Warm People Likely to Keep Cold at Bay¹

    Staying positive² through the cold season could be your best defense against getting ill，new study findings suggest. In an experiment that.exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus³, researchers found that people with a generally sunny disposition⁴ were less likely to fall ill.

    The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a "positive emotional style”⁵ can help ward off the common cold and other illnesses. Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective as in happiness boosting immune function and subjective as in happy people being less troubled by a scratchy throat⁶ or runny nose.

    "People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus，，’ explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “ And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe. ”

    Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less Susceptible to⁷ catching a cold, but some questions remained as to⁸ whether the emotional trait itself had the effect.

    For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality traits, self-perceived health and emotional "style". Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy，tense and hostile had a negative style.

    The researchers gave them nasal drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus. Over the next six days，the volunteers reported on any aches，pains，sneezing or congestion they had, while the researchers collected objective data, like daily mucus production. Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal woes, happy people were less likely to develop a cold.

 

词汇：

bay /bei/ n.绝境，穷途末路

flu /flu:/ (influenza 的简称）n.流（行性）感（冒）

 virus /"vaiarss/ n.病毒

disposition /jdisps"zijsn/ n.本性，性情

psychosomatic /jsaiksuso"maetik/ adj.心身的，身心的

boost /buist/ vt. 提高，举起

 scratchy /"skraetji/ adj.刺痛的，使人发痒的

runny /"rAni/ adj.流黏液的

Pittsburgh /"pitsbaig/ n.匹兹堡（美国城 市）

colleague /"kDliig/ n.同事

susceptible /so"septobl/ adj.易感的，敏感的

catch / kaetJ/ vt.感染到

trait /trei，treit/ n.特质；特性

perceive /po"siiv/ vt.发觉，觉察；理解

energetic /ensd3etik/ adj.精力充沛的，精神饱满的

easy-going /iizi"gsuig/ adj.随和的

tense /tens/ adj.紧张的

hostile /"hDstail/ adj.敌意的

nasal / 丨neizl/ adj.鼻的

ache /eik/ n.(长时间连续的）疼痛，酸痛

sneeze /sniiz/ vi.打喷噴

congestion /kon"dsestpn/ n.充血

mucus /"mjuikss/ n.點液

 woe /wou/ n.痛苦，苦恼；（复）灾难，苦头

 

注释：

1.Warm People Likely to Keep Cold at Bay:情绪乐观的人不易患感冒。warm people 原意是 “热心肠的人，情绪高昂的人” ,keep/hold.. at bay是“使……走投无路，不使……接近”的意 思，因此本题目如果直译则是“情绪高昂的人可能让感冒不能得逞”或“情绪高昂的人可能 远离感冒”或“情绪高昂的人可能拒感冒于千里之外”。

2.staying positive:保持积极向上（的情绪）

3.exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus:使健康的志愿者接触感冒（病毒）或流感病 毒。expose原意是“使暴露，使面临”，这里expose sb. to sth.是“使……接触……”的意思。

4.sunny disposition:乐观开朗的个性

5.positive emotional style:乐观情绪型，情绪积极型

6.scratchy throat ：嗓子痛

7.susceptible to:对……敏感的，容易受到……影响的

8.as to:关于，至于

People with a positive emotional style may have all of the following characteristics EXCEPT____

A:happy B:selfish C:easy-going D:energetic

Text 4
The recent, apparently successful prediction by mathematical models of an appearance of El Nifio—the warm ocean current that periodically develops along the Pacific coast of South America -- has excited researchers. Jacob Bjerkness pointed out over 20 years ago how winds might create either abnormally warm or abnormally cold water in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Nonetheless, until the development of the models no one could explain why conditions should regularly shift from one to the other, as happens in the periodic oscillations between appearance of the warm El Nifio and the cold so-called anti-El Nifio. The answer, al least if the current model that links the behavior of the ocean to that of the atmosphere is correct, is to be found in the ocean.
It has long been known that during an El Niflo, two conditions exist: (1) unusually warm water extends along the eastern Pacific, principally along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, and (2) winds blow from the west into the warmer air rising over the warm water in the east. These winds tend to create a feedback mechanism by driving the warmer surface water into a "pile" that blocks the normal upwelling of deeper, cold water in the east and further warms the eastern water, thus strengthening the wind still more. The contribution of the model is to show that the winds of an El Nifio, which raise sea level in the east, simultaneously send a signal to the west lowering sea level. According to the model, that signal is generated as a negative Rossby wave, a wave of depressed, or negative, sea level that moves westward parallel to the equator at 25 to 85 kilometers per day. Taking months to traverse the Pacific, Rossby waves march to the western boundary of the Pacific basin, which is modeled as a smooth wall but in reality consists of quite irregular island chains, such as the Philippines and Indonesia.
When the waves meet the western boundary, they are reflected, and the model predicts that Rossby waves will be broken into numerous coastal Kelvin waves carrying the same negative sea-level signal. These eventually shoot toward the equator, and then head eastward along the equator propelled by the rotation of the Earth at a speed of about 250 kilometers per day. When enough Kelvin waves of sufficient amplitude arrive from the western Pacific, their negative sea-level signal overcomes the feedback mechanism tending to raise the sea level, and they begin to drive the system into the opposite cold mode. This produces a gradual shift in winds, one that will eventually send positive sea-level Rossby waves westward, waves that will eventually return as cold cycle-ending positive Kelvin waves beginning another warming cycle.

It can be concluded that during an anti-El Nifio the faster-moving signal waves are（）

A:negative Rossby waves moving east along the equator. B:positive Rossby waves moving west along the equator. C:positive Kelvin waves moving east along the equator. D:positive Kelvin waves moving west along the equator.

Text 4 The recent, apparently successful prediction by mathematical models of an appearance of El Nifio—the warm ocean current that periodically develops along the Pacific coast of South America -- has excited researchers. Jacob Bjerkness pointed out over 20 years ago how winds might create either abnormally warm or abnormally cold water in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Nonetheless, until the development of the models no one could explain why conditions should regularly shift from one to the other, as happens in the periodic oscillations between appearance of the warm El Nifio and the cold so-called anti-El Nifio. The answer, al least if the current model that links the behavior of the ocean to that of the atmosphere is correct, is to be found in the ocean. It has long been known that during an El Niflo, two conditions exist: (1) unusually warm water extends along the eastern Pacific, principally along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, and (2) winds blow from the west into the warmer air rising over the warm water in the east. These winds tend to create a feedback mechanism by driving the warmer surface water into a "pile" that blocks the normal upwelling of deeper, cold water in the east and further warms the eastern water, thus strengthening the wind still more. The contribution of the model is to show that the winds of an El Nifio, which raise sea level in the east, simultaneously send a signal to the west lowering sea level. According to the model, that signal is generated as a negative Rossby wave, a wave of depressed, or negative, sea level that moves westward parallel to the equator at 25 to 85 kilometers per day. Taking months to traverse the Pacific, Rossby waves march to the western boundary of the Pacific basin, which is modeled as a smooth wall but in reality consists of quite irregular island chains, such as the Philippines and Indonesia. When the waves meet the western boundary, they are reflected, and the model predicts that Rossby waves will be broken into numerous coastal Kelvin waves carrying the same negative sea-level signal. These eventually shoot toward the equator, and then head eastward along the equator propelled by the rotation of the Earth at a speed of about 250 kilometers per day. When enough Kelvin waves of sufficient amplitude arrive from the western Pacific, their negative sea-level signal overcomes the feedback mechanism tending to raise the sea level, and they begin to drive the system into the opposite cold mode. This produces a gradual shift in winds, one that will eventually send positive sea-level Rossby waves westward, waves that will eventually return as cold cycle-ending positive Kelvin waves beginning another warming cycle.

It can be concluded that during an anti-El Nifio the faster-moving signal waves are（）

A:negative Rossby waves moving east along the equator. B:positive Rossby waves moving west along the equator. C:positive Kelvin waves moving east along the equator. D:positive Kelvin waves moving west along the equator.

As a father to three young girls, I have been particularly struck over the past several months by the flurry of public activity related to childhood obesity. While the efforts are well-intentioned, it’s worrisome to watch the movement gain momentum when we still don’t really know whether what we’re doing is actually working — nor do we really know if there will be any downsides to the anti-obesity initiative. The most recent major move in the fight against childhood obesity came on Jan. 25 when First Lady Michelle Obama announced that school meal options were going to get a lot healthier. It is, undoubtedly, a good idea to make school lunches more nutritious, although some research suggests that by the time a child gets to school, his or her tastes for high calorie or otherwise unhealthy food is already in place and that changing lunch doesn’t make them eat healthier at home. In other words, school-based initiatives may be too little too late for those children who may be predisposed, whether through genetics or environment or both, towards obesity.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 17% of all children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese. Yet the majority of obesity programming, especially in our schools, is applied to the child and adolescent populations as a whole. Sure, promoting healthy eating, regardless of one’s weight or age, seems like a positive thing on the surface. But here’s the potential downside: We know kids and teens react differently than adults to external pressures like persistent messaging. Sometimes these pressures can translate into incredible waves of anxiety and fear. At the extreme, a healthy-weight youth could be pushed to monitor his weight more frequently or even begin an unsupervised diet — behaviors that might represent an impending eating disorder.
So the real question is what are children saying and how are they behaving in light of our anti-obesity effort A nationally representative survey, conducted last September by the C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, attempted to answer this question. The results, released in January, showed that 30% of parents of children age 6-14 report worrisome eating behaviors and physical activity in their children; 17% of parents report that their children are worried about their weight; 7% say their children have been made to feel bad at school about what or how much they were eating; and 3% of parents report their children had a sudden interest in vegetarianism. Certainly these data do not directly link the anti-obesity effort and eating disorders. They also do not offer any insight into whether obese children are actually losing weight. They do, however, serve as a reminder of how vulnerable these "worried" children already are to disordered eating and that everything we do, no matter how well-placed our intent carries risk.
With that said, we shouldn’t stop promoting healthy eating habits in our children. And we shouldn’t necessarily downplay our anti-obesity efforts for fear of increasing the rate of childhood eating disorders. Instead, we should just be mindful— with their wonderful and special abilities as well as their unpredictabilities, children surely deserve an approach and awareness that is as well-thought out and balanced as the meals we’d like them to eat.
Generally speaking, the author’s attitude toward anti-obesity programs is ______.

A:positive B:negative C:critical D:doubtful

I am going to climb my soapbox and talk. I am going to put on my work gloves and work. I am going to put on my walking shoes and walk. I am going to put on my fighting gloves and fight. I am going to kill Charlie Brown.
Wait a minute! Don’t think I have flipped! I know that Charlie Brown is a comic strip character, but I am not talking about that Charlie Brown. I am talking the Charlie Brown that is in me and the Charlie Brown that is in you. Everyone has a Charlie Brown in him. That is the Charlie Brown that I am fighting to kill.
All of you are familiar with the comic strip character, Charlie Brown. He presents a negative image. Things are always happening to Charlie Brown because of his negative image. The way to get rid of a negative image is to convert it to a positive image. That is how to kill Charlie Brown.
The author wants to kill Charlie Brown because of his ______.

A:positive image B:evil character C:political rival D:negative image

One of the main weapons to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus during birth is the drug nevirapine. But when nevirapine is used alone just once, HIV starts becoming resistant to it. Research in Botswana shows that the resistance is not long lasting and that this affordable drug does not have to be abandoned forever by infected mothers who have already taken it.
International medical guidelines call for pregnant women with advanced HIV to get a combination of AIDS drugs including nevirapine to prevent passing their infection on to their newborns during delivery. But in poor countries, combinations have been expensive and nevirapine has often been used alone, since studies have shown that a single dose can cut the transmission rate in half.
The problem is that HIV resistance builds against it quickly when used alone just once because other drugs are not present to kill the virus particles that survive nevirapine. This renders the drug less effective in later combinations for treating women after their baby is born. But the new study from Botswana shows that nevirapine can make a comeback for these women if they wait until the resistance subsides.
"The further out you get from that exposure to single dose nevirapine, the less detectable nevirapine resistance is, " said Shahin Lockman of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. She says waiting period for women who get the single dose of nevirapine at delivery can be as short as six months. "If they started nevirapine-based treatment six or more months after nevirapine exposure, their treatment response was just as good, and really quite high, compared to women who did not have the single dose of nevirapine, " she added. "However, the women who started nevirapine-based treatment within six months of that nevirapine exposure were much more likely to experience treatment failure. "
The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that waiting at least six months means that HIV-positive women are 70 percent more likely to benefit from nevirapine-based drug combinations again than women who get them sooner. An official with the U. S. government health agency that helped fund the study calls it very important.
Lynne Mofenson is chief of research on child, adolescent, and maternal AIDS at the U. S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She says the finding supports a World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation restricting a single dose of nevirapine only to pregnant HIV-infected women who are healthy enough to wait six months after childbirth for more nevirapine-based therapy. Otherwise, they should get other drugs during labor. "It shows the importance of screening women for treatment while they are pregnant and putting them on appropriate therapy while they are pregnant to avoid having to start them too soon after they received preventive therapy, " she explained.
Shahin Lockman in Boston says the problem of nevirapine resistance should diminish now that more and more people are receiving combinations of AIDS drugs under expanded U. S. and international programs to deliver them to Africa and other regions hard hit by the virus.
Generally speaking, the author’s attitude towards the use of nevirapine is ______.

A:negative B:positive C:uncertain D:doubtful

The more engaged a parent is, the more the child benefits, adds Bruce Arai. "The evidence is clear: Parental involvement is one of the most important factors in school success. "Arai cites the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, sponsored by Human Respirces Development Canada (HRDC), which is measuring all aspects of child development. "The hours children spend in class are not one element of their education," states HRDC, which says parental support, along with teacher support and a positive attitude towards school, all contribute to academic success.
A child’s academic performance by all the following factors EXCEPT

A:parental involvement. B:teacher support. C:a positive attitude towards school. D:the size of the class.