S e c o n d e d I t I o n 1 Reading for the Real World 1

Here are six words or phrases that are related to the topic but are not in 
the reading. Fill in each blank with the best word or phrase from the list. 
Use each word or phrase only once.
1.
A __________ measures your weight.
2.
A doctor __________ and then treats diseases.
3.
According to the __________, my waist is thirty inches.
4.
Bread, rice and vegetables all contain __________.
5.
Kathy’s family is __________ allergies. Almost every person in her family is 
allergic to something.
6.
Meat contains a lot of __________.
prone to scale measuring tape disgnoses protein carbohydrates
Directions:
An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided 
below. Select THREE answer choices to complete the summary. 
First Sentence:
There are a couple different ways that people use to determine if a 
person has a healthy or unhealthy body weight.
1.
A muscular person weighs more because the density of muscles is greater than
the density of fat. 
2.
Most people still rely only on a person’s weight as a method for determining
obesity, although it is considered inaccurate.
3.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) compares a person’s weight with his or her height, 
and the resulting number is indexed with average people. 
4.
According to a study, about 55 percent of Americans are considered to be obese.
5.
Despite the fact it is not precise, the BMI still gives a person useful information 
about her or his body.

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t is important to understand that obesity is not just an uncomfortable 
condition of the body. Obesity can cause serious health problems. Many 
people are not aware of these problems, so they do not try to prevent the 
problems before they appear. This is unfortunate, since prevention is possible, 
though difficult. 
One of the worst health problems caused by obesity is Type 2 diabetes. One 
study found that about 80 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes are obese. 
People with diabetes do not have insulin in their bodies. Insulin helps the body 
to absorb, or take in, sugar. If the body cannot absorb sugar, several bad things 
can happen. A person with diabetes can suffer from seizures (losing control of 
the body) or fall into a coma. 
A number of other problems related to obesity have also been found. 
Obesity can cause heart disease. Heart disease happens when the vessels that 
deliver blood to the heart become blocked. This makes it more likely that such 
people will suffer from heart attacks, which take place 
when the heart loses blood supply and cannot pump 
properly. Furthermore, obesity causes problems with 
breathing, especially when sleeping. Obese people are 
at high risk for arthritis as well as certain kinds of 
cancers. 
All of these problems, and others, can be prevented. Of course, losing 
weight is very difficult. Changing a lifestyle is hard and often painful. Even so, 
the results of obesity are much worse.