Question

    Teenagers who start the school early are likely to weigh slightly more than those who start later. That’s the finding of a new study of nearly 30,000 Canadians between the ages of 10 and 18.

Getting too little sleep can put kids at risk for a number of problems. Sleepy teens are more likely to be overweight, to have trouble concentrating and to struggle in school. Genevieve Gariepy, who works at Mcgill University in Montreal, Canada, wanted to know how earlier school start times might be connected with weight.

“Overweight in teenagers is a big problem in North America,” she says. The number of overweight kids has grown over the past 30 years. So Gariepy decided to home in on the impact (影响) of school start times.

Her team collected start times for 362 Canadian schools. Then they asked students at those schools to give their height and weight. In all, they collected data from nearly 30,000 10 to 18-year-olds. Among 6th-to 10th-graders, those who started school earlier were likely to be slightly heavier for their height. Every 10-minute delay in school start time was connected, on average, with a lightly lower weight among students who were the same sex, age and height. However, the difference is slight. Healthy eating and getting enough exercise will play a bigger role in keeping a healthy weight.

Because the study compared kids who already started school at different times of day, it’s not clear that changing school start time would help heavier kids lose weight. To know for sure, researchers would want to compare the same kids before and after changing to a later school start time.

Still, the study is a good start, says Cora Collette Bruener, a doctor at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Washington. The findings add to a growing pile of evidence that later school start time might be better for teen health, she says.

1.What is the finding of the new study?

A.More and more teens are growing overweight.

B.Healthy diets and enough exercise help reduce weight.

C.Teens who start school earlier are a little overweight.

D.Teens who start school earlier do not perform well.

2.What does the underlined phrase “home in on” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A.reduce B.focus on

C.move to D.judge

3.How did Gariepy’s team get their finding?

A.By recording the teen’s weight. B.By checking the teen’s physical health.

C.By comparing different sets of data. D.By measuring the teen’s height.

4.What does Cora Collette Bruener think of the study?

A.It has inspiring value. B.It lacks further support.

C.It needs improving. D.It is well designed.

5.The passage is written to_______.

A.discuss when schools should start.

B.inform the finding of a recent study.

C.warn parents to take good care of kids.

D.call on school leaders to change schools’ schedules.

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.C

4.A

5.D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。新的研究表明每天较早上学的青少年可能比晚上学的青少年的体重多一些。上学时间晚一些可能对青少年的健康更好，因此作者呼吁学校领导更改学校的作息时间表。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段“Teenagers who start the school early are likely to weigh slightly more than those who start later. That’s the finding of a new study of nearly 30,000 Canadians between the ages of 10 and 18.”可知，每天较早上学的青少年可能比晚上学的青少年的体重多一些，这是对近30,000名10至18岁的加拿大人进行研究得出的结果。即新研究发现了每天较早上学的青少年可能有些超重。故选C。

2.词义猜测题。根据第三段中的“Overweight in teenagers is a big problem in North American,” she says. The number of overweight kids has grown over the past 30 years.”和第二段中的“Genevieve Gariepy, who works at Mcgill University in Montreal, Canada, wanted to know how earlier school start times might be connected with weight.”可知，在北美洲青少年超重是一个大问题。在过去30年中，超重儿童的数量有所增加。Gariepy想要知道较早的上学时间可能与体重有多大的关联。由此可以看出Gariepy想要关注较早的上学时间与体重之间的联系，即可推断出划线短语的意思是“关注”。focus on：致力于，对（某事或做某事）予以注意。故选B。

3.推理判断题。根据第四段中的“Among 6th-to 10th-graders, those who started school earlier were likely to be slightly heavier for their height. Every 10-minute delay in school start time was connected, on average, with a lightly lower weight among students who were the same sex, age and height.”可知，在6年级至10年级的学生中，较早入学的人相对于他们的身高而言可能体重稍重一些。平均而言，在同性别，年龄和身高的学生中，平均每延迟10分钟的上学时间，体重就会轻一点。因此可知，Gariepy的团队是通过比较不同的几组数据来得出结论的。故选C。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“Still, the study is a good start, says Cora Collette Bruener, a doctor at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Washington. The findings add to a growing pile of evidence that later school start time might be better for teen health, she says.”可知，华盛顿西雅图儿童医院的医生Cora Collette Bruener表示，这项研究是一个良好的开端。这些发现使越来越多的证据表明晚一些的上学时间可能对青少年的健康更好。因此 Cora Collette Bruener认为这项研究具有启发性的价值。故选A。

5.推理判断题。由第4小题的分析可知，晚一些的上学时间可能对青少年的健康更好。因此作者写这篇文章的目的是呼吁学校领导更改学校的时间表。故选D。