医学英语泛听 Food and the Brain

这篇短文可做 short passage listening训练，原文也可以用作阅读理解训练，文后还整理了可能的生词用法。小白老师只想说一句，多好的材料，好多心血，千万不要浪费啊！：）

Food and thebrain

A study suggests dieting followed by binging can change the way the brain reacts to food. ITN’s Rachel Phillips reports.

According tothe experts, constant images of ultra thin models encourage an

unhealthy desirein other people to imitate them, but now they’re warning the

battle for sizezero is not only putting our weight at risk, but also our brain. New

research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry states that studies on

animals show that starvation followed by binging on highly palatable foods, such asburgers or chocolate, can lead to a desire to over-consume and engage in

addictive behavior.

If you starve yourself, you then might overeat. You can’t keep a starved state

going. It is dangerous because it affects the way our brain works and the whole of the rest of our body. And it can lead us to overeat and become unhealthily

obsessed withour food. So, binge priming is quite a dangerous way of acting.

The size zerodebate reared its head at last year’s London Fashion Week as

protests were held against the use of skinny models. But some model agencies

reject women forbeing too thin. Emma Jane Dolphin is in one of those agencies. At size 14, she believes keeping healthy should be a model’s priority.

It’s primal that you, you know, that you eat when you’re hungry. And if you’re beingdeprived of that, then you’re not gonna to be relaxed. Then your nervous systems gonna be working overtime, this is just gonna lead to all sorts of problems and

illnesses later on. So I think, you know, eat regularly like everyone else.

It’s hoped today’s revelations about the threat of famine-then-feast behavior will

courage those trying to achieve size zero to consider the longer-term effects and perhaps ask the question, is it really worth it?

RachelPhillips, ITV news.

单词学习 WORDS IN THENEWS

1. size zero

Size 0 is a women’s clothing size in the US catalog sizes system equivalent to a UK size 4 or a Europe size 32-34. It is also a concept within the fashion media

relating to models with low body mass.

2. starvation un.

Starvation isextreme suffering or death, caused by lack of food.

3. binge v.

If you binge,you do too much of something, such as drinking alcohol, eating, or

spendingmoney. (INFORMAL)

4. palatable adj. (FORMAL)

If youdescribe food or drink as palatable, you mean that it tastes pleasant.

5. burger cn.

A burger is aflat round mass of minced meat or vegetables, which is fried and often eaten ina bread roll.

6. rear itshead

If somethingunpleasant rears its head or rears its ugly head, it becomes visible ornoticeable.