigarettes a day for 20 years added 7.4 years to her biological age.

　　7. The excess body fat, like the chemicals present in tobacco smoke, can lead to inflammation.

　　8. Obese people in middle age run an increased risk of dementia .

　　9. The predictive test for dementia will help people to affect lifestyle changes that will reduce their risk of contracting dementia.

　　10. The world-wide upsurge in obesity, particularly in children, will possibly drain economies.

　　答案

　　1. A

　　2. C

　　3. D

　　4. E

　　5. F

　　6. H

　　7. I

　　8. J

　　9. K

　　10. L

　　How to Make Attractive and Effective PowerPoint Presentations

　　A) Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. This article outlines few tips on making more effective and attractive PowerPoint presentations.

　　The Text

　　B) Keep the wording clear and simple. Use active, visual language. Cut unnecessary words—a good rule of thumb is to cut paragraphs down to sentences, sentences into phrases, and phrases into key words.Limit the number of words and lines per slide. Try the Rule of Five-five words per line, five lines per slide. If too much text appears on one slide, use the AutoFit feature to split it between two slides. Click within the placeholder to display the AutoFit Options button (its symbol is two horizontal lines with arrows above and below), then click on the button and choose Split Text between Two Slides from the submenu.

　　C) Font size for titles should be at least 36 to 40, while the text body should not be smaller than 24.Use only two font styles per slide—one for the title and the other for the text. Choose two fonts that visually contrast with each other. Garamond Medium Condensed and Impact are good for titles, while Garamond or Tempus Sans can be used for the text body.

　　D) Embed the fonts in your presentation, if you are not sure whether the fonts used in the presentation are present in the computer that will be used for the presentation. To embed the fonts: (1) On the File menu, click Save As. (2) On the toolbar, click Tools, click Save Options, select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box, and then select Embed characters in use only.

　　E) Use colors sparingly; two to three at most. You may use one color for all the titles and another for the text body. Be consistent from slide to slide. Choose a font color that contrasts well with the background.

　　F) Capitalizing the first letter of each word is good for the title of slides and suggests a more formal situation than having just the first letter of the first word capitalized. In bullet point lines, capitalize the first word and no other words unless they normally appear capped. Upper and lower case lettering is more readable than all capital letters. Moreover, current styles indicate that using all capital letters means you are shouting. If you have text that is in the wrong case, select the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles.

　　G) Use bold or italic typeface for emphasis. Avoid underlining, it clutters up the presentation.Don’t center bulleted lists or text. It is confusing to read. Left align unless you have a good reason not to. Run “spell check” on your show when finished.

　　The Background

　　H) Keep the background consistent. Simple, light textured backgrounds work well. Complicated textures make the content hard to read. If you are planning to use many clips in your slides, select a white background. If the venue of your presentation is not adequately light-proof, select a dark-colored background and use any light color for text. Minimize the use of “bells and whistles” such as sound effects, “flying words” and multiple transitions. Don’t use red in any fonts or backgrounds. It is an emotionally overwhelming color that is difficult to see and read.

　　The Clips

　　I) Animations are best used subtly; too much flash and motion can distract and annoy viewers. Do not rely too heavily on those images that were originally loaded on your computer with the rest of Office. You can easily find appropriate clips on any topic through Google Images. While searching for images, do not use long search phrases as is usually done while searching the web-use specific words.

　　J) When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than two megabytes and are in a .jpg format. Larger files can slow down your show. Keep graphs, charts and diagrams simple, if possible. Use bar graphs and pie charts instead of tables of data. The audience can then immediately pick up the relationships.

　　The Presentation

　　K) If you want your presentation to directly open in the slide show view, save it as a slide show file using the following steps. Open the presentation you want to save as a slide show. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Save as type list, click PowerPoint Show. Your slide show file will be saved with a ppt file extension. When you double-click on this file, it will automatically start your presentation in slide show view. When you’re done, PowerPoint automatically closes and you return to the desktop. If you want to edit the slide show file, you can always open it from PowerPoint by clicking Open on the File menu.

　　L) Look at the audience, not at the slides, whenever possible. If using a laser pointer, don’t move it too fast. For example, if circling a number on the slide, do it slowly. Never point the laser at the audience. Black out the screen (use “B” on the keyboard) after the point has been made, to put the focus on you. Press the key again to continue your presentation.

　　M) You can use the shortcut command [Ctrl]P to access the Pen tool during a slide show. Click with your mouse and drag to use the Pen tool to draw during your slide show. To erase everything you’ve drawn, press the E key. To turn off the Pen tool, press [Esc] once.

　　Miscellaneous

　　N) Master Slide Set-Up: The “master slide” will allow you to make changes that are reflected on every slide in your presentation. You can change fonts, colors, backgrounds, headers, and footers at the “master slide” level. First, go to the “View” menu. Pull down the “Master” menu. Select the “slide master” menu. You may now make changes at this level that meet your presentation needs.

　　1. The ways in which academic and business presentations are made have been changed by Microsoft PowerPoint.

　　2. When making the PowerPoint, the wording of the text should not be complicated.

　　3. In each slide, the font styles for the title and the text should contrast with each other.

　　4. A more formal situation is capitalizing the first letter of the first word.

　　5. Centering bulleted lists or text can not help to read.

　　6. Sound effects should be used as less frequently as possible.

　　7. When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than two megabytes.

　　8. When making the presentation, you should look at the audience as possible as you can.

　　9. Pressing the E key can help you to erase everything you've drawn.

　　10. In order to meet your presentation needs, you can make changes at the “slide master”

　　level.1.A

　　A段講到了微軟的PowerPoint對學術及商業陳述形式的改變，可以直接定位到文章的首段。

　　2.B

　　根據題干中的信息詞wording of the text定位到第一個小標題下的第一段。

　　3.C

　　根據題干中的信息詞the font styles for the title and the text定位到C段。

　　4.F

　　根據題干中的信息詞more formal situation和capitalizing定位到第一個小標題下的F段。

　　5.G

　　根據題干中的信息詞Centering bulleted lists or text定位到第一個小標題下的G段。

　　6.H

　　根據題干中的信息詞Sound effects定位到第二個小標題下的H段，Minimize the use of “bells and whistles” such as sound effects。

　　7.J

　　根據題干中的信息詞importing和two megabytes定位到第三個小標題下的J段。

　　8.L

　　根據題干中的信息詞look at the audience定位到第四個小標題下的L段。

　　9.M

　　根據題干中的信息詞Pressing the E key定位到第四個小標題下的M段。

　　10.N

　　根據題干中的信息詞make changes at the “slide master” level定位到文章的最后一段可得答案。