Did you know that reading can keep your mind active and engaged well into old age?
Several years ago when I was working as a newspaper reporter, I interviewed a woman who was a resident at a local nursing home. She was 100 years old. She read at least one book per week, mostly novels. She was bright, intelligent and fun to talk with.
“I love to read. It helps me keep up with what’s going on in the world,” she said. “A friend of mine brings me a new book every week. I look forward to her visits and I look forward to the books.”
“I can’t get around much any more,” said the 100-year-old woman, “but when I read, I can go anywhere, anytime I want. And no one has to help me!”
Reading also sets a good example for younger generations. I have observed that the best readers are those students who see their parents reading. And I’m not talking about only reading novels. Newspapers and magazines are important too. Your actions will communicate a great deal to your children and grandchildren about what you value.
But why is reading so important? In this day and age, with television to give us news, and movies and videos to keep us entertained, who needs to read?
The answer is everyone.
Developing good reading skills does not only mean that you can read a novel or a magazine, it also means being able to read and understand things like a credit card contract or an insurance policy, or the instructions for how to put a new printer to use with your computer. In addition, developing good reading skills means that you can think for yourself. You can read about the advantages and disadvantages of anything from homeschooling to taking a vacation to Ireland. And then you can make up your own mind about what’s best for you and your family.The example of the 100-year-old woman is used to _______.
| A．inform us of a woman who loved reading |
| B．show a new way of gaining information |
| C．find differences between books and travels |
| D．introduce the benefits of reading books |
The 100-year-old woman loved reading because _______.
| A．reading helped her meet her friends |
| B．reading could broaden her horizons |
| C．she wanted to escape from the real world |
| D．she taught her grandchildren to read |
Who are most likely to be book lovers according to the author?
| A．The kids taught by intelligent teachers. |
| B．The kids forced to read by their serious parents. |
| C．The kids influenced by book lovers around them. |
| D．The kids curious about the outside world. |
We can infer form the passage that _______.
| A．other media are less important than books |
| B．the old woman’s friend was a bookseller |
| C．understanding is important in reading |
| D．the author once worked in a nursing home |
In which part of a newspaper would the passage be most likely to appear?
| A．Business | B．Lifestyle | C．Travel | D．History |
The Cuban iguana is a species of lizard（蜥蜴） of the iguana family． It is the largest of the West Indian rock iguanas, one of the most endangered groups of lizards． This species with red eyes and a thick tail is one of the largest lizards in the Caribbean．
The Cuban iguana is primarily herbivorous; 95% of its diet consists of the leaves, flowers and fruits from as many as 30 plant species, including the seaside rock bush and various grasses． However, Cuban iguanas occasionally consume animal matter, and individuals have been observed eating the dead flesh of birds, fish and crabs, The researchers wrote that quite a few people on Isla Magueyes could have caused this incident．
The Cuban iguana is distributed throughout the rocky southern coastal areas of mainland Cuba and its surrounding islands with a wild population booming on Isla Magueyes, Puerto Rico． It is also found on the Cayman Islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where a separate subspecies occurs． Females guard their nest sites and often nest in sites half destroyed by Cuban crocodiles． To avoid the attack from them, the Cuban iguana often makes its home within or near prickly-pear cacti （仙人掌）．
In general the species is in decline, more quickly on the mainland than on the outlying islands． One of the reasons for their decline is habitat destruction caused by the over consuming of farm animals, housing development, and the building of tourist resorts on the beaches where the animals prefer to build their nests． Although the wild population is in decline, the numbers of iguanas have been sharply increased as a result of captive-breeding（圈养） and other conservation programs．．The underlined word "herbivorous" （Paragraph 2） probably means ．
| A．dangerous | B．gentle |
| C．plant-eating | D．flesh-eating |
．Why does the Cuban iguana build its nest near prickly-pear cacti?
| A．To keep itself cool． | B．To get the food easily． |
| C．To stay away from people． | D．To avoid crocodiles' attack． |
．How many reasons are mentioned for the habitat destruction?
| A．Two． | B．Three． | C．Four． | D．Five． |
．What's the author's purpose of writing the text?
| A．To give us a brief introduction to the Cuban iguana． |
| B．To show he is concerned about the Cuban iguana． |
| C．To explain reasons for the Cuban iguana's decline． |
| D．To draw people's attention to the endangered Cuban iguana． |
My 16-year-old son, Anton, had gone to the local swimming hole． Most of the kids swim there, and there are plenty of rocks for them to use as safe harbors, so I had no fears for his safety．
Still, the firefighter's first words "You need to come up here to the Stillwater River" made me catch my breath, and his follow-up words gave me relief: “ Your son is OK．”
When I got to the river, I immediately saw the firetruck, ambulance and Anton, wrapped with a towel about his shoulders, sitting quietly on a low platform of the fire engine．
I hurried over to him． "You OK?"I asked．
”Yeah," was all he said． But my eyes begged for an explanation, I didn't get it from my son, however, who tends to play his cards close to his vest．
The story was this: A woman was being swept under water． Hearing the cries, Anton and his friend Tyler, without hesitation, swam out to her, and brought her safely to shore．
In an age in which the word "hero" is broadcast with abandon and seemingly applied to anyone who make it through the day, I realized the real thing in my son． The teens are stubborn and self-centred, but that didn't mean they have no desire to do good．
Still shocked by my son's daring, I drove him home． Along the way, I tried to dig out some more information from him - but he had precious little to say． The only words he said were,
”What's for supper?"
I spent some time alone that evening, thinking about the tragedy that might have been． The next morning, when Anton got up, I half expected him to tell me the story． But all he did was toast some bread, pull himself together, and head for the door to start a new day． Watching from the window,1 was reminded that still water often runs deep．Why did the mother allow her son to swim there?
| A．He was an excellent swimmer． |
| B．The water of the river is shallow． |
| C．He was old enough to swim． |
| D．The rocks can be of help if there's danger． |
The underlined part "who tends to play his cards close to his vest" probably means
| A．Anton is a boy fond of swimming with other kids |
| B．Anton is unwilling to tell others what he thinks |
| C．Anton always has a desire to help others |
| D．Anton seldom changes his mind |
In the mother's eyes, what her son did was
| A．dangerous but interesting |
| B．unexpected and courageous |
| C．meaningful but difficult |
| D．awful and absurd |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．My Son, My Hero | B．Anton, A Silent Boy |
| C．A Good Deed | D．A Proud Mother |
Up to two-fifths of a food crop is often wasted because it is “ugly”, a report on food waste has shown.
Produce grown in the UK that does not meet retailer(零售商) standards on appearance is often given to animals or thrown out even though it is healthy to eat.
The report from the UK’s global food security program also showed that the average household throws away more than 5kg of food a week, and nearly two-thirds of that waste is avoidable.
The waste costs £ 480 a year per household on average, and £ 680 per family.
Households throw away a fifth of the food they buy, wasting it for reasons ranging from cooking too much to not using it before it goes bad, the study showed.
Consumption is the top area where food is wasted in the UK, the study said.
Farmers respond to consumer demands for high-quality food with standards that can lead to the crop being wasted. Some supermarkets have started marketing “odd shapes and sizes” of fruit and vegetables, though.
Also, more UK consumers are prepared to accept “ugly” fruit and vegetables, amid concerns over sustainability(可持续发展) and food prices, the research said.
In developing countries, much of the loss of food occurs during post-harvesting storage, processing and packaging.
Tackling waste globally is necessary to feed a growing world population sustainably. One in eight people worldwide doesn’t have enough food, the report said.
Around a third of food produced globally is lost or wasted.
Professor Tim Benton, an expert on food security at the University of Leeds, said: “Over 5 million people in the UK live in poverty, where basic food provision is a daily challenge.”
Nearly 400,000 people used food banks last year, according to the Trussell Trust.
“At the same time, 15 million tons of food is wasted annually, with nearly half thrown away within UK households. Reducing the scale(范围) of losses and waste throughout the food system is a crucial step.”
The report highlights priorities(优先事项) for research to help reduce food waste, including improving harvesting and packaging technologies and seasonal weather prediction.
Food waste in developing nations is mainly due to .
| A．fast growing populations |
| B．huge demand for high-quality foods |
| C．poor technology in food industries |
| D．people’s lack of concern about food shortages |
We can conclude from the article that .
| A．over half of the food produce in the UK is wasted within households |
| B．“ugly” fruits and vegetables are becoming more and more popular in the UK |
| C．avoiding food waste could, by itself, solve food shortage problems around the world |
| D．developing better farming and packaging technologies is key to reducing food waste |
Which of the following statements might Professor Tim Benton agree with?
| A．British farmers should keep up with their high growing standards. |
| B．The number of people living in poverty is growing too fast in Britain. |
| C．There is still much to do to improve British people’s awareness of food sustainability. |
| D．British supermarkets should be encouraged to sell food of odd shapes and sizes. |
What is suggested in the report?
| A．Cutting food prices. |
| B．Using different approaches to reduce food waste. |
| C．Improving the appearance of food. |
| D．Cooking at home more often. |
Here is a task for you: try to make as many kinds of facial expressions as you can. How many can you come up with?
Facial expressions are like a window to your emotions inside. Scientists used to believe that we only have six basic emotions-happy, sad, fearful, angry, surprised and disgusted-and ,therefore, each of our facial expressions falls into one of the six categories.
But it turns out that this is just the tip of the iceberg. In a recent study, scientists from Ohio State University, US, mapped 21 different facial expressions, more than tripling(是……的三倍) the original number, reported Science Daily.
Restricting emotions to just six categories is like “painting only using primary colors”, said Aleix Martinez, the lead researcher. He believed that human emotions are much richer than that, which is why he and his team decided to use advanced computer technology for further investigation.
In the experiment, scientists photographed 230 volunteers-100 male and 130 female-while they made faces in response to different words such as “you smell a bad odor(气味)”. They then closely studied the images by examining key muscles on volunteers’ faces, such as the corners of the mouth or the outer edge of the eyebrow, and finally identified 21 different expressions. These included what seem to be contradictory emotions such as “happily disgusted” and “sadly angry”, which scientists call “compound(混合的) emotions”.
Take “happily disgusted” as an example.” Putting on a happy face is usually done by drawing up the cheeks and smiling while a disgusted face often involves a scrunched-up(皱起的) nose and eyes. So the “happily disgusted” emotion created an expression that combined the smile of happy with the scrunched-up eyes and nose of disgusted. It was the emotion test subjects felt when something “gross(恶心的)” happened that was also funny-for example, when people spill(洒出) a lot of food on their clothes.
Similarly, “happily surprised” is an expression for receiving unexpected good news. “Sadly angry” is the face we make when someone we care about makes us angry.
According to Martinez, the researchers’ next step is to study the pathways and chemicals in the brain that activate(激活) and recognize those emotions. He believes that this could lead to effective treatments for people who suffer from conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD,创伤后应激障碍), which involves a lack of recognition of other people’s emotions.The underlined part “this is just the tip of the iceberg” in Paragraph 3 probably means .
| A．this is a truth known to us all |
| B．this is the total amount of something |
| C．this is easily seen or discovered |
| D．this is only the smallest and most obvious part of something |
How does the author explain the definition of “compound emotions” in the article?
| A．With comparisons. |
| B．Through examples. |
| C．Through cause and effect analysis. |
| D．By presenting research findings. |
According to the article, people are likely to become happily disgusted when .
| A．they receive unexpected good news |
| B．someone they don’t care about makes them happy |
| C．something unpleasant but also funny happens |
| D．they successfully escape from a dangerous situation |
What can we conclude from the article?
A. There are several contradictory emotions we tend to overlook.
B. Females have more contradictory emotions than males do.
C. The chemicals in the brain that activate emotions are easy to identify.
D. Martinez’s next goal is to find an effective cure for people who suffer from PTSD.
Everyone has those nights-you lie in your bed for hours, tossing and turning, totally unable to fall asleep. You wish you could just turn your brain off as if it were a light. That would make things much easier, wouldn’t it?
Now it looks like you are one step closer to this wild dream of yours-scientists from Oxford University, UK have just discovered the “switch” that tells the brain to go to sleep, reported Forbes.
To understand the study, you first need to know that there are two mechanisms(机能) that regulate sleep. There’s one that we’re already familiar with —our body clock, which works in a 24-hour cycle based on the light changes throughout the day.
The other one is what scientists call the sleep “homeostat(动态平衡系统)”. This mechanism has nothing to do with daylight. Instead, it keeps track of the brain’s waking hours and urges it to rest if it has been awake for a long time. “It is similar to the thermostat(自动调温器) in your home. A thermostat measures temperature and switches on the heating if it’s too cold,” Professor Gero Miesenbock, who led the study, told The Telegraph.
Our bodies use both of the mechanisms to regulate sleep. “The body clock says it’s the right time, and the sleep thermostat has built up pressure during a long waking day,” explained Miesenbock.
There is no way that scientists can trick the body clock. But with the sleep homeostat, there might be something they can do.
The researchers found that the sleep homeostat works by activating a specific group of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. They tested their theory on fruit flies by removing the neurons from the insects’ brains. And as expected, they found that the flies without the homeostat neurons did not keep a regular sleep pattern anymore.
Now that scientists have pinpointed the exact place in the brain— or, the “switch”—that regulates sleep, they can begin investigating how to activate these cells at any given time so that people can be sent to sleep instantly.
More importantly, figuring out how sleep mechanisms work may also help us to one day unravel one of the oldest mysteries of all: why do we need to sleep in the first place?
What is the article mainly about?
| A．A new way to treat sleep disorders. |
| B．The discovery of the sleep “homeostat” |
| C．Advice on what to do when you fail to fall asleep. |
| D．A comparison of the two mechanisms that regulate sleep. |
How does the author explain the function of the sleep homeostat?
| A．Through examples. |
| B．With comparisons. |
| C．Through cause and effect analysis. |
| D．By presenting research findings. |
What can we conclude from the article?
| A．Generally, the sleep homeostat has less effect on people during the day than at night. |
| B．There is little scientists can do to affect the way the sleep homeostat works. |
| C．What makes us go to sleep at night is probably a combination of the two mechanisms. |
| D．The more homeostat neurons there are in one’s brain, the more easily one can fall asleep. |
The underlined word “unravel” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to .
| A．put up with | B．figure out |
| C．keep track of | D．take notice of |
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