1 . Healthcare professionals in four Canadian provinces can now prescribe (开处方) their patients passes to National Parks thanks to a new program, PaRX, which stresses the health benefits of spending time in nature in helping to manage physical and mental health.

PaRx was founded by the B. C. Parks Foundation in November 2020 and was officially supported by Parks Canada last month. Health professionals who register (注册) with the program can offer their patients a Parks Canada Discovery Pass, making it the country’s “first national nature prescription program”. The Parks Discovery Pass typically costs about $57 per adult per year.

“We’re really asking doctors to prioritize patients who live close to Parks Canada sites so they’ll have more access and can make it part of their everyday lives, and also those for whom the cost of a pass might be a barrier to nature access,” said Melissa Lem, president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Studies have shown that spending time in nature has a range of health benefits—from lowering blood pressure and improving heart health to reducing stress and anxiety. PaRx recommends that patients spend at least two hours per week in the great outdoors, and at least 20 minutes each time, to get the most benefit.

The program is currently available in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It will eventually spread to every province.

PaRx also has benefits outside of the national parks, with many gardens offering free admission to visitors who show their prescriptions.

“There’s almost no medical condition that nature doesn’t make better. Rediscovering nature and then realizing how important it is to us has really shown that nature-health connection,” Lem said.

1. What do we know about the Parks Discovery Pass?

A．It is low priced.	B．It is designed for poor families.
C．It is well received.	D．It is owned by registered doctors.

2. What does PaRx plan to do about the program next?

A．Improve its service quality.	B．Carry it out all over the country.
C．Do further research on its effect.	D．Make it available free of charge.

3. What does Melissa Lem stress in the last paragraph?

A．Nature matters a great deal to our health.

B．Not all patients can get treated by doctors.

C．People should learn to change their lifestyle.

D．People should place health above everything.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Canadians Are Living in Harmony with Nature

B．Canadians Are Trying to Get Away from Hospitals

C．Canadian Doctors Are Prescribing National Park Visits

D．Canadian Doctors Are Leading the Way in Medical Research

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

In 1951, a young mother of five named Henrietta Lacks visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Upon     1     (care) examination, the famous doctor Howard Jones discovered a large cervical tumor (宫颈肿瘤).

A small number of her cancer cells     2     (collect) during a medical test were sent to Dr. George Gey’s nearby lab. For years, Dr. Gey, a well-known cancer and virus researcher, had been collecting cells from all patients     3     came to The Johns Hopkins Hospital with cervical cancer, regardless of     4     (they) race or socioeconomic position, but each cell    5     (rapid) died in Dr. Gey’s lab. What Dr. Gey soon discovered     6     (be) that Mrs. Lacks’ cells were unlike any of the others he had ever seen: where other cells would die, Mrs. Lacks’ cells doubled every 20 to 24 hours.

Today, these incredible cells, named “HeLa” cells, are used for     7     (study) the effects of drugs and viruses       8     the growth of cancer cells without experimenting on humans. Scientists use “HeLa” cells to test the effects of radiation (辐射), to study the human genome, and to learn more about how viruses work. These cells also played     9     important role in the     10     (develop) of the polio vaccine (小儿麻痹症疫苗).

3 . Much of our thinking about health is based on wishful thinking. But science provides clear and simple advice for a healthy life. Graham Lawton explores the evidence. Graham proves that you don’t have to be a health and fitness extremist to be reasonably healthy. He has rounded up the latest and strictest health research and changed it into useful advice on all the big health questions: diet, weight loss, exercise, sleep, ageing and so on.

Graham, New Scientist feature writer, is not the common health expert. He sometimes eats fast food. He has a gym membership but rarely uses it. And he takes medicine to keep his blood pressure under control. He neither has a diet plan nor a 6-week program to keep fit and thin.

But he does have a much better weapon: science. In a talk, Graham explains the basic science, tells people some of the secrets of science, teaches people to use the ability of judgement to tell the good from the bad, and helps them to see beyond the headlines. The talk allows people to eat healthily, lose weight, and sort the truth out from science facts.

But he loves outdoor sports. Last year Graham cycled over 1,200 miles and ran the same distance of 15marathons. He often goes swimming outdoors and walks up eight flights of stairs to his desk instead of taking the lift. He eats his five copies of fruit and vegetables a day, keeps enough water in his body, and doesn’t eat much meat. Despite all the bad habits, his good ones seem to be winning. Graham is 50, but his “biological age” was recently measured as 45.

1. What can we learn about Graham?

A．He has some bad habits.

B．He has an extremely strict diet.

C．He looks down on common health experts.

D．He always bases health on wishful thinking.

2. What does Graham’s talk in paragraph 3 cover?

A．Words as weapons.

B．Health and science.

C．Functions of medicine.

D．Ability and confidence.

3. What does the last paragraph mainly tell us concerning Graham?

A．His indoor sports of his life.

B．His copies of health books.

C．His healthy lifestyle.

D．His way of thinking.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．The Professional Ways to Do Sports

B．The Importance of Exercise for Health

C．The Unique Path to Scientific Success

D．The Secrets of Living a Healthy Life

4 . Limiting your child’s candy this Halloween might be more of a trick than a treat, experts say. Once you’re a grown-up raising kids, that bag full of candy might be the scariest part of Halloween — whether it’s concern about a potential sugar rush, worries of parenting perfectionism or diet culture anxiety.

“It makes sense to be scared, because we’ve been taught to be scared,” said Oona Hanson, a parent coach based in Los Angeles. “Sugar is sort of the boogeyman in our current cultural conversation.”

But micromanaging your child’s candy supply can backfire (适得其反)，leading to an overvaluing of sweets，binge (暴食) behavior or unhealthy restriction in your child，said Natalie Mokari, a registered dietitian-nutritionist in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As stressful as it may be to see your child faced with more candy in one night than they would eat in an entire year, the best approach may be to lean into the joy, she added. “They are only in that age where they want to trick or treat for just a small glimpse of time — it’s so short-lived,” Mokari said. “Let them enjoy that day.”

Experts aren’t suggesting kids have sugar all day every day. The American Heart Association and the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee — groups charged with providing science-based recommendations every live years — have recommended lower daily levels of sugar. Too much added sugar has been associated with cardiovascular disease and lack of essential nutrients.

But a healthy relationship with food has balance, and you can keep your kids’ diets full of nutrients while allowing them lo eat sweets, Mokari said.

1. Why are the grown-ups raising kids scared at Halloween?

A．Because they don’t look perfect enough.

B．Because their children faced too much candy.

C．Because they’ve been taught to be.

D．Because they don’t know the diet culture.

2. Which of the following best explains “Sugar is sort of the boogeyman” underlined in Paragraph 2?

A．Sugar can make us scared.

B．Sugar is a sort of healthy food.

C．Sugar is harmful to our health.

D．Sugar is a sort of essential nutrient.

3. Which of the following statements will Natalie Mokari probably agree with?

A．Kids should have sugar all day every day.

B．It makes sense to be scared with that bag full of candy.

C．It’s a good idea to micromanage your child’s candy supply.

D．Kids would have much joy when treated to candy at Halloween.

4. What are the last two paragraphs mainly about?

A．Diseases associated with sugar.

B．The right attitude towards sugar.

C．Allowing your kids to eat sweets.

D．Keeping your kids’ diets full of nutrients.

5 . You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Comedy on Referral has taken that idea and run with it, using stand up comedy to help treat people struggling with trauma (创伤) and anxiety in partnership with the National Health Service (NHS).

The idea came from comedian Angie Belcher’s experiences teaching comedy at Bristol University. She found that students often told her how much stronger and more resilient (有适应力的) they were thanks to stand up comedy.

Inspired, she teamed up with the NHS in Bristol to create a six-week comedy course for patients struggling with trauma in January 2022. Following the success of this initial course, Comedy on Referral won NHS funding to help men with trauma in London.

Talking to the Bristol Post, Belcher said, “Past traumas are perfect for comedy. Comedy doesn’t come from the happy, perfect moments of your life, but from our everyday struggles and major life events. People who’ve been through big life experiences such as losing a loving one and ill health often can’t wait to tell me their story, mostly because there’s always something especially funny about the situation.”

Research has shown that laughter has positive psychological effects, such as decreasing levels of cortisol—the stress hormone—and increasing endorphins (内啡肽). It can even have physiological benefits, although less research has been done in this area. Current research has linked laughter and humour with increased levels of pain tolerance as well as short-term cardiovascular benefits. More research is needed to prove these findings.

Nonetheless, the mental health benefits of regular laughter are widely accepted, and using comedy to treat mental health struggles could be a real breakthrough in the treatment of mental health.

1. Why is the phrase mentioned in paragraph 1?

A．To stress the importance of laughter.	B．To explain the harm trauma causes.
C．To show the effect of stand up comedy.	D．To state the idea behind Comedy on Referral.

2. How was the first six-week comedy course for patients?

A．Ambiguous.

B．Effective.

C．Controversial.

D．Fruitless.

3. What may contribute to a comedy according to Belcher?

A．Happy moments.	B．Funny moments.
C．Struggling moments.	D．Successful moments.

4. What is the text?

A．A news report.	B．A book review.
C．A comedy story.	D．A diary entry.

6 . Most people think that regular (有规律的) exercise does health wonders for people, but what exactly are its health benefits (益处)?

To start with, research suggests regular exercise can help make people’s body strong. It helps cut down on the number of different diseases people face each year. Regular exercise throughout the year helps the working quality of people’s heart become better and lower blood pressure. During exercise, people’s heart must work harder so that it can make blood go throughout the body. This extra effort makes it grow stronger over the long term. At the same time, as little as 30 minutes per day can help to lower blood pressure. It helps move away things that are all linked to having high blood pressure.

Exercise has a good effect on people’s mind and spirit too. If you are suffering from stress and sadness, regular gentle exercise is one way to improve your full sense of happiness. The way that exercise improves people’s mental state is by moving away the bad effect of stress that swims into their bodies, helping them find deep calm.

Some studies even show that exercise keeps people’s skin fit. Exercise helps keep skin cells alive and healthy by increasing blood flow. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to working cells throughout the body, including the skin. In addition to providing oxygen, blood flow also helps carry away waste products. You can think of it just like cleaning your skin from the inside.

However, we should know that when suffering from an illness, try not to finish all your plan for exercise. The body needs time to recover. Strong exercise can be harmful to the immune system (免疫系统) when it is already under pressure. Instead, take a gentle walk when falling ill to help recovery.

So, now you know the benefits of exercise and how to do it properly. What are you waiting for?

1. Why does the writer raise a question in paragraph 1?

A．To describe the writer.	B．To introduce the topic.
C．To develop a new idea.	D．To show the writer’s doubt.

2. What’s the benefit of regular exercise in paragraph 2?

A．It builds a strong body.	B．It causes the spread of diseases.
C．It influences the mind and body.	D．It plays a role in skin cleaning.

3. How does exercise improve people’s mental state according to the text?

A．By moving away waste in blood.	B．By helping them find deep calm.
C．By making them get close to stress.	D．By cleaning the skin from the inside.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．The Benefits of Regular Exercise	B．A Study on Living Happily
C．The Method of Being Strong	D．Tips on Doing Regular Exercise

7 . It was the festive season. Mum had baked some delicious _______. Moreover, the refrigerator was _______ with chocolates and ice-cream so I helped myself to all the goodies. That night, I woke up with a painful toothache.

When morning arrived, I had to make an _______ with the dentist. After arriving at the dental clinic, I _______ first, and then walked unwillingly towards a chair. I did not even _______ to look at the other patients. Seeing patients coming out of the treatment room, with large pieces of gauze(纱布) sticking out from their mouths, only seemed to _______ my pain. I was determined never to taste another cookie or take a _______ of chocolate in the future.

When it was my turn, I went into the treatment room. I heard the dentist greet me, but I could not bring myself to _______ to his greeting. The _______ of the drilling equipment and the treatment tools only increased my feelings of sickness. The dentist ________ the offending tooth with various instruments. He ________ me that it was best to extract the tooth. The next minute or so was one of the most ________ moments of my life. I paid the price for my greed.

Soon the pain gave way to a(n)________ feeling. After paying for the high fee of the treatment, I walked out of the clinic confidently and ________ for the nearest bus stop. I ________ that this would be the first and the last time I stepped into a dental clinic. That tooth gave me a lesson that I’ll never forget.

1.

A．noodles

B．dumplings

C．cookies

D．cakes

2.

A．newly-invented

B．newly-collected

C．half-made

D．well-filled

3.

A．amazement

B．announcement

C．appointment

D．encouragement

4.

A．registered

B．regretted

C．refused

D．came

5.

A．fear

B．bother

C．ignore

D．bear

6.

A．suspect

B．present

C．soften

D．worsen

7.

A．bite

B．drop

C．chance

D．little

8.

A．add

B．respond

C．refer

D．devote

9.

A．loss

B．expectation

C．sight

D．cause

10.

A．removed

B．examined

C．tapped

D．watched

11.

A．taught

B．warned

C．questioned

D．informed

12.

A．horrible

B．satisfactory

C．comfortable

D．confusing

13.

A．amused

B．relieved

C．embarrassed

D．shocked

14.

A．waited

B．applied

C．fought

D．headed

15.

A．urged

B．complained

C．swore

D．commanded

8 . Some Asian children are becoming increasingly fat, a new report says. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) joint report was released on Monday. The two agencies call for better regulation of junk food and a limit on sugary drinks for children. They also call for action against malnutrition (营养不良), because a lack of food has prevented children who live in poverty growing normally and healthily-or rather, hurts their development.

Dorothy Foote is a UNICEF regional nutritional specialist. She says the lack of food affects children’s height and development inside their bodies. But at the same time, the area is facing high levels of overweight children.

The main reason for the food problems, the report says, is that there is more junk food available, which does not provide nutrition. Another problem is drinks with high sugar or high trans-fat, but low nutritional value. Lack of physical activity is also part of the problem, the report adds.

Foote says this is seen in nutrition across the area. She says people lack knowledge about what is needed and normal for healthy children’s development.

The economic growth in the area has brought unhealthy products to rural areas. Poor and middle-class families buy them and do not make the right choices to use healthier foods instead. Poor feeding practices, especially for children younger than two, mean ongoing high levels of malnutrition.

The report says governments need to regulate the marketing of junk food and sugary drinks to children. It also calls for better feeding practices for infants and young children, and treatment for severely malnourished children. And it says the countries should work to reduce poverty and make sure that children stay in school.

1. What does the report focus on?

A．The economic growth in Asia.

B．Asian countries’ development.

C．The education in Asian rural areas.

D．Some Asian children’s health problems.

2. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph5 refer to?

A．The right choices.	B．The high levels.
C．The unhealthy products.	D．The healthier foods.

3. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The children’s situations.	B．The report’s suggestions.
C．The governments’ efforts.	D．The problem’s causes.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．The reasons for children’s being hungry

B．How to stop children from being overweight?

C．Why children in Asia become overweight?

D．Asian children face malnutrition or fatness

9 . You may have been told that the amount of sleep that you need decreases as you get older, but this is not the case. All adults require eight hours of sleep per night, but changes in our sleep patterns as we age mean that this may be more difficult for the elderly.     1    Instead we sleep more lightly than when we were younger, meaning that we are more likely to feel more tired during the day.

As we get older, our sleep can be affected by changes in our bodies. Sleeping patterns among the elderly can be affected by medical conditions that include depression and heart failure. Medications used can also have an influence on our sleep quality as we get older. In turn, it works the other way round.     2    Sleep shortage among the elderly can not only increase the risk of injuries caused by tiredness, but a continued lack of sleep can also lead to an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.     3    

Many elderly people suffer from the combination of “lighter” sleep at night because of health conditions, changes in bodies and getting up during the night to drink or to use the bathroom.     4    While this ensures that enough sleeping hours are obtained, it will also mean that there is no real routine to stick to, making it harder to get back to normal sleeping patterns.

    5    Ensuring that the bedroom is a relaxing place, getting regular exercise when possible and avoiding too much artificial light at night may help - along with limiting coffee, alcohol, large meals and spicy food before bed.

A．Too little sleep can cause health problems.

B．They will choose to catch up on sleep during the day.

C．We don’t really adapt to getting less sleep than we need.

D．As we age, we find it harder to sleep at the “normal time”.

E．Healthy sleeping habits can help you sleep better and longer.

F．It can also cause mental changes, which can have a bad influence on health.

G．There are plenty of ways in which the elderly can improve sleeping patterns.

10 . A new study found that children aged 3 to 5 who consumed more ultra-processed(超加工) foods had poorer skills at doing sports than children who consumed less of these foods. It also showed lower cardiovascular(心血管) fitness in 12- to 15-year-olds who consumed more ultra-processed foods.

Although previous research has shown that consuming ultra-processed foods is linked with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease in adults, this is one of the first studies to show a link between consumption of these foods and lower levels of physical fitness in children.

Ultra-processed. foods were classified in this study as including packaged snacks, breakfast cereals, candies, soda, sweetened juices and yogurts, canned soups and prepared foods like pizza, hotdogs, burgers and chicken nuggets.

“Healthy dietary and exercise behaviors are established at a very young age,” said research team leader Jacqueline Vernarelli, PhD, associate professor and director for the Master of Public Health program at Sacred Heart University. “Our findings point to the need to educate families about cost-effective ways to reduce ultra-processed food intake to help decrease the risk for cardiovascular health problems in adulthood.”

“Though highly processed convenience foods are easy to throw into a school bag, our re-search shows the importance of preparing healthy snacks and meals,” said Vernarelli. “Think of it like saving for retirement; You’re making decisions now that will influence your child’s future.”

As a next step, the researchers plan to look more closely at consumption patterns for ultra-processed food by age group. For example, do kids eat more of these foods for breakfast, at lunch or for snacks? A better understanding of how and when these foods are consumed could help inform future strategy designed to encourage healthy eating.

1. What does the study show?

A．3- to 5-year-olds have poorer skills at doing sports.

B．Ultra-processed foods do harm to children’s health.

C．12- to 15-year-olds have lower cardiovascular fitness.

D．Children aged 3 to 5 consume more ultra-processed foods.

2. What should parents do about ultra-processed foods?

A．Get rid of them thoroughly.	B．Let children save for them.
C．Know how to take in less of them.	D．Educate children about their development.

3. What is Vernarelli’s attitude towards ultra-processed foods?

A．Ignorant.

B．Objective.

C．Optimistic.

D．Concerned.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The popularity of ultra-processed foods.	B．The effect ultra-processed foods on children.
C．The decision influencing your child’s fitness.	D．The reason of ultra-processed foods being harm.