LONDON----Here’s a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly.
Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health. And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it occurs. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.
　　In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin EkblomBak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.
　　While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.
　　"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating(调节) the amount of glucose（葡萄糖） and fat in the body start to shut down.
　　Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.（一回）
　　Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.
　　"We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad," said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. "But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior, the better."
　　Figures from a U.S. survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.
　　Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible tooffset those effects.
　　"People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits," Ekblom-Bak said. "But when they’re in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said.
【小题1】What is the best title for the text?

It’s been claimed that playing a musical instrument makes you smarter．

New research suggests that regularly playing a musical instrument changes the shape and power of the brain, and may be used in therapy (疗法) to improve cognitive (认知) skills．

Experts say there is growing evidence that musicians have brains that are structurally and functionally different from those of non-musicians, especially in the areas of the brain used in processing (处理信息)

The parts of the brain that control motor skills, the storage of audio information, hearing and memory become larger and more active when a person learns how to play an instrument and can apparently improve the alertness (警觉) and planning．

Lutz Jancke, a psychologist at the University of Zurich, said, “Leaning to play a musical instrument has great benefits and can increase IQ by seven points in both children and adults．We found that even people over the age of 65, after four or five months of playing an instrument for an hour a week, had strong changes in the brain.” The parts of the brain that control hearing and memory, and the part that controls the hands, among others, all become more active.

“Of course music isn’t the only answer, but I do believe that it should be used in addition to other things.”

Mr．Jancke also said that learning a musical instrument could also make it easier to learn foreign languages and make one more sensitive to understanding the emotions of others．“So not only does this make it easier to pick up other languages and have a better memory of one’s own, we have also seen musicians are able to pick out exactly what others are feeling just by the tones of their voices—sympathy, disappointment, that kind of things.”

He added, “Several studies indeed show that playing music increases memory and language skills, but more research is needed.”

1．What is the passage mainly about?

       A．How to use musical instruments.

       B．How music affects the brain.

       C．How playing music makes people smarter.

       D．The development of research into music.

2．Compared with non-musicians, __________.

       A．musicians are better at foreign languages

       B．musicians are more active in sports

       C．musicians have stronger emotions

       D．musicians’ brains work differently in processing

3．Which of the following is NOT a benefit of playing an instrument?

       A．It makes it easier for one to pick up foreign languages.

       B．It allows one to show his feelings more exactly to others．

       C．It gives one a better memory in one’s own language．

       D．it makes one understand others’ feelings better．

4．From Luz Jancke we lean that _________．

         A．playing an instrument benefits children more than adults

       B．playing an instrument has no benefits for people over 65

       C．some studies show playing music can increase memory

       D．he will do more research into brain development and music

At Blossom End Railroad Station, 22-year-old Stanley Vine sat, waiting for his new employer. The surrounding green fields were so unlike the muddy landscape of war-torn France. After four horrible years as an army private fighting in Europe, Stanley had returned to England in February 1946. Armed now with some savings and with no prospects for a job in England, he answered a newspaper ad for farm help in Canada. Two months later he was on his way.

When the old car rumbled (发着辘辘声) toward the tiny station, Stanley rose to his feet, trying to make the most of his five foot and four inches frame. The farmer, Alphonse Lapine, shook his head and complained, “You’re a skinny thing.” On the way to his dairy farm, Alphonse explained that he had a wife and seven kids. “Money is tight. You’ll get room and board. You’ll get up at dawn for milking, and then help me around the farm until evening milking time again. Ten dollars a week. Sundays off.” Stanley nodded. He had never been on a farm before, but he took the job.

From the beginning Stanley was treated horribly by the whole family. They made fun of the way he dressed and talked. He could do nothing right. The humourless farmer frequently lost his temper, criticizing Stanley for the slightest mistake. The oldest son, 13-year-old Armand, constantly played tricks on him. But the kind-hearted Stanley never responded.

Stanley never became part of the Lapine family. After work, they ignored him. He spend his nights alone in a tiny bedroom. However, each evening before retiring, he lovingly cared for the farmer’s horses, eagerly awaiting him at the field gate. He called them his gentle giants. On Saturday nights he hitch-hiked into the nearest town and wandered the streets or enjoyed a restaurant meal before returning to the farm.

Early one November morning Alphonse Lapine discovered that Stanley had disappeared, after only six months as his farmhand. The railway station master, when questioned later that week, said he had not seen him. In fact no one in the community ever heard of him again. That is, until one evening, almost 20 years later, when Armand, opened an American sports magazine and came across a shocking headline, “Millionaire jockey (赛马骑师), Stanley Vine, ex-British soldier and 5-time horse riding champion, began life in North America as a farmhand in Canada.”

1.Stanley Vine decided to go to Canada because ___________.

A．he wanted to escape from war-torn France

B．he wanted to serve in the Canadian army

C．he couldn’t find a job in England

D．he loved working as a farmhand

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Stanley joined the French army when he was 18 years old.

B．On the farm Stanley had to milk the cows 14 times a week.

C．The Lapine family were very rich but cruel to Stanley.

D．Stanely read about the job offer in a newspaper.

3.What did Stanley like doing after work each day?

A．Hitch-hiking to different towns.

B．Caring for the farmer’s horses.

C．Wandering around the farm alone.

D．Preparing meals on the farm.

4.Why was Armand so astonished when he read about Stanley in the magazine?

A．He didn’t know Stanley had been a British soldier.

B．He had no idea Stanley had always been a wealthy man.

C．He didn’t know his father paid Stanley so little money.

D．He didn’t expect Stanley to become such a success.

Here's a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly. Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be   1  for your health. And it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it   2   .

Research is preliminary, but several studies   3  people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.

In an editorial   4  this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define   5  activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

While health officials have issued guidelines   6  minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven't suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated   7  .

"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send   8  signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucoseand fat in the   9  start to shut down.

Even for people who   10   , spending long stretches of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day —   11  still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day,    12  in a single bout.

That wasn't   13  news for Aytekin Can, 31, who works at a London financial company, and spends most of his days sitting    14   a computer. Several evenings a week, Can also teaches jiu jitsu, a Japanese martial art  15  wrestling, and also does Thai boxing.

"I'm sure there are some detrimental   16  of staying still for too long, but I hope that being   17  when I can helps," he said. "I wouldn't want to think the sitting could be   18  dangerous."

Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat   19  had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.

Figures from a US survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

Experts said more research is needed to    20  just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to offset those effects.

(   ) 1. A. bad                    B. good               C. mean                      D. dead

(   ) 2. A. does                  B. occurs              C. matches                   D. dies

(   ) 3. A. advise               B. talk                  C. suggest                    D. say

(   ) 4. A. thrown                      B. caught              C. seen                        D. published

(   ) 5. A. biological           B. physical            C. psychological           D. logical

(   ) 6. A. commending      B. mending           C. recommending        D. communicating

(   ) 7. A. stand                 B. state                 C. post                 D. position

(   ) 8. A. harmful             B. careful             C. wonderful        D. skillful

(   ) 9. A. head                  B. arm                  C. body               D. foot

(   ) 10. A. sleep               B. rest                  C. walk               D. exercise

(   ) 11. A. and                  B. so                    C. but                   D. then

(   ) 12. A. rather than               B. other than        C. more than        D. less than

(   ) 13. A. bad                  B. harmful            C. disadvantage     D. welcome

(   ) 14. A. behind             B. back                 C. in front of               D. forward

(   ) 15. A. referring          B. involving          C. taking              D. bringing

(   ) 16. A. effects              B. prefects            C. affects              D. offers

(   ) 17. A. inactive            B. active               C. interactive               D. positive

(   ) 18. A. such                 B. little                 C. lot                   D. that

(   ) 19. A. less                  B. fewer                      C. more               D. further

(   ) 20. A. leave out          B. bring out          C. hold out           D. figure out

“This Friday we’ll have the yearly Egg Drop Challenge,” said our science teacher, Mr. Baker. “You can work alone or with a partner. ”

My friend, Cassie, and I smiled at each other. We always worked on projets__36___.

The ___37___of the challenge was simple ---to build a protective container to keep an egg from breaking when ___38___the stadium wall.

I made my sandwich that afternoon while waiting for Cassie. ___39___the butter-cream gave me an idea.

 “I have a brilliant design for our __40__container!”I said when Cassie arrived. “We can   41    the egg with some butter-cream.”

 “Why not pit the egg in a basket with a parachute(降落伞)    42   ?” Cassie rolled her eyes.  “The parachute is better than that stupid idea.”

I couldn’t believe it, Of course we’d had our little    43    in the past, but she’d never called any of my ideas “   44   ” before.

“Then I’ll build mine and you build yours!”

   45    words had been out, our friendship was challenged.

When Friday finally arrived, I had to    46     Cassie’s Egg Force One looked pretty good.   47  _, my Egg-cellent Egg Cream didn’t look quite scientific. We kids carried our containers up three stadium steps and dropped them over the side wall. Those whose eggs broke were out; those whose eggs survived    48  three more steps and dropped them again. This would go on till the last egg broke.

After four rounds, only Cassie and I were   49  . I let go of my box. I heard someone say “ew” after seconds. Had my egg broken? I raced down the    50  . The side walk was dotted with egg shells(蛋壳) from those   51  drops. Finally I found my little Egg-cellent Egg Cream.

   “That looks like egg drop soup, Laura,” Cassie said. She was holding her Egg Force One. My _52    raced. Had she won? I looked at her basket.    53    .

“My egg bounced    54  , ”she explained, pointing to a broken shell.

“A tie(平局), ”Mr. Baker said.

Cassie looked at me, and her glare    55   . I laughed. She smiled…

36.  A. patiently      B. silently        C. together        D. alone

37.  A. function      B. goal            C. reason        D. result

38.  A. rolled down   B. pushed against    C. thrown at      D. dropped over

39.  A. Spreading     B. Boiling         C. Baking        D. Holding

40.  A. butter        B. sandwich        C. cream         D. egg

41.  A. protect       B. replace          C. carry          D. mix

42.  A. followed      B. covered         C. attached       D. supported

43.  A. ideas         B. fights           C. worries        D. challenges

44.  A. wrong        B. stupid          C. brilliant       D. scientific

45.  A. Since         B. While           C. But          D. And

46.  A. explain        B. deny            C. admit        D. prove

47.  A. Therefore      B. Anyway         C. Otherwise     D. Besides

48.  A. paced down    B. turned around     C. walked up     D. went back

49.  A. left           B. wanted          C. chosen        D. discovered

50.  A. steps          B. way            C. wall          D. sidewalk

51.  A. intended       B. unexpected       C. failed        D. desired

52.  A. eyes          B. hands            C. feet         D. heart

53.  A. Lost          B. Dirty            C. Broken       D. Empty

54.  A. around        B. out              C. in           D. down

55.  A. returned       B. remained         C. increased     D. softened