1 . You've probably heard it suggested that you need to move more throughout the day, and as a general rule of thumb, that "more" is often defined as around 10,000 steps. With many Americans tracking their steps via new fitness-tracking wearables, or even just by carrying their phone, more and more people use the 10,000-step rule as their marker for healthy living. Dr. Dreg Hager, professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, decided to take a closer look at that 10,000-step rule, and he found that using it as a standard may be doing more harm than good for many.
“It turns out that in 1960 in Japan they figured out that the average Japanese man, when he walked 10,000 steps a day burned something like 3,000 calories and that is what they thought the average person should consume so they picked 10,000 steps as a number” Hager said.
According to Hager, asking everyone to shoot for 10,000 steps each day could be harmful to the elderly or those with medical conditions, making it unwise for them to jump into that level of exercise, even if it's walking. The bottom line is that 10,000 steps may be too many for some and too few for others. He also noted that those with shorter legs have an easier time hitting the 10,000-step goal because they have to take more steps than people with longer legs to cover the distance. It seems that 10,000 steps may be suitable for the latter.
A more recent study focused on older women and how many steps can help maintain good health and promote longevity (长寿).The study included nearly 17,000 women with an average age of 72. Researchers found that women who took 4,400 steps per day were about 40% less likely to die during a follow-up period of just over four years: Interestingly, women in the study who walked more than 7,500 steps each day got no extra boost in longevity.
1. What does the underlined word "it' in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The phone recording. | B．The 10,000-step rule. |
| C．The healthy living. | D．The fitness-tracking method. |
| A．How many steps a Japanese walks. |
| B．How we calculate the number of steps. |
| C．If burning 3,000 calories daily is scientific. |
| D．Where 10,000 steps a day came from. |
| A．Senior citizens. | B．Young short-legged people. |
| C．Healthy long-legged people | D．Weak individuals. |
| A．4,400 steps. | B．10,000 steps. |
| C．2,700 steps. | D．7,500 steps. |
2 . Ever since she received a little toy airliner as a birthday gift, Kate Koralevskaya has been attracted by flight. From flying remote-controlled airplanes to building her own model ones, Kate has always considered flying a plane one of her passions, but only until recently has she been able to take that to new heights.
When Kate heard about the Upwind Scholarship from her school counselor, she knew it was an extraordinary opportunity to realize her dream. The program's mission is to provide all the training necessary to obtain a private pilot's license (PPL) for students in between their junior and senior year of high school free of charge.
After completing a lengthy application and her subsequent acceptance into the program, Kate began her training last spring. Normally, recipients of the scholarship would attend ground school in person where they learn the fundamentals of flying. Due to the pandemic (大流行病), however, Kate spent hours each weekend studying online lessons in her room whenever she got a break from homework. Once summer came around, Kate and three peers put in two straight weeks of ground school, reviewing fight training from nine to five every day. "It was the toughest part of the program," Kate said.
After completing that portion of ground school, Kate was finally able to begin flying at the San Carlos Airport with the other scholarship recipients from around the Bay Area. Flying, especially for first-timers like Kate, is a hands-on process involving lots of checklists to make sure the important tasks are being taken care of.
Now, having finished the program and earned her PPL, Kate plans on training as a fight instructor and hopes to become an airline pilot in her future.
She credits the Upwind Scholarship for all she's been able to accomplish so far and hopes that anyone who shares her passion will look into it. “It is a very hard scholarship to get into, and you have to be truly interested in flight,” Kate said. “It can't be something like ‘Oh, why don't I try flying this summer?’ You have to be ready to do a lot of work and put in effort in order to succeed in the program. ”
1. What does the underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Her skill of building model airplanes. |
| B．Her wish to take fights around the world. |
| C．Her childhood dream of becoming a pilot. |
| D．Her desire to fly remoter-controlled airplanes. |
| A．To help students in need to achieve their dreams. |
| B．To provide necessary training for private pilots for free. |
| C．To give students expert advice on earning a scholarship. |
| D．To prepare high school students to become a private pilot. |
| A．She took online lessons on flying. |
| B．She went over the fundamentals of flying. |
| C．She did some research into the pandemic. |
| D．She finished applying for the program. |
| A．Confident and aggressive. |
| B．Strong willed and patient. |
| C．Demanding and courageous. |
| D．Ambitious and hard-working. |
3 . An afternoon nap(午睡)is one of the joys of life, although too much napping could signal all is not well. In some cultures, people will have a daily nap — this is fine. The warning comes when people start sleeping during the daytime, when they did not before. There is certainly a good reason to believe that daytime sleepiness — as in the Alzheimer's study — can be a marker of an underlying condition.
For most people, napping during the day is mainly a sign that you are not getting enough sleep at night, says Dr. Neil Stanley, a sleep expert. "If you feel sleepy during the day, you should think about taking a nap. That is what the body needs — it doesn't need to be kept awake with caffeine, it needs sleep. "The feeling to notice is "sleepiness", he says, not "tiredness", which could be more psychological and linked to stress.
So how do you nap well? The key thing, says Stanley, is how long your nap lasts. Choose either a 20-or 90-minute nap. "When you fall asleep, you'll quickly go through the lighter stages of sleep into your first period of deep sleep. You don't want to wake up in deep sleep because that's when you wake and feel worse than you did before. "Napping for 20 minutes means you will wake up before you go into deep sleep; napping for 90 minutes means you'll complete a sleep cycle.
Once you factor in the time it takes to fall asleep — some people are better at napping than others but, says Stanley, "a healthy adult will fall asleep in between 5 and 12 minutes" — you can set an alarm, allowing a 30- to 40-minute period for a short nap, and up to two hours for a longer one.
A good time to nap is during the body's natural dip in the afternoon, between 2 pm and 4 pm. "You don't really want to be napping much past that because then you are going to be eating into your night-time sleep," Stanley says. The point, he stresses, is to get good night-time sleep, which would ensure you probably don't need to nap at all.
1. What does an afternoon nap indicate for most people?| A．Caffeine addiction. | B．Psychological stress. |
| C．Insufficient night sleep. | D．Potential physical illness. |
| A．Duration. | B．Surroundings. | C．Health. | D．Stages. |
| A．A 30- to 40- minute period. | B．Between 2 pm and 4 pm. |
| C．Between 5 and 12 minutes. | D．A 20- to 90-minute period. |
| A．Why to phase a nap | B．When to take a good nap |
| C．What to learn from a nap | D．How to have a successful nap |
4 . Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” I’ve always enjoyed learning new languages. So far I’ve learned 11 languages.
German is the first language I started learning completely on my own. I don’t remember clearly why I chose this language to learn, but I remember I had no idea how to learn it. I spent several months reading an old grammar book found in my grandmother’s bookcase. But I quickly lost heart.
Then I saw a commercial(广告) on TV about a language series in 4 languages and decided to give it a go. While using it, I came up with my method: a special technique to absorb(掌握) the basic patterns of any language in a light, natural and fun way. I quickly realized that it was helpful to me.
After using the technique for a year and a half, I met a group of Germans while on vacation. I would always remember their faces as they asked in surprise, “Wie kannst du so gut Deutsch?” This reaction and the resulting, special connection were enough to fuel(加强) my passion(热情) to improve my German. From that moment on I started reading a lot. The language has become an important part of my life.
Lesson learned: If you find a method that you like and works, you can start learning any language by yourself. There is no best method of learning a language. Find something that is helpful to you. And above all experiment!
1. What Nelson Mandela said shows the importance of ______.| A．going to others’ hearts | B．learning foreign languages |
| C．understanding foreigners | D．learning our mother tongue well |
| A．Simple. | B．Helpful. |
| C．Boring. | D．Wonderful. |
| A．The commercial on TV. |
| B．The language series in 4 languages. |
| C．The way the author got from the language series. |
| D．Learning all lessons in a light, natural and fun way. |
| A．How can you speak German so well? |
| B．Where did you learn German? |
| C．Could you be a guide for us? |
| D．Can you tell us your way of learning German? |
5 . Experiencing hardship early in life is awful. And worse, it can mean a difficult road ahead. Living a life without any stress seems like a much better alternative. But it isn't necessarily a good thing, research is now showing. A small amount of stress may actually help kids build resilience, which is the ability to bounce back after a bad experience.
In one 2010 study, researchers wanted to understand how stress affects resilience. They surveyed 2, 398 adults in the United States. Participants answered questions about their mental health and overall health. And they indicated if they had experienced varying levels of adversity. The survey showed adults who faced some adversity reported fewer symptoms of psychological problems than those who had experienced heavy adversity. They also performed better than those who had sailed through childhood with few hard times.
David Lyons is a professor at Stanford University in California His team reported evidence for this in a November 2019 paper in Scientific Reports . The team studied small squirrel monkeys. These monkeys experienced varying “doses” of stress. “No stress” monkeys enjoyed a typical life in the lab: They were housed in a cage with their mother and siblings and there was plenty of water and food. A second group faced a mild stressor: They spent an hour a day away from their siblings on 10 straight days. The stress dose went up for a third group where these monkeys had daily separation from siblings and no access to mother during that hour. Two more groups experienced daily separation from both their mother and siblings.
Ten weeks later, each monkey was moved with its mother to an unfamiliar cage. The researchers assessed the monkeys' willingness to let go of mother and explore the new digs On the whole, monkeys that faced one or two stressors(groups2 and 3) depend less o their mothers than those in the last two groups. They also more readily explored their new surroundings In general, they showed less anxiety than both the no stress and high stress groups.
“Growing up healthy means learning how to deal with mild challenges and changes,” Lyons concludes.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Choosing a difficult road. | B．Leading a stress free life. |
| C．Experiencing hardship early. | D．Bouncing back after failing |
| A．Heavy adversity can harm health. | B．Childhood adversity is unnecessary. |
| C．People with more stress are stronger. | D．Adults have much more mental stress. |
| A．They assessed monkeys' mental health. | B．They set small monkeys free in nature. |
| C．They designed different levels of stress. | D．They divided monkeys into two groups. |
| A．Resilience Comes From Nothing but Life Stress |
| B．Mild Stress May Help Children Build Resilience |
| C．Young People Have Trouble Handling Challenges |
| D．Growing Up Healthy Means Adapting to Changes |
6 . The Pharos, the great lighthouse of Alexandria, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It stood on the island of Pharos, in the harbor of the city of Alexandria. In 290 B.C, Ptolemy I Soter, the ruler of Egypt, ordered the building of the lighthouse. Twenty years later, it was finished−the first lighthouse in the world and the tallest building on Earth except the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
The Pharos was designed by Sostrates, a Greek architect. Sostrates wanted to leave his name on the base of the lighthouse. But Ptolemy refused, ordering that only his own name appear on the building. But Sostrates found a way to do that. At the base of the Pharos, Sostrates left a message containing his own name. Then he covered it with plaster (建筑石膏) and left Ptolemy's name over it. After many years, the plaster disappeared and people knew the true architect of the lighthouse.
In 1302 and 1323, two strong earthquakes hit Alexandria, and the lighthouse was damaged. In 1326, it finally fell into the sea. Much of what we know about the lighthouse comes from the writings of Arabs who once visited the Pharos.
The Pharos was about 384 feet tall, the same height as a modern 40-storey building. At the top of the lighthouse stood a large statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Under it was a beacon, the source of light for the lighthouse. The Pharos used two kinds of beacons. At night, a large fire created the light. During the day, a huge mirror made use of the sunlight to create the light.
It was said that the mirror was also used to set enemy ships on fire as they entered the harbor by directing the sun’s rays (sunlight) at them. Although it is clearly impossible, the idea is interesting.
1. Why did Sostrates use plaster at the base of the Pharos?| A．To follow Ptolemy's orders. |
| B．To hide his name left on the base. |
| C．To protect the base from damage. |
| D．To make the lighthouse more beautiful. |
| A．For about 800 years. | B．For about 1,000 years. |
| C．For about 1,600 years. | D．For about 2,000 years. |
| A．The lighthouse. | B．The statue. |
| C．A large fire. | D．A huge mirror. |
| A．Sostrates and Ptolemy. |
| B．The function of an old lighthouse. |
| C．The Pharos, a wonder of the ancient world. |
| D．The architect of an old lighthouse. |
7 . Japanese businessman Katsuo Inoue chose Italy for his summer vacation this year. He enjoyed the views of Florence and Rome-without ever leaving Japan.
Inoue and his wife “flew” to Italy on First Airlines, a company known for entertainment （娱乐），not transportation. The Tokyo-based new company entered the fast growing online tourism early this year as many countries have stopped accepting foreign tourists.
“I often go to other countries on business, but I haven't been to Italy,” Inoue said. "My impression was really good because I got a sense of actually seeing things there. First Airlines even gave us life jackets and oxygen masks（氧气罩）！”
The “passengers” on First Airlines sit in the first — or business-class areas of an airplane model. Workers serve meals and drinks as large screens show passing clouds and other views outside the airplane. The “travelers“ then receive glasses that provide virtual reality（虚拟现实 的）tours of places like Paris, New York, Hawaii and Rome.
The country's biggest airline, ANA Holdings, said that the numbers of passengers flying to foreign countries fell by 96 percent since June when Japan has stopped most travel in and out of the country. The International Air Transport Association （lAIA ） and The International Tourism Association （ITA） said last month that international travels wouldn't be able to recover until 2024. But they said the online travels have been growing very fast.
The president, Hiroaki Abe, said, “Since we started our online tour this year, our business has been increasing by 50 percent each month. Most of our customers usually travel to other countries every year and they can now experience some of that here when they are unable to go to the real attractions.”
1. What can we learn about First Airlines?| A．It provides transportation to tourists. |
| B．It is an Italy-based company. |
| C．It has been in business for many years. |
| D．It is a new online tourism company. |
| A．It is very cool. | B．It is boring. |
| C．It is dangerous. | D．It is frightening. |
| A．Customers can have more choices. |
| B．It is able to provide much better services. |
| C．It is much cheaper than the traditional travels. |
| D．People cannot actually travel around this year. |
| A．IATA. | B．ITA. |
| C．First Airlines. | D．ANA Holdings. |
8 . A NASA-funded study used satellite to search for penguin poops (粪便) in Antarctica: funny at first sight though, it resulted in unique insights on the Adelie penguin’s diet and its future. The findings unlocked the secrets about the species that can provide an early-warning of threats to Antarctica’s delicate ecosystem.
Researchers used satellite images to see if the Adelie penguin’s diet has been changing in response to Antarctica’s changing climate. Adelie penguin population has dropped greatly in some areas even as the global population increases. The satellite images show their presence can be detected by the stain (污渍) left on the ice by their waste, called guano.
Male and female penguins take turns incubating (孵化) in the nest. The guano builds up in the same areas occupied by the nests. A global survey for Adelie penguins turned up 3.8 million breeding pairs. Also, the satellite data can detect the color of the penguin guano, ranging from white to pink to dark red. White guano is from eating mostly fish; pink and red would be from eating mostly krill (磷虾). The team found that while the Adelie penguin’s diet did show changes from year to year, no consistent pattern was obvious.
“This was a big surprise, since the abundance and distribution of Adelie penguins has changed dramatically over the last 40 years and scientists had assumed that a change in diet might have played a role,” said Casey Young. However, continuing changes in the physical environment and a growing krill fishery in the region are likely to have an influence on penguin prey (猎物) and penguin population itself. “They will be important for the management of the Antarctic ecosystem, ” said Young.
1. What concerned scientists most according to paragraph 1?| A．The Antarctica’s ecosystem. | B．The Adelie penguin’s diet. |
| C．The climate change. | D．The secret of penguin poops. |
| A．The Adelie penguin population was 3.8 million worldwide. |
| B．Guano colors reflected the health condition of the penguin. |
| C．The Adelie penguin’s diet stayed the same most of the time. |
| D．Adelie penguin waste helped estimate the penguin population. |
| A．Changes of penguin’s diet without a definite pattern. |
| B．The wide range of the color of the penguin guano. |
| C．Dramatic changing of penguin population. |
| D．The abundance and distribution of Adelie penguins. |
| A．More Adelie penguins have appeared over the last 40 years. |
| B．Diet changes didn’t actually affect penguin population as assumed. |
| C．There was not an obvious changing pattern of penguin’s diet. |
| D．Fishery was important for the management of the Antarctic ecosystem. |
9 . In every British town, large or small, you will find shops that sell second-hand goods. Sometimes such shops deal mostly in furniture, sometimes in books, sometimes in ornaments(装饰品) and household goods，sometimes even in clothes.
The furniture may often be"antique", and it may well have changed hands many times. It may also be very valuable, although the most valuable piece will usually go to the London salerooms, where one piece might well be sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. As you look around these shops and see the polished wood of chests and tables, you cannot help thinking of those long-dead hands which polished that wood, of those now-closed eyes which once looked at these pieces with love.
The books, too, may be antique and very precious;some may be rare first printings. Often when someone dies or has to move house, his books may all be sold, so that sometimes you may find whole libraries in one shop.On the border between England and Wales, there is a town which has become a huge bookshop as well. Even the cinema and castle have been taken over, and now books have replaced sheep as the town’s main trade.
There are also much more humble(简陋的)shops, sometimes simply called"junk shops", where you can buy small household pieces cheaply. Sometimes the profits (利润)from these shops go to charity. Even these pieces,though,can make you feel sad; you think of those people who once treasured them, but who have moved on to another country or to death.
Although the British do not worship(崇拜) their ancestors, they do treasure the past and the things of the past. This is true of houses as well. These days no one knocks them down: they are rebuilt until they are often better than new. In Britain, people do not buy something just because it is new. Old things are treasured for their proven worth; new things have to prove themselves before they are accepted.
1. Books found in second-hand bookshops may .| A．be copies of the earliest printings | B．be on sale for the first time |
| C．never be worth very much | D．never be rare |
| A．do not respect old things because they are not fashionable |
| B．like to build new houses simply because it is fashionable to do so |
| C．like to buy new things because they are fashionable |
| D．do no like to buy things simply because they are fashionable |
| A．Junk shops. | B．Profits from shops. | C．Old things. | D．Old houses. |
10 . Modeste Traore has lived his whole life near Lake Wegnia, in the Sahel area of Mali. The lake’s fish have provided him with a way to earn money to support his extended family. How-ever, because he can’t catch enough fish to feed his family, he now raises farm animals. But as temperatures rise, evaporation increases, making the body of water shrinks. Studies have linked rising temperatures on Earth’s surface to climate change.
The lake is shrinking, so are the chances of his children becoming fishermen. “If things go on like this, I don’t think our children can become fishermen like us. They will have to choose other jobs,” the 56-year-old Traore said. “During the rainy season, there is a lot of water but as soon as it’s over, there is no water left in the lake. We are fishermen. I don’t think our children will be,” he said.
Lake Wegnia is in the Sahel region of Koulikoro, around 120 kilometers north of Mali’s capital, Bamako. Some 12,000 people, including fishermen and farmers, depend on it for food, water and employment. But the lake has shrunk by 20 percent since 2017.
The UN expects temperatures there to increase 1.5 times higher than the average increase worldwide. UN officials note that the flooding and a severe lack of rainfall can cause problems in the Sahel: Food insecurity, the fight over farmland and the fast population growth can lead to conflict.
Aid group is leading the Eco-Lac Wegnia project. The group is working to improve water management and fight the effects of global warming. Moussa Savagodo is Eco-Lac Wegnia’s local representative. He says that failing to make changes quickly can mean the lake will disappear completely in less than 5 years.
People in the rural areas Wegnia and Kononi-Sirakoro have planted 56,000 trees in the past two years. And they are better controlling their water by building stone barriers to help the soil keep the rain that does fall. The progress and international official support are not enough for them, however. More and more people are turning to other agriculture.
1. How did Traore work to support his family in the past?| A．By fishing. | B．By raising farm animals. |
| C．By taking charge of the lake. | D．By working as an environmentalist. |
| A．A lot of farmland will form. |
| B．The rainy season will end early. |
| C．Many fishermen will flee their homes. |
| D．The later generation will change their careers. |
| A．Drought and flood will directly cause conflict. |
| B．Reducing population is a way to protect the lake. |
| C．Water management makes no difference to the lake. |
| D．The rise in temperature will cause water resource problems. |
| A．The local officials. | B．The Aid group members. |
| C．The villagers. | D．The representatives. |
