1 . It is reported that the sense of smell plays a dominant role in the social interactions of all land animals except humans. Then the question arises: Is this because humans don’t use their noses in social settings the way all other land animals do? Or is this behavior covert (隐蔽的), rather than overt, in humans?

In fact, this is exactly what Inbal Ravreby, a graduate student in Prof. Noam Sobel’s laboratory in Weizmann’s Brain Sciences Department, tried to answer. And as several lines of evidence suggest that humans are constantly, although mostly subconsciously, sniffing themselves and others, Ravreby supposed that the latter is the case.

To test her hypothesis, Ravreby conducted the study with pairs of click friends: same-sex nonromantic friends whose friendships had originally formed very rapidly. Because such friendships emerge prior to an in-depth acquaintance, they may be particularly influenced by physiological characteristics such as body smell. She then collected body smell samples from these click friends and conducted two sets of experiments to compare the samples with those collected from random pairs of individuals. In one set of experiments, she performed the comparison with a device known as an electronic nose, or eNose, which assessed the chemical signatures of the smells. In the other, she asked volunteers to smell the two groups of body smell samples in order to assess similarities measured by human perception. In both types of experiments, click friends were found to smell significantly more like each other than the individuals in the random pairs.

Next, to rule out the possibility that body smell similarity was a consequence of click friendships, rather than a contributing cause, Ravreby performed an additional set of experiments, in which she used the eNose to “smell” a number of volunteers who were complete strangers to one another, and then asked them to engage in nonverbal (非言语的) social interactions in pairs. After each such structured interaction, the participants rated the other individual in terms of how much they liked that person. Subsequent analysis revealed that the individuals who had more positive interactions indeed smelled more like each other, as determined by the eNose.

“These results imply that, as the saying goes, there is chemistry in social chemistry,” Ravreby concludes. However, Sobel offers words of caution, “This is not to say that we act like dogs or goats — humans likely rely on other, far more dominant signals in their social decision-making. Nevertheless, our study’s results do suggest that our nose plays a bigger role than previously thought in our choice of friends.”

1. What did Inbal Ravreby want to figure out?

A．Whether humans have a sharp sense of smell.

B．Whether humans’ noses can detect all types of smells.

C．Whether it is necessary for humans to sniff other people.

D．Whether the sense of smell plays a role in humans’ interaction.

2. What makes the first two sets of experiments different from each other?

A．The way to make comparisons.	B．The participation of random pairs.
C．The way volunteers used the eNose.	D．The number of pairs of click friends.

3. Why did Ravreby involve complete strangers in the following experiments?

A．To determine the reliability of the finding.

B．To avoid interactions between click friends.

C．To make the experiments much more interesting.

D．To test the accuracy of the eNose in smell analysis.

4. What is Sobel’s attitude towards the research finding?

A．Disapproving.	B．Doubtful.
C．Positive.	D．Indifferent.

3 . How tall are you? Do you tower over your friends and family - or are they people you literally have to look up to?     1     But do you know that there’s a possibility that we’re all getting taller?

Of course, our height is out of our control.     2     The idea that being taller gives you more power and authority might be a tall story, but according to David Robson, writing for BBC Future, “on the basis of first impressions alone, taller people may have the edge.” He adds that various studies have found that the greater your height, the higher you score on measures of happiness and enjoyment of life.

    3     Scientists have known for a long time that humans with good diets and reliable access to food tend to grow taller and mature more quickly. Adult height in some countries has rocketed as they transformed into a developed society.

In a recent study scientists have discovered a brain receptor, called MC3R, linked to our growing process.     4     “It tells the body we’re great here and we’ve got lots of food, so grow quickly, have puberty (发育期) soon and make lots of babies. This discovery could lead to drugs to improve muscle mass and treat delayed growth,” UK researchers say.

For those eager to be taller, we need to look at the Dutch, who stand head and shoulders above the rest of us as the tallest people in the world. But, of course tall people have to stoop (俯身) through doorways and struggle to fit in cars and can have joint and cardiovascular problems.     5    

A．Are you getting as tall as you want to be?

B．It’s a biological fact influenced partly by genetics.

C．So maybe we should be careful for what we wish for.

D．Obviously, we’re not all the same, and size doesn’t really matter.

E．It’s thought to be the crucial link between food and sex development and growth.

F．There is a ceiling for height, and it’s reached when people achieve their genetic potential.

G．If this makes you want to be taller, it’s good to know we are taller than we were 150 years ago.

4 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Three Myths About Skin

We put importance into caring for skin since it’s the first thing other people see. Skin might be one of the least correctly     1     (interpret) parts of our bodies. So today, I’d like to run through three myths we have about skin.

Myth No. 1: Healthy skin is skin that looks perfect. When we talk of healthy skin, we     2     think of a clear and smooth surface. But skin is a living organ,     3     heart or lungs and any other complex organ, serving many functions, not just about what’s going on at the surface.

Myth No. 2: You only need sunscreen on sunny days. UV rays from the sun are so strong that     4     damage our cells’ DNA. There are two types that affect the skin. UVA rays damage protein in skin, quickening the pace of aging. UVB rays, meanwhile, cook the outer layer of the skin, causing sunburn.     5     our cells can repair that damage to some extent, it accumulates over time, and can lead to skin cancer. When our skin     6     (expose) to UV rays, it gets darker, which is the way of showing it’s been damaged. So by wearing sunscreen, even when it’s cloudy, you are protecting yourself from sunburn, early aging and skin cancer.

Myth No. 3: You can shrink pores. Pores are the tiny openings in our skin. They’re     7     let sweat cool you and oil smooth skin. Pore size is largely determined by genes,     8     function is to carry information for particular characteristics, and rarely changes. In other words, pores don’t really shrink. So stop     9     (spend) your money on pore minimizers and just wash your face with the products basically made from stuff that won’t block pores.

Our skin is     10     amazing organ, so let’s treat it right and forget about those myths, OK?

5 . It seems that everyone seeks for bright white teeth. There are whitening materials in toothpastes, mouthwash, and even chewing gum. Yellow teeth seem to get a bad reputation and are usually associated with poor oral hygiene (卫生) . Fortunately, we have some good news for those who lack those pearly whites. Yellow teeth are actually stronger than bright white teeth!

We know, it's hard to believe. According to sciencefocus. com, the enamel (珐琅质) on your teeth is naturally a blueish white color and the dentine ( 牙质) beneath it is naturally yellow. Since the enamel is semitransparent, the yellow shows through the blueish white. This creates a light grey or light yellow color. However, if your teeth are significantly darker than a light yellow， there may be a potential cause such as disease or tooth decay.

The process of bleaching your teeth is what weakens them.“Some products contain hydrogen peroxide (过氧化氢) that spread through the enamel. It breaks down the compounds that are causing color changing, and your teeth become lighter, ”Adriana Manso, a clinical assistant professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, told The University of British Columbia.

“Those products can have multiple side effects such as damaging the dental enamel, causing harm to the gums, tooth sensitivity and more,” Manso adds.“Some of these effects are lasting; for example, the damage to the dental enamel is permanent and irreversible.

If you sill long for those white teeth though, there are plenty of chemical-free routes to take that won't damage your enamel一like eating celery, spinach, onions, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, peanuts or drinking green tea, or consulting a doctor to try, other more advisable ways to naturally brighten your teeth.

1. What can we learn from paragraph 1 and 2?

A．Yellow teeth are weaker than white ones.

B．People who have yellow teeth have a bad reputation.

C．The enamel and dentite beneath it are the same color.

D．Your teeth may become darker than a light yellow due to tooth decay.

2. What does the underlined word “bleaching” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Whitening.

B．Brushing.

C．Strengthening.

D．Protecting.

3. Which is the proper way to whiten teeth according to this passage?

A．Drinking whatever you want.	B．Seeing a doctor for surgery.
C．Adopting approaches to protecting enamel.	D．Using some whitening oral products.

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The benefits of keeping yellow teeth.	B．The methods of whitening teeth.
C．The reasons for not whitening teeth.	D．The side effects of whitening teeth.

6 . Eye conditions are quite common. Those who live long enough will experience at least one eye condition during their lifetime.

Globally, at least 1 billion people have a near or distance vision condition that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. Reduced or absent eyesight, if not received timely attention and care, can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting (互动) with the community, school and work opportunities, the ability to access public services and general health status.

Reduced eyesight can be caused by a number of factors, including systemic diseases, age-related degeneration (退化), and infectious diseases. The majority of people with vision conditions are over the age of 50 years; however, vision loss can affect people of all ages. Blindness and vision damage more severely impact on the life of people in low-and-middle income settings where accessibility to most basic services and specific government-supported aids may be lacking.

Most eye conditions can be targeted effectively with preventive strategies. For example, preventative lifestyle changes among children, including a combination of increased time spent outdoors and decreased near-work activities, can delay the arrival and slow the progression of eyesight degeneration, which reduces the risk of high nearsightedness and its complications (并发症).

The treatment of eye conditions targets curing as well as addressing symptoms and progression. Surgery can remove cataracts (白内障) and visual correction can get rid of the majority of visual errors. Treatment for other eye conditions require longer-term follow -up to control the progression of the condition.

Treatment is also required and available for the majority of eye conditions that do not typically cause vision damage, such as dry eye, conjunctivitis and blepharitis. Treatment of these conditions is often directed at relieving the symptoms. Worthy of mention is that certain eye conditions that do not typically cause vision damage, may do so, if left untreated.

1. What can we infer from the second paragraph?

A．People don’t live long enough.

B．People don’t pay enough attention to eye conditions.

C．Most people have a near or distance vision condition.

D．People with eye conditions won’ t be able to work any longer.

2. Why does vision loss affect people from poor background more severely?

A．Because they have some other diseases.

B．Because most of them are more than 50 years old.

C．Because they work too hard to care about their eye conditions.

D．Because they can hardly get basic services and aids from the government.

3. How can children reduce the risk of high nearsightedness?

A．By changing lifestyle.	B．By joining in activities.
C．By taking on more near work.	D．By spending more time outdoors.

4. What does the treatment aim at if eye conditions don’t typically cause vision damage?

A．Finding out the damage.	B．Reducing the symptoms.
C．Removing the visual errors.	D．Controlling the progression.

8 . “The comic waist challenge”, in which netizens try to imitate a comic character's pose with their legs on a chair and the upper body dropping to the ground, almost bending the waist in half, has become the latest craze to hit China's social media.

The topic has obtained hundreds of millions views on Weibo with many net users posting photos of the challenging pose to show how sexy and flexible they are.

Meanwhile some netizens argue that it is just an expansive gesture of yoga pose. So some people consult the doctors if the gesture is very dangerous. Medical experts have warned net users of the seemingly harmless yoga pose, as it may lead to damage to one's vertebrae by causing muscle strain and increasing the risk of lumbar degenerative disease.

The new challenge follows a series of similar controversial Chinese body image trends including the A4 waist challenge (measuring women's waists against a piece of A4 paper which is 21 centimeters wide), the belly button challenge (reaching one's belly button from behind), and the coin collarbone (balancing coins on people's collarbones for as long as they can) which faced heavy criticism worldwide on social media.

Women in China have long associated being beautiful with being skinny, but a desire to be thin is often taken to the extreme, with harmful effects on health and self-esteem - a situation not unique to China.

Although the opinions of the issue vary, maybe the change of the attitudes towards it is just over the horizon. Rejecting body anxiety is more than just a slogan. Many workout-obsessed women are increasingly realizing that no matter how hard they try, they won't be supermodels, and acknowledging that figures can vary due to a number of factors. This is an important step on their path to self-acceptance. Being healthy and maintaining the spiritual well-being have become the new pursuits for many.

1. According to paragraphs 1 and 2, what do you know about the comic waist challenge?

A．It leads a trend among netizens.	B．It's an easy comic character's pose.
C．It's a harmless yoga pose.	D．It's a symbol of the beauty of body image.

2. Which of the following is NOT the Chinese body image trends according to the passage?

A．The A4 waist challenge.	B．The belly button challenge.
C．The coin collarbone.	D．The finely chiseled nose.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．women in China prefer following trends

B．all women in China are desperate to be thin

C．the pursuit of beauty has nothing to do with our health

D．many women in China care more about their health than beauty now

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The body image trends — a pursuit of Chinese women

B．The comic waist challenge — a slap in the face

C．The attitudes of Chinese towards beauty

D．The body anxiety nowadays