1 . Have your parents ever told you any strange or alarming things about protecting your eyes? For example,they might have said that you'd go blind from reading in the dark, but you could make up for it by eating a lot of carrots. This is just one of the misunderstandings you may have heard of. Below are picked out scientific explanations for three mistakes that people often make about eyes. Let's take a look.
Can eating carrots improve your vision? If eating carrots helps us see better, why do so many students end up wearing glasses? Carrots are rich in vitamin A, which is essential for our eyes' general health. Vitamin A helps the eyes to make light into signals, allowing people to see in low light conditions. However, eating more carrots doesn’t help you see better. A certain minimum amount will help, but a large number of carrots will not give you superhuman vision or allow you to get rid of your glasses.
If your parents have bad eyesight, will you have bad eyesight, too? Parents are often concerned about the causes of nearsightedness (近视).Many people believe that if parents are shortsighted, their children will suffer from the same problems. Nearsightedness can be genetic (遗传的). A study by the American Optometric Association found that if both parents are nearsighted, there's a 33 to 60 percent chance that the child is. For children who have one parent with nearsightedness, the chance is 23 to 40 percent, and it's down to 6 to 15 percent for kids with non-nearsighted parents. So no matter how bad your parents' vision is, you still have the chance of good eyesight.
Is it true that people who are color blind can't see colors? Color blindness doesn’t mean that someone can't see colors at all, like a black and white movie. Most commonly, it means that someone has difficulty telling certain colors apart, usually green and red or blue and yellow.
1. What is the purpose of this text?| A．To offer some advice. | B．To give some reasons. |
| C．To clear up some misunderstandings. | D．To provide some medical information. |
| A．Eating carrots has no benefits at all. |
| B．Eating more carrots won't ensure good eyesight. |
| C．Vitamin D is very important for your eyes’ health. |
| D．Eating more carrots helps you remove your glasses. |
| A．The people having bad eyesight can't see colors, either. |
| B．Nearsightedness can certainly be passed from parents to kids. |
| C．Non-nearsighted parents surely have kids with good eyesight. |
| D．The parents with nearsightedness can have kids with good eyesight. |
| A．A magazine. | B．A news report. | C．A novel. | D．A guidebook. |
2 . A glimpse at Spring Festival Chinese film releases
The clock is ticking down to 2021! We’ve handpicked some films to help you get in the spirit of the season.
Hi, Mom
The film is widely regarded as the top dark horse thanks to its tear-jerking narration of mother-daughter affection, which is directed by Jia Ling.
Time： Feb. 12—14 9：30 a. m.〜11 ：30 a.m.
Place： Room 1
Treats： Popcorn, Ice cream
Price： ¥80
Detective Chinatown 3
Directed by Chen Sicheng, this movie topped the list of the most-anticipated holiday films sent by movie ticketing platform Maoyan.
Time： Feb. 14-16 1：00p. m.〜3：00P.m.
Place ： Room 2
Treats： Popcorn, Ice cream （for free）
Price： ¥75
A Writer\ Odyssey
Director Lu Yang showed a boldly imaginative visualization of a horrible fantasy world, taking the third seat with 410 million yuan.
Time： Feb. 13—17 9 ：30 a. m. 11 ：30 a. m.
Place： Room 3
Price： ¥65
Endgame
The film illustrates a comical up and down fate between an unsuccessful theater actor and a famous professional assassin（刺客）who loses his memory accidentally.
Time： Feb. 15 — 18 3：30 p. m.〜5：30 p. m.
Place： Room 4
Price： ¥60
Welcome to book through the WeChat account!
1. Which room will show a film about family love?| A．Room 1. | B．Room 2. | C．Room 3. | D．Room 4. |
| A．Feb. 16 3：00 a. m. | B．Feb. 15 2：00 p. m. |
| C．Feb. 18 2：00 p. m. | D．Feb. 14 11 ：00 a. m. |
| A．A report. | B．A poster. | C．A journal. | D．A guidebook. |
3 . ANKARA—The wushu team of Ankara, the Turkish capital, practices hard to win new medals and titles in Turkey.
Wushu has grown in popularity throughout the country. In a sports center, young athletes are training strenuously. “We are committed to martial arts and there is a real interest in wushu, which includes different techniques. Our athletes are ambitious,” Serkan Bakir, a well-known martial arts instructor says. Bakir explains that during the global health crisis, wushu, which emphasizes quickness, power and relaxed movement, provides an excellent opportunity for people who wish to strengthen their bodies.
“There are varieties of Chinese martial arts. Taichi, for example, can be performed from a kid to someone who is 85 years old. It can help people stay in good shape. Everyone can benefit from it especially when we have to stay fit to avoid the coronavirus,” he notes.
Beyzanur Karakaya, a 22-year-old woman, is currently seeking a master’s degree in sports education at university in Ankara. Her goal is to improve in her field and eventually travel to China to master the art of wushu, which she has practiced for about 10 years. “I have never been to China or competed against a Chinese athlete, but if I have the opportunity, I would love to go there and train with masters. That would be wonderful,” she says.
Wearing her traditional Chinese martial arts uniform, 13-year-old Fatma Ulukok says wushu brought some changes to her shy personality. “Since I started practicing this, I became more confident. So it has helped me both physically and mentally, and I plan to improve my abilities in the coming years,” the young girl says. Ulukok adds that she admires the Chinese culture and would like to go to China to see it for herself in the future.
1. What dose the underlined word “strenuously” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．energetically | B．patiently | C．inactively | D．passively |
| A．All people in Turkey practice wushu. |
| B．Wushu can cure heart diseases. |
| C．With the help of wushu, Karakaya became more self-confident. |
| D．Neither Karakaya nor Ulukok has been to China. |
| A．She got a master’s degree. | B．She stayed in good shape. |
| C．She was more ambitious. | D．She became more positive. |
| A．Health. | B．Medicine. | C．Art. | D．Travel. |
4 . Doctors say you had better use it before you lose it. The more you sit each day, the more chance you have of getting sick.
Richard Rosenkranz of Kansas State University was among the researchers. He said people who sat for long periods were at great risk of diseases when compared with those who sat less. He said that was especially true for some chronic (慢性的) diseases.
Richard Rosenkranz studied the relationship between sitting and chronic diseases in middle-aged Australian men. He worked with researchers from the University of Western Sydney. They examined the heath records of more than 63,000 men from New South Wales. The men were between the ages of 45 and 65. The men reported about what diseases they had, or did not have. And they kept record of the amount of time each day that they sat.
The study also showed that exercising every morning for 30 minutes did not reduce the health risk if you spend the next eight hours sitting at the desk. Mr. Rosenkranz said it was important to make sure you exercise. But he said it was also important to find ways not to sit so much during the day.
Many jobs today require sitting and working at the desk all day. James Levine works at the Mayo Clinic in the United States. He suggests working while standing at high table some of the time instead of sitting at a desk. Dr. Levine also suggests standing while using the telephone or eating. Or he advises walking with the people you work with for an on-foot meeting. And he notes that if you spend more time on your feet, you may have muscle activity that helps burn fats and sugars in your body.
1. The underlined sentence in the first paragraph suggests that ________.| A．doctors should treat all the patients well. |
| B．doctors should make use of every method. |
| C．one should depend on himself to keep healthy. |
| D．one should value his health before he loses it. |
| A．change his job. | B．exercise more often. |
| C．stand or walk more. | D．stay away from the desk. |
| A．A health magazine. | B．A fashion magazine. |
| C．A biology textbook. | D．A life guide. |
5 . A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away. That's the finding of a study of Dutchmen in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed at least an ounce of salt water fish per day compared to those who never ate fish.
The Dutch research is one of three human studies that give strong scientific support to the long-held belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart.
Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000 deaths occurring from heart attacks each year. But previous research has shown that the level of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do. There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption（消耗）averages more than 3 ounces.
For 20 years, the Dutch study followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish. At the start of the study, average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day, with more men eating lean fish than fatty fish.
During the next two decades, 78 of the men died from heart disease. The fewest deaths were among the group who regularly ate fish, even at levels far lower than those of the Japanese or Eskimos. This relationship was true regardless of other factors such as age, high blood pressure, or blood cholesterol（胆固醇）levels.
1. The passage is mainly about___________.| A．the effect of fish-eating on people's health |
| B．the high incidence of heart disease in some countries |
| C．the changes in people's diet |
| D．the daily fish consumption of people in different cultures |
| A．Advertisements | B．Movies |
| C．Briefs | D．Health and Diet |
| A．in countries of the yellow-skin race |
| B．in the countries with high consumption of fish |
| C．in highly-developed countries |
| D．in the countries with good production of fish |
| A．the kind of fish eaten | B．the amount of fish eater |
| C．regular fish-eating | D．people of different areas |
6 . Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit. You may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, but it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of. A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. This happens because the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart, while the crossed legs increase resistance, making the blood even harder to circulate. You won't feel any immediate effects, but don't keep the posture more than 15 minutes. Get up and walk around at least once every hour.
Crossing your legs can also lead to neck and back pain and make your hips in a twisted position, causing one of your pelvic bones to rotate. Since your pelvic bone supports your neck and spine, this can cause pressure on your lower and middle back and neck.
This sitting habit will make your feet and legs get tingly or have the feeling of being asleep, because it causes pressure on the veins and nerves in your legs and feet, leaving numbness and/or temporary paralysis in the legs, ankles, or feet. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.
So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet planted flat on the floor to save your health in the long run.
1. Where does this text probably come from?| A．Science fiction | B．Children's literature |
| C．An advertisement | D．A science report |
| A．feeling comfortable for a long time. |
| B．making your neck and back painful |
| C．having your feet and legs get tingly |
| D．increasing your blood pressure. |
| A．sitting with one knee crossed over the other and back straight. |
| B．sitting with your legs crossed for a long time without any immediate discomfort |
| C．going to walk around at least once an hour while you are sitting with your both feet on the floor. |
| D．remaining sitting with your feet planted flat on the floor all day. |
7 . While some customs like setting off fireworks and counting down the last few seconds seem universal, many countries have their own unique New Year’s Eve traditions.
Denmark: Break plates
A Danish tradition is to throw plates and dishes against friend’s and neighbor’s front doors. It’s a bit of a popularity contest as the bigger the pile of broken china is the next morning, the more friends and good luck you’ll have in the coming year.
Germany: Pouring lead
In Germany, people melt small pieces of lead in a spoon over a candle, then pour the liquid into cold water. The shapes from the lead pouring are supposed to reveal what the year ahead will bring. If the lead forms a ball, luck will roll one’s way, while the shape of a crown means wealth; a cross means death and a star will bring happiness.
Spain: Twelve grapes of luck
In Spain, one New Year’s tradition is to eat 12 grapes, one for each month of the coming year, to secure prosperity (繁荣). You need to eat one grape with each bell strike at midnight. The tradition dates from 1909 when farmers in Alicante came up with this idea to sell more grapes after an exceptional harvest.
Philippines: Round food, round clothes, round everything
In the Philippines, the start of the new year is all about the money. The locals believe that surrounding themselves with round things (to represent coins) will bring money or fortune. As a result, clothes with dots are worn and round food is eaten.
1. What is believed to bring good luck for the coming new year in Denmark?| A．A red candle. | B．Round food. | C．Broken china. | D．A lead cross. |
| A．A way to make coins. | B．An act to keep power. |
| C．A desire to be popular. | D．An idea to gain profit. |
| A．Fashion. | B．Travel. | C．Culture. | D．Entertainment. |
8 . With paper flowers and music hanging around in the air, Lyu Jun was hosting a small farewell ceremony at an industrial zone in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. It was a funeral for a pet dog. Lyu came up with the idea of becoming a pet mortician (殡葬师) four years ago when he was preparing to start a business.
“At that time, there was only one brick-and-mortar(实体的) business that provided funeral services for pets in Shenzhen, but hundreds of pets die every day in this city,” he said. According to Lyu, many pet owners used to bury the remains of their beloved animals near their homes , which had a harmful impact on the environment and created the risk of spreading disease.
He saw a gap in the market for someone able to properly handle the death of pets. “A pet funeral service provides treatment of the bodies that is harm-free, and it is the greatest comfort to pet owners,” Lyu said.
He takes good care of the remains of the pets and tidies up their appearance before the funeral. In addition, he prepares funeral addresses and selects suitable tombs for the pets. He also films funerals for owners who cannot attend the ceremonies, and provides paper and pens for those who want to write down their blessings and hang the notes on the wishing tree.
Over the past four years, Lyu has bid farewell to more than 2,000 dogs, cats and other kinds of animals. He also does volunteer work in his spare time to promote responsible dog raising. “The pet funeral service industry is still in its babyhood, and I hope there will be a set of strict standards for people who take on this job and a belter environment for the industry,” Lyu said.
1. Why did Lyu start the business on pet funeral service?| A．Because he could earn a lot of money from it. |
| B．Because he thought it met the market requirement. |
| C．Because he thought it would be a unique and challenging business. |
| D．Because he could help owners bury their dead pets near their homes. |
| A．He delivers speeches to mourn the pets. |
| B．He gives best wishes to the pets' owners. |
| C．He makes films of the pets for their birth. |
| D．He nurses and cares for the pets carefully. |
| A．Lyu volunteers to raise pets on his own. |
| B．The pet funeral service has got a big success. |
| C．More strict standards should be set for pets' owners. |
| D．There remains a potential in the pet funeral industry. |
| A．A research report. | B．An advertisement. |
| C．A novel. | D．A magazine. |
9 . Learning a second language is difficult at any age and it only gets harder the longer you wait to open that dusty French book. Now, in a new study, scientists have pointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency（流利）in a second language seem to rise： 10.
The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it's "nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second language after 10. But that doesn't seem to be because language skills go downhill “It turns out you're still learning fast. It's just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,“ says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.
Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children's brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they're better able to adapt and respond to new information. "All learning involves the brain changing,“ Hartshorne says, “and children's brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing. "
These findings may seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical （关键的）period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 when language learning ability starts to drop off——seems old.
“People progress better when they learn by immersion （沉 浸）rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where your desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that's not an option, you can create an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities," Hartshorne says. By doing so, it's possible to become conversationally fluent——even without the advantage of a child's brain.
1. What is the most important finding of the new study?| A．The best age to learn a second language. |
| B．The possibility of speaking fluent language. |
| C．The change of language skills over the time. |
| D．The great approaches to learning a language. |
| A．Their focus is language learning only. |
| B．They are more interested in languages. |
| C．They are more adaptable to new things. |
| D．Their brain always ignores big changes. |
| A．Joining friends in their learning. | B．Turning to immersive learning. |
| C．Studying in a quiet classroom. | D．Training the brain to a kid's brain. |
| A．Science. | B．Travel |
| C．Health. | D．Education. |
10 . Have you ever wondered if you see the same colours as other people? Most people know what blue is when they see it. They call it "blue” because they were taught the word and connected it with what they saw. But how do you know what you see as blue isn't someone else's red?
The ability to perceive （感知）different colours is up to receptors （接受器）in our eyes. Light waves hit these receptors and they react depending on which colour the light is, sending signals to the brain. The brain then reads these signals to determine which colour light the eyes are receiving.
Some people's receptors are more developed than others. The inability of the receptor to feel the light waves correctly means that some people cannot tell the differences between similar colours. Those with more developed receptors can see more colours. We sometimes hear people having an argument about whether something is dark blue or black. It might be because one person has stronger receptors to feel the light than another.
In the past, most scientists would argue that everyone saw colours in the same way. However, research was conducted on monkeys, in which their receptors were changed. This enabled them to see more colours than usual. Normally monkeys can only see blue and green, but the change allowed them to see red. Their brains automatically got used to new colours. This suggests that our brains may find new colors of the things we see. Colours could be a very personal experience , unique to everyone.
So, the next time you talk about your favourite colour, just remember if yours is blue and your friend says red, you two might actually be thinking about the same colour. What if everyone in the world has the same favourite colour, but just calls it different names?
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．How we perceive colours. |
| B．The inability to see colours. |
| C．What the brain does with signals. |
| D．The connection between receptors and light waves. |
| A．Some people cannot feel colours with their developed receptors. |
| B．The more light people feel, the weaker receptors they have. |
| C．People with poor receptors usually have colour weakness. |
| D．People who have strong receptors can see dark blue. |
| A．To test the monkeys with colours. |
| B．To develop the receptors of humans. |
| C．To enable monkeys to find more colors. |
| D．To prove everyone sees colours in a different way. |
| A．A film review. | B．A science magazine. |
| C．An art journal. | D．A business newspaper. |
