【推荐2】Why do we play sports? You might say “to get exercise” and you’d be right. To have fun? That’s true, too. But there’s more.    1    According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls who play sports get a lot more than just fitness.

Girls who play sports do better in school. You might think that playing sports will take up much of your study time.     2    Exercise improves learning, memory, and concentration, which can give active girls an advantage in the classroom.

Girls who play sports learn teamwork and goal setting skills. Sports teach us valuable life skills. When you work with coaches, trainers, and teammates to win games and achieve goals, you’re learning how to be successful.     3    Sports are good for a girl’s health. In addition to being fit and keeping a healthy weight, girls who exercise are less likely to get osteoporosis (骨质疏松症) later in life.

Playing sports improves self-confidence.    4    Why? It builds confidence when you know you can practice, improve, and achieve your goals. Sports are also a feel-good activity because they help girls keep in good shape, keep a healthy weight, and make new friends.

    5    Playing sports can reduce stress and help you feel a little happier. How? The brain chemicals released during the exercise improve a person’ mood. Friends are another mood-lifter. And being on a team creates connections between friends. It’s good to know your teammates will support you—both on and off the field!

A．Exercise cuts the pressure down.

B．In fact, there are at least 5 more reasons.

C．Regular exercise improves the quality of life.

D．Girls who play sports feel better about themselves.

E．Those skills will serve you well at work and in family life.

F．Playing sports offers children more than just physical benefits.

G．But research shows girls who play sports do better in school than those who don’t.

【推荐3】阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

Kobe Bryant wasn’t the first NBA player to visit China. But he was the first player to help China grow into a basketball-crazed nation.

Kobe’s first visit was in 1998, and in conducting basketball clinics, doing business and participating in charity, he was warmly welcomed in the basketball-loving country. Once, nearly 15,000 people showed up at 9 am for an event at which Kobe was scheduled to appear at 4 pm.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo saw firsthand Kobe’s popularity during Kobe’s time with Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when as captain he led the team to a gold medal. “There were tens of thousands of people on the streets, yelling, ‘Kobe! Kobe!’ It was unbelievable, just unbelievable,” Colangelo said.

“It’s harder for me to walk around here than in the United States,” Kobe once told reporters in China in 2013. “It’s uncontrollable. Fans rush you and surround you, and it gets to the point where you can’t go out.”

His last visit was in August last year for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. He told reporters, “I watched the country develop from the ground up. I watched Beijing grow. I watched the passion for the game develop. My goal is to develop the country’s basketball to a level where they can compete with the best basketball countries in the world,” Kobe said.

Kobe was and perhaps remains China’s favourite NBA player, and fans in the country were shocked by his death in a helicopter crash in January this year. Tencent, the NBA’s digital partner in China, posted a memorial page that drew more than five million visitors in less than five days.

Just two days before Kobe died, he posted a short video on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo, wishing Chinese fans a happy new year. How sorrowful his fans are when they watch the video again!

1. Apart from being an excellent NBA players, what else makes Kobe Bryant special to Chinese fans?
2. What does the author want to prove, telling us what Jerry Colangelo saw at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?
3. What made Kobe Bryant confident that China’s basketball can be one of the best in the world?
4. How do you find Kobe Bryant? Please give your reason.

【推荐1】Finding fish is going to get harder as climate change continues to heat the world’s oceans. A new study finds that warming seas over the past 80 years have reduced the sustainable catch of 124 species of fish and shellfish. Sustainable catch refers to the amount that can be harvested without doing long-term damage to the health of populations of some species.

Overfishing has made that decline worse, researchers say. Overfishing refers to catching so many fish that the size of the population falls. In some parts of the world, such as the heavily fished Sea of Japan, the decrease is as high as 35 percent. That’s a loss of more than one in every three fish.

Researchers examined changes in 235 populations of fish and shellfish between 1930 and 2010. Those fish populations spread far apart across 38 ocean regions. Temperature changes vary from one ocean site to another. But on average over that time, Earth’s sea-surface temperatures have risen by about half a degree Celsius.

On average, that warming has caused the sustainable catch to drop by 4.1 percent, the study found. About 8 percent of the fish and shellfish populations the team studied saw losses as a result of the ocean warming. However, about 4 percent of some populations increased. That’s because certain species have thrived in warmer waters. One example is a kind of black sea fish. It lives along the northeastern U.S. coast. As warming continues, these fish will reproduce faster until they reach their limit.

About 3.2 billion people worldwide rely on seafood as a source of food. That means it’s urgent for commercial fishing fleets and regulators to consider how climate change is affecting the health of all of those fish in the sea.

1. What does the new study discover?

A．Overfishing is to blame for fish health.

B．Warming seas cause fewer fish and shellfish.

C．Seafood matters to people’s health worldwide.

D．The living regions of fish and shellfish are different.

2. What does the underlined word “thrived” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Survived narrowly.	B．Disappeared soon.
C．Decreased sharply.	D．Developed quickly.

3. What do we know about species of fish and shellfish?

A．About 8 percent of them suffered from a great loss.

B．About 35 percent of them survived in the Sea of Japan.

C．About 3.2 billion species have been saved up to now.

D．About 80 species have died out because of warming seas.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A cooking guide.	B．A science magazine.
C．A news review.	D．A health brochure.

【推荐2】When we don’t regularly get enough sleep on weeknights, many of us hope to repay our sleep debt by sleeping late on weekends. Scientists have previously found that a lack of sleep increases the risk of being overweight. However, it was not clear whether sleeping more on the weekend could balance the books and prevent such an increase.

A team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder set out to find how a weekend of recovery sleep may influence an individual’s health. The study focused on 36 healthy young adults, who were divided into three groups. The first group got plenty of sleep each night for 9 nights, while the second group got just 5 hours of sleep each night for 9 nights. The third group of people slept 5 hours for 5 nights, slept as much as they wanted over the weekend, and then returned to 2 more days of limited sleep. All peoples’ eating patterns, weight gain, and changes in insulin (胰岛素) sensitivity are tracked throughout.

Compared to people who slept normally, those who only slept 5 hours a night snacked more after dinner and gained an average of about 3 pounds during the study. Their bodies’ sensitivity to insulin decreased by 13%over the two-week period. People in the third group experienced some mild improvement during the weekend: they were less likely to snack at night during the recovery period. But those benefits died out when they returned to their weekday sleep-restricted schedule. They also gained an average of about 3 pounds during the study and experienced a 27% decrease in insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, during the weekend, total sleep duration was lower in women than in men, and energy intake decreased to baseline levels in women but not in men.

The study suggests that weekend recovery sleep is not likely to be an effective measure regarding metabolic (新陈代谢) health. In the future, the research team aims to explore further whether or not catching up on sleep, including daytime napping, can completely change the damage of sleep loss, and if so, to what extent and under what conditions.

1. How did the researchers arrive at their conclusions？

A．By referring to previous studies.

B．By comparing experiment data.

C．By collecting people’s sleep records.

D．By interviewing healthy young adults.

2. What can we learn from the results of the study？

A．Sex differences were observed in recovery sleep.

B．Less food was eaten after the recovery period.

C．Recovery sleep contributed to less weight gain.

D．Insulin sensitivity got higher in most of the people.

3. Which of the following is the focus of future studies？

A．The effective measures against sleep loss.

B．The specific effects of recovery sleep strategies.

C．The damage of sleep loss to metabolic health.

D．The sleep study among various age groups.

4. What conclusion can we draw from the passage？

A．Weekend catch-up sleep is important.

B．Sleep debt on weekends can be paid back.

C．Weekend lie-ins don’t make up for sleep loss.

D．Weekend recovery sleep does damage metabolic health.

【推荐3】The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fashion. Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” —and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer —which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet —used the title in 2008. A lovely bear— popular in the US and UK—that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London’s Independent newspaper was started last week under the name “I”.

In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms like e-mail first came into use.

Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.

But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,” he says.

“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便) .”adds Thorne.

Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.

Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last ten years.

But as history shows, people grow tired of fashions. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.

1. People use iPlayer to __________.

A．read newspapers	B．watch TV programs online
C．make a call	D．listen to music

2. We can infer that the Independent’s “i” is designed for _________.

A．engineers	B．old readers
C．fashionable women	D．young readers

3. The underlined word “ambiguous” means “__________”.

A．popular

B．clear

C．uncertain

D．unique

4. Paragraph 6 connects the power of “i” with ________.

A．Apple’s products	B．information technology
C．the Western culture	D．the Internet

5. The last paragraph suggests that __________.

A．the popularity of “i” products may not last long

B．the letter “b” replace letter “i” to name the products

C．fashions don’t necessarily change with time

D．“i” products are often of high quality

【推荐1】When travelling to a different country, your safest bet is to limit gestures as much as possible. However, you may find that your gestures happen out of habit. Understanding appropriate gestures of the country you’re visiting may prevent you from communicating the wrong message.

Gestures in Brazil

Much like the Italian culture, a Brazilian snaps his fingers (打响指) and uses exaggerated movements when emphasizing a statement. The sense of warmth and friendliness with each other is shown through the gesture of eye contact when communicating and standing close together in lineups or when talking to each other. Communicating a greeting is more than the gesture of a handshake, but also involves the touch of the forearm.

Gestures in China

You communicate a greeting in China with the gesture of a slight nod and bow. To communicate respect, you keep your head lowered. In China, the gesture of standing close during a conversation prevents having to communicate with a raised voice. A person will communicate her surprise during a conversation with the gesture of breathing in air loudly, rather than a loud outburst.

Gestures in Russia

Gestures considered common to Americans may be considered rude in Russia. The American gesture to communicate “Okay”, with the forefinger and thumb touching and three fingers up, is considered rude in Russia. Looking at your watch is a rude gesture communicating impatience. Russians also feel upset about the gesture of communicating direction or display by pointing.

Gestures in India

Gestures used in India are representative of its traditional culture. In India, the gesture of holding out the hand to communicate giving or receiving must be done with the right hand as a person in India uses her left hand for washing. The gesture of communicating respect at a religious ceremony is done by removing your shoes. The proper way of communicating direction is to use either the whole hand or by using your chin. The proper form of communicating a greeting is to press the palms together with fingers upward and say, “Namaste”.

1. What the passage is mainly about?

A．Some traveling tips for visitors	B．The advantages of using body language.
C．Some gestures in different cultures.	D．The comparison between gestures.

2. In China, people stand close while talking simply to _______ .

A．avoid a loud voice	B．show their surprise
C．communicate a greeting	D．express their respect

3. In which country is looking at your watch when talking to others considered rude?

A．Brazil

B．Russia

C．India

D．China

【推荐3】Many of the serious health concerns in modern America can be linked to poor diet．People who regularly consume foods high in salt, sugar, and fats not only increase their chances of being overweight, but also increase their risks of developing diseases. Although some people who regularly consume unhealthy foods do so knowingly, there are also some people that remains undereducated about proper nutrition( 营 养 ). What is more, people who live in food deserts—areas in low-income(低收入) neighborhoods that lack easy access(路径) to healthy, affordable food—may not even have the opportunity to get nutritious food.

Food deserts are located in low-income areas and most often develop when major supermarket chains either move out       of these areas or simply avoid building stores there in the first place. These supermarket chains tend to limit their store locations to richer urban or suburban neighborhoods．This means that those who live in low-income areas often live miles away from the fresh meats and dairy products available at supermarkets. People of these areas are thus forced to travel long distances to do their grocery shopping, or else they are limited to the food available at local convenience stores. These stores often only sell packaged, processed foods that offer little nutrition.

Furthermore, there are too many fast food restaurants in low-income areas; recent research suggests that those living in the poorest areas of a city experience 2.5 times more exposure to fast food restaurants than people in the richest areas of the city. Because people who live in   food deserts often get their meals from fast food restaurants or convenience stores, they suffer from a variety of health problems．Research has found that people who live in low-income neighborhoods are much more likely to develop healthy problems than those who live in richer neighborhoods.

Of course, it seems obvious that more supermarkets should be built in low-income neighborhoods. But in fact, it is difficult to attract supermarket chains into poor areas because poorer people have less money to spend on food. One way that the government can help to solve this problem is by offering tax breaks or other inspiring policies for supermarkets in low-income areas. In 2010, the Obama administration started the Healthy Food Financing program, which is designed to help bring grocery stores into food deserts.

While the government can improve low-income people’s access to healthy food to some extent, local actions often have a stronger and more immediate influence．Community gardens, independent food stores, and farmers’ markets are all examples of local actions that can take the place of the opening of a major chain supermarket. These efforts can be extremely beneficial, not only in providing people with access to healthier foods, but also in producing a sense of community in the neighborhoods.

1. What is mainly talked about in this passage?

A．Relationship between diet and disease.

B．Lack of health awareness among people.

C．Problems of food deserts and their solutions.

D．Importance of grocery planting in poor areas.

2. What can be learned from Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4?

A．People in rich areas are easier to develop diseases.

B．Fast food restaurants care much about people’s health.

C．People in low-income areas like shopping in supermarkets.

D．Supermarket chains are unwilling to open stores in poor areas.

3. What does the writer want to tell us from the last two paragraphs?

A．Local actions should be encouraged and supported.

B．Supermarkets should take social responsibility.

C．Education for healthy diet must be improved.

D．Governments fail to improve people’s health.

【推荐1】Based on some studies, people in their forties, on average, laugh less often each day than children under age 7 and adults over age 65. That's kind of sad for middle-aged men. If it's been awhile since your father has let out a good belly laugh, here are some ideas that you can do to get your father back on the road to joy.

A joke book can be helpful. The Dilbert series by Scott Adams is quite funny if you're into office humor. The Far Side series by Gary Larson came out twenty years ago, but it still works even for today's people. In fact, you don't even have to buy a book. You can go online and find comic strips, lists of jokes and so on.

On DVD, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or however you get them, you can find funny movies and shows that can make a difference in your life. Teen movies are particularly funny when done well. Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You and She's All That are bound to bring a smile to your father's face. Screwball comedies might be your father's cup of tea. Some comedies from the 1930s, 40s and 50s have stood the test of time and are still amusing. Also, there are a number of channels where people can watch comedians in high spirits.

If your father already has close friends to exchange jokes with, it's to his great advantage. But your father can also seek out new friends who have a lighter, cheerier and more mirthful way to life.

People are often in humorous situations at work, at home and in life, but to what degree do we take note of them? You can encourage your father to note humorous situations all around him. If he begins to notice this, soon enough, he begins to actively seek them. Before he knows it, his search for a humor-filled life becomes a significant part of his day.

1. What do the Dilbert series and The Far Side series have in common?

A．They're in the form of short stories.	B．They have many jokes about office life.
C．They can bring much laughter to people.	D．They became popular soon after publication.

2. The underlined word “mirthful” in Paragraph 4 means__________________.

A．colorful

B．joyful

C．puzzling

D．regular

3. What's implied in the last paragraph?

A．Humorous situations can be easily ignored.

B．Humorous situations can be created actively.

C．People should spend time with positive people.

D．People should learn to discover the humorous moments.

【推荐2】One night recently, I was driving down a two-lane highway at about 60 miles an hour. A car approached from the opposite direction at about the same speed. As we passed each other, I caught the other driver’s eye for only a second. I wondered whether he might be thinking, as I was, how dependent we were on each other at that moment. I was relying on him not to fall asleep, not to be put off by a phone conversation, not to cross over into my lane and bring my life to a sudden end. Though we had never spoken a word to each other, he relied on me in just the same way.

Multiplied a million times over, I believe that is the way the world works. At some level, we all depend upon one another. Sometimes that dependence requires us simply not to do something like crossing over the double yellow line. And sometimes it requires us to act cooperatively, with friends or even with strangers.

As technology shrinks our world, the need increases for cooperative action among nations. In 2003, doctors in five nations were quickly organized to identify the SARS virus, which saved thousands of lives. The threat of international terrorism has shown itself to be a similar problem, one requiring coordinated action by police and intelligence forces across the world. We must recognize that our fates (命运) are not ours alone to control .

In my own life, I’ve put great stock in personal responsibility. But, as the years have passed, I’ve also come to believe that there are moments when one must rely upon the good faith and judgment of others. So, while each of us faces the case of driving alone down a dark road , what we must learn is that the approaching light may not be a threat , but a shared moment of trust.

1. The author considers ________ very important.

A．driving alone on a dark road	B．shared trust and cooperation
C．cooperation to identify SARS virus	D．independence of people

2. The author said that they depended on each other in the same way because ________.

A．the approaching car was very dangerous

B．they both drove their car at a terrific speed

C．it was dark and the road was not wide enough

D．he might be killed out of the other’s careless driving

3. From the second paragraph, we know the author drew the important lesson from ________.

A．only one experience	B．many friends and strangers
C．a driver on a dark road	D．many similar experiences

4. The need for cooperation increases because _________.

A．terrorism can happen everywhere

B．the SARS virus spread quickly

C．peoples’ fates can’t be controlled by themselves

D．the world has become smaller

5. We can infer from the last paragraph that the author has ________.

A．had a change on his viewpoint of life

B．counted upon himself alone in everything

C．had no trust in others’ good faith and judgment

D．believed in one’s own personal responsibility

【推荐3】The creativity of some of the most successful brands makes them recognizable and memorable. However, the origins of them are more interesting than you might think.

Rolex, the whisper of success

According to Hans Wilsdorf, founder of the exclusive watch, he tried everything to give his new product a proper name. Wilsdorf was looking for something short that could be easily pronounced. It also had to look good on the watch's surface.

After combining all the letters in thousands of ways and coming up with a hundred names, none seemed powerful enough. But a trip on a horse-drawn carriage changed it, because a "genius," as he called it, whispered the word "Rolex" into his ear.

Zara, taking inspiration from a movie

When Amancio Ortega wanted to name his clothing business, he called it "Zorba," like the 1964 movie, Zorba The Greek, as he was a big fan of Anthony Quinn.

However, shortly before the opening in 1975, he realized that his store was pretty close to a bar named, "Zorba." Since it would be very confusing to the customers to have 2 businesses with the same name in such a small distance, Ortega decided to add an "a" and remove the "b" creating the name of one of the most recognizable Spanish brands in the world.

Häagen-Dazs, Danish?...pride

This ice cream went a long way to satisfy the tastes of the American public. Its creator, Reuben Mattus, was actually a Jewish immigrant from Poland who lived in the United States.

Naming his ice cream Häagen-Dazs, he fulfilled a double purpose. Mattus wanted to honor Denmark, the only country that defended Jewish people during World War II, so he used Danish spelling in the name of his brand. He also wanted to add a bit of exoticism (异国情调), since it was ice cream of the highest quality. He was sure the name would give his product a more distinguished image.

1. How did Hans Wilsdorf come up with Rolex?

A．He was struck by his inspiration.	B．A man called Genius told him.
C．He combined all the letters in many ways.	D．The horse carriage helped him.

2. What do we learn from the passage?

A．Anthony Quinn created the name of Zara.

B．The creation of Zara is based on Zorba.

C．Häagen-Dazs is a Danish brand.

D．Reuben used Danish spelling in Häagen-Dazs only to honor Denmark.

3. What do the names of the three brands have in common?

A．Their origins are interesting but confusing.

B．They used to have different names.

C．They are easy to recognize and memorize.

D．They came from foreign languages originally.