When fighting sugar dependence, avoiding added sugar in the diet is key, which sounds simple — right? It certainly does, but things become a bit more complicated once we introduce alternative sweeteners into the mix.
Alternative sweeteners are everywhere.
Now that we know some of the common types of alternative sweeteners, let’s take a deeper dive into the problem with them. Research in animals has shown that removing calories from foods that taste sweet can interrupt the ability to control energy intake.
The other interesting thing about alternative sweeteners is that our brains don’t recognize them as “fake (假的)” sugar.
So what do I recommend? In order to fully put a definite end to sugar dependence, reducing your intake of alternative sweeteners should be the goal.
| A．The taste profile of alternative sweeteners varies. |
| B．We can’t forget about the ever-so-popular sugar alcohols. |
| C．There are countless alternative sweeteners on the market. |
| D．Our brain senses something sweet and thinks it is real sugar. |
| E．They may help reduce the calorie content of good-tasting foods and drinks. |
| F．Artificial sweeteners may also cause one’s body to prefer sweeter-tasting foods. |
| G．Alternative sweeteners are referred to as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie” sweeteners. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Popular culture often shows alcohol as a big part of the college experience in the United States. Television programs and movies about American college life have images of wild parties with young people either drinking alcohol or holding a drink.
Now, a new study of alcohol use suggests that some college students may be missing meals so they can have more drinks or get drunk faster. Researchers are calling this kind of behavior "drunkorexia".
The study involved 1,184 college students between the ages of 18 and 26. Researchers found that 80 percent of those studied had demonstrated some kind of drunkorexia in the past three months. They had performed heavy physical exercise, eaten low calorie meals or even missed meals for up to a full day before drinking alcohol.
Dipali Rinker organized the study and presented its findings to the Research Society on Alcoholism in June. She says students see drunkorexia as a way to keep their body weight down while drinking alcohol. And it causes them to feel the effects of alcohol quickly and with more intensity(强度). Rinker says unhealthy eating habits are only one of the reasons why this type of behavior is dangerous. Heavy drinking is linked to drunk driving, unprotected sex, and alcohol poisoning.
George Koob, who directs a U.S. governmental agency that studies alcohol related problems, says that the percent of students using alcohol has not increased in recent years. But what worries him is that the number of students drinking to the point of "blacking out" has increased. Blacking out is when a person drinks so much alcohol they have no memory of their actions while drunk.
Koob notes that college students in Canada and Europe also face issues with alcohol. But he feels a big part of the problem is that Americans do not fully understand alcohol's effects. Most people do not know the part of the brain where decisions are made is not fully developed until age 25 and that alcohol harms the development of that part of the brain, he adds.
1. What is the purpose of the behavior "drunkorexia"?| A．To get drunk. | B．To drink more alcohol. |
| C．To take exercise. | D．To lose weight. |
| A．Unhealthy eating habits. | B．Drunkorexia. |
| C．Alcohol poisoning. | D．Quick response. |
| A．Missing meals. | B．Forgetting something one did. |
| C．Having unprotected sex. | D．Operating a vehicle while drunk. |
| A．show heavy drinking and its harm | B．show America college life |
| C．introduce American culture | D．explain harmful behaviors |
【推荐2】What’s delicious, healthy to eat and comes in various colors? Eggplant! And no, it has nothing to do with chickens! This strangely named vegetable is, however, as versatile as an egg. It can be steamed, fried or baked. It can be eaten by itself or combined with meats and other vegetables.
Eggplant was first grown in India during the 5th century B.C. Its popularity soon spread to China and then throughout Asia. Finally, during the Middle Ages the vegetable made its way to Europe. At that time, eggplant was not the shiny purple vegetable most people know today. Instead, it was like a white egg. Due to this egg-like appearance, eggplant got its name. In its early days, the vegetable was so bitter that people often called it a “mad apple”. This nickname started because people believed its bitterness was bad for one’s health. People actually thought eggplant could cause insanity (精神错乱) and cancer.
Fortunately, today people know that eggplant doesn’t cause insanity or cancer. In fact, eggplant is so healthy that it may prevent cancer. In addition, the brain and the heart benefit from this supper vegetable. Since it is high in fiber, eggplant can also improve digestion.
Italy, Turkey, Egypt, China and Japan are the leading growers of eggplant in the world today. Depending on its location, eggplant may be purple, green, orange or yellow-white. And it can be as small as a tomato or as large as a cucumber. Dish diversities (多样性) range from simple to complex, with all of them being delicious!
Today, thousands of people are gathering in Loomis, Calif, for the 23rd annual Loomis Eggplant Festival. The main activity at the festival is eating delicious eggplant dishes. There is plenty more to do and see, though. Recipe contests, arts and crafts, performers, races and children’s activities all “egg-cite” festival-goers. Most people at the festival would agree — eggplant is an “egg-cellent” vegetable!
1. What does the underlined word “versatile” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．simple in shape | B．various in cooking |
| C．diverse in size | D．flexible in price |
| A．Eggplant was once misunderstood by the people for its bitterness. |
| B．Eggplant was introduced into Europe during the 5th century B. |
| C．C. Eggplant got its name for its nutrition which is as rich as an egg. |
| D．Eggplant looks like what it used to be in color and shape. |
| A．cure the cancer with certainty | B．do good to digestion |
| C．replace other vegetables | D．help relieve insanity |
| A．colors | B．sizes | C．dishes | D．nutrition |
| A．the 23rd annual Loomis Eggplant Festival |
| B．the general introduction of eggplant |
| C．the origin of eggplant |
| D．the benefits of eggplant |
【推荐3】There is no such thing as a "safe" level of drinking, with increased consumption of alcohol associated with poorer brain health, according to a new study.
In an observational study, researchers from the University of Oxford studied the relationship between the self-reported alcohol intake（摄入量）of some 25,000 people in the UK, and their brain scans. The researchers noted that drinking had an effect on the brain's gray matter—regions in the brain that make up "important bits where information is processed," according to lead author Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at Oxford.
"The more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter," Topiwala said via email. "Brain volume（容量）reduces with age and more severely with dementia（痴呆）. Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing," she explained. "While alcohol only made a small contribution to this（0.8%）, it was a greater contribution than other 'changeable' risk factors," she said, explaining that changeable risk factors are "ones you can do something about, in contrast to aging."
The team also investigated whether certain drinking patterns, beverage（饮料）types and other health conditions made a difference to the impact of alcohol on brain health. They found that there was no "safe" level of drinking—meaning that consuming any amount of alcohol was worse than not drinking it. They also found no evidence that the type of drink—such as wine, spirits or beer—affected the harm done to the brain.
However, certain characteristics, such as high blood pressure, obesity or binge -drinking（酗酒）, could put people at higher risk, researchers added.
1. How was the study developed?| A．By comparing people and the researchers. |
| B．By comparing brain and health. |
| C．By comparing alcohol intake and brain scans. |
| D．By comparing information and gray matter. |
| A．Drinking alcohol can cause reducing of brain volume. |
| B．Drinking alcohol can cause increasing of brain volume. |
| C．Drinking wine have more impact on brain. |
| D．Drinking spirits have more impact on brain. |
| A．buying | B．drinking |
| C．selling | D．making |
| A．People drinking more types. | B．People forming some habits. |
| C．People with less chance to drink. | D．People with high blood pressure. |
【推荐1】Li Ziqi, a short video blogger specializing in traditional Chinese cooking and handicrafts has gained worldwide popularity.
Li has about 20 million followers on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter, plus 7 million followers on overseas social media networks. Many foreigners say they have got to know traditional Chinese food culture via her channel.
It is the spirit of craftsmanship（技艺）behind her works that makes Lis video clips attractive. She strictly follows the authentic traditional steps and procedures in making traditional Chinese food and handicrafts, such as peach flower wine and silk, and goes to great lengths to ensure her videos are. Sometimes she spends several months producing one of her videos.
Li has been inheriting（继承）traditional Chinese culture in a rather creative way. A closer look at her videos will show that they are never with any “analysis” that makes people feel bored. They just show the audience each and every detail of traditional Chinese culture so that the latter knows how Chinese live their beautiful and elegant lives. It is that universal appeal that makes her works so attractive. Thanks to Li's efforts, many intangible cultural heritages that only existed in memories and written records now appear before our eyes. Via her short videos, Li presents the image of a beautiful and friendly China.
With the growth of the Chinese economy, people overseas are showing more interest in traditional Chinese culture. Li has shown how to satisfy that interest in a good way, namely showing the best parts of traditional Chinese culture with her heart.
To effectively present the beauty of Chinese culture to the world, we need more Li Ziqi.
1. What can we learn about Li Ziqi's video clips？| A．They promote the sales of Chinese food and handicrafts. |
| B．They are the first videos to draw foreigners’ attention to Chinese cooking style. |
| C．They have introduced traditional Chinese food culture and handicrafts worldwide. |
| D．They are based on her family’s recipes of making traditional Chinese food. |
| A．Analysis of Chinese culture in Li's videos makes people bored. |
| B．Details and accuracy play significant roles in the success of Li’s videos. |
| C．Li makes sure all of her video clips are short enough to be downloaded. |
| D．Cultural heritages usually exist in memories and written records. |
| A．Nonphysical. | B．Inaccessible. |
| C．Invaluable. | D．Unnoticeable. |
| A．Making Popular Cooking Videos? Not So Difficult |
| B．Chinese Food Getting Attention Online |
| C．Li Ziqi: Keeper of Traditional Chinese Culture |
| D．Chinese Cooking Videos Being Popular Overseas |
【推荐2】Every woman dreams of receiving a huge, sparkling and priceless diamond. Now scientists have discovered the largest diamond in the universe.
But it’s well beyond the reach of the most lovestruck men — 50 light years to be precise. Space scientists revealed that they had discovered a ten billion trillion trillion carat gem. Measuring 2,500 miles across and weighing five million trillion trillion pounds, the rock was found on Valentine's Day buried in the core of a white dwarf star in the constellation Centaurus.
“It’s the mother of all diamonds,” said Travis Metcalfe, who led the team of researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in America.
“You would need a jeweller’s loupe the size of the Sun to grade this diamond.” Named Lucy, after the Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the rock has sent a ripple of excitement through the scientific world.
The largest diamond found on earth was the 3,106-carat Cullinan. It was cut into nine major stones, including the 530-carat Star of Africa, now a part of the Crown Jewels. Diamonds were first discovered in India more than 2,800 years ago. The Ancient Romans believed that the stones were splinters of stars that had tumbled to earth.
In Ancient Egypt, diamonds were symbols of eternity and were used in funeral rites. In the Middle Ages, men wore them to symbolize their courage and virility. The tradition of giving them as love tokens dates from 1477, when Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy.
1. The largest diamond in the universe________.| A．was found 50 years ago. | B．was in the centre of a white dwarf star. |
| C．was too large to measure. | D．could be graded by a common jeweller's loupe. |
| A．Diamonds have symbolized love since 1477. |
| B．The largest diamond on earth was found 2,800 years ago. |
| C．The Crown Jewels was totally made of the 530-carat Star of Africa. |
| D．At present, men wear diamonds to symbolize their courage and virility. |
| A．Diamond — a must on important occasions | B．Love — the symbolism of diamonds |
| C．Discovery — the largest diamond in the world | D．Diamond — the dream of women |
| A．a tour guide. | B．a poster. | C．an official document. | D．a magazine. |
【推荐3】Kite Power
Will energy of the future be completely “green”? The search for new, clean energy sources has occupied the attention of scientists and politicians for years.
The current generation of wind power relies on rigid support structures and is limited to the height of up to 200m.
The technology is simple. Two kites are tied to a spool (线轴). As they soar at speeds of around 100 miles per hour in figures of eight, they pull cables which turn the drum, rather like an unrolling spool of thread. This generates electricity.
It is estimated that one gigawatt (十亿瓦特) of power can be produced at a cost of just 1.5 euros per megawatt hour.
In the future, it may be an efficient, cost-effective addition to the other sources of energy, or even a replacement for some of them.
| A．One common resource for green energy is the wind. |
| B．Higher than that, wind is significantly stronger and more persistent. |
| C．As one kite comes down, the other goes up, so electricity is generated continually. |
| D．That’s nearly 30 times less than the average cost in Europe of 43 euros per megawatt (兆瓦) hour. |
| E．A new power generating technology has recently given the phrase “go higher” a new meaning. |
| F．After the initial cost of design and establishment of a plant, little additional investment will be necessary. |
