1 . What is the best sleep position for your health?

It’s difficult to control what sleeping position we naturally fall into, as our body will subconsciously all into the most comfortable position for us. However, some positions are better for you than others and come could hold back your health and wellbeing.     1     .

If you sleep on your side

More than 60 per cent of people sleep on their side. Often our body naturally moves to this position, which is linked to when we were in the womb in the foetal(胎儿的) position.    2    It offers a number of benefits to your body, from promoting healthy spine alignment(脊椎对齐) which can help to prevent back pain to reducing heartburn and snoring(打鼾).

If you sleep on your back

Lying on your back is the second most popular sleeping position and offers just as many benefits as side sleeping. When you’re sleeping on your back, it’s easy to keep alignment and to also evenly distribute your weight.     3    

If you sleep on your stomach

Sleeping on your stomach is the least common sleeping position.     4     . And those who sleep on their stomach could put themselves at risk of a less restful night’s sleep. The stomach offers the least amount of back support and can increase pressure on the spine which may cause pain once you wake up.

    5     You should consider various factors such as if you snore or suffer sleep problems, or if you often have back and neck pain. Side sleeping has been noted as the best position for the body, so this is probably one to try and get into the habit of trying, but again, it all depends on you.

A．This also helps to prevent any neck and back pain.

B．Sleeping on your side is probably the best position

C．Side sleeping would be particularly beneficial for older people.

D．There are more negatives to this position compared to positives.

E．Determining the sleeping position for you is personal preference.

F．Here, this article reveals exactly how your sleep position is affecting your health.

G．This is mostly likely because it is one of the most comfortable sleeping positions.

2 . For hundreds of years, scientists learned about the brain by observing people recovering from injuries. Many with an injury on the left side of the brain had problems understanding or using words. From this, doctors reasoned that the left brain must manage speech and language. They didn’t know, though, if speech and language centers were on this side in everyone. The finding of a new study may be able to tell the answer.

In the new study, researchers used fMRI (功能性磁共振成像) to watch brains in action as 39 children and 14 adults tried to understand sentences. Each fMRI scan (扫描) produced many pictures of the brain. Patches of color in each image highlighted which parts of the brain were getting the most blood. This is a sign that they were turned on and active.

To the researchers’ surprise, the left side of the brain was not the only part that was turned on in the children. Both sides became active when they tried to understand a sentence. That activity in the right brain started to fall in children who were older. By age 19, no activity showed up on the right. All speech-and-language processing now was taking place only on the left. The move from two-sided to one-sided language processing takes place gradually. It starts around the time we learn to talk.

Elissa Newport, who led the study, finds it exciting that children have speech centers on both sides of their brains. “If both sides of their brains can pitch in, this may also explain why left-brain injuries often are not as damaging in young children as in adults,” said she.

Children process language like “mental switch-hitters”. So, the next time you think your parents or older siblings (兄弟姐妹) don’t understand you, give them a break. They could be using just a smaller part of their brains.

1. How did the researchers conduct the study?

A．By drawing pictures of brains.	B．By highlighting different signs.
C．By reading examination results.	D．By studying the blood samples.

2. What did the new study find?

A．Younger children need less time to understand a sentence.

B．Children use both sides of the brain for language processing.

C．The right side of the brain is less important than the left side.

D．The right side of the brain gradually becomes inactive after birth.

3. What does the underlined part “pitch in” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Get involved.	B．Get damaged.
C．Be examined.	D．Be recognized.

4 . Hearing loss is unavoidable, but listening to loud music when you’re younger can make it worse. To reduce your risk of hearing loss via loud music, learn why and how it can cause hearing loss, and just how loud is too loud.

Hearing loss occurs in four ways: conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, mixed hearing loss and auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder. Noise-induced (噪音诱发的) hearing loss is a type of sensorineural hearing loss.

Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when your inner ear becomes damaged. In the case of noise- induced hearing loss, most of the damage affects the cells of tiny sensory hairs in your inner ear.

When those cells get damaged or die, the electrical signal that your auditory nerve sends to your brain changes.

Noise-induced hearing loss can be acute or severe, and it can be temporary or permanent. You might be familiar with acute temporary noise-induced hearing loss, even if you didn’t realize what was happening at the time.

Acute temporary noise-induced hearing loss can occur from attending a loud concert or sporting event, going to a gun range without earmuffs or being near an explosion. It can make noises sound “stuffy” or far away, especially when talking on the phone or in a crowded room. Repeated exposure to those loud situations can eventually lead to permanent hearing loss.

Noise levels from earbuds and headphones can get as loud as 139 decibels, according to the journal Noise &Health, far greater than the recommended range of everyday sound exposure, which is 60 to 85 decibels. And the average level of noise from headphones, with the volume turned all the way up, is 94 to 110 decibels. For context, 60 decibels is about the volume of an average conversation, and 130 decibels is about the noise level of a rock concert. 85 decibels is considered the maximum volume at which you can listen to sound for eight hours without damaging your hearing. So if you were to listen to music from your headphones for eight hours a day, listening at a volume louder than 85 decibels can cause permanent damage to your ears.

Unfortunately, the relationship between decibels and time isn’t linear (线性的). For every three decibels, safe exposure time gets cut in half, according to the CDC. At 88 decibels, you can only safely listen for four hours; at 91 decibels, just two hours.

1. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．Noise-induced hearing loss belongs to sensorineural hearing loss.

B．Noise-induced hearing loss is always severe and permanent.

C．Occasional exposure to the loud situations can lead to permanent hearing loss in the end.

D．Listening to music from headphones for long at any volume won’t be harmful to your ears.

2. In which of the following situations is acute temporary noise-induced hearing loss more likely to occur?

A．Participating in a heated debate.	B．Attending a rock concert.
C．Going to a gun range with earmuffs.	D．Watching an explosion at a distance.

3. In terms of safe exposure, how long can you safely listen at 94 decibels?

A．Two hours.	B．Half an hour.
C．One and a half hours.	D．One hour.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A．Loud Music Damages Hearing	B．How to Prevent Hearing Loss
C．How Loud Is Too Loud	D．Music and Hearing

5 . Why is the man holding up his arm?

A．As a friendly sign.

B．For medical reasons.

C．To draw attention to something.

6 . Three tips for protecting your eyes during the winter

We usually worry about staying warm during the winter months, and think less about protecting our eyes.     1    .Here are three things you can do to protect your eyes during winter months.

Tip 1:     2    .

During the winter, our eyes are often exposed to blowing, dry, hot air that can cause them to become dry. Here are a few treatments:     3    . Keep yourself away from direct heat sources while sitting. Use a humidifer (加湿器) to help reduce dryness.

Tip 2: Wear sunglasses with UV (紫外线) protection.

UV rays in the winter can harm our eyes.     4    . Wear sunglasses when you’re outside, or driving, to protect your eyes from UV rays. This is especially important as days lengthen into spring and the sun gets stronger.

Tip 3: Goggles (护目镜) protect in many ways.

Goggles not only protect our eyes from UV rays, but they also help keep our eyes from drying out from the winter wind. In addition, think about all those branches, leaves, and dirty snow that can severely injure our eyes upon contact.     5    . Don’t forget them!

A．Clean your eyes carefully

B．Don’t let your eyes dry out

C．Goggles protect the eyes from the wind

D．Keep eye drops at hand to wet your eyes

E．It is wise to wear quality goggles

F．In fact, they can do even more harm when they’re reflecting (反射) off snow

G．However, the winter months can be as hard on our eyes as the summer months

7 . If you don't use it, you lose it. At least, that's how the old saying goes. It refers to the idea that something which does not get used regularly quickly falls into a state of decline. Muscles, for example, will waste away without use. In order to resist this, people take regular exercise to keep their skills sharp.

Well, what about the brain? As we age, our brains can naturally begin to decline. In some cases, this can lead to certain mental conditions such as dementia(痴呆)，which I'm sure you will agree, no one wants. However, all is not lost because these days it's relatively easy to train your brain. Smart phones and apps have put programmes into our hands that can test, maintain and even improve our memories, mathematical skills and a lot of other mental abilities. With a little practice every day, we can keep our brains nice and sharp, right?

Well, no, actually. According to a report from the Global Council on Brain Health, even though many people thought it was important to play online games, such as puzzles and mind games, which are designed to improve brain health, the evidence of the benefits was “weak to non-existent”.

There are other ways to promote the old grey matter. It recommends seeking out new activities that challenge the way you think and are socially engaging，while leading to a healthy lifestyle. Among their suggestions are practising tai chi, taking photography classes, learning new technologies, gardening, art projects or volunteering.

There's more good news, too, James Goodwin, chief scientist at Age UK has said that brain decline is not inevitable (不可避免的）. As long as the activities are “new to you and require your concentrated attention”, they can provide benefits for brain health. So, hurry up, get out there and try something new. Maybe it's time to try that hobby you've always wanted to do. And as for me? I'm off to learn the piano.

1. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A biology textbook.	B．A healthy magazine.
C．A travel brochure.	D．A research paper.

2. Which has the closest meaning of the underlined words “socially engaging”？

A．Making more shopping.	B．Avoid brain decline.
C．Doing exercises alone.	D．Going out with friends.

3. Which of the following can better keep your brain healthy according to the author?

A．Trying something new.	B．Using smart phone regularly.
C．Playing games online.	D．Doing what you are good at.

4. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．Advantages of trying something new.

B．Disadvantages of using smart phones.

C．Ways to keep our brain as sharp as possible.

D．How to spend time meaningfully at an old age.

8 . Whether it's Chinese social media like Sina Weibo, or Western media like Instagram an Facebook, videos can go viral in mere hours.

The wide range of viral videos suggests that popular concepts are largely random. After all, what links the recent broom challenge to funny internet cat videos?

According to scientists from Stanford University, US, the popularity of a video can be predicted by looking at how certain areas of a person's brain react within the first few seconds of a video. This method has been called neuroforecasting（神经预测）.

The team made the finding by recruiting（招募）36 volunteers to watch a range of videos while being scanned with an FMRI—a machine that can monitor the changes in blood oxygen and flow.

Participants were shown 32 different videos and were monitored according to their brain responses in four different areas. The results showed that specific brain activity during the first four seconds of a video could effectively predict a person's thoughts on a video and whether they would keep watching.

Using the FMRI results, the Stanford team consistently saw increased activity in the nucleus accumbens（伏核）and decreased activity in the anterior insula（前脑岛）parts of the brain while the participants were watching the most popular of the 32-vidco selection.

According to the study, these two brain regions are related to the feeling of expectation we get when we're not certain of something's outcome.

Stanford neuroscientist（神经学家）and the study's author Brian Knutson said: "If we examine our subjects' choices to watch the video or even their reported responses to the videos, they don't tell us about the general response online ... Only brain activity seems to forecast a video's popularity on the internet.”

He added, “Future research might also systematically analyze the video content, so content creators can use these findings to make their videos more popular.”

In the future, the team aims to use this type of FMRI experiment to understand "whether processes that generate individual choice can tell us something about choices made by large groups of people”. According to Knutson, this could apply to shopping trends, charity support and general money-spending.

1. What did scientists from Stanford University find?

A．There are differences between viral videos in different cultures.

B．People's reported response can predict the popularity of a video.

C．There are links between viral videos under different subjects.

D．Viewers' initial brain activity can forecast the popularity of a video.

2. What was the brain's response when viewers watched the most popular video?

A．All four areas monitored displayed increased activity.

B．One area got more active while another became less active.

C．Areas related to the feeling of uncertainty got more active.

D．The activity of areas related to the feeling of expectation increased.

3. What can we conclude from Brian Knutson's words?

A．The participants' choices to watch the videos help them make the finding.

B．How long the subjects watched the videos also mattered to their conclusion.

C．Our brain activity can show something we ourselves don't realize.

D．When the video was beyond the viewers‘ expectation, it is generally popular.

4. What is the aim of the team's future research?

A．Exploring the link between individual and general choices.

B．Interviewing content creators how they make videos.

C．Discouraging more charity organizations.

D．Applying their findings to arresting criminals.

9 . Eyesight plays a very important role in our daily life. Every waking moment, the eyes are working to see the world around us. Over forty percent of Americans worry about losing eyesight, but it's easy to include steps into our daily life to ensure healthy eyes. Here are five suggestions for a lifetime of healthy eyesight:

Schedule yearly exams.

    1     Experts advise parents to bring babies 6 to 12 months of age to the doctor for a careful check. The good news is that millions of children now can have yearly eye exams and following treatment, including eyeglasses.

Protect against UV rays .

Long-term stay in the sun creates risk to your eyes. No matter what the season is, it’s extremely important to wear sunglasses.     2     Give your eyes a break.

Two-thirds of Americans spend up to seven hours a day using computers or other digital products.     3     Experts recommend that people practice the 20/20/20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away.

    4    .

As part of a healthy diet, eat more fruits and vegetables each day. Vitamins C and E help protect eyesight and promote eye health.

Practice safe wear and care of contact lenses.

Many Americans use contact lenses to improve their eyesight. While some follow the medical guidance for wearing contact lenses, many are breaking the rules and putting their eyesight at risk.     5    

Otherwise: you may have problems such as red eyes, pain in the eyes, or a more serious condition.

A．Eat your greens.

B．Eye care should begin early in life.

C．They can properly protect your eyes.

D．Stay in good shape by taking more vitamins.

E．Parents usually don’t care about their own eyesight.

F．Always follow the doctor’s advice for appropriate wear.

G．This frequent eye activity increases the risk for eye tiredness.

10 . Unless you’re very young or very old,it's likely you have some kind of relationship with email, whether you get hundreds of messages a day or a few dozen a week. A new study suggests that how we deal with these incoming messages could be affecting our stress levels and overall health.

A team from the Future Work Centre in the UK surveyed 2,000 people across various industries, sectors, and job roles, asking participants how they managed their email and how much associated stress they felt as a result. Overall, those who spent the most time organising and staying on top of messages felt the most email-related pressure too.

“While email can be a valuable communication tool, it’s clear that it’s a source of stress of frustration for many of us. The people who reported it being most useful to them also reported the highest levels of email pressure!” said one of the team, Richard MacKinnon.

Two of the habits linked to more email-related stress were checking for messages first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Half of those surveyed had push notifications (消 息推送）set up for new email, while 62 percent of respondents left their email app open all day and all night. Both were linked to higher levels of email pressure. The survey also found that managers suffered more than non-managers.

Stress is not just a problem when it comes to our mood—it’s been linked to a lot of disorders such as heart disease， weight gain， memory impairment (减弱），digestive problems,and depression.

The researchers suggest that the relationship between email-related stress and the negative impact on home life is not the same for everyone.

1. What’s the purpose of the study?

A．To find out how many people have an email account.

B．To know what sort of people use email most.

C．To find out how email management is related to stress.

D．To show what changes email has brought about to people.

2. What does Richard Mackinnon think of email?

A．It brings more strengths.	B．It is not an essential tool.
C．It is a double-edged sword.	D．It makes people puzzled.

3. Which of the following habits causes the most stress?

A．Checking email in the morning.

B．Checking email in the evening.

C．Keeping email app open at work.

D．Setting up push notifications for new email.

4. Where does the text most probably come from?

A．Science fiction.	B．A science report.
C．fashion magazine.	D．A book guide.