Food blogs, celebrities, and nutritionists all advocate the benefits of eating organic (有机的) fruits and vegetables. But a new study published in Science Advances paints a more complex picture. While organic produce is likely slightly healthier to eat and, in some ways, more sustainable to grow, there are also downsides.
Organic fruits and vegetables typically cost more than conventional ones. To get a certificate as organic, farmers must meet specific criteria, including growing produce without the use of genetic engineering and chemical inputs. Without these methods, the growing process typically requires more labor, time, and money, a cost that is passed down to consumers.
It’s true that in many ways, organic is more sustainable than conventional farming. But when it comes to environmental concerns such as greenhouse gas output and water loss, the comparison gets complex. Organic farms produce less greenhouse gas output per acre. However, because they are barred from using genetic engineering, pesticides (杀虫剂), and other methods that increase efficiency (效率), organic farms also produce an estimated 19% to 25% less yield than conventional farms. While there isn’t a whole lot research on the topic, the few studies that do exist suggest green gas output and water loss might actually be higher on organic farms, on a per unit basis, says study author Verena Seurfert.
In addition, while organic produce is likely more nutritious than conventional fruit and vegetables, there’s not a lot of evidence to support the claim that these often slight differences influence consumer health. The same is true for pesticide remainder. In developed countries, where pesticide use is tightly regulated, there’s no scientific consensus on how these often slight differences influence human health.
Still, Seurfert stresses that if you can afford to eat organic, you should do so. Organic farms provide safer work environments for workers, plus they support great biodiversity. The real takeaway from her study is not that organic is bad but that the practice needs more studies to increase yield without lowering sustainability.
But if you can’t afford to buy organic produce, don’t stress too much, particularly from a nutritional perspective.
1. What does the underlined word “downsides” in Paragraph 1 most probably mean?| A．Dangers. | B．Drawbacks. | C．Benefits. | D．Differences. |
| A．The yield. | B．The price. | C．The water loss. | D．The labor. |
| A．Farmers, work environment should be improved. |
| B．Organic produce should be made more efficiently. |
| C．It isn’t wise for consumers to buy organic products. |
| D．Pesticide remainder does no harm to people’s health. |
| A．It’s environmentally friendly. | B．It’s more nutritious. |
| C．It helps keep the variety of plants. | D．It’s safer for consumers. |
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【推荐1】No matter how many steps you take each day, your health benefits add up. But those who take 7,000 steps a day may be adding years to their lives.
New research found that middle-aged adults who took that many steps daily were up to 70 percent less likely to die at a younger-than-expected age than were those whose movement total fewer than 7,000 steps a day. The study, which involved 2,110 middle-aged adults who wore a step-counting device and then were tracked for nearly 11 years, was published in the journa JAMA Network Open. How fast participants walked (referred to as their step intensity) did not affect their mortality risk. Rather, those who walked more lived longer. The researchers found, however, that taking more than 10,000 steps a day — the number often cited as a daily goal of health — produced no further drop in mortality risk.
Physical activity like walking is considered one of the most important things people can do to improve their well-being, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A former CDC director described physical activity as the closest thing we have to a wonder drug. Among its benefits, walking can reduce risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and depression and it can help control weight and improve sleep. It is considered good for your bones, muscles heart and brain. Although walking is considered safe for most people, those who have any concerns should check with their doctor before launching any new physical activity routine. For adults generally, national guidelines focus on time spent on an activity rather than number of steps, recommending 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity, such as walking.
1. From which column of a newspaper can we probably see the passage?| A．Style | B．Opinion |
| C．Sports | D．Health and Science |
| A．What health benefits they got. |
| B．Whether physical activities worked for them. |
| C．How long they could live. |
| D．Their chance to suffer from health problems. |
| A．The research spanned through the whole life of2,110 middle-aged adults. |
| B．Walking speed matters as much as how many steps one has taken. |
| C．Walking more than 10.000 steps a day brings similar health benefits as 7,000. |
| D．National guidelines offer the adults the recommendation on number of steps. |
| A．How to Extend Your Lifespan |
| B．7000 Steps Lengthens Your Life |
| C．The Benefits of Physical Activities |
| D．Walking and its Restrictions |
【推荐2】A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading. It's great first for what it contains：the range of news from local crime to international politics, from sports to business，from fashion to science, and the range of comment and special feature(特写) as well，from editorial page to feature articles and interviews to criticism of books, art theatre and music.
A newspaper is even greater for the way one reads it：never completely, never straight through，but always by jumping from here to there, in and out, glancing at one piece，reading another article all the way through, reading just a few paragraphs of the text.
A good modern newspaper offers a variety(多样性) to attract many different readers, but far more than the reader is interested in. What brings this variety together in one place is its topicality(时事性), its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it also mean that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than transient(短暂的) value.
For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper：what each person does is to put together, out of the pages of that day's paper, his own selection and order, his own newspaper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently, which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need and without wasting time，demands skill and self-awareness as you change and apply the techniques of reading.
1. A modern newspaper is great for all the following EXCEPT its________.| A．wide variety | B．similar style |
| C．speed in reporting news | D．popularity |
| A．people look through the news they are interested in |
| B．different people prefer different newspapers |
| C．people are rarely interested in the same kind of news |
| D．people have different views about what a good newspaper is |
| A．apply reading techniques skillfully | B．jump from one newspaper to another |
| C．appreciate the variety of a newspaper | D．usually read a newspaper selectively |
| A．How to read newspaper? | B．Where to find a good newspaper? |
| C．What is a good newspaper? | D．Newspaper. |
| A．advertise | B．introduce |
| C．argue | D．compare |
【推荐3】Archaeologists used DNA taken from a broken clay pipe stem found in Maryland to build a picture of an enslaved woman who died around 200 years ago and had origins in modern-day Sierra Leone. One researcher called the work “a mind-blower.”
“In this particular context, and from that time period, I think it's a first,” team member Hannes Schroeder told The Washington Post. “To be able to get DNA from an object like a pipe stem is quite exciting. Also it is exciting for descendant(后裔) communities... Through this technology, they're able to make a connection not only to the site but potentially back to Africa.”
The pipe stem was found at the Belvoir plantation in Crownsville, Maryland, where enslaved people lived until 1864 and where a likely slave cemetery was recently found. DNA taken from the pipe linked back to a woman either directly from or descended from the Mende people, who lived in west Africa, in an area now part of Sierra.
Julie Schablitsky, the chief archaeologist with the Maryland state highway administration, told The Post the discovery, based on saliva(唾液) absorbed into the clay pipe, was a “mind-blower”. She also said records show the existence of a slave trade route Sierra Leone to Annapolis, plied(定期往来) by British and American ships. "As soon as people stepped on those slave ships in Africa," she said, “whether they were from Benin or whether they were from Sierra Leone, wherever they were from, that identity was lost. Their humanity is stripped from. Who they are as a people has gone.”
The new analysis is part of ongoing research around Belvoir that has given descendants of the people enslaved there new insight into the lives of their ancestors. Speaking to The Post, Nancy Daniels, a genealogist from Laurel, Maryland, who thinks she is a descendant of enslaved families from Belvoir but was not linked to the research on the pipe, called the discovery “overwhelming.” “I'm sitting here about ready to cry,” she said. “I'm sorry. I'm so happy ... Thank God for the DNA.”
This year, events and ceremonies are being held to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved people in America, at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Slavery was effectively abandoned in the US on 1 January 1863, with the issue by Abraham Lincoln of the Emancipation Proclamation. It formally ended in December 1865, after the civil war, with the approval of the 13th amendment(修正案).
1. What does the phrase “a mind-blower” in paragraphs 1 and 4 refer to?| A．A surprise | B．A confusion |
| C．An excitement | D．A fascination |
| A．it was the first direct evidence that slaves living in Maryland were originally from Africa. |
| B．it helped the archaeologists to draw a portrait of the enslaved woman. |
| C．it might contribute to identifying the birthplace of the descendant communities. |
| D．it contained genic clues to the ancestral background of its owner. |
| A．The owner of the pipe once lived in what is now an area in west Africa. |
| B．The history of slavery in America is an ongoing topic of concern. |
| C．African slaves lost their identities when they arrived at the Belvoir plantation. |
| D．Nancy Daniels, a genealogist was sorry for not being involved in the research. |
| A．DNA from an old pipe throws lights on the origins of the enslaved |
| B．A new research reveals the origins of enslaved African woman |
| C．The descendants of enslaved people seek their identities |
| D．DNA contributes to the breakthrough of a new research |
【推荐1】In a remote corner of Brazil's Amazon tropical（热带的）rainforest, researchers have spent decades catching and measuring birds. Over 40 years, dozens of Amazonian bird species have declined in mass（质量）. Many species have lost nearly 2% of their average body weight each decade, researchers report November 12 in Science Advances. Some species have grown longer wings. The changes could help birds stay cool in a hotter, more changeable climate, the researchers say.
"Climate change isn't something of the future. It has been happening and has effects we haven't thought of," says Ben Winger, an ornithologist（鸟类专家）at the University of Michigan, who wasn't involved in the research but has documented similar shrinkage（缩水）in migratory birds.
To see if non-migratory birds have also been shrinking, Jirinec and colleagues analyzed data collected from 1979 to 2019 in a remote region in the Amazon that spans 43km. The data include over 11,000 individual birds of 77 species as well as climate for the region.
All species declined in mass over this period, the researchers found. Species lost from about 0.1% to nearly 2% of their average body weight each decade. The motmot, for example, shrunk from 133g to about 127g over the study period.
These changes coincided with an overall increase in the average temperature of 1℃ in the wet season and 1.65%℃ in the dry season. Birds' mass decreased the most in a year or two after especially hot and dry seasons, which tracks with the idea that birds are getting smaller to deal with heat stress.
Wing length also grew for 61 species, with a maximum increase of 1% per decade. Jirinec thinks longer wings make for more efficient, and thus cooler, fliers.
"The Amazon rainforest is mysterious, remote and full of biodiversity," Jirined says. "This study suggests that even in places like this, far removed from civilization, you can see signatures of climate change."
1. What changes have happened to Amazonian birds over 40 years?| A．They have lost weight. | B．They have grown prettier. |
| C．They have become fewer. un | D．They have become larger. |
| A．Contrasted with. | B．Compared with. | C．Corresponded to | D．Contributed to. |
| A．Climate change | B．Food shortage. | C．Massive hunting | D．Scientific research |
| A．Researchers measuring birds in Amazon | B．Climate change shrinking tropical birds |
| C．Longer wings improving flying efficiency | D．Human activities damaging Amazon rainforest |
【推荐2】Researcher Ruijia Hu said wildlife habitat in crowded places like south went Ohio is becoming increasingly fragmented (分散) as forests give way to new construction. Eventually, this could make trouble to an animal with specific habitat needs like Ohio’s pileated (红冠) woodpecker.
Pileated woodpeckers have the nickname carpenter birds for their never-ending natural woodworking. They peck out holes in trees for their nests every year, creating lots of valuable homes for animals like fox squirrels and owls. “They make new nests every year. They won’t reuse old ones,” Hu said. “Other animals depend on them.”
Pileated woodpeckers are private birds that are more often heard than seen. Studying them can be especially difficult. So Hu turned to citizen science for help. To identify where woodpeckers have been seen, she used eight years of sightings collected by birders and logged into the website eBird, a free online tool and app that anyone can use to record their observations and locations. She overlaid these sightings with remote sensing data and found that corridors along rivers and creeks with abundant mature trees and deadwood helped the birds adjust to their increasingly fragmented urban landscape.
“With fragmented forests, many habitats that were once suitable for wildlife are broken up,” Hu sa id. “Wildlife is unable to find habitat big enough to meet their survival needs. And even if there are suitable habitats, the distance between them can be too great. Wildlife corridors link up these habitat patches. Since wildlife can travel and migrate from one patch to another, the probability of finding food and shelter is higher.”
“There are so many species in urban areas that we don’t pay attention to, especially when they’re not considered vulnerable,” Hu said. “With development chipping away at more forest in this crowded county, the tipping point (临界点) could come quickly and unexpectedly. You can’t fix it overnight. It’s not just about planting more trees. The birds need mature forest, so it could take 30 to 50 years to replace their habitat. At least we can protect these riverside forest corridors and see that existing trees reach maturity.”
1. What can we infer from the second paragraph?| A．The magpie’s nest is occupied by the dove. |
| B．Birds abandon the old for the new easily. |
| C．Friendship really exists among animals. |
| D．One’s trash is another treasure. |
| A．The effect of Hu’s study on birds. |
| B．The process of Hu’s research. |
| C．The difficulty Hu had in his study. |
| D．The application of technology. |
| A．Helping them survive in the fragmented landscape. |
| B．Making them adjust to deadwood quickly. |
| C．Providing them with enough food for survival. |
| D．Ensuring them a stable and safe habitat. |
| A．One tree doesn’t make a forest. |
| B．Be wise after the event. |
| C．Prepare for a rainy day. |
| D．Take things as they come. |
【推荐3】To understand the effect of ice melting (融化) around the world we first have to understand what an ice sheet actually is. Covering 5. 4 million square miles in Antarctica (南极洲) and 656, 000 square miles in Greenland, an ice sheet is actually a huge land of ice from the Ice Age. These sheets form in areas where snow that falls in winter does not melt entirely over the summer. This ice, home to different species of animals, is now melting at a rate that cannot support the life it currently holds.
Many of these creatures rely on ice sheets as land for resting, hunting and protection, yet as the size decreases, they are forced out of their homeland in search of other land on which to live. Often this means journeys to search for food and an imbalanced ecosystem happens when different species are forced together onto the coast.
Since the 1990s, the deer population has dropped by 56 percent— climate change has caused warmer temperatures over winter setting off rainfall instead of snow, which freezes more quickly underfoot and makes it harder to walk and search for food. In the summer, frozen layers of land melts and releases trapped diseases which bring death to animals. A similar situation has fallen on the polar bears who suffered a 40 per cent population loss between 2001 and 2010.
Quite apart from these problems, the threat of sea levels rising if the ice caps were to disappear is approaching. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melted, the sea level would rise around six meters, and if the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, sea levels would rise by around 20 feet. As a matter of fact, sea levels have risen about eight inches since 1880, three of which were gained over the last 25 years. This seemingly small amount has already caused dangerous flooding, loss of farmland and more deadly storms.
While we’re still a long way from losing the ice sheets all together, we’ve already lost too much and if we don’t take climate change seriously now, we will certainly hit the point of no return.
1. What is an ice sheet according to the passage?| A．It is an area where ice never melts in summer. |
| B．It is a land of ice that covers all Greenland. |
| C．It is a large area of ice that exists for centuries. |
| D．It is an ice world for animals to live on. |
| A．It makes it easier to travel to other land. |
| B．It increases the population of sea animals. |
| C．It makes their surroundings more comfortable. |
| D．It causes hunger and illness among animals. |
| A．Ice sheet will soon disappear from the Earth. |
| B．Sea levels are rising faster in recent years. |
| C．Greenland will be the first to lose all its ice. |
| D．All natural disasters happen due to sea level rise. |
| A．Effect of Melting Ice Sheets | B．Ice, Sea and Animals |
| C．Cause of Melting Ice Sheets | D．Changes of Sea Levels |
【推荐1】The world has changed greatly since Herman Fisher met Irving Price and Helen Schelle in 1930. The trio (三人组) founded Fisher-Price, maker of popular toy series such as Thomas & Friends, Power Wheels, and Little People. Companies like Fisher-Price are exploring how the world of toys and parenting will change with the development of technology. Fisher-Price recently cooperated with Continuum, a global innovation designer. Together, they created a short video called The Future of Parenting, along with a short essay explaining the thoughts behind the video.
One thought of the video explores how parenting will change when the teens of today raised with data-providing devices such as Fitbit and iPad begin raising kids of their own. Is this a generation that will desire data in all of their kids’ toys? The answer may be “yes” and perhaps the product appearing in the video will appeal to them.
If you interpret the video as a clear vision of the future of parenting, you won’t be blamed for fearing holograms (全息图) will take over your house as a mom or dad. The benefit of holograms in the video is their potential for giving traditional toys the ability to personalize responses, depending on the age and development of the child playing with the traditional toy.
Of course, you might ask yourself, “Do data-providing toys have an advantage over traditional toys in terms of their effects?” The answer may be negative. Lego, a traditional brick toy-maker, on all counts remains a successful company. And studies point out its toys’ benefits to children’s creativity. In addition, recent research demonstrates that toys containing data can potentially prevent language development, compared with traditional puzzles and bricks.
On the one hand, parents know that they should limit their kids’ screen time to keep them healthy, and the American Academy of Pediatrics offers guidance on daily screen time. On the other hand, technology can be wonderfully engaging and can provide excellent educational opportunities for children. Nothing is perfect and we should embrace every aspect of a new thing.
1. What are companies like Fisher-Price currently exploring?| A．The impact of technological advances on toys and parenting. |
| B．The way to be an outstanding global innovation designer. |
| C．New ideas of making short videos of creative toys. |
| D．Techniques used to produce popular toy series. |
| A．be fond of devoting themselves to improving technology |
| B．be afraid of the negative impact of electronic toys |
| C．pass their preference for such toys on to their kids |
| D．show great creativity and imagination |
| A．Advantages and disadvantages of modern technology. |
| B．Comparisons of the effects of two kinds of toys. |
| C．Suggestions on how to choose suitable toys. |
| D．Advances in technology used to make toys. |
| A．Love me, love my dog. |
| B．Actions speak louder than words. |
| C．Everything is a two-edged sword. |
| D．Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. |
【推荐2】Garbage sorting has become a hot issue around China, especially after Shanghai began carrying out a regulation on July 1.
Beijing, as a forerunner in environmental protection, has thus been expected to follow suit. The capital of the country has long been campaigning for sorting and recycling household waste, as part of its environmental drive for sustainable growth, local media reported.
The current regulation gives garbage sorting responsibilities to government departments, property management groups and other organizations. It also gives rules for companies, outlining how they’re responsible for waste collection, transportation and treatment. Only individuals are not subject to responsibilities.
The long-awaited revision will soon change the situation, “Taking out the trash without sorting it properly will be illegal,” said Sun Xinjun, director of the Beijing Commission of Urban Management. In Shanghai, violators are now fined up to 200 yuan ($30)for trash-sorting violations. The maximum fine in Beijing will not be less than that, he said.
The Beijing city government first set out to promote garbage sorting in 2009. Authorities have since called on citizens to sort their household waste into four types-recyclable waste, kitchen trash, dangerous waste and others-and leave it in a corresponding dustbin or trash can. Blue-colored dustbins signify items within are recyclable, green represents kitchen trash, red corresponds to dangerous materials and grey to other waste.
To promote the awareness of garbage sorting and expand the base of participants, authorities have employed workers to help residents on the spot. With intelligent devices, those who throw in recyclable waste at given sites will be rewarded with bonus points, which can be used to buy daily goods. At some communities, there are no color-coded dustbins. Instead, a scheduled garbage collection service is offered to help improve the environment. In other communities, workers offer a door-to-door service to collect recyclables or kitchen waste.
Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group has been promoting new garbage sorting facilities such as recycling cabinets and smart kitchen waste trash cans since 2016, Xinhua News Agency reported. Nearly 26,000 metric tons of household waste is generated across Beijing on a daily basis and 29 terminal garbage disposal facilities are working at full capacity. Nearly 9.3 million tons of household waste was processed in the city last year.
1. According to the passage, which dustbins should some used coke cans be thrown into?| A．Grey-colored dustbins. | B．Red-colored dustbins. |
| C．Green-colored dustbins. | D．Blue-colored dustbins. |
| A．new technology has been applied to help deal with garbage |
| B．Beijing carried out a more severe rule on garbage sorting than Shanghai |
| C．the change of the current regulation has aroused objection among citizens |
| D．the amount of household waste in Beijing is far from something disturbing |
| A．How to Sort Garbage in China | B．The Current Regulation in Beijing |
| C．Garbage Collection in Beijing | D．Waste Recycling Project Counts |
| A．a book review | B．a travel brochure |
| C．an environment report | D．a geography essay |
【推荐3】At any given moment, about seven microliters of tears are present in each of our eyes-about one-tenth of a drop of waste. You might think they’re nothing more than salt water, but they deliver oxygen and nutrients to our eyes, removing waste, and are signs of some diseases. This means that doctors and maybe, in the near future, you can look for signs of illness by looking at your tears.
Studies have already shown that markers of many serious diseases, such as cancer, can be found in tears. Recently, a technology named TearExo has been developed to screen for breast cancer using tears collected by patients themselves. This would greatly reduce the cost of testing and help detect the serious disease earlier.
Tear testing could also have an impact on COVID-19: current research has been focusing on developing a test to detect SARS-COV-2 infections (感染) as well as document previous infections, through antibody testing. These tests are typically done with blood—but nucleic acid (核酸) can be detected in tears as well, and antibodies to the virus may also be detected in tears. That means a quick and inexpensive tear test that doesn’t require a needle could be developed in the near future.
But the potential advantages of tears as health signs go beyond occasional testing. One promising tear-based technology is smart contact lenses (隐形眼镜) that continuously monitor a patients biomarkers, significantly improving disease prevention and early detection, which has already attracted the attention of some major companies like Google, and is currently being developed in research laboratories around the world.
One significant step in its development was the first stand-alone contact lenses with an integrated battery, in 2019. More recently, smart contact lenses have been successfully developed for continuous monitoring and treatment of diabetic retinopathy (糖尿病视网膜病变). Such a product probably won’t be ready for market for several years. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 45 million people in the U.S already wear contact lenses to correct their vision. It would be simple for them to use a smart version.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential in tears. Tears can provide an inexpensive, rapid and easy-to-use way to health monitoring. Given the advantages of tear technology, such technology would certainly lead to more effective disease prevention — rather than having to deal with the difficulties of treating them.
1. What can the technology TearExo be used for?| A．Detecting breast cancer more accurately. | B．Helping to detect breast cancer earlier. |
| C．Saving time in breast cancer detection. | D．Reducing the pain of breast cancer. |
| A．The widespread uses of tears. |
| B．The latest nucleic acid testing method. |
| C．Advantages of detecting nucleic acid in tears. |
| D．Potential applications of tears in nucleic acid testing. |
| A．They have a promising future. | B．They can protect patients’ eyes. |
| C．They monitor eyesight continuously. | D．They can be bought now on the market. |
| A．The role tears play in the eyes. |
| B．Tears contain high levels of chemicals. |
| C．Eyes say something about your health. |
| D．Your tears might save your life someday. |
