No one knows why we sleep, but it’s certain that we need to. People who are prevented from sleeping begin to suffer obvious effects after a few days—they think less clearly, and they fall asleep during the working hours; some may have hallucinations(幻觉).
There are no rules about sleep. Generally speaking, grown-ups sleep about 7 and a half hours each night and probably more than 60 per cent get between seven and eight hours. But perhaps eight per cent are quite happy with 5 hours or less, and four per cent or so find that they want ten hours or more. If you feel all right, you’re probably getting enough sleep. The important thing is not to worry how much other people get—their needs may be different. Exercise doesn’t seem to increase the need for sleep—office workers, for example, sleep for about as long as people doing physically active work.
Children sleep more than grown-ups—perhaps 14 to 18 hours soon after birth, going down to grown-up levels by early teenage. Sleep patterns also tend(倾向) to be different in the elderly, who may sleep less at night than they did when younger, find sleep getting more broken, and often make it a rule to sleep during the daytime.According to the passage, some people are unable to think clearly because ___________ .
A.they have hallucinations |
B.they feel sleepy during the working hours |
C.they don’t have enough sleep |
D.they are certain to be kept from going to bed |
Which of the following is TRUE?
A.All grown-ups must have at least eight-hour sleep. |
B.Most of grown-ups sleep for seven or eight hours. |
C.Quite a few people need only 5 hours or less for them to sleep. |
D.No grown-ups sleep more than ten hours. |
Whether you have got enough sleep is judged by__________.
A.how many hours you have slept |
B.how many hours you need to sleep |
C.whether you do exercise and physical work |
D.whether you feel fresh and energetic |
According to the passage, a boy of 14 years old sleeps__________.
A.as long hours as a grown-up |
B.much longer hours than a grown-up |
C.for 14 hours each night |
D.for less than 8 hours per night |
Matt grows the best vegetables in the village. He grows fruit too – big, sweet apples and oranges. And what else? Well, the biggest and the prettiest flowers.
Things grow in Matt’s garden all through the year. He cuts some flowers for his sitting room table; and of course , he eats some fruit and vegetables. But he sells everything else in the market. Matt is not a poor man.
He knows a few other gardens; but he does not have any friends. You might ask, “What is that?” Why doesn’t he have friends. I will tell you. People do not understand him. And they do not understand his garden. “Why not?” You will ask. “It is a very good garden, isn’t it?” It is a wonderful garden. Matt plants things in spring, summer, autumn and winter. After that he does very little work. He sits in the garden with his small radio. And everything grows.
People ask, “How does Matt grow these wonderful things? He waters the plants sometimes, but he doesn’t do anything else. He just sits under an orange tree with his radio. He listens to music nearly all day!” and that is all quite true. People cannot understand it, and so they don’t like it very much.
Matt likes music. But what about the garden? Who does the work? I will tell you another true thing: the music does the work. All plants love music; and Matt knows that.
Do you want big vegetables and the loveliest flowers? Well, just give your plants a lot of music.There are not only vegetables and flowers, but also ________ in Matt’s garden.
A.plants | B.fruit trees | C.ants | D.crops |
Matt makes a living by ___________
A.selling his vegetables, fruit and flowers | B.growing trees in his garden |
C.working in the market | D.helping other people growing plants |
Everything in Matt’s garden grows well because ______
A.he has a good garden |
B.he is good at growing things and likes listening to the radio |
C.music helps his plants a lot |
D.he is very hardworking |
People don’t like Matt because ____________
A.he doesn’t give them any vegetables or fruit | B.he listens to the radio too much |
C.they don’t understand him | D.Matt doesn’t let them listen to his radio |
If we observe carefully, we van find that most of the flowers in nature are red, orange and yellow. If we have seen a black flower, it’s a chance in million. People have made a census(普查)to colours of more than four thousand kinds of flowers and discovered that only eight of them are black. Why?
As we know, sunlight is formed by seven different kinds of coloured light. The wave length of each light changes, so the quantity of heat in each light changes, too. Flowers, especially their petals(花瓣), are very delicate(纤弱) and prone(易于) to the harm caused by high temperature. Black flowers can take in all the light waves, which cause the flowers to dry up in a high temperature. So black flowers can rarely survive sunlight. But red flowers, orange flowers and yellow flowers can protect themselves from sunlight by reflecting the red light, orange light and yellow light, each of which has a large quantity of heat.
That is why red, orange and yellow flowers are very common in nature while black flowers are so rare. We can hardly find black flowers because _____.
A.they are so weak that it’s difficult for them to grow up |
B.there are no black flowers in the world. |
C.the petals of black flowers are very delicate |
D.they can take in the light of all wave lengths, which make the flowers dry up |
Sunlight is formed by _____.
A.many different kinds of coloured light |
B.three different kinds of coloured light—red, orange and yellow |
C.seven different kinds of coloured light |
D.four thousand kinds of coloured light |
The red, orange or yellow light contains _____.
A.less heat than the other lights | B.more heat than the other lights |
C.a great deal of heat | D.a little heat |
“It is a chance in a million” means_____________
A.it is common | B.it is extremely rare | C.it’s lucky | D.it’s impossible |
Winter-swimming has become popular in Beijing . Three years ago, few people would go swimming in the icy waters. But now there is a Winter-swimming Enthusiasts Club(冬泳爱好者协会) and it has more than 2,000 members. The oldest is 84 and the youngest is only 7. The members are from all walks of life. They may be workers, peasants, soldiers, teachers, students.
Though it is now the coldest part of the season and the water temperature in the city’s lakes is around 0℃, many winter-swimmers still swim in the icy waters, even when it is snowing. They enjoy themselves in the lake, while the people by the side of the lake are wearing heavy clothes.
Why are so many people interested in winter-swimming? Because winter-swimming can be good for one’s health.
Bei Sha is a good example. He is 69, and he once suffered from heart trouble for 26 years. After ten years of winter-swimming he is now in good health. Scientists are now studying the effects of winter-swimming on health.Among the winter- swimmers the oldest man is ________ years older than the youngest
A.91 | B.84 | C.77 | D.7 |
Guess what “The members are from all walks of life” mean?
A.The members do different jobs at different places |
B.They come from all parts of Beijing. |
C.They are persons of different ages. |
D.They are man and woman, old and young. |
Winter-swimming has become popular in Beijing because_________________.
A.more and more people like to swimming in Beijing |
B.it is more interesting than swimming in summer |
C.winter-swimmers are brave men |
D.winter-swimming does a lot of good to one’s health |
What is the best title for this passage?
A.People Like Swimming in Winter |
B.Winter-swimming- a Craze(狂热) in Beijing |
C.People Benefit from Winter- swimming |
D.Winter-swimmers are Brave Men |
阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Education for Japanese children is free for the first nine years and all children must go to school for six years of primary schooling and three years of secondary schooling. In the primary and secondary school, about 99.9% of school-age children are present. School usually begins at 8 o’clock in the morning and ends at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays. The school year begins in April and ends in March. There is a summer holiday in August and a winter holiday during the New Year season.
After nine years of schooling, students can enter the three-year high school by passing an examination and by paying a small charge each year. After high school, students can go on to study at different kinds of colleges, usually for four years. There are also two-year junior colleges. The passage mainly discusses _____________.
A.colleges in Japan | B.free education in Japan |
C.education in Japan | D.school time in Japan |
If you want to go to high school in Japan, you must ______________________.
A.pay a small amount of money |
B.study at primary and secondary school for 9 years |
C.take part in the exam and pay a little money |
D.pass the exam and pay a little money |
What is not mentioned in the passage?
A.Types of colleges. | B.Times for schooling |
C.The teaching staff(教职员工) | D.The number of children attending schools |
How many days do the Japanese students have to go to school every week?
A.Two days | B.Four and a half days | C.Five days | D.Five and a half days |
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught--- to walk , run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle --- compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes for himself, let alone(更不用说) correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine(常规的) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let’s end all this nonsense of grades, exams and marks. Let us throw them all out, and let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn: how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.
Let them get on with this job in the way that seems most sensible(合情理的) to them, with our help as school teachers if they ask for it. The idea that there is a body of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one’s life is nonsense(无意义的) in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents and teachers say, “But suppose they fail to learn something essential(基本的), something they will need to get on in the world?” Don’t worry! If it is essential, they will go out into the world and learnt it.What does the writer think is the best way for children to think?
A.By listening to their parents’ instructions. |
B.By asking a great many questions. |
C.By making mistakes and having them corrected. |
D.By copying what other people do. |
What does the writer think teachers should not do?
A.Give children correct answers. |
B.Point out children’s mistakes to them. |
C.Allow children to mark their own work. |
D.Encourage children to copy one another. |
According to the passage, learning to speak and learning to ride a bike are _____.
A.the most important skills | B.the basic skills children should master |
C.almost the same as learning other skills | D.much different from learning other skills. |
The writer thinks that children’s progress should only be estimated(评估) by ______.
A.the children themselves | B.their parents |
C.their teachers | D.education authorities(权威) |
The writer is afraid that children will grow up into adults who are ______.
A.too selfish | B.too independent |
C.dependent and unable to use basic skills | D.able to think for themselves |