【推荐1】There are advantages of being smart. Smart people tend to live longer, and are less likely to experience negative life events.

    1     Ruth Karpinski’s team carried out a study on members from Mensa, a high IQ society. Respondents were asked to report whether they had suffered from mood and anxiety disorders. The researchers found Mensa’s highly intelligent members were more likely to suffer from serious disorders.

To explain the findings, Karpinski brings up the hyper (亢奋的) body theory. It holds that being highly intelligent is associated with psychological and physiological (生理的) “overexcitabilities”, or OEs.     2     This can include anything from an astonishing sound to conflict with another person. According to the theory, OEs are more common in highly intelligent people. They may overanalyze a disapproving comment, imagining negative outcomes that simply wouldn’t occur to those less intelligent.     3    

The results must be interpreted cautiously. Showing that a disorder is more common among people with high IQs than in the general population doesn’t prove that high intelligence causes the disorder.     4     All the same, the findings cast new light on the link between intelligence and health. One possibility is that associations between intelligence and health outcomes reflect pleiotropy (基因多效性), which occurs when a gene influences seemingly unrelated characteristics.     5     In a 2015 study, researchers concluded the association between IQ and living longer is mostly explained by genetic factors.

A．Now there’s some bad news for them.

B．There is already some evidence to suggest that this is the case.

C．Scientists did many researches to understand the reasons behind it.

D．An OE is an unusually strong reaction to an environmental threat or abuse.

E．That may cause the body’s stress response, further increasing the anxiety.

F．They found the respondents showed differences in mood and anxiety disorders.

G．Chances are that people joining Mensa differ from others in ways other than just IQ.

【推荐2】New research shows how kids’ brains reorganize as they learn math.
All the time you spent memorizing multiplication tables(乘法表)may have made you a better mathematician, according to a new study. A team of scientists from Stanford University, in California, have shown how the brain reorganizes itself as kids learn math.
After a certain amount of time spent practicing math, kids can put away the calculator(计算器). They don’t even need to count on their fingers. They simply know the answers to subtraction(减法), addition, and multiplication facts. The quicker kids can recall basic math facts, the easier it is for them to solve more complicated math problems.
The Stanford University researchers observed the brain activity of 28 students aged 7to 9 for the study. They took scans of the students’ brains as the students solved math calculations without the help of a calculator, pen or paper. A calculation—three plus four equals seven, for example—flashed on a screen. The students pushed a button to say if the answer was right or wrong. The scientists also recorded the response speed, and what parts of the brain became active as the kids pushed the button.
These observations showed a process called fact retrieval(事实检索). Rather than using their fingers to count, or writing out answers on a piece of paper, the students pulled the answers from memory. It’s as if the answers to basic math problems are kept in a long-term storage area in the brain, which was built from repetition. “Experience really does matter,” said Dr. Kathy Mann Koepeke.
Children make the shift(转换)from counting to fact retrieval when they are 8 to 9 years old, the study shows. This is the time when most students are learning basic addition and subtraction. When kids have basic math facts memorized, the brain has more free space to learn more complicated math.
This process has benefits for the future. The study shows as kids grow older, their answers rely more on memory and become quicker and more accurate. Less brain activity is devoted to counting. Some children make this shift quicker than others.
1. What did the researchers do when students worked out the given problems?

A．They recorded the students’ brain activities.

B．They pushed a button linked to the students.

C．They noticed whether they used a calculator.

D．They found out who responded most quickly.

2. Fact retrieval is a process when the students________.

A．calculate answers using pens

B．use their fingers to count out

C．repeat the answers they remember

D．find the answers from their memory

3. What plays a key role in solving a math problem?

A．Intelligence	B．Experience
C．Learning method	D．Constant practice

4. What happens to kids when they are 8 to 9 years old?

A．Their brains are more active than before.

B．They depend on fact retrieval for answers.

C．They become more interested in learning math.

D．They work out complicated problems more quickly.

【推荐1】April 25 is World Penguin Day, which is reported to have been started by researchers in Antarctica to celebrate the time of year that Adélie penguins begin moving north for the winter.

Though it was started for Adélie penguins, it has been used for all of the world’s 17 different species of penguins. Meanwhile, penguins are also celebrated on January 20,which is known as Penguin Awareness Day. Most penguins spend about half their time on land and the rest in the sea. They depend on fish and other kinds of small sea life for food. However, climate change has had serious effects on penguins. Around two-thirds of penguin species are dropping in numbers and struggling to adjust. Warming seas, changing ice patterns, loss of food, and pollution are just a few of the problems faced by penguins.

But there’s also happier penguin news. Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo announced the hatching of four penguin babies. Visitors to the zoo’s webcams(网络摄像机) were able to watch live as the baby birds came out, who are especially good news because they are northern rockhopper penguins-a species in danger of dying out. People who want to see the baby birds grow can watch them over the zoo’s webcamn. Dawn Nicoll, who’s in charge of penguins at the zoo, says there are 14 eggs in all, so it’s possible that more penguin babies will hatch soon. With the zoo struggling to live on, it hopes the webcams will also encourage people to contribute to it.

Another piece of good news about penguins is that two male gentoo penguins, called Sphen and Magic, paired up and began to make a nest. The workers gave the pair an extra egg from another penguin couple(Gentoo penguins may lay more than one egg, but they only raise one baby.)Sphen and Magic turned out to be great parents. They raised a baby girl, who’s known as “Sphengic”.

1. Why was World Penguin Day set up initially?

A．To take the place of Penguin Awareness Day.	B．To mark the day penguins move northward.
C．To appeal to people to protect wild penguins.	D．To call for more attention to penguin babies.

2. What can we infer about Edinburgh Zoo?

A．Its finances are not in good shape.	B．It attracts more and more visitors.
C．Its environment is unfit for penguins.	D．It advocates hatching more eggs once.

3. What do the last two paragraphs mainly talk about?

A．Entertainment programs for zoos.	B．Introduction to the rare penguins.
C．Studies on penguins’ living habits.	D．Efforts to increase penguin numbers.

4. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A poster.

B．A novel.

C．A guidebook.

D．A magazine.

【推荐2】If you think that running marathons (马拉松) will help you live a long and healthy life, new research may come as a shock. According to a recent scientific study, people who do a very strenuous workout are as likely to die as people who do no exercise at all.

Scientists in Denmark have been studying over 1,000 joggers (慢跑者) and non-joggers for 12 years. The death rates from the sample group indicate that people who jog at a moderate (适度的) pace two or three times a week for less than two and a half hours in total are least likely to die. The best speed to jog at was found to be about 5 miles per hour. The research suggests that people who jog more than three times a week or at higher speeds of over 7 mph die at the same rate as non-joggers. The scientists think that this is because strenuous exercise causes structural changes to the heart and arteries (动脉). Over time, this can cause serious injuries.

Peter Schnohr, a researcher in Copenhagen, said,” If your goal is to decrease risk of death and improve life expectancy, jogging a few times a week at a moderate pace is a good polity. Anything more is not just unnecessary, and it may be harmful.”

The implications (暗示) of this are that moderate forms of exercise such as tai chi, yoga and brisk walking may be better for us than “iron man” events, triathlons and long-distance running and cycling. According to Jacob Louis Marott, another researcher involved in the study, “You don’t actually have to do that much to have a good impact on your health. And perhaps you shouldn’t actually do too much”.

1. The underlined word “strenuous” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “______________”.

A．hard	B．regular
C．practical	D．enjoyable

2. A series of numbers are presented in Paragraph 2 to _________________.

A．suggest giving up jogging	B．show risks of doing sports
C．provide supportive evidence	D．introduce the research process

3. According to the scientists, why is too much exercise harmful?

A．It may injure the heart and arteries	B．It can exhaust the body and soul
C．It will bring too much pressure	D．It might cause worse exercise performance

4. What can be learned from the passage?

A．No exercise at all is the best choice.	B．More exercise means a healthier life.
C．Marathon runners are least likely to die.	D．Proper exercise results in good health.