【推荐2】A new study on the link between chili (辣椒) and dementia (老年痴呆) may be bad news for spicy food fans as researchers have found that eating lots of chili may cause an increased risk of dementia.

The study, led by Zumin Shi, associate professor at the College of Health Sciences of Qatar University, analyzed 4,582 Chinese adults aged 55 and above between 1991 and 2006 and found evidence of faster cognitive (认知) decline in those who consistently ate more than 50 grams of chili a day.

“Chili is one of the most commonly used spices in the world and particularly popular in Asia compared to European countries,” Li said in the press release. “In certain regions of China, such as Sichuan and Hunan, almost one in three adults consume spicy food every day.”

“Chili consumption was found to be beneficial to body weight and blood pressure in our previous studies. However, in this study, we found negative effects on cognition among older adults,“ Shi said in a press release published on Tuesday.

Chili intake included both fresh and dried chili peppers but not sweet capsicums or black peppers, explained Ming Li of the University of South Australia, an author of the study. Capsaicin is the active component in chili which reportedly speeds up metabolism (新陈代谢) and fat loss, and inhibits vascular disorders (抑制血管紊乱), but this is the first longitudinal (纵向的) study to investigate the association between chili intake and cognitive function, researchers said. The researchers said people of normal body weight may be more sensitive to chili intake than overweight people and so their memory and weight suffer a lot.

Worldwide, around 50 million people have dementia, and Alzheimer's disease is the most common form that may contribute to 60 to 70 percent of the cases, according to the World Health Organization. At present, no treatment can cure dementia or change its progressive course.

1. What is Paragraph 3 about?

A．The planting of chili.	B．The popularity of chili.
C．The bad effects of chili.	D．The custom of eating chili.

2. Who are most likely to suffer from eating lots of chili?

A．Overweight seniors.	B．Overweight teenagers.
C．Seniors of normal body weight.	D．Teenagers of normal body weight.

3. According to the passage, chili consumption is found to be harmful to________.

A．body weight	B．blood pressure
C．cognitive abilities	D．metabolism

4. What does the passage talk about?

A．Eating chili causes dementia.

B．Chili is the main cause of dementia.

C．Avoiding chili could help dementia.

D．Eating too much spicy food might cause dementia.

【推荐3】If you know how to study a glass of wine, it can tell you about its history. Studying a wine involves using several senses, not just taste.

First, pour the wine into a glass and look at it. Color can tell a lot about the kind of grapes where the wine is from and its age. Look at the clarity, thickness and color of the wine.

A white wane might be almost colorless, or it could have a deep golden color. White wines go darker with age. White wine made from grapes grown in a cool climate is often paler, with a higher amount of acid (酸). A white wine from grapes grown in a warmer climate is often yellower, with less acid, though there are exceptions to this rule.

The color of red wine can be purplish red to brick red. Red wines often become paler with age Red wines grown in warmer climates often have deeper color than those grown in cooler climates.

Next, turn the glass so that the wine moves around inside. This brings air into the wine, so that it releases its smell. Smell the wine deeply. A wine’s smell is actually more telling than its taste.To use a wine term, what can you learn about the wine from its “nose”? Is the wine fruity? Does it smell like oak? Do you smell grass or maybe honey? Maybe the smell is like butter or a mineral. It may be complex or intense.

Now it is time to taste the wine. Move it around in your mouth. You may recognize some tastes because you identify them while smelling the wine. You can also consider the wine’s sweetness and its sharpness, or acidity. You may note the taste of tannin. Tannins are chemicals that are found in the skin and seeds of grapes. They are also found in tea. Tannins taste bitter and seem to coat your mouth. To make a good wine requires a balance between sugar, acidity, tannin and alcohol.

Many wine experts can identify the kind of wine without ever seeing the label on the bottle.This is because they know the qualities of the look, smell and taste of a wine.

1. According to the passage, a red wine with a lighter color might be the wine_______.

A．that has a lower amount of acid.	B．that is grown in cooler climates.
C．that is not good wine	D．that is grown in warmer climates.

2. By looking at the color of the wine, experts______.

A．can know whether the wine tastes good or not.

B．can know whether the wine is made from grapes.

C．can know whether the wine has a long or short history.

D．can know whether the wine has a good color.

3. Paragraph 5 suggests the followings except that______.

A．wine can have different kinds of smells.

B．A wine’s smell can’t give any meaningful information about the wine

C．You can’t smell the wine properly if you don’t turn the glass.

D．A wine might not smell like wine.

4. In tasting wine, one needs to pay attention to______.

A．how sweet it tastes.	B．how sharp it tastes.
C．how bitter it tastes.	D．all of the above.

5. How many senses are involved in studying a glass of wine according to the passage ?

A．One

B．Two

C．Three

D．Four

【推荐1】Fashions have a lot of rules. Most of them, however, are just wrong. But there’s one rule that goes beyond tradition and into the field of scientific study of the brain: Black clothes are slimming. It all comes down to how your visual system processes the light. The below holes in each square are the same in size, yet the white hole looks bigger than the black hole.

In the 1500s, Galileo Galilei noticed that some of the planets looked larger when viewed with the naked eye than they did when viewed through a telescope, making the white light of Venus appear eight to ten times larger than Jupiter in the night sky. He knew something strange must be going on with his vision to cause this illusion, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Luckily, scientists never stopped wondering, and in 2014, they figured it out.

Our visual system operates via two main channels: “on” neurons (神经元) that are sensitive to light things and “off ” neurons that are sensitive to dark things. When it came to the dark “off ” neurons, the researchers found that they responded predictably to dark shapes on a light background the greater the contrast between the two, the more active these neurons were. But the light on”neurons behaved unpredictably. Even with the same amount of contrast, light objects on a dark background caused a greater response in these neurons.

This phenomenon makes some sense, evolutionarily speaking. In the dark of night, you’d want to be able to take in every bit of light you can get, so a visual system that enlarges light objects on a dark background could be very useful. However, it’s not that hard to see dark objects in the light of day. It has some effects in the colors of your clothes and in the appearance of the planets --- the brighter appearance of Venus in the night sky makes it look bigger than the darker Jupiter.

1. Which of the following might Galileo Galilei agree with?

A．The neurons led to the difference.

B．There was something wrong with his telescope.

C．The difference was caused by his visual illusion.

D．Things were bigger when seen through telescopes.

2. What do we know about the “off ” neurons?

A．They are sensitive to light objects.

B．Their behavior can’t be predicted.

C．They behave differently from person to person.

D．Their activeness improves with the contrast of colors.

3. What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

A．The phenomenon makes people feel puzzled.

B．People manage to take in every bit of light in the dark.

C．The phenomenon is beneficial to people’s evolution.

D．Dark objects become smaller in the light of day.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．What visual illusions bring to people

B．Why we look thinner when in black

C．How we are affected by the fashion rules

D．Whether people’s visual system is different

【推荐2】I often find peacefulness in a soaring stone church, a cool open place to sit and contemplate. The giant trunk-like pillars (柱子) and the gentle play of the light cast through a church's stained glass windows create a shaded garden of stone and multicolored light.

Glass itself is one of the fruits of the art of fire. It is a fusion (熔接) of the Earth's rocks melted at high temperatures. Glass's liquid-like structure is one of the main reasons it is transparent (透明的). However, "transparent" does not necessarily mean that all light can pass through it. Some obsidian (黑曜石) glasses are so darkly colored that they are effectively black and opaque (不透光的). This is because electrons of some elements in the obsidian are arranged in such a way that their energy is the same as the energy of visible light.

This ability of certain elements to absorb light and give color is used to great effect in stained glass windows. For example, adding cobalt oxide (氧化钴) to the glass during melting will make it blue because cobalt absorbs wavelengths at the red end of the spectrum (光谱)but does not absorb blue.These colors were discovered by the ancients through trial and error, adding different minerals to the melting pot and melting for different periods of time, even though they had no idea what caused them.

The term "stained glass" telescopes (精简) three different processes: coloring, staining and painting, each one complex and requiring the application of many skills. In the mid-16th century, however, different colored enamels (珐琅) began to be used. It has been said that the appearance of enameling was the death of the great stained glass window artists. I am not sure if this is true, but I do know that standing in front of a great stained glass window is a magical experience. Next time you are in a soaring cathedral, take a moment to admire the windows.

1. Why does the author write this passage?

A．To show the actual way to make stained glass.

B．To express his appreciation of stained glass.

C．To talk about the function of stained glass.

D．To review the history of stained glass.

2. What does “their energy” underlined in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．The energy of high temperatures.

B．The energy of obsidian glasses.

C．The energy of some electrons.

D．The energy of all elements.

3. How is stained glass made?

A．By melting some of the Earth's rocks with sun energy.

B．By painting some colors on rocks before melting them.

C．By absorbing fire and sunlight to make varied colors.

D．By adding some minerals to glass when it is melted.

4. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．Stained glass was invented in the mid-16th century.

B．Making enamels was more complex than making stained glass.

C．The number of stained glass artists may have declined since the 1550s.

D．The author admiringly welcomes the change caused by colored enamels.

【推荐3】Many people turn to doctors or self-help books, but they ignore (忽视) a powerful thing that could help them fight illnesses: their friends.

Researchers are now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of fiends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. Another study showed that there was an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk (危险) for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social relationship could improve brain health as we age.

“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t well realized,” said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychological (心理的) health than family relationships.”

While many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that it can do good to men, too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men, having friendships reduces the risk of heart attack. Only smoking was as important a risk factor (因素) as having little social support.

The exact reason why friendship has such a big effect isn’t entirely clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the advantages go well beyond physical help. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. “People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen, a doctor. “The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

1. The three studies in Paragraph 2 show that ______.

A．old people need friends the most	B．friends can help us lose weight
C．social relationship are connected to health	D．more friends make us healthier

2. Which of the following can be used here to replace the underlined word “obesity” in paragraph 2?

A．Fatness.

B．Unhappiness.

C．Excitement.

D．Health.

3. What do Rebecca’s words in Paragraph 3 mean ______

A．Friendship is more important to women than to men.

B．What people need most is a friend’s care.

C．Friendship is more important than family relationship.

D．The value of friendship hasn’t been fully understood.

4. What would be the best title of the text?

A．Friends Are the Best Medicine

B．Friends Are as Important as a Family

C．Having Good Friends Leads to a Better Life

D．Friendship Makes People Happy

【推荐1】The Cool Taxi is a Hackney Carriage that was changed into a freezer on wheels, using dry ice to keep the inside cool for passengers. It has a number of features designed to keep riders cool, including a freezer filled with ice lollies (冰棍)and a state-of-the-art air conditioning system.

A spokesperson for Andrews Air Conditioning said，“Britain has become a hot country, and the British are feeling the heat. For commuters(通勤者）there is nothing worse on a hot day than getting into a hot taxi, so we wanted to help to avoid this experience with Cool Taxi.

Cool Taxi driver Tony，who has driven a taxi for 11 years, said, “I have done 10 London summers in the taxi and I know you need some good air conditioning. It would be impossible to work without it. You need to keep cool and stay hydrated (水分)，and sometimes in a typical taxi this is difficult to keep. ”

Elizabeth Ann Iliffe，who was paying a visit to London from the South East，said，“It is   amazing. It feels just like a scene(场境)from Frozen. It’s nice to step in just   for a few minutes   to have a break from the heat and cool off. ”

The Cool Taxi in running for a limited(有限的）lime at present time, However，it has proved popular with passengers and could he considered for full-time operation across the summer months in the future.

1. What can we learn from what Tony said?

A．He finds it hard to keep the taxi well air-conditioned.

B．He thinks it impossible to provide good air conditioning.

C．He is used to driving taxis in hot summer for a long time.

D．He will try his best to improve the conditions of the taxi.

2. What does the underlined “It” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Having a break.	B．Taking die cool taxi.
C．A scene from Frozen.	D．Her journey in London.

3. What is the text mainly about?

A．The popularity of London’s taxis.

B．The future of taxi industry in London.

C．London’s Cool Taxi filled with dry ice.

D．The management of the Cool Taxi in London.

4. We can infer from the passage that the author is about the future of Cool   Taxi.

A．pessimistic	B．optimistic
C．uncertain	D．careful

【推荐2】An IT company from Finland has developed a new font(字体)which uses machine learning to rewrite bad language into kinder words.

More than a third of bullying(欺凌) takes place online, and the numbers are on the rise, according to a report by the United Nations’ educational organization UNESCO. TietoEVRY developed the Polite Type font as a new tool to deal with online bullying among kids, pointing out harmful language and causing users to pick kinder words.

As users try to write hurtful English words, the font will automatically replaca them.

Writing “I hate you” would, for example, result in the milder “I disagree with you” when Polite Type is used on the computer. Sentences such as “you are ugly” is replaced with “you are not traditionally beautiful” while rude words are blurred(使模糊)completely. The company says it is the first example where a blur has been used as a symbol in a font package. Racial slurs(种族歧视语)are replaced with the racial group the slur is related to, rather than blurring the word entirely.

The vocabulary of the font was co-created with teenagers from Finland. The font’s library of words was chosen to include language from different origins, religions, and world views, and will make adjustments as more people and businesses use it. In the future, TietoEVRY suggests that machine learning could be used to teach the font to understand how language is used. Polite Type can be now downloaded and used for free.

“We want bullies to rethink the words they use and the actual meaning behind them,” said Kia Haring, global head of communication and sustainability at TietoEVRY. “I hope that our cause acts as a wake-up call for all audiences to consider how bullying could be handled.”

1. What is special about the Polite Type font according to the text?

A．It includes a wider vocabulary.

B．It consists of words and symbols.

C．It hides all the unusual expressions.

D．It prefers long sentences to short ones.

2. What can we expect of the Polite Type font in the Future?

A．It will have more words blurred.

B．More racial groups will use it.

C．It will be constantly updated.

D．Users will be charged with using it.

3. What does Kia Haring think of creating the Polite Type font?

A．Imperfect.

B．Unsuccessful.

C．appealing.

D．Inspiring.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Polite Type: the self-developing font

B．A font automatically avoids racial slurs

C．Show others kindness by using a new font

D．A font designed to fight online bullying