If you prefer doughnuts to dumbbells , you have a high chance of developing diabetes later in life. But if you wash down those doughnuts with at least seven cups of coffee a day, you are only half as likely as that. The finding is "quite surprising and fairly dramatic", says Bill Hartnett of UK Diabetes, although the patients' group won't be advising people to drink lots of coffee just yet. While there's little evidence that one or two cups a day is harmful, some studies suggest that heavy coffee drinkers are unusually sensitive to pain, easier to fearful disorders and can also have higher blood pressure, which increase the risk of heart disease. The study was done by Rob van Dam's team at the National Institute for Public Health and Environment in the prefix = st1 /Netherlands, which analysed the data on 171,111 men and women. The team found that those who drank seven or more cups of coffee a day were 50 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drank two cups of coffee or fewer a day. This was despite the fact that the heavy coffee drinkers tended to have sedentary lifestyles, which increases the risk of developing diabetes. "It's too early to get excited," warns Edwin Gale, a diabetes specialist in Britainat theUniversityofBristol. "It may just be that coffee drinkers behave differently," he says. Type 2 diabetes used to appear mainly in older people, but as levels of obesity (being fat) have increased in children, so has the disease in common. It's a serious disorder--high blood sugar levels damage many organs, and can lead to anything from blindness to kidney failure. It usually occurs when the body becomes less sensitive to insulin , the hormone that tells cells to take in too much blood glucose. Caffeine isn't an obvious remedy for type 2 diabetes, because its immediate effect is to lower sensitivity to insulin. According to the passage, which statement below is TRUE? A) Caffeine is a drug to cure diabetes. B) People who are always sitting have higher risk of developing diabetes. C) Insulin is an element to cure diabetes. D) Heavy coffee drinkers have the risk of developing diabetes.
B
(Question)
Tu Youyou, the 85-year-old Chinese pharmacologist ,received the Nobel Prize for medicine in Stockholm on December 10,2015. Tu is the first Chinese Nobel winner in physiology or medicine. Also, in 2011, she became the first Chinese person to receive the US-based Lasker Award for clinical medicine. Based on a fourth-century Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) text, together with her team, she managed to get artemisinin from sweet wormwood through trial and error and developed an important drug that has significantly reduced death rates among patients suffering from _ . Tu delivered a speech titled Artemisinin is a Gift from TCM to the World. She has urged more research into the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine and called for joint efforts worldwide to fight against malaria and develop more potential uses for TCM, which she called a "great treasure" with thousands of years' history and empirical knowledge. She said that by combining TCM with modem scientific technologies, "more potential can be discovered in searching for new drugs " . According to the WHO, more than 240 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have benefited from artemisinin, and more than l. 5 million lives are estimated to have been saved since 2000 thanks to the drug. Apart from its contribution to the global fight against malaria, TCM played a vital role in the deadly outbreak of SARS across China in 2003. Besides treating viruses, TCM has been most effective in diagnosing diseases, cultivating fitness, treating difficult multisource illnesses, and using nonmedical methods such as acupuncture and breathing exercises. However, TCM, which is based on a set of beliefs about human biology, is seldom understood or accepted by the West. Tu's success will bring more recognition and respect for TCM, experts say. The Western world should learn to appreciate the value of the treasures of TCM, which will lead to more basic scientific research into ancient TCM texts and ways to explore research findings worldwide. What can we learn from the passage? A) This success may encourage Easterners to learn more about Chinese medicine. B) Nothing remains to be done in researching into TCM theories and texts. C) More research into the value of TCM should be carried out worldwide. D) TCM only contributes to the fight against malaria and SARS in China.
(Answer)
C
Ques: Many French academics,teachers and parents complain because they feel that intellectual levels are falling rapidly!The figures prove it:young people visit museums less,spend their lives chatting on the Internet,read nothing but Stephen King,while watching American soaps such as Friends or reality shows like Star Academy on television,music player glued to their cars,and the games console handy. It is,however,easy to see these habits in a positive light.Music is the favorite leisure activity:86% of 14-to18-year-olds put it at the top of their activities,above the cinema(71%),clubbing(68%),sport(56%) and television(48%).For 90% of young people aged 14to 18,radio is also very popular:they listen to it every day without exception.International popular music has a strong showing,but songs in French are still in the majority(60%). Young people do,of course,watch a lot of television,but less than their elders,and if they tend to choose mostly soaps and reality TV shows,that is because these are the programs people talk about,which encourages social interaction.Do young people read less than they used to?Maybe,but that's also true of the elders.Young people still read more than their elders.When asked,"Do you like reading?",94% of 14-to-18-year-olds say they do,and 81% are convinced that computers will never replace books. Contrary to popular belief,reading continues to occupy an extremely important place in leisure-time activities,but the reading matter young people choose has changed considerably:there is a greater variety of media(computers and new technologies) and young people admit to taste they would perhaps have been ashamed of in the past.For example,comic strips,Stenphen King or other authors not recognized by mainstream culture,such as Betty Mahmoody (Not Without My Daughter),Mary Higgins Clark or Jostein Gaader (Sophie's World).As Beatrice Toulon,Editor in Chief of the magazine Phosphore,see it,"They don't read the same things as their parents did,but they are not afraid to admit it.They have their own... Which activity is the most popular with young French people? A) Music. B) Sport. C) Cinema. D) TV.
Ans:
A