Question

Can you touch your belly button (肚臍) by reaching behind your back and around your waist?

A new social trend has started in China, with thousands of netizens facing the challenge and uploading photographs of themselves to show off their bodies. Popular among many young female users on Weibo, the top, which translate as “reaching your belly button from behind to show your good figure,” was mentioned more than130 million times among Weibo users.

It not only spawned over 104,000 active discussions, but also led to concern about what means a healthy body image. “Look! It has taken me more than four hours but I’ve finally reached my belly button,” said Weibo user GayleRabbit. Another user Lucky said, “Why does my belly button suddenly look and feel completely new?”

While the trend was popular with many female users on Weibo, a photo uploaded by a male blogger caught people’s eye. “Is this pose (姿勢) really that difficult? I don’t think so,” Said Weibo user Sough Sa. His photo showing he was trying to touch his belly button was shared more than 8,452 times. It also drew over 2,000 comments from other users on Weibo. “Show the skinny girls how it’s done,” said one user.

Weibo user MedicalCream Tang Zhao said, “Now you did it! So you don’t have to lose weight and please stay the same.”

“I always support failures. Now I don’t feel so bad about not being able to touch my belly button,” said another user Jacket.

“Do we need to have flexible arms or a skinny waist to pull this off?” asked Weibo user Chantilly623.

But some experts argued that China’s new belly button trend was actually distorting (歪曲) society’s standards of beauty. “These poses and pictures can be fun but sometimes they also become an expression of competitiveness,” said Jolene Tan, Programmes and Communications Senior Manager in Singapore championing women’s rights. She also told the BBC that the trend seemed to be a way of examining women’s bodies to see whether they are good enough. However, experienced body trainers say the new trend is about flexibility of the arm and the size of the waist, rather than a good figure. A skinny person with fewer muscles has a better chance of achieving the pose.

1.The underlined word “spawned” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_____________”.

A. brought about B. put off

C. commented on D. resulted from

2.What can we learn from the above passage?

A. Boys show no interest in this new trend.

B. GayleRabbit reached her belly button on her first try.

C. Sough Sa’s photo of reaching his belly button was popular online.

D. Jacket felt sorry for not being able to touch his belly button.

3.What is experienced body trainers’ attitude towards the new trend meaning a good figure?

A. Disbelieving. B. Uncaring.

C. Doubtful. D. Worried.

Answer 1