A recent study has found that being exposed to low temperatures creates more good fat which burns calories in the body. Being cold is similar to the effects of exercise, protecting against being too fat and improving health. The researchers have discovered that exposure to cold changes the make-up of gut bacteria (肠道细菌), which can lead to burning fat and reduce body weight.
While ordinary white fat, known as bad fat, piles on when we eat more calories than we burn, brown fat seems to burn extra calories to produce heat. Babies have lots of brown fat — they need it to keep warm — but there are small amounts in the necks of adults, too. Studies have shown that staying in a cold environment can speed the formation of more brown fat in the body.
Researchers predicted the health benefits of being exposed to cold may have something to do with gut bacteria. They exposed the first group of mice to a cold temperature of 6℃for up to 10 days and discovered this caused a major change in the make-up of the mice’s gut microbes (微生物), preventing the mice from gaining weight.
Then, the gut bacteria were put into the second group of mice that did not have gut microbes. It was found that they increased tolerance (忍耐力) to cold temperatures. The mice also lost weight as the changes in gut bacteria promoted the formation of brown fat. However, after three weeks of cold exposure, the body weight began to remain stable.
Professor Mirko Trajkovski said, that they provide powerful evidence that gut microbes play a key role in people’s ability to adapt to the environment. They are excited about testing whether gut microbes could be a promising approach to preventing being fat.
1. What’s the new result of the recent study?| A．Good fat has nothing to do with calories. | B．Exercise can change the make-up of gut bacteria. |
| C．Being cold helps people lose weight. | D．Gut bacteria will stop producing brown fat. |
| A．It’s usually considered as bad fat. | B．It fails to produce in a cold environment. |
| C．It can’t be found in the bodies of adults. | D．It burns more calories in low temperatures. |
| A．kept losing weight every day | B．had much less brown fat in the cold |
| C．gained a better ability to stand the cold | D．could produce more bad fat in the body |
| A．could provide new treatment for overweight people |
| B．shows people how to get used to the cold |
| C．makes people realize the importance of keeping warm |
| D．may cause more people to take exercise |
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【推荐1】Just as our bodies produce waste every day—which is why we need to shower and use the toilet —our brains produce harmful waste proteins. But how can our brains “shower” themselves?
A 2013 study found the answer. Researchers at the US University of Rochester studied the brains of mice and discovered that they cleaned themselves while the mice slept. A kind of fluid in the brain, called cerebral spinal fluid (CSF 脑髓液), was found to increase dramatically during sleep, washing away waste proteins that had been building up between brain cells in waking hours.
“This study shows that the brain has different functional states when asleep and when awake,” Maiken Nedergaard, the lead researcher, told NBC News. It also explains why we can’t think clearly after a sleepless night while a good night’s sleep leave s us feeling sharp and refreshed.
Now a new study, published on October 31 in Science, digs a little deeper into our brains’ self-cleaning procedure. Instead of mice, this time humans were the test subjects.
Researchers at Boston University, US, monitored the brain waves of 13 healthy adults who were sleeping, using accelerated FMRI, which is capable of recording faster changes inside the brain than a regular FMRI machine. They found that every 20 seconds, blood flowed out of the brain, making room for a large amount of CSF to come in and “clean”. This cycle coincided (巧合) with the rhythm of the brains’ slow waves — an electrical activity that happens when we’re in deep sleep.
It’s still unknown how these brain activities are connected. But the me re fact that they are connected is exciting enough, since it allows researchers to piece together possible new explanations for misunderstood diseases.
For example, slow-wave sleep has been proven to play a role in strengthening our memories. This may explain why people with Alzheimer (阿尔兹海默症) often have fewer and weaker slow brainwaves. Based on this new study, there could be one more explanation for diseased brains: They are not clean.
Nedergaard, leader of the 2013 study, is also excited about the new findings. “Maybe the most important take-home message is that sleep is a serious thing,” she told Scientific American. “You really need to sleep to keep a healthy brain because it links electrical activity to a practical housekeeping ‘function’.”
1. Why is the body waste mentioned at the beginning of the passage?| A．To show the similarity between body and brain. |
| B．To explain the main components of brain waste. |
| C．To introduce the topic of passage through comparison. |
| D．To remind us of the necessity of regular body cleaning. |
| A．Slow brainwaves are caused by the brain cleaning process. |
| B．The diseased brains break down for not cleaning themselves. |
| C．Sleep is the most important factor for improving our memory. |
| D．Slow brainwaves and brain cleaning occur with identical frequency (频率). |
| A．They are based on more advanced technology. |
| B．They give us new insight into some brain diseases. |
| C．They confirm the connection between brain activities. |
| D．They reveal the process of brains cleaning themselves. |
| A．The self-cleaning function of human brains. |
| B．The importance of sleep at night for humans. |
| C．The cause and possible cures of diseased human brains. |
| D．The different states of human brains at daytime and night. |
【推荐2】The hardest part pf a new sport or a musical instrument is getting started. Once you figure out the technique, the skills return fairly easily, even if not used for long. Most experts attribute this to “muscle memory,” which means the brain remembers the action and can recall it when needed. Now some researchers believe the errors made while learning the task may be as important in recalling previously learned motor skills.
The study led by Reza involved asking volunteers to play a simple video game. But the players did not know the researchers reprogrammed it as soon as they mastered the game, thereby forcing them to restart the learning process. What the scientists observed was that though the volunteers did make mistakes every time the game was changed, they got successively faster at mastering it.
Reza believes that this has to do with the fact that in addition to committing the task to muscle memory, the brain is also critiquing each wrong move and learning how to correct it. He compares it to having a coach that points out the mistakes and makes suggestions on how to improve.
While these new findings may help improve recovery method for people with injuries,most people think making mistakes is a good thing. So the next time you needn’t get discouraged by the errors.
1. What really makes your long unused skills return easily?| A．Excellent techniques | B．Strict training |
| C．Previous efforts | D．Muscle memory |
| A．Evaluating | B．Preventing | C．Signaling | D．Calculating. |
| A．The errors in video games can save players a new learning process. |
| B．A coach need to advise his trainees to memorize each wrong move. |
| C．Lessons drawn from the errors kept in mind make learning easier. |
| D．Making mistakes does good to improving injured people’s recovery |
| A．Getting Started Is a Challenging Task | B．You Have to First Fail Before Success |
| C．Making Mistakes Can’t Be Avoided | D．We Needn’t Correct Errors We Make |
【推荐3】Have you ever wondered what your dog sees when they stare at you, or at least the treat in your hand?
Well, now you can find out, as a new interactive tool shows you how your dog and other animals see the world.
Dogs, cats, birds and rabbits all have a different field of vision and access to a different color spectrum (色谱). The new tool allows you to upload or take a photo, and then place a filter (滤光器) over the top to transform it into what your animal of choice would see.
At the back of the human eye are photoreceptors—cells that respond to the light shining in. These come in two types, “rods” or “cones”, and while rods are sensitive to motion and night vision, the cones are able to detect color.
Humans have three types of con e cells, and each of these are most sensitive to a particular color, either red, green or blue. Dogs only have two types of cones which are sensitive to blue and yellow, meaning they can only see these colors as well as shades of grey. This is comparable to the roughly nine per cent of people with red-green color blindness, which makes green look more red.
However, dog retinas (视网膜) are rod-heavy, which is why they can see better in the dark and can detect motion a lot better than humans. Dogs’ eyes are also positioned at a 20° angle and are a lot further apart than ours, which increases their surrounding vision. This gives them a 240° field of vision-larger than a human’s 180°.
Dogs can make up for what they lack in vision with their other senses, like their sense of smell. Their “olfaction”(嗅觉) is between 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than ours, so they are still able to cope well if their vision fails.
1. What do you need to find out how you look like in your dog’s eyes?| A．a photo of your dog, a photo of yourself and the new tool. |
| B．a photo of your dog and the new tool. |
| C．the new tool and a photo of you and your dog. |
| D．a photo of yourself and the new tool. |
| A．Different types of light. | B．Photoreceptors. | C．Dog eyes. | D．Human eyes. |
| A．They are more sensitive to blue and yellow. | B．They have more “cones” in their retinas. |
| C．They have more “rods” in their retinas. | D．They have better sense of smell. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By making comparison. |
| C．By presenting data. | D．By putting forward questions. |
【推荐1】Lawrence Ganti from the US has lived in Switzerland, Japan, and India. When his work with Merck, a company that develops treatments for many of the world’s most challenging diseases, first took him to Japan, he was struck by how comfortable his Japanese co-workers were with silence. During meetings in the US, people are usually uneasy with quiet and fill a quiet period with talk. Not so in Japan. “You don’t break the silence unless you have something important to say,” says Ganti. Surprisingly, when he next lived in India, he found conversations were typically lively, loud and full of interruptions (打岔). “Silence is never expected,” he says.
The Japanese value the building of trust and relationships, Ganti adds. In Japan, nothing might be achieved in the first meeting, and no real progress may be made until the parties sit down for a lunch or dinner. Ganti remembers greeting foreigners who flew to Japan with the intention of holding their meeting and flying out that same day. “It’s just a half-hour discussion,” they told him. He replied, “That half-hour discussion won’t go anywhere.”
Cyrus Sabouri from New Jersey, the US, had similar experiences in the Middle East. He lives in Bahrain, where he works for American Express Middle East. “Meetings can require personal introductions, which often consume more of the meeting than the things to be discussed,” he says. He was frustrated by this custom when he first moved to the island nation. “You eventually learn that it is hard to draw the line between business and personal life,” he says. “Warm and friendly relationships can be the difference between a deal or no deal with the Bahraini.”
Ganti’s current job with Merck takes him throughout Latin America. While each country presents its own cultural puzzle to figure out, Ganti has found that cultures have a lot in common. In many parts of Latin America, for instance, giving straight advice or criticism in conversation isn’t typical. To make a point, he did just that in meetings, and attendees were often shocked. “I’m usually sent to places where change is needed,” Ganti says. “You have to make changes.”
1. How do Indians differ from the Japanese according to Ganti?| A．They dislike being interrupted. | B．They seem nervous in business meetings. |
| C．They easily accept silence. | D．They usually talk excitedly. |
| A．They would have a very interesting meeting. |
| B．They could get their tasks done soon. |
| C．They could leave Japan the next day. |
| D．They would be invited to dinner. |
| A．Bahrainis value relationships very highly. |
| B．There are a lot of long business meetings. |
| C．Personal introductions are often ignored. |
| D．Work is more important than life there. |
| A．They are generally willing to accept new ideas. |
| B．They like to solve puzzles in their spare time. |
| C．They hardly ever make comments on others. |
| D．They seldom express their views directly. |
| A．introduce his working experience in Latin America. |
| B．discuss American’s impression on Middle East. |
| C．talk about some cultural differences. |
| D．give some facts about Japanese manners. |
【推荐2】A new study has found that smiling at London bus drivers increases happiness. However, on the Number 24 bus to Hampstead Heath, Londoners are sceptical. “Bus drivers,” says Liz Hands, a passenger, “are generally annoying.”
It might seem improbable that a report on London’s buses could change behaviour. But it has happened before. London’s buses have an underappreciated role in the history of medical science. In the 1940s, a single study of London’s transport workers transformed epidemiology (流行病学), medicine and the way we live now. Every time you go on a run, check your step-count, or take the stairs instead of the lift, you are following a path pioneered by the feet of the workers on London’s buses.
In the late 1940s, doctors were worried. Britain, like many rich countries, was suffering from an “epidemic” of heart disease and no one knew why. Various hypotheses, such as stress, were suggested; but one thing that was not exercising researchers was exercise. The idea that health and exercise were linked “wasn’t the accepted fact that we know today”, says Nick Wareham, a professor of epidemiology at Cambridge University. Some even felt that “too much physical activity was a bad thing for your health”. Miners and farmers who did physical exercise also suffered from various diseases and died young.
At this time a young doctor called Jerry Morris started to suspect that the increasing deaths from heart disease might be linked to occupation. He began studying the medical records of 31,000 London transport workers. His findings were breathtaking: conductors, who spent their time running up and down stairs, had an approximately 30% lower possibility of disease than drivers, who sat down all day. Exercise was keeping people alive.
Morris’s research was eventually published in 1953, just three years after a study by Richard Doll proving the link between smoking and lung cancer. Morris’s work had consequences both big and small. Morris now also took up exercise, handing his jacket to his daughter and just running. “People thought I was bananas.” Slowly, the rest of the world took off its jacket and followed.
1. Why does the author mention the new study in the first paragraph?| A．To clarify a concept. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To present the argument. | D．To provide an example. |
| A．Encouraging researchers to work out. | B．Helping with researchers’ inquiry. |
| C．Hold back researchers’ progress. | D．Drawing researchers’ attention. |
| A．By carrying out survey. | B．By observing their routines. |
| C．By doing medical examinations. | D．By analyzing the medical data. |
| A．Smiling and Its Effects on London Bus Drivers. |
| B．The Evolution of London’s Transportation System. |
| C．How London Bus Drivers Led the world to exercise. |
| D．What Londoners Think about Studies on Bus Drivers. |
【推荐3】Many people think that listening is a passive business. It is just the opposite. Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.
Listening well also requires total concentration upon someone else. An essential part of listening well is the rule known as ‘bracketing’. Bracketing includes the temporary giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices and desires, to experience as far as possible someone else’s world from the inside, stepping into his or her shoes. Moreover, since listening well involves bracketing, it also involves a temporary acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be accomplished only by the will to extend oneself for mutual growth.
Most of the time we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain desired results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear.
It wasn’t until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is frequently therapeutic (有疗效的). In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy (心理疗法), before any of the roots of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but chief among them, I believe, was the patient’s sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.
1. What is mainly discussed in Paragraph 2?| A．How to listen well. | B．What to listen to. |
| C．Benefits of listening. | D．Problems in listening. |
| A．listen actively | B．listen purposefully |
| C．set aside their prejudices | D．open up their inner mind |
| A．they were taken good care of. | B．they knew they were truly listened to. |
| C．they had partners to talk to. | D．they knew the roots of problems. |
| A．Science fiction | B．A news report. |
| C．A medical report. | D．Popular science |
