节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-12-07
难易度:High
关键字:statistic, staggering, treadmill, option, obese, endocrinologist
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
My name is Steve.
Well, you do know that sitting too much is bad for your health, don't you?
Doctors have been telling us for years that the coach potato lifestyle is
unhealthy,
and that sitting on an airplane during long flights is unhealthy and even
dangerous.
Well, what can be done?
After all, many of us are chained to our desks at work.
We sit in front of our computers for 8, 10, and sometimes 12 hours a day.
In other words, what choice do we have?
Well, today we learn we do have a choice.
Let's open our magazines and see what people are doing to get active and improve
their health with "Can Your Desk Help You Lose Weight?" on page 18.
(Music).
Can Your Desk Help You Lose Weight?
Sitting too much is bad for your health.
James Levine has reviewed the statistics:
One in three Minnesota adults is either diabetic or pre-diabetic, and one in
four is obese.
And he thinks he's found the underlying ailment: "the sitting disease.".
"Sitting is sort of the new smoking," the Mayo Clinic endocrinologist said on
the eve of an experiment designed to tackle so-called "lifestyle" diseases.
He and a team of researchers from Mayo and the University of Minnesota believe
that even modest increases in daily activity could help people lose weight and
improve their health,
and help control the nation's staggering health care bills.
(Music).
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
My name is Ryan.
Friends, you know here at Studio Classroom, we like to offer you a lot of tips,
especially when it comes to health.
That's right.
And today we ask kind of a strange question:
Can your desk help you lose weight?
Well, usually you're just sitting at a desk, so how in the world is that going
to help you lose weight?
Good question.
Well, we see here right in the beginning of the article that sitting too much is
bad for your health.
So this is true with school desks or work desks.
But really in this article, we're talking about work.
That's right.
Think about desk jobs.
If you have a job in an office, quite often you spend your time sitting, and
that's it!
You don't move around.
You don't get up.
And this can be very bad for your health.
So today we're looking at ways that working at an office, what you can do to
help yourself stay healthy.
Yes. We want to see if you can be at a desk and lose weight.
Now we start off seeing that James Levine has reviewed the statistics:
One in three Minnesota adults is either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
And one in four is obese.
OK. So first of all, let's look what a "statistic" is.
A "statistic" is a group of official facts from a certain area.
So here in our statistics, the area is then Minnesota adults.
And we're looking specifically at their weight and health - so diabetic or not
diabetic or obese.
OK. So these are adults in the state of Minnesota in America, and like Kaylah
said, they're either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
Now we might remember the word diabetic.
What does that mean?
Diabetic means that you have problems with your blood sugar.
It's hard to control.
Quite often it does end up relating to weight issues.
And sometimes if you are diabetic, you then gain weight as well.
It goes both directions.
And here we're looking at being diabetic or pre-diabetic, which means you could
end up with diabetes if you don't work quickly to be healthy.
Yeah, maybe soon.
And one in three of them is either diabetic, pre-diabetic or obese.
And "obese" simply means you are extremely fat.
That's right, extremely overweight.
Well, he thinks it's... he's found the underlying ailment.
And an ailment is a sickness.
And underlying here would then mean it's the... main reason.
Exactly. And this is called the sitting disease.
Now we have some more information on this sentence, so let's visit Liz in
Grammar on the Go.
Hi there, friends.
How are you doing today?
My name is Liz.
And it's time for Grammar on the Go.
Our HEALTH article today is on how sitting too much is bad for your health.
And here's our Grammar Tip sentence:
And he thinks he's found the underlying ailment...
Our focus today is on the word "underlying." Usually the word underlying means
lying under something.
But in the case of today's sentence, "underlying" means basic or important.
In other words, today's sentence just means he thinks he has found that basic
problem that is causing all of the other problems.
So if you're in a formal situation where you need to describe how something is
so important and is the cause of other things, consider using underlying.
For example:
Doctors could not determine the underlying cause of Andrew's medical condition.
Or: Although lawmakers gave several reasons for their new proposal, the
underlying issue was never mentioned.
If you have a copy of this month's Studio Classroom magazine with you, be sure
to check out today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
That's it for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Well, he goes on to say sitting is sort of the new smoking.
The Mayo Clinic endocrinologist said on the eve of an experiment designed to
tackle so-called "lifestyle" diseases.
That's a lot of information.
Let's go back to the beginning of that sentence and decide, Ryan, what does it
mean to be kind of like the new smoking?
Well, if you say something is the new something else, then you're saying it's
similar to it.
Smoking was something that is very bad for people's health, but everyone did it.
Well, he says that now sitting is kind of like that.
OK. Well, he would know because he's an endocrinologist.
That's a very fancy word.
That's a scientific word.
An "endocrinologist" is someone who is an expert in the study of diseases,
usually having to do with your hormones or your physical chemistry,
kind of the way your body works, the different pieces that go together to make
you who you are.
So he studies these diseases and counts the sitting disease one of them.
Exactly. It's not really a real disease, but he calls it a disease.
And he said this on the eve of an experiment that they were trying to get rid of
these "lifestyle" type diseases, not really real diseases.
But he did say this on the eve of that.
Now the eve of something means the night before it happens.
For example, you know Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas.
Right.
So the study was about to get started.
And these are "lifestyle" diseases, which means the way you are living your life
is causing you to have a sickness.
Right, OK. So he said this right before those experiments happened.
Now he and a team of researchers from Mayo and the University of Minnesota
believe that even modest increases in daily activity could help people lose
weight and improve their health.
Now the Mayo Clinic is famous for being one of the top medical clinics in the...
in the United States.
So they're studying this.
They're trying to prove that if you get more active, your health can be better.
And the word "modest" here means just a little bit, just enough.
So just a few small increases can improve your health.
And can control the nation's staggering health care bills.
Now if something is "staggering," what does that mean?
That means it's very shocking, very surprising.
So health care bills means the nation of the United States is paying a lot of
money for health care.
That's right.
And they will be staggering; they're... oh, they're so big.
But if we work towards having a healthier lifestyle and controlling our bodies,
then it wouldn't cost us much.
We're going to talk more about what sitting can do for you after we visit the
Chat Room.
(Music).
Hey, Bryan.
Bryan!
Oh. Sorry, Ken.
I didn't hear you.
You've really got your nose buried in that magazine.
What are you reading?
I'm kind of embarrassed to tell you, actually.
Oh, come on.
It looks like you're reading a fashion magazine.
I am; but the article is called 40 is the new 30, and 30 is the new 20.
What you're talking about?
It's a catchphrase, Ken.
If 40 is the new 30, then that means a lot of 40-year-olds look and act like
they're still in their 30s,
and a lot of 30-year-olds look and act like they're still in their 20s.
I see.
Well, I do know that a lot of people try to look a lot younger than they are.
Precisely.
So this article is giving tips on how to look and feel ten years younger.
So Bryan, is that catchphrase similar to the phrase something is the new black?
I was reading the other day that brown is the new black.
The article was talking about business suits.
Oh, yes. I do know that black was very popular in the past.
So brown business suits are now fashionable?
Apparently.
Hmm, interesting.
Well, I thought of another way to use this phrase, Ken.
Have you seen those new cell phones that are really small?
Yes. They fit right in your pocket.
Exactly.
So with cell phones, we can say that small is the new big.
Small phones are all the rage.
Oh, I get it.
Well, I don't think you need to read that article.
I think you look young enough as it is.
Thanks for the compliment, Ken.