The fitness movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s centered around aerobic exercise (有氧操). Millions of individuals became engaged in a variety of aerobic activities, and literally thousands of health spas developed around the country to capitalize (获利) on this emerging interest in fitness, particularly aerobic dancing for females. A number of fitness spas existed prior to this aerobic fitness movement, even a national chain with spas in most major cities. However, their focus was not on aerobics, but rather on weight-training programs designed to develop muscular mass, strength, and endurance in their primarily male enthusiasts. These fitness spas did not seem to benefit financially from the aerobic fitness movement to better health, since medical opinion suggested that weight-training programs offered few, if any, health benefits. In recent years, however, weight-training has again become increasingly popular for males and for females. Many current programs focus not only on developing muscular strength and endurance but on aerobic fitness as well.
Historically, most physical-fitness tests have usually included measures of muscular strength and endurance, not for health-related reasons, but primarily because such fitness components have been related to performance in athletics. However, in recent years, evidence has shown that training programs designed primarily to improve muscular strength and endurance might also offer some health benefits as well. The American College of Sports Medicine now recommends that weight-training be part of a total fitness program for healthy Americans. Increased participation in such training is one of the specific physical activity and fitness objectives of Healthy People 2000:National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives.
1. The word“spas”(Para.1)most probably refers to .
A. sports activities C. places for physical exercise
B. recreation centers D. athletic training programs
2. Early fitness spas were intended mainly of .
A. the promotion of aerobic exercise C. endurance and muscular development
B. the improvement of women’s figures D. better performance in aerobic dancing
3. What was the attitude of doctors towards weight-training in health improvement?
A. Positive B. Indifferent C. Negative D. Cautious
4. People were given physical fitness tests in order to find out .
A. how well they could do in athletics C. what kind of fitness center was suitable for them
B. what their health condition was like D. whether they were fit for aerobic exercise
5. Recent studies have suggested that weight-training .
A. has become an essential part of people’s life C. will attract more people in the days to come
B. may well affect the health of the trainees D. contributes to health improvement as well
参考答案：C C C A D
译文：
始于二十世纪六七十年代的健身运动的主要形式是有氧操。数百万人开始从事各种各样的有氧活动，数千家健身馆在全国各地迅速发展起来。这些健身馆由于人们开始关注健康，尤其通过经营是女性有氧操而盈利。（其实）早在这次有氧健身风潮之前就已经有很多健身馆存在了，在多数主要城市甚至有连锁健身馆。然而，这些健身馆的重点不是有氧锻炼，而是举重锻炼，其目的是锻炼男性爱好者的肌肉群，肌肉力量和耐力。这些健身馆似乎没有在有氧健身项目上赢得多少利润，医学界当时的观点是举重训练对健康来说几乎没有什么作用。然而，近年来举重锻炼再次受到男性以及女性的欢迎。很多新开的项目强调的不仅仅是锻炼肌肉力量和耐力，还强调有氧健身。
从历史来看，大多健康测试通常包括测量肌肉力量和耐力，这些测试并非出于健康原因而主要是因为这样的健康元素与在运动项目中的表现有关。然而，近年来有证据表明那些旨在改善肌肉力量和耐力的训练科目也对健康有益。美国体育医学大学建议人们把举重训练作为整个健身计划的一部分。“健康21世纪—国家健康促进及疾病预防目标”一个具体目标就是越来越多的人参与到这样的锻炼中去。
