We know that sugary sodas aren’t good for our bodies. Now it turns out that they may not be good for our minds, either. A new study of more than 260,000 people has found a link between sweetened soft-drinks and depression, and diet sodas may be making matters worse.
Americans drink far more sodas than people in other countries— as much as 170 liters per person per year. But the impact of this study isn’t limited to the United States. “Sweetened drinks, coffee and tea are commonly consumed worldwide and have important physical consequences. And they may have important mental-health consequences as well,” study author Dr Honglei Chen said in a statement.
The study studied 263,925 people between the ages of 50 and 71. Researchers followed their consumption of drinks like soda, tea coffee, and other soft drinks from 1995 to 1996 and then. 10 years later, asked them if they had been diagnosed with depression since the year 2000. More than 11,3000 of them had.
Participants who drank more than four servings of sodas per day were 30 percent more likely to develop depression than participants who did not drink sodas at all. People who stuck with fruit punch(鸡尾酒), had a 38 percent higher risk than people who didn’t drink sweetened drinks. And all that extra sugar isn’t the actual problem. Researchers say that the artificial sweetener aspartame may be to blame.
The study found a link but could not surely determine whether sodas and other sweet soft drinks cause depression. Still, the results “are consistent with a small but growing body of evidence suggesting that artificially sweetened beverages may be linked to poor health outcomes.”
But there’s a bright side for those who can’t live without their daily sodas. Adults who drank coffee had a 10 percent lower risk of depression compared to people who didn’t drink any coffee, according to the study. “Our research suggests that cutting out or down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee may naturally help lower your depression risk,” said Chen.
小题1:What has the new study of more than 260,000 people found?| A．Sugary sodas aren’t good for the physical health of old people. | | B．Americans have a special tooth for sweet foods. | | C．Sweetened soft-drinks may increase the risk of depression. | | D．Sweetened soft-drinks have important physical consequences. |
小题2:What do we know about the process of the study?| A．About twenty-six thousand people participated in it. | | B．The oldest participants were below 80 when the study was over. | | C．Most of the participants had depression when the study was over. | | D．The study lasted more than ten years from the beginning to the end. |
小题3:We infer that the underlined word “aspartame” in Paragraph 4 refers to something that _____.| A．can reduce the harm of sweetened drinks | | B．is used to reduce the risk of depression | | C．is mainly used to make fruit punch | | D．is used to make something .sweet |
小题4:It is implied in the passage that ______.| A．more research is needed to confirm the new findings | | B．the new findings aren’t consistent with any previous findings | | C．cutting one’s sodas intake will surely reduce one’s depression | | D．the new findings won’t have an impact on people’s drinking habits |
小题5:What should you drink in order to reduce the risk of depression?| A．Sodas. | | B．Unsweetened coffee. | | C．Sugary coffee. | | D．Fruit punch. |
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小题1:C
小题2:D
小题3:D
小题4:A
小题5:B |
试题分析：这篇短文主要通过一项为期十年的研究,讲述了含糖软饮料对于健康的危害,但是想要确认这种危害还需要进一步的研究.
小题1:根据第一段A new study of more than 260,000 people has found a link between sweetened soft-drinks and depression, and diet sodas may be making matters worse.及下文描述,可知甜味软饮料可能增加抑郁症的危险.故选C.
小题2:根据短文第三段from 1995 to 1996 and then. 10 years later, 描述,可知这项研究持续了十年的时间.故选D.
小题3:联系前文the artificial sweetener 人工甜味剂,可知此处指的是,用来让某物甜的东西.故选D.
小题4:根据短文倒数第二段The study found a link but could not surely determine whether sodas and other sweet soft drinks cause depression. 描述,可知为了确认这些新发现,需要做更多的研究.故选A.
小题5:这篇短文主要讲述的是甜味软饮料的危害,选项ACD都属于甜味软饮料,故选B,无糖咖啡. |
核心考点
试题【We know that sugary sodas aren’t good for our bodies. Now it turns out that they】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
First stop, weather: Sunny day. Look outside the window. Oh, no, it isn’t. Second stop, Air Quality Index: 344, dangerous, Level 6 Severely Polluted. Mental recheck required: It really is a sunny day and the weather app isn’t lying or in need of being replaced, it’s just that you can’t see the sun through the thick fog. Note to self: Cycling to work is out, face mask is in.
Has the world stopped turning? News app merely confirms that it’s business as usual. Another government has fallen, your soccer team has lost again, and China’s economy is still increasing steadily.
Diary app informs you of all the things you failed to do the previous day and loads you up with another half-dozen tasks. Next, browse a couple of social networking apps to determine the status updates of friends.
Another sound from the phone, it’s a message from your significant friend who is already at work, saying the Taobao. com order for Italian cheese is about to arrive.
Apps have become part of our “every-moment” lives. Apps provide so much information. But the dark side to all this connectivity would be lack of privacy, being a slave to the app. The only real problem is that once you lose your smartphone, you lose your life.
Some friends and family do not have smartphones, but prefer the old-fashioned Nokia that merely makes phone calls and sends instant messages. While I respect their purity and desire to be free of the control of technology, it’s obvious they are outsiders, and their lives are loaded up with paper and old devices. They’re still buying books at stores, complaining the lack of CDs on the market, watching TV and missing out on complete news cycles. Though I would add, they have lives that aren’t spent inside small screens.
My phone is a palm-sized one-stop shop and about the only thing it doesn’t do is teleport（心灵运输）. What’s not to like?
小题1:The functions of apps mentioned in the passage can be listed as follows EXCEPT that _______.| A．the apps can show you weather forecast | | B．the apps can tell you how to work directly | | C．the apps can inform you the latest news | | D．the apps can tell you what you failed to do |
小题2: According to the passage, the author thinks that _______.| A．people’s life is governed by apps | | B．people feel bored about the use of apps | | C．people can’t live without apps | | D．people hate apps with powerful functions |
小题3:It can be inferred from the last paragraph but one that _______.| A．more and more people like Nokia more than apps | | B．using Nokia can be free of the control of technology | | C．all people don’t like the advanced smartphones | | D．ordinary people don’t like shopping online |
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An Ofsted (英国教育标准办公室）study reports that teachers are discouraging students who want to leave school and work as apprentices (学徒）in beauty salons (美容中心）or hair dressers.
Inspectors questioned 105 young people for a report on apprenticeships published on Wednesday. They found several examples of young people who felt they had been laughed at by their teachers for wanting to progress to work-based learning, particularly in care or hairdressing, rather than stay on at school.
Right or wrong, is it any surprise that this is happening? From 2014，the government will measure schools according to the rate of their pupils who go to university. Brian Lightman , general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says the government has already put teachers under “very great pressure to focus on academic subjects”
On the other hand, the Education Act 2011，which came into force in November, places schools under a duty to give fair career advice to pupils. This advice must include information on all post-16 education and training choices, including apprenticeships. This doesn’t appear to be happening in several schools, according to Ofsted9S report. Many of the young people the inspectors talked to said the advice they had received on apprenticeships was “unsatisfactory”.
Schools were also blamed for lack of work experience courses, which are particularly important for teenagers considering an apprenticeship. They help students decide whether they enjoy a line of work and enable employers to see whether those on work experience have the potential to be hired as apprentices in future years.
But there is a good reason why they can’t do this: they’d be unable to adapt to GCSE (英国齊通中等教育证书）exams if they did. Sometimes, it seems, schools just can’t win.
小题1:Why do teachers oppose the students’ leaving school and working as apprentices?| A．The government urges teachers to concentrate on academic subjects. | | B．The students are only wasting time working as apprentices. | | C．Employers are under great pressure of taking GCSE exams. | | D．Employers don’t give students chances to work as apprentices |
小题2:Pressure for schools to provide pupils with career advice comes from ______. | A．Association of School and College Leaders | | B．Education Act 2011 | | C．GCSE exams | | D．OFSTED |
小题3:The underlined word “They” in Paragraph 5 refers to _____. | A．schools | | B．employers | | C．work experience courses | | D．teenagers considering an apprenticeship |
小题4:What does the author think of teachers’ discouraging students working as apprentices?| A．Surprising | B．Understandable | | C．Wrong | D．Right |
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
This morning, as I was getting close to the supermarket, I saw a small 36 gathering around an elderly woman with blood under her face. I stopped and asked if I could 37 . I told her I was certified（授予证书的）in first aid. Then I 38 someone for a first aid kit（工具箱）. But she didn’t want help, saying she was fine. But she wasn’t fine. I asked her to 39 with me and we 40 about her routine of getting groceries. People brought out ice packs, water and paper towels from the 41 nearby. I put on the gloves from the first aid kit, and cleaned her up a bit, but 42 I just talked to her and held her hand.
Two 43 happened to be passing by and 44 to help check her out a bit. Finally, after ten minutes the 45 arrived and I talked to the emergency medical team and they __46 .
I was certified in first aid years back, and I got re-certified a month ago, but I never 47 it once. However, I realized being certified isn’t 48 about providing the aid. I didn’t stop the bleeding. I didn’t 49 to examine her. Mostly it was about providing comfort for people in a difficult 50 . The certification gave me the 51 to do that: to kneel on the sidewalk, holding an old woman’s hand, and to help make those _ 52 few minutes just a little bit better.
If you’re not certified in first aid, I can’t 53 it strongly enough. It takes four hours of your time at your 54 Red Cross. With what you’ll 55 , maybe you’ll be able to help someone like the old lady one day.
| 小题1: | | A．people | B．public | C．traffic | D．crowd |
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| 小题2: | | A．watch out | B．look out | C．help out | D．make out |
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| 小题3: | | A．paid | B．sent | C．applied | D．scolded |
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| 小题4: | | A．stay | B．walk | C．accompany | D．shop |
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| 小题5: | | A．looked | B．cared | C．talked | D．quarreled |
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| 小题6: | | A．hospital | B．supermarket | C．station | D．office |
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| 小题7: | | A．mostly | B．maybe | C．simply | D．extremely |
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| 小题8: | | A．policemen | B．volunteers | C．clerks | D．doctors |
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| 小题9: | | A．refused | B．stopped | C．lay | D．woke |
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| 小题10: | | A．ambulance | B．family | C．driver | D．officer |
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| 小题11: | | A．operated on | B．turned up | C．ran away | D．took over |
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| 小题12: | | A．liked | B．noticed | C．used | D．met |
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| 小题13: | | A．necessarily | B．possibly | C．hopefully | D．commonly |
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| 小题14: | | A．want | B．teach | C．permit | D．try |
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| 小题15: | | A．place | B．situation | C．life | D．position |
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| 小题16: | | A．harm | B．confidence | C．lesson | D．wish |
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| 小题17: | | A．confusing | B．moving | C．scary | D．friendly |
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| 小题18: | | A．recommend | B．demand | C．support | D．explain |
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| 小题19: | | A．formal | B．national | C．local | D．private |
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| 小题20: | | A．recognize | B．offer | C．allow | D．Learn |
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Exhausted and unhappy, you still have to squeeze a smile to your friends, or teachers. That’s just life, you may think. But new research suggests that putting on a fake smile can worsen people’s mood and even lower work efficiency.
Lead researcher Brent Scott with other researchers studied a group of bus drivers for two weeks. They tried to find out what happened when the drivers were involved in “surface acting” or fake smiling, and the opposite, “deep acting” which means people put on real smiles by recalling pleasant memories or thinking about their current situation more positively.
The results showed that on days when drivers were forced to smile, they felt depressed and didn’t want to work. On days when they smiled due to positive thoughts, their mood improved a lot as well as their work efficiency.
The research goes against the popular belief among companies that employees should be cheerful to customers at all times. They include employees of shops, banks, call center workers and others who have face-to-face contact with members of the public. “Smiling for the sake of(为了) smiling can lead to emotional exhaustion and coldness, and that’s bad for the organization,” Scott told the Daily Mail.
The study also showed that women were harmed more by fake smiling than men. Their mood and work performance both worsened more. But they were helped more by deep acting — their mood became better and they worked more efficiently.
However, while deep acting seemed to improve mood in the short term, Scott says it’s not a long-term solution for unhappiness.
“There have been some suggestions that if you do this over a long period that you start to feel inauthentic(不真实的),” Scott said. “You may be trying to cultivate positive emotions, but at the end of the day you may not feel like yourself anymore.”
小题1:Brent Scott and others’ experiments on bus drivers suggest that ______.| A．depression among bus drivers is common | | B．thinking in a positive way helps with work efficiency | | C．bus drivers with pleasant memories tend to be less efficient | | D．the bus drivers’ work efficiency is determined by their mood |
小题2:According to the article, which of the following statements about “fake smiling” is TRUE?| A．It is good for the business but bad for the employees. | | B．It doesn’t work on people who are emotionally expressive. | | C．It is a widely accepted cultural practice in the US. | | D．It causes more harm to women than men. |
小题3:We can conclude from the article that the researchers think that ______.| A．people should be true to their feelings | | B．smiling helps to put people in a good mood and become more efficient | | C．it is unnecessary to cultivate positive emotions | | D．deep acting can improve mood in the long run |
小题4:The article is mainly about ______.| A．the importance of smiling during face-to-face contact | | B．a new study on fake smiling and its influence on people | | C．suggestions on improving work efficiency | | D．how to cheer up when you are exhausted |
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Our senses aren"t just delivering a strict view of what’s going on in the world; they"re affected by what’s going on in our heads. A new study finds that hungry people see food-related words more clearly than people who"ve just eaten.
Psychologists have known for decades that what"s going on inside our head affects our senses. For example, poorer children think coins are larger than they are, and hungry people think pictures of food are brighter. Rémi Radel of University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France, wanted to investigate how this happens.
Does it happen right away as the brain receives signals from the eyes or a little later as the brain’s high-1evel thinking processes get involved. Radel recruited 42 students with a normal body mass index. On the day of his or her test, each student was told to arrive at the lab at noon after three or four hours of not eating. Then they were told there was a delay. Some were told to come back in 10 minutes; others were given an hour to get lunch first. So half the students were hungry when they did the experiment and the other half had just eaten.
For the experiment, the participant looked at a computer screen. One by one, 80 words flashed on the screen for about l/300th of a second each. They flashed at so small a size that the students could only consciously perceive. A quarter of the words were food-related. After each word, each person was asked how bright the word was and asked to choose which of two words they’d seen-a food-related word like cake or a neutral word like boat. Each word appeared too briefly for the participant to really read it.
Hungry people saw the food-related words as brighter and were better at identifying food- related words. Because the word appeared too quickly for them to be reliably seen, this means that the difference is in perception, not in thinking processes, Radel says. "This is something great to me. Humans can really perceive what they need or what they strive for. From the experiment, I know that our brain can really be at the disposal of our motives and needs. "Radel says.
小题1:Why was there a delay on the day of the experiment?| A．Because hungry people needed time to fill their stomach. | | B．Because Radel wanted to create two groups of testers, hungry and non-hungry. | | C．Because noon was not the right time for any experiment. | | D．Because Radel needed time to select participants in terms of body mass index. |
小题2:What does the writer want to tell us?| A．Human’s senses aren’t just delivering a strict view of what’s going on in the world. | | B．What’s perceived by our senses affects our way of thinking. | | C．Human brains can really be at the disposal of our motives and needs. | | D．Thinking processes guarantee the normal functions of our senses. |
小题3:What can we infer from the passage?| A．42 participants are too small a number for a serious investigation. | | B．An experiment with hungry and non-hungry participants is not reliable. | | C．Our thinking processes are independent of our senses. | | D．Humans can perceive what they need without involving high-level thinking processes |
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