Read, translate and retell the text

Health is one of the burning issues of today. It is claimed that the health of whole nations is endangered. But what does it mean to be healthy? Researches agree that there are four components which identify how healthy you are: your diet, your daily routine, your pastime and your way of thinking.

People’s diets today are getting worse and worse. Many don’t have enough time to cook, so they just heat up a frozen meal or order a takeaway. Besides, with so many chains of fast food restaurants, which offer a variety of delicious food, fast service and low prices, people don’t have to spend a mass of time at the cooker and, instead, can relax and enjoy themselves. Fast food is especially popular with children and students who are crazy about burgers, French fries, chicken nuggets, fizzy drinks, milk shakes, corndogs, doughnuts with different fillings, cookies and various sandwiches which make our mouth water and keep us going through the day. This obsession with fast food seems quite strange because we have a lot of information now about how bad fast food is for you. But at the same time many people are trying to improve their diets, but they are doing it in the wrong way by following diets which are based on cutting out entire groups of food like carbohydrates. On the other hand, even if you don’t have time or facilities to cook, there are a lot of places where you can eat healthily; Japanese and Indian restaurants serve a range of fresh salads, fish, soups, salads and sushi. What you eat is the same important as when you eat. Nutritionists say that breakfast should be the most sufficient meal of the day (about 60% of what you eat) as all these calories are burnt by 12 o’clock.

Another thing to worry about is your daily routine or, in other words, what you do in a typical day. The ideal scenario is that you walk to and back from work, work for not more than 8 hours a day, have a lunch-break, go in for sport and have a good night’s sleep. Physical training should be an essential and vital part of our daily routine, because a human’s body with its system of muscles and joints was designed to perform a system of movements, rather than stay motionless in an office’s chair. The choice of physical activity depends on the goal you want to achieve. Doing morning exercises is enough to stay fit and awake throughout a day. Martial arts are for those who are attracted by the benefit of self-defense and increased self-confidence combined with a high level of fitness, speed and strength. If you like the spirit of competitiveness, take up one of team or individual games (football, basketball, tennis, golf, etc).

Psychologists state that our routine should be changed on weekend, that is the time when we take time-off. Every weekend should be remembered by some new experiences and activities which can be minor.

Finally, the way we perceive the world around us and react to the events happening to us determines how healthy we are. There are a lot of elaborated stress-coping strategies which help you keep things in control.

3. Give Russian equivalents to the following English words from the text.

burning issues, endanger, diet, daily routine, pastime, way of thinking, heat up, frozen meal, order a takeaway, fast food restaurants, fast service, burgers, French fries, chicken nuggets, fizzy drinks, milk shakes, corndogs, doughnuts with different fillings, cookies, make one’s mouth water, to improve diets, cut out entire groups of food, nutritionists, sufficient meal, the ideal scenario, system of muscles and joints, to stay fit, martial arts, self-defense, self-confidence, fitness, speed, strength, spirit of competitiveness, perceive the world, stress-coping strategies, keep things in control.

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4. Match the items with the idioms below:

Go downhill, off colour, as strong as an ox, full of beans, be taken with a pinch of salt, at death’s door, nothing but skin and bone, a shadow of one’s own self, up and about, ripe old age.

a. unwell

b. Very thin

c. To get worse in health

d. About to die

e. To be doubted

f. Active after an illness

g. Very lively and energetic

h. Very strong and fit

i. Weaker or less capable than one used to be

j. Very old age