Even facts “forgotten” by people during a busy day may be retrieved if this is followed by a good night’s sleep.
Researchers from the University of Chicago asked volunteers to remember simple words．Many found their memories letting them down towards the end of the day, but the following morning, those who had slept well could recall much more.
Researchers, writing in the journal Nature, said the brain could “rescue” lost memories during the night.
When the brain is first asked to remember something that memory is laid down in an “unstable” state, meaning that it is possible that it could be lost．At some point, the brain consolidates those it deems important into a “stable”, more permanent state．However, the Chicago researchers suggested that it was possible for a “stable” memory to be made “unstable” again．This would mean that memories could be modified then filed away again in the face of new experiences.
The 12 volunteers tested in the experiment were played words created through a speech synthesizer which were purposely difficult to understand．Initially, the written version of the word from the audio version only．Tests revealed that the ability to recall the right word tended to tail off as the day ended.
However, when the volunteers were retested after a good night’s sleep, they were able to recall some words that they had “ forgotten” the previous evening.
Dr Daniel, one of the study authors, said: “Sleep consolidates memories, protecting them against subsequent interference or decay．Sleep also appears to “recover” or restore memories.” He said: “If performance is reduced by decay, sleep might actively recover what has been lost.”
Dr Karim Nader, from the Department of Psychology in McGill University in Montreal, said: “Memory research is undergoing a transformation---no longer is memory thought to be a hard-writing of the brain, instead it seems to be a process of storage and restorage.”
Sleep helps some memories “mature” and also prunes out unimportant memories.What does the first paragraph implies?
| A．A busy day makes people forget things easily. |
| B．People need a good night’s sleep after a busy day. |
| C．A good night’s sleep helps memories. |
| D．A good night’s sleep helps people forget a busy day. |
The words the 12 volunteers played in the experiment were not ____
| A．created through a speech synthesizer |
| B．hard to understand |
| C．available at the beginning |
| D．designed to test people’s ability of understanding |
According to the passage, memory_____
| A．is a hard-writing of the brain |
| B．is not a process of storage |
| C．is not a process of restorage |
| D．will be mature with the help of sleep |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．When people first remember something, the memory is in an “unstable state”. |
| B．The brain will change those important unstable memories into stable. |
| C．Once the memory become stable, it will never become unstable again. |
| D．Sleep can protect memories from being harmed. |
The world economy has run into a brick wall. Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a looming（逼近） hunger crisis in poor countries and a looming energy crisis worldwide, world leaders failed to think ahead. The result is a global food crisis. Wheat, corn and rice prices increases combined with soaring energy costs will slow if not stop economic growth in many parts of the world and will even undermine（破坏） political stability, as evidenced by the protest riots that have erupted in places like Haiti, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso. Practical solutions to these growing woes do exist, but we'll have to start thinking ahead and acting globally.
So, what should be done？Here are three steps to ease the current crisis and avert（防止, 避免） the potential for a global disaster. The first is to scale-up（按比例增加,扩大） the dramatic success of Malawi, a famine-prone（遭遇饥荒） country in southern Africa, which three years ago established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and high-yield seeds. Malawi's harvest doubled after just one year. An international fund based on the Malawi model would cost a mere $10 per person annually in the rich world, or $10 billion in all.
Second, the U.S. and Europe should abandon their policies of subsidizing（给补助金） the conversion of food into biofuels（生物燃料）.
Third, we urgently need to weatherproof（使防风雨） the world's crops as soon and as effectively as possible. For a poor farmer, sometimes something as simple as a farm pond--which collects rainwater to be used for emergency irrigation in a dry spell--can make the difference between a bountiful crop and a famine. The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation Fund to help poor regions climate-proof vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not yet acted upon the promise.
The food crisis provides not only a warning but also an opportunity. We need to invest vastly more in sustainable development in order to achieve true global security and economic growth.Which of the following is the best title?
| A．How to end the global food shortage |
| B．How to end the global disaster |
| C．How to help the farmers in the poor countries |
| D．How to subsidize the farmers to increase food products |
The word “woes” in paragraph one is most likely to mean .
| A．hunger | B．things | C．matters | D．disasters |
What does the author think of the global food shortage?
| A．people in the world can do nothing. |
| B．The global food crisis will continue. |
| C．The food crisis provides not only a warning but also an opportunity. |
| D．We don’ know. |
What measures should be taken to ease the current crisis and avert the potential for a global disaster?
| A．to scale-up the dramatic success of Malawi |
| B．the U.S. and Europe should abandon their policies of subsidizing the conversion of food into biofuels |
| C．to prevent the world's crops from being destroyed by weather as soon and as effectively as possible. |
| D．All above . |
The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated(愤怒的) when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."
The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you, Daddy."
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family members, friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this. The 3-year-old girl was punished by her father for ________.
| A．wasting gold | B．wasting wrapping paper |
| C．putting the box under the Christmas tree | D．bringing the gift to her father |
What’s inside the box according to the little girl?
| A．nothing | B．air |
| C．kisses | D．gold wrapping paper |
The father remembered the love of his daughter by ________.
| A．kissing the gold box. | B．putting gold into the box. |
| C．taking out an imaginary kiss from the box. | D．keeping the little girl’s ash box by his bed. |
Choose the best title for the passage.
| A．The kisses in the box. | B．A girl and his father |
| C． A love story | D．The box under the Christmas tree. |
Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.
The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuansiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts, sesame（芝麻）, osmanthus flowers(桂花), rose petals, sweetened tangerine（橘子）peel, bean paste, or jujube paste（枣子酱）. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety is filled with minced meat（肉末儿）, vegetables or a mixture.
The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nutmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.
The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers.Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The custom of eating Yuanxiao dates back to the fourth century. |
| B．Sugar, rose petals and minced meat are all fillings of Yuanxiao. |
| C．Sweet Yuanxiao are usually made in southern China. |
| D．People in northern China usually make Yuanxiao by rolling like a snowball. |
Which country does the Lantern Festival come from?
| A．China | B．South Korea | C．Jin Dynasty | D．Tang and Song periods. |
Choose the right order of making Tangyuan in southern provinces.
① make a hole and insert the filling
② roll the dough between your hands
③ shape the dough of rice flour into balls
④ close the hole
⑤ prepare some rice flour
| A．⑤③②①④ | B．③⑤①②④ | C．③①④②⑤ | D．⑤③①④② |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．The Lantern Festival | B．The ingredients of Yuanxiao |
| C．The difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan. | D．China’s traditional food—Yuanxiao. |
Why do we eat Yuanxiao today?
| A．Because it’s a tradition. |
| B．Because it’s a tasty food. |
| C．Because we love our country. |
| D．Because this food can make money. |
China's government has issued a severe weather warning after the heaviest snowfalls in decades. The country is experiencing transport delays and power cuts as millions of people prepare to make long journeys home for the Chinese New Year. This report from Quentin Summerville: China hasn't experienced weather this bad in decades. And as the country prepares for Chinese New Year, the disruption couldn't come at a worse time. Over 100,000 people are stranded(搁浅) in Guangzhou railway station in the south. It may climb to as many as 600,000 as more people arrive to make their journeys home for the Spring Festival. Travellers have been evacuated to nearby sports stadiums and exhibition centres.
Across China around nineteen airports have shut because of the weather. Around half the provinces in the country have had to start rationing power(定量供电), according to the state media. The government has suspended（暂停） coal exports in favour of home consumption. At least a dozen people died over the weekend because of heavy rains and the snowfall.
The Spring Festival is China's most important holiday when people journey home to be with their families. For millions of the country's migrant workers it's their only holiday. Some two billion journeys were made during the festival last year, making it the largest migration of people on the planet. And even without the severe weather, conditions on overcrowded trains and buses are terrible. The holiday stretches China's transport system to its very limitsChoose the best title for this passage.
| A．Heavy snow hits China |
| B．Chinese New Year in snow |
| C．China’s terrible translation system. |
| D．An accident |
Which is not true according to the passage?
| A．The heavy snow is the worst disaster in decades in China. |
| B．No other cities in the world have more travellers in festivals than in China. |
| C．The government doesn’t care for people’s life in disaster areas. |
| D．The country’s migrant workers have more than one holidays to celebrate, according to the passage |
The run-up to the launch of China's first lunar orbiter at the end of this month has caught the country's imagination, with more than two thirds of the nation hoping to see the launch live on TV, according to a survey.
According to the survey by China Youth Daily and www.qq.com, almost the entire nation hopes to catch images of the event at some point, with 99 percent of the 10358 respondents saying they expected to witness the satellite launch and 68.9 percent said they were certain to watch the live broadcast of the launch. On www.qq.com and www.sina.com, two popular web portals in the country, internet users have contributed some 2,000 poems and 5000 drawings on the theme of Chang'e I.
"The satellite launch means much more than just saying 'hello' to the moon. Maybe in the future we could also send some people to accompany sister 'Chang'e'," said a college student in the survey.
Remarkably, many people expect to visit the moon one day, with 93.4 percent of respondents saying they expected to do so.
Chang'e I is named after Chang'e, a famous character from Chinese mythology. She ascended from earth to live on the moon as a celestial being after drinking an elixir.
There is also another connection between the moon and China. In the 1970s, a crater on the moon was named after a Chinese stargazer, Wan Hu, who is said to be the first astronaut in human history.
Legend says about 600 years ago, around the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wan Hu, a local government official, tried to fly into space with the help of a chair, two big kites and 47 self-made gunpowder-filled rockets. According to the legend after the rockets were lit there was a huge bang and lots of smoke. When the smoke cleared Wan was nowhere to be found.
China's first astronaut flew into space in 2003 with the launch of the Chinese-made spaceship Shenzhou V. China became the third country, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to carry out manned space missions.Which is true according to the passage?
| A．According to a survey, two thirds of the nation are hoping to see the launch live on TV, |
| B．The internet users have drawn some 5000 pictures of ‘Chang’e’. |
| C．Wan Hu, a Chinese stargazer(n. 看星星的人,占星师,天文学家) , was dead after the huge bang and a lot of smoke. |
| D．China’s first astronaut flew into space in 2003 in the spaceship Shenzhou VI. |
What’s the meaning of the underlined word in paragraph 5?
| A．a kind of medicine for long life. | B．a kind of medicine to make you light enough to fly in the air. |
| C．a kind of wine | D．a kind of alcohol. |
Why was Wan Hu said to be the first astronaut in human history?
| A．Because a crater on the moon was named after his name. |
| B．Because he was the first to go to the moon in his own “spaceship”. |
| C．Because of his courage for scientific experiment to the moon. |
| D．Because he made the first rocket in human history. |