【推荐2】Sitting too much is linked to changes in a section of the brain that is important for memory, according to a recent study by UCLA researchers of middle-aged and older adults.

Studies show that too much sitting, like smoking, increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature death. Researchers at UCLA want to see how sedentary behavior (sitting for long periods of time) influences the health of the brain, especially regions of the brain that are important to memory formation.

UCLA researchers gathered 35 people aged 45 to 75 and asked about their physical activity levels and the average number of hours per day they spent sitting over the previous work. Each person had a high-resolution MRI (热分辨磁共振成像)scan, which provides a detailed look at the medial temporal lobe, or MTL, a bruin region involved in the formation of new memories.

The researchers found that sedentary behavior is an important predictor of thinning of the MTL and that physical activity, even at high levels, is mil enough to compensate the harmful effects of silting for long periods.

“This study does not prove that too much sitting causes thinner brain structures, but instead that more hours spent sitting are associated with thinner regions,” researchers said. In addition, the researchers focused on the hours spent sitting, but did not ask participants if they took breaks during this time.

The researchers next hope to follow a group of people for a longer duration to determine if sitting cause the tinning and what role gender (性别), race, and weight might play in bruin health related to silting.

“MTL thinning can be an indication of cognitive (认知的) decline in middle-aged and older adults. Reducing sedentary behavior may be a possible target for measures designed to improve bruin health in people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers said.

1. What is the study done by UCLA mainly intended to find out?

A．What harm sitting too much causes.

B．Why silting too much is like smoking.

C．How too much sitting affects brain health.

D．Whether too much sitting causes early death

2. Participants were scanned by a high-resolution MRI to .

A．evaluate their memory loss

B．examine their MTL conditions

C．record their physical activity levels

D．record the length of lime for their sitting

3. What do UCLA researchers think of their study?

A．It in a great success.

B．It is little practical value.

C．It must target the young.

D．It still needs to be improved.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Long Sitting Is Bad for Your Brain

B．How to Improve Brain Health

C．Sitting Causes Many Health Problem

D．An Easy Way to Prevent Memory Loss

【推荐3】Instead of working overtime in hopes of getting a pay rise, maybe you should go to the gym, as it could make you just as happy as that extra money.

An interesting new study shows people who are physically active have a greater sense of well-being (幸福) than those who are inactive, and that active people feel as good as inactive people who earn $25,000 more per year.

Researchers from Oxford and Yale Universities used data collected from 1.2 million Americans. They were asked, “How many times have you felt mentally unwell in the past 30 days, for example because of stress, depression, or emotional problems?” They were also asked about their exercise habits, choosing from 75 different physical activities, including mowing the lawn, doing housework, running, weightlifting, and cycling.

The researchers found that people who exercised often felt had for an average of 35 days per year while inactive people felt bad for an additional 18 days. All exercise types had a good influence. Social physical activities, for example team sports, were considered to have a better influence although cycling ranked highly.

However, it is possible to get too much exercise. According to a study, the mental health of those who exercised for more than three hours a day suffered more than that of those who weren’t physically active. The proper amount seems to be three to five times per week, lasting 30 to 60 minutes each.

1. What’s mainly talked about in the first two paragraphs?

A．Doing exercise brings happiness.	B．Working overtime is bad for our health.
C．Going to the gym can help get a pay rise.	D．Exercising can make us healthy.

2. What does the underlined word “They” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Oxford and Yale Universities	B．the physical activities
C．the researchers	D．1.2 million Americans

3. In which part of a newspaper can we find the passage?

A．Problems and Advice	B．Sports and Health
C．Sports and Wealth	D．Education and Health

【推荐1】Ever since Earth formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago, its climate has gone throuugh a number of incredible changes.

In the Jurassic Period, much of our planet was covered in extremely hot and humid jungle. And in ice age, global temperature experienced a huge drop. While many species were not able to deal with thesese changing climate patterns, others successfully adapted, and some are even still with us today. Now, as humanity pushes the planet closer to another extreme climate event, scientists are eager to find out how the world’s species will react.

The idea was highlighted in a study published on April 6 in the journal PNAS, which showed that between 1970 and 2010, open water species such as lobsters (龙虾) and fish had declined by about half in tropical marine zones across the globe because over the 40-year time period, sea temperatures in those regions had risen by roughly 0.2 C.

The lower nummbers aren’t a sign of all the sea creatures dying off though. In fact, the scientists found some of them outside of their traditional habitats, meaning that if a species can migrate to cooler waters and adapt in a new environment, they will.

However, those movements aren’t always good; species that can’t move, such as coral, which is fixed to the seabed, rely on the fish and other sea creatures to contribute to the natural food chain and stay healthy. Additionally, when a non-native species moves into a new area, it threatens to disrupt the ecosystem that already exists there.

Depending on the species, it can take anywhere from one generation to thousands and thousands of yearars to properly adapt, so the changes that have occurred in just the last 40 years are very troubling for scientists. As Sebastian Ferse, an ecologist at the Leibniz Centre for Troopical Marine Research, Germany, explained: “In geological history, this has occurred in the blink of an eye. To see such changes occurring so rapidly is something quite alarming.” He added, “One of the big questions is ‘Will coral reefs as ecosystems and corals as species be able to move north or south fast enough to adjust to a changing climate?’”

1. What do scientists want to find out?

A．How the global climate will change.	B．Why the climate changed greatly?
C．How species survived climate change	D．How species will adapt to climate change.

2. Why did the number of open-water species in tropical areas decrease?

A．They moved to different tropical marine zones.

B．The temperature of sea water rose in those areas.

C．Sea temperatures in those regions were going up and down rapidly.

D．Extreme weather caused some species’ extinction.

3. Why isn’t migration always a good thing?

A．There are few cool waters to migrate to.	B．It threatens the original ecosystems.
C．Some species cannot adapt after migrating.	D．There isn’t enough food for species that migrate.

4. What is alarming according to scientists?

A．The rate at which changes in the climate are occurring.

B．Species adapting to climate change at different speeds.

C．Coral reefs being unable to move to better environments.

D．Coral is unable to adapt to the rising temperature.

【推荐2】From amazing modern buildings, like Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, to classic designs, like London’s Westminster Abbey, our world is full of wonderful architecture. Such landmarks give cities character and bring communities together.

With this in mind, the Guardian recently listed their 25 favorite building designs of the 21st century.

Instead of focusing on grand designs, the list emphasizes buildings with creative concepts. Top of the list was London’s Tate Modern. Built on a small budget, the design showed it was OK to be different. The architects changed a 1950s power station into an art museum. They kept many aspects of the original building, simply adding new elements with glass, steel and raw concrete. Its designer, Jacques Herzog, told the Guardian: “We had to keep it raw. We didn’t want to go for charm or add decorative elements or formal details. Poor materials and ugliness are powerful aesthetic (美学的) elements.”

Another museum that followed the restoration principle was the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany. Initially built in 1855, the museum was heavily bombed during World War II. In 1997, planning for the rebuilding project brought it back to life by combining both old and new architecture. When it re-opened in 2009, visitors could see the original Greek-style courtyard and restored wall paintings alongside a modern central stairwell (楼梯井) and glass roof. At the time, The New York Times wrote, “A modern building inhabits the ghost of an old one.”

Apart from these creative Western museums, two Chinese buildings were also included on the Guardian’s list: the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and Beijing National Stadium.

Beijing National Stadium was selected for its special steel design. According to the Guardian, the stadium was built using 42,000 tons of steel, weaving through one another in the shape of a bird’s nest and embracing the bowl-shaped seating area. Despite the random appearance of these steel pieces, the stadium is nearly symmetrical (对称的). Due to its complexity, its architects said it presented “brilliant aesthetic and structural challenges”, the New York Post noted. These buildings are loved for their innovative architecture.

According to US architect Frank Lloyd Wright, “Architecture is the triumph (胜利) of human imagination over materials, methods, and men, to put man into possession of his own Earth.”

1. What is the purpose of this article?

A．To compare Western and Chinese architecture.

B．To show the importance of landmarks to a city.

C．To inform readers about popular architecture concepts.

D．To describe innovative building designs recognized by the Guardian.

2. What is true about London’s Tate Modern?

A．It was built on the site of an old bus station.

B．It put together different decorative elements.

C．Architects used London’s history as inspiration.

D．Raw materials were used to create a unique look.

3. What do Tate Modern and the Neues Museum have in common?

A．They both have modern glass roofs.

B．They were both damaged during World War II.

C．Their designs combine both old and modern elements.

D．Both were first built in the middle of the 19th century.

4. According to the article, what makes Beijing National Stadium unique?

A．Its symmetrical design.

B．Its complicated steel design.

C．Its bowl-shaped seating area.

D．The brilliant design of its main gate.

5. According to the Guardian, what quality do all the designs share?

A．They are creative.

B．They were expensive.

C．They restored old buildings.

D．They use steel as the main material.

【推荐3】Almost from the time that the first Englishman set foot upon American soil, our language began to evolve（进化）．It is a continuous process throughout the centuries and has produced a language that differs from our ancestors and shows a sign of our own features and independence．

By 1790，there were four million Americans，90% of whom were descendants （后代） of English colonists （殖民者）．This，of course，left no question that our official native language would be “English”, but it would not be the same as that spoken in Great Britain．

By 1720，the English colonists began to notice that their language was quite different from that spoken in their Motherland．How did that come to be？

There are many reasons，the most obvious being the distance from England．Over the years，many words were borrowed from the Native Americans，as well as other people from France，Germany，Spain，and other countries．Other words that became unused in England continued to be used in the colonies．In other cases，words simply had to be created in order to explain the unfamiliar landscape，weather，animals，plants，and living conditions that these early pioneers went through．

To our newly independent Americans，they were proud of their “new” American language，wearing it，as yet，another symbol of independence．In 1789，Noah Webster wrote in his Dissertations on the English Language：

“The reasons for American English being different than British English are simple: As an independent nation，our honor requires us to have a system of our own，in language as well as government．”

The evolution of the American language continued into the 20th century，as well as the American pride．

1. What is the text mainly about？

A．How to learn American English．

B．The frequent changes of English．

C．The development of American English．

D．The differences between American English and British English．

2. Which of the following is NOT the reason that helps form American English？

A．America is far away from England．

B．New words were created through practices．

C．New words were borrowed from Native Americans．

D．New Americans failed to use the old words from England．

3. What can we infer from the passage？

A．Early Americans felt proud of their new language．

B．Early Americans just felt curious about their new language．

C．The new language helped Americans fight against enemies．

D．The new language has settled its identity and stopped developing．