1 . Bowhead whales can live 200 years or longer. How they do it is no longer among the secrets of the deep.
Scientists have mapped the genetic code of this long lived whale species. The international effort found unusual features in the Arctic whale’s genes. Those features likely protect the species against cancer and other problems related to old age. The researchers hope their findings will one day translate into ways to help people too.
“We hope to learn what is the secret of bowhead whales living longer, healthier lives,” says Joao Pedru de Magalhes. He is a gerontologist at the University of Liverpool in England. (Gerontology is the scientific study of old age. ) He is also a co-author of the study that appeared in Cell Reports. His team hopes, he says, that its new findings might one day be used to improve human health and preserve human life.
No other mammals are known to live as long as the bowhead whales. Scientists have shown that some of these whales have lived well beyond 100 — including one that survived to 216. For perspective, if he were still alive, Abraham Lincoln would be turning just 211 this year.
Dr. Magalhäes’ team wanted to understand how the bowhead can live so long. To find out this, the experts analyzed the animal’s complete set of genes, called its genome. Those instructions are coded in the animal’s DNA. The team also compared the whale’s genome to that of people, mice and cows.
The scientists discovered differences, including mutations, in the whale’s genes. Those changes are linked to cancer, aging and cell growth. The results suggest that the whales are better than humans at repairing their DNA. That’s important because damaged or flawed DNA can lead to disease, including some cancers.
Bowhead whales are also better at keeping abnormally dividing cells in check. Together, the changes appear to allow bowhead whales to live longer without developing age related diseases such as cancer, said Magalhäes.
1. What can you know from the passage?| A．How bowhead whales five so long is still a mystery to scientists. |
| B．Bowhead whales live the longest among all the sea animals. |
| C．Most bowhead whales can live beyond 100. |
| D．The result of the research may be beneficial to human life span. |
| A．Lincoln died one hundred years age | B．Lincoln should have lived much longer. |
| C．the lifetime of bowhead whales is very long. | D．their study unlocked the secret of Lincoln’s death. |
| A．it faces little danger in its life |
| B．its DNA has a strong ability of self-repairing |
| C．it has a complete set of genetic instructions |
| D．its living environment is better than that of humans |
| A．Disabled | B．Changed | C．Misled | D．repaired |
| A．the bowhead is the animal which lives the longest |
| B．scientists have found ways to treat humans’ disease |
| C．scientists have new findings in search of bow head whales |
| D．bowhead whales may unlock the secrets of a long, healthy life |
2 . Books have incredible power. Between their
For several years now, Maria Keller, a teenager from Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been trying to
When she was 8 years old, Maria already loved reading. She also noticed that some of her classmates didn’t read as much as she did. When she asked her mother why that was, her mother said that they might not be able to
With her mother’s help, Maria
During the early stages of Read Indeed, Maria set the
It didn’t take long to
She said, “I can not live without books. As I continue my mission, I have learned that the number of kids who have no books is in the hundreds of millions. So I just can’t
She recently set a new goal: to
| A．themes | B．pages | C．blanks | D．columns |
| A．However | B．Besides | C．Instead | D．Meanwhile |
| A．accept | B．introduce | C．change | D．understand |
| A．choose | B．spare | C．afford | D．keep |
| A．decide | B．explain | C．believe | D．agree |
| A．excited | B．worried | C．satisfied | D．determined |
| A．contacted | B．created | C．studied | D．discovered |
| A．in safety | B．in danger | C．in trouble | D．in need |
| A．goal | B．point | C．rule | D．limit |
| A．set | B．put | C．reach | D．start |
| A．sold | B．shipped | C．lent | D．returned |
| A．set off | B．get away | C．give off | D．give up |
| A．common | B．original | C．important | D．distant |
| A．distribute | B．collect | C．attach | D．devote |
| A．experience | B．research | C．progress | D．investment |
3 . Many of us like to eat out and treat ourselves to delicious food. We are used to choosing hearty, fat-filled dishes and sugary desserts, which are not easily cooked at home.
The recent rise of light meals, however, gives us a smarter choice. According to Economic Daily, low-calorie, low-fat and high-fiber meals have become popular in China’s restaurants and online delivery platforms.
The country saw a rapid increase of restaurants concentrating on light meal. From just 600 in 2017 to more than 3,500 in 2018. According to a report published by Meituan a major online food delivery platform, the number of light meals ordered online also rise 75 percent from the previous year.
Having a light meal, however, doesn’t mean eating only vegetables. Different from the meat-free lifestyle, a typical light dish avoids oily, salty and spicy food. Instead, it contains things like boiled meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Healthy nutrients are the theme of the light meal. These dishes are useful for keeping healthy and controlling your weight. That’s probably why so many people, especially the youths are into them.
They see it as “a great way to avoid getting fat,” wrote the Telegraph.
“After eating several light meals, I now prefer light flavours,” Zou Jing a college teacher in Wuhan, told China Daily. She shared a picture of her lunch: a mixture of beef eggs, corn, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.
These changes in eating behaviour are connected to deeper changes in how people think about food, says Walter Willett. Chairman of the nutrition department at the Hanard T. Chan School of Public Health, U.S.,“ Diet quality, not quantity is important for both weight control and long-term well-being.” Willett told The New York Times. So the next time you have a party with friends, try a light meal, it will satisfy, not only your stomachs but may be also your hearts.
1. What are light meals?| A．Fat-filled dishes. | B．Meat free dishes. |
| C．sugary desserts. | D．low calorie and high fiber meals. |
| A．Listing numbers. | B．Giving examples |
| C．Giving descriptions. | D．Showing other people’s opinions. |
| A．They are usually colourful. | B．They are simple and convenient. |
| C．They are cheaper than other meals. | D．They can help people control their weight. |
| A．Light meals will stay popular for a while. |
| B．One’s eating habit shows their personality. |
| C．There is a change in attitude toward healthy eating. |
| D．It’s important to cat the right amount of good food. |
| A．How to keep fit | B．Living the light life |
| C．Tips on eating out | D．The rise of online food delivery platform |
4 . If you’re worried about the planet, please make sure your rubbish is buried under the ground.
People talk about “reduce, reuse, recycle.” It sounds like a good idea. There is a problem, though. Recycling costs too much money.
Even the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) says it only makes sense economically and environmentally to recycle about 35 percent of thrown materials, Among those materials are paper and aluminum cans (铝罐), Recycling 1 ton of paper or aluminum cans, the agency says, can save about 3 tons of CO2 emissions (排放) overproducing those materials again. Paper producers pay for the trees they process If it was cost-effective to recycle paper. producers would be beating down your door to bay it. But they aren’t. That means it’s more expensive to recycle old paper than to cut trees and then replant trees for processing.
Plastic can be recycled too. Because of the recent drop in crude oil (原油) prices. it is now cheaper to make a new plastic container (塑料容器) than to recycle an old one. Even if that were not true, the EPA says that recycling a ton of plastic saves only about a ton of CO2. However, it doesn’t take into consideration the water most people use to wash their plastic containers before having them recycled. The New York Times Journalist John
Tierney recently wrote. “If you wash plastic in water that was heated by electricity, them the effect of your recycling could be mere carbon in the air.
Glass is another recyclable material. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions by I ton, you have to recycle 3 tons of glass. If one includes the cost of collecting glass waste from neighborhoods, and the pollution produced by the collection trucks and the recycling process itself, glass recycling creates more greenhouse gas emissions and is more expensive than making new glass, which comes primarily from sand that exists everywhere.
If recycling were truly cost-effective, private companies would be lining up at your doorstep to buy your rubbish. Don’t look now because they’re not there.
1. What’s the EPA’S attitude to recycling aluminum cans?| A．It is helpful to the environment. | B．It is actually a waste of money. |
| C．It costs less than recycling paper. | D．It costs the same as producing new cans. |
| A．The crude oil. | B．The water pollution. |
| C．The process to clean it. | D．The electricity for lights. |
| A．It results in lots of waste in neighborhoods. |
| B．The material for new glass can be easily got. |
| C．It is slightly more expensive than recycling glass. |
| D．Making 3 tons of new glass produces I ton of carbon emissions. |
| A．Recycling will disappear soon. |
| B．Companies will line up at your doorstep. |
| C．Recycling is a way to deal with your rubbish. |
| D．Companies won’t bother to collect thrown materials. |
| A．Whose fault is it? | B．Where does waste go? |
| C．Is everything recyclable? | D．Is it really worth the effort? |
5 . I took the bus to work for many years. No one
One of the
One July morning he said good morning to the driver and
The next day, the old man boarded with a big smile again and said in a
One morning he was
Then, one morning, as autumn was closing in, Charlie wasn't
The old gentleman was
| A．knew | B．1iked | C．saw | D．met |
| A．excitedly | B．sleepily | C．happily | D．nervously |
| A．drivers | B．tourists | C．cyclists | D．passengers |
| A．laughed | B．smiled | C．answered | D．complained |
| A．silent | B．scared | C．bored | D．relaxed |
| A．weak | B．loud | C．familiar | D．low |
| A．looked on | B．looked down | C．looked up | D．looked away |
| A．suddenly | B．immediately | C．finally | D．gradually |
| A．dressed in | B．dressed up | C．putting on | D．trying on |
| A．books | B．grapes | C．flowers | D．keys |
| A．teacher | B．girlfriend | C．classmate | D．friend |
| A．and | B．although | C．so | D．but |
| A．painted | B．grew | C．brought | D．picked |
| A．happy | B．fancy | C．awkward | D．ideal |
| A．talking | B．waiting | C．looking | D．checking |
| A．back | B．over | C．farther | D．nearer |
| A．ask about | B．exchange with | C．speak to | D．agree with |
| A．dead | B．ill | C．fine | D．cheerful |
| A．face | B．hand | C．hair | D．beard |
| A．mentioned | B．remembered | C．ignored | D．noticed |
6 . Parents should stop blaming (责备) themselves because there’s not a lot they can do about it. I mean the teenager problem. Whatever you do or however you choose to deal with it, at certain times a wonderful, reasonable and helpful child will turn into a terrible animal.
I’ve seen friends deal with it in all kinds of different ways. One strict mother insisted that her son, right from a child, should stand up whenever anyone entered the room, open doors and shake hands like a gentleman. I saw him last week when I called round. Sprawling himself (懒散地躺) on the sofa in full length, he made no attempt to turn off the loud TV he was watching as I walked in, and his greeting was no more than a quick glance at me. His mother was ashamed. “I don't know what to do with him these days,” she said. “He’s forgotten all the manners we taught him.”
He hasn't forgotten them. He' s just decided that he' s not going to use them. She confessed (坦白) that she would like to come up behind him and throw him down from the sofa onto the floor.
Another good friend of mine let her two daughters climb all over the furniture, reach across the table, stare at me and say, “I don’t like your dress; it’s ugly.” One of the daughters has recently been driven out of school. The other has left home.
“Where did we go wrong?” her parents are now very sad. Probably nowhere much. At least, no more than the rest of that unfortunate race, parents.
1. This text is most probably written by ________.| A．an expert in teenager studies | B．a headmaster of a middle school |
| C．a parent with teenage children | D．a doctor for mental health problems |
| A．the change from good to bad that ' s seen in a child |
| B．the way that parents often blame themselves |
| C．the opinion that a child has of his parents |
| D．the advice that parents want their children to follow |
| A．lazy | B．quiet | C．unusual | D．rude |
| A．pay no attention to them | B．are too busy to look after them |
| C．have come to hate them | D．feel helpless to do much about them |
| A．Parents have no choice but to try to accept it. |
| B．Parents shouldn’t pay attention to the change at all. |
| C．Parents should work more closely with school teachers. |
| D．Parents are to blame for the change in their children. |
7 . Wind power is a very clean source of energy. This is how wind power works. Wind makes windmills spin(旋转). When the windmills spin, they make electricity. Then we can use the electricity.
A lot of people think that wind power is new, but that’s not true. For thousands of years, people have used wind to sail boats and move water. We still do those things today, but these days we mostly use wind power to make electricity.
Wind power is a very popular source of energy. Most people think that we should use it more and more. First of all, it’s clean. Windmills don’t pollute the environment at all. Second, we can use wind power forever. After all, we will always have wind. Also, wind power is cheap, and it’s getting even cheaper.
A lot of people don’t understand wind power very well. They believe that there are problems with wind power, but many of those problems are not real. For example, some people say that windmills are dangerous for birds. They used to be true, but it isn’t true anymore. Old windmills killed birds because they spun very fast. New windmills spin slowly, and they aren’t dangerous for birds.
However, there are real problems with windmills. One problem is that many people think windmills are very ugly. This is a problem for people, because windmills are often in very pretty areas. Also, wind doesn’t blow all the time, so we can’t use wind power all the time. Finally, windmills are noisy.
Wind power is becoming more and more common. Right now, more than 80 countries use wind power. About 2.5 percent of the world’s power comes from the wind. For some countries, that number is a lot higher. Wind power gives Denmark more than 25 percent of its electricity.
1. Why DON’T new windmills kill birds? Because ________.| A．birds don’t fly near them | B．they are shorter than old windmills |
| C．they spin slowly | D．new windmills don’t spin |
| A．Over 1,000 years ago. | B．About 500 years ago. |
| C．About 80 years ago. | D．About 25 years ago. |
| A．We can’t use windmills at night |
| B．Windmills break all the time |
| C．Wind doesn’t blow all the time |
| D．Windmills are too expensive to use all the time |
| A．Most people don’t like it. | B．Denmark doesn’t use it. |
| C．It’s getting more expensive. | D．It’s getting cheaper. |
| A．Dangerous Birds | B．Popular and Clean Wind Power |
| C．Cheap and Clean Energy | D．Expensive Windmills |
8 . There was a story many years ago of a school teacher--- Mrs. Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He didn’t play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.
Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother’s perfume (香水).
Teddy said, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to.” After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. The boy’s mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.
Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. He went to college. Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M. D.(医学博士).
The story doesn’t end there. On his wedding day, Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference.”
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”
1. What did Mrs. Thompson do on the first day of school?| A．She made Teddy feel ashamed. |
| B．She asked the children to play with Teddy. |
| C．She changed Teddy’s seat to the front row. |
| D．She told the class something untrue about herself. |
| A．He often told lies. | B．He was good at math. |
| C．He needed motherly care. | D．He enjoyed playing with others. |
| A．His mother’s perfume. | B．A bag. |
| C．Some flowers. | D．Some books. |
| A．She taught fewer school subjects. |
| B．She became stricter with her students. |
| C．She no longer liked her job as a teacher. |
| D．She cared more about educating students. |
| A．She had kept in touch with him. |
| B．She had given him encouragement. |
| C．She had sent him Christmas presents. |
| D．She had taught him how to judge people. |
9 . Music is a language which speaks to everyone—from the day we are born we hear music of some kind of our lives. But there are as many different kinds of music as there are different languages, and it is impossible to describe them all. Here are just a few well-known types.
Classical music is serious Western European music from the Middle Ages to the present (1500 to today) and it is often written for a large orchestra, or for a small group of players. Many instruments can be used. A lot of classical music is also written to be sung as opera. Classical music is very popular and schools often teach this type of music.
Jazz developed in the Southern States of North America at the beginning of this century. The black people of these states, who were originally slaves from Africa, had their own rhythms. Jazz brought classical music and African rhythms together.
Blues was originally black country music from the Southern States at the beginning of this century. It is slow, usually sad music which is often sung by one person with a guitar.
Rhythm and Blues(R&B) developed from the Blues in America in the 1940s. It became faster and more complex and used more instruments, eg. Saxophone, guitar, piano, drums. The music was often about city life and white musicians started playing it as well.
Musicians developed Rock and Roll from Rhythm and Blues in the 1950s and it became popular with young people. It spread to Europe in the 1960s and is now known in most countries. A lot of pop music comes from Rock and Roll.
Pop music developed from Rock and Roll in America, Britain and Europe in the 1960s and is now in every country. The name is used for most commercial music, which we can buy on records and hear on “pop radio”. It is usually played by groups who often use electronic instruments and make videos to go with their records.
1. A classical piece of music which is sung in a theater is called ________.| A．opera | B．jazz | C．Blues | D．Rock and Roll |
| A．films | B．tapes | C．videos | D．radios |
| A．Rhythm and Blues | B．Jazz and Blues |
| C．Rock and Roll | D．Pop music |
| A．the young | B．the old | C．the middle-aged | D．teenagers |
| A．that music is an international language | B．how music is spread around the world |
| C．a few different kinds of music and their history | D．how jazz was developed in America |
10 . Below is a web page from http://www.parents.com/
Kid of the Year Photo Contest
Enter your kid’s photo today and win! We’re giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers’ Choice votes. Plus, our editors will select one entry to win our grand prize of $7,000.
Official Contest Rules
No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12:00 a.m. January 23, 2022, and ends January 21, 2023 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must arrive by 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2023 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.
SPONSOR: Meredith Corporation, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.
ENTRY: There will be two methods of entry.
Share My Entry: Visit http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-l/kid-of-the-year/ and click the button to enter.
Facebook Entry: Visit http://www.Facebook.com/ParentsMagazine and click the Kid of 2022 tab.
Then complete the registration form and follow the instructions to upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos, without any brand names or trademarks, must be taken by participants, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats and cannot exceed 3 MB.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or run by, or associated with Facebook. You are providing your information to Parents Magazine and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to run the promotion and register for Parents.com.
Photos must not contain material that infringes the rights of another, including privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright violation.
LIMIT: One entry per household, per child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one child in a family, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.
1. What can we learn about the contest?| A．The editors of the contest will decide who will win the 20,000 dollars in prizes. |
| B．You should buy something first before you enter the contest. |
| C．You should send your entry before 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2022. |
| D．Your entry will not be returned even if you don’t win the contest. |
| A．contain brand names or trademarks | B．be taken by non-professional participants |
| C．have won some prize or award | D．contain parents’ personal information |
| A．Grasps. | B．Obtains. | C．Violates. | D．Cheats. |
| A．provide a description and an album title for the kid’s photos |
| B．go to Meredith Corporation to fill out the registration forms |
| C．complete the entry process separately for each of her kids |
| D．provide the information to Facebook if she chooses Facebook Entry |
| A．To advertise the website Facebook.com. |
| B．To encourage parents with children to enter a photo contest. |
| C．To introduce two methods of entering a photo contest. |
| D．To attract photographers’ interest in a photo contest. |
