1 . A Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. While you’re sleeping, your brain is forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information. Although we all know the importance of getting a good night’s sleep, not all of us know the best way of getting it. A sleep expert, Phil Atherton, gave some top tips for getting the most out of the night, which will leave you ready for action in the morning.

According to Phil Atherton, not eating a large meal before bedtime is important for getting a good night’s sleep. The time difference between eating and sleeping should be at least three hours. So you’d better avoid eating any food three hours before bed, as it will lower your blood sugar during sleep and help minimize damage from too much sugar floating around.

It’s also important to find ways to prepare your body for sleep. You can follow a routine like trying not to expose yourself to too much artificial light within 1 hour before bed, as your brain uses light to help set internal “body clock”. Although it might seem unnatural to schedule your sleep, the purpose is to send a signal to your body and mind that it’s time to sleep.

Another way to prepare your body for sleep is to get into a relaxed state by taking a bath or listening to soft music. Both of them will help to take the mind off the daytime pressures.

Having a suitable bed, especially a suitable mattress (床垫), is necessary for a good night’s sleep. Sleep is a personalized activity, and we all adopt different sleeping positions. Finding the mattress that suits you will reduce back pains that can result from a poor sleeping position. The bed should be four to six inches longer than its tallest user, allowing for space to move around.

The recent research is pretty clear that a good night’s sleep is a major component of good health. Since the start of the 21st century, studies have linked a lack of sleep to many diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Taking action now will lead to long-term benefits for you and those around you.

1. What does the author intend to tell us in the passage?

A．When to start a sound sleep.	B．How to get a good night’s sleep.
C．What to do with sleep problems.	D．Why to form a good habit of sleeping.

2. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Not eating food.	B．Taking a meal.
C．Not sleeping well.	D．Having a good sleep.

3. According to the author, before going to sleep, you’d better ________.

A．record your biological clock.	B．check your blood sugar.
C．relieve your pain in the back.	D．free yourself from stress.

6 . About 40% adults and 19% children in the US are obese (肥胖的). Obese people are at increased risk of many serious diseases, including high blood pressure and heart disease.     1     If you are suffering from these, here’s a way of losing weight that you can try.

Dietary “self-monitoring” is a common strategy. It involves recording what they consume, and how much. The theory is that when thinking of what you put in your body, you’ll make healthier decisions.     2     There’s no doubt that dietary self-monitoring has been shown to help lose weight. However, not much is known about how long this takes or how often it should be done.

    3     Recently, researchers studied obese individuals in otherwise good health who participated in a 24-week weight control program... They recorded their daily dietary intake using an online program. The findings demonstrated that people who continued to record their food intake daily for 24 weeks lost more weight compared to those who quit noting their intake. People who lost at least 10% of their weight recorded their food intake about 3 times a day.     4     Researchers noted people might have greater success with weight loss if they recorded their dietary intake about three times a day, rather than recording all of their meals in one sitting.

A good principle to follow may be “write when you bite”. Dietary self-monitoring can be performed in different ways — using an online program, using a pencil or using smart-phone applications.     5    

A．Can it really be that easy?

B．It is important to find what works for you.

C．Thus, long-term weight loss takes time and effort.

D．The risk factors that determine obesity can be complex.

E．In comparison, those who recorded less daily lost less weight.

F．Obesity is also associated with a lower life quality and poor mental health.

G．Study shows the more often you log your eating, the more weight you might lose.

8 . You may not get enough physical activity throughout the day, especially since sitting still is required or encouraged in many jobs, at school, and in social situations. But there’s something you should know. Being physically inactive or sedentary (久坐不动的) can increase health risks.     1    

What counts as being physically inactive?

While there is no strict definition of what can be considered a sedentary lifestyle, researchers have a few different measures to assess what a sedentary lifestyle is. One measure is the time an individual spends seated or reclining (向后倚靠) during waking hours.     2     Some other researchers label people inactive or sedentary if they take fewer than 5,000 pedometer (计步器) steps per day.

    3    

In the short term, being inactive can increase depression or anxiety. It can also affect the way the body processes fats and sugars in the diet and lead to some weight gain if you aren’t burning enough calories. Over the long term, sedentary lifestyles increase the risk of death from cardiovascular (心血管的) disease, diabetes, and cancer.

How can you prevent being inactive?

Health authorities recommend exercise at a medium level for either 30 minutes a day for five days a week or a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes per week. Walking is an easy activity to add to your day.     4     A pedometer or fitness band can show you whether you are getting enough steps. Many people aim to take 10,000 steps per day, which indicates that you have met your daily physical activity goal.     5     but the value of being more physically active is worth it for its many benefits.

A．How harmful is it?

B．What’s the drawback of sedentary lifestyle?

C．Fixing a sedentary lifestyle takes some conscious effort at first,

D．Now let’s learn about whether you might be classified as inactive or sedentary.

E．Simply walking more or doing household chores positively impacts health,

F．It can work to break up sitting time and add steps hourly throughout the day.

G．Spending four to six waking hours sitting or lying down is considered sedentary.

9 . The British are known for their sense of humor. However, it is often difficult for foreigners to understand their jokes.     1    .

Understatement means saying less than you think or feel. For example, if someone gets very wet in a shower of rain, he might say, “It’s a little damp outside.” Or, if someone is very impolite and shouts at another person, someone else might say, “She isn’t exactly friendly.”     2    . Understatement plays an important part in British humor.

    3    . They often laugh about the silly and unpleasant things that happen to their daily life when someone accidentally falls over in the street. They also like to make jokes about people from different classes of society.     4    . What’s more, the British love to watch comedies about people who do not know how to behave in society. The comedy series Mr. Bean is a good example of this kind of humor.

Mr. Bean is a character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson in 1990. Mr. Bean doesn’t talk often and instead he uses his body movement and facial expressions to make people laugh. Perhaps what makes Mr. Bean so funny is that he does things that adults in the real world cannot do. Mr. Bean is popular in many countries around the world because you do not have to speak English to understand the humor.     5    .

A．The main point to remember is that the British often use understatement

B．Because of this, many people have become familiar with the British sense of humor

C．The reasons for the success and popularity of British comedy are interesting to explore

D．They like to make jokes about their accents, the way they dress and the way they behave

E．Understatement is often used in an unpleasant situation or to make another person look silly

F．Another area that might be difficult for foreigners to get when it comes to British comedy is “word play”

G．Another key to understand the British humor is that the British like to make fun of themselves as well as others

10 . More than a quarter have to enlarge the font size on their mobile phone so they can read it clearly.     1     Meanwhile, 28% regularly squint (眯眼看) at the screen. And all of them are signs of eye disorder.

“The research has shown our eyes are not designed to be fixed on a single object for a long time, especially smaller laptops or smart devices.     2     Even worse, staring at the screen constantly can lead to dry eye syndrome,” says Giles Edmonds, a clinical service director.

Dry eye syndrome is a condition where the eyes do not make enough tears, or the tears evaporate too quickly. Here are some simple solutions to prevent eye strain and irritation, and preserve your eye health overall.

Rest your eyes.

Follow the 20:20:20 rule, looking up from your screen every 20 minutes and look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.     3     It in turn reduces eye tiredness.

Adjust your workstation.

Change your screen settings to ensure that the brightness and contrast are balanced correctly, as well as making fonts larger. Also, be mindful of how your workstation is positioned. Adjust your screen ensuring it is 15 — 20 degrees below eye level and around 50 — 70 cm away from the eyes.     4    

Reduce glare (眩光).

    5    . Try reducing this by attaching an anti-glare screen to your monitor or laptop to avoid external light shining onto the screen. Glasses wearers can also have lenses treated with an anti-glare coating.

A．People should try to reduce the time spent on the screen.

B．One can read his favorite paper books instead of e-books.

C．Half confess they’re forced to enlarge images to see them clearly.

D．Another thing to focus on is to make sure your room is properly lit.

E．Looking into the distance helps relax the focusing muscles of your eyes.

F．Reflections on your computer screen can cause glare and lead to eye fatigue.

G．They may feel uncomfortable, painful, tired and even start to itch (发痒) or burn.