【推荐1】We all know that poor nutrition(营养) can lead to bad health and even weight again. A recent study has found that what you eat could probably play a role in how smart you are.

According to the study, rats (老鼠) fed a high-fat (高脂) diet for 10 days showed signs of weakness and even had trouble finding food that was waiting for them.     1     Actually a high fat diet could weaken our intelligence - but so can a low calorie（卡路里）diet.

Here are ways to achieve that happy balance and make you smarter through diet and exercise.

Find out how many calories you need to keep your weight.     2     If you need to drop a few pounds, take away the number you get by 400 calories, consume (消耗) that number of calories each day until you drop the weight.

    3     Aim for healthy foods that includes fruits and vegetables, healthy whole grains, healthy fats and much water. Well! Remember: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Read a book. Play some games.     4    

Exercise regularly. Aim for at least three 30 minutes’ training a week (but more is better) I like simple exercise, but anything that raises the heart rate (心率) is good.     5     You can exercise your body and mind at the same time. Some people like to listen to classical music, but rock music lovers will be happy to hear that this kind of music can help make them smarter as well.

【推荐2】You are probably familiar with the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. A piece of recent research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong may change the saying into “An apple a day may keep aging away”.

The research chose fruit flies (果蝇), as they share many genes (基因) with humans. The researchers either fed the fruit flies as usual or added apple extract (浓缩物) to their food.

It turned out that the fruit flies which fed on food with apple extract lived an average (平均) of 55 days – five days longer than the flies that were normally fed. The research group also found it easier for these flies to walk, climb and move about as they aged.

The scientists said that some dangerous chemicals in the flies’ bodies would cause illnesses and aging. But the antioxidants (抗氧化剂) in the apple extract helped clean them up.

The scientists also studied diets of thousands of women. They found that those who ate apples often were 20 percent less likely to have heart disease and strokes (中风).

Some scientists studied the apple’s genes. They are trying to grow special apples full of antioxidants. They believe the antioxidants would keep people from heart disease and even cancer.

【推荐3】One way that scientists learn about man is by studying animals. In this lab, the scientists are studying the relationship between diet and health. They are studying the relationship between the amount of food the mice eat and their health. The mice are in three groups. All three groups are receiving the same healthy food. The first group is eating one cup of food each day, the second group is eating two cups, and the third group is eating three cups.

After three years, the healthiest group is the one that is only eating one cup of food each day. The mice in this group are little thinner. But they are more active. Most of the day, they are running and playing with one another. Also, they are living longer. Mice usually live for two years. Most of the mice in this group are still alive after three years.

The second group of mice is receiving more than the other two groups. Most of the day, these mice are eating and sleeping. They are not very active. These mice are living longer than the scientists though about a year and a half. But they are not healthy. They are sick more often than the other two groups.

We use the Internet for many things: business, shopping, writing letters, talking to people, finding information and so on. Nowadays a new kind of English has grown on the Internet. There’s no real word for it yet, so we’ll call it e-talk.

People don’t like typing too much. To save time, they turn phrases into a few letters (called acronyms).Acronyms are often used in chat rooms(聊天室). Some of them are:

BTW (by the way)        BRB (be right back)

LOL(laughing out loud)        IMO (in my opinion)

People also use many abbreviations (缩写). They are shortened forms of words. Some common abbreviations are:

info (information)        purer (computer)

pic (picture)          sec (second)

We usually don’t see people when we talk on the Net, so people have new ways to show feelings.Most people use their keywords to draw “feelings”, such as:

:-)   (happy)             :)-   (joking)               :-(   (sad)               :-o   (surprised)

These days, many forums (论坛) have picture feelings. For example:

There are even whole new words, like “newbies” (someone who is new on a chat board or forum).When you write something bad about someone else, it’s called “flaming” the person.

It takes time for people to get used to e-talk. Also, different groups on the Net have their own special ways of communicating(交流). Newbies sometimes have to ask other people what they mean. As the Internet grows, e-talk will continue to grow and change.

A．

B．

C．LOL

D．BRB

【推荐3】From November 1st to December 10th in 2020, China started its seventh national population census(普查). 7 million census takers have asked each family about their name, gender(性别), age, education, job and so on. This census is different from the ones in the past. For the first time, citizens were encouraged to use smartphones and other digital tools to record their information.

China has a national population census every 10 years. The first one was done in 1953. At that time, there were about 600 million people in China. But China’s population has boomed. It was about 1.37 billion in 2010.

For the 2020’s national population census, all people of China were included in the census. But Chinese citizens who had settled(定居) abroad and foreigners who were staying in China on either business or tourist visas(旅游签证) were not counted.

“The census is very important for every citizen,” said Ning Jizhe. “It will help improve infrastructure(基础建设) and public services. For example, if census results show that there are many children living in an area, the government will know that it should build more schools there.”

Scientists can also learn more about population growth from the census. In some years, the population grows faster than in others. Even in the same year, population growth is different in different places. Scientists can use the information to find out what causes growth in certain years and places.