【推荐2】There have been a few times in my life when I felt very lonely. I particularly remember my loneliness when I moved to New York City. I had a couple of friends in the city, still, it was a time in my life when I needed to put forth some effort to form more meaningful relationships. But the more I went out to parties, the more disconnected and lonely I felt. Feeling lonely in a room full of people, or in my case, a whole city packed with people everywhere, was the loneliest I have ever felt.

So, rather than trying a new way to make friends, I was more likely to ignore phone calls from friends, and I looked at social invitations and opportunities to meet new people as drudgery. Looking back on this period of loneliness, I wonder at the way I isolated myself instead of reaching out to those who were willing to keep me company and offer friendship.

What I have learned from my own experience and the experience of many of my friends is that more often than not, those who feel lonely choose isolation. Indeed many of my own friends describe avoiding social life as a way of dealing with feelings of loneliness.

This behavior is somewhat common, and new research takes a big step towards explaining this behavior. According to leading experts on the loneliness, Stephanie and John Cacioppo, there is an evolutionary explanation for this tendency to isolate when we are feeling lonely. By monitoring lonely people’s brainwaves, they found that lonely people tend to respond negatively to social life. “Loneliness causes some brain-related changes that put us into a socially nervous mode,” Dr. Christian Jarrett explains.

Making ourselves aware of this evolutionary natural tendency could actually be the first step in fighting loneliness. Once we know that we are more sensitive to negativity during lonely spells, we can focus our energy on resisting the desire to put up walls.

1. What happened to the author after she moved to New York City?

A．She had no friends there.	B．She lacked confidence there.
C．She needed opportunities for parties.	D．She felt lonely even with people present.

2. How did the author try to deal with her situation?

A．By refusing to go out to meet others.	B．By looking for solutions on the Internet.
C．By trying various methods to make friends.	D．By doing some drudgery to forget her problem.

3. What did Stephanie and John Cacioppo find in their research?

A．Lonely people tend to disgust social life.

B．People respond negatively to lonely people.

C．Loneliness can do great harm to people’s health.

D．Loneliness can be caused by a socially nervous mode.

4. What does the author most probably want to show in the text?

A．We shouldn’t be influenced by negativity.

B．We shouldn’t choose isolation when we feel lonely.

C．We should make friends based on scientific findings.

D．We should spend more time with friends than relatives.

【推荐2】The word hobby has an interesting history, and so does the concept of the hobby itself. Cultural attitudes have changed greatly about which ones are worth pursuing, and indeed whether having a hobby is desirable at all.

It is probably safe to say that when hobby was first used in the 15th century, most people didn’t have one, as it referred to a particular kind of horse. A hobby was a small horse that could “amble”(漫步), a particularly smooth, quick gait(步态)that was prized for long rides over terrible roads. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word is a shortened form of Hobbin, the name for a cart-horse, like Rover for a dog.

The hobby also had a part in medieval folk celebrations. Mummers and Morris dancers often included a person or two dressed up in horse costume, or pretending to ride a wooden stick with a horse’s head. Such hobbyhorses made popular children’s toys, too. Since hobbyhorses were the toys of young children and mime actors, “riding one’s hobby-horse” or being “on one’s hobby” became an idiom for wildly pursuing an idea or activity that looks silly to others.

Hobbies were considered slightly embarrassing, though mostly harmless, through the 18th century. In the 19th century, they grew more socially acceptable as middle-class leisure time increased. It became de rigueur for both men and women to pursue activities that would have seemed strange or shallow a century before.

In the early 20th century, according to historian Steven Gelber, hobbies “got rid of the old stigma of eccentricity(古怪的旧污名)” and came to be seen as a way to fill life with meaning and dignity. With a hobby, people could choose their own goals and progress toward them.

1. What determines whether having a hobby is desirable?

A．History

B．Concept

C．Cultural attitudes

D．Pursuits

2. What can we learn from the word hobby?

A．Hobby was referred to a horse in 19th century.

B．“Riding one’s hobby-horse” is a positive expression to describe a person’s enthusiasm about his pursuit.

C．Hobbies were totally socially acceptable in the 18th century.

D．Hobbies became desirable in the early 20th century.

3. What does the underlined part mean in paragraph 4?

A．Necessary

B．Unsuitable

C．Illegal

D．Changeable

4. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．A new concept of the word “hobby”

B．An evolution of the meaning of the word “hobby”

C．A trend of narrowing the meaning of the word “hobby”

D．A new way of the application of the word “hobby”

【推荐3】With low or no-carbohydrate diets rising in popularity in recent times, the potato is now regularly overlooked in favour of other vegetables. In fact, research literature has previously indicated potatoes may have a detrimental effect on health, such as increasing the possibility of developing Type2 diabetes(糖尿病).

However, new research done by Edith Cowan University (ECU) has shown while potatoes may not have all the same benefits as some other vegetables, such as lowering risk of Type 2 diabetes, health issues associated with potatoes may actually be due to how people are preparing them and what they’re eating them with.

A recent analysis of this study led by Dr Nicola Bondonno from ECU’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute found people who consumed the most vegetables were 21 percent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who consumed the least amount of vegetables. PhD candidate Pratik Pokharel carried out work on the analysis and said while potatoes didn’t have the same impact on Type 2 diabetes, they also didn’t have any negative effect.

“In Denmark, people consume potatoes prepared in many different ways. In our study, we could distinguish between the different preparation methods. When we separated boiled potatoes from mashed potatoes(土豆泥), fries or crisps, boiled potatoes were no longer associated with a higher risk of diabetes: They had a zero effect,” said Pokharel.

“In our study, people who ate the most potatoes also consumed more butter, red meat and soft drinks-foods known to increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes,” said Pokharel. “We should separate potatoes from other vegetables in regard to messaging about disease prevention but replacing refined grains such as white rice and pasta(意大利面食)with potatoes can improve your diet quality because of fibre and other nutrients found in potatoes.”

1. What does the underlined word “detrimental” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Magical.

B．Protective.

C．Fantastic.

D．Negative.

2. What may contribute to the bad reputation of potatoes according to ECU’s research?

A．The effects they have caused.	B．The ways they are consumed.
C．The places where they are planted.	D．The results previous studies have shown.

3. Which of the following have little effect on Type 2 diabetes?

A．Fries.

B．Crisps.

C．Boiled potatoes.

D．Mashed potatoes.

4. What is Pokharel’s attitude towards potatoes?

A．Critical.

B．Opposed.

C．Indifferent.

D．Objective.