A team of US psychologists(心理学家) have found that talking to another person for ten minutes a day helps with memory.
“Socializing(交际) is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual(智力的) performance,” Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a statement.
In one investigation, they analyzed data on 3610 people, aged 24 to 96.
They found that the higher their level of social interaction(交流), the better their cognitive(认知的) functioning. Social interaction includes getting together or having phone chats with relatives, friends and neighbors.
In another experiment, the researchers conducted laboratory tests on 76 college students, aged 18 to 21, to evaluate(评估) how social interactions and intellectual exercises affected the results of memory and mental performance tests.
The students were divided into three groups: the social interaction group had a discussion of a social issue for 10 minutes before taking the tests; the intellectual activities group completed three tasks (including a reading comprehension exercise and a crossword puzzle) before the tests; and a control group(对照组) watched a 10-minute clip(电影片段) of the Seinfeld television show.
“We found that short-term social interaction lasting for just 10 minutes improved participants’ (参与者) intellectual performance as much as engaging in (从事) so-called ‘intellectual’ activities for the same amount of time,” Ybarra said.
The study was expected to be published in the February issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.What does the underlined word “boosting” in the second paragraph probably mean?
| A．Improving. | B．Reducing. |
| C．Preventing. | D．Training. |
Which is not included in social interaction?
| A．Having a talk with a neighbor. |
| B．Attending a birthday party. |
| C．Watching TV at home alone. |
| D．Calling your classmates. |
What’s the purpose of the experiment on 76 college students?
| A．To judge the effect of social interaction on memory and intelligence. |
| B．To find out what is real social interaction. |
| C．To learn how much time is needed for social interaction. |
| D．To show the function of people's cognition. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Intellectual exercises make your memory better. |
| B．Different people have different ways of communication. |
| C．Communicating with others keeps you healthy. |
| D．Social interaction makes you smart. |
Have you ever stayed in a hotel? Most Chinese hotels often provide guests with things like disposable(一次性的) toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and slippers.
Many guests like the idea because they don’t have to bring their own. But if you travel to Beijing, remember to bring these things of your own. That’s because some hotels in Beijing have no longer provided guests with these disposables (一次性用品). Many disposable things are made of plastic. People throw them away after only using them once. It’s a waste of natural resources (资源) and is very bad for the environment.
In Beijing, people throw away about 19,000 tons of plastic bags and 1,320 tons of lunch bowls every year!
Plastic can take 100 to 400 years to break down. So the less plastic we throw away, the better environment we will have.
So, wherever you travel, bring your own things and use them again and again. Back at home and school, you can also do something to make our world a better place. Try to do these things in your daily life:
Use cloth shopping bags, not plastic ones.
After using a plastic bag, wash it out and let it dry. Then use it over and over again.
Do not use paper cups.
At your school canteen (餐厅), use your own bowls and chopsticks instead of disposable ones.
根据短文内容，判断正(T)误(F)。Many guests like to use disposable things because they are very convenient (方便的).
Some Beijing hotels have no longer provided guests with free TV programmes.
Plastic breaks down easily.
After using a plastic bowl or a bag, we’d better throw it away, because it’s too dirty to use again.
We should use less plastic things and protect our environment.
When people go to England, they must learn something about transportation there.
In England, cars, buses and bikes must keep to the left side of the street. If a person wishes to cross a street, he must stop and either look at the traffic lights or look both ways down the street. And instead of looking left first, as we do in China, they look right first.
To get about in London, visitors should learn to use buses and the subways. First of all they must know which direction (方向) they are going to and which bus and which subway they must take. At the bus stop they wait for buses to come. As soon as they get on the bus, they must pay for their tickets.
阅读短文，判断正（T）误（F）。In England, people go along the left side of the road as we do in China.
When they want to cross a street, people in England look right first.
To go about in London, visitors should learn to drive.
First of all, visitors must know where to go.
After people get on a bus, they don’t have to pay for their tickets at once.
It was Christmas, and there was a big party in the house. Guests came and went, but the party went on. Then the bell rang. Several people shouted, “Come in!” and a small man opened the front door and came in. Nobody knew him, but the host went to meet him and took him to the bar for a drink. The man sat there happily for an hour and a half and drank. Then suddenly he stopped and looked at his host. “Do you know,” he said, “Nobody invited me to this party. I don’t know you, I don’t know your wife and I don’t know any of your guests. My wife and I wanted to go out in our car, but one of your guests’ cars was in front of our gate, so I came here to find him, and my wife is waiting in our car for me to come back!”The best title is .
| A．A Small Man |
| B．A Strange Guest |
| C．A Friendly Host |
| D．A Big Party |
Which sentence is NOT true about the party?
| A．All the guests stayed there until the party was over. |
| B．There were lots of people at the party. |
| C．There were some drinks at the party. |
| D．Not all the guests knew each other. |
How long did the small man stay at the party?
| A．For an hour. |
| B．For half an hour. |
| C．For 90 minutes. |
| D．For a while. |
Why did the small man stay at the party?
| A．He was the host’s neighbor. |
| B．He was a friend of the host’s. |
| C．He wanted to say “Have fun” to the people at the party. |
| D．His wife asked him to go there. |
What’s the date that day?
| A．Monday. |
| B．It’s December 25th |
| C．It’s November 25th |
| D．It’s January 1st |
阅读理解:( 每题2分，共30分)
Three Things to Do Before You Are 18
Are you bored with your daily life? Here are some things you should try before you are 18, because after that it’s too late.
Learn to swim
Seriously, this is so important that it can save your life. If you can’t swim well, you won’t be able to do water sports like waterskiing, surfing and diving. Even taking a boat trip will be dangerous for you. Make sure you do it.
Try at least one kind of team sports
Being a good team player is an important skill in life. You can’t just think of yourself, but have to work well with other people. Other advantages of team sports like basketball, football and baseball are that they keep you fit and healthy, and they are also great fun. Teams usually have a good social life too – you’ll go to lots of parties and make many friends.
Collect something
One of the best hobbies for under – 18s is collecting things. You could collect kinds of stamps, or you could collect things that make you remember what you have done, like cinema tickets for films you have seen or e-mails from friends. The best way to collect is to have a special album to put your collection in and to write what each thing means to you. That way you won’t forget.The most important reason for learning to swim is that ________.
A.it can save your life
B.it can make you healthy
C.you might easily do lots of things“A good social life” in the passage means _________.
A. you’ll study in groups
B. you’ll go to parties and make many friends
C. you’ll take part in many matchesThe writer tells us that one of the best hobbies is to_________ .
A. collect something
B. do some water sports
C. send emails to your friendsWhat kind of collection is NOT mentioned(提及) in the passage?
A. stamps
B. cinema tickets
C. snowballsThe passage is mainly about _________ before you are 18.
A. good habits to keep
B. skills to have
C. things to do
You may have heard of the famous saying, "East or West, home is the best." What does the word "home" mean to you? How do you say the word in French? In Chinese? In your language? Although people usually know what the word means, it sometimes has no exact translation. It's not surprising, because the idea of home is different from country to country, and from person to person. A home is more than a roof and four walls. It's the cooking, eating, talking, playing and sleeping that go on inside. And at home you usually feel safe and relaxed.
Homes look different in different countries. They also have different things inside. For example, in cold northern Europe, there's a fire in the living room or kitchen and all the chairs face it. In the south, where the sun shines a lot and it's more important to keep the heat out, there are small windows and cool stone floors.
We asked some people about their homes.
How often do people move house in your country''.
"In my country many people don't stay in one place for a very long lime. They
often move every ten years or so. "
—Chery, Boston, USA.
What are features(特征) of homes in your country？
"In Britain, even in town, there's always a garden. We have separate bedrooms and living rooms. But we don't often have balconies(阳台). The weather isn't warmenough!"
—Pat. Exeter, EnglandThe word "home" sometimes has no exact translation because _____.
A. people can't find this word in the dictionary
B. no one knows what it is
C it has different meanings in different countries
D. people can't understand each other very wellAccording to the passage, at home, you can do everything except _____.
A. making friends B. cooking and eating
C playing and talking D. sleeping and relaxingWhy is it important to keep the heat out of the houses in southern Europe?
| A．Because they want to breathe fresh air outside. |
| B．Because there's a fire in the living room. |
| C．Because they wear heavy clothes all day long. |
| D．Because the sun there shines a lot. |
From the second paragraph, what kind of homes people have depends on ______.
| A．whether they are rich or not |
| B．the climate(气候) they have |
| C．how old they are |
| D．whether they live in the city or countryside |
Which one of the sentences below is true?
| A．People in Britain seldom have balconies because it's so hot outside. |
| B．Some Americans move house several times during their lifetime. |
| C．Homes look the same in different countries. |
| D．Houses in northern Europe have big windows and cool stone floors. |
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