Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping a moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc. But what effect does your personality have on your longevity（长寿）? Do some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives? A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality characteristics of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100.
The study shows that those living the longest are more outgoing, more active and less neurotic (神经质的) than other people. Long-living women are also more likely to be sympathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span. These findings are in agreement with what you would expect from the evolutionary theory: those who like to make friends and help others can gather enough resources to make it through tough times. Interestingly, however, other characteristics that you might consider advantageous had no impact on whether study participants were likely to live longer. Those who were more self-disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to live to be very old. Also, being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life, which might explain all those bad-tempered old people who are fixed in their ways.
Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate. But the new paper suggests that if you want long life, you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.
Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother’s personality may also help determine your longevity. That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets. Patterns of childhood eating can be hard to break when we’re adults, which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger. Personality isn’t destiny, and everyone knows that individuals can learn to change. But both studies show that long life isn’t just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health.
1.The aim of the study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society is____.
A. to investigate the role of exercise in living a long life
B. to find out if one’s lifestyle has any effect on their health
C. to see whether people’s personality affects their life span
D. to examine all the factors contributing to longevity
2.What does the author imply about outgoing and sympathetic people?
A. They are more likely to get over hardship.
B. They are better at negotiating an agreement.
C. They generally appear more resourceful.
D. They have a good understanding of evolution.
3.What finding of the study might prove somewhat out of our expectation？
A. Personality characteristics that prove advantageous actually vary with times.
B. Easy-going people can also live a relatively long life.
C. Readiness to accept new ideas helps one enjoy longevity.
D. Such personality characteristics as self-discipline have no effect on longevity.
4.What can we learn from the findings of the two new studies?
A. Anxiety and depression more often than not cut short one’s life span.
B. Health is in large part related to one’s lifestyle.
C. Personality plays a decisive role in how healthy one is.
D. Longevity results from a combination of mental and physical health.
Since English biologist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, scientists have vastly improved their knowledge of natural history. However, a lot of information is still of the speculation, and scientists can still only make educated guesses at certain things.
One subject that they guess about is why some 400 million years ago, animals in the sea developed limbs (肢) that allowed them to move onto and live on land.
Recently, an idea that occurred to the US paleontologist (古生物学家) Alfred Romer a century ago became a hot topic once again.
Romer thought that tidal (潮汐的) pools might have led to fish gaining limbs. Sea animals would have been forced into these pools by strong tides. Then, they would have been made either to adapt to their new environment close to land or die. The fittest among them grew to accomplish the transition (过渡) from sea to land.
Romer called these earliest four-footed animals “tetrapods”. Science has always thought that this was a credible theory, but only recently has there been strong enough evidence to support it.
Hannah Byrne is an oceanographer (海洋学家) at Uppsala University in Sweden. She announced at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Oregon, US, that by using computer software, her team had managed to link Homer’s theory to places where fossil deposits (沉积物) of the earliest tetrapods were found.
According to the magazine Science, in 2014, Steven Balbus, a scientist at the University of Oxford in the UK, calculated that 400 million years ago, when the move from land to sea was achieved, tides were stronger than they are today. This is because the planet was 10 percent closer to the moon than it is now.
The creatures stranded in the pools would have been under the pressure of “survival of the fittest”, explained Mattias Green, an ocean scientist at the UK’s University of Bangor. As he told Science, “After a few days in these pools, you become food or you run out of food... the fish that had large limbs had an advantage because they could flip (翻转) themselves back in the water.”
As is often the case, however, there are others who find the theory less convincing. Cambridge University’s paleontologist Jennifer Clark, speaking to Nature magazine, seemed unconvinced. “It’s only one of many ideas for the origin of land-based tetrapods, any or all of which may have been a part of the answer,” she said.
1.Who first proposed the theory that fish might have gained limbs because of tidal pools?
A. Hannah Byrne. B. Charles Darwin.
C. Alfred Romer. D. Steven Balbus.
2.Why were tides stronger 400 million years ago than they are today according to Steven Balbus?
A. There were larger oceans. B. Earth was under greater pressure.
C. The moon gave off more energy. D. Earth was closer to the moon.
3.The underlined word “stranded” in Paragraph 8 probably means “________”.
A. trapped B. settled
C. abandoned D. found
4.What is the focus of the article?
A. The arguments over a scientific theory.
B. Some new evidence to support a previous theory.
C. The proposal of a new scientific theory.
D. A new discovery that questions a previous theory.
US student Vanessa Tahay stands out from the other teenagers in her school. Her skin is dark, her accent is thick, and if you ask her, she will tell you these are the things she is proudest of. Tahay is a poet, and at 18 she was considered among the best in Los Angeles.
When she is on the stage, audiences often go silent. They also laugh and cry. But this doesn’t come easily for someone who comes from a village that sits at the base of a huge mountain range in Central America. When she first appeared at school, she was teased by others for being short and different. She never spoke, so they called her “mouse”.
“How do I defend myself?” Tahay thought. “I don’t know how.”
“Keep going,” her mother would tell her. “At some point, you’ll learn.”
She spent hours after school and on weekends watching the same DVDs: English without Barriers.
Tahay’s elder brother, Elmer, persuaded her to go to the after-school poetry club. In the last six years, her English teacher Laurie Kurnick has turned Cleveland Charter High School’s poetry program into one of the most respected in the city. Her team draws from the likes of D.H. Laurence, Pat Mora and Kendrick Lamar to create poems about their own lives. The poems focus on many things —some funny, some painful.
The first time Tahay read the group’s poems, chills went up her spine (脊柱). “I wish I could write like that,” she thought. “I want to say something.”
She wrote her first poem about her first year in America. She called it Invisible. The day her turn came to recite in front of the team, she broke down crying. She cried for 15 minutes. “I had so much held in,” Tahay said. “I couldn’t even finish it.”
But she kept at it despite her less-than-perfect grammar, spelling and diction (措辞). Still, she wouldn’t tell her friends about her poetry because she worried they would make fun of her.
But with time, her poems changed her. “They gave me pride,” Tahay said. “They told me that I’m worth something.”
“She had this innocence,” Kurnick said. “This willingness to be genuine and show you things you don’t ever see.”
1.What did Tahay’s mother suggest she do when she was teased by others?
A. Fight with them bravely. B. Report them to her teachers.
C. Try hard to make friends with them. D. Ignore them and keep going.
2.What are the themes of Tahay and her team’s poems?
A. Their admiration for the great poets.
B. Funny and painful stories about their lives.
C. Their expectations of a better future.
D. Their appreciation of natural beauty.
3.How did Tahay probably feel when she first read the group’s poems?
A. She was cold. B. She was nervous.
C. She was excited. D. She was frightened.
4.How did Tahay benefit from writing poems?
A. She improved her grammar and spelling greatly.
B. She won many national poetry competitions.
C. She became the first student poet in the city.
D. She felt more confident about herself.
Sydney Trains is one of the most economical, reliable and convenient ways to travel throughout Sydney and its surrounds.
Our network, the NSW Trains Intercity, covers suburban Sydney and extends to the Hunter, Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands and South Coast regions.
The network is made up of several color-coded lines. Trains from different lines can share the same platform, so check display screen and listen to announcements.
Ticket prices are generally based on the distance traveled. You can visit transportnsw. Info for details.
Getting to the City.
In Sydney, if you’re near a train station, you’re on your way to the city. Every rail line leads directly or indirectly to the City Circle. It’s the loop around the central business district of Sydney. Most City stations are underground so look out for the sign on street level.
Automatic ticket gates
Large stations have automatic gates for entry to, and exit from, the station. If you have an Opal card or a ticket which has a magnetic stripe you must use the automatic gates. You may use the wide gate for wheelchair, pram or luggage access. Station staff will assist you.
Night Ride buses
Most trains don’t operate between midnight and 4:00 a.m. So a special Night Ride bus service is available between these hours on most Sydney suburban lines.
Track work
In order for the tracks to the maintained, we sometimes have to replace train with buses, particularly at weekends, please check the track work section for the latest service alterations on your line.
1.To get more information about ticket prices, travelers had better________.
A. visit a website B. go to the City Circle
C. check display screen D. listen to announcements
2.What service is offered to travelers in need at most big stations?
A. A free Opal card B. Earlier entry to the station
C. A ticket with a magnetic stripe D. Help from station workers
3.Which is the best convenient time to travel by Sydney Trains?
A. At midnight. B. At 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
C. Between midnight and 4:00 a.m. D. On Sunday afternoon.
School was over and I felt quite tired. I sat at the very ______ of the crowded bus because of my anxiety to get home. Sitting there makes me ______ out like a shiny coin in a pile of dull pennies.
Janie, the ______, tries to break the uncomfortable atmosphere by striking the match of ______. I tried to mind my manners and ______ listened, but usually I am too busy thinking about my day. On this day, ______, her conversation was worth listening to.
“My father’s sick,” she said to no one in ______, I could see the anxiety and fear in her eyes. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked. With her eyes wet and her voice tight from ________ the tears, she answered, “Heart trouble.” Her eyes ______ as she continued. “I have already lost my mum, so I don’t think I can stand losing him.”
I was ______. My heart ached for her. And this reminded me of the great _____ that my own mother was thrown into when her father died. I saw how hard it was, and _________ is, for her. I wouldn’t like anyone to ______ that.
Suddenly I realized Janie wasn’t only a bus driver. That was ______ her job. She had a whole world of ______ and concerns, too. I suddenly felt very selfish. I realized I had only thought of people as ______ as what their purposes were in my life. I paid no attention to Janie ______ she was a bus driver. I had ______ her by her job and brushed her off as unimportant.
For all I know, I’m just another person in ______ else’s world, and may not even be ________ I should not have been so selfish and self-centered. Everyone has places to go, people to see and appointment to keep. Understanding people is an art.
1.A. side B. end C. front D. middle
2.A. find B. take C. think D. stand
3.A. doctor B. teacher C. driver D. assistant
4.A. conversation B. topic C. fire D. discussion
5.A. politely B. slightly C. carelessly D. partly
6.A. otherwise B. instead C. therefore D. however
7.A. surprise B. purpose C. silence D. particular
8.A. fighting B. turning C. clearing D. protecting
9.A. opened B. lowered C. closed D. shone
10.A. shocked B. relieved C. recognized D. excited
11.A. victory B. pain C. respect D. disappointment
12.A. away B. seldom C. never D. still
13.A. pick up B. go through C. work out D. get down
14.A. almost B. nearly C. just D. ever
15.A. school B. factory C. family D. friend
16.A. far B. long C. much D. well
17.A. while B. until C. though D. because
18.A. judged B. received C. considered D. criticized
19.A. everyone B. anyone C. someone D. nobody
20.A. happy B. important C. useful D. wise
Tom doesn’t want to move to London because he thinks if he _____there, he wouldn’t be able to see his parents very often.
A. lives B. were to live
C. had lived D. would live
