People have been talking about health for a long time because people know the importance of it. People's understanding of health also becomes deeper with the progress in scientific research. Recently the term "health" has come to have a wider meaning than it used to. It no longer means just the absence of illness. Today, health means the well-being of your body, your mind and your relationship with other people. This new concept of health is closely related to another term-quality of life. Quality of life is the degree of overall satisfaction that a person gets from life.
　　Why has the emphasis of health shifted from the absence of disease to a broader focus on the quality of a person's life? One reason for this has to do with the length and conditions of life that people can now expect. Medical advances have made it possible for people today to live longer, healthier lives. Imagine for a moment that you were born in the year 1900. You could have expected on average to live until about the age of 47. In contrast, if you were born in the year 1999, you could expect to live to the age of 75.
【小题1】________ leads to people's deeper understanding of health.

Speaking in his first National Day Rally speech on 15 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien said Singapore’s education system was set for more reforms in the years ahead, particularly for the primary and secondary education．Read the summary of his thoughts on education below．
For a start, the Government is prepared to send and additional 3,000 teachers to Singapore schools, cut the courses of study even further and change the way the mother tongue, especially Chinese, is taught．But, for the changes to be successful, parents need to help．
Singapore has a devoted group of teachers and principals and quite a few of them are outstanding, but the Republic’s schools can be even better．To help the schools make a jump in quality, the Government plans that within the next 6 years, it will send 1,000 more teachers to primary schools, 1,400 to secondary schools and 550 more to junior colleges．Each school would decide how to use its extra teachers．Some may want to make classes smaller so students get more individual attentions while others may have new teachers assist more senior teachers, but the overall goal is to give teachers the time and space to come up with ways to bring out the best in their students．
More teachers must not mean more homework, however．In fact, the Prime Minister wants to see the courses cut down so that there is less pressure on the students．Good grades are important but they should not be the only goal students have．PM Lee is convinced that “we must teach less so that our children can learn more．”
Another change will be in the teaching of the mother tongue so that students can become more fluent．The key is to teach Chinese as a living language not just an academic subject like Latin．Therefore, the focus should be on speaking and reading the language．To do this, there must be an environment outside the classroom that is contributing to strengthening the Chinese lessons．
【小题1】The text is mainly about         in Singapore．

  When you are at odds with someone close to you, the One-Minute Drill can show you how to express your feelings effectively – and how to listen more skillfully. All it requires is two individuals who are committed to improving their relationship.

  Set aside at least ten minutes, and then sit facing each other. Decide who will be the Talker and who will be the Listener. It makes no difference, because later you will change roles.

How to perform the One-Minute Drill

  For approximately 30 seconds, the Talker can say anything he or she wants. Your job will be to express your thoughts and feelings. You can discuss problems you've had a hard time talking about. Remember to limit yourself to about 30 seconds. When the Talker finishes, the Listener will summarize what the Talker just said, as well as how the Talker was feeling inside, as accurately as possible.

  The Talker now gives the Listener a grade between 0 and 100 per cent to indicate how accurate the summary was. If the rating is 95 per cent or more, you can change roles; the new Talker can continue with the same topic or move on to something entirely new.

  However, if the grade is below 95 per cent, the Talker should point out what the Listener missed or got wrong, and repeat the process until the overall rating is 95 per cent or more. Then you can change roles and repeat the exercise for as long as you both like.

How it works

  Thirty seconds of emotionally charged information is sufficiently challenging for anyone. Express your feelings in strong, clear, direct language, but as your partner will be listening attentively, you won't need to shout, exaggerate or put your partner down.

  The Listener should sit and listen respectfully without interrupting. Look into your partner's eyes, but avoid using negative body language. If you like, take a few notes.

  So the Talker might say: "When I come home from work, I feel tired and I need some quiet time. But you tell me I'm supposed to spend time with the kids. This makes me feel frustrated. I work hard and I'm exhausted at the end of the day. I feel like I deserve a little time to relax, not listen to more demands."

  In response, the Listener might summarize like this: "You just told me that you feel exhausted when you come home at night because you've been working hard all day. When I tell you I want you to spend time with the kids, you feel frustrated and ticked off because you're tired and you need time to relax. You see me as very demanding, and you're probably feeling like I don't appreciate you."

  The first time you attempt the One-Minute Drill, you may get a low score. Don't worry, because you'll get up to speed quickly. Once you've tried this exercise a few times, you'll find that you can nearly always get ratings of 95 per cent or better on the first or second try.

Who is the One-Minute Drill intended for?

A. Those who are to act some roles in a certain play for the first time in their life.

B. Those who are preparing for the interview in order to make a good first impression.

C. Those who have difficulty communicating with their colleagues or family members.

D. Those who have troubled relationships with their friends or family members and try to improve them.

Which of the following is NOT true?

A. In the One-Minute Drill, the Talker and the Listener change roles in the process.

B. The Talker should talk about his / her thoughts and feelings in a brief way.

C. The Listener should listen carefully, respectfully and later summarize accurately.

D. After the Talker finishes talking, the Listener is to give him / her a grade.

From the example given in “How it works,” we can guess that the talk might be between _____.

A. husband and wife   B. father and son   C. mother and daughter   D. sister and brother

What does the underlined part “ticked off” probably mean in this reading?

A. fast asleep                           B. very angry

C. burst into tears                   D. marked with a symbol

When you are at odds with someone close to you，the One-Minute Drill can show you how to express your feelings effectively-and how to listen more skillfully．All it requires is two individuals who are committed to improving their relationship．

    Set aside at least ten minutes，and then sit facing each other．Decide who will be the Talker and who will be the Lastener．It makes no difference，because later you will change roles．

    How to perform the One-Minute Drill

    For approximately 30 seconds，the Talker can say anything he or she wants．Your job will be to express your thoughts and feelings．You can discuss problems you’ve had a hard time talking about．Remember to limit yourself to about 30 seconds．When the Talker finishes，the Listener will summarize what the Talker just said，as well as how the Talker was feeling inside，as accurately as possible．

   The Talker now gives the Listener a grade between 0 and 100 percent to indicate how accurate the summary was．If the rating is 95 percent or more，you can change roles；the new Talker can continue with the same topic or move on to something entirely new．

However，if the grade is below 95 percent，the Talker should point out what the Listener missed or got wrong，and repeat the process until the overall rating is 95 percent or more．Then you can change roles and repeat the exercise for as long as you both like．

    How it works

Thirty seconds of emotionally charged information is sufficiently challenging for anyone．Express your feelings in strong，clear，direct language，but as your partner will be listening attentively，you won’t need to shout，exaggerate or put your partner down．

The Listener should sit and listen respectfully without interrupting．Look into your partner’s eyes，but avoid using negative body language． If you like，take a few notes．

    So the Talker might say：“When I come home from work， I feel tired and I need some quiet time．But you tell me I’m supposed to spend time with the kids．This makes me feel frustrated．I work hard and I’m exhausted at the end of the day．I feel like I deserve a little time to relax，not listen to more demands．”

    In response，the Listener might summarize like this：“You just told me that you feel exhausted when you come home at night because you’ve been working hard all day．When l tell you l want you to spend time with the kids，you feel frustrated and ticked off because you’re tired and you need time to relax．You see me as very demanding，and you’re probably feeling like I don’t appreciate you．”

    The first time you attempt the One-Minute Drill，you may get a low score．Don’t worry，because you’ll get up to speed quickly．Once you’ve tried this exercise a few times，you’ll find that you can nearly always get ratings of 95 percent or better on the first or second try．

Who is the One-Minute Drill intended for？

    A．Those who are preparing for the interview in order to make a good first impression．

    B．Those who have difficulty communicating with their colleagues or family members．

    C．Those who have troubled relationships with their friends or family members and try to improve them．

    D．Those who are to act some roles in a certain play for the first time in their life．

Which of the following is NOT true？

    A．The Talker should talk about his/her thoughts and feelings in a brief way．

    B．The Listener should listen carefully，respectfully and later summarize accurately．

    C．After the Talker finishes talking，the Listener is to give him/her a grade．

    D．In the One-Minute Drill，the Talker and the Listener change roles in the process．

From the example given in“How it works”，we can guess that the talk might be between      ．

   A．father and son       B．mother and daughter

   C．sister and brother       D．husband and wife

What does the underlined part“ticked off”probably mean in this reading？

    A．very angry           B．burst into tears    

    C．marked with a symbol     D．fast asleep

LONDON—Here’s a new warning from health experts：Sitting is deadly.

Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for long periods—even if you also exercise regularly—could be bad for your health.And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place—at the office，at school，in the car or before a computer or TV—just the overall number of hours it occurs.Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat，have a heart attack or even die.

In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine，Elin Ekblom?Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity，they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

“After four hours of sitting，the body starts to send harmful signals，”said Ekblom?Bak.She explained that genes regulating(调节) the amount of glucose(葡萄糖) and fat in the body start to shut down.

Even for people who exercise，spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful.Tim Armstrong，a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization，said people who exercise every day—but still spend a lot of time sitting—might get more benefit if that exercise was spread across the day，rather than in a single bout(一回)．

Still，in a study published in 2009 that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years，researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk，whether or not they exercised.

“We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad，” said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge，who led the Canadian study.“But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior，the better.”

Figures from a U．S. survey in 2003?2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting，from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous，and what might be possible to offset those effects.

“People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits，” Ekblom?Bak said.“But when they’re in the office，they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible，” she said.

1.What is the best title for the text?

A．Not Sitting Too Much While Working

B．How to Avoid Sitting Too Much

C．Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly

D．More and More People Sit Too Much

2.According to the research，________.

A．the more time you spend in exercising in a single bout(一回)，the healthier you will be

B．those who often sit too much are sure to grow fat or suffer from a heart attack

C．regular exercise is effective to get rid of the side effects of sitting too much

D．you had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout

3.How does the danger of sitting too much affect the human body?

A．It results in a higher death risk.

B．It increases glucose and fat in the body.

C．It makes a person unable to exercise long enough in a day.

D．It causes the gene to fail to balance the glucose and fat in the body.

4.The underlined word “offset” in Paragraph 10 most probably means “________”．

A．improve? B．avoid

C．ignore? D．achieve