阅读理解

　　Is the recession(经济衰退)destroying Americans'health in addition to their incomes?

　　“Yes, for some”, says a recent study led by health economists at Yale University, which found that job losses can make the fat fatter and the drinkers drunkards．

　　The study focused on workers above 50, who have been figuring prominently among the laid-off in recent decades and make up an older group for whom heavy eating and drinking is more likely to have serious health consequences．

　　For this group, results showed the body mass of the average laid-off food-lover increasing by the equivalent of more than seven pounds for a 5-foot, 10-inch man weighing 180 pounds during unemployment．Similarly, frequent drinkers on average doubled their daily alcohol intake after losing their jobs and before finding another one．

　　Lay-offs don't necessarily send people reaching for the beer bottle or digging into the potato-chip bag, explain the authors．In some cases, they make people healthier by reducing the income they would otherwise spend on alcohol and junk food or allowing more time for physical exercise and outdoor activities．

　　In fact, research focusing on the impact of layoffs and recessions on health has provided no evidence that the health of the average American declines as a result of acquiring unhealthy, stress-induced habits．

　　“While there is evidence from animal, preclinical and clinical studies that stress leads to overeating and excessive drinking, economic research on stress suggests substantial heterogeneity(极大的差异性)．”write the authors．In other words, losing one's job can be more or less stressful for different people and different bodies cope differently with stress-induced behavior．

　　But Yale's William T．Gallo, Padmaja Ayyagari, Jason M．Fletcher and Jody L．Sindelar, and Partha Deb, from the City University of New York, found that layoffs among older workers tend to harm the health of those with a pre-existing unhealthy fondness for food and drink．

　　Across all age groups, widespread loss of employer-provided health coverage is another way in which this recession is destroying the health of laid-off Americans, as many decide to “go without treatment or tests,” the Journal reports．

阅读理解

　　Do you know what really troubles me? For some reason, words with silent letters have always bothered me．For example, consider these words：know, design, island, school, wrist, naughty, and salmon．All of these words have at least one letter that is not typically pronounced, and these words are just a very small part of words with silent letters in them．

　　Some words are even worse, consider this word：colonel．Not only are some letters not pronounced, but letters that are not even there are pronounced．

　　Even foreign languages, especially French, are guilty of this needless complexity and confusion．I know there must be some main historical reasons why the words are spelled and pronounced the way they are, but that does not mean bad traditions must continue to survive．Especially if they are no longer logical．

　　Unfortunately, there is very little that anyone can do for it, because there’s no group of people who can change or have the right to change the English language for everyone．However, the only thing we can do is make changes in the way we talk and write in hopes that it catches on．For example, I pronounce the letter “l” in salmon on purpose to make people annoyed and to sound more different or complicated．I even pronounce colonel the correct or French way．

　　I can only hope these two minor changes to the English language make sense to you, and you will help to keep up these minor changes forever in your everyday life．