Here's a new warning from health experts: sitting is deadly. Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for long periods, even if you exercise regularly, could be bad for your health. And it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place--in the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV. Just the overall number of hours it takes matters. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die. While health officials have issued guidelines advising on the least amounts of physical activities, they haven't suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position. "After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," said Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. She explained that genes controlling the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down. Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day but still spend a lot of time sitting might get more benefits if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single hour. Still in a study that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, whether they exercised or not. Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to _ those effects. People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits," Ekblom-Bak said. "And when they're in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible." In the opinion of Ekblom-Bak, when at work, you'd better have a rest by _ . A) taking a walk around your office B) chatting online or playing computer games C) sending your friends emails D) listening to music while sitting
A
"Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television?" How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn't been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the "one-eyed monster" into our homes, we never found it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilised pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, entertain our friends and be entertained by them, go outside for our amusements. We even used to read books and listen to music occasionally. Now all our free time is regulated by the "goggle box". We rush home for our meals to be in time for this or that programme. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do--anything, providing it doesn't interfere with the programme. The monster demands and obtains silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced. Whole generations are growing up addicted to the television. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The television is a universal thing that makes people calm. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on the set. It doesn't matter what the children will watch--so long as they are quiet. Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness. Television may be a splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains. In quiet, natural surroundings.we quickly discover how little we miss the King television. What's the main reason for parents to put the children before a television set? A) To save more time for housework. B) To help them sleep earlier. C) To keep them quiet. D) To help them learn more knowledge from television.
C
The ancient city is in Pingyao county, Shanxi Province. The city wall was first built during the Zhou Dynasty. Since 1997, it has been listed as a World Heritage Site. Now Pingyao city is the only one in China completely protected as it was hundreds of years ago. The perimeter of this square city is 6.4km long and the city wall is the earliest and largest city wall in China. It is 12 m high with width of 5 m. The wall was built with earth and covered with bricks. Outside the city wall there is a river, 4 m wide and 4 m deep. There are several gates of the city, two each on the east and west and one each on the south and north side. All the gates have two doors each. This has given the city the name "Turtle City" with the two gates on the south and north standing for the head and tail of the turtle and four gates on the east and west as the four legs. The doors on the south and north stand opposite each other, like the head of the turtle extending out and two wells just beyond southern gate are like a turtle's two eyes. Located on the trade route between Beijing and Xi'an, Pingyao developed into a merchant center where the local people set up the nation's earliest banks. These banks were the first in China to use checks. Several old courtyards have been turned into museums, most of which were homes and offices of Pingyao's old banks. One of the most unusual aspects of a visit here is realizing that this place was very important to China's financial history. What does the passage mainly talk about? A) The ancient city--Pingyao. B) China's ancient financial center--Pingyao. C) The city wall of Pingyao. D) The museums in Pingyao.
A