2010 January’s Issue
Couch potatoes, beware! You may die sooner!
Australian Researchers followed the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults aged 25 or older from 1999 to 2006 and found that each hour spent in front of the TV daily increased the risk of dying earlier from cardiovascular disease.
“Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for cardiovascular disease related to death,” the researchers said in a statement.
Researcher David Dunstan said the study focused in particular on television watching but the findings suggest that any prolonged sedentary behaviour, such as sitting at a desk or in front of a computer, may pose a health risk.
“The human body was designed to move, not sit for extended periods of time. Technological and economic changes mean that people don't move their muscles as much as they did before. As a result, the levels of energy expenditure as people go about their lives continue to shrink,” said Dunstan.
Even if a non-smoker with a healthy body, normal blood pressure and cholesterol, sitting for long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on their blood sugar and blood fats.
"In addition to doing regular exercise, avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to ‘move more, more often’. Too much sitting is bad for health." Dunstan reminded us.
Adapted from the article “Watching hours of TV daily could shorten your life” by Belinda Goldsmith,
published in Reuters on 11 January, 2010
Vocabulary
|
Word |
Part of Speech |
Meaning |
|
couch potato |
n |
a person who spends a lot of time sitting and watching television (電視迷) |
|
risk |
n. |
the possibility of something bad happening at some time in the future (危險) |
|
cardiovascular |
adj. |
relating to the heart and blood vessels (血管的) |
|
disease |
n. |
an illness which affects people, animals or plants (疾病) |
|
prolonged |
adj. |
continuing for a long time (持久的) |
|
sedentary |
adj. |
requiring much sitting(久坐的) |
|
pose |
v. |
to create a threat or a problem(引起威脅) |
|
shrink |
v. |
to become smaller(收縮 / 縮小) |
|
cholesterol |
n. |
a substance
found in blood, fat and most tissues of the body |
|
in addition to |
prep. |
as well as, besides(除…外，還…) |
Questions for
F.1 – F.3
Questions for F.4 – F.5
Questions for F.6 – F.7
Answer Key
(F.1 – F.3)
|
a |
couch potato |
f |
cholesterol |
|
b |
Cardiovascular |
g |
risk |
|
c |
prolonged |
h |
disease |
|
d |
sedentary |
i |
poses |
|
e |
In addition to |
j |
shrinks/shrunk |
(F.4 – F.5)
|
1 |
B |
2 |
D |
3 |
C |
4 |
A |
|
a |
couch potato |
d |
technology |
|
b |
four / 4 |
e |
economy |
|
c |
eighty / 80 |
f |
sit |
Answers (d) and (e) can be swapped.
Lai Chack Middle School
Winners of Monthly News Review Competition
(2010 January’s Issue)
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The Best Participation Class Award: 1C (100%), 2C (100%), 4E (95%) |
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Individual Prize winners: |
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Form 1-3: |
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2B (39) 3B(24) 3B (21) 1A (15) 1A(30) |
梁文鋒 陳燦斌 陳冠傑 彭倩盈 潘錦安
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LEUNG MAN FUNG CHEN CANBIN CHAN KWUN KIT PANG SIN YING POON KAM ON
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Form 4-5: |
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4A(9) 4A(31) |
麥嘉欣 劉偉康
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MAK KA YAN LOU WAI HONG
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Form 6-7: |
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6A(3) 6A(12) 6B(1) 6B(2) 6B(4)
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關鵲雯 楊鵑如 區惠儀 朱少娟 何清香
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KWAN TSEUK MAN YEUNG KUEN YU AU WAI YEE CHU SIU KUEN HO CHING HEUNG
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