1 . Today, many people are turning to social media for their fitness routines, with TikTok, one of the most popular platforms. Indeed, its fitness category has some 300 billion views. But are the posted works, exercises and challenges really safe and effective?
While fitness influencers can encourage people to become more physically active, which is a positive, the quality and accuracy of their content is a concern, according to a 2023 review in Frontiers in Public Health.
“There are a lot of unsustainable and unrealistic workouts on TikTok, and even some dangerous advice,” said Jess Brown, a certified personal trainer in Westchester, New York. “What’s more, much of the fitness information on TikTok isn’t backed by science or posted by fitness professionals. The workouts are usually generalized to anyone, too, and don’t take into account your health, your family history, your flexibility, your range of motion—the list goes on,” said Monica Jones, a certified personal trainer in Washington, DC.
One of the more popular TikTok fitness trends involves developing your abdominal muscles. These challenges often show an influencer doing one exercise or series of movements that, if repeated daily for a week or two, is promised to result in a sexy six-pack. “No way,” Brown said. “We’ve proven again and again that spot reduction isn’t a thing.”
“Unfortunately, there will always be trends centered around getting fast results, because those grab people’s attention. But it’s important to look at your fitness and health as a lifelong journey, not something you can achieve within 10 to 90 days,” Jones said.
How can you separate quality workouts from dangerous ones? First, check the information of the posters. They should be certified fitness professionals who have experience working with people. You also want a coach who emphasizes improving strength and health, not one who focuses on body type. A quality influencer should encourage mental well-being, self-care and the importance of listening to your body in addition to physical fitness.
1. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?| A．The problems of fitness content on TikTok. |
| B．The lack of sustainability on TikTok workouts. |
| C．The needs for personalized workout on TikTok. |
| D．The absence of scientific backing in fitness information on TikTok. |
| A．Sustainable workout routines. | B．Long-term health improvement. |
| C．Certified fitness professional guidance. | D．Easy exercise with immediate results. |
| A．Fitness should be a lifelong journey, not a quick achievement. |
| B．Fitness training should be specific to body type and flexibility. |
| C．Fitness influencers must prioritize fast results over long-term health. |
| D．TikTok workouts must promote mental well-being over physical fitness. |
| A．Personalized workout plans. | B．Paying attention to detail in exercises. |
| C．Taking a balanced approach to fitness. | D．Certification and reputation in fitness training. |
2 . This Is What Your Dog’s Behaviors Should Tell You
A straightened tail
When you see a dog’s tail in the air, that dog probably feels very excited or confident about something. If its tail is shaky and remains up, the dog probably just feels challenged in a way. Whenever a dog is content, its tail is always leveled with its body. However, if the tail is hanging low, this shows some kind of insecurity.
Chewing your furniture
When puppies start teething, they start chewing things around. It just means that they have not been getting as much physical activity as their body needs. You can easily help by taking them out for a nice walk or helping them exercise in some other ways.
Tilting (倾斜) their heads
When you are talking to dogs, you subconsciously end up speaking in a higher pitch. The dogs tip their heads in an attempt to understand what you are telling. Dogs have a great way of reading different body language and responding to vocal cues. They recognize specific words especially those associated with treats they love or walks. A certain theory states that dogs will move their heads in that manner as a way of adjusting their ears so that they can listen better.
Raising their ears
When you see a dog raise its ears, just know it’s listening keenly to you. It happens when they are unfamiliar with a certain sound and are trying to figure the sound out. So when you see this, just allow your dog to figure out things slowly for a second. After all, it’s very nice to have a dog that is observant.
1. If a dog keeps its tail hanging low, it suggests it feels _______.| A．satisfied | B．thrilled | C．unsafe | D．challenged |
| A．Tie the dog. | B．Walk the dog. |
| C．Feed the dog. | D．Bathe the dog. |
| A．Waving its tail. | B．Moving its head. |
| C．Raising its ears. | D．Showing its teeth. |
I was making my morning coffee and wondering how I would get through the day, especially with the rain coming down, when I caught sight of Tony’s photo on the wall, which showed Tony posing with a group of hunting dogs. I stared out the window, thinking of Tony. If only he really were still here.
Tony served in the Navy and we moved around a lot, every three years to a new naval base（海军基地）.It didn’t matter where we lived as long as we were together. After Tony retired, we moved into a farmhouse in north Georgia. I imagined a lifetime of sipping sweet tea on the back porch（门廊）, while Tony shared stories about hunting. His dream was to raise a hunting dog. Meanwhile, I had my heart set on getting a sweet Yorkie, a little dog that could fit in my handbag.
We had so many plans, so many dreams. But some months after we’d moved in, I found Tony on the porch, looking unsettled. “Doctor says my liver is failing,” he said. “I’ll need an operation.” In my eyes, he’d always been invincible（不可战胜的）. I didn’t want to believe he could die. I was overcome with grief when Tony died two months after the operation.
Our farmhouse, which had once been so lively and filled with laughter, was terribly quiet. So dark and empty. There was no one to greet me when I came home from work, no one to sit with on the back porch and no one to walk with around our property.
I stared out the window at the rain, which was coming down even heavier now. I was about to head back to the kitchen when I happened to notice movement.
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Something small and furry emerged from the woods in the backyard.
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I stared at the dog in amazement.
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4 . At 7:30 am on Christmas Eve, Mary Black got a call from an unknown number. It was Nicola Grant, a Bletchley resident who had
After wandering for a long time, Roy
Within half an hour, neighbors
| A．transported | B．rescued | C．dismissed | D．accused |
| A．disabled | B．qualified | C．harmful | D．honest |
| A．waked up | B．sped up | C．ended up | D．dressed up |
| A．in sorrow | B．in disbelief | C．in regret | D．in comfort |
| A．diverse | B．dramatic | C．incredible | D．visible |
| A．iron | B．clean | C．remove | D．tidy |
| A．illnesses | B．wounds | C．ankles | D．knees |
| A．medical | B．subsequent | C．genuine | D．decent |
| A．essential | B．predictable | C．unusual | D．impossible |
| A．greedy | B．desperate | C．hopeless | D．regretful |
| A．hurried | B．hesitated | C．showed | D．slept |
| A．applauded | B．proposed | C．requested | D．offered |
| A．nearby | B．temporary | C．amateur | D．alternative |
| A．donated | B．owed | C．awarded | D．contributed |
| A．burdened | B．satisfied | C．filled | D．provided |
5 . It was a cloudy afternoon when Alex stepped off the train at Seattle’s 48th Street Station. The 22-year-old, who worked nights in a grocery store, was on his way to his grandfather’s so they could buy a car. Suddenly, one guy fell onto the tracks and started convulsing(抽搐).
The man fell on the third rail, the conduit of electricity that powers Seattle’s trains. As Alex and other horrified onlookers watched, he convulsed violently and his head bounced up and down.
Alex couldn’t just stand there. Assuming every rail was electrified, Alex took a few quick bounds, high-kneeing it as he’d done in high school football team, until he was standing over the victim. The train he’d just gotten off stopped, thankfully. Alex reached down and grasped the victim’s wrist. Instantly, he felt a blast of electric shock. Again, he was shocked again. But the third time he seized the man’s wrist, braving the shock. The guy’s body slid briefly along the third rail, coming to rest on the gravel(砂砾).
“Give him CPR!” yelled two lookers-on. And he worked on the man’s heart until the victim began breathing. Then nurses and firefighters arrived. They told authorities to cut the power, deactivating the third rail. His heart still racing from the electric shocks, he climbed back up and continued on to his grandfather’s.
As planned, they went to look at the car, but it had been sold. The Evening Next reported the incident, crediting an anonymous hero with saving the victim. After a friend revealed his identity, Alex became the toast of Seattle. A few days later, he was rewarded with a car. Alex was then recruited by the fire department and is now being trained.
1. What was Alex’s plan that afternoon?| A．Purchasing a vehicle. | B．Taking the train. |
| C．Visiting his grandfather. | D．Working in the grocery store. |
| A．The man’s heavy weight. | B．The long distance. |
| C．The height of the platform. | D．The electrified rail. |
| A．Slowing. | B．Speeding. | C．Stopping. | D．Starting. |
| A．One good turn deserves another. |
| B．Caution is the parent of safety. |
| C．Three heads are better than one. |
| D．Lookers-on see more than players. |
6 . “To have passed through life and never experienced solitude(独处) is to have never known oneself,” writes Joseph Krutch in his memoir, The Desert Year.
It’s important to distinguish solitude from loneliness—the latter is a negative experience of isolation(隔离), and research shows that one need not literally be alone to feel lonely.
It encourages a screen-free moment. When you choose to spend some time in solitude, that means you are prepared to step away from text messages and social media for a time. Taking even a small break from your attachment to those bottomless activities will refresh you.
You have space to reflect on your priorities. “I find that the whole point of solitude is that you can not only enjoy your own company, but also review, change and improve who you are as a person,” writes the blogger Kirk Pineda. “If you already have a person in mind who is ideal, why don’t you become that person?”
| A．Your attention is only your own. |
| B．Solitude is a gift we can choose to give ourselves. |
| C．However, for others, solitude represents a desirable time of comfort. |
| D．Solitude gives time and space for reflection on the course and path of life. |
| E．And it gives you a moment to notice your own thoughts and feelings in the meantime. |
| F．Solitude, by contrast, is the intentional activity of spending time in your own presence. |
| G．When you are in a self-reflective moment of solitude, you can see yourself with fresh eyes. |
7 . After skating, skiing or cleaning snow, nothing warms you up better than a cup of hot cocoa. Although today’s typical toppings—cream, marshmallows, crushed candy—may be wonderful, chocolate was first consumed in liquid form by the Olmec people of northwestern Central America around 1500 B. C. It was even enjoyed by the Aztec emperor Montezuma, and the Aztec word “Xocolatl” for it evolved(演化) into the English word chocolate.
But the Aztecs didn’t serve their coco a hot. And since sugar had not yet arrived from Europe, back then, the drink was often flavored with pepper and spices. It may not have been quite as various as today’s version, but it was more delicious if you believed, as the Aztecs did, that chocolate was a gift from the gods and had healing properties.
After the Spanish arrived in the Americas in the 1500s, liquid chocolate made its way across the pond, where wealthy Europeans added sugar and drank it warm. In Chocolate: History, Culture and Heritage, author Bertram Gordon says hot chocolate became “the beverage(饮品) of the upper class”, as sugar was still a luxury. Doctors also began using it to mask the unpleasant taste of medicines, and some doctors today still suggest that parents try that.
Soon enough, though, hot chocolate caught on with the masses. Chocolate houses—a cross between cafes and casinos(赌场) —started popping up around 17th-century Europe. In these lively places, hot chocolate was poured from golden pots into elegant cups. But by the end of the 18th century, chocolate houses had mostly died off, partly because the cost of chocolate was much higher than that of coffee or tea.
However you choose to jazz up your own cup, the simple pleasure of drinking a warm, chocolatey beverage is one that hasn’t gotten old for thousands of years. A gift from the gods? Perhaps. But it’s certainly one that keeps on giving.
1. What did the Aztecs believe about chocolate?| A．It should be served hot. |
| B．It was a godsend with healing qualities. |
| C．It was first consumed by the Olmec people. |
| D．It should be flavored with pepper and spices. |
| A．It was a symbol of luxurious life. |
| B．It was a treat only the rich could afford. |
| C．Its recipe was only known to the upper class. |
| D．Its flavor was only enjoyed by the upper class. |
| A．The cost of chocolate increased. |
| B．The taste of hot chocolate changed. |
| C．Other alternative drinks were relatively cheap. |
| D．Chocolate houses were replaced by cafes and casinos. |
| A．The origins and evolution of hot chocolate. |
| B．The lasting pleasure of drinking hot chocolate. |
| C．The rise and fall of chocolate houses in Europe. |
| D．The popularity of hot chocolate among the upper class. |
8 . The only science fiction that ever really caught my attention when I was growing up, besides Star Trek and Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, was the novel Contact by Carl Sagan. When I was 15, I saw the 1997 film version of this. Later, as a 17-year-old adapting to my first semester (学期) at university, I read the book. Contact eventually became the gateway for me to try more popular science books.
One thing that interested me was the bitter fights the researchers got into with one another about their different ways of measuring the expansion rate of spacetime. On second thoughts, maybe this was a lesson I was supposed to draw from Contact, but, at the time, I didn’t regard such politics as a scientist problem. Instead, what caught my attention was the portrayal of Eleanor “Ellie” Arroway, a scientist who searched for alien intelligence. In the film version, Ellie is seen listening to space using a pair of headphones connected to the Very Large Array (VLA)—a real facility in New Mexico.
Astronomers don’t really do this for the purposes of actual research because there is rarely any point. This is the kind of detail that is unimportant for the film of Contact, but how it portrays radio astronomy is one of the inaccuracies I occasionally hear scientists complain about. I was lucky enough to observe the behaviour of some water molecules (分子) in the Orion nebula (猎户座星云) using the VLA for my thirdyear lab course. We didn’t listen to the data. Instead, we processed it so that we could look at it.
That was probably the only time I ever excelled in the lab, and I was so excited to be a reallife Ellie Arroway. Later, I was forced to think more about the human aspects of my working experience. I witnessed unnecessarily heated arguments between scientists, complete with shouting and chalkboard punching (用拳猛击). But, thankfully, Contact had not only introduced me to the idea of radio astronomy as a possible career path, it had also given me a road map for remaining calm in the confused conflict of astronomical wonder and human politics.
1. What can be learned about the author in his teenage years?| A．He watched Contact’s film version in his freshman year. |
| B．His interest in science was inspired by Contact. |
| C．He read a wide range of science fiction books. |
| D．His favourite science fiction author was Robert Heinlein. |
| A．Detecting the sound of space. | B．Searching for alien intelligence. |
| C．Communicating with nonexperts. | D．Visiting the VLA in New Mexico. |
| A．To demonstrate his strong interest in lab projects. |
| B．To explain why scientists sometimes make complaints. |
| C．To show his observations had achieved positive results. |
| D．To prove the film of Contact presented radio astronomy incorrectly. |
| A．How to grasp career opportunities. |
| B．How to get an excellent score on a lab course. |
| C．How to deal with conflicts between scientists. |
| D．How to explain the science of radio astronomy. |
9 . While they can’t pick out precise numbers, animals can comprehend that more is, well, more. From birds to bees and wolves to frogs, animals use numbers to hunt, find a mate, return to their home, and more. Researchers believe that this ability, known as numerical competence, plays an important role in how animals make these decisions. Andreas Nieder, a biologist at the University of Tübingen, explores the current literature on how different animals comprehend numbers.
Honeybees, for instance, can remember the number of landmarks they pass when searching for food in order to find their way back home. This ability can also be seen in animals choosing a larger amount of food over a smaller amount or in animals forming hunting groups. Wolves are more likely to hunt successfully if they have the right number of wolves in their pack for their prey (猎物) with prey like elk (驼鹿), only around six to eight wolves are needed, while hunting wild pigs requires a pack of nine to thirteen. Their prey also uses this concept to protect themselves—elk tend to live in small groups, which rarely have encounters with wolves, or gather in large groups to reduce the chance of any individual becoming prey. “They are assessing the number of individuals in their groups for their everyday life situations,” Nieder says.
Furthermore, numerical competence also plays a role in attracting a mate. For example, male frogs sing “advertisement” calls to attract females. The females, listening to their complicated calls, choose the males that sing the most “chucks” in their calls.
Now researchers do have some sense of the rules that govern numerical competence in animals. For example, they count approximately (大概) rather than specifically and two numbers need to be more different for them to tell them apart as those numbers get bigger. However, Nieder argues that more research needs to be done. “I hope I can encourage behavioral ecologists to specifically explore numerical competence in the wild, and, in doing so, also open new research fields,” he says.
1. What do the examples of wolves and elk suggest about numerical competence?| A．It gives animals a reproduction benefit. | B．It affects animals’ chances of survival. |
| C．It is decided by animals’ hunting ability. | D．It develops well in social animals. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By asking questions. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Its fundamental rules. | B．Its appeal to behavioral ecologists. |
| C．Researchers in new study fields. | D．Expectations for further studies. |
| A．Animals’ understanding of numbers gives them an advantage |
| B．Numerical competence research achieves a breakthrough |
| C．Animals develop numerical competence? Never |
| D．Can many animals count? Better than you |
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Dear Allen,
In your e-mail, you expressed disagreement about our teachers speaking both English and Chinese in English classes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
