Sitting too much is linked to changes in a section of the brain that is important for memory, according to a recent study by UCLA researchers of middle-aged and older adults.
Studies show that too much sitting, like smoking, increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature death. Researchers at UCLA want to see how sedentary behavior (sitting for long periods of time) influences the health of the brain, especially regions of the brain that are important to memory formation.
UCLA researchers gathered 35 people aged 45 to 75 and asked about their physical activity levels and the average number of hours per day they spent sitting over the previous work. Each person had a high-resolution MRI (热分辨磁共振成像)scan, which provides a detailed look at the medial temporal lobe, or MTL, a bruin region involved in the formation of new memories.
The researchers found that sedentary behavior is an important predictor of thinning of the MTL and that physical activity, even at high levels, is mil enough to compensate the harmful effects of silting for long periods.
“This study does not prove that too much sitting causes thinner brain structures, but instead that more hours spent sitting are associated with thinner regions,” researchers said. In addition, the researchers focused on the hours spent sitting, but did not ask participants if they took breaks during this time.
The researchers next hope to follow a group of people for a longer duration to determine if sitting cause the tinning and what role gender (性別), race, and weight might play in bruin health related to silting.
“MTL thinning can be an indication of cognitive (认知的) decline in middle-aged and older adults. Reducing sedentary behavior may be a possible target for measures designed to improve bruin health in people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers said.
1.What is the study done by UCLA mainly intended to find out?
A. What harm sitting too much causes.
B. Why silting too much is like smoking.
C. How too much sitting affects brain health.
D. Whether too much sitting causes early death
2.Participants were scanned by a high-resolution MRI to .
A. evaluate their memory loss
B. examine their MTL conditions
C. record their physical activity levels
D. record the length of lime for their sitting
3.What do UCLA researchers think of their study?
A. It in a great success.
B. It is little practical value.
C. It must target the young.
D. It still needs to be improved.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. Long Sitting Is Bad for Your Brain
B. How to Improve Brain Health
C. Sitting Causes Many Health Problem
D. An Easy Way to Prevent Memory Loss
When Noah Ready-Campbell was a young adult, he worked for his father’s construction company. Back then, he dreamed of a day when robots might take over the dirty, repetitive（重复的）parts of his job, such as earth moving. Years later, Ready-Campbell left his job as an engineer with Google to make that dream come true.
Ready-Campbell formed a company called Built Robotics, which develops technology to produce self-driving heavy equipment. Ready-Campbell says the company’s goal is to make construction safer, faster and less costly. The construction industry struggles to find skilled workers and faces a growing number of unfinished projects. But self-operating machines are changing the nature of building.
Workers at Berich Masonry in Englewood, Colorado, recently spent several weeks learning how to operate a robot called SAM, or the Semi-Automated Mason. SAM is a $400,000 machine from the company Construction Robotics, It can lay 3,000 bricks in eight hours. That’s several times more than a human bricklayer can do in the same period. But humans are still needed to load bricks into the SAM and make sure it works right. Bricklayer Michael Walsh says the SAM lessens the load on his body. But he doesn’t think it will take his job.
Brian Kennedy agrees, too. His organization supports the rights of construction workers in the United States and Canada. Kennedy says the union is not worried that machines will replace human workers any time soon.
The rise of construction robots comes as the building industry faces a severe decrease in labor supply. One recent study showed that 70 percent of construction businesses have a difficult time finding skilled workers. Mike Moy heads a mining operation for the building materials supplier Lehigh Hanson. He says it’s difficult to find people who even know how to operate some of the necessary equipment. “Nobody wants to get their hands dirty any more. They want a nice, clean job in an office,” he noted.
1.What does the first paragraph say about Noah Ready-Campbell?
A. He enjoys doing repetitive work.
B. He is now an employee of Google.
C. He used to work in construction field.
D. He joined Google to realize that dream.
2.Which of the following is one of the aims of Built Robotics?
A. Increasing construction speed.
B. Enlarging construction quantity.
C. Improving construction designs.
D. Changing construction steps.
3.What can be inferred about SAM from the text?
A. It can totally replace human bricklayers.
B. It is complexly built but easy to operate.
C. It is unable to work completely automatically.
D. It is cheap but works much faster than humans.
4.In Mike Moy’s opinion, what prevents many construction businesses from finding skilled workers?
A. Their low pay. B. Their potential risks.
C. Their heavy work loads. D. Their poor working conditions.
An 11-year-old girl from Belthangady, India, recently made news headlines for having around 60 dead ants pulled from her eyes. As for how the insects got there, some doctors thought they entered her body through the ears.
Last week, the girl, known only as Ashwini, started complaining of severe pain in her eyes. She told her parents that she felt there was something stuck in her eyes, and when they checked, they did find a small ant in one of her eyes. They didn’t pay much importance to it, as they assumed the insect had gotten there by accident, but it wasn’t long before the girl again started reporting pain in her eyes. They discovered more dead ants, and this time, they took her to hospital.
A local doctor told Ashwini’s parents that the insects must have first entered her body through the ears and then somehow made their way to her eyes. He gave her some eye-drops to help with the irritation（刺激）, but the girl still has 5 to 6 ants pulled from her eyes daily. A week ago, the Daily Mail reported that Ashwini’s eyes produced around 60 dead ants in a period of 10 days.
As doctors in Belthangady were left scratching their heads about how the ants reached Ashwini’s eyes or what they could do to stop the unusual phenomenon, she was taken to an eye hospital in Moodabidri, where her family hope to get some answers.
IB Times reports that Ashwini’s parents feared she had been affected by some evil spirit, so they also took her to an astrologer（占星家） who told them that the ants in the eyes were caused by something called Naga Dosha. But who knows?
1.Why did Ashwini recently make news headlines?
A. Because of her love for insects. B. Because of her extraordinary skills.
C. Because of her strange experience. D. Because of her abilities to control ants.
2.How did Ashwini’s parents react when finding an ant in her eye?
A. They didn’t take it seriously. B. They tried their best to comfort her.
C. They sent her to hospital immediately. D. They didn’t think it was just an accident.
3.The underlined part in paragraph 4 most probably means “ ”.
A. feeling angry about B. showing disagreement about
C. being optimistic about D. feeling puzzled about
4.What can be inferred about Ashwini from the text?
A. Her eyes no longer produce dead ants.
B. Eye-drops are of little help to her eyes.
C. The dead ants cause no harm to her eyes.
D. Only the astrologer has found out the truth.
The history of the Louvre Museum, which today contains one of the most important art collections in the world, dates back to the Middle Ages. Built in 1190 as a fortress（堡垒）protect Paris from the Vikings, it was transformed into a palace by Francesco I. Since then, for four centuries, French kings and emperors have expanded it. The glass pyramid of I. M. Pei was added to the courtyard of honor in 1989. All galleries can be reached from here.
The glass pyramid
The projects for the monetization and expansion of the Louvre date back to 1981. They included the construction of a main entrance to the museum. The American architect of Chinese origin－I. M. Pei－was in charge of the project. Pei designed a pyramid that had to become an entrance to the museum. Its glass walls allow visitors to admire the surrounding historic buildings and to light up the entrance hall.
The Louvre collection
The Louvre treasures can date back to the collection of Francesco I (1515－1547), who bought many Italian paintings. During the rule of Louis XIV ( 1643－1715) this amounted to only 200 artworks, but it also increased as a result of donations and purchases. It was opened for the first time to the public in 1793. Since then the Louvre collection has been continuously enriched.
The fallen guide
The main entrance is under the glass pyramid. The artworks are exposed on four floors: the display rooms of the artworks are organized according to the countries they are from. There are eight sections in all. The European painters’ collection is very large, with 40 percent of French works, while the collection of sculptures is less complete.
1.What does the first paragraph say about the Louvre Museum?
A. It was first intended as a royal palace.
B. It has a history of less than ten centuries.
C. It has the largest art collection worldwide.
D. It experienced nonstop expansion in the past.
2.Which of the following in a function of the glass wills of the pyramid?
A. Acting as a good viewpoint. B. Making visitors move faster.
C. Making the entrance hall less bright. D. Preventing heat by reflecting sunlight.
3.The arrangement of the display rooms is based on the artworks’ .
A. historic values B. cultural meanings
C. countries of origin D. levels of perfection
（河南省郑州市2018届高三下学期第三次模拟）假定你是李华,正在你校学习汉语的美国交换生Albert对中国古诗词很感兴趣。请用英语给他写封邮件,邀请他一同观看央视频道《经典咏流传》中的一期节目。内容包括：
1. 时间、地点和观看人员；
2. 内容：欣赏以歌曲形式咏唱的经典古诗词；
3. 提醒：提前简要了解一些中国经典古诗词,观后一起谈感受。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：《经典咏流传》Everlasting Classics
Hi Albert,
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Best,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Our English teacher, Ms. Joan, came to our school in 1986. She taught English for nearly 31 years so far. She works hardly and has been a model teacher for ages.
She is kind to us but she is rather strict with us as well. She always encourages ourselves to speak and read more English. She is good at teaching and tries her best to make every lesson lively and interested. She is not only our teacher and also our friend. We students love and respect for her.
Tomorrow she is going to attend a important meeting, at which she will be given a medal for his advanced deeds. We both sincerely congratulate her on achieving so extraordinary achievements.
