In the quest for better health, many people t...

In the quest for better health, many people turn to doctors, self help books or herbal supplements. But they overlook a powerful weapon that could help them fight illness and depression, speed recovery, slow aging and prolong life: their friends.

Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.

“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’ t well appreciated,” said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. “There are a lot of things on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well being than family relationships.”

Bella DePaulo, a visiting psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose work focuses on single people and friendships, notes that in many studies, friendship has an even greater effect on health than a spouse or a family member.

It isn’ t entirely clear why friendship has such a big effect. It may be because people with strong social ties also have better access to health services and care. Beyond that, however, friendship clearly has a profound psychological effect. People with strong friendships are less likely than others to get colds, perhaps because they have lower stress levels.

Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

“People with stronger friendship networks feel like there is someone they can turn to，” said Karen A．Roberto, director of the center for gerontology (老年医学) at Virginia Tech.“ Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

1.What’ s the main idea of the passage?

A. People should make friends as many as possible.

B. Friendships do great good to human health.

C. People with friends have optimistic attitude.

D. Several studies have been done on friendships.

2.Which of the following is true?

A. People haven’t attached importance to friendships.

B. A friend can replace doctors and selfhelp books.

C. People with many friends may have higher stress levels.

D. People who have friends tend to be fat.

3.The author mentioned the study in the last three paragraphs to indicate that ________.

A. students should climb the steep hill with friends

B. it takes a long time to make friends

C. a friend in need is a friend indeed

D. people accompanied by friends remain optimistic in the face of difficulty

4.In Paragraph 2 the author aims to tell us ________.

A. friendship has a strong physical effect on people’s health

B. we cannot be too careful when making friends

C. older people are likely to have fewer friends

D. 60 percent of the people without friends will become fat when they get old

5.According to Karen A. Roberto, ________.

A. the effect of friendships is overvalued

B. studies on friendships make our life better

C. friends are more important than family members

D. friends can help each other when faced with problems

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The settlement is home to nearly 1,000 people,many of 　　 left their village homes for a better life in the city.

A.whom 　　 B.which 　　 C.them 　　 D.those

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The settlement is home to nearly 1,000 people, many of __ left their village homes for a better life in the city.

A. whom            B. which              C. them               D. those

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

Many people trying to sell homes find that an increase in home prices has turned the market in their favor. But sellers can still get the short end of the deal if they aren’t careful. Here are a few tips for you:

Don’t test your luck. Of course you think anyone who moves into your lovely home should be willing to pay top dollars, especially if you’ve recently invested in some improvements. But listing a home at a price that’s too high above the market price could turn away some buyers.

Buyers noticing that the home still hasn’t sold may begin to assume there’s something wrong with the house and use that as a reasonable excuse for offering a lower price. And if a home hasn’t received any offers after two weeks, it might be time to reset the price.

A price that’s too low can bring about an undesired outcome. Listing your home at or slightly below the market price can have the effect of drawing in a large group of buyers and increase the chances that a home will receive multiple offers. But setting the price too low comes with several risks. One possibility is that buyers will get skeptical of the home that is listed for $ 15,000 to $ 20,000 less than similar homes in the area, especially if it’s not properly marketed. Once again, people might assume there is something wrong with the home and may not bother to look at it.

Spy on the competition. Going to other people’s open houses can give you a better sense of how your home compares to others on the market. Check out the finishes in their kitchens, the size of their backyards and use the information to figure out where your home should fit in the range of the price. But don’t set your pricing just on what you see elsewhere.

1. What does the underline part in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. To be at a disadvantage

B. To get the upper hand

C. To have control over the situation

D. To be unable to fit in

2. What should home sellers do according to the passage?

A. Price your house on the basis of its geographic location.

B. Price your house slightly above the market price after decorating it.

C. Change the price if no offer has been received within a week.

D. Change your house at a price slightly below the market price.

3.If you set the price of your house too low, _____.

A. buyers might think it not worthwhile to go to have a look

B. you are likely to come into conflict with the neighborhood sellers

C. your house will be crowded with buyers within a couple of days

D. chances of your house being sold at a better price will be greatly increased

4.What is the benefit of going to other people’s open house?

A. You can pick up some useful lessons on house selling.

B. You can get your pricing mainly based on what you see elsewhere.

C. You can work out how much money you should ask for your home.

D. You can know how to make your house stand out against other houses.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The settlement is home to nearly 1,000 people，many of______left their village homes for a better life in the city.

A．whom　　　     B．which　　

C．them　     D．those

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The settlement is home to nearly 1,000 people，many of ________ left their village homes for a better life in the city.

A．whom　                         B．which

C．them　                         D．those

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

At present, many people from countryside went to the cities ____better job.

A .in search of　　　 B. in place of　 C. in memory of 　　　 D. in spite of

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Is there a way to turn back the aging process in people? For centuries, people have been looking for a “fountain of youth.” The idea is that if you find a magical fountain, and drink its water, you will not age.

Researchers in New York did not find an actual fountain of youth, but they may have found a way to turn back the aging process. It appears that the answer may be called the hypothalamus, which is part of your brain. It controls important body activities, including growth, the way we process food and so on.

Researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that hypothalamus neural stem cells (干细胞) also influence how fast aging takes place.

Dongsheng Cai, a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, was the leading researcher in a study on aging in mice. He and his team reported their findings.

“Aging speed can be controlled by a particular place in the body, which is the hypothalamus. And it can be controlled by a particular type of cells, which are hypothalamus stem cells.” He adds that when the hypothalamus starts aging, so does the body. So when hypothalamus function is in decline, particularly the loss of hypothalamus stem cells, and this protection against the aging development is lost, it eventually leads to aging.

Using this information, the researchers began trying to activate the hypothalamus in laboratory mice. They did this by injecting the animals with stem cells.

The researchers say the results show that the treatment slowed aging in the animals. “When we injected the hypothalamus stem cells to the middle-aged mice, the mice aged slowly and they can also live longer.”

But these results were just from studying mice in a laboratory. If the mice can live longer, does that mean people could have longer lives? The next step is to see if the anti-aging effects also work in human beings.

“If we can translate what we have seen in animals to humans, I think humans can function better during later ages.” Cai and his team say their studies may have other benefits. They say the findings could lead to new ways to help doctors identify and treat any number of age-related health issues.

1.Why does the author mention the “fountain of youth” in the first paragraph?

A. To explain what the “fountain of youth” is.

B. To introduce the hypothalamus.

C. To show how to find the “fountain of youth”.

D. To help people find the “fountain of youth”.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. The brain.　　 B. The aging process.

C. Hypothalamus.　　 D. The stem cell

3.What do we know about the study done by Cai?

A. They have found a way to turn back the aging process.

B. The brain controls growth, reproduction and the way we process food.

C. The decrease of hypothalamus stem cells can lead to aging.

D. The finding has been applied to human beings.

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. The Fountain of Youth

B. A New Discovery about Aging

C. The Ways of Slowing Down Aging

D. Hypothalamus—the Fountain of Youth

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The rising costs of health care have become a problem for many countries in the world. To deal with this problem, it is recommended that a big part of the government's health budget be used for health education and disease prevention instead of treatment. Actually, many kinds of diseases are preventable in many ways and preventing a disease is usually much cheaper than treating it. For example, people could avoid catching a cold if they dressed warmly when the weather starts getting cold. But many people get sick because they fail to do so, and have to spend money seeing a doctor.

Daily habits like eating more healthy food would have kept millions of families from becoming bankrupt if the patients had taken measures for early prevention. For instance, keeping a balanced diet, such as not consuming too much animal fat and insuring a steady intake of vegetables and fruits, seems to be quite important.

One very effective and costless way of prevention is regular exercise, which is necessary for a healthy mind and body. Regular exercise, such as running, walking, and playing sports is a good way to make people feel better or reduce stress.

In addition, health education plays a key role in improving people's health. By giving people more information about health, countries could help people understand the importance of disease prevention and ways to achieve it. For example, knowing one's family medical history is an effective way to help keep healthy. Information about health problems among close relatives will make them aware of what they should do to prevent certain diseases through lifestyle changes, which will work before it is too late.

However, stressing disease prevention does not mean medical treatment is unimportant. After all, prevention and treatment are just two different means toward the same effect. In conclusion, we could save money on health care and treat patients more successfully if our country spends more money on health prevention and education.

1.What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Prevention or Education?        B．Prevention or Treatment?

C．Health or Illness?                D．Exercise or Illness?

2.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “bankrupt’’?

A．Unable to be cured             B．Unable to pay one’s debts

C．Stronger than ever before        D．More successful than ever before

3.We learn from the passage that________.

A．dressing warmly can prevent diseases

B．a balanced diet is cheaper than regular exercise

C．the more health education, the better

D．the government’s health budget should be increased

4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

CP (Central Point)    P (Point)            Sp (Sub-point次要点)               C (Conclusion)

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The settlement is home to nearly 1,000 people, _____ left their village homes for a better life in the city.

A. many of those   B. many of which     C. many of them       D. many of whom

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析