1 . Have you been exercising and eating healthy, but when you step on the scale, it says you’ve gained a few pounds? “That’s normal, and it doesn’t mean that your workouts are not effective”, says Jeffrey A. Dolgan, an exercise physiologist in Miami Beach, Florida.
“A person’s scale mass (质量) is a combination of muscle, fat, bone, blood, and even the air that we carry in our lungs,” he says. “Immediately after a workout routine, the percentage of mass in each body part can shift as much as 15 percent. So if you’re gaining weight while working out and eating healthy, it’s probably not the type of weight gain that you think it is.
The scale can’t tell you how much of your body weight is muscle or fat, which means if your goal is to improve your fitness level, the scale is not the best tool for measuring improvements. When you start to change your body composition with your workouts — by building more muscle mass and decreasing your body fat — your scale weight may increase, while your body fat percentage may decrease. These changes happen over weeks and months (not hours or days) so the scale is useless when tracking them.
You may argue that you weigh a few pounds less after a high intensity (强度) training class. Don’t get too excited—it’s just water loss due to sweat. Water makes up approximately 65 to 90 percent of a person’s weight, and variation in water content of the human body can move the scale by ten pounds or more from day to day.
So ignore the scale and pay more attention to objective measurement tools like body composition. Keep in mind that if you’re exercising but gaining weight, you may actually look slimmer.
1. What can we know from Dolgan’s words from paragraph 2?A.Your weight changes little during a day. |
B.Your scale mass is affected by many factors. |
C.Your workout is not effective if you gain weight. |
D.Your weight is determined only by muscle and fat. |
A.You will weigh more. |
B.Your muscle mass will decrease. |
C.Your body fat will increase. |
D.Your body composition will change. |
A.30 pounds. | B.60 pounds. |
C.100 pounds. | D.140 pounds. |
A.Why Do We Gain Weight? |
B.How to Work Out Effectively? |
C.What Is the Composition of Our Body? |
D.Why Does My Workout Cause Weight Gain? |
2 . Have you ever walked through a door and thought to yourself, “What was I going to do?” If you have, you are not alone. Psychologists believe that walking through a door and entering another room creates a “mental block” in the brain. This is generally referred to as the doorway effect.
In the early years of brain research, scientists thought that human memory was like a closet, with many sections in which we could store little boxes of experiences from our lives. Boxes would remain there forever, and whenever we had to look into them, we could just go to that particular section and find that box of memory.
Beautiful as this description of human memory formation sounds, it is not true. Our brain is much more complex than that. Psychological studies suggest that our memories are episodic(情节性的)in general. If you think back on anything, you’ll probably quickly realize our memories don’t function as clear narratives. Instead, they’re more episodic and divided into parts.
A new research led by psychologist Oliver Baumann from Bond University in Australia suggests that it’s not so much the doorways that cause a memory wipe, as moving from one location to a significantly different one—it’s the abrupt change of scene that prepares our minds for something new. “A good example is moving around in a department store,” says Baumann, “Taking the elevator between floors may have no effect on our memory, but moving from the store to the parking lot might cause us to forget something that we need to buy.”
Baumann also points out that a busy and perhaps overloaded brain does seem to play some part in this phenomenon. In other words, walking through open doors is thought to reset memory to make room for a new episode.
The good news is that experiencing such forgettable episodes after entering another room does not tell you anything about your memory and intelligence. So when you enter a room and suddenly forget why you are there, you should not think that Alzheimer’s disease is creeping up on you!
1. Which of the following would most probably be “doorway effect”?A.You missed a call and forgot to ring back. |
B.You read a book and forget what it is about. |
C.You entered the office and forgot what to get. |
D.You saw a man years ago and forget who he is now. |
A.All memories are linked in the brain. |
B.Memories are clearly separated in the brain. |
C.Not all the memories can be found in the brain. |
D.Memories are stored in particular sections of the brain. |
A.Taking an elevator stimulates new memory. |
B.Walking through open doors results in memory loss. |
C.A sudden change of the scene boosts intelligence development. |
D.An overloaded brain increases the possibility of doorway effect. |
A.Insignificant. | B.Beneficial. |
C.Influential. | D.Damaging. |
3 . Scientists have solved a puzzle about modern humans, after research showed that a famous skull of a human ancestor found in South Africa is a million years older than experts thought. This discovery has changed what we know of human history.
The skull, which scientists have named “Mrs Ples”, is from an ape-like human relative from a species called Australopithecus africanus (南方古猿). It was found near Johannesburg in 1947 and, based on evidence from its surroundings, was thought to be between 2. 1 and 2. 6 million years old. This puzzled scientists, because although Mrs Ples looks like a possible early ancestor of early humans, the first true humans had already evolved by the time she apparently lived. For this reason, scientists had decided that Australopithecus afarensis, a similar species from East Africa that lived about 3.5 million years ago, was our most likely ancestor instead.
To get a more accurate age for Mrs Ples, a team led by Professor Darryl Granger of Purdue University in Indiana, US, used a new method to date the sandy rocks where the skull lay. They measured the amount of certain chemicals in rocks, which form at a steady rate when they are exposed to cosmic rays (宇宙射线) on Earth’s surface. Once rocks are buried, these chemicals stop forming and slowly disappear;the surviving amount reveals how much time has passed since the rock (or bones) were on the surface.
The new study shows that Mrs Ples and other australopithecine bones nearby are between 3.4 and 3.7 million years old. This means they lived at the same time as their East African relatives, so that either group could have given rise to modern humans. However, team member Dr Laurent Bruxelles pointed out that over millions of years, at only 2,500 miles away, these groups had plenty of time to travel and to breed with each other. In other words, the groups could quite easily have met, had children together and both been part of the history of modern humans.
1. What can we learn about Mrs Ples from the first two paragraphs?A.It is a skull found in East Africa. |
B.It is the most possible ancestor of humans. |
C.It is a million years older than scientists expected. |
D.It is proved to live between 2.1 and 2.6 million years ago. |
A.By studying the effect of cosmic rays. |
B.By calculating the forming rate of chemicals. |
C.By locating the sandy rocks where the skull lay. |
D.By measuring the surviving amount of chemicals. |
A.Modern humans came into being in East Africa. |
B.Mrs Ples travelled and had children with East African relatives. |
C.The history of modern humans might begin 3.5 million years ago. |
D.Ape-like species from Africa could have interacted with each other. |
A.Historical Puzzle Unsolved | B.Ancestor Mystery Solved |
C.Mrs Ples: The Earliest Human Being | D.Mrs Ples: A Famous Skull |
4 . I was never very neat while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but my always hid somewhere. She even labeled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Overtime, Kate got neater and I got my merriser. She moved to push my dirty clothing over and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.
Who broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! why under my bed!” Suddenly I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up. She quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, crying. Obviously. that was something she could not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy (同情) rose up in my heart.
Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bad. Cleaned the suckers and swept the floor even on her side. I got so absorbed into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching. Her tears dried and her expression was such disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me. “Thanks.”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.
1. What made Kate so angry one evening?A.She couldn’t find her books. |
B.She heard the writer shouting loud. |
C.She got the news that her grandma was ill. |
D.She saw the writer’s shoes beneath her bed. |
A.Because she was scared by Kate’s anger. |
B.Because she hated herself for being so messy. |
C.Because she wanted to show her care. |
D.Because she was asked by Kate to do so. |
A.By analyzing courses. |
B.By showing differences. |
C.By describing a process. |
D.By following time order. |
A.My Friend Kate. |
B.Hard Work Pays off. |
C.How to Be Organized? |
D.Learning to Be Roommates. |
5 . Sidney Keys, 14-year-old, has started a youth-led book club program, with the support and help of his mom, to help empower (给予...力量) both himself and many other boys with mental or physical problems through literature.
“I used to have a really bad stutter (结巴) and perform badly in school and I would get laughed at for it,” Sidney Keys, the founder of the book club Books N Bros said. “Reading was kind of my escape from my stutter because in my head I was able to imagine things and play out all the events clearly.” He said,“I wanted to start up Books N Bros so that I could talk to other people, especially boys, about books I love in a relaxing way because it’s like a brotherhood.”
The reading club that he started at just 10 years old now has over 250 “bros” aged 7 to 13 from the U.S. and Canada, most of whom are changing actively and positively. Marvels Hero Project, which reveals (展示) the remarkable, positive change young men make in their communities across the country and turns them into superheroes, selected Keys to be featured in the Disney series.
“I always wanted to read books that had characters that looked like me, but now I see a comic book with me in it,” Keys said.“It’s unbelievable that my friends and teachers all call me my superhero name.”
As for the future of Books N Bros, Keys and his mom hope to expand the programs reach throughout the country.“Getting Books N Bros in schools across America, we don’t want transportation to be an issue for getting that physical brotherhood and bond. It just benefits so many people, and it keeps me going,” Keys explained.
1. What’s the main reason for Sidney Keys to build the club Books N Bros?A.His mother’s support. |
B.His poor school performance. |
C.His own sufferings. |
D.His desire to talk to people. |
A.Because he was called a superhero by people. |
B.Because he made a difference to others. |
C.Because he was brave to face his shortcomings. |
D.Because he looked like a role in the Disney series. |
A.Confused. | B.Curious. | C.Anxious. | D.Proud. |
A.How Sidney Keys and Books N Bros affect other people. |
B.How Marvels Hero Project creates a superhero. |
C.How a teenager gets help from Marvels Hero Project. |
D.How a music club becomes a hit across America. |
6 . How tall are you? Do you tower over your friends and family - or are they people you literally have to look up to?
Of course, our height is out of our control.
In a recent study scientists have discovered a brain receptor, called MC3R, linked to our growing process.
For those eager to be taller, we need to look at the Dutch, who stand head and shoulders above the rest of us as the tallest people in the world. But, of course tall people have to stoop (俯身) through doorways and struggle to fit in cars and can have joint and cardiovascular problems.
A.Are you getting as tall as you want to be? |
B.It’s a biological fact influenced partly by genetics. |
C.So maybe we should be careful for what we wish for. |
D.Obviously, we’re not all the same, and size doesn’t really matter. |
E.It’s thought to be the crucial link between food and sex development and growth. |
F.There is a ceiling for height, and it’s reached when people achieve their genetic potential. |
G.If this makes you want to be taller, it’s good to know we are taller than we were 150 years ago. |
7 . Martin Strel is a long-distance swimmer, best known for swimming the entire length of various rivers. He was born in Slovenia in 1954. He taught himself to swim when he was 6 and became a professional marathon swimmer in 1978. Martin holds Guinness World Records for swimming the Danube River, the Mississippi River, the Yangtze River and the Amazon River.
Of all his achievements, the greatest is his Amazon River swim. The Amazon is known as the largest, longest and most dangerous river in the world. Several long-distance swimmers had attempted to swim it, but all failed. Martin decided to risk his life and make history. He wanted to show the world that people can achieve their dreams and goals with hard work and persistence (毅力).
On April 7, 2007, Martin Strel completed his Amazon River swim all the way from Atalaya (Peru) to the Atlantic Ocean at Belem (Brazil). He struggled with the river for 66 days and totally swam 3,274 miles. He became a worldwide hero.
Many people still cannot believe what he has done so far, so that's why they sometimes describe him as “Fishman”, “Human Fish” or even “The Craziest Man in the World.”
In 2009, American filmmakers produced a documentary called Big River Man. And the book, The Man Who Swam the Amazon, has been sold in many countries worldwide. It's an inspirational story of perseverance and passion.
Martin Strel does not make much money from swimming. Instead, he swims to teach people about the importance of keeping water clean.
Martin has always been looking for the challenges of the impossible. At present, he is training for a new challenge -— swimming the Grand Canyon.
1. What happened to Martin Strel at age 24?A.He began learning to swim. | B.He broke a Guinness World Record. |
C.He completed his Amazon River swim. | D.He took up long-distance swimming as a career. |
A.Swimming the Amazon River. | B.Swimming the Grand Canyon. |
C.Acting in Big River Man. | D.Writing The Man Who Swam the Amazon. |
A.to build up his body | B.to raise money |
C.to raise awareness of clean water | D.to compete with others |
A.Swim for the Planet | B.Achieve the Impossible |
C.Face the Fear of Failure | D.Train for New Challenges |
8 . China’s second national botanical (植物学的) garden, South China National Botanical Garden, was set up in Guangzhou on July 11th, 2022.
With a total of 319 hectares of core functional area planned, the new national botanical garden was built based on South China Botanical Garden. It spans Guangzhou and Zhaoqing, two cities in Guangdong Province.
The South China National Botanical Garden aims to strengthen the conservation, scientific research and knowledge broadcasting of tropical (热带的) and subtropical (亚热带的) plants. The garden has three research centers, two national-level field stations and three key laboratories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. There are 17, 168 protected plants, 643 rare and endangered plants, and 337 national key wild protected plants in the garden at present.
The garden will participate in plant diversity protection both in China and the world and achieve the conservation goal of 20, 000 species. Meanwhile, it aims to play a world-leading role in collection and storage of living plants, among which 6, 000 species are economic plants.
Besides, 95 percent of rare and endangered plants in South China will be effectively protected, thus to provide plant resources for green development.
China is one of the countries in the world with the richest biodiversity, having more than 37, 000 known species of higher plants, accounting for about one tenth of the world’s total.
The South China National Botanical Garden, together with the national botanical garden in Beijing, has formed a system of collection and complete the retention of wild plant groups, which is helpful to maintain the country’s plant diversity.
1. What can be inferred about South China National Botanical Garden?A.It is well equipped. | B.It only offers service for research. |
C.It has become a popular scenic spot. | D.It is the largest national botanical garden. |
A.They are dying out sharply. |
B.Most of them will be protected well. |
C.They will be used to improve economic development. |
D.Most of them are transplanted to botanical gardens. |
A.Development. | B.Comparison. | C.Preservation. | D.Improvement. |
A.A Garden For Collecting And Studying Plants |
B.A Novel Way To Strengthen Plant Conservation |
C.China’s Various Environmental Protection |
D.China’s Second National Botanical Garden |
9 . The State of Colorado has four of the best parks out of the 58 national parks in the United States. The parks have some of the best scenery of all the national parks.
Black Canyon (峡谷) of Gunnison National Park
This park offers the most breathtaking views from up in the mountains into the canyons below. While exploring the canyons, you will find that the walls drop nearly straight down into the narrow valleys of the snake-like rivers below. Visitors are offered more than 100 camping sites, and a lot of bird species and many animals are native to the area.
Rocky Mountain National Park
It is the only national park in the north central region in the state of Colorado. Elevations in this park are anywhere from 8,000 feet to 14,259 feet at the top of Longs Peak. While traveling throughout this park you will notice two very different climates because of the difference the upper peaks of the Rocky Mountains make. You can enjoy 359 miles of hiking trails, a lot of places for camping, horse-back riding and beautiful scenery.
Mesa Verde National Park
This is probably the most interesting national park, offering a fascinating trip back in time to 600 AD up to 1300 AD.This park was declared a protected national park in 1906 because of the cliff dwellings(住所) that were found throughout the area, which were once home to American Indians. Many of these dwellings can be walked through, while you imagine what each room may have been used for so many years ago.
Great Sand Dunes (沙丘) National Park
The Great Sand Dunes National Park lies in south central Colorado, about 127 miles from Pueblo. This park has the tallest sand dunes in all of North America and has trails for hiking. The natural sandy beaches around the small rivers and lakes are good for swimmers.
1. What’s the most breathtaking thing in the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park?A.The animals. | B.The walls. |
C.The hiking trails. | D.The camping sites. |
A.the Mesa Verde National Park |
B.the Rocky Mountain National Park |
C.the Great Sand Dunes National Park |
D.the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park |
A.Telling people some traveling information in Colorado. |
B.Persuading people to visit Colorado when in America. |
C.Introducing the best four parks in Colorado to people. |
D.Showing people which park is the best of the four in Colorado. |
10 . That youngsters were glued to online games on their smart phones was a great concern for Ngurang Meena, a school teacher in Nirjuli.The 30yearold social science teacher, who ran the Ngurang Learning Institute, an adult literacy centre, said that she felt disheartened when she read student papers.“The graph of student performance is falling every year.It breaks my heart whenever I see answer sheets — basic grammar skills are missing and there’s an absence of any cohesive (连贯的) expression.They lack guidance and their reading culture is almost zero,” Meena said.When her school and the centre she ran had to close due to infectious diseases, she planned to do something to address the problem.
Inspired by a similar proposal in Mizoram, Meena set up a bookshelf with around 80 books as well as some benches on the side of the road in Nirjuli on 30 August 2020, where passersby could spend time reading.The selections included motivational books, biographies and novels as well as comics for young children.“I have to please the minors with sweets to sit and read, but that is okay,” she laughed.
Meena’s bookshelf became a hit among youngsters who spent hours in the reading corner.Within two months, her effort became the talk of the town.
Now, generous contributions of books come in from the public and she is even receiving requests to set up such libraries in other parts of the state, including one in the capital, Itanagar.Since the tiny libraries are far from the main town, she also lends books out to those who want to read at home.
“I never thought that this would become such a big inspiration,” Meena said.“Since childhood, we have been told that books are our best friends.The next generation of kids is focused on games and other things.I don’t want them to head on the wrong track,” she added.
1. What’s the aim of Meena’s reading program?A.To care for youngsters lacking in reading. |
B.To help adults learn some cohesive expression. |
C.To keep Ngurang Learning Institute running well. |
D.To highlight the importance of reading for adults. |
A.She offered some rewards to them. |
B.She provided them with transportation. |
C.She chose novels with beautiful covers. |
D.She selected books covering every category. |
A.Small and useless. |
B.Influential and meaningful. |
C.Large but impractical. |
D.Widespread but unwelcome. |
A.Books:Sources of Knowledge |
B.The Roadside Reading Corner |
C.The Library:an Ideal place for the Young |
D.New Ideas about Setting a Reading Plan |