1 . You might always complain, “I want to build more muscle, increase my endurance, or just move about day-to-day life more easily, but I don’t know how to achieve the goals.”
Focus on your workout
Have positive self-talk
Before you’re feeling focused, remind yourself that you can do this. “
Positive self-talk isn’t the only way to get in the right mindset. “It always comes down to music for me,” says Amelia DiDomenico, owner of Amrose Fitness. One of her top workout tips is to repeat her favorite songs a few times during her training session.
Keep things simple
You don’t need to do a million different exercises to get a great workout.
| A．Try to make conversation |
| B．Listen to your favorite music |
| C．In fact, it’s often better to keep things simple |
| D．Before I know it, I come across a workout partner |
| E．Perhaps these tips will help you to make a good start |
| F．I start with positive self-talk to prevent myself from giving up |
| G．The first step to a workout is bringing you into the present moment |
2 . On April 8, as millions of people tried to watch a solar eclipse (日食) in North America, eye doctors across the United States would be ready to offer medical help.
That’s because, while a solar eclipse is an exciting event, it can also be dangerous. Looking at any part of the exposed sun without the right kind of protection can injure the eye’s light-sensitive retina (视网膜).
In 2017, during the solar eclipse seen across the United States, that happened to many people despite the media coverage about the danger of looking at the sun when it is anything less than fully and completely covered by the moon.
Given that more than 150 million people directly viewed either a partial eclipse or a total eclipse, however, the number of those who suffered eye problems may seem relatively small.
“We’ve got less than 100 cases across Canada and the US,” says Ralph Chou, an eclipse eye safety expert with the University of Waterloo in Canada. “But no one knows for sure how many people damaged their eyes in 2017,” he says, “because not every case gets written up for a medical journal, and people may not seek help for less serious eyesight troubles.”
“A lot of eyesight problems, if they actually happened, were probably relatively minor and, they disappeared on their own within weeks or months,” says Chou. “About half of those who experience significant eye problems on the day after an eclipse will recover almost completely.”
He notes that there are ways to enjoy the eclipse without looking up at all; everyday household objects allow you to create pinhole projectors (针孔投射) that let you watch an image of the sun. “If you do choose to look up at the sun when it is partially eclipsed,” says Chou, “make sure that you have the proper eclipse glasses.”
1. How can the solar eclipse be a dangerous event?| A．It leaves everything in the dark. | B．It could cause damage to our eyes. |
| C．It makes it hard to get medical help. | D．It forces us to go to a narrow space. |
| A．The danger of seeing a solar eclipse. | B．The location of a top-class hospital. |
| C．The importance of exploring space. | D．The number of tourist attractions. |
| A．There is no need to worry about the solar eclipse. |
| B．Some people forgot to turn to the doctor for help. |
| C．It’s hard to track people who suffered eye problems. |
| D．Over 150 million people in the US are nearsighted. |
| A．Do it with our family. | B．Take pictures of the sun. |
| C．Admire the scene on TV. | D．Protect our eyes properly. |
1. What can we know about the woman?
| A．She ate lots of unhealthy food before. |
| B．She wanted the man to cook dinner. |
| C．She loved to work out with the man. |
| A．Today. | B．Last week. | C．Last month. |
| A．Break bad habits. | B．Have a good rest. | C．Keep a cool mind. |
| A．Hot dogs. | B．Dried banana chips. | C．Chocolate milkshakes. |
4 . As a senior resident, I often distributed poems to my team, printing and posting them above the computers in our hospital workrooms. Once, during a rare quiet moment in the ICU, with permission from my colleagues (同事), I read a couple of poems out loud. I remember watching my colleagues’ eyes close and their bodies visibly relax as the words washed over them.
Since then, I have shared poems — my own and others’ — in talks at my institution and across the country. I’ve also led other healthcare providers in creative writing exercises during workshops, lectures and classes. Many institutions host book clubs, story slams, film screenings and other opportunities for medical learners to engage with the humanities (人文学科).
While poetry can be frightening to some, many contemporary poems provide approachable emotional experiences. Pieces like Safiya Sinclair’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” fully illustrate how a place that seems innocent or even beautiful to some can be upsetting to others. Monica Sok’s “ABC for Refugees” powerfully paints a portrait of a young child caught between languages and cultures — a reality that many pediatric (儿科的) patients face. “Ode to Small Towns” by Tyree Daye overturn s common assumptions about rural life. In “Medical History”, Nicole Sealey shares a patient’s perspective (视角) on a part of health care that, for many of my students and colleagues, has been reduced to a series of check boxes on a computer screen. These and other poems provide fertile ground for enhanced understanding of the human condition, as well as inspiration for a clinician’s own potentially transformative reflective writing.
The possibilities for cooperation between literature and medicine are wide open. I believe all clinicians have a role in recognizing and dealing with how everyone has been shaped by an unreasonable society. The history, sociopolitical context, imaginative perspective and reflective practices the humanities offer may improve the practice of medicine. Through understanding others’ experiences and reflecting critically on their own, every clinician can move closer to being the kind of healer they intend to be.
1. Why did the author like to share poems at work?| A．To cure his patients. | B．To bring in the humanities. |
| C．To make his colleagues amazed. | D．To practice for a competition. |
| A．Tyree Daye’s. | B．Monica Sok’s. |
| C．Safiya Sinclair’s. | D．Nicole Sealey’s. |
| A．It’s urgent to upgrade the medical equipment. |
| B．Doctors should have better medical skills. |
| C．There’s room for improvement in medical care. |
| D．A patient can be treated from different perspectives. |
| A．The humanities help make a better doctor. |
| B．The clinicians are to shape our future society. |
| C．Doctors must learn from each other’s experiences. |
| D．Reflective writing greatly benefits a doctor’s skills. |
5 . For many people, memory improvement is possible. The extent to which memory can improve, however, will be different from person to person.
Timing activities strategically
How you order your daily tasks can impact your ability to remember them and get them done smoothly.
Difficult or cognitively taxing activities should be completed at the beginning of the day when fatigue is low and attention is at a high level.
A clean living and working environment with minimal distractions may help you focus on your tasks and remember what you need to do.
Writing down your personal experiences
Avoiding multitasking
One study found that people between the ages of 60 and 80 have significantly more trouble remembering tasks after they’ve experienced a brief interruption than do people in their 30s and 40s.
Research has shown that switching your attention from a laptop to a cellphone or texting while watching TV decreases the gray matter in our brains that helps us with sensory perceptions including decision-making and memory.
| A．Minimizing distractions |
| B．Cleaning up your environment |
| C．Record the time each task takes |
| D．Here are some tips that will offer you some help |
| E．Large projects should be broken down into smaller tasks |
| F．The best way to remember personal experiences is to write about them |
| G．Doing multiple things at once could affect your short-term memory, particularly as you get older |
1. Where are the speakers?
| A．In a park. | B．In a hospital. | C．In a gym. |
| A．She fell off the bed. |
| B．She had trouble in breathing. |
| C．She felt painful in her heart. |
| A．To have a physical examination regularly. |
| B．To get more sleep every night. |
| C．To change her lifestyle. |
| A．Getting up early. | B．Giving up fried chips. | C．Having terrible dreams. |
7 . Taking between 9,000 and 10,000 steps per day appears to reduce the risk of an early death or heart-related event, adding reason to an idea that has been considered as unscientific.
The exact origin of the commonly held belief that people should aim for 10,000 steps a day is unclear, but it has been linked to a marketing plan promoting pedometers (计步器) in Japan. Now, a study by Matthew Ahmadi at the University of Sydney, Australia, and his colleagues suggests the figure could hold some truth.
The team studied more than 72,000 participants, with an average age of 61, in the UK Biobank study as they wore a movement-tracking accelerometer (加速度计) on their wrists for one week. “We were able to know their daily steps,” says Ahmadi. The participants were then tracked for an average of just under seven years.
During that time period, 1,633 people died and 6,190 heart-related events occurred. After adjusting other factors that could influence the risk of illness or death over that period—such as diet quality, smoking and doing other forms of exercise, the researchers found out that the best number of steps per day appears to be between 9,000-and 10,000, with the benefits then starting to tail off. Doing so was linked to a 39% lower risk of dying during the follow-up period and a 21% lower risk of a heart-related event. “It does appear to support the belief that the originally non-evidence based 10,000 steps target may indeed be about right,” says Dale Esliger at Loughborough University in the UK.
However, while the study was “extremely well designed” with “careful methods and statistical analysis”, Esliger says wrist-worn accelerometers aren’t always the best indicator of step count. The researchers also didn’t consider the number of steps taken per minute. “It’s possible that around 6,000 steps performed at a higher pace may be just as health protective as 10,000 slower steps,” says Esliger.
1. What’s the finding of the study?| A．More than 10,000 steps a day do harm to the body. |
| B．21% of the participants died of heart-related events. |
| C．Walking 10,000 steps a day benefits physical health. |
| D．Hitting the target of 10,000 steps a day makes no sense. |
| A．How the study is carried out. |
| B．Whether a previous belief is true. |
| C．What is concluded about the study. |
| D．Why other factors should be removed. |
| A．Objective. | B．Unconcerned. | C．Favorable. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．A science magazine. | B．A technology report. |
| C．A history book. | D．An educational website. |
8 . In the past few years, our knowledge about the prevention of the disease dementia has increased dramatically, and many issues that cause it are actually now treatable. “We have finally sorted out what the risk factors are, and we are paying attention to them,” says Dr. Weaver.
According to a report of The Lancet led by Prof. Livingston in 2020, 40 per cent of dementia cases could be avoided. The number one factor was hearing loss, which can affect your ability to converse with others, leading to loneliness. “That really surprised us,” she says. “And it’s a reversible (可逆的) risk, because you can change it by simply using hearing aids.”
Spending time socialising was another important factor. “Talking to other people stimulates your brain and gets it working because you have to engage, and you have to think,” Prof. Livingston explains. Having a stimulating job also helps, as does getting more education earlier in life. All those boost what’s known as your cognitive (认知的) reserve, so even if you do suffer from a loss of cognitive power, you have some to spare. Treating depression is also important.
Getting 150 minutes of exercise a week can keep your heart in good shape, which translates into a healthier brain. And then there are things to avoid. Smoking and air pollution raise the risk. Plus, it’s now known that brain injury also raises the risk, as do heavy drinking, having high blood pressure or diabetes, and being overweight. “We now know that for many people, dementia is not inevitable,” says Prof. Livingston.
Just as important as new medications are breakthroughs in diagnosis (诊断). Multiple blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease, which have been used widely in clinical trials, are expected to be available to the public over the next few years. “I think the blood tests and new treatments that are coming are going to really transform how we practise and how we care for people with memory loss,” says Professor Gil Rabinovici, professor of neurology and radiology and director of the University of California’s Alzheimer’s disease research center.
1. Which of the following used to be the greatest risk factor of dementia?| A．Lack of exercise. | B．Hearing loss. |
| C．Smoking. | D．Air pollution. |
| A．They improve their eyesight. | B．They boost their hearing ability. |
| C．They reduce heart disease risk. | D．They enhance cognitive capacity. |
| A．Ineffective. | B．Unimportant. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Unavoidable. |
| A．To advocate a new idea in healthy lifestyles. |
| B．To clarify some misunderstanding in old age. |
| C．To share some information in medical science. |
| D．To make a prediction of mental health treatments. |
9 . Humans spend approximately one-third of their lives sleeping, which means that by the time you reach 15 years old, you will have slept for about 5 years! However, the question remains: why do we do it? Sleep has long been a puzzle for people, leading scientists to explore its mysteries. They have found that during sleep, our brains and bodies do not simply shut down; instead, complex processes unfold.
What causes sleepiness? It’s caused by our biological clock releasing a special chemical signal at the same time daily, signaling it’’s time to wind down. The feeling of heaviness comes from the buildup of old nerve messenger chemicals. When the message gets too much, the brain senses that it’s time to sleep. During sleep, the body breaks down and clears away these old messengers, preparing for a fresh start.
As you slip into sleep, your heart and breathing slow down, and your brain ignores the most sounds and surroundings around you. Despite appearances, your brain remains active during sleep, performing essential tasks. Throughout the night, you cycle through light, deep, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stages every 90 minutes. Early on, slow-wave sleep is the primary stage, aiding in brain cleaning, while towards morning,REM sleep increases, leading to vivid dreams. During sleep, your body repairs and grows, creating new skin, muscle, and other tissues with released chemicals. It’s also a time for hormone (荷尔蒙) production, aiding growth, and boosting the immune (免疫) system to fight infections.
Scientists still have many questions about sleep, such as why some people need more sleep than others and how certain animals can function with less sleep. They aim to find ways to improve sleep quality. However, one thing is clear: getting enough sleep is vital for health and intelligence. Think of sleep as a free magic potion that strengthens you, aids growth, boosts immunity, and enhances intelligence, happiness, and creativity. Simply lie down and rest to enjoy these benefits.
1. What inference can be drawn from scientists’ findings about sleep?| A．Sleep serves no purpose. | B．Sleep has fundamental processes. |
| C．Sleep involves complex processes. | D．Sleep has minimal impact on brain function. |
| A．Determining the best time for sleep. |
| B．Controlling chemicals within the body. |
| C．Managing eating and digestion patterns. |
| D．Regulating daytime and nighttime activities. |
| A．Describing the different stages and functions of sleep. |
| B．Discussing the benefits of daytime activities for overall health. |
| C．Exploring the effects of inadequate sleep on the body and mind. |
| D．Analyzing the impact of stress on the immune system during sleep. |
| A．Narrative of personal sleep experiences. |
| B．Comparison of human and animal sleep patterns. |
| C．Imaginary stories illustrating the advantages of sleep. |
| D．Explanation of sleep importance, with body processes described. |
10 . Did you know many adults sit down for more than nine hours a day? Maybe you’re one of them! Whether it’s working at a desk, sitting motionless in a car, bus or train or lounging on the sofa watching TV, we have a much more sedentary lifestyle than our parents and grandparents did. The question that this raises is just what it is doing to our bodies.
The news isn’t good. A study carried out in the 1950s compared bus drivers with the conductors, who walked around the bus selling tickets. It showed that drivers, who spent many hours sitting at the wheel, were twice as likely to have heart attacks than the more active conductors. In fact, prolonged sitting has been associated with a number of different conditions, even in people who otherwise take regular exercise. If you sit down all day, you burn far fewer calories than someone with a more active job. There are suggestions that its lows your metabolism (新陈代谢) and makes it harder for your body to regulate blood sugar levels increasing the risk of diabetes.
One possible answer to this problem is for desk workers to use standing desks, to spend at least part of their day on their feet. One small study showed that office workers who stood for three hours after lunch had a much smaller increase in blood sugar levels, while another suggested that by standing for three or four hours a day over the period of a year, people would burn as many calories as if they had run ten marathons.
Other experts question this figure and point out that standing all day can also have negative impacts, such as leg or back pain, recommending that if people do want to use standing desks, they should gradually increase the amount of time that they spend on their feet. Crucially, they also point out that there are many alternatives to sitting, and that their impact is unlikely to be the same; walking, for example, burns far more calories than standing.
1. What is the text mainly talk about?| A．The dangers of long sitting. | B．Measures to burn more calories. |
| C．Disadvantages of standing at work. | D．Suggestions from the experts on health. |
| A．Walking burns far more calories than standing. |
| B．We are more active than our previous generations. |
| C．Leg or back pain could be a negative effect of standing all day. |
| D．Not being able to regulate blood sugar levels can lead to diabetes. |
| A．A bus conductor. | B．A marathon runner. |
| C．A sitting desk worker. | D．A standing office worker. |
| A．Ambiguous | B．Approving. | C．Skeptical. | D．Dismissive. |
