1. Who use camels in their sports?
| A．Americans. | B．The Arabs. | C．Chinese people. |
| A．Baseball. | B．Basketball. | C．Running. |
| A．Below 200 years. | B．About 300 years. | C．Over 1, 000 years. |
| A．War. | B．Pride. | C．Friendship. |
2 . Scientists are now digging into precisely why exercise holds so many benefits for our mental health and memory. The answer, studies say, lies in our brain chemistry.
Each time you work up a sweat, your body releases feel-good happy hormones (荷尔蒙), including endorphins, dopamine and endocannabinoids, the latter being responsible for the so-called runner’s high. Now researchers are also pointing to myokines (肌肉因子) as an important contributor to the mental health benefits of exercise. When our muscles contract, myokines are released into the bloodstream, helping your muscles and organs communicate. They think this communication increases resilience to stress, reduces symptoms of mental suffering and anxiety and has a direct effect on depression.
A 2021 scientific report published in Neuropharmacology showed evidence that myokines boost brain function, like improving memory and mood. “Myokines reduce systemic inflammation (炎症), which is especially beneficial for people with drug-resistant depression whose low mood is linked to high inflammation,” explains Dr Jennifer Heisz, an expert in brain health and associate professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Canada.
A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that treatment for depression can be much more effective when physical activity is added to the usual care. Participants found benefits after 12 weeks of exercising for 30 to 60 minutes a day. “While exercise is not a replacement for professional mental health treatment, physical activity can complement and enhance the effects of the treatment,” says lead researcher Ben Singh, a research fellow at the University of South Australia.
“It is amazing to consider how moving our bodies can heal our minds,” says Heisz. Whether you’re cycling, walking around your neighbourhood or doing yoga, getting sweaty is good for your body and mind. To get the biggest overall health boost, the key is to zero in on sports and activities you enjoy, so you’ll keep going back to them.
1. How do myokines boost our mental health?| A．By bonding muscles with organs. |
| B．By slowing down our bloodstream. |
| C．By contracting muscles through the body. |
| D．By releasing happy hormones in our brain. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Negative. |
| C．Uncertain | D．Approving. |
| A．Adapt to. | B．Give up. |
| C．Focus on. | D．Put off. |
| A．By making comparisons. |
| B．By presenting research findings. |
| C．By offering suggestions. |
| D．By conducting some experiments. |
1. What kind of race will the woman run?
| A．Short distance. | B．Medium distance. | C．A marathon. |
| A．Spring. | B．Summer. | C．Fall. |
| A．The gym was too far. | B．The gym was closed. | C．The gym was fully booked. |
| A．Through the website. | B．Through email. | C．Through the phone. |
4 . The rise of body neutrality You define (定义) beauty yourself. You are more than a number in measurement. Love yourself the way you are. Body positive messages like theses seem to be everywhere from social media to TV advertisements.
Body positivity’s aim to boost acceptance and appreciation of a variety of body types and sizes may explain why it has such a broad appeal. While some find the body positivity movement to be helpful, others have begun calling the movement toxic and suggesting it may be time to move on from this way of thinking.
More recently, people have voiced concerns. Some feel that the focus on loving your looks actually strengthens society’s stress on appearance over other values. Much body positivity content in advertisements may bring a stereotype (刻板印象) to viewers because it does little to challenge the hidden assumption that people are valued mainly for their appearance. Therefore, the movement still encourages people to be graceful and engage in beauty practices from head to toe. And if you fail to be body positive, it’s you that are at fault.
Many are now moving away from the body positivity movement and the pressures that come from it entirely, and instead are getting behind the body neutrality (中立) movement. Instead of focusing on physical appearance, body neutrality is a profound idea that we can exist without having to think too much about our bodies.
We are all more than just our bodies. We are complicated beings with a range of emotions and feelings about our bodies. And because body neutrality de-emphasizes (不强调) the focus on appearance, it motivates us to better acknowledge all the things our bodies are able to do. Being grateful for being able to take up your hobbies and appreciating your body for what it’s capable of doing are both examples of body neutrality.
Body neutrality can be beneficial to us. It is associated with the positive body image and mental well-being. The good news is that there are many ways you can develop body neutrality, including writing-based treatment, yoga and spending time in nature.
1. What does the underlined word “toxic” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Inspiring. | B．Dangerous. | C．Influential. | D．Useless. |
| A．It upsets overweight people. |
| B．It overstates the role of advertising. |
| C．It attracts too much attention to appearance. |
| D．It challenges the traditional standards of beauty. |
| A．Keep fit and you will be confident. |
| B．Accept the imperfection of your body. |
| C．Appreciate your abilities instead of your body. |
| D．Treasure your appearance rather than other values. |
| A．①②/③④/⑤/⑥ | B．①/②③/④⑤⑥ |
| C．①/②/③/④⑤/⑥ | D．①②/③/④⑤/⑥ |
5 . A lot of people find it difficult to do exercise regularly, even though they know it’s good for their physical and mental (身心上的) health. Yet keeping on a workout routine doesn’t necessarily go to the gym or run around your neighborhood. Gardening is a great example of a popular hobby that can be used as a workout.
Nashville resident Tom Adkinson, 72, is on board with the idea of gardening to stay fit. He has three gardens, which he uses primarily to grow tomatoes, sweet banana peppers and okra. Like traditional exercise, Adkinson does a lot of preparation before gardening, and then he spends hours watering and weeding (除草) all three gardens, involving bending and stretching, which he compares to performing garden yoga.
“It is wise of Adkinson to do so. Even though gardening may not appear difficult, using the body in new ways can make you hurt if you don’t warm up beforehand,” said Zeller, who teaches at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cape May County in New Jersey.
Working in your garden just two hours a week could improve your mood. And the communal gardening, which is done by a number of people as a group in communities and schools, provides social benefits that can reduce stress and help fight against loneliness and even dementia according to studies.
“With all these benefits, gardening for fitness will be a trend (趋势) in the coming year,” announced Mandal, CEO of the fitness coaching app Future, “Our users at Future have already been asking their coaches to add gardening and landscaping activities into their routines because it’s easy to get and fit into their lifestyle.”
1. What do the underlined words “on board with” mean in paragraph 2?| A．In support of. | B．At the risk of. |
| C．Under the control of. | D．In opposition to. |
| A．Having a good rest. |
| B．Getting enough water ready. |
| C．Doing warm-up exercise. |
| D．Preparing tools for weeding. |
| A．Tips for gardening. |
| B．The benefits of gardening. |
| C．The process of garden management. |
| D．The difference between personal and group gardening. |
| A．Running. | B．Yoga. | C．Gardening. | D．Walking. |
6 . These days, videos of “ diving grandpas” from north China’s Tianjin are popular on the Internet. In the videos, they jumped off the Shizilin Bridge into the 7-meter-deep Haihe River. However, on Wednesday, they announced that they would give up the sport.
With an average age of 60, the diving grandpas have much experience in diving. They started as a group of local diving lovers. They went swimming in the city’s rivers, and later they tried their hand at diving. The hobby has now lasted for more than thirty years.
Videos on the Internet have drawn lots of tourists from across the country to the Shizilin Bridge over the Haihe River, where “diving grandpas” perform diving. However, some inexperienced divers, trying to follow“ diving grandpas”, have met with accidents and got themselves injured. Some of the grandpas have begun volunteering to keep order for the crowds that come to see the performance on the bridge. However, accidents still continued to happen. As reported, members of the Blue Sky Rescue team in Tianjin said that they rescued 14 people at the risk of drowning or other injury in just two days.
The grandpas then made a difficult decision. They stopped diving off the bridge. They also prevented inexperienced locals and children as well as tourists from diving from the bridge . The grandpas welcomed the tourists to Tianjin, especially pointing out the other great places of interest and delicious food around the Shizilin Bridge.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．The diving grandpas made a living by diving. |
| B．The diving grandpas came from all over China. |
| C．The diving grandpas made diving a life-long hobby. |
| D．The diving grandpas began diving when they were little. |
| A．The weather became colder. |
| B．They were too old to carry out the task. |
| C．The bridge was too crowded with tourists. |
| D．They hoped to prevent accidents from happening. |
| A．Kind and honest |
| B．Energetic and warm-hearted |
| C．Brave and talented |
| D．Outgoing and optimistic |
| A．Diving became a popular activity in Tianjin. |
| B．Diving without guidance may cause injury or death. |
| C．“Diving grandpas” helped speed up tourism in Tianjin. |
| D．“Diving grandpas” gave up diving for tourists’ safety. |
7 . “Be able to do a pull-up” is a common fitness goal.
It’s attractive to change up your training. Because for weeks or months, you were doing the things that you do when you can’t do a pull-up.
You need to lock in that first pull-up. So you did a pull-up today. That doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do one tomorrow. That’s probably confusing.
Pull-ups are like that, too.
What you need to do now is keep working until doing one pull-up is the bottom of your range of abilities. By the time you can do two or three pull-ups some days, you’ll be able to do one pull-up any day.
| A．Once you can do sets of five pull-ups |
| B．Do not feel like you have to do all of them |
| C．And if you work hard, someday you’ll get there |
| D．You’ll wonder why you “can’t” do one anymore |
| E．Maybe when you started working towards a pull-up |
| F．But your first pull-up is not a graduation from all of that |
| G．We all have all kinds of abilities that we can do on any given day |
8 . A small study out of Skidmore College examined the advantages of morning vs, evening exercise for both women and men. Paul, professor for health at Skidmore, led the study.
“We had the groups divided into evening and morning groups,” he says. “We found women and men answered differently to different types of exercise depending on the time of the day, which surprised us.”
The study showed that for women who want to lower blood pressure (血压), the risk of heart disease or reduce fat, morning exercise works best. Those women hoping for upper body muscle (肌肉) gains or mood (心情) improvement should consider evening exercise. For the men, the findings were somewhat different: Evening exercise lowers blood pressure, the risk of heart disease, and feelings of tiredness. But similar to women, they burn more fat with morning exercise.
“For many people, the best time to exercise will depend on their chronotype,” says Heisz, author of Move the Body, Heal the Mind.
“Chronotype is your body’s natural habit to sleep at a certain time—it’s what decides whether you’re a night owl or an early bird. For the 25% of the population that considers themselves a night owl, getting both enough sleep and enough exercise can be difficult,” adds Heisz.
He continues, “Sleep—which provides your body the necessary time to recover (恢复) and make gains from exercise—should always be the first choice. When it comes to exercise, regardless of research on the advantages of certain exercises at particular times of the day, your results will not be good if it doesn’t allow enough time for sleep.”
1. What can women get by doing evening exercise according to the study?| A．A fat loss. |
| B．A good mood. |
| C．A lower blood pressure. |
| D．A smaller risk of heart disease. |
| A．Give an example. | B．Tell the difference. |
| C．Do an experiment. | D．Explain a term. |
| A．Enough sleep. | B．Low-fat food. |
| C．Plenty of water. | D．Lots of exercise. |
| A．A Night Owl or An Early Bird |
| B．Why Fitness Plan Being Important |
| C．How to Change Your Exercise Time |
| D．The Best Time of a Day to Exercise |
9 . One day, I received a text from my assistant Susan. It read, “Congratulations! You have been
I had a terrible
Even now, I still feel the pain of giving up that great shooting opportunity. I thought, “Maybe it’s time to
It has now been two months since I started my brave water
| A．excused | B．chosen | C．trained | D．praised |
| A．excited | B．worried | C．amused | D．puzzled |
| A．discussion | B．collection | C．description | D．impression |
| A．hand in | B．set up | C．put away | D．turn down |
| A．hobby | B．idea | C．memory | D．plan |
| A．failed | B．noticed | C．tricked | D．saved |
| A．face | B．hide | C．understand | D．exhibit |
| A．disturbing | B．enjoying | C．encouraging | D．appreciating |
| A．spiritual | B．professional | C．ordinary | D．repeated |
| A．interesting | B．important | C．popular | D．surprising |
| A．read | B．remove | C．put | D．clean |
| A．experiment | B．process | C．mistake | D．knowledge |
| A．Gradually | B．Normally | C．Directly | D．Secretly |
| A．reduce | B．lose | C．catch | D．control |
| A．routine | B．visit | C．equipment | D．adventure |
10 . It is very important to stay healthy. A lot of people aren’t aware of many benefits of daily exercise and only begin to do so when health complications (并发症) happen. Why then is it important to stay healthy?
Regular exercises will help you burn extra body fat and keep your body vigorous. There are many health complications related to having too much body fat. Heart diseases that are often very deadly are mostly a result of extra body fat.
Exercising keeps you sharp at all times. Keeping your body active also improves the functioning of the brain. Any kind of exercise is terrific. Most sports are excellent for keeping the body in good health, such as, basketball, swimming, bicycling, running and so on. Sports are not only good for your body, but they are enjoyable and interesting, too. There is a reason why most athletes are usually happy. Maybe the reason why you stay angry easily all the time is due to lack of exercise.
Fitness exercises are ideal for strength building. Regular daily exercise will build body muscles and improve your physical strength. They are also important in strengthening your back for good postures. People generally become less active as they grow older, especially when they have small kids that expect to play with them. Daily fitness will help you get the much needed strength and activity to keep up with the youthful energy of your children. Exercising also slows down the aging process by tightening your skin and increasing your body’s metabolic (新陈代谢的) rate.
Exercising is very important and some of the results of not joining in daily fitness are dangerous. Having fitness goals that actually mean something to you will help you develop a controlled daily fitness and achieve your desired result. These are just some of the benefits of having a strong fitness program. Many people ignore them and just begin to suffer from lifestyle diseases in their later lives. Exercise is very significant.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?| A．Lots of people are too busy to exercise. |
| B．Lots of people are used to staying quiet. |
| C．Lots of people keep exercising when they are sick. |
| D．Lots of people don’t realize the advantages of daily exercise. |
| A．Fit. | B．Thin. | C．Young. | D．Graceful. |
| A．We can’t get ill. | B．We will eat more food, |
| C．We can become energetic. | D．We will become beautiful. |
| A．What do people think about keeping fit? | B．Why is exercise significant to keep fit? |
| C．What kind of exercise are good for health? | D．Why do people go to gymnasium to exercise? |
