Every year, millions of people make the same New Year’s resolution(决心): to lose weight. But there’s a problem that requires as much resolution to change as weight: the societal prejudice surrounding weight and obesity.
For decades, researchers have documented negative attitudes toward overweight people - a form of prejudice known as “weight bias (偏见).” People with obesity are commonly viewed as lazy, unintelligent, unattractive, and lacking willpower and self-control. Weight – based discrimination is found in educational, employment and health care settings, yet minimal legal protection exists for those who are targeted. In addition to experiencing weight bias from others, people with obesity tend to accept weight-biased beliefs, leading to lower self-worth.
Some people argue that bitter messages about weight are necessary to motivate those with obesity to take responsibility for their health and lose weight. After all, critics say, it’s their own fault that they are “fat,” and, if they really wanted to, they could control their weight. In this view, promoting body acceptance would only weaken behavior change and encourage obesity.
The problem with this argument is that it flies in the face of hundreds of scientific studies showing the negative health effects associated with experiencing and accepting weight-biased beliefs. The psychological effect of being undervalued due to one’s weight may not seem surprising: increased risk for depression, anxiety, and even self-harming thoughts and attempts in youth.
Also worth noting are the effects of weight bias on weight gain and obesity-related health. Studies show that weight bias is stressful, and when people are under stress, they tend to eat more. Further, when people worry about being judged due to their weight, they avoid fitness and health care setting.
In the coming year, whether or not weight loss is a goal, we can all make efforts to get rid of weight bias and be a little kinder to ourselves and others.
1.What do we know about obese people?
A.They are fond of making resolutions.
B.They are lacking in self-control.
C.They care little about others’ opinions.
D.They tend to undervalue themselves.
2.Why do some people support bitter messages about weight?
A.They can encourage obese people to lose weight.
B.They can improve self-worth in obese people.
C.They can promote body acceptance.
D.They can relieve depression.
3.What does the underlined part “flies in the face of” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.Confirms. B.Copies. C.Splits up. D.Goes against.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A.A healthy diet: good for your mind and body
B.New Year’s resolution: lose weight bias instead of weight
C.Control your weight by accepting the bitter messages readily
D.Eat your own way regardless of others’ thoughts
If you are a movie fan, here are the latest movies highly recommended by viewers and critics.
The Irishman (2019) Rate: 8.7/10 14,071
R | 3h 29min | Biography, Crime, Drama | 27 November 2019 (USA)
Legendary director Martin Scorsese spent a long time developing crime epic The Irishman; talk of the director reuniting with his old muse Robert De Niro for the project was happening as far back as 2010.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Charles Brandt (book), Steven Zaillian (screenplay)
Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci | See full cast & crew »
Frozen II (2019) Rate: 7.3/10 13,162
PG | 1h 43min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 22 November 2019 (China)
Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom.
Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Writers: Jennifer Lee (screenplay by), Jennifer Lee (story by) | 4 more credits »
Stars: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad | See full cast & crew »
Ford v Ferrari (2019) Rate: 8.3/10 35,096
PG-13 | 2h 32min | Action, Biography, Drama | 13 November 2019 (France)
American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford and challenge Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
Director: James Mangold
Writers: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth | 1 more credit »
Stars: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal | See full cast & crew »
Joker (2019) Rate: 8.8/10 488,619
R | 2h 2min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 4 October 2019 (USA)
In Gotham City, mentally troubled comedian Arthur Fleck is disregarded and mistreated by society. He then embarks on a downward spiral of revolution and bloody crime. This path brings him face-to-face with his alter-ego: the Joker.
Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver | 3 more credits »
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz | See full cast & crew »
1.Which of the movies lasts the shortest time?
A.The Irishman. B.Joker.
C.Frozen II. D.Ford v Ferrari.
2.According to the passage, the Irishman and Joker are similar in that _______.
A.they are both tragedies B.they are both about crime
C.they are produced in the USA D.they are released in the same month
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Frozen II has got the highest rating.
B.Arthur Fleck is ill-treated by some revolutionaries.
C.Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles are very determined.
D.Martin Scorsese wrote the stories for the movie himself.
假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序，用英语写一篇短文向校刊“英语园地”投稿，记述你班上周组织主题为“平安校园”法制教育系列活动的全过程。
注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：平安校园：Safe Campus
法律意识： legal awareness
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假设你是红星中学高三学生李华，你的美国朋友Jim对北京的历史文化感兴趣。你校暑假期间将为交换生组织“Knowing Beijing”游览活动，请你写信邀请Jim来参加。内容包括：
1时间安排；
2活动内容；
3邀请参加。
注意：1．词数不少于50；
2．开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jim,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
The World Water Day has been celebrated annually on 22 March since1992. Each year has a different theme, looking at things like the role of clean water in the world of work, ways to stop wasting water, finding ways to supply water to underprivileged groups and so on.
1.But it is also vital for sanitation(卫生). It is estimated that more than 700 children under the age of seven die every day from illnesses linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation. The right to water and sanitation was recognized as a human right. 2. These include rural communities, people who have been displaced due to war and local conflicts and areas where climate change is making water more and more scarcer.
Apart from the obvious health issues, a lack of accessible clean water means that people – often women and children – spend hours every day walking to and from distant water supplies. This means they don’t have time to dedicate to work, studies and other domestic duties. 3.And people who are not able to walk to get their own water are particularly vulnerable.
There are many charities working on creating sustainable supplies of clean water for different communities around the world. 4.But the fundamental problem of increasing demand for a limited resource can only be addressed by more efficient use of water, especially in industry and agriculture. Waste-water recycling, capturing rainwater, more efficient irrigation techniques and reforestation are all examples of how water can be used more efficiently.
5.We should support charities, raise awareness, take part in the World Water Day events that are happening all around the world and, of course, be careful with how we use water in our own lives. Visit the UN World Water Day website to find out about an event near us. Follow world water day on social media and help spread the word about this incredibly important issue.
A.Clean drinking water is fundamental.
B.As individuals, what can we do to help the issue?
C.The search for water becomes their main occupation.
D.This important work needs to continue and to expand.
E.Every living cell in the body needs water to keep functioning.
F.In normal conditions, the human body can only survive three or four days without water.
G.However, there are still at least 2.1 billion people around the world living without safe water.
AI can identify rare genetic disorders
People with genetic syndromes (基因遗传综合症) sometimes have revealing facial features, but using them to make a quick and cheap diagnosis can be tricky when there are hundreds of possible conditions they may have. A new neural(神经的) network that analyses photographs of faces can help doctors narrow down the possibilities.
Gurovich at biotechnology firm FDNA in Boston and his team built a neural network to look at the gestalt (形态)– or overall impression of faces and return a list of the 10 genetic syndromes a person is most likely to have.
They trained the neural network, called DeepGestalt, on 17,000 images correctly labeled to correspond to more than 200 genetic syndromes. The team then asked the AI to identify potential genetic disorders from a further 502 photographs of people with such conditions. It included the correct answer among its list of 10 responses 91 per cent of the time.
Gurovich and his team also tested the AI’s ability to distinguish between different genetic mutations (突变) that can lead to the same syndrome. They used images of people with Noonan syndrome, which can result from mutations in one of five genes. DeepGestalt accurately identified the genetic source of the physical appearance 64 per cent of the time.
“It’s clearly not perfect,” says Gurovich. “But it’s still much better than humans are at trying to do this.”
As the system makes its assessments, the facial regions that were most helpful in the determination are highlighted and made available for doctors to view. This helps them to understand the relationships between genetic make-up and physical appearance.
The fact that the diagnosis is based on a simple photograph raises questions of privacy. If faces can reveal details about genetics, then employers and insurance providers could, in principle, secretly use such techniques to discriminate against people with a high probability of having certain disorders.
However, Gurovich says the tool will only be available to doctors. Christoffer Nellaker at the University of Oxford says this technique could bring significant benefits for those with genetic syndromes.
“This is not fundamentally different information than we’re sharing walking down the street, or we’re happy to share with Facebook or Google,” he says. “But questioning the data in this way means you can obtain information about health or disease status.
“The real value here is that for some of these extreme rare diseases, the process of diagnosis can be many, many years. This kind of technology can help narrow down the search space and then be confirmed through checking genetic markers,” he says.
For some diseases, this kind of technology will cut down the time to diagnose thoroughly. For others, it could perhaps add a means of finding other people with the disease and, in turn, help find new treatments or cures.
1.What is the purpose of Gurovich’s neural network?
A.To test the AI’s ability.
B.To analyze photographs of faces.
C.To help doctors reduce the range of the diagnosis.
D.To research the overall impression of patients’ faces.
2.What disadvantage does Deep Gestalt bring?
A.It will probably involve in the people’s privacy.
B.It cannot provide information about health or disease.
C.The diagnosis based on a simple photograph is not accurate.
D.It could perhaps add a means of finding other people with the disease.
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.The result of the assessments for this system is perfect.
B.Deep Gestalt can correctly label 200 genetic syndromes.
C.It seems doubtful to use AI to distinguish genetic mutations.
D.This kind of technology can speed up the diagnostic process.
4.What is the author’s attitude to this technique?
A.Supportive. B.Puzzled.
C.Doubtful. D.Negative.
