All of us, at some point, experience nights where we have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. The National Institute of Health estimates that one in three adults has bouts of infrequent sleeplessness or insomnia, while one in 10 sufferes from chronic insomnia. Being unable to get a good night's sleep can cause disruptions in our daytoday life. But persistent sleeplessness can lead to physical and emotional health problems.
The body needs sleep to rejuvenate itself and rebuild the cells necessary to keep the immune system strong and the brain functioning properly. Everyone's body requires a different amount of sleep to accomplish these goals. The average amount of sleep needed by an adult is around seven or eight hours a night. However, some people can function quite well with less than that, while others need more to be at peak performance.
Sleeplessness can be caused by many different things. Most people experience sleeplessness for a short period of time due to an outside stimulus such as stress, improper diet, a poor sleeping environment or an acute medical concern such as the flu. Once the stimulus passes, the ability to sleep will usually return. Chronic sleeplessness may be caused by ongoing health concerns such as the physical pain of arthritis or the emotional pain of anxiety and depression.
Prolonged sleeplessness can have a negative effect on the way the body performs daily tasks. Those that suffer from sleepless nights may find themselves feeling drowsy or fatigued during the day. The ability to concentrate or focus on a task diminishes and you are less mentally alert. Because the body needs sleep to support a healthy immune system, those that are sleepdeprived may be more susceptible to both acute and chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Sleeplessness not only takes a toll on your physical self but also your emotional wellbeing. Being unable to sleep well for a few nights may only produce minor irritability. However, if sleeplessness becomes chronic, the price could be much higher in the form of anxiety, depression and possibly substance abuse. Those with chronic sleeplessness may turn to controlled substances such as sleeping pills and alcohol to aid them in their quest for a good night's sleep.
There are numerous home remedies for mild sleeplessness. Prepare your body for sleep by avoiding caffeinated drinks such as tea or coffee before bed. Don't exercise strenuously before bedtime; instead do something relaxing such as meditate or take a warm bath. Go to bed only when you feel sleepy and not because of a selfappointed bedtime.Finally, create a favorable sleeping environment by removing stimulants from your bedroom such as extra lighting or a television. If you still cannot find relief, it may be time to visit your physician for help. A sleep study will be done that can help to determine the cause of the sleeplessness and possible solutions.
On the second day of the World Internet Conference themed with cybersecurity and international cooperation held in Wuzhen, an official with China’s network emergency watchdog said that 6,118 domestic websites have been controlled by the United States, according to Shanghai Securities News.
Among the hacked websites in the first half of this year, 48.8 percent were under the thumb of overseas IP addresses, said Huang Chengqing, director-general of the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team and Coordination Center (CNERT/CC).
He added that the US contributed the most, followed by Hong Kong, which controlled 3,097, and South Korea with 2,307.
Among the overseas IP addresses inserting backdoor programs in domestic websites, the US accounted for 29.3 percent, South Korea for 6 percent and Hong Kong for 5 percent, he said.
In addition, 4.9 percent of government websites have been attacked, and 3.2 percent inserted with backdoor programs.
Huang also said that the number of Chinese computers affected by Trojan Horse viruses reached 190,000 in the six-month period.
To safeguard cybersecurity, the CNERT/CC has cooperated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and built relationships with 59 countries and 127 organizations.
Over the past two years, the center dealt with more than 15,000 cross-border online security cases.The theme of the World Internet Conference is _______.
| A．the safety of the Internet |
| B．international control and worldwide cooperation |
| C．cybersecurity and international cooperation |
| D．network emergency. |
Which of the following is true according to the first three paragraphs?
A. 6,118 domestic websites have been owned by the USA.
B. 48.8 percent were under the thumb of overseas IP addresses among the hacked websites in the second half of the year.
C. The USA, Hong Kong and South Korea are the biggest victims of the hacked websites.
D. The US is the biggest attacker when it comes to the hacked websites.What should we do to safeguard cybersecurity?
| A．Try to attack the websites in other countries with Trojan Horse viruses. |
| B．Insert backdoor programs in everyday apps. |
| C．Strengthen the cooperation with other countries and organizations. |
| D．The passage does not mention. |
The number of the cross-border online security cases dealt with in the past two years by the CNERT/CC is _______.
| A．190,000 | B．over 15,000 | C．3,097 | D．6,118 |
Five-year-old Jocelyn Rojas spent all day playing happily with her friends outside her grandmother’s apartment building. Her mom, Jaimee, kept her eye on the little girl from a window. At about 4 p.m., Jocelyn walked around the corner of the building to get her bicycle. However, half an hour later, she disappeared. Jaimee called 911.
A short time later, police officers and firefighters crowded inthe area, blocking streets and searching the neighborhood. Officers handed out photos of the girl wearing thick-framed glasses.
Temar Boggs, 15, a school athlete in track, was with some friends moving a couch into the apartment of his elderly neighbor when one officer approached him and asked if he’d seen Jocelyn. Unfortunately, none of them had seen her. A little bit later, Temar and his friends went to check out the situation. By 6:30 p.m., Jocelyn had been missing for more than two hours, and the search team was worried that the sun would set before she was found.
Just at that moment, Temar felt an intense emotion that he was going to find her. He and his friend Chris Garcia, 13, rode alongside, simply keeping a sharp eye out as they circled around. Then Temar spotted a car circling around, as if the driver were unfamiliar with the neighborhood. Temar cycled close and made eye contact with the man behind the wheel, an older guy wearing a red-and-white striped shirt, and saw a tiny blond girl in the passenger seat. Temar instantly realized it must be the missing girl.
The boys cycled after the car, but the driver kept moving, winding his way through the neighborhood.
Finally, the driver had to park the car ahead of them and pushed open the passenger-side door. A girl slipped out of the car. It was Jocelyn. Temar got off his bike, and carried her to the police. The kidnapper sped away.
A police report later identified the man as a 63-ycar-old sex offender. He is still at large.
Neil Harkins, chief of the Manheim Police Department, says “The boys’ heroics are ‘something we don’t normally hear about.’ It is a very brave thing for young boys to do that.” But when asked, Temar, now a tenth-grade student at Lucy Laney High School, says “I didn’t do it for attention. I just wanted to help.”Why did Jaimee call 911?
| A．Because her mother was in need of help. |
| B．Because her house was on fire. |
| C．Because her daughter was missing. |
| D．Because she was trapped in the building. |
What was Temar doing when the police were searching for Jocelyn?
| A．He and his friends were playing outside the building. |
| B．He was helping the police hand out the photos of the missing girl. |
| C．He and his friends were helping his neighbor moving a couch. |
| D．He and his friends were having a cycling race. |
What do the underlined words mean in Paragraph 7?
| A．as large as a man. | B．free. |
| C．put in prison. | D．arrested. |
From what Neil Harkins says, we can know _______.
| A．Temar and his friends did a heroic thing. |
| B．Temar is a boy with little courage. |
| C．The kidnapper was under control because of Temar and his friends. |
| D．Temar didn’t want to catch people’s attention. |
| Book Introductions |
| The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling This is the story of a child who is found and brought up by Mr. Allworthy. The child, Tom Jones, has a good life at first but then gets into trouble. His life has a series of adventures and difficulties but eventually he becomes a good and happy man. |
| The Picture of Dorian Bray Young Gray has his picture painted by an artist who is impressed by his beauty. But after he realizes the shortness of youth, he wishes that he would remain young and untouched as years go by. He threw himself into a life of degradation(堕落) and crime. The story ends with the death of young Gray. |
| Dombey and Son Dombey, the owner of a shipping house, is a rich , proud, and heartless man, whose concern in life is his good name in connection with his firm. He doesn’t take good care of his daughter and lays all his hopes on his son, Paul, who will carry on his business. But Paul dies in childhood because of poor health. Having lost both his pride and wealth, his business goes from bad to worse. Dombey lives alone, and finally is taken care of by his daughter. |
| Vanity Fair The central character, Becky Sharp, is an orphan. In order to climb up into the upper class, she tries to marry the fat brother of her schoolmate Amelia Sedley, a daughter of a rich man. And then she remarries. Becky and her husband spend their time in Paris and London, living comfortably. She ends up as a “respected” member of society. |
In The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Tom __________.
| A．becomes a successful businessman |
| B．lives a poor and troubled life |
| C．lives alone and has no friends |
| D．becomes a happy man |
In Dombey and Son, we can learn that Dombey __________.
| A．loves his son more than himself |
| B．shares his wealth with his family |
| C．feels sorry for his poor health |
| D．suffers a series of losses in his life |
Which book centers on a young man of great beauty?
| A．The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. |
| B．The Picture of Dorian Bray. |
| C．Dombey and Son. |
| D．Vanity Fair. |
According to Vanity Fair, __________desires to live an upper-class life.
| A．Becky Sharp | B．Becky Sharp’s second husband |
| C．Amelia Sedley | D．Amelia Sedley’s brother |
In my twenty-six years as a free writer, I have worked for newspapers, magazines and the Internet sites.
I have reviewed the famous people, and criticized the political characters. Yet along my journalistic journey there have been several interviews that remain deeply in my memory. For not only did the characters of those specific people impress me, they actually influenced my life.
Lynn R. Taylor is such a special person.
Born in Buffalo, New York, on May 2, 1962, Lynn Taylor was just like all the other kids in her neighborhood. At the age of three she was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor, a cancer of the kidneys. Given a “no-chance” prediction, doctors completely removed one of Lynn’s kidneys and part of another. They then predicted that if she survived to the age of five, she might possibly make ten.
In the decade that followed, Lynn Taylor met and surpassed all medical experts’ gloom-and-doom predictions. At the age of fourteen she was in full remission(缓解), and by seventeen, she was considered cured. Yet in this case, Lynn’s medical history was far from closed.
Over the next twenty-three years, Lynn earned her undergraduate degree and master’s degree in economics. Then she was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Sussex in England. There she was invited to teach and earned her second master’s degree. Upon returning to Buffalo, the successful young woman engaged in a variety of high level jobs, including head of Multicultural Affairs at a local college.
Recently Lynn has added a new activity to her schedule----that of a cancer hospital volunteer. It is her wish to provide living proof for patients that cancer is not necessarily a death sentence but rather, as she has proved, something to overcome.When Lynn Taylor was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors __________.
| A．tried their best to make her live until then |
| B．thought it was a wonder that she could live to three |
| C．thought that she couldn’t live long |
| D．believe that she could survive |
Lynn is working as a cancer hospital volunteer mainly to __________.
| A．help the cancer patient to recover |
| B．encourage the patients to fight cancer bravely |
| C．help the doctors and nurses as a reward |
| D．entertain the cancer patients |
What can we learn about Lynn’s condition now?
| A．she is still not strong enough to do much work. |
| B．she is learning medicine at a college. |
| C．she still can’t do without medicine. |
| D．she is fully recovered. |
The purpose of the writer is to tell us __________.
| A．his experience as a free writer. |
| B．a special person who influenced his life. |
| C．there is a cure for Wilms Tumor. |
| D．how Lynn Taylor fought against cancer. |
Something as simple as a smile can mean friendliness in one culture, but impatience in another. Even silence means different things in different places.
When trying to communicate in a foreign language, it’s natural to use gestures as a way of explaining your points.
Tapping your finger to your temple is a gesture to show memory in North America, but suggests insanity（精神失常）in Russia. Even nodding one’s head to show “yes” or shaking one’s head to show “no” can be misunderstood abroad. The yes-no gestures are different in countries like Bulgaria and Albania. In Turkey, “no” is gestured by nodding the head up and down.
It’s not just individual gestures that can cause miscommunication, but the rate of gesturing can also cause miscommunication. Some countries, like Italy and Spain, are known for talking with their hands. Others use few body movements as a form of politeness. In parts of East Asia, the gesture is considered unpleasant behavior, and even rude.
Britain, along with many countries of northern Europe and the Far East, is classed as a “non-contact”culture, in which there’s very little physical contact in people’s daily communication. Even accidentally touching someone’s arm is considered rude. By comparison, in the high-contact cultures of the Middle East, Latin America, and southern Europe, physical touch is a big part of socializing.
Naturally, these different standards of contact can lead to misunderstanding. An Argentinian may see a Scandinavian as cold, while the Scandinavian may see the Argentinian as impolite.
In most Western countries, frequent eye contact is a sign of confidence and attentiveness. But in many Asian, African, and Latin American countries, however, unbroken eye contact would be considered rude. These cultures tend to pay more attention to hierarchy（等级制度）, and avoiding eye contact is a sign of respect for bosses and elder. In these parts of the world, children won’t look at an adult who is speaking to them, and nor will employees to their bosses.What will Turkish people do when they don’t agree on something?
| A．Keep silent for a while. |
| B．Shake their heads. |
| C．Tap their fingers to the temple. |
| D．Nod their heads up and down. |
Where is physical touch considered impolite or rude?
| A．In Britain. | B．In Russia. |
| C．In Turkey. | D．In Bulgaria. |
What will happen when an Argentinian meets a Scandinavian?
| A．They will try to keep each other at a distance. |
| B．The Argentinian will try to contact the Scandinavian. |
| C．The Scandinavian will try to contact the Argentinian. |
| D．They will try to touch each other as much as possible. |
What does the writer intend to tell us in the passage?
| A．Most body language means the same in different cultures. |
| B．It’s natural to make mistakes in learning body language. |
| C．Body language can be confusing in different cultures. |
| D．There is no short cut to learning body language. |