2008年12月大学英语六级考试真题(word版下载)

Part I writing (30 minutes)

注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and scanning) (15 minutes)

Supersize surprise

Ask anyone why there is an obesity epidemic and they will tell you that it’s al down to eating too much and burning too few calories. That explanation appeals to common sense and has dominated efforts to get to the root of the obesity epidemic and reverse it/ yet obesity researchers are increasingly dissatisfied with it. Many now believe that something else must have changed in our environment to precipitate(促成) such dramatic rises in obesity over the past 40 years or so. Nobody is saying that the “big two” – reduced physical activity and increased availability of food – are not important contributors to the epidemic, but they cannot explain it all.

Earlier this year a review paper by 20 obesity experts set out the 7 most plausible alternative explanations for the epidemic. Here they are.

1.    Not enough sleep

It is widely believed that sleep is for the brain, not the body. Could a shortage of shut-eye also be helping to make us fat?

Several large-scale studies suggest there may be a link. People who sleep less than 7 hours a night tend to have a higher body mass index than people who sleep more, according to data gathered by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Similarly, the US Nurses’ Health Study, which tracked 68,000 women for 16 years, found that those who slept an average of 5 hours a night gained more weight during the study period than women who slept 6 hours, who in turn gained more than whose who slept 7.

It’s well known that obesity impairs sleep, so perhaps people get fat first and sleep less afterwards. But the nurses’ study suggests that it can work in the other direction too: sleep loss may precipitate weight gain.

Although getting figures is difficult, it appears that we really are sleeping less. In 1960 people in the US slept an average of 8.5 hours per night. A 20xx poll by the National Sleep Foundation suggests that the average has fallen to under 7 hours, and the decline is mirrored by the increase in obesity.