Scientists have produced new evidence suggesting eating lots of red and processed meat damages health．They found big meat eaters had a raised risk of death from all causes over a 10-year period．In contrast, a higher intake of white meat was associated with a slightly reduced risk of death over the same period．
The US study, based on more than 500,000 people, found those whose diet contained the highest proportion (比例) of red or processed meat had a higher overall risk of death, and specifically a higher risk of cancer and heart disease than those who ate the least．
People eating the most meat were eating about 160g of red or processed meat per day— approximately a 6oz steak．Those who ate the least were only getting about 25g per day— approximately a small piece of bacon．Just the opposite, those who ate the highest proportion of white meat had a lower risk of overall death, and a lower risk of fatal cancer or heart disease than those who ate the lowest proportion．
Meat is a major source of saturated (饱和的) fat, which has been associated with breast and colorectal cancer．In addition, lower meat intake has been linked to a reduction in risk factors for heart disease, including lower blood pressure and cholesterol (胆固醇) levels．The latest study adds to a growing body of research linking high red and processed meat consumption to an increased risk of ill health．Ed Yong, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said, “Evidence from large studies tells us that cutting down on processed food, such as bacon or burgers, can reduce the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases．”
Dr Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina stressed there were health benefits from eating some red meat．But he added: “The need is for a major reduction in total meat intake, an even larger reduction in processed meat and other highly processed and salted animal source food products and a reduction in total saturated fat．” Dr Mark Wahlqvist, a nutrition expert from Australia, said eating small amounts of red meat—around 30g a day—provided a good source of key nutrients．He said, “Fresh, lean red meat of these amounts is likely to be of more benefit than harm．”
According to the passage, we know ______．
| A．big meat eaters eat a 6oz steak per day |
| B．big meat eaters have heart disease ten years earlier |
| C．people eating more meat will suffer from a heart attack |
| D．people eating more red meat have a higher risk of death |
Processed meat is a kind of ______．
| A．red meat |
| B．white meat |
| C．vegetable with a similar taste of meat |
| D．meat prepared by producers |
According to the passage, how should we eat red meat in a healthy way?
| A．We should eat red meat as we like． |
| B．We should eat proper amount of red meat per day． |
| C．We should reduce the amount of fresh, red lean meat． |
| D．We should completely cut out red meat from our diet． |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Too much red meat consumption contributes to ill health． |
| B．A well-balanced diet accounts for a healthy life． |
| C．A higher intake of white meat brings benefits． |
| D．Red meat contains saturated fat． |
In every school there is a “top” crowd that sets the pace, while the others follow their lead. Let’s say the top crowd decides that it is smart to wear bright red sweaters. Pretty soon everybody is wearing a bright red sweater.
There is nothing wrong with that, except the fact that on some people bright red sweater is extremely unbecoming. The situation can even become dangerous, if the top crowd decides that it is smart to drink or to drive cars at seventy miles an hour. Then the people who follow the lead are endangering their lives. They are like the sheep being led to the butcher.
Now, chances are that you have come across situations like these more than once in your life; chances are that one time or another you probably did something you knew to be wrong. You may have excused yourself by saying, “Gee, the crowd does it.” Well, let the crowd do it, but don’t do it yourself. Learn to say, “No.”
Develop your own standards and your own judgment. If you know the crowd is planning something you disagree to, have the courage to bow out mannerly. You’ll have the satisfaction of standing on your own two feet.
1. Which is the best title for this passage?
A. Follow the Lead. B. Top Crowd. C. Being Yourself. D. Bright Red.
2. The author doesn’t think it good wearing red sweaters if ________.
A. the crowd does it B. you can’t afford them
C. you don’t look good in red D. the situation isn’t safe
3. According to the passage, people who follow the crowd ________.
A. sometimes do things against their better judgment
B. make mistakes blindly
C. are willing to put their lives in danger
D. will in the end become pace-setters
Have you ever been afraid to talk back when you were treated unfairly? Have you ever bought something just because the salesman talked you into it? Are you afraid to ask a boy (girl) for a date？
Many people are afraid to assert themselves (insist upon their own rights). Dr Robert Alberti, author of Stand Up, Speak Out, and Talk Back, thinks it’s because their self-esteem(自尊) is low. “Our whole set-up makes people doubt themselves,” says Alberti. “There’s always a 'superior' around — a parent, a teacher, a boss — who 'knows better’”.
But Alberti and other scientists are doing something to help people to assert themselves. They offer “assertiveness training” courses (AT). In the AT courses people learn that they have a right to be themselves. They learn to speak out and feel good about doing so. They learn to be aggressive(敢闯, 闯劲儿) without hurting other people.
In one way, learning to speak out is to overcome fear. A group taking an AT course will help the timid person to lose his fear. But AT uses an even stronger motive—the need to share. The timid person speaks out in the group because he wants to tell how he feels. AT says you can get to feel good about yourself. And once you do, you can learn to speak out.
1. In the passage, the writer talks about the problem that _______.
A. some people are too easy-going
B. some people are too timid
C. there are too many superiors around us
D. some people dare not stick up for their own rights
2. The effect of our set-up on people is often to _______.
A. make them distrust their own judgment
B. make things more favorable for them
C. keep them from speaking out as much as their superiors do
D. help them to learn to speak up for their rights
3. One thing AT doesn’t do is to _______.
A. use the need of people to share
B. show people they have the right to be themselves
C. help people to be aggressive at anytime even when others suffer
D. help people overcome fear
My husband and children think they are very lucky that they are living and that it’s Christmas again. They can’t see that we live on a dirty street in a dirty house among people who aren’t much good. But Johnny and children can’t see this. What a pity it is that our neighbours have to make happiness out of all this dirt. I decided that my children must get out of this. The money that we’ve saved isn’t nearly enough.
The McGaritys have money but they are so proud. They look down upon the poor. The McGarity girl just yesterday stood out there in the street eating from a bag of candy(糖果)while a ring of hungry children watched her. I saw those children looking at her and crying in their hearts; and when she couldn’t eat any more she threw the rest down the sewer(下水道). Why, is it only because they have money ? There is more to happiness than money in the world, isn’t there?
Miss Jackson who teaches at the Settlement House isn’t rich, but she knows things. She understands people. Her eyes look straight into yours when she talks with you. She can read your mind. I’d like to see the children be like Miss Jackson when they grow up.
1. This passage mainly suggests that the writer _______.
A. is easy to get along with
B. is unhappy with the life they are living
C. is good at observing and understanding
D. is never pleased with her neigbours
2. What do you think of McGarity girl?
A. She is proud and hungry. B. She is selfish and cruel.
C. She is lonely and friendless. D. She is unhappy and misunderstood.
3. In this text, the writer tries to tell us that _______.
A. money is the key to everything
B. the more money you have, the less happy you’ll be
C. there is something more important than money
D. when talking to people we should look into their eyes
4. Pick out the one that does NOT describe the writer’s view on money.
A. Why, is it only because they have money?
B. There is more to happiness than money.
C. Miss Jackson isn’t rich, but she knows things.
D. The money we saved isn’t nearly enough.
Humans are social animals. They live in groups all over the world. As these groups of people live apart from other groups, over the years and centuries they develop their own habits and ideas, which form different cultures. One important particular side of every culture is how its people deal with time.
Time is not very important in non-industrial societies. The Nuer people of East Africa, for example, do not even have a word TIME that is in agreement with the abstract thing we call time. The daily lives of the people of such non-industrial societies are likely to be patterned around their physical needs and natural events rather than around a time schedule(时间表) based on the clock. They cook and eat when they are hungry and sleep when the sun goes down. They plant crops during the growing seasons and harvest them when the crops are ripe. They measure time not by a clock or calendar(日历), but by saying that an event takes place before or after some other events. Frequently such a society measures days in terms of “sleeps” or longer periods in terms of “moons”. Some cultures, such as the Eskimos of Greenland measure seasons according to the migration of certain animals.
Some cultures which do not have a written language or keep written records have developed interesting ways of “telling time”. For example, when several Australian aborigines want to plan an event for a future time, one of them places a stone on a cliff or in a tree. Each day the angle of the sun changes slightly. In a few days, the rays of the sun strike the stone in a certain way. When this happens, the people see that the agreed-upon time has arrived and the event can take place.
In contrast(成对比), exactly correct measurement of time is very important in modern, industrialized societies. This is because industrialized societies require the helpful efforts of many people in order to work. For a factory to work efficiently(well, quickly and without waste), for example, all of the workers must work at the same time. Therefore, they must know what time to start work in the morning and what time they may go home in the afternoon. Passengers must know the exact time that an airplane will arrive or depart. Students and teachers need to know when a class starts and ends. Stores must open on time in order to serve their customers. Complicated(复杂的) societies need clocks and calendars. Thus, we can see that if each person worked according to his or her own schedule, a complicated society could hardly work at all.
1. By saying “Humans are social animals”, the author means _______.
A. they live all over the world
B. they are different from other animals
C. they live in one place, district or country, considered as a whole
D. they are divided into many groups
2. Time is not very important in non-industrial societies. This is because people in those societies _______.
A. don’t have the word "time" in their languages
B. don’t get used to using clocks and other timepieces
C. don’t measure time in their daily-lives around an exact time schedule
D. don’t need to plan their daily lives around an exact time schedule
3. The Australian aborigines’ way of “telling time” is based on _______.
A. the change of the sun rays
B. the movement of the earth in relation to the sun
C. the position of the stone
D. the position of the tree or the cliff
4. Which of the following might be the best title for this passage?
A. Time and Culture
B. The Measurement of Time
C. Time Schedule and Daily Life
D. Clock, Calendar and Society
BRITAIN is a popular tourist place. But tours of the country have pros and cons.
GOOD NEWS
Free museums. No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities.
Pop music. Britain is the only country to rival(与…匹敌)the US on this score.
Black cabs. London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night.
Choice of food. Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.
Fashion. Not only do fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.
BAD NEWS
Poor service. “It’s part of the image of the place. People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced,” says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center.
Poor public transport. Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the over crowded London tube is inexplicably(难以理解的) popular.
Lack of languages. Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visitors very far, even in the tourist traps(圈套).
Rain. Still in the number one complaint.
No air-conditioning. So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours.
Overpriced hotels. The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.
Licensing hours. Alcohol(酒) is in short supply after 11 pm even in “24-hour cities”.
1. What do tourists complain most?
A. Poor service. B. Poor public transport.
C. Rain. D. Overpriced hotels.
2. What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?
A. Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US.
B. Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US.
C. Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US.
D. Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US.
3. When is alcohol not able to get?
A. At 9: 00 pm B. At 10: 00 pm C. At 11: 00 pm D. At 12: 00 pm
4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. You have to pay to visit the museums.
B. It’s very cheap to travel by taxi there.
C. You cannot find Chinese food there.
D. The public transport is poor there.