That “Monday morning feeling” could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath. Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday morning and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.

The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study helped by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2,600 Germans showed that the average person had a 20 percent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.

Working Germans are particularly not protected against attack, with a 33 percent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day.

A study of 11,000 Italians proved 8a.m on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewest heart attacks in both countries.

The finding could lead to a better understanding of what is the immediate cause of heart attacks, according to Dr. Stefan Willich of the Free University. “We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol（胆固醇）but we don’t know what actually causes heart attacks, so we can’t give clear advice on how to prevent them.” he said.

Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid change from sleep to activity and from the relaxing weekend to the pressure of work.

“When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal（内分泌）changes in their bodies.” Willich explained. “All these things can have an unfavorable effect on the blood system and increase the risk of a clot（血凝块）which will cause a heart attack.”

“When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes. They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activities.” said Willich.

1.“Monday morning feeling ”, as this passage shows,        .

A．is not as serious as people thought

B．is the first killer in Germany and Italy

C．is created by researchers in Germany and Italy

D．is harmful to working people in developed countries

2.To protect people from a heart attack, doctors have paid much attention to        .

A．people’s working time                  B．people’s living place

C．people’s lifestyle                      D．people’s nationalities

3.It can be learned from this passage that the heart attack has something to do with all the following EXCEPT         .

A．blood pressure                         B．heart rate

C．hormonal changes                       D．blood type

4.If the researchers give us some advice to avoid Monday morning feeling, what might it be?

A．Improving working conditions              B．Never go to work on Mondays

C．Stay with a doctor on Monday.              D．Get up late on Monday morning

 

Once upon a time, on an isolated island in the Java sea, lived short people who dominated(支配, 占优势) the food chain. Standing no more than three and a half feet tall, these human ancestors hunted giant rats, lumbering lizards（笨拙的蜥蜴), and miniature elephants.  

   It sounds a bit like a fairy tale, but it's true. Unearthed relics on the island uncovered the remains of a race of tiny human ancestors. Homo floresiensis, as the newly discovered species has been named, apparently could date back to 13,000 years ago. This means they have a lot in common with modern humans.

  So how and why did these people get so small? Scientists suspect that it's due to the fact that this race lived on an isolated island with limited resources. Take the miniature elephants for example. When elephants first came to the island either by swimming or by some kind of natural land raft, they were probably close to full size. But since there wasn't much to eat, over time smaller elephants lived longer and better. The smaller the elephant was, the less it had to eat to stay strong and healthy.

  Scientists call this the "island role", and it can apply to humans as well as animals. Given the island's sparse(稀少) food supply, it makes sense that the early humans living there would have evolved (进化) a body size requiring less food to survive. So bigger isn't always better. In the floresiensis, at least, getting smaller was the way to go.

1.According to the passage, the fact Homo floresiensis are very small is based on________.

A. the islanders in the Java Sea B. the human ancestors

C. a newspaper report      D. the unearthed relics

2.The underlined word "miniature" in the first paragraph most probably means______.

A. tiny       B. active    C. rare       D. wild

3.People on the island got so small because____________.

A. they gradually developed for lack of food.

B. they did not have enough food to eat.

C. they shared less food with elephants.

D. they remained alive as the elephants.

4.What might be the most suitable title of the passage?

A. The history of short people   B. Short people on an isolated island

C. The proofs on short people   D. Short people from a fairy tale

5.According to the passage, getting smaller can make people and animals ____

A. run quickly   B. live weaker   C. live longer    D. run slowly

 

LONDON----Here’s a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly.

     Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health. And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it occurs. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.

　　In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin EkblomBak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

　　While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

　　"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating(调节) the amount of glucose（葡萄糖） and fat in the body start to shut down.

　　Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.（一回）

　　Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.

　　"We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad," said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. "But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior, the better."

　　Figures from a U.S. survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

　　Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to offset those effects.

　　"People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits," Ekblom-Bak said. "But when they’re in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said.

1.What is the best title for the text?

A. Not Sitting Too Much While Working      B. How To Avoid Sitting Too Much

C. Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly          D. More And More People Sit Too Much

2.According to the research,______________.

A. the more time you spend in exercising in a single bout, the healthier you will be.

B. those who often sit too much are sure to grow fat or suffer from a heart attack.

C. regular exercise is effective to get rid of the side effect of sitting too much.

D. you had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout.

3.How does the danger of sitting too much affect the human body?

A. It results in a higher death risk.

B. It increases glucose and fat in the body.

C. It makes a person unable to exercise long enough in a day.

D. It causes the gene to fail to balance the glucose and fat in the body.

4.In the opinion of Ekblom-Bak, you’d better have a rest in the office by________.

A. sending your friends e-mails           

B. having a walk around your office

C. chatting online or playing computer games 

D. listening to music with your head on the desk.

 

Culture shock isn’t a clinical term or medical condition. It’s simply a common way to describe the confusing and nervous feelings a person have after leaving a familiar culture to live in a new and different culture.

It’s natural to have difficulty adjusting to a new culture. People from other cultures may have grown up with values and beliefs that differ from yours. Because of these differences，the things they talk about，the ways they express themselves and the importance of various ideas may be very different from what you are used to. But the good news is that culture shock is temporary.

What causes culture shock?

To understand culture shock，it helps to understand what culture is. You may know that genes determine a big part of how you look and act. What you might not know is that your environment has a big effect on your appearance and behavior as well.

Your environment isn’t just the air you breathe and the food you eat，though；a big part of your environment is culture. Culture is made up of the common things that members of a community learn from family，friends，media，literature，and even strangers. These are the things that influence how you look，act，and communicate. Often，you don’t even know you are learning these things because they become second­nature to you－for instance，the way you shake hands with someone，the kind of things you find funny，or how you view religions.

The differences between cultures can make it very difficult to adjust to the new surroundings. When you go to a new place，such as a new country or even a new city，you often enter a culture that is different from the one you left. Sometimes your culture and the new culture are similar. Sometimes，they can be very different. What might be perfectly normal in one culture－for example，spending hours eating a meal with your family－might be unusual in a culture that values a more fast­paced lifestyle.

Culture 1.____________
Definition	?Culture shock is a kind of 2.__________people have when living in a new and different culture. ?Culture shock results from the difficulty people have in     adjusting themselves to new surroundings. ?Culture shock is 3.____________.
4._____	?5.____________largely determine your appearance and behavior. ?Culture，an important part of 6.__________，has an influence on the way people look，act and communicate. ?The differences between cultures contribute to the difficulty in getting used to new surroundings，as something 7.____________in one culture seems unusual in another.

 

I heard many parents complaining that their teenage children are rebelling. I wish it were so. At your age you ought to be growing away from your parents. You should be learning to stand on your own two feet. But take a good look at the present rebellion. It seems that teenagers are taking the same way of showing that they disagree with their parents. Instead of striking out boldly on their own, most of them are clutching (紧握) at one another’s hands for reassurance.

They claim they want to dress as they please. But they all wear the same clothes. They set off in new directions in music. But somehow they all end up huddled (聚在一起) round listening to the same record. Their reason for thinking or acting in thus-and-such a way is that the crowd is doing it. They have come out of their cocoon (蚕茧) into a larger cocoon.

It has become harder and harder for a teenager to stand up against the popularity wave and to go his or her own way. Industry has firmly carved out a teenage market. These days every teenager can learn from the advertisements what a teenager should have and be. And many of today’s parents have come to award high marks for the popularity of their children. All this adds up to a great barrier for the teenager who wants to find his or her own path.

But the barrier is worth climbing over. The path is worth following. You may want to listen to classical music instead of going to a party. You may want to collect rocks when everyone else is collecting records. You may have some thoughts that you don’t care to share at once with your classmates. Well, go to it. Find yourself. Be yourself. Popularity will come — with the people who respect you for who you are. That is the only kind of popularity that really counts.

1. In this passage, the author wants to tell _______.

A．teenagers to try to pursue their real selves

B．readers to try to be popular with people around

C．parents to try to control and guide their children

D．people to try to understand and respect each other

2.The author disapproves of rebelling teenagers _______.

A．growing away from their parents            B．following the popularity trend

C．walking a new way on their own            D．turning to their friends for help

3.The phrase “ larger cocoon” at the end of the second paragraph refers to _______.

A．the distractive and variable society          B．the dazzling music world

C．the parental care and love                D．the popularity wave in the society

4.What does the author think of advertisements?

A．Convincing.                            B．Instructive.

C．Influential.                             D．Authoritative.

5.According to the author, what might happen when a teenager stands up against the popularity wave and follows his/her own path?

A．He/She falls behind the time.              B．He/She loses good friends.

C．He/She faces all kinds of criticism.           D．He/She gains valuable popularity.