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Listening II term (8 form)

The Hazards of the Couch

1. Put down + if the statement is true, - if it is false 

1) People who spend most of their free time watching TV have a low risk for developing health problems.

2) According to the author, the results of the study were unique and previously unknown.

3) Squeezing in an hour at the gym can counteract the effect of motionless sitting.

4) Children who watch a lot of television may have high blood pressure, even if they are thin and active.

5) If you cut your TV watching time in half, you burn more calories than someone who does not.

6) Other casual activities, like reading books, are just as damaging as watching TV.

7) In the US and Britain, people spent 30 minutes on average watching TV.

8) Adults who watch less TV eat less.

9) Eating a healthy diet can counteract the effects of a sedentary life.

10) Spending two or more leisure hours in front of a screen doubles one's risk of a heart attack.

2. Choose the correct letter (a, b or c)

11. This text describes an article recently written in which publication?

A. The Journal of the American Medical Association.

B. The British Journal of Health Sciences.

С. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

12. Which nationality is not mentioned in the text?

A. Scottish. B. Irish. C. American.

13. The study followed how many men?

A. 2,215. B. 4,512.

С. 4,000.

14. The author of the study works in which department?

A. Cardiology and Pulmonology.

B. Epidemiology and Public Health.

C. Education and Psychology.

15. Which activity bums the most calories?

A. Watching TV.

B. Playing aboard game.

С. Sitting in the car.

16. Participants in the study who watched TV four or more hours a day..

A. were more likely to die of any cause.

B. had a high blood pressure reading.

C. were more likely to develop heart problems.

17. An exercise regimen had which effect on the blood pressure sedentary people?

A. None.

B. It reversed heart disease.

C. It made their conditions worse.

18. According to the article, time spent in front of the television is...

A. discretionary for everyone.

B. mandatory for all Americans and British.

С. a healthy alternative to board games.

19. The article associates all of the following with watching too much television, EXCEPT...

A. heart disease.

B. burning fewer calories.

C. over-eating.

20. Children who watch more TV...

A. have more free time.

B. eat less.

C. have high blood pressure.

GRADE 8

Listening Comprehension

From "The Hazards of the Couch" by Ronnie Caryn Rabin

Many of us sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, and then go home and head for the couch to surf the Web or watch television, exchanging one seat and screen for another. Even if we try to squeeze in an hour at the gym, is it enough to counteract all that motionless sitting?

A mounting body of evidence suggests not. Increasingly, research is focusing not on how much exercise people get, but how much of their time is spent in sedentary activity, and the harm that does.

The latest findings, published this week in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, indicate the amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact on one's health that physical activity doesn't produce much benefit.

The study followed 4,512 middle-aged Scottish men for a little more than four years on average. It found that those who said they spent two or more leisure hours a day sitting in front of a screen were at double the risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event compared with those who watched less.

Those who spent four or more hours of recreational time in front of a screen were 50 percent more likely to die of any cause. It didn't matter whether the men were physically active for several hours a week—exercise didn't mitigate the risk associated with the high amount of sedentary screen time.

The study is not the first to suggest that sedentary activities like television viewing may be harmful. A study last year found that men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars were more likely to die of heart disease than those who sat for 11 hours a week or less, even if they exercised.

And a 2009 study reported that young children who watch one and a half to five and a half hours of TV a day have higher blood pressure readings than those who watch less than half an hour, even if they are thin and physically active. Another small study found that when overweight adults cut their TV time in half, they burned more calories than those who watched five hours or more a day. Children whose TV time is cut tended to eat less, but that wasn't true for adults. And the light activities adults filled their time with, like reading and playing board games, actually burned more calories than watching TV. In both the United States and Britain, people are spending three to four hours a day on average watching television, said the study's author, Dr. Emmanuel Stamatakis, of the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London. "This is excessive," he said. "It is more than 20 percent of total waking time for most people." And, he added, "It’s 100 percent discretionary."