You will spend hours at the gym training your body, but do you ever think about training your brain? Here are four ways to keep your brain mentally (脑力上地) active and healthy.
Play games
Your brain is a muscle just like the ones in the rest of your body. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. For example, doing a crossword puzzle (纵横填字游戏) once a day is a good way to give the brain the exercise it needs. This kind of puzzle is good at training different areas of the brain. But remember that when doing this puzzle, you should gradually increase the complexity (复杂度); otherwise, it will become repetitive (重复乏味的) and stop being mentally challenging.
Talk aloud
Although it might sound strange to you, talking aloud is a great way to boost your memory. A good exercise to try is counting to 99 in threes as fast as you can.
Be a team leader
If you find you can do your work very easily, you should find a new task. It is important that your job should be mentally challenging. Complex jobs are often more challenging and make the brain work a little harder.
Learn a language
A study found that, compared with those who could speak only one language, the people who could speak two languages had a slower rate of cognitive (认知能力) decrease. Learning a new language is very challenging and it makes sure that different areas of the brain have their lights on.
【小题1】What is the main idea of this passage?

If you have questions about developing your study practices,the first place to look is in our Study Guides. However,if you don't find the answers you need here, or you feel the guidance would make more sense in the situation of your own work, then you may find it helpful to talk to an adviser individually.

We offer subject-focused sessions(辅导课) -with friendly professional advisers. These 30-nunute sessions (longer if necessary)are "tailor-made" to your individual needs and completely secret.

What to expect from an individual advice session

Our individual advice sessions are quite informal and tailored to your needs. Your adviser will usually want to talk a bit about how your studies are going generally, and what you would like to discuss. As sessions are quite short, it's useful if you can be prepared by tlunking about this before you arrive. It will be helpful for us if you can bring any marked work that you have, so that we can see what areas of your work markers have commented on.

We aimto help you developyour skills to study more effectively andachievesubject success. So we will not correct work for you, but will help you understand what youneed to know to correct it yourself in the future. Everyone works differently, so we may make a number of suggestions - it will be up to you to try them out and see what worksest for you.

If you'd like to discuss a coursework assignment which you are currently working on,it may be helpful if you can email your work to the adviser you are seeing oefore your meeting (contact details are here), with a note sessions are quite short, you might prefer that develop your work, rather than reading it!

Please note:

Saying what you would like to discuss. Aswe spent the time discussing how you can．  We cannot pravide subject-specific advice. For this,it is best to consult your course    tutor. If you would prefer to talk to someone else, try your personal tutor, or the    Senior Tutor in your department. Your department or school office will be able to advise on who that is.

We do not proof-read work. See our guide to Effective Proof-reading to help you to develop develop your own proof-reading practices.

Study Advisers are not trained to teach English as a Foreign Language. For basic     principles relating to common errors in academic English, please see our guide to       Academic Writing. If you feel you need more detailed help, there are also links on the    Academic Writing pages to more comprehensive websites, including some with  interactive exercises.

If  English is not your first language, the In-sessional English SLrpport Programme    (IESP) provides training courses in academic writing skills, speaking skills, and  pronunciation practice.There is a smll charge for students not paying full overseas fees.

Booking an advice session

Sessions may be booked in advance by calling 0118 378 4242 0r emailing studyadvice@reading.ac.uk. Please include a contact phone number in any messages you  leave.

1.The underlined word "tailor_made" in Paragraph 2 most probably means      .

A．valuable          B．suitable           C．available          D．acceptable

2.As sessions are time-limited,it is helpful if you can       .

A．predict what suggestion works best for you

B．bring some non-marked work for comments

C．prepare what you'd like to discuss in advance

D．consult with your adviser on your work by phone

3.If a Chinese student plans to take an English pronunciation training course, he/she can see the guide to       .

A．Study Guides                           B．Effective Proof-reading

C．Academic Writing                       D．In-sessional English Support Programme

4.What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To give some professional subject advice.

B．To promote the individual advice sessions.

C．To stress the importance of a friendly adviser.

D．To provide four websites offering study guides.

If you have questions about developing your study practices,the first place to look is in our Study Guides. However,if you don't find the answers you need here, or you feel the guidance would make more sense in the situation of your own work, then you may find it helpful to talk to an adviser individually.
We offer subject-focused sessions(辅导课) -with friendly professional advisers. These 30-nunute sessions (longer if necessary)are "tailor-made" to your individual needs and completely secret.
What to expect from an individual advice session
Our individual advice sessions are quite informal and tailored to your needs. Your adviser will usually want to talk a bit about how your studies are going generally, and what you would like to discuss. As sessions are quite short, it's useful if you can be prepared by tlunking about this before you arrive. It will be helpful for us if you can bring any marked work that you have, so that we can see what areas of your work markers have commented on.
We aimto help you developyour skills to study more effectively andachievesubject success. So we will not correct work for you, but will help you understand what youneed to know to correct it yourself in the future. Everyone works differently, so we may make a number of suggestions - it will be up to you to try them out and see what worksest for you.
If you'd like to discuss a coursework assignment which you are currently working on,it may be helpful if you can email your work to the adviser you are seeing oefore your meeting (contact details are here), with a note sessions are quite short, you might prefer that develop your work, rather than reading it!
Please note:
Saying what you would like to discuss. Aswe spent the time discussing how you can．  We cannot pravide subject-specific advice. For this,it is best to consult your course    tutor. If you would prefer to talk to someone else, try your personal tutor, or the    Senior Tutor in your department. Your department or school office will be able to advise on who that is.
We do not proof-read work. See our guide to Effective Proof-reading to help you to develop develop your own proof-reading practices.
Study Advisers are not trained to teach English as a Foreign Language. For basic     principles relating to common errors in academic English, please see our guide to       Academic Writing. If you feel you need more detailed help, there are also links on the    Academic Writing pages to more comprehensive websites, including some with  interactive exercises.
If  English is not your first language, the In-sessional English SLrpport Programme    (IESP) provides training courses in academic writing skills, speaking skills, and  pronunciation practice.There is a smll charge for students not paying full overseas fees.
Booking an advice session
Sessions may be booked in advance by calling 0118 378 4242 0r emailing studyadvice@reading.ac.uk. Please include a contact phone number in any messages you  leave.
【小题1】The underlined word "tailor_made" in Paragraph 2 most probably means      .

You will spend hours at the gym training your body, but do you ever think about training your brain? Here are four ways to keep your brain mentally (脑力上地) active and healthy.

Play games

Your brain is a muscle just like the ones in the rest of your body. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. For example, doing a crossword puzzle (纵横填字游戏) once a day is a good way to give the brain the exercise it needs. This kind of puzzle is good at training different areas of the brain. But remember that when doing this puzzle, you should gradually increase the complexity (复杂度); otherwise, it will become repetitive (重复乏味的) and stop being mentally challenging.

Talk aloud

Although it might sound strange to you, talking aloud is a great way to boost your memory. A good exercise to try is counting to 99 in threes as fast as you can.

Be a team leader

If you find you can do your work very easily, you should find a new task. It is important that your job should be mentally challenging. Complex jobs are often more challenging and make the brain work a little harder.

Learn a language

A study found that, compared with those who could speak only one language, the people who could speak two languages had a slower rate of cognitive (认知能力) decrease. Learning a new language is very challenging and it makes sure that different areas of the brain have their lights on.

1.What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Why you should train your brain.

B．How to be a good team leader.

C．Training the brain is more important than training the body.

D．How to make your brain healthy and work actively.

2.Which word can replace the word "boost" in the third paragraph?

A．Change.           B．Promote.          C．Decrease.         D．Lose.

3.We should gradually increase the complexity when doing crossword puzzles because ______.

A．if we don’t use our brain, we will lose it

B．we should make our brain face different challenges

C．our brain is a muscle like other parts in our bodies

D．these puzzles can work on different areas of the brain

4.Which group of people have a slower rate of cognitive decrease?

A．Those who don’t often do crossword puzzles.

B．Those who don’t often count to 99 in threes.

C．Those who do their work very easily.

D．Those who can speak more than one language.