题目列表(包括答案和解析)
Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular free time activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don’t run the streets. Every one of them automatical
ly heads to the park or the river. It is my firm belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.
But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.
The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD (多动症). Those whose housing had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.
A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, the entire school would do better in studies.
Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play, and the social hierarc
hy was now based on imagination and creativity.
Most bullying (恃强凌弱) is found in schools w
here there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School, with its hard tarmac, where I used to hang about in corners dreaming about wildlife.
But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.
One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.
The life of old people is much better when they have access to nature. The most important for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.
In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.
Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in his study, “A natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its process helps reduce anger and behavior that people might regret later.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason
, no matter how small their contribution.
We tend to think human beings are doing nature some kind of favor when we are protecting nature. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is damaging.
Human beings are a species of animals. For seven million years we lived on the planet as part of nature. So we miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a glass of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that.
We need the wild world.
It is necessary to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without other living things around us we are less than human.
【小题1】What is the author’s firm belief?
| A．People seek nature in different ways. |
| B．People should spend most of their lives in the wild. |
| C．People have quite different ideas of nature. |
| D．People must make more efforts to study nature. |
| A．Personal freedom. | B．Things that are natural. |
| C．Urban surroundings. | D．Things that are purchased. |
| A．tend to develop a strong love for science |
| B．are more likely to dream about wildlife |
| C．tend to be physically tougher in adulthood |
| D．are less likely to be involved in bullying |
| A．Find more effective drugs for them. |
B．Provide more green spaces for them. |
| C．Place them under more personal care. |
| D．Engage them in more meaningful activities |
A．They lo ok on life optimistically. | B．They enjoy a life of better quality. |
| C．They are able to live longer. | D．T hey become good-humored |
Our risk of cancer rises dramatically as we age. So it makes sense that the elderly should be routinely screened for new tumors — or doesn’t it?
While such vigilant(警觉的)tracking of cancer is a good thing in general, researchers are increasingly questioning whether all of this testing is necessary for the elderly. With the percentage of people over age 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, it’s important to weigh the health benefits of screening against the risks and costs of routine testing.
In many cases, screening can lead to additional biopsies and surgeries to remove cancer, which can cause side effects, while the cancers themselves may be slow-growing and may not pose serious health problems in patients’ remaining years. But the message that everyone must screen for cancer has become so ingrained that when health care experts recommended that women under 50 and over 74 stop screening for breast cancer, it caused a riotous reaction among doctors, patients and advocacy groups.
It’s hard to uproot deeply held beliefs about cancer screening with scientific data. Certainly, there are people over age 75 who have had cancers detected by routine screening, and gained several extra years of life because of treatment. And clearly, people over age 75 who have other risk factors for cancer, such as a family history or prior personal experience with the disease, should continue to get screened regularly. But for the remainder, the risk of cancer, while increased at the end of life, must be balanced with other factors like remaining life expectancy(预期寿命).
A recent study suggests that doctors start to make more objective decisions about who will truly benefit from screening- especially considering the explosion of the elderly that will soon swell our population.
It’s not an easy calculation to make, but one that make sense for the whole patient. Dr. Otis Brawley said, “Many doctors are ordering these tests purely to cover themselves. We need to think about the rational use of health care and stop talking about the rationing of health care.”
That means making some difficult decisions with elderly patients, and going against the misguided belief that when it comes to health care, more is always better.
1.Why do doctors recommend routine cancer screening for elderly people?
A. It is believed to contribute to long life.
B. It is part of their health care package.
C. The elderly are more sensitive about their health.
D. The elderly are in greater danger of tumor growth.
2.How do some researchers now look at routine cancer screening for the elderly?
A. It adds too much to their medical bills.
B. It helps increase their life expectancy.
C. They are doubtful about necessity.
D. They think it does more than good.
3.What is the conventional view about women screening for breast cancer?
A. It applies to women over 50.
B. It is a must for adult women.
C. It is optional for young women.
D. It doesn’t apply to women over 74.
4.Why do many doctors prescribe routine screening for cancer?
A. They want to protect themselves against medical disputes.
B. They want to take advantage of the medical care system.
C. They want data for medical research.
D. They want their patients to suffer less.
5.What does the author say is the general view about health care?
A. The more, the better.
B. Prevention is better than cure.
C. Better early than late.
D. Better care, longer life.
Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular free time activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don’t run the streets. Every one of them automatically heads to the park or the river. It is my firm belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.
But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.
The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD (多动症). Those whose housing had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.
A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, the entire school would do better in studies.
Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play, and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.
Most bullying (恃强凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School, with its hard tarmac, where I used to hang about in corners dreaming about wildlife.
But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.
One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.
The life of old people is much better when they have access to nature. The most important for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.
In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.
Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in his study, “A natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its process helps reduce anger and behavior that people might regret later.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.
We tend to think human beings are doing nature some kind of favor when we are protecting nature. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is damaging.
Human beings are a species of animals. For seven million years we lived on the planet as part of nature. So we miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a glass of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that.
We need the wild world. It is necessary to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without other living things around us we are less than human.
1.What is the author’s firm belief?
A. People seek nature in different ways.
B. People should spend most of their lives in the wild.
C. People have quite different ideas of nature.
D. People must make more efforts to study nature.
2.What does the author say people prefer for their children nowadays?
A. Personal freedom. B. Things that are natural.
C. Urban surroundings. D. Things that are purchased.
3.What does a study in Sweden show?
A. The natural environment can help children learn better.
B. More access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.
C. A good playground helps kids develop their physical abilities.
D. Natural views can prevent children from developing ADHD.
4.Children who have chances to explore natural areas ________.
A. tend to develop a strong love for science
B. are more likely to dream about wildlife
C. tend to be physically tougher in adulthood
D. are less likely to be involved in bullying
5.What does the author suggest we do to help children with ADHD?
A. Find more effective drugs for them.
B. Provide more green spaces for them.
C. Place them under more personal care.
D. Engage them in more meaningful activities
6. In what way do elderly people benefit from their contact with nature?
A. They look on life optimistically. B. They enjoy a life of better quality.
C. They are able to live longer. D. They become good-humored
Do you know that men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing(变老) on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the aging process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.
【小题1】 The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process、 |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
| A．enable your heart to beat much faster |
| B．find out the reason for ageing |
| C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy |
| D．prevent your cells from being lost |
| A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |
Do you know that men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing(变老) on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the aging process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.
1. The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.
A．health B．long life C．ageing D．effect
2. The text mainly talks about ________.
A．men’s heart cells B．women’s ageing process、
C．the gender difference D．hearts and long life
3.According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.
A．women have more cells than men when they are born
B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat
C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age
D．women never lose their pumping power with age
4.If you want to live longer, you should ________.
A．enable your heart to beat much faster
B．find out the reason for ageing
C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy
D．prevent your cells from being lost
5.We can know from the passage that ________.
A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out
B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells
C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss
D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20
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