Those who have suffered from insomnia know the sinking feeling of watching the clock tick.Now a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that lying in bed awake may actually contribute to the problem of sleeplessness.
The study of 79 adults(average age 72)with insomnia aimed to determine whether brief behavioral interventions for insomnia would help.Traditional behavioral therapy(疗法)requires at least half a dozen hour-long sessions with a therapist — a costly commitment many patients either can't make or don't have access to.Other options include sleep-aiding medications or supplements.In the current study,the 39 participants in the behavioral therapy group received a 45- to 60-minute instructing session,plus a 30-minute follow-up session and two 20-minute phone calls.
Doctors offered the following behavioral interventions for improving sleep: reduce time in bed; get up at the same time every day,regardless of sleep duration; don't go to bed unless sleepy; and don't stay in bed unless asleep.
The other 40 participants in the study were given printed educational materials about insomnia,which included the same instructions given to the intervention group,but without the individualized sessions with a therapist.Two weeks later,the latter group also got a 10-minute follow-up phone call.
At the end of four weeks,the behavioral treatment group was significantly more likely to show improvements in sleep than the printed-materials group.By that time,55% of those who received behavioral treatment no longer met the criteria for insomnia,compared with 13% of the group that got educational brochures.
The good news comes at the same time as a report on the health effects of insomnia from the U.K.'s Mental Health Foundation.The report,Sleep Matters,suggests a link between insomnia and poor relationships,low energy levels and an inability to concentrate.Poor sleep has already been linked to depression,immune deficiency and heart disease.【改编】What is the disadvantage of traditional behavioral therapy?
A.It can’t help. |
B.It costs a lot of money. |
C.It requires sessions with a therapist. |
D.It includes sleep-aiding medications. |
【改编】we can know that___.
A.people don't like sleeping |
B.we can sleep by medicine |
C.parents can sleep fast |
D.Poor sleep has already been linked to depression,immune deficiency and heart disease. |
【改编】We can learn from the text that insomnia may cause the following results except________.
A.depression | B.concentration |
C.immune deficiency | D.heart disease |
At the time, I would go out in the evening with my parents. But this time I had borrowed a bicycle from a friend of mine. I didn’t know why, but once I was on my own bicycle, a kind of free feeling flooded through me. The faster I rode, the faster I wanted to go! Far ahead, I rode as if my life depended on it, head down, hands grasping the handbars. I meant to get to Jinghai Bar as fast as I could...
Oh! My hands! Don’t come any closer... Don’t touch me! That poor doctor just couldn’t get my gloves off. Each time he took a step towards me, I broke into painful shouting. Much later, I discovered that I had crashed(碰撞) heavily with another bicycle, and I hadn’t spoken one word of sense for at least three hours! After some time, my mother arrived at the hospital, her face as white as a sheet, and gave me a hug(拥抱), only then did the doctor begin to stitch(缝合) my head wound, not only did he merrily cut off a long lock of my hair, but used no anaesthetic(麻药) either! Later. I seemed to hear faraway voices saying that my right hand was broken. I almost burst into tears. How would I ever play the piano again?On her way to Jinghai, the writer felt _______.
A.nervous | B.comfortable | C.light-hearted | D.upset |
Why did the writer ride a bicycle to Jinghai Bar that evening?
A.Because she wanted to attend a party on time. |
B.Because she wanted to meet her friend who was waiting for her there. |
C.Because she just wanted, to join some of her friends and drink some wine. |
D.We are not quite sure about what she was really going there for. |
What did the writer think of the doctor?
A.Friendly. | B.Cruel. | C.Hardworking. | D.Kind. |
One thing is sure, that is, before she was wounded she _______.
A.often went to Jinghai Bar with her friends |
B.liked playing the piano |
C.didn’t like any doctors at all |
D.would burst into tears when she was in trouble |
My father was a foreman of a sugar-cane plantation in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. My first job was to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields. I would walk behind an ox, guiding him with a broomstick. For $ 1 a day, I worked eight hours straight, with no food breaks.
It was very tedious work, but it prepared me for life and taught me many lasting lessons. Because the plantation owners were always watching us, I had to be on time every day and work as hard as I could. I’ve never been late for any job since. I also learned about being respectful and faithful to the people you work for. More important, I earned my pay; it never entered my mind to say I was sick just because I didn’t want to work.
I was only six years old, but I was doing a man’s job. Our family needed every dollar we could make because my father never earned more than $ 18 a week. Our home was a three-room wood shack with a dirty floor and no toilet. Nothing made me prouder than bringing home money to help my mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. This gave me self-esteem(自尊心), one of the most important things a person can have.
When I was seven, I got work at a golf course near our house. My job was to stand down the fairway and spot the balls as they landed, so the golfers could find them. Losing a ball meant you were fired, so I never missed one. Some nights I would lie in bed and dreamt of making thousands of dollars by playing golf and being able to buy a bicycle.
The more I dreamed, the more I thought. Why not? I made my first golf club out of guava limb(番石榴树枝) and a piece of pipe. Then I hammered an empty tin can into the shape of a ball. And finally I dug two small holes in the ground and hit the ball back and forth. I practiced with the same devotion and intensity. I learned working in the field — except now I was driving golf balls with club, not oxen with a broomstick.The writer’s first job was _______.
A.to stand down the fairway at a golf course |
B.to watch over the sugar-cane plantation |
C.to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields |
D.to spot the balls as they landed so the golfers could find them |
The word “tedious” in Paragraph 2 most probably means _______.
A.difficult | B.boring | C.interesting | D.unusual |
The writer learned that_______ from his first job.
A.he should work for those who he liked most |
B.he should work longer than what he was expected |
C.he should never fail to say hello to his owner |
D.he should be respectful and faithful to the people he worked for |
_______ gave the writer serf-esteem.
A.Having a family of eight people |
B.Owning his own golf course |
C.Bringing money back home to help the family |
D.Helping his father with the work on the plantation |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.He wanted to be a successful golfer. |
B.He wanted to run a golf course near his house. |
C.He was satisfied with the job he got on a plantation. |
D.He wanted to make money by guiding oxen with a broomstick. |
We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was £20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.
1. In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.
A. would like very much to buy B. badly wanted
C. was glad to have bought D. would rather not buy
2. Other drivers thought they were _______.
A. carrying a cupboard to the church
B. sending flowers to the church
C. carrying nothing but a piece of furniture
D. going to attend a funeral(葬礼) at the church
3. The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
A. driving in gathering darkness B. in great sorrow (悲痛)
C. driving with wild glowers in the car D. carrying furniture
4. What did the husband think of this matter?
A. It was very strange. B. He felt ashamed of it.
C. He took great pride in it. D. He was puzzled at it.
The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do all you people do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying, aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington, ” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know, ” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. ‘It’ can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.The best title for the article is _______.
A.When the Computer Is Down | B.The Most Frightening Words |
C.The Computer of the Airport | D.Asking the Computer |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
A.She could sell a ticket. |
B.She could write out a ticket. |
C.She could answer the passengers’ questions. |
D.She could do nothing. |
Why do you think they had not a backup computer?
A.Because it was easy down |
B.Because it was very expensive. |
C.Because it was not advanced enough. |
D.Because it was not as big as the main computer. |
The last paragraph suggests that _______.
A.a modern computer won’t be down. |
B.computers can take the place of humans |
C.sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
D.there will be great changes in computers |
Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱).
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. What is the best title for this newspaper article?
A.The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
B.Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route |
C.Driver Escapes Through Car Boot |
D.The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
A.The hammer. | B.The coin. |
C.The screw. | D.The horn. |
Which statement is true according to the passage?
A.Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down. |
B.Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam. |
C.Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road. |
D.Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat. |
“Finally it gave” (Paragraph 5) means that _______.
A.Luckily the door was torn away in the end |
B.At last the wrench went broken |
C.The lock came open after all his efforts |
D.The chance was lost at the last minute |
It may be inferred from the passage that _______.
A.the ditch was along a quiet country road |
B.the accident happened on a clear warm day |
C.the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch |
D.Mr. Johnson had a tender wife and was well attended |