Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
Looking for a new weight loss plan? Try living on top of a mountain. Mountain air contains less oxygen than air at lower altitudes, so breathing it causes the heart to beat faster and the body to burn more energy. A handful of studies have found that athletes training at high altitudes tend to lose weight. Doctor Florian Lippl of the University Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich wondered how the mountain air would affect overweight individuals if they weren't doing any more physical activity than usual.
Lippl and his colleagues invited 20 overweight men to an environmental research station about 300 meters below the summit of Zugspitze, a mountain around 2,970 meters near the Austrian border. They were allowed to eat as much as they liked. The men also gave blood so that researchers could test for hormones(荷尔蒙) linked to appetite and fatness. At the end of the week, the men, whose mean weight starting out was 105 kg, had lost on average about 1.5 kg. The men's blood pressure also dropped, which the researchers attributed to weight lost.
Exactly what caused the weight loss is uncertain. Loss of appetite is common at higher altitudes, and indeed the men ate significantly less than usual--about 700 calories fewer per day. Lippl also notes that because their consumption was being recorded, they may have been more self-conscious about what they ate. Regardless, eating less accounts for just 1 kg of the 1.5 kg lost, says Lippl. He thinks the increased metabolic(新陈代谢的) rate, which was measured, also contributed to weight loss but cannot separate the different effects with the given data.
Appetite loss at high altitudes could certainly be key, notes Damian Bailey, a physiologist at the University of Glamorgan, UK, who recently lost 11 kg during a 3-month expedition to the Andes in Chile.
Unfortunately, for the average person there's no treatment that can resemble living at high altitude, says Lippl. The only alternative is a hypobaric chamber, which exposes subjects to low oxygen and isn't practical as a therapy. He says, half-jokingly, "if fat people plan their holidays, they might not go to the sea, but maybe to the mountains."
What contributes the most to one's heart rates, according to the first paragraph?
A. Our bodyweight.
B. The consumption of energy.
C. The rates of our breathing.
D. The amount of oxygen provided.
Why do people go to craft fairs rather than shopping at stores?
A. Things in craft fairs have better quality than in stores.
B. They want to buy things that are different and original.
C. It is more convenient to buy things in craft fairs.
D. They can buy everything they want in craft fairs.
What did universities do with the buildings at risk?
A. They denied the risk of the buildings.
B. They were ignorant of the risk of the buildings.
C. They did improvement to the buildings.
D. They were short of fund to repair the buildings.
In an expanding economy, the former luxuries______.
A. are taken for granted by the new generation
B. are soon replaced by new ones
C. produce expanding aspirations
D. free the well-off people from housework