Yours sincerely,
Wang Lin
As people across the globe struggled with higher levels of stress, depression and anxiety this past year, many turned to their favorite comfort foods: ice cream, pizza, hamburgers. But studies in recent years suggest that the high-sugar and high-fat foods when we are stressed or depressed, as comforting as they may seem, are the least likely to benefit our mental health. Instead, whole foods such as vegetables, fruit, fish, eggs, nuts may be a better bet.
Historically, nutrition research has focused largely on how the foods we eat affect our physical health, rather than our mental health, though. Over the years, large population studies have found that people assigned to follow a Mediterranean diet for three months had greater reductions in symptoms of depression after three months compared to a control group.
Public health experts around the world have started encouraging people to adopt lifestyle behaviors like exercise, sound sleep, a heart-healthy diet and avoiding smoking that may reduce inflammation (发炎) and have benefits for the brain. Individual clinicians are already including nutrition into their work with patients. Dr. Drew Ramsey, a clinical professor at the Columbia University, begins his meetings with new patients by exploring their diet. He asks what they eat, learns their favorite foods, and finds out if foods that he considers important for the connection are missing from their diets, such as plants, seafood.
Dr. Ramsey said he does not wat people to think that the only factor involved in brain heath is food. “Lots of people get their food exactly right, live very active lives, and still have significant troubles with their mental health,” he said. But he also teaches people that food can be empowering. “We can’t control our genes,” he said. “But we can control how we eat, and that gives people actionable things that they can do to take care of their brain health on a daily basis.”
1．What do previous nutrition studies mainly focus on?| A．How our diets affect our mental health. | B．How our diets affect our physical health. |
| C．How our mental health affects our diets. | D．How our physical health affects our diets. |
| A．They try to cater to their patients’ needs. |
| B．They are questioning public health experts. |
| C．They want to prove the effectiveness of healthy diets. |
| D．They have accepted the findings of large population studies. |
| A．Some connection exists between our diets and mental health. |
| B．People can control their genes as well as how they eat. |
| C．People living active lives will not have mental problems. |
| D．Eating a healthy diet is going to cure depression. |
| A．People with anxiety usually turn to food for comfort. |
| B．The daily diet is the factor connected with brain health. |
| C．Controlling the way we eat is likely to benefit our mental health. |
| D．Having a high-sugar diet can reduce symptoms of depression. |
Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University (GMU), said the progress ChatGPT made — it improved is score from a D to an A on his economics test in just three months — has shocked him.
Writing in a blog post, Caplan said he gave ChatGPT questions which test students’ understanding of economics rather than complete what are essentially memory exercises. It’s here where the old version of ChatGPT tipped up. The bot scored 31 out of a possible 100 on his test, similar to a D and well below his 50% median (中位数).
Caplan told Insider that the bot failed to understand basic concepts. “ChatGPT does a fine job of imitating a very weak GMU econ student,” Caplan wrote in his January blog post.
He isn’t the only academic that ChatGPT has disappointed. While it passed a Wharton Business School exam in January, its professor said it made “surprising mistakes” on simple calculations (计算).
But when ChatGPT-4 was released, its progress shocked Caplan. It scored 73% on the same midterm test, similar to an A and among the best scores in his class.
For Caplan, the improvements were obvious. The bot gave clear answers to his questions, understanding and explaining principles it previously struggled with. Caplan thought ChatGPT’s training data might have picked up his previous blog post where he explained his answers, but colleagues told him this was highly unlikely. He added that he’s already fed the bot new tests it hadn’t seen before, where it did even better than its previous 73% grade.
AI bots have caused headaches for examiners. Professors told Insider that plagiarism (抄袭) can be hard to prove with material from ChatGPT because there is no material evidence of wrongdoing.
Caplan said he’s thinking of doing away with graded homework with the rise of ChatGPT. He hopes his habit of regularly changing questions will be enough to stop students from learning and copying ChatGPT’s responses in exam settings.
1．Which of the following abilities do Caplan’s questions test?| A．Memorizing facts. | B．Writing essays. |
| C．Understanding concepts. | D．Solving maths problems. |
| A．It was satisfying. | B．It was perfect. |
| C．It was disappointing. | D．It was below average. |
| A．Is training data is limited. | B．It writes blog posts for Caplan. |
| C．It struggles to understand basic concepts. | D．It can probably improve its performance. |
| A．The impact of AI bots on education. |
| B．The benefits of changing questions regularly. |
| C．Potential application of ChatGPT in education. |
| D．A possible solution to a problem caused by ChatGPT. |
Kangaroos can communicate with humans, according to a new study. The report is the first research of this kind to be done on marsupials — a type of mammal whose young get carried in pouches (育儿袋) on their mother’s body. It suggests kangaroos are cleverer than previously thought.
Researchers from the University of Roehampton in the UK and the University of Sydney in Australia tested kangaroos at three locations — the Australian Reptile Park, Wildlife Sydney Zoo and Kangaroo Protection Co-operative. The scientists put food in a box that the kangaroos could not open, and waited to see what the animals would do.
Rather than giving up, 10 out of the 11 kangaroos actively looked at the person who had put the food in the box and then looked at the box. The researchers said this could be interpreted as the kangaroos requesting help to open the container.
Dr Alexandra Green, a co-author of the study, told The Guardian newspaper that some of the kangaroos actually approached the person and started scratching and sniffing them, then looked back at the box. “So they were really trying to communicate,” Green said.
This behaviour is not uncommon in animals. However, it is usually only seen in domesticated animals. Domesticated means animals that have been bred (饲养) to live alongside people, such as pets or farm animals. The lead author of the study, Dr Alan McElligott, explained, “Through this study, we were able to see that communication between animals can be learnt and that the behaviour of looking at humans to access food is not related to domestication.”
“Indeed, kangaroos showed a very similar pattern of behaviour we have seen in dogs, horses and even goats, when put to the same test,” he added.
It is hoped that the study will give people a more positive attitude towards kangaroos, which are sometimes seen as pests that damage farmers’ crops.
1．Why did the kangaroos look at the person and then the box?| A．They were curious. | B．They were asking for help. |
| C．They were confused by the box. | D．They were playing with the person. |
| A．It is only seen in wild animals. |
| B．It has nothing to do with domestication. |
| C．It sets kangaroos apart from other animals. |
| D．It can only be learned by domesticated animals. |
| A．Protecting farmers’ crops from kangaroos. |
| B．Calling on people to protect kangaroos. |
| C．Changing the way people see kangaroos. |
| D．Encouraging people to domesticate kangaroos. |
| A．How kangaroos access food | B．Why Kangaroos are our friends |
| C．Kangaroos can “talk” to us | D．Kangaroos are cleverer than we thought |
Just Cycle And Fold Away
There’s no excuse not to get on your bike this spring. Get your indoor cycling fix and feel the benefits.
Great for general cardio (有氧的) fitness, exercise bikes can be a brilliant way of training at home. However, choosing the right bike is incredibly important, which is something that Roger Black and his team recognized when creating the Roger Black Folding Bike.
“Excellent value for money. Especially the ability to fold the exercise bike into a vertical (直立的) position and wheel it away for storage. This can also prevent you from throwing your clothes on it at the end of the day! Even if we are limited on space at home and work, we can continue physical activity with a Roger Black folding bike. This bike is helping me achieve my fitness goals following a recent running injury.”
——Brian Smith
“Best Present EVER are the words from my 77-year-old father who received his Roger Black fitness bike for his birthday. He said it is so simple and easy to use. The seat is VERY comfortable, so using it every day is a pleasure. It folds away nearly so it can be stored behind a door when necessary.”
——Anna Farnham
Roger Black is offering a 10% discount on the full www.rogerblackfitness.com range of home fitness equipment for all Reader’s Digest readers. Please use discount code DIGEST10 at checkout.
1．What can people do with a Roger Black Folding Bike?| A．Cycle in the mountains. | B．Work out at home. |
| C．Hang their clothes. | D．Get a discount. |
| A．Easy storage. | B．Reasonable price. |
| C．Comfortable seats. | D．Excellent quality. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A scientific report. |
| C．A magazine. | D．An academic article. |
I always described myself as a perfectionist. To me, it meant that I had high
Actually there was so much I
Then one day I spotted an art supply store when I went outside a shopping center. Before I could
I headed home full of
Now, three years later, I paint almost every day and have
Now I’m no longer
| A．rates | B．qualities | C．standards | D．degrees |
| A．Therefore | B．However | C．Moreover | D．Otherwise |
| A．brought out | B．ended up | C．got over | D．gave up |
| A．difference | B．comment | C．mistake | D．decision |
| A．failure | B．danger | C．harm | D．shame |
| A．pressed | B．struggled | C．managed | D．desired |
| A．unaffordable | B．unbearable | C．unbelievable | D．unsuitable |
| A．trick | B．target | C．prevent | D．question |
| A．expectations | B．achievements | C．beliefs | D．memories |
| A．Frightened | B．Stressed | C．Concerned | D．Low-spirited |
| A．reflection | B．motivation | C．responsibility | D．ability |
| A．brought up | B．signed up | C．set up | D．picked up |
| A．never | B．also | C．even | D．ever |
| A．ignored | B．prepared | C．considered | D．imagined |
| A．acquiring | B．seeking | C．concentrating | D．completing |
In AD79, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, in southern Italy,
Researchers Danilo Campanaro and Giacomo Landeschi, from Lund University in Sweden, used data that were collected by drones (无人机) to create a 3D computer reconstruction of one of its most amazing buildings. They then fed the reconstruction into a video game system
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