备战2022年中考英语专题复习——阅读理解（COVID-19）

What Are People Doing to Stay Healthy?

The COVID-19 pandemic（新冠肺炎大流行）has led many people to pay more atention to their health. Exercising is an excellent way to keep fit. So what are the most popular activities? And what holds people back from physical fitness? Let's look at the results of a recent survey on Chinese people's health and exercise released by iResearch.

    Since the outbreak of COVID-19, in some cities Meituan has become almost 5 times as busy as usual. During the special period, the delivery drivers (外卖骑手) are busier and more tired than before. Without these drivers putting themselves at risk, families would go hungry and the sick wouldn't get necessary supplies.

    Gao Zhixiao from Beijing, 32, a delivery driver who has continued working as the virus spread across China. Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak erupted in China, he has to take a health test each morning and spend about 20 minutes disinfecting (消毒) his motorcycle and clothes to avoid spreading germs during his route.

    "After I gave her medicine, I stayed to talk to her," he says. "Because I am also from a single-parent family, I understand what it means to an old. She said that she hadn't eaten yet, because it was difficult to find food during the epidemic. So I made her instant noodles and two poached eggs, then took the trash out when I left. "

    Li Fengjie is another delivery driver in Wuhan, who was born in 1996. He felt nervous when he heard the news about COVID-19. He took things a few steps further. As a Meituan rider in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, where the COVID-19 epidemic first erupted in late December, he knew that his services would be essential (必备) after the city of 11 million was locked down on Jan 23. Li walked 50 kilometers to get to work after all public transport was halted.

    "I felt a sense of responsibility because I manage a team of other riders, and some were still working in Wuhan, so I had to help them, "he says. "All the doctors and nurses are coming to Wuhan to help, so we, the riders, should also fight with them on the frontline. "

    The great news is that Li Jie, who is a common delivery rider in Beijing, attended the meeting about COVID-19 prevention on March 9th 2020. That means all the people must understand and respect the delivery riders. We all hope that they can receive better training and working conditions, have more job opportunities and career development for riders in the future.

Zhang Dingyu, the director of Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, led over 600 doctors and nurses to fight against COVID-19.

As Zhang worked in the battle to fight against the disease, his strange way of walking shocked his colleagues. He finally admitted that he had fallen ill with ALS (渐冻症) since October 2018 after constant inquiries. ALS is a disease that gradually blocks the connection between brain and body. People with ALS become partially paralyzed (瘫痪的) leading to respiratory (呼吸系统的) failure. While working with handicapped (瘸的) legs, his wife was confirmed to get infected with SARS-CoV-2 after working in another hospital. The bad news brought him to his knees, and he cried for the first time after the outbreak of COVID-19. Zhang could only spare time to visit his wife until three days after she got admitted to the hospital. Even then he could only stay for 30 minutes. Fortunately, the good news came that his wife had recovered ten days after treatment.

Zhang, 57, had offered medical services along with Chinese medical teams to Algeria and Pakistan. Three days after the earthquake hit Sichuan Province in 2008, Zhang entered the city with his medical team members to offer help.

"Life is always short. I need to do more to finish the things that I might leave behind. Then I would leave without too many regrets, " Zhang said. "We are at the center of a storm, so we need to give all we have to protect our city, and our Wuhan people, " Zhang said.

Tens of thousands of Chinese people came together in Weifang, Shandong Province from Sep 26 to Oct 8 for the International Kite Festival. Since 1984, this festival has been held once a year in Weifang, also known as the World Kite Capital.

The event has invited kite-flying lovers and traditional craftsmen from across the country to show off their skills and develop kite culture. People can enjoy kite flying shows during the festival. From animals to cartoon heroes, the kites form different shapes in the air.

The most interesting kites in 2020 were the huge ones in the shape of medical workers and the Long March 5 rocket, which showed the hot topics in 2020, and also carried people's wishes of health, happiness and peace. "Doctors and nurses worked hard against COVID-19, so we made kites with their pictures to show our thanks," said Zhang Huagang, a kite lover at the festival.

In the past thirty years,     ▲    , which is not only a place to enjoy kites, but also a special cultural event to encourage international communication. In 2019, more than 100 teams from 65 countries took part in it. Because of the COVID-19, overseas teams showed their kites online in 2020.

Guilherme Linares, a kite lover from Brazil, took part in the festival for the fourth time. "Flying a kite is like flying your dream." he said. "Here you can meet many kite makers and flyers from all over the world. It is interesting to communicate experiences with them."

As the COVID-19 becomes normal in our life, the medical mask is necessary for everyone. Here is a product introduction of disposable medical mask. Go to www.amazon.cn/masks for more information.

    Are robots going to take over the world? This was one of the biggest fears people had about the development of technology. But since then, those fears have been largely replaced by COVID-19. Now, more and more people are beginning to regard robots as a useful solution for social distancing problems.

    Robots have been used for years, even though you might not connect these tasks with robots. ATMs in banks are common examples of everyday robots. There are many companies using robots even before the pandemic (疫情). Robots have also been used for tasks considered dangerous.

    Among COVID-19 conditions, new robots are being tested in many fields. At McDonald's and other fast-food restaurants, robots are being tried as waiters and even cooks. Restaurants are using robots to send their food safely to homes of old people because they're at high risk from COVID-19. Disinfection (消毒) robots have been developed to fight against COVID-19 in Qingdao, Shandong Province. They can replace human beings in carrying on the responsibility of disinfection. These newly developed disinfection robots have been put into operations in the quarantine wards (隔离病房) of some hospitals.

    The arguments against robots include the loss of human jobs and the idea that machines could control our lives. But now that COVID-19 has changed the world, more people will likely be accepting robots. The situation now is showing us how technology can be used to improve the world.

Hello, everyone. Here's NBTV-1. I'm Wang Yi. At the beginning of 2021, the Chinese government said it would provide free COVID-19 vaccines(疫苗) to all Chinese citizens(公民). Since then, tens of millions of people have got the vaccine. It's really helpful but some may still have some questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. I collected some main questions--"How does the vaccine work? ", "Are you allowed to get it? And how?" and "What do you need to do before getting it?" Now let's ask the doctor, Mr. Zhang about it.

Wang Yi: How does the vaccine work?

Mr Zhang: The vaccines China is now using are called" inactivated vaccines"(灭活疫苗). There are "dead" viruses in these vaccines. They cannot cause the disease, but can show your body what the virus looks like and make you immune(免疫)to it. Studies show that China's vaccines are 79. 34 percent effective. This means that for every 100 people who get vaccinated, about 79 people will become immune to the virus. If 79 percent of the whole population becomes immune, the possibility of COVID-19 spreading will be very low.

Wang Yi: How is the vaccine given?

Mr. Zhang: The vaccine is given by injection (注射). It's suggested to get two periods. You should wait about two weeks after the first injection to get the second one.

Wang Yi: Can people of all ages get vaccinated?

Mr. Zhang: The vaccines have been tested among three different age groups: 3 to 17. 18 to 59, and 60 and above. The 18-to-59 age group has the most data(数据)--the vaccines have shown that it's safe to this group. The other two groups are expected to be included soon.

Wang Yi: Thanks a lot. I have the last question.                          

    Since last December, there have been lots of COVID-19（新冠肺炎） cases both in and out of China. It's not the first time for humans to fight with Viruses. Viruses have brought big trouble to humans, because they may cause widespread disease and death.

    What are they? Viruses are considered to be non-living organisms ( 有机物). They can infect animals, plants and humans, making them sick. They have materials like DNA and are protected by a kind of special skin.

    Viruses can't reproduce( 繁殖) on their own. Instead, they break in the cells( 细胞) of living organisms to reproduce, spread and take over. But the basic question is, "Where did viruses first come from?" Until now, no clear explanation for this question. "It is difficult to find out where viruses first came from," Ed Rybicki, a virologist at the university of Cape Town in South Africa, told Scientific American, "because viruses don't leave fossils ( 化 石 ) and because it is difficult to study the ways they use to make copies of themselves within the cells they've broken in." Understanding where they came from means fully understanding the history of their hosts( 宿主) – not only humans, but also plants and other animals, which is a difficult task, says Nature.

    UK physicist Isaac Newton once said, "Nature is pleased with simplicity and nature is no dummy (傻子)." Indeed, mother nature can provide almost everything humans need if we follow her rules. But if we break the rules, she is likely to be cruel and mad at us. It is believed that the outbreak of COVID-19 is a good example. Humans try to change mother nature. They use more land to make buildings, catch some wild animals to meet their own needs. Humans gradually throw our mother nature out of balance(平衡). For example, cutting a large number of forests leads to global(全球的) warming.

    Although we don't know exactly what first caused the COVID-19 outbreak, Brian Lamacraft at Medium said it's time for people to "think carefully about our relationship with our mother nature" and "reconnect with this world and everything that we've been given". After all, according to US poet Gary Snyder, "Nature is not the place to visit. It's our home."

Shenzhen is pushing forward on its mass vaccination campaign （大规模疫 Ul 接种）against CO'ID-19. But ho\x arc the vaccines being stored, transported and handed out before citizens get them? A reporter with Shenzhen Special Zone Daily might provide you with the answer.

At 2 a.m., a temperature-controlled vehicle filled with vaccines drove into Sinopharm s logistics center in Longhua District.

After the unloading, the workers of the center first checked the vaccines carefully. They must make sure the vaccines were stored within the temperature range of 2 C-8 C all the way. Then the vaccines were sent to a special storehouse with the same temperature range. Boxes of vaccines were placed on pallets to avoid direct contact with the ground, as that might affect the storage temperature of the vaccines.

"Each vaccination site has made a plan fbr vaccine usage one or two days ahead of time, and the vaccines are sent to the sites across the city by temperature-controlled vehicles,'' said Xie Xu, head of the immunization program of Shenzhen Center. Disease Control and Prevention.

At 9:25 a.m., the COVID-19 vaccines arrived at the lobby of the Jingtian Community Health Center of Jingtian Hospital after a two-hour drive from the storehouse. During the transportation, the temperature of the vaccines was recorded every five minutes.

Chen Li, a doctor with the health center, carefully checked the vaccines, put them in a special fridge and recorded detailed information.

"We would refuse to accept the vaccines if the temperature isn't normal or the outer package has any leakage （渗漏）' said Chen.