1 . The African grey parrot’s ability to talk and mimic sounds makes it a charming companion. African grey owners often report that their greys oftentimes talk in context and can understand their people’s emotions (情感). The African grey parrot is not just a top talker - this bird is also known for its extreme intelligence, which gives them the name “The Einsteins of the Bird World”.
The bird is medium-sized, dusty-looking and almost pigeon-like. It has a bright red tail, intelligent orange eyes, and a stunning scalloped (扇形的) pattern to its feathers. Their diet in the wild consists mostly of nuts, seeds, fruits, and leafy matter.
At home, African greys need plenty of toys that challenge their intelligence, such as food searching and puzzle toys. Nutri-Berries by Lafeber Company are a perfect choice, which, with a balance of grains, seeds and other nutrients in the shape of a berry, encourages African greys to hold, bite off, and even play with, just as they do in the wild.
African greys seem especially affected by stress and disturbing noise in their environment and can be put more at ease by placing one corner of the cage against a wall as opposed to in the middle of a room.
African grey parrots are more likely to suffer from lack of Vitamin-A/beta-carotene, and therefore benefit from eating vegetables high in beta-carotene, such as cooked sweet potato and fresh kale. Lack of Vitamin-D is another concern, especially for greys on a poor diet. Offering a balanced, pill-shaped diet, such as Nutri-Berries, helps prevent vitamin and mineral shortage.
1. Why are African grey parrots called “The Einsteins of the Bird World”?| A．Because of their brain size. | B．On account of their intelligence. |
| C．Owing to their rich emotions. | D．Due to their talking ability. |
| A．A brand of bird food. | B．Puzzle toys for birds. |
| C．A type of round fruit. | D．Wild Intelligence games. |
| A．They may get ill due to lack of Vitamin |
| B．They prefer to stay in the middle of the room. |
| C．They are dusty looking with blue eyes. |
| D．They are smart and love to have fun. |
| A．In a wildlife magazine. | B．In science fiction. |
| C．In a travel guide. | D．On a shopping website. |
2 . Exploring a stadium is interesting. Without a game to focus on, you can actually appreciate the size and design of these places.
Raymond James Stadium
It offers a 75-minute tour showing visitors the inner workings of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ home stadium and the field. The stadium store has over 2,000 items. Tours run Mondays through Thursdays. Advance reservations are not required, but because tours may be cancelled, visitors should call (813)350-6500 to confirm a tour is running that day.
Tropicana Field
It offers 90-minute tours on weekdays. Some restricted areas that tour groups visit are the press box and the stadium control room. Guides will point out the stadium’s unique features and the team's history. Occasionally, groups will even see a player rehabbing (康复) or leave their jobs. Tour days vary, so call (813)326-7297 for an updated schedule.
Amalie Arena (圆形运动场)
It offers a behind-the-scenes tour on all Tampa Bay Lighting game days, starting 3.5 hours before the game and lasting an hour. Visitors see every floor of the arena. Tickets to that day’s game are not required. Buy tickets at the Amalie Arena ticket office or through the Tampa Bay Lightning app by clicking “experience”. For more information, call (813)301-6500.
Al Lang Stadium
The 70-minute tour is appropriate for all ages. No footballs, large bags, backpacks, cameras longer than 12 inches or video cameras are permitted on the tour. Please note there is no food available to purchase on site during the tour. All bags need to be searched upon arrival. Call (813)455-4921 to check tour availability on the day you plan to come.
1. Why should visitors call Raymond James Stadium ahead of time?| A．To book the ticket to it. |
| B．To know its inner workings. |
| C．To check if the tour is available. |
| D．To choose the place of it to visit. |
| A．Raymond James Stadium. |
| B．Tropicana Field. |
| C．Amalie Arena. |
| D．Al Lang Stadium. |
| A．In a fashion magazine. |
| B．In a scientific journal. |
| C．In a travel brochure. |
| D．In a sports report. |
3 . Only a few people in Toronto have the luck to live within walking distance from their workplace. For the rest of us, commuting (长途上下班) is a rather unpleasant daily necessity.
So how do you avoid a traffic jam in Toronto? You can do it in the old way and listen to one of the radio stations that give regular updates about the traffic situation in Toronto's streets. Seeing the big picture of Toronto's traffic and knowing when and where heavy traffic occurs is a must. From my own experience, there are situations where a quick decision can help you make it in time for an event or a meeting. That's why we prepared three short videos showing the overall traffic situation in Toronto from dawn to night. You can click them and watch.
With the help of "Google Maps", where you can watch the live traffic density all over the world and average traffic data based on past conditions, we are able to provide you with traffic maps for a typical (平常的) Friday.
Friday traffic in Toronto is quite fast in the early morning, with only a few hot spots showing up at the major junctions (交叉点) at 7:00 am. The morning traffic jam starts light at 7:30 and the traffic gradually slows down to reach a breaking point at 8:30. The roads are quite free afterwards, only Allen Road is likely to be jammed around lunchtime from 11:30 am to 12:00. It comes as no surprise that Friday afternoon brings heavy traffic as early as 1:30 pm, mainly on the Don Valley Parkway. You won't have a good time getting away from the city from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm, as there is a good chance to get caught in a traffic jam. The traffic in Toronto is quite heavy on a Friday night. I hope you will have a nice Friday night in the city and a safe journey home this Friday!
1. By saying "commuting is a rather unpleasant daily necessity", the writer refers to the fact that ______ .| A．buses are usually very crowded. |
| B．people have to travel a long way to work |
| C．people are often stuck in traffic jams. |
| D．people usually cannot do anything on the way to work. |
| A．Do nothing but to wait patiently. |
| B．Report your situation to a radio station. |
| C．Make a quick decision and find another way to go. |
| D．Relax and enjoy some good radio programmes. |
| A．What the traffic in Toronto is like for a typical Friday. |
| B．How to avoid heavy traffic on Friday. |
| C．Why the traffic is terrible on Friday. |
| D．What "Google Maps" can do for us. |
| A．A TV programme. | B．A radio programme. |
| C．A travel booklet. | D．A website. |
American DanceWheels Foundation (ADF) is an artistic organization that trains those with disabilities, their able-bodied partners, ballroom dance teachers, adaptive therapists (特定疗法技师) in the art of Wheelchair Ballroom and Latin Dancing (WBLD ). In the dancing the male leads regardless whether he is standing or seated in a wheelchair. ADF focuses on social dancing and is not driven by competitions although they can progress to competitions if they choose. If you can move your wheelchair and take direction you can dance. Both who use either power or wheelchairs, full or part-time, are encouraged to participate.
ADF has now brought its WheelOne™ syllabus (教学大纲) into two distinct areas of education: public schools and universities.
Public Schools
WBLD can be used as a physical education course for students with disabilities. It removes the separation that many other activities create since it requires a mix of these students with able-bodied partners. It encourages integration (融合) of disabled students with others in the school and the community overall. Wheelchair dancing also helps to build respect among the partners.
Universities
ADF is proud to announce that it has developed the first approved course in WBLD in the United States. This program started in February, 2008 and is developing new seated and standing wheelchair dancers each term.
The WheelOne™ syllabus teaches a specialized skill that is perfect for future dance teachers as well as future therapists. Able-bodied students learn all four aspects of the dances (able-bodied male, male wheelchair dancer, able-bodied female and female wheelchair dancer). Students will get a much better understanding of what it is like to be in a wheelchair.
Students will learn adaptations required for working with a different group of dancers. This training can even lead to a full ADF Certification Course Program.
Click here to learn more details about American Dance Wheels.
1. What can we learn, from the first paragraph?| A．Good trainees have to participate in competitions. |
| B．ADF does not aim to train its participants for competitions. |
| C．ADF mainly trains those with disabilities in the art of WBLD. |
| D．The able-bodied male leads the disabled female in the dancing. |
| A．build respect among the teachers |
| B．make the school better known to the public |
| C．remove the separation created by many other activities |
| D．plan a physical education course for able-bodied students |
| A．do not learn the male part if they are female |
| B．are required to learn how to dance in a wheelchair |
| C．won't know how to dance with those in wheelchairs |
| D．will be teachers in universities when finishing the course |
| A．a website | B．a textbook | C．a storybook | D．WheelOne™ syllabus |
5 . Can' t you stand the sound of heavy breathing or sipping soup? Does the sound of someone chewing gum next to you make your blood boil? You are not alone, but you are not going crazy-there’s a really scientific reason why.
If you shrink back when someone twists their knuckles(指关节), you might want to get checked out for misophonia, a brain abnormality that creates “a hatred of sounds such as eating, chewing, loud breathing, or even pen-clicking,” TIME reports. Actually, it’s just one of the strange habits that prove you’re smarter than everyone else. Although researchers first coined the term misophonia in 2001, doubt has been thrown on it by the medical community. But thanks to recent research, it can be safely drawn that everyday noises can ruin people’s lives. A team at Newcastle University in the U. K. examined MRI brain scans(核磁共振脑扫描) of those with and without misophonia while playing a range of sounds. The sounds were either neutral (like rain or water boiling), unpleasant (a baby crying or a person screaming), or trigger sounds (the sounds of breathing or eating).
The researchers noted significant changes in misophonia sufferers’ brain activity when they heard a “trig- ger sound.” Turns out those with misophonia have a developmental difference in their brains frontal lobe(额叶) that causes their brains to react harshly to those triggers. It also causes them to sweat and their heart rates to increase.
“For many people with misophonia, this will come as welcome news as for the first time we have shown a difference in brain structure and function in sufferers.” said Dr Sukhbinder Kumar. “This study shows the critical brain changes as further evidence to convince a skeptical medical community that this is a real disorder.”
1. What is the best title for the text?| A．Keep off such sounds around you | B．Troubled by the sound of chewing |
| C．Can we make use of these sounds | D．Never be afraid of such noise again |
| A．Misophonia can be a sign of intelligence. |
| B．Misophonia is actually a physical disability. |
| C．The term misophonia has been widely accepted. |
| D．Noise pollution has ruined many lives until now. |
| A．Cold. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Neutral. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A review. |
| C．A magazine. | D．An interview. |
6 . Nurses have saved almost 800 lives in just one year by using iPads, iPods and mobile phones to record patients' vital (至关重要的) signs instead of paper charts.
Death rates at two major hospitals dropped by more than 15% after the nursing stall started using hand-held devices instead of paper notes to monitor (监督) the condition of patients, according to the research published recently.
Nurses recorded patients' blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels and other indicators on tablets and mobiles. Specialist software, called VitalPAC, automatically told them if the patient was deteriorating. If this is happened the nurse was warned to increase the frequency of their monitoring of the patient and, in some cases, to warn a doctor or a response team.
The introduction of the new system led to a fall of almost 400 patient deaths in just 12 months at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, and a drop of more than 370 in the same period at University Hospital, Coventry, according to the study in BMJ Quality & Safety. An editorial in the journal described the research as "an important milestone" in improving patient safety and said the lowering of mortality (死亡率) at these two hospitals "represents a truly dramatic improvement".
Data recorded on the hand-held devices is automatically uploaded to a hospital-wide system allowing nurses, doctors and managers to monitor the health of patients across all wards. Staff on ward rounds have instant access to information from any device connected to the hospital network.
The system is now installed in 40 hospitals across England and could eventually be rolled out across the whole of the NHS. The system was developed by doctors and nurses at Portsmouth working together with health improvement company The Learning Clinic.
Dr. Paul Schmidt, of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the leaders of the project, said: "Observing patients and making accurate records provides a safety net to guard against their deterioration. We believed traditional paper charts were not doing the job well enough so we designed an electronic system to support staff. This study shows its introduction was followed by a significant drop in deaths."
1. What can be learned about VitalPAC?| A．It was designed by The Learning Clinic independently. |
| B．It works with the hand-held devices. |
| C．It can replace the nurses to take care of patients. |
| D．It was applied by all the members of the NHS. |
| A．the specialist software is out of order. |
| B．the patient's condition is getting worse. |
| C．the patient's vital signs are uploaded. |
| D．the patient's indicators are difficult to record. |
| A．The significance of VitalPAC. | B．The improvement of Vita1PAC. |
| C．The rules of operating VitalPAC. | D．The brief introduction of VitalPAC. |
| A．A fashion magazine. | B．A story book. |
| C．A news report. | D．A science fiction. |
7 . Tiny water plants called phytoplankton (浮游植物) serve as food for many sea creatures, including whales, shrimp, jellyfish and snails.
Phytoplankton do well in cold water. But if water temperatures rise by only two degrees Celsius, the phytoplankton struggle. That is what happened in the last three or four years in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Researchers say an unusual area of warm water spread throughout the Northern Pacific. Scientists called the warm water ''the blob'', as if it were a character in an old science fiction movie. At its largest, the blob stretched 1,600 square kilometers and reached depths of 91 meters. This large mass of warm water had a damaging effect on the ocean food chain. Many fish that depend on phytoplankton swam away from the area. As a result, sea birds and sea lions that eat those fish starved.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington have found that the warm ocean ''blob'' caused a harmful algae bloom. That fast growth in algae hurt fishing grounds along the U.S. West Coast and Canada's British Columbia. The researchers recently published their study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. They looked at the algae, called P. australis. They found that the algae can grow much faster than normal if it is exposed to warm water. The higher levels of algae also produced more of a poisonous chemical that can cause problems for everything from shellfish to dolphins to sea lions. It also causes problems for humans if too much of the chemical builds up in their blood.
Researchers say algae blooms like this one will continue as ocean waters warm. The algae will hurt sea animals, birds, and fish. It may damage food resources for humans all over the world, the scientists say.
1. The root cause of the starvation of sea birds or sea lions is_____.| A．the depths of the vase sea |
| B．the large mass of warm water |
| C．the large amount of polluted sea water |
| D．the increasingly reduced phytoplankton in the sea |
| A．phytoplankton | B．fish |
| C．algae | D．bird |
| A．Generally, the algae grow much faster than normal if exposed to cool water. |
| B．The phytoplankton is very sensitive to the rise of water temperature. |
| C．More algae can bring about a poisonous chemical which endangers sea creatures. |
| D．Algae blooms will affect not only the existence of sea creatures but also that of humans the world over. |
| A．a research paper | B．a geography textbook |
| C．a class presentation | D．a newspaper report |
8 . Only 48% of school age children in the United States get 9 hours of sleep most weeknights, according to a new research being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP) 2019 National Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans. An abstract of the study, "Sounding the Alarm on the Importance of Sleep” , will be presented on Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
“Long-term sleep loss is a serious public health problem among children,” said abstract author Hoi See Tsao, MD, FAAP. "Insufficient sleep among adolescent, for example, is associated with physical and mental health consequences including increased risk of depression and obesity and negative effects on mood, attention and academic performance.”
Dr. Tsao said, "Our research shows that children who get enough sleep are more likely to flourish(健康成长)in comparison to children with insufficient sleep."
Researchers analyzed responses from parents and caregivers of 49,050 children ranging in age from 6-17 years old in the combined 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health. They answered questions on how many hours of sleep a randomly selected child in their household slept on an average weeknight. For the study, sufficient sleep was defined as sleeping greater than or equal to 9 hours on an average weeknight.
The researchers found that sufficient sleep, was positively associated with several individual flourishing markers, as well as the combined childhood flourishing measure. The researchers also identified risk factors associated with insufficient sleep, which included lower levels of parental or caregiver education, the presence of mental health conditions and so on.
Dr. Tsao said the study strengthened the importance of increasing efforts to help children get the recommended amount of sleep for their age. “Interventions like these may help children demonstrate more measures of childhood flourishing, enhance their development and give them brighter futures, " she said.
1. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?| A．The harm of long-term lack of sleep. |
| B．The cause of long-term lack of sleep. |
| C．The way to improve sleep quality. |
| D．The advice against sleep loss. |
| A．Children and parents. | B．Researchers and caregivers. |
| C．Parents and researchers. | D．Parents and caregivers. |
| A．Dr.Tsao denies the efforts |
| B．Dr. Tsao thinks highly the study. |
| C．New interventions can help children sleep |
| D．New interventions are of little importance. |
| A．In a science report. | B．In a personal diary |
| C．In a travel magazine. | D．In a geography textbook. |
9 . Youth is a stressful time from friends to school to families, and stressful situations become common. The body can respond (反应) with faster breathing, a fast beating heart, tense (绷紧的) muscles and drop of sweat. And teens who breathe polluted air appear to respond most strongly to stress, a new study shows.
Jonas Miller, a psychologist working at Stanford University ,studied whether or how air pollution might affect the body’s response to stress. Miller's team invited 144 teens to participate in a stressful test. Most of the kids lived in or near San Francisco,which has the worst air quality.
Before the test, the researchers used sensors(感测器) to record heart rates and sweat levels for five minutes as the kids rested. Then as the test began, a researcher read aloud the beginning of a story and the kids had five minutes to make up an exciting ending to the story. They would have to memorize their ending and present it aloud to a judge. After finishing this task, the kids were asked to do math problems, which obviously was a harder task. If he or she made a mistake, the judge let the student start over. The whole time, sensors recorded heart rates and sweat levels.
Miller found all the students had similar heart rates and sweat levels at rest. But as the test got difficult, differences began to appear. Kids from places with more air pollution responded more strongly to stress and their heartbeats became irregular. They sweated more than teens who lived in cleaner places.
"The teens' bodies were preparing to deal with possible challenges in the environment and such bodily responses to stress were linked to negative feelings", Miller concludes. Over time, he says, "these responses can contribute to both physical and mental health problems."
This study has proved the negative health effects of air pollution among teenagers. Therefore, teenagers should try to avoid their exposure (暴露) to air pollution They should consider limiting their time outside during rush hour, especially on days when air pollution is particularly strong.
1. What happened to teens in stressful situations?| A．Their bodies react strongly. |
| B．Their muscles cause pain. |
| C．They become seriously sick. |
| D．They have trouble in breathing. |
| A．The judge of the test was strict with the kids. |
| B．The kids enjoyed making up endings of stories. |
| C．Those breathing polluted air doesn't have more stress in life. |
| D．The kids gradually felt more stress in the process. |
| A．solve their mental health problems |
| B．spend less time outside in heavy traffic |
| C．learn to deal with stressful situations |
| D．enjoy more outside activities in good weather |
| A．A report on pollution. | B．A geography book. |
| C．A psychologist's diary. | D．A science magazine. |
10 . Researchers in Singapore found that eating mushrooms over twice per week could help prevent memory and language problems later in life.
According to the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, there is a unique antioxidant (抗氧化物质) present in mushrooms that helps protect certain brain functions.
Researchers observed 663 Chinese adults aged over 60 whose diets and lifestyles were tracked from 2011 to 2017. In the study, the participants were asked how often they ate six different types of mushrooms: oyster, shiitake, white button, dried, golden and tinned. The findings showed that eating more than two shares of mushrooms per week somehow lowered the chances of mild cognitive impairment (MCi) by 50% against those who ate fewer than one share.
MCI is a condition that can make people forgetful, affect their memory and cause problems with language, attention and finding the exact position of objects in space. Changes in behavior can be not very noticeable and not serious enough to be known as dementia (痴呆).
Participants who ate more mushrooms were found to perform better in thinking and processing exams and also exhibited a faster processing speed. The advantage was reportedly more apparent in those who ate more than two shares a week or more than 300 grams.
The scientists pointed out, however, that they have yet to put up a direct link between the fungi and brain function.
The researchers also acknowledged that since this study mainly relied on self-reported information on mushroom intake and other dietary factors (因素), further studies may be required.
Still, the lead study author Lei Feng is encouraged by their findings.
“This correlation is surprising and encouraging,” Lei said.
Mushrooms are one of the richest dietary sources of ergothioneine — a matter which humans can’t make on our own.
1. What are the findings in paragraph 3 about?| A．Diets and lifestyles. | B．The percent of MCI. |
| C．The types of mushrooms. | D．The benefit of eating mushrooms. |
| A．It can strengthen memory. | B．It can result in language problems. |
| C．It can make people get lost. | D．It can lessen the chance of forgetfulness. |
| A．They will take the exams much more easily |
| B．Their academic performance improves greatly |
| C．Their thinking ability is better than the majority |
| D．They will love communicating with others. |
| A．Scientific fiction. | B．An advertisement. |
| C．A science report. | D．Adult literature. |
