【 Analysis 】
Marked with green color ----- New Words(analysis in section 2)
Underlined with green line ----- Good Sentences(analysis in section 3)
Marked with red color ----- Good usage of words or phrases (analysis in section 2 or 3)
That would be more surprising if students in Rogers were the only ones plugging into interactive workouts , but they're not . Some 2,000 schools in at least 35 states have begun to set up exergaming fitness centers with motion sensors and touch-sensitive floor mats to allow kids to control the action onscreen not just with their thumbs but also with their bodies. Do enough dancing or kung-fu kicks, and you just might get the same level of exercise as from chasing a soccer ball. What's more, this is a workout kids don't try to duck. "Physical education used to be a joke," says Dr. John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at HarvardMedicalSchool and author of Spark, an upcoming book about exercise. "That has changed simply because we are catching up with the gamer generation."
Finding a way to help this most sedentary age group is more important than ever. Nearly 17% of U.S. kids are considered overweight or obese, and many more are struggling. Meanwhile, as scale numbers are climbing, school budgets for P.E. are falling. As a result, fewer than 10% of elementary schools meet the National Association for Sport and Physical Education's standard of students spending 150 minutes a week in gym class.
The high-tech answer to the problem came two years ago when West VirginiaUniversity studied the health effects of an exergaming system called Dance Dance Revolution (DDR)--interactive games that instruct kids to use their feet to tap buttons on a sensor mat. After a pilot program found the games were beneficial , the state vowed to install consoles in all its public schools by next year. (It didn't hurt the study's credibility that it was funded in part by an insurance company , not by the gamemaker.) Since then, other districts have climbed aboard, helped by video-game makers like Nintendo and Sony, which are designing systems to meet the demand; small companies like Expresso Fitness that donate equipment; and federal grants and private donations that bankroll the purchase of equipment. "The old system is failing kids ," says Phil Lawler, director of training and outreach at PE4life, a nonprofit based in Kansas City, Mo., that helps modernize P.E. "We are tricking them into exercising."
A gaming system, which can cost up to $4,000 a pop, is more expensive than, say, a kickball, but the fact is, it may work just as well. In January the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that obese kids burned six times as many calories playing DDR as they did with a traditional video game. And in July the wonderfully named Alasdair Thin, a researcher of human physiology at Heroit-WattUniversity in Edinburgh, Scotland, found that college students burned twice as many calories playing an active video game in which they dodged and kicked for 30 minutes as they did walking on a treadmill . Studies have not yet shown how the new games measure up against a real session of, say, soccer or wind sprints .
Of course, since a child told to hustle around a track pretty much has to do it, critics argue that there's no need for video games in gym classes even if they do have some health benefits. But there's a physical difference between an hour of exercise enthusiastically pursued and one that's merely plodded through. And, Lawler says, "most kids aren't volunteering to do pull-ups after school." Develop a taste for aerobic video games, however, and you just might carry the habit home.
But can anything hold the fruit-fly attention span of kids? "Video games are not the answer," says Warren Gendel, founder of Fitwize 4 Kids, a chain of traditional children's gyms. "Kids will get bored and be back on the couch." Maybe, but that won't stop the games from coming. Fisher-Price just began selling a video-game bike for toddlers . No word yet on a version for the prewalking crowd--but don't bet against it.
【 Section one 】 Vocabulary
warrior (formal) (especially in the past) a person who fights in a battle or war: a warrior nation (= whose people are skilled in fighting)
mat a small piece of thick carpet or strong material that is used to cover part of a floor
duck to move somewhere quickly, especially in order to avoid being seen
sedentary (of people) spending a lot of time sitting down and not moving
sedentary age group
a pilot program
pilot done on a small scale in order to see if sth is successful enough to do on a large scale
beneficial ~ (to sth/sb) (written) improving a situation; having a helpful or useful effect
Synonym: FAVOURABLE, ADVANTAGEOUS
a good diet is beneficial to health ◆ They finally came to a mutually beneficial agreement.
vow to make a formal and serious promise to do sth or a formal statement that is true:
[V to inf] She vowed never to speak to him again. ◆ [V (that)] He vowed (that) he had not hurt her. ◆ [VN] They vowed eternal friendship. [also V speech]
console a flat surface which contains all the controls and switches for a machine, a piece of electronic equipment, etc. 控制台，操纵台
bankroll informal, especially AmE) to support sb/sth financially
dodge to move quickly and suddenly to one side in order to avoid sb/sth
treadmill especially in the past) a large wheel turned by the weight of people or animals walking on steps around its inside edge, and used to operate machinery n. 踏车，单调乏味的工作
hustle to make sb move quickly by pushing them in a rough aggressive way
track a rough path or road, usually one that has not been built but that has been made by people walking there
plod to walk slowly with heavy steps, especially because you are tired
pull-up 引体向上
toddler a child who has only recently learnt to walk
【 Section two 】 Good phrases and sentences
That would be more surprising if students in Rogers were the only ones plugging into interactive workouts , but they're not .
That would be more…. if… , but they're not .
workout a period of physical exercise that you do to keep fit: She does a 20-minute workout every morning.
not just with their thumbs but also with their bodies
associate professor
the gamer generation
kung-fu kicks
you just might get the same level of exercise as from chasing a soccer ball
it was funded in part by an insurance company
obese kids burned six times as many calories playing DDR as they did with a traditional video game.
Studies have not yet shown how the new games measure up against a real session of, say, soccer or wind sprints .
Studies have not yet shown…..
measure up against Phrasal Verbs: measure sb/sth against sb/sth :to compare sb/sth with sb/sth: The figures are not very good when measured against those of our competitors. ◆ a series of tasks that measure candidates against each other
measure sth<->out to take the amount of sth that you need from a larger amount: He measured out a cup of milk and added it to the mixture.
measure up
measure sb/sth<->up to measure sb/sth: We spent the morning measuring up and deciding where the furniture would go.
measure up (to sth/sb) (usually used in negative sentences and questions) to be as good, successful, etc. as expected or needed
Synonym: MATCH UP
Last year's intake just didn't measure up. ◆ The job failed to measure up to her expectations.
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