D
Losing weight comes with a lot of health benefits—including making your brain sharper.
There have been few studies of overweight and cognitive functioning, (认知功能) possibly because it is generally believed that it is not a primary risk cause for poor cognitive performance. Yet, it turns out that overweight may damage cognitive functions such as memory and attention. Losing weight, therefore, may help improve these mental functions, according to a new research led by John Gunstad, assistant professor of psychology at Kent State University.
Growing evidence suggests that being fat is linked to cognitive deficits (缺陷). So Gunstad and his team guessed that losing weight might improve mental function. For their study, they measured memory and attention in a group of 150 overweight participants, some of whom had some kind of operation for weight loss and some did not. All of the volunteers completed mental skills tests to assess their abilities of memory and attention at the beginning of the study, and again 12 weeks later. To begin with, about 24% of the patients showed damaged learning and 23% showed signs of poor memory when tested. At the end of the study, those who had lost weight after operation improved their scores into the average or above average range for cognitive functions. Scores for the volunteers who didn’t lose weight dropped even further.
The study helped Gunstad to find out whether losing weight had any effect on mental function. Now that he’s seen the positive effect that weight loss can have on memory and attention, he says he will next study those who choose to lose weight by the traditional way—eating healthier and getting more active. He expects that losing weight in this way will have a similarly positive effect on the brain. “If we can improve the condition with operations, then we can probably produce the same change with behavioral weight loss as well,” he says.There is less research on overweight and cognitive functions because researchers _____.
| A. believe overweight only affects our body |
| B. have focused on ways to sharpen people’s mind |
| C. do not consider overweight a main cause for low cognitive ability |
| D. are clear about the relation between weight and mental functions |
The result of Gunstad’s study shows that ______.
| A. losing weight has little effect on people’s memory |
| B. losing weight can improve people’s mental functions |
| C. overweight people are likely to have psychology problems |
| D. overweight people’s abilities of concentration differ greatly |
What is Gunstad planning to prove next in his research?
| A. Slim people are smarter than overweight people. |
| B. Healthy diet is better than exercise in losing weight. |
| C. Traditional ways of losing weight are better than operation. |
| D. Overweight people will get smarter by taking more exercise. |
Which of the following is the best title for the text?
| A．Body Weight and Health |
| B．Losing Weight by Operation |
| C．Ways to Improve Mental Functions |
| D．Losing Weight to Sharpen Your Mind |
Welcome every morning with a smile. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo(回响) through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don’t waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.
Starting the day right can give good momentum (动力) for the rest of the day. Having a power morning is a key factor for a fruitful day. Here are some tips on getting the most out of the morning.
Wake up early. In theory, there’s no difference in waking up early or late as long as you get the proper amount of sleep. However, there is a psychological advantage when you wake up earlier than the average person and then you’ll have more time to do preparation before engaging in the real world.
Exercise. Good health is always a benefit with exercise, but studies have also shown that morning exercise helps you to sleep better at nights.
Eat breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day. According to the Mayo Clinic, we should choose three from the following four: fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein. Did you know that you can actually gain weight when you skip breakfast?
Take a shower. When you shower, do you do it in the morning or at night? I used to shower in the evenings, but I found that morning showers helped me to be more smart.
Prioritize (优先) your To-Do list. Leo coined the acronym(首字母缩略词) MIT to mean “most important tasks.” Our to-do list might be never ending, but put on top of the list a couple of urgent tasks that will define the day to be a successful one.
Check your emails. Only once. Getting a lot of emails can be very distractive（分散精力的）. You actually are more productive when you check them only a few times at fixed time of the day. I only do them 2-3 times a day—once in the morning, once at lunch, and one more as it gets toward the end of the day.
45. The purpose for the author to write this passage is to_______________.
A. tell you to get up early every day
B. offer you the best way to start the day
C. give you advice about how to arrange a day
D. advise you to prioritize your to-do list every morning
46. If you don’t have breakfast, you may__________.
A. lose weight. B. be productive.
C. put on weight. D. be more smart.
47. The underlined word “coined” in Paragraph 6 mean__________.
A. inventedB. designedC. foundedD. defined
48. The author advises you to check your emails only once because__________.
A. the emails are not important
B. reading e-mails is distractive
C. you can only read e-mails at fixed time
D. getting so many emails can distract your attention
第三部分阅读技能 (共三节，满分 40 分)
阅读理解（共 12 小题；每小题 2 分，满分 24 分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Around the world more and more people are taking part in dangerous sports and activities. Of course, there have always been people who have looked for adventure—those who have climbed the highest mountains, travelled into unknown parts of the world or sailed in small boats across the greatest oceans. Now, however, there are people who look for an immediate excitement from a risky activity which may only last a few minutes or even seconds.
I would consider bungee jumping (蹦极跳) to be a good example of such an activity. You jump from a high place with a rubber rope tied to your ankles. You fall at up to 150 kilometers an hour until the rope stops you from hitting the ground. It is said that about 2 million people around the world have now tried bungee jumping. Other activities which most people would say are risky as bungee jumping include jumping from tall buildings and diving into the sea from the top of the high cliffs (悬崖).
Why do people take part in such activities as these? Some psychologists (心理学家) suggest that it is because life in modern societies has become safe and boring. According to many people, life offers little excitement. They live and work in comparatively(相对地)safe conditions; they buy food in shops; and there are doctors and hospitals to look after them if they become ill. The answer for some of these people is to look for danger in activities such as bungee jumping.
41. The best title for the passage is________________ .
A. Dangerous sports: What and Why
B. The Boredom (无聊) of Modern life
C. Bungee Jumping: Is It Really Dangerous
D. The Need for Excitement
42. People probably take part in dangerous sports nowadays because_____________.
A. they have a lot of free time
B. they can go to hospital if they are injured
C. their life is short of excitement
D. they can buy food in shops and no longer need to hunt for food
43. Which of the following descriptions about bungee jumping is right?
A. it’s very boring
B. it’s much easier to do
C. it takes much shorter time to get pleasure
D. it’s hard to find a place for it
44. The writer of this passage_________________.
A. is a lover of dangerous activities himself
B. is against dangerous activities
C. mainly tells people about an exciting activity
D. doesn’t say whether dangerous activities are good or bad
I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994, but I can remember my mother's words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don't want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”
AIDS wasn't something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together any more, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition
worsened. My father's other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.
We couldn't afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher's words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of keeping his condition a secret. I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.
I was 15 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn't want to call attention to AIDS. I do.
72. What does Kerrel tell us about her father?
A. He had stayed in the hospital since he fell ill.
B. He depended on the nurses in his final days.
C. He worked hard to pay for his medication.
D. He told no one about his disease.
73. What can we learn from the underlined sentence?
A. Kerrel couldn't understand her teacher.
B. Kerrel had special difficulty in hearing.
C. Kerrel was too troubled to focus on the lesson.
D. Kerrel was too tired to bear her teacher's words.
74. Why did Kerrel keep her father's disease a secret?
A. She was afraid of being looked down upon.
B. She thought it was shameful to have AIDS.
C. She found no one willing to listen to her.
D. She wanted to obey her mother.
75. Why did Kerrel write the passage?
A. To tell people about the sufferings of her father.
B. To show how little people knew about AIDS.
C. To draw people's attention to AIDS.
D. To remembered her father.
In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections(注射)so that they won't carry disease. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in
almost every kind of store. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month
on animal food. When you visit people's houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a feeding place for birds in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be that their family ties are not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely, but pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.
68. The passage mainly talks about____ .
A. how to keep disease from pets B. pets in Canada
C. how to take good care of pets D. life of the old in Canada
69. They give their pets injections before keeping them at their houses because ____.
A. the pets are sick B. the pets are wild
C. they want to stop them from getting sick D. they want them to sleep on the way home
70. In Canada, children leave their parents when they grow up because ____.
A. they don't love their parents any more
B. they can only find jobs far from their parents
C. their parents houses are too small
D. they wouldn't depend on their parents any more
71. Which of the following is TRUE？
A. People buy animal food only at the animal food stores. B. Pets eat better than people.
C. Almost every family has a birdcage in his house.
D. Any bird can come to the bird feeders to eat.
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.
64. 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.
65. 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
66. 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.
67. 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 like.