We all know that the normal human daily cycle of activity is of some 7-8 hours' sleep alternating(交替) with some 16-17 hours' wakefulness and that the sleep normally coincides with the hours of darkness. Our present concern is with how easily and to what extent this cycle can be modified.
The question is no mere academic one. The ease, for example, with which people can change from working in the day to working at night is a question of growing importance in industry where automation calls for round-the-clock working of machines. It normally takes from five days to one week for a person to adapt to a reversed（颠倒的） routine of sleep and wakefulness, sleeping during the day and working at night. Unfortunately, it is often the case in industry that shifts(轮班) are changed every week; a person may work from 12 midnight to 8 a.m. one week, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the next, and 4 p.m. to 12 midnight the third and so on. This means that no sooner has he got used to one routine than he has to change to another, so that much of his time is spent neither working nor sleeping very efficiently.
The only real solution appears to be to hand over the night shift to a number of permanent night workers. An interesting study of the domestic life and health of night-shift workers was carried out by Brown in 1957. She found a high incidence (发生率) of disturbed sleep and other disorders among those on alternating day and night shifts, but no abnormal occurrence of these phenomena among those on permanent night work.
This latter system then appears to be the best long-term policy, but meanwhile something may be done to relieve the pressure of alternate day and night work by selecting those people who can adapt most quickly to the changes of routine. One way of knowing when a person has adapted is by measuring his body temperature. People occupied in normal daytime work will have a high temperature during the hours of wakefulness and a low one at night; when they change to night work the pattern will only gradually go back to match the new routine and the speed with which it does so parallels, broadly speaking, the adaptation of the body as a whole, particularly in terms of performance. Therefore, by taking body temperature at two-hour intervals(间隔时间) throughout the period of wakefulness, it can be seen how quickly a person can adapt to a reversed routine, and this could be used as a basis for selection. So far, however, such a form of selection does not seem to have been applied in practice.The main problem of the round-the-clock working system lies in .
| A．the inconveniences brought about to the workers by the introduction of automation |
| B．the disturbance of the daily life cycle of workers who have to change shifts too frequently |
| C．the fact that people working at night are often less effective |
| D．the fact that it is difficult to find a number of good night workers |
The best solution for implementing the 24-hour working system seems to be .
| A．to change shifts at longer intervals. |
| B．to have longer shifts |
| C．to arrange for some people to work on night shifts only |
| D．to create better living conditions for night workers |
It is possible to find out if a person has adapted to the changes of routine by measuring his body temperature because .
| A．body temperature is higher when the cycle of sleep and wakefulness alternates |
| B．body temperature changes when he changes to night shift or back |
| C．the temperature reverses when the routine is changed |
| D．people have higher temperatures when they are working efficiently |
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
| A．Body temperature may serve as an indication of a worker's performance. |
| B．The selection of a number of permanent night shift workers has proved to be the best solution to problems of the round-the- clock working system. |
| C．Taking body temperature at regular intervals can show how a person adapts to the changes of routine. |
| D．Disturbed sleep occurs less frequently among those on permanent night or day shifts. |
When his book Little Princes began, Conor Grennan was planning a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month volunteer service at the Little Princess Children’s Home, an orphanage (孤儿院）in Nepal.
Arriving there, Conor was immediately welcomed by all the children even though he had no previous experience in working with children. He quickly grew to love the job. But it wasn’t long before Conor came to learn that the children were not orphans at all—they were actually children who had been separated from their parents by a child trafficker (贩子).
This realization turned Conor’s global journey into a strong desire to try to find a way to reunite these children with their families. As a part of his efforts, Conor did a great amount of work when he was back in America. He started up a nonprofit organization called Next Generation Nepal (NGN), raising funds in order to buy a house in Nepal for another children’s home. Then, back in Nepal, he began a life-changing trip into remote villages.
It is really amazing to read about Conor communicating with the children and to read his descriptions of each of them. He made me truly care about the kids. I wanted them to be able to reunite with their families, too! Unfortunately, this was simply not possible for some of the children. But there were some lucky ones. Jagrit, for example, had thought for years that both his parents were dead. So, Conor was surprised when he visited Jagrifs village and was introduced to the boy’s father!
Conor successfully found many of the families of the children and also found his future wife while in Nepal.What do we know about Little Princess Children’s Home?
| A．Many children ended there due to illegal trade. |
| B．The children in it are all orphans. |
| C．It is a worldwide profitable organization. |
| D．It has many branches all over Nepal. |
In order to help the children, Conor ______.
a. decided to remain single
b. set up the organization NGN
c. visited some remote villages
d. fought against child traffickers
e. gave up his plan to travel worldwide
| A．a, b, d | B．b, c, d | C．b，c，e | D．c，d，e |
It can be learned from the text that Conor Grennan______.
| A．is a friend of the author | B．likes teaching very much |
| C．has already settled in Nepal | D．is the author of Little Princes |
Most people have heard the sound of bees among flowers. Bees live almost everywhere in the world except in the Arctic areas.
Many kinds of agriculture depend on these small, social insects. Without bees, fruit and nut growers as well as many other farmers would not have a crop.
There are more than 20,000 kinds of bees. But only honey bees make enough honey for people to use. Honeybees are highly-organized social insects. They work together in a group, called a colony（群体）. Each colony lives in a hive（蜂房）. It contains one queen bee -- she lays all the eggs from which the members of the colony come. Each colony has only a few hundred males, called drones. The majority of all bees in a colony are workers, which are all females.
Bees even have a special stomach, called a honey stomach, which is used to store sweet fluid that the bees gather from flowers. Bees also have long hairs on their body and legs. These hairs capture pollen（花粉） as bees go from flower to flower. Some of the pollen is taken back to the hive. Some, however, is passed to the next flower. This is how many plants are fertilized. Pollen is the reproductive material of plants. Many important agricultural crops depend on bees for fertilization.
Inside their hives, bees store sweet liquid from flowers and pollen as well. They may even gather sweet liquid from some other kinds of insects. These kinds of sweet liquid are also stored in the hive.
Bees make honey through a process. They add liquid from their own mouths to sweet liquid into simple sugar. As the honey is stored, it dries. It becomes thicker and darker.
Although bees are often thought of as honey makers, they provide a surprising number of products. Also, their greatest economic value is in fertilizing crops-not in making honey.The passage is mainly about.
| A．bees and their colony |
| B．the way for bees to pass pollen |
| C．bees and agriculture |
| D．the process for bees to make honey |
Honeybees are social insects because.
| A．they work in groups | B．there is queen bee in every colony |
| C．they live in a hive | D．each of them does the same job |
The most valuable thing honeybees do for people is in .
| A．making honey | B．fertilizing crops |
| C．making flowers grow better | D．producing pollen |
The word “fertilize” in the sentence “This is how many plants are fertilized” probably means “”.
| A．to make plants strong and productive |
| B．to make soil rich for plants |
| C．to start the development of young flowers |
| D．to introduce pollen into plants |
On Jan. 3, a netizen（网民）nicknamed “Programmer Humor”published a short story on his micro-blog. It said that there was an old lady who swept nearly every inch of his Internet company. When she passed by a programmer, she took a look at the codes on the programmer’s computer and kindly reminded him, “Be careful, the stack is overfilled!”
Certainly, it is a casual and fictitious（虚构的）story made up by the micro-blogger. However, no one would have guessed that the short blog would eventually cause the first great Internet meme（网络快速爆红现象） of 2011 in China. Suddenly, the mysterious “Sweeping Old Lady” is showing up nearly everywhere and reminding professionals of their mistakes. From 8 a. m. on Jan. 5, some netizens collected stories of the “Sweeping Old Lady” and found she had appeared to give advice in 150 kinds of careers. A netizen even said he had met with a similar situation in real life.
Actually, the “Sweeping Old Lady” is not new figure, but is based on the “sweeping monk （和尚）”in Louis Cha’s famous Kung fu novel of “Tian Long Ba Bu”. The “sweeping monk” is an old monk and does the lowest class of work in Shaolin Temple, but he is actually the No. 1 master in the noel both in Kung fu and in the study of Buddhism.
The “Sweeping Old Lady” is also a great modest master. Lots of netizens wish that they could have such a lady beside them to give them precious suggestions at a key time.
Although there may be 1,000 “Sweeping Old Ladies” in 1,000 people’s minds, it cannot prevent the “Sweeping Old Lady” from becoming the most popular figure on the Internet.
“Programmer Humor” said he is just a programmer in the real world and once he saw the story about the “Sweeping Old Lady,” he wrote it down in his micro-blog because it was funny. He never knew who the original writer of the story was and never thought the story could be so popular.What quality does the “Sweeping Old Lady” have?
| A．Honest and knowledgeable. | B．Modest and patient. |
| C．Modest and knowledgeable. | D．Honest and patient. |
Which description about the “Sweeping Old Lady” is right?
| A．She is an old lady good at sweeping the Internet. |
| B．She is just an imaginary figure created by a netizen. |
| C．She is well-know as the old “sweeping monk.” |
| D．She likes to give instructions everywhere. |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．The sweeping old lady is always looking down on the people around her. |
| B．We should ask sweeping old lady for advice when meeting with difficulties. |
| C．People want to have a “Sweeping Old Lady” nearby to do the cleaning. |
| D．We shouldn’t judge a person by his or her appearance and we’d better respect everyone. |
What does the author think of the “Sweeping Old Lady”?
| A．She should be praised and respected. |
| B．She shouldn’t mind others’ business. |
| C．She should go in for network. |
| D．She shouldn’t show off before professionals. |
For a while, my neighborhood was taken over by an army of joggers(慢跑的人). They were there all the time: early morning, noon, and evening. There were little old ladies in gray sweats, young couples in Adidas shoes, middle-aged men with red faces. “Come on!” My friend Alex encouraged me to join him as he jogged by my house every evening. “You’ll feel great.”
Well, I had nothing against feeling great and if Alex could jog every day, anyone could. So I took up jogging seriously and gave it a good two months of my life, and not a day more. Based on my experience, jogging is the most overvalued form of exercise around, and judging from the number of the people who left our neighborhood jogging army. I’m not alone in my opinion.
First of all, jogging is very hard on the body. Your legs and feet are a real pounding（沉重的脚步） running down a road for two or three miles. I developed foot, leg, and back problems. Then I read about a nationally famous jogger who died of a heart attack while jogging, and I had something else to worry about. Jogging doesn’t kill hundreds of people, but if you have any physical weaknesses, jogging will surely bring them out, as they did with me.
Secondly, I got no enjoyment out of jogging. Putting one foot in front of the other for forty-five minutes isn’t my idea of fun. Jogging is also a lonely pastime. Some joggers say, “I love being out there with just my thoughts” Well, my thoughts began to bore me, and most of them were on how much my legs hurt.
And how could I enjoy something that brought me pain? And that wasn’t just the first week—it was practically every day for two months. I never got past the pain level, and pain isn’t fun. What a cruel way to do it! So many other exercises, including walking, lead to almost the same results painlessly, so why jog?
I don’t jog any more, and I don’t think I ever will. I’m walking two miles three times a week at a fast pace, and that feels good. I bicycle to work when the weather is good. I’m getting exercise, and I’m enjoying it at the same time. I could never say the same for jogging, and I’ve found a lot of better ways to stay in shape. From the first paragraph, we learn that in the writer’s neighborhood _________.
| A．Jogging became very popular |
| B．People jogged only during the daytime |
| C．Alex organized an army of joggers |
| D．Jogging provided a chance to get together |
The underlined word “them”（Paragraph 3） most probably refers to _____．
| A．heart attacks | B．back problems |
| C．hundreds of people | D．physical weaknesses |
From the writer’s experience, we can conclude that_____
| A．Jogging can help people keep fit |
| B．Many physical problems result from jogging |
| C．Not everyone enjoys jogging |
| D．Jogging makes people feel greater |
National Forecast
LONDON —This Evening and Tonight:
Rain, locally heavy across northwest Scotland. Mostly cloudy but dry in other northern and western areas. Dry with clear spells(持续时间)in more central and eastern parts, but some low cloud and fog will develop. Generally mild with light winds.
Saturday:
Cloud and rain over western Scotland at the beginning will gradually push down over N. Ireland and northwest England. Largely dry, warm with sunny spells elsewhere, once early fog and low cloud clears.
http://www.times.online.co.uk/tol/news/weather/
The Nation's Weather
Fri, Aug 24,
NEW YORK—Heavy rain was forecast throughout Friday in parts of the Midwest. The heaviest rainfall was over northern Illinois, with more than 4 inches possible around Chicago.
Wet weather was also expected in the Plains as the same storm system tracks through the region.
Periods of heavy rain were also forecast for the Northeast as the remnant(剩余部分)of tropical storm Erin moves into the Canadian Maritimes.
Hot weather was expected to continue in the South and West.
http://www.underground.com
Death toll rises to 36 in China typhoon
Wed, Aug 22,
BEIJING— At least 36 people were killed by Typhoon Sepat in four provinces in eastern and central China in widespread destruction that also forced the evacuation (撤退)of l.37 million people.
More than 60,000 homes in the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan also were destroyed or damaged, Xinhua News Agency said.
Total economic losses in the provinces have reached $ 663 million.
Fujian was the worst-hit province, with 18 people killed, Xinhua said.
Earlier, the storm, named after a Malaysian fish, killed at least one person in Taiwan, and left three dead in the Philippines.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/apOn August 25, in N. Ireland and northwest England, there will be _____.
| A．low cloud and fog | B．typhoon and flood |
| C．cloud and rain | D．sunshine and mild wind |
What was the weather like in the south and west of the USA on Thursday?
| A．It was hot. | B．It was rainy. |
| C．It was foggy. | D．It was warm. |
The storm named Sepat _____.
| A．caused one death in the Philippines |
| B．killed 18 people in Taiwan |
| C．destroyed about 60,000 homes in Fujian |
| D．caused great economic losses |
The name of Typhoon Sepat comes from _____.
| A．a tropical storm | B．a Malaysian fish |
| C．a place | D．a person |