八年级英语Unit2 Background 新课标 人教版.doc

Part 2: Teaching Resources
I. Believe it or not, by imagination you can also lose weight.
If we can gorge on fatty bacon and still lose weight, how else can we beautify ourselves and still remain lazy slobs? Here are some fitness plans for exercise haters:
"Soda Stretches," an arm-strengthening workout, in which you use soda cans as barbells. This is designed to loosen joints, increase circulation and, ultimately, inspire more vigorous activity.
Toilet Training: Use bathroom fixtures as gym equipment. Hang your legs over the side of the tub and you're ready for stomach crunches. For upper body strength, do push-ups
with your hands on the toilet seat and your feet put on the tub.
Shop Till You Drop: Walking is the easiest way to stay in shape, and a mall is a large area that's safe and temperature-controlled.
Imaginary Exercising: Psychologists in England have issued a study that could fulfill every couch potato's deepest wish: They say just thinking about exercise stimulates your muscles. The simple act of visualizing exercise makes a difference.
American Diet
These days Americans are more and more concerned with watching their weight. Perhaps as many as 70 million Americans are on weight-reducing diets, and weight control has become a multibillion-dollar business. American supermarkets sell a variety of diet foods such as diet soft drinks, diet candy, and diet salad dressings. Dieters also spend money on diet pills, exercise machines, and jogging suits. Each year dozens of new diets are popularized. They have such names as the Miracle Diet, the Nine-Day Wonder Diet, and the Easy 24-Hour Diet. There is even one called the Ice Cream Diet, which advises the dieter to eat only ice cream for lunch and dinner! For dieters who cannot lose weight on their own, there are many well-organized diet groups, which offer help and encouragement.