1 . For people suffering from depression, there’s an all-natural treatment they should use — getting more exercise. It could help fight depression, even if people have a genetic risk, new research shows.
For the study, researchers collected information from nearly 8,000 people and found those with related genes were more likely to have depression over the next two years after examining them. But that was less likely for people who were more active at the study’s start, even if they had a family history of depression. Higher levels of physical activity helped protect even those with the highest genetic risk of depression.
Both high-intensity (高强度) exercise and low-intensity activities were associated with a reduced risk of depression. Adding four hours of exercise a week could lower the risk of a new episode (一段经历) of depression by 17%, according to the study. “Our findings strongly suggest that, when it comes to depression, being physically active has the potential to remove the added risk of future episodes in individuals who are genetically risky,” said lead author Karmel Choi. “On average, about 35 additional minutes of physical activity each day may help people to reduce their risk and protect against future depression episodes.”
Depression is a common mental illness globally, with more than 264 million people affected. “Depression is so ubiquitous, and that underlines the need for effective approaches that can impact as many people as possible,” Choi said. And mental health and primary care providers can use the findings to advise patients that there’s something meaningful they can do to lower their risk of depression.
1. How did the researchers reach their conclusion?| A．By analyzing a mass of data. |
| B．By conducting genetic research. |
| C．By comparing various levels of activity. |
| D．By tracking the subjects for many years. |
| A．Physical activity betters medical treatment. |
| B．Exercise is able to decrease and prevent it. |
| C．Different levels of exercise intensity matter the same. |
| D．Exercising 35 minutes daily is the most effective treatment. |
| A．Harmful. | B．Complex. |
| C．Unusual. | D．Common. |
| A．To discuss a disease. |
| B．To introduce a method. |
| C．To analyze a genetic risk. |
| D．To explain a phenomenon. |
2 . With the cold weather drawing nearer, few people will choose swimming as a daily or usual activity.
Good for your brain.
Swimming is one of the best activities you can do all year round, which benefits your body and your mind. Swimming has been found to increase blood flow to the brain, which leads to more oxygen.
Work your muscles.
Every time you swim, it is like doing a mini-resistance workout. Each kicks and pull works your muscles more than you could imagine, especially your arms, shoulders and gluteus — the muscles that are inactive all day when you’re sitting at your desk.
Lift your spirits.
While swimming is an individual sport, it is also very social. You can meet people from all walks of life when swimming. Have a chat in the lap pool, join a swimming club or get involved in social water sports to get to know people in your community. Besides, the great thing about swimming is that you can do it — rain or shine. Although your backyard pool, the river or beach cools down over winter, most inside swimming pools run heated pools year round, so you’ve got no excuse to stop swimming.
| A．Benefit your body. |
| B．Meet new people. |
| C．These chemicals can control your thought and action. |
| D．Swimming also works your abs (腹肌) and will reduce your waist line. |
| E．Exercise gives off chemicals in your body called endorphins (内啡肽). |
| F．And that means you’re experiencing better memory and sharp mind. |
| G．However, swimming in winter is of great benefit in cold days. |
3 . Sam is not happy today. He doesn’t do well in his English test this time. Now he is sitting alone in his room.
Seeing this, his grandmother comes and talks to him to make him feel good. She sits down next to Sam and gives him a pencil. Sam looks at his grandmother and doesn’t take it. “Things like this are only for students who do well. I don’t do well!” Sam says.
Sam’s grandmother says, “It’s not a present for you. I want you to learn something from it. The pencil is just like you. It gets a painful sharpening(痛苦的削磨), just like how you get the pain of not doing well in your test.”
“But it will help you be a good student. See, all the good things coming from the pencil are from itself. And you too will find something good in yourself. Finally just as the pencil will make its mark (痕迹) on the paper, you will also leave your mark on anything you choose to do. Just ‘sharpen’ yourself and do well next time!”
Sam feels good right away. He plans to make a change as his grandmother says.
1. Where does the grandmother talk to Sam?| A．In Sam’s school. | B．In Sam’s room. | C．Outside the house. | D．In a pencil shop. |
| A．He believes it too small. | B．He hates pencils. |
| C．He thinks it a present. | D．He doesn’t like it. |
| A．Sam can’t do well without, the pencil. |
| B．Work hard and do well next time. |
| C．The pencil can help him do better. |
| D．A sharpening pencil writes well. |
| A．Foolish. | B．Strange. | C．Interesting. | D．Helpful |
Exercise responsibly During the pandemic (疫情), you’d better exercise at home. If you have to leave your home to walk, run, cycle, etc, be mindful of other people. The following rules will help keep you and others safe. Keep your distance (距离) ●Exercise alone. ●If you stop to catch your breath, do so away from the footpath. ●Keep at least 2 meters of space when passing others. ●Give way to walkers on narrow paths. ●Bring your towel and mask ●Wipe your sweat (汗水) with a towel.
Avoid touching your face with your hands. ●If you have to cough or sneeze, do it into your towel.
●Wear your mask unless you are doing strenuous (剧烈的) exercise.
●Put it on before and after your exercise. ●Drink from your own water bottle and don’t share a bottle with others. ●Avoid touching public objects with any part of your body. Keep safe ●Avoid bumping into (撞上) other people. Slow down and check for blind spots (盲点). ●Say “passing on your right/left” if necessary when going past others. |
| A．At home. | B．In the park. | C．At the gym. | D．In the classroom. |
| A．Water bottle and paper. | B．Towel and mask. |
| C．Gloves and sun glasses. | D．Camera and smart phone. |
| A．Exercise with your partner. | B．Say “Thanks” when going past others. |
| C．Slow down and check for blind spots. | D．Keep at least 5 meters of space when passing others. |
5 . Harbin Ice Festival 2023
Ever think of what Elsa’s ice palace might look like in real life? Ice stairs ice walls, and ice towers? When winter approaches, Harbin turns into a kingdom of ice and snow.
The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival opens in late December and lasts for around 3 months, till late February.
What’s New for Harbin Ice Festival
Every year, there is a special theme for the Ice Festival. A huge Snowflake Ferris Wheel(摩天轮) has already been built inside the park. Visitors will be able to ride on the Ferris Wheel and overlook the ice castles in early 2023. For this upcoming festival, the highlight may be when the giant Snowflake is colorfully lit up at night, shining high in the sky.
Yearly Time Line
Dates | Activities |
Early December | Ice Harvest |
December | Carving and Building |
Christmas period | Unofficial Opening |
Jan. 5，2023 | Opening Ceremony |
Jan. 18 to Feb. 15，2023 | Special Celebrations for Chinese New Year |
Late Feb. to early Mar. | Ice and snow sculptures start to melt |
Click here and Book Now! Tickets for Harbin Ice and Snow World are on sale now!
*Dec. 25, 2022—Jan. 5, 2023: ¥ 170 / person (half price for children)
*Jan. 6, 2023—Feb. 28, 2023: ¥ 230 / person (half price for children)
Contact us for available tour dates before they are fully booked.
Attention
As long as the ice and snow sculptures are open to visitors, it is impossible to take photos of the charming ice buildings without any visitors in! This might be different from what you see in the media.
1. When can visitors have a ride on the Ferris Wheel at the earliest?| A．In late February, 2022. | B．In late December, 2023. |
| C．At the end of 2022. | D．At the beginning of 2023. |
| A．The opening ceremony will start officially. |
| B．There will be special celebrations. |
| C．The festival will open informally. |
| D．Ice will begin to be carved. |
| A．¥ 425 | B．¥ 510 | C．¥ 340 | D．¥ 690 |
6 . Sharon Holland and her husband, Jer, are travelling around the world and saving money at the same time by swapping (交换)houses with strangers to keep the bills low. They only have to pay for their flights, meaning they save hundreds of pounds on their holidays each year.
The couple’s occupation allows them to enjoy long periods of school holidays. Both work as school Deputy Principals, which allows them to take their children, Cian, 23, Miah, 13, and Faye, 11, abroad up to four times per year. On average, they pay £1,250 per year for flights.
Sharon, from Cork, Ireland, has exchanged her home with a stranger 40 times in the last 13 years and says she’s never regret. She said: “I couldn’t imagine travelling in any other way now. Swapping our Irish Georgian farmhouse for another house abroad is amazing. There are home-style houses, modern city apartments and beautiful architectural period houses too. Every holiday is different and staying in someone else’s house makes our experience more rewarding and enjoyable. We are able to meet more locals and understand the culture more than we would if we were to stay at a hotel. We bring our laptops during the summer weeks as we are both responsible for timetabling and school planning but this can be done at a distance”.
Sharon has visited various cities in America, France, Germany, Hungary, ltaly, Spain, Netherlands, the UK and their home country of Ireland. “But our favourite place is Italy. We have been lucky enough to visit there six times. Over the ycars, every experience has been great—from the architecture to the food. We have made some wonderful happy memories for less”, adds she.
1. Why do the couple travel by swapping houses with strangers?| A．To avoid taking flights. |
| B．To spread local culture. |
| C．To improve their living condition. |
| D．To cut down their travel costs. |
| A．She comes from England and likes Italy. |
| B．She never lives in a hotel when traveling. |
| C．She is fond of the way of swapping houses. |
| D．She plans to open a school with her husband. |
| A．Embarrassing. | B．Fantastic. | C．Dangerous. | D．Traditional. |
| A．To share a couple’s special way of travelling. |
| B．To advise more people to travel worldwide. |
| C．To introduce ways of exchanging houses. |
| D．To teach us how to save money while traveling, |
7 . Recent research shows that listening to music improves our health in surprising ways. If we take a music lesson or two, that musical training can help raise our IQs and even keep us sharp in old age.
As Bob Marely once put it: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Research at Drexel University found that music reduced pain more than standard treatments in cancer patients. Other research showed that music can ease pain in patients.
A study with healthy older adults found that those with ten or more years of musical experience scored higher on cognitive (认知的) tests than musicians with one to nine years of musical study.
A study showed that students who listened to relaxing classical music for 45 minutes before turning in slept much better than students who listened to an audiobook or did nothing different from their normal routine. If you’re having trouble sleeping, try listening to a little Mozart before bedtime.
Music Raises IQ and Academic Performance| A．Music Relaxes People |
| B．Music Helps You Sleep Better |
| C．The non-musicians scored the lowest. |
| D．Here are some amazing benefits of music. |
| E．Therefore, standard treatments are strongly advised by doctors. |
| F．But the selection needed to be either classical pieces or their choices. |
| G．Research shows that learning music predicts higher scores in children. |
8 . A 99-year old Australian swimmer appears to have broken a world record for his age group in the 50 m freestyle. The likely new world record holder, George Corones, clocked 56.12 seconds at an official event in Queensland—a new benchmark for the 100-104 age category. He faded the previous record of 1:31. 19, which was set by British swimmer John Harrison in 2014, by 35 seconds. It will now be affirmed by the sport’s governing body.
Corones, who is quailed for the record because he turns 100 in April, said he was “quite delighted” and “over the world” by the result. He said he had been overwhelmed by the “roaring” crowd on the Gold Coast on Wednesday. The event, in which he was the only entrant (新成员), had been specially staged for him to challenge the record.
Corones was a keen swimmer in his youth but only began to learn swimming again at the age of 80. He gave it up at the beginning of the World War Ⅱ, and he didn’t think he would have a swim of any description until he retired. Then he started swimming again for exercise.
Racing undeniably (不可否认的) challenged him physically, but it was manageable with preparation. On average he swims three times a week, and also fits in gym sessions. “At this age it takes a while to get going... you get exhausted much more easily, but if you do it properly, the rewards are astronomical,” he said.
Corones will challenge the 100 m freestyle record on Saturday night, believing he can beat the current mark of 03:23.10, which was also set by Harrison.
“I’m not a young man by any means, but I am rally looking forward to it and confident I can do it very well,” he said.
1. What is the author’s purpose of writing paragraph 1?| A．To show who John Harrison is. | B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To emphasize the importance of age. | D．To explain the reason for writing the text. |
| A．Original. | B．Huge. | C．Brief. | D．Precise. |
| A．Challenge Harrison again. | B．Prepare for his 100th birthday party. |
| C．Celebrate his success. | D．Challenge the 100 m backstroke. |
| A．It’s never too late to learn. | B．He who laughs last laughs best. |
| C．One good turn deserves another. | D．Laziness in youth spells regret in old age. |
9 . You should see the photo. I’m sitting in red dirt,
It was a strange choice for a holiday. I like sitting by the pool with a cola, not flies and frogs. I like being
But here’s the thing about that photo: I am smiling!
The trip sounded good when I
In Darwin we got onto a bus. It quickly became tiresome. The kids were
But later when I looked out at the large empty land, I was surprised at and moved by its
Finally we reached our
It didn’t matter. The next nine days were
On our last night, a water pipe (管子)
Indeed, it was
Yes, the coffee was bad, but I was too focused on keeping crickets off my face.
I love that photo of me in the dirt. I look messy but happy. Sometimes it’s another way of traveling. There is beautiful
| A．washing | B．wearing | C．waving | D．watching |
| A．noisy | B．busy | C．alone | D．shy |
| A．shortly | B．cautiously | C．freshly | D．clearly |
| A．signed up | B．showed up | C．stood up | D．woke up |
| A．guide | B．business | C．culture | D．resource |
| A．silent | B．encouraged | C．moody | D．excited |
| A．coldness | B．beauty | C．enthusiasm | D．emptiness |
| A．goal | B．agreement | C．destination | D．decision |
| A．killed | B．packed | C．wasted | D．booked |
| A．cut | B．expanded | C．shortened | D．broke |
| A．scared | B．complained | C．laughed | D．saddened |
| A．normal | B．strange | C．unbelievable | D．perfect |
| A．impossible | B．probable | C．easy | D．important |
| A．tested | B．stored | C．valued | D．experienced |
| A．dress | B．weather | C．scenery | D．room |
10 . After finishing my teaching for a school year. I thought that I should go back to Montreal, Quebec, my hometown, for a visit. My main goal was to relax in preparation for the challenges of my retirement in the coming year.
Through my stay in Montreal, I met lots of Chinese who were trying hard to succeed and then led a better life in Canada. Some travelled thousands of miles to get knowledge. When I spoke with some of them about the major barrier they had to face after they arrived in Canada, they all talked about the two official languages of Canada. But I was impressed by their ability to express their ideas while they were changing between English and French.
Almost all of those people said they often felt homesick. They missed their families and friends. Though Montreal had lots of Chinese restaurants, they longed for a home-cooked meal.
I met some tourists who were trying to realize their childhood dreams of experiencing the life in a developed country. When I asked them if Montreal had lived up to their expectations, they hesitated. They said that reality never agreed with fantasies. However, they were glad to have the opportunity to visit Montreal and didn’t regret taking the trip.
Not all the Chinese people I met were happy. I once met a young lady who met with a gentleman through the Internet. However, to her disappointment, he disappeared after he promised to marry her in Montreal.
I was served by another Chinese person who could not deal with the challenges of studying in an English-speaking environment and ended up working in a restaurant with low pay.
Exploring different parts of the world, without any doubt, is a rich experience .However, one should be realistic when it comes to leaving his hometown to start a new life in a foreign country. One should spend time examining the advantages and shortcomings of the adventure before he decides to chase an uncertain dream of achieving success or leading a better life.
1. Why did the author go back to his hometown?| A．To meet his old friends. | B．To study a new language. |
| C．To go on with his teaching. | D．To prepare for his retirement life. |
| A．Food. | B．Languages. | C．Homesickness. | D．Income. |
| A．overseas Chinese are good at communication in Canada |
| B．people often express their regret at the trip to Montreal |
| C．overseas Chinese feel disappointed at their life in Canada |
| D．people should think carefully before chasing their dreams abroad |
| A．Improving Life Skills in Canada | B．Exploring Different Parts of Canada |
| C．Struggling for a Better Life in Canada | D．Going to Canada — Your Ideal Destination |
