mild,many animals are still hibernating(冬眠). It"s too bad that humans can"t hibernate.In fact, as a
species, we almost did.
Apparently, at times in the past, peasants in France liked a semistate of human hibernation.So writes
Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants.As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end.
In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio"s The Current, tells us that the way we sleep
has changed fundamentally since the invention of artificial (人造的 )lighting and the electric bulb.
When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first
sleep”, which was not clarified, though.Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in
separate periods.The business of eight hours" uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention.
In the past, without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight.The late night period was known as “The Watch”. It was
when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or
visited family and neighbours.
According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia(失眠)at midnight is not a disorder.It
is normal.Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning.This period can be an extraordinarily
creative time for some people.The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison, used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas.
Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous, as anxiety may set in.Medical science doesn"t help much in this case.It offers us medicines for a full night"s continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however,
according to Warren"s theory, it is really the opposite of what we need.
1.The example of the French peasants shows the fact that_____ .
A.people might become lazy as a result of too much sleep
B.there were signs of hibernation in human sleeping habits
C.people tended to sleep more peacefully in cold weather
D.winter was a season for people to sleep for months on end
2.The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people_____.
A.to set traps to catch animals
B.to wake up their family and neighbours
C.to remind others of the time
D.to guard against possible dangers
3.What does the author advise people to do?
A.Sleep in the way animals do.
B.Consult a doctor if they can"t sleep.
C.Follow their natural sleep rhythm.
D.Keep to the eighthour sleep pattern.
4.What is the author"s purpose in writing the passage?
A.To give a prescription for insomnia.
B.To urge people to sleep less.
C.To analyze the sleep pattern of modern people.
D.To throw new light on human sleep.
city is accepting the digitalization (数字化) of everyday life.
Set to open in 2013,the£188m LoB is already beginning to take shape next to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with which it will share some equipment.
As digital media(媒介) is important to its_idea,_the project is already providing chances for some of
the many small new local companies working at the new technologies.
Brian Gambles, the LoB project director, says it is about giving people the right tools for learning:"The
aim is to mix the physical with the digital, providing 24hour services which can be used through many
different ways.It is important to enable us to reach more people,more effectively."
The digital library will, he says, be as important as the physical one, allowing the distant use of the
services, making sure that it is never closed to the public.
Even before the LoB is complete, the public has been able to go online to visit the Virtual (虚拟的)
LoB, designed by Baden, the Birmingham virtual worlds specialists.Not only have the public been able
to learn about the LoB, but the virtual one has also enabled those working on the LoB to understand the
building and how it will work before it even opens.
Two other small Birminghambased digital companies are also working on the LoB projects.Substrat,
a digital design company, is developing what it calls an example of an "enlarged reality" project.It is about
the use of an exciting smart phone, an important part of the LoB which is in the early stages of
development.And The People"s Archive is an online library of historical figures of the city being built up
by a digital content company in Cahoots, in which users will be encouraged to add to and comment on
the material.
Gambles says:"Technology will enable us to make the library"s content and services open to citizens
as never before."
1. The underlined part "its idea" in Paragraph 3 refers to the idea of ________.
A. the equipment
B. the project
C. the digital media
D. the physical library
2. While visiting the Virtual LoB the public can ________.
A. get a general idea of the LoB
B. meet many worldfamous experts
C. learn how to put up a library building
D. understand how the specialists work on the project
3. Which of the following is true of the LoB when it opens?
A. a,b,d
B. a,c,e
C. b,c,d
D. b,d,e
4. The text is most probably taken from ________.
A. a computer book
B. a library guide
C. a project handbook
D. a newspaper report
Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and
behaviors.But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical (经验的,实证的) basis.They are
discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people focused, and lead to relaxation.
Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity.In 2007, Joan
MeyersLevy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room"s ceiling affects how
people think.Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely, which may
lead them to make more abstract connections.Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed outlook.
In addition to ceiling height, the view afforded by a building may influence an occupant"s ability to concentrate.Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of
attention.
Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to pay off academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia.Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet
outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students
whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.
Recent study on room lighting design suggests that dim (暗淡的) light helps people to loosen up.If that
is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation.Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.
So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings."We have a very limited number of studies,
so we"re_almost_looking_ at_the_problem_through_a_straw_(吸管),"architect David Allison says."How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad, generalized use of them? That"s what
we"re all struggling with."
1. What does Joan MeyersLevy focus on in her research?
A. Light.
B. Ceilings.
C. Windows.
D. Furniture.
2. The passage tells us that ________.
A. the shape of furniture may affect people"s feelings
B. lower ceilings may help improve students" creativity
C. children in a dim classroom may improve their grades
D. students in rooms with unblocked views may feel relaxed
3. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means that ________.
A. the problem is not approached step by step
B. the researches so far have faults in themselves
C. the problem is too difficult for researchers to detect
D. research in this area is not enough to make generalized patterns
4. Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?
CP:Central PointP:PointSp:Subpoint (次要点)C:Conclusion
born worldwide, according to a new study.
Scientists noted these types of atmospheric blasts rather than ontheground incidents like Chernobyl
(切尔诺贝利), effected birth gender across the globe.
Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum M?nchen, Germany, analysed population data from 1975 to 2007
for the U.S. and 39 European countries.
There was an increase in the number of baby boys relative to girls in all of the countries from 1964
to 1975. This was the case in many eastern European countries for several years after 1986.
Scientists are putting the first spike down to the atomic bomb tests of the 1960s and 1970s where
radioactive atoms were blasted into the atmosphere. Air currents caught these atoms and then distributed
them around the world.
They think the second spike is due to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in which the reactor exploded in
the Ukraine(乌克兰).
The effects of Chernobyl were felt locally and no effect was seen in the U.S., probably because it
was too far from the disaster to have an effect.
"The closer the country was to Chernobyl, the stronger the effect," said study coauthor Hagen Scherb, a biostatistician(生物统计学家) at the German Research Center for Environmental Health in Munich.
More males were born relative to females in Belarus-the Ukraine"s neighbour-than in France.
The study is based largely on Cold Warera statistics, but the findings are highly relevant for how
gender could be affected after future nuclear disasters.
And in the wake of Japan"s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident experts are predicting
another baby boy boom could come, especially on the U.S. West Coast.
Previous radiation experiments on animals may give a clue for the increase in male births. Tests showed that radiation caused damage to the X chromosome(染色体) in sperm, Dr Scherb said.
A human sperm cell contains either an X or Y chromosome, while an egg only has an X chromosome. An XY combination will become a boy, while an XX combination will be a girl.
B.2.
C.3.
D.4.
B.There was an increase in the number of baby boys in many eastern European countries for several
years after 1986.
C.The Japan"s nuclear accident will not effect the birth gender of the U.S. because of the long distance.
D.Where radioactive material has spread, women can"t give birth to children.
B.It stops X chromosomes and Y chromosomes combining.
C.It kills baby girls before they are born.
D.It damages the X chromosome in sperm.
B.Nuclear radiation has bad effects upon people"s health.
C.Worries about radiation risks.
D.Nuclear age helps reduce the world population.
difficult tasks.Their specialized behavior due to chemical communication is so well developed, in fact, that
humans can learn a lot from them about how to work best in teams.
British scientists at the University of Bristol are studying colonies(群体)of army ants to understand
how they organize themselves and share knowledge.These insects-which come in various sizes-are known for using their bodies as living plugs to cover holes on the uneven ground between their nest and their prey.When they meet a hole in their path, they can quickly determine which of them is the best fit.The
appropriate ant then lies across the gap, allowing the remainder of the group-as many as 200,000 other
ants-to step on its back.This important minority of ants makes the food collection of the entire colony in
the best possible way by "paving the way" for the others.
The collective behavior that emerges from a group of social insects, such as ants, can be called
"swarm intelligence". Swarm intelligence consists of the selforganization of many individuals that work
collectively to find the best solution to a difficult problem.The concepts of swarm intelligence have been
used in a variety of human applications.It has been used as a method that improves the efficiency of
goods transfers on airplanes, and has even become a routing technique for moving data across
telecommunications networks more smoothly.You could say that our daily lives benefit from the tireless
work of ants.
1. What can we learn from ants according to the text?
A. How to help others to achieve great goals.
B. Good communication skills are important.
C. How to achieve the best result by working as a team.
D. The hardworking spirit in teamwork.
2. A study made by British scientists suggests that________.
A. ants are a group of clever insects
B. army ants" behavior is difficult to understand
C. ants enjoy using their bodies as living plugs
D. ants" collective behavior ensures their food supply
3. What can we learn about "swarm intelligence"?
A. It is a kind of collective behavior in social insects.
B. It refers to the selforganization of many insects.
C. The concepts of it will be used by many animals.
D. It is the best method of processing data.
4. The study of ants" behavior can be applied in ________.
A. road transportation and education
B. aerial transport and telecommunications
C. team organization and engineering
D. computer and information technology
Surface Exploration. Robots make great explorers on planets,moons,and other landing areas.Aside
from Earth,just about every surface in the solar system is unsafe for humans to explore.The air on most
other planets is insufficient for humans to breathe,making it necessary to wear a space suit and oxygen
equipment.The temperatures on these surfaces are much too hot or much too cold for any humans to
withstand.Plus there would be complications with radiation,weather,and a lack of gravity.Robots have
much less limitation in these areas and can survive much longer under these conditions.
Data Collection. Robots are designed for collecting scientific data.Robots are also able to perform
many tasks at one time and can process information much quicker and more efficiently.Important scientific projects from detecting minerals,analyzing ground samples,and finding water are all performed much quicker and more accurately(精确地)by robots.
Cost Effective. The use of robots has made the cost of space exploration much less expensive than it would cost for humans to do the work.In order to successfully send humans into space we would need to build a vehicle that can not only carry humans,but also have enough food and water to keep them alive for
the duration of the trip.Moreover,robots have no problems working for hours on end.Robots never
complain,they don"t require food or water,and they never need a bathroom break.
Space Travel. Over the past 30 years or so there have been many different types of robots used
successfully in the exploration of space.Perhaps the most famous and successful robots are the Spirit and Opportunity who have both been exploring the surface of Mars.They have both been very successful with experiments on soil and rocks and have even found evidence of water in Mars" history.
1. According to the passage,which of the following is NOT true?
A. The use of robots in space exploration costs more than the use of humans.
B. It may be dangerous for human to explore the solar system except the earth.
C. Both the Spirit and Opportunity have found the evidence of water in the Mars.
D. Many different types of robots have explored the space successfully.
2. Which column of the passage could come from?
A. Education.
B. Finance.
C. Travel.
D. Science.
3. The underlined phrase "withstand" most probably means "________".
A. arise
B. bear
C. defeat
D. diverse
4. What is the writer"s attitude in writing this passage?
A. Negative.
B. Persuasive.
C. Subjective.
D. Objective.
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