1 . A new study has found that smiling at London bus drivers increases happiness. However, on the Number 24 bus to Hampstead Heath, Londoners are sceptical. “Bus drivers,” says Liz Hands, a passenger, “are generally annoying.”
It might seem improbable that a report on London’s buses could change behaviour. But it has happened before. London’s buses have an underappreciated role in the history of medical science. In the 1940s, a single study of London’s transport workers transformed epidemiology (流行病学), medicine and the way we live now. Every time you go on a run, check your step-count, or take the stairs instead of the lift, you are following a path pioneered by the feet of the workers on London’s buses.
In the late 1940s, doctors were worried. Britain, like many rich countries, was suffering from an “epidemic” of heart disease and no one knew why. Various hypotheses, such as stress, were suggested; but one thing that was not exercising researchers was exercise. The idea that health and exercise were linked “wasn’t the accepted fact that we know today”, says Nick Wareham, a professor of epidemiology at Cambridge University. Some even felt that “too much physical activity was a bad thing for your health”. Miners and farmers who did physical exercise also suffered from various diseases and died young.
At this time a young doctor called Jerry Morris started to suspect that the increasing deaths from heart disease might be linked to occupation. He began studying the medical records of 31,000 London transport workers. His findings were breathtaking: conductors, who spent their time running up and down stairs, had an approximately 30% lower possibility of disease than drivers, who sat down all day. Exercise was keeping people alive.
Morris’s research was eventually published in 1953, just three years after a study by Richard Doll proving the link between smoking and lung cancer. Morris’s work had consequences both big and small. Morris now also took up exercise, handing his jacket to his daughter and just running. “People thought I was bananas.” Slowly, the rest of the world took off its jacket and followed.
1. Why does the author mention the new study in the first paragraph?A.To clarify a concept. | B.To introduce the topic. |
C.To present the argument. | D.To provide an example. |
A.Encouraging researchers to work out. | B.Helping with researchers’ inquiry. |
C.Hold back researchers’ progress. | D.Drawing researchers’ attention. |
A.By carrying out survey. | B.By observing their routines. |
C.By doing medical examinations. | D.By analyzing the medical data. |
A.Smiling and Its Effects on London Bus Drivers. |
B.The Evolution of London’s Transportation System. |
C.How London Bus Drivers Led the world to exercise. |
D.What Londoners Think about Studies on Bus Drivers. |
Baduanjin, a kind of exercise regarded as a unique spot t among the aged, has gained
More than 1,000 videos about Baduanjin can be found on Bilibili ,
The exercise also becomes part of PE class at a college. “Our school asked us to do this exercise and sent a video
3 . The first time I realized that I had a love for sports competitions was during the Field Day in elementary school. Small for my age, and more of a bookworm than a sports enthusiast, I had suffered that special humiliation of being picked last for various gym teams. The Field Day, which focused on individual skills, was different. In the Softball Throw event, I got my first taste of sporting victory. Credit goes to the example of my first coach, my father. He lifted weights every morning at home. He bought us all baseball gloves and hats, and in the warm months, we spent hours playing catch. Come fall, our backyard football games began with passing practice.
Once I got to sixth grade and switched to private school, our entire student body was assigned to either the Red or the White team. Throughout the year, we competed against each other in various games and exercises for points. I eventually became president of The Committee of Games, accelerating (加速) my competitive fever. However, in girls’ sports games at my school, I was no star. I also played on the field hockey team and the basketball team. School sports did not bleed into the weekends, as they do today, but at home, playing tennis, skating, skiing and biking were simply normal things we did. During break time, magazines were also quite popular for us teens. These regularly featured articles on physical exercise. Somehow, my college roommate and I took up the habit of completing Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) exercises every day, a practice that continued into my marriage, when we had no spare funds to use to join a gym.
So, though it shocks some of our friends, that early foundation evolved in adulthood into a sports and fitness focus, considered essential even on vacation. I still love reading and the arts, too. As far as I’m concerned, life is the richest with my feet in both worlds.
1. What does the underlined word “humiliation” mean in Paragraph 1?A.responsibility | B.panic | C.shame | D.desire |
A.Her advanced sports outfits. | B.Her confidence in her sports ability. |
C.The sports talent inherited from her father. | D.The example and training offered by her father. |
A.She generally exercised on weekends. | B.She joined Royal Canadian Air Force. |
C.She preferred reading to exercising. | D.She maintained her love for sports. |
A.To describe how her father built her interest in sports. |
B.To recall her childhood memories about sports. |
C.To express her passion for sports and fitness. |
D.To emphasize the benefits of physical exercise. |
4 . Every August, teams with players about 10 years old play baseball across the US, with the aim to become Little League
On August 7th, Kaiden Shelton, from Texas,
Isaiah called a timeout upon seeing his
A video of the moment was posted online and attracted more than 6.5 million views. Danny Graves, a sports announcer, said Isaiah’s
The Texas team won the game 9-4 to
A.candidates | B.volunteers | C.champions | D.reporters |
A.replaced | B.hugged | C.challenged | D.identified |
A.embarrassing | B.confusing | C.amusing | D.touching |
A.faced | B.saved | C.assisted | D.needed |
A.possibly | B.suddenly | C.gradually | D.nearly |
A.attended to | B.appealed to | C.referred to | D.objected to |
A.video | B.celebration | C.game | D.tournament |
A.disappointed | B.annoyed | C.surprised | D.panicked |
A.partner | B.opponent | C.coach | D.fan |
A.protect | B.rescue | C.comfort | D.instruct |
A.powerful | B.typical | C.familiar | D.contradictory |
A.strength | B.sportsmanship | C.generosity | D.politeness |
A.apply | B.return | C.connect | D.head |
A.linked | B.admitted | C.invited | D.selected |
A.friendship | B.popularity | C.wealth | D.freedom |
If you get injured in a sport, what should you do? The best way
Your first question after a sport injury will
6 . It can be incredibly difficult to encourage ourselves to go for a run during winter, particularly when it’s wet and windy outside. But new research has found that even a super-quick run could have great health benefits. In fact, it seems that just a 10-minute session will not only make us feel better, but could actually improve brain health, too. Now, we all know that exercise can improve mental and physical health in many ways.
But when it comes to mental well-being, there’s been relatively little research done on the specific benefits of running, compared with other physical activities, such as cycling. So this was something put to the test during a recent study. Researchers from University of Tsukuba in Japan asked participants (参加者) to run on a treadmill (跑步机) for just 10 minutes. They then had to take a Stroop Color and Word Test which is used to measure reaction time in brain processing. Results showed there was a highest point in self-reported pleasure and an increase in degree of activity of the brain.
In other words, runners were found to have an increase in blood flow in the part of the brain that’s associated with dealing with functions and controlling mood (情绪). Researchers then compared these results to a similar study on cycling, which also showed improved cognition (认知), but no mood improvement. Therefore, it seems various types of exercise can make us feel differently.
The authors noted, “Given exercise is medicine, the effects of drugs differ depending on the type of drug, and different types of exercise such as running and cycling should be observed to have different effects on mental health and brain functions as well.”
So pushing ourselves to get outside for a run really will make us feel better, probably more than other fitness activities. And these findings show that we don’t necessarily need to do a lot of exercise to feel the benefit of it.
1. What did the new research find?A.Running fast benefits all of us. |
B.Running is the best exercise. |
C.A short time run can be beneficial. |
D.A healthy mind encourages us to run. |
A.By using different drugs on participants. |
B.By interviewing some sportsmen. |
C.By collecting information on the Internet. |
D.By doing experiments and comparisons. |
A.Cycling. | B.Medicine. | C.Blood flow. | D.Colors. |
A.We should go for a run in winter. |
B.Running really benefits us mentally. |
C.We don’t need a lot of exercise. |
D.Running on a treadmill is better than running outside. |
1. What sport does Janice like best?
A.Soccer. | B.Baseball. | C.Tennis. |
A.Play ball games. | B.Visit his friends. | C.Go to the tennis club |
“Leap”,
“Leap” is
9 . If you're out for a run, what difference does it make if you're able to tough it out for another 50 seconds? If you're less than a minute from the top of the hill, that extra time can make the difference between having reached your goal and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
How do you get those extra seconds of energy? A research team at the Texes Tech University developed a study to measure what effect listening to music would have on exercise tolerance. The researchers based the study on a stress testing. As part of the testing, they noted any changes in heart rate and blood pressure as participants underwent physically stressful exercise.
The tests were done on treadmills (跑步机), which increased in both speed and incline (坡度) through three stages. In the final stage, the treadmills moved at 10 miles per hour at a 14-percent grade. Most of these tests were designed to last up to 40 minutes. The average gym-goers lasted 30 minutes. For this study, they divided 127 participants into two groups. One listened to upbeat(快节奏) music, while the other group had earbuds in but did not listen to music.
The group that listened to music was able to outlast the non-music group by an average of 50.6 seconds. Again, being able to go an extra minute may seem like a no-brainer ,but “after 30 minutes, you feel like you are running up a mountain, so even being able to go 50 seconds longer means a lot," said the study's lead author, Waseem Shami, MD.
The study has confirmed something runners and gym-goers have suspected for years: Listening to music during workout can be beneficial to your endurance. "Our findings reinforce the idea that upbeat music can help you exercise longer and stick with a daily exercise routine," said Shami. When doctors are recommending exercise, they might suggest listening to music, too."
1. Why did Shami’s team conduct the research?A.To test the effect of music on health. | B.To know the cause of failure in sports. |
C.To improve runners' exercise tolerance. | D.To record the body change of participants |
A.They ran much faster than average runners. | B.They created a new record of indoor sports. |
C.They could run a little longer with music on. | D.They all enjoyed extreme physical challenge |
A.A dull activity. | B.A foolish action. |
C.A demanding task. | D.An easy practice |
A.Developing a daily exercise routine. | B.Listening to music while working out |
C.Participating in physical stress testing. | D.Taking exercise as doctors recommend. |
10 . Do big sporting events make us do more sport?
I recently spent half a weekend sitting on the sofa watching the Davis Cup. I thought about going for a run, but I did not want to miss the rest of the match. Soon it was starting to get dark, so I did not bother. Whenever I watch tennis, I think how nice it would be to play it regularly. But I have been thinking that for almost 20 years without actually setting foot on a court. The evidence would suggest that I’m not the only one.
When a country or city bids to host an international sporting event, it often promises that more people will take up sports as a result. London was no exception. Tessa Jowell, who helped to secure the 2012 Olympics for London, said they would be the first to set challenging but achievable targets as a measure of their ambition: By 2012 two million more people would be physically active. And 60 percent of young people would be doing at least five hours of sports per week.
In the end it did not turn out quite like that. Just over one-third of people in Britain take part in sports once a week. A report on Olympic and Paralympic legacy has said that a big change in participation levels simply has not happened.
Why isn’t there a big increase in people taking part in sports after most sporting events? Perhaps it is a mistake to assume an automatic link between watching sports and playing it. While the games are on, they actually encourage people to do just the opposite — to spend whole sunny days not out playing sports, but inside sitting on the sofa with the curtains shut to stop the sun shining on the TV screen and spoiling the view. We don’t expect half the audience of a hit musical to apply to drama school the next day, yet we seem to expect it of sporting events.
We might have sat on the sofa doing an impression of Usain Bolt’s bow-and-arrow signature pose. But how many of us have been inspired by watching him sprint (短跑) 100 meters? The high-level performances on show only remind people that they could never match the elite athletes in their sporting achievements even if they trained full time.
Maybe participation in sports is not the right legacy to expect after a major sporting event. It’s not so much that the Olympics failed to get people to participate but rather that this was never going to be the result. The Olympics can do many things, but maybe this cannot necessarily be one of them.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?A.The author prefers playing tennis to running. |
B.The author watches tennis matches very rarely. |
C.The author hasn’t played tennis in nearly two decades. |
D.The author didn’t go for a run because the match lasted longer than expected. |
A.to fasten | B.to protect | C.to obtain | D.to promise |
①it takes people a longer time to play sports than watch it
②watching sports actually discourages people from going out
③sporting events make people aware that they could never be as good as elite athletes
④people are too busy to get into the habit of taking part in sports
A.①② | B.②③ | C.③④ | D.①④ |
A.important | B.natural | C.harmful | D.unnecessary |