【推荐1】Aspirin has long been believed to help prevent heart attacks and strokes(中风).Some studies have shown that it also has a protective effect against certain types of cancer. As a result, some people religiously pop a low-dose(低剂量的) aspirin after breakfast every day (never take one on an empty stomach). But now its status as a wonder drug has come into question, following a meta-analysis of trial evidence.

A meta-analysis reviews the results of a large number of trials and can therefore come to more certain conclusions. This latest review was published this May in The Journal of the American Medical Association.It focused on the connection between aspirin use and cardiovascular(心血管的) and bleeding events. It found that the well-known risk that aspirin can cause internal bleeding is as great as the benefits of preventing heart attacks and strokes. In some cases, the risk even outweighs the benefits.

Aspirin thins the blood, thus helping to prevent blood clots (血栓). For his reason, it is a good drug for protecting people who have already had a heart attack or stroke from having another. However, the 164,225 people in these trials had no history of cardiovascular disease. They were monitored for an average of six years, during which time they took a daily aspirin or placebo(安慰剂).Among those who took aspirin, there were about 11% fewer heart attacks and strokes but 43% higher likelihood of a major bleeding episode in the stomach, brain or intestine(肠道).

Dr Sean Zheng, a cardiology(心脏病学) researcher at King’s College London, said that taking a daily aspirin couldn’t be recommended for healthy people. But there might still be a case for people with a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke, he added. However, it would be important to consider the bleeding risk.

“Aspirin use requires discussion between the patient and their physician, with the knowledge that any small potential cardiovascular benefits are weighed up against the real risk of severe bleeding." he said.

The findings reflect the average likelihood of bleeds or heart attacks among the patients in all the trials. There will be people among them who would be better off taking aspirin and those who will be worse. It's yet another situation where we need to weigh up our individual risk and benefit--- maybe with the help of an understanding GP.

【推荐1】Read the following passage and men answer ne questons.

For a More Creative Brain, Travel

There are plenty of things to be gained from going abroad: new friends, new experiences, new stories. But living in another country may come with a less noticeable benefit, too: Some scientists say it can also make you more creative.

6 Writers and thinkers have long felt the creative benefits of international travel. Ernest Hemingway, for example, drew inspiration for much of his work from his time in Spain and France. Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, moved from the U. K. to the U.S. in his 40s to branch out into screenwriting. Mark Twain, who sailed around the coast of the Mediterranean in 1869, wrote in his travelogue Innocents broad that travel is "fatal to prejudice and narrow-mindedness."

In recent years, psychologists and neuroscientists have begun examining the potential traveling abroad has to affect mental change. In general, creativity is related to how the brain is wired. Neural pathways are influenced by environment and habit, meaning they're also sensitive to change: New sounds,smells, languages, tastes, sensations, and sights spark different synapses(突触)in the brain and may have the potential to refresh the mind.

"Foreign experiences increase cognitive flexibility," says Adam Galinsky, an author of numerous studies on the connection between creativity and international travel. Cognitive flexibility is the mind's ability to jump between different ideas, a key component of creativity. But it's not just about being abroad, Galinsky says: "The key, critical process is multicultural engagement (参与), immersion, and adaptation. Someone who lives abroad and doesn't engage with the local culture will likely get less of a creative boost (促进)than someone who travels abroad and really engages in the local environment.

The researchers also found that the more countries CEOS had lived in, the more creative the products tended to be--but only up to a point. Those who had lived and worked in more than three countries, the study found, still tended to show higher levels of creativity than those who hadn't worked abroad at all. but less creativity than their peers who had worked in a smaller number of foreign countries. The authors assumed that those who had lived in too many countries hadn't been able to properly immerse themselves culturally; they were bouncing around too much. "It gets back to this idea of a deeper level of learning that's necessary for these effects to occur," Galinsky says.

Cultural distance, or how different a foreign culture is from ones own, may also play a role: Surprisingly, Galinsky and his colleagues found that living someplace with a larger cultural distance was often associated with lower creativity than living in a more familiar culture. The reason for that, they hypothesized, was that an especially different culture might come with a bigger intimidation factor, which may discourage people from immersing themselves in it—and no immersion, they explained, could mean none of the cognitive changes associated with living in another country.

Of course, although a new country is an easy way to leave a "social comfort zone," the cultural engagement associated with cognitive change doesn't have to happen abroad. If a plane ticket isn't an option, maybe try taking the subway to a new neighborhood. Sometimes, the research suggests, all that's needed for a creative boost is a fresh cultural scene.

Questions 11 to 15. Judge if the following statements agree with the information given in the passage. Choose A for TRUE if the statements agree with it, choose B for FALSE if the statements don't agree with it, choose C for NOT GIVEN if the information the statements carry is not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

Questions 16 to 19. Match the following words with their meanings in the passage. Note that there are four choices more than you need.

【推荐2】A survey, by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), which manages the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Australia, found in 2015 a total of 54% of 15-year-old students were aiming for a university degree. Around 3% were aiming for a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) diploma. This was down from 2003, when 63% planned to go to university, and 8% planned to do a TAFE diploma.

A decline in students’ expectations of a university degree may not be cause for alarm. Instead, it may reflect expanding opportunities in other qualification areas, such as apprenticeships(学徒) and other forms of occupational education. The decline in those students expecting to do a TAFE diploma may reflect fewer offerings in the TAFE department. What’s alarming is the noticeable difference that remains between different groups of students. In particular, those related to disadvantage such as low socioeconomic background and rurality.

Having different expectations for future education can impact students’ current experiences of education, influence their motivation, behaviour and achievement at school now. For example, students who know they won’t be able to afford to move out of home to go to their chosen university may decide, consciously or not, to not put so much effort into their schoolwork if they can get into a different course at a local TAFE that requires a lower ATAR(大学入学指数). For young people, expectations for further study can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy(预言). Those expecting to leave school early are more likely to do so. Students who expect to attend university are more likely to do so, and so gain access to improved social and labour markets outcomes. These include increased health and life expectancy, higher incomes and greater levels of wellbeing — the ＂health, wealth and happiness＂.

Not only are there differences in their access to and opportunity for further study, the survey highlights the range of their expectations, and what that might represent for their future. Further comparison of the educational expectations of various groups of students show some worrying patterns related to disadvantages.

【推荐3】Going to university is supposed to be a mind-broadening experience. That statement is probably made in comparison to training for work straight after school. But is it actually true? Jessika Golle of the University of Tubingen, in Germany reports in Psychological Science this week that those who have been to university indeed seem to leave with broader and more curious minds than those who have spent their immediate post-school years in vocational (职业的) training for work. However, it was not the case that university broadened minds. Rather, vocational training for work seemed to have narrowed them. The result is not quite what might be expected.

Dr. Golle came to this conclusion after she and a team of colleagues studied the early careers of 2,095 German youngsters. The team used two standardized tests to assess their volunteers’ personality traits (特点) including openness, conscientiousness (认真) and so on, and attitudes such as realistic, investigative and enterprising twice, once towards the end of each volunteer’s time at high school, and then again six years later. Of the original group, 382 had to make a choice between the academic and vocational routes, and it was on these that the researchers focused. University beckoned for 212 of them. The remaining 170 chose vocational training and a job.

When it came to the second round of tests, Dr. Golle found that the personalities of both groups had not changed significantly. As for changes in altitude, again, none were noticeable in the university group. However, those who had chosen the vocational route showed marked drops in interest in tasks that are investigative and enterprising in nature. And that might restrict their choice of careers.

The changes in attitude that the researchers recorded were more worrying. Vocational training has always been what Germany prides itself on. If Dr Golle is correct, and changes in attitude brought about by the very training are narrowing people’s choices that is indeed a matter worthy of serious consideration.