Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
Recent reports suggest that tea can cause brittle bones-but you'll probably be safe if you drink less than a gallon a day.
Do you fancy a cup of tea? We drink, on average, three mugs a day. But you might want to try another strong alcohol after hearing the case of a 47-year-old woman, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), who developed brittle bones and lost all of her teeth after drinking too much tea.
Tea may not be so great for prostates (前列腺) either. Last year, research from the University of Glasgow found that men who drank more than seven or more cups of tea a day had a 50% higher risk of prostate cancer. And in 2009 a paper in the British Medical Journal showed that drinking very hot tea(70oC or more) increased the likelihood of esophageal (食管的) cancer.
Still gasping for that cup of tea? There is some evidence that tea can be good for you too, with antioxidant properties, so maybe you're not actually drinking enough of the stuff.
The poor woman in the NEJM study is not alone. There are a few other cases of people who have damaged their bones through too much tea. But she (like those in other studies) was drinking excessive amounts: 100 - 150 tea bags a day to make 12 cups of tea. A litre of tea can contain up to 9mg of fluoride(氟化物), which in excess can cause skeletal fluorosis ( 氟中毒), reducing bone quality and causing pain and stiffening of the ligaments (韧带). Other studies show you generally need to drink a gallon a day for three decades to develop this condition.
You also shouldn't worry about the Glasgow study as it wasn't designed to show that drinking tea actually caused prostate cancer. All it proved was an association and people were only asked how much tea they drank at the start of the study, which went on for about 28 years.
The National Cancer Institute in the U.S. concludes that the evidence isn't good enough to say tea either harms or helps our health. However it does seem sensible in the light of the BMJ study to wait for your tea to cool down for a few minutes.
Black tea, which makes up 75% of the world's consumption, may have healthy properties from its plant chemicals called poly phenols(多酚), which are antioxidants. Green tea contains more poly phenols but isn't so nice to dunk digestives into.
A review of the evidence in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, sponsored by the Tea Council--which, the authors say, had no part in the study--found the research showed more than three cups of black tea a day reduced heart disease. It found no evidence of harm "in amounts typically consumed". So as long as you drink less than a gallon of tea a day you should be absolutely fine.
1. What can be inferred about tea from Paragraph 3?
A) Very hot tea may cause prostate cancer.
B) There may be a link between very hot tea and esophageal cancer.
C) Over-drinking tea is the cause of prostate cancer.
D) Drinking too much tea may worsen esophageal cancer.
2. Excessive intake of fluoride may
A) increase the likelihood of heart attack
B) cause the bone fracture
C) cause fluorosis in the blood
D) weaken the bone quality and hurt the ligaments
3. Which of the following instructions is encouraged to practice?
A) Drinking less tea in the future.
B) Drinking no tea at all.
C) Drinking tea that is not too hot.
D) Drinking green tea instead of black tea.
4. Black tea is considered as healthy drink because
A) it contains antioxidants
B) it is made from plant
C) poly phenols are added to it
D) it helps one digest
5. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A) Under no circumstance can you drink more than a gallon of tea a day.
B) Black tea can be seen as a cure for heart disease.
C) Drinking tea does no harm at all, regardless of how much you consume.
D) Tea Council's participation into the research may decrease its credibility