In recent years, researchers of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab are studying how environmental factors influence many Americans to unnoticeably eat too much. Many people wrongly believe that factors like hunger or boredom and depression are the main causes of overeating, but their research has shown otherwise. It is thought that we overeat if the food is good or if we’re really hungry. In reality, those are two of the last things that determine how much we eat.
In one experiment, the researcher placed jars of candies in workers’ offices for a month. Then, he moved the candies 1.8 m away. The office workers ate five more candies each day when the jar was closer to them, equaling an additional 125 calories a day. It does not sound too bad, but add that up over a year and you will have gained 5.4 kg. “If something is visible, every time we see it, we have to make a decision: to eat it or not?” the researcher explained.
In the other experiment, moviegoers were given five-day-old popcorn, some in medium-size buckets, some in large buckets. The researcher found that moviegoers who had the larger buckets ate 53 percent more, despite its unpleasant taste. He believes that the distraction of the movie and hearing others eat the popcorn persuade people to keep eating.
The findings in other researches have shown that we tend to eat more when we use larger dishes, eat in front of the television, or dine with someone who eats a lot. Researchers of the lab advise a gradual approach in changing eating habits. People can cut a couple of hundred calories a day by doing things such as avoiding open food dishes at the office, using smaller serving bowls, sitting next to the slowest eater and being the last one to start eating.
1. What is the truth shown by the study?| A．We eat more when the food is good. |
| B．People tend to eat a lot when they dine out. |
| C．Feeling depressed leads us to overeat. |
| D．Hunger is not the key factor in overeating. |
| A．People turn to more candies for more energy. |
| B．Office workers eat more candies due to visibility. |
| C．Moviegoers eat more popcorn because it is tasty. |
| D．People keep eating popcorn to enjoy the movie. |
| A．Dining with slim persons. | B．Eating while watching films |
| C．Using smaller dishes. | D．Starting eating earlier. |
| A．To display a research process. |
| B．To instruct how to do research experiments. |
| C．To warn against overeating. |
| D．To advise being a mindful eater. |
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【推荐1】Researchers in Japan have created smart kitchenware that relies on electricity to make food saltier and tastier without adding any extra salt.
Salt makes food taste so much better, but it’s also a very dangerous ingredient that, consumed heavily, can cause serious health problems like high blood pressure, heart disease and other diseases. But what if we could make food taste salty without using any salt? That’s what scientists at Meiji University and developer Kirin Holdings have been working on for several years now. Back in April, they developed the first breakthrough creation: A pair of smart chopsticks, but now they have a couple of commercial products ready to hit the shelves.
The smart chopsticks did work well. They made sodium (钠) from the food to the mouth of the user to create a strong sense of saltiness, but they had a big problem as well. Because of their limited surface, the chopsticks needed to be connected to a power source on the user’s forearm. However, the newest inventions designed by the team behind the project suffer from no such limitations.
A smart spoon and bowl recently showcased by the brilliant minds behind the project features enough space for a built-in battery, so you no longer have to worry about connecting them up to a power supply every time you use them.
According to reports, the new smart spoon and bowl can make food taste 1.5 times saltier, which is welcome news to the many people who love salty food but need to watch their salt intake for health reasons. What’s better is that the new smart kitchenware is ready for commercialization and is expected to hit the Japanese market early next year. The new products will be called Erekisoruto and will have built-in batteries. The price is unknown at this time.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．The more salt, the better food. | B．Too much salt can be harmful to health. |
| C．Salt is beneficial to the sense of taste. | D．Salt is a very poisonous ingredient. |
| A．They are expensive. | B．They are too heavy. |
| C．They are inconvenient. | D．They are adjustable. |
| A．The businessmen who work in Japan. | B．The scientists who work on the smart field. |
| C．The researchers who like much saltier taste. | D．The patients who need to take in less salt. |
| A．Saltier Food with No Salt Added | B．Why Do People Like Salty Food |
| C．Magical Kitchenware Hit the Market | D．How Much Salt Do People Need Daily |
【推荐2】Healthy Eating
There is much debate nowadays as to what makes up a healthy diet. For example, scientists have insisted for years that a big enemy of health is fatty food. However, there is increasing evidence that the real driver of poor health is not so much fatty food, as it is sugar. Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans. And in America, people who receive 25% of their daily calories or more through sugar are twice as likely to die from heart disease than people who receive less than 10% a day (Journaal of the American Medical Association, 2014) . This is true regardless of how healthy the rest of their diet might be. Put it more simply, while people continue to argue over whether or not fatty food is dangerous, we already know that sugar is a killer.
Much of this extra sugar comes from sweets and sweet drinks. The average American gets 1/3 of his or her sugar through sweet drinks alone. The American Heart Association recommends that we limit ourselves to less than 100 - 150 calories a day from sugar, which is less than what is usually contained in one can of sweet drink or in a single candy bar. In other words, if you want to be healthy, you have to cut down on desserts, and cut out sweet drinks altogether.
Beyond this, you can keep healthy by consuming different categories of fresh foods, especially fruit and vegetables, which are full of vitamins and fibre, rather than processed foods. Processed foods often contain less nutrition, and have higher quantities of sugar, salt, and fat than fresh ingredients. Besides this, it is also important to have some meat, beans, or dairy products in your diet, as they provide the necessary protein for strong bones and muscle growth. As with everything in life, moderation is key. The ideal diet is a balanced one, without too much or too little of any one thing.
Finally, a fundamental key to healthy eating is to eat slowly. It takes about twenty minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to tell your body that you are full. What this means is that people who chew too quickly end up eating too much food because they still feel hungry. Eating slowly also allows your body to digest your food better and will allow you to enjoy your food more. In addition, studies show that consistent eating habits, for example, taking three meals a day at the same time each day, are better for our health. It is also better to eat a modest amount of food each time, rather than to eat a lot in one meal and then a little in the next.
There is no one trick to healthy eating. Rather, healthy eating starts with having a healthy attitude towards food. One question you can ask yourself is, “Do I eat to live, or live to eat?” If you are using food mostly for nutrition, then you are on the right track with your diet. However, if food has become the centre of your life, you might be on the road to bad health. It is up to you to decide how you want to live and to make the right decisions about your diet.
1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?| A．Fatty food is big enemy. | B．Heart disease is No. 1 killer. |
| C．The real killer is sugar. | D．People argue about healthy eating. |
| A．presenting data | B．giving details |
| C．writing in time order | D．explaining definitions |
| A．Stopping eating sugar is key to good health. |
| B．Quick chewing is good for digestion and health. |
| C．Processed foods are healthy food and full of vitamins and fibre. |
| D．Eating a moderate amount of food each time is always appreciated. |
| A．Attitude is everything. |
| B．There’s no such thing as a free lunch. |
| C．Some soup before dinner, healthy body forever. |
| D．Without salt and tasteless dishes, words are powerless. |
【推荐3】I just celebrated my 95th birthday last week, and people always ask me about my secret. Of course, it's important to eat right and exercise, but that's not much of a secret. I actually have quite a few friends over the age of 90, and we all say the same thing: laughter. Are we telling jokes all the time? Not necessarily. Are we watching funny movies around the clock? Of course not. Do we take the time to laugh at ourselves and generally try to keep things light as much as we can? Certainly. One of the best ways to make sure you laugh every day is to be around children or pets because they just can't help being funny! And what about those polite little laughs when your neighbor tells a joke that isn't really funny, but you laugh anyway? Those are fine, but the ones where you laugh with your whole body and mind are the ones where you end up tired and out of breath, where everyone around you starts laughing, too. My “senior” friends and I even came up with a nice round number: For each full “belly laugh” you have, you'll live one extra hour in your lifetime. Now that might not sound like much, but if you have one every day, you'll live an extra three or four years. I try to have between five and ten of those laughs every day, and so should you.
1. What is the talk mainly about?| A．The benefits of laughing. |
| B．Different funny things in life. |
| C．The balance of body and mind. |
| D．Celebrating the writer's 95th birthday. |
| A．Watch too many funny movies. |
| B．Spend time with children and pets. |
| C．Tell jokes with their funny neighbors. |
| D．Take part in birthday parties. |
| A．To live longer. |
| B．To entertain others. |
| C．To make the belly smaller. |
| D．To make more friends. |
【推荐1】New research has found a direct correlation between how a child visually tracks his mother’s eyes and the condition. How a toddler responds to baby talk could help diagnose autism (自闭症) years before symptoms begin, according to the new research.
A study examined responses to parents’ use of playful, emotional, exaggerated tones, known as “motherese” (mother’s ‘baby talk’), to capture a child’s attention. Eye-tracking tests showed that children who did not respond had weaker social and language abilities. Professor Karen Pierce, of California University in San Diego, co-author of the research, said, “We know the earlier we can introduce treatment, the more effective it is likely to be. But most children don’t get a formal diagnosis until around the age of three or four. There is a real need for easy and effective tools that can be used on young children. Eye-tacking is a great place to start.”
In experiments, 653 toddlers aged one to two years old were exposed to two one-minute videos featuring a woman speaking motherese or abstract scenes. Their eyes controlled which one played. Participants without ASD (autism spectrum disorder) showed consistently high interest in the woman speaking motherese, spending an average 80 percent of the time watching it. They largely ignored the second video which showed a busy highway, abstract shapes and numbers and had accompanying electronic music.
However, attention levels of peers diagnosed with ASD spanned the full range of concentration levels, with some focusing 100 percent on the random images. A group who fixed on motherese less than 30 percent of the time could be accurately identified as having ASD through this measurement alone. These children also showed lower scores on subsequent tests of language and social skills.
Whether less attention to motherese is the cause of reduced sociability or merely a symptom has yet to be determined. However, researchers found it appears to be a highly accurate biomarker for the condition. Prof Pierce said, “The fact we can reliably identify children with autism using such a simple and rapid eye-tracking test is really remarkable. In future, we hope to us each ids attention to motherese as a cue for which treatments they may most benefit from and as a tool for measuring how well those treatments work.”
1. What is the purpose of the study?| A．To catch a child’s attention. |
| B．To check a child’s eyesight. |
| C．To test a child’s reaction to motherese. |
| D．To diagnose autism early. |
| A．Eye-tracking test is a good way to cur c autism. |
| B．There is an urgent need for complex tool applied to young children. |
| C．It is essential to bring in ASD treatment in early time. |
| D．Most children don’t get an informal diagnosis before the age of three or four. |
| A．They showed occasionally high interest in the woman speaking motherese. |
| B．They fixed 80 percent on the random images. |
| C．They focused on motherese more than 30%percent of time. |
| D．They mainly overlooked the second one. |
| A．The connection between a child’s reaction to motherese and autism. |
| B．How to improve toddlers’ language and social skills. |
| C．The process of eye-tracking test. |
| D．How to heal autism. |
【推荐2】Gold is one of the rarest materials on Earth and has always been considered a valuable and precious resource. It's very likely that someone in your family owns something made of gold, especially since China is one of the world's biggest buyers of gold jewellery. It's even in our smartphones - they contain parts made from this expensive material.
But where does this beautiful metal actually come from? The answer: outer space.
This August, Chinese scientists became the first in the world to witness gravitational waves（引力波）caused by the collision of neutron (中子）stars, reported Xinhua News Agency.
The sight was witnessed at China's Kunlun Antarctic Station at the South Pole, and Insight, China’s first X-ray astronomical satellite, also contributed to the discovery.
Although collisions of black holes have been recorded before, this was the first time that two neutron stars were known to have collided. It's believed that such collisions lead to huge explosions of energy, and even to the creation of precious metals such as gold and silver.
“The collision of neutron stars is like a very large gold factory in the universe,” Jin Zhiping，a researcher at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua.
According to an article published by space.com, scientists have long believed gold and other materials are created in this way, but it wasn't until the recent collision that their theory was confirmed.
“The origin of the really heaviest chemical elements in the universe had confused the scientific community for quite a long time,” Hans-Thomas Janka, a senior scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany, said in a news release. “Now, we have the first observational proof for neutron star mergers(合并) as sources.”
Indeed, the recently observed collision is thought to have produced an amount of gold that would weigh 10 times more than Earth, according to New Scientist
Don’t expect to be showered in gold any time soon, however. The collision actually took place 130 million years ago, taking all that time for the event's light to reach Earth.
But at least if you want to see a piece of space up close, all you have to do is to look at the ring on your mom's finger - or the smartphone in your pocket.
1. What's the author's purpose of writing the first two paragraphs?| A．To emphasize the rareness of gold. |
| B．To list some uses of gold in daily life. |
| C．To explain the reasons for the popularity of gold. |
| D．To interest readers about the source of gold. |
| A．The creation of black holes. |
| B．The death of the stars. |
| C．The disappearance of gravitational waves. |
| D．The creation of gold. |
| A．China’s Kunlun Antarctic Station does research into gold. |
| B．Collisions between two neutron stars result in gold |
| C．Collisions contribute to the discovery. |
| D．Gold is considered a valuable and precious rescource. |
| A．The amount of gold produced by the collision was very small. |
| B．The collision was the largest reported in history. |
| C．China played a big role in the new discovery. |
| D．The collision took place 130 years ago. |
【推荐3】Handing your baby a phone or a tablet to play with may seem like a harmless solution when you’re busy, but it could actually affect their development, a new study has found.
Having anywhere from one to four hours of screen time per day at age l is linked with higher risks of developmental delays in communication skills, fine motor skills, personal and social skills,and problem-solving skills by age 2, according to a study of 7,097 children published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The study measured how many hours children used screens per day at age 1 and how they performed in these developmental domains (领域) at ages 2 and 4. Both measures were according to the mothers’ self-reports.
By age 2, those who had had up to four hours of screen time per day were up to 3 times more likely to experience developmental delays in communication and problem-solving skills. Those who had spent four or more hours with screens were 4.78 times more likely to have underdeveloped communication skills, 1.74 times more likely to have poor performances in fine motor skills and two times more likely to have underdeveloped personal and social skills by age2. By age 4, risk remained only in the communication and problem-solving categories.
“One of the areas that is relatively understudied in the whole screen time literature is looking at the impacts of screen exposure on very young kids, especially when screens are introduced to babies,” said Dr. John Hutton, an associate professor of general and community pediatrics (儿科) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “It’s definitely a global concern, and I think the findings should really be applied to other countries as well.”
“Technology use can take time away from interpersonal relationships that develop social skills since real people are more multidimensional than characters on a screen.” Hutton added. Looking at people’s faces is when our brains turn on to figure out how to interact with them.
1. What does the new study focus on?| A．A baby’s mental health. | B．Children’s developmental skills. |
| C．A kid’s academic performance. | D．Students’ creative abilities. |
| A．Analyzing data. | B．Giving examples. |
| C．Reviewing literature. | D．Doing experiments. |
| A．The impact of screen exposure should be studied. |
| B．The findings should be applied to certain countries. |
| C．Global attention should be paid to kids’ screen hours. |
| D．Screens should be introduced to more and more babies. |
| A．What Faults Can Be Found with Screens |
| B．What Difficulties A Young Kid Will Face |
| C．How Screens Change Academic Performance |
| D．How Screen Time Influences Kids’ Development |
【推荐1】A warm drink of milk before bed has long been the best choice for those who want a good night’s sleep. But now a study has found it really does help people nod off—if it is milked from a cow at night.
Researchers have discovered that “night milk” contains more melatonin(褪黑激素), which has been proven to help people feel sleepy and reduce anxiety.
The study, by researchers from Seoul, South Korea, involved mice being fed with dried milk powder that made from cows which are milked both during the day and at night.
Those who are given night milk, which contained 10 times the amount of melatonin, were less active and less anxious than those who are fed with the milk which is collected during daytime, according to the study published in The Journal of Medicinal Food.
Night milk quickened the start of sleep and caused the mice to sleep longer.
While the effect of cow milk which is harvested at different time has not been tested on humans up to now, taking melatonin drugs has been suggested to those who are struggling to fall asleep at night.
Previous studies have also indicated that milk can be excellent for helping sleep because of the calcium content, which helps people to relax.
Milk is also sugar-free and additive-free(不含添加剂) with nutritionists recommending skimmed milk as the best choice before bed because it is the least fattening. The more fat you take in before bedtime, the greater burden you will put on your body at night.
1. According to the text,the mice that were fed with daytime milk ________.| A．started sleep more easily | B．woke up later |
| C．were less active | D．were more anxious |
| A．It’s been tested on mice for ten times. | B．It’s used in sleeping drugs. |
| C．It exists in milk in great amount. | D．It can make people more energetic. |
| A．Because it contains calcium. | B．Because it is the least fattening. |
| C．Because it contains sugar. | D．Because it is full of fat. |
| A．Milk Drinking and Health | B．Fat, Sugar and Health |
| C．An Experiment on Mice | D．Night Milk and Sleep |
【推荐2】Young people can have problems with their minds. Some students become worried because they have to study very hard. Others have trouble getting on well with people like their parents and classmates.
Li Wen, a junior 2 student from No. 2 Middle School, could not understand his teacher and was doing badly in his lessons. He became so worried about it that he didn’t sleep well at night.
Another student, 16-year-old Yang Fang from No. 1 Middle School was afraid of exams. She got very worried and when she looked at the exam paper, she couldn’t think of anything to write.
A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18% of Shanghai teenagers have mental (精神的) problems. Their troubles include being worried and very unhappy, and having problems in learning and getting on with people. Many students who have problems won’t go for advice or help. Some think they will look stupid if they go to see a doctor. Others don’t want to talk about their secrets.
Liang Yuezhu, an expert on teenagers from Beijing Anding Hospital has the following advice for teenagers:
● Talk to your parents or teachers often.
● Take part in group activities and play sports.
● Go to see a doctor if you feel unhappy or unwell.
1. The students who often become worried or have trouble getting on with others may have ________.| A．no parents | B．a headache |
| C．a knife with them | D．mental problems |
| A．she had exams | B．she studied very hard |
| C．she talked with her parents | D．she thought of something |
| A．they won’t let others think they are stupid |
| B．they don’t think doctors can help them |
| C．they don’t want to talk about their secrets |
| D．both A and C |
| A．it’s unnecessary for them to be with others |
| B．only group activities and sports can help them |
| C．it’s better for the students who have mental problems to join others |
| D．teachers and parents can’t do anything about mental problems |
【推荐3】It's a typical morning: you wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth, and then prick(刺)your arm with a tiny needle. Wait, what? Unless you have a serious disease such as diabetes,you probably haven't ever tested your own blood. But in the future, that might change.
The company Cor already sells a system for home blood testing. You stick your arm using a supposedly painless cartridge. Then you stick the cartridge into a device that looks like the base for an electric toothbrush. A few minutes later, an app on your phone offers you updated information, including your current health status and tips on what to eat and how to exercise.It's true that blood provides abundant information about a person's health. Specific tests can reveal if a person is infected with a disease or at risk for a variety of problems. But most people don't test their own blood often. Healthy young adults get blood tests approximately every five years. Cor and similar companies are trying to change the situation. They think people deserve access to more information about their health.
But not everyone is convinced."The best-case scenario(情景)here is that you lose much money and then you're reminded to get more sleep and to eat more fruits, vegetables and fish,"Pieter Cohen of Harvard Medical School told The New York Times. Plus, the results of a home blood test might be wrong. It's hard to get accurate results from a tiny amount of blood. One company, Theranos, said it could perform medical blood tests on a fingerprick's worth of blood.But the company was soon stuck in a controversy((争议)and accused of cheating because its technology didn't work as promised. Thus, there's still a long way to go before the technology becomes advanced.
1. What's the function of Paragraph 1?| A．To express feelings. | B．To raise a question. |
| C．To make a prediction. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．Container. | B．Operation. | C．Medicine. | D．Scan. |
| A．To collect people's health information. | B．To offer people proper suggestions. |
| C．To help people track their health. | D．To cure people of blood diseases. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Objective. | C．Supportive. | D．Uncaring. |
