【推荐3】Eating chocolate at least once a week could stave off a heart attack, according to new research. Chocolate is packed with plant chemicals that weaken inflammation(炎症) and help blood flow, explained scientists.

Lead author Dr. Chayakrit Kittanawong said, “Our study suggests chocolate helps keep the heart's blood vessels healthy.” It collected data from six trials that examined the link over the past five decades. A total of 336, 289 people reported their intake. Those who ate chocolate more than once a week reduced their risk of coronary artery( 冠状动脉) disease by eight percent. This was compared to peers who ate it less than once a week.

Chocolate is known to produce the same chemical in the brain as falling in love. But evidence is growing that its reputation as a “guilty pleasure” is wrong. Dr. Krittanawong said, “Chocolate contains heart healthy nutrients such as flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphenols and stearic acid which may reduce inflammation.

Known medically as HDL(high-density lipoprotein)(高密度脂蛋白), it helps to rid LDL (low-density lipoprotein) out of the body. When this collects, it causes vessels and arteries to become blocked up. It can stop blood flow to the heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke. Dr. Krittanawong said, “In the past, clinical studies have shown chocolate is beneficial for blood pressure.

Dark chocolate has long been known to have health benefits but recent research has suggested milk chocolate may also provide valuable nutrients to the heart. Dr. Krittanawong pointed out his study did not investigate whether any particular type of chocolate is more beneficial - or if there is an ideal portion size. He said, “Chocolate appears promising for the prevention of coronary artery disease. But more research is needed to show how much and what kind of chocolate could be recommended.”

While it's not clear how much is perfect, Dr. Krittanawong warned people against overeating. He said, “Moderate amounts of chocolate seem to protect coronary arteries but it's likely that large quantities do not.”

1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．The result of the study.	B．The process of the study.
C．The participants of the study.	D．The intention of the study.

2. Which of the following can probably prevent blood flow?

A．A heart attack.	B．A stroke.
C．High-density lipoprotein.	D．Low-density lipoprotein.

3. What does the recent study tell us?

A．Chocolate is good for blood pressure.	B．Dark chocolate is beneficial for health.
C．Milk chocolate may also benefit the heart.	D．Chocolate contains special plant chemicals.

4. What's Dr. Krittanawong's attitude toward chocolate's preventing coronary artery disease?

A．Indifferent.

B．Hopeful.

C．Negative.

D．Uncertain.

【推荐1】The 33-year-old Australian, Bradley, is actually a student in international relations completing his PhD through Griffith University. He came to Beijing for a cooperative research at Peking University less than two   years ago. Such an academic life was just added color with a chance offered by the cultural exchanges project, “I’m in China”.

Bradley was lucky to win the most “likes” for his photo story about his life in China and became one of 20 winners to visit locations after a global recruitment (招募) by the project this summer. All the winners’ experiences were filmed to produce a reality show, My Chinese Working Day, which will be broadcast by mid-September. The film crew took them to many “amazing sites” and the staff taught them a lot about how to incorporate modern Chinese characteristics while still keeping traditional customs. “I would have to say two things stick out as the most memorable: the helicopter ride and talking with the staff at the hotel about how they organize weddings here in China,” he said. That was Bradley’s first time to be in a helicopter, and he was too absorbed with the awesome view of the beautiful coastline. “I think it is so important to show other Australians the different landscapes China has to offer. I think so many Australians, when they think about China, imagine the historical sites of Beijing and the exciting things to see in Shanghai but have no idea about other beautiful places, like Sanya or the many other places people have been taken to in this TV series,” Bradley said.

“I’m in China” is a project sponsored by China Intercontinental Communication Centre and other institutions under the guidance of China’s State Council Information Office. It invites foreign natives worldwide to experience unique jobs and participate in activities that one can find nowhere else except in China.

1. What does the underlined word “incorporate” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Distinguish.	B．Clarify.
C．Receive.	D．Include.

2. According to this passage, what impresses Bradley most in his experience in China?

A．The historical sites and the exciting things to see.

B．The thrilling ride and the unique wedding arrangements.

C．The different landscapes and traditional customs.

D．The unique jobs and kind-hearted Chinese people.

3. What’s the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A．To introduce the cultural exchange project.

B．To invite the Australians to visit China.

C．To inform us of the reality show.

D．To tell an experience in China.

4. In which column are we likely to read this passage?

A．Education.	B．Environment.
C．Culture.	D．History.

【推荐3】Birth order, according to conventional wisdom, molds (塑造) personality; Firstborn children, secure with their place in the family, are expected to be mature and more responsible. Younger siblings (兄弟姐妹) work harder to get their parents’ attention and take more risk. That’s the central idea in psychologist Frank J. Sulloway’s “Born to Rebel”, an influential book on birth order.

However, birth order does not appear to influence personality in adults, according to several ambitious studies published in the past few years, which relied on larger data sets and more statistical methods than earlier reports.

Schmukle, a psychologist at University of Leipzig. and his colleagues, in a study published in 2015, assessed birth order for about 20,000 people from different countries and found that birth order did not change any of five broad personality traits (特征). A follow-up study on more specific characteristics, published by Sehmukle two years later, did not find any effect of birth order, either. Rodica Damian, a social psychologist at the University of Houston, studied more than 370,000 high school students and also concluded, in 2015, that birth order does not influence the Big Five.

In the Basel-Berlin Risk Study, one of the most exhaustive attempts to measure risk preference, researchers asked participants about driving too fast and other risky behaviors. “None of these behavioral measures showed any convincing relationship between being a later-born and talking more risks,” the study authors wrote.

We tend to confuse birth order and age. “Some of the birth order effects that we observe in everyday life are not birth order effects, but actually are age effects,” Schmukle said. “It is not surprising that when you look at differences within families, firstborns are more responsible than later-borns. But take age out of the picture, and the effect disappears.”

1. What’s Sulloway’s attitude to birth order effects?

A．Favorable.

B．Cautious.

C．Doubtful.

D．Ambiguous.

2. What do the studies in the text have in common?

A．They all proved the birth order effects.

B．They were conducted by the same team.

C．They concentrated on firstborn children.

D．They based the results on statistical data.

3. What may account for firstborn’s being more responsible?

A．Birth order.	B．Risky behaviors.
C．Age effects.	D．Parents’ attention.

4. How does the author support the main viewpoint?

A．By giving examples.	B．By listing findings.
C．By making comparisons.	D．By showing instructions.

【推荐1】My son Leon’s passion for surfing began at the age of 13. After school each day, he put on his wet suit, paddled out beyond the surf line and waited to be challenged by his companions.

One afternoon, the lifeguard reported over the phone to my husband Wilson that Leon’s eye was badly injured by his board. Wilson rushed him to the emergency room. He received 26 stitches(缝针) from the corner of his eye to the bridge of his nose.

I was on an airplane flying home. Wilson drove directly to the airport after they left the doctor’s office. He greeted me at the gate and told me Leon was waiting in the car. “Leon?” I questioned. I remember thinking the waves must have been terrible that day, “He’s been in an accident, but he’s going to be fine.”

A traveling working mother’s worst nightmare had come true. I ran to the car so fast that the heel of my shoe broke off. I swung open the door, and my son with the patched eye was leaning forward crying, “Oh, Ma, I’m so glad your’e home.” I cried in his arms telling him how awful I felt about not being with him. “It’s okay, Mom,” he comforted me, “You don’t know how to surf anyway.” “What?” I asked, confused by his logic. “I’ll be fine. The doctor says I can go back in the water in eight days.”

I wanted to tell him he wasn’t allowed to go near water again until he was 35, but instead I bit my tongue and prayed he would forget about surfing.

For the next seven days he kept pressing me to let him surf again. One day after I had repeated “No” to him for the 100th time, he beat me at my own game. “Mom, you taught us never to give up what we love.” I gave in.

Back then Leon was just a boy with a passion for surfing. Now he ranks among the top 25 professional surfers in the world.

1. What does the underlined part “he beat me at my own game” mean?

A．He decided to follow the author’s advice.

B．He persuaded the author with my common method.

C．He was upset about not being able to surf.

D．He felt like he’d experienced a nightmare.

2. What can we infer about the mom according to the passage?

A．She is a working mom who rarely supports her son’s hobby.

B．She immediately told her son to stop surfing after the accident.

C．She fell into grief when she saw her injured son.

D．She placed her son’s safety second to his dream.

3. Which of the following words can best describe Leon?

A．Strong-willed and creative.	B．Considerate and persistent.
C．Optimistic and reliable.	D．Responsible and sensitive.

【推荐2】It is generally accepted these days that reading a book will help you relieve stress. And it may actually make you a more thoughtful person as you learn to connect with the various characters. But there’s more. A new study discovered that reading more than 3.5 hours per week actually increased a person’s lifespan(寿命) by 23 percent-about 12 years for the people involved in the study.

The study was led by a group of researchers at Yale University. It looked at 3,635 people, both men and women but all older than 50.The researchers divided them into three categories: those who didn’t read books; those who read up to 3.5 hours a week; those who read more than 3.5 hours a week.

After the researchers adjusted for factors like education, health and income, the data showed that, on average, those who read about 3.5 hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die.

In addition, the study examined people who read newspapers and magazines and found that they were 11 percent less likely to die than non­readers, but only if they spent more than seven hours reading each week. That may be due to the different forms of these items. When people read newspapers or magazines, they tend to skim the material rather than read it fully. AvniBavishi, the study’s leader, said, “We believe people need to know, learn and understand more things when they are reading books, because they’re longer and there are more characters, more plots to follow, and more connections to make.”

From all of this, the authors concluded that, as with a healthy diet and exercise, books appear to promote a “significant survival advantage”.

Clearly, there is a need for more study. We’re certain that book lovers all around the world will be glad to provide the data needed to make further conclusions.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．A few people think that reading can help them relax.

B．Reading can make a person more sensitive.

C．Reading can help a person to live a longer life.

D．Most people think that reading can help them to live a better life.

2. What can we learn about the people in the study from the text?

A．All of them were older than fifty.

B．Most of them were women readers.

C．More than half of them were college students.

D．They were divided into four groups by the researchers.

3. Generally speaking, those who read newspapers and magazines           than those who read books.

A．live longer	B．are more likely to be positive
C．have a better ability to understand	D．get fewer benefits in terms of the lifespan

4. In the last paragraph, the writer aims to         .

A．tell readers about the importance of reading

B．tell readers that the study needs more data

C．call on book lovers to provide more data for the study

D．encourage readers to make further conclusions by themselves

【推荐3】Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit; most people don’t even notice that they’re doing it when they sit down. While you may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of.

A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. The reason is that the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart and that crossing one leg over the other increases resistance, making it even harder for the blood to circulate. This causes your body to increase your blood pressure to push the blood back to the heart. You won’t feel any immediate effects, but repeated, drawn-out increases in blood pressure can cause long term health problems. So, panning to sit for a long period of time? Don’t keep your legs crossed.

Crossing your legs at the knee can also cause pressure on the major nerve in your leg that passes just below your knee and along the outside of your leg, explains Richard Graves, a medical expert. This pressure can cause numbness and temporary paralysis of some of the muscles in your foot and leg, preventing you from being able to raise your ankle. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.

So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet on the floor. Not only will it help your posture and stability, but it will also save your health in the long run.

1. What can we learn about crossing one’s legs?

A．It is a very bad social habit.	B．It is usually practiced by design.
C．It can make others feel uncomfortable.	D．It has a negative effect on people’s health.

2. We may conclude from the study that sitting with your legs crossed can ________.

A．improve the function of legs	B．help your blood resist gravity
C．effect your blood pressure	D．cause health problems instantly

3. According to Richard Graves, repeatedly crossing your legs may ________.

A．paralyze all of your muscles	B．preventing you from standing up
C．damage your nerve in the leg in the end	D．reduce the pressure on the major nerve

4. What is the main purpose of the text?

A．To blame a bad habit.	B．To provide suggestions.
C．To introduce research methods.	D．To show effects of an experiment.

【推荐1】Writing can be a solitary life. I often sit at home for days, weeks and sometimes months working on book projects, articles and other assignments. Seriously, some days I want to chase the FedEx driver yelling, “Wait! I need to talk to you!”

And sometimes I don’t see the result of my work. On occasion, I’ll get a message online or even a letter that has been mailed to my publisher. Or I’ll run into someone who says, “I love what you write.” A dad once sent me a message to tell me he had heard me speak on the radio, and it had convinced him that he hadn’t been spending enough time with his children. And then he went on to tell me how that had changed his relationship with his family.

Those are the things that keep writers going and the moments that touch our hearts. But with my newest book, it has been different. Because of the television show, I’ve experienced something I’ve never met before.

I’ve gotten to see the faces of the people who are being affected by my works. My co-author, Brian Bird, and I asked purchasers of our books to post their pictures with the books when they received their copies or found them in stores. Dozens of pictures began popping up, with beautiful sweet faces. I was moved to tears. Visual proof showed that my work was touching lives.

Sweet friends, most of you probably aren’t writers. But you are given a specific task to accomplish. You’ve worked hard - sometimes for years - and maybe it seems like nothing is happening. Or you feel like what you’re doing isn’t of value. You’re wrong. You might not get to see the faces of those you’re reaching, but there is no doubt in my mind that whenever we’re faithful to do what we have to do, we are impacting the lives of others. So keep doing what you’re doing. I can promise you it’s worth it.

1. What does the author think of writing according to Paragraph 1?

A．Meaningless.

B．Hard.

C．Inspiring.

D．Funny.

2. What makes the author continue writing?

A．His faithful publisher.	B．People’s purchase of his books.
C．His readers’ reaction to his works.	D．His good relationship with his family.

3. What can we infer about the author from the text?

A．He thinks all of our jobs are worthy to do.	B．He seldom interacts with his readers.
C．He has shot many smiling purchasers.	D．Brian Bird gave him much confidence in writing.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Write what you want	B．Find the truth of life
C．Learn about reader’s needs	D．Believe your work matters.

【推荐2】Chelsea Phaire lives in Danbury, Connecticut. She was 8 when she decided to start the charity. Chelsea said her mother and she had a conversation about the fact that not everyone had access to art, which made her so sad. But it took her parents some time to get on board with the idea. They wanted her to wait until she was a little older.

Finally, Chelsea was able to launch her charity last year. For her 10th birthday, she asked her friends to donate art supplies instead of giving her presents. Since then, Chelsea has saved money from her birthday and from helping out at her dad’s barbershop to buy art supplies for her charity, whose mission is to deliver art supplies to kids in all 50 states and, eventually, to kids in other countries. As of July 7, Chelsea’s Charity had given away nearly 3,000 art kits(成套工具).

Chelsea has always had a passion for helping out. She loves knowing she’s giving back to her community. The art kits she puts together go to kids in homeless shelters and hospitals, and to children who have been affected by school shootings.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic(新冠疫情), the charity has suffered financially. Chelsea says, “Instead of personally giving art kits out, we had to mail them,” which was expensive. But increased attention on her efforts has helped donations boom.

Art is a significant part of Chelsea’s life. She says it has helped her through difficult times. This is why she feels it’s so important to make sure everyone has access to art. Art is also a great way to release emotions, Chelsea says. “If everyone knows how to channel their negative emotions and thoughts into art, then we can prevent the next big disaster and we could solve world peace,” she adds. “You never know unless you try.”

1. How does Chelsea pay for her charity?

A．She asks her relatives for much money.

B．She helps her father with his business.

C．She sells art supplies she makes by herself.

D．She makes money from working for friends.

2. What difficulty is Chelsea faced with now?

A．It is difficult to get donations.

B．Her operation cost has increased.

C．Few volunteers are willing to run her charity.

D．She can’t continue her charity for the pandemic.

3. What does Chelsea think of art’s effect?

A．Art is not for everyone.

B．Art is her lifelong career.

C．Art can cheer up the world.

D．Art is an emotional expression.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Artful Giving.

B．Real Art.

C．Chelsea Phaire.

D．Chelsea’s Dream.

【推荐3】Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York--he in computers, she in special education. "Teaching means everything to us," Tim would say. In April1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.
Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton' s foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's home town of Sevier, Tennessee.“I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire," Tim recalls.   He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder."
Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library .com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.
The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. “We didn’t want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books-reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members-included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series.
Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I’ve never heard of .”
The Richters spend about ＄400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”
1. What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?

A．His health problem.	B．His love for teaching.
C．The influence of his wife.	D．The news from the Web.

2. What did Tim want to do after learning about Imagination Library?

A．Give out brochures.	B．Do something similar.
C．Write books for children	D．Retire from being a teacher.

3. According to the text, Dollly Parton is          .

A．a well-known surgeon	B．a mother of a four-year-old
C．a singer born in Tennessee	D．a computer programmer

4. Why did the Richters go to Dollywood?

A．To avoid signing up online.

B．To meet Dollywood board members.

C．To make sure the books were the newest.

D．To see if the books were of good quality.

5. What can we learn from Tim’s words in the last paragraph?

A．He needs more money to help the children.

B．He wonders why some people are so busy.

C．He tries to save those waiting to die.

D．He considers his efforts worthwhile.