1 . Remember when your mom told you not to eat too many candy bars or sweets because they can cause tooth decay (蛀牙)? However, it turns out that chocolate can be more salutary to your teeth than you might expect. Recent studies show that chocolate can effectively fight against tooth decay, as if we need another excuse to eat chocolate.
Chocolate offers protection like fluoride, a main ingredient in most household toothpastes. Not only does chocolate protect our teeth, but it can do so very effectively. Studies show that chocolate has compounds that provide strong protection for teeth. One of the compounds in chocolate, CBH, is shown to protect even more effectively than fluoride.
Tooth decay happens when bacteria work to turn sugar into acids in our mouth. This is why eating foods with high sugar content can lead to more tooth decay. The compounds in chocolate, however, are anti-bacteria and can fight against bacteria in your mouth. The CBH compound in particular also works to strengthen tooth enamel (牙釉质), and protects against tooth decay.
Does this mean you can cat as much chocolate as you want without worrying about your teeth? It depends on the types of chocolate that you like. The protective effect of chocolate is most effective when you chew on cocoa beans. Of course, this option is not very appealing to; most people. A more tasty option is to choose dark chocolate with little sugar content, ideally no more than 6 to 8 grams per serving. For other types of chocolate with higher sugar content, the effect will be lessened. However, because of the protective compounds, it is still better for your teeth than other sweets and desserts containing the same amount of sugar.
1. The word “salutary” in paragraph 1 means?| A．Beneficial. | B．Harmful. | C．Familiar. | D．Useless. |
| A．It can help chocolate cure tooth decay. |
| B．It can effectively stop teeth from decaying. |
| C．It may protect teeth better than toothpastes do. |
| D．It may soon replace most household toothpastes. |
| A．By breaking down acids. | B．By building up compounds. |
| C．By fixing up tooth enamel. | D．By fighting against bacteria. |
| A．Chocolate plays the role of toothpaste. |
| B．Chocolate protects against tooth decay. |
| C．Chocolate is the best choice for teeth protection. |
| D．Chocolate is healthier to teeth than other sweets. |
2 . Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables. And it also does a lot of good to our health.
Gardening connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect chance to meet and spend time with your neighbors. Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most of them enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens almost as much as sharing flowers and vegetables from their gardens.
Gardening is a great activity for children. It gets them outdoors and off computers, televisions and cell phones. Gardening is also a great teacher. It can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating. It also helps them to understand that the natural resources (资源) are not inexhaustible and the importance of using them carefully.
Then, when you garden, you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening, like bending and lifting, work small muscles (肌肉) in the body. And you can easily get good exercise when you are digging holes or pulling grass.
In a study, researches looked at more than 2,800 people over the age of 60. They studied their life habits, activities and health over a 16-year period. They found that gardening could lower the risk of future dementia (痴呆) by 36%. Gardening requires people to do many repeated actions, such as picking off dying flowers. These actions have a calming influence on the brain. The brain is still active but not in the same way when we use computers.
You'll feel wonderful when what you grow in a garden looks, smells, feels and tastes good.
1. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?| A．Gardeners don't feel lonely. | B．Gardeners are fond of sharing. |
| C．Gardeners have many hobbies. | D．Gardeners care about the environment. |
| A．Useless. | B．Special. | C．Endless. | D．Cheap. |
| A．To tell us gardening is popular with the old. |
| B．To tell us gardening is good for health. |
| C．To tell us gardening can be a tiring activity. |
| D．To tell us gardening is better than playing computers. |
| A．To show how to garden. | B．To encourage us to garden. |
| C．To show gardening is popular. | D．To encourage us to do outdoor activities. |
3 . Reducing, reusing, and recycling is a way of life in Sweden. Recycling is required by law and garbage is sorted at home before if goes to a recycling center. Recyclables are sorted into seven categories and recycling stations are within just 300 meters of all residential areas. " Recycling almost everything is a must in Sweden now. It actually feels very uncomfortable when you visit another country and cant find easy ways to recycle, " said Owen Gaffney, an expert at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Future Earth.
But not all of its garbage is recycled. Sweden uses alternatives that include incineratinggarbage to make electricity instead of using fossil fuels（化石燃料）to heat 1.2 million homes. About half of household garbage is sent to one of the 33 waste﹣to﹣heat plants. Sweden is importing garbage from other countries to keep these plants running. Sweden is also a world leader in turning food waste into eco﹣friendly biogas（沼气）. It has made food waste collection compulsory beginning in 2021. There is a food waste biogas plant, which allows biogas to be used to run public buses and to heat apartment buildings.
Sweden now wants to deal with those remaining items that cannot be recycled by using a circular（循环论证的）economy approach. It means that products can be reused and only recycled when absolutely necessary. The Swedish government formed an advisory group to find a way of making this part of its environmental policy.
This will not work effectively unless people are taught to change their behavior. Now the government is reforming its tax code so that people could get cheaper repairs or buy used things. The large Swedish clothing retailer（零售商）H&M operates a recycling program that gives customers discounts when they bring back old clothing.
Sweden is fighting climate change by doing all the right stuff. Waste recycling and the plans to switch to a circular economy will go a long way in reducing its carbon footprint and will help stop global warming.
1. What do we know about Sweden？| A．Sweden imports household garbage for biogas. |
| B．It is convenient to recycle things in Sweden. |
| C．Half of garbage in Sweden is used to produce heat. |
| D．Everything is recycled after being used in Sweden. |
| A．Burning. |
| B．Treating. |
| C．Throwing. |
| D．Reusing. |
| A．Teach people how to save fossil fuels. |
| B．Conduct a survey about the local economy. |
| C．Offer advice on environmental policy. |
| D．Make sure the citizens recycle wisely. |
| A．It provides various recycling programs. |
| B．It cuts down taxes on new products. |
| C．It gives discounts to regular buyers. |
| D．It offers lower prices for repairs. |
4 . Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us. Physicists have created fascinating theories, but their time is measured by a pendulum (钟摆) and is not psychological time, which leaps with little regard to the clock or calendar. As someone who understood the distinction observed, ''When you sit with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like two hours. ''
Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter wings as we age. They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the more rapidly it seems to pass. For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach.
Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly. Almost all of us have had the experience of driving somewhere we've never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no real idea of when we’ll arrive, we experience the trip as lasing a long time. But the return trip, although exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The novelty of the outward journey has become routine.
When days become as identical as beads (小珠子)on a string, they mix together, and even months become a single day. To counter this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day-- to stop time, so to speak.
Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days of our youth seems to be full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us, learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn't have to be.
1. What is the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 used to show?| A．Psychological time is quite puzzling. |
| B．Time should not be measured by a pendulum. |
| C．Physical time is different from psychological time |
| D．Physical theory has nothing to do with the true sense of time |
| A．Our sense of time changes. |
| B．We spend less time at the beach |
| C．More time is structured and scheduled |
| D．Time is structured with too many appointments. |
| A．excitement | B．unfamiliarity | C．imagination | D．amusement |
| A．To give various explanations about time |
| B．To describe how we experience time physically |
| C．To show the differences of two kinds of time |
| D．To explain why time flies and how to slow it down |
5 . The annual marathon in my town occurred as scheduled. My job was to follow behind the runners in an ambulance in case any of them needed medical attention. As the athletes began to pace themselves, the front runners started to disappear. It was then that my eyes were drawn to the woman in blue running shorts and a baggy white T-shirt.
I knew we were already watching our “last runner”. Her feet were turned in, yet her left knee was turned out. Her legs were so crippled and bent that it seemed impossible for her to walk, let alone run a marathon.
The driver and I watched in silence as she slowly moved forward. We would move forward a little bit, then stop and wait for her to gain some distance. Then we’d slowly move forward a little bit more. As I watched her struggle to put one foot in front of the other, I found myself breathing for her and urging her forward. I wanted her to stop, and at the same time, I prayed that she wouldn’t.
Finally, she was the only runner left in sight. I sat on the edge of my seat and watched with respect and amazement as she pushed forward with sheer determination through the last miles. When the finish line came into sight, the cheering crowds had long gone home. Yet, standing straight and proud waited a man. He was holding one end of a ribbon tied to a post. She slowly crossed through, leaving both ends of the ribbon fluttering (飘动) behind her.
I don’t know this woman’s name, but that day she became a part of my life — a part I often depend on. For her, it wasn’t about beating the other runners or winning a prize. It was about finishing what she had set out to do. When I think things are too difficult or I get those “I-just-can’t-do-it,” I think of the last runner. Then I realize how easy the task before me really is.
1. What words can best describe the woman?| A．Proud and determined. | B．Strong-willed and honorable. |
| C．Modest and courageous. | D．Diligent and considerate. |
| A．Disabled. | B．Healthy. | C．Perfect. | D．Strong. |
| A．Don’t depend on others when facing hardships. |
| B．Nothing is too tough to accomplish if one is brave enough. |
| C．The disabled can also run a marathon despite their walking difficulty. |
| D．It’s not winning but finishing the thing we start that really matters. |
| A．A Humorous Stranger. | B．An Unforgettable Job. |
| C．The Last Runner. | D．The Annual Marathon. |
6 . A simple, yet powerful UK program has been fighting elderly loneliness by recruiting young adults as volunteers to read to seniors with vision problems and mental diseases.
Lily has benefited from the program having her vision “restored” by 15-year-old Amy, a school girl who was paired with Lily through the Reading Friends project. Lily was a librarian and enthusiastic reader who would read “two to three books every week”. After developing a terrible disease, however, Lily found herself unable to read or watch television for any length of time without her eyes hurting. Not only have Lily’s regular reading sessions with Amy helped to reconnect her with her passion for literature, they have also built a song inter-generational friendship between the two ladies. “I chose a book and she would come along and read it to me,” Lily said. “But we have only got through two books so far because we end up catting too much. We have read two historical novels and get on very well.” Research shows that reading together can help older people to build social networks and connect with others. Evidence also shows that reading has a positive impact on the elderly’s will-being and can reduce the risk of developing mental diseases.
Rose, a teacher, is responsible for connecting school children like Amy with the program—and she says that it has had an amazing impact on the youngsters. “We have wonderful young people at our school and we wanted to get then into the community,” Rose said. “It has been fantastic to see them blossom as well as improving their literacy and social skills. They are meeting community members like Lily that they are making friendships with and library staff can help them, not only with education but outside as well.”
1. What is the main responsibility of volunteers according to the passage?| A．Read books to seniors. | B．Have a chat with seniors. |
| C．Fight diseases for seniors. | D．Make friends with seniors. |
| A．They benefit Lily a lot by restoring her vision. |
| B．They help Amy pick up her love for literature. |
| C．They help Lily volunteer in the reading project. |
| D．They build up the friendship between two ladies. |
| A．By reducing elderly loneliness. |
| B．By curing the elders of vision problems. |
| C．By improving their literacy and social skills. |
| D．By enabling them to read books for a long time. |
| A．forcing | B．employing |
| C．separating | D．promoting |
7 . Nature has provided us with many kinds of resources. It is like a great magician(魔术师), creating wonders on Earth. One of them is the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest and home to millions of plants and animals. Nicknamed”the lungs of our planet”, it produces about one-fifth of Earth’s oxygen. However, this wonderful natural wonder is now in danger.
Thousands of fires have broken out in Brazil, endangering much of the rainforest. These flames have lasted several weeks and are believed to be the”most intense”in almost ten years, according to BBC News.
The Amazon has seen a large number of fires in 2019. Between January and August, there were over 74,000 fires – the highest number since 2013, the BBC reported.
Forest fires are common during the dry season, which runs from July to October. They are usually caused by natural events like lightning. However, most of the fires this year are believed to be caused by farmers, who use fire as a traditional part of tropical agriculture(农业) to clean land, reported CNN.
“It’s the best time to burn because the plants are dry. Farmers wait for the dry season and they start burning and clearing the areas so that their cattle can have grass,”wrote CNN meteorologist Haley Brink.
The disaster has raised concern(关注) around the world. The Amazon rainforest is important for preventing climate change, said the BBC, absorbing millions of tons of carbon annually. When trees are cut down or burned, the rainforest’s ability to absorb carbon is reduced.
Brazilian climate expert Carlos Nobre told Reuters he’s worried. If more than 20 percent of the ecosystem is destroyed, the Amazon rainforest could reach a”tipping point (临界点)”, where the thick jungle will turn into a tropical savannah(大草原).
Nobre warned that it is not far off, with between 15 and 17 percent of the rainforest having already been destroyed.
The Brazilian government has sent soldiers to fight the fires. Many people have offered their support and called for recovery efforts. For example, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said he wanted to donate money and US Actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s environmental charity, Earth Alliance, created a donation fund to help deal with the disaster.
The public are also encouraged to donate to charities concerned with rainforest protection. “Every little bit helps in a bad situation like this,”commented Gizmodo.
1. The underlined word”intense”probably means ______.| A．natural | B．terrible | C．common | D．unexpected |
| A．Lightning. | B．Hot weather. |
| C．Agricultural activities. | D．Garbage left by tourists. |
| A．Global temperatures will rise. |
| B．The Amazon rainforest is close to disappearing. |
| C．Animals in the Amazon rainforest are under threat. |
| D．It will take tens of years for the Amazon rainforest to recover. |
| A．Efforts made to save the Amazon rainforest. |
| B．The possible future of the Amazon rainforest. |
| C．What the Brazilian government has done to fight fires. |
| D．Celebrities(名人) who care about rainforest protection. |
8 . Kyle Cassidy and three other members of the Annenberg Running Group were stretching on the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania, waiting for a few latecomers. The Penn colleagues and other community members meet three days a week for a roughly 30-minute jog and an occasional lecture. That's right― during some runs, one of them delivers a talk. Topics range from the brain to Bitcoin.
But on this day last January, it would not be their normal run. The first clue that something was off was the man who sprinted past them. "Running at an amazing pace," Cassidy told Runner's World admiringly. Cassidy discovered why the sprinter was so fleet of foot when another man ran by, yelling, “Help! He took my phone and laptop!"
At that, the group did what running clubs do: They ran, trailing the suspect down the streets of Philadelphia until he ducked into a construction site. The runners split up. Cassidy ran around to the far side of the site to cut the thief off while the others wandered the neighborhood hoping he had dumped the loot （赃物）in a backyard.
No luck. So they decided to ask residents whether they'd seen the guy. When they knocked on the door of one row house, they were in for a surprise. Unknown to them, he had already emerged from the construction site—and was hiding behind a bush by that very house. As the owner opened the door, the suspect darted out from behind the bush ... and right into the arms of campus police, who'd joined the chase shortly behind the runners.
The members of this running group are not hard-core athletes. But they do understand the benefit of a little exercise. ''Running is typically a useless sport where you turn fat cells into heat," Cassidy told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "But occasionally it can be useful, and here was one of those opportunities."
1. Why do the group members gather together?| A．To do some stretching. | B．To have a regular run. |
| C．To deliver a lecture. | D．To cover some topics. |
| A．Dashed. | B．Pushed. |
| C．Jumped. | D．Escaped. |
| A．the assistance of the runners | B．the owner of the row house |
| C．the campus police on patrol | D．the joint efforts of the people |
| A．Athletic and generous. | B．Courageous and ambitious. |
| C．Helpful and humorous. | D．Thoughtful and demanding. |
9 . Google's new camera, called Clips, is a small, smart device. It comes with a case that has a clip (夹子) , but it's not designed to be worn on your clothing. Most interestingly, it uses artificial intelligence to take photography out of your hands so it can capture moments on its own.
This roughly 2-inch by 2-inch camera, with a three-hour battery life and Gorilla Glass for toughness, is intended for candid moments, like when a child does something cute that may happen too quickly for you to pull out your smartphone.
Onboard the Clips device, it uses machine learning algorithms (计算程序) to help capture scenes. Those algorithms include face recognition. "Once it learns that there's a face you see frequently, it'll try to get nice photos of those faces," said Juston Payne, the device's product manager. And they also want it to recognize facial expressions, which involved "training it to know what happiness looks like". The Google team also trained it to recognize what not to shoot—like when a child's hand is over the lens, or if it is tossed in a dark purse.
The only way to see the images is by connecting the camera with your phone, as it has no screen for viewing or editing.
Were people concerned it could seem strange? Yes, Payne admitted. But they said they addressed that by making it obvious what it is. A green light on the front signals that it is on. Besides, unlike a camera meant to monitor your home, it is not connected to the Internet.
"This product is only possible because of the way that silicon has advanced" Payne said, noting that it was only in the past year or so that they could squeeze the technology down into a device this size. Going forward, we're likely to get more assistance from the artificial intelligence packed into our apps and gadgets.
1. What is the most outstanding feature of Clips?| A．It is equipped with tough glass. |
| B．It enables easy Internet access. |
| C．It allows of hands-free photography. |
| D．It can be worn on your clothing. |
| A．brief. | B．touching. |
| C．unforgettable. | D．embarrassing. |
| A．The popularity of the Internet. |
| B．The advance in technology. |
| C．The rise of the smartphone industry. |
| D．The reduction in the price of lens. |
| A．A New Digital Camera from Google. |
| B．New Gadgets in the Age of Apps. |
| C．Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life. |
| D．An Alternative Way to Photograph. |
Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”
Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice; flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.
Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution.” The whole world became quite! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?
Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster’s office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!
1. What did the author’s classmates think about his report?
| A．Controversial. | B．Ridiculous. |
| C．Boring. | D．Puzzling. |
| A．He was unfamiliar with American history. |
| B．He followed the advice and flipped a coin. |
| C．He forgot his teacher’s instruction. |
| D．He was new at the school. |
| A．annoyed | B．ashamed |
| C．ready | D．eager |
| A．by redoing his task |
| B．through his own efforts |
| C．with the help of his grandfather |
| D．under the guidance of his headmaster |
