An analysis of foods we eat every day such as bread, coffee, milk, meat and tap water has expel our exposure to chemicals. The 24th Australian Total Diet Study by Food Standards Australia New Zealand tested 94 commonly consumed foods and drinks. The first part of the study tested three food chemicals: acrylamide, aluminum and perchlorates.
While the result fell within the safe range overall, levels of acrylamide appeared to be of possible concern to human health. Acrylamide forms naturally in carbohydrate-rich foods when they are heated at high temperatures by roasting, baking, grilling, toasting and frying.
“The acrylamide is formed in natural chemical reactions between food components(组成部分) that also give us tasty browning and crunchy texture,” says Professor Ian Rae, an honorary professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne.
The chemical is known to cause cancer in animals, but in humans the exposure “threshold” is unknown, say the World Health Organization. “There is no direct evidence acrylamide causes cancer in humans, but food regulators, including FSANZ, agree that we should reduce our exposure,” the study’s authors say.
They found that cereals and grain-based foods were the main sources of acrylamide in our diets, followed by snacks, condiments, fried potato products and meat.
Surprisingly high levels of the chemical were found in fried beef mince, fresh and fried onions, while pre-packaged olives, chocolate-flavoured energy drinks, grilled asparagus, baked beans and prune juice also rated a mention.
“Beef mince has a high surface area which would allow acrylamide to form if the appropriate precursor chemicals(易制毒化学品) were present,” the authors say. Similarly, onions have a relatively low sugar content compared to many other starchy vegetables. The results indicate that the cooking method and surface area of the food may be a contributing factor for acrylamide formation.
Also confounding expectations were pizza and coffee, which did not have detectable levels of the chemical. Fresh fruit and vegetables were not tested. “The formation of acrylamide in raw fruit and vegetables is unlikely,” the authors say.
In all tested foods, the acrylamide levels “were generally lower than, or comparable to, those reported in Australian and international studies”. However, the authors acknowledge that based on WHO estimates “the acrylamide exposure of Australian consumers is consistent(与.….保持一致) with those considered to be of possible concern to human health”.
Dr Tan Musgrave. a senior lecturer in the school of medical sciences at the University of Adelaide, responded to the study’s results saying: “Our foods are of international quality and indeed perform better in some aspects compared to international standards.”
1. According to Australian studies, acrylamide is a chemical that ________.| A．could bring about cancer to animals and human beings. |
| B．is formed naturally in carbohydrate-rich foods in boiling them. |
| C．should be reduced with regard to human exposure. |
| D．is formed in artificial chemical reactions between food components. |
| A．surface area might result in acrylamide formation |
| B．fresh food is unlikely to form acrylamide |
| C．cooking method is a contributing factor for acrylamide composition. |
| D．food with relatively low sugar content will not form acrylamide. |
| A．the world average | B．those in international studies |
| C．WHO standards | D．those consumed by Australians |
| A．how to detect and reduce acrylamide |
| B．how to reduce acrylamide levels in our foods. |
| C．whether levels of acrylamide are doing harm to human health. |
| D．whether the food chemical acrylamide is within safe range |
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【推荐1】Researchers from the United Kingdom and Canada looked at what children ate when compared to their IQ levels. The researcher used surveys to ask parents how often their children ate junk food. The parents were surveyed when the children were aged 3, then followed up 5 years later to see how the diet affected the growing children’s IQ. They found that those who ate more junk food had lower IQ levels than those who ate a more nutritious diet.
“This suggests that any cognitive (认知的) effects relating to eating habits early in childhood may well continue to exist in later childhood, despite any later changes (including improvements) to dietary intake,” the authors wrote.
The researchers found that dietary habits between the ages of 4 and 7 did not have as much of an effect as what children ate at age 3 did. This may be because the brain grows the quickest during the first three years of life, and thus is more easily affected by things such as diet.
“A possible explanation for this is that the brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life. Studies have shown that head growth during this time is associated with cognitive outcome, and it is possible that good nutrition during this early period may encourage brain growth,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers point out that they have found an association between food and IQ, but not a direct cause or effect. Other factors could have played a role in determining a child's IQ. Parenting, genetics, and even family income are all factors that determine how intelligent a child will be.
Despite this, nutritionists tell us that what children eat can affect how healthy they are, how much rest they get, how smart they are during school. All of these things could change a child's test on IQ level. It is not clear whether food affects IQ directly or indirectly.
More research is needed to determine if there is a direct effect between what a child eats and how intelligent they are. However, the study does suggest that there may be more reasons than just physical health to make sure a child gets a healthy diet.
1. What is the best title for the passage?| A．New Research on Healthy Diet |
| B．Diets Determine Our Heights |
| C．Children's Health and Junk Food |
| D．Junk Food Lowers Your IQ |
| A．when the children were between 3 and 4 years old |
| B．while they were having junk food with children |
| C．by asking how often their children ate junk food |
| D．by always following the children |
| A．the more healthy food we eat, the more intelligent we are |
| B．what we eat during the first three years of life affects our brain most |
| C．parenting, genetics, and family income have little to do with our IQ |
| D．it is children’s diet that determines the growth of their brain directly |
| A．a science magazine |
| B．a newspaper advertisement |
| C．a financial report |
| D．an education paper |
【推荐2】How Smartphone Adds to Your Weight
Using a smartphone at mealtimes can lead to an expanding waistline. Researchers have found that men and women consumed 15% more calories when looking at their phones while eating.
“It may prevent the correct understanding of the brain over the amount of food ingested,” said researchers who filmed 62 volunteers eating alone.
The volunteers, aged 18 to 28, were divided in to three groups and invited to help themselves to a choice of food — ranging from healthy options to soft drinks and chocolate — until they were satisfied.
“Smartphone use during a meal increased calorie and fat intake,” said Márcio Gilberto Zangeronimoa, a lead author of the study — carried out at the Federal University of Lavras in Brazil and University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. He added: “Tablets and smartphones have become the main ‘distracters’ during meals, even early in childhood.
| A．They also eat more fatty food. |
| B．They also ate more when reading a magazine. |
| C．Distracted or hurried eating can add to weight gain. |
| D．The study is published in Physiology And Behavior. |
| E．It is important to pay attention to how this may impact food intakes. |
| F．Hunger isn’t the only thing that influences how much we eat during the day. |
| G．They were recorded eating with no distractions, using a smartphone or reading a magazine. |
【推荐3】Would you eat less junk food if it costs a little bit more? Starting on July 1, the Navajo Nation will charge a 2% tax (税) on junk food sold on its reservation (保留地)- the first tax of its kind in America. The change is part of the Healthy Dine Nation Act, which the tribe’s president Ben Shelly approved last November. The law will also eliminate the current 5% sales tax on healthy food from fresh fruits and vegetables.
Denisa Livingston from the Dine Community Advocacy Alliance, a group that helped pass this law, hopes to make people in the community more aware of their food choices. “This is a friendly awareness tax,” she said.
In a press release, Livingston said that by the law, they want to improve the health of its population, which inhabits a 27,000-square-mile reservation from Arizona and New Mexico to Utah.
Approximately 24,600 Navajo tribe members face obesity, according to the Navajo Area Indian Health Service. Type 2 diabetes has emerged as a growing public health concern affecting up to 60% of reservation residents in some areas.
Livingston says that the Navajo Nation’s status (身份) as a food desert contributes to the health problems the people face. A food desert is an area where fresh, healthy food is expensive and hard to find. Food deserts are especially common in low-income communities, such as the Navajo Nation, where 38% of the population lives at the poverty level.
The money that the government collects from junk food taxes will be put towards projects that encourage people to eat healthy food from community vegetable gardens, greenhouses, and farmers’ markets. “This is going to open the door to more opportunities and conversations and ideas about how we move to a food oasis (绿洲) where everyone has access to healthy food,” Livingston said, “Whether you’re deep in the reservation or the neighboring towns, you will have the availability of healthy food. ”
1. What does the underlined word “eliminate” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Increase. | B．Admit. | C．Explain. | D．Remove. |
| A．To earn much money. |
| B．To correct the tax policy. |
| C．To make the people healthier. |
| D．To make the reservation popular. |
| A．Its tax on food is very heavy. |
| B．There is a lack of healthy food. |
| C．It is an area far away from towns. |
| D．Most of the people have a poor life. |
| A．Doing is better than saying. |
| B．Where there is a will there is a way. |
| C．The longest journey begins with the first step. |
| D．What’s taken from the people is used for the people. |
【推荐1】Feeling unhappy, depressed or lonely could speed up the ageing processes more than smoking or even certain diseases, researchers have suggested. While everyone has an age based on their date of birth — their “chronological age”, they also have what is known as a “biological age”, based on the ageing of the body’s functions, influenced by gene is, lifestyle and other factors. Studies have previously suggested the higher the biological age, the higher the risk of various diseases, and the risk of death.
Now researchers say they have created a digital model of ageing, revealing the importance of psychological health. “Your body and soul are connected — this is our main message,” said Fedor Galkin, a co-author of the study and lead scientist at the Hong Kong startup Deep Longevity.
“We demonstrate that psychological factors, such as feeling unhappy or being lonely, add up to 1.65 years to one’s biological age,” they write. While Galkin said the figure is an estimate, not least as the model assumes that different feelings such as hopelessness or fearfulness are independent of each other, the study highlights the importance of psychological state in how fast we age.
“Taking care of your psychological heath is the greatest contributor that you can have to slowing down your pace of ageing,” he said. The team also report that people who smoke are predicted to be 15 months older than their non-smoking peers, while being married reduces biological age by around seven months. People living in rural areas are predicted to be almost five months older than their urban peers.
“But,” he said, “it is unlikely that isolation and loneliness are truly worse risk factors for health than smoking because the study only looked at data collected at one point in time. The researchers did not follow up participants to show that those with psychological distress actually aged more rapidly,” he said. “It will be important in the future to test whether these predictions are fulfilled by repeating testing over a number of years.”
1. What does the underlined words “chronological age” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Mental age. | B．Age measured by time. |
| C．Biological age. | D．Age of psychological development. |
| A．Psychological factors add up to 1.65 years to one’s chronological age. |
| B．External factor can speedup people’s ageing process. |
| C．Psychological state is a crucial factor in people’s ageing process. |
| D．Physical health can slowdown you pace of ageing. |
| A．In different. | B．Favorable. | C．Disapproving. | D．Objective. |
| A．Depression and loneliness may slowdown the ageing process. |
| B．Isolation and depression maybe worse risk factors foraging than smoking. |
| C．Smoking is harmful to our physical and mental health. |
| D．People with depression need others’ company and understanding. |
【推荐2】Many orb weaver spiders have yellowish stripes or spots on their undersides for a good reason. That color yellow attracts bees and flies into a spider’s web, a new study suggests.
Orb weaver spiders get their name because they spin and sit on circular webs. But these spiders and their bright colors seem contradictory. Why would a spider look so noticeable? In the new study, researchers examined if yellow coloration on a species of golden orb weaver spiders (Nephila pilipes) attracts their flying insect prey. Found across Asia, this spider sits on its web day and night with its underside facing open space. The team found more than 250 female N. pilipes in the wild. They removed each female and either left its web empty or replaced it with a cardboard spider. These cardboard models had paper stripes of yellow, blue or black color stuck to them.
After almost 1,800 hours of video recording the webs, the team found that during the daytime, the yellow-striped model that looked like a real N. pilipes attracted more than twice as many insects, including bees and flies as any other fake spider or empty web. What's more, the yellow color worked just as well at night attracting moths, the scientists reported.
The team then searched online zoological databases for associations between yellow markings and prey attraction in orb weaver spiders. Surveying dozens of distantly related species showed that yellow stripes or spots were more likely to have evolved in orb weaver spiders that sit on their webs in open, bright spaces, where visual baits may be more effective.
Scientists don’t yet know why insects are attracted to yellow stripes on orb weaver spiders. Perhaps the prey mistake a spider for a yellow-flecked flower, a hypothesis (假说) supported by the fact that most prey attracted were pollinators (传粉者).
1. What made the scientists confused about orb weaver spiders?| A．Their name. | B．Their prey. | C．Their coloration. | D．Their webs. |
| A．By finding wild male and female N. pilipes. |
| B．By filling each web with a cardboard spider. |
| C．By studying the stripes on female N. pilipes. |
| D．By using fake spiders or leaving the web empty. |
| A．Insects knew how to avoid an empty web. |
| B．The spiders’ stripes could attract insects. |
| C．Insects could be attracted to dark colors. |
| D．Yellow markings didn't function at night. |
| A．Yellow Stripes Work for the Spiders Hunting for Food |
| B．Yellow Stripes on Orb Weaver Spiders Have Evolved |
| C．Stripes and Spots can Easily Draw Much more Insects |
| D．Preys are Drawn to Spiders on Circular Webs Quickly |
【推荐3】To communicate with others, we, the people, have different languages. But what about other animals and plants? Well, according to a scientist, plants talk to each other using language.
Jim Westwood, a Virginia Tech scientist, made this discovery by looking at the interactions between a parasitic (寄生的) plant called a dodder and two types of host plants, a small flowering plant and a tomato plant. Dodders use a root—like part to enter their host plants and feed on their nutrients.
In previous studies, Westwood had discovered that during this interaction, RNA molecules (分子), which play a crucial role in translating information passed down from DNA, were being passed between the two species.
And recently, Westwood looked into the possibility that a special type of RNA molecules, mRNA or Messenger RNA, were also being exchanged between the parasitic and host plants, mRNA molecules send messages within cells, instructing them on which actions to take and when. Through this exchange, the parasitic plant may be instructing its host to lower its defenses so that the parasitic plant can more easily attack it.
Besides giving us a much deeper insight into the behaviour of plants, this information could help scientists come up with better solutions to fight the parasitic weeds that threaten food crops. Parasitic plants are serious problems for crops that help feed some of the poorest regions in Africa and elsewhere. In addition, it has exciting implications for the design of novel control strategies based on interrupting the mRNA information that the parasite (寄生虫) uses to reprogram the host.
“The beauty of this discovery is that this mRNA could be the Achilles’ heel for parasites,” Westwood said. “This is all really exciting because there are so many potential implications surrounding this new information. Now that we have found that they are sharing all this information, the next question is, ‘What exactly are they telling each other?’.”
1. What’s Westwood’s new discovery?| A．RNA can translate DNA information. |
| B．Parasite plants can control their hosts. |
| C．Plants can use language to communicate. |
| D．Plants can talk to each other via the roots. |
| A．They issue instructions to the plants. |
| B．They translate information from RNA. |
| C．They defend the plants against attacks. |
| D．They are exchanged between the plants. |
| A．Solve the issues of food shortage. |
| B．Build the host-parasite relationship. |
| C．Identify the genes of the host plants. |
| D．Study the connection between plants. |
| A．A big deal. | B．A weak point. |
| C．An opportunity. | D．An achievement. |
【推荐1】In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories, He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Jonses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1. What can we know about Americans from Paragraph 1?| A．They want to be happy. |
| B．They want to be as funny as their neighbors. |
| C．They don’t want others to know they are rich. |
| D．They want others to know or to think that they are rich. |
| A．They live in apartments. | B．They live in New York City. |
| C．They live outside New York City. | D．They have many neighbors. |
| A．It’s an important name. | B．It’s a popular name. |
| C．It’s his neighbor’s name. | D．It’s not a good name. |
| A．Correct. | B．Interesting. | C．Impossible. | D．Good. |
【推荐2】The most popular martial arts(武术) today originated in Asia, especially in China. Many martial arts were invented because people needed to defend themselves or protect others. Nowadays, people learn martial arts as a way of keeping fit or as a competitive sport, but they are still very useful for self-defense.
Martial arts are often referred to as either the soft ones or the hard ones. These term simply a way of dealing with your opponent’s force. Soft martial arts, such as tai chi, teach you to use your opponent’s force to defend yourself. Soft styles allow you to use flowing movements and timing to avoid your opponent’s attacks. These martial arts are soft for the defender but not for the attacker! On the other hand, hard styles, such as kung fu, teach you to defend yourself using force. Techniques involve blocking, posturing, powerful hitting and kicking. Hard martial arts techniques are more effective if you are more skillful, more powerful and faster than your opponent.
Perhaps one of the best known Japanese martial arts today is karate. But did you know that its roots are derived from Fujian Province? In the 4th century, a community of Chinese migrants from Fujian settled in what was then the kingdom of Okinawa. The Chinese migrants used to gather in a park to enjoy cultural activities—one of which was kung fu. This soon caught the attention of local youths, who started learning kung fu from their Chinese neighbors.
In fact, Chinese influence on martial arts was not limited to kung fu. The very first Korean military training guidebook was based on a Chinese version. During the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th century, the Korean army needed an effective way to train a large number of troops. They adopted a training methodology(方法) from a Chinese military book called Ji Xiao Xin Shu, written by the famous Chinese general Qi Jiguang.
1. Why did people invent martial arts?| A．For keeping fit. | B．For self-defense. |
| C．For competition. | D．For attacking others. |
| A．Using violence to attack others. |
| B．Attacking your opponent’s weakness. |
| C．Using smooth action to defend yourself from damage. |
| D．Defending yourself with powerful hitting and kicking. |
| A．The Chinese army. | B．The Korean soldiers. |
| C．Japanese troops. | D．Chinese migrants. |
| A．To train soldiers. | B．To keep soldiers fit. |
| C．To attend cultural activities. | D．To show admiration for Qi Jiguang. |
【推荐3】Parenting styles have changed over the years in response to the rapid changes in the world. Whether it is tapping technology or applying the best parenting practices to meet a parenting need, parents nowadays generally invest more time in finding out how best to raise their children.
Modern parents often look to the internet and social media for parenting advice. The availability of resources has helped modern parents engage more in their children’s development, both academically and emotionally. Modern parents are also more eager to find out effective parenting methods to help them raise disciplined and confident children.
A modern parenting style that has emerged is helicopter parenting, where parents are much too focused on their children. They help children with tasks they’re capable of doing on their own, like selecting activities and friends for them, or calling their teachers about homework matters. Such a parenting style can hold back the development of the children’s ability to handle responsibilities independently. Children might be ill-equipped with life skills such as doing laundry (洗衣),clearing their plates or coping with their schoolwork. Always protecting children from failures may also prevent them developing adaptability and acquiring skills like problem-solving.
On the other hand, parents in the past tended to monitor less. Children were given more control over how to manage their schoolwork and choose their friends. Domestic helpers were also not the norm then, hence children of the past were often expected to shoulder the responsibilities of caring for younger brothers and sisters and managing housework. Living in the pre-internet age, parents were less informed about different parenting methods, and their parenting styles were guided more by their personalities, common sense and friendly advice from the extended family and neighbors, rather than by social media influences or parenting websites.
There is no one right way to raise a child. Each child is unique and should be raised differently by parents who are present but not wandering, who are supportive but not controlling, and who protect but not care too much.
1. What does the underlined word “tapping” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Employing. |
| B．Tracking. |
| C．Monitoring. |
| D．Identifying. |
| A．Flexible. |
| B．Efficient. |
| C．Conventional. |
| D．Overinvolved. |
| A．They educated kids in a rigid way. |
| B．They overestimated their kids’ independence. |
| C．They afforded kids more space for self-growth. |
| D．They tended to stay away from social activities. |
| A．How to raise all-round children. |
| B．How to enhance parent-child bonds. |
| C．How parenting modes have shifted over the years. |
| D．How information technology boosts people’s lifestyles. |
