Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 31 to 35
How do you feel about nature? After spending hours indoors, do you often like going outside for a walk? Or if you work for hours at your office desk, do you feel better when you take a break and visit your local park? Most people think that nature is good for us; it is good for our bodies and good for our brains. However, humans are spending more time inside and less time outside. For example, the number of visitors to Canada’s national parks is getting lower every year. And in countries such as the USA, only 10% of teenagers spend time outside every day. Many doctors feel that this is a problem in the twenty - century, and that is making our physical health worse.
As a result, some doctors are studying the connection between nature and health: one example of this is the work Dr Matilda van den Bosch in Sweden. The doctor gave people a maths test. During their test, their heart rate was faster. After the test, one group of people sat in a 3D-virtual-reality room for fifteen minutes with pictures and sounds of nature. Their heart rates were slower than people in the other group. The virtual contact with nature helped them feel more relaxed. Another good example of how nature is good for health comes from Canada. In Toronto, researchers studied about 31,000 people living in cities. Overall, they found that healthier people lived near parks.
Because of studies like these, some countries and cities want nature to be part of people’s everyday life. In Dubai, for example, there are plans for a new shopping mall with a large garden so shoppers can relax outside with trees, plants and water. In some countries, such as Switzerland, “forest schools” are popular, schoolchildren study their subjects in the forests and do lots of exercise outside. And South Korea is another good example: it has new forests near its cities and around 13 million people visit these forests every year. So, after building cities so long, it’s now time to start rebuilding nature.
(Adapted from Life Pre-Intermediate by John Huges, Helen Stephenson and Paul Dummett)
Question 31. What is the most suitable title for the passage?
A. Prime examples of bringing nature to schools B. Nature rebuilding
C. Nature is good for you D. A test to measure humans’ heart rate
Question 32. According to paragraph 1, people nowadays tend to_______
A. go outside to get fresh air B. sit at their own desks
C. lead sedentary lifestyles D. have better physical health
Question 33. The word “it” in paragraph 1 refers to _______
A. park B. nature C. fresh air D. water
Question 34. The word “contact” in paragraph 2 mostly means ______
A. connection B. avoidance C. touch D. approach
Question 35. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the paragraph?
A. Every year, the number of tourists to the National Parks of Canada is declining.
B. Doctors say our physical health is made worse by food choices and stress.
C. When they are in touch with nature, people feel more comfortable.
D. Students study in the forests in some countries and do a lot of exercise outside.
