Just five minutes of exercise a day outdoors can improve mental health, according to a study.
Researchers from the University of Essex, UK have found that as little as five minutes of a “green activity” such as walking, gardening, cycling or farming could help to improve mood and increase self-esteem (自信).
Many studies have shown that outdoor exercise can reduce the risk of mental illness and improve a sense of well-being, but the new study, led by Jules Pretty and Jo Barton, was the first to determine how much time needed to be spent on green exercise for the benefits to show.
Barton and Pretty looked at data from 1,252 people of different ages, genders (性别) and mental health status (情况) taken from 10 studies in Britain.
They analyzed their different outdoor activities including walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming in locations such as a park, garden or nature trail (路径).
They found that the mental health changes were seen after just five minutes. With longer periods of time exercising in a green environment, the positive effects were more apparent.
Looking at men and women of different ages, the researchers found the health changes were particularly strong in the young and the mentally ill.
Green and blue
A bigger effect was seen with exercise in an area that also contained water – such as a lake or river.
“This is because historically we are drawn to water to survive and it is in our genetic (遗传的) make-up to be at one with nature,” the researchers wrote in their report.
Pretty said those who were generally inactive, or stressed, or with mental illness would probably benefit the most from “green exercise”.
“Employers, for example, could encourage staff in stressful workplaces to take a short walk at lunchtime in the nearest park to improve mental health.”
He also said exercise programs outdoors could benefit youth offenders. How is the study this article refers to different from other studies?
A.It involved more people. |
B.It took longer to finish the research. |
C.It determined the exact amount of time needed. |
D.It was led by just two researchers. |
What can we conclude from the findings of the study?
A.Just five minutes of “green exercise” daily can help improve mental health. |
B.Gardeners and farmers do not need “green exercise”. |
C.Walking in a park with a lake will weaken the effect. |
D.“Green exercise” is not suitable for the mentally ill. |
. According to Pretty, _______ would probably benefit the most from “green exercise”.
A.stressed, inactive people | B.office workers |
C.youth offenders | D.women and children |
What is th
e main problem discussed in this article?
A.Physical well-being. | B.Outdoor exercise. |
C.Mental illness. | D.Harmony with nature. |
E
The Middle East countries and other world powers have been facing major political tensions (紧张) which have made the stability (稳定) of the oil prices very unforeseeable. Each day the prospect (前景) of oil prices has become more and more unclear.
Water fuel has been developed as an alternative (替代) source of fuel which has fast become popular around the world. This exciting technology has various advantages. More than 70 percent of the Earth is covered with water and this fuel source does not produce any harmful pollutants or dangerous emissions either. They in fact also double the mileage of the cars that are powered by them.
Water fuel technology has been known to be the best additional form of fuel source for petrol (汽油) or other fuel sources. However, any say that this technology can be only an additional source and not a replacement is totally incorrect and misleading. Such ideas have been suggested by those who look down on this technology. On the contrary, this technology has numerous benefits such as it does not produce any harmful emissions which can affect the climatic changes. It further helps to reduce the level of noise produced by the engines.
Various researches reflect that running costs on fuels for automobiles can be easily saved up to 40 percent with the help of water cell technology. This technology can easily work on various cars powered by gas. It can also be used for trucks, vans and other vehicles. The tap water can also be easily used directly and you do not need any special water that is specifically treated to be used for this purpose. You can easily find a lot of details so that you can adapt your car to use the technology.
57. We can learn from the first paragraph that the price of oil ______.
A. is going down at present B. has been rising for a long time
C. is unstable for political reasons D. is decided by powerful countries
58. People holding the opposite idea think that ______.
A. the world climate won’t be influenced by fuel
B. the engines will give out less noise than before
C. petrol can’t be completely replaced by water fuel
D. water fuel can’t act as an additional source for gas
59. We can learn from the text that ______.
A. the Middle East countries are at peace now
B. a new kind of energy has been found recently
C. vehicles using the new technology cost much more
D. the world will be cleaner with the use of the new fuel
60. What is the best title for the text?
A. Water fuel — Lower Cost B. Water fuel — a Safer Choice
C. Water fuel — a Long Way to Go D. Water Fuel — Becoming a Reality Now
D
You’ve probably heard of the butterfly effect that small changes in one place can lead to great damage elsewhere. The Toy Story II, Made-in-China, appearing on the internet, TV screens and front pages of newspapers worldwide since August, was a live show. China’s fame as “the world’s factory” was badly damaged this summer by a small, but powerful magnet (磁铁), and colorful paints on toys.
Mattel, the world’s largest toy company in the US, on August 14 announced the biggest recall (召回) of toys in its history. Among the recalled products were 17.4 million toys that had a design problem. They contained a small, powerful magnet that could harm children if it was swallowed. Another 2.2 million toys were recalled because of impermissible levels of lead (铅) in their paint.
Although the designing problem has nothing to do with where the toys were made, the reports in the western media of the recall started to draw a horrible picture in many American parent’s minds.
The toy recall issue followed shortly after recalls earlier in the year of Chinese-made pet food and toothpaste and left users all over the world worried about buying anything labeled (贴上标签) “Made-in-China”.
The recall of the toys teaches Chinese companies that quality is extremely important. However, many of the complaints by western countries about Chinese goods reflect complicated feelings about the growing Chinese economy, culture differences and various political systems.
However, more than 100 US multinational companies from many industries, including Boeing and Microsoft, signed a letter to the US Congress on September 28, to say no to the proposal against China. “Imposing (加强) unfair barriers to trade in the name of product safety is not a solution,” the companies wrote.
Toys are made for children to learn about the reality world and become more mature (成熟), however, the Chinese version of Toy Story helps lots of adults learn about responsibility, importance of quality, understanding, communications, and more.
53. The author mentions the butterfly effect at the beginning of the passage to ______.
A. explain what the butterfly effect is
B. tell the readers what causes the butterfly effect
C. say that the toy effect is similar to the butterfly effect
D. compare the differences between the butterfly effect and the toy effect
54. Which of the following are the reasons mentioned to have caused the recall?
a. The picture on the toys.
b. The designing problem.
c. The colorful paints on toys.
d. The materials toys are made of.
e. The small powerful magnet on toys.
A. abe B. bde C. bce D. acd
55. Boeing and Microsoft signed a letter to the US Congress because ______.
A. the growing Chinese economy makes them afraid
B. the Chinese companies have realized the importance of quality
C. the Toy Story has made some Chinese companies suffer great losses
D. they think it’s unfair to impose barriers in the name of product safety
56. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Made in China. B. Butterfly Effect.
C. Western Media. D. Toy Story.
C
As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friend’s house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods,” with a tone of airy acceptance. It’s similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring (探险). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.
Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly — tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.
It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us has reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence (青春期). In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.
48. The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to ______.
A. spend their free time B. play golf and other sports
C. keep away from their parents D. escape from doing their schoolwork
49. What can we infer from paragraph 2?
A. The activities in the woods were well planned.
B. Human history is not the result of exploration.
C. The author explored in the woods aimlessly.
D. Exploration should be a systematic activity.
50. The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. calm B. doubtful C. serious D. optimistic
51. From the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.
A. they usually didn’t go to the woods in winter
B. the author and his friends are of the same age
C. all high school students would go dancing on Friday evenings
D. they stopped going to the woods because they were adults now
52. How does the author feel about his childhood?
A. Happy but short. B. Lonely but memorable.
C. Boring and meaningless. D. Long and unforgettable.
B
Among the most popular books being written today are science fictions (小说). Hundreds of titles are published every year and are read by all kinds of people. Furthermore, some of the most successful films of recent years have been based on science fiction stories.
It is often thought that science fiction is a fairly new development in literature, but its forefathers can be found in books written hundreds of years ago. These books were often concerned with the presentation of some form of ideal society, a main subject which is still often found in modern stories.
Most of the classics of science fiction, however, have been written within the last one hundred years. Books by writers, such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, to mention just two well–known authors, have been translated into many languages.
In an age where science fact frequently overtakes (超过) science fiction, the writers may find it difficult to keep ahead of scientific advances. Those who are clear-sighted to see how the ways are going, however, may provide a valuable lesson on how to deal with the problems which society will unpreventably face as it tries to master its new technology and come to terms with a continually changing view of the world.
45. It can be concluded that modern science fiction ______
A. is worse than that in the past
B. shows the writer’s viewpoints
C. tells stories about men from other planets
D. has been written only by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells
46. From the article we get the impression that science fiction ______.
A. is popular
B. is a fairly new development in literature
C. reflects the technical advances in the past
D. describes things that happen in developed countries
47. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Science fiction is based on successful films.
B. Science fiction often overtakes science fact.
C. Writers may find it easy to keep ahead of scientific advances.
D. The writer who can see clearly the way we are going will give us valuable instructions.
第二部分阅读理解(共两节,满分50分)
第一节阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
A
I arrived in the classroom, ready to share my knowledge and experience with 76 students who would be my English literature class. Having taught in the US for 17 years, I have no doubt about my ability to hold their attention and to impress on them my admiration for the literature of my mother tongue.
I was shocked when the monitor shouted, “stand up!” The entire class rose as I entered the room and I was somewhat puzzled about how to get them to sit down again, but once the embarrassment (尴尬) was over, I quickly regained my calmness and admiration. I went back to my office with the rosy glow which came from a strong sense of achievement.
My students kept diaries. However, as I read them, the rosy glow was gradually replaced by a strong sense of sadness. The first diary said, “Our literature teacher didn’t teach us anything today. Perhaps her next lecture will be better.” Greatly surprised, I read diary after diary, each expressing a similar theme. “Didn’t I teach them anything? I described the entire Western philosophy (哲学) and laid the historical background for all the works we will study in class.” I complained. “How should they say I didn’t teach them anything?”
It was a long term, and it gradually became clear that my ideas about education were not the same as those of my students. I thought a teacher’s job was to raise interesting questions and provide enough background so that students could draw their own conclusions. My students thought a teacher’s job was to provide exact information as directly and clearly as possible. What a difference!
However, I also learned a lot, and the experience with my Chinese students has made me a better American teacher, knowing how to teach in a different culture.
41. We can know that on the first day the writer ______.
A. felt she didn’t teach them much
B. was very confident in her students
C. felt very confident in herself at first
D. was disappointed at her students’ performance
42. At the beginning of the lesson, the writer got puzzled because of ______.
A. cultural differences B. students’ admiration
C. students’ embarrassment D. the same experience
43. The writer learnt from their diaries that the students wanted to ______.
A. raise interesting questions B. know about background
C. draw their own conclusions D. know more exact facts
44. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The writer got used to the life in China.
B. The writer doubted about her ability of teaching.
C. The writer had taught in many western countries.
D. The writer became better at teaching foreign students.