1 . We’ve all heard exercise helps you live longer. But a new study goes one step further, finding that a sedentary(久坐不动的) lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking and heart disease.
Dr. Wael Jaber, a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic and senior author of the study, called the results "extremely surprising."
"Being unfit in an exercise stress test has a worse prognosis(预后), as far as death, than being a smoker," Jaber told CNN. "We've never seen something as noticeable as this and as objective as this. "
"It should be treated almost as a disease that has a prescription, which is called exercise," he said.
Researchers studied 122,007 patients who took exercise stress tests at Cleveland Clinic between January 1, 1991 and December 31, 2020 to measure death rate relating to the benefits of exercise and fitness. Comparing those with a sedentary lifestyle to the top exercise performers, he said, the risk associated with death is "500% higher. "
What made the study so unique, beyond the number of people studied, he said was that researchers weren't relying on patients self-reporting their exercise. "This is not the patients telling us what they do," Jaber said. "This is our testing them and figuring out objectively the real measure of what they do. "
Researchers have always been concerned that "ultra(高强度的)" exercisers might be at a higher risk of death, but the study found that not to be the case.
The benefits of exercise were seen across all ages and in both men and women, "probably a little more noticeable in females," Jaber said. "Whether you’re in your 40s or your 80s, you will benefit in the same way. "
1. Which statement is true according to the study?| A．High levels of exercise can cause higher death rate. |
| B．The death rate of those with lowest exercise is 12%. |
| C．Being unfit has higher risks of death than smoking. |
| D．Sedentary lifestyle is the major cause of heart disease. |
| A．a habit hard to remove | B．a method to solve a problem |
| C．a treatment given by a doctor | D．a plan to take exercise regularly |
| A．The long period of the tests. | B．The number of the researchers. |
| C．The objective tests and calculations. | D．The self-reporting of the participants. |
| A．Ultra exercise does no good to our health. | B．Women should take more exercise than men |
| C．Exercise is the best way to treat heart disease. | D．Patients should be encouraged to exercise daily. |
2 . Shanghai residents passing through the city's eastern Huangpu district in October might have astonished at an unusual sight: a “walking” building. An 85-year-old primary school has been lifted off the ground and relocated using new technology named the “walking machine.”
In the city's latest effort to preserve historic structures, engineers attached nearly 200 mobile supports under the five-story building, according to Lan Wuji, chief technical supervisor (技术总监) of the project. The supports act like robotic legs. They're divided into two groups which alternately rise up and down, imitating the human pace. Attached sensors help control how the building moves forward, said Lan.
In recent decades, China's rapid modernization has seen many historic buildings razed to clear land for high-rise buildings. But there has been growing concern about the architectural heritage lost as a result of destruction across the country. Some cities have launched new preservation and conservation campaigns including, on occasion, the use of advanced technologies that allow old buildings to be relocated rather than destroyed.
Shanghai has possibly been China's most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings in the famous Bund district and 19th-century “Shikumen” houses in the rebuilt Xintiandi neighborhood have offered examples of how to give old buildings new life. The city also has a satisfying record of relocating old buildings. In 2018, the city relocated a 90-year-old building in Hongkou district, in what was then considered to be Shanghai's most complex relocation project to date.
The Lagena Primary School, which weighs 7,600 tons, posed a new challenge-it's T-shaped, while previously relocated structures were square or four-sided. Experts met to discuss possibilities and test a number of different technologies before deciding on the “walking machine”, Lan said. However, he couldn't share the exact cost of the project, and that relocation costs will differ case by case. “It can't be used as a reference, because we have to preserve the historical building no matter what,” he said. “But in general, it's cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”
1. How does the “walking” machine work?| A．It uses hundreds of ropes to lift up the entire building. |
| B．It uses many wheels to roll the building to the new place. |
| C．It lifts off the building story by story with the robotic legs. |
| D．It uses sensors to control the movement of mobile supports. |
| A．replaced | B．burnt | C．protected | D．destroyed |
| A．The use of advanced technology leads to growing concern. |
| B．Shanghai is the pioneer in preserving architectural heritage. |
| C．The local government has already taken action since the 1930s. |
| D．It consequently holds back the progress of modernization. |
| A．New preservation campaigns are launched in China. |
| B．Modernization poses threats to historic buildings. |
| C．A building in Shanghai “walks” to a new location. |
| D．“Walking machine” makes heritage protection cheaper. |
3 . Sometimes pets are more than we can handle, like when a small puppy grows up to be a huge dog. People can usually find a new home for a big dog, but a giant pet snake is not so easy to give away. As a result, some people in Florida have released their pet pythons into the wilderness of the Florida Everglades. Problem solved? Only for the pet owners.
The snakes that are the biggest problem are Burmese pythons. These snakes are not native to the Everglades. Pet dealers originally brought them to the United States from Southeast Asia. Because Burmese pythons are not native, they disrupt the natural order of the Everglades’ ecosystem.
The snakes’ size and strength are also a problem. Burmese pythons can grow to be 20 feet long. There are reports of terrifying battles between pythons and alligators in the Everglades. Even more worrisome is the impact on creatures that are no match for the monster snakes. For example, biologists have discovered endangered birds, bobcats, and wood rats in pythons’ stomachs.
Another effect of python dumping is the spread of these snakes beyond the Everglades. Pythons swim well and can move more than a mile a day on land. In addition, one snake can produce nearly 100 eggs. Their wide range of movement and high rate of birth means that the snakes can quickly overrun a habitat.
As a result of this scary scenario, Florida park rangers, wildlife officials, and others are on “python patrol.” They capture and kill Burmese pythons to try to keep the numbers under control. There is also a greater effort to teach people about the responsibilities of keeping a python.
1. Which of these has caused Burmese pythons to be found in the Florida Everglades?| A．Pet owners who let them go. | B．Pet dealers who released them into the wild. |
| C．The large number of eggs the snakes produce. | D．The snakes’ ability to swim and move well. |
| A．they can even grow to 20 feet long | B．they put endangered animals at greater risk |
| C．biologists can study them in the natural habitat | D．they control the alligator population |
| A．selling unwanted goods very cheaply | B．moving information from a computer |
| C．putting something down carelessly | D．getting rid of something unwanted |
| A．Pythons are not native to the Everglades. | B．Burmese pythons can grow to 20 feet long. |
| C．Pythons can swim and move well on land. | D．Florida park rangers are on "python patrol". |
| A．Pythons will grow too big to handle at home. | B．Owners will become educated about pythons. |
| C．People will no longer get pythons as pets. | D．Pet dealers will stop bringing pythons here. |
4 . When a corporation(公司) is formed, it issues stock (股票), which is sold or given to individuals.Ownership of stock entitles you to vote in the election of acorporation’s directors, so in theory holders of stock control the company. In practice, however, in most large corporations, ownership is separated from control of the firm. Most stockholders have little input into the decisions a corporation makes. Instead, corporations are often controlled by their managers, who often run them for their own benefit as well as for the owners. The reason is that the owners’control of management is limited.
A large percent of most corporations’ stock is not even controlled by the owners; instead, is controlled by financial institutions such as mutual funds (financial institutions that invest individuals’money for them) and by pension funds (financial institutions that hold people’s money for them untilit is to be paid out to them upon their retirement). Thus, ownership of I Corporations is another step removed from individuals. Studies have shown that 80 percentof the largest 200 corporations in the US are essentially controlled by managersand have little effective stockholder control.
Why is the question of who controls a firm important? Because economic theory assumes the goal of business owners is to maximize profits, which would be true of corporations if stockholders made the decisions. Managers don’t have the same motivation to maximize profits that owners do. There’s pressure on managers to maximize profits, but that pressure can often be weak orineffective. An example of how firms deal with this problem involves stock options. Many companies give their managers stock options-rights to buy stock at a low price - to encourage them to worry about the price of their company’s stock. But these stock options dilute the value of company ownership and profits per share and can give managers an incentive (激励, 刺激)to overstate profits through accounting tricks, as happened at Enron, Xerox, and a number of other firms.
1. Why can’t the stockholders control the company?| A．Because they are separated from the managers. |
| B．Because they havea little input in making decisions. |
| C．Because they are limited in the control of management. |
| D．Because they are restricted to the ownership of the company. |
| A．Ownership is controlled by managers. |
| B．Ownership is separated from control of the company. |
| C．Ownership is removed from the stockholders. |
| D．Ownership is controlled by financial institutions. |
| A．maximize | B．arouse | C．decrease | D．ease |
| A．Stock option. | B．The right to own stock. |
| C．Controlling power. | D．Effective stockholder control. |
| A．Who Controls Corporation? | B．When should the Stock be Issued? |
| C．Importance of Financial Institutions | D．Stockholders and Managers |
5 . I was still a student pilot at the time, and only my instructor and I were on board. While I was doing a random session of instrument training, I had my blinder goggles down. For those of you wondering, this literally means I cannot see out the windows and can only see down to my instrument panel.
My instructor was giving me instructions, and I was to only rely on the instruments---which also meant that he was my only eyes. So if, for any reason, he saw something he didn’t like, he’s say, “MY PLANE” and take control. Well, we were flying along, and he’s having me perform various tasks with the blinders down, to teach me about trusting instruments. At one point, my blinder goggles slipped down my nose a little, and I caught a quick glance out the side windows. About 40 feet off my wing was a skydiver with parachute open. I immediately took my goggles off and screamed, “skydivers!” and my instructor had no idea. He was my only eyes during my training flight, but he had me fly right into the path of skydivers without knowing it. There was a small grass land nearby that sometimes had skydiving flights in the late summer. Thankfully, he quickly pulled the yoke and flew us out of the immediate area, but it still scared me.
Needless to say, he was extremely embarrassed afterward and kept telling me “ It was an accident and I seriously didn’t see them.” I very well could have killed someone without even knowing it. It gives me a sudden fear every time I think about it.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that .| A．a skydiver might have been killed due to the instructor’s carelessness |
| B．a skydiver got into the wrong path of the training plane accidentally |
| C．The instructor always liked to take control of the plane during flights |
| D．The instructor performed various tasks with the students’ blinders down |
| A．The accident made the author lose face |
| B．The author was unwilling to trust the instructor |
| C．The author regretted killing someone accidentally |
| D．The experience left a long-term influence on the author. |
| A．To see is to believe |
| B．One can never be too careful |
| C．Everything comes to him who waits |
| D．God helps those who help themselves |
| A．theoretically | B．really | C．possibly | D．finally |
6 . No. It’s a simple word, but it can be so difficult to say. Whether it’s a favor asked by a friend, or even an unethical request from a colleague, many people will say “yes” because they hate to let others down and saying “no” makes them feel uncomfortable.
And we worry that saying no will change the way the other person views us. If you have a reputation of being a helpful and accommodating person, it is even harder to say no because you don’t want to hurt that good reputation, says Adam Grant, a professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“Every ‘no’ is a missed opportunity to make a difference and build a relationship,” Grant wrote in a column for The Huffington Post.
Saying no is a rejection and a lot of times it does hurt feelings. But even so, psychologists say, most people probably won’t take our “no” as badly as we think they will. That’s because of something called a “harshness bias (严重性偏向心理)” —our tendency to believe others will judge us more severely than they actually do. For those people pleasers, Grant says there’s a big difference between pleasing people and helping them. “Being a giver is not about saying yes to all of the people all of the time to all of the requests. It’s about saying yes to some of the people (generous givers who will return your favor, but not necessarily the selfish takers) some of the time (when it won’t compromise your own goals and ambitions) to some of requests (when you have resources or skills that are uniquely relevant).”
Always saying yes can make us overcommitted and put us under too much pressure. Saying no helps us protect our own priorities, psychologist Judith Sills told The Wall Street Journal. Another important reason to say no, Sills says, is it keeps us from giving in to peer pressure. “To have your own values, sometimes you have to say ‘no’ to people with whom you don’t agree,” Sills says.
1. The underlined word “unethical” in paragraph 1 is closet in meaning to __________.| A．proper | B．unacceptable | C．moral | D．illegal |
| A．Saying yes is not necessarily satisfactory. |
| B．We should always say yes to the generous givers. |
| C．We should say yes to some requests from some of the people sometime. |
| D．Saying yes to other people’s requests should be forbidden for your own benefits. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Suspicious. | C．Supportive. | D．Optimistic. |
7 . Two Russian cosmonauts(宇航员)aboard the International Space Station (ISS) played chess against an Earth-bound grandmaster on Tuesday, in celebration of the first such game half a century ago.
Equipped with an electronic chessboard,cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vaguer played in zero gravity against 30-year-old Russian former child prodigy(神童)Sergei Karyakin. The game was broadcast live and ended in a draw after about 15 minutes.
It was organised by the space agency Roscosmos and the Russian Chess Federation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Space-Earth game of chess played on June 9, 1970. "It's a huge honor for us not to lose to a grandmaster," Ivanishin said, while Vaguer added that US astronauts on the ISS watched the game and gave tips.
Karyakin, who played from Moscow's Museum of Cosmonautics, said he was jittery during the game and could not fall asleep until 4 a. m. on the night before the match.
"They played well," he said. "I can say that the human brain functions very well in space, and I have seen this today." At the age of 12 years and seven months, Karyakin became the world's youngest ever grandmaster.
Ivanishin, Vagner and US astronaut Chris Cassidy arrived on the ISS in April. On May 31, they were joined by US astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the first manned private (light to the ISS. SpaceX made history by becoming the world's first commercial company to send humans to the ISS, leading Russia to lose its long-held monopoly(垄断)on space travel.
1. Why did the two Russian astronauts play chess on the ISS?| A．To offer a live show from the ISS. |
| B．To prove their success in boarding the ISS. |
| C．To test the human brain functions in zero gravity. |
| D．To celebrate the first Space-Earth chess game 50 years ago. |
| A．Bored. | B．Disappointed. | C．Anxious. | D．Frightened. |
| A．A Space-Earth Chess Game | B．A Former Child Chess Prodigy |
| C．A Chess Game Played on the ISS | D．A Celebration of Human Space History |
8 . ''I get so frustrated. I end up hitting the desk. '' ''I feel very unwell and I am really scared. '' These are how students feel about one of the basic but important subjects being learnt in school-mathematics. These also reflect a phenomenon where children as young as six may feel fear, anger and despair as a result of ''mathematics anxiety'', a condition which can cause physical symptoms and behavior problems in class, according to a study.
Researchers from the center for neuroscience in education at Cambridge University worked with 2,700 primary and secondary students in the UK and Italy—including detailed one-to-one interviews —to explore maths anxiety and its causes.
Researchers say maths anxiety should be treated as a ''real concern'' because of the damage it does to a child's learning. Pupils in both primary and secondary school can find themselves locked in a cycle of despair, suffering from anxiety which harms their maths performance, which in turn leads to increased anxiety.
The children interviewed provided vivid descriptions of their fears about maths. One primary school student described his reaction during a math lesson. ''Because my table's in the corner I kind of tried not to be in the lesson. ''
Researchers found there was a general sense that maths was hard compared with other subjects, which led to a loss of confidence. Yet the study points out that most children with high levels of maths anxiety are also high achievers in the subject.
It was also found that key triggers for anxiety included poor marks, test pressures, tease from fellow pupils and a confusing mix of teaching methods. National State tests taken in the final year of primary school were another cause of anxiety for some, while the transition to secondary school was challenging for others.
1. What can we learn about maths anxiety?| A．It is a typical condition of primary students. |
| B．It is the root of students' strange daily behaviors. |
| C．It does damage to students' math performance. |
| D．Only teenagers can suffer a lot from it in class. |
| A．Problems. | B．Reasons. |
| C．Phenomena | D．Consequences. |
| A．How students respond to maths learning. |
| B．What makes maths learning difficult. |
| C．Why students suffer from mathes anxiety. |
| D．How to deal with the maths frustration. |
9 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.
Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.
For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.
The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Food safety. | B．Movie viewership. |
| C．Consumer demand. | D．Eating behavior. |
| A．Big eaters. | B．Overweight persons. |
| C．Picky eaters. | D．Tall thin persons. |
| A．To see how she would affect the participants. |
| B．To test if the participants could recognize her. |
| C．To find out what she would do in the two tests. |
| D．To study why she could keep her weight down. |
| A．How hungry we are. | B．How slim we want to be. |
| C．How we perceive others. | D．How we feel about the food. |
10 . “I think I’m nothing more than a dead fish.” “I don’t want to do anything.” “I’m so beat and so sad.”…The young generation in our country used to enjoy their “happy culture” but now they have become “beat and sad” slowly and secretly. Some people even called it “the beat culture”. The “Beat” youths don’t want to do anything. They have no purpose, no desire and they are totally depressed so that they only want to live an aimless life. The “Ge You slouch (葛优瘫)” and the song I feel like having been drained are the examples.
Many media concern themselves about this phenomenon and try to persuade the youths into embracing positive and healthy feelings and encourage them to work hard to get rid of decadence. This is really a kind gesture. However, we don’t have to worry too much about this “beat culture.” In fact, it’s not a negative thing. “Beat” never means despair, but a way of self-mockery(自嘲)and pressure relief.
In general, the youths in China are not “beat”. According to a recent international research, the youths in China hold positive attitude towards the future. 29% of the Chinese interviewees believe they will live and work in peace in China because “as long as you work hard, you can have your own day”. Around 93% of the Chinese interviewees believe the future is promising because of medicine industry, renewable energy sources and computer. Compared with Chinese youngsters, youths in developed countries are more pessimistic (悲观的).
Of course there are some social reasons for the appearing of “the Beat Culture”. As urbanization develops rapidly, youths living in big cities are facing new challenges that their forefathers have never met before. Loneliness and feelings of insignificance and powerlessness are easy to get hold of the young people. Without proper care, they could threaten our mentality and cause many social problems. These problems probably need our attention more.
1. “The Beat culture” includes the following examples except that _______| A．the young generation don’t feel like doing anything. |
| B．the young generation consider themselves dead fish. |
| C．the young generation in big cities are facing new challenges. |
| D．the young generation enjoy the song I feel like having been drained. |
| A．loneliness | B．laziness |
| C．sufferings | D．pessimism |
| A．Most people believe that with hard work, people can have their own day. |
| B．These days, young people suffer much more loneliness than their parents. |
| C．Chinese youths are more negative than young people in developed countries. |
| D．Social development does bring some pressure to the younger generation. |
| A．The Chinese youths are not the beat generation. |
| B．How does “the Beat Culture” affect the Chinese youth. |
| C．“The Beat Culture” is positive to Chinese youngsters. |
| D．“The Beat culture” is popular among the Chinese youngsters. |
