TEXT 6- SUPERSIZE ME-

1 Everything's bigger in America, we've got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the biggest food, and, finally, the biggest people.

America has now become the fattest nation in the world.Congratulations.

5 Nearly 100 million Americans are today either overweight or obese. That's more than 60% of all U.S. adults.

Since 1980 the total number of overweight and obese Americans has doubled,with twice as many overweight children and three times as many overweight

adolescents.

10 The fattest state in America? Mississippi -- where one in four people are obese.

I grew up in West Virginia, currently the third-fattest state in America. When I was growing up, my mother cooked dinner every single day. Almost all my memories of her are in the kitchen. And we never ate out, only on those few, rare special occasions. Today, families do it all the time, and they're paying for it --not

15 only with their wallets, but with their waistlines.

Obesity is now second only to smoking as a major cause of preventable death in America, with more than 400.000 deaths per year associated with related illnesses.

Each day, one in four Americans visits a fast-food restaurant. And this hunger

20 for fast food isn't just in America. It's happening on a global basis.McDonald's alone operates more than 30.000 stores in over 100 countries on 6 continents and feeds more than 46 million people worldwide every day. That's more than the entire population of Spain. They're everywhere --walmarts, airports, rest stops, gas stations, train station, shopping malls, department stores,

25 amusement parts, even hospitals. That's right -- hospitals.

In 2002 a few Americans got fed up with being overweight and did what we do best: They sued the bastards. A lawsuit was filed in New York on behalf of two teenage girls, one who was 14 years old, 4' 10", and 170 pounds, the other, 19 years old, 5' 6", and 270 pounds.

30 Lawyers for McDonald's called the suits frivolous, stating that the dangers of its food are universally known and that these kids can't show that their weight and health problems were caused solely by their Mcdiets.

Are the food companies solely to blame for this epidemic?Where does personal responsibility stop and corporate responsibility begin?

35 Is fast food really that bad for you?COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY EXERCISES

1. Find two adjectives in the superlative form and one adjective in the comparative form. Write the positive form of each one.

Comparative: __________________________, _____________________________

Superlative: __________________________, __________________________

2. Translate the following words according to their use in the text: www.wordrefrence.com

1) Weight (line 31)

2) Overweight (lines 5, 7, 8, 26)

3) Illness (line 18)

4) Wallet (line 15)

5) Waistline (line 15)

6) Death (line 16)

7) Grow up (verb) (line 11)

8) Sue (verb) (line 27)

9) Pay (verb) (line 15)

10) Eat out (verb) (line 13)

11) Happen (verb) (line 20)

12) Lawsuit (line 27)

13) Lawyer (line 30)

14) Blame (verb) (line 33)

3. Find words in the text meaning (synonyms)

1) Fat

2) In the whole world

3) Sickness

4) Children

4. Write the nouns for these words

1) healthy

2) responsible

3) obese

4) dangerous

5) ill

5. Read the text again and answer the questions:

a. How many Americans are obese?

b. What´ s the percentage of U.S. overweight adults?

c. How many Americans visit a fast-food restaurant everyday?

d. What happened in 2002?

e. How many people die per year from illnesses connected to obesity in the U.S.

6. The author talks about his childhood from line 11 to line 15, why?

a. He is saying that his state is the third fattest state in the country.

b. He is comparing American past eating habits with American present eating habits.

c. He misses West Virginia and his life there. d.He doesn´t like eating out.

READING LIST.

Text 0- Unit 1, Student´ s Book.Text 1- Christiano Ronaldo.Text 2- Unit 2, Student´s book.Text 3- Halloween.Text 4- Comparatives and Superlatives.Text 5-Unit 3, Student´s Book.Text 6- Supersize me.