1 . You are what you eat-and what you eat may be encoded in your DNA. Studies have indicated that your genes play a role in determining the foods you find delicious or disgusting. But exactly how big a role they play has been difficult to figure out. “Everything has a genetic component even if it’s small,” says Joanne Cole, a geneticist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We know that there is some genetic contribution to why we eat the foods we eat. Can we take the next step and actually locate the regions in the genome (基因)?”
New research led by Cole has gotten a step closer. Through a large-scale genomics analysis, her team has identified 481 genome regions that were directly linked to dietary patterns and food preferences. The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were presented last month at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference.
The team based the new study on a 2020 Nature Communications study by Cole and her colleagues that used data from the U.K. Biobank, a public database of the genetic and health information of 500,000 participants. By scanning genomes, the new analysis was able to identify 194 regions associated with dietary patterns and 287 linked to specific foods such as fruit, cheese, fish, tea and alcohol. Further understanding how genetics impact how we eat could reveal differences in nutritional needs or disease risks.
“One of the problems with a lot of these genomics studies is that they’re very small. They don’t have enough people to really be able to identify genes in ways that are credible. This study had a huge group of people, so it’s really powerful.” says Monica Dus, a geneticist at the University of Michigan. “The other thing that I thought was really great is that there are so many different features that they’re measuring related to diet including cholesterol (胆固醇), the body and socioeconomic backgrounds.” As the research advances, Dus says, such genome analysis could potentially assist health care providers and even policymakers to address larger issues that affect food access and health.
It’s definitely true that it may contribute to making sure there aren’t food deserts-areas which have limited access to fresh, healthy and affordable food or to making sure that there’s a higher minimum wage so that everyone can afford to eat, although the journey ahead remains lengthy and challenging.
1. How did researchers conduct the present study?A.By involving a substantial number of participants. |
B.By directly analyzing the data from a public database. |
C.By building on a previous study based on large-scale data. |
D.By identifying genome regions associated with dietary patterns. |
A.Powerful participants were involved in the current study. |
B.The methods employed for the previous studies were credible. |
C.The genome analyses have helped address larger social issues. |
D.Various features linked to diet were considered in the present study. |
A.The benefits of latest large-scale diet-related genome analyses. |
B.The contribution of genes to diet patters and food preferences. |
C.The significance of a newly published diet-related genome discovery. |
D.The introduction of a research on identifying diet-related genome regions. |
A.National Geographic | B.Sports Illustrated for kids |
C.Scientific American | D.The Wall Street Journal |
2 . Every decision we make is arrived at through hugely complex neurological processing. Although it feels as though you have a choice, the action that you ‘decide’ to take is entirely directed by automatic neural activity. Brain imaging studies show that a person’s action can be predicted by their brain activity up to 10 seconds before they themselves become aware they are going to act. Multiple neuroscientific studies show that even those important decisions that feel worked out are just as automatic as knee-jerk reactions (膝跳反应) (although more complex).
Decision-making starts with the amygdala: a set of two almond-shaped nuclei (杏仁状核) buried deep within the brain, which generate emotion. The amygdala registers the information streaming in through our senses and responds to it in less than a second, sending signals throughout the brain. These produce an urge to run, fight, freeze or grab, according to how the amygdala values various stimuli.
Before we act on the amygdala’s signals, however, the information is usually processed by other brain areas, including some that produce conscious thoughts and emotions. Areas concerned with recognition work out what’s going on, those concerned with memory compare it with previous experiences, and those concerned with reasoning, judging and planning get to work on constructing various action plans. The best plan—if we are lucky—is then selected and carried out. If any of this process goes wrong, we are likely to hesitate, or do something silly.
The various stages of decision-making are marked by different types of brain activity. Fast (gamma)waves, with frequencies of 25 to 100 Hz, produce a keen awareness of the multiple factors that need to be taken into account to arrive at a decision. If you are trying to choose a sandwich, for instance, gamma waves generated in various cells within the ‘taste’ area of the brain bring to mind and compare the taste of ham, hummus, wholemeal, sourdough, and so on. Although it may seem useful to be aware of the full range of choice, too much information makes decision-making more difficult, so irrelevant factors get dismissed quickly and unconsciously.
After this comparison stage, the brain switches to slow-wave activity (12 to 30 Hz). This extinguishes most of the gamma activity, leaving just a single ‘hotspot’ of gamma waves which marks the chosen option.
Although there is no ‘you’ outside your brain to direct what it’s doing, you can help it to make good decisions by placing yourself in a situation which is likely to make the process run more smoothly. Doing something that is physically or mentally stimulating before making a decision will help your brain produce the initial gamma waves that generate awareness of the competing options. Getting over-excited, on the other hand, will prevent the switch to the slow brainwaves, making it much harder to single out a choice.
1. Why does the writer mention “knee-jerk reactions” in the first paragraph?A.To introduce the finding of the latest brain imaging studies. |
B.To illustrate that decisions are not consciously thought out. |
C.To call attention to a kind of neural reaction that is not very complex. |
D.To show the difference between decision-making and other brain activity. |
A.It works out conscious thoughts and emotions. |
B.It selects the best action plan for a given situation. |
C.It dismisses factors that are irrelevant to the decision to be made. |
D.It processes sensory information and generates emotional responses. |
A.Slow-wave activity usually lasts longer than fast-wave activity. |
B.The brain prioritizes information before settling on a final choice. |
C.Decision-making is difficult when slow-wave activity occurs first. |
D.The brain needs as much information as possible to make a decision. |
A.By preparing the brain to single out the most reasonable choice. |
B.By helping the brain switch to slow-wave activity more quickly. |
C.By getting the brain to focus on those most relevant alternatives. |
D.By making the brain more aware of the factors and choices involved. |
3 . It started with a bit of casual discomfort on the head, but after a week it had spread to the back of my neck, enough to lead me to my laptop. Annoying as it was, I was
As soon as I’d tapped in ‘online self-diagnosis’, the search engine provided me with over 11.5 million results. And during the time normally spent in the clinic’s waiting room reading the Women’s Weekly, I was able to find a site that would provide a free
I answered all the questions until I eventually reached a description exactly matching my
I headed off to the doctor for what I thought would be a blood test but which turned out to be a valuable lesson in not
I learnt my lesson, but for some the worry caused by
Once upon a time, hypochondria required time and effort: you had to go to the library to research your diseases and
A.reluctant | B.surprised | C.able | D.sure |
A.knowledge | B.association | C.evidence | D.medication |
A.sample | B.assessment | C.subscription | D.upgrade |
A.standards | B.arguments | C.definitions | D.symptoms |
A.fortunate | B.touched | C.alarmed | D.different |
A.believing | B.explaining | C.questioning | D.covering |
A.keeping | B.losing | C.drying | D.washing |
A.taking off | B.putting on | C.breaking away | D.looking up |
A.dropped | B.differed | C.increased | D.helped |
A.safety | B.health | C.access | D.money |
A.available | B.accurate | C.misleading | D.complex |
A.occasionally | B.automatically | C.painstakingly | D.literally |
A.bringing to light | B.taking into consideration | C.putting into practice | D.setting on top |
A.rare | B.hard | C.large | D.simple |
A.state | B.change | C.freedom | D.peace |
4 . Armed with a toolkit of techniques and tricks to calm the mind and bring focus back to your body, you can stop stressful situations from sabotaging your day, says Katy Georgiou.
GROUND YOURSELF
Making contact with the ground is your baseline go-to response for stress. This technique can be especially helpful if you find your stress regularly turns into panic. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, place your feet flat on the ground so that you feel stable, and then close your eyes. If you’re able to sit on the floor cross-legged or to lie down flat, then even better.
Think of this as earthing: really connect with the ground beneath your body. Some studies suggest that this simple act can help reduce or relieve symptoms of stress such as pain and fatigue, reduce blood pressure, and improve sleep. If you’re feeling disconnected from the world, it can also remind you that you belong to it and are a crucial part of it — the ground will always be there for you.
LOVE THYSELF
Adopting regular, daily or weekly routines for self-care can be very containing, creating consistency amid all sorts of stressful life events happening around you. Looking in the mirror each day can actually remind you that you exist, so feel free to factor some reflective gazing into your daily routine, whether it’s while applying moisturiser, shaving, or brushing your hair. Studies have shown that being confronted with your reflection can have powerful effects, taking us out of our heads and into the immediate present. For added effect, pay attention to the way your products interact with your hair and skin as you apply them.
Playing around with smells, colours and textures in your hands will also engage your senses. Using a scented shampoo or smoothing on body lotion after a warm bath can be easy ways to do this.
CLEAR YOUR MIND
Abandon all your thoughts and try to focus only on your surroundings. What can you see, hear, smell, taste and touch? Identify three things you can hear, one thing you can taste, four things you can see and two things you can feel on your skin. Pick out colours in the room you are sitting in, notice textures and different kinds of light. If somebody is with you, tell them what you are experiencing. The point here is that your senses are your best and easiest route back to feeling calm, by coming out of your head and rooting yourself back in the present. This is incredibly helpful if you’re having a panic attack or flop response.
1. If your friend Jane always feels worn out and suffers from sleep deprivation, which of the following techniques will you especially recommend to her?A.Connect her body to the ground beneath her. |
B.Adopt a daily gaze at her reflection in the mirror. |
C.Exchange her scentless shampoo for an aromatic one. |
D.Focus on what she can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. |
A.Lying down flat can better relieve your stress. |
B.Grounding yourself can give you a sense of belonging to the world. |
C.Brushing your hair while looking in the mirror can remind you of your existence. |
D.Those having a panic attack should shut their senses down. |
A.help people understand themselves better |
B.introduce some practical methods for stress management |
C.emphasize the significance of exploiting multiple senses |
D.promote a mindset of living in the moment |
5 . On March 7, 1907, the English statistician Francis Galton published a paper which illustrated what has come to be known as the “wisdom of crowds” effect. The experiment of estimation he conducted showed that in some cases, the average of a large number of independent estimates could be quite accurate.
This effect capitalizes on the fact that when people make errors, those errors aren’t always the same. Some people will tend to overestimate, and some to underestimate. When enough of these errors are averaged together, they cancel each other out, resulting in a more accurate estimate. If people are similar and tend to make the same errors, then their errors won’t cancel each other out. In more technical terms, the wisdom of crowds requires that people’s estimates be independent. If for whatever reasons, people’s errors become correlated or dependent, the accuracy of the estimate will go down.
But a new study led by Joaquin Navajas offered an interesting twist (转折) on this classic phenomenon. The key finding of the study was that when crowds were further divided into smaller groups that were allowed to have a discussion, the averages from these groups were more accurate than those from an equal number of independent individuals. For instance, the average obtained from the estimates of four discussion groups of five was significantly more accurate than the average obtained from 20 independent individuals.
In a follow-up study with 100 university students, the researchers tried to get a better sense of what the group members actually did in their discussion. Did they tend to go with those most confident about their estimates? Did they follow those least willing to change their minds? This happened some of the time, but it wasn’t the dominant response. Most frequently, the groups reported that they “shared arguments and reasoned together”. Somehow, these arguments and reasoning resulted in a global reduction in error. Although the studies led by Navajas have limitations and many questions remain, the potential implications for group discussion and decision-making are enormous.
1. What is paragraph 2 of the text mainly about?A.The methods of estimation. | B.The underlying logic of the effect. |
C.The causes of people’s errors. | D.The design of Galton’s experiment. |
A.the crowds were relatively small | B.there were occasional underestimates |
C.individuals did not communicate | D.estimates were not fully independent |
A.The size of the groups. | B.The dominant members. |
C.The discussion process. | D.The individual estimates. |
A.Unclear. | B.Dismissive. | C.Doubtful. | D.Approving. |
6 . As the sun set he remembered, to give himself more confidence, the time in the tavern at Casablanca when he had played the hand game with the great negro from Cienfuegos who was the strongest man on the docks. They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line on the table and their forearms straight up and their hands gripped tight. Each one was trying to force the other’s hand down onto the table. There was much betting and people went in and out of the room under the kerosene lights and he had looked at the arm and hand of the negro and at the negro’s face. They changed the referees every four hours after the first eight so that the referees could sleep. Blood came out from under the fingernails of both his and the negro’s hands and they looked each other in the eye and at their hands and forearms and the bettors went in and out of the room and sat on high chairs against the wall and watched. The walls were painted bright blue and were of wood and the lamps threw their shadows against them. The negro’s shadow was huge and it moved on the wall as the breeze moved the lamps.
The odds would change back and forth all night and they fed the negro rum and lighted cigarettes for him. Then the negro, after the rum, would try for a tremendous effort and once he had the old man, who was not an old man then but was Santiago El Campeon, nearly three inches off balance. But the old man had raised his hand up to dead even again. He was sure then that he had the negro, who was a fine man and a great athlete, beaten. And at daylight when the bettors were asking that it be called a draw and the referee was shaking his head, he had unleashed his effort and forced the hand of the negro down and down until it rested on the wood. The match had started on a Sunday morning and ended on a Monday morning.
Many of the bettors had asked for a draw because they had to go to work on the docks loading sacks of sugar or at the Havana Coal Company.
Otherwise everyone would have wanted it to go to a finish. But he had finished it anyway and before anyone had to go to work.
For a long time after that everyone had called him The Champion and there had been a return match in the spring. But not much money was bet and he had won it quite easily since he had broken the confidence of the negro from Cienfuegos in the first match. After that he had a few matches and then no more. He decided that he could beat anyone if he wanted to badly enough and he decided that it was bad for his right hand for fishing. He had tried a few practice matches with his left hand. But his left hand had always been a traitor and would not do what he called on it to do and he did not trust it.
Quoted from The Old Man and the Sea
1. Since the old man is the main character, in the hand game, why does Hemingway put more efforts in describing his opponent the negro?A.Because Hemingway himself is an anti-racist who wants to support the colored race. |
B.By doing so, he indirectly shows how strong and determined the old man is to readers. |
C.He shifts readers’ attention to a new character to neutralize the nervous atmosphere. |
D.There is no need to describe the old man because he is well-known to all readers. |
A.spare | B.restrict | C.reduce | D.loose |
A.Many bettors were afraid of losing their money so they wanted to call the game a draw. |
B.The old man had owed his victory over the negro more to his will than to his strength. |
C.The referee had been convinced by the bettors that the game be considered a draw |
D.Regular hand games should be a good practice to enhance the old man’s fishing skills |
A.The old man defeated the negro more than once in the matches with his will power |
B.Many workers working on the docks had showed no respect towards the old man. |
C.The old man had to self-feed himself a lot so as to stay competitive in the game. |
D.The negro was not as strong and athletic as the old man had expected him to be. |
7 . Of all the changes that have taken place in English-language newspapers during the past quarter-century, perhaps the most far-reaching one has been the inevitable decline in the scope and seriousness of their arts coverage.
It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big-city newspapers. Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews. To read such books today is to marvel at the fact that their learned contents were once considered suitable for publication in general-circulation dailies.
We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews published in England between the turn of the 20th century and the eve of World War II, at a time when newsprint was dirt-cheap and stylish arts criticism was considered an ornament (装饰) to the publications in which it appeared. In those far-off days, it was taken for granted that the critics of major papers would write in detail and at length about the events they covered. Theirs was a serious business, and even those reviewers who wore their learning lightly, like George Bernard Shaw and Ernest Newman, could be trusted to know what they were about. These men believed in journalism as a calling, and were proud to be published in the daily press. “So few authors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism,” Newman wrote, “that I am tempted to define ‘journalism’ as ‘a term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are’.”
Unfortunately, these critics are virtually forgotten. Neville Cardus, who wrote for the Manchester Guardian from 1917 until shortly before his death in 1975, is now known solely as a writer of essays on the game of cricket. During his lifetime, though, he was also one of England’s foremost classical-music critics, a stylist so widely admired that his Autobiography (1947) became a best-seller. He was knighted in 1967, the first music critic to be so honored. Yet only one of his books is now in print, and his vast body of writings on music is unknown save to specialists.
Is there any chance that Cardus’s criticism will enjoy a revival? The prospect seems remote. Journalistic tastes had changed long before his death, and postmodern readers have little use for the richly upholstered Vicwardian prose in which he specialized. Moreover, the amateur tradition in music criticism has been in headlong retreat.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the first two paragraphs?A.English-language newspapers with more arts coverage sell well. |
B.Young readers nowadays enjoy reading high-quality arts criticism. |
C.The criticism published in the 20th century lacked learned contents. |
D.There were more arts reviews in English-language newspapers in the past. |
A.The newsprint was too cheap to make profits. |
B.Not all writers were capable of journalistic writing. |
C.Arts criticism was removed from the print newspapers. |
D.Writers are likely to be tempted into journalism. |
A.Because he mainly wrote essays on the game of cricket. |
B.Because people cast doubt on his reputation as a knight. |
C.Because his music criticism failed to appeal to readers nowadays. |
D.Because his works were quite amateur rather than professional. |
A.The Distinguished Critics in Memory | B.The Lost Horizon in Newspapers |
C.The Shortage of Literary Geniuses | D.The Newspapers of the Good Old Days |
8 . The closer one studies the gig economy (灰色经济), the less fun it sounds. Those who make their living this way, generally
Bodies such as the International Labor Organization characterize this kind of employment as mostly low paid and
Attention is turning to the health and wellbeing of this fast-growing workforce, which
Those studies, conducted over three decades by Sir Michael Marmot, demonstrated the
The
One study on the Italian workforce, published last year in Social Science and Medicine, suggests that those on
Gig work is often conducted privately, in cars and homes, from bicycles and motorbikes, instead of from a
A.reflecting on | B.working for | C.getting along | D.serving with |
A.are regarded as | B.are defined as | C.are related to | D.are involved in |
A.insane | B.innocent | C.insecure | D.inventive |
A.legal | B.progressive | C.ambitious | D.miserable |
A.counts | B.numbers | C.predicts | D.forecasts |
A.problems | B.workers | C.studies | D.needs |
A.thread | B.clue | C.role | D.link |
A.situation | B.rates | C.case | D.position |
A.display | B.sense | C.awareness | D.expression |
A.mate | B.boss | C.worker | D.supervisor |
A.permanent | B.momentary | C.casual | D.temporary |
A.flu | B.diabetes | C.stroke | D.depression |
A.As | B.Because | C.Therefore | D.While |
A.initiative | B.drive | C.inspiration | D.ambition |
A.tricky | B.enjoyable | C.shared | D.lovable |
9 . By the age of seven months, most children have learned that objects still exist even when they are out of sight. Put a toy under a blanket and a child that old will know it is still there, and that he can reach underneath the blanket to get it back. This understanding, of “object permanence”, is a normal developmental milestone, as well as a basic tenet of reality. It is also something that self-driving cars do not have. And that is a problem. For a self-driving car, a bicycle that is momentarily hidden by a passing van is a bicycle that has ceased to exist.
This failing is basic to the now-widespread computing discipline that has arrogated to itself the slightly misleading moniker of artificial intelligence (AI). Current AI, based on the idea of machine learning, works by building up complex statistical models of the world, but it lacks a deeper understanding of reality. Similar techniques are used to train self-driving cars to operate in traffic. Cars thus learn how to obey lane markings, avoid other vehicles, hit the brakes at a red light and so on. But they do not understand many things a human driver takes for granted—that other cars on the road have engines and four wheels, or that they obey traffic regulations (usually) and the laws of physics (always). And they do not understand object permanence.
In a recent paper in Artificial Intelligence, Mehul Bhatt of Orebro University, in Sweden, describes a different approach. He and his colleagues took some existing AI programs which are used by self-driving cars and bolted onto them a piece of software called a symbolic-reasoning engine.
Instead of approaching the world probabilistically, as machine learning does, this software was programmed to apply basic physical concepts to the output of the programs that process signals from an autonomous vehicle's sensors. This modified output was then fed to the software which drives the vehicle. The concepts involved included the ideas that discrete objects continue to exist over time, that they have spatial relationships with one another-such as “in-front-of” and “behind”—and that they can be fully or partly visible, or completely hidden by another object. The improvement was not huge, but it proved the principle. And it also yielded something else. For, unlike a machine-learning algorithm, a reasoning engine can tell you the reason why it did what it did. A machine-learning program cannot do that. Besides helping improve program design, such information will, Dr Bhatt reckons, help regulators and insurance companies. It may thus speed up public acceptance of autonomous vehicles.
1. Why does the author mention a bicycle hidden by a van in the first paragraph?A.To show the self-driving car isn't as able to know an object permanently exists as a 7-month-old child. |
B.To make a comparison between a self-driving car and a bicycle that can for a moment cease to exist. |
C.To consolidate the problem a self-driving car has as opposed to a 7-month-old child. |
D.To verify the fact that a self-driving car isn't as intelligent as a 7-month-old child. |
A.It fails as a misleading computing discipline used on self-driving cars. |
B.It basically works on machine learning which is effective to train cars how to operate in traffic. |
C.It is not that intelligent compared with the real human intelligence, hence the name AI. |
D.It can teach cars many things except the reasons why they have engines and four wheels. |
A.When an accident is around the corner, the car automatically alarms the driver. |
B.If the car momentarily blocked the sight of another, it could predict and take steps to avoid bumping. |
C.The car can make up reasons for hitting the brakes when a bicycle hidden by a van is about to appear. |
D.When you are at a loss how you can make it to the destination, the car can always figure out the best route. |
A.Is reasoning-engine better than machine learning? |
B.Is it smarter than a seven-month-old? |
C.Al---a misleading moniker |
D.The self-reflection of a self-driving car |
10 . Adults are often embarrassed about asking for help. Its an act that can make people feel sensitive. The moment you ask for directions, after all, you reveal (泄露) that you may be lost. Seeking someone’s assistance can make you feel like you are broadcasting your incompetence. New research suggests young children don’t seek help in school, even when they need it, for the same reason.
To learn more about how children think about seeking help, we asked 576 children, ages four to nine, to predict the behavior of two kids in a story. One of the characters genuinely wanted to be smart, and the other merely wanted to seem smart to others.
Children thought that the kid who wanted to seem smart would be less likely to ask for assistance. They could still conceive of (想象) situations in which the kid who wanted to seem smart would seek help: when assistance could be sought privately (on a computer rather than in person), children thought both characters were equally likely to ask for it.
We also found that they recognize several more behaviors that might make a child appear less smart in front of fellow kids, such as admitting to failure or modestly downplaying successes. Children are therefore acutely aware of several ways in which a person’s actions might make them appear less clever in the eyes of others.
However, a number of solutions can be found to help children. Our Gist instinct may be to motivate seeking help by emphasizing its educational benefits. But reputational barriers likely require reputation-based solutions. For example, instructors could create activities in which each student becomes an “expert” on a different topic, and then children must ask one another for help to master all of die material. If seeking help is understood as a commonplace classroom activity, kids may be less likely to think of it as indicative (表明) of one’s ability.
Seeking help could even be framed as socially desirable. After all, asking for help often benefits not just die help seeker but also others listening in who have similar questions or struggles.
1. What feature do the adults and young children share?A.They seldom ask for directions. |
B.They are afraid of being laughed at. |
C.They hesitate to seek assistance. |
D.They regard themselves as incompetence. |
A.Teachers should praise kids for seeking assistance. |
B.Assistance only works when sought privately, |
C.It seems possible that children themselves are not struggling. |
D.Children care deeply about the way others think about them. |
A.By making a comparison. | B.By referring to an example. |
C.By introducing a concept. | D.By telling a school story. |
A.Why Kids Are Afraid to Ask for Help. |
B.Seeking Help Makes Kids Feel Uncomfortable. |
C.Unwillingness to Seek Help Stop Academic Progress. |
D.How Can We Help Children Overcome the Barrier, |