Программа прикладного курса
«ЭКОЛОГИЯ И ЗДОРОВЬЕ»
по английскому языку
для 10 класса
Кружнова Е.С. учитель английского языка
средней школы № 30
Содержание курса по выбору «Экология и здоровье» предусматривает овладение учащимися методами и способами познавательной деятельности направленной на изучение экологических проблем и здоровья человека при его взаимодействии с окружающей средой.
Курс предназначен для 10-11 классов, которые собираются выбрать профессии врача, медицинской сестры, биолога, эколога или химика.
Курс состоит из теоретических и практических занятий, которые проводятся в виде семинарских занятий и диспутов. Большое значение уделяется самостоятельной и творческой работе учащихся.
Учащиеся пользуются словарями, справочными и дополнительными материалами.
Результатом работы является создание проектов, написание сочинений и рефератов.
Контроль знаний осуществляется с помощью тестов. Обязательными является проведение контроля говорения, аудирования и чтения.
Цель обучения:
- формирование у учащихся целостного взгляда на мир, определения в нем места человека.
Задача обучения:
- воспитание правильного отношения к своему здоровью;
- формирование умений правильно организовать свою деятельность и поведение;
- воспитание экологической культуры мышления.
Основные умения и навыки, которыми должны овладеть учащиеся.
Учащиеся должны знать:
- лексические единицы по темам;
- грамматический материал;
- структуру предложений.
Учащиеся должны уметь:
- чтение и перевод текстов;
- умение выделять главную мысль, передавать содержание текста;
- умение вести беседу, опираясь на раннее изученный материал;
- составлять диалоги, писать сочинения и рефераты.
Раздел I. Экология (12 часов).
Темы:
1. Экология сегодня.
2. Парниковый эффект.
3. Что может сделать правительство, чтобы помочь охране окружающей среды?
4. Кислотные дожди.
5. Катастрофа Аральского моря.
6. Окружающая среда и здоровье.
Учащиеся должны знать:
- влияние деятельности человека на экосистему;
- роль экологических знаний;
- научные основы рационального природоиспользования и охраны природы;
- правила поведения на природе.
Учащиеся должны уметь:
- прогнозировать воздействие человека на природу;
- жить в согласии с природой;
- сохранять окружающую среду от вредного воздействия человека;
Раздел II. Вредные привычки (8 часов).
Темы:
1. Наркотические вещества.
2. Курение.
3. Курение и раковые заболевания.
4. СПИД.
Учащиеся должны знать:
- влияние наркотических веществ на организм человека;
- о вреде курения и заболевания, которые связаны с курением;
- о синдроме иммунодефицита человека.
Учащиеся должны уметь:
- прогнозировать последствия вредных привычек на здоровье человека;
- сохранять свое здоровье
Раздел III. Здоровый образ жизни (14 часов).
Темы:
1. Здоровье.
2. Как сохранить здоровье.
3. Здоровая еда и диеты.
4. Быть или не быть вегетарианцем.
5. Оптимисты живут дольше.
6. Лондонский марафон.
7. Стресс в нашей жизни.
Учащиеся должны знать:
- факторы способствующие сохранению и укреплению здоровья человека.
Учащиеся должны уметь:
- объяснять значение здорового образа жизни для нормального функционирования организма;
- вести здоровый образ жизни.
Unit I. Ecology
|
Unit |
Theme |
Lessоn |
|
Ecology |
The Environment Today THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT What can governments do to help the environment nowadays? DIFFICULT PROBLEMS ACID RAIN THE ARAL SEA CATASTROPHE ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS: Project work |
2 1
1 1 1 2 2 2 |
|
Bad Habits |
Say "NO" to Drugs! SMOKING AND CANCER The views of people against smoking in public Living with HIV Project work |
1 3 1 2 1 |
|
Healthy life style |
KEEPING FIT WHAT IS MY OPINION OF KEEPING FIT? Health FITNESS & HEALTH When dieting becomes dying Food and Diet Britney's advice to girls: A Fast Way to Detox? TO BE OR NOT TO BE A VEGETARIAN OPTIMISTS LIVE LONGER The London Marathon Stress in Our Lives Project work |
2
2
1 2 1
2 2
2 |
Unit I.
Ecology
(A) 1. Read the text and choose the best answer to the questions below.
We tend to imagine that ancient people were "environmentally friendly" and lived in harmony with nature. Some people (such as the American Indians) did indeed respect and protect their environment. But there are many examples of ancient peoples who destroyed the land they inhabited. In doing this, some of them destroyed their own livelihood.
The great city of Ur was destroyed by floods after its people had cut down the trees on the banks of the river Euphrates to use as fuel for their fires. Although the Bible says that the cause of floods was the anger of God, the real cause of the flood was probably environmental damage caused by man.
The dodo was a large bird, rather like a turkey, that lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. When the first man arrived in Mauritius in the early 16th century, they found that the dodos were very tame. The settlers killed the dodos partly for food and partly for sport. By 1680, less than 200 years after the first man settled on Mauritius, the last dodo was dead. Only the expression "as dead as a dodo" lives on in the English language.
The greenhouse effect is very important; if it didn't exist at all, the temperature of our planet would be 40 degrees lower and the oceans would freeze. But an increase in the greenhouse effect may equally lead to global warming with disastrous consequences.
The higher average temperatures produced by global warming could cause dramatic changes in weather patterns. Less rain might fall over large land masses; Central Africa, South Asia and some parts of the United States could risk severe drought and famine. More rain might fall in coastal areas and over the oceans, and there might be more storms and hurricanes in the Pacific. A rise in the earth's average temperature of only one or two degrees would probably melt the polar ice caps and raise sea levels. Sea levels throughout the world are already rising by about two millimetres a year. If the polar ice caps do melt, sea levels could rise by more than a meter over a few decades.
The state of the environment today is connected with humankind's efforts to make their lives more comfortable and more satisfying. Technological, social and economic changes (sometimes called "progress") can have a devastating effect on the environment. That's why governments should pass laws to change policies on agriculture, energy, transportation and trade. Unfortunately, I believe they fail to do this in many ways.
Firstly, although it is often said that each town should feed its population from the surrounding countryside and should rely as much as possible on local industry, a lot of trucks carry food from one end of the country to another. A high proportion of all traffic pollution today is caused by these long-haul trucks.
Trees and flowers in public parks make a town more pleasant and also help to counteract the greenhouse effect. Local authorities should carefully plan their towns and find the right balance between industrial and residential areas, building new roads but preserving surrounding countryside. They should utilize the science of town planning.
Finally they should encourage alternative forms of public transportation. They should build extensive networks of bicycle paths, which make cycling a safe and enjoyable form of transportation.
In conclusion, I think that governments and local authorities should invest in new technologies and industries that won't badly damage the environment.
devastate опустошать, разорять
Many people are against cruelty to animals in sport, such as bullfighting and fox-hunting. Some people think that it is also cruel to use animals for scientific research. I don't think so. My mum works in a medical laboratory. They create new medicines and then test them on animals. Mum says it's necessary. Some animal research leads directly to the development of important new medicines that save hundreds of lives. To kill animals for sport or to sacrifice them for life-saving research in medicine is not the same thing.
Acid rain occurs when pollutants in the atmosphere, such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) react together. Polluted air can also contain gases which do direct damage or which react with other substances.
SOME OF THE MOST STRIKING EFFECTS OF ACID RAIN ARE:
Water becomes acid and the concentration of toxic materials in rivers and lakes increases. Fish are poisoned and killed. Birds and animals which eat fish have no food, and-this makes them leave their natural areas. Acid groundwater removes vital minerals essential for plant growth. Toxic substances become concentrated in land animals.
People are directly affected by local pollution and by. acid drinking water. Air pollution causes direct damage to forests. Trees weakened by acid rain could easily be damaged by strong winds, disease, and cold weather.
Buildings, statues and monuments are damaged due to gases and acid rain.
The Aral Sea. which was formerly the world's fourth largest lake, is situated between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Aral Sea is of great interest and increasing concern to scientists because of the process of remarkable shallowing of its area in the second half of the 20th century. This change is due primarily to taking waters for purposes of irrigation from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, which are the sea's main sources of inflowing water.
The Aral Sea area is characterized by a desert-continental climate of wide-ranging air temperatures, cold winters, hot summers, and rare rainfall. The sea's average water temperature for July is 23u-25" degrees above zero C", and ice forms in November and December, when the temperature is 7" degrees below zero C°. The most significant factors affecting the water balance of the Aral Sea are river flow and evaporation, which formerly took out each year about the same quantity of water that the rivers brought in. Climate may quite considerably influence the long-term variation in the sea's water level. In 1960 the surface of the Aral Sea lay 53 m above sea level and covered an area of 68,000 square km. The Aral Sea was called «Sea of Islands», as there were more than 1.000 islands of a size of one hectare or more across its waters.
From about I960 the Aral Sea's water level was systematically reduced because of taking water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for purposes of agricultural irrigation. As die large areas of pastures or virgin lands in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan were changed into irrigated farmlands by using the waters of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the quantity of water from these rivers that reached the Aral Sea dropped accordingly. By the 1980s, during the summer months, die two great rivers actually dried up before they reached the lake. The .Aral Sea began to dry quickly because of the evaporation of its irreplaceable waters. By the late 1980s, the lake had lost more than half the volume of its water and had only a little more than half its former depth. The salt and mineral content of the lake rose greatly making die water unfit for drinking purposes and killing oft" the once-plentiful stock of fish in the lake. The fishing industry along the Aral Sea was thus completely destroyed. The ports of Aral were now many miles from the lake's shore. A partial depopulation of the areas along the lake's former shoreline followed. The drying up of the lake led to health problems as people in the region breathed toxic dust mixed with fertilizer remainders. The drying up of the Aral Sea also made the local climate sharper, with more extreme winter and summer temperatures. By 1989 die Aral Sea was formed of two separate parts, the «Greater Sea» in the south and the «Smaller Sea» in the north, each of which was three times as salty as the sea was in die 1950s. By 1992 the total area of the two parts of the Aral Sea had been reduced to approximately 33,800 square km. and the surface level had dropped by about 15 m. However, plans were made to use less water-intensive agricultural practices in the regions south and east of the lake, thus freeing more of the waters of the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya to flow into the lake and to stabilize its water level. In 1994 Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan established a joint committee to coordinate efforts to save the Aral Sea and solve the health problems of people living in its area.
На последующих этапах применяются такие виды и формы работы с текстом, как а) простой пересказ, b) «пресс-конференция», с привлечением дополнительного материала (когда «пресса» задаёт вопросы, а «экологи» отвечают на них).
There is no need mentioning that drug addiction is one of the most dreadful illnesses in our country. Our government takes measures to solve this problem: it punishes pushers and makes drug addicts get treatment; it discusses new methods of fighting it (for example, the legalization of drugs). On the evening news you often hear how a plan for seizing a big shipment of drugs was perfectly carried out by the police. But the results are sad, as usual. According to experts, 3-5 million Russian people have tried illegal drugs. Every year (during the last 11 years) this number has increased by 66 thousand people (source: ITAR TASS). Moreover, RiaNews says the real number is 7-8 times larger than officially reported. Drug trafficking is a business of great profits. When money is being spoken of, nothing is of importance, not even human lives.
During recent years self-help programs have been organized. Groups of Alcoholic Anonymous, drug addicts and their relatives have spread throughout the whole country. The patients get psychological support and medical help. There are also many good private clinics, where well-paid doctors will do everything in their power to save a patient. But even if the relatives of a drug addict have a lot of money, it doesn't mean that they will be able to save him. The road of drug addiction is the road to nowhere. There is no alternative end result. And there is one single method of fighting it. It is abstention.
Seventy percent of drug addicts are people under 25 years. Most of them began to take drugs at the ages of 14-16. That is why it's necessary to instil the ideas of healthy living and disdain for drags among young people. They must know everything about the dangers which are waiting for them. The organisers of the IKEA exhibition for pupils, which travelled to different Russian cities, probably had this goal. Remember how you walk there and look at comfortably decorated rooms. But in this case these rooms have inhabitants - mannequins. For example, a man who sits on a chair with his arms covered with needle pricks. The guide explains: this drag addict died of an overdose. I think that this exhibition gave an indelible impression to teenagers. But it often turned out that they had already been an eye-witness of such monstrous pictures in real life. My own memory holds many tragic stories. A girl went to the same school where I went. She wasn't moved to the 11th form; she died in her bath from an overdose. When there was a party in the school (we celebrated the end of our study in the school), a boy from the parallel form felt very badly. He takes drags. My friend lost his best friend about a year ago - he committed suicide, because he couldn't fight against his dependence on drags. On the wall he wrote with his own blood: "Forgive me". (This doesn't mean, that I am surrounded with shady people.) Unfortunately, these occurrences are spreading.
Every man has a choice.
Make the right one.
Read the text
Americans smoke six thousand million cigarettes every year (1970 figures). This is roughly the equivalent of 4,195 cigarettes a year for every person in the country 18 years or older. It is estimated that 51 % of American men smoke compared with 34% of American women.
Since 1939, numerous scientific studies have been conducted to determine whether smoking is a health hazard. The trend of the evidence has been consistent and indicates that there is a serious health risk. Research teams have conducted studies that show beyond all reasonable doubt that tobacco smoking, particularly cigarette smoking is associated with a shortened life expectancy.
Cigarette smoking is believed by most research workers to be an important factor in the development of cancer of the lungs and throat and is believed to be related to cancer of the bladder and the oral cavity. Male cigarette smokers have a higher death rate from heart disease than non-smoking males. (Female smokers are thought to be less affected because they do not breathe in the smoke so deeply.) The majority of physicians and researchers consider these relationships proved to their satisfaction and say, "Give up smoking, If you don't smoke - don't start!"
Some competent physicians and research workers - though their small number is dwindling even further- are less sure of the effect of cigarette smoking on health. They consider the increase in respiratory deceases and various forms of cancer may possibly be explained by other factors in the complex human environment - atmospheric pollution, increased nervous stress, chemical substances in processed food, or chemical pesticides that are now being used by farmers in vast quantities to destroy insects and small animals. Smokers who develop cancer or lung diseases, they say, may also, by coincidence, live in industrial areas, or eat more canned food. Gradually, however, research is isolating all other possible factors and proving them to be statistically irrelevant. Apart from statistics, it might be helpful to look at what smoking tobacco actually does to the human body. Smoke is a mixture of gases, vaporized chemicals, minute particles of ash, and other solids. There is also nicotine, which is a powerful poison, and black tar. As the smoke is breathed in, all these components form deposits on the membranes of the lungs and cancer begins at this point.
Smoking also affects the heart and blood vessels. It is known to be related to Burger’s disease, a narrowing of the small veins in the hands and feet that can cause great pain and lead even to amputation of limbs. Smokers also die much more often from heart disease.
While all tobacco smoking affects life expectancy and health, cigarette smoking appears to have a much greater effect than cigar or pipe smoking. However, nicotine consumption is not diminished by the latter forms, and current research indicates a causal relationship between all forms of smoking and cancer of the mouth and throat. Filters and low tar tobacco are claimed to make smoking to some extent safer, but they can only marginally reduce, not eliminate the hazards.
Mrs. Sharon Smoker of Bordon, Hampshire: "Yes, I think a ban should be introduced over here. I gave up smoking more than seven years ago and passive smoking worries me. If someone lit up, I would tell them to put it out."
Mr. John Cloud of Littlehampton: "I always choose non-smoking areas when I dine in restaurants and would politely ask a smoker to stop if they were in the same section. "I've had a leg amputated because I used to smoke and if I hadn't stopped smoking at once after the operation, I'd have lost the other one as well. I'm nearly 89 now and smoked for 40 years. Although I knew of the cancer risks, I didn't realise that the smoke also corrodes veins and blocks arteries.'
Mrs. Iris Hedges of Wimbledon, south London: "I definitely think Britain should bring in a ban; I object to being a "passive smoker" and to my children being subjected to other people's smoke. I would say something to a smoker in a restaurant, especialy if my children were with me; they're aged seven and twelve and are very anti-smoking."
Mr. Simon Butt of Taunto: "I'm afraid I am a smoker, but I believe in principle Britain should introduce a similar ban to the French - although it's not the sort of thing one can really legislate for. I would say something to anyone smoking in a nonsmoking area of a restaurant, and have done so already several times. It's perfectly O.K. for me to pollute the atmosphere, I just don't like other people doing it.
Mrs. Gillian Ash of Durham: "I'm not worried enough by smokers to have any views on a ban. If someone lit up next to me, I probably wouldn't say anything, either."
Mrs. Mary Fagg of Nottingham: "There's already a self-imposed ban in most pubs and restaurants now, and people do have the choice. As long as no one blows smoke in my face, I'm fine about it. If someone lit up at a table next to me, I don't think I'd have to say anything, my look would be enough."
Mr. John Benson of Kilburn, north London: "I don't think Britain should introduce a ban since restaurants are public places and I think people should be able to do what they want in a public place. If someone lit up at a table next to me, I'd leave them alone, "because I'm also a smoker."
By the year 2000, there will be 10,000 children under the age of 15 in the UK who have a parent who is HIV-positive or has AIDS. Some of these children will be told about their parent's illness. Others won't be told until after their mother or father has died. Which way is better? Should these kids know the truth or is it better for them to be happy in their innocence?
JOHN'S STORY
John is 14 years old. He doesn't go on school trips, play football or even see his friends very much apart from when he is in school. His teachers think he is lazy because he never does his homework. The truth is very different; John spends most of his time cleaning the house, shopping, looking after his sister and giving his mother medicine. His mother is HIV-positive and he is the only person who looks after her. He knows she's ill but he doesn't know why. She won't ask for anybody's help because she doesn't want to tell them what's wrong with her. John's mother will probably die before someone tells him the whole story. Then, he will have to cope with the sadness of his mother's death and the news of what was wrong with her.
Social workers believe this will be terrible for John. He won't have been prepared for the schock that the news that a parent has died of AIDS can bring. If John's mother told him what was wrong with her now, John could get support and help from other people. It will also mean that John will never have had the chance to talk to his mother about AIDS.
DANIEL`S STORY
Daniel's mother told him what was wrong with her when Daniel was 12. She wanted to tell him because it was obvious that she wasn't well. She was worried that he suspected that she was hiding something from her. He freaked when she told him and was angry with her for getting ill. This can be a common reaction. After she had told him, she wished she hadn't. He didn't seem able to cope. However, she is pleased she did tell him. He is always worried that she won't tell him when her illness becomes more severe. He wants her to tell him everything. He worries about her all the time but he hasn't told anyone at his school. He says he would be bullied if anyone found out. Many people think that this is a good reason not to tell their children. Keeping something secret when it is making them unhappy can be extremely difficult for adults. For children this stress can be unbearable. They either become very introverted or they tell their secret to someone and then wish they hadn't. It has also been shown that many teenagers whose parents are HIV - positive, decide- to give up trying to be successes. They are more likely to drink or lake drugs as a way to escape reality.
Text
Sometimes children must be told because they need to be tested them-selves However, in many cases, this is not necessary. Many parents decide not to tell their children they - are HIV-positive because they want them to have carefree childhoods. At least teenage children can defend them-selves and be taught about the virus at school. Young children, however, can't understand why their parents are ill. They are often ignored at school because other kids' parents have told them to stay away from the kid whose parent has AIDS. HIV-positive parents don't want their children to feel different and isolated so they don't tell anyone. Another reason is that with HIV, there is a good possibility that a parent will live a very long time without developing AIDS.
Many parents in the USA want their families to eat healthy and nutritious food nowadays. Fatty foods are dangerous not only for adults but for children as well. It is advisable to have your cholesterol count checked regularly. Research shows that cutting down on cheese, butter and ice-cream in your diet will help lower your cholesterol level 50 points and only this will decrease your the risk of developing heart problems later on.
Research also shows that children are heavier today than they used to be some 20-30 years ago, and that the rate of obesity in young children has increased t by nearly 60%. More and more parents are troubled by what their children eat, and introducing bring into their family diets more fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. They avoid paying regular visits to fast-food restaurants, because McDonald's and the like serve mostly unhealthy, fatty, high cholesterol food. People believe that low-fat diets and lots of exercise will help grow a healthy generation.
But what exercises are best? For example, jogging: to jog or not to jog? That is the question. On the one hand, everyone should think about a healthy way of life. But on the other hand - getting up early on weekends? Never! And what about swimming? What real pleasure is there in the pool? Warming up before swimming helps you feel great. After a week's sitting in front of a computer and at your desk, your limbs are crying out for a bit of exercise. And the music they use in the gymnasium is quite good - energetic and rhythmic. Just 15 minutes of aerobics and 30 minutes of swimming work wonders. They are very refreshing. After that you feel fine and are ready for next week's marathon of work! Instead of swimming or jogging you may go on a cycling tour. This kind of sport also does people a lot of good; and the morning air smell fresh.
Text 2
I don't really understand the obsession that people feel about keeping fit these days. There's nothing wrong with being healthy, but with some people it's almost a religion. Nothing would make me go jogging. No, thank you. I’d rather sit and have a cup of tea or coffee while the joggers are out in the streets. The idea of going out into the cold morning air to breathe in petrol fumes doesn't appeal to me at all. I get my exercise by walking to the bus stop on my way to work.
And what about the food people eat? I know a man who eats natural foods and takes a lot of vitamins, but I've never seen anybody who looks as bad as he does. I like good food. I think most health food is tasteless. There's nothing wrong in having a bar of chocolate or a big meal of meat and potatoes. Lots of people I know do Yoga. I'm not really sure what it's all about. I can't see any point in sitting on the floor with your feet behind your ears. It looks very uncomfortable to me. I'm sure sitting in an armchair, watching television or reading a book is as healthy. So, as you see, I'm not in favour of keeping fit. I don't jog or do any sports. I don't eat health food; but I'm happy the way 1 am.
Here are interviewee with four students in London about their health and their attitudes to it.
I don't smoke, and I never will; I'm sure of that. I'm not paranoid about drink; I have a glass of wine now and then, but I'm not very keen on it. I've never been actually drunk. I get bad headaches sometimes, if I'm very tired or stressed. Then I take paracetamol and have a rest, and that normally does the trick.
Kate Nolan, 15
I started smoking but I managed to give up after about one year. It's all a matter of will-power. You can do absolutely anything if you want to. That's what I believe. I can't understand drug addicts; they are wasting their lives, and they could stop so easily if they really wanted to. It's the same thing with diet. If you know certain foods are bad for you, or make you fat, just don't eat them.
Traditional Chinese medicine can help with psychological things as well as physical problems. Some people have stopped smoking after being treated with acupuncture.
Rita Leung, 19
I smoke about twenty a day. I know it's bad for me but I tried to give up a couple of times and it just failed miserably. I find that I don't really have the will-power.
I play football, American football and volleyball. I find I have more energy since I've been playing. But it's not always good for your health — at the moment two cracked ribs from playing American football!
I broke all the bones in my left arm. I had three operations and a year of physiotherapy. My arm will never be the same again. But I'm right-handed, so it doesn't really have an effect on studies and things like that. AIDS scares me a lot. I've known two people who have died of it. They thought they'd be OK. They didn't realise the risk, and they just ended up dying. It's really quite emotional time, realising someone is going to die, just because they weren't careful.
Ciaran Mitchell, 18
I get colds quite often. Mainly, I just carry on as normal with a cold. But if it gets too bad, I go to the doctor, and see what he gives me — cough medicine and antibiotics, mainly.
I was bitten by a dog once. I was at my ex-boyfriend's house, and we went out to the park. I was on the swings, and the dog doesn't like swings. So it decided to take a chunk out of my leg! I didn't go to the hospital. I went to the doctor, and he gave me an injection. It wasn't too bad, but I won't forget it!
I don't smoke, but I do drink — occasionally. The main health problem I worry about is AIDS.
Mayssa Daye, 17
THE FITNESS REVOLUTION
For millions of people around the world, regular exercise is now part of their daily lives. Some jog, cycle or swim, while others prefer to work-out in gyms, do aerobics or play team sports. They're ^art of the worldwide fitness revolution which has taken place over the last twenty years. The question is, why has the revolution happened? Well, there are several major factors.
a) Fit people live longer, healthier lives than unfit people — especially unfit people who also smoke, drink or take drugs. People now accept that taking regular exercise is a great way to become and stay healthy.
b) In today's world there's enormous pressure on both men and women to look as young and attractive as possible. It's also another reason for the fitness boom. Fit people not only feel good — they look good, too.
c) More sport appears on our TV screens today than ever before.
Work-out videos have made it easier to exercise at home.
Dozens of new magazines devoted to sport and fitness have been published in recent years.
Girls are becoming more and more obsessed with their weight. A survey by the Society For Eating Disorders shows that this problem is getting worse. One girl in twenty-five is likely to suffer from some type of anorexia.
Studies have shown that girls as young as nine years old are choosing their friends according to how thin they are. This has left slightly chubbier girls without friends. Before they are even teenagers, girls without the 'perfect body' often feel lonely and depressed. They try extremely dramatic diets and even try to starve themselves. The people who suffer from anorexia often hide it because they know that many people will just think they are stupid, won't understand or will try to persuade them to stop dieting.
Model role-models
Renay, who is now 18 says her problem started when she was 14. She says, 'I decided to go on a diet because my best friend was much thinner than me. She was also very popular. I thought if I lost weight, people would like me more and I would have more confidence.' Renay's diet worked. She lost weight and people told her she looked good so she lost even more weight. She didn't want to stop until she was happy with her body. She was used to missing meals and saying she had eaten when she hadn't. She had seen very skinny fashion models in magazines like Vogue and she wanted to be like them. She became obsessed, started hating her body and starving herself until she became seriously ill.
Thin excuses
Fashion magazines deny that they are being irresponsible. Vogue's editor said girls got anorexia because they suffered from a low opinion of themselves. He blamed their friends and family for not supporting them enough. It might be true that in some cases, severe dieting is a cry for attention or help but seeing thin models doesn't help.
Watch company Omega decided that they did not want to advertise in a magazine that promoted anorexia so they told Vogue they would not use them anymore. Since then, Vogue has used one model who was not built like a matchstick and Omega have started advertising in Vogue again. Is one girl enough? Will Vogue start using more people who are 'normal weight for their height'? Fat chance!
Not thin enough
Many modelling agencies have told girls who are already very under weight to lose a lot more weight. Lucy had anorexia when she was 15. She weighed just 41 kilograms and was waiting to go into hospital to be treated for her anorexia when two agencies told her she was the right weight to model. She says, 'It was ridiculous. I looked like a ghost or a famine victim, my skin was terrible and my eyes had sunk into my face.'
Discussing fitness and sports problems we shouldn't forget about another important aspect of our healthy way of living - that is, the food we eat. Obesity rates in teens, according to experts, are doubling. That's why it's absolutely necessary to have a balanced diet. Pupils read and discuss a lot of additional texts and unanimously come to the conclusion that they need vitamins to stay healthy. Children learn that such products as Coke, chips, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizzas, and ice-creams don't contain any vitamins. On the other hand, fruit and vegetables are full of them. They also learn that each vitamin is responsible for different things in the human body. Besides, there are about 10 major vitamins, which are usually named by a letter of the alphabet.
Children agree that they should eat healthy food containing vitamins and proteins. They make up their own so-called "balanced hamburgers" and diets. They also state their opinion on skipping breakfast as a weight-losing method. On the other hand pupils stress they shouldn't starve themselves trying to be slim. With great interest do they read and speak on the text "Perfectionist" taken from the magazine "Speak Out".
TEXT 2
I'm a perfectionist. I wanted the perfect body - a skinny one. I began comparing myself to the beautiful thin women's bodies I'd seen on TV or in beauty magazines. I felt I wasn't thin enough. I was thirteen when I became really depressed about it. I began starving myself and making myself sick whenever I felt full. It got to the point where if I didn't bring my food back up again I started having stomach ache and would actually bring up my food only to get rid of the pain. I started hearing voices in my head. One voice would tell me not to do anything stupid, that I was fine the way I was. Other voices told me to keep doing what I was doing, that I was fat and I was ugly. My boyfriend broke up with me. He couldn't deal with me being so crazy about my weight. I convinced myself it was because I wasn't good enough. I got so depressed that I decided that I was either going to have to stop living or do something about my problem. So I started eating a little healthier and also read this book called Food Combining for Health. I joined a gym for exercise. It makes me feel better about myself and keeps me toned. That was 18 months ago. It's taken all this time to get over my old way of thinking and to come to peace with my body. Now I look back at photos and see that I wasn't fat at all! My advice to all you girls and maybe boys reading this is: NEVER compare yourself to other people, it only makes you bitter. EVERYONE is different! Everyone has different body shapes and in a way we are lucky to be unique no matter what we look like. Before you do anything to yourself think about what effect it will have on you physically and psychologically. If you're unhappy with your body then don't change physically, change mentally. Whenever you have a negative thought, make yourself think a positive thought. And when you get down in the dumps at night, don't do anything drastic - just go to sleep and wake up to a new day. Don't abuse your body because it's you who suffers the consequences in the end! Staying healthy is the best way.
I want to go on a juice fast to eliminate all toxins from my body. Is fasting safe - and does it work?
It is possible to fast safely, but doing so won't cleanse your body or eliminate "toxins" - a trendy term that really doesn't mean much. If you're healthy, your kidneys and liver dispose of most waste products you're likely to ingest. Certain toxins - pesticides and hormones fed to chickens and cows to make them grow faster or produce more milk - may be stored in the liver, fat and muscle tissue. But fasting doesn't fix that. Fasting isn't a good weight-loss methods, either. The average person who fasts to slim down will lose muscle as well as fat. Why? Your body reads the absence of food as a signal of starvation and goes into survival mode: For the first 24 hours of a fast, it will draw energy from sugar stored in the liver; after that, muscle and fatty tissue will start to break down. If you feel you must fast, drink at least eight glasses of liquids daily. To avoid the starvation effect, choose fruit and vegetable juices that provide at least 600 to 800 calories a day. And if you're really worried about toxins, instead of abstaining from food altogether, pay closer attention to what you do eat. Try to consume more fruits and vegetables, and buy organic meant and produce whenever possible to limit your intake of artificial hormones and pesticides.
Read the text
A strict vegetarian is a person who never in his life eats anything derived from animals. The main objection to vegetarianism on a long-term basis is the difficulty of getting enough protein - the body-building element in food. If you have ever been without meat or other animal foods for some days or weeks (say, for religious reasons) you will have noticed that you tend to get physically rather weak. You are glad when the fast is over and you get your reward of a succulent meat meal.
Proteins are built up from approximately twenty food elements called 'amino-acids', which are found more abundantly in animal protein than in vegetable protein. This means you have to eat a great deal more vegetable than animal food in order to get enough of these amino-acids. A great deal of the vegetable food goes to waste in this process and from the physiological point of view there is not much to be said in favour of life-long vegetarianism.
The economic side of the question, though, must be considered. Vegetable food is much cheaper than animal food. However, since only a small proportion of the vegetable protein is useful for body-building purposes, a consistent vegetarian, if he is to gain the necessary 70 grams-of protein a day, has to consume a greater bulk of food than his digestive organs can comfortably deal with. In fairness, though, it must be pointed out that vegetarians claim they need far less than 70 grams of protein a day. Whether or not vegetarianism should be advocated for adults, it is definitely unsatisfactory for growing children, who need more protein than they can get from vegetable sources. A lacto-vegetarian diet, which includes milk and milk products such as cheese, can, however, be satisfactory as long as enough milk and milk products are consumed.
Meat and cheese ate the best sources of usable animal protein and next come milk, fish and eggs.
Slow and careful cooking of meat makes it more digestible and assists in the breaking down of the protein content by the body. When cooking vegetables, however, the vitamins, and in particular the water-soluble vitamin C, should not be lost through overcooking.
With fruit, vitamin loss is negligible, because the cooking water is normally eaten along with the fruit, and acids in the fruit help to hold in the vitamin C.
Most nutrition experts today would recommend a balanced diet containing elements of all foods, largely * because of our need for sufficient vitamins. Vitamins were first called 'accessory food factors' since it was discovered, in 1906, that most foods contain, besides carbohydrates, fats, minerals and water, these other substances necessary for health. The most common deficiencies in Western diets today are those of vitamins. The answer is variety in food. A well-balanced diet having sufficient amounts of milk, fruit, vegetables, eggs, and meat, fish or fowl (i.e. any good protein source) usually provides adequate minimum daily requirements of all the vitamins.
* The London Marathon makes more money for charity than any other sporting event in the world. In 1998 £15.7 million was collected.
* Two men were inspired to start the London Marathon after running in the 1979 New York race. One of them says about the New York marathon, "I thought I was running well at eight miles (twelve kilometres) when I was passed by a waiter carrying a tray with three glasses of water on it."
* Lots of people run in costumes. In 1999 there were five trees, two 8 foot (2.5 metres) pirates, a centipede, a camel, Lord Nelson, belly dancers, the Queen and a man sitting on a toilet. In 1991 a man celebrating his birthday ran with a cake on his head.
* During die marathon the 30,000 runners will lose about 120,000 litres of sweat — enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.
* At the first London Marathon in 1981 an American runner and a Norwegian runner crossed the finishing line holding hands for equal first place.
* The world marathon record is 2 hours 6 minutes 5 seconds held by Ronaldo da Costa of Brazil.
* Everyone who finishes the marathon gets a medal.
* The race finishes at Buckingham Palace.