2024年5月5日发(作者：)

Question 3: What does the news item say about the fire?

Question 4: What had City Hall planned to do?

News 3

Potato chips in Japan are being sold for 6X their normal price. This is after the country’s main manufacturer stopped sales due

to a potato shortage. Storms and floods and its main potato growing region last year caused the worst harvest and more than

3 decades. Local media reports suggest Calbee and its main rival Koike-ya are halting almost 50 products.

“We don’t know when we’ll be able to restart”, a company spokesman said. Snack lovers are panic buying and many

supermarket shelves are bare. Japanese laws limit the amount of imported potatoes that can be used in Japanese made

products. Japan says fear of disease is its main reason to block fresh imports. It still only allows potatoes from selected US

states. This is only at certain times and on condition that they are processed at factories based near Japanese ports.

But global warming has raised the possibility that domestic produce could be seriously affected by rare weather events more

often.

Question 5: What problem is Japan facing?

Question 6: Why does Japan limit the import of potatoes?

Question 7: What might affect Japanese domestic produce?

Conversation 1

M: Mr. Brown’s lectures are so boring.

W: Yes, he is not a very exciting speaker. But the subject is interesting.

M: During every one of his lectures, I try to listen I really try. But after about 10 minutes my mind begins to wander and I lose

concentration. But I see that you seem to be OK. How do you stay focused through the entire hour?

W: Well, what I do is keep my pen moving.

M: What do you mean?

W: It’s a method of active concentration I read about. One of the most effective ways to concentrate is to write things down. But

it has to be done by hand, not typing on a keyboard. You see writing by hand forces you to ac tually engage with what you’re

learning in a more physical way.

M: Do you review your notes afterwards then?

W: Sometimes but that’s not important. My notes may or may not be useful but the point is that by writing down what Mr. Brand

says I can follow his line of thinking more easily. In fact, sometimes I draw a little too.

M: You draw in class and that helps me pay attention?

W: Yes, honestly it works for me. I just draw little lines and nonsense really. It was also in that article I read. It can keep the

mind active, prevent getting bored and help to concentrate. Again the point is to listen hard while keeping the pen moving. If

I’m at home and I need to study what I do is read out loud. It has a similar effect to writing by hand. It helps memorize

information in a physical way.

Question 8: What does the man think of Mr. Brown’s lectures?

Question 9: What does the woman do during Mr. Brown’s lectures?

Question 10: Why does the woman draw in class?

Question 11: What does the woman say about reading out loud?

Conversation 2

M: And where is this?

F: These photos are from the Taj Mahal in India. We went there about ten years ago for our honeymoon.

M: Was it romantic.

F: Yeah. The Taj Mahal was a very romantic place. The guide told us there is a famous love story behind this building that all

Indians learn in school. I think it was during the 1600 and the princess at that time died while giving birth to her 14th child. The

Emperor loved the princess so much and was so sad when she died that he ordered the palace to be built in her honor.

M: Wow! That sounds very romantic. It looks amazing.

F: Yes it’s gorgeous. It’s also larger in real life than it looks in the photos. The building is very tall and there are gardens in a

wall around it all. It’s all built in this white stone and some walls of the building are decorated with jewels.

M: It must have been very crowded when you were there.

F: Yes it’s a very famous tourist destination. So there are thousands of visitors every day.

M: Was the rest of India crowded?

F: Yes, very crowded in many cities. It was sometimes so crowded that it was difficult to walk along the streets especially

through busy markets. And there are so many cars. Traffic was terrible but the people were friendly. The culture is amazing

and we had a great time.

M: What about the food?

F: the Indian food is great. There are lots of different dishes to try and every region has its own special food.

Question 12: For what purpose did the woman go to India?

Question 13: Why was the Taj Mahal built?

Question 14: What does the woman say about the Taj Mahal?

Question 15: What is the woman‘s impression of Indian cities?

Passage 1

A Pew Research Center survey of more than 1000 Americans conducted in April 2016 finds that Americans continue to

express largely positive views about the current state of their local public libraries. For instance around three quarters say that

public libraries provide them with the resources they need and 66 percent say the closing of their local public library would

have a major impact on their community. Although notably just 33 percent say this would have a major impact on them

personally or on their family. A majority of Americans feel libraries are doing a good job of providing a safe place for people to

hang out or spend time as well as opening up educational opportunities for people of all ages and roughly half think their

libraries contribute a lot to their communities in terms of helping spark creativity among young people and providing a trusted

place for people to learn about new technologies. As in past Pew Research Center surveys of library use the April 2016

survey also measured Americans usage of and engagement with libraries. Overall, 53 percent of Americans ages 16 and

older have had some interaction with the puppet library in the past year either through an in person visit or using a library Web

site some 48 percent of adults specifically visited a library in the past 12 months. A modest increase from the 44 percent who

said that in late 2015.

Question 16: What do most Americans say about local public libraries?

Question 17: How can local public libraries benefit young people?

Question 18：What does the 2016 survey show about adult library users?

Passage 2

A Savannah cat is a crossbreed between a domestic cat and a medium-sized wild African cat called the Serval. The unusual

cross became popular among breeders at the end of the 1990s. And in 2001, the International Cat Association accepted it as

a new registered breed. The savannahs are tall and slim and can weigh up to nine point one kilograms, making them one of

the largest breeds of cats that people can own. They have a spotted code similar to that of many types of wild cats and their

ears are very large. They are also commonly compared to dogs in their loyalty and can be trained to walk on a lead and to

fetch, and often noted characteristic of the Savannah is its jumping ability. They are known to jump on top of doors and high

cabinets. Some can leap about 2.5 metres high from a standing position. Cats are typically known for being very inquisitive

and so are the Savannahs. They often learn how to open doors and cupboards. Many Savannah cats do not fear water and

will play with or even dive into water. Some owners even shower with their Savannah Cats, presenting a water bowl to

Savannah may also prove a challenge, as some will promptly begin to bat all the water out of the bowl until it is empty using

their front paws. Question 19: What do we learn about the savannah cat?

Question 20: What is characteristic of Savannah cats?

that might take, just to have her kids reject it. “I’m not sure they’d eat it. They just won’t eat it.”

[D] Nadeau says sugar and processed foods are big contributors to the rising diabetes rates among children. “In America,

over 50 percent of our food is processed food,” Nadeau tells her. “And only 5 percent of our food is plant-based food. I think

we should try to reverse that.” Scott agrees to try more fruit juices for the kids and to make real macaroni and cheese. Score

one point for the doctor,

zero for diabetes.

[E] Nadeau is part of a small revolution developing across California. The food-as-medicine movement has been around for

decades, but it’s making progress as physicians and medical institutions make food a formal part of treatment, rather than

relying solely on medications (药物). By prescribing nutr itional changes or launching programs such as ‘Shop with your Doc’,

they are trying to prevent, limit or even reverse disease by changing what patients eat. “There’s no question people can take

things a long way toward reversing diabetes, reversing high blood pressure, even preventing cancer by food choices,”

Nadeau says.

[F] In the big picture, says Dr. Richard Afable, CEO and president of ST. Joseph Hoag Health, medical institutions across the

state are starting to make a philosophical switch to becoming a health organization, not just a health care organization. That

feeling echoes the beliefs of the Therapeutic Food Pantry program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which

completed its pilot phase and is about to expand on an ongoing basis to five clinic sites throughout the city. The program will

offer patients several bags of food prescribed for their condition, along with intensive training in how to cook it. “We really want

to link food and medicine, and not just give away food,” says Dr. Rita Nguyen, the hospital’s medical director of Healthy Food

Initiatives. “We want people to understand what they’re eating, how to prepare it, the role food plays in their lives.”

[G] In Southern California, Loma Linda University School of Medicine is offering specialized training for its resident physicians

in Lifestyle Medicine — that is a formal specialty in using food to treat disease. Research findings increasingly show the

power of food to treat or reverse diseases, but that does not mean that diet alone is always the solution, or that every illness

can benefit substantially from dietary changes. Nonetheless, physicians say that they look at the collective data and a clear

picture emerges: that the salt, sugar, fat and processed foods in the American diet contribute to the nation’s high rates of

obesity, diabetes and heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of deaths from heart disease and

stroke are caused by high blood pressure, tobacco use, elevated cholesterol and low consumption of fruits and vegetables.

[H] “It’s a different paradigm(范式) of how to treat disease,” says Dr. Brenda Rea, who helps run the family and preventive

medicine residency program at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. The lifestyle medicine specialty is designed to

train doctors in how to prevent and treat disease, in part, by changing patients’ nutritional habits. The medical center and

school at Loma Linda also has a food cupboard and kitchen for patients. This way, patients not only learn about which foods

to buy, but also how to prepare them at home.

[I] Many people don’t know how to cook, Rea says, and they only know how to heat things up. That means depending on

packaged food with high salt and sugar content. So teaching people about which foods are healthy and how to prepare them,

she says, can actually transform a patient’s life. And beyond that, it might transform the health and lives of that patient’s family.

“What people eat can be medicine or poison,” Rea says. “As a physician, nutritio n is one of the most powerful things you can

change to reverse the effects of long-term disease.”

[J] Studies have explored evidence that dietary changes can slow inflammation(炎症), for example, or make the body

inhospitable to cancer cells. In general, many lifestyle medicine physicians recommend a plant-based diet —particularly for

people with diabetes or other inflammatory conditions.

[K] “As what happened with tobacco, this will require a cultural shift, but that can happen,” says

Nguyen. “In the same w ay physicians used to smoke, and then stopped smoking and were able to talk to patients about it, I

think physicians can have a bigger voice in it.”

36. More than half of the food Americans eat is factory-produced.

37. There is a special program that assigns doctors to give advice to shoppers in food stores.

38. There is growing evidence from research that food helps patients recover from various illnesses.

39. A healthy breakfast can be prepared quickly and easily.

40. Training a patient to prepare healthy food can change their life.

41. One food-as-medicine program not only prescribes food for treatment but teaches patients how to cook it.

42. Scott is not keen on cooking food herself, thinking it would simply be a waste of time.