As a middle schooler, one of my life goals was the Presidential Fitness Award-an honor given to those who passed a series of gin-class tests that included doing a number of pull ups, running a mile, and, among other things, the sit and reach(another version of toe touching). That's where things went wrong for me. I could never reach quite far enough.
Toe touching is an easy way to begin or end any sort of workout, For most people, it is among the easiest stretching exercises to do. But for me(and any of my classmate)it's complete suffering. Why? “The two biggest factors are the flexibility of your hamstrings(腿筋) and the range of motion of your hip(髋) joints,” says Jeffrey Jenkins, a physiologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. “But another big factor is the relative length of your arms and your torso(躯干) to your legs, which unfortunately can't be changed.”
Ienkins says that although there are sore unjust aspects, overall the toe touch is not the worst measure of flexibility. But if you are flexibility clumsy like me, there are some things you can do to improve the flexibility of the body you have. Whenever you stretch then, your muscles contract, tighten, and resist the force to be stretched, resulting in that annoyingly painful feeling that most of us get when we first reach down to touch our toes or attempt to stretch other muscles. However, Jenkins says, if you are patient, this too shall pass.
If you hold the stretch for a minimum of six seconds, you can actually overcome the re flex (反射). In fact, Jenkins says, there's some evidence that holding still stretches for 30 seconds results in greater improvement in flexibility than holding it for 15 seconds, and just as much improvement as 60 seconds. But for some people, the pain that accompanies those sixty seconds is just too severe. If you can get past that pain, then you can probably improve your flexibility However, Jenkins cautions against tolerating too much pain; you could be tearing a muscle.
1. What can be inferred about the author from the text?A.He is a P. E. Teacher in a junior school. |
B.He improved a version of toe touching. |
C.He can't pass the tests of the Presidential Fitness Award. |
D.He was envied by his classmate for his academical achievements, |
A.How we can practice touching toes, |
B.Why some people can't touch their toes. |
C.What is the most important to an athlete. |
D.Why people begin and end exercises by touching toes. |
A.Muscle pain. | B.Clumsy moves. |
C.Body flexibility. | D.Attempt to stretch. |
A.to seek professional help |
B.not to stand the severe pain beyond limit |
C.to hold the still stretch for at least 15 seconds |
D.not to quit at focus on the pain from the muscles |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Motivating Employees under Unfavourable Conditions
It is a great deal easier to motivate employees in a growing organization than a declining one. When organizations are expanding, promotional opportunities, pay rises, and the excitement of being associated with a dynamic organization create feelings of optimism. When an organization is shrinking, the best and mobile workers are likely to leave voluntarily.
Morale (士气) also suffers during decline. People fear they may be the next to be made unnecessary. Productivity often Suffers, as employees spend their time sharing rumours and providing one another with moral support rather than focusing on their jobs.
The literature on goal-setting theory suggests that managers should ensure that all employees have specific goals and receive comments on how well they are doing in those goals. Regardless of whether goals are achievable or well within management’s perceptions of the employee’s ability, if employees see them as unachievable they will reduce their effort.
Since employees have different needs, managers should use their knowledge of each employee to personalize the rewards over which they have control. Some of the more obvious rewards that managers allocate include pay, promotions and the opportunity to participate in goal-setting and decision-making.
A.There is enough evidence to support the motivational benefits that result from carefully matching people to jobs. |
B.For those whose jobs are secure, pay increases are rarely possible. |
C.High achievers are motivated by jobs that are high in independence and responsibility. |
D.Unfortunately, they are the ones the organization can least afford to lose—those with the highest skills and experience. |
E.The answer to that depends on perceptions of goal acceptance and the organization’s culture. |
F.Managers must be sure, therefore, that employees feel confident that their efforts can lead to performance goals. |
【推荐2】Blind imitation is self-destruction. To those who do not recognize their own unique worth, imitation appears attractive; to those who know their strength, imitation is unacceptable.
In the early stages of skill or character development, imitation is helpful. When I first learned to cook, I used recipes and turned out some tasty dishes. But soon I grew bored. Why follow someone else’s way of cooking when I could create my own? Imitating role models is like using training wheels on a child’s bicycle; they help you get going, but once you find your own balance, you fly faster and farther without relying on them.
In daily life, imitation can hurt us if we subconsciously (下意识地)hold poor role models. If, as a child, you observed people whose lives were bad, you may have accepted their fear and pain as normal and gone on to follow what they did. If you do not make strong choices for yourself, you will get the results of the weak choices of others.
In the field of entertainment, our culture praises and admires celebrities. Those stars look great on screen. But when they step off screen, their personal lives may be disastrous. If you are going to follow someone, focus on their talent, not their bad character or unacceptable behaviors.
Blessed is the person willing to act on their sudden desire to create something unique. Think of the movies, books, teachers, and friends that have affected you most deeply. They touched you because their creations were motivated by inspiration not desperation. The world is changed not by those who do what has been done before them, but by those who do what has been done inside them. Creative people have an endless resource of ideas. The problem a creator faces is not running out of material; it is what to do with the material knocking at the door of imagination.
Study your role models, accept the gifts they have given, and leave behind what does not serve you. Then you can say, “I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors’ tragedies and declare victory, and know that they are cheering me on.”
1. Imitation proves useful when you _______.A.know you are unique | B.lose the balance of life |
C.begin to learn something new | D.get tired of routine practice |
A.forget daily fear and pain | B.choose the right role models |
C.ask others for decisions | D.stay away from stars |
A.desperate to influence others with their knowledge |
B.ready to turn their original ideas into reality |
C.eager to discover what their ancestors did |
D.willing to accept others’ ideas |
A.To highlight the importance of creativity. |
B.To criticize the characters of role models. |
C.To compare imitation with creation. |
D.To explain the meaning of success. |
【推荐3】Here are the simple instructions given by a Harvard University assistant professor to people participating in a recent science study: “Imagine the following scene. Visualize it in your mind’s eye, as vividly as you can: a person walks into a room and knocks a ball off a table.”
The assistant professor, Tomer Ullman, then asked those in the study about their mental images: “Did you see how big the ball was? How about the person’s hair color?” Most participants visualized the former but not the latter. Ullman and his colleagues term this absence of details “noncommitment” to mental imagery (意象).
Brain imaging studies show that mental imagery engages the same neurons (744770) in similar ways as perception (EXXI). Visualizing things seems to have much in common with actually seeing them. But if mental images are indeed pictures, why do they lack such simple details?
Ullman and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments in which participants visualized the ball and table scene and were then presented with the questions selected by the researchers. The findings show 78% of the participants did not visualize at least two details. People are often unaware of how little detail their mental images contain until asked. They don’t notice how much they don’t notice. It has nothing to do with a person forgetting the contents of a mental image, and it also is found in people with vivid imaginations.
“Nearly everyone can tell you the size of the ball but not the person’s hair color,” Ullman says. “It’s like there’s one hierarchy when we construct images, and spatial properties are high up. Then things like colors are further down.” This fits with Kosslyn’s “skeletal image” theory, in which overall shape is generated first, and other details are added as needed.
“There are imagery-based systems for interviewing people who witnessed a crime to guide them through trying to visualize it as accurately as possible,” Kosslyn says. Imagination is an issue, but understanding noncommitment better could help develop ways of getting more accurate eyewitness evidence, he says. “That’s worth a lot.”
1. What does noncommitment to mental imagery refer to?A.Imagining a scene in one’s mind vividly. | B.Remembering the size of a ball exactly. |
C.Picturing things in one’s mind partially. | D.Forgetting a person’s hair colour entirely. |
A.They fail to realize. | B.They have poor memories. |
C.They lack a rich imagination. | D.They think in a wrong way. |
A.Prejudice. | B.Order. | C.Height. | D.Standard. |
A.The potential value of the research. | B.The further prospect of the research. |
C.The importance of looking for a witness. | D.The difficulty in finding evidence of a crime. |
【推荐1】Some women say the voice in their head gets kinder as they enter midlife, while other women become more critical of themselves. The difference in views appears to be related to the ability to accept age-related changes to their body, researchers have found.
In 2013, Professor Paxton, of the Universityof La Trobe’s Department of Psychology, was interviewed on ABC Melbourne about body image and well-being in women entering midlife. The ABC posted on their Facebook page the topic of the program and the question: Does the voice in your head get kinder as you get older?
The study found 56 percent of comments suggested the voice in women’s heads did get somewhat kinder with age. This view was associated with women accepting the age-related changes in their body as normal. “If they gained weight or they got wrinkles, it was a normal part of aging and they felt fine about it and it didn’t disturb their sense of self,” Professor Paxton said, “They were more likely to value health and well-being as opposed to appearance.”
On the other hand, 40 percent of comments suggested the voice did not get any kinder with age. This view was associated with women finding it difficult to accept being so different from the youthful ideal of women that is upheld in advertising and in the media. Women who expressed this view were concerned about how “invisible” they had become as a consequence. “They reacted negatively to the changes in their bodies as they aged and were very much aware that in our culture, youthful bodies are idealized,” Professor Paxton said.
Understanding why some women are preoccupied with body image in midlife more than others is important given that having a bad body image can lead to physical and mental health problems, Professor Paxton said. This can include self-consciousness and anxiety, eating disorders, and an unwillingness to show oneself in public, which can reduce the amount women exercise or socialize. “They become unsociable and don’t fulfill their full potential. Those sorts of things can make a person very unhappy.”
She said the insights from studies like this support the use of cognitive (认知的) behavioral therapy (治疗) designed to help women in midlife who have a preoccupation with body image to change negative thought patterns. This would involve discouraging them from comparing themselves to younger women, and encouraging acceptance of bodily changes related to age, and “self care” behaviors that improve health and well-being.
1. What causes the difference in women’s opinions on body image?A.Women’s self-acceptance. | B.Professors’ advice. |
C.The impact of Facebook. | D.Personal health. |
A.Introduced. | B.Tested. | C.Advocated. | D.Praised. |
A.By trying to show themselves in public. | B.By adopting a new thinking model. |
C.By doing as much exercise as possible. | D.By comparing themselves to younger women. |
A.To show public responses to the changes in their bodies. |
B.To explain that health is more important than appearance. |
C.To criticize views on body image expressed in the media. |
D.To give advice to middle-aged women on bodily changes. |
【推荐2】Scientists have created the world's first living, self-healing robots using stem cells (干细胞) from frogs. Named xenobots after the African clawed frog from which they take their stem cells, the ''machines'' are less than a millimeter wide — small enough to travel inside human bodies. They can walk and swim, survive for weeks without food, and work together in groups. ''These are entirely new life forms, '' said the University of Vermont, which conducted the research with Tufts University's Allen Discovery Center.
The researchers removed living stem cells from frog embryos (胚胎), and left them to hatch. Then, the cells were cut and reshaped into specific ''body forms'' designed by a supercomputer — forms ''never seen in nature'',according to a news release from the University of Vermont.
Xenobots even have regenerative abilities. When the scientists sliced into one robot, it healed by itself and kept moving. They don’t look like traditional robots - they have no shiny clothing or robotic arms. Instead, they look more like a tiny drop of moving pink flesh. The researchers say this is deliberate — this ''biological machine'' can achieve things typical robots of steel and plastic cannot. ''Traditional robots degrade over time and can produce harmful ecological and health side effects, '' researchers said in the study. ''As biological machines, xenobots are more environmentally friendly and safer for human health.''
According to the researchers, these robots could be used to clean up radioactive waste, collect microplastics in the oceans, or even carry medicine inside human bodies. Aside from these immediate practical tasks, they could also help researchers to learn more about cell biology - opening the doors to future advancement in human health and longevity. This sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. Some people even voiced their concern that humans might be taken control of by those xenobots. However, the researchers in the study say there is no need for alarm. They can't reproduce or evolve (进化).
1. What is this passage mainly about?A.The advantages of a medical robot. |
B.The application of robots in biology. |
C.The general introduction of a living robot. |
D.The medical value of African clawed frogs. |
A.living longer | B.growing again |
C.replacing old cells | D.defending against attacks |
A.They can do everything that traditional robots can. |
B.They can break up steel and plastic while degrading. |
C.They are able to cure people of all kinds of diseases. |
D.They are harmless to the environment and human health. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Positive. |
C.Cautious. | D.Casual. |
【推荐3】Film has properties that set it apart from painting, sculpture, novels, and plays. It is also, in its most popular and powerful form, a story telling medium that shares many elements with the short story and the novel. And since film presents its stories in dramatic form, it has even more in common with the stage play: Both plays and movies act out or dramatize, show rather than tell, what happens.
Unlike the novel, short story, or play, however, film is not handy to study; it cannot be effectively frozen on the printed page. The novel and short story are relatively easy to study because they are written to be read. The stage play is slightly more difficult to study because it is written to be performed. But plays are printed, and because they rely heavily on the spoken word, imaginative readers can conjure up at least a pale imitation of the experience they might have been watching a performance on stage. This cannot be said of the screenplay, for a film depends greatly on visual and other nonvisual elements that are not easily expressed in writing. The screenplay requires so much “filling in” by our imagination that we cannot really approximate the experience of a film by reading a screenplay, and reading a screenplay is worthwhile only if we have already seen the film. Thus, most screenplays are published not to read but rather to be remembered.
Still, film should not be ignored because studying it requires extra effort. And the fact that we do not generally “read” films does not mean we should ignore the principles of literary or dramatic analysis when we see a film. Literature and films do share many elements and communicate many things in similar ways. Perceptive film analysis rests on the principles used in literary analysis, and if we apply what we have learned in the study of literature to our analysis of films, we will be far ahead of those who do not. Therefore, before we turn to the unique elements of film, we need to look into the elements that film shares with any good story.
Dividing film into its various elements for analysis is a somewhat artificial process, for the elements of any art form, never exist in isolation. It is impossible, for example, to isolate plot from character: Events influence people, and people influence events; the two are always closely interwoven in any fictional, dramatic, or cinematic work. Nevertheless, the analytical method uses such a fragmenting technique for ease and convenience. But it does so with the assumption that we can study these elements in isolation without losing sight of their interdependence or their relationship to the whole.
1. What is mainly discussed in the text?A.The uniqueness of film. |
B.The importance of film analysis. |
C.How to identify the techniques a film uses. |
D.The relationship between film analysis and literary analysis. |
A.Because screenplay is not as well written as literary works. |
B.Because a film cannot be effectively represented by a printed screenplay. |
C.Because a film is too complicated. |
D.Because publishers prefer to publish literary works. |
A.the means by which we analyze a literary work cannot be applied to the analysis of the film |
B.a good film and a good story have many elements in common |
C.we should not pay extra effort to study films |
D.using the principles of literary analysis makes no difference in film analysis |
A.Because these elements are interwoven with each other and cannot be separated. |
B.Because films cannot be written down and it is inconvenient to analyze them. |
C.Because films elements are too complicated. |
D.Because films need not to be analyzed in detail. |