It is recommended that people get 150 minutes of exercise a week. That means that a person should exercise for about 30 minutes a day, five days a week. A half hour of brisk (轻快的) walking can easily help someone meet that goal. You don’t need to walk 30 minutes all at one time to start. An expert recommends that beginners start with three short 10-minute walks. Finally, longer walks will become easier.
One great benefit of walking is that you do not need special equipment (装备). You do not even need to go to a special area to walk. Don’t have workout clothes to wear? You are lucky because what you are wearing right now is probably perfect for walking. Besides, you can walk anywhere at a quick speed.
Many studies show the value of walking and its benefits for your body.
According to a study carried out by Harvard Medical School, brisk walking for 30 minutes can burn over 100 calories (卡路里). Walking also makes your legs strong. Although it may not seem like it, walking is weight training because your legs carry the weight of your upper body whenever you walk. The study also shows that those who walk at least 20 minutes a day, at least five days a week, have 43% fewer sick days than those who exercise once a week or less. And if they do get sick, they become well sooner.
Walking is good for your mind. Walks can be taken in quiet places like parks and forests. Walking in these areas can help a person feel calm. Going on a daily walk gives your mind a break from the busy time of each day as well. A good walk lets you clear your mind and makes you feel better.
1. What can we know from the first paragraph?| A．People have trouble finding time to walk. |
| B．Longer walks may be hard for beginners. |
| C．Half an hour’s walk every week is enough. |
| D．Walking slowly makes the activity enjoyable. |
| A．Walking is better than medicine. | B．Walking has wonderful benefits. |
| C．The distance people usually walk. | D．The right time for people to walk. |
| A．It is helpful to one’s mind. | B．It helps discover new places. |
| C．It makes one’s body busy. | D．It helps save one much money. |
| A．To show how often we can walk. |
| B．To show why walking is great exercise. |
| C．To show us the findings of a famous study. |
| D．To show us what to prepare before walking. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Exercise for a Better Brain
Most of the time, your brain is the boss of your muscles—directing how you hit a ball, play the piano, or open a cereal box.
In a 2016 National Institute on Aging study, people who ran on a treadmill for 45 minutes three days a week boosted their levels of brain—derived neurotrophic(神经营养的)factor, a chemical that acts like fertilizer for new brain cells.
Without exercise, Suzuki says, “little baby neurons don’t get bigger and make thousands of new connections to other brain cells. With exercise, you get fully functioning adult brain cells.” Studies suggest that in younger adults, this can add to the overall number of cells in the hippocampus(海马体).
| A．And once age—related brain changes begin, starting in our 30s, exercise helps keep brain cells alive longer and replaces old cells with new ones. |
| B．Tips have been offered as to how to do exercise. |
| C．After four months of workouts, their scores improved on a memory test. |
| D．Besides, studies also suggest that dying cells and brain wastes can be cleared with enough exercise on a regular basis. |
| E．But when it comes to growing new brain cells, more and more research shows that when you exercise, your muscles take charge. |
| F．Again, a little goes a long way. |
【推荐2】More and more teenagers are becoming unwilling to exercise worldwide. Australia, a nation that prides itself on its outdoor culture, is doing particularly poorly. It is currently ranked (排名) 140th out of 146 countries for teenage exercise levels. The data shows that 85%of girls are physically inactive compared to 78% of boys. In Australia, less than 1 in 10 teenagers aged 12 to 18 are meeting the recommended levels of physical activity.
The current guidelines and evidence show that teenagers should be doing at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. This should include muscle and bone strengthening activities on at least three days per week, meanwhile limiting recreational screen time to a maximum of 2 hours per day.
Not being active can cause a range of health conditions leading to early adulthood and beyond. Adolescents may have decreased bone and cardio-metabolic (心脏代谢的) health which leaves them facing an increased risk of chronic disease (慢性病) in later life, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and decreased fitness. If you’re not moving enough you’re also at an increased risk of being overweight or obese, with data already showing that 29.8% of teenagers (14-17) are classified as overweight or obese.
So how can we get teenagers to exercise more? Firstly, high schools should place more importance on lunchtime and allow 1-hour breaks that increase physical activity. We should also encourage teenagers to be active on their lunch break. Parents and guardians also have an important role to play and should aim to devote 1 hour a day to moving more. This does not need to be 1 full hour and can be broken down into two 30-minute parts. The most important factor is to identify your teenager’s interests and needs surrounding their physical activity.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help in finding a safe and fun exercise program. A qualified exercise physiologist or exercise scientist can help your child find a way to be more active that is suited to their needs, age of development, and interests.
1. How does the writer show teenagers in Australia lack enough exercise in Paragraph 1?| A．By analyzing reasons. | B．By listing data. |
| C．By making comparison. | D．By giving examples. |
| A．A lack of exercise does lasting harm to health. |
| B．Outdoor activities help build positive characters. |
| C．Most chronic diseases come from getting overweight. |
| D．Teenagers tend to take in more calories than they actually need. |
| A．Parents’ full participation in exercising. |
| B．Arranging a balanced diet for them. |
| C．Taking their interests into consideration. |
| D．Improvement in the school PE course. |
| A．To recommend fun exercise programs. |
| B．To encourage physical activity in teenagers. |
| C．To show the way to build a good living habit. |
| D．To explain the reason for teenagers’ poor health. |
【推荐3】These days, videos of “ diving grandpas” from north China’s Tianjin are popular on the Internet. In the videos, they jumped off the Shizilin Bridge into the 7-meter-deep Haihe River. However, on Wednesday, they announced that they would give up the sport.
With an average age of 60, the diving grandpas have much experience in diving. They started as a group of local diving lovers. They went swimming in the city’s rivers, and later they tried their hand at diving. The hobby has now lasted for more than thirty years.
Videos on the Internet have drawn lots of tourists from across the country to the Shizilin Bridge over the Haihe River, where “diving grandpas” perform diving. However, some inexperienced divers, trying to follow“ diving grandpas”, have met with accidents and got themselves injured. Some of the grandpas have begun volunteering to keep order for the crowds that come to see the performance on the bridge. However, accidents still continued to happen. As reported, members of the Blue Sky Rescue team in Tianjin said that they rescued 14 people at the risk of drowning or other injury in just two days.
The grandpas then made a difficult decision. They stopped diving off the bridge. They also prevented inexperienced locals and children as well as tourists from diving from the bridge . The grandpas welcomed the tourists to Tianjin, especially pointing out the other great places of interest and delicious food around the Shizilin Bridge.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．The diving grandpas made a living by diving. |
| B．The diving grandpas came from all over China. |
| C．The diving grandpas made diving a life-long hobby. |
| D．The diving grandpas began diving when they were little. |
| A．The weather became colder. |
| B．They were too old to carry out the task. |
| C．The bridge was too crowded with tourists. |
| D．They hoped to prevent accidents from happening. |
| A．Kind and honest |
| B．Energetic and warm-hearted |
| C．Brave and talented |
| D．Outgoing and optimistic |
| A．Diving became a popular activity in Tianjin. |
| B．Diving without guidance may cause injury or death. |
| C．“Diving grandpas” helped speed up tourism in Tianjin. |
| D．“Diving grandpas” gave up diving for tourists’ safety. |
【推荐1】Flowering plants (angiosperms) make up about 90 percent of the Kingdom Plantae. The total number of described species is over 250,000, and many tropical species are as yet unnamed. During the past 130 million years, flowering plants have colonized every possible habitat on earth, from sun-baked deserts and windswept alpine (阿尔卑斯) summits to fertile grasslands and dense forests.
However, hundreds of millions of years ago, the Earth was dominated by ferns and conifers (针叶植物和蕨类植物). Then, how have flowers evolved and spread to all parts of the world, thus changing the landscape from green and brown to a variety of colours?
Actually, why angiosperms are successful and diverse on Earth has been debated for centuries. Even Charles Darwin himself called it a “mystery”, fearing this apparent sudden leap might challenge his theory of evolution.
Now, to this puzzle, some scientists claim they have the answer.
Kevin Simonin, from San Francisco State University in California, US and other researchers wondered if the size of the plant’s genetic material -- or genome (基因组) -- might be important. They analyzed data held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, on the genome size of thousands of plants, including flowering plants, gymnosperms (a group of plants including conifers) and ferns. They then compared genome size with anatomical (结构上的) features.
This provides “strong evidence”, that the success and rapid spread of flowering plants around the world is due to “genome downsizing.”
By shrinking the size of the genome, which is contained within the nucleus of the cell, plants can build smaller cells. In turn, this allows greater carbon dioxide uptake (摄入) and carbon gain from photosynthesis, the process by which plants use light energy to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen.
The researchers say genome downsizing happens only in the angiosperms, and this was “a necessary condition for rapid growth rates among land plants”.
1. According to this passage, what do we know about angiosperms?| A．They belong to gymnosperms. |
| B．They add colors to the landscape of the earth. |
| C．They ruled the earth hundreds of millions of years ago. |
| D．They make up approximately 90% of the living species on earth. |
| A．Charles Darwin was quite confident of his theory of evolution |
| B．Kevin Simonin is probably an American biologist |
| C．Kevin Simonin works in the Royal Botanic Gardens |
| D．Charles Darwin succeeded in figuring out the flower evolution |
| A．Phtotsynthesis. | B．The larger nucleus. |
| C．The smaller genome. | D．The stronger cell. |
| A．a brochure | B．a biography |
| C．a science fiction | D．a popular science article |
【推荐2】The idea of biting into a hamburger made from insets may take a little getting used to. But even if the thought of eating insects turns your stomach now, they could and should form an important part of our diet.
“Insects are a rally important missing piece of the food system,” says Peter Alexander, a senior researcher in food security at the University of Edinburgh. “They are undoubtedly a superfood - a whole lot of nutrition in a really small package.” Because of this, farmed insects could help deal with two of the world's biggest problems at once: food insecurity and the climate change.
Agriculture is the biggest driver of global biodiversity loss and a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions （排放）. Raising animals accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Insect farming uses a small part of the land, energy and water required for traditional farming, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint.
Then there's the fact that insects are 12 to 25 times more productive at changing their food into protein （蛋白质） than animals. They need six times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep and two times less than pigs. One of the main reasons is that insects are cold-blooded and therefore waste less energy keeping their body heat.
As well as saving energy, insects can live off food that would otherwise be thrown away, contributing to the recycling industry. Insects can be fed agricultural waste. To complete the recycling chain, their excrement can be used to make crops grow fast and large and improve soil.
“At the end of the day, you might have the healthiest, most nutritional, and most sustainable（可持续的） product, but unless it tastes nice so that people are willing to accept it, it may be a lot more difficult to get that across,” says Peter.
1. What could be an immediate benefit of farmed insects?| A．Reducing traditional farming. | B．Helping fight climate change. |
| C．Getting rid of food insecurity. | D．Improving global biodiversity. |
| A．They eat food with high protein. | B．They have a special type of blood. |
| C．They digest food better than animals. | D．They require less energy to stay warm. |
| A．Waste. | B．Food. |
| C．Meat. | D．Nutrition. |
| A．A Solution to World Food Insecurity |
| B．What to Do to Solve Climate Change |
| C．Why We Should Quit Animal Raising |
| D．An Overlooked Protein-Rich Superfood |
【推荐3】As a classic love movie of the twentieth century, Titanic makes one scene a long-lasting cinematic shot: Jack let go of his hand and sank in the icy seawater, leaving the chance of living to his lover Rose, who finally survived on a wooden door debris (残骸).
More than 100 years since the disastrous event and more than two decades after the earliest release of the movie Titanic, there have been many “door theories”. Audiences debate heatedly over whether or not Jack and Rose could have both fit onto the wooden debris and survived. So, was there room for Jack?
In a TV program, hosts Jamie and Adam even did an experiment using an exact replica (复制品) of the wooden piece from the movie, and the two proved that if they had tied Rose’s life jacket to the bottom of the door to strengthen its buoyancy ( 浮 力 ), they would have managed to stay afloat.
However, their conclusion was debunked when director Cameron said that the freezing water and Jack’s high temperature would have made the life jacket solution impossible. He also said that the debate is beyond the point the movie was trying to make, which is focused on the tragic love story of Jack and Rose, not physics.
The largest debris recovered from the real Titanic is now displayed in the Maritime Museum. The museum’s website states that a replica was once built for the movie based on the museum’s Titanic collection which was known as the “door” used in the death scene. Unfortunately, the size of the debris coupled with the weight of Rose on top could work, but not if Jack’s additional weight was added to it.
In a word, science has proven that Jack didn’t die for nothing and did indeed sacrifice himself to save the love of his life.
1. What’s the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To lead into the topic. | B．To introduce a movie. | C．To raise a question. | D．To highlight characters. |
| A．The development of the plot. | B．A physics experiment. | C．The theme of the movie. | D．A heated debate. |
| A．Confirmed. | B．Opposed. | C．Approved. | D．Concerned. |
| A．unrealistic | B．confusing | C．reasonable | D．surprising |
【推荐1】In 2013 Mr. Baugher planted 7,000 Fuji apple trees in the orchard (果园).Three years later,just when the trees should have been bearing fruit, he noticed that a few of them had yellow leaves. Within weeks they were dead. The next year，the problem spread to more than a few trees. By last year,2,000 of Mr Baugher’s 7,000 new trees were dead.
Mr. Baugher has the worst case of"rapid apple decline" (RAD)in the county, but he is not alone. The mysterious disease has been troubling growers across America's northeast for at least six years. Kari Peter, a fruit-tree specialist first observed massive die-offs in her research orchard in 2013. She came up with the term"RAD". But her attempts to explain it have not produced much fruit. The usual reasons for the death of tree-mould infestation, a known virus, disease, an early frost-didn't fit symptoms. Her investigation only ruled things out.
The dead trees tend to be younger: two to eight-years-old. They are nearing he prime of production. Dwarf trees, which are commonly used by commercial growers, seem to be the most subject. Historically, orchards held 600-700 apple trees an acre, but most are now high producing dwarf trees, which are more compact. Growers plant 1, 200-1, 500 trees per acre. Working with the Department of Agriculture Kan found a new hidden apple virus in the infected trees. But they cannot be sure if this new virus has any connection with the decline.
Researchers at Cormell University found that severe cold followed by drought (旱灾)could have weakened the trees leaving them subject to viruses.Other scientists think that herbicides may be to blame. Dan Donahue, a fruit-tree specialist says it could be any or all of those theories. In a recent sampling, he found that 64% of young trees had hidden viruses. These do not show symptoms, but they could affect vitality. Older, larger apple trees were better at shrugging off the viruses.
RAD is a big worry for the apple growers. Customer taste is changing. Traditional varieties like Red Delicious are no longer a customer favourite, so growers are having to invest in new varieties. Few of the orchard growers are able to absorb the economic losses.
Mr. Baugher found some relief in the Tree Assistance Programme, through which the federal government provides financial assistance to orchard-owners whose trees are damaged by natural disasters. The sudden death of apple trees may not seem as dramatic as a hurricane, but it is perhaps even more dangerous. Americans have given considerably more before in the defense of apple pie.
1. The underlined word"compact"is closest in meaning to .| A．complex | B．dense | C．remote | D．regular |
| A．It took her six years to come up with the term RAD. |
| B．Her research led to a breakthrough in apple cultivation. |
| C．She failed to find out the definite cause of RAD. |
| D．She was the first scientist to research apple trees. |
| A．extreme weather | B．a new virus | C．way of tree cultivation | D．location of the orchard |
| A．RAD adds to the pressure on the already struggling apple growers. |
| B．RAD doesn't qualify orchard growers for financial assistance. |
| C．The government needs to fund more research into RAD. |
| D．Apple growers should have stuck to traditional varieties. |
【推荐2】Decision-making can be extremely difficult. Decision-making styles are significantly different in different cultures.
In any approach to a problem and in any negotiations, the Western world turns to the "I to you" approach while Japan, the "you to you" approach. The former means both sides present their arguments openly from their own point of view. Naturally, often comes a confrontation (冲突) situation, which Westerners are very skillful in dealing with. The latter is based on each side trying to understand the other person's point of view. Thus, the direction of the meeting is a mutual (相互的) attempt to reduce confrontation and achieve harmony.
Besides, Western decision-making goes mostly from top management and often does not consult middle management or the worker. However, in Japan great consideration is given to the thoughts and opinions of everyone at all levels. Based on "bottom-up direction", ideas can be created at the lowest levels, travel upward through an organization and have an effect on the final decision.
Difference in decision-making also comes from different communication styles. The Japanese business person works to achieve harmony, even if the deal fails, and will spend whatever time is necessary to determine a "you to you" approach, communicating personal views only indirectly. They put a thorough job above the Western deadline approach. So the Japanese are thorough in their meetings. Thus Americans are often annoyed by the many meetings in many Japanese businesses. But where the American is pressing for a specific decision, the Japanese is trying to think up a rather broad direction.
On the other hand, once a given agreement is made, it is the Japanese who sometimes wonder at the slow pace in which Westerners carry out the decision. The Japanese are eager to move forward and Westerners, perhaps, lag behind as they take the time for in-depth planning.
1. A Japanese business bases its decision .| A．on top-down direction | B．on nothing but its workers' views |
| C．on bottom-up direction | D．only on its top leaders' opinions |
| A．face great difficulty in making decisions |
| B．are different in decision-making styles |
| C．have all members contribute to a decision |
| D．have two approaches:"I to you" and "you to I" |
| A．They carry out the decision once it is made. |
| B．There are many meetings in their businesses. |
| C．They work to achieve harmony in doing business. |
| D．They are good at handling confrontation situation. |
| A．positive | B．critical |
| C．negative | D．casual |
【推荐3】Every Saturday, Wang Fokun travels 40 minutes to watch a movie with friends. Wang, 64, lost his sight in his early 50s after experiencing a high degree of nearsightedness, but in the past two years, a “talking film”club has enabled him to regain his love for the cinema.
The club is held in Kunming, where volunteers give vivid narrations to an audience including blind and partially sighted moviegoers. One volunteer, Yifan, has narrated more than 20 movies, doing so for the first time to an audience of more than 80 in November 2019. He said, “If I cannot complete the introduction to one scene before the characters start talking in the next, the trick is to wait until the end of the dialogue, go back to the previous scene and then explain the new one. This requires a narrator to be familiar with all the plots and scenes in a movie so I watch a film at least three or four times and write down details of the script（剧本）. However, seeing the audience members absorbed in the movie, laughing when something funny happened and sighing during sad scenes, I could sense they were enjoying the film. I was so glad that I could bring enjoyment to my audience by narrating the movie. I felt as though I was shining a different light on their lives. ”
Volunteers for the “talking movie”club learned their narrating skills from Zhou Quan, the founder of Xin Deng Theater. Inspired by Xin Mu Theater in Beijing -a small group of volunteers who were the first to introduce films to blind audiences in China, he founded Xin Deng Theater in Kunming in 2017 and has narrated more than 100 films for thousands of blind moviegoers. “Movies are for everybody. Just because somebody is blind, can’t he/she enjoy a film?” Zhou said. “Xin Deng Theater wants to help such people watch movies and to light up their lives. ”
1. Why is Wang Fokun mentioned?| A．To recommend a club to moviegoers. | B．To warn people to protect their eyes well. |
| C．To introduce the topic of “talking film” club. | D．To show how he became completely blind. |
| A．Depressing but deserving. | B．Demanding and tiring. |
| C．Encouraging and refreshing. | D．Challenging but rewarding. |
| A．Xin Mu Theater in Beijing. | B．His passion for movies. |
| C．Blind audiences in China. | D．His experience as a narrator. |
| A．Volunteers help audiences enjoy theater trips. | B．A “talking film” club brightens people’s lives. |
| C．Volunteers bring joy to blind moviegoers’ lives. | D．Zhou Quan introduces films to blind audiences. |
