Obesity is a huge problem in many Western countries and one which now attracts considerable medical interest as researchers take up the challenge to find a “cure” for the common condition of being seriously overweight. However, rather than take responsibility for their weight, obese people have often sought solace in the excuse that they have a slow metabolism, a genetic hiccup which sentences more than half the Australian population (63% of men and 47% of women) to a life of battling with their weight. The argument goes like this: it doesn’t matter how little they eat, they gain weight because their bodies break down food and turn it into energy more slowly than those with a so-called normal metabolic rate.
“This is nonsense, “ says Dr. Susan Jebb from the Dunn Nutrition Unit at Cambridge in England. Despite the persistence of this metabolism myth, science has known for several years that the exact opposite is in fact true. Fat people have faster metabolisms than thin people.
It has long been known that a part of the brain called the hypothalamus is responsible for regulation hunger, among other things. But it wasn’t until 1994 that Professor Jeffery Friedman from Rockefeller University in the U.S. sent science in a new direction by studying an obese mouse. Prof. Friedman found that unlike its thin brothers, the fat mouse did not produce a hitherto unknown hormone called leptin. Manufactured by the fat cells, leptin acts as a messenger, sending signals to the hypothalamus to turn off the appetite. Previously, the fat cells were thought to be responsible simply for storing fat. Prof. Friedman gave the fat mouse leptin and it lost 30% of its body weight in two weeks.
TRUE--- if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE --- if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN --- if there is no information on this in the passage
1. People with obesity usually have more rapid metabolism than the slender others.
2. Leptin, a hormone manufactured in the brain, serves as a signal to trigger a person’s desire to eat.
IELTS 閱讀判斷題 :
事實上, IELTS 閱讀之判斷題須根據題幹描述參就原文之訊息進行解讀, 以判斷答案為 TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN.
1. 題目：相較於苗條纖細的人, 肥胖的人通常新陳代謝較為快。
關鍵字：metabolism
However, rather than take responsibility for their weight, obese people have often sought solace in the excuse that they have a slow metabolism, a genetic hiccup which sentences more than half the Australian population (63% of men and 47% of women) to a life of battling with their weight.
“This is nonsense, “ says Dr. Susan Jebb from the Dunn Nutrition Unit at
Cambridge in England. Despite the persistence of this metabolism myth, science has known for several years that the exact opposite is in fact true. Fat people have faster metabolisms than thin people.
然而，肥胖者不對自己之體重負起責任，反而以他們的新陳代謝較慢為理由來尋求慰藉。
不過此種論述在段落後即被Dr. Susan Jebb所反駁斥之為胡說. 其談到僅管肥胖原因有新陳代謝之迷思，然而科學界多年來已知這與事實全然相反；肥胖者相較於瘦的人有較快之新陳代謝率。
答案為TRUE.
2. 題目：Leptin, 是一種由大腦所製造出來的荷爾蒙, 充當一種引發一個想吃東西之慾望的訊號。
關鍵字：leptin / trigger a person’s desire to eat
Prof. Friedman found that unlike its thin brothers, the fat mouse did not produce a hitherto unknown hormone called leptin. Manufactured by the fat cells, leptin acts as a messenger, sending signals to the hypothalamus to turn off the appetite.
Friedman 發現不像其他瘦小的老鼠, 肥胖的老鼠不會產生一種迄今尚未被得知之荷爾蒙，稱為瘦體素(leptin)。此種荷爾蒙由脂肪細胞所製造，充當訊息傳遞者，會發出訊號給腦下視丘 (hypothalamus) 以關閉其食慾，致使其不會有飲食之意念。
根據原文Leptin乃是傳達訊息阻斷食慾，而題目之敘述與其背道而馳，因此答案為 FALSE.