1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．moral	B．fortunes	C．drastically	D．extinct
E．emerged	AB．approach	AC．claims	AD．cautiously
AE．ingredients	BC．managed	BD．object

Stressed out? Get chewing: can a wellness rebrand make Americans buy gum again?

When was the last time you saw someone chewing gum? 1998, maybe? 2007? Chances are, it probably wasn’t recently. Like high heels and affordable housing, chewing gum appears to be going     1    

Gum’s popularity has been fading globally thanks to increased competition from products like breath mints and mobile phones distracting us from impulse purchases while shopping. The pandemic, moreover,     2    ·accelerated gum’s decline.

Even after people     3     from lockdown, sales didn’t recover. Gum sales worldwide in 2023 were 10% below 2018 figures. In the US, the drop has been particularly pronounced: last year 1.2 billion units of gum were sold in the US, 32% fewer than in 2018.

However, chewing gum, in various forms, is one of the oldest habits there is. Stone age teenagers were chewing birch bar k tar possibly for pleasure, medicinal purposes, or to use it as a glue. Gum has also been loaded with cultural meaning and the subject of various     4     panics. Some people believe it is a marker of the bad kids or a habit of the lower class.

Despite a certain amount of social stigma（污名） attached to gum, it has - until relatively recently -been a wildly successful product. That’s thanks to William Wrigley Jr, who was a marketing and advertising genius. Wrigley always     5     to find a way to make gum relevant and insert it into consumer culture. For example, Wrigley advertised the idea that chewing gum was a health aid that would help digestion and would relieve stress.

This year the Wrigley brand’s owner —Mars— came out with an ad campaign it hopes will revive gum’s     6     by positioning it as an almost instant stress reliever. Linking gum with wellness worked in the 1910s, but is it going to work now? Alex Hayes at the food consultancy is     7     optimistic. “The global well ness market is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 trillion, so it’s no surprise that Mars wants a piece of the pie,” Hayes says. “We’ve seen the success of categories such as tea promoting their products via functional     8       and messaging-teas for good sleep, mental clarity, stress relief, etc. So it comes as no surprise that Mars is risking the same     9     .” But he also notes, customers are increasingly worried about processed foods and are eager to move away from artificial     10    . There’s still ongoing discussion on just how effective repositioning chewable plastic as a health supplement is going to be.

3 . Studies have shown that when people’s mental health improves, they’re more likely to _________ in their relationships and careers — and adopt healthier habits. People become more productive, find meaning in everyday experiences and are more equipped to cope with changes and obstacles when they feel mentally well. Here are four New Year’s resolutions experts expect people to make _________ mental health.

Rethink your social media use

Reflect on whether you’d like to continue with the same online habits in 2024, says Nedra Glover Tawwab, a therapist. “Do you want to set some _________ for yourself? Are there people you need to _________?” “For example, you might limit yourself to 15 minutes on social media per day, delete the most _________ apps from your phone during the workweek, or challenge yourself not to check social media when you’re feeling gloomy.

Reconnect with a long-lost friend

“Make new friends, but keep the old” is an adage (格言) for a reason. Loneliness affects physical and mental health while _________ social bonds are a slave. Resolve to reach out to “one person you lost touch with who used to be _________ to you,” Winch says. He recommends opening with a text like this: “I was thinking about you. It’s been so long. How are you?” _________ the message with a smiley face, he adds. “That’s important because when you say, ‘It’s been so long’, it can sound accusing.” A smiley face, Winch says, can ensure the _______ meaning — “I miss you” — comes across.

Plan four activities each week

The “core four” help guard against life’s stressors. First, do something __________, like attending a football game or belting out a Taylor Swift album. Having fun “__________ the stress by helping you accumulate more positive events than negative ones,” says Calvin Fitch, a clinical health psychologist. Then check off a “mastery activity”, like cleaning or running errands. Also important are being __________— a sense of belonging facilitates better health — and doing physical activities that get your heart rate going.

Do something to relieve climate anxiety

If you’re __________ about the state of the planet — and more of us are — worrying won’t help. Instead, take a cue from Winch’s family: each year, they decide to do one thing to __________ their climate anxiety, like eliminating plastic bags, composting food scraps, or walking 15 minutes to nearby destinations instead of driving. “It’s overwhelming — I feel like I can’t get my arms around it,” he says. “But doing one small thing is a way of feeling like you’re __________ your goal.”

1.

A．compete

B．quit

C．recall

D．thrive

2.

A．in memory of

B．in the name of

C．with the aid of

D．with the exception of

3.

A．boundaries

B．standards

C．records

D．examples

4.

A．uncover

B．unlock

C．unfollow

D．unlike

5.

A．time-consuming

B．time-saving

C．time-honored

D．time-starved

6.

A．deep

B．new

C．private

D．safe

7.

A．dear

B．indifferent

C．rare

D．strange

8.

A．Decorate

B．End

C．Lengthen

D．Start

9.

A．moral

B．literature

C．real

D．empathetic

10.

A．comfortable

B．efficient

C．pleasurable

D．unusual

11.

A．decreases

B．enhances

C．extends

D．supplies

12.

A．energetic

B．healthy

C．responsible

D．social

13.

A．ambitious

B．cautious

C．confident

D．distressed

14.

A．conceal

B．ease

C．measure

D．track

15.

A．emphasizing

B．defeating

C．underestimating

D．approaching

5 . Health in space

Astronaut Frank Rubiales has returned to Earth after 371 days in space.     1       Unlucky for him, but very lucky for scientists who want to see what effects spending an extended time in space has on the human body.

Being in space can affect physical wellbeing.     2     Astronauts are recommended 150 minutes of exercise per day to counteract this. Also, space traveller’s eyes can be affected by the way that fluids act in zero-gravity. Outside the protection of the Earth’s atmosphere, astronauts are exposed to much higher levels and different forms of solar radiation. This can potentially cause long-term health problems, such as cancer.

It’s not just physical health that is affected by being in space. Our mental health can be damaged if we don’t get enough sleep. On earth, our bodies respond through circadian rhythms (昼夜节奏) to the Sun rising and setting to help us sleep, but astronauts on board the International Space Station see 16 sunsets and sunrises every day. This means that avoiding sleep deprivation is a challenge. Isolation, and spending all your time with a small group of people can also affect mental health. Along with isolation, is the pressure that comes from being constantly monitored by experts back on Earth. With possible future missions to Mars predicted to last three years, tensions within the crew could become heightened.     3    

Developing new techniques and technology to support astronauts’ health will enable more ambitious future missions.     4     The Canadian Space Agency is using its expertise to improve health care for people living in remote regions. The technology that supports robots used in space is now being used in surgery in normal hospitals, while pressure suits are being used to treat post-pregnancy complications.

A．Astronaut Harry Hartfield reports an example of this where a colleague threatened to open the airlock and drain the oxygen from the spacecraft.

B．The sacrifices of astronauts contributed to a giant leap in space exploration.

C．It can also help those of us who are staying on Earth.

D．Weightlessness caused by a lack of gravity can lead to a loss of bone and muscle mass.

E．The missions do great harm to both physical and mental health of astronauts.

F．It was only supposed to be 180, but a technical fault stopped him from returning as planned.

6 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.

Why Socks Help You Sleep Better

If you’re one of those people who has trouble falling asleep, listen up. You might fall asleep 15 minutes earlier and wake up far less during the night if you put on a pair of socks at bedtime.

To understand why you first need to grasp the relationship between core body temperature and sleep. During daylight hours, the human body hums along at an average temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). But at night, your core body temperature dips as much as 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) over the course of six or seven hours of sleep.

This gradual decrease in core body temperature, as it turns out, is a key part of the complicated neurobiological (神经生物学) dance of falling asleep and staying asleep. And the faster you can lower the core body temperature, the faster you will fall asleep. Researchers have show that warming the feet before going to sleep using a warm feet bath or by wearing socks promotes vasodilation (血管扩张), which in turn lowers the body’s core temperature faster than going to sleep with cold, bare feet.

Scientists suppose that socked feet have a neurological effect as well. Inside the brain’s “thermostat (恒湿器)” is a type of neuron called a warm-sensitive neuron (WSN) that increases its firing rate when there’s a temperature difference between the body’s core temperature and extremities like the feet. Research has shown that WSN firing rates go way up on the beginning or slow wave or deep sleep and gradually decrease prior to waking up. So WSNs may play a role in generating the sensation of sleepiness that helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. And if that is the case, warming up the feet before bed time gives WSNs an extra power.

In a small study, researchers found that wearing a pair of special sleeping socks not only sped up the beginning of sleep, but increased overall sleep time by an average of 30 minutes and cut nighttime waking periods in half.

If you are worried about becoming too warm while wearing socks in bed, look for ones made of natural breathable fibers.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Directions: Complete the following passages by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. celebrate       B. overlooked       C. circumstances       D. cast       E. incredibly F. factors       G. unspoken        H. swim       I. strongly       J. normal       K. assume

Self-Silencing Is Making Women Sick

In the late 1980s, Harvard-trained psychologist Dana Jack identified a recurring theme among female patients suffering from depression: a tendency to self-silence, defined as “the tendency to engage in uncontrollable caretaking, pleasing the other, and restriction of self-expression in relationships in an attempt to achieve intimacy and meet relational needs.” He found that this learned behavior,     1     rooted in gender norms, was linked to an increased risk of depression.

Since then, considerable evidence has revealed that female self-silencing isn’t just tied to psychological issues like depression and eating disorders, but also to physical illness. Most worryingly, it has also been linked to higher risk of premature death. This was true even when     2     such as age, blood pressure, and smoking were taken into account.

When women push their feelings down and     3     their needs aside, their health suffers. But it can be difficult for women to do otherwise in cultures that     4     these self-silencing practices. Moms are praised for being painstakingly selfless to the point of self-sacrifice. These     5     standards establish a vicious (恶性的) cycle. For many women, it feels easier—beneficial, even—to silence their needs at the expense of their own health, rather than     6     against the prevailing cultural current.

In his best-selling book, The Myth of Normal, physician and author Gabor Mate writes that many of our society’s most “normalized ways of being” are, in fact,     7     toxic. “That ‘not listening to self’ in order to prioritize others’ needs is a significant source of the health-impairing roles women     8    ,” Mate explains. “It is among the medically     9     but extremely harmful ways in which our society’s ‘normal’ imposes a major health cost on women.”

To reshape the virtues of womanhood, a new “    10    ” needs to emerge—one in which we honor our emotions, prioritize our needs, and actively communicate our boundaries. Such a shift requires change on both the individual and societal level, and will by no means be easy. But it’s certainly worth it—after all, women’s lives depend on it.

10 . As a volunteer, John Apollos is losing weight - the old-fashioned way - by eating less. Apollos has lowered his daily caloric intake 25% over the past eight months. The fat, not surprisingly, has melted away. But that’s not the real reason Apollos and the other participants in the program are eating only three-quarters of what they used to. The researchers are trying to determine whether restricting food intake can slow the ageing process and extend our life span. “I feel better and lighter and healthier,” says Apollos. “But if it could help you live longer, that would be pretty amazing.”

The idea is counterintuitive: If we eat to live, how can starving ourselves add years to our lives? Yet decades of calorie-restriction studies involving organisms ranging from microscopic yeast to rats have shown just that. Last July a long-term study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, found that calorie restriction seemed to extend the lives of humanlike rhesus monkeys (恒河猴) as well. The hungry monkeys suffered from diabetes, heart and brain disease and cancer much less frequently than their well-fed fellows did.

Scientists have suspected that calorie restriction could extend the life span of animals since at least1935, when researchers at Cornell University noticed that severely food-restricted lab rats lived twice as long as normal ones and were healthier. Other investigators began exploring the idea and learned that the secret is not merely a matter of body weight.

One theory is that a state of slight hunger acts as a mild but constant stressor that makes an organism stronger and more resistant to the ills of ageing. Taking in fewer calories also slows metabolism (新陈代谢), and some data indicate that humans with a slower metabolism live longer. But even if these theories are correct, simply defining the mechanism is not the same as identifying the molecular pathways behind it. If researchers could determine those pathways, they might be able to pharmacologically mimic (模仿) the effect of calorie restriction. That could be the ultimate benefit of the CALORIE study. “Calorie restriction is pretty much the only thing out there that we know will not just prevent disease but also extend maximal lifespan,” says Dr. Marc Hellerstein, a nutritionist at the University of California.

1. The purpose of keeping diet for John Apollos and other participants is to ________.

A．lose weight in order to keep slim

B．prove how long people can survive if they lack food

C．prove if eating less food can extend life span and keep young

D．just keep a good mood and live a healthier life

2. What’s the meaning of “counterintuitive” (Line 1, Para. 2)?

A．Unconventional.	B．Incorrect.
C．Comprehensible.	D．Meaningless.

3. From Dr. Marc Hellerstein’s words at the end of the passage, we can infer that ________.

A．people who are thin can survive longer than those who aren’t

B．effective calorie restriction makes us healthier and live longer

C．keeping diet cannot help people keep fit or live longer

D．a state of hunger is beneficial for our health

4. What is the main idea of this passage?

A．People should be slim in order to live longer.

B．Keeping calorie restriction effectively makes one live longer.

C．Eating too much is really harmful to our health.

D．People should form a good diet habit in daily life.