America has become a shelter for fast food consumption because______.A．some women are engaged in entertainmentsB．few women are able to make meals at homeC．women are unwilling to cook for their familiesD．many women are mostly occupied with work

Drunken driving has become a major problem in America because ______.

What has become more serious and urgent in China than elsewhere in East Asia?

When did the family car become common in America?In the early ____.

An end user reports that their computer is not performing as fast as it used to and it shuts down unexpectedly. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?（）

Practice 1　　When it comes to food, America is not just the fattest country on earth but probably the most schizophrenic as well—home to the Big Mac and Weight Watchers, the super model and the couch potato.　　The love-hate relationship with food was examined in the aired documentary “Fat”, and if there is any comfort for the more than 90 million overweight Americans it’s that the rest of the world is also getting fatter.　　“There is an enormous pressure on people to be thin and to be physically fit but at the same time there is a tremendous pressure and inducement to eat,” Dr. Kelly Brownell, professor of psychology at Yale University and a participant in the program, said in an interview.　　“You’ll see a Baskin Robbins next to Weight Watchers. You’ll see a Family Circle magazine with a delicious chocolate on the cover beside a diet article,” said Brownell. “At the same time as we have record levels of obesity, we have record levels of eating disorders6 too,” he said.　　The desire to eat fatty food came from a primitive survival instinct to store enough energy in good times to ensure survival when food was scarce. But in a modem urban society, where fast food chains appear on almost every block, the instinct to eat fat has begun to work against us.　　The documentary claims that nowhere is the exposure to junk food more prevalent than in the United States, where the problem has been compounded by the increasingly sedentary modem lifestyle.　　It also says that members of Arizona’s Pima Indian tribe are the fattest people in the fattest country on earth. Until recently the tribe lived a simple life, but in 1984 when the tribe won a gaming license it joined the American mainstream. Today the tribe is plagued by obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.　　Just 800 kms south in Mexico, another branch of the Pima tribe continues to live a traditional life and eats a traditional diet. These Pimas have none of the problems of their American counterparts, who are on average 27 kgs heavier.　　Part of the problem, according to Brownell, is the intense advertising of junk food in the United States. The average American child sees thousands of TV commercials each year, most of which advertise fast food, candy and soda.　　The food environment has become so “toxic” according to the documentary, that some US　schools even offer fast food such as McDonald’s and Burger King in school cafeterias.　　But junk food is also proliferating overseas, resulting in increasing rates of obesity in such　countries as China, where fast food restaurants have recently taken hold.　　Compounding the new-found availability of junk food is the changing opinion on what is the ideal body. These days thin are king.

◆Topic 12：Fast Food　　Questions for reference:　　1) Fast food is a good reflection of the quick-paced modern society. What role does fast food play in China?　　2) Why is fast food so popular? What are the demerits of fast food?　　3) What attitude should we have towards fast food?

We eat at the fast food restaurants more because it is quick than because we really need the food.____

Practice 7　　In recent years intellectual property has received a lot more attention because ideas and innovations have become the most important resource, replacing land, energy and raw materials. As much as three-quarters of the value of publicly traded companies in America comes from intangible assets, up from around 40% in the early 1980s. “The economic product of the United States”, says Alan Greenspan, the chairman of America’s Federal Reserve, has become “predominantly conceptual”. Intellectual property forms part of those conceptual assets.　　In information technology and telecoms in particular, the role of intellectual property has changed radically. What used to be the preserve of corporate lawyers and engineers in R&D labs has been speedily embraced by the boardroom. “Intellectual-asset management” now figures as a strategic business issue. In America alone, technology licensing revenue accounts for an estimated $45 billion annually; worldwide, the figure is around $100 billion and growing fast.　　Technology firms are seeking more patents, expanding their scope, licensing more, litigating more and overhauling their business models around intellectual property. Yet paradoxically, as some companies batten down the hatches, other firms have found ways of making money by opening up their treasure-chest of innovation and sharing it with others. The rise of open-source software is just one example. And a new breed of companies has appeared on the periphery of today’s tech firms, acting as intellectual-property intermediaries and creating a market for ideas.