A Bit Good News for Fat People
1. Certainly there are millions who need to lose weight.  But there are also millions who only imagine they need to. Compulsive and continuous dieting, not to mention eating disorders, shows that some of us will do anything to reduce our bodies down to the currently desirable shape. But is being underweight really desirable?

2. Scientists have long been looking into the effects of under-nutrition. These studies—rats and mice have been the subjects, not humans—indicate that carefully controlled food restriction with adequate vitamins and minerals slows the aging process. In experiment after experiment, thin animals consistently outlive there all-you-can-eat cousins, sometimes doubling their average life span. They seem to age more slowly too. The level of cholesterol in their blood stays lower longer. Their bodies stay responsive to certain hormones longer. Their immune systems stay healthier longer. Underfed rats and mice are also less likely to suffer form age-related diseases like cancer, kidney and heart disease.

3. But we still know little about the effect of scientifically controlled under-nutrition on people. Researchers have kept studying large numbers of people, linking their weight with their health over long periods of time. In direct contrast to the laboratory experiments, these population studies suggest that being underweight can actually be dangerous to your health.

4. In a major National Institutes of Health study that followed more than 5, 000 men and women for 24 years, scientists discovered that the thinnest people ran the highest rate of dying. The thinnest group of men had the highest death rates from cancer and all other diseases except those of the cardiovascular system. It is also found that thinness does not mean wellness. Men 15 percent below average weight die more often from pneumonia, influenza, heart disease and suicide than their weightier counterparts. Women 15 percent less than average are easy to get pneumonia, influenza and digestive system diseases. An American Cancer Society study found that those 20 percent underweight died more often from strokes and digestive disease than their average weight counterparts. In a California study of 7,000 men and women, the highest death rates were among those 10 percent underweight.

5. Conversely, these and other studies are finding that being slightly or moderately overweight, even as much as 35 percent above standard weight, is good for your health. 
 
练习：
1. Paragraph 2 ______________
2. Paragraph 3 ______________
3. Paragraph 4 ______________
4. Paragraph 5 ______________

A. Good things about being a little overweight
B. Fashion of being underweight
C. Experiments on animals regarding under-nutrition
D. Some negative effects of being underweight
E. Contrast between experiments on animals and on people
F. Health of women under nutrition

5. A great many people go on a diet to ______________.
6. Those all-you-can-eat animals often have ______________.
7. People 15 percent underweight suffer more from ______________.
8. The thinnest group of men are less likely to suffer from ______________.
 
A. diseases of the cardiovascular system
B. have a body shape that all people will admire
C. longer life-time
D. digestive system diseases
E. a shorter life span
F. pneumonia and influenza