This may sound like a joke about a lazy person's dream job. Earn big money by staying in bed and watching TV. But this is really happening, and it's a project of NASA and two European space agencies the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the Cologne-based German Aerospace Center and the European Space Agency. It's called Artificial Gravity Bed Rest Study, aimed at studying how the body adapts to weightlessness in space.
Scientists are seeking 12 women to spend two full months in bed in the fall at a German lab, plus an additional month there for preparation and recovery. The first 12 test subjects, all men, already have started the study.
Participants spend two entire months in bed and remain lying down even to do everyday things like eating, drinking and exercising. They also answer nature's call and shower, but it's unclear from the NASA website how those tasks are accomplished in bed.
"Daily routine showering, getting dressed, eating, exercising takes much time when you cannot stand up to do them," says the website, adding that there is "continuous data collection", including blood pressure, heart rate, nutrient absorption and also the participants' feelings. Study subjects will spend the 60 days with their heads tilted(倾斜)down six degrees, which imitates(模仿)conditions in space.
Participants are encouraged to pass the time by watching TV, taking online courses, reading and any other activities they can perform while lying down alone in bed to relieve what could be boredom. Family and friends are allowed to visit.
The high $ 18,500 payment for two months of lazing about is probably a major motivation for people willing to go through something this extreme. However, if you're an American who really needs the money, you probably can't afford it. Candidates need to travel to Cologne four times at their own expense for the employment process between April and July. Plus, they need strong German-speaking skills. Also participants need to be nonsmokers between ages 24 and 55, in good health, with normal body weight.
1.What are participants expected to do during the study?
A.Report their feelings regularly. B.Complete their daily routines in bed.
C.Keep their bodies tilted down six degrees. D.Record their physical responses every day.
2.What data about the participants will the researchers collect?
A.The changes in their weight. B.Their behaviors to weightlessness.
C.The ways they do their daily things. D.Their physical and mental reactions
3.What will be a challenge for the participants?
A.The language skills they need. B.The difficulty meeting family.
C.The possibility that they feel dull. D.The slow discovery of their health.
4.The requirements for potential participants are .
A.challenging for Americans B.tailored to thin persons
C.easy for the youth to satisfy D.suitable for most people
Has the volume(音量)in a restaurant ever nude you finish your meal early? If so, you're not alone. Restaurants handle diners in various ways to influence food choices and consumption, from lighting to menu to server presentation. Unfortunately for those headache-prone restaurant goers, some places also choose to turn up the tunes and the background noise.
Chef Mario Batali is often blamed for the phenomenon of ultra-loud or noisy restaurants in the 1990s, when he decided to flood the dining room with the same loud tunes he was playing in his kitchen. And other chefs followed suit. Some restaurateurs felt a "livelier" atmosphere encouraged more customers, but a side "benefit" was quicker table turnover, thus increasing the number of people who could dine in a specific evening.
A 1985 study out of Fairfield University looked at how chewing speed varied according to the type of music being played. Although the volume level was kept the same for both musical situations, it's important to note that fast-tempo(节奏)music often gives the impression of being louder than slower music.
"A significant increase in the number of bites per minute was found, and the effect was largest for fast music," the researchers wrote in the study. So, the faster, louder music gets people to down their food more quickly, relieving the table for future customers.
There're opinions about whether or not this is a sound practice. "A restaurant that places profit above dining experience often plays loud music with a fast tempo that puts diners under pressure to eat more quickly, even if that means they're less able to enjoy their meal," writes Dr. Neel Burton in Psychology Today, adding that loud, fast music reduces appetite.
What's more, some would-be repeat diners will shy away for fear of another ultra-loud meal. The non-profit group Action on Hearing Loss found in a 2016 survey of nearly 1,500 people that 91% of those who view a restaurant as too noisy would choose not to return.
1.Why did some bosses of the restaurants favour loud music?
A.It might help attract more customers.
B.It was the favorite kind of music of them.
C.It made the restaurants softer and sweeter.
D.It could increase the popularity of their restaurants
2.What plays the most important role in the effect of music on diners?
A.Its content. B.Its length.
C.Its speed. D.Its quality.
3.What is Dr. Neel Burton's attitude towards flooding restaurants with noisy music?
A.Doubtful. B.Disapproving.
C.Positive. D.Uncaring
4.What could be a suitable title for the text?
A.What People Think of Loud Restaurants
B.Are Customers Made to Eat Quickly?
C.Why Loud Restaurants Are Popular Today
D.Does Loud Music Really Benefit Restaurants?
As I was leaving the gym last week, I greeted a friend who was coming in. He responded without looking up from his phone. I stood there for a few awkward seconds, hoping for eye contact. He finally looked up briefly, apologetically, before returning to the screen. I walked on, feeling shaken.
It turns out I was phubbed, which is a term for snubbing(冷落)someone in favor of a phone. And research has found that phubbing does have negative (消极的)impacts on personal relationships, reducing the quality of communication and level of satisfaction.
Recently I've noticed that it's impossible to go out with friends and have their attention for the whole time, There're always phones on the table, and they're constantly being checked. When the slightest pause in conversation arises, or if someone gets up from the table briefly, people seize their phones to check in with the rest of the world to see what else is going On.
It used to be that going out together was confidence-boosting solid reassurance(安慰)that another person enjoyed your company, otherwise they wouldn't accept but not now. Now, you're constantly attracting attention，competing with a portable supercomputer. When someone is looking at their phone, you're never sure if they actually want to be with you.
The modern-day equivalent of this is scrolling(滚屏)and texting. Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was trying for connection with the friend, who was attracted by it refusing to put away his phone and made me feel awful.
I don't want to be that person. I don't want my actions to make anyone feel the way I did that day. So from now on I'm going to make a point of not letting digital distractions damage the relationships I hold so dear. It's not worth it. Nothing on that screen is ever more important than the person standing right in front of me.
1.Why does the author describe his greeting with a friend in the gym last week?
A.To introduce what phubbing is. B.To show the misuse of phones.
C.To draw the readers' attention. D.To voice his opinion about phubbing.
2.What is the third paragraph mainly about?
A.Phones are bad for communication. B.Phones are used widely in the world.
C.Phubbing is making people suffer. D.Phubbing is a common phenomenon.
3.What will happen when you're snubbing someone according to the author?
A.People will enjoy your company. B.You will lose the trust of others.
C.You will damage others' confidence. D.People will feel truly connected.
4.What does the word "it" underlined in paragraph 5 refer to?
A.Being companied. B.Scrolling and texting.
C.The table. D.The phone.
Four Citizen-science Projects
Climate change is difficult to handle. but this doesn't mean people are just sitting on the sidelines waiting for the unavoidable. Everyone can join in fighting climate change. Scistarter and Zooniverse are two websites that list citizen-science projects in which you can take part. Here are some of them:
·MeadoWatch
This project, out of the University of Washington, is looking at how climate change is affecting wildflowers on Mount Rainier. Volunteers collect data along hiking tracks about when wildflowers bud. flower, fruit and produce seeds. The project is also collecting photos of wildflowers from across Mount Rainier National Park.
·Great Backyard Bird Count
For four days every February, volunteers around the world count birds in 15 minutes. These observations can be made anywhere, including your own backyard. The counts provide scientists snapshots of data on where birds are found and how many there are. Since the count has been going on for over 20 years, researchers can now answer questions about how these patterns may be changing with time.
·Water Monitoring in Minnesota
Residents(居民)of Minnesota can sign up to be a volunteer water monitor for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Volunteers are arranged to a lake or stream. Twice a month during the summer, they take measurements of water clarity. Those data let the government see whether water clarity has been changing over time as well as assess the health of those waterways.
·Redmap
Gretta Peel is a marine(海的)ecologist in Australia at the University of Tasmania in Hobart. She studies where marine species(物种)are moving in response to climate change. She set up a program called Redmap. It asks people to report "uncommon" marine species they've seen in Australian waters. "We wanted to have an early indication of what species were moving where they live,” she explains.
1.Which project should be most appealing to people interested in wildflowers?
A.Redmap. B.Meado Watch.
C.Great Backyard Bird Count. D.Water Monitoring in Minnesota.
2.What are you required to do if you take part in Water Monitoring in Minnesota?
A.Educate local people on bird behavior.
B.Explore causes of your local climate problems.
C.Collect relevant data and even report them.
D.Protect the local water from pollution.
3.What is the similarity among the four projects?
A.They are started by famous universities.
B.They aim to raise environmental awareness.
C.They are mainly open to environmentalists
D.They focus on fighting climate change.
假定你是李华，来自美国的文化交流团将来你所在的社区参观，你负责接待工作。请你用英语写一份欢迎辞，向他们介绍你们的社区生活。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：社区 community
Dear guests，
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阅读下列短文并回答问题。
Have you had a headache during a test? Have you ever been so worried about something that you have a headache or even can't sleep at night? If so, then you know what stress is. Stress is what you feel when you are worried about something. This worry in your mind can make your body feel bad. You may feel angry, sad, scared, or afraid — all these can give you a stomachache or a headache.
However, there are different kinds of stress. Some kinds of stress are good and others are bad. Good stress might happen when you're called to answer questions in class or when you have to give a speech. This kind of stress can help you to get things better done. For example, you may do a better job on your test if the stress pushes you to prepare better before the test.
On the other hand, bad stress can happen if the stress lasts too long. You may not feel well if your parents are fighting, if a family member is sick, if you're having problems at school, or if anything else makes you unhappy every day. That kind of stress isn't going to help you. And it can actually make you sick.
The best way to fight the stress is to have a balanced life. Make sure you keep yourself in mind: sleep, exercise, leisure (休闲), and food. If you get enough sleep and eat properly, and if you exercise and leave time for fun, you'll probably feel less stressed.
1.What is stress according to the text? (No more than 15 words.)
2.Why are some kinds of stress good? (No more than 15 words.)
3.What’s the main idea of paragraph 3? (No more than 10 words.)
4.List four things that can keep you away from stress according to the text? (No more than 8 words.)
5.How do you solve it when you are very stressed? (No more than 15 words.)
