Reаd the fоllоwing pаssаge then answer the questiоn. The eyes themselves can send several kinds of messages. Meeting someone's glance with your eyes is usually a sign of involvement, whereas looking away often signals a desire to avoid contact. This is why solicitors on the street-panhandlers, salespeople, petitioners-try to catch our eye. Once they've managed to establish contact with a glance, it becomes harder for the approached person to draw away. Most of us remember trying to avoid a question we didn't understand by glancing away from the teacher. At times like these we usually became very interested in our textbooks, fingernails, the clock-anything but the teacher's stare. Of course, the teacher always seemed to know the meaning of this nonverbal behavior, and ended up calling on those of us who signaled our uncertainty. Another kind of message the eyes communicate is a positive or negative attitude. When someone glances toward us with the proper facial expression, we get a clear message that the looker is interested in us-hence the expression "making eyes." At the same time, when our long glances toward someone else are avoided by that person, we can be pretty sure that the other person isn't as interested in us as we are in him or her. (Of course, there are all sorts of courtship games in which the receiver of a glance pretends not to notice any message by glancing away, yet signals interest with some other part of the body.) The eyes communicate both dominance and submission. We've all played the game of trying to stare somebody down, and in real life there are also times when downcast eyes are a sign of giving in. In some religious orders, for example, subordinate members are expected to keep their eyes downcast when addressing a superior. From the passage you could infer that...
Reаd the pаssаge then answer the questiоn that fоllоws. The American obesity epidemic presents a paradox. While we are a people often obsessed with the idea of eating the right foods, we have, arguably, the worst diet on earth. Other cultures with far fewer resources, less education, and minimal choices have exceedingly better diets. Take, for instance, the remote Masai people of East Africa. Consuming primarily cattle blood, meat, milk and vegetables, the Masai are heart-healthy, fit, and have an obesity rate of just about zero. Meanwhile, American obesity rates are pushing past 30 percent and are expected to reach near 50 percent by 2030! And remember, obese is defined as extremely overweight, not just uncomfortably fat. So, what exactly is it about the American diet that is creating such pervasive unhealthiness? First and foremost, too much food today is not real food. Industrial processing has created a nightmare of consumables packed with unpronounceable additives and preservatives. Worse still, many of these additives, such as high-fructose corn syrup and trans-fats, are addictive, tricking the taste buds into convincing the brain that the food is good, while, in fact, the food is terrible-and barely even food. Consider the typical fast-food French fry, which contains more than 20 ingredients-only one of which is actually potato. Packaged and canned foods are loaded with sodium, sugars, and fat to make them more appealing to our skewed appetites, further adding to the ever-growing snowball of obesity. The average American is so addicted to sugar saturation that he or she consumes more than 34 teaspoons of sugar per day. Nutritionist and health professionals point out that a return to eating real food is far more important than any other aspect when it comes to battling the obesity epidemic-more important than exercise or going on another diet. Simply focusing on eating real and whole foods (think tomato, not ketchup) can quickly change metabolism and energy levels for the better and drastically reduce junk "food" cravings. But what exactly is real food, and how do we know when we're eating it? Food author Michael Pollan, who coined the catchphrase "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," offers some helpful pointers. First, don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize-in other words, no chicken nuggets, Hamburger Helper, or even energy drinks. Also, avoid foods with more than five ingredients or any ingredients you can't pronounce; these foods probably contain unhealthy and addictive additives. Furthermore, shun fast-food chains completely; aside from the wilted piece of lettuce on your hamburger, there is rarely a sliver of real food in any of these establishments. Finally, focus your shopping on the perimeter of the supermarket, rather than its middle. The middle aisles are full of canned, boxed, and frozen foods that, in general, are neither whole nor real. Fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed meats tend to be on the outer edges of stores near loading docks, where they can be replaced more easily. The bottom line is that we need to simplify our eating in order to trim down as a nation. Seeking out unusual and complicated diets that involve supplements and strange food combinations only confuses our bodies and eventually leads to more weight gain. Fat, carbohydrates, proteins, and even salt and sugar are all necessary dietary components, but they should be consumed by way of whole, real food, instead of boxed, packaged, or canned "food." In the third paragraph, the author uses an overall organizational pattern that...
Reаd the pаssаge and answer the questiоns that fоllоws. It is estimated that one in five Americans will suffer from some form of depression at some point in their lives, while one in 20 can expect to have a recurring depressive disorder that can significantly impact the quality of their day-to-day activities. Today, depression is diagnosed and, more often than not, treated medically with any number of prescriptions that strive to even out the highs and lows of bipolar disorders and the murky depths of chronic depression. However, prior to the 1970s, depression was neither diagnosed nor treated as a disease-it was perceived as more of a character flaw or weakness. Still, many sufferers of depression managed to find moderately effective ways to cope with their disease. One of the most famous examples is Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's depression probably originated from so much loss at an early age. Before he was 10, he lost a favorite aunt and uncle, a newborn brother, and his mother. Lincoln was not close to his father, but he was unusually close to his older sister, who also died when Lincoln was barely 18. And it is difficult to imagine a presidency more difficult and prone to sorrow than that of Lincoln's. Consider the course of events. He was elected president as the most inexperienced man in the history of that office, and more than a third of Lincoln's constituents, primarily Southerners, refused to even acknowledge him as president. Almost immediately, the bloodiest war America has ever seen broke out, eventually claiming 680,000 lives. Lincoln was conversely vilified as either an incompetent coward of a bloodthirsty warmonger as general after general he had chosen failed to be effective. In the midst of the war, Lincoln's young son died, and his wife became temporarily insane. Add, to all this, debilitating insomnia and chronic digestive problems, and it is a wonder that Abraham Lincoln was ever able to rise above his depression at all. How did he do it? "He loved to laugh," one Lincoln biographer explains simply. Though the photographic images we have of Lincoln show a stern, even morose, man, his photographers often complained about Lincoln's inability to hold still for more than 15 seconds before bursting into peals of laughter over the seriousness of posing for a portrait. The image we see is a contrived graveness Lincoln forced himself to maintain for the 30 seconds of stillness needed for the exposure. And the closest to Lincoln claimed that despite his often sad eyes, he demeanor was generally one of mirth and genuine amusement. It was not uncommon for Lincoln to begin telling a humorous story (a pastime for which he was famous) and become so incapacitated with laughter that he could not finish. In particular, Lincoln loved making fun of himself, especially his rather homely looks. Once accused of being two-faced by a political rival, Lincoln responded, "If I had two faces, do you think I'd be wearing this one?" Although Lincoln's sense of humor could not eradicate his depression, it could help keep it at bay, allowing him to move through difficult times with a certain degree of calm optimism. Lincoln famously once said, "People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be." In our modern era of depression diagnoses, many might debate this point. But for Abraham Lincoln in 1865, these words were a good dose of medicine. The sentence below is a statement of... "He was elected president as the most inexperienced man in the history of that office, and more than a third of Lincoln's constituents, primarily Southerners, refused to even acknowledge him as president."
Reаd the pаssаge then answer the questiоn that fоllоws. The American obesity epidemic presents a paradox. While we are a people often obsessed with the idea of eating the right foods, we have, arguably, the worst diet on earth. Other cultures with far fewer resources, less education, and minimal choices have exceedingly better diets. Take, for instance, the remote Masai people of East Africa. Consuming primarily cattle blood, meat, milk and vegetables, the Masai are heart-healthy, fit, and have an obesity rate of just about zero. Meanwhile, American obesity rates are pushing past 30 percent and are expected to reach near 50 percent by 2030! And remember, obese is defined as extremely overweight, not just uncomfortably fat. So, what exactly is it about the American diet that is creating such pervasive unhealthiness? First and foremost, too much food today is not real food. Industrial processing has created a nightmare of consumables packed with unpronounceable additives and preservatives. Worse still, many of these additives, such as high-fructose corn syrup and trans-fats, are addictive, tricking the taste buds into convincing the brain that the food is good, while, in fact, the food is terrible-and barely even food. Consider the typical fast-food French fry, which contains more than 20 ingredients-only one of which is actually potato. Packaged and canned foods are loaded with sodium, sugars, and fat to make them more appealing to our skewed appetites, further adding to the ever-growing snowball of obesity. The average American is so addicted to sugar saturation that he or she consumes more than 34 teaspoons of sugar per day. Nutritionist and health professionals point out that a return to eating real food is far more important than any other aspect when it comes to battling the obesity epidemic-more important than exercise or going on another diet. Simply focusing on eating real and whole foods (think tomato, not ketchup) can quickly change metabolism and energy levels for the better and drastically reduce junk "food" cravings. But what exactly is real food, and how do we know when we're eating it? Food author Michael Pollan, who coined the catchphrase "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," offers some helpful pointers. First, don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize-in other words, no chicken nuggets, Hamburger Helper, or even energy drinks. Also, avoid foods with more than five ingredients or any ingredients you can't pronounce; these foods probably contain unhealthy and addictive additives. Furthermore, shun fast-food chains completely; aside from the wilted piece of lettuce on your hamburger, there is rarely a sliver of real food in any of these establishments. Finally, focus your shopping on the perimeter of the supermarket, rather than its middle. The middle aisles are full of canned, boxed, and frozen foods that, in general, are neither whole nor real. Fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed meats tend to be on the outer edges of stores near loading docks, where they can be replaced more easily. The bottom line is that we need to simplify our eating in order to trim down as a nation. Seeking out unusual and complicated diets that involve supplements and strange food combinations only confuses our bodies and eventually leads to more weight gain. Fat, carbohydrates, proteins, and even salt and sugar are all necessary dietary components, but they should be consumed by way of whole, real food, instead of boxed, packaged, or canned "food." The author is biased in favor of