The common cold is the world’s most widespread illness, which is probably why there are more myths (误区) about it than any of the other illnesses.
The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated North Pole regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected (感染的) people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be doused (浸入) with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty (通风的) rooms. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors such as aspirin, but all they do is to ease the symptoms.
1. What does the fact that the Eskimos don’t always suffer colds show?| A．Colds are truly full of myths. |
| B．Colds are more severe than other illnesses. |
| C．The idea that cold leads to colds is not true. |
| D．The Eskimos are stronger in fighting against viruses. |
| A．Being doused with cold water did harm to one’s body. |
| B．Taking hot baths made the volunteers easy to be tired. |
| C．It was viruses not wet and cold that made people catch colds. |
| D．People who would like to exercise in the rain got colds more easily. |
| A．Viruses can go into people’s warm bodies more easily in winter. |
| B．Staying together indoors makes it easier for viruses to spread. |
| C．People are usually weak because of the extreme cold in winter. |
| D．There is great difference between indoor and outdoor temperature. |
| A．The myths about cold treatment. | B．The experiments on common colds. |
| C．The continued spread of common colds. | D．The reason and the way people catch colds. |
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【推荐1】Even though vaccination (接种疫苗) is a powerful defense against disease, some voices are against it. In a recent letter, the American Medical Association (AMA) urged big social media including Amazon, Facebook and Google to take action to defend medical science on their platforms.
It said that vaccine -preventable diseases that do harm to the public health like measles (麻疹) are on the rise. Measles cases worldwide jumped more than 30% in 2017 compared to 2016, with the largest increases seen among nations in the Americas, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Vaccine-preventable diseases are increasing largely because many people are unwilling to get vaccinated. And some of these people even encourage others to refuse vaccination. So this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the anti-vaccination movement a top 10-health threat.
“Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease—it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved,” WHO said.
A research article published in 1998 in a medical journal suggested a link between a vaccine and the development of autism (孤独症) in young children. Although the research has been suspected and many other studies have proved that vaccinations do not cause autism, the article is still impressing people strongly today. Another reason for the growth in the anti-vaccination movement is widespread misinformation on social media, which can turn people against vaccination.” If a concerned parent consistently sees information in their Newsfeed that casts doubt on the safety of vaccines, it could cause them to disregard the advice of their children’s physicians and public health experts and refuse to follow the recommended vaccination schedule. So access to true information about vaccine safety is badly needed.
1. What does the AMA require social media to do on their platforms?| A．Stop vaccine misinformation. |
| B．Unite to develop new vaccines. |
| C．Give up the anti- vaccination movement. |
| D．Introduce Vaccine-preventable diseases. |
| A．To declare measles can be prevented, |
| B．To show the result of anti-vaccination. |
| C．To prove some countries refuse vaccination. |
| D．To explain the reason for avoiding vaccination. |
| A．The costs of vaccination. | B．The social media platforms. |
| C．The concerns of vaccine safety. | D．The articles about autism. |
| A．A novel. | B．A brochure. |
| C．A diary. | D．A magazine. |
【推荐2】A woman from the United Arab Emirates has regained consciousness after spending 27 years in a vegetative state (植物人状态). Munira Abdulla was aged 32 when she suffered a brain injury after the car she was riding in was hit by a bus in 1991. Her son Omar revealed her fantastic recovery in an interview with The National.
He described how the accident occurred when he was four years old and needed to be brought home from kindergarten. Ms Abdulla's brother-in-law drove her to school to collect Omar and the family were driving home, with mother and child in the back seat, when they were hit by the bus. As the bus hit, Ms Abdulla threw herself around her son to protect him from the impact. While she suffered a severe head injury, he escaped with just a bruise. Omar described how his mother was left untreated for hours because the family were unable to call for help and there was little traffic, before she was transferred to a clinic in London.
There, doctors diagnosed a vegetative state, meaning she was completely unresponsive but able to feel pain. She was transferred back to the UAE and put on a breathing machine and a feeding tube to keep her alive, spending the next few decades hooked up to machines. But in April 2017, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, heard of her case and gave her family a fund for treatment. Ms Abdula was flown to Germany where she underwent surgeries to repair her muscles while being given medication to improve her sleep patterns.
Around a year later she began making strange sounds, and within three days she called out to Omar using his name, "It was her! She was calling my name, I was flying with joy；for years I have dreamed of this moment, and my name was the first word she said," he said.
1. How old was Ms Abdulla when she came to life?| A．27. | B．28 |
| C．32. | D．59. |
| A．People there lacked skills of first aid. |
| B．Omar’s uncle suffered a slight injury. |
| C．The traffic accident happened at a quiet place. |
| D．Ms Abdulla forgot the emergency phone number. |
| A．To receive free treatment. |
| B．To recognize her son's voice. |
| C．To meet Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed. |
| D．To have operations and improve her condition. |
| A．Every mother's child is an angel. |
| B．Children are what the mothers are. |
| C．A mother wakes up from unconsciousness. |
| D．An accident makes a mother in a vegetative state speak. |
【推荐3】Dengue is a very painful illness spread by mosquitoes. In severe cases, dengue can even be deadly. Dengue is a serious disease affecting people in around 120 countries. It can cause high fevers, headaches, and severe pain. It’s caused by a virus spread by bites from mosquitoes. Therefore, dengue is more common in warm areas. Every year, roughly 390 million people get dengue, and as many as 25,000 die from it.
Now scientists seem to have found a way to protect humans from dengue by first protecting mosquitoes. Dengue fever is caused by a virus. Though it may seem strange to think of it this way, the mosquitoes that spread the dengue virus are also infected with it. But the virus doesn’t seem to hurt the mosquitoes.
Wolbachia is a kind of bacteria commonly found in many insects. In some insects, Wolbachia can keep some viruses from duplicating themselves, which is how viruses grow inside a body. Wolbachia isn’t naturally found in mosquitoes. But by infecting these mosquitoes with Wolbachia, scientists can keep the mosquitoes from catching the dengue virus. Even better, the young mosquitoes coming from the eggs of the infected mosquitoes also carry Wolbachia.
Researchers working with the World Mosquito Program (WMP) ran a 27-month study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. They split a 10-square-mile area up into 24 smaller areas. In half of the areas, the scientists did nothing. In the other half, they set out containers of eggs from mosquitoes that had Wolbachia. They did this every two weeks for just 4 to 6 months.
Ten months later, 80% of the mosquitoes in the treated areas carried Wolbachia. The researchers report the number of dengue cases in the treated areas was reduced by 77% and that the number of people needing hospital care for dengue dropped by 86%.
Because the results of the experiment were so good, the WHO has placed Wolbachia-infected mosquito eggs in all parts of Yogyakarta and surrounding areas. The WHO says that within a year, their efforts will protect 2.5 million people against dengue and that their efforts will be turned into a program that can be repeated worldwide.
1. What kind of disease is dengue?| A．It is likely to cause death. | B．It causes no pain but fevers. |
| C．It happens less often in hot areas. | D．It hurts both people and mosquitoes. |
| A．worsening the harm of | B．expanding the size of |
| C．increasing forces of | D．making copies of |
| A．Its wide use. | B．Its effectiveness. | C．Its complexity. | D．Its easy operation. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Positive. | C．Tolerant. | D．Skeptical. |
【推荐1】What’s your favorite kind of film? For many people who love being terrified, or scared out of their wits, that answer will be horror. It seems that scary movies have a way of drawing a lot of people in and suit their taste. But just why do people enjoy watching these terrifying films?
First of all, being scared can give us a rush of adrenaline (肾上腺素). The heart starts pumping, making these films exhilarating. But the fact that you’re actually at home safe on the sofa makes the experience of being frightened all the more enjoyable because what’s happening to the characters on the screen is far removed from your experience of being in your living room eating popcorn. It feels more thrilling.
Coltan Scrivner, a PhD candidate in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, argues that people who watch horror films learn how to regulate their anxiety. A study that he coauthored found that horror fans exhibited greater resilience (韧性) during the early stages on the COVID-19 pandemic than those who didn’t.
Also, some horror fans think they could survive the events on screen. That gives those viewers a sense of superiority. We often tease the typical image of horror films. Why do they try to escape the masked killer by running upstairs and hiding themselves? The characters often make terrible decisions that lead to their deaths—decisions we as viewers believe we wouldn’t make.
So, whether it’s to help people regulate their anxiety, to be thrilled by getting scared, or to feel superior teasing the decisions of the characters, there are many reasons people love watching horror films and if they really scare you, maybe it’s best to watch them with the lights on.
1. The question at the end of Paragraph 1 is used to__________.| A．express the author’s doubt | B．introduce the point for discussion |
| C．enrich the content of the passage | D．expect an answer from readers |
| A．Upsetting. | B．Inspiring. |
| C．Amusing. | D．Thrilling. |
| A．Horror fans are more anxious facing unfavourable situation. |
| B．Heart attacks are more likely to happen to horror fans. |
| C．Viewers are superior to characters in horror films. |
| D．The scenes in horror films are very different from reality. |
| A．Cautious | B．Critical |
| C．Objective | D．Indifferent |
【推荐2】We all have a tendency to fake laugh, particularly when authority figures in our lives try to make a joke that just doesn’t land. Though it might feel rude not to laugh when your in-laws or boss try to say something funny, pretending to do so might not be much better. It turns out, even if you think that your forced laughing sounds genuine, people are usually pretty good at separating truly spirited belly laughs from fake ones. But how can they possible know the difference?
Well, when researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles studied the acoustic and perceptual differences between real and fake laughter, they found that some of the sounds associated with genuine laughter is “really hard to fake.” In their study, the researchers determined that subjects were only fooled by 37 percent of fake laughter.
The most prominent factor distinguishing real laughter from fake laughter is duration — or, more specifically, the number of breaths taken in in between sounds. Seeing as it takes more effort and concentration to fake a laugh as opposed to do it genuinely, people tend to pause more in between their “ha-ha’s” when they’re faking it. Evidently, that pausing is pretty noticeable.
“A fake laugh is basically an imitation of a real laugh, but produced with a slightly different set of vocal muscles controlled by a different part of our brain,” Greg Bryant, the lead UCLA researcher on the study, explained. “The result is that there are subtle features of the laugh that sound like speech, and ... people are unconsciously quite sensitive to them.”
People have also proven to be emotionally sensitive to laughter as well. “Our rains are very sensitive to the social and emotional significance of laughter,” said Carolyn McGettigan, a scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London.
McGettigan conducted a 2014 study that recorded participants’ brain responses as they listened to the same people produce genuine laughter by watching funny videos, as opposed to fake laughter. “During our study, when participants heard a laugh that was posed, they activated regions of the brain associated with mentalizing in an attempt to understand the other person’s emotional and mental state,” she said.
So, while we may understand that certain social situations sometimes require fake laughter, most of the time, our instincts and emotional intelligence are just too smart to buy into them.
According to McGettigan, that’s a good thing. “Evolutionarily speaking, it’s good to be able to detect if someone is authentically experiencing an emotion or if they’re not,” she said. “Because you don’t want to be fooled.”
1. What do researchers at the University of California want to find out in this study?| A．What is the difference between a fake laugh and a real one. |
| B．Which part of the brain controls the sound of our laughter. |
| C．Why do people need to fake laugh when they don’t want to. |
| D．How to laugh as genuinely as possible when you are faking it. |
| A．you seem more concentrated when you laugh for real |
| B．you take more breaths when you try to fake a laugh |
| C．a fake laugh often happens after a sudden pause |
| D．a real laugh usually lasts longer than a fake one |
| A．Certain social situations may require us to fake a laugh. |
| B．Evolution has enabled us to recognize other’s emotions. |
| C．By instincts, we are able to tell a person’s mental state. |
| D．We can sense other’s emotional state when they laugh. |
【推荐3】Recently I rolled into a local restaurant to try an Impossible Burger, an all-plant patty(人造肉饼) invented by Impossible Foods. It's well known for having an strangely chewy(有咀嚼感), even bloody, meat-like quality, a surprising verisimilitude(逼真) that has made it ''perhaps the country's most famous burger, '' as New York magazine wrote. One bite into its wonderful, smoky taste and, damn, I was convinced.
This is good news, because the time has come to consume fake meat. In the fight against climate change, meat replacement is something we can try. A University of Oxford study recently found that, to keep global warming below 2 degrees this century, we need to be eating 75 percent less beef and 90 percent less pork.
However, diets are culturally enshrined, so changing them will be hard. It isn't easy to replace 75 to 90 percent of beef and pork with fake meat. The first taste of an Impossible Burger—a moment when low expectations work a powerful magic in the product's favor—is one thing. But how do you keep meat-eaters asking for more after their sixth, and their 26th？
To get to true mass adoption, fake meat will need to compete favorably with the real thing on multiple fronts. Impossible Foods' goal is to drive the price of its product below that of Safeway's 80/20 hamburger meat, at which point people will simply vote with their wallets. The new industry also wants to improve on animal flesh in various ways. Fake meat has an advantage over traditional meat because ''you won't need to refrigerate it'' cofounder Niko Koffeman says. Plus, custom(定制的) production could improve choice. ''You could have very soft and tender meat for elderly people,'' Koffeman adds. ''You could have a tailored meat for whatever you need.''
You can tell the world is shifting this way, because the ranchers(牧场主) are nervous. Last year, the US Cattlemen's Association asked the government to define ''meat'' as a product ''coming directly from animals.'' That anxiety—and the power of the science driving it—goes to show that this grand shift isn't impossible.
1. According to passage, the author was convinced by the Impossible Burger because__.| A．it has a special taste that is different from normal ones. |
| B．it contains all non-meat materials that taste like meat. |
| C．more vegetables are used as main materials for the burger. |
| D．one bite of this burger can provide people with the energy needed for a whole day. |
| A．That people think their diet is the best in the world. |
| B．That people are unwilling to go against their culture by changing their diets. |
| C．That people's preference for food is linked to the food choice available to them. |
| D．That people's eating habits are consistently observed and closely connected with their culture. |
| A．Fake meat will not be necessarily stored in a refrigerator. |
| B．The price of fake meat will be just one-fourth of traditional meat's. |
| C．Fake meat will win over older people thanks to its tender and soft taste. |
| D．Fake meat will own a taste that is not found in traditional meat. |
| A．Meat must come from animals. |
| B．The world will probably embrace the idea of fake meat. |
| C．The ranchers are suffering economic loss due to fake meat. |
| D．The definition of meat has been changed because of fake meat. |
【推荐1】My generation — people born after 1990 — are accustomed to “all-in-platform” life, where we use mobile apps of different platforms to do almost everything in life.
For instance, I ordered a cup of coffee on Monday using an online delivery app. Then, I called a taxi by tapping on the app of a ride-booking service. Next, I bought some necessities on shopping platform Taobao. That done, I moved on to various other online destinations to get my daily fix of music, reading, social networking and so forth.
Platforms now play an increasingly important role in almost all aspects of day -to-day life, not just in economic and political processes. Consumption and social interaction are closely linked to platforms now.
But, I began to get confused recently. I thought I was being treated differently. My friend and I called a taxi at the same time on a ride-hailing platform(打车平台) and found that for the same destination, the prices were different. The price indicated on my phone was higher. One of the potential reasons could have been that I regularly use the ride-hailing platform and have a higher ranking while my friend doesn’t use it that often. So, the ride-hailing platform offers discounts to newbies like her, to attract and have such customers.
China’s latest efforts in regulating monopolistic or improper market behavior are of great significance in protecting consumers’ lawful rights.
“The essence of platform-based monopoly(垄断) is that a large number of users are gathered on only a select few platform companies, leading to uneven data gathering different platforms. But in China some platforms use their own data and traffic (流量) to expand capital in a disorderly way,” said Wang Yong, deputy director of the Institute of Economics at Tsinghua University.
Data monopoly also brought another inconvenience for consumers — platforms block links to each other. For instance, link to WeChat Pay of Tencent is not available on Alibaba’s Taobao while there is no Alipay link on JD app’s payment options.
Last year, Meituan was charged with preventing customers from using Alipay as a payment option on Meituan apps and platforms.
In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a six-month special rectification (专项治理) for the internet industry, asking platform operators to stop blocking each other’s link.
“More efforts should also be made to strike a good balance between personal information protection and interconnectivity between platforms. Companies are being encouraged to further develop data encryption (加密) technology so that the data are available but not visible.”
1. What is the function of Para.2?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To illustrate the author’s statement. |
| C．To arouse readers’ interest. | D．To show off the author’s life. |
| A．The author and his friend were treated differently by taxi drivers. |
| B．The author encountered so called “big data price discrimination”. |
| C．Due to the author’s higher ranking, the platform offered him a cheaper price. |
| D．The ride-hailing platform offers discounts to regular customers. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Approving. | C．Critical. | D．Grateful. |
| A．Data monopolies and the inconvenience they bring to mobile app life. |
| B．Mobile apps have greatly changed our lives. |
| C．How to protect personal information on mobile apps. |
| D．Platforms have impacted every aspect of our daily lives. |
【推荐2】The year 2019 began with two pieces of exciting space exploration news. On Jan. 3, China landed a spacecraft, Change-4, on the moons far side—the side we can’t see from Earth—for the first time in human history. And according to a report published on Jan. 9 in Nature, scientists from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) detected repeated radio signals from a galaxy 1.5 billion light years away, possibly sent by intelligent aliens.
However, what’s even more exciting than the news is the fact that whenever speaking of space exploration, we forget our political and cultural differences—the things that so obsess us.
“When you go into space, you become part of this overall collective called ‘Humanity’,” Ken Liu, Chinese American sci-fi writer and translator, told Quartz website. “You’re no longer Chinese, American, Russian... Your culture is left behind. You’re now just Humanity with a capital ‘H’.”
This magic has worked all the way along our journey into space. When US astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) became the first human to set foot on the moon in 1969, for example, he told the world: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Now, with Change-4 touching down on new moon territory, China’s aim is to help scientists from around the world find out more about Earths only satellite. And with the discovery of the CHIME astronauts, we’re one step closer to answering a common question in science: “Are humans alone in the universe?”
It’s true that we are a curious species. But instead of being curious about the “unknown”, perhaps were really more eager to “push further” our own human “boundaries” and “limits”.
1. Which of the following is the discovery of the CHIME scientists?| A．A galaxy with intelligent aliens. |
| B．Repeated radio signals sent by intelligent aliens. |
| C．Repeated radio signals from a distant galaxy. |
| D．Radio signals from a galaxy several years ago. |
| A．To introduce the famous writer, Ken Liu. |
| B．To show that in space we are just humanity. |
| C．To emphasize that culture is not important. |
| D．To introduce the things that obsess us very much. |
| A．Further confirm his opinion. | B．Add some background information. |
| C．Summarize the previous paragraphs. | D．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| A．China takes the lead in space exploration. |
| B．Humans are not alone in the universe. |
| C．Space exploration is a common cause of mankind. |
| D．Humans desire to push the boundaries of scientific limits. |
【推荐3】In between all the measures to battle the severe air pollution in Delhi, India, there’s one more option----a bar that has “pure air”.
Founded by Aryavir Kumar, Oxy Pure, Delhi’s first-ever oxygen bar, offers 15 minutes of 80-90 percent pure oxygen, costing Rs 299 ($4.2). Customers are given a lightweight tube for oxygen intake. The device (装置) is placed near the customers’ noses through which they are advised to breathe in the oxygen.
The bar also offers its customers several aromas (气味) to go with oxygen, including lemongrass, cherry and more. According to the aroma people choose, each session promises to improve sleep patterns and digestion, cure headaches, and even work as a treatment for depression (抑郁).
Bonny Irengbam, a senior sales assistant at the bar, said, “Some people, who try it for the first time, will feel relaxed and fresh. But only people who do this regularly will get real benefits. By regularly, I mean once or twice a month. We don’t encourage back-to-back sessions, as increased levels of oxygen in the body can make a person dizzy.”
Dr. Rajesh Chawla, a senior doctor at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said, “Even if you breathe in the so-called pure oxygen for two hours in a day, you will go back to breathing the polluted air for the rest of the 22 hours. The concept is purely money-driven.”
Recalling the first few months of the bar, Irengbam admitted that people were skeptical. “Many people criticized, saying we were selling air. Others were simply scared to breathe through the tube.”
Irengbam said the bar saw a significant rise in the number of customers two to three days after Diwali, an Indian festival mainly celebrated by fireworks and lights, as the pollution levels were high.
1. What do we know about the oxygen intake?| A．It was not well-received at first. | B．It will always cause side effects. |
| C．It surely has a promising future. | D．It can cure people of depression. |
| A．Once — a — month. | B．Once — in — a — while. |
| C．Once — and — for — all. | D．One — after — another. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Positive. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Ambiguous. |
| A．To explain how to breathe in the oxygen. | B．To show people’s responses to the bar. |
| C．To advertise for Aryavir Kumar’s business. | D．To introduce the first oxygen bar in India. |
