Stop those negative thoughts! When it comes to brain power, it appears your thoughts matter. That was the eye-opening conclusion of a study published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
For this study, scientists carefully measured the cognitive(认知)function of 292 middle-aged to older people over a four-year period. The cognitive assessments included measures of memory, attention and language.
The study subjects(实验对象)had their thinking patterns regularly monitored by responding to a series of questions over two of the four years. The thought-pattem questionnaires were designed to identify repetitive negative thinking (RNT for short). RNT includes often thinking about negative past events as well as future sources of anxiety.
About a third of the study subjects had PET scans(正电子发射计算机断层扫描)of their brains tomeasure levels of the abnormal brain protcins, tau and amyloid. Tau and amyloid build up in people affected with Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings? Study subjects with greater RNT-these repetitive negative thought patterns-exhibited a clear decrease in cognitive function and memory over the four-year period. What’s more, they had more tau and amyloid built up in their brains. It is well-documented that our thoughts have powerful, direct effects on our bodies, so these results aren’t surprising.
Thankfully, studies show that we can change our thought patterns through mental-training practices, with meditation(冥想)documented to be one of the very best.
As someone who often got trapped in negative memories of the remote past, I can speak personally to the remarkable power of meditation to relieve this destructive thinking pattern, and I encourage everyone to explore this practice. I meditate every day and gratefully achieve that goal about 90% of the time.
Feel free to share this post with friends and loved ones because one of the greatest gifts we can give is the gift of better health. Enjoy!
1. How is the subjects’ RNT determined?| A．By measuring their blood level. |
| B．By analyzing their questionnaires. |
| C．By monitoring their behaviors. |
| D．By examining their signs of diseases. |
| A．Forgetting the negative past. |
| B．Changeable thinking patterns. |
| C．Worse body shape. |
| D．Poorer brain function. |
| A．Having brain scanned regularly. |
| B．Buiding up our strength. |
| C．Changing our study pattern. |
| D．Practicing mental training. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Reserved. | D．Unclear. |
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【推荐1】A team of researchers from the University College London (UCL) has recently found that humans transmit viruses to domestic and wild animals more frequently than they contract them from these animals. This major analysis of viral genomes offers new insights into the dynamics of disease transmission across species.
Through an exhaustive examination of all publicly available viral genome sequences, the experts aimed to trace the cross-species transmission—or host jumps—of viruses.
The team sought to challenge the prevailing view that humans are primarily at the receiving end of zoonotic diseases, which are infections that jump from animals to humans. These diseases have been responsible for outbreaks such as Ebola, flu, and COVID-19.
The research team developed and applied methodological tools to analyze the nearly 12 million viral genomes that have been published on public databases to date, outlining the scale of their investigation into the evolutionary paths and mutations of viruses as they adapt to new hosts.
Contrary to the common perception of humans as mere recipients of animal viruses, the study’s findings suggest a more bidirectional exchange of pathogens (病原体). “We should consider humans just as one node in a vast network of hosts endlessly exchanging pathogens, rather than a sink for zoonotic bugs,” said co-author Francois Balloux, a professor at the UCL Genetics Institute.
“By surveying and monitoring transmission of viruses between animals and humans, in either direction, we can better understand viral evolution and hopefully be more prepared for future outbreaks and epidemics of novel illnesses, while also aiding conservation efforts. ” Study lead author Cedric Tan, a PhD student at the UCL Genetics Institute and Francis Crick Institute, pointed out the broader implications of their findings, especially concerning conservation and food security. “When animals catch viruses from humans, this can not only harm the animal and potentially pose a conservation threat to the species, but it may also cause new problems for humans by impacting food security if large numbers of livestock need to be killed to prevent an epidemic, as has been happening over recent years with the H5N1 bird flu strain.”
1. What is the prevailing view mentioned in paragraph 3?| A．Humans are passive recipients of zoonotic diseases. |
| B．Zoonotic diseases are preventable with proper measures. |
| C．Animals are the sole source of all infectious diseases. |
| D．Ebola, flu, and COVID-19 are the most severe zoonotic diseases. |
| A．The study involved a deep analysis of over ten million virus genomes. |
| B．The analysis revealed evolutionary patterns of viruses as they adapt to new hosts. |
| C．The study found that all virus genomes exhibit similar mutation patterns. |
| D．The analysis results contribute to our understanding of virus transmission and mutation mechanisms. |
| A．New discoveries about the mechanisms of virus transmission. |
| B．Improvements in the treatment of zoonotic diseases. |
| C．Reflections on the impact of human lifestyles and the environment. |
| D．Potential effects on global public health policies. |
| A．Humans transmit more viruses to animals than we catch from them |
| B．Zoonotic Diseases: The Leading Cause of Human Ailments |
| C．Revolutionary Breakthroughs in Viral Genomics |
| D．Cross-Species Viral Transmission: A Complex Web of Relationships |
【推荐2】Pretending sickness may get harder. Slipping a day off work by nervously coughing down the phone to your boss might not work. Very soon your company might be able to tell whether your symptoms are real, just from your voice.
An Indian research team tried to tell a “cold voice” from a healthy voice. Their research makes use of the fact that human speech, like any musical instrument, does not produce single frequencies of sounds. Even the best trained singers cannot hit pure notes like those from tuning forks. The dominant notes in the human voice are instead accompanied by a series of higher pitch (音高) tones.
Together these sets of notes fit into mathematical patterns called harmonics (和声), with tones having frequencies that are multiples of the original note. For example, the pitch of the second harmonic note is twice the frequency of the main note and so on. The loudness of these harmonics in speech tends to fade as they proceed up the frequency scale. The team reasoned that infection with a cold might change how this decline happened.
To find out, the scientists made use of an unusual resource: recordings of the voices of 630 people in Germany, 111 of whom were suffering from a cold. Each was asked to count from one to 40 and describe what they did at the weekend. They also read aloud a fable The North Wind and the Sun, which has been a popular text for speech research since 1949. By breaking down each person’s speech into its spectrum (声谱) of component wavelengths, the researchers could identify the dominant frequency and the harmonics in each case. They then used machine-learning to analyse the relationships between the loudness of these harmonics and found patterns that could distinguish the cold voices from the healthy voices.
The team’s diagnosis of cold voice shows a 70% accuracy. Faced with another dull Monday at the office, would you take the risk?
1. On what basis is the research performed?| A．Human speeches vary in frequencies. |
| B．Training has no effect on human notes. |
| C．Humans speak like musical instruments. |
| D．Higher pitch notes dominate human voices. |
| A．The pitch of harmonics. | B．A pretended cold voice. |
| C．The sets of human notes. | D．Higher sound frequencies. |
| A．It is easy to understand. | B．It is valuable in literature. |
| C．It is popular with speakers. | D．It is suitable for the research. |
| A．Human speech reflects health | B．Pretending sickness is a trend. |
| C．Voice changes with conditions. | D．Changing voice is of great risk. |
【推荐3】Five years ago, Meredith Arthur, a 45-year-old San Francisco resident, arrived at a neurologist appointment. She spoke a mile a minute, explaining why she thought it might hold clues to her neck pain, frequent dizziness and headaches. “I was presenting my inexpert case to an expert, who stopped me and said, ‘I know what’s wrong. You have generalized anxiety disorder.’”
Arthur is one of the 40 million American adults who experience an anxiety disorder—the most common form of mental illness—every year. Its major factor is the uncertainty about situations in daily life.
“I describe anxiety as a future-oriented emotional response to a perceived threat,” says Joel Minden, PhD, a clinical psychologist. “We anticipate that something bad will happen. Maybe we have evidence. Maybe we don’t. But we have a belief that something catastrophic might occur.”
Almost immediately, Minden says, your sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear. This leads to the release of adrenaline and cortisol, two of the crucial hormones (荷尔蒙) that drive your body’s fight-freeze-flight response and cause anxiety’s physical symptoms. Your heart races, your blood pressure rises, your pupils dilate, you get short of breath.
Meanwhile, cortisol curbs functions that your brain considers non-essential: It affects immune system responses and suppresses (抑制) the digestive system, the reproductive system, and growth processes. This was helpful for our ancestors trying to outrun tigers but is not so much when you can’t stop struggling with the problem whether you might have caught COVID-19 when the guy behind you in line at the grocery store coughed.
Anxiety can show itself in many ways. You might perceive something as threatening even when it isn’t or go to great lengths to avoid uncomfortable situations. You might constantly overthink plans or spend all of your time creating solutions to worst-case scenarios. Maybe you feel indecisive and fear making the wrong decision. Or you might find yourself restless, nervous, and unable to relax.
The good news is that anxiety is very manageable with some combination of medication, therapy, and lifestyle adjustments.
1. What does the underlined word “curbs” in paragraph 5 most probably mean?| A．activates | B．restricts | C．damages | D．removes |
| A．Social factors are to blame for anxiety disorders. |
| B．Anxiety is the most common illness in the US. |
| C．Mental well-being has been Meredith Arthur’s concern. |
| D．anxiety disorders can be controlled with certain treatments. |
| A．Trying to find solutions to the worst situation from time to time. |
| B．Hesitating to make the final decision for fear of mistakes. |
| C．Heart racing and blood pressure rising at the imagined situation. |
| D．Feeling restless or nervous even when there’s nothing threatening around. |
| A．The advance of science and technology. |
| B．The effects of the anxiety disorders. |
| C．Tips to minimize negative effects of anxiety. |
| D．The anticipation of Meredith Arthur. |
【推荐1】Online programs to fight depression are already commercially available. While they sound efficient and cost-saving, a recent study reports that they're not effective, primarily because depressed patients are not likely to engage with them or stick with them.
The study looked at computer-assisted cognitive (认知的) behavioral therapy (CBT) and found that it was no more effective in treating depression than the usual care patients receive from a primary care doctor.
Traditional CBT is considered an effective form of talk therapy for depression, helping people challenge negative thoughts and change the way they think in order to change their mood and behaviors. However, online CBT programs have been gaining popularity, with the attraction of providing low-cost help wherever someone has access to a computer.
A team of researchers from the University of York conducted a randomized (随机的) control trial with 691 depressed patients from 83 physician practices across England. The patients were split into three groups: one group received only usual care from a physician while the other two groups received usual care from a physician plus one of two computerized CBT programs. Participants were balanced across the three groups for age, sex, educational background, severity and duration of depression, and use of antidepressants(抗抑郁药).
After four months, the patients using the computerized CBT programs had no improvement in depression levels over the patients who were only getting usual care from their doctors.
"It's an important, warning note that we shouldn't get too carried away with the idea that a computer system can replace doctors and therapists," says Christopher Dowrick, a professor of primary medical care at the University of Liverpool. "We do still need the human touch or the human interaction, particularly when people are depressed. "
"Being depressed can mean feeling lost in your own small, negative, dark world," Dowrick says. Having a person, instead of a computer, reach out to you is particularly important in fighting that sense of isolation. "When you're emotionally fragile, you're even more in need of a caring human being," he says.
1. What does the recent study say about online CBT programs?| A．Patients may not be able to carry them through for effective cure. |
| B．Patients cannot engage with them without the use of a computer. |
| C．They can save patients trouble visiting physicians. |
| D．They have been well received by a lot of patients' |
| A．Their effectiveness in combating depression |
| B．The low efficiency of traditional talk therapy. |
| C．Their easy and inexpensive access by patients. |
| D．The recommendation by primary care doctors. |
| A．They should not be neglected in primary care. |
| B．Their effectiveness should not be overestimated. |
| C．They should be used by strictly following instructions. |
| D．Their use should be encouraged by doctors and therapists. |
| A．A positive state of mind. | B．Appropriate medication. |
| C．Timely encouragement. | D．Human interaction. |
【推荐2】When I was a child, I often saw my Grandma throwing bread that was no longer fresh to birds. Not surprisingly, this attracted few birds. Later on, we discovered bird food at the local store. Feeding garden birds in the UK has come a long way since then. Today, the birds can enjoy many kinds of food: from plant seeds to sunflower hearts and from cakes to meat balls. All this comes at a huge cost of about £200m a year. Sometimes, I wonder if we might be feeding our garden birds better than our kids. But maybe it’s worth it. Our generosity is having an important effect on the behavior and even evolution of these birds.
Take the goldfinch for example. In the 1960s, this was a rare bird. Today, goldfinches can be seen in many gardens. Other new visitors include the spotted woodpecker, which has left its usual woodland for food on bird tables. Evolution is meant to progress slowly: over thousands of years. Yet during the past few decades, the beaks of many kinds of birds have become longer because birds with longer beaks can get more food, and then are more likely to live on.
Is bird feeding completely good for birds? Not everyone thinks so. Studies by the Zoological Society of London have shown that by bringing together many birds, bird feeders may help the spread of disease. In Australia, some bird experts believe—probably wrongly—that bird feeding creates a “dependence culture”.
But we shouldn’t forget one major benefit of feeding garden birds—it connects millions of people to the natural world. This is especially important for people who seldom reach the wider countryside. As I write this, there comes some noise outside my window: several birds were singing and flying around in my garden. It’s a sight I could only imagine years ago, when feeding garden birds just meant throwing hard bread to them.
1. What does the author mean by saying the underlined part in Paragraph 1?| A．Feeding garden birds is a huge waste of money. |
| B．We spend quite a lot of money on the food of garden birds. |
| C．We should care more for our kids rather than garden birds. |
| D．Feeding garden birds can bring more joy than feeding kids. |
| A．These birds have given up traditional woodland. |
| B．Food for these birds becomes richer and better. |
| C．Longer beaks mean more chances of survival. |
| D．These birds grow faster than ever before. |
| A．It is completely good for birds. |
| B．It may help the spread of disease. |
| C．It connects more and more people to the natural world. |
| D．It may reduce birds’ ability to find food by themselves. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Pleased. | C．Surprised. | D．Bored. |
【推荐3】The largest-ever study of the link between city walkability and high blood pressure has been held up as evidence of the “invisible value of urban design” in improving long-term health outcomes, say researchers.
The study of around 430,000 people aged between 38 and 73 and living in 22 UK cities found significant associations between the increased walkability of a neighborhood, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of high blood pressure among its residents.
The outcomes remained consistent even after adjustments for socio-demographic (社会人口统计学), lifestyle and changing physical environment factors, though the protective effects were particularly pronounced among participants aged between 50 and 60, women, and those residing in higher density and poor neighborhoods.
The paper was published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health this week. With high blood pressure a major risk factor for chronic (慢性的) and particularly heart diseases, researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University said the findings demonstrated the need to take notice of the health-influencing factor in urban design.
“With the increasing pace of urbanization and demographic shifts towards an ageing population, we become more likely to suffer from chronic diseases,” said Dr. Chinmoy Sarkar, an assistant professor at the Healthy High Density Cities Lab of the University of Hong Kong and lead author of the study. “The action taken to improve public health must consider the invisible value of urban planning and design.
“We are spending billions of pounds in preventing and curing heart diseases — if we are able to invest in creating healthy cities through small changes in the design of our neighborhoods to make them more activity-friendly and walkable, then probably, we will have significant savings in future healthcare expenses.”
To measure a neighborhood’s activity-promoting potential, researchers developed a set of index of walkability containing relevant urban elements, including residential and retail (零售) density, public transport, street-level movement, and distance to attractive destinations.
Poorly designed spaces generally reduced walking and physical activity, promoting the lifestyles of long time sitting down and not moving; and were harmful to social interactions, and as such associated with poorer mental and physical health.
Because walkability was “based on the underlying design of the city”, said Sarkar, cities could be modified or designed to encourage it. “Such investments in healthy design are likely to bring in long-term gains as they are enduring and common.”
1. By considering “invisible value of urban design”, people can _______.| A．reduce the ageing population |
| B．slow down the pace of urbanization |
| C．promote activity-friendly and walkable cities |
| D．invest in preventing and curing heart diseases |
| A．A set of index is essential to ensure that urban design promotes walkability. |
| B．Walkable cities can lower blood pressure and the risk of high blood pressure. |
| C．Chronic diseases are becoming common due to people’s neglect of their health. |
| D．Middle-aged women living in poor areas are less likely to benefit from increased walkability. |
| A．failing health | B．unhealthy lifestyle |
| C．fewer social interactions | D．fewer neighborhoods |
| A．cities should encourage the residents to engage in social interactions |
| B．the design of our neighborhoods should meet people’s needs for retail density |
| C．money invested in creating healthy cities is money saved in future healthcare expenses |
| D．chronic diseases will be common because of our lifestyle and the physical environment |
【推荐1】With the development of artificial intelligence, writers are increasingly wrestling with a hard truth: It appears robots are coming for their jobs. Little more than a plaything of researchers a decade ago, AI and automated (自动化的) robots are regularly producing countless articles on a daily basis.
Observes Mayur Bhatt, marketing head, SEO Services Guru: “It is only a matter of time before algorithms (算法) are able to write articles on any topic and for any target group.” Adds noted author Stephen Marche: “Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed.” People of writing driven by AI insist the robots are simply here ‘to serve humanity’. Robots will do the hard labor work, they say. Writers will be freed-up to engage in more interesting, more in-depth and more creative work.
But for the many writers and editors who have already lost their jobs to AI, that pleasant future is a tough sell. Consider Radar, a hyper-local news service that has been generating (生成) AI-written articles in the UK since 2017. Instead of using reporters to cover news beats, Radar relies on robots. Those machines mine government databases on crime, health, environment and similar-and then auto-write stories from that data with an extremely local hook. For example: Radar’s AI software can ingest a new government report on crime across the UK, and then auto-generate hundreds of customized (订制的) stories from the study, based on localized data. Each story is hyper-localized to a town or even a smaller community by including data from the government report. The resulting micro-focused stories are sold to news companies throughout Britain-as well as to any other news companies that might be interested. Gary Rogers, editor-in-chief, Radar: “There is open data across all the main beats of news-health, crime, transport, etc. -filled with stories waiting to be told.”
So far, many writers are aware of the adoption of AI-generated writing via a few, well-publicized stories about the tech’s use at major news organizations like Bloomberg, the BBC and The New York Times. But it turns out those above represent only smattering of what’s really going on. A 2021 study found that 15% of news stories are now automatically generated at leading news companies using AI. Moreover, the adoption of AI-generated writing has gone far beyond news-reporting, cropping-up across a wide range of writing jobs.
To date, human beings still best their robot competitors in writing of the highest quality. Even so, the hard fact remains that AI will be producing an increasing number of automated writing in coming years that competes in a world often entrapped in the icy hold of ‘good enough’.
1. What can be inferred from the paragraph 2?| A．Algorithms can write articles quickly. | B．Writing is more than a pay thing. |
| C．Writing is hard but interesting. | D．AI writing has great potential. |
| A．By including official data. | B．By quoting local stories. |
| C．By selling customized stories. | D．By reporting main news beats. |
| A．An unfair fact. | B．A small part. |
| C．An original idea. | D．A basic research. |
| A．How AI makes writing jobs automated. |
| B．How AI serves human reporters in writing. |
| C．How AI is widely accepted in writing. |
| D．How AI beats human beings in writing. |
【推荐2】Imagine you have a jigsaw puzzle (拼图) with 10,000 pieces but no picture on a box. In fact, you don’t even have the box-it was destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago. These puzzle pieces are parts of wall paintings in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. How would you solve this puzzle?
Scientists in Italy have a plan: send in the robot. Their project-RePAIR (Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics meet Cultural Heritage)-combines robotics, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and archaeology in an attempt to reconstruct architectural features of Pompeii, because they’re either too difficult or would require impossible amounts of human labor and time.
Over the next several months, the Italian researchers and their helpers will build, train, test and manage a robot to piece together ruined wall paintings in two buildings. If the project succeeds, the technology can be used to rebuild a variety of destroyed cultural artifacts whose rebuilding has remained “out of humans’ reach”.
RePAIR’s robot must have a combination of brains, strength and a sensitive touch. The brains will come from a mix of high-tech computer vision to scan the puzzle pieces of wall paintings, machine-learning algorithms (算法) to solve the puzzles and human expertise to guide the AI. “We think that using an AI-based system will not be enough,” says Pelillo, whose group is developing the puzzle-solving Al together with another team at a university.
The researchers are in the process of digitizing (数码化) every piece of wall paintings in the two test sites to create a digital database for the RePAIR robot. Once the whole system is fully operational, “we’ll have the robot doing the scanning process itself, and humans are free to handle more difficult tasks. The idea is to work towards automating (使……自动化) as much as possible this quite time-consuming and also boring activity of digitizing cultural heritage.”
1. Why does the author mention the jigsaw puzzle in paragraph 1?| A．To express his doubts. | B．To state his argument. |
| C．To give an example. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．Make a difficult jigsaw puzzle. | B．Work with leading archaeologists. |
| C．Make use of advanced technology. | D．Devote much human labor and time. |
| A．The robot can scan ruined puzzle pieces by itself. |
| B．The digital database has been fully operational. |
| C．A team develops the AI robot independently. |
| D．The robot aims to combine Al and digital-based systems. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. | C．Indifferent. | D．Uncertain. |
【推荐3】Plants may tell us when they’re in trouble. Thirsty tomato and tobacco plants make clicking sounds, researchers have found. The sounds are ultrasonic (超声波的), meaning they are too high-pitched for human ears to hear. But when the sounds are transformed to lower pitches, they sound like popping bubbles (爆破的泡泡). Plants also make clicks when their stems (茎) are cut.
“It’s not like the plants are screaming,” says Lilach Hadany, an evolutionary biologist working at Tel Aviv University in Israel. “Plants may not mean to make these noises. We’ve shown only that plants create informative sounds.”
Hadany and her colleagues first heard the clicks when they set microphones next to plants on tables in a lab. The microphones caught some noises. But the researchers needed to make sure that the clicking was coming from the plants. So, the scientists placed plants inside soundproof boxes in the basement, far from the noise of the lab. There, microphones picked up ultrasonic pops from thirsty tomato plants. Though it was outside humans’ hearing range, the clicking made by plants was about as loud as a normal conversation.
Cut tomato plants and dry or cut tobacco plants clicked, too. But plants that had enough water or hadn’t been cut stayed mostly quiet. Wheat, corn and grapevines also made sounds when stressed out.
The researchers don’t yet know why plants click. Bubbles forming and then popping inside plant tissues that transport water might make the noises. But however they happen, pops from crops could help farmers, the researchers suggest. Microphones, for example, could monitor fields or greenhouses to detect when plants need to be irrigated (灌溉).
Hadany wonders whether other plants and insects already tune into plant pops. Other studies have suggested that plants respond to sounds. And animals from pests (害虫), moths to mice can hear in the range of the ultrasonic clicks. Sounds made by plants could be heard from around five meters away. Hadany’s team is now studying what the living things near the plants will do after hearing the sounds.
1. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Interpreting plant sounds isn’t easy. |
| B．Plants sound off when they’re in trouble. |
| C．It’s interesting to hear the sounds of plants. |
| D．Plants make sounds in a different way from humans. |
| A．To enjoy the sounds made by the plants. |
| B．To have a better conversation with the plants. |
| C．To find out whether the plants did make sounds. |
| D．To keep the plant sounds within their hearing range. |
| A．Weed prevention. | B．Pest control. |
| C．Temperature monitoring. | D．Timely irrigation. |
| A．Whether the sounds of plants can travel far. |
| B．Whether animals can hear the sounds of plants. |
| C．How the neighbors of plants respond to their sounds. |
| D．How plants and animals communicate with each other. |
