1 . There are some things only adults can do to prevent and stop fires, such as using smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, but there are also many fire safety rules everyone should learn to help prevent fires and to know what to do if one does start. Here are some safety rules for kids.
★If a child notices that an electrical appliance is giving off a strange smell, they should ask an adult to turn it off, and it should be fixed before it's used again.
★Children should have an adult with them if they cook food. They should never leave food by itself and make sure handles of pots and pans on the stove are turned inward. They should also be aware that anything made of metal should never be put in a microwave.
★The family should work together to plan an escape route in case there's a fire, including finding at least two ways out of every room. Kids should practice this with their parents two to three times a year and learn to test doors with their hands before opening them.
★If your clothing catches fire, running will make the flames bigger. Kids should practice the proper technique of stopping where they are, dropping to the ground and rolling to put out the flames.
★Burns should be treated by an adult—the injured area should be put in cold water for 10—15 minutes to relieve the pain. Ice should never be used, as it can cause further injury. If a child has a serious burn that blisters, they should be taken to a doctor or the emergency room.
1. How often should parents practice a fire escape route with their children?| A．Once every two weeks. | B．Once every month. |
| C．Three times every six months. | D．Two or three times every year. |
| A．Roll on the ground. | B．Run as fast as they can. |
| C．Try to take off their clothes. | D．Use a fire extinguisher immediately. |
| A．Put it in cool water. | B．Put an ice pack on it. |
| C．Use anti-burn cream. | D．Call a doctor for help. |
2 . A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. As one of the most popular approaches of losing weight, how does it work? For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000，you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. There is mathematical certainty. But, this by no means tells the whole story about how calories deficit affects our lives.
Before wondering what a calorie deficit is, it’s probably best to learn what a calorie is. A calorie is a unit that we use to track our body’s energy expenditure (消耗) and storage. In order to just stay alive, human beings (and animals) burn calories. This means, even before we perform any activity, our bodies are already using energy (measured in calories) to keep us alive. Around 70% of the calories we consume are spent on just keeping our vital organs running. Thus, if a person consumes calories far more less than needed to look thin，it may have negative effects on the body.
When people pick up a calorie deficit, they often merely note that the calorie math is irrefutable (无可辩驳的). The question here is that not all calories are the same. If you eat a few bags of potato chip worth of calories to support the calorie intake needed to maintain or cut down on your weight, it will work. But, this doesn’t have the same effect on your body and overall health as a balanced nutritional meal containing the same amount of calories.
It seems like a simple unit of energy has become an object of our society’s obsession. It needn't be that way. Remember, calorie deficits are just a tool, which serves a purpose in losing some weight and keeping track of your calorie intake seems simple enough.
1. What do we know about the calorie deficit?| A．It helps people lose weight. |
| B．It is a way of doing exercises. |
| C．It affects people's lives positively. |
| D．It means the calories people consume. |
| A．A calorie is a unit to store daily energy. |
| B．People need to burn calories to be alive. |
| C．Calorie intake is to keep our organs operating. |
| D．Living animals only burn calories after activities. |
| A．Focusing on the calorie math when eating. |
| B．Focusing on different calories when eating. |
| C．Having bags of potato chips containing enough calories. |
| D．Having balanced nutritional diets containing proper calories. |
| A．Influences of calorie deficits. | B．Approaches to lose weight. |
| C．Distinctions between calories. | D．Ways to track calorie intake. |
3 . One in five children starting primary school in the UK are overweight. By the time they leave school, that figure will rise to one in three. The chance of them being overweight in adulthood, which brings range of associated health risks, is high, at 50-75%.
The root cause of diet-related fatness is no secret: an energy imbalance between the quantity of food being consumed and the level of physical activity being conducted. Addressing this imbalance needs to be, in part, a review of our diet. More fresh ingredients(原料) especially fruit and vegetables, less processed foods and fewer additives(添加剂) are all important factors in building a balanced diet.
The Department of Health has recognized that a collective approach, rather than just individual behavior change, is a successful way of achieving this. Universal adjustments like a blanket decrease in sugar content influence the way we eat through the choices available to us.
Applying this approach to school kitchens makes sense. They have an important role to play in maintaining healthy diets. Offering a school menu packed with fresh ingredients and without artificial additives makes a direct and effective impact on what children eat at school.
It's an area the Soil Association consistently works to handle through its Food for Life program -working with schools to transform food culture, improve food education and encourage lasting changes to the way schools think about food. It works. In Food for Life schools, pupils are a third less likely to eat no fruit or vegetables than those in comparison schools.
One way for schools to get involved is a Food for Life Served Here award, which means at least 75% of dishes are prepared on site using fresh ingredients. It encourages local seasonal produce and, at silver or gold level, requires a commitment to environmentally friendly produce. At its heart, the award is designed to support health and enhance food understanding.
Over 50% of English primary schools have such an award, already, -serving around 1.7 million meals each day to over10.000 schools and it's a figure we'll see grow.
1. What does the underlined word “addressing” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Tackling | B．Ignoring. | C．Maintaining. | D．Postponing. |
| A．Stopping them eating alone in schools. |
| B．Getting them aware of the harm of fatness. |
| C．Ensuring healthy recipes on school menus. |
| D．Increasing the availability and flavor of food. |
| A．It's a heavy load on schools. |
| B．It's complicated to operate. |
| C．It's a temporary project. |
| D．It's fruitful attempt. |
| A．Sugary snacks. |
| B．First-class sausages. |
| C．High-quality imported beef. |
| D．Freshly picked organic beans. |
4 . There can be magic in the touch of a hand that loves you. It brings comfort and a silent promise that says, “I am here and you are not alone.”
I memorized every detail about my children. As babies, they reached for me whenever they were hungry or tired or just needed to be held. Sometimes, if they woke in the night, just the touch of my hand would ease them back to sleep. They clung to me when they took their first steps and we held hands when crossing streets and walking from the car to their classroom on their first day of school.
As they grew older and more independent, I noticed that they didn't hold my hand much anymore. I told myself it was part of growing up, and I should just be glad they could do things on their own now.
But when you've been needed so much for such a long time, it's hard to step back and feel unnecessary.
Then one day, I was visiting my oldest son in New York, where he was working as an actor on a TV show. As we were about to cross a busy street that was filled with traffic, he grabbed my hand and shouted, “Hang on to me, Mom,” then led me safely across.
At that moment, I realized two things. First, my boy had become a man. Second, it was clear that our roles had changed. We still needed each other, but in different ways than before.
That scene has replayed in various ways with each of my three children. They have all taught me to lean on them just as they once leaned on me, and that we can always lean on each other. We live miles apart, but stay in touch every day. There is magic and comfort and healing in the touch of a hand that loves you, even if it “touches” you from afar.
1. How did the author get along with her children when they were young?| A．She was very strict with them. | B．She overprotected them. |
| C．She was too busy to take care of them. | D．She developed a close bond with them. |
| A．She felt lonely when living apart from them. |
| B．She was worried that they couldn't manage themselves. |
| C．She felt a little uncomfortable when not needed so much as before. |
| D．She was pleased to be able to step back and enjoy herself. |
| A．her son had become mature and reliable |
| B．time with children is always fun |
| C．she needed her son more than before |
| D．she was unwilling to accept the change in their roles |
| A．To explore how to interact with children. |
| B．To describe the growth of her children. |
| C．To show the power of the touch of a hand. |
| D．To present how parents influence their kids. |
5 . Not so long ago therapy (治疗) was limited to an hour-long advising session on a sofa; now you can access free advice on TikTok in under a minute. Perhaps this new trend is growing because it offers easy bite-size answers to big complex questions.
The problem with TikTok, however, is that the videos have to be under 60 seconds, which are about serious mental health illnesses being reduced to brief sentences with quick fixes from sometimes unqualified non-professionals. And with the average age of TikTok users between 18 and 24, how helpful is TikTok therapy?
“When I first started creating mental health content, I didn't expect anyone to listen,” explains Jane Smith, who runs a private practice in Hampshire. “But it turns out people are hungry for this sort of information.” Although there is a concern about the videos' increasing the risk of self-diagnosis (自诊), Jane thinks otherwise. She compares self-diagnosing a mental health problem to self-diagnosing a common cold, “If you want to find out about the symptoms of a cold, you can look it up online. That's not a risk because you can't do much with that information until you get to the doctor anyway. ”
Yet despite concerns, the comments on TikTok therapy videos are filled with praises. Rachel, 23, says she finds them very relatable: “If you see a video discussing anxiety, it can you help you acknowledge and discuss topics you might not feel sate to do in other places. It makes me feel less alone. ”
We've seen some great mental health content on Tik1ok. However, it’s important to ask remember that not all the information you find online will be reliable and it can be useful to ask yourself some questions including who is sharing it and why.
1. Why is TikTok therapy getting popular?| A．It sells at a low price. |
| B．It aims at younger users. |
| C．It provides brief solutions. |
| D．It is offered by professionals. |
| A．They may cause some potential risks. |
| B．They are better than going to doctors. |
| C．They are of much help to people in need. |
| D．They show symptoms of disease in detail. |
| A．Concerns. | B．Videos. | C．Comments | D．Praises. |
| A．TikTok will replace hospitals in the future. |
| B．It is quite easy to find reliable medical advice. |
| C．Everyone can create his own TikTok videos. |
| D．We should be careful about online information. |
6 . Who says inventions are only made by grown-ups and professionals? Over the years, children have also succeeded in making their useful contributions to the world. Here are a few inventions that came to life from the minds of young children.
Hero Helmet
Seven-year-old Samuel Meyer's invention is aimed at stopping people from riding their bikes or skateboards without using a helmet. The Hero Helmet features an inbuilt remote that controls a lock on the wheels which unlocks when the Helmet is being worn by the rider. Samuel says: no helmet, no bike.
Robotic Earthworm
The first thought that comes to mind is, why a robotic earthworm? Well, ten-year-old David Cohen had some useful applications in mind. He believed it could be used to find victims after a flood, earthquake or fire. The robot could get into small and dangerous places where search dogs and humans could not go.
B. E. A. C. O. N.
Fifteen-year-old Hannah Herbst's invention, which stands for Bringing Electricity Access to Countries through Ocean Energy, was inspired by her pen pal who lives in Ethiopia and did not have access to lights. So she came up with B. E. A. C. O. N, which absorbs energy directly from ocean waves. Her invention won the “Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge” in 2015 and other numerous awards.
Portable Wheelchair Controller
At only eight years old, Amelia Fox created the invention to help lift people in and out of their wheelchair. This invention was not just born out of the desire to create something. Amelia developed this controller for her brother, who had just got hip surgery and needed the wheelchair to move around.
1. Who is the youngest inventor?| A．Samuel Meyer. |
| B．David Cohen. |
| C．Amelia Fox. |
| D．Hannah Herbst. |
| A．Hero Helmet |
| B．B. E. A. C. O. N. |
| C．Robotic Earthworm. |
| D．Portable Wheelchair Controller. |
| A．To give her brother assistance. |
| B．To benefit the earthquake victims. |
| C．To generate electricity effectively. |
| D．To protect bike riders from injuries. |
7 . Violent winter weather sweeping across large parts of the central and southern US has brought record-breaking cold temperatures, leaving the electricity cut off and at least 21 deaths.
The worst power outages were in Texas, where more than 4 million homes and businesses remained without power on Tuesday in subfreezing temperatures. Elsewhere more than 250,000 people also lost power across parts of Appalachia, and 4 million people lost power in Mexico.
The blackouts forced Harris county to scramble(争夺)to get more than 8,000 doses of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine into people's arms, after the county public health facility lost power and its back-up generator also failed. The conditions also delayed vaccine shipments. State officials said Texas, due to receive more than 400,000 doses this week, did not expect deliveries until at least Wednesday.
Associating climate change, normally connected with burning heat, with an unusual winter storm that has destroyed a wide part of Texas, most people find it seem so abnormal. But scientists say there is evidence that the rapid heating of the Arctic can help push cold air from the north pole much further south, possibly to the US-Mexico border.
This phenomenon has shown itself to a dramatic degree over the past month, with a splitting of the polar vortex（涡旋)helping cause huge flurries of snow in Europe as well as record cold temperatures in parts of the US used to milder winters.
There is no agreement among scientists over the interaction between Arctic heat and cold weather further south, which is called as a topic of “an active area of research”. Global heating is causing warmer winters, and record cold temperatures are now being clearly outpaced by record hot temperatures, but the complex interaction of climatic conditions still requires further investigation, to the great surprise of some among others, including some famous scientists.
1. What record has been broken recently in the US?| A．The power outage. | B．The cold weather. |
| C．Coronavirus vaccine. | D．Deaths in the blackouts. |
| A．Vaccine shipments were disturbed by its state government. |
| B．More back-up generators should be set up to provide power. |
| C．Harris county had an argument with the Texas government. |
| D．The local health facility failed to work properly without power. |
| A．Unreasonable. | B．Undoubted. |
| C．Discouraging. | D．Predictable. |
| A．Milder winters and violent summers. | B．Arctic cold and Antarctic heat. |
| C．Global heating and violent cold weather. | D．Cold and heat in active areas |
8 . People dream of living long. In a survey on Longevity several years ago, 77 percent said they’d like to make it to 100. So we diet, count steps, pop supplements and hope for miracle treatments. Yet although diet and exercise are certainly vital for health, science shows there is another longevity secret we often overlook: finding purpose.
Research reveals that people who believe their existence has meaning have more favorable gene expression. If a 90-year-old with a clear purpose in life develops Alzheimer’s disease, that person will probably keep functioning relatively well despite some changes in the brain, one study found. Another analysis of 10 studies involving more than 136,000 people found that having purpose in life can lower your death risk by about 17 percent—about as much as following the famed Mediterranean diet.
Two years ago when researching my new book, “Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100,” I talked to scientists and centenarians in Japan about the reason behind their nation’s exceptional longevity—life expectancy at birth in that country stands at 84.2 years, almost six years longer than in the United States. While similar interviews I’ve conducted in the West tended to center on diet and exercise, in Japan the conversations quickly moved to ikigai, which is seen as having such measurable effects on longevity.
In one study conducted on over 43,000 Japanese, not having ikigai was linked to a 60 percent higher risk of dying of cardiovascular disease. That’s a lot. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables per day can cut the danger of cardiovascular disease by “just” 27 percent. Elderly Japanese I interviewed talked about ikigai as “taking care of grandchildren,” “volunteering,” “keeping their street clean and pretty.” So Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has included it in the official health promotion strategy.
The good news is that it’s possible to boost our sense of meaning and purpose through simple things, such as volunteering. If we keep such things going, if we find purpose and meaning in the current gloom, we may end up not just happier but healthier and longer-lived.
1. Why does the author compare “finding purpose” with “the Mediterranean diet”?| A．They are new methods to get rid of Alzheimer. | B．They have similar effects on people’s longevity. |
| C．They both have a good fame in medical science. | D．They used to be overlooked as a vital treatment. |
| A．Well recognized. | B．Kind of impractical. |
| C．A bit ridiculous. | D．Seemingly illogical. |
| A．Volunteering. | B．The study in Japan. |
| C．Ikigai. | D．An interview. |
| A．To investigate the true meaning of life. |
| B．To explain how to live purposefully. |
| C．To introduce the secret of longevity from a new perspective. |
| D．To warn us of some traps when seeking longevity. |
9 . When Kerry Irving heard a whimper and caught sight of a young dog peering at him through a gap in the railings, he was at rock bottom.
A car accident in 2006 had left him housebound and in chronic（长期）pain. His mental health suffered and he went on to be diagnosed with severe depression.
Three years after the crash, while out for a rare walk, he met Max and began to turn his life around. He ended up becoming the dog's owner. Max has helped to give Irving a more positive outlook on life. Irving began charting their joint adventures on his Facebook page and quickly the number of their followers began to grow. Irving has used Max's uplifting nature to help others.
There were hundreds of requests from fans desperate to meet Max and to help more people he trained as a therapy dog with Assistance Dogs UK in 2016. He was then able to make special visits to schools, hospitals and hospices. When his popularity continued to grow. Irving began organizing walks for charity, so that large groups of people could come together and meet him.
Today the dog from Keswick in the Lake District becomes the first pet to win what has been called an animal OBE in recognition of the service he has provided to thousands as a virtual “therapet”.
“I think it's the look that he gives you,” Irving said, “He just looks straight into your soul and just fixes people. He can walk into a room and literally sit next to someone and just look at them.”
Max's skills have been put to use online, cheering up thousands of followers through videos on social media. Anyone feeling lonely or anxious has been able to join Kerry and his dog on daily walks through Facebook Live.
As well as his new accolade online, Max has met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and is even getting a statue in his honour that will be unveiled in a local park this spring.
1. What happened after Irving met Max?| A．He was diagnosed with severe depression. | B．He had a car accident caused by a rock. |
| C．He had a more positive attitude to life. | D．He was housebound and rarely walked out. |
| A．To lift their spirits through hard times. | B．To meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. |
| C．To have a picture taken with Max. | D．To join Irving and his dog on daily walks. |
| A．Statue. | B．Praise. | C．Service. | D．Charity. |
| A．A dog saved by Kerry Irving. | B．A man turning his life around. |
| C．A therapy to cure chronic pain. | D．A pet look mending troubled minds |
10 . The flight of butterflies has so far been somewhat of a secret to researchers, given their unusually large and broad wings relative to their body size. Now researchers at Lund University in Sweden have studied the aerodynamics(空气动力) of butterflies in the wind tunnel(风洞). The results suggest that butterflies use a highly helpful clap technique, therefore making use of their unique wings. This helps them rapidly take off when escaping natural enemies.
The researchers studied the wingbeats of freely flying butterflies during takeoff in the wind tunnel. During the upward process, the wings cup, creating an air-filled pocket between them. When the wings strike each other, the air is forced out, resulting in a backward strong stream of air that pushes the butterflies forward. The downward wingbeat has another function: the butterflies stay in the air and do not fall to the ground.
The wings' striking was described by researchers almost 50 years ago, but it is only in this study that the theory has been tested on real butterflies in free flight. Until now, it has been generally believed that butterfly wings are aerodynamically inefficient. However, the researchers suggest that the opposite is actually true.
“That the wings are cupped when butterflies clap them together, makes the wing clap much more effective. It is an elegant mechanism that is far more advanced than we imagined, and it is fascinating,” says biology researcher Per Henningsson, who studied the butterflies' aerodynamics. “The results of the study could help inspire improved performance and flight technology in small unmanned aircraft,” he continues.
In addition to studying the butterflies, the researchers designed mechanical wings that are modeled on real ones. The shape and flexibility of the mechanical wings as they are cupped and folded confirm the efficiency. Their measurements show that the pushing force created by the flexible wings is 22 percent higher and the efficiency 28 percent better compared to if the wings had been rigid.
1. What does the researchers' study focus on?| A．The butterfly's body size. |
| B．The butterfly's flying principle. |
| C．The butterfly's escape technique. |
| D．The butterfly's frequency of wingbeats. |
| A．To empty the air pocket for forward force. |
| B．To release their additional energy. |
| C．To circle steadily in the air. |
| D．To form an air pocket. |
| A．They might draw public attention. |
| B．They could be used to test the findings. |
| C．They'd show results in line with popular belief. |
| D．They helped avoid experimenting on live butterflies. |
| A．New Discoveries Are Made Based on Aerodynamics |
| B．Flexible Wings Boost Plane Making Industry |
| C．Butterfly Wing Clap Explains Secret of Flight |
| D．Butterfly Adapts Itself to the Wild Survival |
