1 . Horseback riding might not seem like a typical New York City activity, but one program has several horse farms throughout the city’s busy districts. GallopNYC provides lessons to veterans(老兵) and people with disabilities — horseback riding is their therapy(疗法).
Olivia Diver visits the GallopNYC location in the Howard Beach neighborhood in Queens. Diver has only been riding horses for a few months, but says she’s already felt the benefits. “It helped me come out of my comfort zone and be less shy and less in my shell,” she said. Trying something new shows her she can accomplish other things as well.
James Wilson,executive director at GallopNYC, says there are many ways horses can be therapeutic. “The horse sees the world in the way somebody with post-traumatic stress disor-der (PTSD) might see the world, in a really guarded, sort of anxious way,” he explained. “So,somebody with PTSD and a horse can sort of partner together and see the world in the same way and kind of take care of each other.” Horses can also help with physical disabilities. After two years of therapeutic riding, a teenager, who had so little core strength that his mother had to be in the bathtub with him, had enough core strength that he could be in the shower by himself. Wilson said, “The movement of the horse will loosen up muscles that might be really tight. And the movement helps stimulate other body parts and other muscles that you might not use. ”
“CallopNYC has about 1,000 people on is waitlist for lessons, but prioritizes people with disabilities and veterans. We believe that everybody benefits from the time on a horse, so if you want to ride a horse, come on, let’s go,” Wilson said. Lessons are $55, but the non-profit fundraises to help cover or lower the cost for customers who may need support.
1. Why does GallopNYC offer the lessons?| A．To make horse riding typical in NYC. |
| B．To provide part-time jobs for veterans. |
| C．To promote disabled people’s incomes. |
| D．To offer a cure to special groups. |
| A．She has learned new life skills. |
| B．She has found her comfort zone. |
| C．She has gained much confidence. |
| D．She has changed her attitude to horses. |
| A．GallopNYC’s leader. | B．The effect of the therapy. |
| C．Profit James Wilson has got. | D．Ways of guarding people’s anxiety. |
| A．It is well received. | B．It is highly profitable. |
| C．It needs to be more creative. | D．It takes ages to see the results. |
2 . Is there a link between social media and depression? Do Facebook and Instagram have a negative impact on your mental health? It’s complicated.
Sometimes, looking through Instagram just makes you feel bad. You try not to envy your friends, but they always seem to be traveling somewhere cool, eating something fancy, or looking cute in perfect just-rolled-out-of-bed hair. On the other hand, there are times when you laugh at funny memes (表情包), catch up with old friends, and feel happy to belong to fun social media communities. Clearly, social media isn’t all bad.
People are increasingly suspecting that there’re potential problems of social media. Things like cyberbullying (网上欺凌) , screen addiction, and being exposed to endless filtered images (美颜) that make it impossible not to make comparisons between yourself and others often make the news. In July, a big study came out in the journal JAMA titled “Association of Screen Time and Depression in Adolescence.” This big headline seems to confirm what a lot of people have been saying — screen time is horrible for young people.
The study followed over 3,800 adolescents over four years as part of a drug and alcohol prevention program. Part of what the investigators measured was the teens’ amount of screen time, including time spent on social media, as well as their levels of depression symptoms. One of their main findings was that higher amounts of social media use were associated with higher levels of depression. That was true both when the researches compared between people and compared each person against their own mental health over time.
Case closed? Not so fast. Before we end the debate once and for all, let’s take a closer look at this and other studies. Let’s ask ourselves: what exactly is the relationship between social media use and depression? It turns out there are several warnings.
1. Why do people sometimes feel bad when looking through Instagram?| A．They lack contact with old friends. | B．They can travel nowhere. |
| C．They don’t look perfect. | D．They feel unbalanced. |
| A．To comment. | B．To prove. | C．To suggest. | D．To explore. |
| A．Depression is related to social media use. |
| B．Teens’ amount of screen time is limited. |
| C．It is not easy to tell reasons for depression. |
| D．Social media contributes to physical health. |
| A．How to reduce depression? | B．Does social media cause depression? |
| C．Shall people reduce screen time? | D．Why is it time to give up social media? |
3 . A study led by Plana-Ripoll, a doctor at Aarhus University in Denmark, tries to deal with a fundamental question that has bothered researchers for more than a century—what exactly causes mental illness?
In the hope of finding the answer, scientists have piled up a large amount of data over the past decade, through studies of genes and brain activity. They have found that many of the same genes underlie seemingly distinct disorders and that changes in the brain’s decision-making systems could be involved in many conditions.
The researchers are also rethinking theories of how our brains go wrong. The idea that mental illness can be classified into distinct, separate categories like “anxiety” has been disproved to a large extent. Instead, recently they’ve found that disorders shade into each other, and there are no hard dividing lines.
The researchers are trying to understand the biology that underlies mental illness. They have a few theories. Perhaps there are several dimensions of mental illness, so depending on how a person scores on each dimension, they might be more likely to have some disorders than others. An alternative idea is that there is a single factor that makes people easier to suffer from mental illness in general. What disorder they develop is then determined by other factors. Both ideas are being taken seriously though the former one is more widely accepted by the researchers.
The details are still unclear, but most researchers agree that one thing is specific: The old system of categorizing mental disorders into neat boxes does not work. They are also hopeful that, in the long run, replacing this framework with one that is grounded in biology will lead to new drugs and treatments. The researchers aim to reveal, for instance, the key genes, brain regions and neurological processes involved in psychopathology(精神病理学), and target them with treatments. Although it might take a while to get there, they are long-term optimistic if the field really does its work.
1. What aspect of mental illness has been puzzling researchers according to the text?| A．Its symptoms. | B．Its roots. |
| C．Its categories. | D．Its theories. |
| A．There exist links between mental disorders. |
| B．Brain function has little to do with mental illness. |
| C．Mental illness is classified into different categories. |
| D．Genes are completely different in distinct mental disorders. |
| A．The theory of genetic influences. |
| B．The belief of brain abnormalities. |
| C．The concept of multiple dimensions. |
| D．The idea of the determined risk factor. |
| A．Hunting for its biology might help. |
| B．Its genes are too complex to study. |
| C．Scientists are clear about its details. |
| D．Its new drugs could be available soon. |
4 . It was a cold March day in High Point, North Carolina. The girls on the Wesleyan Academy softball team were waiting for their next turns at bat during practice, stamping their feet to stay warm. Eighth-grader Taylor Bisbee shivered (发抖) a little as she watched her teammate Paris White play. The two didn’t know each other well — Taylor had just moved to town a month or so before.
Suddenly, Paris fell to the ground. “Pairs’s eyes rolled back,” Taylor says. “She started shaking. I knew it was an emergency.”
It certainly was. Paris had suffered a sudden heart failure. Without immediate medical care, Paris would die. At first, no one moved. The girls were in shock. Then the softball coach shouted out, “Does anyone know CPR?”
CPR is a life-saving technique. To do CPR, you press on the sick person’s chest so that blood moves through the body and takes oxygen to organs. Without oxygen，the brain is damaged quickly.
Amazingly, Taylor had just taken a CPR course the day before. Still, she hesitated. She didn’t think she knew it well enough. But when no one else came forward, Taylor ran to Paris and began doing CPR. “It was scary. I knew it was the difference between life and death,” says Taylor.
Taylor’s swift action helped her teammates calm down. One girl called 911. Two more ran to get the school nurse, who brought a defibrillator, an electronic device (器械) that can shock the heart back into work. Luck stayed with them: Paris’s heartbeat returned.
“I know I was really lucky,” Paris says now. “Most people don’t survive this. My team saved my life.”
Experts say Paris is right: For a sudden heart failure, the single best chance for survival is having someone nearby step in and do CPR quickly.
Today, Paris is back on the softball team. Taylor will apply to college soon. She wants to be a nurse. “I feel more confident in my actions now,” Taylor says. “I know I can act under pressure in a scary situation.”
1. What happened to Paris on a March day?| A．She caught a bad cold. |
| B．She had a sudden heart problem. |
| C．She was knocked down by a ball. |
| D．She shivered terribly during practice. |
| A．She made a worthy friend. |
| B．She recovered from shock. |
| C．She received immediate CPR. |
| D．She came back on the softball team. |
| A．Enthusiastic and kind. |
| B．Courageous and calm. |
| C．Cooperative and generous. |
| D．Ambitious and professional. |
5 . A man with advanced Parkinson’s disease (帕金森氏症) is now able to walk almost normally again thanks to electrodes implanted (电极植入) in his spinal cord (脊椎), researchers said on Monday. The medical first was achieved by Swiss researchers who had previously pioneered similar breakthroughs to help disabled people walk again.
“This could be a game-changing technology to help bring back movement in people with advanced Parkinson’s,” said David Dexter, research director at Parkinson’s UK.
Marc Gauthier, the 62-year-old patient who lives in France, has suffered from the brain disorder for about 30 years. Like more than 90 percent of people with advanced Parkinson’s, Mar c has had great difficulty walking. What are known as “freezing” experiences — during which patients are unable to move for a limited time, putting them at risk of falling — are particularly awful, Marc told AFP.
Much remains unknown about Parkinson’s disease, making treatment difficult. But the disease can seriously affect the lives of patients, sometimes keeping them to bed or a wheelchair. So when the opportunity came to go through an operation in Switzerland, Marc gladly accepted the chance.
“Now I can do whatever I want,” Marc says. “I can go for a walk and go out shopping by myself.” He adds that he can now walk much more easily — he is even planning a trip to Brazil — but it still requires concentration, particularly when climbing upstairs.
The Swiss team, led by surgeon Jocelyne Bloch and neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine , implanted a complex system of electrodes called a “neuroprosthesis (神经假体)” at important points along Marc’s spinal cord. The neuroprosthesis was first tested on animals, and then implanted in Marc, who has used it for roughly eight hours a day over nearly two years.
The Swiss team has expanded their experiment to a group of six Parkinson’s patients, aiming to know how it could help others, given the disease affects people in different ways. However, treatment using the implant could be quite expensive, potentially limiting how many patients would have access.
1. What is David Dexter’s attitude to the Swiss breakthrough?| A．Unconcerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Volunteer as a tour guide in Brazil. | B．Run to his heart’s content. |
| C．Go to the supermarket alone. | D．Make a phone call while climbing the stairs. |
| A．It was first tested on Marc Gauthier. | B．It is hardly affordable for ordinary people. |
| C．It has been performed on many patients. | D．It was done by researchers in the UK. |
| A．A Spinal Implant Allows a Parkinson’s Patient to Walk Again |
| B．Parkinson’s Patients Have to Deal With Difficulties in Life |
| C．Swiss Experts Have Created a Drug to Treat Parkinson’s |
| D．New Technology Prevents People From Developing Parkinson’s |
6 . People have different ways of dealing with a common cold. Some take over-the-counter(非处方的)medicines such as aspirin while others try popular home remedies(治疗)like herbal tea or chicken soup. Yet, here is the tough truth about the common cold: nothing really cures you of it.
So why do people sometimes believe that their remedies work? According to James Taylor, professor at the University of Washington, colds usually go away on their own in about a week, improving a little each day after symptoms peak, so it’s easy to believe it’s medicine rather than time that deserves the credit.
It still seems hard to believe that we can deal with more serious diseases yet we are powerless against something so common as a cold. Recently, scientists came closer to figuring out why. To understand it, you first need to know how antiviral(抗病毒的)drugs work. They attack the virus by attaching to and changing the surface structures of the virus. To do that, the drug must fit and lock into the virus like the right piece of a jigsaw(拼图), which means scientists have to identify the virus and build a 3D model to study its surface before they can design an antiviral drug that is effective enough.
The two cold viruses that scientists had long known about were rhinovirus(鼻病毒)A and B. But they didn’t find out about the existence of a third virus, rhinovirus C until 2006.All three of them contribute to the common cold, but drugs that work well against rhinovirus A and B have little effect when used against rhinovirus C.
“This explains most of the previous failures of drug trials against rhinoviruses,” study leader Professor Ann C. Palmenberg at the University of Wiscons in Madison, US, told Scienc Daily.
Now, more than 10 years after the discovery of rhinovirus C, scientists have finally built a highly detailed 3D model of the virus, showing that the surface of the virus is, as expected,different from that of other cold viruses.
With the model in hand, hopefully a real cure for a common cold is on its way. Soon, we may no longer have to waste our money on medicines that don’t really work.
1. Which of the following is NOT the way people usually deal with a common cold?| A．Eating chicken soup. | B．Taking aspirin. |
| C．Taking exercise. | D．Drinking herbal tea. |
| A．To fit and lock into the cold virus. |
| B．To exactly copy the cold viruses. |
| C．To prevent colds from developing into serious diseases. |
| D．To absorb different kinds of cold viruses at the same time. |
| A．Why drugs for treating a common cold sometimes fail. |
| B．Why the surfaces of different viruses are different. |
| C．How to build a detailed 3D model of rhinovirus C. |
| D．How we can effectively fight against rhinovirus C. |
| A．Effective. | B．Fruitless. | C．Expensive. | D．Worthwhile. |
7 . Are you pessimistic by nature? Well, it’s not good for your brain. A new study has found that repeated negative thinking in later life is linked to cognitive(认知) decline and greater deposits(沉积) of two harmful proteins responsible for Alzheimer’s disease(阿尔茨海默病).
Negative thinking behaviors, such as reflection about the past and worry about the future, were measured in more than 350 people over the age of 55 over a two-year period. About a third of the participants also had a brain scan to measure deposits of proteins, which cause Alzheimer’s disease. The scans showed that people who spent more time thinking negatively had more harmful proteins, worse memory and greater cognitive decline than people who were not pessimists.
The study also tested for levels of anxiety and depression and found greater cognitive decline in depressed and anxious people, which agrees with previous research. But proteins did not increase in people who were already depressed and anxious, leading researchers to suspect that repeated negative thinking might be the main reason why depression and anxiety lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
“This is the first study showing a biological relationship between repeated negative thinking and Alzheimer’s disease, and gives physicians a more precise way to assess risk and offer treatment,” said neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson. “This study will change the way I care for my patients at risk.”
Fiona Carragher, who is chief policy and research officer at the Alzheimer’s Society in London, pointed out that this isn’t saying that a short-term period of negative thinking will cause Alzheimer’s disease. “Most of the people in the study were already identified as being at higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” she added. “so we need more research to see if these results exist within the general population.”
1. What does the study show?| A．Negative thinking removes harmful proteins in brain. |
| B．Optimistic people have better cognitive ability. |
| C．Alzheimer’s disease leads to worse memory. |
| D．Continuous pessimism may result in Alzheimer’s disease. |
| A．Constant negative thinking may cause depressed people to get Alzheimer’s disease. |
| B．Long-term negative thinking is the reason for cognitive decline. |
| C．Alzheimer’s disease probably results in the increase in harmful proteins. |
| D．Anxiety and depression are the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Negative. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．The research needs to be further improved. |
| B．The study will provide a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. |
| C．The following research will focus on short-term negative thinking. |
| D．The general population has a lower risk of having Alzheimer’s disease. |
8 . Elderly people have a higher chance of suffering from illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. One common health problem that affects them is Alzheimer’s disease, which affects a person’s memory, behavior, and thinking. Because of memory loss and behavioral changes, people with Alzheimer’s may slowly become unable to take care of themselves, eventually requiring constant care from family members or caregivers.
There is no cure for Alzheimer’s at the moment—drugs can only treat its symptoms.
But technology can improve the lives of those living with the condition by making it easier for them to go about their daily activities. For example, tracking devices placed in watches or jewelry can monitor where a person is. Automated reminders can also be stored in motion sensors and placed around the house. When a sensor detects movement, it can play a recorded voice message to remind the person to lock the door or turn off the stove.
Alzheimer’s disease is a huge challenge, but we may be getting close to finding a solution. In the future, it might be possible to treat Alzheimer’s without using drugs. A team of researchers in Australia has created a form of technology that can send sound waves into the brain. These sound waves help to clear waste in the brain that contributes to Alzheimer’s. The team has tested their technology and found that it helped to restore memory in 75 percent of mice. Work on the technology isn’t complete, but, if successful, it could prevent memory loss in people with Alzheimer’s. This really does fundamentally change the understanding of how to treat this disease and researchers foresee a great future for this approach.
1. Alzheimer’s is a disease that mainly affects the ____.| A．muscles | B．blood | C．brain | D．heart |
| A．Tracking devices. | B．Automated reminders. |
| C．Sending sound waves into the brain. | D．Restoring memory. |
| A．Helps to cure. | B．Helps to cause. | C．Helps to worsen. | D．Helps to prevent. |
| A．Elderly people will begin to face many challenges. |
| B．Society should provide enough healthcare to elderly people. |
| C．There’s a need to better understand the cause of Alzheimer’s. |
| D．Technology might solve some problems of people with Alzheimer’s. |
9 . As the coronavirus (冠状病毒) outbreak continues, many Americans are fearful of using public transportation. They are also looking for ways to get exercise without going to a gym. So, it may not be surprising that the pandemic (疫情) has led to a major increase in bicycle sales.
In the US, bicycles at big stores have sold out. And small bicycle stores cannot keep up with demand for “family-style” bicycles: the low-cost, easy-to-ride models. “The bicycle industry is seeing its biggest sales increase since the oil crisis of the 1970s,” said Jay Townley, an industry expert. He compared the sale of bicycles to the rush to buy products like toilet paper at the start of the pandemic.
The rise in bicycle sales is not happening just in the US. Italy has created bicycle paths for the growing number of people who want to avoid public transportation. In London, city officials plan to ban cars from some central roads. Bike shop owners in Manila say demand is even stronger than what they see at Christmas time.
Of course, you can only buy a bicycle if you can find one. In the US, the shortages now mean it may take many months to get a bicycle. High demand is not the only reason for the shortage. Many bicycle factories were shut down to stop the spread of COVID-19. The increase in bicycle demand began in March as countries began to close down. In April, the sale of bicycles increased 200 percent in the US.
Joe Minutolo is the co-owner of Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop in Maine. He said he hoped the increased sales meant a change in the way people think about transportation. “People are having a chance to rethink things,” he said, “Maybe we’ll all learn something out of this, and something really good will happen.”
1. What causes the increase in bicycle sales?| A．Shortage of public transportation. |
| B．Outbreak of the coronavirus. |
| C．People’s desire to defeat disease. |
| D．People’s fear of natural disasters. |
| A．More bikes are sold than at Christmas time. |
| B．“Family-style” bicycles are in great need. |
| C．Cars are banned from some central roads. |
| D．New bicycle paths have been built. |
| A．It’s impossible to buy a bike. |
| B．Bike factories were closed in April. |
| C．High demand for bikes began in March. |
| D．It takes many months to produce a bike. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Uncertain. | D．Critical. |
10 . How to Help a Friend with Depression
If you have a friend who is suffering from depression, you may be unsure about what you should do to help. There are several ways that you can help a friend with depression.
As soon as you suspect that your friend is suffering from depression, you should encourage him or her to see a doctor. Your friend may be denying that there is a problem or maybe even embarrassed to admit that there is a problem. The extra encouragement of a friend may be all that your friend needs to seek help.
Supporting your friend
Depression can make people feel isolated and like no one cares. Even if you have shown your concern by doing things to help your friend, he or she may need to hear you say that you are there for them in order to believe it. Let your friend know that you are available.
Depression can also make a person feel worthless, but you can use encouraging words to support your friend until your friend remembers his or her worth again.
Moving beyond depression with your friend
As your friend begins to feel better, keep your friend moving beyond depression by planning some fun outings.
| A．Those who laugh last laugh best. |
| B．Choose activities that you both enjoy. |
| C．Encouraging your friend to talk to you. |
| D．Helping your friend get treatment for depression. |
| E．Laughter is known as the best medicine for a reason. |
| F．Therefore, they can contact you right away if they need you. |
| G．You could say, “You are such a gifted artist. I really admire your talent.” |
