No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess（公爵夫人）of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is deemed as such a virtue.
The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have fantasies of slipping into narrow designer clothes. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the better—or worse—part of my life. Being rich wouldn't be bad either, but that won't happen unless an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land, leaving me millions of dollars.
Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not repellent? All religions have certain days when people refrain from eating, and excessive eating is one of Christianity's seven deadly sins. However, until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being.
Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is that being fat—or even only somewhat overweight—is bad because it implies a lack of moral strength.
Our obsession（迷戀）with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that, in many cases, being overweight correlates with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problem—too much fat and a lack of fiber—than a weight problem.
The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who get (or already are) thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be pure vainglory（虛榮）.
1.In the eyes of the author, an odd phenomenon nowadays is that______.
A.religious people are not necessarily virtuous
B.looking slim is a symbol of having a large fortune
C.being thin is viewed as a much desired quality
D.the Duchess of Windsor is regarded as a woman of virtue
2.Swept by the prevailing trend, the author______.
A.had to wear highly fashionable clothes
B.had to seek help from rich distant relatives
C.had to go on a diet for the greater part of her life
D.could still prevent herself from going off the track
3.In human history, people's views on body weight_______.
A.changed from time to time B.led to different moral standards
C.varied between the poor and the rich D.were closely related to their religious beliefs
4.The author criticizes women's obsession with thinness_______.
A.from a historical and religious standpoint B.from sociological and medical points of view
C.from an economic and educational perspective D.in the light of moral principles
5.What's the author's advice to women who are absorbed in the idea of thinness?
A.They should gain weight to look healthy.
B.They should be more watchful for fatal diseases.
C.They should be more concerned with their overall life-style.
D.They should rid themselves of fantasies about designer clothes.
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1.【答案】C。
【解析】推斷題。根據(jù)第一段最后一句（纖瘦被認為是一種美德），再加上前面的our times，可以知道這是現(xiàn)代社會的現(xiàn)象，所以選C。A項意為“宗教信徒不一定品德高尚”。文章中根本就沒有提到這一點，更談不上對此表示奇怪。文章只是說所有的宗教都有幾天要求戒齋，基督教更是將暴飲暴食視為罪惡。B項錯誤，因為文章只是說財富和纖瘦作為女人追求的目標，永遠都不會讓她們滿足，并沒有說苗條是財富的象征。D項錯，文章是說第一句話經常被認為是Duchchess of Windosor說的。有人可能會根據(jù)第三段最后一句話和第四段第一句話認為B是對的。
2.【答案】C。
【解析】細節(jié)題。由第二段第三句話可知，作者受這種趨勢的影響，也加入控制飲食以減肥的大軍中來，所以C正確。第二段第二句話說作者幻想能夠穿上窄小衣服，但這只是幻想而已，還沒有穿，而且narrow designer clother和highly fashionable clothes也不是一回事，所以A錯。第二段最后一句是B項的設計依據(jù)。作者參與到減肥中來，說明她并沒有脫俗，所以D錯。D項和C項意思相反。
3.【答案】A。
【解析】推斷題。第三段最后一句和第四段前兩句形成對比。前者的過去式表明那是過去的事，后者的時間狀語today和謂語時態(tài)表明現(xiàn)在的情況。B項因果顛倒，因為從文中可以看出，是道德準則的不同導致了對胖瘦的不同觀點，而非相反；C項明顯不對；D項有一定迷惑性，因為第三段最后一句有個religious?？忌靼?，形成對比的不是religious和非religious，而是過去和today，故A對D錯。
4.【答案】B。
【解析】推斷題。前半部分主要是從社會的角度來分析以瘦為美這種社會心理的實質，后面兩段都是從醫(yī)學角度來分析它的原因，所以選B。文章中根本就沒有談到過教育，C項顯然不對。A和D也較易被排除。
5.【答案】C。
【解析】細節(jié)題。最后一段倒數(shù)第二句說到那些認為瘦了就自然會健康，從而不注意他們的生活方式的人是非常危險的。這說明作者認為人們更應該關注自己的生活方式，所以選C。
