【推荐1】It has been known for a long time that obesity tends to run in families, but it was not until about 20 years ago that scientists started to discover that changes in specific genes can have very large impacts on our weight even from early childhood.

One of these genes MC4R makes a protein that is produced in the brain where it sends signals to our appetite centers, telling them how much fat we have stored. When the MC4R gene does not work properly, our brains think we have lower fat stores than we do, signaling that we are starving and need to eat.

A new study, led by scientists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol, has found that around one in every 340 people may carry a disruptive mutation (变异) at MC4R. People who carry these mutations were more likely to have a greater weight from early childhood and, by 18 years of age, they were on average 17 kg heavier, with the majority of this excess weight likely to be fat.

These results were found by studying the MC4R gene in a random sample of around 6, 000 participants born in Bristol. Whenever a mutation was found, the researchers went on to study its frequency and effects in the laboratory.

Based on the frequency of mutations in this study, it was estimated that around 200, 000 people in the UK carry a substantial amount of unexpected fat because of mutations in MC4R.

Professor Stephen O’Rahilly, one of the researchers, said, “Parents of obese children are often blamed for poor parenting and not all children obtain appropriate professional help. Our findings should encourage a more sympathetic and reasonable approach to overweight children and their families—including genetic analysis in all seriously obese children.”

Though the MC4R gene is a striking example, this is only one gene of many that affect our weight. “In the longer term, knowledge of the brain pathways controlled by MC4R should help in the design of drugs that help restore people to a healthy weight,” Stephen added.

1. What can we know about MC4R gene?

A．MC4R gene affects people’s appetite negatively.

B．The mutation of MC4R gene stimulates people’s desire to eat.

C．MC4R is the only gene that contributes to people’s overweight problem.

D．Scientists discovered MC4R could influence people’s weight recently.

2. What does the underlined word “excess” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．proper.

B．essential.

C．considerable.

D．additional.

3. What can we infer from Professor Stephen’s words?

A．Parents should be to blame for poor parenting.

B．The obesity problem should be treated fairly and scientifically.

C．New drugs can help overweight children lose much fat in the long run.

D．Knowledge of MC4R should be applied to helping obese children physically and mentally.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Suggestions on how to maintain a standard weight.

B．A discussion of British people’s overweight problems.

C．A study about the effect of MC4R’s mutation on weight.

D．The relationship between people’s appetite and MC4R’s mutation.

【推荐2】Facebook users may feel socially successful in cyberspace (虚拟空间) but they are more likely to perform poorly in exams, according to a new research into the academic impact of the social networking website.

About 83% of British 16 to 24­-year-­olds are thought to use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo (视频博客), to keep in touch with friends and organize their social lives.

“Our study shows people who spend more time on Facebook spend less time studying,” said Aryn Karpinski, a researcher in the education department at Ohio State University. “Every generation has its distractions, but I think Facebook is a unique phenomenon.”

Karpinski and a colleague questioned 219 US undergraduates and graduates about their study practices and general Internet use, as well as their specific use of Facebook.

They found that 65% of Facebook users accessed their account daily (刷新个人主页), usually checking it several times to see if they had received new messages. The amount of time spent on Facebook at each log­in varied from just a few minutes to more than an hour.

The Ohio report shows that students who used Facebook had a “significantly” lower grade point average — the marking system used in US universities — than those who did not use the site.

“It is the equivalent of the difference between getting an A and a B,” said Karpinski, who will present her findings this week to the annual meeting of the   American Educational Research Association.

Some UK students have already spotted the potential danger. Daisy Jones, 21, an undergraduate in her final year at Loughborough University, realized the time she was spending on Facebook was threatening her grades — prompting her to deactivate (注销) her account.

Jones is among the few to have recognized the risks.According to Karpinski’s research, 79% of Facebook­using students believed the time they spent on the site had no impact on their work.

Facebook said, “There is also academic research that shows the benefits of services like Facebook. It’s in the hands of students, in consultation with their parents, to decide how to spend their time.”

1. According to the passage we know that most present students like to get in touch with their friends by ________.

A．sending short messages	B．chatting online
C．Facebook site	D．sending emails

2. The study shows that compared to ones who avoid websites, the school results of the students who use social networking sites are ________.

A．the equivalent of the difference between getting an A and a B

B．not less grades in all studies

C．more ambitious to succeed in their studies

D．just the same

3. Researchers’ survey aimed at students on the following EXCEPT ________.

A．their study practices

B．their general Internet use

C．their specific use of Facebook

D．their habits of living

4. In your opinion, this research result will appear as ________.

A．news	B．text
C．report	D．essay

【推荐3】People who are slightly overweight or mildly obese(肥胖的) have a lower risk of early death than normal weight individuals(个人;个体), according to a new analysis of nearly 100 international studies.
The studies, most conducted within the past decade, included about three million adults from around the world. The result of these studies by researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics in Maryland, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that slightly overweight or obese people were six percent less likely to die from all causes compared to people of normal weight. But the researchers found that seriously obese individuals were still at a 30 percent greater risk of death compared to healthy-weight individuals.
Study lead author Katherine Flegal says she was not surprised that overweight people would not have a higher death risk. “Because we'd actually already read a lot of this literature and realized that death rates for overweight would be at least not higher than normal[weight," she said. “I guess l was a little bit surprised that it was definitely lower. And l was also surprised that the lower rates of obesity didn't seem to differ from normal weight."
But Flegal stresses the difference in death rates appear to be small between normal-weight people and overweight and mildly obese individuals.
The finding by Flegal and colleagues have raised new questions about the reliability(可靠性)of the so-called "body mass index" or BMI, a measurement of body fat as a ratio(比例，比率)of height to weight, that has become popular in recent years among public health experts to measure potential health risks.
But Heymsfield warns that individuals should not conclude that it's okay to put on extra kilograms, since being at a healthy weight lowers the risk for heart disease and diabetes.
1. Katherine Flegal feels surprised at the fact that____.

A．obese people have higher death rates

B．slightly obese people have lower death rates

C．obese people tend to die early

D．death rates have nothing to do with body weight

2. What do we learn from the fifth paragraph?

A．BMI may not be so reliable.

B．The study provides further evidence for BMI.

C．BMI tells nothing about potential health risks.

D．BMI has been much questioned recently.

3. What can we conclude from the passage'?

A．It's OK to put on extra weight.

B．It doesn't matter if you are slightly obese.

C．Obese people are much healthier.

D．Body weight has nothing to do with death rates.

4. What topic does the passage mainly deal with?

A．Technology.

B．Dieting.

C．Health.

D．Death.

【推荐1】Most parents in Britain log onto social networking sites like Facebook to spy on what their children are doing, a study has found. Figures showed that nearly 55% of parents thought of snooping_around on their children’s profiles (基本信息) to see what they are up to. They did it to avoid having “awkward conversations” with the children but nearly a quarter admitted it was the only way they could find out about their lives.

Websites like Facebook and MySpace along with microblogging site Twitter have become popular among teenagers and children. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that last year among 16 to 24­year­olds,75% posted messages on them. The majority of 13 to 16­year­olds have more than 100 “friends” on Facebook while more than 750,000 are using the website below the age limit, which is 13.

Experts and parents however have expressed anxiety about how they can monitor what the young are up to when they go online. Almost one in 20 mothers and fathers even log on with a friend’s account to avoid detection and gain better access to their children’s profiles.

While 55% said they did spy on their children, 40% said they did not, but the remaining 5% said they would do if they knew how.

Some 41% monitor their children’s status updates and 39% look at their “wall”， which is where they and friends can write things. Just under one third, 29%, looked at pictures their children had uploaded (上传)．

When asked why they behaved like they did, 6% of parents blamed their “overprotective” instincts (本能) and 14% admitted they were just being curious.

1. What do the underlined words “snooping around” probably mean?

A．Posting messages freely.

B．Investigating secretly.

C．Moving around casually.

D．Communicating easily.

2. According to the passage, what makes experts and parents worried?

A．What children write in their profiles.

B．Whom the children would make friends with.

C．Why teenagers like posting messages online.

D．How they can monitor children’s online behavior.

3. According to the study, ________.

A．more than one third parents monitor their children’s status updates

B．uploading pictures is bringing children great danger

C．most parents are against making net friends

D．few parents know what “wall” is

4. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A．Experts and parents want to know what the young do online.

B．People younger than 13 are not allowed to use Facebook in Britain.

C．Under one third of parents looked at pictures their children had uploaded.

D．About 25% of parents have many ways to find out about their children’s lives.

【推荐2】Online shopping has become more and more popular these years. Women have jumped ahead of men for the first time in using the Internet to do their holiday shopping, according to a study published last week in the US.

For years men have been more likely to shop on the Internet than women, but during the 2013 holiday season 58 percent of those shopping online were women.

“It shows how popular the Internet is becoming,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project group, which carried out the study. Rainie said it was only a matter of time before women shoppers caught up with men. This is because women traditionally make decisions about spending.

Users were more likely to shop online to save time. Internet users between the ages 18 and 29 were responsible for some of the surprising increase in the online gift-buying population this time around.

However, three-quarters of the US Internet users did not buy holiday gifts online in 2013. They worried about credit card security(信用卡安全), or just compared online prices with off-line prices, then dashed off to the shops to get the best deals.

“But even if shoppers don’t buy online, websites are becoming promotion(促销) tools for stores,” said Dan Hess’ vice president of Com Score Network Inc. Hess said that actually most stores, websites can make customers fully believe the security of their credit card numbers. And most are able to ensure that gifts arrive on time.

“It’s all about making the shopping experience more efficient(效率高的), more reliable and more comfortable.” Hess said.

1. Which of the following statements is true?

A．There were fewer women online shoppers than men in 2013

B．More women shopped online than men in 2013

C．Most of the Internet users between the ages 18 and 29 were women

D．People in the US were more likely to buy gifts online

2. What does the underlined part “dashed off” probably mean?

A．关闭	B．推迟
C．匆忙	D．起飞

3. According to Dan Hess, shopping online is     .

A．unsafe	B．convenient
C．a waste of money	D．cheaper

【推荐3】Alibaba opened China’s version of Amazon’s cashier-less store, “Tao Cafe” at its second annual Taobao Maker Festival taking place from 8—12 July, and then showed it to the public. By scanning a QR code（二维码）on Taobao app at the entrance of the store« consumers are tracked with cameras for facial recognition. After going through the checkout doors, customers will automatically make a purchase through their smartphones without needing to head to a register and be able to leave the store with what they buy in hand.

The company, putting its efforts in Artificial Intelligence and data technologies, caused some ripples（波动）among offline retailers （零售商）. But if you think the e-commerce giant plans to get a slice of the physical-store pie, then you might get it wrong: “It’s not about Alibaba wanting to open more cafes, we are not in the restaurant business.” it’s about digitalizing the footprints of the visitors to an offline store, ‘‘ said Chris Tung, chief marketing officer of Alibaba Group.

He said, for example, in the online world, Alibaba can always personalize every web page based on users interest and preference thanks to big data, “When you open our app, every moment is different.” But on the other hand, “offline is becoming not so exciting anymore”, because many physical stores are always found to be very similar with no variation.

Tung said offline retailers could improve by adopting online data competence to link the identity of the customers» and optimize（优化）their in-store shopping experience. So in this sense, after physical stores have an understanding of what their customers need online, then they can allocate the products in the physical offline store accordingly. He further explained the pop-up Tao Cafe is one of the ways to present this “new retail” idea and opens up people’s thinking and calls for more partnership.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．The buying process in Tao Cafe.

B．The payment method of Tao Cafe.

C．The meaning of the Taobao Maker Festival.

D．The advantage of the Taobao Maker Festival.

2. Offline retailers worries that Alibaba will        .

A．control the market of production

B．collect consumers’s data in shopping

C．compete to gain physical stores’ shares

D．develop its technology of Artificial Intelligence

3. What is probably Tung’s opinion on cashier-less stores?

A．They appear to be less exciting.

B．They are to replace the offline stores.

C．They help to inspire the upgrades of retail.

D．They arrange their products in a random way.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Cashier-less payment competes with physical stores.

B．The application has become an instant hit.

C．Alibaba celebrates Taobao Maker Festival.

D．Tao Cafe is to revolutionize the offline retail.

【推荐2】Artemis is NASA’s new lunar exploration program. Through the Artemis program, NASA will use new technology to study the Moon in new and better ways, and prepare for human missions to Mars.

NASA’s new rocket will carry the Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit. Then, astronauts will dock (对接) Orion at a small spaceship called the Gateway, from which the crew will take trips to the lunar surface in a new human landing system, and then return to the Gateway. The crew will return to the Earth aboard Orion.

NASA will test the rocket and spacecraft in flight, then send a crew for a test flight:

Artemis 1 will be a test flight of the SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft with no crew.

Artemis 2 will fly SLS and Orion with a crew past the Moon, then circle it and return to the Earth. This trip will be the farthest any human has gone into space.

Artemis 3 will send a crew with the first woman and the next man to land on the Moon by 2024. The Artemis 3 crew will visit the Moon’s South Pole. No one has ever been there.

At the Moon, astronauts will:

Search for the Moon’s water and use it.

Learn how to live and work on the surface of another celestial body (天体) where astronauts are just three days from home.

Test the technologies we need before sending astronauts on missions to Mars, which can take up-to three years round trip.

The Moon is a good place to learn new science. NASA will learn more about the Moon, the Earth and even the Sun. The Moon is a “test bed” for Mars. The Moon is a place to show that astronauts will one day be able to work away from the Earth on Mars for long periods of time.

1. What is the aim of the Artemis program?

A．To help astronauts return to the Earth.	B．To be ready for the landing on Mars.
C．To study the Mars using new science.	D．To test the Moon landing spacecraft, Orion.

2. Which will be the achievement of the Artemis series?

A．Going to the Moon’s South Pole.	B．Making the farthest trip into space.
C．Sending the first man to the Moon.	D．Flying to the Moon with three persons.

3. What will Artemis astronauts do on the Moon?

A．Send astronauts to Mars.	B．Run a three-year-long test.
C．Find and make use of water.	D．Learn to live not far from home.

4. What can we conclude from the text?

A．It is possible to live on another planet now.

B．The crew will reach the lunar surface from the Orion.

C．NASA has sent the first woman astronaut to the Moon.

D．The Artemis program is of great help to Mars exploring.

【推荐3】On my fourth day in a self-driving car, I finally felt comfortable enough to let it stop itself. Before then, I'd allowed the car-a Volvo S90 sedan-to control the direction, with my hands still on the wheel, and to adjust speed in traffic. By Day 4, I was ready to make a jump into the future.

With the car traveling on a busy road, I activated the driverless mode. Soon, a traffic light turned red. For a split second, I prepared to get on the brakes. There was no need. The cameras and computers in the Volvo recognized the traffic conditions and smoothly began applying the brake.

If you're anything like most people, you're familiar with this anxiety. Almost 80 percent of Americans fear traveling in a self-driving car, a recent survey found.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have conducted some clever experiments studying the phenomenon. They asked participants to complete tasks and compare their performance with a computer system's. After the computer made a mistake, people were unwilling to use it again. After the people made mistakes, their self-confidence wouldn't change. It didn't matter that the human beings made more mistakes than the computer. So it is with driving. More than 37,000 Americans died in crashes last year, most from human error. The death count from cars goes beyond that from guns. So if you are shocked and angry by guns and want things to change, you should feel the same about car crashes.

Technology creates an opportunity to save lives. Computers don't get drunk or distracted by text messages, and they don't have blind spots. Just look at commercial airlines: Automation has helped all but get rid of deadly crashes among American air carriers. The last one happened in 2009.

The technology for self-driving cars still isn't good enough. But it is improving rapidly. Within a few years, many cars will have advanced crash-avoidance systems and driving will be revolutionized sooner than many people now understand.

1. How does the author introduce the topic?

A．By offering a piece of news.	B．By giving background information.
C．By describing an experience.	D．By introducing a latest car.

2. What can be learnt about the participants of the experiments?

A．They tended to accept the computer's faults.

B．They seemed to care little about their own mistakes.

C．They felt less confident after making mistakes.

D．They performed better than computer systems.

3. The author mentioned commercial airlines___________.

A．to prove the advantage of technology	B．to assess the security of driverless cars
C．to find fault with computers	D．to advertise for the commercial airlines

4. What does the author expect of the self-driving car?

A．I'll avoid deadly crashes entirely.	B．It'll occupy the market in a short time.
C．It'll be bettered in every possible way.	D．It'll be popularized sooner than expected.

【推荐1】This Tiny Box Will Help You Relax In Terrible Summer Heat!

Traditional Air Conditioners (AC) are outdated. They cost a lot to install and even more to run. They are huge, noisy, and dangerous to clean. You can’t move them around the house with you or take them outside! Thousands of people are now using a much cheaper alternative to cool themselves in the heat and clean their personal air. With over million units sold worldwide, this device is becoming one of the most successful gadgets of 2019. EVERYONE wants this awesome looking box for summer!

What Are We Talking About?

Meet the new AirFreez, an innovative alternative to AC that cools you just the same! It’s a perfect solution for those very hot days and nights! The AirFreez was designed by two Swiss engineers who were fed up suffering the hot summers. They realized that AC units are super inefficient and cost a lot of money to use. The engineers also discovered that none of the traditional AC units were made to travel with.

So, they designed this light-weight, portable Air Cooling box. It uses a very small amount of electricity and all without sacrificing any of the main benefits of a top AC model! It’s tiny, easy to use and it can cool you in seconds!

What Is So Special About This Little Box?

The main benefits of AirFreez are its portability and price.

It is no larger than a lunchbox. Besides, it can be powered by a pocket solar panel or battery pack and you probably have the world’s most portable AC unit.

And There Is One More Thing. The price is just amazing. Most AC units cost at least $300 AND you have to pay for installation PLUS cover the expensive electricity bills each month.

AirFreez costs less than $100 (Actually $53 for each if you buy more than one here). No messy installation, no expensive electricity bills. For a Cooling unit of this quality, this must be the single best price-quality AC unit there is!

How Can You Get An AirFreez?

Now that you are aware of this amazing new invention, here is how to get one-order it from the Official Website for BEST PRICE.

1. Which of the following words can best describe AirFreez?

A．Smart but heavy.	B．Costly but multi-functional.
C．Foldable and lasting.	D．Handy and energy-saving.

2. What can we learn about AirFreez?

A．It costs less than $53.

B．It requires no complex installation.

C．It doesn’t consume electricity.

D．It is a little larger than a lunch box.

3. What is the purpose of this passage?

A．To advertise Airfreez

B．To explain the functions of AirFreez.

C．To introduce the inventors of AirFreez.

D．To compare AirFreez with traditional AC.