【小阅读^大脑袋】0225 NO.328

The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place

Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.

On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the harm that comes from using them.
D A B
答案详解：
这三道题考查正好是文章所说的“节食减肥产品”对我们早上的危害。文中说的危害有三点，如下：
1、 让我们减肥不关注健康饮食，而只关注体重。
2、 给我们一个误区：减肥很轻松，无需努力。
3、 吃节食减肥产品会阻止我们的身体汲取基本的营养成分，对身体有伤害。

 

1. One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to _____.
A. try out a variety of diet foods
B. hesitate before they enjoy diet foods
C. pay attention to their own eating habits
D. watch their weight rather than their diet
选D。节食减肥产品对我们带来的心理影响之一是：让人们倾向于？
见第1点：减肥不关注健康饮食，而只关注体重。

2. In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ______.
A. losing weight is effortless
B. it costs a lot to lose weight
C. diet products bring no pain
D. diet products are free from calories
选A。第三段中所说这句话可能的意思是？
见第2点：减肥很轻松，无需努力。

3. Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.
A. are over-consumed
B. lack basic nutrients
C. are short of chemicals
D. provide too much energy
选B。节食减肥产品间接伤害人们的身体，因为这样的产品？
见第3点：吃节食减肥产品会阻止我们的身体汲取基本的营养成分，对身体有伤害。

全文翻译：
节食减肥——危险地带

无糖可乐，无糖雪碧，减肥药丸，零脂肪节食餐，素食……无论我们看到什么，听到什么，我们都被“节食减肥”这个词包围。我们如此轻易地被节食减肥产品的承诺和潜力所吸引，以至于我们没有想过节食减肥产品对于我们有没有影响。我们正在花钱买那些对我们身心都有伤害的产品。

节食减肥产品在心理上削弱我们。从一个层面上说，我们不允许自己的大脑接受这样的事实：我们的体重问题并不只要减去重量就可以，还应该控制高脂肪、高卡路里以及不健康食品的摄入。节食减肥产品让我们跳过这个思想层面，直接去称重。我们要做的就是认清食物标签上的“节食减肥”字样，然后大快朵颐。

从另外一个层面上看，节食减肥产品还有更大的心理影响。每次我们在喝零卡路里饮料的时候，我们下意识告诉自己我们不需要努力就能减肥成功。节食减肥产品让人们认为不播种就能收获，生活也可以无需抵抗和奋斗。

节食减肥产品对我们的危害性不仅是心理上的，还是生理上的。节食减肥食物会间接伤害我们的身体，因为吃这些产品而不吃健康食品意味着我们阻止自己的身体汲取基础营养成分。节食减肥食品和减肥药丸没有卡路里，仅仅是因为节食工业已经研制出了一种产生如此神效的化学品。节食减肥产品也许没营养，而且它里面的化学成分有可能是危险的。

既然我们已经知道了节食减肥产品对我们的影响，我们就应该认真想想是不是应该买它们。减肥在于心志的力量，不在于化学的力量。只要我们意识到这一点，我们就将更好地抵制这些节食减肥产品，从而阻止因使用它们而造成的伤害。

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词汇短语：
fatty 油腻的;多脂肪的
calorie 卡路里, 卡(热量单位)
scale 天平, 磅秤
resistance 抵抗，抵抗力
nutrient (食品或化学品)营养素；营养物, 营养品
nutrition 营养
nutritional 有营养的
chemical 化学药品
potentially 潜在地;可能地
resist 抵抗; 对抗