1 . Deep sleep doesn’t just rest your body. Scientists believe it’s also when the brain washes away toxins (毒素), with a new project looking at whether the brain’s self-clean can be boosted.
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) neuroscientist Dr Tim Sargeant has teamed with Dr Edward Robins from SAHMRI’s Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit to develop a brain scan that shows how well a brain is cleaning itself. Studies have shown that a clean brain would help with memory while fighting dementia (痴呆).
Scientists believe our brains clean themselves out each night when we enter deep sleep. Cerebrospinal fluid (脑脊液) is thought to wash through the brain, cleaning out toxins. Studies have shown a clear link between poor memory and toxins like the buildup of sticky plaques (粘性斑块) in the brains. Scientists believe brains that have a buildup of this plaque over time may not be cleaning themselves properly, putting people at risk of dementia.
Fortunately, the hope is that a clean brain would help with memory while fighting dementia. The brain scan will use special material to track how well the brain can keep itself clean and healthy through the process of removing and recycling its waste. “We’re aiming to catch the signs of the brain struggling to keep itself clean in individuals around the age of 50 or 60, well before the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (老年痴呆症) in most people,” Dr Sargeant said.
This new scan, an exciting imaging technology, will allow scientists to form a picture of a living brain and watch how it’s recycling wasting material in real time. “The scan takes out a lot of the guess work, by allowing scientists to see with their own eyes if they’ve hit the target or not,” Dr Robins said. “Without imaging, a researcher can get all the way up to the trial stage before realising they’re at a dead end.”
1. What is the aim of Dr Sargeant and Dr Robins’ developing the brain scan?| A．To help people enter deep sleep. | B．To reduce memory loss and dementia. |
| C．To research how to remove sticky plaques. | D．To study what the brain uses to clean itself. |
| A．Not enough blood in the brain. | B．Too frequent cleaning of the brain. |
| C．The increase of cerebrospinal fluid. | D．The gradual increase of sticky plaques. |
| A．Beginning. | B．Improvement. | C．Worsening. | D．Disappearance. |
| A．It brings more work. | B．It is just imaginary. |
| C．It is quite effective. | D．It is far from exact. |
2 . Districts across the US are trying to address the high number of students needing mental health support. What if they could enlist students as part of the solution, too? A rural Ohio high school has done just that.
At Claymont High School in Uhrichsville, Ohio, a group of about 21 high schoolers are trained in mental health first aid. They’ve taken courses to learn how to help their peers who are going through a difficult time.
The students, who are in grades 10 through 12, are part of a larger program called Peers Uplifting Peers, or PUP, which helps to break down the stigma (耻辱) around mental health and wellness and normalize having conversations about both and seeking professional help when necessary.
A key part of their training is to help their friends get in touch with professionals and established resources. “Students are helping out by picking up on early warning signs. They are noticing that maybe someone is having a hard day or is just sitting by themselves,” said Kelsi Barnhart, the school’s assistant principal. “They try to be good friends, and they speak up. It’s not that they are stepping in and providing counseling.”
Despite a national conversation around mental health, the context may be different in rural areas like Uhrichsville where people feel ashamed of discussing mental health. “It’s hard to talk about mental health out loud,” said Bridget Britton, a licensed social worker. Getting to a therapist can also be a challenge since most rural areas do not have the bus and rail systems found in urban communities. There are also financial barriers. “Many rural residents work on farms, which often don’t provide workers with health insurance,” she said.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?| A．Students face mental health issues. |
| B．Students actively seek mental health help. |
| C．Students are unwilling to share mental health programs. |
| D．Students are getting involved in the mental health program. |
| A．Promoting academic excellence. |
| B．Advocating for stricter school policies. |
| C．Reducing the shame concerning mental well-being. |
| D．Encouraging competitive behavior among students. |
| A．Transportation systems are well-established in rural areas. |
| B．Mental health issues are less taken seriously in rural areas. |
| C．Licensed social workers are readily available in rural communities. |
| D．Financial barriers and lack of insurance prevent access to therapists. |
| A．PUP: Peers taking the lead in high school. |
| B．PUP: Government breaking down the stigma. |
| C．Mental Health: Professionals offering training. |
| D．Mental Health: A pressing issue among students. |
3 . People who experienced trauma (精神创伤) as a child or adolescent were found to be 48 percent more likely to have serious and repeated headaches as an adult than those who had not experienced trauma in their early years, according to research published in the journal Neurology. The finding came from the analysis of data from 28 studies, involving 154,739 people.
Overall, nearly one-third of the participants reported having experienced a traumatic event at least once before age 18, and 16 percent had been diagnosed as an adult with a primary headache disorder, which means that their headaches are the main problem, rather than a symptom (症状) of an underlying disease or condition.
The researchers categorized traumatic events as either threat-based (such as physical or emotional abuse, witnessing or being threatened by violence, and serious family conflicts) or deprivation-based (including neglect, financial trouble, parents’ separation, divorce or death, and living in a household with mental illness, alcohol or substance abuse). Physical abuse and exposure to family violence were among the most commonly reported traumas.
Of those who had experienced at least one traumatic event as a youth, 26 percent subsequently were diagnosed with primary headaches, compared with 12 percent of those who had not experienced trauma.
As the number of traumatic events experienced by a child or adolescent increased, so did the odds of their having headaches later in life. For example, those who had experienced four or more traumatic events were more than twice as likely to have a head ache disorder. Also, certain traumas — physical abuse and neglect — were linked to greater risk for headaches than other types of trauma.
The study found an association between trauma as a youth and headache disorder as an adult, rather than direct proof that one led to the other. But the researchers wrote that traumas experienced as a child or adolescent “are important risk factors for primary headache disorders in adulthood,” which one of the researchers described in a statement released by the American Academy of Neurology as “a risk factor that we cannot ignore.”
1. What does the research focus on?| A．The different types of trauma experienced by children. |
| B．The reasons why headaches are so common among adults. |
| C．The influence that childhood experiences have on later life. |
| D．The link between childhood trauma and headaches as an adult. |
| A．Witnessing violence. | B．Physical abuse. |
| C．The loss of a parent. | D．Criticism from teachers. |
| A．Complexity. | B．Frequency. | C．Seriousness. | D．Chance. |
| A．It causes headaches. | B．It deserves attention. |
| C．It can be prevented. | D．It can be life-threatening. |
1. Where did the man meet a boy with ADHD?
| A．In a restaurant. | B．On the street. | C．In a park. |
| A．They are not as clever as other kids. |
| B．They cannot control their actions. |
| C．They are in poor health. |
1. What’s the matter with the woman?
| A．She has a fever. | B．She has a headache. | C．She coughs badly. |
| A．On Tuesday. | B．On Wednesday. | C．On Thursday. |
| A．Jerry. | B．Dr. Smith. | C．Dr. Brown. |
| A．He is busy. |
| B．He doesn’t want to see the woman speaker. |
| C．It isn’t mentioned. |
How to Live a Healthy and Happy Life | |
| 身体（physical）健康 | 心理（mental）健康 |
| （1）健康饮食 （2）适当锻炼 （3）充足睡眠 | （1）积极乐观 （2）与人为善 （3）……（至少一点） |
| 希望……（至少一点） | |
1. How long hasn’t the man smoked for?
| A．One week. | B．Two weeks. | C．Two months. |
| A．That he learnt smoking harmed his health. |
| B．That his wife hated it when he smoked. |
| C．That his wife is having a baby now. |
| A．It helps people relax. | B．It harms people’s health. | C．It makes men look cool. |
| A．The woman speaker gave up smoking two weeks ago. |
| B．The man speaker will smoke again after the baby is born. |
| C．The man speaker has promised he will never smoke again. |
1. What’s the woman doing?
| A．Seeing a doctor. | B．Doing a test. | C．Asking for advice. |
| A．She has to take some pills. | B．She needs more tests. | C．She has nothing serious. |
| A．Excited. | B．Concerned. | C．Uninterested. |
| A．Choose an easy sport. | B．Keep exercising. | C．Take a slow lifestyle. |
9 . People who have a diet rich in flavanols (黄烷醇), which are found in tea, apples and berries, may be less likely to develop age-related memory loss, research suggests. A three-year study of 3,562 people aged about 71 found those with high regular flavanol consumption had better hippocampal (海马的) memory function, which includes short-term memory-making, than those who didn’t.
Lead scientist Scott Small said the findings formed part of a growing body of research that is “starting to reveal that different nutrients are needed to strengthen our ageing minds”.
The scientists randomly assigned healthy adults to receive either a daily 500mg flavanol supplement or an artificial pill for three years. The participants took several memory tests during the study period and filled in surveys that assessed their diet. The researchers said memory scores improved only slightly for the group taking the flavanol pill, but that within that group some people who had poor diet and low flavanol consumption at the beginning of the study, saw their memory scores increase by 16% compared with the start of the study.
Prof Aedin Cassidy, an expert from Queen’s University Belfast, said it was a “really important study”, especially since the amount required for brain health improvement was “readily achievable”. “For example, one cup of tea, six squares of dark chocolate, a couple of servings of berries and apples would together provide about 500mg of flavanols,” he said.
However, David Curtis, an honorary professor at the UCL Genetics Institute, said, “The study fails to provide evidence that increasing flavanol intake is beneficial and there is no need for anybody to consider changing their diet in the light of its findings.”
Carl Hodgetts from University of London, said research into the relationship between nutrition and the brain could help with the fight against dementia (痴呆). He said it was “an interesting study that starts to address such questions” but disagreed with the conclusion that flavanol supplements affect hippocampal function, as MRI scans would be needed to establish this.
1. What can we learn about the flavanol?| A．It can lead to our ageing mind. |
| B．It can be acquired easily in our daily life. |
| C．It hardly affects long-term memory-making. |
| D．It can limit hippocampal memory function. |
| A．People taking artificial pills. |
| B．People controlling their diet. |
| C．People taking more flavanols than others. |
| D．People lacking flavanols before the study. |
| A．Divided. | B．Carefree. | C．Doubtful. | D．Opposed. |
| A．Balanced Diet: Necessary for Old People |
| B．Different Nutrients Affect People’s Memories |
| C．Flavanols: A Way to Reduce Memory Loss of the Elder |
| D．Flavanol Supplements Can Help Prevent Certain Diseases |
10 . If you could save someone’s life, would you? That question was
After securing a good test result, Eileen phoned her mother, “Hey, don’t get
The transplant surgery went
Without a second thought, Eileen
Daniel G. Maluf, M. D. , the surgeon for both of Julia’s procedures, said, “The mom’s kidney function recovered
| A．alarming | B．burning | C．disturbing | D．damaging |
| A．organizers | B．models | C．donors | D．losers |
| A．decision | B．difference | C．mistake | D．examination |
| A．organs | B．matches | C．chances | D．applicants |
| A．fearful | B．ignorant | C．upset | D．mad |
| A．met with | B．commented on | C．agreed to | D．burst into |
| A．badly | B．slowly | C．smoothly | D．obviously |
| A．dream | B．page | C．certificate | D．message |
| A．loss | B．pain | C．function | D．failure |
| A．recover | B．apply | C．suffer | D．develop |
| A．settled down | B．stood out | C．jumped in | D．sank in |
| A．transformed | B．observed | C．influenced | D．accomplished |
| A．immediately | B．gradually | C．eventually | D．independently |
| A．helpful | B．generous | C．appreciative | D．impressive |
| A．went ahead | B．came forward | C．took on | D．gave in |
