D
What's driving the rise of obesity in the United States? A group of economists argued in a recent study that big-box grocers, warehouse clubs and fast-food restaurants are key contributors to the county's obesity epidemic(流行病).
General economic factors, ranging from unemployment to income, as well as the financial
or time costs of eating and physical activity account for 43 percent of the rise in obesity, according to a recent study published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, as the adult obesity rate in the United States has surged from 13 percent in 1960 to 35 percent in 2012.
"Supercenter/warehouse club expansion and increasing numbers of restaurants are the leading drivers of the results," the study concluded. "We show that supercenter/warehouse club density increases the probability of weight loss attempts, raising the possibility that cheap food from these retailers triggers self- control problems."
The study suggests that the rise of supercenters and warehouse clubs, like Walmart and Costco, may impact Americans' eating habits as they make calorie-rich food cheaper and more accessible, and save customers a lot of time.
"Food's gotten cheaper and more readily available, so we eat more of it. It's really simple," said Charles Courtemanche, co- author of the study and a health economist at Georgia State University, in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR). "At least a sizable portion of the rise in obesity can be characterized as response to economic incentives."
Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30, leads to adverse health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressures and stroke.
Obesity has become a major public health concern in the United States as the nation has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
1.What does the underlined word “trigger”mean?
A. Cause. B. Raise.
C. Solve. D. Explain.
2.From the passage we can infer _____.
A. the writer are opposed to fast-food restaurants .
B. 43 percent of the Americans are overweight.
C. America people begin to be concerned about obesity problem.
D. calorie-rich food are becoming much more expensive.
3.As reasons for obesity , which of the following hasn’t been mentioned in the passage?
A. Unemployment. B. Physical activity.
C. Eating time. D. Genes.
4.What is the writer’s purpose to write this passage?
A. To do research into people’s eating habit.
B. To analyze the reasons for people’s becoming fat.
C. To tell people calorie-rich food is bad for health.
D. To introduce the boom of big-box grocers.
5.In which column of a newspaper can you find this passage?
A. Anecdote. B. Life.
C. Business. D. Science.
C
Not enough American students want to be engineers, mathematicians, or scientists. The Obama administration wants to change that. They are spending money to do it. The government will invest three billion dollars in the education of young Americans in science, technology, engineering, and math. The four areas together are known as STEM.
Many jobs in the STEM fields will open in the coming years. The U.S. government's investment aims to increase the number of Americans who can take those jobs.
Yet girls appear far less interested in STEM subjects than boys. Only 25 percent of STEM students are girls.
Camsie McAdams is at the U.S. Education Department. She says girls simply do not feel welcomed in STEM subjects. Ms. McAdams says young women look at industries such as engineering and computer science and see most of the leaders are men.
Debbie Sterling is an engineer. She invented a construction toy for girls. The name of the toy is "Goldie Blox." Ms. Sterling hopes Goldie Blox will help girls develop spatial skills. Spatial skills help engineers and builders to think about objects in three dimensions.
To interest girls, Sterling created the character "Goldie." Goldie does not care about beauty or clothes. Goldie tells stories, solves difficult problems and creates pretend worlds.
Experts say parents should do more than just buy toys to interest their girls in STEM subjects. They should also provide a good education. At school, girls should participate in projects that require teamwork and creative thinking.
Women in scientific and technical jobs are also working to encourage young women to explore STEM. One is Anu Tewary. She studied Applied Physics and worked for technology companies. After she had a daughter, she started Technovation Challenge. The challenge is an international competition for young women from 10 to 18 years old.
Technovation offers girls the opportunity to learn how to start a company and become high-tech entrepreneurs. Since 2009, over 2,500 girls from 28 countries have developed 650 mobile phone applications. They learned to launch start-up companies through Technovation.
There's a good chance that soon, more young women using mobile phones will also be developing programs for them.
1.Why don’t the girls take jobs related to STEM subjects?
A. Because they are less intelligent than boys.
B. Because they are forbidden to.
C. Because they lack interest and certain skills.
D. Because they are not welcomed.
2.What should parents do to interest girls to enter STEM field?
A. Just buy some toys for them.
B. Encourage them to take these subjects.
C. Explain to them the advantages of these subjects.
D. Attract them by giving them some rewards.
3.The character "Goldie" can help _____.
A. to improve the ability of telling stories
B. to develop spatial skills
C. to learn some knowledge of dressing up
D. to enlarge vocabulary
4.Which statement is the writer likely to agree with?
A. Girls are as intelligent as boys.
B. Jobs in the STEM fields aren’t available for girls.
C. The government is satisfied with the current situation in STEM.
D. Girls are looked down upon in jobs related to STEM.
5.Which of the following is right about Technovation Challenge?
A. It was founded by the government.
B. It is intended for girls of all ages.
C. It helps girl to overcome difficulties in their life.
D. It gives girls chances to learn knowledge about technology companies.
B
It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words, “a brilliantly written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.
And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out), I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten. But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s really brilliant.
The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven’t read him, but haven’t lied about it either) and Herman Melville.
Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in–depth!
But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story (I’ll come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).
1.What is the meaning of the underlined word “liar”?
A. A person who hates books.
B. A person who tells lies.
C. A person who loves reading.
D. A person who is honest with everything.
2.From the second paragraph we can know _____.
A. only 42 percent of people have read George Orwell’s 1984
B. two thirds of people haven’t read a book.
C. “Dreams From My Father” is listed the first of the top ten books
D. the writer haven’t read all of the top ten books
3.Why does a person lie about books?
A. Because they want to appear learned.
B. Because they want to attract others’ attention.
C. Because they do so out of habit.
D. Because they want to play tricks on others.
4.Which of the following statement is right?
A. The writer often leaves a book unfinished.
B. The writer was once caught out for telling lies.
C. The writer often reads the end of a book first before finishing the story.
D. The writer likes Barack Obama from the very beginning.
5.What do you think of the author?
A. Thoughtful and talkative.
B. Smart and helpful.
C. knowledgeable and experienced.
D. Wise and honest.
A
While reading a story on 20-somethings complaining about how the economy is ruining their life plans, I couldn't help but think the 20-somethings sound like a bunch of spoiled children who grow up expecting everything to be easy for them. As a 20-something myself, I certainly share their disappointment –my husband and I probably won't be able to buy a house until we're in our forties, and we two are burdened by student loans. But why should it be different? Being young people in America, shouldn't they take up all of the challenges and opportunities that this country offers?
Consider some of these views shared in the story: Jennifer, 29, owner of a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, worries that she won't be able to have children for at least a decade because they can't afford to buy a house yet.
I read that, and I thought what planet she is living on where you need to own a house in order to have kids? Has she ever visited a developing country, or even downtown areas in this one? Home ownership is a luxury（奢华）, not a fertility requirement.
A 26-year-old man in the story is disappointed that he can't afford to get a Ph. D. in literature. Well, that sounds a bit like expressing disappointment that no one will pay you to write poetry on the beach in Thailand for five years.
Yes, it's sad that these young people feel so lost. But I think the problem is their extremely high expectations, not economic reality. Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, says that she thinks people's expectations grow up when their wealth appears to be increasing. Their parents probably see their home values rise along with their investments. "So we have people who have grown up in an environment where people have great expectations of what living well means," says Kobliner.
This recession（经济衰退） will certainly play a role in forcing those expectations into more realistic group. In the meantime, it seems much better for our mental health to focus on being grateful—for our one-bedroom apartments, for living in modern cities, or perhaps just for being able to eat three meals a day—than on longing for some kind of luxurious life.
1.In the passage, the writer mainly talked about _____.
A. young people’s high expectations result in their disappointment
B. the 20-somethings' high expectations and ambitions
C. the poor living conditions of the 20-somethings
D. the necessity of receiving high education
2.In the writer’s opinion, what is the reason for young people’s dissatisfaction?
A. The declining economy.
B. Their high expectations.
C. Poor living conditions.
D. Their constant failure.
3.What are some young people complaining about?
A. They are complaining their aims are hard to achieve.
B. They are complaining their parents can’t give them a good education.
C. They are complaining they can’t afford to travel abroad.
D. They are complaining poor economic condition is ruining their life.
4.How can we describe the writer?
A. Lost and disappointed. B. Passive and stressed.
C. Determined and helpful. D. Positive and grateful.
5.The passage is developed mainly by ________.
A．facts and descriptions
B．comparison and persuasion
C．examples and explanation
D．figures and conclusion
Just the sounds of the 1960 movie thriller Psycho may be enough to get your heart racing. Even when we may not be aware of it, 1. (hear ) music can affect our bodies as 2. ( good)as our minds. But are the physiological effects of music unique 3. one culture or are they more general?
4. (find )out the answer, researchers enlisted 40 Canadians from downtown Montreal and 40 Pygmies from the Congo rainforest. All the volunteers 5. ( listen) to musical clips from the movies Star Wars and Schindler's List, and to music from Pygmy culture.
As the 6. ( participate)listened, the researchers observed their 7. ( emotion) reactions, as well as changes in heart rate, breathing rate and palm-sweat production. The two groups disagreed about whether a particular musical selection was happy or sad. But they all had similar levels of arousal.
These findings suggest that some aspects of how we react to music are universal, rather 8. strictly cultural.
The study 9. (publish )in the journal Frontiers in Psychology last month. It showed fundamental acoustical（音响的） features seem to be responsible for the similar responses of the Canadians and the Congolese Pygmies.
Does that finding mean that science can help create the world's most 10. (universe )catching pop song?
Late one night, a thief crept into a wealthy merchant’s
house. He was a young thief, without . In fact, this was his first professional appearance. So he had planned everything .
All went marvelously well at first. He found, as he expected , an open window and got into the room . But, stepping his way through the room, he stubbed (碰到) his bare toe against a table leg. Choking back a cry of , terrified of waking the merchant, he hit himself the forehead and called himself a fool. He had forgot to bring a light.
In the darkness, however , he was able to see an oil lamp on the table, and it, then he gave a of relief. As he picked up the lamp, a small spider came out from under its .
“Thank you for saving my life,” said the spider. “Before he went to bed, the merchant set this lamp down on top of me so I couldn’t . If you hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have lasted the night; indeed, I’d have extremely uncomfortable situation for a long time.”
“You have saved a life and shown , ”the spider went on, although the impatient thief said he had not intended to do so. “Better yet, you have done so without the least thought or hope of . You have gained more merits (优点) than you could possibly imagine.”
“But you’re only a spider,” said the thief.
“And you’re only a .” said the spider. “My dear friend, when you understand that life is life, whether on eight or two , you will have understood much. Your deed, in any case, has got rid of the bad things from your heart. Go from here with a fresh spirit. And good luck to you.”
The thief did so and never thought to again.
1.A.money B. experience C. parents D. ambition
2.A. hurriedly B. calmly C. actively D. carefully
3.A. easily B. comfortably C. skillfully D. eventually
4.A. furnished B. cozy C. dark D. bright
5.A. excitement B. delight C. surprise D. pain
6.A. on B. in C. to D. at
7.A. hid B. stole C. lit D. took
8.A. sigh B. sign C. signal D. applause
9.A. cap B. cover C. base D. top
10.A. adapt B. resist C. survive D. escape
11.A. sympathy B. curiosity C. care D. honesty
12.A. dignity B. reward C. profit D. award
13.A. spider B. merchant C. man D. thief
14.A. legs B. hands C. heads D. arms
15.A. escape B. flee C. return D. steal
