①Sugar-free cookies, reduced-sugar cereal, sugar-free candy, diet soda. Do these seem like healthier alternatives (替代物)? After sugar became something forbidden in the nutrition and fitness world, sugar-free products acted as alternatives for once beloved sweet drinks and snacks. Claiming to be ZERO sugar, they were believed as healthier choices, especially for those people who manage diabetics (糖尿病), or aim to slim down. But the truth is they aren’t equal to better.

②When a product is labeled sugar-free, it means artificial sweeteners are used instead of real sugar. Artificial sweeteners don’t come from natural sources but they are chemical substances that are added to food and drinks to make them sweeter. Actually, most artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar, even 200—600 times sweeter, so only a tiny amount is needed.

③Let’s find out how artificial sweeteners work. They work similarly to regular sugar by exciting your taste buds. The taste buds send signals to the brain that they have tasted something sweet and you feel a similar sense as you would with sugar.

④In recent studies, scientists have revealed artificial sweeteners are more harmful to our body than real sugar. Many businesses market sugar-free alternatives as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie”. It misleads people to believe sugar-free products can make them slim and healthy. But it’s reported that you get no nutritional value from consuming them.

⑤What’s worse, when you eat this kind of sweet food, your body continues to desire it even though your body can’t metabolize (新陈代谢) these sugar-free alternatives. Your brain does not know the difference, either. In turn, sugar-free alternatives connect to weight gain and Type 2 diabetes.

⑥Similarly, artificial sweeteners also damage your gut’s ability to break down sugar which affects everything you eat. In other words, your body doesn’t know how to deal with artificial sweeteners because they have nothing real to process.

⑦Here’s a golden rule: stay away from artificial sweeteners and look for non-sugar, natural sweeteners like Stevia or date sugar. In the war against artificial sweeteners and real sugar, both lose. Satisfy your sweet tooth with natural sugars that come from fruits and stay away from products claiming to be sugar-free or diet!

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5 . 阅读下文并回答问题。

Dear Patrick,

I’ve been interested in figure skating (花样滑冰) for a few months, but when I turned to my parents asking for more time on weekends to practice, they refused and said that I should spend my weekend studying instead. What can I do with this?

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

First, know that it is normal for many people to be refused when asking their parents for approval (同意). As we grow up, we start to realize that our parents have their own ideas on life and what someone should or should not do. They are trying to do the responsible (负责任的) thing and wish you to study more. I am sure you’ll feel better if you try to understand them.

They may also not understand how you feel and why it is important for you. Then you need to talk with them and try to persuade (说服) them by giving them good reasons. Since your parents think your study is more important, you can tell them how a figure skating hobby would help improve your studying ability. For example, you could say, “________”

Still, if figure skating is something you really love, just try to find ways to do it. Live without pity (遗憾), and let nothing stop you!

Patrick

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6 . 青少年缺乏锻炼引发社会关注，你校校刊对此话题正进行征稿，请根据以下信息完成一篇题为“A Report on Teenagers’ Exercise”的调查报告。

A Report on Teenagers’ Exercise

Last week, we asked some students how often they did exercise.                                                     _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . Modern China, like most of the countries in the world, uses the Gregorian calendar as its primary way of keeping time through the year. That means January 1 in Paris is also January 1 in Beijing. However, the traditional Chinese lunisolar (日与月的) calendar plays a necessary role in modern Chinese society.

Often mistakenly seen as a lunar calendar (月历), the traditional Chinese calendar is in fact lunisolar. The lunar calendar follows the moon’s synodic orbit (天体运行的轨道). It takes the moon 29.53 days to finish one full orbit around the earth. The year is then divided into 12 lunar months, which only adds up to 354 days each year, about 11 days short of the actual time it takes the earth to finish one full orbit around the sun. The Chinese add a 13th month to their traditional calendar about once every four years, that is, a leap year (闰月). So the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar is a hybrid timekeeping way that considers both the moon’s orbit around the earth and the earth’s 365-day orbit around the sun.

The Gregorian calendar is the official calendar in China. It tells people holidays such as Labor Day, Chinese National Day, and the international New Year. However, the Chinese calendar still plays an important role in everyday life. It tells people the traditional Chinese holidays such as the Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and, of course, the Chinese New Year.