A healthy amount of sunshine may be the secret to staying young. British scienti

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A healthy amount of sunshine may be the secret to staying young. British scientists have discovered.
Vitamin D is produced naturally by the skin in response to(对…的反应) sunlight and may help to slow the ageing process and protect against heart disease, according to the study.
Researchers from King’s College London studied 2,160 women aged between 18 and 79, looking at their telomeres--- a biological marker of ageing found in DNA. As people get older, their telomeres get shorter and they become more susceptible(易受伤害的) to certain illnesses.
But the study found women with high levels of vitamin D had comparatively longer telomeres--- a sign of being biologically younger and healthier.
The study suggests vitamin D may help to slow down the ageing process of DNA, and therefore the ageing process as a whole.
Lead researcher Dr Brent Richards said, “These results are exciting because they show for the first time that people who have higher levels of vitamin D may age more slowly than people with lower levels of vitamin D.” This could help to explain how vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases, such as heart disease and cancer.”
Professor Tim Spector, a co-author of the report, added, “Although it might sound absurd
(荒唐的), it’s possible that the same sunshine which may increase our risk of skin cancer may also have a healthy effect on the general ageing process.”
Vitamin D made by the action of sunlight on the skin accounts for 90 percent of the body’s supply, but lower levels can also be got through food such as fish, eggs and breakfast cereals(粥).
Other studies have suggested the vitamin plays a key role in protecting against cancer and heart disease.
小题1: A certain amount of sunshine helps people stay young because _____.

A．people feel happy and energetic in the sun

B．sunshine protects people against heart disease

C．vitamin D makes one’s skin look young and healthy

D．vitamin D may help to slow the ageing process

小题2:From Brent Richards, we know that _____.

A．sunlight causes skin cancer to people with high level of vitamin D

B．the study generally has a healthy effect on the general ageing process

C．vitamin D can only be got from fish, eggs and breakfast cereals

D．the higher levels of vitamin D people have, the more slowly people may age

小题3:What can we infer from the passage?
A. Telomeres are important signs of ageing of the DNA.
B. Sunlight can be dangerous as it causes skin cancer.
C. Sunlight does a great deal of good to our health.
D. Vitamin D can also be gained from food.
小题4: What is the best title of the passage?

A．Secret of Staying Young

B．Vitamin D Helps Slow Ageing

C．Sunlight and Vitamin D

D．Sunlight and Health

答案

小题1:D
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:B

解析

略

举一反三

You maybe surprised to learn that one of the best steps you can take to protect your health is to step outside and spend some time in the grass, dirt and water．
Our ancestor

s enjoyed the healing power of nature , and now scientists are starting to catch up．According to research in recent years, just having a view of nature has been shown to improve hospital patients" recovery and reduce illness rates among office workers．Also, exposure （曝露）to wildlife, horseback riding, hiking, camping and farms can be helpful for a variety of health conditions in adults and children．
Much of this type of research is focusing on children, and in fact an entire movement has quickly developed to connect kids with the healing power of nature．
Obesity （肥胖）．Rates of childhood obesity have grown sharply in recent years, and this is partly because of reduced outdoor activity time．Increasing the time students spend learning about nature, both in and outside the classroom, would help solve this problem．Such lessons are often more attractive for students and often lead them to become more active outside．
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder （ADHD）（注意力缺失症）．Exposure to ordinary natural settings （环境） in the course of common after-school and weekend activities may be effective in reducing attention deficit symptoms in children．Participation in green activities —such as nature walks—helped ADHD patients from a wide range of backgrounds to stay focused and complete tasks．
Stress．Access to nature, even houseplants, can help children cope with stress．
Depression and seasonal emotional disorder．Major depression requires medical treatment, but physical activity, especially outdoors, can help ease symptoms．For your average case of winter blues, experts suggest spending time outside every day and, if possible, taking the family to a sunny vacation spot in mid-winter．
Experts emphasize that you needn" t go to wilderness preserves to enjoy nature" s benefits—simply walking in a city park or growing in a rooftop garden can make a difference．
小题1:It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that____．

A．ancient people were not familiar with the healing power of nature．

B．modern people are not familiar with the healing power of nature．

C．the healing power of nature works better on children．

D．the healing power of nature works better on office workers．

小题2:According to Para．4, lessons about nature_____．

A．should engage parents in them

B．should take place outdoors

C．are used widely at schools

D．are liked by students

小题3:Exposure to green areas in neighborhoods can_____．

A．improve children" s skills at learning

B．help reduce ADHD symptoms

C．treat major depression

D．cure winter blues

小题4:What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．You can only enjoy nature"s benefits in the wilderness．

B．A common natural setting is beneficial to your health．

C．A city park and a rooftop garden have different benefits．

D．Too many people in the wilderness will reduce the benefits of nature．

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New York: Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defence against getting ill, new study findings suggest.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny disposition were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help protect us from the common cold and other illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective----as in happiness improving immune, function----and subjective----as in happy people being less troubled by a sore throat or funny nose. "People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus," explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe."
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional trait itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality traits, self-perceived health and emotional "style." Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and hostile had a negative style.
The researchers gave them nasal(鼻的) drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus. Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing or congestion they had, while the researchers collected objective data, like daily mucus production. Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal woes, happy people were less likely to develop a cold.
小题1:Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Stay Away From Being Negative

B．Positive or Negative, It’s Up To You

C．An Effective Medicine For Being Fit

D．Warm People Likely To Keep Cold Away

小题2:According to Dr Cohen’s research, the reason why some people are unlikely to catch a cold is that ___________________.

A．their cheerful mood benefits the immune system

B．they have developed a certain gene against flu virus

C．they are less likely to have s sore throat and funny nose

D．they have got a stronger self-confidence in their health

小题3:The underlined word “disposition” (paragraph 2) probably means ________.

A．character

B．day

C．future

D．occupation

小题4:The passage is probably written for ___________________.

A．medical students

B．lead authors

C．the public

D．the volunteers

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I had about 10 minutes to exercise before I had to pick up my two older daughters from school yesterday. It was a busier day than usual for me with a couple of meetings besides my regular work.
Years ago, I would have put off my workout and would have left things for the next day. But since it was a busy day as well, I knew that I may not have all that much time either. So, I picked up my kettle-bell (哑铃) and went to town for 4 minutes.
See, 4 minutes, if that’s all you’ve got, is enough to give your body a great fat-burning exercise. How did I get a killer workout in 4 minutes? I used a training workout discovered 10 years ago by a Japanese Sports Scientist called a TABATA.
It includes 20-second periods of warm-up, followed by 10-second periods of rest and 4-minute straight exercise. How is a 4-minute exercise able to burn fat? It all depends on the quality of work you do. Not on the quantity. Here’s how I did it yesterday.
You should never forget your warm-up. A TABATA workout is 20 seconds of 2-arm Kettle-bell swings, 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds push-ups, and 10 seconds rest. You should do those 4 rounds. That’s it. I was done in a total time of 8 minutes by the time and when I got to school my heart was still pumping pretty hard.
A healthy body is needed for studying and working, and efficiency (效率) is the key to building a great body in the least amount (数量) of time possible and you can’t get more efficient than a 4-minute workout.
小题1:We can learn from the passage that the author ______.

A．is busy with his work	B．has a weak body now
C．has two children in all	D．is a manager in a film

小题2:The underlined phrase “went to town” in Paragraph 2 means “_______”.

A．put off doing something	B．went to a very small city
C．did something with interest	D．hated to do something

小题3:What is the most important thing in taking exercise according to the author?

A．The goal

B．the quality

C．The quantity

D．The method

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Britain is set to face an increase in cold winters, with up to one-in-seven hitting the UK with longer periods of time when temperatures are below freezing, a study has suggested．The prediction was based on research that found out how low solar activi

ty affected winter weather patterns．
However, the researchers were eager to stress that their findings did not suggest that the region was about to fall suddenly into a "little ice age"．The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters．"We could get to the point where one-in-seven winters are very cold, as we had at the start of last winter and all through the winter before last," said co-author Mike Lockwood, professor of space environment physics at the University of Reading．
Using the Central England Temperature （CET） record, the world"s longest instrumental data series that dates back to 1659, the team said that in general temperatures during recent winters had been obviously lower than the longer-term temperatures．"The mean CET for December, January and February for the recent relatively cold winters of 2008 ~ 2009 and 2009~2010 were 3．50℃ and 2．53℃ respectively," they wrote．

"However, the mean value for the previous 20 winters had been 5．04℃．The series of lower winter temperatures in the UK during the last three years had raised questions about the probability of more similar, or even colder, winters occurring in the future．"
Last year．Professor Lockwood and colleagues published a paper that found a link between fewer sunspots and atmospheric conditio

ns that "blocked" warm westerly winds reaching Europe during winter months, opening the way for cold easterly winds from the Arctic and Russia to sweep across the region．Professor Lockwood, while acknowledging that there were a range of possible meteorological factors （气象因素） that could influence blocking events, said the latest study moved things forward by showing that there was "impro

vement in the predictive skill" when solar activity was taken into consideration．
小题1:We can know from the second paragraph that _____．

A．research shows that Britain will soon fall into an ice age

B．Mike Lockwood"s research focuses on space environment physics

C．it was quite cold in Britain over the entire winter last year

D．so far one-in-seven winters have been very cold in Britain

小题2:The．underlined word "mean" in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to "_____"．

A．average

B．stable

C．ungenerous

D．changeable

小题3:What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．It was sunspots that blocked warm westerly winds reaching Europe．

B．Meteorological factors hardly have any influence on blocking events．

C．The latest study done by Professor Lockwood was of little practical value．

D．Considering solar activity or not affects the accuracy of weather forecasting．

小题4:What"s the best title of the passage?

A．Another big danger approaching the UK

B．Research finds out solar activity is to blame for the cold

C．UK faces more cold winters due to weaker solar activity

D．Changes in weather patterns should be responsible for low solar activity

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Coffee is one of the world"s most widely-enjoyed drinks. Now, a new research suggests that if you drink enough coffee, it might help you avoid certain kinds of cancer.
Dr. Mia Hashibe of the University of Utah School of Medicine was interested in the connection between coffee drinking and certain cancers of the head and neck. Researchers have looked into this before, but without reaching any firm conclusions. She said, "So this finding from our new study was quite a surprise. We didn"t really have any expectation of which direction it could go into."
To sort out the confusion, Hashibe and her assistants used statistical (统计学 ) techniques to, in effect, make one big study out of the earlier smaller studies. She explained, "Thanks to the earlier studies, we have a lot more power than earlier studies that looked at this. And we included 4,000 cancer patients who have cancer of the mouth and throat. And then 9,000 controls, people who do not have cancer. "
Those studies--in Europe and the United States--found that people who drank a lot of coffee were less likely to develop cancers of the mouth and throat. "We saw a protective effect for drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day," Hashibe said. "This was the 40 percent decrease in risk. We did not see the same effect for drinking three cups or less per day."
Mia Hashibe said there was a weak connection between cancer risk and drinking coffee without caffeine. And she and her assistants found no proof that drinking tea provided the same protection as drinking Coffee. Their research is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Hashibe says it is not clear how coffee might protect drinkers from certain cancers. "There are a few chemicals that are known to be antioxidants （抗氧化物）in coffee. So we are thinking perhaps they are playing some sort of protective role against several cancers."
小题1:This passage is probably taken from __

A．a literature book	B．a travel journal
C．an old directory	D．a medical magazine

小题2:Dr. Hashibe expected nothing of her research because __

A．it was impossible to get the desired result	B．the research was much surprising in fact
C．no conclusions had been reached before	D．the research team lacked faith in success

小题3:Which of the following might have something to do with the protection against mouth cancer?

A．Coffee without chemicals.	B．Coffee without caffeine.
C．Four cups of tea a day.	D．Antioxidants in coffee.

小题4:What do we know about Dr. Mia Hashibe and her research?

A．She knew for sure how coffee may affect drinkers.

B．She included 4,000 people without cancer in study.

C．She found an effect for three cups of coffee a day.

D．She based her research on several earlier studies.

小题5:What would be the best title for the text?

A．Drinking Coffee May Protect Some Cancers	B．Drinking Coffee May Prevent Some Cancers
C．Drinking Coffee May Cure Some Caneers	D．Drinking Coffee May Cause Some Cancers

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