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A

People travel for a lot of reasons. Some tourists go to see battlefields or religious shrines（宗教圣地）. Others are looking for culture， or simply want to have their pictures taken in front of famous places. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.

Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it. People in cities like London， Copenhagen， and Amsterdam spend a lot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short， and much of the rest of the year is in the rain. This is the reason the Mediterranean has always attracted them. Every summer， more than 25 million people travel to Mediterranean resorts and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason： sun！

The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economies of Mediterranean countries. Italys 30，000 hotels are full every summer. And 13 million people camp out on French beaches， parks and roadsides. Spains long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit yearly， or one tourist for every person living in Spain.

But there are signs that the area is getting more tourism than it can handle. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. And with increased tourism， its getting worse. The French cant figure out what to do with all the rubbish left by campers around St Tropez. And in many places， swimming is dangerous because of pollution.

None of this， however， is spoiling anyones fun. The Mediterranean gets more popular every year with tourists. Obviously， they dont go there for clean water. They tolerate traffic jams and seem to like crowded beaches. They dont even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is， the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as the sun shines， its still better than sitting in the cold rain in Berlin， London or Oslo.

1. Europeans travel mostly for the reason that ___ .

A. they wish to escape from the cold and rainy days

B. they want to see historic remains or religious spots

C. they would like to take pictures in front of famous sites

D. they are interested in different cultural and social customs

2. Why does the author mention the cities in Paragraph 2？

A. To suggest that these cities lack places of interest.

B. To prove that Mediterranean is a good place to visit.

C. To tell us people in Northern Europe enjoy traveling.

D. To show that they are not good cities in terms of climate.

3. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 suggests that ___ .

A. every Spanish is visited by a tourist every year

B. all the 37 million people living in Spain are tourists

C. every person living in Spain has to take care of a tourist

D. every year almost as many tourists visit Spain as the people living there

4. What could ruin the tourists fun at Mediterranean beaches？

A. Traffic jams. B. Rainy weather.

C. Polluted water. D. Crowded people.

B

The mother came out of the exam room to hold me up： she knew I would probably have to talk to her daughter about how she was gaining weight， she said， but please dont use the word “fat” or even “overweight”. Dont make her feel bad about herself.

The girl was about 8， and clearly some balance had shifted over the past year， and her weight was increasing much too fast relative to her height.

But I was as conscious of my own body as I was of hers. “How on earth，” I was thinking， “should I give nutritional advice when all they have to do is to look at me to see that I dont follow it very well myself？ How to be in line with her mothers reasonable request？ And above all， how should I help prevent from the so-called childhood obesity（肥胖）when not a week goes by that I dont break my own resolutions？”

“The advice were supposed to give is ‘Eat less， exercise more，” said Dr Julie C. Lumeng， an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School and an expert in child-hood obesity.

“What does it mean when the doctor clearly can not follow the doctors own advice？” I asked that question of Dr David Ludwig， director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program.

“This is an issue that can cut in every possible direction，” he replied. “The doctor who is herself struggling with her weight will have the advantage of personal experience in the patients viewpoint — which may increase sympathy and provide other insights that a primary-care practitioner without the problem may not have.”

“On the other hand，” he continued， “the patient may view a doctor who is well overweight as lacking the basic understanding of the problem to put those principles into effect in his own life.”

There has been growing concern about childhood obesity in recent years. But meanwhile， the American children have gotten heavier. I have diagnosed Type 2 diabetes（糖尿?。﹊n too many of my patients， and I havent done any major shrinking myself.

5. Why did the mother stop the doctor after her daughter was examined？

A. She knew the doctor.

B. She wanted to get some advice.

C. She was eager to know the result.

D. She had something secret to tell the doctor.

6. What can we learn from the text about the doctor？

A. He was trying to lose weight.

B. He was an expert on childhood obesity.

C. He gave some nutritional advice to the girl.

D. He knew Dr Julie C and Dr David Ludwig well.

7. What do the underlined words in Paragraph 6 probably refer to？

A. Gaining weight.

B. Failing to reduce weight.

C. Being unable to follow the advice of his own.

D. Having no much experience in reducing weight.

8. What can we infer from the last paragraph？

A. The author feels unsuccessful in his job.

B. The American children are getting weaker.

C. Fat doctors are more concerned with childhood obesity.

D. More and more people come to care for childhood obesity.