You will spend hours at the gym training your body, but do you ever think about training your brain? Here are four ways to keep your brain mentally (脑力上地) active and healthy.
Play games
Your brain is a muscle just like the ones in the rest of your body. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. For example, doing a crossword puzzle (纵横填字游戏) once a day is a good way to give the brain the exercise it needs. This kind of puzzle is good at training different areas of the brain. But remember that when doing this puzzle, you should gradually increase the complexity (复杂度); otherwise, it will become repetitive (重复乏味的) and stop being mentally challenging.
Talk aloud
Although it might sound strange to you, talking aloud is a great way to boost your memory. A good exercise to try is counting to 99 in threes as fast as you can.
Be a team leader
If you find you can do your work very easily, you should find a new task. It is important that your job should be mentally challenging. Complex jobs are often more challenging and make the brain work a little harder.
Learn a language
A study found that, compared with those who could speak only one language, the people who could speak two languages had a slower rate of cognitive (认知能力) decrease. Learning a new language is very challenging and it makes sure that different areas of the brain have their lights on. What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Why you should train your brain. |
| B．How to be a good team leader. |
| C．Training the brain is more important than training the body. |
| D．How to make your brain healthy and work actively. |
Which word can replace the word "boost" in the third paragraph?
| A．Change. | B．Promote. | C．Decrease. | D．Lose. |
We should gradually increase the complexity when doing crossword puzzles because ______.
| A．if we don’t use our brain, we will lose it |
| B．we should make our brain face different challenges |
| C．our brain is a muscle like other parts in our bodies |
| D．these puzzles can work on different areas of the brain |
Which group of people have a slower rate of cognitive decrease?
| A．Those who don’t often do crossword puzzles. |
| B．Those who don’t often count to 99 in threes. |
| C．Those who do their work very easily. |
| D．Those who can speak more than one language. |
Everybody in this world is different from one another．But do you know that understanding differences can help you better manage your money？
As we grow up，we gradually develop a set of our own values or beliefs．These are influenced by society，our family，the education we receive and so on．Once this value system is set up，it's not easy to change later in life．
Financial experts say that everyone also has their own belief of how to manage their finances．This is part of our value system and it has a great impact on the way we look after our money．
According to our different values，experts put us in three categories．They are：the ant，the cricket and the snail．
The ant-works first
Just like ants who work heart and soul in summer in order to store food for winter，these people don't care about enjoying the moment．They work very hard and save money they earn so that they can enjoy life when they get old and retire．The ant loves to save but they could make more out of their money if they were willing to invest in some funds and stocks with low risk．
The cricket-fun first
The cricket wants to enjoy everything now and doesn't think too much about the future．They even borrow money when they really want something．Many young people now belong to this group．These people have little savings．When they get old，they might have problems．They should learn to save and buy insurance．
The snail-lives under pressure
The snail refers to people who make life difficult for themselves．They take big long-term loans from the bank in order to buy things such as luxury houses．They are happy to take big loans even though they are not sure whether they can afford it．This can cause problems in the future．They should plan more carefully．People with the character of the snail would like to __________．
| A．enjoy life at the moment without thinking much about the future |
| B．put work before everything else |
| C．live a luxury life at all costs |
| D．take the risk of investing a large sum of money |
Our beliefs and values are affected by the following except __________．
| A．society | B．our family | C．education | D．money |
This passage mainly talks about __________．
| A．the spending nature of people |
| B．the relation between man and insects |
| C．the insects in nature |
| D．the problems with dealing with money |
Which of the following has the character that the author prefers？
| A．The ant | B．The cricket |
| C．The snail | D．None of the above |
A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months．
The system，called driver Alert，aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness．Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue．
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband．The device，worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey．After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘)．A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response．
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time．Usually，a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond，but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds，it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy．
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds，showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest．If the driver’s response continues to slow down，the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warms that the driver must stop as soon as possible．
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing．If these tests，scheduled for six months’ time，are successful，the markers will bring the product to market within about a year．According to the text，Driver Alert ______．
| A．aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents |
| B．has gone through testing at laboratories |
| C．aims to prevent drivers from sleeping |
| D．has been on sale for 12 months |
How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert？
| A．By sounding a warning |
| B．By touching the wristband |
| C．By checking the driving time |
| D．By pressing the steering wheel |
We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ______．
| A．About 400 milliseconds |
| B．below 500 milliseconds |
| C．over 500 milliseconds |
| D．about 400 minutes |
When the driver gets sleepy while driving，Driver Alert ______．
| A．moves more regularly |
| B．stops working properly |
| C．opens the window for the driver |
| D．sounds more frequently and loudly |
I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job．I also think my work is important．There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career（职业）．
I wasn’t an excellent student because I didn’t do much schoolwork．In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn’t have much to offer．I just accepted that I wasn’t the type to have a career．
I then found myself a job．Looking after two little girls，It wasn’t too bad at first．But the problems began when I agreed to live in，so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening．We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week，she’d give me time off the next．But unfortunately，it didn’t often work out．I was getting extremely tired and fed up，because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children．
One Sunday，I was in the park with the children，and met Megan who used to go to school with me，I told her about my situation．She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children．I didn’t think I would be accepted because I didn’t take many exams in school．She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful．My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part – time course．I had to leave my job with the family，and got work helping out at a kindergarten．
Now I’ve got a full – time job there．I shall always be thankful to Megan．I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career，even if you aren’t top of the class at school．What is the author’s present job？
| A．Working part – time in a college． |
| B．Taking care of children for a family． |
| C．Helping children with their schoolwork． |
| D．Looking after children at a kindergarten． |
When staying with the two girls’family，the author__________．
| A．was paid for extra work |
| B．often worked long hours |
| C．got much help from her boss |
| D．took a day off every other week |
Why did the author leave her first job？
| A．She found a full – time job． |
| B．She was fed up with children． |
| C．She decided to attend a part – time course． |
| D．She needed a rest after working extra hours． |
What has the author learned from her own experiences？
| A．Less successful students can still have a career． |
| B．Qualifications are necessary for a career． |
| C．Hard work makes an excellent student． |
| D．One must choose the job she likes． |
Welcome to Adventureland！
Everyone loves Adventureland ！The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore(探索)，enjoy，and admire their wonders．Every visit will be an unforgettable experience．You will go away enriched，longing to come back．What are you going to do this time？
The Travel Pavilion
Explore places you have never been to before，and experience different ways of life．Visit the Amazon jungle(丛林)village，the Turkish market，the Tai floating market，the Berber mountain house and others．Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives，and things they make．You can try making a carpet，making nets，fishing…
The Future Tower
This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives．It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we’ll be living then．Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator(模拟装置)for the Journey to Mars！
The Nature Park
This is not really one park but several．In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers：see lions，giraffes，elephants in the wild．Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales．And then there is still the Aviary to see…
The Pyramid
This is the center of Adventureland．Run out of film，need some postcards and stamps？For all these things and many more，visit our underground shopping center．Come here for information and ideas too．The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors _______．
| A．realize the importance of travelling |
| B．become familiar with mountain countries |
| C．learn how to make things such as fishing nets |
| D．learn something about different places in the world |
If you are interested in knowing about what people’s life will be，you may visit
_______．
| A．the Travel Pavilion |
| B．the Future Tower |
| C．the Safari Park |
| D．the Pyramid |
If you want to get a toy lion to take home，where will you most likely go？
| A．The Pyramid． |
| B．The Nature Park． |
| C．The Future Tower． |
| D．The Travel Pavilion． |
It is easy to lose patience with science today． The questions are pressing: How dangerous is air pollution? What about low-level radiation? When will that horrible earthquake strike California? And why can't we predict weather better? But the evidence is often described as "uncertain", forcing scientists to base their points of view almost as much on intuition（直觉）as on science．
When historians and philosophers of science listen to these questions, some conclude that science may not be able to solve all these problems any time soon． The unknowns can grow into riddles that are impossible to solve． Because of the unstable and changing state of the earth's atmosphere, for example, scientists have struggled for centuries to predict the weather with precision（精确） but failed．
The case is different for scientists of astronomy． For example, they think that the gravitational force of a nearby space vehicle, though tiny, is able to change the path of a much larger planet if the vehicle spends enough time close to it． With the aid of Newton's laws of gravitational attraction, ground controllers can predict the path of a planetary probe （探测仪）-or satellite-with incredible accuracy． They do this by calculating the gravitational force from each of the passing planets until the probe speeds beyond the edge of the solar system．A much more difficult task is to calculate what happens when two or three times of such force pull on the probe at the same time． Such procedures can, of course, be very difficult, but for experiments, they are effective．
This range of questions-from simple problems to those impossibly complex-has resulted in nicknames for various fields of study: "soft" sciences and " hard " sciences．“Soft” sciences admit a great degree of uncertainty． Academicians tend to judge fields such as sociology, psychology, and political science as “soft” because they are assumed to be understandable, of unnecessary mathematical accuracy, and concerned with everyday affairs such as interpersonal relationships． However, "hard" sciences, such as astronomy and chemistry, are said to offer precise answers． Precise definitions for "hard" sciences vary, but the characteristics of "hard" sciences include: producing testable predictions; performing controlled experiments; relying on quantifiable data and mathematical models; a high degree of accuracy and objectivity; and generally applying a pure form of the scientific methodWe can learn from the passage that ．
| A．a large planet is able to change the size of a tiny planet |
| B．ground controllers can affect the gravitational force of planets |
| C．calculating the probe speeds beyond the solar system is possible |
| D．predicting the weather is more difficult than predicting the path of a satellite |
According to the author, "soft" sciences ．
| A．allow for certain inaccuracy |
| B．focus on personal relationships |
| C．are based on controlled experiments |
| D．are rooted in data and mathematical models |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Science, a Long History? |
| B．Science, Accurate or Not? |
| C．Science and Its Functions |
| D．Science and Its Application |
What is the author's attitude towards science in this passage?
| A．Objective． | B．Sceptical． |
| C．Disapproval． | D．Optimistic |