Can you remember a morning when you’ve woken up to the ring of your alarm clock and wished you could stay in bed? You haven’t slept well, your hair is a mess. Worse, you can’t stop yawning. Yawning is universal to humans and many animals. Cats, dogs and fish yawn just like humans do! Yawning is an involuntary(无意识的,不自觉的) action during which you open your mouth and breathe deeply. The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds.
The purpose and cause of yawning are still a mystery. Scientists are not sure what causes a yawn. People yawn when they are tired or bored, but they also yawn when they aren’t. There are many ideas explaining why we yawn.
One idea is that yawning is a way for the body to become more alert by taking in more oxygen. A yawn increases the heart rate, forces carbon dioxide out of the lungs and blood stream, and brings oxygen to the brain. But one study showed that volunteers given a lot of oxygen did not yawn any less than before, while those given a lot of carbon dioxide did not yawn more.
Another idea is that early humans used yawning as a form of communication. If one decided it was time to sleep, they would tell the others by yawning and they would do it in return to show they agreed.
A third explanation comes from psychology professor Gordon Gallup of University at Albany in New York. He said that as people yawn, they cool off their brains. “Brains are like computers.” he said. “They only operate efficiently and effectively when they’re cool. Many things connected to yawning, like being tired, make the brain hot, and yawning can reduce the heat.”
Scientists have sent people into space, and created terrible nuclear weapons, but there are lots of seemingly simple things, such as why we yawn, or hiccup（打嗝）, that they can’t figure out. Next time you are in class in the morning, let out a big yawn and watch to see how many of your classmates yawn in response!What’s the purpose of the description of how bad you may feel when you’re woken up in the morning?
| A．To explain why humans yawn. |
| B．To explain how humans start yawning. |
| C．To lead into the topic of yawning. |
| D．To complain about being woken up by the clock. |
Which is not among the possible reasons for yawning mentioned in the passage?
| A．A way to show that you feel hot. |
| B．A way to get rid of carbon dioxide. |
| C．A way to cool off your brain. |
| D．A way to communicate. |
In which situation are you likely to yawn?
| A．When you feel frustrated. |
| B．The weather is hot. |
| C．Someone else yawns near you. |
| D．When you breathe in a lot of carbon dioxide. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The real reason why humans and most animals yawn. |
| B．Hiccups are an involuntary human action similar to yawns. |
| C．The more an action can be studied, the easier it is to research. |
| D．Finding out why humans yawn should be easier than sending people into space. |
请根据下面提示，写一篇短文。词数不少于50。
In your English class, your teacher shows you he following picture. You are asked to describe the picture and explain how you understand it.
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
In the 60s, people asked about your astrological (about star) sign. In the 90s, they want to know your website. 71 Your website is an electronic meeting place for your family, friends and potentially, millions of people around the world. Best of all, you may not have to spend a cent. The Web is filled with all kinds of free services and all it takes is some time and creativity.
72 Like the table of contents of a book or magazine, the home page is the front door.Your site can have one or more pages, depending on how you design it.
While web pages vary greatly in their design and content, most use a traditional magazine layout（版面设计）.At the top of the page is a banner(横幅). Next comes a greeting and a short description of the site. Pictures, text, and links to other websites follow.
73 Think about whom the site is for and what you want to say. Next, gather up the material that you want to put on the site.
While there are no rules you have to follow, there are a few things to keep in mind: 74 If you are too much at the beginning, you may never get the site off the ground. You can always add to your site.
Less is better. Most people don’t like to read a lot of text online. 75
Smaller is better. Since it can take a long time to download large image files, keep the file sizes small.
Have the rights. Don’t put any material on your site unless you are sure you can do it legally. Learn the Net’s Copyright Article for more about this.
Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start building
| A．Start simply. |
| B．Break it into small pieces. |
| C．Draw a rough layout on a sheet of paper. |
| D．Many websites are considered very interesting. |
E．Before you start building your site, do some planning.
F．Think of your home page as the starting point of your website.
G．These days, having a web address is almost as important as a street address.
The energy crisis (危机) has made people aware of how the careless use of the earth’s energy has brought the whole world to the edge of disaster. The over – development of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more traveling, has contributed to the near – destruction of our cities and the pollution not only of local air but also of the earth’s atmosphere.
Our present situation is unlike natural disasters of the past. Worldwide energy use has brought us to a state where long – range planning is vital. What we need is not a continuation of our present serious state, which endangers the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems.
This country has been falling back under the continuing exposures of loss of morality and the revelation (揭露) that lawbreaking has reached into the highest place in the land. There is a strong demand for morality to turn for the better and for some devotion that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist the devotion of all. In the past it has been only in a way in defense of their own country and their own benefits that people have been able to devote themselves wholeheartedly.
This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the
other people of this planet, who share with us the same endangered air and the same endangered oceans. There is a common need to reassess our present course, to change that course and to employ new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity.
To grasp it, we need a widespread understanding of nature if the crisis we and the world are facing is no passing inconvenience, no byproduct of the ambitions of the oil – producing countries, no environmentalists’ only fears, no byproduct of any present system of government. What we face is the result of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is transformed life style. This new life style can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on a sincere devotion to finding a higher quality of life for the world’s children and future generation.Which of the following has nearly destroyed our cities?
| A．The loss of beliefs and ideas. | B．More of law – breaking. |
| C．Natural disasters in many areas. | D．The rapid growth of motors. |
By comparing past problems with present ones, the author draws our attention to the .
| A．seriousness of this crisis | B．ineffectiveness of laws |
| C．similarity of the past to the present | D．hopelessness of the situation |
Which of the following is used as an example to show the loss of morality?
| A．Disregard for law. | B．Lack of devotion. |
| C．Lack of understanding. | D．Destruction of cities. |
The author wrote the passage in order to .
| A．make a recommendation for a transformed life style |
| B．limit ambitions of the people of the whole world |
| C．demand devotion to nature and future generation |
| D．encourage awareness of the decline of morality |
Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code (基因编码) mapped at birth, the head of the worlds’ leading genome sequencing (基因图谱) company has predicted.
A complete DNA read – out for every newborn will be technically possible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal problems are likely to delay the age of “genome sequences,” or genetic profiles. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants’ genes when they are born, Dr Flatly told The Times.
This will open a new approach to medicine, by which conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease can be predicted and prevented and drugs used more safely and effectively.
A baby’s genome can be discovered at birth by a blood test. By examining a person’s genome, it is possible to identify raised risks of developing diseases such as cancers. Those at high risk can then he screened more regularly, or given drugs or dietary advice to lower their chances of becoming ill.
Personal genomes could also he used to ensure that patients get the medicine that is most likely to work for them and least likely to have side – effects.
The development, however, will raise legal concerns about privacy and access to individuals’ genetic records.
“Bad things can be done with the genome. It could predict something about someone – and you could possibly hand the information to their employer or their insurance company.” said Dr Flatley.
“People have to recognize that this horse is out of the barn, and that your genome probably can’t be protected, because everywhere you go you leave your genome behind. Complete genetic privacy, however, is unlikely to be possible”, he added.
As the benefits become clearer, however, he believes that most people will want their genomes read and interpreted. The risk is nothing compared with the gain.In the first two paragraphs, the author mainly wants to tell us about .
| A．the significant progress in medicine |
| B．the promise of a leading company |
| C．the information of babies’ genes |
| D．the research of medical scientists |
Which of the following is a problem caused by this approach?
A．The delaying in discovering DNA.
B．The risk of developing diseases at birth.
C．The side – effects of medicine on patients.
D．The letting out of personal genetic 
information.What does the underlined sentence “… this horse is out of the barn” mean?
| A．Genetic mapping technique has been widely used. |
| B．Genetic mapping technique is too horrible to control. |
C．People are eager to imp rove gen etic mapping technique. |
| D．people can’t stop genetic mapping technique advancing. |
What’s Dr Flatley’s attitude towards the technology?
| A．Tolerant. | B．Conservative. | C．Positive. | D．Doubtful. |
The Touchstone
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read little, bought it for very little money.
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.
The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days continued over a long period if time.
One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are cautious, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.The man bought the book because .
| A．he wanted to read it | B．it was very interesting |
| C．there was a secret in the book | D．he wanted to find the touchstone |
We can learn from the passage that the touchstone is .
| A．pure | B．cold | C．magic | D．big |
Why did the man throw the pebbles into the sea?
| A．Because he didn’t want to get the same pebbles. |
| B．Because he didn’t want others to pick them up. |
| C．Because he didn’t like their ordinary looks. |
| D．Because he didn’t like the cold feelings. |
What does the author want to tell us in the passage?
| A．We about orate opportunities in our life. |
| B．We should seek for opportunities in the world. |
| C．We may seize opportunities when we are watchful |
| D．We may discover opportunities when forming habits. |