D
Looking for a low-cost path to self-knowledge? A way to mine your subconsciousness for clues to your motivations, desires and fears? No need to have years of treatment or analysis. Just look to your dreams.“You can ignore your dreams, but you are really doing harm to yourself,” says Lauri Quinn Loewenberg. “If so, you’re letting red flags pass you by, letting great ideas pass you by.”
Some sleep researchers believe dreams are more directly related to our moods and emotions and can serve as tools to self-understanding. Dreams occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) cycles of sleep each night. For adults, that means about every 90 minutes. The first period of REM sleep may be short, 5 to 10 minutes, followed by longer periods, finally reaching an hour or more in the fourth or fifth period.When people are dreaming, brain scans show a lot of activities. The brain is online during dreams. The experiences you have during the day are connected during dream sleep. People we know or experiences we’ve had at different times in our lives may be different in the same dream.
AmyBeth Gilstrap has had the same recurring dream that annoyed her since Hurricane Katrina drove her and her daughter and friends out of New Orleans. Ms. Gilstrap says, “It is always a spy. My job is to get people to some place.” She’s certain the dream is related to her effort in the hurricane to help several families leave. Sometimes her cats also are part of that dream. That’s because she went back into New Orleans, before it was allowed, to rescue her cats.
Today, through brain scans scientists have known that the parts of the brain that control emotion and long-term memory are active during REM sleep.
68. The passage is mainly to tell readers ______.
A. dreams are mainly caused by hard work
B. dreams can offer us a key to self-knowledge
C. dreams are only activities of our brains
D. how dreams help us solve our problems
69. According to the words from Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, ______.
A. dreams can make you feel badly ill
B. you often have red flags in your dreams
C. dreams will make your life colorful
D. you may get great help from your dreams
70. According to the passage, the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to ______.
A. Ms. Gilstrap’s dream B. Ms. Gilstrap’s job
C. Hurricane Katrina D. New Orleans
71. According to the passage, when you are dreaming at night, ______.
A. your dream is connected with your work that day
B. the dream will generally last about 5 to 10 minutes
C. the longer dream should be in the later part of the sleep
D. your eyes will still move slowly during the time
You may know your mother, but how well do you really know Mother’s Day? Cards, flowers, sales, TV specials, and a day off for someone who really deserves it —those are what probably come to mind for many people when they think of Mother’s Day. But there’s more about the story.
The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations were held during spring in Ancient Greece. The celebrations honored Rhea, the Mother of the gods. During the 1600s, England celebrated a day called Mothering Sunday. On this day even servants (仆人) were given the day off to spend with their families. A mothering cake was even served with the family meal.
In the U.S., Mother’s Day began in 1872 when Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words of the famous song The Battle Hymn of the Republic, suggested it as a day devoted to peace. But it didn’t really become popular until 1907 when Anna Jarvis started a campaign (运动) to honor her own mother. She believed that mothers could help people get over the pain they experienced during the Civil War. The U.S. isn’t alone in devoting a day to its mothers. Many other countries including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Japan, and Belgium also celebrate their Mother’s Day in May. Other countries honor their mothers at different times of the year.
Learning more about Mother’s Day and celebrating Mother’s Day is important, but probably not as important as understanding what your own mother, or grandmother, or aunt has really done for you. And that should certainly be appreciated more than one day in a year.What is the passage mainly about?
A.The reason why people celebrate Mother’s Day. |
B.How people honor mothers. |
C.The history of Mother’s Day. |
D.Mother’s Day in different countries. |
Where was the earliest Mother’s Day celebrated?
A.In Ancient Greece. | B.In the U.S. |
C.In England. | D.In Italy. |
According to the third paragraph, we know that _____.
A.Julia Ward Howe composed a song about Mother’s Day |
B.American people started to celebrate Mother’s Day in 1907 |
C.Anna Jarvis attached great importance to mothers |
D.Mother’s Day celebrations are held in different times in the U.S. every year |
The last paragraph tells us that ______.
A.all the people should celebrate Mother’s Day |
B.only mothers are honored on Mother’s Day |
C.understanding mothers’work is more important than just celebrating Mother’s Day |
D.people should make every day a Mother’s Day |
When Cathleen Gardiner’s twins were born 17 years ago, doctors told her that they were a pair in a million. One had Down syndrome(低能综合症), while the other did not. Here, Cathleen tells their touching story.
Since Sean was born 17 years ago, I have always thought that he is just as wonderful as his brother and sister. Though he had a disability(残疾), we have never viewed him as a burden. He has always been a blessing. The doctors explained that though they were twins, they came from two different eggs. Lisa could walk at 11 months old, while Sean didn’t take his first steps till he was three. By two, Lisa was talking a lot, but Sean wasn’t able to speak until he was nearly four.
For the first five years of his life, Sean needed a great deal of care. Looking after him was my full-time job, though I also worked as a technical adviser in a computing company. We never treated them differently. We gave them the same toys and spoke to them in the same way. We encouraged Sean to keep up with Lisa, even though he never could, and we would help him develop his abilities. We sent them to the same primary school even after doctors advised us that Sean should go to a school for the disabled.
We had to explain to Lisa that he wouldn’t learn as quickly as she would. She told us that she’d help him with his school work. Having a non-disabled twin has really helped Sean develop. The love they share has given him a great deal of support. Now Sean and Lisa are both about to finish high school. I don’t think he would have done nearly as well today without Lisa’s help.At least how many children does Mrs. Gardiner have?
A.Two. | B.Three. | C.Four. | D.One. |
Mrs. Gardiner and her husband regarded Sean as _______.
A.a boy making others touched | B.a normal child without disabilities |
C.a special gift | D.a burden of their family |
The third paragraph mainly tells us that _______.
A.the couple treated the twins equally |
B.Cathleen did all she could to look after Sean |
C.the couple didn’t follow the doctor’s advice |
D.the couple encouraged Sean to grow up |
This passage tells us that _________.
A.love can do wonders | B.nobody is foolish or clever |
C.being stupid doesn’t matter | D.all men are born equal |
Carrot juice, because of its many healthy benefits, is commonly called the "magic juice". It has been found that adding carrot juice to people’s diets greatly improves their health. And its delicious taste makes it popular with all members of the family as a beverage.
Carrot juice is one of the richest sources of vitamin A that can be used in the daily diet. Lack (缺乏) of vitamin A can cause dryness and damage to the skin, nails and hair. Drinking carrot juice to increase the vitamin A in the diet is said to be good for many parts of the body, including the bones and teeth.
Drinking carrot juice is thought to be extremely helpful to the liver (肝脏), because vitamin A helps to clean the liver and reduce fat in it. And it is suggested that drinking carrot juice should be done regularly, rather than just from time to time.
Drinking carrot juice is also thought to improve the eyesight because of the vitamin A in the juice. Lack of vitamin A can lead to night blindness, which can be very dangerous, especially when the person is driving a car. An easy way to find out if you are lacking in vitamin A is to walk from a bright room into a dark room. Your eyes may have some trouble in getting used to the change of light if you are lacking in vitamin A.
How can you make carrot juice? Wash some carrots well in cold water. Scrape (刮) them lightly, but do not peel them, as this will take away valuable vitamins and minerals that lie close to the skin. Lack of vitamin A can lead to _____.
A.skin dryness | B.broken bones |
C.complete blindness | D.liver cancer |
According to the passage, carrot juice ______.
A.is popular because it is a magic cure for many diseases |
B.does a lot of good to the teeth and other parts of the body |
C.can wash away the waste from the body |
D.may be harmful to the body if it’s drunk too much |
We can learn from the fourth paragraph that _____.
A.drinking carrot juice helps to protect your eyesight |
B.driving cars at night may lead to night blindness |
C.walking from a bright room into a dark room may lead to night blindness |
D.you will find it easy to get used to the change of light if you lack vitamin A |
Which would be the best title for this passage?
A.Tips on How to Make Carrot Juice |
B.The Way to Keep Good Health |
C.The Great Benefits of Carrot Juice |
D.A Healthy Diet for Patients |
In March 1987, I started a new magazine called Creating Excellence. It was a very proud moment for me. I’d worked hard for over a year to create it, and the premiere issue (首次发刊) was a real success.
Shortly after we mailed 25,000 copies, I received one in the mail. But this one wasn’t as beautiful as the ones we’d sent out. It was marked in red ink correcting the grammatical errors (语法错误) in it. A talented editor had read the issue carefully and found more errors than I could have imagined.
I felt abashed. A magazine called Creating Excellence should be perfect in its content (内容). The stories were good, but the errors this woman had found showed that we were far from being excellent.
At first, I was upset with my editor for not having caught more mistakes, and also upset with the woman who seemed to have taken pleasure in pointing them out. Later, I was upset with myself for not having employed a better editor.
Then I realized that I had to face up to my mistakes. I called the woman who had shown me that we were not so excellent. I thanked her for taking the time to read our magazine so carefully. As painful as it was, I accepted responsibility for it.
Then I offered her the job of editing our publication. The result was a great improvement in it; we could now be very proud of our magazine.
From this I learnt that an upsetting moment could be an opportunity to see the truth, and accepting responsibility could help to prevent one making the same mistakes for a second time, and to make "excellence" a reality.From the first paragraph we learn that _____.
A.the author put little effort into his first magazine |
B.the author’s job was selling magazines |
C.the author was very satisfied with his work |
D.the author experienced a total failure |
What does the underlined word "abashed" mean?
A.excited. | B.embarrassed. | C.interested. | D.exhausted. |
What do we learn about the woman who had found the errors in the magazine?
A.She was causing trouble on purpose. |
B.She liked pointing out the errors of others. |
C.She contributed a lot to the success of the premiere issue. |
D.She ended up joining the magazine. |
What do we learn from this passage?
A.Pride is the biggest enemy of success. |
B.Success is behind many failures. |
C.Picking holes in something can help you find a job. |
D.Accepting responsibility for one’s errors can lead to real excellence. |
Have you ever heard of blogs (博客)? If you haven’t, you should have. It’s here, it’s growing and it’s having an influence on our life. Surf the Internet and you’ll find blogs everywhere. A blog, shortened from “weblog”, is a public Internet journal written by one person or a group of people. It is a website in which a person or a group can place news, personal thoughts, text, photos, video or audio files, or links upon which visitors can comment. A blog lets you post on the Internet without having to know web design or be technical. You are given an environment to make dated entries on the topic of your choice which are “published”, so other people can read them.
Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Blogging has revolutionized Internet publishing in the last several years because it gives everyone with Internet access the opportunity to become an online writer. Objects, such as “text and photos” in a blog can be called “blog posts”, “posts”, or “entries”. The person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”.
Now, somewhere around the world, a blog is created almost every 6 seconds. Because it’s great potential, Bill Gates views it as important as e-mail, BBS, and MSN. He’s trying to make blogs the important tools for future business communications.A blog is .
A.a comment | B.an Internet journal | C.a design | D.a link |
A person can do the following things in a blog EXCEPT _______.
A.talk to others | B.give comments | C.read articles | D.enjoy photos |
Who is a blogger?
A.A person who posts letters. |
B.A person who writes articles. |
C.A person who posts text or photos in a blog. |
D.A person who is an online publisher. |
From the passage we know that .
A.Bill Gates will invent some tools for blogs |
B.blogs will be an important business communication tool in the future |
C.so far, only a few persons have created blogs |
D.blogs will replace e-mail, BBS and MSN in the future |
According to the passage, the reason why blogs are so popular is that they ____.
A.give everyone the chance to be an online writer |
B.can be created by people without much knowledge of computer technology |
C.enable a blogger to place news, personal thoughts, text and photos and give comments |
D.all of the above |