obesity:causes and effects

Read the passage carefully then do the activities

In the United States, adult obesity rates have doubled, and teenage obesity rates have risen just as rapidly if not faster.  While medical treatments for obesity often focus on drugs and surgery, our epidemic of teenage obesity is not caused by a deficiency of diet pills or gastric bypasses. To truly solve the problem one must address the causes.

When any nation switches from a healthy unrefined diet to one of junk foods and fast foods, obesity rates increase dramatically, and continue to increase as the national diet worsens.  Why, does this happen?  Ultimately, weight management is about the classic equation of calories in, versus calories out.  When you start consuming processed foods, calorie intake goes up. 

This is because processed foods both lack fiber and tends to be higher in fat, both of which make them denser in calories.  They are also deficient in many nutrients, so the body continually craves the real nutrition it’s not getting.  The calorie out part of the equation also suffers, since with low nutrient levels, it’s difficult to have the energy to be active and burn calories. 

The only true solution to our rising obesity rates is to return to the unrefined whole foods we traditionally ate, before our diets shifted towards soft drinks and greasy fast food.  This qualitative approach, focusing on improving true nutrition rather than just counting calories, leads to both a healthier and trimmer outcome.  Without such fundamental change, using diet drugs or weight loss surgery would simply be masking the problem, not fixing it.

PART ONE ( 15PTS )

A.COMPREHENSION / INTERPRETATION                                                                                   ( 08pts )

1/- Choose the sentence (A, B, C) that best completes the statements below(refer to the text ) (1.5pts)

                        1/- to treat  obesity  doctors advise  their  patients to:

    a/ take  medicines  and  have  operations       b/ go on diets        c/   stop  eating  meat 

                       2/-people become fat because their food contains

     a/less calorie           b/ a lot of  calories        c/no calories  at all

                      3/-to cure obesity; surgery , drugs and  diets are  a

     a/ wrong  solution       b/ radical  solution       c/  temporary  solution

  

2/-Reorder the sentences according to their occurrence in the text. (1.5pts)

       a/ we gain weight because processed  food is rich of  fat and  poor in fiber

       b/ medicine  can’t  fight  obesity if it  doesn’t deal with its real  reasons 

       c/ natural food  is  the solution to  avoid  excess in weight generated  by  processed  food

   3/- In which paragraph is it mentioned that it is better  to consume good and natural  food  than to  worry about   the  nutritional richness of what we eat now ? (1pt)

 4/ Answer the following questions according to the text. (2.5 pts)

A-Is adult obesity in the USA worse now than it was before?

B- What are the drawbacks of processed foods?

C- What should people focus on to solve the problem of obesity?

5/-what  /who do the following  words  refer  to in the text? (1.5pts)

                        a/- the problem………….§1

                        b/- This is because ………………….  ..§2

                        c/- fixing  It  …………………………§3

            

B)- TEXT EXPLORATION                                                                                    (07 pts)

1/- Match words with their  synonyms. (2pts)

WORDS	SYNONYMS
1-      obesity 2-      energy 3-      nutrition       4-  diet	a-      power b-     fatness c-      watching weight d-      food

 2/ Fill in the table with the missing word category (1,5 pts)

Noun	verb	adjective
management …………… ……………	……………… To  increase …………………	…………….. ………………. consuming

 3/- Combine the following statements using the connectors (make any changes if necessary) (1pt)

  a/- adolescents  still gain weight / adolescents rely on surgery and drugs to fight  obesity(though )

  b/- processed food is not rich in nutrient /we  don’t have  enough energy to be active ( as a result )

   4/Ask questions that the underlined words answer . (1.5pts)

      a/- People must eat healthy food.

    b/- In the United States, adult obesity rates have doubled.

    5/ Classify the words according to the pronunciation of the final / s / (1pt)

                                   rates – bypasses – switches - drugs

/s/	/z/	/iz/

    

PART TWO : WRITTEN EXPRESSION                                                               (05 pts)

Choose only one of the following topics:

 Topic 1:

Either one :using these notes  write a composition about the  following topic 

Experts agree that obesity increases a person's risk of serious illness. What could be done to fight it ?

         Causes                                                                                   consequences

*heredity                                                                                * Psychological problems

   * lack of  sport  and  activity                                                * diabetes , high  blood  pressure

   * bad eating  habits                                                               * Negative self-image

   *consuming   sugary and salty food                                   * laziness and lack of initiatives

* watching tv /internet for long  hours                             * clothes

Or  two: Are  you for  or  against  GMFS  (genetically modified  foods). State  your  reasons and what alternatives  do you suggest ?