2.1.2. Now read the above article once again and answer the following questions.

1. What is the politically correct term for those people who are overweight?

2. What is the main reason for Americans to be so big?

3. Find the facts in the text, proving that obesity constitutes a serious problem for the national health in the US.

4. What kind of organization is formed in the country in order to protect the rights of “persons of size”?

5. Compare the situation with obesity in America with the situation in Russia. Are there any similarities or differences?

2.2. Skim the text and find the facts the author uses to prove how smoking affects a human body. Giving Up Smoking – What You Can Do About It

For many people smoking is an almost involuntary habit. Ask them if they smoke, and they reluctantly apologize rather than boast enthusiastically that they do. Many people overtly or secretly hate the fact that they smoke. They want to be free of cigarettes, but they can’t seem to break the addiction. There are now some 54 million smokers in the United States, some 75 % of whom are considered to be addicted to this vile habit. Of course, when people hear the word “addicted”, they tend to think of heroin or alcohol or some other dangerous drug. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, tobacco has far worse addictive potential than alcohol or heroin. Heaven only knows to what extent disease and ill health can be attributed to smoking. But what is known reads like a horror story – a horrible horror story: cancer, heart disease, emphysema, birth defects, ulcers, damage to DNA, high blood sugar, infertility in women, massive destruction of vital cells from the lips to the lungs.

It is a hard situation, but not a hopeless one by any means. Many people have been hooked on cigarettes, and many have been able to quit. This is something to remember. If one can quit, all can quit. I know that firsthand, because between the ages of seventeen and thirty I was addicted to cigarettes and yet I was able to quit.

I remember vividly what it was like to smoke. I hated the taste of smoke as well as the smell of it on my hands and breath, and I was always self –conscious when I held a cigarette as if I were doing something that no one else should witness. But actually taste and smell are of minor importance. Your body has 96,000 miles of blood vessels. With every puff of smoke that is inhaled, every one of these blood vessels constricts. That is why smokers frequently complain of cold hands and feet. Their extremities are not receiving sufficient blood. More alarming is the fact that every organ in your body is dependent upon fresh oxygenated blood. When you regularly force the organs of your body to be deprived of their fair share of blood, you are inviting more trouble than you ever imagined. Understand that everything is prevented from operating optimally. Your liver, kidneys, heart, stomach, thyroid, brain, eyesight, hearing, skin, EVERYTHING!

There is no finer, no nobler undertaking than making an effort to give up smoking. When I first realized I was able to quit, I began to separate myself from the act of smoking and analyze it objectively. What I became aware of was that for me, smoking was usually a way to distract myself from very negative thoughts about myself and my life. While “killing myself” emotionally and intellectually with self-demolishing thoughts, I completed the process by going through the motions of killing myself physically little by little. As I grew stronger and closer to quitting, I began to notice what types of situations and what kind of people prompted me to reach for a cigarette, and I realized that these situations and people were not so good for me and should be avoided.

I also began to realize that I was the master of my thoughts. Rather then allowing my brain to act like an out-of-control projector running negative tapes at my own expense, I would take change. I could become the producer of my own “sound track“, and when my brain spontaneously and out of habit went to the negative, I could say, “Hey, down!” and tap into something positive. Once I learned this little trick, the psychological environment that used to support smoking became less and less a part of me. Once I knew I didn’t have to smoke, my feelings about myself as a person completely changed. I had a sense of my own strength and ability. I felt freer. I certainly felt healthier.

Smoking coarsens the entire body. It deprives the body of oxygen, causing the cells all to mass together more tightly, so the skin looks thicker, coarser, and much older. It even makes you crave for carbohydrates. When I stopped smoking, the first change I noticed, other than a great increase in happiness, was that my skin became more translucent and glowing. I have since noticed that same change in friends who have quit. Now whenever I see young kids smoking, especially, innocent young girls, I wish they realized what they are doing to their natural beauty. Nothing will wipe it out faster than smoking.

If you smoke and wish to stop, first, realize that you are not a smoker. The human species, of which you are a member, is not naturally intended to have smoke in its lungs. That’s why you will never find any of us loitering in burning buildings! You may have developed the habit of taking smoke into your lungs unnaturally, but that does not mean you are naturally a smoker. If you have a single martini or a glass of wine, that does not make you an alcoholic, does it? Starting today, think of yourself of not being a smoker. Can you do it? Even as you reach for a cigarette, know that you are not a smoker. Continuously remind yourself of that and it will be harder and harder for you to reach for a cigarette. You can stop smoking. Millions of people already have.

Source: Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.

Fit for Life II: Living Health.

The Complete Health Program. Warner Books, 1989

Size: 5,122 characters with spaces