Lesson23 The Exercise Craze
Everybody's doing it, old and young, men and women. They're jogging, dancing, jumping up and down, bending and stretching.
Exercise is in fashion. Everybody wants to be fit, feel good, look slim, and stay young.
It started with jogging. Millions of Americans put on their new colored sports shoes and fashionable jogging suits and ran through the parks or along the streets for half an hour a day.
Then the joggers got the marathon craze. Popular marathons are now held everywhere. Lots of people want to see if they can run 42 kms and do it faster than everyone else. The big city marathons, in London and New York, are important sporting events. Television cameras and newspapers report them in detail. Some remarkable people take part in the marathons: seventy-five-year-old grandfathers and nine-year-old grandchildren, and even invalids in wheelchairs.
Marathons are not for everyone, some prefer to get fit at home. For them, there's a big choice of books, cassettes and video programs with music and instructions. Sometimes the action is more like dancing than exercises. That's why one big company calls it 'dancercise'.
Taking exercise is only one part of keeping fit. You've got to get slim too. Books and magazines about slimming are bestsellers these days. Some people eat nothing but fruit for two or three days a week. It sounds terrible. Why not forget about keeping fit, sit down, and have another chocolate biscuit?
bend 弯（腰）
stretch 伸展（运动）
invalid 病人, 残废者
dancercise dance (舞蹈) exercise (锻炼) 的临时合成词
slim 苗条的
运动狂潮
人人都在做运动，不分老少，不分男女。他们跑步、跳舞、上下跳跃、弯曲拉伸。运动是一种时尚，没有人不想身材匀称、自感满意、看起来苗条和永葆青春。
最初是慢跑。上百万美国人穿着崭新鲜艳的运动鞋和时髦的慢跑装，每天穿过公园或沿街跑上半小时。后来慢跑者迷上了马拉松，现在各地都在举办广受欢迎的马拉松。很多人想看看自己能否跑四十二公里，而且还能比别人跑得快。伦敦和纽约两大城市的马拉松是很重要的赛事。电视和报纸都对此做详尽的报道。一些参加马拉松的人颇引人注目：有七十五岁的爷爷和九岁的孙子，甚至还有坐着轮椅的残疾人。
不是所有的人都参加马拉松，有些人更愿意在家锻炼。他们有很多选择：书本、磁带以及配有音乐和指导的录像节目。有时这种锻炼更像跳舞，因此有个大公司称其为“舞练”。
锻炼只是保持身体健康的一个方面。你还要保持苗条身材。有关减肥的书和杂志当今都是畅销书。有些人每周有两天或三天只吃水果，其他什么都不吃。听起来真可怕。为什么不忘掉减肥，坐下来，再吃一块巧克力饼干？
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