New research suggests tea might help those who drink it live longer than those who do not. Past studies in China and Japan, where green tea is popular, have suggested several health benefits. Now, scientists say black tea may show similar benefits.
Scientists from the United States National Cancer Institute carried out the study. They examined years of data gathered about the tea drinking behavior of almost 500,000 adults in Britain for as many as 14 years. Black tea is the most common kind of tea in Britain.
The study found that high tea intake — two or more cups a day — was linked to a moderate benefit: a 9 to 13 percent lower risk of death from any cause than non-tea drinkers.
The research was published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The scientists say the lowered risk of death held true for study subjects with heart disease. However, researchers said there was no clear finding in connection with deaths from cancer. Researchers were not sure why. “It is possible that there were too few confirmed cancer deaths to measure,” said Maki Inoue-Choi, who led the study.
Tea contains various elements, including polyphenols, which are thought to be responsible for the health benefits that have traditionally been linked to tea, especially green tea. Green tea is reported to improve mental ability, ease digestive problems and head pain, and help people with weight loss. Green tea has also been studied for possible protective effects against heart disease and cancer.
The study of British tea drinkers was based on observing people’s behaviors and health.
This kind of methodology cannot prove cause and effect.
“Observational studies like this always raise the question: Is there something else about tea drinkers that makes them healthier?” said Marion Nestle. She is a professor of food studies at New York University.
“The study does not offer enough evidence to advise people to change their tea behaviors,” said Inoue-Choi.
1. How is the result of the study presented?| A．By analyzing cause and effect. | B．By giving definitions. |
| C．By listing numbers. | D．By presenting examples. |
| A．Fewer and fewer people are dying of cancer. |
| B．Drinking tea has no effect on cancer patients. |
| C．We can’t confirm the leading cause of cancer deaths. |
| D．Drinking tea can lessen the risk of death from heart disease. |
| A．This method has its limitations. | B．This is an easy and effective method. |
| C．They don’t need to be proved. | D．Behaviors and health are closely connected. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Indifferent. |
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【推荐1】Astronauts in space can do many exciting things, but they miss out on ordinary things we all take for granted—hanging out with family and digging into a slice of hot steaming pizza. However, there may soon be a solution to the problem, thanks to this cool 3D pizza printer!
A year ago, NASA offered $ 125,000 to Anjan Contractor, a 3D technology expert, to build a device(设备) that would allow astronauts to make pizza. The engineer promised that his invention would produce pies in large quantities that looked, tasted and smelled like pizza made in ovens.
Late last year, the engineer presented a video of his first prototype(原型) that begins by creating a single slice of dough(面团) that is cooked and printed at the same time. Then comes the tomato “sauce”—a mix of tomato powder, oil and water and finally a protein slice that likes cheese. While the video doesn’t show the baking process, the inventor says that once the pizza is printed, it can be ready to be enjoyed in 7 seconds.
While the pie in the video looks delicious enough to attract any pizza lover, Anjan Contractor is far from ready for astronauts. That’s because he still has to find a solution to make the food container in the printer last for 30 years.
Anjan Contractor believes that the only way that is possible is that the water is removed from all the ingredients(配料) and then they are reduced to the powder form. This will not be so easy. However, while the printer may not be ready for space, it certainly looks ready for people on earth. Hopefully, Contractor will consider selling it to those not fortunate enough to go to Mars!
1. What is the ordinary thing that astronauts miss out on?| A．They can’t sleep well. | B．They don’t have enough food. |
| C．They can’t have hot pizzas. | D．They don’t have personal space. |
| A．What the machine looks like. | B．What the printed pizzas look like. |
| C．How the machine makes pizzas. | D．How the inventor built the machine. |
| A．The pizzas are not delicious. |
| B．The container can’t last long enough. |
| C．The pizzas can’t stay fresh for long. |
| D．The money for his research has been used up. |
| A．3D Pizza Printers Have Been Used to Make Pizza |
| B．NASA Tries Its Best to Help Astronauts Eat Better |
| C．NASA Works on Making Pizza for Common People |
| D．Astronauts May Be Able to Enjoy Hot Pizza in Space |
【推荐2】One of the sweetest and smallest banana varieties, the baby banana is also known as the Finger Banana. Just about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long, when ripe, it has a thick, bright yellow peel and pale, creamy, dense flesh. The baby banana is native to Colombia, where it grows on a tree-size plant in bunches of“hands”that may each contain 10 to 12 “fingers” or bananas. The bananas are harvested and shipped while still green.
Because of its small size and sweetness, this little banana is loved by children. As a wholesome (有益健康的) source of complex carbohydrates (碳水化合物), it is a perfect addition to lunchboxes, providing a good energy boost for active kids. Like all bananas, it is loaded with nutrients. It is an excellent source of heart-healthy vitamin B6. In addition, the banana provides a good source of vitamin C, fiber and potassium, which have many health benefits.
In addition to being eaten as it is, the baby banana can be baked, sauteed, broiled, or even grilled, and it is a wonderful addition to fruit salads. For a healthy treat that children, especially, will love, peel one and push a wooden stick into one end. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and freeze it until solid. Serve it frozen.
As with all bananas, the baby banana should be purchased while still relatively green. Be sure to select ones with smooth, clean skins. Store them at room temperature. Refrigerating bananas will delay the ripening process. If bananas are ripening too quickly for use, place them in the refrigerator. The skins will turn brown, but the flavor of the fruit will not be affected. To store for longer use, the bananas may be mashed with a little lemon juice and stored in resealable plastic bags in the freezer for up to two months.
1. From which continent does the baby banana originate?| A．South America. | B．Europe. | C．Asia. | D．Africa. |
| A．Its size. | B．Its function. | C．Its shape. | D．Its fingers. |
| A．To tell readers they can bring energy to kids. |
| B．To prove they are the children's favorite fruit. |
| C．To show readers another good way of eating them. |
| D．To indicate that the baby bananas will have more nutrients when frozen. |
| A．Their flavor stays the same. |
| B．They can ripen as soon as possible. |
| C．Their color can be changed into brown. |
| D．Their process of ripening can be slowed down. |
【推荐3】Learning to Love Locally-Grown Foods
Cooking shows on TV are usually all about foreign foods. Thanks to globalization, people everywhere are introducing their taste buds to dishes from every corner of the world.
For starters, local food is often tastier because it is fresher. Imported goods must be flown or shipped in from far away, so they naturally lose some of their freshness during the journey.
Buying local foods can also have a beneficial impact on the environment. Buying local, consumers can maintain green space and farmland in their communities. Besides, if farmers can sell directly to consumers, they will earn more money for their families. Additional profits also enable farmers to better care for their soil and keep quality standards high.
| A．In the end, it's a win-win situation for both parties. |
| B．However, some disagree with the idea of importing foreign foods. |
| C．To conclude, the farmers can make money and improve their life. |
| D．This makes it difficult to detect if any harmful chemicals have been used. |
| E．At the same time, other people are discovering that food from their area is the best. |
| F．If you're interested in having more local foods, you can even attend a farmers' market. |
| G．Imported goods must also be packaged in plastic or other containers to survive the journey. |
【推荐1】You’re primarily left-handed if you use your left hand for most activities — even if you tend to write with your right hand. Historically, there used to be a social prejudice against lefties (左撇子) .
It’s estimated that 8 to 15 percent of the adult population is left-handed. Of course, we now know that handedness is determined by genetics and random chance. What we’re just learning, however, is far more interesting.
Lefties may be quicker thinkers. According to an Australian study published in 2006, left-handed people tend to have faster connections between the right and left sides of the brain.
Emotions seem to be arranged differently depending on handedness.
| A．Lefties have the upper hand in some sports. |
| B．Lefties experience the world in a different way. |
| C．In fact, there’s nothing special about the left-handed. |
| D．So they can use both sides of their brain more easily. |
| E．Lefties are more likely to have certain health problems. |
| F．Even schools once tried to break left-handed students of their “bad habit” . |
| G．For lefties, feelings is more likely to come from the right side of the brain. |
【推荐2】It is a question that has long puzzled scientists—exactly why are tigers orange? One might think it makes them more obvious-particularly against a leafy green forest background. William Blake summed it up in his famous poem known by generations of schoolchildren: “Tyger, tyger, burning bright / In the forest of the night.” But now the answer is at hand.
While obvious to us, computer simulations (模拟) of what the big cats look to the main animals they hunt for, deer, show a different picture. Humans with normal colour vision, can see red, blue and green colours. But deer can only pick up blue and green light, they are effectively colourblind to the colour red, like some humans. It means the tigers’ orange colouration looks green to them, allowing them to mix perfectly into the background, new research claims.
Dr John Fennell at the University of Bristol and colleagues said that they used computers to estimate how noticeable a given animal was. They did this by using images of the environment in which the animal lives, and then creating images to see whether the camouflage helps the animal to mix in.
Dr Fennell writes that by simulating what the world looks like to animals who are “two-colour vision”—someone who cannot discover the difference between red and green—“we also identify the most suitable colours for hiding and visibility”.
Dr Fennell writes in the Royal Society Journal Inter face: “Considering the coat of a tiger, it has fur that appears orange to a three-colour vision observer rather than some shade of green, though the latter should be more appropriate color for an attack hunter in forests. However, when viewed as a two-colour vision observer, the tiger’s colour is very effective.”
The question then arises as to why tigers don’t grow green coats. Dr Fennell and colleagues write that mammals (哺乳动物) are not able to produce green fur. To do so would “require a significant change to mammalian biochemistry”. There is only one mammal known to have green fur but this is achieved through what might be considered as, well, cheating, not exactly real.
1. Why does the author mention the poem in paragraph 1?| A．To arouse reader s interest in poems. |
| B．To show the authors respect to the poet. |
| C．To answer the question of the color of the tiger |
| D．To stress the noticeable color of the tiger to us. |
| A．Black. | B．Red. |
| C．Blue. | D．Green. |
| A．The cover of something. |
| B．The images of something. |
| C．The way of hiding something. |
| D．The way of hunting for something. |
| A．The colour of tigers sometimes cheats people. |
| B．Getting green may prevent tigers from being extinct. |
| C．There are no mammals with real green fur in the world. |
| D．The tigers’ fur will probably evolve into green in the future. |
【推荐3】Climate change is causing more areas to turn into deserts. This issue is affecting the lives of 250 million people as land that used to be good for farming becomes dry and unproductive. Around one-third of the world’s land is impacted, including regions in Africa, southern Europe, Asia and America.
Sand to Green is a Moroccan company that can transform a patch of desert into a sustainable (可持续的) and profitable plantation in five years, according to Wissal Ben Moussa, its co-founder and chief agricultural officer. The solution is using agroforestry (农林业)to create a new kind of agriculture that is sustainable and that can be resilient (有适应力的) in front of climate change.
The system can be set up close to any source of salty water, which Sand to Green cleans using energy from the sun. It then grows different types of fruit trees and plants together in the same area—a method called mixed planting—and waters the plants’ roots directly with the cleaned water, to reduce water loss to the air. The soil is regenerated using what Sand to Green calls “green manure”, a mixture that includes compost, biochar(生物炭)and microorganisms that help the soil “wake up”. Biochar is a form of charcoal that can help dry soil hold on to water.
In a five-hectare trial in southern Morocco that’s been running since 2017, Sand to Green has tried out a variety of plants in search of the best performers. Among the intercropping herbs (草本植物) that have been successfully trialed are rosemary, geranium, vetiver and citronella, which Ben Moussa describes as “very low-maintenance and very high-profit”.
Sand to Green is now working to scale up to a 20-hectare commercial site, also in southern Morocco. It says a site of that size would cost around $475,000 to set up and would start bringing financial returns in about five years.
According to Ben Moussa, with this system they create biodiversity, which means better soil, healthier crops and a bigger yield. The plantation can generate 1.5 times more yield, thus making more money than a farm that grows only one type of crop in the same space.
1. What phenomenon does the author describe in paragraph 1?| A．Deforestation. | B．Desertification. |
| C．Global warming. | D．Urbanization. |
| A．To preserve the crop’s survival rate. |
| B．To protect water from pollution. |
| C．To make a new type of soil. |
| D．To help people adapt to climate change. |
| A．It aims to plant more trees. |
| B．It earns a good reputation. |
| C．It develops new plants. |
| D．It produces good results. |
| A．Expand. | B．Object. | C．Refer. | D．Prefer. |
Sport is not only physically challenging, but can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create too much anxiety or stress for young athletes. Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological and research has indicated that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.
The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents and coaches’ criticisms to heart and find faults in themselves.
Coaches and parents should also pay attention that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today’s youth sport setting young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find faults with youngsters’ performances. Positive support should be provided regardless of the outcome. Research indicates that positive support motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.
1. An effective way to prevent the burnout of young athletes is_____________.
| A．to make sport less competitive |
| B．to increase their sense of success |
| C．to reduce their mental stress |
| D．to make sport more challenging |
| A．it can help them learn more about society |
| B．it enables them to find faults in themselves |
| C．it can provide them with valuable experiences |
| D．it teaches them how to set realistic goals for themselves |
| A．believing that criticism does good to their early development |
| B．without realizing criticism may destroy their selfconfidence |
| C．in order to make them remember life’s lessons |
| D．so as to put more pressure on them |
| A．pay more attention to letting children enjoy sport |
| B．help children to win every game |
| C．train children to cope with stress |
| D．enable children to understand the positive aspect of sport |
【推荐2】“I like pop songs better before I actually got a chance to sing hua’er at the age of 19,” said Sa Lina, 36, who has since become a famous singer, devoting herself to this traditional art form for almost two decades.
Hua’er, which means flower in Chinese, is a Chinese folk song style. It is popular and shared by people of nine ethnic groups in Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang for hundreds of years. Also known as a type of “mountain songs”, it was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
After graduating in 2005, Sa returned to her hometown in Ningxia, and soon got a chance to sing with Ma Handong, a famous singer of hua’er. “I had never sung hua’er before, so I practiced a lot.To my surprise, I soon fell in love with its beautiful melodies,” said Sa.
Since then, Sa has devoted herself to mastering the folk art, and further bringing this traditional local folk art to the national stage. In 2010, she sang a hua’er song at a gala on Chinese New Year’s Eve, winning nationwide attention. At the age of 27, she was named an inheritor of hua’er, becoming the youngest inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage at the time.
“Art should not only be inherited, but also improved. I don’t only want to be a hua’er singer, but also a promoter of this folk music,” she said. In 2014 Sa set up an art school, which offers hua’er training courses free of charge. She also regularly gives singing lectures in public schools and communities, benefiting tens of thousands of people.
1. What can we learn about Hua’er from the text?| A．It is a kind of flower. | B．It is a local folk art. |
| C．It is popular worldwide. | D．It is a new art form. |
| A．Included. | B．Studied. | C．Awarded. | D．Spread. |
| A．Sa’s identity about Hua’er. | B．Sa’s performance at a gala. |
| C．Sa’s skills in singing Hua’er. | D．Sa’s achievements about Hua’er. |
| A．To offer courses free of charge. | B．To help people live more happily. |
| C．To inherit and promote the folk art. | D．To open more social media accounts. |
【推荐3】About 4 million children worldwide develop asthma(哮喘) each year because of nitrogen dioxide(NO2 , 二氧化氮) air pollution, according to a study published by researchers at the George Washington University. The study estimates(估算) that 64 percent of these new cases of asthma occur in urban areas.
“The study is the first to quantify the worldwide burden of new pediatric(儿科的) asthma cases linked to traffic-related nitrogen dioxide by using a method that takes into account high exposure to this pollutant that occurs near busy roads, ” said Susan C. Anenberg, PhD, the senior author of the study.
“Our findings suggest that millions of new cases of pediatric asthma could be prevented in cities around the world by reducing air pollution,” said Anenberg. “Improving access to cleaner forms of transportation, like electrified public transport, cycling and walking, would not only bring down NO2 levels, but would also improve physical fitness, and cut greenhouse gas emissions(排放). ”
Asthma is a disease that makes it hard to breathe when the lung’s airways are swollen. An estimated 235 million people worldwide at present have asthma, which can cause life-threatening attacks.
The World Health Organization calls air pollution “a major environmental risk to health” and has offered Air Quality Guidelines for NO2 and other air pollutants. The researchers estimate that most children lived in areas below the NO2, guideline. They also found that about 92 percent of the new pediatric asthma cases that were caused by NO2 occurred in areas that already meet the WHO guideline.
“That finding suggests that the WHO guideline for NO2 may need to be re-evaluated to make sure it is conducive to the protection of children’s health,” said Pattanun Achakulwisut, PhD, lead author of the paper.
Additional research must be done to more persuasively identify what is leading to asthma within complex traffic emissions. This effort will help to improve the estimates of new asthma cases tied to traffic emissions.
1. What can we learn from Susan C. Anenberg?| A．Old forms of getting around need to be replaced. |
| B．Few cases of pediatric asthma occur in urban areas. |
| C．Pediatric asthma increases because of unclean energy. |
| D．Greener transportation helps to reduce asthma cases. |
| A．It proved persuasive. | B．It seemed unreasonable. |
| C．It would be abandoned. | D．It turned out instructive. |
| A．Beneficial. | B．Open. |
| C．Equal. | D．Familiar. |
| A．Asthma has put children’s life in unavoidable danger. |
| B．WHO should improve Air Quality Guidelines for NO2. |
| C．NO2 air pollution causes children to suffer from asthma. |
| D．Air pollution is a serious worldwide problem nowadays. |
