A
Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit; most people don’t even notice that they’re doing it when they sit down. While you may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of.
A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. The reason this happens is because the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart, crossing one leg over the other increases resistance, making it even harder for the blood to circulate. This causes your body to increase your blood pressure to push the blood back to the heart. You won’t feel any immediate effects, but if you sit for long periods of time it’s important that you take note of how long you have your legs crossed for. You shouldn’t have your legs crossed for more than 15 minutes, and it’s important that you get up and walk around at least once every hour.
Crossing your legs can also lead to neck and back pain. Ideally, it’s best for our bodies to sit with our feet planted flat, hip width apart, on the floor, but it’s not easy to maintain perfect posture all day at the office. When you sit with your legs crossed your hips are in a twisted position, which can cause one of your pelvic(骨盆的) bones to rotate. Since your pelvic bone supports your neck and spine, this can cause pressure on your lower and middle back and neck.
You also might notice that when you sit with your legs crossed for long periods of time your feet and legs get tingly or have the feeling of being asleep. This is because when one leg sits on top of the other it causes pressure on the veins and nerves in your legs and feet. It can cause numbness and/or temporary paralysis in the legs, ankles, or feet. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.
So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet on the floor. Not only will it help your posture and stability, but it will also save your health in the long run.
1. What does the underlined word “tingly” (in paragraph 4) mean?
A. a slight stinging feeling B. a clear ringing sound
C. a pleasant warm feeling D. a strong excitement feeling
2. According to the study, what influence does sitting with your legs crossed have on your health?
①increasing your blood pressure
②neck and back pain
③pressure on the veins and nerves
④permanent nerve damage
A. ①④ B. ③④
C. ①②③ D. ①②④
3. What is the purpose of this passage?
A. To increase people’s knowledge of sitting with their legs crossed.
B. To introduce the bad influences that sitting with their legs crossed has on people.
C. To help people form the habit of sitting with their legs.
D. To advocate getting rid of sitting with their legs.
【答案】1. A 2. D 3. D
【解析】
【分析】
本文是一篇调查研究，研究表明跷二郎腿的坐姿对于人类身体健康有很大危害，呼吁人们改掉跷二郎腿的这一习惯。
【1题详解】
词义猜测题。根据第四段中This is because when one leg sits on top of the other it causes pressure on the veins and nerves in your legs and feet. It can cause numbness and/or temporary paralysis in the legs, ankles, or feet.可知，长期跷二郎腿会有刺痛感或者麻木感，这是由于跷二郎腿时一个腿脚上的血管神经受到另一条腿的压迫而导致。 tingly在文中表示“有刺痛感的”。故选A。
【2题详解】
细节理解题。根据文章第二段第一句sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure.可知①正确；第三段第一句Crossing your legs can also lead to neck and back pain.可知②正确；第四段第二句可知，③表述不准确，应是跷二郎腿对腿脚的影响，而不是全身的影响；第四段最后一句can cause permanent nerve damage.可知，④正确。本题利用排除法，故选D。
【3题详解】
主旨大意题。本文阐释了跷二郎腿对人体健康的影响。在最后一段呼吁人们，不要在就坐时跷二郎腿，而应该保持两脚平放，这样有助于人们身体保持平稳的状态和获得长久的健康。故选D。
【点睛】主旨大意题的类型及解题策略：
（1）标题类。文章标题可以是单词，短语，也可以是句子，它的特点是：短小精悍，多为一短语；涵盖性强，一般要求能覆盖全文，其确定的范围要恰当，既不能太大，也不能太小；精确性强，不能随意改变语言表意的程度及色彩。
（2）主旨类。概括主旨的方法是：先看首尾或各段开头再看全文找主题句，若无明显主题句，就通过关键词句来概括(如议论文中寻找表达作者观点态度的词句，记叙文寻找概括情节和中心的动词或反映人物特点的形容词)。文中出现两种或两种以上的不同观点时，务必牢记作者的观点才是体现全文中心的。此时，要注意一些转折词，如but, yet, however, although, in spite of, by contrast, on the contrary等。当文章中表示相反的观点时，往往用到这些词。答题时要弄清哪个是作者的观点，排除迷惑性信息，准确归纳主旨大意。
本题中第3小题为主旨大意类中的主旨类。
文章中的关键词是legs crossed，而四个选项都提到了跷二郎腿，只是侧重点不同，那么文章重点讲述了哪一方面呢？我们可以逐段梳理主旨大意，第一段主要介绍了跷二郎腿现象很常见，第二段主要介绍了血压监测对跷二郎腿的研究，下面几段重点阐述了跷二郎腿的害处，由此可见本文通过介绍跷二郎腿的害处使大家引起注意改掉跷二郎腿的不好习惯。所以D正确。
