Why do people drink too much, eat too much, smoke cigarettes or take drugs? What
题型：不详难度：来源：
Why do people drink too much, eat too much, smoke cigarettes or take drugs? What’s to blame for all the bad behavior? Most people would say that, while these self-destructive acts can have many root causes, they all have one obvious thing in common: they are all examples of failures of self-control, lacking the will power to resist them.
According to a recent study, however, if you really think about it, something about that simple answer doesn’t quite make sense. In fact, it turns out that sometimes it’s having will power that really gets you into trouble.
Think back to the time you took your very first sip of beer. Disgusting, wasn’t it? When my father gave me my first taste of beer as a teenager, I wondered why anyone would voluntarily drink it. And smoking? No one enjoys their first cigarette — it tastes awful. So even though smoking, and drinking alcohol or coffee, can become temptation(attraction) you need will power to resist, they never, ever start out that way.
Just getting past those first horrible experiences actually requires a lot of self-control. Ironically (讽刺的是), only those who can control themselves well, rather than give in to them, can ever come to someday develop a “taste” for Budweiser beer, Marlboro cigarettes, or dark-roasted Starbucks coffee. We do it for social acceptance. We force ourselves to consume alcohol, cigarettes, coffee and even illegal drugs, in order to seem experienced, grown-up, and cool.
These bad habits aren’t self-control failures — far from it. They are voluntary choices, and they are in fact self-control successes. Self-control is simply a tool to be put to some use, helpful or harmful. To live happy and productive lives, we need to develop not only our self-control, but also the wisdom to make good decisions about when and where to apply it.
小题1:What do most people think causes bad behavior?| A．Being forced by others. | B．Not having enough will power. | | C．Enjoying their first experiences. | D．Following the examples of their friends. |
小题2:The author mentions his experience in the third paragraph to prove ____.| A．will power helps develop bad habits sometimes | | B．drinking beer is harmful to the health of teenagers | | C．self-control should be developed when one is young | | D．everyone can be challenged by different temptations |
小题3:In the last paragraph, the author stresses(强调) that ____.| A．without self-control, no one can succeed | | B．bad habits don’t always lead to bad results | | C．applying self-control correctly is important | | D．people can develop wisdom from bad behavior |
小题4:What would be the best title for the passage?| A．My First Sip of Beer | B．Do You Have Will Power ? | | C．Will Power Benefits Us | D．Dark Side of Self-control |
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答案
小题1:B
小题2:A
小题3:C
小题4:D |
解析
试题分析：
小题1:第一段的句子：they are all examples of failures of self-control, lacking the will power to resist them.说明是缺乏意志力。选B。
小题2:推理题：从第三段的句子：So even though smoking, and drinking alcohol or coffee, can become temptation(attraction) you need will power to resist, they never, ever start out that way.说明意志力有时会帮助形成坏习惯。选A。
小题3:推理题：从文章最后一段的句子：To live happy and productive lives, we need to develop not only our self-control, but also the wisdom to make good decisions about when and where to apply it.说明要正确的利用自制力。选C。
小题4:主旨题;这篇文章的主题句在第二段：In fact, it turns out that sometimes it’s having will power that really gets you into trouble.说明是自制力的不好的方面。选D。
点评：健康保健类文章对细节把握要求很高，还要求要求考生阅读时能抓住文章的中心。 |
举一反三
A purple tomato genetically engineered to contain nutrients more commonly seen in dark berries helped cancer in mice, British researchers said on Sunday. The finding, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, bolsters the idea that plants can be genetically modified(changed) to make people healthier.
Cancer-prone mice fed the modified fruit lived significantly longer than animals fed a standard diet with and without regular tomatoes, Cathie Martin and colleagues at
the government-funded John Innes Center in Britain reported. “The effect was much bigger than we had expected.” said Martin, a plant biologist.
The study focused on anthocyanins，a type of antioxidant found in berries such as blackberries and blackcurrants that have been shown to lower risk of cancer, heart diseases and some neurological diseases. While an easy way to improve health, many people don’t eat enough of these fruits, the researchers said. Using genes from the snapdragon flower, the researchers discovered they could get the tomatoes to make anthocyanins---- turning the tomato purple in the process.
Mice genetically engineered to develop cancer lived an average of 182 days when they were fed the purple tomatoes, compared to 142 days for animals on the standard diet. “It is greatly encouraging to believe that by changing diet, or specific components in the diet. You can improve health in animals and possibly humans.” Martin said in a telephone interview.
The researchers warned that trials in humans are a long way off and the next step is to investigate( look into) how the antioxidants actually affect the tumors to promote better health. But the findings do support the formal research suggesting that people can significantly improve their health by making simple changes to the daily diet, other researchers said.
“It’s exciting to see new techniques that could potentially make healthy foods even better for us.” said Doctor Lara Bennett, science information office at Cancer Research UK. “ But it is too early to say whether anthocyanins obtained through diet could help to reduce the risk of cancer.”
小题1:The text mainly tells us _________.| A．what can prevent people from having cancer. | | B．Scientists have developed cancer- fighting tomato. | | C．ways to live much longer have been found by scientists. | | D．genetically engineered food is good for people’s health. |
小题2:In the first paragraph the underlined word “ bolster” probably means _______| A．change | B．reduce | C．support | D．test |
小题3:Which of the following was NOT the result found in the study?| A．Blackberries and blackcurrants can lower risk of cancer. | | B．The anthocyanins can make the purple tomatoes grow stronger. | | C．Genes from snapdragon flowers can be put into common tomatoes. | | D．Mice fed the modified fruit lived longer than the common ones. |
小题4:According to Dr. Lara Bennett, the effects of anthocyanins through diet on human being________| A．are not certain now. | | B．have been proved | | C．are very harmful | | D．are hard to be tested |
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The clock rules our lives. The more we try to save time, the less time we seem to have. In every area of our lives we are doing things faster. And many of us live in towns and cities which are getting noisier and more stressful as each day passes. But now a worldwide movement, whose aim is to slow life down, has started. Its supporters are people who believe that a happier and healthier way of life is possible.
The Slow Food movement was founded the day that an Italian journalist, Carlo Petrini, saw that McDonald’s had opened a restaurant in a beautiful square in Rome. He thought it was sad that many people today live too quickly to sit down for a proper meal and only eat much fast food. He decided that he had to try to do something about it and so he started the Slow Food movement. Slow Food has become a global organization ever since and now has more than 80,000 members in 100 countries.
Slow Food also encourages people to eat local and regional food, to use local shops and markets, to eat out in small family restaurants, and to cook with traditional recipes.
The idea of Slow Cities was inspired by the Slow Food movement. The aim of Slow Cities is to improve people’s quality of life. Towns which want to become a Slow City have to reduce traffic and noise, increase the number of green areas, plant trees, build pedestrian zones, and promote local businesses and traditions. Now it has spread to other countries all over the world, from the UK to Japan and Australia. There are now 135 Slow Cities in 24 countries across the world that have been named since founding of the organization in 1999. Gao Chun County, in east China’s Jiangsu Province, is expected to be named the first “Slow City” in China next year.
“Slow Cities are about having a community life in the town,” said a local resident. “It is not ‘slow’ as in ‘stupid’. It is ‘slow’ as in the opposite of ‘worried’ and ‘stressful’.”
But not everybody is happy. For teenagers, who have to go 25km to Norwich, the nearest city, to buy CDs, living in a Slow City is not very attractive. “It’s all right here,” says Lewis Cook, 16. “But if you want excitement, you have to go to Norwich. We need more things here for young people.”
小题1:What’s the aim of the Slow Food movement?| A．To call on people to eat out. | | B．To make people enjoy cooking. | | C．To drive McDonald’s out of Rome | | D．To encourage people to slow down. |
小题2:All the following are necessary to be a Slow City EXCEPT ______. | A．reducing traffic and noise | | B．increasing the number of green areas | | C．building more department stores | | D．promoting local businesses and traditions |
小题3:From the fourth paragraph, we know that ______.| A．the Slow Food was founded in 1999 | | B．there is no Slow City in China now | | C．Slow Cities are mainly in the UK | | D．there are about 24 Slow Cities in the world |
小题4:What’s Lewis Cook’s attitude to living in a Slow City?| A．Positive | B．Neutral | C．Negative | D．Indifferent |
小题5:What would be the best title for the passage?| A．Slow down and you’ll move fast | | B．Time flies never to be recalled. | | C．Eat slowly and you’ll be healthy. | | D．Pay attention to the quality of life. |
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Generations of Americans have been brought up to believe that a good breakfast is essential to one"s life. Eating breakfast at the start of the day, we have been told, and told again, is as necessary as putting gasoline in the family car before starting a trip.
But for many people, the thought of food as the first thing in the morning is never a pleasure. So in spite of all the efforts, they still take no breakfast. Between 1977 and 1983, the latest year for which figures could be obtained, the number of people who didn’t have breakfast increased by 33%—from 8.8 million to 11.7 million—according to the Chicago-based Market Research Corporation of America.
For those who dislike eating breakfast, however, there is some good news. Several studies in the last few years have shown that, for grown-ups especially, there may be nothing wrong with omitting breakfast. “Going without breakfast does not affect work,” said Arnold E. Bender, former professor of nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College in London, “nor does giving people breakfast improve work.”
Scientific evidence linking breakfast to better health or better work is surprisingly inadequate, and most of the recent work involves children, not grown-ups. “The literature,” says one researcher, Dr Earnest Polite at the University of Texas, “is poor.”
小题1:The main idea of the passage is that _______.| A．breakfast has nothing to do with people"s health | | B．a good breakfast used to be important to us | | C．breakfast is not as important to us as gasoline to a car | | D．breakfast is not as important as we thought before |
小题2:For those who do not take breakfast, the good news is that _______.| A．several studies have been done in the past few years | | B．the omission of breakfast has little effect on one’s work | | C．grown-ups have especially made studies in this field | | D．eating little in the morning is good for health |
小题3:The underlined part “nor does giving people breakfast improve work” means _______.| A．people without breakfast can improve their work | | B．not giving people breakfast improves work | | C．having breakfast does not improve work, either | | D．people having breakfast do improve their work, too |
小题4:The word "literature" in the last sentence refers to _______.| A．stories, poems, play, etc | | B．written works on a particular subject | | C．newspaper articles | | D．the modern literature of America |
小题5:What is implied but not stated by the author is that _______.| A．breakfast does not affect work | | B．Dr Polite works at an institution of higher learning | | C．not eating breakfast might affect the health of children | | D．Professor Bender once taught college courses in nutrition in London |
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A study led by Professor Mark Weiser of Tel Aviv University and the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital has determined that young men who smoke are likely to have lower IQs than their non-smoking peers (同龄人). Tracking 18-to 21-year-old men enlisted in the Israeli army in the largest ever study of its kind, he has been able to demonstrate an important connection between the number of cigarettes young males smoke and their IQ.
The average IQ for a non-smoker was about 101, while the smokers’ average was more than seven IQ points lower, at about 94, the study determined. The IQs of young men who smoked more than a pack a day were lower still, at about 90. An IQ score in a healthy population of such young men, with no mental disorders(心理疾病), falls within the range of 84 to 116.
An addiction that doesn’t discriminate(歧视)
“In the health profession, we’ve generally thought that smokers are most likely the kind of people who have grown up in difficult neighborhoods, or who’ve been given less education at good schools,” says Weiser, whose study was reported in a recent version of the journal, Addiction, “But because our study included subjects with various socio-economic backgrounds, we’ve been able to rule out socio-economics as a major factor. The government might want to rethink how it arranges its educational resources on smoking.
Making the results more significant, the study also measured effects in twin brothers. In the case where one twin smoked, the non-smoking twin registered a higher IQ on average.
Although a lower IQ may suggest a greater risk for smoking addiction, the representing data on IQ and smoking found that most of the smokers investigated in the study had IQs within the average range, nevertheless.
In the study, researchers took data from more than 20,000 men before, during and after their time in the military. All men in the study were considered in good health, since pre-screening(筛选的)measures for suitability in the army had already been taken. The researchers found that around 28 percent of their samples smoked one or more cigarettes a day, 3 percent considered themselves ex-smokers, and 68 percent said they never smoked.
“People on the lower end of the average IQ tend to display poorer overall decision-making skills when it comes to their health,” says Weiser. He adds that his finding can help address serious concern among heath counsellors at grade and high schools.
小题1:The study led by Professor Mark Weiser shows that .| A．the IQ of smoking males is lower than that of non-smokers | | B．the IQ of smoking males is higher than that of non-smokers | | C．the IQ of smoking males is the same as that of non-smokers | | D．the IQ of smoking males is higher than that of female smokers |
小题2:According to the passage, a smoking man’s IQ is most likely to be .小题3:What can be learned from the passage? | A．People in the military are more likely to become smokers than other people. | | B．Most heavy smokers are found to have mental problems. | | C．Socio-economic backgrounds have nothing to do with smoking behaviour. | | D．People with lower IQs tend to be less good at controlling their addiction to smoking. |
小题4:What is the meaning of the underlined part “An addiction that doesn’t discriminate”?| A．Smokers do not believe their IQ is affected by being addicted to smoking. | | B．All people, no matter what their background, can become addicted to smoking. | | C．Smoking is an addiction, and we must not discriminate against smokers. | | D．The addiction to smoking is difficult to get rid of. |
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Recently, researchers in the US have carried out a study on laughing, one of the most natural characteristics of human behavior.
Jo-Anne Bachorowsky, a psychology professor at Vandebilt University, 36 a team of researchers who 37 a total of 11 short videos to 97 young adult volunteers in the US. They found that the participants produced a 38 of sounds when they laughed, 39 grunts(呼噜声) and snorts(哼声).
The researchers found that some of the 40 were dependent 41 gender(性别). Men laughed with grunts and snorts more often than women, 42 women’s 43 was more song-like.
They also found that people’s laughter could change, 44 who they were with at the time. Whether they were with a man or a woman and 45 person was a friend or a 46 both played a part in laughter.
The researchers found that women’s laughter was very high with a 47 pitch(音高) when they were with male strangers. And women taking 48 in the study laughed more often when they were with a male friend than when they were with a(n) 49 friend or a male stranger. But men laughed more freely with friends of either sex than with strangers of either sex.
Scientists believe that the 50 consumed in laughing 100 times is 51 to 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Another 52 of laughter is 53 it improves our mental health. Laughter reduces our levels of stress. It also helps us 54 serious illness.
55 ,we think laughter can make us feel good.
| 小题1: | | A．got | B．led | C．undertook | D．worked |
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| 小题2: | | A．returned | B．provided | C．showed | D．read |
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| 小题4: | | A．including | B．containing | C．having | D．possessing |
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| 小题5: | | A．ways | B．differences | C．studies | D．columns |
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| 小题8: | | A．cry | B．sound | C．voice | D．laughter |
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| 小题9: | | A．depending on | B．to depend on | C．depend on | D．depended on |
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| 小题10: | | A．other | B．the other | C．another | D．others |
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| 小题11: | | A．passers-by | B．relative | C．stranger | D．teacher |
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| 小题12: | | A．same | B．similar | C．various | D．changeable |
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| 小题13: | | A．action | B．part | C．exercise | D．duty |
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| 小题14: | | A．male | B．young | C．old | D．female |
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| 小题15: | | A．food | B．energy | C．pressure | D．memory |
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| 小题16: | | A．short | B．easy | C．equal | D．good |
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| 小题17: | | A．way | B．content | C．intention | D．benefit |
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| 小题18: | | A．why | B．that | C．how | D．because |
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| 小题19: | | A．fight | B．remove | C．break | D．deal |
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| 小题20: | | A．All along | B．All the same | C．In summary | D．After all |
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