1 . A new study estimates more than 1 billion people worldwide are currently living with obesity. People with obesity are considered medically overweight. The study, published in the medical publication The Lancet, said that one in eight people are obese. Researchers said around 43 percent of adults were overweight in 2022. Obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990. Among young people aged 5 to 19, the obesity rate increased by four times during the same period.
“A staggering number of people are living with obesity, and severe obesity is strongly linked to a long list of health problems and an early death.” declared the lead writer of the study, Majid Ezzati, a professor at Imperial College London.
The WHO noted that at the World Health Assembly in 2022, member states agreed to an agency plan to fight obesity. So far, 31 governments “are now leading the way” to reduce obesity by carrying out goals of the plan.
These include government measures to enact new rules on “harmful” marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children. In addition, governments are aiming to improve school and nutrition policies. They are also seeking price reductions for healthy foods, to increase public awareness about healthy diets and exercise and to strengthen requirements for physical activity in schools.
Imperial College’s Ezzati said that obesity rates are not rising in many wealthier nations. But they are quickly increasing in other countries. He noted that some countries have many underweight people, meaning the nations are facing what he called a “double burden” of nutrition problems.
Branca is head of nutrition at the WHO. He told reporters, “In the past, we have been thinking of obesity as a problem of the rich, but obesity is a problem of the world. Although new obesity drugs — such as Ozempic and Wegovy — could be helpful tools in reducing obesity, they noted that the cost and availability of the drugs might increase inequality.”
1. What does the underlined word “staggering” mean?| A．Satisfying. | B．Amazing. | C．Astonishing. | D．Puzzling. |
| A．Setting laws to ban the sale of unhealthy food. |
| B．Increasing the cost for people to consume healthy food. |
| C．Attaching importance to physical activities. |
| D．Offering lower-priced obesity drugs to people. |
| A．Some countries are suffering both poverty and obesity. |
| B．Some countries are suffering both poor nutrition and obesity. |
| C．Obesity is common in both poor and wealthy countries. |
| D．Obesity is a heavy burden for some countries. |
| A．Negative. | B．Indifferent. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Optimistic. |
1.不文明出游的现象;
2.对文明出游发出倡议。
注意：1.可以增加细节，以使行文连贯;
2.词数80词左右;
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3 . Sora, a new AI model developed by the company OpenAI — creator of chatbot ChatGPT — has recently become a global focus. The text-to-video artificial intelligence technology has the potential to make a revolution in video industries.
Sora can generate videos up to a minute long while maintaining visual quality and respond to user prompts, OpenAI said. It is able to generate complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background.
Liu Xingliang, director of the Beijing-based Data Center of China Internet, said Sora is undoubtedly a major breakthrough for AI. “It not only demonstrates AI’s advanced ability to understand and create complex visual content, but also brings about opportunities and challenges for video content creation, entertainment, film and television production industries. The video-generation model will help video content creators to turn their ideas into reality at a faster speed and at a lower cost, and offer audiences richer and more diverse visual experiences,” Liu said, adding that AI is expected to play a more important role in all aspects of human lives in the future.
Meanwhile, the use of text-to-video AI models raises concerns about ethics, copyright protection, personal privacy and data security, experts said. How to ensure the authenticity and transparency of the content has become an important issue, and more efforts are needed to formulate rules and regulations to ensure the healthy development of such technology.
Zhou Hongyi, founder of Chinese company 360 Security Group, said: “Sora might bring a huge disruption to the advertising industry, movie trailers and short video industry, but it may not necessarily beat TikTok quickly. It is more likely to become a creative tool for TikTok.”
1. According to the text, what is the possible function of Sora?| A．Writing an essay. | B．Drawing an image. |
| C．Generating a movie. | D．Composing a song. |
| A．By reducing the time of making a video. |
| B．By adding the cost of making a video. |
| C．By offering audiences a single visual experience. |
| D．By helping the creators copy other’s ideas. |
| A．The significance of Sora. | B．The potential risks of Sora. |
| C．The working principles of Sora. | D．The functions of Sora. |
| A．Sora is important in all aspects of human lives. |
| B．Sora will replace the traditional video industry. |
| C．Sora poses huge risks to TikTok. |
| D．Sora is a double-edged sword. |
4 . Stacy Dean, an official at the US Department of Agriculture, was inspired by a visit to Watkins Elementary, in Washington, D. C. Students grow vegetables in their school garden. They also roll up their sleeves in the school’s kitchen to participate in a FRESHFARM FoodPrints class, which integrates cooking and nutrition education.
“Who’s next?” asks instructional coach Regina Green, as kids throw vegetables into the pan and the smell of fresh ginger and onions fills the air. “We grew these in our garden,” Jessie Gibson, one of the students, says proudly. Then he measures and pours dry ingredients into a bowl.
“Our family has tried new things because of the program,” says Catie Kelley, whose two children have participated in the FRESHFARM program. “They come home with the recipes,” Kelley says. “It’s fun because it’s things that we don’t usually make at home,” so it has encouraged them to try novel combinations. She says the kids take more of an interest at the grocery store to identify foods they’ve tried in the program.
Dean wants to have the science around healthy eating integrated. A block to scaling up these types of programs is money. The program relies on grants and receives some federal funding, but it’s not enough to expand the program to all the schools that could benefit.
In fact, there are other problems. At a time when diet-related disease is a leading cause of death, and unhealthy eating habits are rooted in US culture, it’s unrealistic to think that a cooking curriculum could overcome such a sweeping, societal problem. “We know from years of evidence that we need multiple things to come together to support healthy eating,” says Angela Odoms-Young, a professor of maternal and child nutrition at Cornell University.
Despite these challenges, programs like FRESHFARM can help kids expand their choices by introducing them to new tastes. At first, many kids are turned off by the bitter taste of greens. But through the magic of cooking, processing the onions, and blending in fresh ginger, kids can be inspired.
1. What inspired Dean during the visit to Watkins Elementary?| A．The coach’s skillful performance. |
| B．Students’ getting more access to nature. |
| C．The integrated hands-on cooking. |
| D．Students’ gardening and cooking. |
| A．They pay more attention to healthy eating. |
| B．They have a more harmonious relation. |
| C．They show more interest in shopping. |
| D．They have enriched their recipes. |
| A．Advocating healthy eating needs joint efforts. |
| B．A cooking curriculum should be promoted. |
| C．Nutrition helps put students on a healthy path. |
| D．Food is fundamental to life and good health. |
| A．Complex. | B．Widespread. | C．Effective. | D．Easily-operated. |
5 . A new study finds sales of sugary drinks obviously fell across several US cities, after they carried out soda taxes (汽水税) aiming those drinks — and those changes continued over time. Taxes ranged from 1 to 2 cents. For a 2-liter bottle of soda, that comes out to between 67 cents to $1.30 extra in taxes.
“While prior (先前的) studies have looked at the impact of soda taxes, they usually studied one city at a time. This new study looked at the overall effect of the taxes on several cities to get an idea of what might happen if these taxes were more widespread — or enlarged to the state or national level,” says Scott Kaplan, an economics professor and the study’s lead author.
Kaplan and his co-workers found that prices for sugary drinks went up by 33.1% and purchases (购买量) went down by basically the same amount. So when people had to pay more for sugary drinks, they reduced their purchases — the effect was large and continued.
As Kaplan notes, “Sugary drinks make up a quarter of all the added sugar we see in the average adult American diet. And that’s a really big amount.” Jennifer Pomeranz, a professor at the School of Public Health, says, “Taxes that aim sugary drinks are good public health policy because these drinks have no nutritional (营养的) value, but they are linked with diet-related diseases. Too much added sugar is linked to a host of poor health outcomes, including overweight and heart disease.” Last month, WHO called on countries to increase taxes on sugary drinks as a way to promote healthier diets.
Today, the sugary drink industry’s strategy of offering consumers more choices with less sugar is working, and nearly 60% of drinks sold have zero sugar. The calories that people get from drinks have decreased to the lowest level in decades.
1. What’s the difference between the new study and the prior ones?| A．The range. | B．The challenge. | C．The expense. | D．The benefit. |
| A．They bought them in overseas markets. |
| B．They turned to the government for help. |
| C．They cut down the drinks’ consumption. |
| D．They added sugar to drinks by themselves. |
| A．To better protect people’s health. |
| B．To encourage research into drinks. |
| C．To improve the nutrition of drinks. |
| D．To make more money for the government. |
| A．It is a short-sighted decision. |
| B．It is a success story. |
| C．It benefits sugary drinks industry. |
| D．It upsets customers. |
6 . People living alone are more likely to report feeling depressed compared to those living with others, according to a new study by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The new study comes at a time when the number of single person households in the U. S. has skyrocketed. In the decade from 2012 to 2022, the number of Americans living alone jumped by nearly 5 million to 37.9 million. The study relies on 2021 data from the National Health Interview Survey, which interviews people in a nationally representative sample of households. It found that a little over 6% of those living alone reported feelings of depression, compared to 4% of people living with others.
The survey also asked respondents about the levels of social and emotional support in their lives. Those who live alone and receive little or no social and emotional support were far more likely to report feelings of depression compared to people who live with others who also had little or no support. On the other hand, there were no differences in reports of depression between people living alone and those living with others if they had social and emotional support.
“That finding is very compelling,” says social scientist Kasley Killam, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “And this is consistent with other evidence showing that social support and emotional support really play a crucial role in people’s overall health and well-being.”
“Social isolation and loneliness are increasingly being recognized as a public health problem. They’re associated with a whole host of negative outcomes, including diabetes, dementia and even mortality. As health care providers, we need to help address their patients ‘social isolation.” says psychiatrist Dr. Tom Insel, “You know, we can help people to find community,” he says. “We can make sure we can promote social interaction. We can provide ways for people to actually become more engaged and to get the kind of social-emotional support they need.”
1. What do we know about people living alone?| A．They have a desire to live with others. | B．They lack emotional support from others. |
| C．They exhibit depression at higher rates. | D．They avoid social interaction in a community. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Innovative. | C．Groundbreaking. | D．Convincing. |
| A．Many feelings contribute to health issues. |
| B．Reading clubs benefit people living alone. |
| C．People avoid living alone for fear of loneliness. |
| D．Community reduces the number of people living alone. |
| A．Living Alone Or Living With Others | B．Living With Others And Living Healthily |
| C．More Healthcare And Less Depression | D．More Support And Less Isolation |
1. What was Prof. Stone’s grandfather afraid of?
| A．Leaving his home. |
| B．Parting from his son. |
| C．Taking early retirement. |
| A．Lack of moral support. |
| B．Loss of self-worth. |
| C．Change of living habits. |
| A．Public services they ask for. |
| B．Health care available to them. |
| C．Contributions they can make. |
8 . Just as British people are always proud to say that they have “green fingers”, people in the US use about 34 billion liters of water on their gardens almost each day. At the same time, however, much of this country is experiencing a ten years’ drought (干旱). People in Florida, California and much of the western United States can’t water their lawns — or can’t water them as often as they’re used to. These lawns may not die, but neither will they look as green as grass lands in other places.
Both homeowners and researchers have been looking for solutions. Brooke Moffis, a graduate student at the University of Florida, works with Basil Iannone in the school’s lab on the ecology of living area, aiming to save water. Iannone says one way to do that is to fill a lawn with a variety of native plants. He recommends focusing on ones that can adapt to dry conditions, rather than keeping those thirsty English grasses.
People often regard lawns as grass and nothing else. When a lawn is planted with just one kind, it’s called a monoculture (单一栽培). “But we don’t need it to be a monoculture to serve the function of a lawn,” Iannone says. Adding native plants, including those that are considered as weeds, can make for a healthier outdoor space, Iannone added.
Imagine you’re a hungry insect. If you eat nectar (花蜜) — as many bees, butterflies, beetles, moths, ants and other insects do—a grassy lawn isn’t going to feed you. It would be like going to the grocery store and finding only one kind of food for a long time. But it’s a food you either can’t eat or don’t like.
A garden growing a variety of flowering plants would instead seem like a welcome buffet with a variety of food. The different nectar in these many flowers would make sure you and other nearby insects had plenty to choose and eat. That’s the idea behind adding flowering plants to existing lawns, such as clover, purslane or pennywort.
1. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Lawns in western California die easily. | B．Americans take good care of their lawns. |
| C．Some areas in the US lack water for lawns. | D．The British suffer from natural disasters. |
| A．They can’t make lawns green. | B．They aren’t suitable for research. |
| C．They can’t survive in the United States. | D．They can’t grow well without enough water. |
| A．Lawns are just made of grass. | B．Lawns show American garden culture. |
| C．Lawns should include functional plants. | D．Lawns with weeds make healthier space. |
| A．To indicate nectar is good for insects. |
| B．To introduce different ways to feed insects. |
| C．To show the benefits of growing various plants. |
| D．To suggest bringing nearby insects into the lawns. |
9 . In October, Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in an area of Los Angeles. California is a big farming state, and this was serious news for farmers. The key to the problem may seem a little unusual: releasing millions more of the flies.
The Mediterranean fruit fly, often known as the “Medfly”, is one of the most serious threats faced by farmers worldwide. Once the pest makes its way into an area, it can be very hard to remove. The flies lay their eggs in over 300 kinds of fruits and vegetables. When the eggs hatch, they turn into worm-like larvae (幼虫) that can destroy these products.
Three Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in a Los Angeles neighborhood called Leimert Park in October. To stop the problem from spreading, the government set up a large quarantine (隔离) area, which means that no produce (fruits, nuts, or vegetables)can be moved out of that area. The quarantine area is 90 square miles.
That may seem extreme, since only three Medflies were found, but experts believe there are probably more out there. “It’s really important to get on top of this fast,” said Jason Leathers. Luckily, California has developed a program to control Medflies, and it’s been working well for 30 years. The plan involves using planes to drop millions of Medflies over the area. That may sound like a bad idea, but it’s actually a good way to make sure that Medfly numbers go down.
The airplanes only drop male flies, and all of them have been treated so that they can’t help produce new fruit flies. The males are sterile (不育的). This means that even though they can mate with female fruit flies, the eggs produced will never grow or hatch. The plan has worked well in the past. The government says that the number of flies has been cut by over 90%. To deal with the problem near Leimert Park, the government will be dropping two airplane loads of sterile Medflies every week.
1. Why is the figure mentioned in Paragraph 2?| A．To show farmers require more help. | B．To stress the great harm done by the Medfly. |
| C．To remind people to be particular about health. | D．To appeal for urgent concerns about the Medfly. |
| A．To destroy the native produce. | B．To limit the spread of the Medfly. |
| C．To kill the Medfly completely. | D．To reduce the losses of local farmers. |
| A．California values the control of Medflies. | B．Using planes to drop Medflies saves money. |
| C．Jason Leathers is in charge of Medflies’ study. | D．The public care little about killing Medflies. |
| A．A research article. | B．A short story. | C．A news report. | D．An agricultural research. |
10 . Recently, a new kind of tourism has sprung up in China. Called “special forces style tourism”, this new kind of tourism features visiting as many scenic interests as possible in a short time and most of these visitors are college students.
A common student from Shanghai, Yu Yinghua, is one of them. The 22-year-old started the “special forces style tourism” in March after she was attracted by such experiences of Xiaohongshu travel bloggers. “Stuck in the school for almost three years due to the COVID-19, I’m hungry to take trips in my spare time,” said Yu.
“Making a plan carefully before hand is important,” Yu said. She added that as she selected every destination in the city, she was able to find a lot of information and learn more about these sites. That would help her save time when traveling on-site and enjoy the sites better. Her most recent trip was to Shanghai. Starting at 7 am, the 22-year-old visited nine local attractions. “That day, I walked almost 30,000 steps,” Yu said, “Though tired, I enjoyed the trip as much as days-long trips. It still lets me have a better understanding of the cities I go to.”
Unlike Yu who traveled in nearby cities, Chen Junjun, a doctoral student at Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, CAS, likes to travel far to free herself of academic stress. In April, the 24-year-old took a two-day trip to Xi’an, Shaanxi. During her trip, she visited all the scenic sites in the city. “With many academic responsibilities, such a trip can bring a splash of color to my stressful life!” said Chen.
Even so, the 24-year-old added that such tourism is not suitable for everyone. Chen said that it’s labor-consuming as visitors have to see so many sites in a short period. Such trips are not flexible as days-long trips in which you can change your plan as you like. “Thus, abundant energy and a calm mind are necessary for ‘special forces style tourism’,” said Chen.
1. Which statement about Yu’s trips is TRUE?| A．She likes to travel to faraway cities. |
| B．Her trips were limited due to the pandemic. |
| C．Having a careful plan in advance is not necessary. |
| D．Walking 30,000 steps a day is too much for her to finish. |
| A．It is more flexible than days-long trip. |
| B．It needs better physical and mental conditions. |
| C．It allows people to be under pressure of academy. |
| D．She encourages everyone to follow “special forces style tourism”. |
| A．Inspiring | B．Creative. | C．Pleasant | D．Tiring. |
| A．Sports. | B．Food. | C．Society. | D．Science. |
