Brain-training software may be a waste of time.People who played "mind-boosting" games made the same modest cognitive gains as those who spent a similar amount of time surfing the web."It didn't really make any difference what people did,"says Adrian Owen of the Medical Research Council Cognition,who tested brain-training software on volunteers recruited through a BBC television program.

Owen and his colleagues asked 11,000 volunteers to take tests to measure their reasoning ability and verbal and spatial（空间的）memory.Participants then spent six weeks playing on one of two computer programs,or just surfing the web for pleasure.In one program,which imitates commercial brain-training software,the volunteers solved simple mathematics problems and puzzles that tested their memories.The other was designed specifically to boost cognitive abilities such as reasoning and planning.

After six weeks,the participants underwent a second round of cognitive tests.Both groups who played the games made modest improvements,yet so did the web surfers.Skills learned via the programs didn't transfer to the cognitive tests,even when they relied on similar abilities,says Owen.For instance,people who played a game in which they had to find a match for a briefly overturned card struggled at a similar test that used stars "hidden" in boxes,"Even when the tests were conceptually quite similar we didn't see any improvement,"says Owen.He concludes that brain-training software only makes people better at the specific tasks they have been practicing.

Yet Klingberg,who founded a cognitive-training firm called Cogmed,is indignant at the conclusion that all brain training is bunk.The participants in Owen's study didn't practice for long enough and there was no quality control over what practice people did,he says."Asking subjects to sit at home and do tests online,perhaps with the TV on or other distractions around,is likely to result in noisy data,"he says."This paper does in no way disprove that the brain is plastic or that cognitive functions can be improved by training."Owen counters that his team's research took place in settings similar to the ones people are likely to practice in."This is what people are doing.They're sitting at home on their computers doing brain training."

32.The purpose of Owen recruiting volunteers to do the first round of tests is      .

A.test their reasoning ability and verbal and spatial memory

B.support the BBC television program in his way

C.prove how much information participants can remember

D.detect differences among people in memorizing information

33.From the second round of cognitive tests,Owen concludes that      .

A.all participants have made much recognizable improvement dramatically

B.participants have developed reasoning ability to solve complicated problems

C.participants can make greater improvement in solving very similar problems

D.participants performed better in certain tasks they have practiced for a long time

34.What's the meaning of "indignant"?

A.Surprised.                       B.Agreeable.                      C.Mad.                        D.Dishonest.

35.What is the passage mainly about?

A.There is a debate about whether brain-training software is effective.

B.We should concentrate on brain-training software in our daily life.

C.Brain-training software is useless to most people.

D.It is important to improve reasoning ability and spatial memory.

The ________  of severe punishments plays a major role in the growing road safety problem.

A.  presence  B.  absence  C.  existence  D.  evidence[Z-X-X-K]

    Plastic-Eating Worms

Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills(垃圾填埋场), and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms.

Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it. To confirm that the worms’ chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物) and applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass — apparently broken down by enzymes (酶) from the worms’ stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017.

Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms’ ability to break down their everyday food — beeswax — also allows them to break down plastic. ＂Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well, ＂she explains, ＂The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond. ＂

Jennifer DeBruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, DeBruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物)?

Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team’s findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process — not simply ＂millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic.＂

43．What can we learn about the worms in the study?

A．They take plastics as their everyday food.

B．They are newly evolved creatures.

C．They can consume plastics.

D．They wind up in landfills.

44．According to Jennifer DeBruyn, the next step of the study is to            .

A．identify other means of the breakdown

B．find out the source of the enzyme

C．confirm the research findings

D．increase the breakdown speed

45．It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the chemical might            .

A．help to raise worms

B．help make plastic bags

C．be used to clean the oceans

D．be produced in factories in future

46．What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To explain a study method on worms.

B．To introduce the diet of a special worm.

C．To present a way to break down plastics.

D．To propose new means to keep eco-balance.

Because a language is ________ changing, a word can mean a totally different thing to what it meant in the past.

A. instantly         B. constantly               C. roughly           D. casually

 Everyone is forgetful, but as we age, we start to feel like our brains are slowing down a bit—and that can be a very annoying thing.  36     Read on for some techniques worth trying.

1.  37    

People who regularly made plans and looked forward to upcoming events had a 50 percent reduced chance of Alzheimer's disease (早老性痴呆症), according to a recent study.

___38   Something as simple as setting a goal to have a weekly coffee date with a friend will do. There's evidence that people who have a purpose in life or who are working on long or short-term goals appear to do better. In other words, keep your brain looking forward.

2. Go for a walk.

Mildly raised glucose (葡萄糖) levels can harm the area of the brain that helps you form memories and physical activity can help get blood glucose down to normal levels. In fact, exercise produces chemicals that are good for your brain.   39    

3. Learn something new.

Take a Spanish class online, join a drawing club, or learn to play cards. A study found that mental stimulation (刺激) limits the weakening effects of aging on memory and the mind. But the best thing for your brain is when you learn something new and are physically active at the same time.   40     Or go dancing with your friends.

A. In other words, when you take care of your body, you take care of your brain.

B. This can be especially harmful to the aged.

C. It should be something like learning gardening.

D. Luckily, research shows there is a lot you can do to avoid those moments.

E. But don't worry if your schedule isn't filled with life-changing events.

F. So take a few minutes each day to do some reading.

G. Focus on the future.

The freezing Northeast hasn’t been a terribly fun place to spend time this winter, so when the chance came for a weekend to Sarasota, Florida, my bags  were packed before you could say “sunshine”. I left for the land of warmth and vitamin C(维生素C), thinking of beaches and orange trees. When we touched down to blue skies and warm air, I sent up a small prayer of gratefulness. Swimming pools, wine tasting, and pink sunsets(at normal evening hours, not 4 in the afternoon) filled the weekend, but the best part- particularly to my taste, dulled by months of cold- weather root vegetables- was a 7 a.m. adventure to the Sarasota farmers’ market that proved to be more than worth the early wake-up call.

 The market, which was founded in 1979, sets up its tents every Saturday from 7:00 am to 1 p.m, rain or shine, along North Lemon and State streets. Baskets of perfect red strawberries, the red-painted sides of the Java Dawg coffee truck; and most of all, the tomatoes: amazing, large, soft and round red tomatoes.

Disappointed by many a broken, vine-ripened(蔓上成熟的) promise, I’ve refused to buy winter tomatoes for years. No matter how attractive they look in the store, once I get them home they’re unfailingly dry, hard, and tasteless. But I homed in, with uncertainty, on one particular table at the Brown’s Grove Farm’s stand, full of fresh and soft tomatoes the size of my fist. These were the real deal- and at that moment, I realized that the best part of Sarasota in winter was going to be eating things that back home in New York I wouldn’t be experiencing again for months.

 Delighted as I was by the tomatoes in sight, my happiness deepened when I learned that Brown’s Grove Farm is one of the suppliers for Jack Dusty, a newly opened restaurant at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton, where- luckily for me- I was planning to have dinner that very night. Without even seeing the menu, I knew I’d be ordering every tomato on it.

4. What did the author think of her winter life in New York?

  A. Exciting.   B. Boring.   C. Relaxing.    D. Annoying.

5. What made the author’s getting up late early worthwhile?

  A. Having a swim.

  B. Breathing in fresh air.

  C. Walking in the morning sun.

  D. Visiting a local farmer’s market.

6. What can we learn about tomatoes sold in New York in winter?

  A. They are soft.

  B. They look nice.

  C. They taste great.

  D. They are juicy.

7. What was the author going to that evening?

  A. Go to a farm.

  B. Check into a hotel.

  C. Eat in a restaurant.

  D. Buy fresh vegatables.

A major source of teen stress is school exams, and test anxiety is not uncommon. When you recognize your teen is under stress, how can you help your teen stay calm before an exam?

Be involved. You need to be involved in your teen’s work.   36   What he looks for is your presence­ –to talk, to cry, or simply to sit with him quietly. Communicate openly with your teen. Encourage your teen to express his worries and fears, but don’t let him focus on those fears.

Help your teen get organized.   37   Together, you and your teen can work out a timetable in which he can study for what he knows will be on the test.

Provide a calm setting. Help your teen set up a quiet place to study and protect his privacy. Give him a nutritious diet. It’s important for your teen to eat a healthy, balanced diet during exam times to focus and do his best.   38   If this happens, encourage your teen to eat light meals or sandwiches. A healthy diet, rather than junk food, is best for reducing stress.

   39   Persuade your teen to get some sleep or do something active when he needs a real break from studying. Marking time for relaxation, fun, and exercise is all important in reducing stress. Help your teen balance his time so that he will fell comfortable taking time out from studying to spend time with friends or rest.

Show a positive attitude.   40   Your panic, anxiety and blame contribute to your teen’s pressure. Make your teen feel accepted and valued for his efforts. Most importantly, reassure your teen that things will be all right, no matter what the results are.

A. Your attitude will influence your teen’s emotions.

B. Exam stress can make some teen lose their appetite(食欲).

C. They will only make the situation worse.

D. Encourage your teen to relax.

E. The best thing is simply to listen.

F. Help your teen think about what he has to study and plan accordingly.

G. Your teen may also make negative comments about themselves.

________ back in his chair, the man began to tell us his adventures in the forests.

   A. Sit                     B. Sitting                  C. To sit                     D. Sat