To get an extra 14 years of life, don't smoke, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and drink alcohol in a proper amount.That is according to a study published this Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal.
After tracking more than 20,000 people aged 45 to 79 years in the United Kingdom from about 1993 to 2007, Kay-Tee Khaw of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues found that people who adopted these four healthy habits lived all average of 14 years longer than those who didn't.
“We've known for a long time that these behaviors are good things to do, but we've not seen this benefit before, ” said Susan Jebb, head of Nutrition and Health at Britain's Medical Research Council.“The benefit was also seen regardless of whether or not people were fat and what social class they came from.”
Study participants(参与者)scored a point each for not smoking, regular physical activity, eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and moderate alcohol intake.
Public health experts said they hoped the study would inspire governments to introduce policies helping people to adopt these changes.But because the study only observed people rather than testing specific changes, it would be impossible to conclude that people who suddenly adopted these healthy behaviors would surely gain 14 years.
“We can't say that any person could gain 14 years by doing these things, ”said Dr.Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization.“The 14 years is an average across the population of what's theoretically(理论上地)possible.”
“Most people know that things like a good diet matter and that smoking isn't good for them, ” Susan Jebb said.“We need to work on providing people with much more practical support to help them change.”Which of the following DOESN'T belong to the four healthy habits?
A.Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. |
B.Do proper exercise in the morning every day. |
C.Drinking alcohol in the proper amount every day. |
D.Having a cigarette before going to bed every day. |
We can learn from the passage that .
A.Susan Jebb did not take part in the study. |
B.the study observed people as well as tested specific changes. |
C.there's no need for people under 45 to adopt these good habits. |
D.only those from first class can benefit from these healthy behaviors. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
A.All the people are well aware of the harm of their bad habits. |
B.People aged 45 to 70 have bad habits in the United Kingdom. |
C.Governments should take measures to help people change their bad habits. |
D.People have adopted the four healthy habits after knowing they're good. |
What would be the best title for this passage?
A.Smoking and Drinking Cuts You 14 Years |
B.How to Live a Much Healthier Life |
C.How to Make Your Life Longer Than Others |
D.Healthy Habits May Give Extra 14 Years |
I don’t like my parents. They always tell me I should do this, and should not do that. It sometimes makes me angry,” said Liu Dan, a middle school student in Beijing. Do you have the same problem? Perhaps your parents had the same problem when they were your age long ago. Why does it seem that some parents are not so friendly in their children’s eyes?
One of the biggest things is when someone becomes a parent, he or she likes worrying things. They worry about everything about you from the time you were born. They do a lot for you, though something would make you angry, because they care about you and worry about you. They worry about your choice of friends, the food you eat, your work at school, how much sleep you get, etc. All these things are part of your life. They want you to grow up healthily and happily.
So how can you make things easier on yourself? It’s easier than you think. Just make sure your parents know what you’re doing. Get them to know your friends. Call them if you stay somewhere else later than usual. Say sorry to them when you make mistakes. Take responsibility for what you have done. Talk about your ideas with them. They may talk about theirs with you.
Most of all, try to think about why your parents do this or do that. They are still practicing being parents and need help you can give them. Someday, when you become a parent, they may be able to help you how to get on with your children.The writer of the passage doesn’t agree that _______.
A.parents want you to grow up healthily |
B.parents don’t want you to make some bad friends |
C.parents worry about everything about you |
D.parents want to control you |
Some of the children are angry with their parents in the passage because ________.
A.the parents think they eat too much |
B.the parents don’t like the friends that their children have made |
C.the children don’t live with their parents |
D.the children are limited by their parents |
“They are still practicing being parents.” means _______.
A.parents are not always right | B.parents should practice more |
C.parents have many mistakes | D.parents are always right |
The main idea in this passage is that _______.
A.some of the parents in China don’t love their children |
B.children and parents should understand more about each other |
C.parents should worry too much about their children |
D.children should bear everything their parents arranged |
Reduce, reuse, and recycle. This familiar environmentalist slogan tells us how to reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills and waterways. The concept is being used to deal with one possibly dangerous form of waste — electronic junk (电子垃圾), such as old computers, cell phones, and televisions. But this process for managing e-waste may be used in an unscrupulous way more often than not used, a recent report suggests.
“A lot of these materials are being sent to developing nations under the excuse of reuse — to bridge the digital divide,” said Richard Gutierrez, a policy researcher.
One of the problems is that no one proves whether these old machines work before they hit the seaways. Because of this, the report says, e-waste is a growing problem in Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere in the developing world. Much of the waste ends up being thrown away along rivers and roads. Often it’s picked apart by poor people, who may face dangerous exposure to poisonous chemicals in the equipment.
Businessmen also pay workers a little money to get back materials such as gold and copper. This low-tech recovery process could expose workers and the local environment to many dangerous materials used to build electronics. According to Gutierrez, this shadow economy exists because the excuse of recycling and reusing electronics gives businessmen “a green passport” to ship waste around the globe. “Developing nations must take upon some of the responsibility themselves,” Gutierrez said. But, he added, “A greater portion of this responsibility should fall on the exporting state.”
China, for example, has become a dumping place for large amounts of e-waste. The nation is beginning to take action to stop the flow of dangerous materials across its borders. The Chinese government, after many years of denial is finally beginning to take the lead. The passage mainly tells us that _______.
A.developing countries are facing serious environmental problems |
B.e-waste is sent to developing countries under the excuse of reuse |
C.developing countries are making full use of e-waste |
D.e-waste is a growing problem in developed countries |
What does the third paragraph mainly discuss?
A.A lot of e-waste is dumped in developing countries. |
B.Poor people break up e-waste to collect some valuable materials. |
C.The problem of e-waste is growing in developing countries. |
D.Old computers and TVs still work before they are sent abroad. |
The underlined word “unscrupulous” in Paragraph 1 probably means “________”.
A.immoral | B.wrong | C.proud | D.unsafe |
From what Gutierrez said we can learn that ________.
A.developing countries should be responsible for this problem |
B.exporting countries should be mainly responsible for this problem |
C.neither rich nor poor countries should be blamed for this problem |
D.poor countries should be blamed for this problem |
There is an old saying in English: "Laughter is the best medicine". Until recently, few people took the saying very seriously. Now, however, doctors have begun to investigate laughter and the effects it has on the human body. They have found evidence that laughter really can improve people's health.
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body. People watched funny films, while doctors checked their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and muscles. It was found that laughter has similar effects to physical exercise. It increases blood pressure, the heart rate and the rate of breathing; it also works several groups of muscles in the face, the stomach, and even the feet. If laughter exercises the body, it must be beneficial.
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to be capable of reducing the effect of pain on the body. In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programs. The group which tolerated the pain for the longest time was 'the group which listened to a funny program. The reason why laughter can reduce pain seems to be that it helps to produce endorphins (内啡肽) in the brain. These are natural chemicals which diminish both stress and pain.
There is also some evidence to suggest that laughter helps the body's immune(免疫的)system, that is, the system which fights infection. In an experiment, one group of students watched a funny video while another group served as the control group - in other words, a group with which to compare the first group. Doctors checked the blood of the students in both groups and found that the people in the group that watched the video had an increase in the activity of their white blood cells, that is, the cells which fight infection.
As a result of these discoveries, some doctors and psychiatrists (精神病学家) in the United States now hold laughter clinics, in which they try to improve their patients' condition by encouraging them to laugh. They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce beneficial effects similar to those caused by laughter. We learn from the first paragraph that laughter____________________.
A.is good for one's health |
B.is related to some illness |
C.has been investigated long since |
D.has no effect on the body |
Doctors have found that laughter_______________________.
A.keeps down blood pressure. |
B.has similar effects to physical exercise |
C.decreases the heart rate |
D.increases stress |
Which of the following statements is NOT true of laughter, according to the passage?
A.It reduces pain. |
B.It exercises the body. |
C.It improves the body's immune system. |
D.It can cure cancer. |
The writer's attitude towards laughter is__________.
A.critical |
B.doubtful |
C.positive |
D.negative |
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从第31至第40小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。
Dear Mr. Takashhi,
I am writing to apologize for any misunderstandings that occurred when I showed you around Beijing the other day. I noticed that you were a bit 31when I put the business card you gave me in my 32without looking at it. And 33did not know why you kept making an OK sign and why you 34so many things. After reading a magazine article, I know that Japanese people give out their business cards 35they greet others and they would like others to look at their cards carefully. So I should have read your 36before I put it in my pocket. And I also know why you bought so many things 37 . Because gift-giving is expected in Japan and on a trip, you must bring back lots of 38 . As for the OK sign, I now know it is a request for small change.
I feel very sorry for not having known these 39habits earlier. I hope you can forgive me for all these misunderstandings. I hope 40our next meeting will be happier.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hualing
1. A. pleased B. upset C. excited D. encouraged
2. A. hand B. box C. watch D. pocket
3. A. I B. you C. we D. nobody
4. A. made B. saw C. bought D. eat
5. A. unless B. before C. after D. when
6. A. faces B. books C. cards D. clothes
7. A. there B. here C. home D. everywhere
8. A. gifts B. photos C. pictures D. sweets
9. A. strange B. rare C. unusual D. cultural
10. A. which B. that C. when D. where
Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
Researchers used a cartoon cat Sylvester to study how language was reflected (反映) in the gestures people made. Dr. Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol’s Department of Experimental Psychology (心理学), showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described the actions they had seen. He found speakers of the three different languages used different gestures to describe the same event, which appeared to reflect the way the structure of their languages expressed that event. For example, when describing a scene where the cat swings on a rope, the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory (弧形轨迹) and the Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing the motion but not the arc.
Dr. Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no proper verb to express the English meaning “to swing”. While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the idea of movement with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
Dr. Kita said, “My research suggests that speakers of different languages cause different spatial (空间的) images of the same event in a way that matches the expressive possibilities of their own languages. In other words, language influences (影响) spatial thinking at the moment of speaking.”
68. Researchers watched the gestures the people made because they wanted to know _____.
A.how language was reflected |
B.whether they could express the same idea |
C.whether they could describe what they had seen |
D.how the structure of language changed |
69. After watching the gestures of speakers of the three different languages, Dr. Kita concluded that _____.
A.Japanese and Turkish people couldn’t express the meaning of “swing” |
B.English was obviously better than Japanese and Turkish |
C.no word in Japanese and Turkish could express some ideas of English |
D.every language had its own special way to describe things |
70.What is mainly discussed in the text?
A.Differences between languages. |
B.Differences between gestures. |
C.How people use different gestures to express the same event. |
D.That language influences the way people think. |