Judging from recent surveys, most experts in sleep behaviour agree that there is an epidemic (流行病) of sleepiness in the nation. “I can’t think of a single study that hasn’t found Americans getting less sleep
than they ought to,” says Dr. David. Even people who think they are sleeping enough would probably be
better off with more rest.
The beginning of our sleep-lack crises can be traced back to the invention of the light bulb a century
ago. From diary entries and our personal accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries, sleep scientists have
reached the conclusion that the average person used to sleep about 9.5 hours a night. “The best sleep
habits once were forced on us, when we had nothing to do in the evening on the farm, and it was dark.” By the 1950s and 1960s, the sleep schedule had been reduced dramatically, to between 7.5 and 8 hours, and most people had to wake to an alarm clock. “People cheat in their sleep, and they don’t even realize
they’re doing it,” says Dr. David. “They think they’re okay because they can manage with 6.5 hours, when they really need 7.5, 8 or even more to feel ideally energetic.”
Perhaps the most cruel robber of sleep, researches say, is the complexity of the day. Whenever
pressures from work, family, friends and community increase, many people consider sleep the least
expensive item on their programme. “In our society, you’re considered energetic if you say you need only 5.5 hours’ sleep. If you have to get 8.5 hours, people think you lack drive and ambition.”
To determine the consequences of sleep-lack, researchers have put subjects through a set of
psychological and performance tests requiring them, for instance, to add columns of numbers or recall a
passage read to them only minutes earlier. “We’ve found that if you’re lacking in sleep, performance
suffers,” says Dr. David. “Short-term memory is weakened, so are abilities to make decisions and to
concentrate.”
1. What is the main topic of the passage?
A. Research on the causes and consequences of sleep-lack.
B. The epidemic of sleepiness in the modern times.
C. The history of people’s sleeping patterns.
D. The minimum of our sleeping hours.
2. Which of the following is Dr. David’s opinion?
A. People who think they are sleeping enough are better off than those who don’t.
B. Some people can remain energetic with only 6.5 hours’ sleep a night.
C. If they get 8.5 hours’ sleep, people will be full of drive and ambition.
D. People’s performance becomes worse if they are lacking in sleep.
3. People in the 18th and 19th centuries slept about 9.5 hours a night because __________.
A. they were forced by their parents to do so
B. they knew what was best for their health
C. they had no electricity
D. they were not so energetic and ambitious as modern people are
4. The major cause of sleep-lack of modern people is _______.
A. the endless TV programmes in the evenings and on the Internet
B. the heavy work load of the day
C. the enough energy modern people usually have
D. loud noises in the modern cities
5. What does the word “subject” in paragraph 4 mean?
A. Person or thing that is being discussed or described.
B. Branch of knowledge studied in a school.
C. Person or thing being treated in a certain way or being experimented on.
D. Any member of a State apart from the supreme ruler.
unavoidably at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is
viewed as mere entertainment, but certainly not an education priority（优先）. This view is shortsighted.
In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students.
Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it reflects their
thinking and values and the social environment it came from. Rock music represents a lifestyle just as surely
as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into
their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our
character and values. It gives us identity as a society.
Music provides a kind of perception（感知）that cannot be acquired any other way. Science can
explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts explore the emotive meaning of the same phenomenon. We
need every possible way to discover and respond to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No
one way can get it all.
The arts are forms of thoughts as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific
symbols. They are ways we human beings “talk” to each other. They are the language of civilization
through which we express our fears, our curiosities, our discoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give
form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not give children
access to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we take away from them the meanings
that music expresses.
Science and technology do not tell u
s what it means to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express human suffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love.So music
education is far more necessary than people seem to realize.
B. disagree with their parents on education
C. view music as an overlooked subject
D. prefer the arts to science
B. show music identifies a society
C. introduce American musical traditions
D. prove music influences people’s lifestyles
B. explore different phenomena of the world
C. express people’s feelings in different ways
D. approach the world from different angles
B. Music should be of top education priority.
C. Music education deserves more attention.
D. Music makes students more imaginative.
阅读理解
High school dropouts（辍学者）earn an average of $ 9 ,000 less per year than graduates. Now a
new study dispels a common belief why they quit. It’s much more basic than flunking out（不及格）.
Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy ,and
perhaps not two bright．So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who
quit school about why they left.
""The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have
graduated from high school. “ John Bridgeland , the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens
leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic（美籍西班牙的）
students will receive a diploma（证书） ,and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision.
So , if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit , what does? Again ,John Bridgeland : “The
most dependable finding was that they were bored. “ They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t
inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the
classroom to their own lives , or to their career aspirations. "
The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen , which happens to be
the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US ,only one state ,New Mexico ,has a
law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California ,
Tennessee , Texas and Utah , plus the District
of Columbia , require school attendance until age 18 ,
no exceptions , another researcher ,says raising the compulsory attendance age may be one way to
keep more kids in school．
""As these dropouts look back ,they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of
gives these people an extra push to stick it out and it through to the end , is probably helpful measure. ""
New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18. But critics say that
forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point－the need for
reform. It"s been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and relevant ,
and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something.
1. Most high school students drop out of school because .
A. they have failing grade
B. they take no interest in classes
C. they are discriminated against
D. they are lazy and not intelligent
2. The underlined words “stick it out “ probably means “ "".
A. complete schooling
B. solve the problem
C. love having classes
D. believe in themselves
3. In the last paragraph , the writer is trying to .
A. analyze the reason why students quit school
B. suggest raising the compulsory attendance age
C. raise awareness of reforming high school education
D. wish to make laws to guarantee no education
4. From the passage ,we can infer the following EXCEPT that ．
A. the grades of most dropouts at school were acceptable
B. about 500 , 000 high school dropouts are black and Spanish
C. classes don"t appeal to dropouts
D. on average dropouts cannot get good jobs
阅读理解
Honesty comes in many forms. First there’s self-honesty. Is what people see the real article or do
you appear through smoke and mirrors? I find that if I try to be something I’m not, I feel unsure of
myself and take out a part from my PBA(personal bank account ). I love how singer Judy Garland put
it, “Always be a first-class version(版本) of yourself , instead of a second-class version of somebody
else .”
Then there’s honesty in our actions. Are you honest at school, with your parents, and with your
boss? If you’ve ever been dishonest, I think we all have, try being honest, and notice how whole it
makes you feel. Remember, you can’t do wrong and feel right. This story by Jeff is a good example
of that:
In my second year of study, there were three kids in my math class who didn’t do well. I was really
good at it. I would charge them three dollars for each test that I helped them pass. I’d write on a little
piece of paper all the right answers, and hand them off.
At first I felt like I was making money, kind of a nice job. I wasn’t thinking about how it could hurt
all of us.
After a while I realized I shouldn’t do that anymore, because I wasn’t really helping them.
They weren’t learning anything, and it would only get harder down the road. Cheating certainly wasn’t
helping me.
It takes courage to be honest when people all around you are getting away with cheating on tests,
lying to their parents, and stealing at work. But, remember, every act of honesty is a deposit（储蓄）
into your PBA and will build strength .
1. The underlined part “appear through smoke and mirrors” in the first paragraph means
""_____________"".
A. to be honest
B. to be unreal
C. to become clear
D. to come from an imagined world
2. Which of the following can best explain Judy Garland’s words?
A. Be your true self rather than follow others.
B. Don’t copy others or you can’t be the first class.
C. Make efforts to be the first instead of the second.
D. Don’t learn from others unless they’re excellent.
3. What does the author expect to show by Jeff’s story?
A. honesty can be of great help.
B. A bad thing can be turned into a good one.
C. Helping others cheat can do good to nobody but yourself.
D. One should realize the wrong in his bad deeds.
4. In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express _______ .
A. one must be brave to be honest
B. it’s difficult to be honest when others are not
C. one should be honest when making a deposit
D. honesty in one’s actions can help him in the future
ature and the amount of water in the atmosphere change. We cansee and feel water coming from the atmosphere when we have rain. But the water must somehow get back
to the atmosphere. Meteorologists call this the water cycle.
There are many stages in the water cycle. Rain falls when water vapour in clouds condenses(凝结).
Drops of water form and fall to the ground. The water soaks into the ground and feeds streams and rivers.
A lot of rain falls into the sea. The heat of the sun evaporates some of the water in the ground and in the
rivers, lakes, and the sea. It changes the liquid water into water vapour. The vapour rises onto the air.
Water vapour is normally invisible. On a very damp or humid day, however, you can sometimes see
water v
apour rising from a puddle(水坑) or pond in a mist(薄雾) above the
water. Water vapour also gets into the air from living things. Trees and other plants take in water throug
h their roots and give off water vapour from their leaves. People and land animals drink water and breathe out water vapour. In all
these ways the water returns to the air. There it gathers to form clouds and condenses to form rain. The
rain falls to earth, and the cycle starts again. It continues even if snow or hail(冰雹) fall instead because
both eventually melt t
o form water. The amount of water vapour in the air depends on the temperature. The air is more moist(潮湿) in the tropics(热带) than in the cold polar regions.
B. Water vapour.
C. How rain forms.
D. Water, vapour, rain.
B. Three.
C. Four.
D. Five.
B. how good your eyes are
C. in which way water is evaporated
D. climate or weather
B. there is more water vapour in the air in cold polar region than in the tropics
C. it gets more rain in the tropics than in cold polar regions because there is less vapour
D. the amount of water vapour in the air depends on how often it rains
feel hopless about it. Can you learn to read better, or must you agree that nothing can be done about it?
To be sure, people are different. You cannot expect to do everything as well as certain other people
do. If all the students in a class tried out for basketball, some would be very good players; others would be
very poor; and many would be in between. But even the very poor players can become much better player
s if they are guided in the right way, and with plenty of practice. It is the same with reading. Some seem to
enjoy reading and to read well without any special help. Others find reading a slow and tiring job. In
between, there are all degrees of reading ability.
Many experiments have shown that just about every poor reader can improve his reading ability. In
these experiments, the poor readers were given tests of reading ability. After some of the causes of their
poor reading were discovered, they were given special instructiong and practice in reding. After a few
months, another test of the same kind was given. In nearly all cases, these people had raised their reading
scores.
B. that there are differences in people’s abilities
C. why some people are good basketball players
D. that good basketball players can be g
ood readers B. take different forms of tests
C. have special help and practice
D. try different reading materials
B. almost all poor reders can make progress
C. causes of poor reading are difficult to find out
D. tests help people improve their reading ability
- 1— Would you like to go to the concert with me tonight? — I"
- 2下列化合物中，不能由单质之间直接化合而得到的是（ ）A．Fe3O4B．Na2O2C．Cu2SD．FeCl2
- 3The new stadium being built for the next Asian Games will be
- 4曲霉、青霉的生殖方式是 A．有性生殖B．出芽生殖C．孢子生殖D．分裂生殖
- 5根据语境，在横线上填上诗文原句： ①须晴日， ，
- 6已知棱长为1的正方体ABCD-A1B1C1D1中，E是A1B1的中点，求直线AE与平面ABC1D1所成角的正弦值为___
- 7先化简，再求值：(x+2-5x-2)÷x-3x-2，其中x=5-3．
- 8下列为植物生殖器官的是（ ）①根 ②花 ③茎 ④种子 ⑤叶 ⑥果实．A．①②③B．④⑤⑥C．①③
- 9观察下列《世界三大城市》表格，从中可以获得的有效信息是：时间第一第二第三1700年君士坦丁堡江户北京1800年北京伦敦广
- 10如图所示，AB是两个同心圆，半径之比RA∶RB=2∶1，A、B是由相同材料，粗细一样的导体做成的，小圆B外无磁场，B内磁
- 1两棵小树之间栓铁丝晾衣服，日子久了，在铁丝的上方形成________，时间长了小树会________。
- 2已知变量满足，则的最小值为（ ）A．B．C．D．
- 3已知下面的哪组数据可以计算出地球的质量（引力常量G已知）( )A．人造卫星在地面附近的运动速度和周期B．地球同步卫星离地
- 4根据有关资料，完成下列问题。（15分）材料一：北京时间2013年9月10日21时，中远集团永盛轮靠泊荷兰鹿特丹港，顺利完
- 5将铝片和镁片用导线连接插入氢氧化钠电解质溶液中，写出该装置中负极的电极反应式和总反应的离子方程式。（1） 负极
- 6梁启超在谈到哥伦布发现新大陆时发出这样的感慨：哥伦布之后，有无数哥伦布；郑和下西洋之后，竞无第二个郑和。造成这种现象的根
- 7已知a+3+|b-2|=0，那么（a+b）2009=______．
- 8下图中在北京交汇的铁路①、②、③分别是A．京包线、京广线、京沪线B．京广线、京九线、京沪线C．京九线、京广线、京沪线D．
- 9国务委员刘延东在部署实施全国农村义务教育学生营养改善计划电视电话会议上强调，要牢固树立安全第一意识，建立从农田到餐桌的食
- 10阅读下列诗歌完成诗后的题。 我用残损的手掌戴望舒（写于日寇的铁牢中）我用残损的手掌摸索这广大的土地：这一角已变成灰烬，那