1 . Reading is good for more than just entertainment Sparing part of everyday to read printed books can make you a smarter, kinder, more relaxed individual. Involving kids in books, magazines, and more at an early age is a great way to encourage them to be lifelong readers, which means they'll reap these benefits for years to come.
Reading helps understand another personas feelings. Reading books doesn’t just make you smartest can make you a kinder person as well： According to a study in 2013,People who consume literary fiction have an easier time sensing and relating to emotions in other people. Great literature forces readers to step outside themselves and empathize with the characters they’re reading about.
Reading can lower stress. Feel stressed at the end of a long day? Cracking open a book is a good way to wind down. A 2009 study found that reading for just 30 minutes has similar stress-reducing effects to doing 30 minutes of yoga.
Reading is an excuse to put your phone away at night. Reading a physical book before going to bed is a great alternative to scrolling through your phone-something most of us admit to doing. Research has shown that smart phone use at night makes it harder for people to fall asleep and leads to an overall decline in sleep quality, Some experts say reading books, on the other hand ,can have relaxing effects, making it the ideal bedtime activity.
Reading helps families bond. When parents read out loud to their children ,they can pass on the benefits of reading and encourage meaningful interactions. To help kids get the positive effects of reading, parents should stick to physical picture books, A recent study found that printed books, unlike tablets and e-readers, can deepen connections between caretakers and children.
1. What is probably the beat title for the text?| A．Benefits of Reading Printed Books. |
| B．Stress-reducing Effects of Reading. |
| C．Connections between Parents and Kids. |
| D．Significance of Reading Great Literature. |
| A．search. | B．reduce. |
| C．obtain. | D．resist. |
| A．put your phone away |
| B．relax by reading on the smart phone |
| C．read a physical book before bedtime |
| D．do bedtime activities through your phone |
| A．Tablets and e-reader should be made* use of in reading. |
| B．Kids should read aloud to get positive effects of reading. |
| C．Meaningful interactions should be encouraged in games. |
| D．Printed books should be read to improve family connections. |
2 . Having your nose in a book might seem a little anti-social at times—but reading could actually make you a kinder, more considerate person, a study has found. Readers were more likely to act in a socially acceptable manner, while those who preferred watching television came across as less friendly and less understanding of others’ views, researchers said.
123 participants in the study were quizzed on their preferences for books, TV and plays at Kingston University, London. They were then tested on how much they considered people’s feelings and whether they acted to help others. Researchers told the British Psychological Society conference in Brighton yesterday that fiction fans showed more positive social behavior.
Readers of drama and romance novels were also empathetic, while lovers of experimental books showed the ability to see things from different directions. Comedy fans scored the highest for relating to others. The study suggested reading allows people to see different points of view enabling them to understand others better.
The researchers added, “Exposure to fiction relates to a range of empathetic abilities. Engaging with fictional prose and comedy in particular could be key to improving people’s empathetic abilities.”
However, the authors warned the study did not prove cause-and-effect. So it could be that reading causes positive behavior, or it could be that thoughtful, well-mannered people are more likely to prefer reading. So it is a good idea to pick up a book to begin your travel with the author. Each author will show how they would react to certain situations through their characters. Everyone can view the same situation differently, and from 1,001 different angles. The more you read, the much better you can understand other peoples’ opinions.
1. Why did the writer mention the result of watching television?| A．The writer is a anti-social reporter. | B．The writer shows benefits of reading. |
| C．The writer is a considerate person. | D．The writer becomes socially acceptable. |
| A．The skills of communicating. | B．The time of reading books. |
| C．The places of getting new books. | D．The ways of expressing feelings. |
| A．Readers of drama. | B．Writers of romance novels. |
| C．Readers of comedy. | D．Readers of experiments. |
3 . Sleep is essential for a person’s wellbeing. Researchers have found that sleep loss increases a person’s risk of developing serious medical conditions. Now, a new study has found that getting enough sleep is also the key to improving academic performance.
Jeffrey Grossman, who led the research, was not trying to find the correlation (相关性) between sleep and grades when he handed out Fitbits to the students in his class. Instead, the professor hoped the popular wrist-worn electronic device (装置), which tracks a person’s activity 24/7, would show a connection between physical exercise and academic achievement.
As part of the research, a quarter of the participants chose a fitness class specially created for the study. After the school term ended, the researchers carefully analysed the data. Much to Grossman’s surprise, they found no measurable difference in test performance between the group that had been physically active and the group that had not.
However, the study presented a surprising viewpoint in the journal Science of Learning. Going through the large amount of data, Grossman noticed an interesting trend (走向) from the participants sleep patterns. There was a straight-line relationship between the average amount of sleep and his/her grade on the exams.
Besides, it was not enough for students to just head to bed early the night before a test. Grossman says: “We’ve heard the phrase ‘Get a good night’s sleep, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.’ It turns out this does not relate at all to test performance. Instead, it’s the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matters most.”
The time students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those who went to bed in the early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as a higher-performing student.
The research does not prove that sleep is the only component that helps improve academic performance. However, Grossman says the results are a strong indication that sleep really matters. Who knew getting A’s just required some extra ZZZ’s?
1. What’s Grossman’s original purpose by using Fitbits in the research?| A．To improve students sleep patterns. |
| B．To regulate students’ daily behavior. |
| C．To monitor students’ physical condition. |
| D．To find effects of physical exercise on grades. |
| A．It was unexpected. | B．It was changeable |
| C．It was unreliable. | D．It was fruitless. |
| A．Sleep in the learning stage. | B．Average amount of sleep during tests. |
| C．Sleep quality the night before the test. | D．A regular bedtime. |
| A．Be Physically Active and Sleep More |
| B．Enough Sleep Benefits Our Wellbeing |
| C．Catch ZZZ’s for Good Test Performance |
| D．The More Exercise, the Better Schoolwork |
4 . When Denis wants to relax at work, he steps into a quiet room, sits in a chair, slips on a virtual-reality headset, and escapes to the beach. For Denis, those minutes are a tool he relies on regularly to both relieve and prevent stress.
He's not the only one at his company to use the room, where workers can also use a headset to watch a moon walk, take a virtual roller-coaster ride or access a meditation (冥想) app.
Research shows VR can help reduce pain and anxiety. But it's not yet clear why it works. Experts believe it's related to the technology's power to distract.
''Whatever their problems are, whatever their stresses are, they can literally neglect them and have a different emotional pulse, '' Denis said.
Virtual-reality headsets haven't taken off with consumers, but they're now powerful and inexpensive enough for companies to consider investing in them to help make workers and customers happier.
The headsets may help people take a virtual break from their surroundings, but there are challenges to consider. Ramon Llamas, a tech market researcher, noted that there could be challenges in handing out headsets. Some people get sick or dizzy while using virtual reality, and the headsets may get dirty or broken. There's also the task of quickly familiarizing people with using the headsets, especially since VR adoption has been so limited and the ways they are controlled can vary.
For now, Llamas said, he's concerned about privacy and security. What if, for instance, someone manages to back into a headset and insert some content into what you're watching?
Another potential issue is the managing of the headsets and software that goes along with them. This is likely not a complication for an office like Umber Realty's, where people can simply take a headset off if they feel something wrong. But it could be more of a problem if you're stuck in a dentist's chair. ''The last thing you want is that in the middle of extracting a tooth something goes wrong.'' Llamas said.
1. What does Denis's company use Virtual Reality for?| A．Improving the customers' experience. |
| B．Displaying the schedule of his company. |
| C．Relieving the staff's work pressure. |
| D．Saving the trouble of transportation. |
| A．Ignoring reality for the moment. | B．Improving their thinking. |
| C．Designing work for the company. | D．Investing in a new industry. |
| A．The potential problems with VR. |
| B．The privacy policy available for VR. |
| C．The management of these devices in the market. |
| D．The standards the VR technology is to follow. |
| A．VR, a promising business in future! | B．Is VR always making us relax? |
| C．The adoption of VR needs investments. | D．Are we saying ''goodbye'' to VR? |
5 . A few weeks ago, I bought a locally-grown salad from a vending machine(自动售货机). But then I immediately realized that it was packaged in a plastic jar. ''I guess I live with this jar now and forever. '' I thought sadly as I stared down at my new child.
The salad jar was only the latest in a long line of examples of how I am addicted to the responsibility of reusing everything, trying to never throw anything away. Water bottles have been given second lives, and berry containers are transformed into Tupperware. I recently even looked at a plastic straw in my fruit juice: Could I reuse it too…?
Yet trying to squeeze my salad jar under my kitchen counter this weekend, I finally had to admit: Being an environmentalist has turned me into a hoarder(囤积者). While keeping a certain number of jars and vegetable bags will allow me not to buy new containers, at a certain point those 30 berry containers begin to get a bit unnecessary. Who am I kidding? Then one day I came across a blog post that asks accusingly. ''Are you turning your own home into a landfill(垃圾填埋场)? ''
In my defense, there is absolutely no excuse not to be a conscious consumer. The solution is painfully obvious, but hard to admit: Delaying waste is not, in fact, rejecting waste. In an over-packaged, over-consuming culture, this can feel like a burden. While I refuse to throw away packaging, the fact remains: I already have it. The damage is done. I've been ignoring one of the most essential and difficult parts—reduce, reuse, recycle. Even if I go out of my way to reuse the waste I do have, I need to reduce what I am bringing home in the first place.
While I might not be ready to go full zero-waste, it's a goal that is admirable to work toward. Until then, my salad jar child is going to make a great overnight oats jar.
1. What does the author try to indicate by the last sentence in paragraph 2 ?| A．How important reusing is. |
| B．How enthusiastic she is about reusing. |
| C．How she makes use of the plastic straw. |
| D．Why she is responsible for reusing plastic straws. |
| A．She enjoys collecting a variety of small jars. |
| B．She has saved far more containers than she needs. |
| C．She likes the idea of saving fine packages in daily life. |
| D．She stores more berry containers than other containers. |
| A．Over-packaging. | B．Delaying waste. |
| C．Over-consuming. | D．Rejecting waste. |
| A．buy fewer over-packaged goods |
| B．throw away unnecessary packaging |
| C．reuse materials as much as possible |
| D．appreciate the value of recycling materials |
6 . It is common for adults to use ''baby talk'' when interacting with babies. This way of speaking attempts to imitate the sounds babies make when they first try to talk. But is this form of communication helpful to a child’s development?
Several studies have suggested a clear link between parental language methods and a child's early language development. Studies showed that language learning in babies was improved when parents spoke more than a few simple words and used a wider vocabulary. Earlier research found that the style of speech used by parents to communicate with their baby could have an influence on language development.
One such speaking style is known as ''parentese''. Research has shown that babies react better to this kind of language in the first months of life. Generally, parentese involves adults speaking in a higher voice and at a slower speed. The language is simplified, while sentences are short and often repeated. Studies from the past 30 years have confirmed that babies spoken to in parentese developed larger vocabularies throughout the first three years of life.
A new study on the subject, a project of the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, examined whether parents can be effectively taught methods to improve their parentese skills.
Naj a Ferjan Ramírez. working in the Institute for Learning＆Brain Sciences, said that the parents involved in the research were first shown the importance of language input for their baby's development. Parents were then given suggestions on how to use different parentese methods, and then rated on how well they used these methods with their child. She added that the new study is important because there are still a 1ot of parents with little knowledge about how to use parentese to help their child. This was one reason the researchers included parents from different cultural and economic groupings.
1. How do parents usually talk with their babies?| A．By speaking in a funny style. | B．By copying babies' sounds. |
| C．By raising speaking speed. | D．By whispering in babies’ears. |
| A．Babies' language skills are decided by talent. |
| B．Babies' language is improved by simple words. |
| C．Parental language style helps improve babies' behavior. |
| D．Parental language methods affect babies' language development. |
| A．In paragraph 2. | B．In paragraph 3. |
| C．In paragraph 4. | D．In paragraph 5. |
| A．Communicating with babies matters more |
| B．Parentese is a good way to practice language |
| C．The more parents help, the better babies 1earn |
| D．Speaking parentese helps with babies' language learning |
7 . When my husband and I moved back to the United States years ago, we had been living an adventurous life on a boat overseas. We moved to Maine and fell in love with a piece of land. It came with a huge farmhouse much larger than we needed. We went rapidly from living in an extremely small space on the water with only two bags to a life on land as a family of four in a big house jammed with stuff.
How did we end up with so much stuff? We just didn't see things piling up so quickly. It's an embarrassment of riches. It's an overabundance. And it's burying us.
A couple of weeks ago, going through a pile of books I’d organized, I found my late mother's now-twenty-year-old copy of “Simplify Your Life" by Elaine St. James. I’d read it a number of times, adding my own penciled notes and folding down more pages.
Wondering if St. James wrote other books on the topic, I began an Internet search that led me deeper and deeper into simplicity, and a concept that was new to me, zero waste. I sensed that what was missing from our life, from our home, was emptiness. My house can't breathe, it's no wonder I feel like I can't either.
Now, my husband and I have undertaken an experiment that we hope will lead to a major lifestyle shift for our whole family. I first started to declutter and downsize by cleaning my kitchen. I emptied out my cupboards and drawers. I put everything needed on our dining-room table. Everything else went into a huge bin for sale. My drawers are beautiful now and I’m content to take this step.
Like any new beginning, there are hesitations. But in a few months, we will move into a new house less than half the size of the one we have. Can my two kids adjust to the idea of reducing their two separate rooms to one small shared bedroom with just a few toys? I can see I'm still thinking about what I will lose. But what I hope becomes clearer is what we will gain by letting go.
1. How did the author feel about the life back to the United States?| A．She enjoyed the new spacious house. |
| B．She loved the abundance of materials. |
| C．She complained about owning too much. |
| D．She desired a much richer life. |
| A．To show what a great influence James had on her. |
| B．To advise more people to read James's book. |
| C．To indicate how her late mother liked reading. |
| D．To explain why a simple life counts to everyone. |
| A．recover | B．remove |
| C．prepare | D．escape |
| A．Persuading her kids to live simply. |
| B．Reflecting her hesitations about letting go. |
| C．Questioning her sudden change on life. |
| D．Missing her life on the boat. |
8 . This year, German environmentalists collected 1.75 million signatures for a “save the bees” law requiring an immediate change toward organic farming. But to create healthy ecosystems worldwide, people in communities across the globe will need to take similar action based on sympathy for insects — and not only for bees and butterflies. The environmentalists presented immediate, science-based actions to slow down the insect decline.
“It takes specific law to preserve the amazing variety of insects in the world and we need to stop the destroying of natural habitats, limit road building in parks and reserves and produce food without the use of pesticides,” said Basset, an entomologist, “Conserving insects is not the same as conserving big animals or rare frogs. You can’t keep millions of insects in a zoo.”
A recent article in Entomology Today suggests that successful programs to save insects have a clear and simple objective and a strategically chosen audience. By focusing on bees and butterflies and other beautiful, familiar insects, it is possible to enact the law to protect the habitat of lesser known, less attractive, but equally important species.
But there are still huge gaps in information about how different species of insects are doing, especially in the tropics. “It is next to useless to weigh insects collected in an area and say that insect communities are increasing or declining.” Basset said. “We need much more specific information. That is expensive and difficult because of the effort that it takes just to identify the species, especially in the tropics. What we are doing now is to group insects by their main function, and then to determine how each group is doing in a specific area of the world.”
1. What should people do to protect insects according to the text?| A．Stop building roads in parks and reserves. |
| B．Open up more natural habitats. |
| C．Avoid using pesticides for crops. |
| D．Keep them in a zoo. |
| A．They have set up laws. |
| B．They focus on specific species. |
| C．They conserve important species. |
| D．They protect the habitat of lesser known species. |
| A．Classifying the insects. |
| B．Identifying the species of insects. |
| C．Doing research on insects’ function. |
| D．Weighing insects collected in an area. |
| A．Helping Insects Is Helping Ourselves! |
| B．Take Action! Insects Need Protection! |
| C．Save the Bees — They Need Your Help! |
| D．Insect Decline: Where Have All the Insects Gone? |
9 . Researchers have recorded penguins making sounds underwater for the first time — the first time such behavior has been identified in seabirds. These animals, like other seabirds, are highly vocal on land. They are known to communicate when their heads are above the water in the ocean, possibly for the purposes of group formation.
However, until the latest study — published in the journal Zoological Science — it was not known whether penguins made sounds underwater, like some other air-breathing marine predators, such as whales and dolphins. For their research, a team of scientists led by Andréa from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, wanted to investigate this issue. To do so, they fitted adult penguins from three species with video cameras featuring built-in microphones.
To the surprise of Andréa and her colleagues, the team recorded a total of 203 underwater vocalizations from the penguins in the underwater footage they captured over a month-long period in 2019. These are the first recordings of seabirds producing vocalizations underwater. “I couldn’t believe it. I had to replay it many times,” Andréa said.
The vocalizations that the team recorded — which sound like rapid whoops — were very short in duration, lasting about 0.06 seconds on average. And all of these sounds were emitted（发出）during dives in which the animals were searching for food. Currently, it is not clear why the penguins are making these sounds; however, they only produce them while hunting. In fact, more than 50 percent of the vocalizations were immediately preceded by an acceleration movement or followed by an attempt to hunt.
According to the researchers, this suggests that the sounds are related to hunting behavior — especially because the penguins tend to be alone when they make them, indicating that communication was not the purpose. The researchers guess that the penguins may be using the vocalizations to stun(使昏迷) their prey. However, much more research is required to determine why the penguins make these sounds, the scientists note.
1. How does Andréa’s team conduct the study about penguins?| A．By recording penguins’ sounds on land. |
| B．By fixing electronic devices on the penguins. |
| C．By observing penguins’ activities underwater. |
| D．By catching different kinds of adult penguins. |
| A．Penguins’ sounds are too low to hear. |
| B．She doubts if penguins could make sounds. |
| C．Penguins seldom make sounds underwater. |
| D．It’s not easy to obtain penguins’ sounds underwater. |
| A．When they take a deep breath. |
| B．When they dive to hunt for food. |
| C．When they teach their babies diving. |
| D．When they communicate with their partners. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Negative. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Indifferent. |
10 . Sometimes life can seem challenging (挑战的) and we usually get the feeling of “the grass on the other side is always greener”! We usually feel upset with the troubles that life throws at us.
The best thing to do at that point of time is to close our eyes and start counting of all the blessings in life that God has given us.
If we think deeply, our life is full of blessings that we hardly recognize. Listening to the singing of birds early in the morning, we realize that there are many people who spend their life in a world that is silent while many others spend their lives in a world that is dark and may have never seen a rainbow or the setting sun.
When you go out for a drive, pull down the window and look at the poor beggar standing under the hot sun, begging for filling his hungry stomach. We get three meals a day without realizing its importance. Isn’t that a blessing?
Whenever you are sad, look at the eyes of your parents and family filled with love and concern for you. There are many people who have never experienced the love of a family. Isn’t that a blessing?
As Mother Teresa once said, “We don’t need to do great things. We need to do small things with great love”.
The key to a happy life is when we consider others problems to be our own and try to help them. When we love people without any expectations and help them, our heart is filled with a sense of happiness and peace seeing the smile on their face.
So the next time whenever life knocks you down, close your eyes and…start counting!
1. What does the author intend to tell us?| A．True happiness lies in achieving wealth. |
| B．Blessings should be treasured in our life. |
| C．The singing of birds can make us happy. |
| D．Love from our family gives us courage to face life. |
| A．however happy we are, we never seem to be satisfied |
| B．though we are rich, we are poor in mind |
| C．we can have a better life if we work harder |
| D．there exists a greener grass on the other side |
| A．We have already known that life is filled with blessings. |
| B．It is a blessing to have three meals a day. |
| C．It’s natural to see a rainbow or the setting sun in life. |
| D．Mother Teresa calls on us to do great things in life. |
| A．Troubles in Life | B．Secrets of Life |
| C．A Sense of Happiness | D．Count Your Blessings |
