What is tasty is not always healthy. Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, cola spoils our teeth and coffee shortens our lives

If we eat too much, we'll become obese, and obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses. But the world today is getting fatter and fatter. America is the world's leader in obesity, but Europe is quickly catching up.

Lack of exercise is another serious problem. We spend hours in front of our computers and TV-sets. Few of us do morning exercises. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport.

Research shows, however, that young people who don't take enough exercise often suffer from heart attacks.

It's common knowledge that smoking and drinking can shorten our lives dramatically. Cigarette-smoking, for example, kills about 3 million people every year. Many of them die from lung cancer. Some aren't even smokers. They are people who live or work with heavy smokers.

Yet many young people smoke and drink. Why? One answer is that tobacco and drinks companies invest enormous sums of money in advertising their products. For them cigarettes and alcoholic drinks mean money. For us they mean disease and even death.

We all know that the healthier we are, the better we feel. The better we feel, the longer we live. So why not take care of ourselves?

Vocabulary

scientist ['saiantist] ученый healthy ['helSi] здоровый

lifestyle [laifstail] образ жизни

medical care ['medikl,kea] медицинское обслуживание

average ['aevarids] средний

human ['hju:man] человек; человеческий

genome ['d3i:naum] генетический код, геном

to decode [,di:'kau<3] расшифровывать, декодировать

incurable [in'kjuarabl] неизлечимый

disease [di'zi:z] болезнь

to cure ['kjua] лечить, излечивать

gene ['d3i:n] ген

to replace [ri'pleis] заменять

to stuff [sUf] oneself with зд. набивать желудки

pizza ['pi:tsa] пицца

hamburger ['haembaiga] гамбургер

fattening ['faetnirj] способствующий ожирению,

Жирный

cola f'kaula] кола

to spoil [spoil] портить

obese [au'bi:s] тучный

diabetes [,daia'bi:ti:z] диабет

To catch up догонять

lack [laek] нехватка

to prefer [pri'fa:] предпочитать

research [ri'saitj] исследование

to suffer f'SAfa] страдать

heart attack ['ha:t a,taek] сердечный приступ

it's common knowledge ['nolidj] общеизвестно

dramatically [dra'maetikali] резко

lung cancer ['!AQ,kaensa] рак легких

Heavy smoker заядлый курильщик

tobacco [ta'baekau] табак; табачный

to invest [invest] инвестировать, вкладывать

enormous [i'no:mas] огромный

to advertise ['aedvataiz] рекламировать

product ['prodAkt] продукт, товар

alcoholic [,aelka'holik] алкогольный

Questions

1. Do you think people will live longer in the future?

2. Do you believe that one day genetic engineers will be able to correct "gene" mistakes?

3. Do you like fast food? Is it tasty?

4. Why is fast food bad for us?

5. What illnesses does obesity lead to?

6. Are Europeans getting fatter?

7. The USA is the world's leader in obesity, isn't it?

8. Do you take regular exercise?

9. How often do you go for a walk?

10. Do you spend much time in front of your TV-set?

11. Why is smoking dangerous?

12. In some countries tobacco and alcohol advertising has been banned (to ban запрещать). Do you think it's a good idea?

13. Is passive smoking dangerous?

14. Would you like to live a long life?

Mass Media

MASS MEDIA

The mass media play an important part in our lives. Newspapers, radio and especially TV inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views.