I'm fat, I'm too skinny．I'd be happy if I were taller, shorter, had curly hair, straight hair, a smaller nose, bigger muscles, longer legs．
Do any of these statements sound familiar? Are you used to putting yourself down? If so, you' re not alone．As a teen, you're going through many changes in your body．And as your body changes, so does your image of yourself．Lots of people have trouble adjusting, and this can affect their self-esteem （自尊） ．
If you have a positive body image, you probably like and accept yourself the way you are．This healthy attitude allows you to explore other aspects of growing up, such as developing good friendships, growing more independent from your parents, and challenging yourself physically and mentally．Developing these parts of yourself can help boost （提升） yourself-esteem．
A positive attitude and a healthy lifestyle （such as exercising and eating right） are a great combination for building good self-esteem．
Some people think they need to change how they look or act to feel good about themselves． But actually all you need to do is change the way you see your body and how you think about yourself．
The first thing to do is recognize that your body is your own, no matter what shape, size or color it comes in．If you are very worried about your weight or size, check with your doctor to verify （核实） that things are OK．But it is no one's business but your own what your body is like—ultimately, you have to be happy with yourself．
Next, identify which aspects of your appearance you can realistically change and which you can't．Everyone has things about themselves that they can't change and need to accept—like their height, for example, or their shoe size．
When you hear negative comments coming from within yourself, tell yourself to stop．Try building your self-esteem by giving yourself three good things every day．By focusing on the good things you do and the positive aspects of your life, you can change how you feel about yourself．
The most important thing is to get help if you feel like your body image and self-esteem are affecting your life．If we have a positive body image, we will_____．
| A．concentrate on our body image only |
| B．not develop strong self-esteem |
| C．like and accept ourselves as we are |
| D．be less independent of our parents |
______ can NOT help to boost your self-esteem．
| A．Growing independent from your parents |
| B．Accepting your own body as it actually is |
| C．Having a positive attitude and a healthy lifestyle |
| D．Improving your body image as much as you can |
To improve our body image, we have to _____．
| A．think about ourselves |
| B．be happy with ourselves |
| C．change the shape, size or color of one's body |
| D．check with our doctor to verify that our body is OK |
Which is probably the best title of the passage?
| A．Importance of Body Image | B．Effects on a Person's Self-esteem |
| C．Tips for Improving Body Image | D．Self-esteem and Body Image |
Bringing Art into Hospitals
The medical world is gradually realizing that the quality of the environment in hospitals may play an important role in helping patients to get better.
As part of nationwide effort in Britain to bring art out of the museums and into public places, some of the country’s best artists have been called in to change older hospitals and to soften the hard edges of modern buildings. Of the 2500 national health service hospitals in Britain, almost 100 now have very valuable collections of present art in passages, waiting areas and treatment rooms.
These recent movements first started by one artist, Peter Senior, who set up his studio at a Manchester hospital in northeastern England during the early 1970s.He felt the artist had lost his place in modern society, and that art should be enjoyed by a wider audience(观众).
A common hospital waiting room might have as many as 5 000 visitors each week. What a better place to hold regular exhibitions of art! Senior held the first exhibition of his own paintings in the out—patient’s waiting area of the Manchester Royal Hospital in 1975.Believed to be Britain’s first hospital artist. Senior was so much in demand that he was soon joined by a team of six young art school graduates.
The effect is striking. Now in the passages and waiting rooms the visitor experiences a full view of fresh colours, playful images(形象)and restful courtyards.
The quality of the environment may reduce the need for expensive drugs when a patient is recovering from an illness. A study has shown that patients who had a view onto gardens needed half the number of strong pain killers compared with patients who had no view at all or only a brick wall to look at. Some best artists of Britain have been called in to__________.
| A．set up new hospitals |
| B．make the corners of the hospital collect paintings |
| C．bring art into hospitals |
| D．help patients recover from serious illnesses |
After the improvement of the hospital environment,__________.
| A．patients no longer take drugs to kill their pains |
| B．patients don’t have to stay long in hospital |
| C．patients need fewer pain killers when they suffer from an illness |
| D．patients feel happy in hospital |
It can inferred from the passage that__________.
| A．the role of hospital environment is important. |
| B．hospital artists have done more than doctors |
| C．exhibitions attract more audience in hospitals than in museums |
| D．the hospital is a better place for people. |
Last year, I met a little boy to whom my heart went out. He would talk to me every single day, and always seemed to have a smile on his face. His problem was that he stuttered (口吃) extremely badly when he tried to talk. It was really hard to understand what he was saying, although he loved to tell big tales!
One morning, I was talking to the teachers who ran the school store. The boy stopped by and said hello to all of us. Afterwards they told me that the boy would stop every day to ask if they would be there the next day. But of course, he never had money to buy anything.
I decided that I would get him a little something just as a surprise. So I picked out a pencil, a rubber, and a small notebook for just $1.00. I cannot describe the look on his face when I gave him the three little things. Then, without a stutter, he loudly said, "Thank you so much!" and just kept repeating, "Thank you! Thank you!" He gave me a big hug before going off to class.
I was touched to see someone appreciate something that much. As he walked off, he was showing his new stuff to other kids walking to class. I have to say that I have never spent a dollar that would mean so much to me.Why did the boy never buy anything from the store?
| A．Because he couldn’t make himself understood. |
| B．Because the teachers were unwilling to sell him anything. |
| C．Because he couldn’t afford anything. |
| D．Because he could never decide what to buy. |
What do we learn from the third paragraph?
| A．Actually the boy had no stutter at all. |
| B．The boy was too excited to stutter at the moment. |
| C．What the author had bought helped the boy speak normally. |
| D．The author wanted to find out whether the boy really had a stutter. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．A Stuttering Boy |
| B．Kindness Can Do Wonders |
| C．One Dollar Can Buy Anything |
| D．The Best Dollar I Have Spent |
What is the boy’s attitude to his life?
| A．active | B．passive | C．disappointed | D．fearful |
When you watch TV programs about wild animals, it is surprising to see how an antelope can escape a lion’s attack. In the wilderness, everyone has a stunt. Even plants have their own ways of fighting off enemies.
Over millions of years of evolution, plants have developed a unique defence system. Chemicals are wildly used for survival. By making their leaves, flowers, roots and fruits distasteful or poisonous(有毒的) to enemies, plants can fight back.
One such plant is the Golden Wattle tree. The British scientist David Cameron has found when an animal eats the tree’s leaves, the amount of poison increases in the other leaves. “It’s like the damaged leaves telephoning the others telling them to fight together against the enemy, ” he said.
The tree also sends defence messages to neighboring plants by giving out a special smell. Golden Wattle trees in the surrounding 45 meters will get the message and produce more poison within 10 minutes. Now, if an enemy eats too many of the trees’ leaves, it will die.
Every species of plant or tree is good at the production of a particular set of chemicals. A herbivore that can safely eat the leaves of one tree may be poisoned by its neighbor.
In this way, plants have developed not only individual defence system, but also shared it with others. This makes it impossible for a single animal to destroy even a small area of forest. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Plants Fight back with Poisons |
| B．Plants Can Kill Animals |
| C．Animals and Plants |
| D．Lions and Antelopes |
According to the study, if one Golden Wattle tree is attacked by animals, it can________.
| A．tell other trees to protect it |
| B．produce more poison within 10 minutes |
| C．send defence messages to the neighboring plants |
| D．kill the animals with its leaves |
In this passage the underlined word “herbivore” probably means animals which ________.
| A．live on both animals and plants | B．feed on smaller animals |
| C．live on trees | D．feed on plants or grass |
The last paragraph of the passage suggests that this kind of defence system________.
| A．does great harm to the animals | B．does good to the forests |
| C．is helpful to some animals | D．harms the forests |
When most people turn 21, they spend too much time partying and having fun. But when Adele turned 21, she did something completely different.
After going through a tough breakup(分手), the British singer turned her pain into glory and recorded one of the most moving albums of the year.
The album, 21, which was released in January, has already hit the charts in 14 countries, according to the Billboard magazine.
It also noted that Adele made history as the first artist since the Beatles to have two top five singles and two top five albums in the charts at the same time (Adele’s first album, 19, was released in 2008. Each album is named for her age when she wrote it).
Now, after touring around the world for almost a year, the DVD of her live concert, released on November 29, is Adele’s latest work.
Having topped the pre-order list of Amazon. com for over a month already, this one seems set to stay on top for a while.
Born in north London, Adele sang her way up honestly: In 2006, she was signed by England’s XL Recordings on the strength of (基于)a three-song demo(样本唱片) a friend of hers had posted on MySpace;within two years she had won the BRIT Awards ‘Critics’ Choice prize and been tipped by the BBC as the “Sound of 2008”.
In 2009 she got the best new artist Grammy Award, and went on a world tour in support of the album 19 with a sold-out show in Los Angeles.
According to Adele herself, much of the inspiration of her music comes from one single breakup.
That’s probably what has made the singer’s success-that emotional certitude(确信), according to Dickins.
“The key to great singers is believing every single word they sing, ” he said. “And I think you believe every word that comes out of Adele’s mouth. You can feel her life force through her voice. ”When she wrote album 19, she is at the age of______.
| A．21 | B．18 | C．20 | D．19 |
How many awards did Adele get?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
The underlined word “released” can be best replaced by ______.
| A．recorded | B．came out |
| C．sold | D．written |
In Adele’s opinion, where does her inspiration of music mainly come from?
| A．Emotional certitude. | B．One single breakup. |
| C．A three-song demo. | D．A world tour. |
Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure (血压) and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.
Any owner will tell you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress (紧张) levels and blood pressure in people— half of them pet owners —while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic (算术) or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did it best. Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned most quickly to baseline heart rates. With pets in the room, people also made fewer math mistakes than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more relaxed (放松)around pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don't judge.
A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital spent a year studying 36 fat people and their equally fat dogs on diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of 56 people without pets were put on a diet program. On average, people lost about 11 pounds, or 5% of their body weight. Their dogs did even better, losing an average of 12 pounds, more than 15% of their body weight. Dog owners didn't lose any more weight than those without dogs but, say researchers, got more exercise overall-mostly with their dogs - and found it worth doing.What does the text mainly discuss?
| A．What pets bring to their owners. | B．How pets help people calm down. |
| C．People's opinions of keeping pets. | D．Pet's value in medical research. |
We learn from the text that a person with heart disease has a better chance of getting well if_________.
| A．he has a pet companion | B．he has less stress of work |
| C．he often does mental arithmetic | D．he is taken care of by his family |
According to Allen, why did the people do better with pets around when facing stressful tasks?
| A．They have lower blood pressure. | B．They become more patient. |
| C．They are less nervous. | D．They are in higher spirits. |
The research mentioned in the last paragraph reports that________.
| A．people with dogs did more exercise |
| B．dogs lost the same weight as people did |
| C．dogs liked exercise much more than people did |
| D．people without dogs found the program unhelpful |