1 . What if “looking your age” refers not to your face, but to your chest? Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have developed an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model that uses chest radiographs (胸片) to accurately estimate a patient’s chronological (按时间计算的) age. More importantly, when there is a difference, it can signal a correlation with chronic (慢性) disease.
The research team, led by graduate student Yasuhito Mitsuyama and Dr. Daiju Ueda from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University, first constructed a deep learning-based AI model to estimate age from chest radiographs of healthy individuals. They then applied the model to radiographs of patients with known diseases to analyze the relationship between AI-estimated age and each disease. Given that AI trained on a single dataset is easy to overfitting (过度拟合), the researchers collected data from multiple institutions.
For the development, training, internal and external testing of the AI model for age estimation, a total of 67,099 chest radiographs were obtained between 2008 and 2021 from 36,051 healthy individuals who underwent health check-ups at three facilities. The developed model showed a correlation coefficient (系数) of 0.95 between the AI-estimated age and chronological age. Generally, a correlation coefficient of 0.9 or higher is considered to be very strong.
To confirm the usefulness of AI-estimated age using chest radiographs as a bio-marker (生物指标), an additional 34,197 chest radiographs were gathered from 34,197 patients with known diseases from two other institutions. The results revealed that the difference between AI-estimated age and the patient’s chronological age was positively correlated with a variety of chronic diseases, like high blood pressure. In other words, the higher the AI-estimated age compared to the chronological age, the more likely individuals were to have these diseases.
“Chronological age is one of the most critical factors in medicine,” stated Mitsuyama. “Our results suggest that chest radiography-based apparent age may accurately reflect health conditions beyond chronological age. We aim to further develop this research and apply it to estimate the severity of chronic diseases, to predict life expectancy, and to forecast possible surgical complications.”
1. What is the significance of the new research about AI?| A．It helps detect and intervene early disease. |
| B．It reveals the potential principles of age differences. |
| C．It calculates the patient’s real age more precisely than ever. |
| D．It helps doctors treat patients with chest diseases. |
| A．By taking chest X-rays. | B．By using AI completely. |
| C．By listing patients’ health data. | D．By analyzing and associating. |
| A．Al’s single data easily lead to over-prediction. |
| B．Chronological age is related to chest rather than face. |
| C．A higher AI-estimated age suggests a chronic disease. |
| D．Real age reflects health conditions beyond AI-estimated age. |
| A．AI Can Tell Your True Age | B．You Are Healthy with AI |
| C．AI Discovers Your Identity | D．Live Longer by Using AI |
2 . Make me a chili pepper lover! People who often chow down on chili peppers may live for longer and have a significantly reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (心血管疾病) or cancer, research from Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute suggests.
Previous studies have found that capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their characteristic kick, can have anti-inflammatory (消炎的), antioxidant, anti-cancer and blood-glucose regulating effects when eaten. To further investigate the effects of consuming chili peppers, the researchers gathered together the health and dietary records of more than 570,000 patients in the US, Italy, China and Iran, published in four previous large-scale scientific studies.
They found that those who ate chili peppers regularly had a 26% reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) death, a 23% relative reduction in cancer death, and a 25% relative reduction in all-cause death, compared to those who rarely or never ate them.
“We were surprised to find that in these previously published studies, regular consumption of chili pepper was associated with an overall risk reduction of all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality. It highlights that dietary factors may play an important role in overall health,” said senior author Dr. Bo Xu, a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute.
“The exact reasons and mechanisms that might explain our findings, though, are currently unknown,” he added. “Therefore, it is impossible to convincingly say that eating more chili pepper can prolong life and reduce deaths, especially from cardiovascular factors or cancer. More research, especially evidence from randomized controlled studies, is needed to confirm these new findings.”
Additionally, as the precise amount and type of chili pepper consumed varied across the four studies used in the research, it’s tricky to determine exactly how much and what type of chili peppers may provide the health benefits. However, the researchers are continuing to analyze the data in the hope of uncovering more concrete evidence.
1. What does the research reveal?| A．Chili peppers can cure heart diseases. | B．People who love chili peppers live longer. |
| C．Eating hot peppers may be good for the health. | D．Some peppers have been used as medicine. |
| A．To correct misunderstandings. | B．To clarify a concept. |
| C．To prove researchers’ ideas. | D．To provide readers with the truth. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Doubtful. | C．Objective. | D．Dismissive. |
| A．Go on the study to find more proofs. | B．Conduct a large-scale clinical trials. |
| C．Discover more potential health benefits. | D．Develop new nutrition dietary guidelines. |
3 . Martin, a certified personal trainer for more than 30 years, has became a Centers for Disease Control-certified prediabetes (糖尿病前期) lifestyle coach. He recently
“The trainers will be paid; that’s why we’re taking
Martin’s own
Martin has a special
Helping to improve the physical and mental health of others brings Martin
| A．launched | B．expanded | C．assisted | D．joined |
| A．unscheduled | B．uncertain | C．unexpected | D．underserved |
| A．exam | B．approach | C．battle | D．call |
| A．risks | B．chances | C．donations | D．measures |
| A．knowledge | B．attempt | C．achievement | D．talent |
| A．dangerous | B．calm | C．harmonious | D．peaceful |
| A．path | B．secret | C．key | D．solution |
| A．carrying on | B．hanging around | C．moving forward | D．working out |
| A．bargains | B．recalls | C．explains | D．complains |
| A．failed | B．struggled | C．passed | D．declined |
| A．interest | B．account | C．event | D．model |
| A．fortunately | B．especially | C．literally | D．obviously |
| A．managed | B．educated | C．certified | D．included |
| A．immediately | B．precisely | C．slightly | D．simply |
| A．guide | B．monitor | C．occupy | D．revise |
| A．joy | B．progress | C．luck | D．wealth |
| A．free | B．delayed | C．common | D．improved |
| A．rags | B．tears | C．pain | D．effort |
| A．new | B．strong | C．caring | D．good |
| A．worrying | B．shocking | C．amazing | D．puzzling |
4 . A five-year-old boy saved his mum’s life! A woman has spoken of her
Jessica Penoyer opened the door to
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Emergency services rushed to the house following her
Kaitlyn said, “Honestly, he
Brave Salvatore has since been recognised as an “honorary firefighter” after his
| A．satisfaction | B．disappointment | C．joy | D．shock |
| A．hiding | B．holding | C．controlling | D．covering |
| A．confident | B．experienced | C．terrified | D．delighted |
| A．made | B．pushed | C．lost | D．felt |
| A．dragged | B．sent | C．kicked | D．drove |
| A．jokingly | B．repeatedly | C．proudly | D．secretly |
| A．left | B．dropped | C．opened | D．buried |
| A．shelter | B．help | C．advice | D．comfort |
| A．drill | B．demonstration | C．interview | D．recording |
| A．dead | B．asleep | C．bleeding | D．wounded |
| A．model | B．doll | C．bag | D．tape |
| A．cautiously | B．suddenly | C．terribly | D．initially |
| A．interrupted | B．corrected | C．refused | D．doubted |
| A．give way to | B．rely on | C．take care of | D．take control of |
| A．call | B．instruction | C．guidance | D．suggestion |
| A．energetic | B．active | C．enthusiastic | D．alive |
| A．discovered | B．saved | C．escaped | D．survived |
| A．ladder | B．tap | C．basement | D．ceiling |
| A．game | B．dream | C．gift | D．challenge |
| A．efforts | B．stories | C．shouts | D．ideas |
5 . We’ve all been there — staring at a pile of books, desperately hoping that what we study will stick in our mind. Many of us have probably asked if there’s any way that we can get better at remembering things.
Every student who has made flashcards knows that it can be helpful to go back over what they’ve studied before. The Learning Scientists, a group of cognitive scientists, have made a new discovery.
There are also more general things that we can do to improve our memory. Hancock says that being generally organised makes things easier for your brain, while many other experts also recommend avoiding stress, alcohol and smoking, and that we should get a lot of rest and exercise.
| A．We don’t know exactly why this happens. |
| B．It’s important to the long-term memory. |
| C．So, why don’t we look at what memory experts say about this? |
| D．Another study tip is to change between different topics as you study. |
| E．It could be making letter patterns into words, or by sorting things into categories. |
| F．According to them, we can learn things better if we wait for some time before trying to study them again. |
| G．So, while it may be hard, improving our memory is something we can control. |
6 . For the 70 percent of the world’s population without any chance of using electric washing machines, keeping up with laundry takes up a lot of time. And it is often a painful physical task. The task falls unreasonably to women and girls, who can spend 20 hours a week washing clothes, often without electricity or running water. London engineer Navjot Sawhney, however, has come up with an idea: a portable and lightweight washing machine that is similar to a plastic drum. It also does double duty as a dryer, and costs around $60.
31-year-old Sawhney calls it the Divya, after the woman who inspired the project — his former next-door neighbour in South India, where he spent a year volunteering after leaving his job as an engineer at high-end vacuum (真空吸尘器) maker Dyson. “When I got to know Divya, I was so sad about all the unpaid work she needed to do — cleaning clothes,” says Sawhney. In 2018, he returned to the United Kingdom to found “The Washing Machine Project”, which is developing a washing solution that will be affordable, portable and accessible for everyone, everywhere. After a few months of developing a model, he received some money from Oxfam’s Iraq Response Innovation Lab.
Since March 2019, more than 150 Divyas have been given out to refugees (难民) in Iraq through non-profit partners. “The response was great,” Sawhney says. His goal is to deliver 8,000 machines in 10 countries over the next three years. By saving 75 percent of the time and 50 percent of the water required to wash clothes, he says, women and girls will be freer to accept education.
Aside from the Divya, Sawhney has also worked on making fuel-efficient cookstoves, and plans to develop refrigerators, conditioners, and lighting. Sawhney sees the world’s growing refugee crisis as a call for innovation: “There is a huge need for appliances that make life better for people.”
1. What did Navjot Sawhney do to help the women in India?| A．He provided them with free access to education. |
| B．He volunteered to wash clothes for them. |
| C．He worked out a solution by inventing a washing machine. |
| D．He called on people in his community to donate clothes. |
| A．His previous work in Dyson. | B．His neighbour’s experience. |
| C．The request of refugees in Iraq. | D．The support of a science lab. |
| A．It focuses on education. | B．It is highly praised. |
| C．It has earned a lot of money. | D．It has created many jobs. |
| A．Helpful and serious. | B．Selfless and honest. |
| C．Thoughtful and strict. | D．Caring and creative. |
1. What is the speaker?
| A．A chef. | B．A doctor. | C．A teacher. |
| A．In the library. | B．In the classroom. | C．In the speaker’s office. |
| A．He was too busy to eat. |
| B．He was unable to afford food. |
| C．He was embarrassed to buy it. |
| A．Thankful. | B．Respectful. | C．Helpful. |
1. What lesson did Mike have this morning?
| A．Chinese. | B．Art. | C．Maths. |
| A．It was boring. | B．It was strange. | C．It was pleasing. |
| A．The woman. | B．Picasso. | C．Ms. Green. |
1. Where are the man’s cigarettes?
| A．On the table. | B．On the carpet. | C．In the dustbin. |
| A．Harmful to heath. | B．A waste of money. | C．Dirty and hard to clean. |
| A．At home. | B．In the office. | C．At a party. |
1. What does the man want the woman to do?
| A．Watch a movie. | B．Read a book. | C．Do exercise. |
| A．She lost the bet. | B．She is tired. | C．She has an appointment. |
