1 . We normally think of bacteria as our enemies. But they aren’t all bad. Our bodies are full of them and it turns out we can’t live without them. From the moment we’re born, we acquire, and develop an internal ecosystem of symbiotic bacteria and other microbes (微生物) -they are interdependent players in our body. In fact, there are roughly as many microbial cells in our bodies as human cells. This microbial world is called our microbiome (微生物组).
While some microbes can make us ill, we need our microbiome to survive. Combined, they are every bit as essential as our heart, our lungs, or our brain. Most of the microbiome is found in our gut (肠道). They are essential for digestion and help regulate hormones and boost our immune system.
A healthy collection of microbes seems to be vital for our well-being, protecting against some of the biggest health threats. On the other hand, having an unhealthy microbiome may be a contributing factor for many common diseases. Our modern lifestyles, western diets and overuse of antibiotics might all be having a harmful effect on our internal ecology.
So how do you develop a healthy microbiome in the gut? Well, it seems that the more diverse your microbial population is, the better. And the best way to increase your diversity is to eat a wide range of plant-based foods. Research shows that people who have at least 30 plant-based elements in their diet every week have a wider range of bacteria in their gut, and that’s linked to better weight management, better heart heath and better mental health. One easy way to boost your numbers is to add a teaspoon of mixed seeds to your breakfast.
The influence of your gut microbes goes a lot further than you might think. In the last 20 years, we’ve learned that they communicate constantly with the brain, perhaps even having control over your mood and emotions.
1. Which can best replace the underlined word symbiotic in the first paragraph?| A．Coexisting. | B．Beneficial. | C．Special. | D．Complicated. |
| A．Plant-based diets make people healthier. |
| B．Microbiome is more important than our brain. |
| C．There's some link between the diversity of bacteria and health. |
| D．The overuse of antibiotics leads to distinct increase in microbiome. |
| A．Examples of gut microbes. |
| B．Gut microbes and mental welling-being. |
| C．Interactions of microbes in our body. |
| D．Ways to identify beneficial gut microbes. |
| A．Gut microbes: Fighters in the body |
| B．The microbiome: A cure of all diseases |
| C．Gut microbes: Protectors of mental health |
| D．The microbiome: A contributor to our health |
1. 写信的目的；
2. 简单介绍舞狮的形式和意义；
3. 邀请他来中国亲自感受。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear George,
Hearing that you are interested in Chinese Lion Dunce. I’m writing to
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Yours.
Li Hua
The high-profile China-Laos Railway opened to international passengers on Thursday, showing how the Belt and Road Initiative （BRI） is a win-win situation. The D887 train,
It is the first international cross-border passenger train service that China has put into operation since the COVID-19 pandemic. "The service not only
According to a World Bank estimate, the gross domestic product in Laos will be increased
This year
4 . It had long been troubling a little boy that his desk mate could rank 1st in the class every time while he failed to: he only ranked 21st.
At home, he asked his Mom, “Mom, am I more stupid than others? I feel I am as
There were times when she wanted to tell him. “Your father and I used to be
Time flew swiftly. To reduce the
When lying on the beach, Mom pointed to the
Now, the son no longer worries about his rankings, because, with the 1st ranking, he is admitted to a top university.
1.| A．clever | B．determined | C．mindful | D．Hardworking |
| A．wordless | B．crazy | C．shy | D．missing |
| A．method | B．degree | C．intelligence | D．result |
| A．opinion | B．practice | C．interest | D．case |
| A．outgoing | B．outstanding | C．active | D．ambitious |
| A．hit | B．hold | C．blame | D．block |
| A．answer | B．question | C．excuse | D．explanation |
| A．debt | B．tension | C．comment | D．burden |
| A．pains | B．tragedies | C．risk | D．loss |
| A．back | B．sky | C．front | D．feet |
| A．sharply | B．slightly | C．dramatically | D．quickly |
| A．assignment | B．acquisition | C．project | D．process |
| A．accidentally | B．finally | C．carefully | D．patiently |
| A．slower | B．swifter | C．nervous | D．anxious |
| A．emotional | B．moving | C．typical | D．continuous |
5 . A study expands positive evidence for a new screening tool that directly engages preschool children during clinic visits to assess their early literacy skills. The tool, called The Reading House (TRH), is the first of its kind. It has the potential to identify reading difficulties as early as possible, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
TRH is an assessment developed by John Hutton and his team for kids aged from 3 to 5. Screening takes just about five minutes and assesses performance levels for kids aged from 3 to 5. It addresses a significant gap in ways to screen early literacy skills efficiently and directly. The tool, which is fun for kids, could be used in places like primary care or preschool settings. The screening measures core skills typically appearing in the preschool age range, including vocabulary, rhyming, alphabet knowledge and print concepts. All are skills predictive of reading success and often associated with reading difficulties.
The study involved 70 healthy children – 34 boys and 36 girls---between 3 and 5 years old from various socioeconomic background. The children completed standardized tests of important literacy skills: vocabulary, rhyming arid rapid automatized naming. Fifty-two of these children also successfully completed MRI (磁共振成像), including the measurement of the gray matter surface of their brains. The thicker cortex (皮质), particularly in left-sided areas supporting language and reading, has been associated with higher skills that are predictive of reading outcomes.
Many children arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn to read, especially those from minority and economically poor backgrounds---estimated at over 50% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the U. S. and over 25% overall. “By screening early during clinic visits, we can target effective interventions that help these children better prepare for kindergarten and improve reading outcomes –literally, snaping thein brains to read. ” said Hutton.
1. What might be the purpose of creating TRH?| A．To identify the best reading apps for kids. |
| B．To develop preschool kids' literacy skills. |
| C．To discover kids' reading problems early. |
| D．To study key factors in kids' development. |
| A．It lacks reliability. | B．It has operational advantages. |
| C．It covers a wider target group. | D．It's modelled after conventional tools. |
| A．Older children from minority groups. |
| B．Younger children from economically advanced areas. |
| C．Children with complex cortical patterns in their brains. |
| D．Children with the thicker cortex in the left-sided areas of their brains. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. | C．Uncertain. | D．Conservative. |
6 . Last year, brilliant’ botanists from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, discovered, identified and named 114 spectacular new species of plants and fungi (真菌) from around the world. Let’s find out more about some of Kew’s most wonderful new finds.
ROYAL MUSHROOM
NAME: Queen’s hedgehog fungus
FROM: Surrey, England
Named after the late Queen Elizabeth II, this rare fungus was found in an ancient forest in White Down, Surrey. According to the scientists who discovered it, the soft, white needles under the fungus’15cm-wide cap look like hedgehogs’ needles — giving it the second part of its name. Cool!
WORLD’S STRANGEST DAFFODIL
NAME: Sternbergia mishustinii
FROM: Turkey
The flowers of this rare species are bright yellow, but they’re only 2cm long and don't open up into a visible flower. Just 300 of these plants have been discovered, secret to hide them from illegal plant collectors.
RECORD-BREAKING WATERLILY
NAME: Giant Bolivian waterlily
FROM: Bolivia. South America
Check out this huge waterlily — its 3m wide leaves are big enough for a kid to float on! The big species has just won three Guinness World Records for largest waterlily, largest waterlily leaf and largest undivided leaf. And get this — although the giant plant was only named last year, a dried sample has been kept in Kew’s own Herbarium since 1845! Botanists had thought it was a similar, related species. Thankfully, the case of mistaken identity is all cleared up now. Unbe-leaf-able!
1. What’s Queen’s hedgehog fungus like?| A．It has yellow flowers. | B．It’s native to England. |
| C．It looks like hedgehogs. | D．It’s critically endangered. |
| A．The oldest fungi. | B．The biggest leaves. |
| C．The fastest growing plant. | D．The largest waterlily species |
| A．A botanical magazine. | B．A geographic textbook. |
| C．A historical document. | D．Guinness World Records. |
7 . It’s obvious that our society favors the outgoing personality, so being introverted (内向的) has always been seen as something that needs to be “fixed”. However, there is no fault in being introverted.
Introverts have hidden powers.
Introverts also keep the world balanced. In a world that can’t stop talking, the ability to listen to what each other has to say is an important virtue that will assist us in building peaceful relationships of understanding.
Introverts can self-recharge. Though the outgoing may gain their energy through mixing in crowds, introverts are self-recharging powerhouses.
| A．Unluckily, introverts are faced with a big challenge. |
| B．And this is exactly what our introverts are born with. |
| C．Introverts have shown the potential to be great leaders. |
| D．Extroverted people would have no one to listen to them. |
| E．Instead, we should appreciate introverts for various reasons. |
| F．They don’t need to constantly put themselves out there to be lively. |
| G．Just because we introverts don’t say much doesn’t always mean we’re clueless. |
8 . Growing up in a Jamaican American household, food was an important part of my childhood. I remember my grandmother preparing fried dumplings and curry mutton, jazz music playing in the background. Food was our greatest treasure. Food brought the family together. Food celebrated new beginnings and eased the wounds of life’s untimely endings.
When I was 8, I was diagnosed with a muscle disease, which caused me to spend most of my childhood in hospital. rooms and wheelchairs, slowly gaining weight by swallowing prednisone (肾上腺皮质激素) hidden inside mint chocolate chip ice cream. My mom made it her duty to help me lose the weight through strict dieting. I’ve tried every single one. In fairness, my mother did the best she could. As a single mom, she felt this brought us closer. However, as an adult, I began to experience a paralyzing fear of food. My “I’ll start a new diet on Monday” mind-set lasted for 16 years as I uncontrollably ate and abused my body. I was worried that I was not attractive enough. So obsessed and afraid no one would hire me as an actress if I didn’t win the battle with the numbers on the scale, in February 2011 I was send to hospital.
We do extreme things to our bodies because of those numbers, numbers that cannot talk with us or love us. I have had to stop judging my belly, stop starving myself, stop getting on the scale and staring at those numbers. I have come to the realization that my life is more important than those numbers on the scale and that the quality of the life I live is more important than how I look in the mirror.
1. What role did food play in author’s childhood?| A．It strengthened the family bends. |
| B．It was a source of family income. |
| C．It’s the only treasure the family had. |
| D．It’s the way to celebrate Jamaican tradition. |
| A．The beauty trend. | B．Her muscle disease treatment. |
| C．Her mother’s expectation. | D．Anxiety about her career. |
| A．It was fruitful. | B．It way useless. |
| C．It made her frightened of food. | D．It brought her and Mom closer. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Deeply skeptical. |
| C．Dismissive. | D．Particularly concerned. |
9 . Deveza’s mother was on the waiting list for a kidney transplant (肾移植). Deveza wanted to donate one of her own kidneys, but she was turned down because she might develop the same health problems as her mother in later life.
Deveza came up with a different plan. In 2017, she started the world’s first paired exchange of different organs between living donors, exchanging half her liver (肝) for someone else’s kidney. A case study of the organ exchange has now been published. And the surgeons who were involved are calling for more exchanges like this. “You can imagine the enormous impact for mixed organ extended chains,” says John Roberts, a surgeon at University of California, San Francisco.
Most organ transplants come from people who have died, but there are never enough organs. As most people can manage with just one of their kidneys, people with kidney failure are increasingly receiving donated organs from relatives or friends. If someone wants to donate but their immune (免疫的) system is unsuited, doctors may be able to find pairs of would-be donors who can each give a kidney to the other’s relative.
When Deveza was looking into such chains, she came across research describing the idea of trading a kidney with the only other organ generally taken from a living donor—the liver. She suggested the idea to many hospitals before she finally contacted Roberts, who saw the idea’s potential.
Deveza was assessed to be in good enough health to donate part of her liver. It then took 18 months to find Annie Simmons, in Idaho, whose liver was unsuitable to use as a transplant for her sister with severe liver disease. They drew up a plan: Simmons would donate a kidney to Deveza’s mother, and in return, Deveza would give half her liver to Simmons’ sister. The hospital gave the go-ahead and the four operations took place on the same day successfully.
The team hopes that the ground-breaking case will inspire more people to consider doing the same. Roberts says that direct exchanges involving two donors could enable up to thirty extra living donor liver transplants a year—a ten per cent increase.
1. What did Deveza do to save her mother?| A．Carrying out a case study. |
| B．Calling for kidney donations. |
| C．Launching a medical experiment. |
| D．Trading half her liver for a kidney. |
| A．Patients’ hopelessness to survive. |
| B．Several sources of organ donation. |
| C．Current situation of organ transplants. |
| D．Doctors’ efforts to improve organ transplants. |
| A．It discouraged organ donation. |
| B．It brought two families together. |
| C．It met with widespread approval. |
| D．It produced a desirable outcome. |
| A．My Liver, Your Kidney |
| B．Mother’s Love, Our Happiness |
| C．Organ Transplant: Blessing for Patients |
| D．Organ Exchange: Major Medical Advances |
It was a warm summer morning. I had just finished reading the grocery specials in the paper. I didn’t really need anything for the next few days. Nothing stuck out as a particularly good deal except the bonus chicken packs.
Five minutes later I headed to the store on my bike: helmet on my head, old pack on my back, and five bucks in my pocket. The temperature seemed to have gone up a little. I locked up my bike and went in. I headed straight back to the meat counter. I grabbed a package weighing slightly over ten pounds, and then headed for the checkout.
“Paper or plastic,” the clerk asked. She gave me a whole lot of change for so much meat and slipped the family pack into a sack, with most of it sticking out the top.
I headed outside, pleased with my purchase and with visions of fried chicken and chicken and rice in my head. Reality set in when the air hit my face. Not warm air, but really hot air. I realized I didn’t have the car, so the chicken would be riding on my back.
Actually, the partially frozen chicken felt cold against my back. In my head I began to count the number of stop signs left before I got home. The signal light turned yellow so I stopped.
For a moment at the signal, it was quiet. Then I heard a woman start screaming. The light turned green but the cars didn’t move. Maybe there had been an accident? I looked behind me even though I never heard any cars’ crunch.
What I saw was a small herd of people coming up the road towards me. There was a man in a suit, a woman with a beach towel, and a few others. I heard someone yell, ‘I’m a nurse. " I looked around again and still, no visible accident. Moving faster, this herd of folks started talking loudly in my direction.
“Were you in an accident” Are you alright?” Who are they talking to, I wondered?
I had no idea what was wrong. I was puzzled!
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
“Look, you are bleeding! Why don’t you get off your bike and take off your backpack?”
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“It’s my chicken;” I told the group of people.
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